A/N: Thank you all for the follows, favs, and reviews on the first chapter. it means a lot. Here's the second chapter! I'll be on vacation next week so i hope this holds you over for a bit. if anyone has suggestions on where they want to see this story go feel free to let me know, i'm open to suggestions. I hope you enjoy!

It was 9:15 AM by the time Snow and David were done with little Neal's appointment. "Huh, that went faster than I expected. You did a great job there, buddy" Charming said smiling down at his son in his car seat.

"Would you like for me to drop you off at the station, or do you need to stop at home first?" Snow asked her husband who had just finished buckling their son into the station wagon.

"I need to go home first, I'm taking my truck to work since our little princess requested hot chocolate when I go into work today" Charming said with a chuckle.

"You spoil that girl, you know that right?" Snow said getting into the driver's seat and starting the car.

"Oh come on, Snow. I do not spoil her that much" David said to his wife as he buckled his seat belt.

"Charming, you're wrapped around her finger. A few times may I add" His wife replied now driving the car way from doctor's office.

"Well do you blame me? She's our little girl and she's finally opening up to us. How could I ever say no to her?" David said in a bit of a sad tone thinking about how much of her life they lost out on. Of course he would do whatever he could to make her happy, he owed her at the very least that.

It was a little bit before 9:30 AM by the time the Charming's pulled up to their house. Snow noticed something was off right away. "Charming, doesn't the station open at 9?"

Charming looked up at his wife and replied "Yeah, why?"

Pointing out Emma's yellow bug to her husband Snow said "Then why is her bug still here? She's way too lazy to walk to work."

"Maybe she's having a slow morning after her run since we aren't there to rush her out the door" David said trying to think of reasons why her car was still here when it should be at the station. "I'm going to go check the apartment real quick. You take care of Neal" He said getting a little nervous at the situation.

Snow just nodded and David went quickly into their apartment. "Emma? Are you still here?" He was looking around for any signs of his daughter. He saw that her boots were still by the front door. That wasn't a good sign. He went up into her room and didn't see her running shoes or her towel on the floor like he usually did when they ran.

David made his way back downstairs where his wife was walking in carrying their son. "Is she here?" Snow asked in a concerned voice.

"No, I don't think she's come back from her run yet. Her boots are still by the door" David said with a bit of panic in his voice.

"What? She left over an hour ago! Where is she, David?" Snow said, the panic also starting to grow in her.

Going over possible scenarios in his head, only one seemed to make sense. Looking as though the lightbulb went off above his head he quietly said "She wouldn't."

"She wouldn't what, David?" Snow said in a harder tone, wanting answers as to where her only daughter is.

"She mentioned yesterday extending the route we run and I told her to wait for me because she has a God awful sense of direction out there. She didn't seem to please I doubted her in any way. She's probably still in the woods." David explained as he was looking for the keys to his truck.

"Wait, you think Emma is lost in the woods? She's been gone for over an hour, David." Snow began pacing thinking of all the awful scenarios her mind could come up with. "What if George finds her and takes her? What if another freak snow storm comes in? It was pretty chilly outside this morning. What if another enemy of ours from the Enchanted Forest comes back and gets to her? What if she fell into another portal? David, she isn't armed what if-"Charming interrupted her fast paced worries and pulled his wife into a hug.

"Snow, she's a tough girl. No one is after her. She's fine, probably freaking out a little but she is okay. I'll go find her. Stay here in case she miraculously finds her way out of the woods, okay?" Charming said as he pulled away from his wife and made his way out the door.

"Find her, Charming!" Snow said as she took Neal out of his carrier and sat down on the couch looking out the window for any sign of her blonde daughter.

"I always will." Was all Charming said as he dashed out the door to his truck. Oh I cannot wait to say I told you so to that girl. Charming thought as he got into his truck and drove towards the edge of the woods.

**OUAT**

"How big is this damn forest? How big is Storybrooke for that matter?" Emma said aloud as she felt like she has been walking in circles forever. What a sight this should be. The sheriff of Storybrooke, lost in the woods waiting for her dad, or anyone for that matter, to come and find her. We need better trail markers out here. How long have I been out here? Emma thought as she checked her iPod. 9:40 AM. I have been out here for over an hour. What the hell? How is that possible?

Her shin felt like it was going to explode at any moment. She found a fallen tree and decided it would be best to just sit for a moment and regroup her thoughts, and give her shin a break for that matter. He's going to kill me. I should've listened to him. Why do these things happen to me? Emma thought while massaging her shin.

She could feel it staring to get a little colder and all she had on was a t-shirt and shorts. Please not again, no more freak magical snow storms, please. I don't want to actually freeze to death this time. She pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them tightly.

I'll just sit her for a bit. Dad will find me, he'll always find me. Emma put her head down on her knees and closed her eyes and let the music still playing relax her.

**OUAT**

Charming was now in the woods and followed their usual running route until it forked. Thinking like Emma would he assumed that if she wished to add a mile she probably went left instead of their typical right. Oh she will never hear the last of this when I find her. He picked his pace up to a light jog and began to yell her name, hoping that she was close and could hear him.

After another ten minutes jogging around taking a route he thought she would be on he finally saw a blonde girl curled up on a log, wearing a black sleeve on her right leg. Oh thank goodness. He thought as he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. She was safe.

"Well, well, well. Look who we have here, the almighty navigator. Taking a rest from that extra mile you were dying to run?" Charming said walking toward his daughter who looked up at him with relief in her eyes.

Without thinking about it Emma stood up and ran over and hugged her father. Both were taken by surprise by her actions. She whispered a thank you into his ear and released from the hug.

"Hey dad! How'd baby bros appointment go?" Emma asked, wanting to avoid the subject of her getting lost in the woods.

"Oh no, you can't just brush this off, Emma. What did I tell you yesterday?" Charming said a bit sternly crossing his arms over his chest.

"In my defense I'm an adult and I can handle myself" Emma said copying her father's stance. Anyone who saw the Charming family could tell that Emma took mostly after her father, especially her stubbornness.

"Oh really? Then why are you still out here in the woods? Your mother and I returned home to find your car still there. Do you have any idea how worried we were? Your mother is probably still pacing the apartment coming up with a million scenarios on what happened to you. She's convinced you fell into another portal. I know you're grown up, but sometimes you really need to listen to us as your parents, understand?" Charming said still standing his ground with his arms over his chest.

Emma looked down at the ground, unable to meet her upset father's eyes. "Yeah, I understand. I'm sorry."

Charming dropped his arms and pulled his daughter into a hug. "You had me worried sick, kiddo. Please never do that to me again."

"I'll try not to, dad" Emma said with a bit of a laugh. She was really touched at how concerned her parents were, but this was still a bit foreign to her. She tended to laugh off uncomfortable situations.

"Well, as your father I think it's about high time I finally got to say this. I told you so!" David said to his daughter with his signature Charming grin.

"Yeah, yeah. I get it. Can we go home now? I really need to shower, and eat!" Emma said staring to walk in one direction in the woods.

"Uhh, Emma? The car is that way" David said, pointing in the complete opposite direction Emma was going. Emma just rolled her eyes and walked in the direction her father had just pointed out.

As they were walking David noticed that she was limping again, a bit worse than yesterday. Doing something he always wished her could do as a father, he cut Emma off and turned his back to her crouching down a bit. "Hop on."

"Seriously? I'm good, thanks" Emma said trying to go around her father.

"Emma, come on. Your shin must be killing you. Just take the piggy back ride" Charming said stopping his daughter.

"Alright, fine" Emma said hopping onto her father's back. The pair made their way out of the forest and towards her father's truck. Emma was very relieved to be out of there and somewhere more familiar to her. David let Emma down when they made it to his car and unlocked it.

Once safely inside the vehicle David got his phone out to call his still very worried wife. "Hey Snow. Yeah I found her. Yes, she's okay. Yeah, she was in the woods, just like I said. Yes, I told her. Don't worry, she knows. Okay, we're coming back now. Love you too."

Emma avoided making contact with her father throughout his call, knowing her mother would definitely have a few words to say to her once they returned back to the apartment.

David started to laugh. "And you think I'm bad" was all he had to say before he turned the car on and pulled onto the road.

**OUAT**

The rest of the car ride home went by quietly. Emma was getting anxious as to what her mother would say to her. Yes, she probably should've waited for her father to add that other mile, but she was 29 years old. She doesn't need her parents babying her, they have a new one if they want to do that.

They finally made it back to the apartment and as David and Emma were ascending the stairs, David walked behind her poking her in the back singing the Jaws theme. "Dun dun dun dun. Dun dun dun dun." He couldn't help but laugh, man he was hilarious today.

"Would you quit it?" Emma said turning and giving her father her signature glare. Catching on to her anxiety of facing her mother, David reigned in his mocking and put a supportive hand on the small of her back. He swore he felt Emma relax a little at his touch.

As they made it to their front door, it swung open revealing a relieved Snow. "Oh thank goodness you're alright, Emma." She said wrapping her daughter in a tight hug. "Don't you dare ever do that to us again! Do you have any idea how worried we were?" Emma didn't say anything to this, she just hugged her mother tighter. It was nice to finally have someone who cared.

**OUAT**

After a long relaxing shower, Emma emerged from the bathroom to find her parents making breakfast. "Look who's finally out of the shower. I thought you got lost in there" Charming said trying really hard to stifle his laughter.

"Ha ha ha, you're hilarious" Emma said with a roll of her eyes as she walked up to her room to get ready for the rest of her day.

Snow gave Charming a slap to the chest before returning to making breakfast for her daughter. "Will you go easy on her, she's had a long morning."

Suddenly turning serious, David turned to his wife and began to speak in a soft but stern tone "No I will not go easy on her, Snow. She disobeyed me and put herself in danger. We've almost lost her so many times before, between both curses, Neverland, the ice cave last month, and I almost lost you both when you went to the Enchanted Forest. That's my little girl and it's my job to protect her. I was terrified searching the woods for her earlier thinking that I wouldn't find her, thinking all your 'what if's' were actualities. I don't ever want to feel that way again, Snow." Halfway through his speech he hugged his wife and was holding onto her tight, trying to keep his emotions in check.

Once he finished his emotional monologue he felt a pair of arms wrap around him and his wife from behind. "I'm so sorry you guys, I wasn't thinking. I didn't mean for you guys to think those things. But I'm okay, I'm right here" Emma said while hugging both of her parents. She heard the whole thing from the loft and felt guilty for putting her parents through that even though she didn't think it was that big of a deal. They were scarred from what had happened in the past, just as Emma was. They were different from anyone in her past. They cared about her. They were her parents.

**OUAT**

By 11 AM the Storybrooke sheriff's station was open for the day. David and Emma spent the majority of the day doing the last of the paperwork from the ice wall. They were determined to finish it all today and to have that incident behind them once and for all. The weather in Storybrooke began to get cold as fall was in full swing. Figures they missed the last of the warm weather of summer due to the Snow Queen.

They got a couple of calls on the non-emergency line asking about the weather and if it was magic related. Both Emma and David did their best to alleviate any concerns the citizens of Storybrooke had. Toward the end of their work day Emma switched the calls over to her cell phone as her and her father went to patrol the town.

Ever since the Wicked Witch came to town they liked to go out and patrol the town a few times a week to make sure everything was as normal as normal could be for them. David was driving the cruiser after making another "You might get lost" joke, earning him a punch to the arm and a deadly eye roll from his clearly unamused daughter.

"You know that joke is going to get old really quick" Emma said to her father as he was pulling off of Main Street.

"Hmm, are you sure? I just think the joke is lost on you" David replied to his daughter trying his best to not burst out laughing.

"You are such a dad with your dad jokes" Emma said after giving her father an unamused look and a sigh. David was just very pleased to hear his daughter acknowledge his relation to her with such ease. He never thought they'd be this close when the curse first broke. She was so closed off and guarded, and definitely didn't like the David Nolan that broke her roommate's heart at the time. It filled his heart to hear his little girl call him 'dad'.

They finished making their rounds on patrol and locked up the station before going home for a family dinner.

**OUAT**

When Emma and David entered the apartment their noses were filled with the smell of homemade chicken broccoli Alfredo. "Oh that smells amazing, mom" Emma said shrugging off her leather jacket and taking off her boots.

"There you two are, I thought you might've gotten lost on your way home" Snow said with a smile at her daughter. Charming went over and kissed his wife, giving her a high five in the process.

"Go ahead, team up on me why don't you!" Emma exclaimed making her way to the couch to sit down before dinner.

She heard the bathroom door open and she momentarily got confused as Killian made his way into the living room. "Hello, love. I heard you had quite the adventure this morning" he said with a wink and a raised eyebrow as he made his way over to her.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but what are you doing here?" Emma said, still confused as to why her pirate was at her house. She hasn't talked to him yet today.

"Your mother invited me. Said you might need some help with your navigational skills, and who better to ask than the best pirate to ever grace the seven seas." Killian said wrapping his Swan in a hug.

"I'm glad we are all getting a good laugh out of this, really" Emma said crossing her arms over her chest, getting a mean look in her eyes.

"Oh, Emma. Lighten up a bit, we're just having a good laugh. Something we never do that often" Snow said setting the table for dinner.

"Whatever" was all Emma said before getting up and grabbing a drink out of the fridge for herself and Killian.

**OUAT**

After they ate dinner Snow and Charming went for a walk with their son and gave Emma and Killian some privacy. The pair was watching Law Abiding Citizen on the small television in the living room. Emma had seen this movie a dozen times when she lived in New York. It was one of her and Henry's go to 'sick day' movies to watch. Killian was enthralled by the concept of the movie. How someone could just go around doing that and outsmarting the cops, it reminded him of his pirate days.

"You ever run into someone like this in your old job, Swan?" Killian asked hoping for a 'no' to his curious question.

"Nope, no one was ever that psychotic. At least not that I knew of. I just delivered them, got my money, and then went home" Emma said with a bit of a shrug.

She was getting very tired. She ran a lot this morning, unintentionally of course, and then spent more energy walking around then finally going to work. She leaned her head on Killian's shoulder and closed her eyes while the movie kept playing.

Her parents came back from their stroll with the young prince and saw their daughter sleeping on her pirate. "Looks like someone lost their battle with sleep" David said with a chuckle. Snow just rolled her eyes as she carried her sleeping son to his crib.

David was cleaning up the kitchen and bit and helping his wife with the lunches for the following day, when they heard the music for the credits playing. "She should really go up to bed, she's had a long day" Snow said looking over at her daughter, still very much asleep on Killian who was looking at her lovingly.

"Yeah, you're right. I'll go get our princess up to bed" David said making his way over to Emma. He crouched down in front of her giving Killian a little smile before he shook her shoulder. "Emma, wake up. Time to go up to bed"

"No, movie isn't over" His daughter mumbled. Her voice was thick with sleep and she barely moved a muscle.

"Love, the movie already ended. Bloody guy got burned to death. Terrible way to go" Killian said trying to get her to sit up.

Emma sat up a little and rubbed her eyes, taking in her surrounds for a moment. She felt physically and somewhat emotionally exhausted. Her legs were very sore and she felt a slight ache forming behind her eyes. She stood up and made her way to the bathroom to take her contacts out, they were really making her eyes ache tonight.

Emerging from the bathroom, very much blind at this point, she slowly made her way over to Killian who was waiting by the front door. "Goodnight, love. Get some sleep and try not to get lost tomorrow" Killian said leaning in to kiss Emma.

Emma returned the kiss, a bit deeper, before pulling away. "Goodnight, Killian. I'll see you tomorrow"

Shutting the door and turning around, she missed her father's disgusted face at his daughter kissing the pirate. Attempting to walk towards her parents to hug them goodnight, she hit her hip off the dining room table. "Damnit!"

"Emma, where are your glasses?" Her mother asked coming over to guide her fuzzed vision daughter.

"At the station, in a box filled with old memories. I haven't worn glasses since I got contacts" At this, Snow realized that she indeed never saw her wear glasses.

"Really? That can't be good for your eyes honey. What do you do if you run out of contacts?" Her mother inquired.

"I've never had that problem before, so beats me. Goodnight guys, I'll see you in the morning" Emma said hugging her mother than slowly making her way over to her father. "Goodnight, Emma" Both her parents said in unison.

Emma walked over to the loft stairs and tripped a couple of times on her way up to her room. Her parents could hear her bang into a few pieces of furniture as she got dressed for bed. "That girl is going to make us prematurely grey haired." Charming said walking with his wife to their room for the night.