Simmering pain

A guest asked for a oneshot of Rosie getting mad at Emma for telling their parents she got in trouble at school. To get back at her Rosie says that Emma's just jealous their parents kept her and gave Emma away and the fallout afterwards.

Rosie sat in stony silence in the back of Emma's bug.

"So are you going to tell me why you decided to hit Mei?" Emma asked. Rosie stayed silent. Emma was concerned, Rosie was a quiet girl normally. She preferred reading in the playground than doing any actual playing. She'd never been in trouble at school before, let alone have to be collected to go home to cool off for the rest of the day. It was only her spotless track record that stopped her getting suspended. "Come on Rosie, you must know how worried I am. I get a call from Principal Doggett saying that you've hit some girl so hard you've broken her nose. Rosie you've never been in trouble your whole life? What got into you?

"It doesn't matter ok?" Rosie snapped. "Just take me to your place until school's over and I can go home." Emma raised an eyebrow, she did not like this new attitude. Rosie didn't want to tell Emma Mei had actually hit her first, she was only hitting her back. She didn't want to be a snitch.

"No, no I won't Rosie." Emma pulled over and took her phone out.

"Emma no!" Rosie pleaded. But Emma had made her mind up, someone had to get the truth out of Rosie one way or the other. Emma sent both parents a text telling them to get home immediately and that she had Rosie with her before putting the car in gear again and driving back home.

By the time Emma arrived both parents were already there, Emma's text worrying them. Emma had to basically pull Rosie into the house kicking and screaming.

"Emma, what's going on? Rosie why are you making such a fuss? Why are you here in the first place?"

"Yeah Rosie, why are you here?" Emma prompted the ten year old. Rosie clamped her lips shut, refusing to tell them. Emma sighed. "I was hoping you'd be more mature about this. Rosie's principal called me after Rosie begged him to contact me instead of you two. She got into a fight and broke some girl's nose."

"What?" Charming asked, astonished. "Rosie, is this true?" Rosie just glowered at Emma, she had trusted her to help her keep this a secret. "Well?" Charming said sternly.

"I trusted you!" Rosie yelled at Emma. "But you couldn't keep your damn mouth shut! You wanted me to get into trouble because you're jealous! You're jealous that mom and dad gave you up and they kept me and I'm their real daughter! They hugged and kissed me. They looked after me when I was sick. They soothed me through the nightmares. You were never their baby, just some curse breaker!"

"Rosie that is enough!" Charming barked. Both he and Snow looked up to Emma who looked incredibly hurt. "Emma you know that's not true, we love you both the same…"

"I need some air." Emma said before storming out of the house. Rosie immediately regretted what she had said. She was just mad about the whole situation.

"Rosie Eva we are incredibly disappointed in you." Snow said, in the tone she reserved for when she was the most furious. "First you find it appropriate to attack a girl in your class, and then when your sister tries to do the right thing, you say something extremely hurtful to her. You know how hard her childhood was, you know how hurt we were that we had to give her away. Those are wounds that we don't pick at, do you understand?"

"Yeah." Rosie said, on the verge of tears. "I'm sorry. I didn't really mean it. I was just mad at her."

"And we accept your apology Rosie but Emma is going to take time to accept it." Charming told her. "And we are not done discussing the fight at school. But right now getting Emma back is the priority. Go up to your room and think about the consequences your actions are causing." Rosie nodded solemnly and headed up to her room, feeling ashamed with herself. By the time she had got upstairs Charming and Snow had already fled the house to search for Emma.

"Emma!" They both called intermittently as they searched through the forest. They were beginning to panic now, they'd been searching for at least an hour. Where could she be? What if she was doing something she'd regret? It was when they were on the verge of calling in backup to help them search that Charming spied Emma, trudging through the trees.

"There!" He yelled out, immediately regretting it as soon as Emma started to run, but he wasn't going to let her go that easily. He and Snow sprinted after her until Charming managed to grab her round the middle.

"Let me go!" Emma demanded, fighting against his hold.

"Emma I'm not letting you go until I know you're not going to run again." Charming said calmly. Emma continued to fight for a moment before giving in.

"Alright, alright! I won't run. Just lemme go." Still ready to run in case Emma fled again, Charming cautiously released his hold. Emma kept to her word and didn't run.

"Emma what Rosie said, please tell us you know that isn't true-"

"Well isn't it?" Emma said bitterly. "You can honestly say there isn't even a grain of truth in her statement? Just a little smidgen? I was never enough for you. Sure, for a while I did the job and I took away the pain and made things right. But then I wasn't really what you wanted, was I? I had a job to do, and I did it. For a while I pacified your need for a child together. I blanketed over the pain of missing me growing up, I mean, at least I was in your lives. But then you realised, you didn't really need me anymore, you could do better for yourselves. You could have your cake and eat it. You could get what you really wanted, a proper baby, and to Hell what happened to me. Then Neal was born and you got your happily ever after. Then Rosie was born and you had your replacement daughter to make up those girl only milestones. I never really mattered to you, I was there to fulfil a role and I did it, after that I was nothing but a broken toy, able to be discarded." Emma finished, feeling like a shell of a person. She'd felt like this on some level ever since she'd arrived back that day and found her mom pregnant with Neal. She'd never really spoken about it, feeling like it would put a rift in the family that didn't need to be there. But Emma couldn't feel like this anymore- she refused. Emma was unprepared for the reaction it would elicit from her parents.

"When have we ever treated you like you mattered less than your siblings, let alone didn't matter at all, Emma?" Snow asked, heartbroken. Emma looked up at her coldly.

"The second you put me through that damn wardrobe." She hissed, but Charming and Snow weren't having any of it. They'd fought too damn hard in their relationship with Emma for it to be torn down now by a silly tantrum from Rosie.

"We would have done the same if it were Rosie or Neal. We would have chosen to let you live rather than keep you and have you killed. It broke us when we gave you up. We know you suffered more, but we suffered too."

"I wish it had been one of them!" Emma screamed. "I wish I had gotten a damn normal life! I wish it hadn't been me!" Emma broke down on the floor in tears. Snow moved over and pulled Emma into her arms. Emma couldn't take it. She tried her best to push her mother off, but Snow refused to be moved.

"Emma I'm not letting you go." Snow told her calmly. "Neither of us are letting you go- ever again. You are safe, and you are loved. We care about you, so very much. Emma started to shake in Snow's arms, sobbing. Charming moved across and Snow passed Emma over to him, he scooped her up in his arms. "Let's go home." Snow said, squeezing Emma's hand. "Where you belong."

Charming carried Emma home all the way back to the loft. When they got there they found Rosie sitting on the steps.

"Rosie, you should be in bed. Has Neal not told you to get to bed?" Snow asked, aware that regardless of the drama of the day, tomorrow was still a school day.

"He did, but I couldn't sleep, not until you got home with Emma." Charming set Emma down and she folded her arms uncomfortably across her chest, still hurt by her sister's words. Rosie approached them, wringing her hands

"Emma…what I said. I'm really sorry. I didn't mean it- I was just mad. I understand if you can't forgive me…" Emma didn't let her sister finish, she just pulled her over into a hug, which said more than words ever could. Emma was still hurt, and she always would hold some pain over her whole childhood and the trauma she went through. But at the end of the day, none of that was really Rosie or Neal's fault, or even her parents. It was simply fate. But only she had the power to not let fate win and be happy and be part of her own family, and let the past stay where it belonged- in the past.