She waited two hours.

It had only taken until 9:10 for her to start to get nervous. Neal wasn't late, not when he told her a time.

But she had waited, had kept waiting, until her feet were long sore from standing and she couldn't think from worry.

Had he been caught? Was he alone, sitting in some jail cell, facing who knew how much time in jail for a stupid mistake?

If he was, she couldn't do anything. Heck, she'd probably end up in jail for helping him. But she needed to do something.

By 11:12, she left the parking garage, hoping against hope she'd run into Neal with some insane excuse for being late.

Two blocks away, she found the Bug, and no Neal.

The door was unlocked, which only made her worry more. He'd probably been arrested. Neal was right. They should have left immediately, but she had been so confident that it would be fine, that they could go to Tallahassee. And now Neal was–

His stuff was gone.

A new (and far too old) kind of worry overwhelmed her, and she grabbed a nearby flashlight and looked through the entirety of the tiny car, even getting out and searching the truck.

The key and her keychain was under the floor mat. All his stuff was missing.

Neal had left.

She didn't want to believe it.

Surely, she was missing something. They had been together a year. She loved him. He loved her.

But he left, right after she had gotten him the 20k worth of watches.

Well, not quite 20k, she thought, looking down at the watch he had given her. That was the biggest issue with the horrific theory she had, assuming Neal would put a year into a con. Why would he leave her a watch when she had never expected it?

It was the one thing from him she didn't keep, though. It was stolen property, and her scare that he had gotten arrested had made her realize it was a bad idea to keep it on her.

The money she'd gotten from selling it had gotten the Bug a clean VIN number, and Emma thought Neal would consider that a good use. Assuming she had actually known Neal at all.

She left the city soon after.

Tallahassee was the only place she could think of, the only place she could imagine going.

Maybe he was there. Maybe he could explain everything.
It was a longshot, but it wasn't like she had anything else. And once she was out of Portland, she could worry less about being arrested for stealing. She could follow her plans (for they were as much hers as they were her and Neal's) and go straight. Find home, even if she didn't know where he was.

Maybe she could become a PI or something. Go straight and then track him down. At least for an explanation.

She had a piece of him inside her.

It was the first thought she had when she realized she was pregnant. This was Neal's kid, as much as it was hers, and the thought both terrified her and filled her with longing.

The letter came the same day. About 18k had been transferred to her bank account from an unknown person.

2k from the watch she had sold, 18k for the rest.

She burst into tears, hardly able to think. Later, she'd blame the hormones, but she knew they weren't the only thing responsible.

It had to be some sort of apology. At the very least, it told her that he hadn't used her. You didn't use someone for money and then give it all to them.

He still loved her.

She gave birth to Henry alone.

His father's apology paid for the hospital stay, but it still burned that he wasn't there. That he left her, without even explaining why.

But even if he hadn't apologized, even if it actually had been a con for the money, Emma never would have regretted being with him after she held Henry in her arms for the first time.

At first, she hadn't been able to bear the thought of giving her son up because he was the most she had left of Neal. Now, her love for Neal felt almost miniscule in comparison to her love for their son, and she knew she would go to the ends of the Earth for Henry.

She tracked him down when Henry was three.

He was in Canada for a while, managed to do something so he wouldn't get arrested for theft, and had moved to New York a couple months earlier.

Henry hid behind her leg as she knocked on the door of a crappy apartment, and her breath hitched as she heard him yell, "Just a second!"

He opened the door, and she forced herself not to react.

"Emma?"

"Hi Neal."

"Wha– How are you–" He finally noticed Henry peeking out from behind her, and his voice cracked and went soft. "Who is this?"

"This is Henry," she said gently, and Neal's face was almost broken.

"Is he–"

She nodded, and turned to Henry. "You wanna say hi to your daddy?"

Henry nodded and finally stepped forward, smiling shyly. "Hi."

"Hi," Neal breathed, crouching down. "I'm sorry we didn't meet sooner."

He shrugged, not old enough to fully understand the situation.

"I've got some juice inside, if you want something to drink."

This made Henry grin, and he rushed inside the apartment as if he owned the place, leaving Neal and Emma alone.

"I got the money."

He sighed in relief. "Good."

"You still owe me a huge explanation," she warned.

Neal glanced behind him to where Henry ran in.

"I didn't know you were pregnant."

"That's not an explanation."

"I know," he said. "But it's a qualifier. I thought…" he sighed. "It's a long story."

"I've got time."

"You're going to think I'm crazy."

She shrugged. "I don't know. But at least it's an explanation."

He smiled slightly, and opened the door wider.

"Come in?"

She did think he was crazy.

"So?" he asked, shifting in his seat.

"I don't believe you," she said bluntly, and to his credit, Neal only smiled sheepishly. "But," she said. "You obviously believe it."

She wasn't sure how this August guy convinced him it was true, and that he was from a fairy tale. Curses aren't real, and she wasn't going to break one.

But he was being honest. He honestly thought he was from a magical realm, and that his father was Rumpelstiltskin.

"I don't have to talk about it," Neal said. "If you don't want me to, I won't even mention it. Or," he said, pain evident in his voice even as he tried to hide it. "If you want to leave and never see me again, I… I can accept that. As long as I can stay in contact with Henry, you can do whatever you want."

She was silent for a moment.

She could leave, easily enough. Give him her address so he could send letters to Henry, and avoid a romantic entanglement with a man who needed therapy that cost far more than either of them could afford.

"How do you feel about moving to Tallahassee?"

His face broke out in an awed grin, and Emma felt herself smiling back.

If she had learned anything in the last four years, it was that she'd rather have a crazy Neal than no Neal at all.