Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon a Time or any of these characters. This story is for entertainment purposes only and has no commercial aim. Please do not publish without my explicit consent
AN/ I loved the interaction between Snow and August. She was projecting her own guilt on him. But she was right about many things. Here is a potential follow up of that talk.
Second Chance
"May I have a moment?" August approached Mary Margaret who was sitting on the couch. She nodded and he sat down next to her. "I wanted to thank you."
"Thank me? What for? I didn't do anything.' She responded surprised.
"You believed it my right to have a second chance." He answered. "No one had ever done that before. Except my father. So I'm thinking that I might return the favor."
"Please, I don't want to talk about it." She pushed him away.
"There are people who care about you." He quoted her own words. "Your husband, your daughter, your grandson. And you have to get past this for them."
"Using my own words against me." She smiled. "Clever. But it's not going to work."
"I'm not using anything against you. I'm just quoting what someone very wise told me when I needed to hear it most." He took a deep breath. "When you stumbled upon me in the trailer, you told me that everyone deserves a second chance. Why wouldn't you?"
"I… I tricked Regina into killing her own mother. There is no redemption for that." The woman who August had once known as Snow White had lost faith. He understood how she felt and wanted to help her like she had helped him.
"I heard that you stopped Regina's execution once. You believed that she could be redeemed. You wanted to give a chance for redemption to the woman who killed your father, who almost killed your husband several times, the woman who wanted nothing more than to destroy your life. Why aren't you willing to give yourself that chance?" He looked her in the eyes. She didn't answer. "When Emma first came to Storybrooke, I was far away and I started to turn back into wood. So I went to this healer, The Dragon. He prepared a cure, which would have stopped my transformation. But he also told me that I am the only one who can get rid of the problem. And he was right. I understood that on my way back to Storybrooke in Tamara's car. I was there to warn Emma because there was nothing more important to me than her safety. I had turned to wood because I had lost sight of that. And I was the only one who could remind myself of that. The same goes for you. No one can help you but yourself."
"August, I killed a person. Worse I had a person killed by her own daughter." Mary Margaret "You can't compare."
"Look. I made mistake after mistake my entire life. I separated you from your daughter. I conspired to send her to jail and I pretty much ruined her life. And yet, you tried to convince me so hard that I deserved a second chance. Why wouldn't you?" He said. Mary Margaret didn't answer. "You tried to tell me that it was worth trying for the people who care about you. Maybe one say, we will both be able to live with your mistakes and do it for ourselves. But for now maybe we should focus on our families. I have my father. You have your husband and your friends. And Emma needs all of us. She has been through too much already and now everything is on her shoulders."
"I don't know whether I have the strength." She cried out loud.
"Maybe Mary Margaret Blanchard, the weak school teacher, doesn't but Snow White, queen, wife and mother sure does. Even though I didn't live very long in the palace, I remember a strong woman who didn't give up so easily. Who sacrificed way too much for her family to abandon them like this. And I know that she is somewhere in there. The question is: can you let her out?" They remained silent for a little bit.
"I can try." Snow finally smiled for the first time in weeks.
"No. You will succeed." He smiled at her. "I have to go. My father is waiting for me. Think about what we talked about?" Mary Margaret nodded.
"August?" She called after him as he approached the door. "Thank you.""
"Any time. Your Highness."
AN/ So? What did you think?