[Chapter 7]

The day was coming to a close. The sky was getting darker and it looked like there was a cold front coming in.

Neal watched the water, the tide slowly coming in. There weren't many lights but from the few street lamps that were around Neal could see his son sitting on a piece of wood near what seemed to be some kind of rundown structure.

He took a deep breath and made his walk over.

"Hey buddy," he said taking a seat next to Henry.

"How'd you find me?"

"Your mom isn't the only one who's good at finding people."

"There's more going on isn't there," Henry asked. "It's more than just this perp she's after.'

"Yeah Henry, it is."

"Why won't she tell me?"

"I think she's just trying to preserve your memories, trying to protect you."

"Protect me from what?"

"From knowing the truth."

"Whatever it is I can handle it."

Neal smiled, "I'm sure you could but maybe she's also trying to protect herself."

"What would she need protecting from?"

"From you not believing the things she tells you, from you not believing in her."

"But she's my mom, why wouldn't I believe her or in her?"

That was a good question and Neal thought on it for a moment.

"Did Emma…did your mom ever tell you why I left her?"

"Not really. All she told me was that you were the one who got her sent to jail. I don't think she likes to talk about it."

"I don't blame her. I hurt your mom pretty bad buddy and not a day goes by when I don't regret it. I'll spend every day of my life trying to make it up to her and to you."

"So why did you leave?"

"I wanted to go back to your mom, Henry, I really did but I found out some stuff about her past, things she wasn't even aware of yet. I had to make a choice and instead of manning up I let my fear of who she was decide for me. I'd do it all differently if I could."

"What made you afraid?"

"Well, it turns out she and I come from the same place. I ran away from home when I was a little older than you. My father, he had changed, got mean, angrier and I was finally tired of it so I spent a lot of my teen years and adult years trying to forget that place. So when I found out your mom was from there I took it as a bad omen that maybe my father might be trying to find me."

"So you bailed on her."

"Pretty much."

"You know you're an idiot right?"

Neal laughed. "I know. Listen Henry don't be too hard on your mom okay? When it comes to talking about her past, it isn't easy for her. And there's a lot about that past that she hasn't told you. Neither of us had the healthiest experiences when it comes to opening up especially to those we care about. Just be patient okay?"

Henry nodded.

Neal looked around the broken wooden structure. "Hey so since we're gonna be staying here for a while what do you say we fix this place up? It can be your own special spot for when you want to get away. We can turn it into a fort or a castle."

"A castle?"

"Yeah, you could be Prince Henry. That actually has a nice ring to it."

"So this would be our project, just yours and mine?"

"If you want it to be."

"Okay I'd like that. A castle would be kinda cool."

Neal smiled at Henry, pleased with his parenting job.

At the same time Neal had gone to talk to Henry, Emma and her parents continued to finish their dinner at Granny's.

"I'm sure Henry and Neal are fine," David said as he noticed his daughter picking at her food.

Emma looked up at him. "No I know. And I'm pretty sure with Neal I would now somehow feel it."

"Then what is it," Mary Margaret asked.

Emma shook her head. "Neal and I have been apart for so long that now that we're…together…it feels weird to be separated."

"We know the feeling," said David.

Emma looked at her parents. "How do you guys do it? How are you together and then lose each other only to find your way back?"

"Well it isn't easy," said Mary Margaret.

"But when you find that true love," said David, "You hold onto it, you trust it."

"It's what's kept you and Neal together hasn't it," Mary Margaret asked.

"Yeah I guess it has," said Emma.

She thought it over. So far she had lost Neal and found him a total of four times.

"You never did tell us," said Mary Margaret.

"Tell you what?"

"How you two met. You were right, other than your time in the foster system and your job as a bail bond's person we don't know who you were before you got here and Neal was a part of that history."

"You really want to know?" Emma asked her mother.

"You practically know every part of our history. There's a whole book on it." Mary Margaret reached for Emma's hands. "I'd like to know my daughter, who she was growing up, starting with how you and my grandson's father met."

The door chimed and Emma looked up. The look of hope turned to disappointment.

"Nice to see you too, Swan," said Regina.

"Sorry," said Emma, "I thought you were someone else."

"I can see that," Regina said taking a seat at the opposite end from Mary Margaret. "Where is that fiancé of yours and that son of ours?"

"Henry stormed out a little while ago. Neal went to go talk to him."

"Emma, the story," Mary Margaret said getting excited.

"What story," asked Regina.

Emma sighed, "My parents want to know how Neal and I first met."

Regina crossed her legs and looked at Emma curiously. "Yes how did you meet the evil imp's spawn?"

Emma shot Regina a look and then focused forward. "Alright. It's really not that long of a story. I was living in Oregon when I was seventeen and I kind of stole his yellow bug while he was still in it."

"Which bug, that bug," asked Mary Margaret.

Emma nodded.

David laughed a little. "Looks like banditry runs in the family."

"And you didn't know he was in there?" asked Mary Margaret.

"No," Emma replied. "He was in the backseat and he kind of surprised me. Funny thing is Henry did the exact same thing a while back when I was trying to find Ashley. I swear that kid has a lot of his father in him, even in those times when I didn't want to see it."

Mary Margaret smiled, "Kids' will usually amaze you that way sometimes." Emma smiled back. "So what happened after Neal surprised you," Mary Margaret asked. Three sets of eyes looked at her. "What, I'm curious."

This time Emma let out a small laugh and decided to humor her mother.

"Well I continued to drive, he introduced himself, and then asked me out. I probably would have turned him down if he hadn't bailed me out with the cop who pulled me over for running a stop sign, explaining to the guy that he was teaching me to drive. It turned out though that the only reason he bailed me out was because I'd stolen a stolen car."

This brought pause to Emma's listening family. They seemed to have frozen with this bit of information.

"Are you telling us that Neal stole that car of yours before you did?" asked Regina. Emma again nodded. "Great both of my son's parents were delinquents.

"We were street kids," Emma said with a shrug. "Stealing was just how we got by."

Emma hadn't realized that her hand drifted to the swan pendant around her neck, her mind returning to the moment when Neal had stolen it for her. She had lied to him about it when she reunited with him unexpectedly in New York. It wasn't a reminder to never trust someone again. If it had been she could have easily gotten rid of it so she would never have to see it again and erase him from her life.

In fact it was the opposite. It was the first gift that had ever meant anything to her, a reminder that their loved had been real and that it still was. If it hadn't been it wouldn't have survived the journey when Neal went back to the Enchanted Forest and returned a year later. Like the ring on her mother's finger, Emma's pendant was a symbol of true love and could not be destroyed.

"Emma," David called out. Emma escaped her reverie and turned to him. "You okay?"

She smiled, "Yeah, all good."

"Is that all there is to the story," asked Mary Margaret.

"Pretty much," replied Emma, "We were together for a few months and you kind of all ready know what happened. Neal left, I got arrested and had Henry in prison but I guess that was all just part of fate intervening," Emma said with a smile.

There would always be those small hinted what if questions: what if her parents had kept her to suffer under the curse with them, what if her mother hadn't gone into labor when she did so that the two of them could have made the journey together and Snow had given birth in this world, what if Neal had stayed or gone to jail for her like he wanted?

So many unbeaten paths but fate had put them on a path they could not control.

None of those what if's seemed to matter now though, because ultimately Emma still had everything she'd ever dreamed of: a mom and a dad, a baby sibling on the way, her son, and Neal. Fate may have torn them all apart but it also brought them back together.

After a few minutes of talking, making small jokes, the door chimed. Once again Emma couldn't help herself to look up and was relieved to see Neal.

"What'd we miss," Neal asked even though he was alone.

Emma shook her head and stood up, getting close to him. "Just telling them how we met."

"The car thief story, nice," Neal said placing a kiss on her cheek. "I was lucky that it was you who broke in and not someone else."

"Lucky," asked Emma, "Your life could have been in danger."

"Nah you wouldn't have hurt me," Neal said with a smug smile.

"So how'd it go with Henry?" Emma asked.

"Good," Neal replied. "I think I may have gotten through to him."

"And where is he," Regina asked.

"He went around back or is the entrance of the B&B the front? He wanted to go to the room."

Regina nodded and stood, disappointed that she wouldn't get to see Henry.

"Hey," Emma said to her, "We'll find a way to get his memories back."

"How, we don't even know where to start."

"We'll figure it out, we always do."

"Since when do you even want him to get his memories back," Regina accused.

Emma ignored the question and Regina nodded and rolled her eyes.

"What's the point," Regina asked, "Maybe he's better off not remembering who I was."

"Regina you can't mean that," said Mary Margaret.

Regina shook her head, "I don't. It's easier to believe that than living with the fact that he doesn't know me. This isn't like the first curse- he won't just remember after true love's kiss."

"Maybe he will," said Emma.

"Doubt it. I'll see you all tomorrow," Regina said leaving the diner.

Emma placed her hand on Neal's arm and then followed Regina out.

"Regina," Emma called to her.

"I'm all talked out, Swan."

"You asked me since when did I want Henry to get his memories back," said Emma.

This gave Regina pause and she turned around to face the blonde.

Emma continued. "You were right to call me on it."

"You think I care if I was right or wrong?"

"I'm trying to explain here."

"I'm sorry, go on."

"I didn't want Henry to get his memories back. I even told Neal as much when I saw him the first time in the hospital. We had a good life. It was the life I'd always wanted for me and for Henry. I didn't want to take that away from him, I still don't but that's just me being selfish. You remember what that was like. You tried to keep Henry away from me when I first came here. All we both had wanted was to keep him to ourselves."

Regina couldn't argue with that.

"We've both made a lot of mistakes," Emma continued, "but we've also made up for them too. Regina, what you gave me before leaving Storybrooke was a gift- you gave me good memories with Henry."

"But none of it was real except this past year," Regina said.

"Maybe not the past eleven years but I still have those memories and they're what my life could have been like had I actually not given him up. Because of you I get to have both versions of my life- what actually was and what could have been. Most people can only dream of what could have been but I have false memories that are as real as my actual ones so let me try to get Henry's memories back, not just for Neal and his grandparents but for you too. He deserves to know all of the good you've done for him, all that you've sacrificed."

"You would really do that for me?"

Emma shrugged, "It's my job to find everyone's happy endings. Maybe this could be a start in finding yours."

For the first time tonight, Regina smiled.

"Thank you, Emma."

Emma smiled and nodded and then watched Regina leave.

The door behind her opened and Emma turned to see her parents and Neal come outside.

"Calling it a night," Emma asked.

"We are," said David, "You're still coming by the apartment tomorrow morning, right? I need your help with that project."

Emma smiled, "We'll be there. I'm pretty sure Henry won't want to be around for it though so maybe I can find someone to look after him."

"Okay then we'll see you both tomorrow," said David, "Neal it's probably safe to assume you're coming," David said in a neutral tone.

"I am."

David nodded, "Okay then. Goodnight," David said to them shooting both a look of an overprotective father that pretty much read 'don't you and my daughter do anything and if you do I don't want to know about it.'

Mary Margaret smiled at them, "Night Emma, night Neal."

Neal smiled at her.

Once Emma's parents were gone, Neal and Emma walked around to the side of the diner. Neal then stopped ant stood in front of Emma.

"So I was thinking," said Neal, "There might be a way to get Henry's memories back if true love's kiss isn't an option."

"How?"

"The potion you took," said Neal.

Author's Note:

Okay so I hope you all enjoyed this very lengthy chapter.

I'm currently writing chapter 8 however with the holidays

fast approaching I may not get a chance to upload another

until after the holiday season is over.

So I only ask that you be patient.

With that said, in case I do not get the chance to upload,

here's to wishing you all a very pleasant holiday season

or a good week if you don't celebrate this time of year.