Chapter Text
Summer. It has its ups and downs. And well normally Summer is Emma’s least favorite season. Fall usually holds the top spot. But god, is summer needed this year. Emma is in desperate need of a break and an entire summer back home with her parents is exactly what she needs.
Emma is laying on the floor of her bedroom with her suitcase half-open, clothes spilling out of it onto the floor. Her hair is a mess, she's wearing her favorite pair of comfy leggings and her oversized college hoodie, bare feet and a light sheen of sweat on her face.
“Do I even want to ask?”
Lifting Emma’s attention off her current state of despair is her roommate Tink, stood in Emma’s doorway with an amused smirk on her face.
Emma met Tink on her first year of college she was Emma’s roommate of the time Wendy’s boyfriends' sister.
Emma never really did get on with Wendy, she was a stuck up elitist bitch if you ask Emma but she did introduce her to Tink so that counts for something. Tink as all her friends call her is actually Elle, but a dress-up party mishap got her the nickname ‘Tink’ and well it stuck.
“It won't close” Emma breathed out a desperate moan one last time at her betraying suitcase lying next to her.
“Why don’t you just take some of it out?” Tink always the rational one of the pair.
See Emma has always thought of them as the perfect Yin and Yang. Tink is the easy-going fun loving one that if something doesn't work? She just gets rid of that something. Emma, on the other hand, is the kind, loyal one who over stresses a bit too much and will try until she dies to make something work rather than give up on it. I guess that's what you get for being an unloved perfectionist for most of your life, she always had to make everything work out for the best, even the worst of situations.
“I can’t, I need it all. I just. need. this. stupid. thing. to. close”
Emma’s now laying on top of her suitcase trying to weigh it down with her body whilst she zips around her self.
“Or you could just admit that you're not actually stressed about your luggage, you're stressing about the thought of going home”
“And why would I be stressed about that. I love my parents, I cant wait to spend the summer with them”
Tink finally looks down at Emma in pity and joins her to sit on top of Emma’s suitcase adding the extra weight needed to force the zip closed. With a shout of victory from Emma, the case is finally sealed.
“Yes, but you also haven't really spent that much time home in years. And I think you're kinda nervous about seeing everyone again”
And yeah Emma hadn't been home in a while. She does feel really bad about it, but it's normally her parents coming down to visit her and spend a few days or a week with her catching up. And, it's not that she hasn’t wanted to go home, but well its been a really crazy past couple of years.
As well as studying full time at Yale, Emma also amazingly got published a little over a year ago now. It was one of those strange moments that you hear about in movies but that never really happens in real life. A second-year college student with no name for herself getting her first-ever book published.
Honestly, the whole thing was so unreal to her.
See, one of the first people Emma truly made friends with at college was August. He was in her literature and comparative cultures class and they just clicked instantly. August was a bit of an enigma at first she supposes that's what drew her to him. Everyone knew who he was by name, his father being Marco Gepetto, founder of Gepetto publications. But no one really knew anything about August other than his family name, he wasn't the most social of people. And well, neither was Emma.
Emma had been writing ‘The Savior’ for some time but definitely didn't have any intention to send it to a publicist. It was just for her. A piece of herself for herself.
The book was centered around Emma’s alter ego ‘The Savior’ an orphan who after years of isolation finally found her real family. She had to endure tests and trials of her bravery to finally get home and find her family and live happily ever after so to speak. It was the kind of fairytale Emma always wished she could have read growing up. The kind that shows young kids that it doesn't matter where you come from or what your life has been like, there is a happy ending out there for you. Where you get to be the hero and take control of your own life and happiness.
It took a lot of her nerves to show it to August as he was always so curious to read whatever it was that she was always writing. Finally relenting she allowed August to read the first draft, who in turn passed it on to his father. She was pretty pissed about that at first.
But, well it's gotten her to where she is now. A 21-year-old 3rd-year ivy league college student and published writer.
And none of it more surprising to her as just how well the book sales had gone. People were loving it. To the point where she was encouraged to write a sequel. Marco decided it would work well as a series.
So here she was about to go home with the intention of finishing the second book in the peace and quiet of her old home town where the inspiration all began. At least that’s what Emma pitched to Marco.
Realistically, Emma just needs to get away.
But Tink is right, she kind of is anxious about being back home. She knows everyone is so proud of her, her mom tells her all the time. They even held a book club in town so everyone would have the chance to read Emma’s book. And it’s sweet, really. But also, it’s a lot.
She just wants time for her mind to untangle slightly, but she has a feeling that won't be on the cards for her this summer. Instead, it will be filled with small-town folk wanting to know every possible thing they can about how Emma’s life has been since she graduated high school and moved off to college.
And therein itself is another aspect Emma has been dreading about being home. Reliving her senior year. A year filled with so much joy, stress, confusion, first love, and heartbreak. It's going to be quite the walk down memory lane.
It had been hard at first moving past all of it, growing up. She’s even had a few relationships within the past few years. Which she’s proud to be able to say she is fully out of the closet now, and everyone in her life was nothing but supportive. And yes even one of those relationships ended in heartbreak. But none of those women held a candle to her first love. Regina.
Emma would be lying if she said she didn't try to stalk Regina’s social media accounts after she left, trying to keep up with her life. But after a while, she realized it would never help her move on. Also, the thought of seeing Regina happily married by now was a bit too much for Emma to handle.
So yes, it took three years for Emma to even be able to talk about Regina and no if she’s entirely honest with herself, she will never probably be entirely over her. But she’s at a good place now with accepting the role Regina played in her life. It doesn't completely crush her soul to hear about Regina anymore.
Which, is good as her mother the gossip she is, is far too happy to tell Emma all about her. That in itself is another reason Emma hasn’t been home in some time. Late last year Regina moved back to Storybrooke, right next door again. She had rented out her house when she left. Emma assumes Regina always wanted to leave the option of coming back open.
She even went back to teaching but not at Storybrooke High this time. No, she’s now a lecturer at the University.
In fact, thanks to her mother Emma knows a lot about Regina’s current life. She moved back after her father passed away, turns out the reason she left in the first place was to look after him.
She now also has a son. Named after her father Henry. He's three. That's all Emma knows about him though. She couldn't bring herself to hear about Regina meeting the perfect man and starting a family with him, so she did manage to evade her mother mentioning anymore on that topic.
And that's where her information on Regina stops. Every time her mom would mention Regina, or that Regina had stopped by and asked how Emma was getting on at college, Emma always changed the topic. And well, eventually her mom got the hint. They don't talk about Regina anymore.
So yeah, Emma is actually pretty terrified at the thought of seeing Regina again after 3 years of nothing but the memory of walking away from her on the beach in tears.
Annoyingly Tink was right. Emma really was anxious about returning home.
By the time Emma saw the ‘Welcome to Storybrooke’ sign, she was about ready to collapse. She did the full four and a half-hour drive in one go, no stops. She was filled with too much nervous energy.
On one hand, she can't wait to be wrapped up in her parent's arms, but on the other hand, she really just wants to go back to the safety of her bedroom back in New Haven.
It’s a bit late for that now though.
Its late afternoon by the time Emma is pulling up Mifflin street. She just wants her parents and her bed.
Emma pulls up behind her dad’s car on the drive, before dragging her aching body out of the car.
Before she even manages to shut the car door behind her she's enveloped in a bone-crushing hug by her dad, lifting her off the ground and into her arms. She might be struggling to breathe, but there is nowhere else she would rather be right now.
She wraps her own arms just as tightly around him. She's pretty embarrassed at how she can feel her eyes tearing up.
“Welcome home kiddo” David sounds just as emotional as Emma does. It really has been too long since she's been home.
MM comes out next complaining about David not sharing Emma. Emma hugs her mom next just as tight with a watery laugh.
Her mom pulls away to hold Emma’s face in her hands.
“We’ve missed you so much”
Unable to tell her just how much she's missed them too, Emma just pulls her mom back in for another hug, wiping roughly at her eyes.
“You bring much with you?”
“Just my suitcase in the boot and my backpack”
David reaches into the back to grab her case, pulling it out with a lot more ease than Emma got it in there with, carrying it easily into the comfort of her house. Arm in arm with her mom, she follows him into the house.
Emma doesn’t know why she was expecting it to look different when she returned home but it wasn’t. In fact, it's like it had been frozen in time, nothing had changed since she first moved out. It even smelled the exact same. It smelled like home.
After spending a good couple hours with her parents catching them up on everything they've missed lately and them in return to her, Emma finally made her way to her room to crash for the night.
Driving through town wasn't as bad as Emma thought it would be. For some reason she was expecting it to be a floodgate of emotion, she didn't even bother looking toward the beach for that specific reason. However, the chest crushing memories never came. Not until this moment, standing in the middle of her bedroom.
There were so many moments that happened in Emma's room. Moments she couldn’t forget even if she tried.
To the first time she ever spent any real time with Regina; Her Christmas party, where she spent most of the night talking to Regina on her balcony.
And the most prominent one; Prom night. With Regina standing in front of her looking at her in a way no one has ever looked at her since.
Suddenly she'd rather sleep anywhere else than here tonight. It's going to be one long-ass summer.