Thank you guys! Thought I'd post the first real chapter before I go to work so the views etc. cheer me up after I get back. This is my first Snowing fic so I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1

"Daddy! Daddy! There's a lady outside with a van. She looks like a princess! Daddy get up, she's all alone, we have to help!"

David groaned as his precocious four year kneed him in the gut as she clambered onto his bed, waking him for the wonderful dream he was having. He pretended he was still sleeping, as the excited young girl began to tap his forehead. He opened his eyes quickly as he lifted his daughter from where she was kneeling on his chest to where she was kneeling on the bed beside him, before tickling her until she begged him to stop. She jumped from the bed, with a graceful clumsiness that only kids seemed to possess and ran to the window, jumping on her tippy toes and pointing until David joined her.

He merely wanted to placate his little princess, but one glance out of the window, at the pixie haired brunette struggling to carry boxes to the newly purchased house next door and he knew he had to help.

"Go and get dressed Em, and we'll go and see if she needs any assistance. If she says no, you're to leave her alone, ok?" Emma was a smart child, but she had not yet learned how to bluff. So when she responded with a "yes daddy" and a shake of her head, David grinned, pushing her gently out of the door so he could dress. "Put your boots and jacket on ok, it's still early and a little cold." This time she nodded her head, and skipped out of the room to do so.

By the time he was dressed and had pulled on his own jacket, he saw Emma already waiting by the door, having found her winter hat and mittens. David rolled his eyes. His little girl was four going on 14, and seemed to have a perfect understanding of sarcasm. He made her remove them, placing them on the table next to the door, ruffling her hair. "Daddy can we go get pancakes for breakfast before the park?"

Raising a brow, the blonde man nodded, having promised her last week if she'd was good for the babysitter while he was at work, that they would go to the diner for breakfast. "Of course princess, whatever you want." Hand in hand, the pair made their way towards where the moving van was parked. As soon as the woman stepped out of what was looking like her new house, Emma let go of her father's hand and ran towards her, surprising the woman who yelped at the sudden appearance of the pint size blonde.

"Hi. I'm Emma, me and daddy live just there and he saw you and wanted to help. What's your name? I like your hair but why is it so short?" The woman looked startled at the monologue coming from the little girl in front of her, and glanced around looking for whichever parent the child belonged to. She saw him, standing by the van that held her whole life, looking adorably at the miniature, feminine version of him. When he noticed her looking at him, he waved, mouthing an apology as he walked over to her, getting hold of Emma's hand before she could run off again.

"Hi there. I'm sorry to bother you. I am David Nolan, this is my daughter Emma, and we live next door. This little devil wanted to come and meet her new neighbour, see if you needed any help." The woman was smiling, and held out her hand for David to shake.

"I'm Mary Margaret Blanchard, nice to meet you both. When David released her hand, she knelt down so she was more on the young girl's eye line and held out her hand for a shake too. Emma grinned up at her, and instead of shaking her hand, she wrapped her tiny arms around her neck, eliciting a gasp from the older woman.

"You look like Snow White. Did you know that? She's my favourite princess. Do you have a favourite princess? What about the baddies? Do you have a favourite? Are you scared of any? I don't like any of the baddies because they're mean to the princess's."

"Emma, calm down, let Miss Blanchard breathe…" He shook his head at the small child, smiling fondly at her, before giving yet another apology. "I'm sorry, Emma is quite excitable when it comes to meeting new people, especially when they do indeed bear a resemblance to her favourite princess."

"Well it's quite alright. It's a pleasure to meet young Emma." She smiled warmly at the little girl who took her hand and turned on her heel, marching towards the open back of the van. Mary Margaret followed with a laugh and David trailed behind.

"Come on Snow, daddy is going to help you with the boxes, he can carry and you can tell him where to put stuff and then you're coming to breakfast with us ok?"

"Uhhh, maybe you should ask your dad little one, I'm sure he doesn't want a stranger tagging along to your family time." She let go of Emma's hand and lifted a box from the van, placing it on the floor, before lifting one of the sofa cushions and handing it to Emma. "Can you do me a favour and take that inside for me?" The little girl nodded, eager to have been given a grown-up task and ran for the door, her excited laugh fading as she went through the door. Snow glanced at David who was stood, looking at the door where his daughter had disappeared through. "She's special that one, I know that even 5 minutes after meeting her."

David's returning smile was proud, and he nodded his agreement. "She's a little spitfire alright. I'm sorry about her forwardness, she's always been good with people." He paused glancing to the front door and back to the brunette. "She's right though you know, you are welcome to join us for breakfast. I can't imagine you've had much time to get groceries."

Before she could answer, the small burst of energy known as Emma came barrelling towards them, bumping into David's legs with an 'oomph'. Without missing a beat, Mary Margaret passed her another sofa cushion, passing it to the small child. She picked up a box labelled kitchen, and gestured towards the van for David to pick something and the three of them headed for the house. Snow dumped the box on the kitchen counter, and the three of them unpacked the van for another half hour before they stopped for a drink. David made a quick trip back to his house to get some fresh orange juice and milk so they could make coffee, as Emma helped Mary Margaret search through the boxes for mugs. After their break, and the group agreement to just dump everything anywhere there was space so they could get the van unpacked, it only took another hour before the van was empty and the house was a mess.

Having already agreed to join them for breakfast, if only to check out the local diner scene, David and Emma left Mary Margaret to change and get ready, while they returned to their house, swapping their boots and jackets, for more weather appropriate wear. They soon met their new neighbour at the corner of her yard and they set off down the street. Mel's Drive-In Diner was only a handful of blocks away, but their early morning workout had exhausted the three of them, especially Emma, so she went from holding David's hand, to walking between the two adults, gripping both their hands tightly, looking between them as she babbled about her favourite Disney movies.

"Guess what Snow, daddy told me that if I am good for the rest of the summer, we can go to Disneyland before I go to school. I'm gonna be in kindgarten. Daddy told me that I can wear my princess dress for the first day but what if my teacher doesn't like princesses, then they might not like me. What do you think Snow?"

"You know sweetheart, you can just call me Mary, that's my name, and wow, kindergarten? That's a big step. I'm sure your new teacher will love you, no matter what you wear, but I do think your princess dress sounds awesome!"

When they arrived at the diner they were seated quickly and Emma got to the colouring page straight away, while the adults perused the menu. "I don't know if you've eaten in a Mels before, but I recommend the corned beef hash, avocado toast, or the pancakes. I'd recommend the milkshakes, little miss certainly loves them, but not for breakfast so…"

Snow nodded along to his suggestions, using the crayons that had been placed on the table for Emma to doodle on the paper place mat in front of her. "Pancakes sounds perfect right now. What about you princess?" Emma barely looked up from her colouring as she spoke to them both.

"Daddy said I can have pancakes, but can I have a fruit cup too please Snow?" Mary Margaret looked to David who nodded, and Snow couldn't help but smile.

"Of course you can sweetheart."

"I think I'll go for the corned beef hash with hash brown. And a large coffee." He gestured to the older woman stood at the counter, who quickly ambled over holding a coffee jug.

"Well well, look who it is. How's my favourite little munchkin?" Emma looked up from her colouring with a huge beam.

"Granny hi! Can I get a fruit cup with my pancakes please? Is Ruby here? She said next time I was here she'd colour with me." With the one sided conversation clearly already boring her, she turned back to her colouring and puzzle paper, leaving David to introduce Mary Margaret to Granny and give their order. It was delivered with the usual speed and flourish and soon the three of them were digging in, hungry from their earlier work. David cut up Emma's pancakes while she speared pieces of chopped melon and strawberries with her fork, and she ate a piece of her pancakes every time she found one of the words in her word search.

There was one piece of pancake left and one word to find, but by the time she had found 'milkshake' on the word search, they had been joined by Ruby who had stolen the last bite of pancake from the little girls plate. By the time she finally looked up and noticed, all three adults were watching David's mini-me, waiting for a reaction, the only one of which was Emma clambering on Ruby's lap to show her the drawing she had done. David and Mary Margaret had been discussing the diner and her move to California so hadn't noticed a rather poorly drawn picture of Mary Margaret in the distinctive, only because of its colour, Snow White outfit surrounded by a mish-mash of flowers and hearts.

"Ruby, this is Snow, she lives next door and she has a blue kitchen." Used to Emma's quirkiness, Ruby just laughed and shook hands with the other woman.

"Hey, I'm Ruby. I'm this monkey's babysitter when David is working, so you'll be seeing me around sometimes over the next couple of weeks."

"Wait, couple of weeks? School starts in a couple of weeks… I thought you were gonna be around to help with drop off and pick up… What's going on?"

"Ah, yeah, well I meant to talk to you about that David… I'm going away in a couple of weeks. Travelling around Australia and New Zealand with Billy before I go back to college so I won't be around for… well, you know. I wanted to tell you in enough time so you had time to find a new babysitter."