Note: Couldn't think of a good title for this one! Oh well! I hope you like it! Enjoy! :)
Chapter 9
"What are we going to do for another hour?" Snow asked her daughter. She had a newborn and a 29-year-old in a four-year olds' body with tendencies of a four-year old.
"Watch more TV?" Emma asked. She normally didn't have this much spare time with breaking curses, defeating wicked witches, and evil boys from Neverland.
"You need a break from TV, let's play a game." Snow suggested with a grin.
"What kind of game?" Emma asked slowly, dreading what kind of game her mother wanted to play.
"Well we could play a board game or a paper and pencil game or we could color." Snow exclaimed with excitement.
Emma groaned internally, but it looked like her Mom was excited and it would be a way to pass the time. "Ok, I guess we could play a paper and pencil game or maybe color." Emma replied reluctantly.
"Great. I'll go get my art supplies." Snow left to get the supplies from her closet leaving Emma to finish her snack.
Snow brought her big tub of art supplies to the table and started getting out paper, coloring books, markers, colored pencils, and crayons. Emma pushed her plate away and sat up on her knees with her elbows on the table. "What do you want to do first?"
"Let's just color." Emma said, actually liking the idea now. She use to color when she was younger.
"Ok, I have these coloring books. You can pick one out." Snow instructed.
Emma started looking through them - they were all very girly ones. She however was drawn to the Disney coloring book.
Snow hid a smile as she saw Emma's choice, but she couldn't keep it hidden when Emma turned to a page with Snow White and Prince Charming on it.
"Markers, colored pencils, or crayons?" Snow asked as she schooled her features.
"Crayons." Emma answered.
Snow handed Emma the box of crayons and Emma started digging through it for the right colored crayon. Snow got the other Disney coloring book and sat down as well.
Mother and daughter worked quietly on their pictures for the next half hour. Snow looked over to see Emma concentrated really hard on her picture. When she looked at the picture it didn't look like a 29 year olds' coloring skills, but closer to a four-year olds' coloring skills. Snow smiled softly as she noticed Emma having troubled managing the crayon in her fingers. Her fine motor skills were prevented her from coloring like she normally would. That was probably why she was concentrating so hard on her pictures, yet she didn't seem too frustrated so she let it go and returned to her own coloring page.
After a little while, Emma finished her coloring page and picked another one to color. Snow watched as Emma flipped through the pages for a character she wanted to color. She picked Belle this time and then searched through the crayons to find a gold color. Snow made a mentally note to go back and look at Emma's coloring page of Snow White and Prince Charming (the Disney version). She was surprised at how much Emma seemed to be enjoying their activity. "Emma, did you use to color a lot when you were younger?" Snow asked.
"Yeah. All the group homes and most of the foster homes had coloring books and crayons. It was something I use to do a lot to keep my mind off of other things." Emma answered as she continued to color.
"So you enjoyed it?" Snow asked softly.
"Yeah I did." Emma said as she looked up with a genuine smile.
Snow smiled back. She was happy that Emma actually had something she enjoyed doing from her childhood.
"Oh look at the time, we need to get ready to go." Snow said after they had both lost track of time as they colored.
"What time is it?" Emma asked as she looked up from her fourth coloring page which was a picture of Cinderella. She hadn't realized it was getting that close to lunch and that meant they would see her Dad. She started to feel nervous and excited at the same time.
"11:45. We are going to have to hurry." Snow said as she started to clean up the table.
"I can clean this up if you want to go get Neal ready." Emma offered seeing the panic in her Mom's eyes.
Snow hesitated, but figured that it would be okay. She nodded before going to check on Neal and then to get him ready to leave.
Emma started to clean the table up. She hadn't realized the mess she had made with all the crayons scattered around where she had been coloring. She started to gather them and put them in the box one by one. She sighed as she realized this was going to take forever! She tried to go faster, but she ended up dropping them, some of them fell on the floor so she went back to doing it one my one.
Snow came back into the kitchen with Neal and put him in his car seat. She looked to see that Emma was trying to clean the table, but hadn't gotten very far. She grabbed the diaper bag and made sure she had everything before going to find Emma's black boots that she bought the other day. "Emma, let's put these boots on you." Snow said as she came over with the boots.
"But I'm not done cleaning yet." Emma said as she tried to hurry but ended up dropping the whole box of crayons on to floor, which caused a majority of them to fall out and roll in different directions. "Opps. Sorry." Emma murmured sheepishly.
"It's okay, we can clean it up when we get back." Snow replied with a cringe at leaving the loft messy.
"What? You want to leave it out? You never leave a mess." Emma said in awe.
"I don't want to, but if we clean it up we are going to be late." Snow admitted as she looked at the crayons that were all over the floor to the table that was covered in art supplies.
Emma chuckled. "I can put my boots on myself."
"It might go faster if I help." Snow replied with a grin, thinking of the table and how Emma had been trying to help, but she ended up making a bigger mess than when she started.
"Ok, but I doubt it will matter if we are a couple of minutes late." Emma commented with an eye roll.
"I have a feeling we are going to be a couple of minutes late anyway." Snow replied. She didn't exactly like being late.
Snow finished putting Emma's boots on and then went to grab Emma's new black leather jacket. "Ok, let's put this coat on you and then we will be on our way to see your Dad." Snow said with excitement.
Emma got a knot in her stomach at the mention of her Dad. She hoped he wasn't still mad at her. She knew he probably won't be, but having to apologize would bring the subject up and it was nerve-racking to think of not to mention embarrassing.
"I think that's all we need." Snow said as put her coat on and grabbed the diaper bag.
"Wait I need to grab my phone...where is it?" Emma wondered as she looked at the table of craft supplies and start moving stuff around which was creating a bigger mess.
"Emma you're going to have to go without it. It's already noon." Snow said as she picked up the car seat.
"No, I need to find it. It's probably in the living room." Emma argued as she ran to the living room and scanned the room for her cell phone. She couldn't find it. "Mom, did you see it?"
"I haven't seen it, but honey, we have to go." Snow answered.
"But what if I lost it?" Emma asked, but by this point she was stalling on purpose because she didn't want to face her father.
"Your Dad may know where it is. We can ask him when we see him at Granny's. If you need to use a phone you can use mine." Snow said as she walked over to Emma to usher her out of the apartment. "Let's go."
"Ok." Emma muttered with a frown.
"We will find it later, Emma." Snow encouraged as they walked out the door and she locked it. "Be careful on the stairs, Emma." Snow worried as Emma went before her in a hurry.
"You worry too much I'll be fine." Emma said, but she tripped and almost fell causing Snow to gasp in horror.
"Emma, please slow down! You just gave me a heart attack." Snow said once she caught her breath again.
Emma giggled, but slowed down a little. She remembered when she was younger she tripped a lot and mostly it was over her own feet. They were almost to the bottom when Emma decide to jump off the third step up from the bottom, but she ended up falling instead of landing on her feet.
"Emma!" Snow cried as she set Neal's car seat on the floor and went to help Emma up. She saw tears in Emma's eyes, which caused her to panic. "Are you alright? Did you hurt yourself?" Snow said as she looked Emma over from her head to her toes.
"I'm okay." Emma cried.
Snow hugged Emma, picking her up off the floor for a moment before setting her down again. "I'm glad you are okay, but you shouldn't have jumped off the stairs like that. It's dangerous." Snow scolded.
"I'm sorry." Emma said as she dried her tears with her hands.
"Just don't do it again. You scared me." Snow replied in softer tone. "Ok. We need to get going. Your Dad is going to wonder where we are."
They got out to Snow's station wagon and Snow first got Neal's car seat buckled in before taking Emma's hand and walking to the other side of the car to put Emma in.
"Mom, do I have to ride in that again?" Emma asked with a pout.
"Yes and don't even think about arguing about it with me the answer is still going to be the same." Snow added sternly as she picked Emma up and into the seat to buckle her in as well.
Emma knew that her Mom wasn't kidding, but that didn't stop her from scowling at her.
"And Emma, don't start up with that attitude again." Snow said after she saw Emma's expression.
Emma's eyes went wide before she took the scowl off her face.
Snow closed the door and got into the front. She had to adjust the seat since David had been the last one to drive her car. She looked back at Emma who had seem to change her attitude, but she looked nervous. She wasn't sure why she would be nervous unless it is having other people see her in her shrunken state that was making her nervous. Snow looked down at the clock, which now read 12:09. "Geez we are so late." Snow commented as started to drive to the diner.
Emma couldn't seem to get rid of the growing knot in her stomach as they got closer to the diner. The adult part of her knew it was irrational for her to feel the way she did, but she couldn't seem to convince her small body of that. Before she knew it, her mom was pulling up to the diner. Emma bit her lip as she looked out the window for a sign of her Dad, but when she didn't see him she assumed that he was probably inside.
Snow opened Emma's door and got Emma out of her car seat. Snow grabbed a hold of Emma's hand before she got too far because they would have to cross the street and she wasn't going to let Emma do that alone. They walked together to the other side of the car and Snow opened the door. "Ok, Emma, stand here and don't move. I don't want you getting ran over." Snow said in a worried tone.
"Mom..." Emma started in an annoyed voice.
"Emma, not right now. Do as I say or else there will be consequences." Snow said sternly.
Emma froze to her spot against the car, in fear of her mother's wrath if she moved one muscle.
Snow knew that had been a little harsh, but it was dangerous on the street and Emma's stubbornness could really get her to do unwise things. She ducked in the car and quickly unbuckled Neal's car seat. As soon as Snow got Neal out of the car and shut the door, she grabbed Emma's hand again before carefully crossing the street.
Emma wanted to argue with her mother about being old enough to cross the street by herself, but she didn't exactly want to figure out what her mom meant by 'consequences' so she kept her mouth shut for the time being.
"I'm sorry I yelled at you, Emma, but I couldn't have you not following my directions. I know you think that you can do everything you could as an adult, but you can't." Snow explained softly.
Emma would have argued with her mom, but they had just reached the door to the diner and the knot in her stomach returned. "Ok." Emma responded to her mom.
They walked into the diner and scanned the room for David, but they didn't see him anywhere. Snow walked up to the counter still holding on to Emma's hand. "Hey Ruby, have you seen my husband?"
"Not lately, why, are you meeting him here?" Ruby asked as she came from out from behind the counter.
"Yes, but we are late. I figured he would be here already."
"Who is this?" Ruby asked as she saw a blonde haired little girl with her friend.
Snow looked down at Emma silently asking her if it was okay to tell Ruby. Emma nodded.
"Ruby don't tell anyone, but this is Emma." Snow whispered to Ruby.
Ruby's eyes went wide and then she looked down at Emma. "Wait so how old is she?" Ruby whispered back.
"I'm 29." Emma responded which got a confused look from Ruby.
"She shrunk herself with magic to a four-year old body, but it is still the 29-year-old Emma." Snow explained quietly to Ruby.
"Can we show her to Granny?" Ruby asked with an eager smile.
"It's up to Emma." Snow said quietly as she looked to her daughter with expectant eyes.
Emma nodded.
Snow handed Emma's hand to Ruby. "You can take her back, I'm going to go get a booth and call David." Snow said softly.
"Ok." Ruby said as she gratefully took Emma's hand and led her to the kitchen.
Emma knew she shouldn't be letting them pass her off like a baton, but she was actually feeling nervous about being around all the people. Holding on to her Mom's hand and now Ruby's hand was actually comforting. She felt safe with them so she didn't argue.
Snow found a booth and set Neal on the seat before getting out her phone to dial David's number.
"Hello?" David answered with sirens going off behind him.
"David, what's going on? Are you okay?" Snow asked frantically as she heard the sirens.
"Yes, I'm fine. I'm just taking care of a car accident. I'm going to try to make it to the diner, but you should just eat without me in case this takes longer." David explained.
"Okay. If you are too busy though don't worry about coming, we will see you later." Snow replied.
"Okay, I'll let you know if I won't be able to make it. Is she doing okay?" David said.
"Yeah, she is. Ruby is showing her to Granny at the moment. I'm surprised she is allowing it." Snow said with a chuckle.
"Good. Well I better get back to work. I'll text you and let you know if I can come or not, but don't wait for me." David mentioned again.
"Ok. Oh and David, do you know where Emma's phone is? She started freaking out about it before we left the loft and I told her we would ask you."
"I have it. I put it in my pocket the other day and forgot about it." David replied.
"Okay, I'll let her know. She doesn't really need it, but she was afraid she lost it." Snow explained. "Ok well I let you get back to work. I love you."
"I love you too, Snow." David said before he hung up.
Snow frowned as she thought about her husband not being able to be with them, but then she saw Emma coming back with Ruby, surprisingly Emma was still holding Ruby's hand. She smiled softly at them as Ruby led Emma over to the other side of the booth.
"Granny loved that." Ruby exclaimed.
Snow grinned and even Emma grinned a little at Ruby's excitement.
"So are you waiting for David to come before you order?" Ruby asked.
"Actually no, he got tied up at work and isn't sure if he is going to make it or not." Snow said with a frown.
Emma had a mixture of feelings at that. First, relief because that meant she may not have to face him just yet. Second, disappointment because although she didn't want to apologize, she missed him and wanted to see him. Lastly, the most irrational part of her and the most insecure part of her, felt like the only reason he wasn't here was because he didn't want to be with her.
She felt like crying from all her emotions and the feeling of being unwanted. She didn't even hear her named being called by her mother.
"Emma." Snow said for the third time.
Emma looked at her mom as she finally heard her. "Yeah?"
"Are you okay? You zoned out on us." Snow worried as she looked at Emma, who hadn't let go of Ruby's hand or sat down.
"Yeah. I'm fine." Emma replied and then realized she was still holding Ruby's hand, but didn't want to let go for some odd reason. Before she knew it, she was saying, "can you eat with us?"
Snow looked shocked at Emma, wondering what was going on in her little head.
"Well I'll have to ask Granny, but I might be able to in a little bit." Ruby answered with a huge grin because that just made her day.
"Ok." Emma replied with a shy smile at Ruby before reluctantly letting go of her hand to sit down.
"So what can I get for the two of you?" Ruby asked.
After ordering their meal and Ruby getting their drinks, Snow looked over at Emma suspiciously, but out of concern rather than her being up to something. She seemed rather shy in the diner, but she also seemed upset. "Emma, are you okay?" Snow asked as she noticed Emma looking around anxiously.
Emma looked at her mother and nodded.
"Are you sure? You seem...upset." When Emma didn't answer, she continued. "Is it because your Dad couldn't come?" Snow asked curiously.
Emma shrugged her shoulders.
"If he could have, he would have been here, you know that right?" Snow asked, but only got another shrug from her daughter. "Do you want to call him and talk to him?"
Emma shook her head 'no' as she started to panic at the thought of calling her Dad when he obviously didn't want to be with her so why would he want to talk to her.
Snow frowned. "Are you feeling okay?" Snow asked after a moment.
"I'm just hungry." Emma lied, she actually wasn't hungry at all anymore because of all the turmoil she was feeling, but her mom wasn't stopping until she figured out what was wrong or at least what she thought was wrong.
It seemed to work because her Mom relaxed and turned to get Neal out of his car seat.
Snow knew that couldn't be all that was wrong, but Emma wasn't giving her any information so she decided just to let her be for the time being. She might just be getting tired and need a nap later. Do four-year olds still get naps? She decided to ask Granny before she left the diner to see if she would know.
Emma sipped at her lemonade that her Mom made her get instead of a soda and thought about her Dad. The knot in her stomach had disappeared, but in its space was a hole that just started to get bigger and bigger. It was a hole that could shake a person to their core and cause the worst type of pain.
She didn't like sitting alone without someone by her. She was really hoping that Granny would let Ruby eat with them so that she didn't have to sit alone. It just reminded her that her father hadn't wanted to come, plus she wasn't sure why, but she was scared of the other people
in the diner. She wanted to hide behind her Mom, she couldn't because Neal had to sit in his car seat by her mother so there was no room for her.
She heard the doorbell ring and she turned around hoping it was her Dad, but was disappointed when it wasn't him. She wasn't sure why she was hoping that he would change his mind and come because she knew from experience that she didn't get what she hoped for, at least normally she didn't.
Snow had seen Emma turn to look at the person walking in and then look disappointed. She knew Emma was hoping for her Dad to come in, but she really doubted that he would be able to get away from the car accident. "Emma, are you sure you don't want me to call your Dad?" Snow asked softy.
Emma was torn because she wanted her Mom to call him, but then again she didn't. So she didn't answer her Mom.
Snow was worried so she decided she would call David whether Emma wanted her to or not. She dialed his number again hoping he wasn't too busy because she didn't want to bother him, but she was worried.
"Hello?" David answered quickly.
"Hey David, I'm sorry to call again, but do you have time to talk to..."
"I'm sorry Snow, but I can't talk right now and I don't think I'm going to be able to make it to the diner anytime soon." David interrupted.
"It's okay, David. I'll talk to you soon." Snow said.
"Ok, I'll call you as soon as I can." David said with a tired voice.
"Ok, bye." Snow said as she hung up.
Emma's heart plummeted to the ground as she realized she had been right. He didn't want to even talk to her. Her Dad knew what her Mom was going to say and he cut her off.
"I'm sorry, honey. He is really busy and he can't talk right now, but he said he will call as soon as he can." Snow told Emma with a frown.
Emma nodded as she couldn't trust her voice and against her will a couple of tears slipped from her eyes.
"Oh Emma. We will see him later." Snow said softy as she saw her daughter's tears.
Before Snow could say anymore, Emma wiped her tears away and Ruby came to the table with their food with a huge grin on her face.
"I am guessing you can eat with us?" Snow said with a chuckle.
"Yep! Granny said it was okay!" Ruby said with another grin.
Emma smiled the best she could. She was glad Ruby was going to eat with them, but she wished it was her Dad. She moved over a little for Ruby, but stayed close to her side.
"Do you want ketchup, Emma?" Snow asked as she reached for it.
"Yeah." Emma answered quietly.
Snow put some ketchup on Emma's plate. She was concerned about her daughter and her somber mood she had developed since they got to the diner. She tried to just convince herself that it was Emma being out in public and missing her Dad, but she knew there was something else bothering Emma, but she couldn't put her finger on it. She would just have to keep an eye on her. Hopefully, David would call so he could talk to her.
Snow smiled softly at her daughter before starting to eat, trying to push back her worry, but not really succeeding in it.
As Snow finished eating, she excused herself to go ask Granny a question. "I'll be right back. Will you be okay with watching them for a minute?" Snow asked.
"Of course, we will be fine." Ruby answered with a smile, loving that Emma was pretty much snuggling up to her at the moment.
Snow smiled before walking to the kitchen to talk to Granny. "Hey Granny, I have a question for you. Do four-year olds still get naps?"
"Normally they do especially if they are a young four-year old, which Emma seems to be, but they should only be hour and half to two hours at the most or else they don't sleep very well at night." Granny answered as she came over to Snow.
"Ok, thank you Granny." Snow replied.
"Oh and I would have her in bed by 8 or at the latest 8:30. Ruby was a terror in both worlds if she didn't get to bed at the right time." Granny added with one of her looks.
"That's good to know!" Snow chuckled. "It's kind hard with Emma being both 29 and 4 at the same time. Some times she acts like she is her normal age just in a smaller body, then sometimes she acts like a four year old, and sometimes it is like a mixture of both ages. She is a bit of a handful no matter what age she is." Snow explained.
"I'm sure she is, but what can you expect from a product of you and Charming." Granny said with a smirk. "No matter what, she is in a four-year old body so you will have to do the things you would normally do for a child that age. It looks like you are doing a great job so far." Granny reassured her friend that came to be more like a daughter to her.
"Thank you, Granny. I really appreciate it." Snow said softly.
"No problem and if you need anything don't be afraid to call." Granny said as she softly touched Snow's arm.
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