AN: I seriously can't thank you enough for your kindness! I do want to apologize again for any mistakes you find, I am a fast writer and reader, and its very hard for me to catch my own mistakes as my brain sees what I had wanted. I usually see the mistakes a few months later when I re-read. I'd rather not wait months to post.. :) Even the best published authors have editors, I have me myself and I... So it's not always perfect, but I sure hope it's fun!
Now this chapter and the chapter that follows, I've have had planned out since before I even started this story... Enjoy... I hope you like a little angst.
"You can't do that" Emma shook her head as she watched Regina move her marbles across the Chinese checkers.
"It states it in the rules, Emma. You're just mad because you're losing."
Snow took a breath and massaged her temples as she tried to stay out of it. The morning had started going downhill after David and Zelena left for the day. Regina was still running a low grade fever, but she was feeling better, which meant she was actually crankier. She wasn't needing to just lay around.
Emma was stir crazy, they still couldn't go anywhere with Regina still running a fever. Which meant she was not a bundle of sunshine, and last to not least Neal was teething, and he too was miserable and was telling everyone about it.
They had tried to watch a movie, but that only lasted for forty minutes. It was hard to hear it over Neal's wails and Emma and Regina had not exactly agreed with what she put on, and were grumbling about it the entire time.
After the movie, Regina fell asleep, Emma had found a game on her phone that was distracting, and Neal's Tylenol seemed to have started kicking in. However that had only lasted another forty minutes, until Emma's phone died, and she was mad Snow wasn't letting her play on hers. Claiming she could probably use a break from screen time, Neal had started to scream again, successfully waking Regina, and it wasn't even lunch time.
Finally she set the girls up with an actual game, and Neal was crawling around the floor now and Snow thought she might have another break, until the bickering began.
"It's not in the rules!" Emma argued
"Yes it is" Regina argued "Your mother just read us the rules not even five minutes ago, what were you doing picking your nose?"
Emma scrunched up her face "Ew, no…." She paused "But I could, I could show you…."
"Don't be disgusting, Swan" Regina shot her a glare.
Emma's finger still rested up by her nose "Well you said…."
"Emma, get your finger away from your nose." Snow shook her head "You don't need to be crude."
"How is picking your nose crude?" Emma argued giving Snow an un-amused glare "Everyone gets boogers, it's not like I am saying dirty jokes, or sexual jokes."
"You're trying to gross out Regina, for the comment, that wasn't necessary" She gave Regina a look. "That's crude, Emma."
"No, it's not" Emma shook her head at her mother. "Geesh" She grumbled to herself as she turned back to make her move and all was quiet for a few moments. Until Regina's marble trapped her marble from making any moves, causing her to lose her turn. "You can't move there!"
"Are you sure, you're not really a child, Emma Swan?" Regina asked cocking an eyebrow "Are you listening to yourself right now?"
Snow had stepped in to the kitchen while Neal was cruising around to pull out things to make lunch with. She put the jar of apple sauce down that Emma and Neal both loved, because the two of them did not have an aversion to apples, like David, herself and Henry, so she kept it stocked for them.
"Emma, honey" She tried to hopefully calm her daughter down. "I am making lunch, do you want to help me?" She asked "You can decide what we are having, and you'll probably feel better after, we get some lunch into you." She'd noticed that with Emma in a littler body, she was hungry more often and also more hangry.
Emma ignored her mother as she looked at Regina "You're cheating, you can't stand to lose, even at a board game!"
"I am not cheating!" Regina argued "You're being such a sore loser right now. Do I need to let you win, like I used to let Henry win, when he was three?."
Emma scrunched up her face and a mimicking voice repeated back to Regina. "Do I need to let you win, blah, blah, blah."
"Oh mature, Swan" Regina shook her head "I am not playing this game with you anymore. You're acting like a two year old."
Neal let out a little squeal causing Regina to look at him, "You're right that is offensive to two year olds." She agreed with Neal, with a smile.
"Oh, please." Emma rolled her eyes "My brother is not offended by me." Emma snapped as she moved her foot on the couch to get up, hitting the checker board and sending marbles flying all over the ground.
"Emma!" Snow gasped as she came flying out of the kitchen quickly as she grabbed Neal just as we was reaching for a marble. "You have to be careful! Your brother could choke on marbles."
"It was an accident!" Emma defended "I didn't mean to knock the game on the ground mom, and I wouldn't have let him swallow any. You just got to him faster."
"It may have been an accident." Snow agreed as she moved Neal over to his playpen while Marbles were all over the floor. "However Emma, your bad attitude right now is not an accident."
"I have a bad attitude?" Emma gasped "You've been on my ass all morning about every little thing, since the coffee pot! You may have a bad attitude, which is making me have one." She pointed her little finger at her mother.
Snow saw a small glimpse of what Emma's tantrums would have been like as a small child, and as much as her heart ached for the years lost with her child, the tantrums weren't as overly missed. "That is enough, Emma Swan." She warned as she knelt down to her child's level. "Don't talk to me like that, I am your mother and I think I've earned the right in your life to have a little bit more respect than what you're showing me."
Regina slid off the couch and began to quietly gather marbles while mother and daughter had a glare down.
"No" Snow finally caught sight of her out of the corner of her eye. "Thank you for helping, but Emma is going to pick up the marbles."
"No, Emma's not." Emma shook her head "Because you're blaming me for it! If you would have just left me alone, I would have picked them up, because it was an accident, but you're acting like I trying to kill Neal with marbles!"
"This isn't about Neal" Snow grabbed Emma's face in her hands "This is about how you've been treating me, and Regina all morning. I know you're frustrated with being small, and stuck at home, but you can pick to have a better attitude sweetheart. You will pick up these marbles, and you will head up stairs until lunch is ready, while you take some time for yourself."
Emma yanked her hands away "Are you seriously putting me in time out?"
"No" Snow shook her head "It's not a punishment, its giving you some time to yourself, to allow you to collect your thoughts. You need a break from myself and even Regina."
"Call it what you will" Emma grumbled as she did drop to the ground and began angrily pick up marbles, that Regina was still quietly gathering, to help Emma out a little. "I wish dad was home with us, he wouldn't send me away!"
"Emma, I am not sending you away." Snow shook her head as she reached out and tucked a stray piece of Emma's hair behind her ears. "I am giving you a little space, you're just going to be up the stairs, I am not leaving the loft, and I am not leaving you." She insisted "And I am sorry you wish dad was here, but you've got me, and I love you."
Emma dropped the marbles into the container before she pulled away from her mother before stormed up the stairs grumbling the entire way.
"Sorry" Regina said softly as she put the game board away. "I shouldn't have engaged with her, when she's like this."
"You did bait her" Snow agreed "However she's responsible for how she re-acts. She's going to be okay, she's got a lot of emotions right now."
Regina nodded as she handed Snow the game to put away while she lay back down on the couch. "I'll try to not bait her as much, but sometimes it's so easy."
Snow rolled her eyes as she freed Neal from the playpen. "Thank you?"
"I think this color looks nice on you" Snow smiled to Regina as she painted Regina's little toes a pretty shade of teal.
Regina glanced down at her toes "I guess, I prefer black…."
"I know." Snow laughed as she heard movement on the stairs. "Oh, look who is up, my sleeping beauty." She smiled as she watched Emma appear on the top of the stairs, rubbing her eyes.
Snow had gone to get Emma, when lunch was ready, but found her little Savior out cold on her bed. Which hopefully explained some of her crankiness. Now two hours later she hoped she was well rested.
Emma came slowly down the stairs and stood on the bottom step for the longest time, just watching Snow painting Regina's toes and fingers.
"How was your nap, my love?" Snow asked as she turned to look at Emma, taking in her wild hair and flushed cheeks. "Looks like you slept hard?"
Emma just continued to watch the nail party without saying much.
"I saved you some lunch" Snow gave her a smile "I know you're probably starving." She stood up and looked down to Regina "I'll finish your other hand, once I get Emma's lunch out for her.
She moved towards the kitchen and pulled a plate that had a sandwich, some avocado slices and apple sauce from the fridge as well as glass of milk. She put them down next to a napkin that held some of Emma's favorite potato chips and two chocolate chip cookies that they had made the night before.
She watched as Emma crossed the loft and quietly climbed up the bar stool to get her lunch. She picked up her sandwich wordlessly and began to nibble on it.
"Can I get you anything else?" Snow asked "Do you want some water?"
Emma didn't look up as she shook her head and continued to eat quietly.
"Okay" Snow nodded clearly her daughter wasn't in the chatty mood right now. She just couldn't tell if it's because still upset about earlier, or if she was just having a hard time waking up.
"I am going to go back over to Regina, and finish her nails, if you need anything just holler."
She got a thumbs up sign but nothing else. Snow sighed this was going to be a very long afternoon.
Regina and Snow talked quietly for a few minutes before Emma jumped down from the stool. Snow glanced up at her plate expecting to find everything gone, but was shocked to find half a sandwich all the chips and both cookies still there. She had eaten the avocados and apple sauce though.
"Are you really all done?" Snow asked her daughter who was crossing the room towards them.
Emma shook her head as she examined the nail polishes on the coffee table. "You didn't eat very much, are you okay?"
Emma gave her a nod as she picked up her favorite pearly white nail polish her mother had, that she often borrowed.
"Do you want me to paint your nails?" Snow asked grasping for straws, something to tell her what Emma was thinking... Feeling...
"No" Emma said coolly "I don't want you to paint my nails. I was just wondering what you're thinking at having this right here in the open, what if Neal cruised on by and drank one?"
Snow winced at the tone in her daughter's voice. It was clear she was still upset about earlier that afternoon, and her bad mood may have actually intensified.
"Emma" Regina gasped "Hey, take it down a notch, would you?"
"You're not the boss of me" Emma shrugged as she pushed over the bottle of nail polish "And neither are you" She looked to Snow before she stormed off to the bathroom, slamming the door shut.
Snow inhaled sharply as she looked to Regina in confusion "What just happened?"
Regina shook her head unable to find the words herself, "Maybe she's…" She started to say as Neal began to wail from his crib.
"Thanks for slamming that door and waking your brother" Snow mumbled as she stood up and went to get Neal from his crib. Thankfully she had a bottle all ready for him, she grabbed it on the way. "Regina, can you put the nail polish back in the basket, I'll put it up in just a minute.
The small queen nodded and set forth to her task, as both Snow and Regina kept their eyes on the bathroom door waiting for Emma to emerge.
Ten minutes later Neal had decided he want to lay on the floor and drink his bottle while he kicked his feet on the coffee table, leaving Snow a chance to put the basket of polish and remover up on the counter before she headed to the bathroom. "Emma, are you okay?" She called knocking on the door.
Emma came out seconds later as she glanced up at her mother. "I am fine, you do realize I've been going to the bathroom for years, without your assistance. Heck I even learned…."
"Don't" Regina warned loudly knowing what was going to come out of the angry Saviors mouth. "Be careful Emma, you're not going to want to say things you can't take back, and you'll be the one that's hurting later. It may feel good in the moment but you won't think so later."
Emma shot her a glare but didn't finish the sentence that both Snow and Regina knew that was coming next.
Snow closed her eyes for a few seconds debating on calling David home. Maybe he could get Emma out of the house and help her clear her thoughts. He was always so good with her. Sometimes Snow felt that Emma harbored just a little more anger towards her than her father. Maybe because of the friendship before they found out their relationship as a mother daughter duo. It just felt like when Emma was mad at them after finding out about Maleficent and Lily she'd taken out most of her anger on her mother. Maybe it was because Snow re-acted more. Showed it bothered her more. She wasn't sure what exactly what it was, but maybe David would offer a good break for the both of them.
When Snow opened her eyes again she found that Emma was laying on the ground with Neal and the two were pushing a car back and forth with their hands. She let out a small sigh of relief deciding to not call David yet. Maybe Emma would be able to calm herself down on her own.
Snow watched the two play for a moment, before she headed to clean up the rest of Emma's lunch. She watched as Regina had been perched watching closely relaxed herself and curled up into the couch closing her eyes, and the apartment was peaceful, the only sounds that were being made were Emma's vrooming noises and Neal's giggles.
"You sure you don't want any more of your lunch?" Snow asked her daughter as she began to put it away. "I can leave it out…"
"No" Emma shook her head "I don't want it!"
Regina sat up and raised her eyebrow at Emma who let out sigh before turning back to her mother. "I mean, no thank you. I am full."
Regina nodded satisfied by that answer lay back down without a word.
Okay, so it could still be a long afternoon, Snow mused to herself as she quietly put away the rest of Emma's lunch, stealing one of the cookies that was left and eating it herself. Maybe she'd just eat her feelings.
After lunch was put away she made her way into the living room and took a seat on the rocker in front of her children while they seemed to be playing just fine.
"How you doing Regina?" She asked "Feeling okay still?"
Regina gave her a nod "I am tired"
"You're due for some Tylenol here in the next half an hour, but you can rest until it's time."
Snow looked down at Emma and Neal and watched as her baby lay on his back with his bottle gripped in his teeth just hanging there while his big sister ran a car up and down his arms causing him to giggle.
"Hey, Neal, can I have your bottle?" She asked as she reached down and plucked the object from his mouth. He didn't even blink and kept laughing at his sister's antics.
Snow smiled down at them before standing up to go wash the bottle.
"Neal, this is a flying car from the future" Emma grinned as she flew the car over his head "It's coming to take you on adventures." She giggled with her brother as she flew it in front of him.
Neal's hand flew up as his fingers swiped the car, Emma's own tiny hand lost the grip of the car with his movement and the car came crashing down pegging the little guy right in the forehead.
Emma gasped as she sat up quickly while Snow came rushing over already seeing a red welt on his little forehead, while Neal had started to full on scream.
"Oh, Neal…I…" Emma started to say running her hand over his cheek.
"Emma, you have to be careful with your brother!" Snow yelled as she picked her son up quickly "Oh, baby it's okay" She tried to soothe her youngest, frowning at the welt.
Emma froze for a moment at her mother's tone before she quickly got up and ran towards the door.
Snow gasped when she realized the door had not gotten locked after Zelena and David had left, and before she could even get out Emma's name her daughter was gone. "Crap!" Snow cursed to herself as she looked down at her screaming baby before looking at a very stunned Regina.
"Well what are you waiting for?" Regina demanded "Go get her!"
"I can't run after her carrying Neal, I'd never catch her, nor would I be able to pick her up with him in my arms, and I can't just leave you to watch him! You're sick."
"You could put us both in the playpen, I can sit with him."
Snow grabbed her phone as she bounced her crying baby. "But if an emergency happened, you wouldn't be able to get and yourself and Neal out safe."
She ran to the door and looked down the stairwell hoping to find Emma just sitting there. She bounced Neal in her arms kissing his forehead "I am sorry buddy" She walked back into the apartment and settled Neal next to Regina on the couch as she put her phone to her ear to call David.
"Snow, you've got to go get her." Regina insisted "Neal and I will be fine until someone else can get here. I promise. I won't do anything that puts us in danger."
Snow stood up "Come on David… pick up…"
Just as her front door flew open and Mr. Gold came in carrying Emma at arm's length while she kicked and flailed her legs. "I believe this belongs to you." He said to Snow "And you should really teach your daughter about running in front of cars, especially when they are this size. I almost hit her."
Snow gasped as she quickly made her way to Gold, to collect her daughter.
"Don't worry I didn't, however she did skin her knees" He nodded "Good luck, with the feisty Swan, and please do remind her of the dangers of running in front of cars" Gold passed Emma off to Snow… "Good day." He nodded in Regina and Neal's direction before leaving Snow standing there holding her flailing daughter while Regina held onto a screaming Neal.