"You guys gonna finally tell me the name of my little brother or should I just keep calling him 'hey there'?"
"Well, the thing is, there's sort of this tradition," David told his daughter, as he fussed over his newborn son. "Back in the Enchanted Forest, when a new Royal is born, you usually announce the name in a coronation ceremony."
"Oh, David," Mary Margaret said, "Emma shouldn't have to wait to find out her brother's name until the rest of the town does, I think we should tell her now."
David hesitated less than a second before nodding at Mary Margaret. They both turned to Emma with broad smiles on their faces. "We've decided to name him after a hero who saved the whole town," David said proudly. "His name is going to be Neal."
Emma's face screwed into a grimace. "Seriously? You've got to be kidding me!"
Her parents' happy expressions turned to shock. "Emma! Why would you say such a thing?" Mary Margaret asked, disapproval obvious in her voice.
"If it weren't for Neal, we wouldn't have figured out Zelena was the wicked witch," David said.
Emma was incredulous. "You really think we wouldn't have eventually discovered that without Neal's help?"
"It certainly would have taken us much longer," Mary Margaret objected.
"With all of us working together? I doubt it. Besides, if he hadn't brought his dear old dad back to life, he would have never figured it out."
"He was trying to get you and Henry back," David said.
"And yet Hook found a way to do that without having to resurrect the Dark One," Emma retorted.
"I suppose you think we should name your brother after Hook?" David said.
Emma planted her hands on her hips and glared at her father. "That's not what I meant at all! I'm just trying to figure out why you would want to name my brother after the guy who…you know what? Never mind."
"Who what?" Mary Margaret asked. "Why do I get the feeling you really don't like Neal?"
"Because I have good reason not to like him," Emma muttered under her breath.
"What reason?" David asked. "What aren't you telling us, Emma?"
She dropped her head and sighed. "Do we really have to get into all of this? Why can't you just give the kid a name of his own?"
"We thought it would be a great honor to bestow Neal's name on the baby. Neither of you got to name Henry…"
"It was because of Neal that I didn't get to name Henry!" Emma exploded. "It was because of him that I had to give Henry up in the first place!"
"What are you talking about, Emma?" Mary Margaret asked, rising from her seat to approach her irate daughter.
"I just…I didn't really want to tell you everything that happened with Neal, especially now that he's…gone."
Mary Margaret put her hands on Emma's shoulders and looked into her eyes. Seeing the hurt and anger there, she said, "It's clear that whatever happened has been a heavy burden on you for a long time. We're your parents, Emma. No one and nothing is more important to us than our children. Please share your story and give us a chance to understand why you feel the way you do about Neal."
The love and concern in her mother's voice brought tears to Emma's eyes. Hesitantly, she nodded. "Okay."
Mary Margaret turned to her husband, who was still holding their sleeping infant. "David, you can put the baby in his cradle. We need to listen to our daughter."
A few minutes later, Emma was sitting at the kitchen table, with her parents seated across from her, preparing themselves to hear what she had to say. She slowly began detailing how she and Neal met, her eyes focused on the table in front of her. When she explained how Neal called in a tip to the police, setting her up to get arrested, Mary Margaret sucked in a sharp breath and David's fists clenched, but they both remained quiet.
She continued telling her story, her voice breaking when she talked about finding out she was pregnant, and making the difficult decision to give her baby up for adoption. Her eyes flickered up to her parents, who were looking at her with no judgment, only sadness and concern.
As Emma talked, Mary Margaret's eyes grew wider and her hand came up to cover her mouth, preventing a sob from escaping. David's face reddened with anger, his jaw ticking furiously.
When she finished relating the story almost ten minutes later, Emma sat back in her seat, completely drained.
"Emma, I…I don't know what to say," Mary Margaret choked out.
"I do," David said, voice heavy with barely contained rage. "At the risk of sounding disrespectful, Neal is lucky he's dead, because if he wasn't, I'd kill him!"
"Calm down, David," Emma said. "Neal and I made peace with each other. He was my first love and a part of me will always love him, but I don't think of him as a hero. I would really prefer that you don't name my baby brother after him."
Her parents exchanged glances. "You don't have to worry about that," Mary Margaret said with finality, as David nodded his head decisively.
"If you want to honor somebody, why don't you name him after your parents or one of your friends from the Enchanted Forest? Or you could go with a name that's completely his own, like you did for me," Emma said.
"We'll give it some more thought," David said. "Hopefully we'll decide on one before the announcement celebration takes place."
Mary Margaret reached across the table and took Emma's hand. "Thank you for telling us everything that happened between you and Neal. I can understand why you were hesitant to say anything, but I'm very glad you did."
David rose from his seat and walked around the table, pulling Emma to her feet and enveloping her in a hug. "I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that, Emma. It's no wonder you have trouble trusting people. I hope you know you're surrounded by people who love you now."
"Yeah, I do," she replied, speaking into his shoulder and enjoying the feeling of his large hand gently cradling the back of her head. It felt good to finally have the truth out in the open and to have her parents' love and support.
xxxxxxxxx
It seemed the entire town was crowded into Granny's, eagerly awaiting the announcement of the new prince's name. Emma stood beside the booth where Mary Margaret sat rocking the baby, David standing proudly behind her.
Emma's hand rested on the shoulder of her son, who was seated across the table from his grandmother. Killian stood directly behind Emma, making his presence known with his hook on the small of her back. He hadn't left her side since they returned from their adventure back in the Enchanted Forest a few minutes earlier.
"May I have everyone's attention please?" David's voice boomed out through the diner. Instantly, everyone grew quiet, the atmosphere fairly vibrating with anticipation.
"We would like to take this opportunity to announce the name of our new son," he stated. "We've put a lot of thought into it and decided to name him after some very special people, our parents - Eva, Leopold, Ruth and Robert."
He squeezed Mary Margaret's shoulder and she gave him a bright smile, before proclaiming, "It is our great pleasure to introduce you to Prince Evan Rutherford Leopold Robert."
The patrons clapped and cheered, the noise startling the young prince, but he quickly settled and went on sleeping.
"That's quite a big name for such a small lad," Killian whispered in Emma's ear.
She turned to him with a smile. "Yeah, it makes me appreciate the fact that they didn't name me after anyone. 'Emma' is a lot easier to spell!"
He chuckled as she returned her attention to her parents, who were accepting congratulations from the townspeople. Sliding into the seat beside Henry, she reached out and put her finger into her brother's tiny hand. He definitely did have a long name to grow into, but at least when Emma heard it, she would be reminded of her grandparents and the stories her parents told her about them, instead of the man who nearly destroyed her life.
Emma's mind drifted to how Henry found her, brought her to Storybrooke and helped her believe in the curse. When they were trapped in the Dark One's vault, she finally admitted to Killian how Henry brought her home. Now, looking around at the people surrounding her, she realized he did more than that. Being in this town, with her family, friends…and Killian, she knew the damage Neal had done - damage she considered for years to be beyond repair - was well on its way to being healed.
"Swan, are you alright?" Killian murmured in her ear.
She turned to look up at him, seeing the concern on his face. "Yeah," she said, giving him a soft smile. "It's good to be home."
xxxxxxxxx
