Roni

Chapter Fourteen

After the long night the new roommates all suffered from the previous evening, they slept in the next day. Roni recommended going out to eat at that cute little diner that her and Emma had visited a few times now.

Emma is pushing her food around her plate and for the first time in a long time she can't find the appetite she usually possesses. Her daughter is sitting right beside her in the booth, happily eating without a care in the world with her mother and Regina watching her carefully from across the table.

"I don't understand how your father thought it was okay for you to miss school," she finally snaps, angrily throwing a French fry down on her plate as fury festers for too long inside.

"I think, he thinks, we will be back tonight," her daughter answers with a mouth full of food.

Something deep inside of Emma waits on pins and needles for Regina to scold Ella for chewing with her mouth open, but it never comes and there's that searing hot pang of guilt again knowing the distinct difference between Roni and Regina.

"Well that's not going to happen," Emma mutters mostly to herself, shifting the fries around her plate for the umpteenth time. "Today I'm going to enroll you in school and you can stay here with me."

"Emma, do you really think..."

She cuts her mother off immediately, "are you going to take her back tonight? Or at least by the end of the week?" Those green eyes narrow and the roles between mother and daughter are quickly flipped.

"N-no. I told you, I'm staying here with you."

"Well then she needs to be in school. End of discussion," Emma demands, glancing back at her daughter, but she doesn't say much, she never really does.

Ella reminds Emma so much of herself when she was younger, just always going with the flow and trying not to make waves. She wants to know if her daughter is actually okay with any of this, but she knows the same old answer that will follow, 'I'm fine'.

The more Emma ponders this new situation, the more she is realizing that she already feels like her and Killian have split. They are already living in separate homes, barely speaking to one another. Now, their daughter has to decide who she wants to live with and she will be tossed from one house to the next.

"Ella, are you okay with all of this?" She gently asks, pushing a stray lock behind her daughter's ear. "Do you want to go home to dad?"

She's quiet for a few minutes as she chews her food and contemplates her choices. All three adults are watching the young girl intently, through bated breath. Each one seems to be too scared to move, like the small action might frighten her off.

"I stayed with dad for the past month. I want to stay here with you now," she offers a quick smile of reassurance and turns back to her food, abruptly ending the topic of conversation.

Emma glances up at Snow for guidance, but she simply shrugs her shoulders. Wonderful advice for her bewildered daughter.

"Well, I bet you're gonna just love the school here. There's a girl, Lucy, that always comes by to visit. She's a little younger than you, but I bet you two will get along great!" Roni expresses with excitement, trying her best to help smooth over this whole process.

"We will start looking for a place to stay," Emma confirms, making direct eye contact with Roni.

Her heart sinks just thinking about the prospect of moving out, but there's way too many people in that small apartment to live comfortably.

"Nah, you are all more than welcome to stay. The more the merrier!"

"No, Roni, we couldn't. There's just too many of us," she quickly argues, even if it's coming off halfhearted.