Family Days (OUAT)
By James Carmody.
Disclaimer: Once Upon A Time doesn't belong to me, I don't know who it does belong to, but I will not accept any monetary recompense for this piece of fictional literature- this is just for fun.
Author's Notes: Unusual for me; this is a family-based fanfiction piece, set in Storybrook OUAT about season 4, and in the home of Mary Margaret and David, that they share with their twenty-something year old daughter Emma Swan. Also little Neal is involved in it. Partially inspired by a challenge by a friend of mine on .
Chapter 1.): Someone's home, Sweetie!
Little Neal had his whole day planned out to the last detail when he woke up; he'd eat, play with Emma- his big sis, go for a hike to study nature, listen to his music when it was naptime, and take a nap at about four o'clock to about five o'clock. Then, shortly before he could implement his plans, Emma went off to her work! Frankly Neal was more than a little mad about that., now honestly… didn't big sister understand that some people want to spend the day with you?!
But nine-month old Neal didn't stay mad for long; there was simply too much to do in the world., and one thing he loved doing was watching the cars to by on the road below the window of the room he was in, but there was one particular bright yellow VW beetle-bug he wanted to see- that belonged to Emma Swan- the local Sheriff, and his sister, seeing that particular car meant that Emma was likely to come home soon.
Neal was just at cruising stage right now, which meant that his parents had to watch out- since he was now the 'three-foot-flood' as the parenting saying goes; and he was just in the stage when anything and everything goes in the mouth for analysis. At about this time, a fully grown female with short-cut black hair walked up and asked him "How's Mommy's little scientist?", and baby Neal looked up and gave as toothy a grin as he possibly could to his mom- Mary Margaret.
"You want to go for a little walk around town, huh, Sweetie?" she asked him, and, as she picked him up Neal realized that they were going to go for a stroller-ride to see the leaves. It was early September in Storybrook, and he thought the leaves were the neatest colors right now- all bright yellows and reds and oranges- NEAT colors to look at!
As his mommy carried Neal down the stairs and set up the stroller, Neal was bouncing with excitement: he loved going outside! Shortly thereafter, Mary Margaret was pushing the stroller with her new son in it down the sidewalk in a "mom-son nature hike". Neal gazed silently about, this way and that with a little smile on his round face. Soon he spotted the pawn-broker, a fellow who went by the name of Mr. Gold. Neal didn't really know him all that well, but Mr. Gold's reputation around town was that he was really quite formidable; and a bit of a Mafioso- not someone you wanted to mess with!
Mr. Gold always carried a cane, and Neal had the overall impression that he was a bit strikingly handsome, but he didn't really trust him because Neal didn't really know him. Neal sat there calmly, after all, Mom was with him; and if anything went wrong- she'd be able to handle it, he looked around nonchalantly as his mommy talked to Mr. Gold rather tersely, it was as if they didn't really trust one-another, but they were colleagues or acquaintances in the past, so they knew eachother.
"Cute son you have there, Madam Mayor." Mr. Gold was saying. "Yes, we're on a bit of a hike to see the leaves before they lose their pretty colors, aren't we, Neal?" his mom responded, telling Mr. Gold as little as possible while still being courteous. Neal just rocked back and forth- he was a bit bored, and wanted to get going and get done before his naptime came around to grab him- the baby boy really wanted to finish his trip before his sleep time came onto him and spoiled his mood, and this "grown-up talk" wasn't really all that interesting to him... But his mom was demonstrating a method of verbal fencing that would be extremely handy to him as his life went on in years. Right now, all Neal wanted to do was look at nature.
At about this time, he saw a brilliant yellow and black bug, an insect fly by, going from flower to flower and headed from the flower-shop near Granny's diner to a flower-garden to his right. Neal tried to say "Mommy, what's that?" but all that came out was baby-speech, however, from the direction of his pointing, Mary Margaret could discern that he was referring to a wasp attending to nectar-gathering.
Mr. Gold said "Well, as much as I like to meet the newest folks in Storybrook, I'd hate to delay the little one on his nature-hike; good day to you, Madam Mayor." and he bowed slightly out of respect. As Mary pushed the stroller containing her baby son, she explained that the insect was merely "shopping for food" to her baby, so its babies could eat…. That Neal understood. He'd been shopping with his parents often enough, and he rather liked the grocery store; the folks there were friendly enough, and he liked the material- there were always funny books there, and often enough his parents would get him a treat- often it was a storybook, and those brought hours of fun to him- as well as intellectual stimulation,,, though he couldn't understand what that was- he was familiar with ideas.
Neal continued looking around and listening to his mommy, but his mind was starting to wander. There were, after all, so many interesting things going on here in this town in Maine. Suddenly he spotted the brilliant yellow VW bug he had been looking for- or one that looked exactly like it, but as far as he was concerned: it was Emma's!
Sure enough, he saw her walking side-by-side with Killian, and squeaked with delight at seeing his older sister and her boyfriend- who Neal thought was funny! Killian had made Neal laugh so many times it wasn't even funny! All the neat things he could do with his hook- that was the greatest delight to Neal- so far as the baby boy was concerned: they were best buddies! When Killian's future (hopefully) mother-in-law explained that they were on a nature-hike to see the leaves, "Captain Hook" reached up with his artificial hand and snagged a brilliant fiery leaf and lowered it to the happy baby, who was making excited noises the whole time; as well as bouncing all over the place!
Neal quickly snagged the leaf off of the lowered hook-hand, and tried his best to thank the fellow who had just given him this neat toy to study; but all that came out was "Aht Ooh.", and when it was clear that Killian didn't understand the first time- he looked at Emma as if to say "What is your brother trying to say?" Neal felt hurt- he had tried so hard to tell this nice man "Thank you." but try as he did his best… things never came out right. However, Killian recovered quickly, and figured out the little guy was trying to thank him, so he responded as if he had gotten the message the first time with a "You're welcome, little fellow." This cheered Neal up massively.
There were rumors that his parents had met during an armed robbery, but Neal didn't get that- he honestly didn't know that his mommy had been a "highway woman" of sorts, a burglar who struck on roads- and his parents had taken special care to keep that information from him as of yet… and for several years to come too! When he was a newborn, they had mentioned it during a family gathering; but he was so darn tired that he just didn't pay attention- frankly, the newborn baby boy had much more important stuff to do than worry as to his parents meeting circumstances!
As they went back to the house, Neal waved his new leaf to everybody he saw, so delighted was he to have this new science-exhibit to study. When they got home, it was about twelve o'clock noon, and Neal was getting kind of tired of the hike, sure he had enjoyed it… but enough is enough- especially when you're a mere nine months old. He wanted to process what he had seen on his hike.
Aside from being a little fatigued from all he had experienced on the hike, he was also kind of hungry; and not entirely knowing why he felt the way he did, he started fussing. Time-wise, however, made his mom able to distinguish his reason for being upset, so as soon as she could, Mary Margaret set up her son's high-chair and placed him in it.
Neal understood immediately what this meant: it meant that he was going to get food! He started bouncing immediately, and patted the platform where his food would be set. His little round face had a big smile on it; and from his mouth came sounds that sounded a lot like "Yes.". When his mommy had set him up so he could not fall, she walked back into the kitchen to prepare his meal. For her son's meal; Mary Margaret prepared boiled carrot cubes and peas, and cubed chicken breast. She cut the already cooked chicken into bite-sized morsels for her offspring, and when his meal of carrots, peas, and chicken was set up on a brightly colored plate, she also prepared a drink of juice in a sippy-cup. When Neal saw what he was going to have for lunch, he was getting wound up: he'd even be able to use the pincer-movement he was practicing so often these days!
Using his little chubby thumb and forefinger, he picked up the pieces of carrot, peas, and chicken and tried as hard as he could to place them inside his mouth, but as often as not- he missed; that was frustrating! He knew people are supposed to place these things in their mouths and eat- he just couldn't seem to find his half the time! So, from happy, he started to get very angry that he couldn't eat like a big person… that was maddening to the baby boy. However, his mom had correctly calculated how much more food she should prepare than her son would eat, so he actually had enough to fill his tummy. After this, Neal needed to be changed, and some rest; but he wanted to play with his toys.
This required some negotiating for his mom to get him to see that he'd actually be far better off with clean pants and some rest to process all he had experienced on his nature-hike. He wanted to stay up and play some more; Mom was tired from all she had had to do- this is the argument that the pair were in currently. Neal especially wanted to stay up and wait for Emma to come home, but it could be a long time, and the little fellow needed to rest.
Today was a day off from his play-group, by the way, so he was a little confused about that, he missed his friends from the baby-play-group he was a member of., his friends and their mommies too.
Oh, there was fighting in that between the children in that group sometimes too; but all in all, he loved the social setting- it was a refreshing setting for little Neal to be in, and allowed him to explore his generation… and all they liked to do!
At about two o'clock in the afternoon, he was playing with his toy blocks on the living-room floor, his mommy was washing the dishes; he hadn't had much of a nap- too wound up waiting for Emma to come home, mainly, but also from all he had seen that day; when he heard a car coming up the driveway to the house. He was rather excited by this sound- as the saying goes: "Hope springs eternal in the hearts of the young." and he really needed it to be Emma, he needed to tell her all about his day!
Sure enough, he heard the door open, and soon thereafter, he spotted Emma Swan's blonde hair coming through the doorway! He immediately started bouncing and wiggling out of excitement and joy! "Emma's home!" Neal thought with way too much excitement for his young age! He tried to squeak "Hi." but all he could make were baby-sounds, however, she comprehended his meaning immediately: something about having had a child herself before now made her understand those sounds and what he meant to say.
After she put her leather coat down on a chair nearby, she picked him up and sat down on the couch. She soon picked out four books to read to him from, after setting him on her lap, that is. Neal got the choice of what story he was read! He loved that idea, loved it immensely! These four books were: "The Little Engine that Could.", One of the Rourke Dinosaur story-books about a day in the life of a dinosaur, a story about a plane that delivered the mail between Santiago Chile and Buenos Aires Argentina, and, amazingly; the "Centauri Fact Book"- a Babylon 5 Role-playing game sourcebook! Neal thought about each option for a bit: he had heard "The Little Engine that Could" several times, and he liked it a lot, same deal with the plane story, but he was in the mood for something different today… he had also frankly had as much as he could of most of nature today, so he, much to his sister's surprise; chose "The Centauri Fact Book"- the Role-playing game material! This Really surprised Emma Swan! But, she seemed to figure, if he wants sci-fi, that is what he'll get to hear.
As they thumbed through the book to find a good topic, Mary Margaret decided to leave her children to their own devices and go out to do some errands and some of her work. Neal was having so much fun right now he seemed completely content, just sitting in Emma's lap and they were looking at the same book. The kids finally settled on the Centauri dietary requirements, and the cultural role of food in Centauri culture… they settled on it the same way Neal had chosen the book- by tapping his pudgy right hand on it, he was turning out to be right-handed.
As Emma read to Neal, he realized the topic. To show that he knew what was being talked about, he made a fist with his right hand, stuck his thumb out towards him, and proceeded to suck his thumb. Emma realized her baby brother was sucking his thumb, and asked him if he was hungry. He shook his head "No.", she then asked him if he knew what this chapter and passage was about- he didn't understand all the grown-up words she used, but he did understand what they were talking about; so he nodded "Yes." when she explained that they are talking about food.
After maybe half an hour of this story time, he started yawning in a big yawn- he really didn't want sleepy time, but it had caught up with him… honestly, there was so much else to do in the day than sleep! He also rubbed his little face, Emma caught the signs present in the baby brother she was baby-sitting for now, and she picked him up at the ribs, picked up a bottle for him, and went into the bedroom to get him to take his nap. Neal started to get cranky when he figured out what was going to happen soon: he wanted to stay up and play, and study!
Neal was wearing a little suit of a blue pullover shirt and pale grey pants. He started fussing about now wanting to nap, but it was about four-to-five o'clock, and that is usually a baby's naptime. Neal was usually a nurser-baby, so it took some persuasion to convince him to try the bottle, but when he did- BOY did he get a surprise! This stuff actually came from Mom! Mary Margaret had used a breast-pump to get him the material for the bottle; that was a pleasant surprise to him- a very pleasant surprise indeed.
There he was; lying next to his sister on the bed, and she was holding the bottle for him, he actually enjoyed the contents better than usual, as he prepared for a good 'snack-and-snooze' that babies like so much. Just prior to this, however, Emma had changed him before bed, she had placed him on the changing table; after their mom had told her that he would probably need to be changed before his nap- he knew what was going to happen immediately: and rather eagerly allowed her to lift his little legs for the diaper-changing that all babies have to endure. He tried to help, sure, but he just couldn't do so right. After he had been changed, she got him into his sleeper, and he understood that he was going to have to sleep. Oh, he resisted, sure, but as they say "the Sandman always wins in the end", and little Neal drifted off into a happy snack-and-snooze.
Author's Notes: I think I'll be continuing this, actually… I really wanted to produce something gentle and family-based, and what better way than a piece of baby-fic? (fiction written involving a baby)