"Where's your father?" she asked as she entered the way-too-quiet flat.
"He took Henry and Neal out for a boys night," Emma said from where she stood by the over.
"He took you brother where?" she shouted. "He's five months old!"
"I have no idea," Emma responded, distracted over some-thing Snow could not see from where she was standing. She stood on the tips of her toes, looking over her daughter's shoulder just I time to see her drop a bowl full of flour.
"What exactly are you doing?" she questioned, putting her hands over her waist.
"I, umm," Emma stumbled, "I kind of tried to make dinner. I'm hungry…"
"Well, you're making a mess".
"I'm sorry I have zero cooking skills," Emma answered, amused.
They both grabbed wet towels and bent down to wipe the floor. Snow was about to offer her help with dinner, just as a thought crossed her mind. She had an idea how to turn this night even better.
"What if we invite Red and Belle and hae our own girls night while our father's gone with the boys?"
Emma looked at her with wide, alarmed eyes. "A what?" she asked, outraged.
"A girls night. We could make pancakes and popcorn; we could watch a movie and talk. Come on, it'll be fun!"
Emma gave her a mortified look. "No, no. No way in hell," she said as she shook her head.
"Language, Emma," Snow scolded. A few months ago Snow would probably ignore it, not feeling quite the mother to scold her daughter. But ever since Emma came back after her trip to the past, their relationship had been feeling different. A bit more of a 'daughter and her parents' nature to it.
She smiled as she heard Emma mumble a quiet 'sorry' under her breath.
"Why not though?" she asked innocently.
"Because," Emma insisted, "we can't host a girls-night. And that's definite".
Snow did her best to hide her smirk. "Honey, it's really not that bad".
"You're my mother!" she pressed, and Snow knew she was beaming. Her heart still skipped a beat when-ever Emma acknowledged her as her mother.
"Emma, Red and Belle are your friends as much as they are mine," she reasoned.
"Yeah, but still, Ruby is my mother's best friend. And Belle is… kind of my mother in law I guess?" she watched as her daughter winced at the thought. "And besides, what are you going to do when they want… intimate details?"
'She always had her father's tact," Snow thought to herself before answering her daughter. "It's hardly a secret that your father and I had had our fair share of intimate moments, honey. I did give birth to you and Neal," she said through a laugh.
Emma covered her ears with her hands. "God, mum, did you really have to?!"
She couldn't hold her laughter any-more. Charming was right. It really was amazing they could easily provide her with some childhood traumas at this stage.
"Go on Emma, change and come back down. I'll give Red and Belle a call".
"Fine," Emma huffed and turned to climb the stairs.
She called her friends and made them promise to be there in ten minutes, so she decided to start working on the pancake batter. But just as she opened the fridge to look for some eggs, she heard Emma come down the stairs.
"You and I have a deal to make before they get here".
Snow looked up to see her daughter, newly dressed, fighting her messy hair into a pony tail at no success.
"Why don't you just leave it be?" she asked, amused.
"It's hot and my hair doesn't respond well to humidity. But don't go changing the subject".
"I could braid it for you," Snow suddenly said, gathering the courage to ask her daughter for something she had been dreaming of ever since she had discovered she was pregnant. "Any style you want even. French, fishtail, crown, you name it".
She watched as her daughter tried to decide whether to push her mother so seal a deal or to let her braid her hair.
"We could discuss that deal of yours while I braid your hair honey," She decided to put her out of her misery.
Emma nodded and turned to sit in front of her. "Do you really know all of those styles?"
"Yeah," Snow assured her, "now which is it going to be?"
Emma ducked her head in embarrassment, as if scared to admit that she wanted it as much as Snow did. "Crown is okay," she said shyly. "Thanks mum".
"Always honey," she said as she started working. "And that deal of yours?"
"I'll try to have fun," she started, ignoring Snow's hum, "if you promise to avoid any-thing I wouldn't want to hear, any… intimate detail, about you two".
"It's a deal," Snow relied easily, working Emma's hair around the crown of her hair.
They were quiet for a few seconds before Snow spoke again. "Such a beautiful girl," she said in a teary voice, as she helped Emma up and examined her work. Emma blushed at that and ducked her head again.
"Stop," she whispered.
"No Emma, but you are. So, so beautiful. My beautiful baby girl," she said, running the tip of her thumb over Emma's cheek.
She knew Emma was about to protest, to stop her from calling her her baby girl again. But a knock on the door stopped her from saying any-thing. She gave her daughter a last, teary smile before turning to open the door.
They ate and drank and even started a movie. But then Belle asked about Neal and Snow started go on about her beautiful boy. And we started talking about him, there was no stopping her.
"So he sleeps through the night peacefully?" Belle asked.
"Oh yeah, like an angel," Snow answered, wrapping her right arm around Emma's shoulder.
"Wait, but, have you and Charming had any moment for yourselves?" Red asked, her eyebrows raised with curiosity.
"Well, not too many of them, but when we do he does…"
Emma's loud groan made her stop and look at her. "Seriously, I don't think I want to listen to that," she said.
Snow watched as her daughter got up and grabbed her earphones from the kitchen table. She stuck them into her ears and closed her eyes.
Snow smirked in her direction before turning back to Red and Belle and going on.
The girls had gone home and Emma was sitting by the kitchen table, enjoying the silence. Every once in a while she shot Snow a dirty look, as if to make sure that her mother knew how furious she was at her for breaking their deal.
The main door swung open and both Snow and Emma watched quietly as Charming carried sleeping Neal up to his bedroom, followed by Henry, who looked like he could use some sleep himself.
She watched as her husband came down the stairs and made her steps to get closer to him. Their lips collided into a soft kiss before they broke apart. "Did you have a good time?" she asked.
"Yes, we did. We ate and went for a walk around town. Just something nice, nothing too special. You?"
"Oh, we had a great evening, didn't we Emma?" she smirked at her daughter. Emma shoot her a death glare before turning to Charming.
"Dad," she whined, "please, don't you ever give mum crazy idea and then leave me alone to deal with them, ever again. Please dad?"
He looked back at Snow before turning back to face his daughter. She took a step in his direction and crushed into him, hugging him tight and almost knocking him over. "Please, dad," she groaned.
"Sure, princess," he promised with a smile.
