I AM SO INCREDIBLY SORRY I HAVEN'T UPDATED MANY OF MY OTHER STORIES. LIFE HAS BEEN SUPER CRAZY: HOMEWORK, MEDICAL STUFF, MAKE UP WORK… I WANT TO THANK EVERYONE WHO IS STILL READING, AND ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO REVIEWS. YOU GUYS TRULY MAKE MY DAY, AND I CAN'T THANK YOU ENOUGH. I MISSED THE EMMA/HENRY MOMENTS SO MUCH WHEN SHE AND SNOW WERE TRAPPED IN FAIRYTALE LAND. SO THAT'S KIND OF WHERE THIS CAME FROM. ENJOY!
DON'T OWN ONCE UPON A TIME. REALLY,IF WE DID, WOULD WE BE WRITING FANFICTION?
Emma sighs in relief when Henry's breathing finally evens off. The poor boy had been so excited to have his mother back, he could barely contain himself, but he was also terrified of leaving her side for fear she would be taken away from him again. In her peripheral vision, the blonde sees someone standing in the doorway to her –wait, now it's Henry's– room. She had decided to take the futon in the living room, at least for the time being. She gives a small smile to Snow, who motions for her to step into the small hallway.
"I made some hot chocolate downstairs." The brunette whispers.
" 'Kay. I'll be down in a minute." The truth is, Emma doesn't want to let Henry out of her sight, either. With one last glance at her son's sleeping form, she pulls the door halfway closed, wincing as it squeaks. She pads down the stairs to find the kitchen lit a little, but not too bright so as to not wake James, who's sleeping in the bedroom. Snow smiles as her husband makes a particularly loud snore. She hands a steaming mug of their personal liquid gold to Emma.
"How's Henry doing?" The brunette asks, her voice conversational yet worried. Just like I always pictured a mother would be, Emma thinks. God, is that what I sound like whenever the kid gets into trouble?
"He won't admit it, but he's scared. The necklace got crushed, and to top it off, he's terrified that something's gonna happen to me." Just like I'm terrified something's going to happen to you and Dav– James. I have to remember that. "I'm only staying on the futon cause I don't want to make him feel patronized. And I'd offer to sleep with him, but it's the same thing. I don't know what to do. The only thing I know is that he's going to have nightmares. I want to be there for him… I just don't know how to." As Emma explains, Snow stares into her own mug, watching the swirls of light and dark brown twirl around. If only her daughter realized the irony of her statement.
"The best you can do is try and make sure he knows you're there for him, because he's too much like his mother." She answers simply, taking a deliberate sip of the scalding beverage so she can focus on something other than the pain in entire body. Thinking about how much she wants to get through to Emma is a very sore train of thought. The blonde's head snaps back up, eyes narrowing.
"That has double meaning, doesn't it." She phrases it as a question, but her tone hardly makes it sound like one.
"Maybe." Snow says quietly, smirking. "But it doesn't change the fact that I mean it."
"Well, if I can keep him from knocking a girl up before they're ready for a kid, I'll feel as though I've accomplished something." Emma gently sets her half-drained mug down, her gaze locked on it for a moment. "I think I'm going to try to get some sleep." She doesn't want their conversation to head into dangerous territory, where Snow elaborates on the double meaning thing. "Night."
"Good night, Emma." Snow gets up, too, because she knows if she's sitting in the next room, the blonde won't be able to sleep. She reaches out and lightly brushes her hand on her daughter's arm. "I lo–" She wishes she could continue, but she doesn't want to spook Emma. "Sleep tight."
"Are you…" The taller woman swallows, wondering if she should chance asking. "Are you going to be okay? With the after effects of the sleeping curse?"
"You don't have to worry about me." Snow grins. This is the closest her daughter has come to telling her she loves her.
"I only ask cause, you know, James will be having nightmares, too, so he won't be any help."
"I'm sure the poppy seed thing was just a one time thing. Don't worry." Snow reiterates, steering Emma towards the futon. "Since I'm over here, I might as well tuck you in."
"I'm twenty eight years old. I don't need–" The blonde is cut short as Snow pulls the covers up. I should've left well enough alone.
"Good night." Snow wants to kiss her daughter on the forehead, but settles for brushing a gold lock to the side. "Sweet dreams."
"Ha!" Emma calls out, eyes trailing after her mother as she disappears behind the curtain to her own room. She hears James' snoring stop, then murmuring. How did she ever sleep with that? It's like a freaking jet. At some point, she dozes off, only to be awoken in what feels like minutes, by the feeling of someone staring at her. She nearly jumps out of her skin when, indeed, someone is staring at her. "Henry?"
"Hi." The young boy says sheepishly after he, too, jumps. Quite clearly he wasn't done contemplating whether or not to wake her up.
"What are you doing up? It's…" She rolls over to look at the clock. "2:30." Guess it was more than five minutes.
"I had a bad dream." He shifts his weight from foot to foot.
"Was it the room again?" Emma asks, pushing herself into a sitting position. She closes her eyes for a moment against the dizziness from sitting up too quickly.
"Yeah."
"You can sleep here, if you want." She pats the space next to her.
"Oh, no, I just uh, I was coming down for some milk and wanted to make sure you were still breathing. And you didn't have this." She hadn't even noticed he was holding her baby blanket. Henry hands it to her. "I thought after nearly two and a half months, you'd want it."
"Thanks." She smiles, though she's not entirely sure he can see it in the darkness. "Mind if I join you?"
"For what?"
"Didn't you say you wanted milk?"
"Oh, right." He laughs self-consciously, then heads into the kitchen. Emma does the same. "I can't reach the glasses without a chair."
"Why don't you get the milk out?" She ruffles his hair. She reaches for the light switch, but he swats her hand away. "Hey, I can't see."
"I kinda like the darkness." Of course, the fire room is super bright. Emma, you're being an idiot. It may be that God-awful time where it's way too late and way too early, but Henry needs you, so think straight.
"Alrighty then."
"You said that when I first found you." Henry comments as she hands him a glass, then pours one for herself. Emma takes a sip, then puts the milk in the fridge before she forgets.
"You remember?" She raises an eyebrow.
"Of course. It was within the first five minutes I ever spent with my real mom. Of course I remember." He says it as if it's the most obvious thing. She raises her glass and knocks the rest back to hide her smile. "Do you ever wish… that none of this happened?" He asks cautiously, afraid of the answer.
"No." She sets her glass down on the counter and kneels down to his level. "Henry, you listen to me. I love you. More than anything. The day you found me was the best day of my life. Things may have been simpler for me before, but I wouldn't trade this –or you– for anything. Got it?"
"Yeah, just checking." He quickly finishes his milk, but still stands there. Emma smirks in the darkness. Does he really think I don't know what he's doing? I thought he was smarter than that.
"You ready to go back to bed?" She's not being mean, she just wants to get him to admit he wants to sleep with her so that way they can both go back to sleep. The last thing she wants is to call him out on it, though, and have him stubbornly insist that he's not afraid of his nightmares and go to her room and lay awake the rest of the night.
"Yup." Henry puts on a false sense of bravado. "Good morning. Sorry I woke you up, I just needed someone to get a glass down for me. A chair would've been too noisy."
"It's fine. Anything for you, Kid. I'll ask Mary Margaret if we can move a few down in the morning." She pulls her son close. If I'm having this much anxiety about being one floor away from him, I can't imagine what it's like for him. He has to worry about his nightmare. "I'll see you later, okay?"
" 'Kay." She climbs back into her futon, and Henry makes it halfway to the stairs before turning around. "Goodnight."
"Get in here." Emma moves the comforter so he can hop in. Henry obliges, diving under the covers. "I'm not stupid." She says sarcastically.
"I don't know what you're talking about." He feigns innocence.
"Henry, fear isn't something to be ashamed of. It… it's like love. Your mo– Regina… she thinks love is weakness. Cora does, too. But you know what got Mary Margaret and me home? Love. If I didn't love her, I wouldn't have gotten between her and Cora. Cora would've ripped her heart out." Emma shudders at the memory. "So fear, it doesn't… how do I word this… give me a minute."
"You said that, too." He snuggles closer into her. Emma wraps an arm around him.
"Now I'm just doing that on purpose cause I remember, too. It was the first conversation I had with my son." Subconsciously, she begins playing with his hair with her other hand.
"What were you saying about fear? I have the tendency to accidentally make people go off topic. I bet that's something I get from my dad, right?" That was a lovely punch to the gut, Emma thinks. You and Hook are trying to kill me.
"Just that it doesn't make you weak. People who allow it to consume them, or run away from things because they're scared, they're the ones who are weak." I was. Thank you for showing me the truth. "I know you think I'm some hero, Kid, but I'm not. You're my hero. I ran away from my role as the savior cause I was scared of people counting on me, of having that kind of responsibility. But you never ran away once. Hell, you ate a poisoned–"
"Cursed." He corrects.
"Right, because there's a difference." She says sarcastically. "You ate a cursed apple turnover even though you knew what was going to happen, just to get me to believe so I could break the curse. That takes strength, Henry, and bravery. So never be embarrassed because you're scared. It's about what you do even though you're scared. Didn't Regina ever have this talk with you?"
"Nope."
"I– wow. Then again, she doesn't seem like the type to tell someone it's okay to be scared."
"And you don't seem like the type to take your own advice." He flips around to smirk at her.
"What?" Now she's confused.
"Emma, please." Henry breaks the last word up into two syllables, much like he'd heard Ruby do so many times. "You don't have to hate yourself cause you're scared."
"I don't hate myself, and I'm not the one who's having nightmares." She says far too quickly.
"You're scared of your new relationship with your parents. You're scared of what your magic means. You're scared of Regina trying to take me again. I know you don't like being scared cause makes you feel weak, and you despise that. Take your own advice. Stop pushing Mary Margaret and Gramps away." Henry explains, and Emma stares at him, mouth agape.
"Go to sleep." She orders, giving him a slight nudge to roll him over.
"Just saying."
"I'll wake you up if the nightmare starts, again. I promise I won't let anything happen to you." She whispers.
"I know you won't, Mom." He whispers back. Emma pulls him tighter to her, smelling the scent of his shampoo. She smiles, and for the second time that night, they both fall asleep. An hour later, Henry's thrashing wakes her up.
"Kid! Kid, wake up, it's just a nightmare. C'mon, Henry." She shakes him.
"It was the room again." He hugs her, still half asleep. From the next room, whimpers float through the curtain. Oh, come on. There is no way all three of them are having the same dream. I need to sleep! She mentally screams.
"Henry, I gotta go wake those two up. I'll be right back, okay."
"Mhm." He's awake enough to understand that he's fine, but not yet coherent enough to form a word. Emma walks backwards into her parents' room, not wanting to leave her son but not wanting to let her friends –yes, she'll settle for friends– suffer. She swats the curtain out of the way and takes a deep breath before gently shaking Snow. David can wait, she decides.
"Mary Margaret." She says, and sighs when the woman doesn't even stir. "You two! Wake up!" She yells. Might as well wake the both of them up.
"Emma?" James shoots up into a sitting position. "Are you okay?"
"You're asking me?" The blonde snorts, raising an amused eyebrow.
"What about the baby?" Snow asks groggily, still obviously in a bit of a leftover dream state. Emma bites her lip and looks away. Even without trying I manage to hurt her. Just by being alive.
"Snow, she's… wake up, Honey." He rubs his wife's shoulder.
"What happened?" Snow kicks the covers off in a panicked daze.
"Hey, I'm fine. Everything's fine, you guys were having that stupid nightmare. I thought, you know, it might be a good idea to wake you up."
"Henry, is he okay? He was in it, but he got pulled out by…" The brunette cuts herself off, not even sure how to describe it.
"Yeah, he's okay. I had to wake him up, too."
"Sorry, we didn't mean to wake you up." James apologizes.
"It's okay. I… I don't mind. I think we should all just have some hot chocolate and get ready for the day, since nobody's obviously going back to sleep." Emma suggests. I have other plans in mind.
"I'll start the water."
"I got the candles." Husband and wife hop out of bed and begin scurrying about. Henry turns a light on in the kitchen. Emma just lays back down and finally catches some shut eye despite the chaos around her.
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