November 2014: 2 months old
"Do we have to do this?" Emma moaned as she opened the oven to check on the turkey roasting inside.
"Yes" Neal replied firmly. "Henry is really eager to have a semi-normal thanksgiving, and whilst your parents may not be here, everyone else still is."
Emma stood and turned on him, her arms crossed tightly across her chest. "I don't want to sit around a table with Regina and your insane relatives as well as all the dwarfs and Granny and Ruby, and have to talk about what we're all thankful for."
Neal gave her a sad smile, and approached her, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist. Emma leant her head on his shoulder and sighed heavily.
"I just don't know what to be thankful for…" she mumbled incoherently into his neck. "It's a holiday, and family are meant to be together on holidays…" she added before pulling away from him and turning back to glare at the oven. "Mary Margaret should be making this goddamn turkey, and David should be standing right here, with Lila wrapped in his arms. He and I should be making stupid comments about how protective Snow gets about doing everything perfectly on the holidays. But no… they're gone."
Neal didn't say anything. He walked over to the fridge and pulled out a beer, popped of the lid, then took a swig. "Here have a sip" he said, offering Emma the bottle. She snatched it from his hands and took a large mouthful, as Neal turned and left the kitchen, leaving her alone to angrily mash the potatoes in her state of pure frustration.
Emma was just slamming a pot full of water on to boil when she heard Neal returning. "Just leave me alone Neal!" she groaned without turning around to look.
"Nahh that would be no fun – would it Henry?" he mocked.
Turning around, Emma saw her little family. Neal was leaning against the kitchen bench, just out of Emma's way. There was a sly grin on his face as he held Lila in one arm, and his other reached out to grab his almost empty bottle of beer back from Emma. Then there was Henry, who was seated on a stool at the breakfast bar, watching the meal come together in awe.
"Yeah mum, you've gotta let us stick around to taste test this all, you wouldn't want to feed Granny sub-standard food would you." Henry added with the sass that had always reminded her of his father.
Emma felt a small smile grow on her face. Yes, her parents were currently missing, and yes, she had been forced into celebrating a holiday she had always tried to ignore, but maybe it was for the best. Despite all the crap that had happened in her life, she finally had some of the most important people in her life, right here beside her. Neal and Henry. And Lila. Because despite the annoyance Emma often felt towards her sister, that baby was starting to grow on her.
Neal seeing her slight smile, walked towards her and embraced her tightly with his free arm. "Your parents may not be here right now. But we are. And we love you more than anything, and are truly thankful for all that you do for us." He pulled back slightly to kiss Emma's forehead before staring her straight in the eyes. "And I know you miss them, but if you're not sure what to be thankful for, just look around this kitchen. We have each other, we have Henry… and we have Lila." He finished with a smile.
Emma nodded, surrendering to the truth. "Fine, but you lot better not leave me here alone whilst I cook, or I may start screwing things up on purpose." She added obstinately.
This made Neal and Henry laugh… Hard. Emma rolled her eyes, and looked at Lila who was absent mindedly sucking her thumb as she watched Neal shake with laughter.
Emma walked towards the girl, and pulled her thumb out of her mouth. "At least you're not laughing at me!" she said to the little girl with a small smile. And in return, whether as a show of sisterly solidarity or simply gas, Lila grinned and flicked her hand upward to hit Neal squarely in the face.
"That's my girl" Emma added, as she tickled the baby's tummy lightly, eliciting a very real and genuine smile that Emma had never seen before.
"Henry! Go grab the camera – she's smiling!" Emma called out to her son in wonder, who rushed off to find it.
Still staring at her sister in awe as she remained cradled in Neal's arms, Emma felt a hand lifting her chin gently upwards. When she was looking at Neal, they both shared eye crinkling smiles. "Something else to be thankful for," he murmured before lowering his head to hers for a kiss.
…
July 2015: 10 months old
Sometimes Emma found it strange raising Lila with Neal, when the two of them weren't even able to look after Henry when he was younger. And because things in Storybrooke had been so normal since Snow and David had been sucked down a portal, they had gotten in a regular routine, just like any normal family would. Not that they were normal.
Henry, who was on summer holidays generally spent his weeks either babysitting his step-brother Roland, or working at Mr. Gold's shop. Emma and Neal, who both currently worked together at the station, usually took Lila to work with them.
It was a Wednesday in the middle of July, and Emma was bored. She had finished all of her paperwork, and had been sitting on the couch watching Lila play for half an hour. Neal, who was manning the phone, was doing a crossword in the paper when it happened.
Gripping onto the bars of the cell door, Lila pulled herself up off her blanket, and stood staring at Emma.
"Neal!" Emma quickly called, and he looked up immediately, startled by her tone.
"Wha-?" he begun to ask, stunned silent when he saw Lila. It only took him a few seconds to get to her side once he saw the way she was standing, and Emma who had already climbed off the couch and onto the floor was pulling out her camera-phone to take a picture.
"Do you think she'll walk?" Emma asked Neal, her eyes alight in surprise and anticipation, before she turned to Lila. "Hi Lila!" she spoke to the little girl in an overly chirpy voice. "How about you come over here to Emma?" she finished, opening her arms up, to reach out towards her little sister.
The little girl let go of the bars, and stretched her arms out towards her.
"Good girl, go on – go to Emma!" Neal encouraged from his spot behind her.
Hesitantly, Lila shuffled a foot forward, and stopped. Emma and Neal cheered. Lila picked her other foot off the floor, moved to place it on the ground, and then fell back onto her bum.
Laughing, Neal picked her up and gave her a kiss, before looking over at Emma. "Get your phone on video Ems, she's definitely going to walk this time."
As she rolled her eyes and opened up her phone once more, Neal stood Lila up on her feet.
"Ok Lila, go to Emma. Go to Emma!" He encouraged.
Emma smiled brightly at the little girl, and held out a hand towards her. As Lila put one foot down in front of her, and then another, both Emma and Neal cheered in delight.
"Come here Lila! Good girl!" Emma repeated, as she checked her phone was videoing the momentous occasion.
Lila took three more steps, with Neal's hands hovering behind her before she collapsed forwards into Emma with a big smile.
Forgetting about her phone, Emma wrapped Lila up in a big hug, peppering her face with kisses, and was soon joined by Neal, who leant back against the couch, then wrapped the two sisters up in his arms, giving them both a kiss on the cheek.
"What's going on here?" a voice floated towards the three of them on the floor. Looking up, Neal and Emma saw Henry, who they'd invited to have lunch with them today.
"She took her first steps!" Neal called out proudly to his son. Henry smiled, looking at Lila, before bending down on one knee a meter away from his family. "Really?" he said, looking at his baby aunt with a goofy smile. "Is that true Lila?! Can you walk now?" he asked, drawing her attention.
Lila reached out towards Henry, and Emma stood her up. With Neal hovering beside her as Lila took the few steps towards Henry, Emma leant back against the couch, her heart swelling with pride and love at the sight of her family.
However, as she watched the playback of Lila's first steps on her phone later that evening, her stomach sunk. This was yet another thing her parents had missed. If they didn't get their act together soon and return home, who knew what else they would miss.
…
August 2015: 11 months old
A big party was being thrown at the Library that afternoon, in honor of Belle and Mr. Gold's wedding anniversary. Whilst most of the town either tolerated or feared Rumpelstiltskin, everyone adored Belle. Therefore, as her first wedding anniversary had finally rolled around, a surprise party for her was organized by Ruby and Ariel.
Emma, Neal, Henry and Lila were late and had missed surprising the pair, but they were greeted quickly by Gold, who embraced his son immediately upon their arrival. "Thank god you're here," he murmured. "The town has thrown us a party, but everyone seems to be avoiding me like the plague"
"Hmm, Wonder why…" Emma muttered to Henry, who snorted with laughter, before running off to find a friend.
Pulling back from the obligatory hug with his father, Neal wrapped his arm around Emma's waist. "Yes, well no one can help but love Belle. Including yourself. So maybe if you go hang around your wife on your anniversary people will treat you a bit better." He suggested belligerently, to which his father gave no reply other than rolling his eyes, and turning around to go find Belle.
"God!" Neal groaned in exasperation, "How long do we have to stay?"
"At least until they make the toasts," Emma replied logically, as she lowered a squirming Lila to the ground.
"Fine…" He grumbled, before looking over at her and smiling. It wasn't often that Neal saw Emma dressed up, but considering today's event, she had decided to wear a red dress that made her look amazing.
Neal quickly glanced at Lila, who was standing by his leg, with half her fingers stuffed into her mouth, as per usual. Then he pulled Emma towards him for a kiss. With his arms around her waist he kissed her softly and sweetly. However, Emma ran her hands up his chest and neck, before plunging them into his hair to draw him closer and deepen the kiss.
Lost in their own little world, they didn't see Lila waddle off towards the food table that had caught her eye the second the family had arrived. Not until they heard a shout.
"WHO UNPLUGGED THE CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN?!" Grumpy yelled, silencing the room, and breaking Neal and Emma apart. The crowd shrugged, and turned back to their conversations, while the other dwarfs calmed Leroy down.
Neal smirked at Emma, before looking around for Lila. Emma noticed she was gone at the same time. "Neal… where has Lila gone…?"
"Shit!" he murmured, before grabbing her hand and moving into the crowd of people to look for her.
10 minutes later, Neal and Emma were frantic, and about to go make an announcement to the entire party when someone tapped Emma on the shoulder.
It was Malcolm, with Lila perched on his hip, her face covered in chocolate. Neal grimaced at the sight of his grandfather, and Emma immediately made to grab for Lila, but Malcolm swayed the girl with expertise and avoided Emma's grabbing hands.
"I believe this belongs to the two of you." he muttered. "I found her sneaking around over near the food table. She's been calling out for her 'Ma' for the last 5 minutes."
Neal stepped forward and wrenched Lila from his arms with a frown. "Thank you for finding us," he said gruffly, as Emma added, "I'm not her mother."
"Oh I know," was his only response, before he turned away and got lost in the crowd.
"That guy creeps me out" Emma murmured.
With a shudder Neal agreed, "at least you didn't know him well as Pan…"
Emma was about to suggest that they should clean up Lila's sticky face when the girl reached out towards Emma and opened her mouth as if to cry.
"Mma!" Lila called out instead, her arms reaching desperately for her sister.
Looking at Neal in awe, Emma reached her arms out and gathered Lila tightly in a warm hug.
"First word?" Neal asked with a smile stretching across his face
"Yep, I think so." She responded proudly, kissing the girl's tiny, chocolate covered, nose.
…
There we go… sorry this has taken so long to post – but I have the next chapter written as well so that will be up in a few day's once I have proof read it. Anyway – this is just the little snippets of the main things David and Mary Margaret missed by being away… first smile, first word, first steps… you know – everything they couldn't do with Emma either :p
I hope this wasn't too confusing with me jumping around… but I tried to make it clear and I will be putting the months and Lila's age at the start of each chapter from now on, so no one gets really really messed up with my jumping around story style… I hope you don't mind…
Anyhoo... just be prepared that the next chapter isn't as fluffy as this one – I just didn't want to go from angst to angst so felt like I needed to slot this one in here….
Ok that's enough waffling from me...I hope you liked the chapter…please review and tell me what you thought – which was your favourite oneshot? :)
