"You're getting good with that sword!" Charming laughed, chasing his energetic five year old daughter.
Emma giggled, smiling through her mess of blonde curls, "Not as good as you, though, Daddy!" She ran at him, hitting his leg with her sword.
Charming scooped her up in his arms, "I don't know about that, little one. Someday, you'll be better than I am."
He was glad that he had taken the afternoon off from royal duties to have some father/daughter time. Emma was growing up too fast for his liking and he wanted to remember every moment of it.
After a few hours of playtime, father and daughter began to walk hand-in-hand back to the castle.
Emma walked slowly, glancing up at her father with tired eyes every few minutes. He would look down at her and smile and she would tighten her grip on his hand. They walked in silence most of the way home.
"Daddy?" Emma yawned.
"Yeah?" Charming said, lifting his daughter onto his shoulders.
"What's a hero?"
"Well," he answered, trying to think of a way to explain this to a five year old, "A hero is someone you can look up to, someone who is brave when they need to be and someone who helps others."
"Oh, so knights and stuff like you?"
"Yeah, I suppose."
It was silent for a few minutes before Charming realized Emma had fallen asleep. He carefully shifted her from his shoulders into his arms. She drifted in and out of sleep as he carried her home.
"Wow, you really wore her out," Snow laughed as Charming carried Emma through the doors of the castle.
"Haha yeah, we had fun," Charming grinned, looking at his daughter whose head rested on his shoulder and arms locked around his neck. He carried her to her bedroom as Snow found her some pajamas.
She looked so peaceful, curled up quietly under her pink covers. Her blonde curls framed her face perfectly and her eyes fluttered every minute or so.
Charming watched her sleep for a few minutes, wondering how she'd grown so much. It seemed like just minutes ago he was watching her take her very first steps across the floor of the same room where she now slept. The crib and baby toys had disappeared in a blink of an eye.
Slowly and quietly, he walked closer to her bed and kneeled down, leaving a soft kiss on his daughter's forehead.
Emma's blue-green eyes fluddered open slightly as her father began to move towards the door and she whispered, "You're my hero, Daddy."