I'm sorry for the long wait! I have no real excuses, except life got in the way.

As always, I don't own anything you recognise.

Emma woke slowly, her head pounding and her eyes heavy. The curtains were still closed but she could make out the bright sunlight between the tiny crack in them, and groaned as she realised it had to be at least late morning.

She had a vague memory of Neal leaving bed, dropping a kiss on her shoulder and whispering for her to go back to sleep, but she wasn't sure if that had been real or was part of the dream she'd had the night before. Rolling over, she saw how messy the other side of the bed was and groaned again.

It had been a long time since she'd slept as peacefully as she had last night and she hated that she had to attribute it to the fact that she'd been with Neal.

Last night had been a mistake, from start to finish. She never should have left Abi's room; that had been the first mistake.

No, agreeing to wear his clothes had been her first mistake. Since the divorce, Emma had been using her clothing as a shield, making sure to wear no less than two layers in front of him at all times. She wasn't sure why, but she felt better that way and sitting last night, wrapped in that old blanket and not much else, had made her open up in a way she'd sworn not to do.

Leaving Abi's room had been her second mistake and accepting the whiskey had been her third, she decided, the one that had done the most damage. She didn't get drunk easily, but she'd lost weight since their split and hadn't accounted for that when she'd started knocking it back.

And the conversation she'd had with Neal- she didn't even want to think of what she'd revealed to him, of how she'd sobbed about the baby and about how hurt she felt over the stupid diner. She also didn't want to acknowledge how sweet he'd been, and how good it had felt to just let him comfort her.

She had missed him. She hated to admit it, because she was the one who had pushed for the separation and she was so confused all the time, but she missed his constant presence. She missed going over their days in bed, missed watching him tucking the kids in. She even missed listening to him shout at the TV with her dad as they watched sports, while she sat in the kitchen with her mom and Regina and chuckled at their exuberance.

A loud clatter from the diner below pulled her out of her thoughts and she pushed herself up with another groan, taking her first look at the bedroom Neal insisted she had inspired.

As first impressions went, it was a good one. The bed she was in was huge, much bigger than the one they shared at her parents' place. The sheets were soft against her skin and she could melt back into the pillows if she allowed herself.

Neal's bookcases took up most of the wall, with a small space left in one of them that had to be for her tiny collection of books. The familiar sight of them made her smile; Abi definitely got her book genes from her dad.

Above the bookshelves was the old dream catcher she had gotten him when he was leaving for college. For some reason they had never hung it up in their bedroom, and the sight of it here made her chest ache.

"Hey, I got you a present."

"Oh yeah? Does it involve us being naked?"

Emma rolled her eyes, pushing him away with a grin.

"I'm not getting naked with you. You might be a pervert." She joked, throwing her coat onto the chair in the corner of his room.

"I might be a pervert." He conceded with a laugh. "But you're definitely a tease."

"Shut up or I'm not giving you the present."

She pulled a brown paper bag out of her purse and handed it to him, watching as he opened it carefully.

"What is it?" He asked, allowing it to dangle from his fingertips.

"It's a Native American dream catcher. I got it when mom and I went to visit Pocahontas. I know you have nightmares and I thought, since you'll be away and I won't be close enough for you to sneak in to my room to sleep anymore, that this would help."

"What does it do?"

"It's supposed to keep the nightmares out and only let the good dreams in to protect your home."

"It's fly paper for nightmares?"

She made a sound of agreement, watching as his face softened as he held it.

"We're gonna hang this in our place one day." He finally spoke again.

Emma rested her head against his shoulder, sighing at the thought that it was only two weeks until he'd be leaving for college, and it would be at least two months before she saw him again.

"Yeah." She agreed. "Right above your wall of books."

She hadn't thought of that memory in so long, and she felt her chest tighten as she realised that he remembered the entire conversation, and had hung it exactly where they said they would.

She turned away from it, taking a deep breath as she took in the rest of the room. There was a large vanity against the mirror, tidy and clutter free and she knew it was for her. It was exactly like her grandmother's vanity, the one she'd loved so much as a child but had been donated to charity after her grandmother had died. She didn't remember ever having an adult conversation about wanting it but somehow he'd remembered. She briefly wondered if it was the same vanity, if he'd somehow managed to track it down. With his father's contacts, it probably wouldn't be difficult.

She wasn't sure she'd ever use a vanity; she wasn't the type of woman to sit down and apply her make up leisurely, but she couldn't deny that the effort and thought that had gone into it made her melt slightly.

Her clothes were piled neatly on top of the vanity and she rose to get them. The carpet beneath her feet was soft and plush and she curled her toes up slightly as she dressed.

Her watch revealed that it was well after noon, and as she lifted it she saw the note beneath.

Morning, sleeping beauty. I brought the kids into the city with me to pick some stuff up, we'll be back around one if you want to hang around and have lunch with us. Love N.

The familiar sight of his initial and the smiley face he always drew her made her smile softly.

She sat at the vanity and stared at herself in the mirror, wondering what to do.

She'd been confused about her feelings yesterday, but now she was worse. Their conversation the night before combined with the room she was sitting it had made her think that maybe he had never lied, maybe he was pushing the diner for them, as a family.

But she was still so hurt by the fact that he threw all his time and effort into this place, that he'd never even tried to fight for her when she asked for a separation and she was afraid that that hurt would turn to resentment over time. And she knew she was hurting him; but she didn't want to give everyone false hope.

The living room had been tidied from the night before, and in the light she could see the huge windows overlooking the street below and, further down, the docks.

She leant against the wall, watching the grey blue water move under the sun. There was something peaceful about the rhythm of the waves, and she found herself relaxing.

"Some view, huh?"

The voice statement was quickly followed by a light kiss on her shoulder that made her jump and shiver simultaneously. She swatted him lightly as she turned towards him, taking in the sight of his unruly hair and easy smile.

"The kids are downstairs, they sent me up to see if you would eat with us."

"So Henry knows I stayed here, huh?"

He chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck in a familiar gesture.

"Yeah, he came to wake me this morning and saw us."

She groaned and rubbed her face, turning away from him to watch the water again.

"Relax, he's walked in on us doing a lot worse than sleeping. Remember that time your parents took him to the movies and he forgot his scarf?"

Emma felt her face flush at the reminder and turned to glare at him, trying to ignore the knowing smirk on his face.

"Stop it. Right now." She poked him lightly with her finger, trying not to let her mind linger on the memory of him pressing her against the kitchen wall, teeth sunk into her collarbone as his fingers moved beneath her panties. She was still pretty convinced they had scared Henry for life that day.

"Seriously, stop smirking at me." She snapped at him, pushing past him. She was walking blindly, surprised when she stopped before a wall of photos. She hadn't noticed them in the dim light the night before, but as she looked now she saw the narrow strips of wall between the doors leading to the bedrooms were covered, top to bottom, with photographs. Regina had mentioned photos in the dinner as well and she suddenly felt a burning curiosity to see which he had chosen to display publicly.

She looked over the first set of photos, smiling at the picture of a proud looking Henry holding a newly born Abi. The photo beside was one of the entire family gathered around her hospital bed, smiling as Whale took a photo with her mother's camera.

There was a photo from Killian's birthday the year before, where she stood between him and Neal. She was lightly grasping Killian's hand and her other arm was around Neal's waist as the three of them smiled for the camera.

"This is my favourite." Neal's voice was soft as he reached around her to point out the photograph taken two Christmases ago.

The two of them were at the front of the picture, his arm around her shoulder as she rested against him with a tired smile. Henry, Abi and their parents, minus her mother who had taken the photo, were in the background unwrapping presents. Everyone looked so happy that she felt her heart constrict painfully again.

"Yeah, it's a good one." She finally agreed, coughing lightly.

"Listen, Henry's going to spring this on you later and I thought I should give you a heads up. He wants to have his birthday party downstairs, in the diner."

"Of course he does." Emma sighed. Seemed like her days of avoiding the place were over. To be fair, she had been expecting this since Henry started dropping hints about having a party last week. He hadn't had one in years, preferring to be taken into the city with his parents and going to see a show or something, so she couldn't even deny him one. Not that she would. A birthday party was the least she could do with what she was putting them through with the separation.

"At least it won't cost much." She sighed. Neal snorted and nodded.

"I thought maybe we could plan it together."

She looked at him, at his earnest expression and couldn't find it in herself to extinguish the hope in his eyes.

Something between them had shifted last night, and she was going to have to be careful to keep her footing.

Still, there wasn't much harm in planning a birthday party together, and he gave her one of his wide, happy grins when she told him so.

"I'll come by after work tomorrow, and we can start sorting things out." She said.

"Sounds good." He replied. "What about lunch?"

"I guess so." She sighed, throwing her jacket over her arm and allowing him to lead her out.

The diner was busy when they got downstairs, and she spotted Henry and Killian at a window booth.

"Where's Abi?" She asked, her eyes scanning the room for her.

"She might have went with your mom. She was here when I went upstairs and said she was going shopping."

"I wanted to make sure she was okay after last night."

"She was fine. Sang along with the radio the whole way into the city and let me tell you, a career in singing isn't something we should ever encourage."

Emma chuckled, against her will. "She gets that from your side. Mom and I are great singers."

"That's because you and your mom excel at whatever you try." Neal agreed easily. His hand was on the small of her back, firm and warm as he manoeuvred her through the crowd.

Henry watched with eager eyes as his mom and dad made their way slowly towards their booth. They were talking about something, and his mom was laughing. It wasn't loud or dramatic, it was a quiet chuckle that reminded Henry of when his mom was in a bad mood and his dad would crack jokes and tell funny stories about their friends and high school until she came out of it, with a quiet chuckle and a fond smile.

"Nice work indeed, lad." Killian murmured beside him. "That's already a fair improvement since last time I saw them together."

"I know, right? And I told dad I wanted my party here, so you know he'll warn mom that I'm going to ask and then they'll plan it together because they won't want to let me down."

Killian laughed softly. "Henry, I do believe you could take over the world if you put your mind to it."

Henry shot him a smug look, before clearing his face as his parents reached the table.

"What we need now is to give your dad a little push in the right direction. He's already there, ready to swoop in the minute your mother gives him any indication she's ready. We need to push him to swoop in before that."

Henry nodded seriously as Killian spoke, filing away everything he said. His uncle Killian was always going out with new women, he had to know what he was talking about.

Grace was going to love this.