Snow White's heart had never been fuller.
Lying beside her in the blanket fort was her little girl, her precious baby, her light in the darkness. The fact that Emma didn't know exactly who they were to each other at the moment didn't at all diminish the love that coursed through Snow's entire being every time she glanced over at Emma and simply took in every single mundane thing she was doing.
That love only grew when Henry handed her the drawing he'd been working on, one of her and her little girl side by side, their heads bent over coloring books and a big box of crayons open between them. Tears welled in Snow's eyes without warning and she drew her grandson into a tight hug.
"Wow," Emma said when she caught sight of the drawing in Snow's hand. "Henry, you're really good."
Henry chuckled into Snow's ear, prompting her to release him. "Thanks," he replied, smiling at his little mom.
Emma smiled back and flicked her gaze over to her new best friend's drawing. "Whoa. You're really good, too, Killian!"
The boy in question tore his attention from his work and looked up at Emma, bright blue eyes sparkling from the compliment. "Thank you. You color really well, you know. I like how you use two different crayons sometimes to blend the colors."
Now it was Emma's turn to beam in the face of a compliment. "Thanks," she said almost shyly.
Grandmother and grandson shared a tender smile. The kids were just too cute for words.
"All right," Snow said once it was clear the children were finished with their artwork, "if everyone's done, we should pack up the art supplies and get ready for our picnic! David will be bringing the sandwiches in soon."
Charming had already taken Neal into the kitchen both to give the baby his lunch and to get started on lunch for the rest of the family and the Mills sisters, who would be arriving at any moment.
No sooner had the thought run through Snow's head than a knock on the front door announced the arrival of their lunch guests. "We can clean up in here, Mary Margaret," Henry assured her, thereby freeing her to answer the door.
"Thank you," Snow said, smiling at each child in turn. "I want all the pictures you worked on set on the end table, though. Those masterpieces are going right up on the refrigerator."
The surprised yet touched expression on Emma's face simultaneously warmed Snow's heart and made it ache. Had her little girl ever had a piece of her artwork displayed prominently on the fridge? It hurt too much to think about but if not, Snow was glad to be the first person to do so.
Even though Killian clearly didn't understand the significance of displaying artwork on the fridge, he smiled as well. "Thank you, Mary Margaret."
"You're all very welcome." After making sure the children were set, she hurried over to the door lest either Regina or Zelena grow impatient enough to knock a second time.
For some reason, Snow had been expecting Regina to poof herself and Zelena over to the farmhouse. As such, finding Regina's Mercedes parked in the driveway was a surprise. Regina followed her stepdaughter's gaze to the car and heaved a sigh. "I didn't feel like explaining to Mini-Savior and Mini-Pirate how we got here if we didn't take a car."
Oh, of course. Little Killian probably wouldn't have asked – for one, he'd understand magical transport, and for another, he was still a little too gunshy – but Emma certainly would have. "Good thinking," Snow agreed. She stepped aside to allow Regina, who had a bag of books hooked on her arm, and Zelena, who was carrying a sleeping Robin in her car seat, entry.
"Speaking of Mini-Savior and Mini-Pirate," Zelena said as she set the car seat down and shrugged off her coat, "where are they?"
"They're setting up the blanket fort for our indoor picnic." She hung both sisters' coats in the closet and gestured towards the living room. "Just a heads-up: they're probably going to ask you to join them on said indoor picnic."
"You didn't mention our grilled cheese sandwiches would be eaten on the floor," Regina said somewhat accusingly.
Snow just shrugged. "I didn't expect that them to ask if you'd be willing to eat in the fort with them. You don't have to say yes."
Judging by the emotion that flitted across their faces at the thought of saying no, Regina and Zelena would most definitely be joining the children on their indoor picnic. Turning down such a childish invitation was easy enough to do with adults. It was going to be a much harder task denying two hurt children.
Former Evil Queen, former Wicked Witch, and napping baby entered the living room with Snow at their heels. Regina's eyebrow quirked up at the sheer amount of linens strewn about the room but the rest of her face remained passive. Zelena, on the other hand, couldn't suppress an amused smirk. "This is just too much," she muttered, swallowing a snicker.
Oh, they were never going to hear the end of this now, were they? Henry would have children of his own and Zelena would still be teasing Killian and Emma about the blanket fort they constructed when they were ten for a day.
Even though none of the children could possibly have heard what Zelena had said, the sound of her voice was enough to prompt three little heads to peek out of the fort. The children emerged in a single file line, Henry first, who took the books from his mother's hand, followed by Killian and then Emma.
"You all already know Regina," Snow said, making the hasty introduction. "This is Zelena and the baby sleeping in the car seat is her daughter, Robin. Zelena, this is Emma and Killian."
Snow had expected yet another sarcastic aside from Zelena but the former witch appeared transfixed. She stared at the children as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing. (Frankly, Snow knew how she felt. She'd felt like she couldn't believe her own eyes from the moment Regina knocked on her door yesterday with the children in tow.)
Emma's gaze darted back and forth between Zelena and Regina as her little brow furrowed, though what she was trying to determine, Snow couldn't hazard a guess. Surprisingly, it was Killian who made the first move. He stepped forward and offered his hand to Zelena. "How do you do?"
Stifling an amused smile over the boy's politeness, Zelena shook his hand. "How do you do?"
"Are you sure you're Regina's sister?" Emma spoke up, shooting both Regina and Zelena a disbelieving glance. "You sound more like Killian than you do her."
"Emma," Snow chided but Zelena shook her head, indicating that the girl's question was fine.
"Well, we definitely fight like sisters," Zelena said with a wink, making Emma smile. "Regina and I didn't grow up together, which is why we sound different. We only found each other recently."
The disbelief dropped from Emma's face and was replaced with an expression of both wonder and deep longing. "You were grownups when you found each other?"
Snow swallowed the sudden lump that had formed in her throat. From Emma's question, it was clear that she'd already begun giving up hope of ever finding her family. Hearing that the Mills sisters didn't find each other until they were adults had opened up a whole new world for her, a world in which the search for her family could go on long after she grew up.
A somewhat panicked Zelena looked over at Snow, who nodded her permission to give Emma the truth. The former witch gently set Robin's car seat down on the floor, crouched down in front of Emma, and grasped her hands. "Yes, we were grownups when we found each other. Don't give up hope. Your family is probably closer than you realize."
Emma swallowed hard and nodded. "Okay. Thanks."
"You're very welcome, munchkin."
Thankfully, before the tender moment could grow too sentimental for either Emma or Zelena, Charming entered the room with an entire platter of grilled cheese sandwiches. He said his hellos to the Mills sisters and whispered a greeting to the still napping Robin before setting the platter down on the coffee table. "All right, kids, it's picnic time!"
The children had set a blue gingham picnic blanket out on top of the others covering the floor in the fort. Big bowls of chips, pretzels, and popcorn were clumped in the middle of said blanket. Clearly, they were going all out with this indoor picnic idea.
"Do you want to have a picnic with us?" Killian asked.
Considering this was now the second time that Killian had initiated conversation with two relative strangers, how could they say no?
That said, Snow and Charming did reconfigure the fort a bit so that the kitchen chairs could fit inside. At least now the adults wouldn't have to eat on the floor.
During lunch, Emma and Killian alternately ate and played with both Neal and Robin, who had finally woken from her nap. The adults and Henry conversed softly while watching the children, whose attention seemed solely focused on the babies.
"What are we going to do after lunch, Henry?" Emma asked once she was done with her sandwich and chips.
"Regina brought some books over so I was thinking we could pick one to read to each other," Henry suggested. Listening while Killian read aloud to him and his mom was one of the family activities he'd come to really enjoy. At the moment, they were in the middle of Treasure Island but they'd read a few others before that.
"I like story time," Killian softly agreed.
"Sounds to good to me, too," Emma added.
Oh, thank goodness! Snow wanted to ask Regina and Zelena about any progress they might have made and she needed to do so without the children present. Letting them get set up for story time was the perfect excuse to slip away for a few minutes.
Once everyone had eaten their fill of sandwiches and snacks, the children took it upon themselves to take everyone's plates and the snack bowls into the kitchen. From the speed at which they returned, Snow gathered they'd simply left everything in the sink to be washed but she appreciated their effort.
As Emma and Killian dug through the bag to find a book they wanted Henry to read, Snow shot a questioning glance to her husband and the Mills sisters in turn. They all seemed to understand what she was asking because they nodded, indicating they'd talk once the children were settled.
Eventually, Emma held up Bunnicula. "Can we read this one? It's about a vampire bunny rabbit!"
Since Killian was just as amused with the concept, Henry slipped the book from her hands. "Sure thing. Now, why don't I sit in the middle so you can both see the illustrations?"
While the children got settled, the adults picked up the babies and ducked out of the fort. Upon realizing that the adults were leaving, Emma sat up straight with a tentative, questioning expression on her face. "We'll be back after we clean the kitchen," Snow assured her.
Emma nodded and settled back down.
"She's a little gunshy about being left alone," Snow murmured to the Mills sisters.
Zelena nodded while Regina winced. Seeing firsthand how Emma's childhood had damaged her was clearly harder than Regina had anticipated.
"Speaking of which," Charming asked, shifting Neal in his arms as the four of them stepped into the kitchen, "are you at all close to finding a solution for our little predicament?"
"We're getting there," Regina sighed.
"We think we know what she did, at least," Zelena added. "The trick now is to figure out how to reverse what she did without producing any other undesired side effects."
Undesired side effects? Snow darted her gaze to the living room. Love was clear as day in Henry's soft voice as he read and it once again struck her how little of this comfort and love Emma and Killian had had. All of these experiences they were trying to give the children, all this love and affection … would it all be forgotten when they turned back?
"Will they remember this?" she asked, a sudden lump rising in her throat.
"They should," Regina assured her. "Memory loss is the undesired side effect we're trying to avoid. I know you're trying to work with them and give them some good childhood memories. I can't promise how it will feel to them, whether it will feel like real childhood memories or if it'll feel like recent memories, but we're trying not to take the memories away."
Considering that the memory issue was the difficulty with Emma's original spell, Snow could understand why Regina was frustrated. "Thank you."
"Let's just make sure we can do it before you start thanking us," Zelena reminded her.
Snow nodded and was about to say something else when a grinning Henry stepped into the kitchen. "You guys have got to see this."
Four curious adults followed Henry back into the living room and peeked into the fort. Though they hadn't been lying down long, both Emma and Killian had fallen fast asleep curled up beside each other. Only the small space where Henry had been sitting remained between them. "One minute they're listening to the story," Henry explained, "and the next, I look down and they're completely out. I didn't even make it three pages into the book!"
Snow's heart melted into a little puddle for about the hundredth time.
"They've had a rough morning," Charming murmured. "A nap will do them good."
Regina, who'd heard the very beginning of said rough morning through the phone, nodded in agreement.
"Oh, this is entirely too much," Zelena snickered. She dug her cell phone out of her pocket and snapped a picture. "The unfortunate thing is that the only people I'd want to send this to are already here. Oh, wait!"
She tapped the screen and a moment later Snow heard the woosh of the text message tone. "Let me guess," Regina deadpanned. "You sent it to their phones, didn't you?"
"Yes indeed." Zelena smirked as she appraised the sleeping children. "All things considered, I have to say that I much prefer this magical incarnation of Emma's to her other one. This one is cute and, more importantly, doesn't try to poison me with onion rings."
Charming and Henry both choked back a snicker and Snow hid a smile. Regina simply rolled her eyes.