A One Up!

Emma awoke to the sound of a quiet conversation taking place downstairs. At first it seemed like a dream as she forgot where she was. As she became more aware she remembered she was back home in the apartment in Storybrooke and soon recognized those voices to be James and Snow her very own fairytale parents.

She tried not to make too much noise as she sat up and settled in to eavesdrop.

"Well that's because she's spent all that time with you. I'm telling you Snow she hates me." James said.

"She doesn't hate you. She just doesn't know you."

"So that makes me more stranger than family. Snow... it's not fair. She's had all this extra time with you."

"I didn't even know she was my daughter at the time. I can't help that she found me first."

"Well... I feel left out, I really do, and the life we've been living... our cursed lives, well that didn't help me out at all here. She's only ever going to see me as David and all the memories I have of her when I thought I was David are not much to recount."

"James... don't beat yourself up about this. Giver her time. She'll come around."

"Really? I don't think so... If anything my cursed life as David has made her grow that much more closer to you. I mean all she's done since she got here is defend you, stand by you, and protect you. She's... she's your little carbon copy. She'd do anything for you because she's just like you. She's so much like you and I'm so... I'm so..."

"Jealous?" She tries not to grin as she says this but Snow genuinely finds his current behavior funny. "James... She doesn't love me any more than you. I mean how do you think I feel?"

"Wonderful I would imagine. Proud of yourself perhaps... I can tell you're thoroughly enjoying me act like a child right now."

"No no... James... listen to me." She smiles trying not to laugh, "I'm sorry, I'm not laughing at you." This comment gets her a pointed look. "I'm not! Look..." She walks over to stand in front of him as he sits in the stool. She puts her hands in his and finishes, "Our cursed lives were just that. I mean I'm almost having to start all over with her now. Everything she thought she knew about me was not me. It was part of the curse. I'm not Mary Margaret and while we'll be stuck having... their memories... we have to take this new opportunity to get to know her as our daughter. If she really is just like me she'll come around. I'm sure of it."

"How are you so sure?"

"Well, believe it or not it's because of you. When Emma and I were back in our old world there was a moment where she seemed beyond hope. Do you know what I said to her? I said, if there is one thing I learned from your father it is to never give up."

"Huh... you really said that to her?" He said with an amazed expression on his face.

"Yeah, and it worked. All we had to do was believe in you and your hope and she was fine. I mean she was even trying to keep me focused towards the end there... I'll admit I lost it a little. I was too busy worrying about you being in a sleeping curse I lost focus but she took what I said about you and used it to hold me together."

"Really? Wow... I'm... flattered."

"Yeah, who's proud of himself now?" She says with a sly grin which quickly fades into a more somber expression. "Look... Emma is a part of our life no matter what. She's here now and I think if she planned on leaving us she would have done it by now. She wants this to work. She wants us to be a family. As strange as all this may be to her she still wants that."

"I guess you're right."

"You know I'm right... there should be no guessing." She smiles fully. "Do you know what I find funny about all this?"

"No... what?"

"That while you think she is just like me I have found many tell tale signs that she is just like you."

"Like what?"

"Oh... no Charming..." She says in a singsong voice. "I will let you come to that conclusion yourself. I would hate to spoil the surprise or miss the look of utter shock when it hits you."

"If... that ever happens." He says slumping in defeat.

"It will. Now, I'm off to Granny's, I promised to have lunch with Red. She'll be waiting for me. Emma should be getting up soon... I don't think I've ever known her to sleep this late. You actually might want to check on her in a bit."

"And what would I say exactly... Um... Emma... sweetheart... do you want to wake up and go get some ice cream with Daddy?" He says with the most ridiculous expression on his face.

"Can I just have some coffee instead?" Emma asks groggily from the bottom of the stairs startling both Snow and James to a stand.

"Oh... Good Morning Emma. We... didn't see you." James says suddenly feeling worried they were overheard. Throwing a fleeting glance at Snow.

"You weren't listening to us just then were you?" Snow asks as she catches Emma's gaze.

Not willing to own up to her eavesdropping just yet she plays it off rather well with a, "Why? Were you guys... Flirting? I definitely do not need to hear that this early in the morning."

The thought only caused Snow to blush. She lets out a quick gasp before saying, "No, we were just talking. Are you feeling alright? You've been in bed most of the morning already."

"It's my first Sunday off in a while... I was just enjoying the quiet I guess. I'm fine." She says as she shrugs her shoulders.

"Are you hungry? We had some breakfast left over or I can stay and make you some lunch?" Snow offered.

"No no... you go on. I'll make something for myself. I need to shower first anyhow."

"Okay well I'm off to meet Red. I'll be back in a bit. " She offered before pressing a quick kiss to James' cheek and squeezing Emma's arm as she passed her on the way out the door.

Silence fell upon the room. Emma stood there with her arms clasped behind her back uncertain what to say at the moment. James, who sat back down in the stool at the counter, twiddled his thumbs and held his breath.

When he finally opens his mouth to speak and before he can say a word Emma suddenly blurts out, "I'm gonna jump in the shower". Throwing her thumbs in the general direction of the bathroom she starts to walk away.

"So do you really want some coffee? I can start a pot if you like?" He says with nothing but hope in his voice.

She stops suddenly and gives a quick look over her shoulder, "Uh, yeah... thanks."

He flashes her a smile and she stops herself from smiling back.

"Coffee with James is probably going to be something like Cocoa with Mary Margaret pre curse breaking."

She had yet to sit down and have Cocoa with Snow so in a way this might make up for the way James has been feeling. Something he could hold over Snow later, "Sort of like a one up". She thinks as she smiles to herself.

She heads on to have her shower and when she comes out dressed and ready he's setting down a mug at the kitchen table with this sort of expectant look on his face.

"Yup... definitely going to be like a Cocoa session." She says under her breathe.

"What was that?" James asks.

"Um... nothing... " She says with a quick shake of her head.

He pulls out a chair for her and she accepts the invitation to sit down. He then walks over to sit across from her with his own mug of coffee.

The silence settles in once again. They each take a few sips of coffee from their respectable mugs and set them down. It seems to happen in a pattern. She takes a sip. He watches. She sets her mug down. He picks his up, all very timed, and uncomfortable until finally James gets the nerve to try and start some sort of conversation. "Soooo..." he says drawing out the word hoping it will give weigh to something more meaningful.

"I don't hate you." She suddenly blurts without looking him in the eye.

"Wha... What?" He stuttered seemingly caught off guard.

"I don't hate you. I could never hate you." She says sitting up straighter in her chair pulling her hands to rest on her lap under the table.

"Ah, so... you did hear us." He says leaning back against the chair running a hand over his forehead. "I... how much did you hear?"

"Enough to be able to come up with an... I don't hate you." She grins.

"I don't know exactly what you heard but I'm sorry you caught all of that. I was just frustrated. I can't help but feel... you know... jealous of your relationship with your Mo..."

"Mary Margaret!" She yells in panic. "Or Snow... just don't call her... you know". She says more calmly.

Smiling he continues. "Yeah well... she is your Moth..."

"Nope... not ready." Defiance clearly written on her face.

He gives her a nod and sits up in his chair. "Emma, I just... I need you to know that I want this to work for all of us. I know you are... not ready... but when you are well I'll be here for you."

"I know and honestly... you have nothing to be jealous of. She was right. We are having to start all over. I mean Henry and I didn't wake up to a new reality like you and Snow did. The curse was broken and my reality was the same only now the people in it became something else. Now there's magic. Now I have parents and now... now I have a son."

"He's great by the way."

"Yeah... and I'm jealous of you having spent so much time with him. How's that for irony?" She says smiling. "He is pretty great but I can't take any credit for that. He's done so much on his own. He brought me here. He fought to convince me to believe in... well... everything. Now we're all together and we have to figure things out. We have to make this work. We have to be a family."

"We have to? When did you become so..."

"Fierce? I must get it from my parents." He laughs at this watching her roll her eyes before a smile grows on her face.

The happy moment turns more serious as she presses on. "I'm not gonna lie, I don't trust many people, and I rarely trust men enough to let them into my life. You were right when you thought that David's life was reason for me not to trust you. I just don't hate you because of that. I know that part of the curse was losing your happy ending and I was trying hard to protect Mary Margaret from... well not from you... from David."

She gives him a look to see if he is understanding her before continuing, "For this to work... for us to be a family we're going to have to let go of David and Mary Margaret, which trust me I know is hard, but it's something we're all going to have to learn to do. I mean... I let Mary Margaret in and I'll have to deal with letting that part of her go but I also have this chance to let Snow in and be my... well.. you know. The same goes for you."

There is another long moment of silences as Emma gets up to walk over to set her coffee mug in the sink. She comes back to stand next to the kitchen table and face James. "I didn't have any sort of relationship with David but he's not here. Right now sitting at this table is James and I trust him more than I should trust any man. He's done nothing but fight for the safety of my family... our family."

James sits there thinking things over. It was huge that Emma was willing to come out and be direct with him. He didn't really have much to add for arguments sake. He sat there in silence and noticed her eyes on him. He smiled weakly to let her know he had heard her at least. When he started to feel like Emma was walking away to leave he stood from his chair, "Do you want to maybe go get something to eat?"

"Um... sure... but I don't want Snow to feel like we're crashing her lunch date with Red if we show up at Granny's."

"No... it'll be fine. That way when she sees us walk in together I'll have something to hold over her... sort of like a one up."

Emma laughs, "A one up?".

"Yeah... you know... make her jealous if I sort of outdo her?"

"I know what a one up is... I'm just shocked that... never mind." She laughs it off. Should she push it and tell James that Snow was right and she was more like him than they both thought? "Maybe I'll tell him about it on the way to Granny's."

Either way... this was a good start.