Where We Belong

There's No Place Like Home

If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own backyard." –Dorothy Gale, The Wizard of Oz

Emma got up from her desk and went over to the window.

The sun was setting against the Boston skyline. The last two months had been business as usual in her job as detective – arresting people for robberies, muggings, stolen identities, etc. She was currently finishing up the paperwork on her last arrest except she couldn't concentrate.

As she continued to stare out the window, she thought about how the leaves in the park in Storybrooke had changed from green to red and orange. She thought about how Jamie had been complaining the last month about going back to school while Evie was excited to be in her mom's class this year. She wondered how David was getting along without her at the police station. She missed them all so much.

David may only be her brother through adoption, but he was her real family. Running away from that foster home was one of the best things she ever did. Now she had more family and friends than she had ever thought possible – yet here she was away from all of them.

She turned her head and her eyes met the Boston harbor; her thoughts immediately went to a certain blue-eyed, dark-haired Brit and the niece he was so good with.

He had managed to break down all those walls she put in place after Neal; he understood her so well – and that's what scared her. That's why she ran. But now that she was here, she realized what she had been missing.

She thought about the few months before she left Storybrooke and the moment that everything changed. However, Emma knew that moment when she and Killian had nearly kissed – the moment that felt so right – had been the culmination of something that had been building since they first laid eyes on each other: "until I met you," just like he had told her.

Love was something she really hadn't known until Ruth adopted her. She loved David, Mary-Margaret, and their kids. She had so many friends in Storybrooke that were more like family that she loved as well. And the last couple of months had shown her what she had always known but never really wanted to admit: she was in love with Killian.

She also knew in her heart that Storybrooke was where she needed to be. It was her home.

And with that, she turned from the window – she had something to tell her boss.

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A few hours later, Emma almost had everything packed and ready to move back to Storybrooke. When her brother had called earlier to catch her up on her niece and nephew (and to check up on her), she almost told him she was coming home. However, she wanted it to be a surprise. The last thing Emma had left to pack was pictures and a few trinkets she had on the dresser in her room. As she stared at the pictures, she couldn't help but laugh at the irony of her once saying that she wasn't sentimental. She knew now that couldn't be further from the truth. They were more than just pictures; they were framed memories of her family and friends.

One of the pictures was of her, Ruby, and Elsa at their senior prom – they had gone has a group. Ruby stood out in her bright, glittery dress against Emma and Elsa's more simple ones. Emma laughed at the memory of her and Elsa politely refusing Ruby's efforts to get them to get a dress that was more like hers.

Emma never would have thought that enjoying something like a senior prom would have been in the cards for her. She made sure she thanked Ruth as much as possible for adopting her, so she could be a normal teenager and to tell Ruth how much she did love her. Emma couldn't stop the single tear that fell from her face as she thought about how peacefully Ruth had passed a year after Emma moved to Boston. Ruth died knowing that both of her kids were truly happy.