Title: Love is Strength

Disclaimer: Once Upon A Time and its characters belong to Eddie Kitsis and Adam Horowitz and are owned by ABC. Not Mine!

Warning: K+ (Mentions some child abuse from Emma's past)

Author's Note: Chapter 7! I would have got this to you sooner if life wasn't so busy! :) Added some Snow/Emma moments! Hope you like it! :)

Safe and Sound

"When are we going to eat? I am starving; King George didn't exactly feed me when he kidnapped me. Come to think about it, he wasn't very hospitable." Emma ranted sarcastically as she walked into the bathroom with her parents' help.

"Yeah, what are we having for dinner?" Charming asked thinking of his earlier conversation with Snow.

"We already ate." Snow snickered.

"What?" Both Charming and Emma said simultaneously. They were so much alike in their expressions.

Snow chuckled as she saw their shocked faces. "You guys were over two hours late, Henry and I decided to eat without you. Don't worry we saved you some. It's in the refrigerator, you can warm it up."

"What it is?" Charming asked.

"Chicken Alfredo." Snow said with a laugh. They must be pretty hungry to get so upset over dinner.

"Oh that sounds really good! Can we eat first before we do this? I am really hungry!" Emma pleaded. Emma liked to eat and chicken alfredo sounded really good right about now.

"Emma, we need to make sure that your wrists are clean so that they don't get infected. You can eat after we are done fixing you up." Snow replied with that mom look on her face that told Emma that her mom wasn't changing her mind.

"Emma, how about you get this done, while I get our food ready?" Charming asked just about as hungry as she apparently was for dinner.

"I guess I don't have any other chance." Emma frowned as she looked at Snow.

"Good girl." Charming said with a wink.

Emma tilted her head as she gave him a fake glare that was turning into a smile.

"Just listen to your mother." Charming joked with a fake stern voice and then he quickly ducked out of the bathroom before Emma could say anything.

Emma was stunned for a second and thinking about how that might have been a normal request if she had grown up with them. For some reason since he rescued her, she's had a little bit of separation anxiety when David wasn't in the room with her. When he was with her, she felt sort of safe. It's dumb, she has taken care of herself all her life and now she needs her daddy to keep her safe. She liked it though; she never had someone to protect her. She always wanted to be protected or saved by her parents from many of her foster dads, but it never happened. So it was nice for once to be saved and not have to be alone.

"Come on, Emma. Let's take care of your wrists. Then we will see about your ribs. Is anything else that we need to take care of?" Snow asks as she started to work on Emma's wrists.

"My ribs are fine and nothing else needs to be taken care of." Emma says with a smirk.

"We'll see about that." Snow says unconvinced. Emma was even more stubborn than both her and Charming. "Emma this wrist is swelling up. Did something else happen to it?"

"Well one of the guys did kick my gun out of my hand, but I am sure it's alright." Emma admits sheepishly. She had known that it must have been sprained because hurt worse than her other wrist.

"Emma it could be broken or sprained!" Snow said frantically.

"I don't think it's broken, it's been broken before and I felt it break, this time I didn't." Emma said confidently not realizing that she divulged some of her past to her mother.

"How did you break your wrist before?" Snow asked hoping she isn't pushing Emma too far, but she wanted to know even if it would hurt to know the truth.

Oh, I can't believe I said that. Before she realized it, she was sharing her past with her mom. "When I was in one of my foster homes, I dropped a glass because it was hot and wet. My foster dad had been drinking and when he saw me drop it, he came over. He grabbed my wrist and I heard my wrist crack as he twisted it hard. I am not sure if he meant to break it, but I deserved it, I broke his glass. Then he made me pick it up the glass. I only got cut by the glass a couple of times." Emma finished with a far away look.

"How old were you? Snow asked as she choked back tears. The way she spoke of it was so indifferently like it was the most normal thing in the world to be punished for breaking a glass.

"I think I was five or six." Emma said, slowly coming back to reality.

Snow wiped a tear from her tear cheek. She liked to know about Emma's past, but hated that Emma had such a rough one. She hated thought of Emma, especially so young, being treated so badly for stuff that wasn't her fault.

"Emma. You didn't deserve that. It was an accident and no child deserves that." Snow said empathetically as she put her hands on her face. "I'm sorry you went through that, Emma."

When Snow touched her, she couldn't help the tears from falling. Snow broke through her wall and touched her heart when she apologized for something that was not in her control. No one had ever told her that she wasn't to blame for incidents that so often got her in trouble with her foster families. No one had ever really cared for her enough to tell her that she deserved better than that treatment. Until now, when her mother stood before her apologizing and telling her it wasn't her fault and that she didn't deserve to be treated that way. She felt loved and safe.

Snow couldn't resist pulling her daughter in for a hug as she saw Emma's tears. She couldn't help what happen, but she could try to pick up the pieces.

Snow pulled away a few moments later knowing that Emma would shy away from the attention if it was too long. Emma needed space and time sometimes to compose herself and to be able to come to terms with her feelings.

"We better get some ice on your wrist to help the swelling go down. I'll be right back, sweetie." Snow hated to leave her, but Emma would appreciate the time alone for a moment and she really needed to get her some ice.

"Thank you, mom." Emma said. She was amazed at how well Snow could tell what she needed and when she needed it.

She called her "mom," Snow's heart just swelled at that one small word that was something that Snow had been waiting to hear. Also Snow knew that she was saying thank you for more than just the ice. She smiled softly at Emma and then left for the kitchen.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"How is she?" Charming asked with a concerned voice as Snow walked into the kitchen. Charming could tell Snow had been crying because her eyes glistened; yet she looked happy.

"Her left wrist is swelling up. She said one of the men kicked her gun out of her hand." Snow said as she found a bag of frozen peas a little distracted.

"I really should go and look for King George. I can't let him get away with this Snow." Charming said in a low voice. "He kidnapped her and then threaten to kill her." Charming said as tear escaped his eye.

"I know, but he failed. Emma is safe and we won't let anything happen to her." Snow said as she wrapped her arms around Charming. "It is not going to help anything to go searching for him now."

"I know. I am not sure if I can leave Emma right now anyway. I feel like if I am not here something might happen. It's a weird feeling, but I feel like I need to be with her. I guess to protect her and to make sure she is all right. We could have lost her again, Snow." Charming hugs Snow tighter.

"But we didn't because you were there to save her." Snow said with a sad smile knowing exactly how he was feeling. She was having similar feelings at how close they had come to losing her. She couldn't bear to think about it. "Do you think he will try something again?" Snow asked in a concerned voice.

"Probably not anytime soon, but eventually, yes I think he will. We will all just have to be careful." Charming replied.

"I suppose you're right." Snow said sadly, hating the thought of her family being in danger.

"Are you alright? You look like you have been crying." Charming asked remembering how she looked when she came into the kitchen.

"Emma told me a little about her past. When she was five or six, she was in a foster home and she dropped a glass that was hot and slippery. She said her foster dad was drinking and saw her break the glass. He broke her wrist and then made her picked it up which she said she only got a few cuts from the glass. That makes me wonder if it happened more than once or in more than one of her foster homes. The worst part about it was that she said that it was okay because she deserved it." Snow said sadly as a couple tears trickled down her face.

Charming took a deep breath trying to control his emotions of anger and sadness at the same time. So anger that people like that had hurt his daughter and he wished he could go find them all. Yet, he was so terribly upset that his daughter was treated so badly. "I hate that she was treated so badly, if only I could take away her pain, I would." Charming said softly.

"I know, I do too, but we can't do anything about it, but try to pick up the pieces. We just need to show her that we care and love her." Snow said as she looked into Charming's eyes.

"I know." Charming said sadly.

"She called you Dad when she was in there." Snow said as she smiled, knowing that would make him ecstatic.

"She did? She is starting to slip more. In the station, before everything happened she called you Mom." Charming said with a grin.

"Really?! I think she is starting to get more use to it, but it's still weird for her. Well I need to get back to our daughter and you better get her food ready before she gets too cranky. You know how she is when she is hungry." Snow stands on her tippy toes and kisses Charming.

"Does that mean I am forgiven?" Charming asked with a cheeky grin.

"Ah, no." Snow teased him as she walked away.

Charming just smiles and goes back to heating up his and Emma's dinner. Although, the story of Emma's foster dad breaking her wrist still lingers as he works on their dinner.

"Gramps, when did you guys get back?' Henry sleepily walked into the kitchen and sat on one of the stools at the counter.

"Hey sleepy head, we just got back a little bit ago." Charming ruffles Henry's hair and smiles.

"Why were you late? What happened?" Henry asked, clearly he had been worried.

"Your mom ran into some trouble with King George, but I was able to go save her. She did get hurt a little, but she will be fine, Henry." Charming said not wanting to worry Henry anymore, but wanting to prepare him for when he saw his mom.

"King George! Is she alright?" Henry looked at Charming alarmed.

Charming walked over to Henry and puts his hands on his arms. "Henry, you mom is fine. Snow is taking care of her and she will be out her in a little bit. Okay?"

"Okay." Henry started to relax. He knew he could trust his Gramps and if Gramps said she was okay, then she was okay.

"So how did you save her?" Henry asked. He suddenly wanted to know the details because it sounded like it was another heroic event. Gramps saving his daughter is definitely something I need to know about. It definitely qualifies as hero material. Maybe we should watch a superhero movie tonight. Grams did say that we might watch a movie…. Henry contemplates. "Tell me everything!"

Charming chuckles as he watches Henry's face light up and thought of the heroic events of the evening. Henry sure liked anything about heroes.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Here, Emma. Put this on your wrist. It should help with the swelling and then we can see how it is." Snow says as she hands her the frozen peas.

"Ahhhh! That's cold." Emma complains as she touches the bag of peas to her wrist. The last thing she wanted was something cold when she was already cold. She thought it was strange that she still felt cold after being inside for a while; maybe she was in shock or something. Emma started to feel the cold numb her wrist a little and it actually started to feel better, but she was still freezing!

Snow put the frozen bag of peas in pillowcase so that it wasn't as cold. She put it back on Emma's wrist.

"Better?" Snow asked.

"Actually, yeah it is." Emma admitted.

"Good. Now, let's see about your ribs." Snow said as she felt Emma's ribs to see if she could feel any breaks. She could tell that Emma was exhausted and Snow wanted to get her taken care of so that she could rest. She wanted to at least get her to relax on the couch for awhile, knowing that Emma would not go to bed.

Emma gasps as Snow felt her ribs on her left side. Oh, man that hurts! Emma thinks as she grimaces from the pain.

"Well they aren't broken, but they are definitely bruised. They are going to be sore for a while. After you ice your wrist for 20 minutes and we will have you ice your ribs." Snow said.

"But I am so cold. I don't want to ice my ribs too." Emma pouted.

"Emma. It will help you ribs, just like it is helping your wrists." Snow said in a no-nonsense tone.

"It may help, but I am going to be frozen popsicle pretty soon." Emma complained. She knew there was no way out of it especially when her mom had that look on her face.

"Okay. Let's wrap up your wrists so that you can go eat dinner."

"Finally! Dad better have the food ready by the time I get out there!" Emma said and then realized that she slipped again. She quickly looked at Snow hoping that she did not realize what she said. Of course Snow had noticed, but she just smiled and went to work on her wrists. She had been slipping a lot today, but maybe it wasn't such a bad thing after all they were her parents. She was glad that they were both there with her even though they will undoubtedly keep fussing over her throughout the night. At least she was safe and sound with her family, it was a nice feeling.

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