The difference
A guest asked for a oneshot of a teenaged Neal asking Emma about her childhood.
"Aww look at your little face!" Emma teased her brother as she looked through his baby pictures. The thirteen year old groaned, leaning of Emma's shoulder and looking at the picture. He sat in only a nappy but covered in paint, seeming pretty happy with himself.
"Emma!" He groaned. "Do we have to look at there, they're embarrassing!"
"That's the point." Emma chuckled, ruffling his hair. He rolled his eyes in return.
"Why can't we look at your baby pictures instead and embarrass you?" He grumbled.
"Because there are none of me, silly." She pointed out. Neal knew his sister had been separated from their parents because of a curse, and that's why she was the same age as mom and dad. But he didn't know much beyond that.
"Where did you grow up?" He asked her. Emma looked up at him.
"Boston, you know that." She answered.
"No, I mean with who?" He asked her. "You've never really talked about who brought you up."
"Ah," Emma said, shutting the book. "That's a trickier question to answer. I did have one family until I was three. The Swans, that's where I got my last name. But then they found out they were having their own baby so they sent me back to a group home." She said honestly. Neal looked pretty shocked.
"They just gave you up like that?" He asked, horrified. Emma nodded.
"Yeah, I wasn't their priority anymore."
"Oh." Neal said, looking down now. "What about after that? Did another family adopt you instead?" He asked.
"Ah no…" Emma replied. "I was never adopted after that. I was either in group homes or in foster homes. Didn't stay in any one place for more than a couple of years. I ran away as soon as I was sixteen and never looked back."
"You ran away?" Neal said, looking at her with awe. Emma laughed.
"Yeah kid, don't you go getting any ideas though. My life was a lot suckier than yours, no matter how much you hate homework." Neal laughed.
"I promise, I won't. Even if I did, you know mom and dad. They'll always find us."