Author's Note: Thank you all for continuing to be the best readers ever. Your reviews and follows and favorites have been wonderful! Here's the Mama Snow part. Hope you like!
The first thing that ran through Snow White's mind upon catching a glimpse of her daughter sitting in that chair, a blanket around her shoulders and head resting against Captain Hook's chest was, Oh, so there is no her and Hook, hmm?
Then the tension on her husband's face registered, as did the combination of weariness and utter relief on Hook's. Henry, standing at the stove, kept glancing in his mother's direction as if he expected her to disappear at any moment. Even the newcomer Elsa seemed to be on edge; she was casting nervous glances at Emma as if to reassure herself that she was all right.
Just as Snow set a sleeping Neal down in the bassinet, Emma shifted in the chair enough for Snow to catch a glimpse of her face. Her skin was so ashen that Snow gasped out loud. Icy tendrils of fear made their way down Snow's spine as it registered that Emma was shaking uncontrollably.
No, not shaking. Shivering.
And then it clicked. This wasn't a quiet moment between two people just beginning to come together. This was the aftermath of a rescue. "Oh, my gods, Emma!" Snow cried.
It took her maybe three seconds to cross the room but those three seconds felt like an eternity. Up close, she could see that Emma's lips were a light shade of purple. Her heart in her throat, Snow placed the backs of her fingers against her grown-up baby's forehead.
Emma was weary and still, so unnervingly still. Snow had actually expected her daughter to duck out of her reach and whine in protest but she just sat there and let her mother perform the simple touch test that parents from time immemorial had used to check their children's temperatures.
As soon as her fingers made contact, Snow winced. Her baby girl's skin felt like ice, a fact that was even more terrifying than her pallor. "What the hell happened?" she asked, crouching down in front of the chair and looking over her poor daughter to determine the extent of the damage.
A chorus of voices rang through the apartment. Charming and Hook both launched into a rambling story about necklaces and shepherd's crooks. Emma softly – so very softly, which made Snow's heart skip a beat or two – insisted that everything was perfectly fine now and it didn't matter. Over at the stove, Henry said something about a cave-in.
It was the strong yet ashamed voice of the young queen that caught Snow's attention. "It was my fault."
Everyone stopped talking. Snow turned to Elsa, eyes demanding an explanation. This woman had hurt her baby girl, and Charming was insisting they help her?
The anger glittering in Snow's eyes must have made Emma nervous because she placed her cold hand on top of the one her mother had set on her knee, a plea to stand down. "No, Elsa," she said around a shiver, "it was an accident."
Elsa's eyes flicked to Emma, a gentle smile tugging at her lips. "It may have been an accident but I am still to blame." She returned her attention to Snow. Facing down a protective mother ready to pounce had to be one of the most terrifying things in the world but Elsa handled it with poise and elegance. "I trapped us in an ice cavern."
And for just a moment, Snow couldn't breathe. Her Emma, her baby, had been trapped in an ice cavern? Oh gods, she wanted nothing more than to pull Emma into a crushing hug and never let her go. She wanted to hold her daughter until all the ice had melted from her veins, until she stopped shivering and shuddering, and until she radiated warmth.
But wait a second. Where was there an ice cavern in Storybrooke? Ice was a bit unseasonal for this time of year. There was most definitely more to this story and Snow had every intention of getting it later. Right now, all of her focus was on her poor baby girl.
"You're also the one who freed us from the icy hellhole," Emma said, looking directly at Elsa. Her eyes held no malice or anger whatsoever, only fondness and gratitude. When Elsa gave her a little smile in return, Emma refocused on her mother. "And it's fine now, really. Everything's okay. I'm fine–"
She stopped short as a deep shudder ran down her spine. Snow winced and adjusted the blanket around her shoulders before once again clasping her knee. "The shudders are actually a good sign," Hook murmured to her. "She wasn't shivering when I put her in the land vessel."
Snow's eyes closed as her grip on Emma's knee tightened. Good gods, her baby had been so close.
Emma's hand tightened around Snow's, forcing her to open her eyes and look up at her baby girl. "I'm okay," she insisted.
She may have been okay now, but judging from both her physical condition and the tension still remaining in everyone's posture, Snow gathered that for a while there, she hadn't been anywhere near okay. She reached up and brushed a wayward strand of hair out of Emma's eyes. "How long?"
Though her poor baby understood the question, her eyes registered sheepish ignorance. She didn't know. Due to the temperature's effect on her, she had no idea how long she'd been in her icy prison. She must have been in and out of consciousness, then.
Oh, that was not good. Not good at all. Snow's heart throbbed in her chest, panic and concern and fear all combining to form one massive assault on her maternal instincts.
"The cave-in happened a little after the power went out," Hook supplied softly.
And once again, Snow couldn't breathe. Her baby had been trapped in the ice cave for hours! "And no one thought to maybe tell me this was happening?" she asked, her palm automatically shooting to cup Emma's frigid cheek. It wouldn't strike her until later – much later, long after Emma had begun dozing off in the chair – that not only was Emma allowing the constant touches, she seemed to need them.
Snow darted her gaze over Emma's head to her husband, shooting him a glare that even had Hook wincing. "I think something like this deserves at least a heads-up!"
However, Charming was nothing if not calm and cool under pressure. "Our hands were a little full at the time," he replied, softly but pointedly, while nodding in Emma's direction.
"And some of us only have one of them," Hook muttered under his breath. Emma elbowed him to shut him up while hiding an amused smirk.
Snow understood in an instant. They hadn't had time for phone calls because all their attention had been focused on trying to get Emma to safety.
All right, she supposed she could let it slide for now. Still, her baby had been trapped in an ice cavern for hours, and she hadn't known. Hadn't even suspected. Oh gods, how differently this night could have ended. She could have come home to find …
Her brain refused to finish the thought. She may not have been there to help rescue her little girl but she could damn well do something for her now. "I'm going to make you some hot chocolate," she said, pushing herself to her feet.
"I've got the hot chocolate, Gramma," Henry spoke up from the stove.
Oh, right, of course he did. Snow frowned down at Emma in thought. There had to be something else that could warm her from the inside out. "How about some soup, then? I've got chicken soup I could heat up."
A small but very grateful smile tugged at her daughter's lips. "That sounds great."
Content now that she had both a mission and a way to take care of her daughter, Snow pressed a kiss to the top of Emma's head and crossed over to the kitchen. She pulled the leftover soup from the fridge while Charming set a pot on the stove for her. She would have loved to make Emma some soup from scratch but they didn't have that kind of time. Heated leftovers would have to do.
Henry was putting the finishing touches on the cocoa as Snow dumped the leftover soup in the pot. "Bring the pirate a chair, will you?" Charming murmured to the boy as he topped the steaming drink a generous swirl of whipped cream.
"Got it," Henry smirked. On his way past the kitchen table, he snagged a chair to drag over for Hook so he wouldn't have to keep kneeling on the floor.
Now alone with her husband, Snow murmured, "So, do you want to tell me what the hell happened tonight?"
Charming gave her what she gathered was the short version of events, starting with the discovery of the ice wall at the town line and ending with the mad dash to get Emma home and piled in as many blankets as they could. He trailed off for a moment, his eyes drifting to where their daughter still sat huddled under the blankets. "I was so scared, Snow," he finished.
"I can't even imagine how terrifying it was," she murmured around the lump in her throat. It was terrifying listening to it, never mind living it.
"We both were petrified," he said, nodding towards the pirate. "Hell, Elsa was scared, too. Emma was so cold when we pulled her out of the ice." He returned his attention to Snow. "I'm sorry I didn't call you–"
"It's all right," she assured him. "Of course she came first." Now she was the one to look over at their little girl, who now sat surrounded by a pirate, an ice queen (for whom her grandson had also dragged another chair from the kitchen table), and a twelve-year-old boy who was perfectly content to sit on the floor at his mother's feet. The relief surrounding the group was palpable, and the thought finally broke through Snow's stubborn consciousness: We could have lost her tonight.
Gods, it was too much to contemplate. And yet now that the thought had pushed itself forth, Snow couldn't stop contemplating it. "How long did she have?"
"Snow–"
She turned to her husband with teary eyes. "How long?"
Charming swallowed hard as he took his wife's hands in his. "Minutes. Maybe a half hour at the most."
The tears fell from her eyes and slid down her cheeks. Thirty short minutes – or less – and everything could have ended very, very differently.
Her husband's grip on her hands tightened. "But that's not what happened, Snow. It's not. Elsa melted a hole in the ice, we got them both out, and Emma's going to be perfectly fine."
Snow understood that he was trying to get her to focus on the positive outcome that was rather than the negative one that never came to pass, but her brain refused to let go of the negative. My sweet Emma, my little girl. And I could have lost her tonight.
Good gods, she wanted nothing more than to wrap Emma in every single blanket they owned and forbid her from leaving the apartment ever again.
Of course, locking Emma away from the rest of the world to keep her safe wasn't an option so Snow had to settle for ladling some of the now-hot soup into a bowl and taking it to her freezing cold but thankfully very much alive daughter.
Upon spying Snow's approach, Hook gently slipped the mug of cocoa from Emma's hands so she could take the bowl of soup from her mother. "Thanks, Mom," Emma murmured, and oh, how the sound of her sweet baby calling her Mom made Snow's heart leap for joy.
"You're very welcome, sweetheart," Snow replied, placing her fingers on Emma's forehead for what must have been the hundredth time. She couldn't help it, though, and Emma was still allowing it, so she went with it.
Charming had followed Snow from the kitchen and, after a quick check on Neal, sat down on the sofa. Sensing that having everyone circled around her was getting to be too much for this mother, Henry picked himself up off the floor and joined him. Elsa gave up her chair to Snow with a smile and, after a gentle touch to Emma's knee, sat down with Charming and Henry. Something told Snow that Hook wasn't about to move, which was perfectly all right since it didn't at all seem like Emma wanted him to go anywhere.
For a little while, everyone sat in a comfortable silence. Then Henry, being Henry, asked Elsa all about Arendelle. Elsa smiled and told him stories of the land she called home while peppering him with similar questions about Storybrooke. Charming divided his attention among the conversation happening beside him, the bassinet where his son lay sleeping, and his still recovering daughter.
Snow's own attention flicked back and forth between Neal and Emma. Though Emma was making a dent in the soup, she was doing so very slowly. A little bubble of fear flitted in Snow's stomach. Emma typically ate with gusto.
It took her far longer than it normally would but Emma did eventually finish the soup. Hook slipped the empty bowl from her hand and set it down on the floor next to him. When Snow bent down to pick it up to take to the sink, Emma's cold hand wrapped around her wrist. "Can you … stay for a little while?" she asked, sounding very much like a young and frightened little girl who just wanted her mom to make everything better.
"Of course, honey," Snow murmured around the lump in her throat because oh gods, her baby wanted her to stay. A small, grateful smile tugged at the corners of Emma's mouth. Snow once again kissed her daughter's forehead before settling a little more comfortably in the chair. She grasped Emma's hand and smiled at her. "I'll stay for as long as you want me to, all right?"
Emma nodded and closed her eyes, once again resting her head against Hook's shoulder. Her free hand found Hook's while the other remained clasped in her mother's. On the couch sat Emma's father who would do anything for her, her son who loved her with all he had, and a new friend who had saved her life.
And as Snow looked her baby girl over, tears in her eyes and her thumb running up and down the back of Emma's gradually warming hand, a new thought sprang into her mind, overshadowing the other much more negative one: She'll never be alone again.
Snow squeezed her daughter's hand and smiled when Emma squeezed back. And when she thought of how close she'd come to never again having these little touches, never again hearing her baby call her Mom, never again being able to give Emma a hug or tell her how much she loved her …
It was the despair and ache in her heart at that thought that made her need to tell her now. "I love you, Emma," she whispered, so softly she wasn't even sure Emma had heard her.
But she most definitely had. A smile curled on her lips as she opened her eyes and gazed directly into her mother's. "I love you, too," she said, matching Snow's volume.
And that did it. More tears slid down Snow's cheeks, these ones tears of joy and relief. Yes, Snow could have lost her baby girl tonight, and she had her lucky stars to thank – along with a magical ice queen, a determined father, and a just as determined pirate captain – that she hadn't.