Almost Home/I Remember

Chapter 1- True North

Emma smiled at Henry as he said that she really was changing things, she felt as if her heart had grown to a size too large for her body. Here was her kid, believing in her, and it made her happy to know that he believed in her all thanks to her trying to reunite a family.  That was when they heard a noise, curiously both Emma and Henry looked to their right, it was an engine. A single light, it wasn’t a car. A motorcycle. Emma looked towards the oncoming motorcycle, and it stopped right in front of them, across the street, but she could still see that it was a man.

She blinked as the man turned to face them, and she felt her heart stop. Neal Cassidy was walking towards her, panic shot through her insides, she had just told Henry his dad was dead, and here was the bastard walking towards them. He couldn’t know about Henry, he couldn’t, so she tried to act calm, pretend that she had never met this man in her life. That was the only way she could not tip off Henry as to the identity of this newcomer.

“Hey”, hey? That was all the bastard was going to say after disappeared for ten years. But no, she was to remain calm, she had to be calm.

“Hey” she responded, it was flat, unfriendly.

“So this is Storybrooke?” Neal asked.

“Yep, this is Storybrooke” Henry quipped.

“Any place to get a room around here?”

Henry’s head tilted, as Emma looked down at her son, their son, “Uh, you are staying?”

“Yeah, for a little while”

“Granny’s, it’s down the road. You can probably stay there!” Henry responded with a smile.

“Thanks kid, what’s your name?”

“Uh kid, let’s get you home. Your mom is bound to get worried, and the last thing I need is her to hate me for another reason” Emma said as she ushered Henry into the cruiser. There, that way Neal wouldn’t think the kid was theirs, even though he was.

“See you around” Neal called out as Emma turned the cruiser on and headed towards the mayor’s house.

Emma looked over at Henry as they drove down the street, “I thought you said strangers don’t come to Storybrooke”

“They don’t” Henry said with a small shrug.

~*~*

An hour later, after dropping Henry off at Regina’s she parked the cruiser right next to Granny’s. A part of her wanted to go inside, tell Neal to get the hell out of town before she arrested him, and drive him to the town line. But another part of her wanted to ask what he was doing in town, and how he knew she was here. Unless he didn’t come looking for her, but then why else was he here? With a sigh she walked into the bed and breakfast, and she spotted Granny at the desk, “Hey Granny, did you rent out a room tonight, guy named Cassidy?” she asked.

“I did” Granny said with a nod.

“Could you tell me which one, I need to have a small chat with him”

Granny gave her a look of concern, “It isn’t anything bad” I hope

“The room you stayed in when you were here” she answered.

Emma thanked Granny as she headed upstairs, and she paused at the door, before knocking rather loudly. Seconds later she heard shuffling inside the room, and when the door finally opened to reveal Neal Cassidy, he smiled.

“Emma” he smiled.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded.

“I”

“Why are you here? Why don’t you go back to that hole you crawled out of?”

“Emma let me..” she cut him off again

“I want you out of this town, you don’t belong here” she crossed her arms.

“Emma come on, let me talk”

Emma glared at him, “Talk” her tone flat.

“I didn’t know you went to jail for me, I was told to stay away from you, that you needed to get here, and that I would get in your way” He started but Emma cut him off by slapping him across the face, the sound seemed to resonate through the whole room, and her hand hurt.

“It doesn’t matter anymore, you screwed me over, I accepted my faith. But you will stay as far away from me as you possibly can, you will not approach me. Ever. If you do, I will arrest you, whatever the hell you are doing in this town, you do it, and get the hell out of here”

“But Emma”

“No buts, you will get out of here, or I will throw you in a jail cell, maybe then you’ll see what I went through when I took the blame for a crime you committed” with that she stalked off, slamming the door to the bed and breakfast rather loudly.

~*~*~*~

With a sigh, Neal touched his cheek at least she hadn’t punched him, if she remembered correctly Emma packed quite the punch. He was planning on explaining the whole thing with August, but she wouldn’t know August, the asshole hadn’t helped her out at all. He admitted it when the two talked in New York, it was why Neal was here instead of the puppet. He needed to make amends with Emma, and he also needed to make her believe, so she would understand that he had done what he did to bring her to this place, with her family.

He closed the door, throwing himself on the bed, he’d start the next day. Hopefully she’d be calmer the next day, and he’d let her explain. The one good thing about small towns was that people knew everyone, he was sure he could charm the location of the sheriff’s station out of someone. He had noticed the badge, and the car, she was sheriff of this town and she probably could throw him in a cell. Neal just hoped she’d listen long enough to at least let him be around her, he had missed her. Gods how he had missed her. Having her in front of him, after ten long years, she was still as beautiful as ever, and seeing her, he remembered just how easy it had been for him to fall in love with her. But this was not the moment to think about that, he needed to sleep and think of a good excuse to be in town if she asked, because saying he was here to make her believe in a magical curse would land him in the nut house.

~*~*

She was still fuming as she made her way into the apartment, Mary Margaret was in the kitchen and she hurried towards her, a look of concern on her face.

“Emma, what’s wrong?”

“The past caught up with me” she mumbled.

“What?” Mary Margaret gave her a confused look, and Emma took that as an invitation to explain what was going on.

“Remember how I was telling you about Henry’s father” Emma admitted.

Mary Margaret pushed the hot cocoa she had been making towards Emma while she prepared one for herself, “You said that you didn’t know where he was”

“Well he showed up tonight, when I was outside. He pulled up on a bike when I was talking with Henry”

“And what did you do?”

“I played it off, pretended I didn’t know him. Dropped Henry off at Regina’s, and then I went back to confront him”

Mary Margaret’s eyes grew wide, Emma had told her briefly about Henry’s father, but she hadn’t told her the whole story. But from what she could gather, Henry’s father had hurt Emma deeply and it had to be affecting her, having him just show up in her life again.

“But how, why?” Mary Margaret asked.

“I don’t know, I didn’t let him get a word in. I just slapped him and stormed off, I was so mad” Emma took a drink of her hot cocoa, hoping to find some comfort in the liquid chocolate. She did feel better, but she felt drained, hell Neal hadn’t even said more than two words, but still she felt drained. What was she going to do?

“Emma, you have to tell Henry. If his father figures out who he is, he might tell him, and that would be problematic for you”

“But he thinks his dad is a hero, not some sleezeball who sent me to prison in his place” Emma said quietly.

“He’s the reason you went to prison?” Mary Margaret asked.

“It’s a long story, are you sure you want to hear it?” Emma gave her friend a look, but Mary Margaret nodded, and Emma started to tell her everything, from the beginning. How they had met in the bug, and until the end, the night she had gotten arrested because of something he set up.

Mary Margaret was speechless, unsure if she wanted such a presence in her friend’s life. Not only had he broken her heart, but he had been the reason Emma had Henry in prison. Emma ran a hand through her curls as she looked at Mary Margaret.

“Say something” Emma said nervously.

“I don’t know what to say, Emma. That sounds, complicated”

“Complicated, try screwed up” Emma said with an eye roll.

“What do you want to do? You can probably run him out of town, but do you really want to do that?” Mary Margaret asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Emma, think about it, your feelings for him have they disappeared? That might help you decide what to do” Mary Margaret.

“Are you thinking I’m still in love with that asshole?” Emma asked.