Never Gave Up

Alex asked for a oneshot where Emma is upset at her parents, believing that they only came back because they needed her to save them again, but then she finds out that Hanna spent her entire time in the EF trying to grow magic beans, reading every magical book she could find, anything that could bring them to the EF as well.

This one is set in season 3B right after Snow had Neal, but before Emma and Hanna's little trip through the time portal.

"Well I'm going to head out. I'll see you guys later," Emma whispered as she stood up from the couch, careful not to wake Hanna who was sleeping on the other side. She stayed to watch a movie with her mom, dad, and sister. Her new baby brother was here too, but he was fast asleep in his bassinet.

"Emma, wait," Snow said as she stood up next to her daughter. "Why don't you just stay here? Henry is at Regina's. I don't want you to be alone."

"Nah, I'm good," Emma said she shook her head. She was still staying at Granny's for the time being. She knew her parents wanted her to move back in with them, but she wasn't planning on staying in Storybrooke for much longer. She just hadn't told them that yet. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Emma, please," David said as he held onto her arm.

"Look, I'm not staying here tonight okay," Emma said as she pulled her arm away.

"Emma, talk to us. What's going on?" Snow begged. She and Charming both knew something was going on with her. They just weren't sure what it was.

"Nothing," Emma said with a shrug of her shoulders. "Look, I know you guys only came back here because you needed me to save you from that witch. I did that so…"

"Emma, that…that's not true," Snow said as she shook her head.

"So you didn't cast a curse and come back here so I could save you?" Emma asked with a raise of her eyebrows.

"Well yes, but…" Snow tried to explain.

"See, that's the only reason you even tried to come back," Emma said as she turned to leave. She couldn't have this conversation. She knew that was the only reason…it wasn't because they missed her, it was because they needed her.

"Emma stop," David said as he stood in front of her, blocking her way to the door. "We need to talk about this."

"Well, I'm not going to," Emma said as she tried to get around him him.

"Well you don't have a choice," Snow said as she stood beside her husband and raised her eyebrows at her daughter. "Go sit down."

Emma sighed, but did as her mother asked. She sat down at the table and her parents joined her.

"Do you know how hard that little girl over there tried to find a way back to you and Henry," Snow said as she nodded her head towards Hanna, who was still fast asleep on the couch.

"You wouldn't believe all the ideas she came up with to get to you and Henry or to bring you both to us…anything to get this family together again," David said.

"She spent hours reading through dozens of spell books and questioned Regina and us day and night. She even tried to get a magic bean once," Snow told Emma.

"She really did all that for me?" Emma said with a smile as she looked over to her sister. She was truly touched that Hanna would do all of that for her.

"Of course she did," David said with a nod of his head. "She missed you and Henry so much."

"But why would you even encourage her like that? You knew when the curse was cast, there were no more portals," Emma said.

"We wanted her to have hope," Snow told her.

"We let her do all of her searching at first, but then we put a stop to it after she put herself in danger trying to get that bean. We wanted her to try and enjoy the life she had in the Enchanted Forest…"

"Until you realized you needed me to save you all, then I bet it was all hands on deck," Emma said with a roll of her eyes.

"You listen to me Emma Swan," Snow said as she took her daughter's hands into hers. "We never, not for one day stopped trying to find a way to get you back."

"Even before we knew you were the only one who could stop Zelena," David added.

"But you just said…" Emma started.

"We said we stopped Hanna from trying to find a way, but we never did. We never gave up," Snow told her. It was true. She and Charming spent much of their time trying to figure out a way around the fact that all of the portals were closed for good. They just didn't let Hanna in on any of it.

"But why?" Emma asked. Why would they go through all the trouble? They were back in the Enchanted Forest…that was their home. They had Hanna and a new baby on the way. Why would they care if she was there too?

"Because we love you Emma. We couldn't stand being away from you." David told her.

Emma just nodded her head as a single tear fell down her cheek. She realized now that she was being ridiculous thinking all of those things about them.

"Now do you understand?" Snow asked with a smile as she wiped the tear away.

"Yeah, I do," Emma told her. She couldn't help but smile when her parents wrapped their arms around her. She really did understand now. They really did want to get her back, it wasn't just because they needed her to defeat another villain. Emma was overjoyed at the thought. She still wanted to take Henry and move back to New York as soon as she could though. Their life there was good, and she wanted to get back to that. However, she decided she would give her parents what they wanted tonight and stay here with them.