Oh boy it has been a long time since I have dabbled in the World of Fanfiction. However, THIS SEASON OF OUAT, gah where do I even start.
The Least I can say is that it's inspired me. Also I really want David and Emma's relationship to be explored more on the show. Hence this little ficlet.
Summary: Who knew that cocoa and coffee could lead to such A Charming Moment? Slightly Angsty Daddy Charming One Shot.
Disclaimer. I don't own Once Upon a Time or else I would ban hiatuses.
A Charming Moment
Emma turned up the collar of her jacket against the wind. The short walk from Granny's to the station was made considerably less enjoyable by the sudden chill breeze. She seriously regretted walking instead of just driving the bug.
"Oh well," thought Emma. At least she would have a steaming warm cup of Granny's signature cocoa with just the right amount of cinnamon once she returned to the station. She had also picked up a large cup of plain black coffee for David who was still at the station, currently helping her unpack some boxes from the yellow bug. The two of them hadn't had a lot of work since returning from Neverland so she figured she could get some clutter out of her personal belongings. She hadn't told either of her parents that she had been planning on moving. She didn't want them to feel guilty, like they were forcing her out. Emma wanted them to be happy, and being together and having baby was what needed to happen if they were going to move on. Emma had been planning on moving somewhere else in Storybrooke and giving the Charming's that chance since she heard Mary-Margaret's confession back in Neverland.
Neverland, the thought of the wretched island still made her stomach sick. All the pain that the island had caused was lost on none of those who had returned, especially David. He had been so willing to give up his happy ending just so Emma and Henry could have their own.
They had found a way though, a way to bring David home without him succumbing to the dream shade poison. The relief of the discovery had flooded through them all when Rumpelstiltskin had found it out. Mary-Margaret had thrown her arms around David without and preamble and they had kissed so passionately that Emma had to turn away due to embarrassment. When she turned back around they were holding on to each other in a long, loving embrace and in that moment Emma saw them not as Mary-Margaret and David, but as Snow White and Prince Charming… True love personified.
David's eyes opened to meet Emma's own and in his eyes she could see some raw emotions churning inside him, waiting to come bursting forth. He slowly let go of Mary-Margaret and strode to Emma and grabbed her in fierce embrace. Emma returned his bone breaking hug back, unspoken relief passing between the two of them. The thought of almost really having to leave him behind broke into her mind. Her throat tightened at the thought and she felt her eyes well up with emotions. Fear. Regret. Relief.
When they broke apart David had started chuckling.
"Well Emma, it looks like you won't have to start putting up help wanted signs once we are all home." They had all shared a shaky laugh. Could they really all make it home?
But they had. Emma smiled at the memory. She was glad that David had been able to return with them all back to Storybrooke. She really didn't want to have to look for a new deputy.
That had been further cemented by the past two weeks of being shut up with him at the station. They had written countless reports that had piled up in there absence, but during the considerable about of down time they had laughed and joked together about many things. They had even held several waste paper basket ball tournaments. Emma had only managed to win one of these contests, but David had assured her that she would catch up to him with practice as is jokingly thumped her on the back, smiling. Emma had caught his gaze again and she could see the same shinning emotions that had been so raw back in Neverland. She was a bit taken a back by it here… post Neverland. Everything safe sound and back to normal. In Neverland she had assumed it had just been relief, but now she couldn't place it. Nothing to get too worked up over though, and she dropped it.
When she finally made it to the station she rushed inside, grateful not to have to battle the cold wind any longer.
"David! I brought coffee!" she announced as she turned the corner. When she had rounded the corner completely the sight that met her eyes was not at all what she had been expecting.
David was sitting at her desk holding something in his left hand, while his right was on his forehead. His head snapped up when she entered. His face was blotchy and red, as if he had been crying, crying a whole lot.
"Emm—ma…" he choked out. His voice sounded extremely hoarse.
"David? David what's wrong?" Emma asked, her voice laden with concern. David wiped his eyes and took a deep breath before looking back up at her. The emotions swirling in his eyes clear as day. Guilt. Regret. Pain. So much pain. It made her heart ache. She put the drinks down on his desk before crossing over to him.
"David…" She said softly. "Are you okay?"
It was then that her eyes fell upon the opened box on the desk and the mixture of photos and files scattered around her desk. She sucked in a deep breath and took a step away from him.
Earlier That Morning.
"Hey David can you help me with some of these?' Emma asked carrying in a large box from the bug.
"Yeah sure," Said David, grunting as he rose from his desk to assist her.
"What are these all from Emma?" He inquired as he took the large box from her.
"Just some stuff I need to go through…" Too see if I want to take it with me she finished in her head.
David nodded at her in a unconcerned way focusing on not bumping into anything with the wide box.
They walked out to the car and grabbed the rest of the boxes in one trip. There were only five boxes. Three larger ones and two small ones, David would be able to handle arranging them she thought as her stomach growled.
"I figured it would be more productive then counting the lines in the tile again."
"Sounds like a good plan. I've been color coding my paper clips all morning."
"A morning well spent I'm sure." Emma smirked. They both chuckled.
Grrgrrrrrggrrr… Emma's stomach growled. Dear God she was hungry. Her mind's eye brought up images of Granny's omelets. Pictures of gooey cheese and onions hiding in a blanket of fluffy egg made her stomach growl even louder
"I'm gonna head over to Granny's and grab a bite to eat." She said. "And maybe a cocoa," She added the delicious impulse taking root in her mind. The mere thought of chocolaty cinnamon cocoa warming her bones. Oh yeah, she was getting a cocoa. "Do you want me to bring you back a coffee?"
David nodded. "Yeah," he replied not looking at her as he set the largest box down in the corner.
David picked up the smaller boxes as Emma turned the corner to leave.
The content of her smallest box was now spread on her desk.
The air stood still around them. David took a ragged breath before speaking. His voice cracking as if every word he uttered caused him very real pain.
"Emma…I—uh—I was put-t-ing the boxes…" He gulped in air as if he were about to submerge himself in icy water. "On your desk. I knocked this….this one over. I—I was just picking it all up and I—I…" His voice broke and fresh steam of tears flooded down his cheeks as he cast his eyes downward at the thing he was gripping in his hand.
The thing in his hand was a picture.
A picture of her.
Emma stood transfixed. Her emerald eyes fixed on the picture, yet she dared not to breathe trying to remain as still as humanly possible. Her sixth grade self staring back at them through her thick, second hand glasses. Her blonde hair stood out against the grey school yearbook picture background.
Her eyes scanned the rest of the desk, taking in the yearbook portraits. The pictures were the only ones she had of her youth. She took in her second grade self, gazing at them with a lightheartedness that Emma had lost years ago, just like the second grader had lost her two front teeth. Her eyes fixed next on her freshman picture, the Emma in that picture more recognizable to anyone who knew her now. The fourteen year old had the edges of her mouth barely lifted in a very forced smile.
Emma was taken a back. She could feel herself begin to panic. She didn't want to go here with David. He had always been so… laid back when it came to the parent thing. Sure he was all for their "family" thing but David had yet to ask her to call him Dad, unlike Mary-Margaret's insistence to be called mom.
David had still remained just her friend. Up until the moment Emma had assumed it was because David had felt just as awkward forcing the issue as she was. She had thought she understood him, but she didn't understand.
Why was he sobbing like this? The regret she could understand but the sheer amount of grief emanating from him was confounding. It was rolling off of him in thick waves that were indecipherable to her.
Looking at him now he looked like a broken man. Face beet red and screwed up with the effort of stemming the flow of his tears.
She wanted to help. But she didn't know how. She wasn't good at this emotional stuff.
Emotions scared her. Just look at the state of her love life.
The only emotion she was unafraid of was her concrete love of her son.
She was a mother who loved her son more than anything.
It hit Emma like a ton of bricks.
David was a father…A father that loved his daughter more than anything.
A father that loved her more than anything.
David loved her.
In Neverland the emotion she couldn't place in his eyes had been love.
During their games and antics at the station the spark in his eyes had been love.
Unsure if it would help, unsure if she was ready for what would happen if it did help, Emma placed her hand on David's shoulder.
Sniffling David's free hand shot up to cover her hand in his. He gripped it so tight he was bound to cut of the circulation but Emma paid no mind.
It didn't matter.
Not right now.
Emma felt some of the tension building in his shoulders loosen as he spun in the swivel chair to face her still holding her hand.
"I held you." He whispered quietly, looking at the floor. "Snow…Snow gave you to me. She said we had to give you your best chance… I ran with you… to the wardrobe. I fought the Queen's guards with you held against my chest." He took the hand holding the picture and pressed it to his chest, near his heart.
"As I was running down the halls you were cooing… Making the sweetest little noises." He smiled the corners of his mouth twitching upward and his eyes crinkled slightly. The charming moment visibly playing in his mind's eye as clear as the picture he still clutched to his chest. Emma pictured it too, her father, Prince Charming, running through the castle to save her, his daughter.
"I loved you so much in that moment, Emma, I just wanted to stop and stare at you. You were so beautiful, but I forced myself to keep going because I knew I had to save you… I couldn't save myself or your mother, but I could save you." He took a shaky breath.
"When I put you in that wardrobe, I kissed your head and looked at you for a second longer then I should have… I imagined missing this," he pressed the picture to his chest even harder, "missing all of your life." A few tears glinted in the light as the slid down his face.
"Then I heard them coming. I begged you to find us as I shut the door and then the guards were there. I was dazed… Not thinking right. I was scared. What if it hadn't worked? What if you weren't safe? Then I felt the blade in my shoulder. I fell… and they went to the wardrobe and opened and you were gone. You were safe… I knew. I knew in that moment that nothing in would hurt you. That you would be safe and we would be a family again. I had succeeded. So I let go… I let the darkness… the curse take me."
He gave another dry sob. "But Emma I was so wrong. So much has hurt you. So many people have hurt you. I could only protect you the one time… I've never felt like more of a failure in my whole life, Emma. I—I know it's hard to imagine. But it was real."
He gritted his teeth, gnashing them together.
"I held you Emma. I loved you then as a baby and I love you now that you're a grown up woman, and I wish I had been there to love you as a child with all my heart."
He finally looked up at her. His eyes were red and glassy from all the crying.
She felt hot tears escaping her own eyes as well. Slowly she knelt down next to him and wrapped her arms tightly around his middle. David gripped her back so fierce she thought he might crack her spine in two. She could feel a new stream of his tears fall into her hair as he kissed her head.
He held her even tighter to his chest and they cried together.
The coffee and cocoa were stone cold when they finally broke apart.
The End
What did you think? I would love to hear some feedback if you liked it.
I was thinking about maybe making one more chapter from Charming's POV. Would you guys like to see that? If you would let me know!
Thank you so much for reading!