“And the more she tells Neal ‘It was ten years ago, I’ve moved on,’ we know she hasn’t, we know it’s hard for her to live Tallahassee with someone else. Neal has always regretted that day as he actually says out loud. So for us it’s how do two people who love each other come together when there’s so much hurt?” —Eddy Kistis
To me, that’s the story A&E are still telling. In 3×4, Emma told her parents she was “pi$$ed” when she thought Neal had died. When Emma thought Neal was dead, she may have felt some relief about not having to open up her heart again, but she also felt cheated by fate to not get another chance to explore what it meant when she discovered Neal has always loved her, too. In 3×6, Emma told Neal that it would’ve been easier not to face all the pain they went through. Yet, in 3×6 and in 3×10, Snow reminded Emma that she owed it to herself to discover if Neal could be alive and to have lunch with Neal. Mama Snow is all about doing the hard thing, as she told Ariel, because love is so worth it. And even if it doesn’t work out, at least you know you’ve tried. Emma and Neal haven’t even gotten to have another go to see if they could work it out. Heck, they haven’t even been able to have a moment alone in NL or even meet up for lunch because of outside circumstances. Well, Emma said she wasn’t sure she was ready, not that she never would be, but after Charming encouraged her, she went anyway to meet Neal, but PP got in the way.
“There’s so much for them to work through and so much that hasn’t been dealt with. There’s a tremendous amount of baggage there.” – Jennifer Morrison
“I don’t think Neal is under any kind of illusions that there isn’t work to be done between he and Emma, and that he doesn’t have a lot of work to do to get to where he wants to be, in terms of their relationship. He’s not expecting her to just be waiting around, pining.” -Michael Raymond-James
There’s still so much work to be done, and yet Emma and Neal keep getting interrupted by curses! When are they ever just going to have a “day off” as Emma would say? Are bad things just going to keep her and Neal from ever getting to have the “good moments” as Charming and Snow call them? Emma doubts her parents because she viewed PP’s curse as confirmation that the price to her being the savior meant not getting to kick back and enjoy herself. She never got to have lunch with Neal, to talk and see if they could pick up the pieces. The fact that we’ve yet to see any resolution on that front means Emma still has yet to deal with any of her past history with Neal. That has to be unpacked for Emma to figure out what “home” and “belonging” mean to her. It’s so important to her as an individual, not just as a love interest, to examine that which is why Neal’s premature death would also be a “death” for Emma’s continued character development. She needs to explore why she has walls, to rediscover that Neal didn’t ever want to leave her, and that dealing with these issues, doing the hard thing, is worth it if it means getting to be with the man she loves.
"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy