Title: Practice Makes (Sort Of) Perfect
Summary: "Your magic is instinctual." Elsa raised her eyes to the snowflakes, which now hung in mid-air between them. They stopped moving once Emma directed her attention to them, which only proved Elsa's point.
Spoilers: Up to 4x06, "Family Business."
Characters: Emma and Elsa, with cameos by Snow and Charming.
Rating/Warning: K. Silly fluffiness abounds.
Disclaimer: Once Upon a Time and its characters were created by Eddie Kitsis and Adam Horowitz and are owned by ABC. I'm just playing with the stuff in someone else's toybox.
Author's Note: Crossposted from Tumblr. I needed to calm my 4x07 nerves, so I wrote this bit of silliness. Feedback makes the world go 'round! Enjoy!
"Come on, Emma, you can do it."
Emma Swan frowned as she concentrated on her magic. She and Elsa were sitting about five feet apart on the living room floor, cross-legged and facing one another. Somewhat sparkly little snowflakes floated above Elsa's head. The plan was for Emma to float those tiny snowflakes towards her but she couldn't seem to get her magic to work the way she wanted.
"Don't be afraid of it, Emma," Elsa encouraged. "Call to it."
Emma wasn't afraid of it. She just really wanted to make it freakin' work already and it was really starting to irritate the crap out of her that she couldn't. "Forget it," she sighed, shoulders slumping in defeat. "It's not going to work."
Elsa sighed as well, collecting the snowflakes with a quick swipe of her hand. "I'll allow you a five minute break."
"You'll allow me?" Emma asked incredulously, arching an eyebrow at her new friend.
"Yes, I'll allow you. I'm not letting you give up, Emma. You can do this; you just need to learn how."
Well, then. It was suddenly becoming a lot clearer to Emma that her friend was indeed a queen in Arendelle.
Since she was only being given five minutes to get her head back in the game, she stood and crossed over to the kitchen. She wanted hot chocolate but five minutes wasn't enough time to make it from scratch. Packets of Swiss Miss and water heated in the microwave would have to do.
Elsa followed her. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Nope," Emma replied, sticking two mugs of water in the microwave. "I'm doing this the easy way."
By now, Elsa had learned that the "noisy boxlike contraption" was a way to cook food, so she simply nodded and waited for Emma to finish preparing their drinks. She'd also learned that sprinkling cinnamon on the cocoa was an Emma-family quirk so she didn't even bat an eye when Emma handed her a mug with little brown specks dusting the whipped cream.
They carried their mugs back to the living room and eased down on the sofa, sipping quietly. And in the silence of the apartment, Elsa thought of something. Without calling attention to what she was doing, she once again conjured the snowflakes. Almost immediately, the snowflakes started drifting towards Emma.
"It's instinctual for you," Elsa breathed, eyes widening at the confirmation.
Emma jumped, startled by the breaking of the silence. "What?"
"Your magic is instinctual." She raised her eyes to the snowflakes, which now hung in mid-air between them. They stopped moving once Emma directed her attention to them, which only proved Elsa's point. "It's almost as if … having to think about it creates something of a hindrance for you. However, you can do it; the trick now is getting you to do it on command."
Emma sighed, her annoyance with herself coming out in a fit of sarcasm. "And how do I do that, Obi-Wan?" Elsa wrinkled her brow, leading Emma to sigh again. Why did she continue to make pop culture references to people who never understood them? "Never mind. What do you suggest?"
"Stop trying so hard. Relax and let it flow through you."
Easier said than done, Emma thought. Still, she did need to know how the hell to use her magic when she actually wanted to, so what could it hurt to try? She closed her eyes and focused not on moving the snowflakes but on things that made her feel loved and wanted and understood.
Her baby brother locking eyes with her when she called his name.
Snow's motherly touches.
David's tender dad looks.
Henry's hugs.
Killian's kisses.
Elsa's faith in her.
"Emma," Elsa breathed.
Emma opened her eyes and the first thing she noticed was that the snowflakes were nowhere to be found. "Where the hell did they go?" she asked, confused.
Elsa smiled at her. "Look up."
And sure enough, a small cloud of snowflakes hovered just above Emma's own head. "Holy shit," she muttered.
"Emma? Elsa?"
Snow's soft voice startled the both of them and shattered their concentration. With nothing holding the snowflakes up, they drifted down on Emma's head. Elsa swallowed a chuckle while Emma stifled a soft cry of surprise and a shiver.
"I know I'm up for the baby's three a.m. feeding," Snow continued, stepping into the kitchen with a squirming Neal in her arms. Apparently either the light or the soft voices from the living room had distracted her before she could begin feeding the baby. "Why are you two still up?"
The two of them stared at each other. Three a.m? Really? "I guess we just lost track of time," Emma replied. And all of a sudden, she wondered … was this what having a sleepover was like?
"Well, you might want to consider going to bed sometime soon," Snow said, smiling teasingly. "I don't want to hear it when the baby wakes you up three hours from now and you're tired."
Yep, definitely what having a sleepover was like. "Yes, Mom," Emma said in her best annoyed-teenager tone, rolling her eyes for good measure.
Snow's smile shifted from teasing to touched. "Good night, girls."
After a somewhat embarrassed Elsa and Emma whispered their good nights, Snow slipped back into her bedroom. "Do you think we should take her advice?" Elsa asked.
And hell, maybe the three a.m. thing was affecting her more than she realized, but if this was going to feel like a sleepover, Emma wanted to feel the whole damn experience. "Not a chance," she grinned.
When Snow and Charming emerged from their bedroom four hours later with a fussy newborn, they found empty cocoa mugs in the sink and an open bag of potato chips on the living room floor. Further investigation revealed the television on, its volume turned down low, its flickering images playing to a completely unaware audience made up of their daughter and an ice queen, who were curled up foot-to-foot on opposite ends of the sofa, sound asleep.
Charming and Snow exchanged an amused smile. As Charming turned off the TV, Snow silently drew the blanket down from the back of the couch and draped it over her two sleeping charges. "Sleep tight, darlings," she whispered.