Cookie cravings

A/N: Lilstep sent me a prompt: the first curse never hits, and the the Charmings are back in the Enchanted Forest with a 5 y/o Emma who's craving Christmas cookies. I added my own twist to it! Thanks for sending in a prompt love! Remember to message me, or write a review if there's a specific story you'd like to see written!

Chapter tags: Charming family

"Shhhh," Emma whispered, holding her finger to her lips. "We have to be very quiet, Fluffy," she told the brown teddy bear sitting on her bed.

It was 11:30pm on Christmas night, and Emma was supposed to be in bed fast asleep. But how are you supposed to sleep when there are chocolate chip cookies right downstairs just waiting to be eaten?

"We need to be very quiet, okay?" Emma picked up her favorite teddy bear and began tiptoeing down the stairs of the huge castle. She made it halfway down when she heard something and froze instantly in place.

"Princess Emma?"

She turned slowly to face Diana, the older lady who worked in the castle who she just adored.

"Yes?" Emma responded tentatively.

"Aren't you supposed to be in bed? It's 11:30 already,"

The young girl scrunched her face, looking around, trying to find some excuse for why she was up so late. "Um, well, you see," she paused, allowing a look of defeat to spread across her features, "I was hungry," Emma whined, "And there's Christmas cookies right downstairs. And I couldn't sleep knowing that the cookies were so sad because no one had eaten them, because they had chosen to eat their friends instead. And don't the cookies all deserve to be happy?"

Diana gave a quick laugh.

"Please don't tell mommy or daddy! I'll be real quick, okay?"

"Okay Princess, just promise me that you'll be in bed by 12pm, or I'll have no choice but to tell the queen,"

"Oh, thank you so much!" Emma replied, hugging the older lady around her waist. She ran downstairs as quietly and as quickly as her small legs could move.

Tiptoeing around the corner, she saw her target in site. The cookie jar was right there, sitting on the kitchen counter, just about twenty-five feet away.

Hugging her teddy bear tight she moved forward, but then she saw something else! Her parents were right there standing next to the oven, kissing! Emma gasped, making a small noise as covered her eyes.

She tried to run back to her room, but this time her footsteps were too loud and her parents heard her.

"Emma, honey?" Snow called from the kitchen.

She froze immediately in the middle of the hallway, knowing that she was caught and that there was no escaping her mom and dad.

Snow came around the corner where Emma had stopped.

"I'm sorry Mommy! I was hungry and I knew that there were cookies down here and I felt bad for them because all their friends were eaten, and they were left all alone. And nobody chose them so I wanted them to feel loved, because everyone and everything deserves to feel loved right?"

Snow smiled at her daughter as Charming came around the corner. "Of course sweetheart, that's very kind of you,"

"What do you say we have some milk and cookies as long as you're still up?" Charming added.

"Really?" Emma asked, her eyes lighting up with excitement.

"Why not? It's still Christmas after all!" Emma hugged both her parents and ran back into the kitchen taking out the jar of cookies, along with the milk from the refrigerator. Snow helped her pour three glasses of milk, and they all sat at the kitchen table, eating cookies, and talking, and laughing.

Emma woke up from her dream around 3am with a smile spread across her lips. It was Christmas eve, and she was so excited to have her first real Christmas with her mom, her dad, her son, and her true love. It was the first time they'd be celebrating Christmas as a family, the first time there was no Wicked Witch, no crazy man-boy, no snow monster, or villain trying to kill them, and Emma couldn't wait.

She stood up from her bed and walked quietly to her parents' room.

"Mom, Dad?" she whispered, gently tapping her mom's shoulder.

"Emma?" her mom responded, rolling over to face her daughter. "Is everything alright?"

"Everything is perfect," she whispered.

"Emma, what are you doing up?" her dad asked, squinting at the alarm clock next to his bed. "It's three in the morning,"

"I'm sorry I just had a really good dream and I was going to go downstairs to eat some cookies and get some milk, and I was wondering if you guys wanted to join me," Emma replied.

"I would love to," Mary-Margaret responded, smiling up at her daughter.

"Well, I'll never say no to milk and cookies," David answered, jumping out of the bed, and throwing on a sweatshirt.

Maybe Emma never got to experience a childhood with her parents in the Enchanted Forest, maybe she grew up as an orphan, but it was never too late to experience these great times with her family now.

She figured everything happened for a reason anyways, sure she was separated from her family for twenty-eight years, but if things were different Henry would never have been born, and she would probably wouldn't have met her true love.

She had her family here and now, and all Emma wanted was to spend every moment she could with the people she loved.

So she sat at the kitchen table with her parents at three in the morning, eating cookies, drinking milk, talking, and laughing, and Emma couldn't help but feel a sense of déjà vu.

A/N: Okay, this story was so much fun to write! I have a head canon where Emma has dreams of what her life would have been if she grew up in the Enchanted Forest, and she wants to live these memories with her parents now. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed! Please review, and send me messages with prompts or ideas! The next chapter will be Captain Swan!