"I think my nurse is trying to kill me" Neal groaned as soon as the nurse was out of ear shot, looking down at the lunch she had brought for him. It looked absolutely disgusting in his opinion. He shoved the 'meal' away from him stubbornly, quietly thinking that he had eaten actual garbage that looked better than that trash.

The peas looked almost plastic, the mashed potatoes looked almost frozen, the gravy was snot colored, and he didn't even know what the meat was supposed to be. And it all smelled horrible.

"Don't be ridiculous. It's not that bad " Rumple said, rolling his eyes at his son's toddler-like actions as he took the tray away from him. Turning his nose up at the smell, silently causing Neal to raise an eye brow in a 'told ya' kinda manner— yeah, he was definitely his son. "Okay, okay. It is that bad" the dark one relented sighing, before tossing the stinky and horrid looking meal in the trash which he then covered up with tissues.

"Told ya so" Neal said, smirking slightly— which caused his father to once again roll his eyes as he tossed him a bag of his favorite chips, winking.

"Don't tell Belle or the doctors— this stays between us" Rumple warned, knowing that Belle certainly wouldn't approve of him going behind the doctor's backs to feed his son outside hospital food.

"you got it, papa" Neal said, smiling ever so slightly. Ever since he and his father had first been reunited, Neal had slowly begun to realize that his father was genuinely trying to change and that he should give him a chance.

Something he had been trying to pressure Emma into doing with himself, even though it was clear as day that she really didn't love him like that anymore. He realized that he had been acting selfishly by doing this for a multitude of reasons.

1. It was all he had been focusing on— he had barely been trying to repair his relationship with his father and it definitely caused him pain.

2. He was giving his son false hope for something that wasn't going to happen and that would only hurt him in the end, which he really didn't want.

3. He hadn't taken responsibility for his own actions and kept trying to pin them on August, or say that he had no choice when in reality he had. He could have stayed and convinced a somewhat hopeful and trusting Emma. Could have prepared her for what was to come. Could have stayed by her and raised Henry while searching for storybrooke but he never did. He chose to do what August had told him to. He chose to leave her in jail and still hadn't apologized for it, and it had cost him 11 years with Henry. Time he wouldn't get back. And he had to accept that.

4. He had put her on the spot since clearly ALOT of people expected her to take him back since they had a kid despite not knowing the full story. He had made her look bad by doing this and had certainly caused more harm than good, and prevented both of them from finding happiness.

5. He had also caused Killian harm by doing this and not talking him out of his decision to 'step back'. He had taken of advantage of the lingering fatherly/brotherly/friendshipy feelings Killian still harbored toward him, and allowed him to do this despite knowing how badly it would hurt both Killian and Emma.

Neal decided that it was about time he stopped being selfish and started seeing what was right in front of him. His father. His stepmother. his Kinda stepfather. A timid friendship with Emma and her family. A truce with Regina . His friendship with Robin. His familial/friendly relationship with the darling siblings. And his son.

All things he had been taking for granted in his pursuit of Emma, who had been covering for him all this time by not telling anyone the mistake he made all those years ago. It was time he stopped looking at the what ifs and started looking at what he had. It was time to start rebuilding bridges and continue building where he left off last year.

"What are you thinking about?" Rumple asked, finally noticing his son's timid smile and odd silence.

"Uh.. well, I was thinking.. that maybe I should stop pursuing Emma and move on" Neal said, leaning back, feeling a bit awkward.

He was quite surprised when Rumple let out a sigh of relief "oh thank God. I was wondering when you were gonna give up on that."

"What?" Neal asked, absolutely shocked.

His dad suddenly looked very sheepish and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly "uh, well.. it was very obvious that Miss Swan wasn't happy and didn't want to get back together with you. It reminded me alot of your mother shortly before she left but I didn't want to say anything because I knew that Miss Swan would never leave Henry like that and that you wouldn't listen."

Neal felt embarrassed "you knew before me that I didn't have a shot?"

Rumple raised an eyebrow "son, with all do respect, everyone knew before you that it wasn't gonna happen. I'm pretty sure the only 3 people who still don't know are Miss Blanchard, Henry, and the pirate who keeps trying to stay away from her for your shake apparently."

Neal blushed bright red at that and groaned as he put his head in his hands. "Well, this is mortifying."

Rumple patted him on the back, looking sympathetic. "If it makes you feel better, there are plenty of fish in the sea."

Neal snorted, trying not to laugh. "Oh my God, that's so cheesy" He heard that a million times and that use to make him angry, but now that he realized how stupid he had been, he found it hilarious.

Rumple cracked a smile at him, shaking his head— causing a large grin to cross Neal's features. Yeah, they would be alright. Neal would be alright.