Hey there! Just a short drabble about the Charmings and Christmas and all that jazz! It's just a bit of fluff really. Hope you guys like it :)
Alas, I do not own OUAT.
"So…what do you want?" Mary Margaret asked expectantly, like it wasn't the millionth time she had done so.
Emma rolled her eyes and huffed in exasperation. "I told you, I don't know!"
"Come on, Emmy," David probed gently. "There's got to be something you want."
"Don't call me Emmy!"
Her father smirked, the glint in his eye even more prominent than usual. No matter how loud her protest, there was no persuading him out of calling her that.
She hated it.
Well, kinda.
The brunette smiled lovingly, resting a tentative hand on her elbow, forcing her to look at her. "Come on, it's our first Christmas together as a family – we have to buy you something." There was just a hint of warning to her tone, enough for Emma to straighten slightly.
"But I don't need anything," she insisted weakly.
"You can't not get a present for Christmas," her dad offered with a smile. "That's not how it works."
Sensing an opportunity to sway the conversation, Emma jumped right in. "Well how about you get me some of that shampoo you use to make your hair so fluffy? I mean, how do you get it so lush? It must be something special." She motioned her hand as if to run it through his locks but he moved backward, laughing lightly.
"Yeah, Charming, what do you use? I can't even get my hair to look like that!"
David scoffed incredulously. "Snow, can't you see what she's doing? She's changing the subject. A tactic I know all too well because of a certain someone…"
"Charming!" Mary Margaret smacked David's shoulder forcefully, sending him stumbling backward a step. Though she too chuckled a little. Stifling a laugh, Emma turned her head to the side, hiding her amusement.
It was moments like this that Emma knew she would cherish for years to come; moments that were so sparse, so few, over the course of her life. And yet now they were frequent, a regular occurrence, expected.
Little instances like that filled her with a sense of warmth. It was a weird feeling, but a good one at the same time. The fact that she missed out on the fleeting moments growing up did fill her with some kind of resentment, but at the same time she was just happy that there would be more of them to experience in the future. Everything was going to be different from here on. Better.
Better. A word that Emma had hoped and prayed for ever since she was a small child crying into her baby blanket.
A word that had finally manifested itself in her life.
"So, getting back to what we were talking about," Mary Margaret continued, looping her arm with David's, "Christmas. Tell us what you want. It doesn't matter how big or small, we just want to get you something to mark the occasion. Please, let us do this, honey."
"Although we can't promise we won't bug you again this time next year," the man pointed out with a grin.
The blonde pondered over their question for a little while, trying to sort through all the things flowing through her mind.
Finally, she answered. "A surprise," she shrugged. "Whatever you guys think is right is good enough for me. I've always wanted to be surprised on Christmas day so that's…that's what I want."
The look of love plastered on her parents' faces was almost too much and Emma ducked her head, feeling eight-years-old again. It was both ridiculously annoying but outrageously amazing at the same time.
"A surprise," her mother breathed. "That we can do."
"You got it, kid," her father chimed.
And as Emma looked at her parents and felt their love for her through every gesture, every gaze, she knew she already had what she had always wanted.
A family.
Hope you guys liked it! :)