Well this is something I've never done before. I'm adding a second chapter to a oneshot. The very idea! But I got so many requests for it, I just couldn't not write it. I just couldn't! Not! Couldn't not!
When Emma came down the stairs the next afternoon after sleeping all morning, she found both of her parents in the kitchen speaking quietly. The moment they noticed her, they fell silent. Snow pretended to be doing dishes, David just stood awkwardly as he tried to decide what to pretend to do. Emma sighed heavily as she reached the kitchen.
"Alright, I knew this was coming," Emma said flatly as she perched herself on a stool at the counter. She gave her parents a level look. Snow stopped pretending to do the dishes with a sigh. Emma gathered her thoughts for a moment before she looked up at her parents again. "You went through my box last night."
Snow and David exchanged a weighted glance. Then they both nodded silently.
Emma sighed again and leaned her elbows on the counter. "I saw how interested you were in my blanket," she said quietly, her eyes flicking briefly to Snow. "I thought you would want to see everything else I saved. I didn't mean for it to be a… like a big deal or anything…"
Snow laughed a bit and shook her head in exasperation. "Emma," she sighed, smiling fondly at her daughter. "It was a big deal."
Emma shrugged evasively, glancing away from her parents. "Besides the blanket, it was just junk I held on to," she muttered.
Snow frowned. "How can you say that?" she asked, sounding equally sad and confused. David sighed and crossed the kitchen to the bedroom without either woman noticing. "Everything in that box was… precious to you."
Emma rolled her eyes. "It's just a bunch of old papers," she quipped, a slight whining lilt to her voice that made David laugh to himself as he carried the box into the kitchen. He placed the box on the counter and sat down on the stool beside Emma's, still unnoticed by his wife and daughter as they argued. "And I really hate the world 'precious.'"
David reached into the box and pulled out the teddy bear. He cleared his throat pointedly to get Emma and Snow to look at him. He silently held the bear out to Emma, and her eyes went wide. She stretched a hesitant hand toward it.
"Baloo," Emma whispered, surprised. She carefully took the bear in her hands and stared at it, her mouth hanging open slightly. "I forgot he was in there."
"A bunch of old papers, huh?" David asked, grinning at Snow. Snow rolled her eyes, but she gave him an appreciative smile all the same.
Emma didn't notice the exchange. She was still staring at Baloo with something akin to shock. Finally, she looked up at her parents again.
"Okay, fine," Emma said grudgingly. "It's a big deal."
Snow grinned triumphantly. "So… can we talk about this?" she asked gently.
Emma glanced between her parents, then turned her eyes back to the bear in her hands. She swallowed hard and placed the bear in her lap. Then, with a long sigh, she nodded. "Okay," she grumbled. "Let's talk."
Snow could barely stop herself from jumping up and down and clapping. She grabbed Emma by the elbow and dragged her over to her bed. David only rolled his eyes a little bit as he carried the box back over to where it had started, and the two women sat down side-by-side on the mattress. David pulled up a chair to one side of the bed and placed the box between the three of them. They all stared at it for a few silent moments, Emma still cradling her bear in her lap.
Snow moved first, automatically reaching for the blanket and lifting it to her face to smell it, eyes closed. David gave her an odd look and she blushed in embarrassment.
"It still… it still smells like a baby," she whispered. "I forgot to mention that last night."
David snatched it out of her hands and smelled it, eyes wide. His gaze flicked up to Emma, then over to Snow. She smiled sadly at the tears in his eyes.
"It smells… pink," he stated simply, and Snow laughed.
Emma wasn't sure how to react. She bit her lip and looked around. "Where's Henry?" she asked uncomfortably.
Snow frowned at her. "You know full well he's having lunch with Regina today," she replied in what Emma had come to refer to as her 'teacher voice.' David knew it was only a matter of time before she started calling it her 'mom voice.' "Now don't change the subject."
"I wasn't-" Emma began to protest, but Snow just gave her a look and she fell silent. David laughed, and they both looked at him. He shook his head a little, the blanket still in his lap and a smile on his face.
"You two are so much alike," he said frankly. Emma blushed and looked back down at her bear, but Snow smiled gratefully. David could see tears in her eyes, so he quickly grabbed a folder out of the box to move the subject along. It was the folder with the newspaper articles, which David spread open on the bed. Emma winced at bit when she read the headlines.
"I forgot these are kind of… strongly worded," she admitted.
Snow glanced away and David shook his head. "They're not wrong," he said quietly, and Emma was a bit startled by the pain in his voice. She clutched her bear a little tighter. He sighed and looked down at the blanket in his lap. "We were frozen in time, but you…" He ran a hand through his hair anxiously. "You were alone for your whole life, just like you said."
Emma met David's eyes and swallowed hard. His bright blue eyes, so like hers, were full of tears. He glanced away from her and Emma suddenly found it hard to breathe. She turned her wide eyes to Snow, only to find that she wouldn't look at her either. She was staring fixedly at the box between them, hugging her arms as tears dripped from her chin.
"Hey," Emma said breathlessly, looking between them again. "You guys… you know I don't… blame you for all this…"
"Gods, Emma, don't," Snow blurted and wiped her eyes hastily with the back of her hand. "You have every right to be angry. We…" She let out a shuddering breath and looked over at her husband. He was trying to compose himself, sniffling and wiping his eyes, but it didn't seem to be working. Snow shook her head and looked down at her lap. "We deserve it."
"I'm not angry," Emma breathed desperately. Snow gave her a doubtful look, her shoulders shaking as she tried to keep from sobbing. Emma realized then that she was crying too, feeling her breath catching and the tears running down her cheeks. It had snuck up on her. "I'm not anymore. I was… for a really long time… but I can't be anymore." David glanced up at her. "How can I be mad at you when… when I see how much pain you're both in?" Snow finally looked up at her as well. "You had no other choice. You know I know that, right?"
When she didn't get a response from either of them, she sighed in frustration. She grabbed one of Snow's hands in both of hers and Snow looked at her in surprise. "I was there with you in the nursery, remember?" Emma said sternly. "I saw everything you wanted for me. I saw you crying when we left. And you," she said, rounding on David so suddenly he jumped. "I've read Henry's book, I know why you were in that coma. You almost died to get me to that wardrobe, to save me."
Emma closed the folder and shoved it back in its envelope, scowling. "I know that you wanted me. I'm not angry and I don't blame you," she said firmly. She met Snow's eyes, then David's. "Okay?"
David smiled. He nodded and wiped his eyes again, and Emma smiled at him in relief. Snow took a bit more persuasion. Emma was still holding onto her hand, so she squeezed it to try to get her attention. David silently took her other hand in his and laid the baby blanket in her lap. She finally let out a teary laugh.
"Okay," Snow said at length. Emma exhaled heavily in relief.
"Okay," Emma repeated with a nod. She let go of Snow's hand so she could wipe her eyes, and her parents both took a moment to do the same. When they had all suitably composed themselves, they shared an awkward laugh and dug back into the box.
Emma told them brief stories about all of the foster homes she had lived in. She laughed a great deal and got very embarrassed when they dug out the pictures she had drawn when she was young. Snow cried again over the birthday card and it took Emma and David a while to calm her back down.
Finally, they were down to the last item in the box. Emma reached in and pulled out the old, tattered copy of Grimm's Fairy Tales. When she saw it, she jerked back in surprise. David and Snow both watched her warily as she stared at the cover.
"Oh wow," she whispered, turning the book over in her hands. "I forgot about this."
Snow cleared her throat and glanced at David. "You saved a page in it," she said quietly.
Emma glanced between her parents briefly before she opened the book to the dog-eared page. The story of Snow White. Her eyes went wide.
"Oh my god," Emma breathed. She looked up at her parents. "Oh my god."
"What?" Snow asked, concerned.
"This book," Emma continued breathlessly. "This story. I used to read it all the time. When I was little I would…" She trailed off, her breath catching in her chest. She looked up at her parents, a thoughtful frown on her face and her eyes still wide. "Me and the other kids in the foster homes… we would tell each other stories of what we hoped our real parents were like and how they would come find us someday." Emma sniffled, running her fingers over the page. "When I was five years old, I took this book from the lost-and-found box at school. I used to read it cover to cover every day. And when me and the other kids talked about who we imagined our parents were…" She smiled softly, tears dripping from her chin. "I said I wanted them to be like Snow White and Prince Charming."
Snow and David both stared at their daughter, eyes wide and full of tears. They weren't quite sure what to say, so Emma laughed a bit and looked down sheepishly.
"I guess I'm really lucky," Emma said quietly as she wiped her eyes. "I'm probably the only kid who found her parents… and they turned out exactly how I wanted."
At that David lurched forward, shoving the box out of the way and pulling Emma into his arms. Emma laughed, embarrassed, as he held her to his chest and kissed her head. Snow laughed, and David removed one arm from Emma and wrapped it around his wife, pulling all three of them into a laughing, crying group hug.
"I don't understand," Snow said breathlessly when the hug eventually dissolved. "Did you… could you remember us? I mean even in some small way?"
Emma shrugged, holding her bear in her hands again. "I might have," she admitted, though she sounded a bit confused. "I mean… if I did, it wasn't like a distinct memory so much as… a feeling."
David let out a long, slow breath. "It's just incredible," he said quietly. "There was only a space of about five minutes between your birth and your trip through the wardrobe."
"Like I said, it wasn't a memory," Emma shrugged again. "Just a feeling."
After a short silence, David and Emma started packing everything back into the box. But Emma held onto Baloo, and Snow still held the blanket as she stared at her daughter. When they'd finished putting everything away, Emma glanced over at her mother. Snow just kept staring at her.
"What is it?" Emma asked, embarrassed.
Snow took a deep breath. "Did we really…" she began hesitantly. "Are we really exactly what you wanted?"
Emma laughed and looked down at her bear. David smiled and took Snow's hand again.
"Maybe not exactly," Emma said in a highly exaggerated fashion that made her parents laugh. "I mean… I figured you'd be a bit older."