A/N: Ohhhh another fun ending!;) Enjoy! ;) Sorry if it takes me a little longer to update! I have a lot of other writing projects I'm doing and I have finals this week for my summer courses so I should probably focus on that :/ But then two months off before the fall semester! I am so excited for the amount of time I'll have for writing! THANK YOU for the reviews, I can't even describe the feeling when you guys get into the story and plot and characters and all that good stuff. Especially because this story is so deviated from the show. It makes me all warm and tingly inside that you guys like it!
Emma walked down the stairs to the foyer by herself. With her pajamas and unbrushed bed hair, she woke up with the smell of syrup dispersing through her house. As expected, she found her mom in the kitchen.
"Good morning Sleeping Beauty," Snow said, meeting her daughter with a wide grin. She was in a very appreciative mood after yesterday. As much as she told herself Emma would find her way back, she would never be able to forget those hints of doubt that creeped up on her while she sat in their house alone, waiting. She promised not to take a single moment with Emma for granted again.
"Morning Mumma," Emma smiled sleepily. "Pamcakes or French toast?" She inquired about the smell of syrup that caused her wandering nose to get out of bed. She was reading Junie B. Jones in bed, perfectly content.
"Both. What do you feel like?"
"Both?!" Emma said with wide eyes.
"You can have anything you want, Emma," Snow assured her. Maybe it was literally about french toast and pancakes right now, but metaphorically it meant much more, whether Emma knew it yet or not. Emma decided to eat one pancake and one piece of french toast with a glass of chocolate milk. "How would you like to do something fun today?"
"Like what?" Emma asked curiously, swallowing a cut up piece of pancake.
"Well, if you could do anything in the world today, what would you want to do?"
Emma clearly had to think about this one. She had to come up with something good. Unfortunately, her mind was drawing a blank.
"We could go to the park, the zoo, the-"
"Swimming!" Emma interrupted. "Can we go to the beach?"
"Absolutely," Snow said, mentally preparing what they would need to bring and the drive there. If they got ready now they could probably be sitting on the beach in Ogunquit in two hours. "Why don't you go get your bathing suit?"
"Yay yay yay yay!" Emma said, running so fast towards the stairs she almost fell on her face. Snow loaded the dishwasher and made peanut butter sandwiches. An impromptu beach day, I mean, why not?
She wanted desperately to ask Emma about the previous day, but she was actually frightened. She was scared that Emma wouldn't remember and whatever happened would forever be a mystery, the person who did it still roaming free. But an idea, perhaps even scarier, was that Emma did remember every last detail. If she was scared and alone, possibly even hurt, did she want Emma to relive it again in storytelling? And the third option, one just as hard to imagine, was Emma left by her own free will. Snow tried to convince herself Emma wouldn't, that she wasn't failing that miserably at raising their daughter without Charming, but Emma did show up at their door alone last night. Maybe she left and came back. Snow supposed that was better than not coming back at all.
By the time Snow had weighed out all the possibilities, she had finished making their lunch and decided Emma probably left on her own through the back door of the building her recital was in. The weight of the revelation was almost crushing to her. She always assumed Emma had loved her by default. She tried not to pity herself. It was her fault, not Emma's. She messed up somehow. She wasn't who Emma needed her to be. No, she didn't even know for sure Emma did leave on her own. She shouldn't work up over it yet. If someone did take her, they needed to be punished. She would have to just suck it up and ask her daughter what happened. She'd just have to find the right time.
Snow packed a cooler with some water bottles and some snacks and left it on the counter while she went upstairs to change. She was putting towels and sunscreen in a beach bag when Emma approached her from behind. She was wearing the yellow sundress that was her favorite. It had 'Emma' monogrammed across the chest in curled letters. Underneath were purple bows, and Snow could see she picked out the purple and white horizontal striped two piece suit. The yellow and purple looked good together, and Snow was impressed by Emma's color coordination. Although she suspected they just both happened to be her favorite articles of beachwear and Emma didn't give much thought to the matching colors.
"Do you have your sunglasses and hat?" Snow asked.
"Okay," Emma said absent mindedly, not realizing it was a question. When she came back with her big straw sunhat and pink barbie heart-shaped sunglasses, Snow couldn't stop herself from laughing.
"You look like a movie star," Snow chuckled, and she did.
"Is it time to go yet?" Emma beamed.
"I think so... are you ready?"
"Uh-huh."
"Can you carry this bag to the front door for me?" Snow asked, and Emma obliged.
"We're here," Snow said softly to her daughter from the open door of the backseat."Wake up sweetheart." For the first 30 minutes of the ride, Emma had been eagerly waiting to arrive at their destination. For the last 30 minutes, Emma had decided on a power nap. Well her body did, if not so much her mind.
Emma blinked her eyes open. "We're here," Snow repeated. "Do you want to go swimming?" It seemed this question sparked Emma's memory of where they were.
The ocean water all over Emma caused the sand to stick to her, but she didn't seem to mind. She sat knee deep in the sand, focusing intently on building an intricate sandcastle.
"Em, can we talk about something really important?" Snow asked, patting down the sand in a pail.
"What is it, Mommy?"
"David!" Snow scolded me as soon as I stumbled into the library where she was reading. "You were drinking!"
I didn't argue. I was. I told Snow I had to attend to business and would return tomorrow. I wasn't planning to come home until after the effects of drinking had worn off.
"What is the matter with you?" She yelled at me. I think she yelled at least. It sure sounded like it in my ears.
"I'm in love with you," I slurred. "I'm in love with you Snow White."
"Seriously David?"
"Seriously...I love you so much."
"David," she said, and I briefly wondered if she was crying. "This is not how to handle what you're feeling."
"I'm feeling greaaaaaaat," I assured her. "Life is greattttttt."
I could see Snow shaking her head. This time I was sure she was crying.
"I'm going to bed. We can talk when you're sober." And with that, she left me in the library. I laid on the library floor, because I suddenly really felt like I needed to cry too and I knew I could be alone here.
I woke up with the worst splitting pain in my head I had ever felt. Every time I made any move, it felt like my brain was rattling around inside my skull. I wanted nothing more to close my eyes and sleep it off, but all I could think of Snow. I remembered faintly her leaving me here mad. I hoped she was not on the second floor, because I didn't think my head could handle walking up a staircase.
With a stroke of luck, I found her sitting at the table in the dining area. She was smiling and talking to one of the chefs, Tempra, and I couldn't help but smile at the sight of her. She was a ray of light to everyone around her, it was so obvious. For a moment, I forgot she was upset with me.
"Hi," I said sitting across from her.
"Hi." Tempra quickly walked away and Snow narrowed her eyes at me as I sat.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?" she challenged me.
"Drinking? Upsetting you? Lying." I decided.
"You didn't need to lie," her voice is softer now. It's sweet and forgiving, and I want to bottle it up because it's the only sound that ever made me feel like this.
"I know," I admit. "I don't know why I did. I couldn't handle it. I couldn't handle losing you." As I finished, Tempra returned with a warm cup.
"For your head Mister."
"Thank you, Tempra," I smiled and she quickly dismissed herself again. I took a sip of the grassy colored liquid and almost choked on the taste of it.
"You're not losing me forever," she reminds me.
"The wardrobe only takes one," I remind her. "I'm going to miss our child's entire life. I can't live with myself for that."
"You're not choosing this. It's her best shot," she tries to comfort me. I thought it was an impossible task until she put her hands over mine.
"How will I live without you?"
"You won't remember me." I can hear sorrow woven through her voice when she admits this fact out loud.
"It's impossible to forget you."
"It won't be your fault."
I shake my head. It will be my fault. I've failed to protect them. "Snow, last night, I just wanted to stop feeling. For one night. But I couldn't."
"David..."
"I couldn't," I finish. "Even as I actively tried to numb my brain to nothingness, when I couldn't even remember how to pronounce my own name, the only thing I knew was how much I love you and needed to be with you. I had to find you in that moment, because you're all I could think of. I can't survive twenty eight years without you. I can't survive twenty eight years without her," I say, looking at Snow's belly, just swollen enough to know there's another miniscule human inside.
"You said 'her'," Snow laughed through wet eyes.
"Huh," I replied. "I guess I did." I let my smile ache my jaw.
"We won't be apart. Every time I breathe, I'll feel you with me. Remember?" Snow said, clasping the gold heart around her neck.
"What happened yesterday... after you finished your dance?" Snow asked hesitantly.
"You mean when I went with Ryan?" Emma asked, innocently.
"Ryan?"
"Yeah. He said you were sick and you told me to go with him, but then he said you weren't sick anymore when we got in the car."
"He scared you?" Snow said, half as an observation, half as a question. Emma nodded to confirm.
"How did you come back?"
"Ryan brought me home," Emma answered. If it was possible, Snow had even more questions than before. Her brain racked her mind for anyone named Ryan, but she couldn't think of anyone. It sounded irritatingly familiar. Who would kidnap her daughter and return her without a scratch? Emma wasn't acting too traumatized, either. She decided not to push it any further. She'd call the police later to report someone named Ryan. Maybe Emma could describe him later.
"How about some ice cream?" Snow offered.
"Yea!" Emma exclaimed. She stood up and you couldn't even see her knees or calves through all the sand. "You know what, Mommy, maybe we can go to the beach again when your friend David comes to visit us."