Taking Care of Two Children
While Working in Storybrooke
Disclaimer: I don't own Once Upon a Time.
The show seems to have almost forgotten baby Neal exists, but I love stories that involve him. Loosely based on a conversation I had with my husband when we had a baby.
Baby Neal was almost two months old now. Mary Margaret and David had two months of singing to him, rocking him, changing, him, feeding him, and holding him. They savored it all. He was just beginning to stay awake for a couple of hours, and that made him even more enjoyable. Just yesterday, they let Neal play on their bed while they made faces at him. He even smiled once.
Neal was sleeping longer at night as well, which Mary Margaret was particularly grateful for. Instead of waking up three or four times, he only woke up once or twice. But sometimes even that could make her tired. Especially when she had to look at the town's financial reports (Since she'd been given the mayor's job, she had so much paper work to bring home.) Mary Margaret tried reading them for the fifth time, but her eyes struggled to stay open.
"Mom, are you okay?" Emma asked, shaking Mary Margaret's shoulder.
Mary Margaret opened her eyes again. She smiled, despite her tiredness. It was so wonderful to hear Emma calling her "Mom." "I'm fine, Honey. These reports just aren't very interesting, that's all."
Emma nodded. "I'll bet. As long as you're okay, I'm going to go upstairs."
"Of course," Mary Margaret smiled. She began to try reading the reports again. As she just finished the first paragraph, Neal began to fuss. Mary Margaret sighed and put the materials down.
But her husband stopped her. "Let me get him. You're busy and I'm not."
Mary Margaret nodded. He was right. It was hard for her not to run to Neal every time he made a noise, but David was Neal's father. He deserved to have time with his son, too. "All right." She picked up the financial reports again.
She could hear David talking to Neal softly as he changed his diaper. He really was great with their son. Not that Mary Margaret had expected differently, but watching Neal and David together made her fall in love with him all over again. After he'd finished, David cradled Neal in his arms. "Mary Margaret, why don't I get up with Neal tonight so you can sleep?" he asked.
Mary Margaret skimmed the next couple of pages of reports and made a note. "Thank you for the offer, Charming, but I'll be fine."
Charming shook his head. "I know you're tired, darling. You've been fighting off sleep all evening. Take a break."
"I can finish these and still be able to sleep for a few hours," she protested.
"But it would be better for you if you slept all night. Come on, Mary Margaret, we talked about this. I know you missed being able to take care of Emma, so you want to savor all the moments with him, but I'm his parent, too. I want to take care of him just as much as you do. And I also want to take care of you."
"I don't need to be 'taken care of,' Charming," Mary Margaret snapped at him. She hated it when he coddled her.
David smiled at her. "Okay, but I'm going to do it anyway. Like I always do. Please, let me take care of Neal when he wakes up tonight. Then you'll be more alert tomorrow, too."
Mary Margaret sighed. "Charming, I don't think that's a good idea. And not just because I don't like being taken care of, or I want to do everything for Neal myself. I still struggle with that, but I know you want time with him, too. I love seeing you with him. Really. You're adorable in Dad mode."
"Really?" David asked, sounding pleased.
"Really. But Charming, it worries me what could happen if you don't get a good night sleep. My job may be stressful at times, but if I get tired or start to nod off, the most that will happen is I'll have to keep re – reading paperwork. If you got tired, maybe you won't be able to pull your weapon out quickly enough in a tense situation. Or worse, you could misjudge something and pull a weapon on the wrong person. I need you as alert as you can be to protect this town. To protect yourself. And to protect Emma."
Charming looked at her, like he'd never thought of this before. She shook her head. "Charming with this Snow Queen on the loose, people are tense. They need to know the two sheriffs are at their best. Plus, we know she's interested in Emma and Elsa for some reason. If anything happened to you or Emma because you were too tired…I couldn't handle it."
David sighed. "You're right, Snow. I don't know why I didn't think of that."
"That's why we work together, remember?" she told him as she leaned over and rubbed his arm. "You take care of Emma, and I'll take care of Neal, all right?"
"All right," David sighed agreed, handing their son to her.
Mary Margaret chuckled. "Charming, that's not what I meant. Of course you can continue to spend time with Neal right now. And I'll spend time with Emma, too, of course. I just meant we'd each focus on Emma and Neal. For now.
"Of course," Charming agreed smiling again. "Do you like spending time with Daddy, Neal?" he asked, letting him grab his finger.
"He does, Charming. I know he does. Because you're the best Dad he could hope for." She put the paperwork down for a second and walked over to where they were sitting. Then she kissed both David and Neal's heads.