AN- THANK YOU AGAIN! You guys blow me away! It's a really busy week so the updates may slow down just a little.
David had to remember that Emma had very little legs now, and could not simply keep up with his long strides, pacing himself while pushing a stroller was harder than he thought.
"So you had to pull cars out of a ditch this morning at four am?" Emma asked as she walk beside her father on the boardwalk of the pier.
Neal let out a tiny squeal of excitement as he caught sight of one of the ships and began to clap his hands.
"Just wait, Neal" Emma smiled as she leaned over the stroller halting David's movement. "Someday, Killian will take you out on his ship! The Jolly Roger! Maybe we can take a whole family sailing trip for a few days! When you're bigger of course."
Neal clapped his hands before he reached out and yanked his sister's long golden curls that hung above him.
"Ouch! Neal" Emma hissed as David reached down and carefully began removing her hair from his chubby little hands. "No, Neal. We don't pull sister's hair" He shook his head while Neal just gave him a few tooth and gum grin.
Emma shook her finger at him once freed. "I got my eye on you, short stack."
David rolled his eyes at his daughter as he moved over to the bench and parked Neal's stroller so he could watch the ships, while he took his seat. "We may have to start putting your hair up, when you're around your brother until he gets over his pulling hair stage. Good thing your mom's hair is short now."
Emma sighed "I hope he learns quickly it hurts." She climbed up onto the bench and stood behind her father wrapping her small arms around his neck as she looked out at the water.
David wasn't going to deny he kind of enjoyed his small version of his daughter, while her walls were up emotionally, she had let her walls down of physical contact and seemed to enjoy the hugs, and voluntarily hugged them herself, or even crawled onto their laps like she'd done with his wife right before they left the house.
He smiled feeling her little cheek against his as she rested behind him. "Dad, are you going to tell me about the tow?"
David chuckled to himself. Here if any person who didn't know this family walked by, they would see a father out with his two small children. Yet the very little girl was asking him questions of a grown up.
"A couple of guys drank a little too much last night, and put themselves in a ditch, I had to come help arrest them, so they could sober up in jail for the night. They walked away with a pretty heavy DUI ticket and suspended licenses. Thank Goodness nobody was hurt."
Emma nodded against him. "You were gone all day today, was it busy?"
David patted her hand "It was a busier day, I sure did miss my favorite side kick. Grumpy is helpful, but he's well grumpy."
Emma let out a little giggle "Hope he doesn't get too comfortable in my job."
David shook his head "No, he kept saying today, that sister better hurry up and grow back." He chuckled "It's safe to say he doesn't want your job."
"Hmmm" Emma hummed out loud "Think he'd want us to hire him on for the paperwork?" She laughed.
"Not a chance kiddo, he grumbles more about than you do" David shook his head. "And I don't find him as cute as I find you, so it's annoying coming from him."
"I am not cute, when I am not pint size" Emma shook her head.
David shook his head "Oh you're cute no matter what size." He chuckled "And I am your father, so I am right."
Emma rolled her eyes "If you say so, so besides busy was it okay?"
David nodded "Yeah it wasn't bad. Mostly catching up on paper work."
"You didn't come home for lunch" Emma observed "Is it because Regina's sick?"
David shook his head. "No, princess. I just worked through lunch, so I could get to the store and get home quicker for you guys. I missed all of you today." He felt Emma's arms wrap tighter around his neck. "Did you have a good day? I know it must not be a lot of fun being trapped inside all day."
Emma let out a sigh "It was okay…I did something bad."
David reached up behind him and managed to get a hold of her and lifted her above his head before bring her down onto his lap. He checked on Neal quickly with a glance and saw that his son was chewing on his teether as he watched the ships in the water happily.
"I am sure you didn't do anything bad" David shook his head as he wrapped Emma up in a tight hug.
Emma let out a sigh as she leaned into him, now tucking her head under his chin. "Yes, I did. You would have been so disappointed in me. You probably would have even yelled at me." Her voice sounded so broken.
David placed a kiss to the top of her head, and left it there for several seconds before speaking. "What did you do?" He asked.
"I hurt mom's feelings, on purpose" She mumbled.
David frowned that didn't sound like something Emma would ever do on purpose.
"Yeah?" David asked leaning back on the bench with her still secure in his arms. "Why don't you tell me what happened?"
Emma let out a sigh "Are you going to yell at me?"
David shook his head "I am sure whatever happened between you and your mom, your mom handled it." He rubbed her back "But why don't you tell me about it, and maybe you and I can talk about it from a different perspective?"
Emma gave a little nod as she began to trace her finger around David's wedding ring. "Well, mom was telling me about Zelena taking me up to bed, and I kind of got a little embarrassed" She admitted "Because this whole having to depend on all of you is hard."
David nodded "I can only imagine how hard it is."
Emma sighed "Well mom, told me that I shouldn't be too embarrassed, because I have people that love me, and want to take care of me." She brought in her lip and bit down on it. "That just kind of made me angry" She explained "I kind of said… If the roles were reversed that she would be embarrassed too.. I didn't say it nicely either."
David could have guessed how that went and nodded knowing his daughter "Okay, and what happened after that?"
"Mom agreed she'd probably struggle too, but she hoped she'd be able to show a little bit more gratitude."
David winced knowing Emma wouldn't have taken that comment lightly "Okay, and you got mad?"
Emma nodded "Yeah, well I kind of said something along the lines of… Are you implying, that I am not thankful for the help, Mary Margaret?" She mimicked her sound and tone of how she spoke to her mother, as she stole a quick glance at her father.
David winced again, he knew his daughter had called his wife Mary Margaret to jab her, and good she'd even sailed past Snow to her cursed name. He could see where that would have left a pretty big sting on his wife's heart.
"See" Emma shoulder's fell in defeat. "You're disappointed in me."
David took a deep breath before he spoke. "Do I like that you talked to mom like that, no" He agreed.
A small tear fell "I am sorry, dad."
David nodded "I know you are. I know you don't like hurting your mom's feelings. Why don't you tell me what happened next?"
Emma rubbed her eyes tiredly as more tears began to fall. "Mom, got up without really talking to me and went and started me the most amazing bubble bath."
David nodded he could see his wife needing a few minutes to recover, and he could also see his daughter taking that as a sign as what she'd done was unforgivable. "Uh huh, so mom took a few minutes to gather her thoughts, what did you do?"
Emma sighed "Regina, kind of reprimanded me for hurting my mom, in a nice way."
David couldn't help but chuckle at the irony. "I am glad she did it nicely."
"She's too sick and powerless to cast any curses on me, right now" Emma waved her hand with a little smile "I wasn't worried about her. This time"
"Good" David squeezed her little knee "What happened next?"
"I went to go apologize to mom, but she wasn't really seeming like she wanted to talk to me, she left me instructions on getting ready for the bath, but she walked out and Regina got super sick again, and mom was with her rubbing her back and soothing her, and when she saw me…" Emma let out a sigh "She told me my bath was getting cold!" Emma let out a frustrated sigh thinking back on it. "I thought, she was never going to really speak to me again!"
"Oh, Emma" David shook his head "You've never been more wrong in your life."
Emma nodded "I started to cry, and was venting to myself and mom showed up!" She gave a small smile "And I apologized to her, and I gave her a really long hug…."
"Which you both needed"
Emma nodded again "And we talked a bit, and she made me promise to never stop calling her mom, because it hurt her."
David smiled "And I bet the rest of the day went really well?"
Emma nodded "Minus she wouldn't make cookies with me." She giggled.
"She's tired" David agreed with a smile "But I know for a fact before you two go to bed tonight, you'll make cookies."
"How do you know?" Emma asked
"Because she sent me a text as she was giving Regina medicine to ask me to bring home more butter." He said poking her in the ribs causing her to giggle. He did love the sound of his children's laughter. It was a gift to him, and hearing what Emma's little giggle would have sounded like, was better than anything he could ever ask for.
"Hey, dad" Emma pulled on his shirt bringing him back to reality. "Can we?" She pointed to a little ice-cream down at the end of the dock. Her big green eyes sparkled as she looked up at him.
"Your mother will kill me" He stood with her in his arms before standing her on her feet "But, yes let's go spoil our dinner with a little ice-cream."
"You hear that baby bro?" Emma asked as she walked next to her brother "Dad's going to get us ice-cream before dinner."
David shook his head "Well he's getting bites, from both of ours. He's not ready for his own."
Emma shrugged "I think you are champ, but enjoy sharing dad's" She smirked "Because, Emma doesn't share ice-cream."
Neal squealed at what his sister said with a smile, causing Emma to laugh. "Well, maybe one bite…Cause you're cute…As long as you don't pull my hair again!"
Neal just clapped his hand.
"David they are filthy" Snow gasped as David struggled to get in the door, with Neal in the front pack, shoeless Emma on his hip who was holding a big brown bag for him in her own hands. While he managed to carry three bags of carryout in his free hands.
"Could you maybe help?" David asked with a huff "We can worry about the dirt later."
Snow smiled and reached for Emma. "I'll take this little cutie" She smiled 'Since my other little cutie is attached to you." She brought Emma to her own hip, and helped Emma set the brown bag down. "What happened to your shoes?" She asked spotting the dirty bare footed princess. "Are they in the stroller? Which am assuming is down stairs?"
"The stroller is downstairs" David nodded "Emma's shoes, are gone. Dog at the park took one of them, the other was broken. Your daughter thought it would be fine, to try and climb a tree while Neal and I were feeding ducks, she managed to get it stuck between some branches and the strap broke.
Snow looked down at Emma's foot and saw some scrapes and splinters in all the dirt, her eyes traveled to Emma's face to see chocolate ring around her lips and stained on her shirt and arm. "Convinced your dad to get you ice-cream huh,"
"Little hands and hot weather" Emma shrugged "make for a mess."
"And climbing trees?"
Emma smiled "Neal and dad were feeding ducks, and that's for babies."
Snow looked offended "I fed the ducks last week."
"You have a baby" Emma pointed to Neal.
"He was with your father" Snow shook her head.
"Oh, well" Emma shrugged as Snow deposited her on the counter as David dropped the bags of take out next to her. "You talk to birds" She tried to defend as she reached for a bag to snack a fortune cookie only to have her mother smack her hand away. "Don't even think about it" She shook her head "A, you're not eating more sugar, and B, I think we need to get you cleaned up before you eat. How do you feel about a second bath?"
Emma crinkled her nose. "Mom, I am not four."
"No, but you're still a hot mess" Snow laughed "What did you do, roll in the dirt?"
Emma nodded "Yeah, I was teaching Neal to roll over."
"Emma" Snow groaned "He's not a dog."
"But he's got to start prepping, so I can have rolling races with him! Teach him to roll down hills! Make sand angels at the beach."
Snow cringed at the thought. "Did you?"
Emma looked up "What?"
"Make a sand angel for your brother in the sandbox?"
"She's small now a days, she's way faster than me" David defended "I couldn't stop her."
Snow groaned knowing her daughter was going to have sand stuck in her clothing, and in her hair.
Emma shrugged "Well, I am the size of a four year old, I should have some fun, and make the best of it right?"
"I am not rolling in the dirt, to make the best of this" Regina piped up from where she was watching a movie on the couch.
"Oh, hey" David turned around as he was working on getting Neal out of the front pack. "I missed you over there, how are you feeling?"
"Like death" She mumbled "But, I am not throwing up."
Snow smiled to David "She had a full cup of that juice you brought home and four crackers, her fever is hovering at 101.7 so it's going down, she's had a much easier time with the tablets. Thanks for picking that up."
"Yes, thank you David." Regina nodded with a smile as she pulled her blanket around her shoulders.
"Sure, thing" He winked "I also brought you some chicken soup for dinner, if you can keep it down."
"I'll try" Regina nodded
Snow kept eying Neal and Emma as David freed Neal from the front pack and moved him to his own hip.
"You're just as filthy as your sister" She grinned to her baby "And I see Daddy shared ice-cream with you as well" She noted the chocolate around Neal's mouth and on his little shirt as well.
David shrugged with a smile "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"I climbed a tree" Emma added to take the attention off her father "Got pretty high too, until I got my foot stuck,"
"I am glad I wasn't there" Snow mumbled "I would have had a heart attack."
"Probably" David agreed "I about did, and I am the one that had to go up and get her."
Emma just grinned. "I was just letting you save me, I was fine."
"Uh huh" David shook his head while he poked her in the side. "That's what happened."
Snow couldn't help but smile as she watched her daughter interact with her father. Their relationship was something special. She wished she could have seen Emma grow up with him. She knew Emma would have had him around her little finger, from birth. Hell she had him wrapped her around finger now.
"Alright, Charming" Snow grinned as she lifted Emma from the counter back into her arms. "Your mission, find me pjs for both Emma and Neal, as well as a fresh diaper for Neal. I am going to find my children under all this dirt, you can get dinner onto the plates, after you find me what I need, Charming family team work!"
David couldn't help but chuckle "Should we put our hands in together, and break?" he chuckled
"Do it, and I'll be sick all over again" Regina grumbled from the couch "Nobody needs that much cuteness."
"We could move to you, and include you" Snow offered getting a grunt in return as Regina burrowed herself back under her blankets. "See, she's feeling much better."
"Snarks back" David agreed "Funny how I actually missed it."
Snow laughed as she held her arm open for Neal. "Me too" She agreed before turning to Emma, sorry sweetheart, but you're not walking across my clean floor, with those feet." She shifted her onto her hip as David passed her Neal. "I'll bathe him first, if you can also be ready to get him into his high chair, when I go to start to help Emma with her hair, and work on these splinters."
David nodded again "And break" He laughed as he headed up the stairs first.
Snow set Emma down first before shifting Neal in her arms as she turned on the water. "Em, can you put Neal's chair in the tub?"
Emma happily went to get the item her mother requested and stood on her toes as she dropped the chair into the tub. Snow reached down and pressed on it to make sure it was secure before she began to undress Neal.
Neal squealed and clapped his hands together when he realized he was about to get a bath. "That's right baby, bath time" Snow smiled "So I can find my handsome prince under all this chocolate and dirt"
"And drool" Emma added from where she stood next to Snow, working at getting her own clothing off.
"And drool" Snow laughed as she settled her son in the little chair that kept him sitting up. Neal could sit on his own now, but in the bath, Snow never took a chance. She handed him a clean wash cloth knowing he liked to suck on, as well as his favorite duck. Neal let out another shriek of excitement as he splashed some water around while the tub was still filling slightly.
"Mom, can you lift me in?" Emma asked breaking Snow of her thoughts as she moved to stand in front of her.
"Oh, I was going to help you after him" Snow said in surprise as Emma shrugged. "We can be done quicker if I get in now, it's not like I haven't showered with him before, like that time he had the major poop explosion on himself and me, while you guys were out, and he's a baby, and I am the size of a four year old… and…. It's only weird if you make it weird!"
Snow shook her head at Emma's justification, she was surprised by Emma wanting to get into a bath with her brother. She had no issues with it. Had they actually been raised together and only three years apart, she's sure there would have been many shared bath times in the early years.
"Plus, I am hungry! I want dinner" Emma added as Snow went to lift Emma. Though something caught her eye on her daughter's stomach. She spotted a thin but long scar on the right side of her stomach just below her belly button. "Where'd you get this?" She asked softly as she traced it with her fingertip before lifting her daughter into the other side of the tub.
"Oh, my Appendix had to come out" Emma shrugged as reached for the bar of soap to wash her hands.
"You had appendicitis?" Snow asked softly as she grabbed the baby soap so she could get Neal cleaned off before Charming showed up with all their clothing. While Emma was fine taking a bath with her baby brother, she may not be fine with Charming coming into the bathroom.
"mmm hmm" Emma hummed with a smile "When I was four."
Snow winced at picturing her baby girl, in a big hospital bed, without her mom and her dad. There was just so much about their daughter they didn't know, and it never stopped hurting their hearts.
"Don't worry, it wasn't too bad" Emma started to speak without looking at Snow, as she used a washcloth to wash her arms and legs. "I was in a bad home, right when it happened, but once I got in to the hospital, the nurses and the doctors were so kind, they also knew my home wasn't great so they figured out how to keep me several extra days and then I went home with a really nice elderly lady. Where I stayed from four until eight."
"Oh?" Snow asked as she turned to focus on Neal. "Can you tell me about her?"
Emma continued to wash her arms as she smiled "Her name was Mabel, and she was a retired widowed school teacher. She was great. She always believed I'd find you, and when I did it would be something special."
Snow smiled at Neal as she carefully washed his hair, managing to keep the soap and water from his eyes. "I'd like to think she was right" She said to her daughter as she cast a quick glance over at her.
"Yeah" Emma nodded with a smile "She was very right."
Snow grabbed a towel and reached down and plucked a very clean little baby boy from the water and wrapped him in a towel as she looked down at Emma. "Don't move, I'll be right back." She said as she headed to the door, and handed her son to David. "Can you get him dressed?"
David nodded knowing Emma had climbed in with her brother and hadn't come into the bathroom out of respect. He handed Snow her clean clothes.
"Is she really talking about her foster homes?" He asked in a hushed whisper.
"Little" Snow nodded "I am trying to not make a big deal out of it. I want to hear more, but most of the time she clams up. She doesn't want me to know much about them."
David nodded "I know, same here." He kissed Neal's little head "I'll get him dressed, see you in a few minutes?"
Snow nodded as she headed back into the bathroom kneeling beside the tub. "How about we get your hair washed, I know you were wanting dinner."
Emma nodded "I didn't just play with Neal at the park, I did 350 pullups on the bars, dad counted! I also crossed the monkey bars forty times, and ran around the whole park four times! I may be small, but I've got to keep up my strength!"
"And burn off all the sugar" Snow teased as she turned Emma around and grabbed Neal's shampoo. "I am going to wash your hair, with Neal's this time, because we've washed your hair once today, this will be gentler on your scalp, okay?"
Emma covered her eyes with her hands as she nodded
"Sounds like you had fun though"
Emma nodded as she felt her mom massaging the soap into her scalp, working all the sand out of her hair. "It was a lot of fun, dad and I had a good talk, and we had ice-cream. We played with Neal." She started to laugh "And there was this family at the park, I didn't recognize dad kind of did, he's seen them before, anyway. They had several children with them, that actually wanted to play on the monkey bars, so dad made me quit working out on the bars. So I dropped to the ground, and I started to kick and fuss about having to stop, like a real four year old would do, and Dad's eyes about bulged out of his head! I think he thought I had become legit" Emma began giggling harder as she removed her hands from her eyes, her eyes lit up, I then stood up and took a bow "And thanked them for watching my performance of an angry Swan."
Snow let out a laugh "Did you run?"
"Heck yeah" Emma laughed "That's how I got to run around the park four times, so dad couldn't catch me."
Snow shook her head "You're trouble, but the cutest kind" She ran a wash cloth over Emma's face carefully just as she did Neal's. "Hey, Emma how'd you get this scar?" She asked about the scar right above Emma's right eye.
"Oh" Emma's smile disappeared "I got that on the last day, I ever got to live with Mabel." Her voice cracked as though she might cry. "Mom, I am hungry, and cold this water is cooler because it was meant for Neal, can I get out?"
Snow pulled the plug before wrapping Emma in a towel and pulling her out. She helped her sit on the counter fully wrapped up in a towel. "Let me get these splinters out, and we can go eat, okay?" She asked knowing to not push Emma anymore.
Emma nodded as she looked at her leg. "Mom?"
"Yes, baby?" Snow asked pulling out the tweezers.
"Can we still make cookies tonight?"