[ open ]

[uncurse]

CHARACTERS: EMMA SWAN and various throughout the month
LOCATION: various
WARNINGS: N/A
SUMMARY: Catch-all for Jan
NOTES: Canon update-y stuff, PM or plurk me if you want me to do a starter, or drop one of your own!

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Comments

[rebelprincess]

[ For Snow, this is just another jump. Although the fact that "just another" is a prefix for "jump" at this point is more than a little alarming if she thinks about it too much. So, she doesn't. She lays on her bed and she reads through a book downloaded to her comm device. When there's a knock on the door, she's glad for the interruption.

And even more glad to be interrupted by: ] Emma!

[ Snow smiles wide and steps to one side to allow her daughter entry into her room, should she like, without being presumptuous that this is a proper social call. ]

To what do I owe the pleasure?

[uncurse]

I, uh.

[ Emma's expression flutters into a smile and she nods, stepping inside the room and glancing around it as though she expects something to be different. It's not, of course, but the impulse to re-familiarize herself with the ship remains. ]

I missed you at the jump. Sorry. Wanted to make sure everything was okay with SEC.

[ Once she reaches the middle of the room, she turns, shoulders hunching and arms crossed. ]

I went home. [ For someone like Emma, 'home' carries a hell of a lot more weight than it does for most people aboard the ship. ]

[rebelprincess]

Oh, don't worry about that. It's not like I expect you to check in with me first thing every time.

[ But something's off. Something is off and... Why does Snow suddenly feel as if she's been punched in the heart? ]

You... went home?

[ She's confused. Confused, and jealous, and she shouldn't be the latter. It's good that Emma went home. And bad that she came back, isn't it? It's selfish of Mary Margaret to be glad that her daughter didn't stay gone. Glad that she wasn't left here alone. She feels suddenly like a terrible mother, and a terrible person. ]

I-- What happened?

[uncurse]

A lot. New York, the new curse, Zelena, the time portal.

[ She starts to pace a bit, shaking her head as she tries to recount precisely how much went on. Her hands splay out, coming up finally empty but for the most recent, and she drops her hands to her sides as she adds. ]

And Ingrid.

[ Which feels like the hardest part of it all to broach with her mother, her mother who'd been so reluctant to give her up but been forced into it. Talking to her about any part of the happiness she'd found, once upon a time, with Ingrid in the foster system is like twisting a knife in an old wound, but she remembers it now. For however short a time, she was happy, even loved. ]

Any of this ringing bells?

[rebelprincess]

You were headed to New York the last time I saw you, before I arrived here. You and Henry were... forgetting me. Us. Storybrooke.

[ Snow shakes her own head - like daughter, like mother - and looks apologetic. ]

I don't know any of the rest. I'm sorry.

[uncurse]

It's okay.

[ A smile lights on her face and she steps closer, wanting to reassure but clearly not positive on how to best reach out, or if it's even welcome. ]

You will. [ Her speech quickens with the passion of certainty. ] We're gonna see each other again: that was not goodbye forever.

[rebelprincess]

[ It hits her like a ton of bricks. Relief. She had held the fear in so long, made it so a part of her that she had forgotten what it was like not to feel it. Forgotten she was feeling it at all. The squeaking sob surprises no one more than herself, one hand coming up quickly to cover her mouth and stifle any further sound. ]

Emma.

[ She wraps her arms around the other woman's shoulders and holds her to her tightly. ]

It hurt so much, giving you up a second time. I'm so sorry. I am so, so sorry.

[uncurse]

[ This time, Emma welcomes the hug. Stepping in closer, she wraps her mother up in her arms, shutting her eyes and resting her chin over the other woman's shoulder. The embrace lasts in silence, full of warmth and understanding, for a long moment. Then she pulls back, nodding her encouragement. ]

I know, but you don't have to be. What Regina did—for me, for Henry. She gave us a good life. We were happy.

[rebelprincess]

[ Emma's face is held in Snow's hands when she draws back enough to study her. Her thumbs brush over her cheekbones, then the chin that looks like hers. She tucks away from her face a strand of her hair - blonde like her father's. She doesn't let it overwhelm her often, but everything feels overwhelming at the moment. ]

I'm so glad. That's all I ever wanted for you. I'm just sorry I wasn't able to be the one to give it to you.

[uncurse]

[ I'm just worry I wasn't able to be the one to give it to you. It sounds too much like what Neal and Ingrid had told her as they sacrificed themselves. ]

You are, though. She showed me a life where I was … I was happy, I had my family, people I loved. And I have that in Storybrooke. With you, and David, and Killian, and Henry. [ And she couldn't sound more relieved about it. ] It shouldn't have taken me so long to see it.

[rebelprincess]

[ The hug is renewed and it's all she can do not to cry harder. It's not that she pretends that she's not an emotional person, but sometimes she feels like it's all too much. Perhaps especially for Emma, who'd always been so closed off. But... something is different. It's jarring, but in a way that's welcome. ]

Are they all right?

[ She's worried for all of them, but David most of all. Being without him has been like being only half a person. (If only she knew how close to that she is.) But Snow White has a heart big enough for everyone in Storybrooke, and their well-being is certainly on her mind. ]

[uncurse]

Yeah. [ Committed, definitive nod. She knows Snow's concern because she'd shared it. ] There was a curse, a spell that brought out the worst in everyone, but we took care of it. Everyone's safe.

[rebelprincess]

Oh, thank goodness.

[ That curse sounds... awful. But also like something she probably doesn't want more details about. Not just yet anyway. If Emma says everyone, then that's what she means, and that means Snow included. Snow knows the darkness that lies in her heart. ]

Is it true that when you go home, it's like you never left? No one's noticed you were ever gone?

[uncurse]

True, and true. I was right back on the Jolly Roger. Hell, even I didn't notice I'd been gone. It wasn't until I was back aboard Tranquility that I even remembered I'd been here. [ She shakes her head then. ] Some of it's still coming back.