Requested by jarvisismyco-pilott through Tumblr (loboselinaistrash)

'Emma gets sick and everyone goes over the top trying to make her feel better? Possibly Regina comes to save the day with something really basic that works'

Emma had been a little off colour after she had woken up from her afternoon nap.

Normally she was a very energetic child, she would cuddle with David after her nap for a little while, but then would normally be on the go straight afterwards.

But this time she was still cuddling close to David on his lap. David rocked her a little as they sat on the couch. He looked down at her with a small sympathetic frown. "Emmy, are you okay buddy? Are you still feeling sleepy?"

Emma shrugged her shoulders and cuddled closer to him. "Sleepy daddy." She admitted, she yawned as though her body was trying to prove it, and rubbed her eyes with her fist which was holding onto her blanket, while the other was busy cuddling her teddy.

David continued to frown as he looked down at Emma. "Are you feeling poorly?" He brushed his hand against her forehead and frowned feeling the heat coming from it. "Do you have any owies?" He asked her kindly, hoping that she'd actually tell him, she tended to not tell them when she was feeling ill until she got really ill, she was only 2 so they dreaded to think how bad she'd be when she was older and probably even more stubborn.

Emma leant her head against his hand. "Owie." She whined touching her head and then curling closer to him as the rest of her body ached at the same time.

David cuddled her closer to him and rocked her gently, truth be told, he was very surprised that she had admitted so much. He brushed his fingers through her curled hair and stood up with her still in his arms. "I'm sorry, baby, that's no good."
He started to walk through to the kitchen, her head was hidden against his shoulder as she held tightly to her blanket and teddy bear, his hand was on the back of her head as he walked.
"We'll just get some medicine into you, then we can watch a movie, or some Peppa Pig? Just me, you, and Bailey-dog."

Emma shook her head while keeping her face hidden against David's shirt, she made a whinging noise which made it clear that she wasn't impressed with being ill at all, and would probably soon be crying. "No, daddy, yucky."

David sighed, grabbing the medicine from the medicine cupboard in the kitchen, he knew that it was going to be nigh impossible to get medicine or food into her at the moment... at least not without her realising. He grabbed one of her bottles, usually reserved for night time or when she was ill, whenever Snow wasn't around, then one of the bottles of chocolate PediaSure from the fridge.
"Okay, Koala, we'll get you some choccy milk and you and me can cuddle up." He was relieved when she kept her head firmly planted against his shoulder, he poured the right measurement of medicine into the bottle, then added the chocolate milk mixture and shook it up. "Mmm, I think we need some cookies to go with this."

He told her grabbing a couple, Emma wouldn't eat properly until she was feeling a little better and although the PediaSure would be good for her, he wanted to try get her to eat something.

He settled back down onto the couch in the living room and flicked the screen onto the kid's channel, which was currently trying to torture parents by putting a marathon of Peppa Pig on for several hours, he normally tried to avoid putting it on and would instead try to distract her with toys or different movies or tv shows but right now he was trying anything which would make her feel even a little better.

"Daddy?" Emma asked she asked as David moved her to cradle her in his arms.

David had already planned on feeding her, he normally would anyway, so he just smiled down at her and nodded his head. "Sure, baby, you wanna try to eat some cookie first?"

Emma managed to nibble the side of the cookie, she didn't have more than a mouthful, before letting it drop onto David's arm.

David sighed gently, she clearly wasn't hungry, which was very unlike his daughter; she may be tiny but she could hold her own eating. "No more?" He asked as she watched the cartoon, it was clearly a no, so he just started to feed her the milk instead.

It only took a short while for Emma to fall back asleep. David pressed a kiss onto her hot little forehead, luckily she had finished her bottle of formula and medicine before she had dropped off. David sat rocking her a little to help her fall into a deeper sleep. She was holding tightly to her baby blanket, but she was shivering still, so he grabbed the throw from the back of the couch and swaddled her in it.

He checked the time on his cell phone, realising that the boys would be getting back home within the next couple of hours from soccer and swimming clubs (after they finished at school) before either Snow or Ruby would be back, so he texted them telling them not to come thundering in as Emma was sick and asleep. He immediately received two responses on the little group chat between the three of them, he should probably have chastised them for both texting while in their classes but he couldn't bring himself to do so, instead he quickly assured them that they didn't need to rush home, they could just arrived home at their usual time.

Next he scrolled through his phone until he reached the number for Granny's diner, knowing that Ruby would most likely have her phone on silent no matter if she was working on the books of the place or was waitressing, the landline was a sure fire way of being able to talk to her.
He smiled as he heard Granny's automatic greeting for the diner, he said hello back and politely asked to speak to Ruby, feeling relieved when he was passed over straight away instead of stuck talking to his wife's grandmother, perhaps his worry over Emma was showing in his voice.

"Hey babe, what's up?" Ruby greeted breezily.

"Hey Rubes, you wanna bring take out home? From Granny's or Chinese from Top Wok? I could ring it in and you could pick it up."

Ruby laughed a little, David was usually the one to cook when both she and Snow were working late, she figured that her husband was just being lazy. "Let me guess, you and Em are too absolved in watching Peppa Pig to pick something out?"

David frowned, and looked over at the screen which he hadn't realised was still playing the cartoon, he groaned as he flicked it over to an episode of Cake Boss, knowing that it was appropriate should Emma wake up. "Nah, she's zonked out."

"Still?" Ruby frowned and her head shot over to look at the clock thinking it must be earlier than it was if Emma was still asleep.

"She's not feeling too good." David explained, he could practically see her in the diner twirling the cord around her finger and frowning at the clock. "She's got a fever, she says that her head hurts, and pretty much everything else – oh, and she's not eating, I just about managed to get a bottle of PediaSure and medicine into her before she fell back asleep."

Ruby's heart broke for her youngest baby. "Do you want me to come home early?"

David looked down at Emma cuddled in his arms before he gently shook his head. "Nah, we're okay here, she's just sleepy and cuddly, I'll probably be able to change her diaper and into a onesie without her even waking, there's no need for you to rush."

Ruby sighed, she debated insisting on going on but one of the waitresses had called in sick and the next shift wouldn't be starting until she was leaving anyway. Plus she was now tasked with not only picking up her wife from work, on the way home, but picking up dinner… still, Chinese take out did sound good… "Do you want me to text Snow and let her know?" She grimaced at the thought. "Would she worry more if she knew, before she left work, or would she kill us for not telling her?"

On the other side of town David grimaced in sync. "She'll probably be both, but she has a couple of meetings with parents, right?" He heard her agreeing that she had. "Then, I'd rather wait 'til you pick her up, at least then she gets a little warning but she doesn't sit there worrying as she's tryna sit through the meetings."

Ruby hummed in agreement. "If I'm having to tell her, you can order me some duck spring rolls."

David smiled, he'd order some fried wontons for his other wife too, he knew she wouldn't be best pleased, but if there was a way he thought that Snow or Ruby could help their daughter any more than he already was doing, then they'd already be there. "Sounds like a fair deal to me, I'll call it in for you to pick up on your way home, the boys should be back the same time as you."

"Okay, hun." Ruby stared at the clock, already counting down the hours, even more so than usual. "Ring me if you need me home early, or anything else, promise?"

"Cross my heart."

Over the next few days Emma continued to act as she had been, mostly she seemed sleepy and would spend her time cuddling up to her parents, refusing to be out of their arms for longer than ten seconds. Although she was usual close to her brothers she would only talk or even pay any attention to them, if she was already sat with one of her parents.

Ruby was sat with Emma cuddled but asleep on her, her head was resting on her chest, and Ruby was gently stroking her hair. She checked down to make sure that she really was asleep a couple of times before she waved over at Neal, who was sat reading with headphones in, to get his attention.

"What's wrong mama?" He asked placing his book down on the arm of the chair making sure that he wasn't about to lose his place.

"I just need to go to the toilet can you sit with Emma cuddled up on you?" As soon as the words were out of her mouth Neal was already nodding his head. "I'm scared that if I put her down on the couch she'd going to wake up." She stood up with Emma still cuddled close and walked over to Neal as he sat waiting for Emma to be placed into his arms. She did so slowly so Emma wasn't about to wake up.

Emma stirred a little but settled as Neal pulled her blanket closer around her.

Ruby pressed a soft kiss to the top of her blonde curls. She stood up a little more and brushed her hand through Neal's hair.

"Mama." Neal half scoffed half whined, quietly so that he wouldn't wake Emma.

Ruby rolled her eyes, he was at that age where he was concerned about his hair being perfectly styled, god forbid someone messed it up. "When you were Emmy's age, you were only calmed to sleep if I stroked your hair, you were always wanting one of us to play with it – well, mainly me, but that's 'cause I'm the best."

"Yeah, but now I'm eighteen years old, not eighteen months." Neal smirked, his hand automatically went through his hair, but he remembered being six and worried about starting in 1st grade and his mama running her hand through his hair when his three parents dropped him off at the school together before all going to work, it had calmed him then and it still did now… when he let her do so.

"You'll always be my baby, your mom and dad feel the same," she watched him look as though he was about to make a protest but she just smiled and started to move out of the room before calling back over her shoulder, "you don't get a choice in it."

Neal shook his head as his mother walked from the room, but he couldn't shake the smile from his face, sure his parents were embarrassing but he could never doubt how much they loved him, his siblings, and each other.

He looked down at his little sister with love, like the rest of his family he hated the fact Emma was feeling so ill, especially as nothing he could do – Emma barely cared to have her favourite books read to her which their parents always assured him wasn't his fault, it still hurt, he and Emma were usually rather close, it sucked not to be. He brushed his hand over her brow as she slept, it was warm but not so hot that it signified that it was time to try and coerce her into taking more medicine.

He thought nothing of it when he noticed a spot on her face, but frowned when he saw another couple on her forehead, he was trying to see if Emma had just scratched herself when he heard his mom, dad, and brother all entering the house, his mother and father headed toward the kitchen while his brother skidded into the living room.

Tyler wasn't surprised that his brother was in practically the same position in one of the arm chairs in the living room than when they had left him, Ruby, and Emma to go get some groceries. He had been about to throw the packet of skittles David and Snow had picked up for Neal at his brother's face, his usual delivery method, when he noticed that he had Emma in his arms. So, instead, the teen walked over and nicely handed the pack to him. He sat on the arm of the armchair near their sister's head and joined in looking down at her.
"She's gonna be okay, right?" His blue eyes flickered to his brother's ones. He and his brother had the usual brother relationship where they were able to piss each other off to no end, but only because they were close and loved each other, and Tyler still looked to his brother as the smartest person he knew.

Neal's eyes met Tyler's, he could tell how worried the middle Charming was over the youngest, Tyler wore his heart on his sleeve, he was so very like their mom. Neal sent him the charming smile they had all inherited from their father. "Of course, you know she always gets ill 'cause her immune system sucks, anyway if something was really up mom, mama, and dad would be more worried."

Tyler let out a somewhat shaky breath as he nodded his head, he knew he was being silly, but he had to make sure or he'd drive himself mad.

Neal's eyes returned to Emma's red marked face. "Hey, Ty?" He waited to hear his brother's verbal acknowledgement before carrying on speaking. "Do these look like spots or scratches?"

Tyler peered closely at them. "Erm, spots?... Shit, there's more on her scalp."

Neal didn't bother to say anything about Tyler's choice in words, the boys were careful not to swear in front of their parents or little sister, but they didn't bother to refrain themselves around each other. Instead he simply looked closely at her scalp and frowned, it wasn't hard to see the bright red spots through Emma's almost white hair, but only if one was looking.

Neal and Tyler were still staring at Emma's head with worry as all three of their parents' voices drew closer.

Ruby, David, and Snow all looked puzzled but amused as they came across their sons looking as though their baby's head was the magna carta.

"What's so interesting guys?" David asked quietly, chuckling a little as the boys jumped and looked up, he looked over at Emma too unsure as to what they were looking at from his place on the other side of the room.

"Em's got some spots on her face, and on her head, I think she's getting more and more…"

Ruby, Snow, and David's amused looks disappeared at Neal's words and they stepped closer to their three kids. Snow carefully slipped Emma from Neal's arms and sat on the couch, Ruby and David sat on either side of her as she cradled Emma.

Ruby was sat near her head and staring intently at the spots on her head. "Theses weren't there before, or at least I didn't see them, how didn't I see them?"

"They probably subtly appeared." David soothed. They all had a shared inkling about what the spots and illness was, he was starting to wonder if the spots had been there while he was watching Emma, could they have figured out that Emma had these before? "Does she have them anywhere else?"

Snow gently lifted up Emma's pyjama top but they couldn't lift up her bodysuit vest, it made Emma stir and start to wake up, Snow tried to rock her back to sleep but Emma's eyes popped open. "Sorry baby, we didn't mean to wake you up, did you have a good sleepies?" She smiled as Emma twisted in her arms so that she could cuddle close to her and moved her head close to her sleepily. "I'm sorry we woke you up, can mommy, mama, and daddy just quickly check something?"

"Why?" Emma asked rubbing her eyes.

"It's okay, sweets, nothing you need to worry about." Snow soothed knowing that Emma wasn't really aware of what was going on. She just carefully manoeuvred the toddler as Ruby and David worked together to get Emma's pyjamas and vest off. They all gasped as they saw that Emma's body was covered in red spots.

"What the-?" Tyler managed to cut himself off quickly.

"Is that chicken pox?" Neal asked at the same time.

"Yeah." Snow was the first one to recover from the shock, as Emma started to tug at her top clearly wanting to be fed, she covered Emma in a blanket to keep her warm as she fed her. "It's okay, baby, you're okay." She shared a look with her husband and wife as Emma latched on and started to drink.

The parents tried not to give away the worry in their faces.

Neal caught on. "You guys know how to cure this… right?"

Ruby spluttered as though she was offended by the insinuation. "Of… course… Of course we know how to help chicken pox!" She leant back beside Snow and wrapped her arm around her as she stroked Emma's curls.

"Yeah, of course we do!" David agreed acting just as insulted as much Ruby, he tried to go through his mind to remember how they dealt with it with the boys, as he thought he filled in the silence. "Neal caught it when he was five, then of course he past it onto you Tyler, we dealt with a five year old and a three year old with it while all three of us worked. And you're bothstill around."

"Exactly." Snow agreed but she was trying to remember the logistics of the illness and how to help just as hard as her spouses. "Anyway, it's probably not going to get much worse than it is now, neither of yours did."

Emma, it turned out, did not have a mild case of chicken pox like her brothers had had, in fact she seemed to have the opposite, she had spots growing on spots on spots – understandably she was miserable.

David was mostly sat up, he had several pillows behind him and blankets wrapped around him, he had Emma cuddled on his chest, she couldn't sleep unless someone was sat up with her, she screamed blue murder and David had had to go with her on a drive until she fell back asleep. Snow was leaning against him while Ruby had her head in her lap, Snow's hand weaving through her long dark hair as she held an iPad above her head.

"Okay, apparently this might work-"

"According to whom?" Snow interrupted.

"…'Mumsnet'…"

Snow laughed quietly at Ruby's admittance. "Didn't you used to call them, and I quote, 'stuck up bitches whose kids are going to turn to drugs to escape their interfering mothers and absent fathers?'"

"Yeah?" David smirked. "Wasn't this before you said that you were never, ever, going on it again because they insulted a post you put on there, mentioning us being a throuple?" He saw her glare up at him and he widened his eyes to show he meant no harm by his reminder. "Not that we blame you, babe, they were idiots and you were right, as always."

They knew of course that that was an unfair judgement of all of the mothers on the site, and Ruby didn't really mean what she had said (if only for their kids' sake rather than the mothers), but Ruby had been rightly hurt, they had too, but Ruby had received it first hand.

Snow leant down and pressed a gently kiss to her lips as an apology, Ruby clearly accepted as she responded, Snow pulled back and cuddled back up to David and resumed stroking Ruby's hair. "So, any suggestions?" She sighed glancing at Emma. "I will literally take any at all."

"Yeah this one has a list: 'Homemade soup. Lettuce leaves down her nappy, this site's British so I assume they mean diaper... A lot of medicine.… And eye of newt and toe of frog…?"

"That's from Macbeth." Snow snatched the iPad from her wife's hands. "Did you notice all the question marks after this? Or that it's the first one? …Or the sarcasm? You've got to know that this isn't being serious Rubes."

Ruby turned red and mumbled. "Well… I… In my defence the girl I had tutoring me in lit class was really attractive…we kind of didn't get past the 'Macbeth was written by Shakespeare' before we started to get distracted." She said fluttering her eyelashes up at her wife and husband. "… We only got more distracted when this really hot guy moved to our school..."

"As sweet, and memorable, as that is…" She leaned down and pressed a kiss to her wife's lips as David laughed in the way they had learned to do so not to wake Emma. "…You're so just trying to distract us from the fact that you were this close to trying to use amphibian body parts to help our twenty-one month old baby."

"You did say you'd take any suggestions." David pointed out in defence of their wife.

"I'm not stretching to witchcraft just yet."

"So… we're not thinking about calling your stepmom just yet?"

She playfully hit his chest. "I dare you to say that to Regina's face."

"I'm not that brave."

Ruby giggled looking back up at her husband. "Our Prince Charming."

David rolled his eyes at the joke about his last name, one that had often been made often, both in good and bad ways. "You seriously think that we could get Emma to have lettuce in her diaper? She refuses to eat anything green unless it's candy or a popsicle… Do we just like empty one of your salads into it?"

"D'you think it'd be better for her with other veggies?"

"Dressing or no dressing?"

"Didn't we do like an oat bath or something for the boys when they were kids?" Snow tried to move the conversation back on track from her spouses joking, she knew that Emma would probably wake soon, she was hoping to make it at least a little better as soon as possible.

"What like a tub full of porridge?"

"We could try convince her to eat breakfast in there too, two birds one stone." Ruby shrugged.

Snow laughed before she frowned as she tried to remember. "I… don't think so? I mean… that doesn't sound quite right… does it?"

David smiled at down at her. "You're adorable when you frown." He pulled her into a kiss.

"'Am not." She pouted.

"The cutest." Ruby agreed with a teasing smile.

Snow couldn't hide her smile at the pair so tried to shrug it off with a roll of her eyes. "We should get sleep before our little Koala wakes needing me, she'll probably crying, poor love." She looked sympathetically over at her daughter.
Emma was usually quiet but since getting ill she'd woken crying, Snow had started to quickly give Emma medicine before feeding her. She had tried to do so without her waking her spouses up too, but Ruby and David wouldn't hear it, they didn't expect or want Snow to have to deal with it on her own - they dealt with Emma being sick the same way that they did everything, together.

"You sure you don't wanna ask your mom for help?" David asked quietly as the bedside lamp was turned off but before any of them had dropped off.

"No." Snow said resolutely.

David pressed a kiss to the top of Snow's head. "Sweetheart, this isn't the same as when Ty or Nee were babies, it's not like we're barely adults who have no idea how to do this parenting thing, with Regina judging our ability to make sure that they don't end up in care or messed up beyond belief... And our relationship with Regina is different, Robin and Marian really mellowed her out along with the kids, and she doesn't hate me..." He could feel the amused look his wives were given him even in the dark. "… Okay, maybe she doesn't hate me quite so much as she used to."

"You did steal her step daughter's 'virtue'." Ruby tried to sound serious but didn't succeed very well especially when Snow playfully shoved her.

"Just… Just how much virtue did Snow have left to lose?" He let out a heavy breath of laughter when Snow playfully hit his chest.

"That's a fair point." Ruby felt Snow kick her under the covers. "I'm just saying…. We live in Maine… there's a lot of Snow which needs to be ploughed."

"We're moving."

"Uh huh."

"Somewhere hot."

"Where it never snows."

"Night night Snowy."

"Night Frosty."

"I hate you both…." She said though it was clear that she meant the opposite.

"Sure."

"Understandable."

There were a few minutes of silence, if Snow didn't know her spouses so well, she would have assumed that they were asleep. "If Emma's still sick in a few days we can call Regina… I just don't want to feel like, like, I need her for every little thing… I'm thirty eight and I feel as though I need her a crap ton more than I did when I was eighteen." She sighed knowing what they were all thinking.

"Things are a lot different than they were when you were eighteen." Ruby nuzzled against Snow's shoulder lovingly. "You haven't only just realised what your dad was like, and Regina isn't taking it out on you or making a tense atmosphere."

"It's okay to need her, I know she's not your birth mom, but she's been your mom for years - she loves you, she's not trying to outsmart you or outdo you." David agreed. "She likes you going to her for advice, and as much as I hate it she does give good advice, but we'll only let her know if and when you're ready."

"Just… Just… give me a couple of days? If we haven't found a natural or medicine remedy… or divine intervention… then we can ask her." She felt her heart swell at understanding both of her spouses had for her, she also knew that they would all put Emma first, she'd put her pride aside if need be.

"As much time as you need." David kissed the top of her head before kissing Emma's head too.

"We won't mention a word to Regina." Ruby kissed her cheek. "Or Marian, or Robin… who'd ever have thought that we have this many in-laws." She joked.

They all had different ways of trying to distract Emma from being sick and to stop her from scratching.

Mostly David, Snow, and Ruby would just cuddle up with Emma – they would watch cartoons, movies, sing lullabies, or read her stories. They kept coercing her into eating, and filling her with medicine and kept trying to find things which would help, it wasn't working but it had only been a day and a half so Snow was still waiting for a miracle.

"Are you guys sure that you can watch her for a couple of hours?" Ruby stressed twiddling with her keys in her hand as she looked down at the three kids sat on the couch, Emma was sat between the two boys eating dry cheerios from a little bowl. "Your mom won't be back from that meeting 'til lunch but your dad should be back from getting groceries and a couple of other things in just under two hours." She checked her watch and realised that it would probably be the same time. "Or I can just call Granny and tell her that she has to call around a few more people or I'll just hold off going until your dad or mom get back."

"Mama-" Neal tried.

"Or I could call your Grandpa, Nana, and Grandma? I mean they don't know that Emma's ill, because your mom hasn't told Regina, so of course we couldn't mention it to Robin and Marian or they'll have to tell her-"

"Mama-" Tyler tried this time but Ruby just kept going.

"But I can call them! They have like a million kids, well five, but still, they have enough to be able to look after a baby with chicken pox for a couple of hours…. your mom will get over Regina knowing… after some convincing… and grovelling…."

Neal and Tyler shared a look. "Mama!" They said at the same time finally gaining Ruby's attention.

"We totally have this mama."

"Yeah," Neal agreed trying to show how sensible he was through his voice, "we've babysat Emmy loads, haven't we Koala?"

Emma looked up at Neal then Ruby, she tilted her head to the side, she tried to scratch her face but it was near impossible to do so in the mittens she had on, as were most things. "You goin'?"

Ruby bit her lip. "Yeah, pup, or I can stay here with you if you like?"

"Or you can stay with me and Ty Ty?" Neal said excitedly trying to convince Emma.

"Yeah, we can have lots of fun and do all different things? We're much more fun than mama." Tyler encouraged, shooting a charming smile over to his mama, though she didn't seem to notice his joking insult.

Emma lifted her hand up towards Ruby and started to wave. "Bye bye mama."

"Wow, that cuts." Ruby said dramatically. "Okay… but only if you're all sure… it'll just be a couple of hours, just watch a movie, Em will probably drop off… just nothing inappropriate on in case she wakes up and decides to start swearing or something."

"Yup."

"And you have my number, and Granny's, and your dad's, and your mom's, and the school's in case your mom doesn't pick up, and your Grandma's – but only if it's an emergency!"

"We know."

"It might be best calling your Nana or Grandpa, oh the paediatrician's number's on the fridge, but if it's a real emergency just call 911."

"What's 911?" Tyler joked knowing his mother was going overboard. "I know! Mama! I know what it's for, just a joke, jeez." He said quickly before Ruby could freak out or worry.

"Okay, okay, I get it – none of my kids want me." She watched the boys roll their eyes at her and Emma continue to wave clearly not understanding why Ruby was still there when she had already said she was going out. "Okay, okay, I'm going… just watch a movie, you don't have to do anything else… Thank you so much, both of you, for this favour."

Eventually they managed to get Ruby out of the house, Tyler went back into the room where Emma was sat on Neal's lap. The boys shared a look they hadn't been planning on just sitting there quietly, they were going to cheer up their little sister. They quickly made a big fort and grabbed paints, toys, play dough, stories, toys and various other things. They were sure that it'd be fine, better than fine, it'd be great.

Marian had run into Ruby at Granny's shortly before Ruby had managed to get off, Ruby had tried to keep mum about everything but Marian had seen Snow at the meeting at the school (which Snow was still stuck at) and seen how off and worried she seemed. Marian may not have seemed it, but she could be scary when she wanted to be, Ruby eventually spilled about how bad Emma's chicken pox were and that they weren't sure what to do. Marian, being one of Emma's grandmothers and caring for all of the family, insisted on going to help – even promising to keep it quiet from Regina, even if she didn't strictly approve of that, nor like lying to her wife.

Robin had run into a similar predicament when he had run into David at the store, he saw how worried his son in law was and noticed the groceries he had and put two and two together. Like Marian he insisted on going and helping, when he got into David's car he realised that they weren't sure how to help Emma judging by the fact David appeared to have bought the entire stock of every type of medicine from the pharmacy. Before David would drive anywhere he made Robin promise not to tell Regina.

Regina was on the other side of town, not amused, not in the slightest. She had tried calling and texting her step-daughter on several occasions over the past week, she was largely being ignored, with only enough (closed off) responses for her to know that Snow wasn't dead and that the kids were 'fine'. But Regina had been a mother for long enough, now, to know when something was up and that she was going to get nowhere simply hoping that she would suddenly be told everything. So she decided to drive over to the house

As luck would have it, all six of the adults arrived at the house at the same time, Snow saw her step-mother and turned as pale as her name suggested. Ruby, David, Marian, and Robin all looked sheepish, Regina could tell that something was being kept from her from their looks, but she was fairly certain it was something new to the pair of them as they were terrible liars and she would have been able to wheedle it out of them had they been alone.

They heard Emma's crying through the closed doors and windows.

Snow had no choice but to let them all in.

The living room was in chaos, there were blankets, cushions, and toys everywhere. Furniture was everywhere out of place, the couch upturned, with Tyler standing on it looking worried. The dog ran to greet them with different colours of paint dried on his fur. And Neal stood holding Emma looking like he was about to have a breakdown, as Emma screamed in his arms with fat tears rolling down her splotchy cheeks, some of her spots were weeping, and Snow quickly dropped her bag and ran to take Emma into her arms.

"What on earth is going on here?" Regina raised her eyebrow as she asked them all, she didn't need to be told by anyone that Emma had chicken pox, that much was obvious. Nor did she really have to be told that Tyler and Neal had volunteered to look after her, they were responsible and did so often enough. What she really meant was- why did she have to go around to their house after getting her texts and calls repeatedly ignored by David, Ruby, and Snow to find out that she was this sick?

Snow cuddled Emma to her chest rocking her as she calmed Emma, but she didn't speak, neither did her spouses, they figured it was best to follow suit of their wife.

"We… We didn't mean to make this mess, we were just trying to help Emmy."

"We know Ty, it's okay –" David said. He spared a look at Snow who had her eyes firmly on Emma as she rocked her in her arms, she was clearly trying to ignore the fact that her stepmother or her step-step-parents were all there.

"-We were just trying to do something fun for Emma, and she hated having the gloves on and we tried to stop her from scratching but we didn't want to hurt her or anything – and then she seemed to feel even sicker so we were trying to cheer her up with different toys and didn't have time to clean up."

"Neal." Regina said firmly but kindly. "It's okay. It's not your fault. Now, why don't you boys go get changed, then you can help your parents and grandparents tidy up in here? " It was clear that the question wasn't a suggestion. "Your mom and I will bathe Emma. Won't we, Snow?"

"Re-" She saw the look Regina was giving her, and sighed, she bit her lip still avoiding looking at her again. "Right."

Snow took Emma upstairs to the big family bathroom as Regina headed around the house to grab different things.

"It's okay, baby, you're going to have a nice splashy bath. I'm sorry, Emmy, I'm sorry for leaving you."

Regina entered the bathroom with a pair of tights Ruby had given her, filled with oats, and some bicarbonate of soda. She hung the tight from the tap as it ran and added the bicarb.

"These should help her feel less itchy. I've sent Robin to the store to pick up some other bits." Her voice was quiet and cold. "Marian and Ruby are putting together some lunch while the rest of the boys tidy."

The bath time was otherwise silent, with Regina and Snow only talking to Emma, not each other.

"Is it really that bad?" Regina asked eventually making Snow look at her. "Asking me to help with my grandkids? Or for advice? Am I really that bad a stepmother that you can't even tell me that my only granddaughter is sick or to ask me for a little bit of help?"

"I, I, I just…" She wasn't sure how to word her thoughts especially when she heard that Regina sounded hurt. She sighed. "It's just, you've raised five kids, perfectly. You always know exactlywhat is up with them and how to help them – you're the mom who knows every single way to get them well or feeling better… and I can't, I can't even remember how we helped the boys. I rang the paediatrician and they said that she should be okay but if she gets worse to take her in, but I don't know if she's bad enough to, and I don't want to be that neurotic mom. I'm nearly forty and I feel as though I have no idea how to help my baby, I feel like I'm failing as a parent."

Regina didn't say anything for a couple of minutes. "Six."

"What?"

"Six kids. I didn't have you, but I've been your mom since you were ten, I will never replace Eva but you're still mine, too, I raised you." It wasn't often that they just talked like that but it had to be said. "You were ten, and I was twenty, I was barely an adult… Then you got chicken pox and I had absolutely no idea how to help you. I didn't have a mother to turn to, I mean you've met her a couple of times I didn't want her to be a major part in your life she's not exactly a loving grandmother type, and your father was always away on 'business' so he wasn't exactly a big help."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Regina insisted. "I just… I went to the library and researched as much as I could about different ways to help you, with the rest of the kids it was easier because I had Robin and Marian and they knew loads more ways that their parents had told them… I wish that I had known them when you were a kid, I wouldn't have been so bitter, and they would have made good step… well, step-step parents for you… But there's nothing that I can do to change that. Once you had Neal, and we became a family again, I promised myself that I'd be there for you, in the way that Cora never was for me. You're an amazing mother, you're not failing, and it's not failing to ask for help when you need or want it. I'm here for you, so are Robin and Marian, all you need to do is ask."

Snow bit her lip again with tears in her eyes as she looked down at Emma.

Emma chose that moment to look up at her mother and realise that something was up. "Grandma! Mommy's sad!" She shouted alarmed.

"It's okay sweetheart." She wrapped an arm around Snow's shoulders as she spoke. "Your mommy's just a little tired, I don't think she's been getting enough sleep while you've been poorly, I think you and she are going to take a nap when you're out of the bath and we've put some magic cream on you."

"Mommy too?"

"You want mommy to put the cream on too?" Snow asked and received a nod from Emma who was looking very sleepy now, but for once wasn't trying to scratch the spots. "Okay, Emmy, sure."

"And I'll be here when you wake up from your nap," although she sounded as though she was talking to Emma her words were for both girls, "we'll get your cousins around and we can all have a movie day together."

Snow smiled, now that Regina had mentioned it, she had vague memories of watching movies with Regina while she was covered in white spots from calamine lotion…. They had come a long way from just the two of them in a big house alone, but the changes which had occurred had all been for the better, in the long run.

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