Emma entered the loft as quietly as possible, having just finished the late shift at the sheriff's station. She spent most of it checking on the Lost Boys who returned from Neverland with them. Most were settling in well at the homes of people who very kindly had taken them in, but she knew she was going to have many run-ins with Felix in the future.

It was Regina's night to have Henry, and Emma was hoping Mary Margaret and David (she still had trouble calling them Mom and Dad) were already in bed. Ever since hearing her mother's confession in the Echo Caves, Emma found it awkward and difficult to talk to Mary Margaret without feeling bitter.

Our daughter is a beautiful, smart, amazing woman, whom I love very much, and of whom, I could not be more proud. But she's all grown up, and as much as I want to pretend I'm okay with that, I'm not. We missed it, David. What we have with her is unique, but it's not what I wanted. We were cheated out of everything - her first step, her first word, her first smile. We missed it all. When we get off this island and get back to Storybrooke, I want another go at it. I want to have another baby.

Thinking about it was like a stab to Emma's heart. Logically, she understood, but that didn't make it any less painful. She wasn't enough. She had been shown she wasn't enough at three years of age, when she was brought to the social worker and put back into the foster system, because the couple who planned to adopt her was having a baby of their own. Now, her own mother was essentially saying the same thing.

Emma removed her boots and set them by the door, then turned to go upstairs, but was stopped by Mary Margaret's voice. "Emma, we need to talk."

After overcoming her slight shock, Emma replied, "Not now, Mary Margaret. It's been a long night, and I just want to go to bed."

She felt Mary Margaret's hand on her arm. "Please, Emma. I…I need to explain some things to you."

Sighing, Emma turned around and went to sit on one of the bar stools. "Fine. What do you need to explain?"

Mary Margaret walked to the other side of the counter, so she could face her daughter. She was silent for several moments, before beginning haltingly. "Do you…do you remember when we used to have long conversations before the curse broke? Back when we thought we were just two friends engaging in some girl talk?"

"Yeah," Emma answered shortly. "You already told me we talked about things we probably shouldn't have."

"I miss those days, don't you?" Mary Margaret asked wistfully.

"You mean back when you connected to me as a friend…like you can't do now because you know I'm your daughter?" Emma asked snarkily. She knew she wasn't really being fair, but she couldn't seem to keep herself from spitting out the words.

She lifted her head to look at Mary Margaret, who was blinking rapidly to keep her tears at bay. "Emma, I know what I said in the Echo Caves hurt you and I'm sorry…"

"It's fine, I get it," Emma lied. "You want a baby, not a grown woman."

"That's not what I meant," Mary Margaret said firmly. "I'm so happy we have a relationship with you now, but I wish with all my heart that we could have those lost years back. I know having another…another baby won't replace what we were cheated out of having with you…"

"You chose to send me away…"

"Because we were trying to save you…"

"You were trying to save your kingdom! So you sent your newborn baby to an unknown world all alone, to grow up thinking her parents didn't want her and threw her away…"

"Oh, Emma," Mary Margaret cried. "You weren't supposed to go through by yourself. We were supposed to go together, you and I. But you were born early and we were told by Marco and Blue that the wardrobe would only allow one person to go through."

"Then how did Pinnochio end up there with me?"

Mary Margaret's pained expression changed to one of anger. "They lied to us. Marco didn't want to lose his son, so he convinced Blue to go along with his lie."

Emma looked shocked. "And you forgave them for that?"

"I had to, just like I had to forgive Regina for everything she did to separate us. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have been able to overcome my anger and would have become just as bitter and spiteful as Regina. Look where that got us."

"So you're content just to sweep all of this under the rug and start with a brand new family, huh?"

Mary Margaret leaned her forearms on the counter, bringing her down to Emma's eye level. "You will always be our family, Emma. Nothing will ever change that. I loved you from the moment we found out we were having you and I'll love you until my dying breath and beyond. You're my daughter and I could not be more proud of you. You are the strongest, bravest person I know, and I'm in awe of the fact that you survived and found your way here to break the curse. Sending you through that wardrobe broke my heart to pieces, but we had faith that somehow you would find us again and we could be together. If we hadn't sent you, we would have all been cursed together, yes, but you never would have grown up. We would have been in that cursed world forever - frozen at the same age, separated, and without any memories."

Emma sagged in her seat. "I never thought of it that way. And honestly, I can understand how difficult that decision was for you. I had to make the same choice for Henry, letting him go to give him his best chance."

Mary Margaret reached over to rest her hand on Emma's forearm where it lay on the countertop. "When I said that I wanted another go at having a baby, I never meant to make you feel like you weren't enough. I hated myself for it, as soon as it came out of my mouth. I don't know why I said it that way, though I do have a theory."

"What's that?"

"Pan was a vicious, conniving little imp. I think he rigged that cave. It wasn't our deepest, darkest secret that he wanted us to tell. It was a secret that would cut to the heart of another person in there. You can't convince me that after more than two hundred years of being a pirate, Hook's darkest secret was that the kiss he shared with you allowed him to move on from his first love. That secret hurt you though, didn't it?"

There was a pause while Emma thought about it. "After the kiss, I told him it was just a one time thing. When he said it allowed him to be able to move on from Milah, it made me feel bad for treating it so flippantly," she admitted.

"David's admission about being poisoned by dreamshade hurt me, and when you told Neal that you wished he really had died, I'm sure it was devastating. I think Pan manipulated it to make us so angry and upset with each other that we wouldn't be able to continue working together to foil his plan."

Emma bit her lip in contemplation. "Yeah, that actually does make sense."

"The last thing I want is for you to think I'm not happy having you as our child. I could not love you more, Emma. But I think we can both agree that we missed out on a lot of things, since we didn't get the chance to watch you grow up. If we were to have another baby, it wouldn't be a do-over to replace you. We were all separated for twenty-eight years, and now that we're back together, I think it would be nice to add to our family. But it's not just my decision. How do you feel about it?"

Emma sat back on her bar stool and blew out a breath. "Well, I always wished for a brother or sister when I was growing up. And I don't think Henry would mind having an aunt or uncle who is twelve years younger than him, because this family already has the most bizarre family tree ever."

Mary Margaret laughed. "You can say that again." She looked intently at Emma. "So you wouldn't be opposed to us having another baby, then?"

"No, I'm fine with it. I appreciate you explaining everything."

Mary Margaret dropped her eyes and rubbed her finger over a stain on the counter. "Can you ever forgive me?"

Emma reached over and took her mother's hand. "Yeah, I forgive you…Mom."

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