Hey guys, thank you for all your awesome reviews, as always they really do make my day and motivate me to write.
Ella - Yeah I'm English so I just figured I'd write that version of monopoly, though tbh the American version sounds awesome with Disney World.
Also in the future I will probably be including movies which weren't out when season 3/4 was on, but please just pretend that it was set this current year -I figured I'd say this as when I had Emma watching Lego Batman I was informed it wasn't out yet in that canon.

I should really have been writing an essay which is due in in 6 hours but I procrastinated by writing this - I'm pretending it waste get used to my new laptop.

This chapter was meant to originally be rather short, but it started to write itself, it's a little different but will lead up to something big in like 2/3 chapters time.

Lemme know what you think through reviews, on tumblr (loboselinafanfiction) or on twitter (loboselinaff)

I hope you enjoy!

David stretched as he woke, his eyes squinted as he looked around the darkened room, it wasn't as dark as it usually was, Emma had gone to sleep upstairs in her usual bed for the first time in a while and David and Mary Margaret had left a lamp on downstairs in case Emma needed something in the night as she was too short to reach the light switches.

He looked over at his wife and her face in the soft light, the soft lines of her cheekbones and the gentle point of her chin, he wasn't sure why he had woken up, between having a newborn baby and Emma being ill and the stress of that and her being turned into the size of a child he was exhausted. He attempted to close his eyes to sleep again but couldn't keep them shut for longer than a few seconds.

He sighed quietly to himself and sat himself up slightly resting back against his elbows. Mary Margaret moved a little in her sleep as he sat up but she didn't wake. David leant down and pecked a kiss to his wife's lips. She did not wake.
He couldn't help but be reminded of following his mother's ring to find Mary Margaret; the sight of her skin as pale as snow, inside a glass coffin surrounded by her surrogate brothers, and her eyes closed in a sleep like death. He had thought that she was dead, at least for a few moments which seemed to last for years, he only kissed her as he couldn't possibly come to turns with saying his final goodbye to her just yet. He shook the unpleasant memory from his head and climbed out of the bed, he shivered as the cold air hit him, the heating was still on but winter was starting to hit the town, it seemed to be colder than he had remembered it being during the winter of the first curse and even colder than it often was in the Enchanted Forest.
It was probably just one of those things, he thought.

He walked over to the crib where his son slept underneath his sheep mobile, it had been a gift from Ashley and Thomas, just as Emma's unicorn mobile had been. He listened to his son's gentle breathing and reached his hand down to stroke the baby soft skin of Neal's cheek. He couldn't quite see it in the dark but he knew that there were some wisps of dark hair on Neal's head, he was sure that Neal would end up with hair as dark as Mary Margaret's, just as Emma had ended up with his. He pulled his hand back from Neal's cheek and pressed a kiss to two of his fingers and pressed it to Neal's cheek. He adjusted his blankets, to make sure his son was warm enough, before he exited the curtained bedroom so he could check on Emma too.

As soon as he stepped out from the curtains he headed to turn the heat up in the loft instead of heading up the stairs, he turned it up by a few degrees so it wouldn't be too cold when they all got up in several hours' time. He looked out of the living room window to look for snow as it was certainly cold enough for it, but so far it just looked icy, the window was all frosted up and frozen cold to touch.

He turned back towards the stairs so he could check on Emma but he paused with his foot on the first ice-cold metal step. He heard a shuffling noise coming from the laundry room just off the kitchen, a room which unless you lived in the loft you didn't notice, in fact he had only been shown it by Henry when Emma and Mary Margaret were in the Enchanted Forest, otherwise it was unlikely that he would have noticed it without Mary Margaret telling him.

The only light in the room came from a flashlight which was stood up on the floor, the spread long shadows across the room, but David couldn't see Emma. His hand went to the light switch and paused on it. "Em?" He called gently his eyes were starting to adjust to the relative darkness but he still couldn't see Emma. "I'm going to turn the light on so I can see you okay? Mind your eyes." He knew that he hadn't heard or seen her since he walked into the room but he was sure that she was in there, he just had a feeling in his gut, his paternal instincts coming into play.

He didn't hear a response but he gave it thirty seconds before he flicked it on. At first all he could see on the floor of the laundry room were the sheets from Emma's bed. He let out a quiet sigh, not because of Emma's accident though he was sympathetic towards her as he knew that she always completely humiliated afterwards, he sighed because they had told her not to try to change her bed sheets to just let them knew so that they could change it without her risking getting hurt and so they could check that she was okay.

It took a minute for him to notice that she had squeezed in the space between the washing machine and dryer, she was clearly still half asleep, her knees were drawn up close to her chest and her eyes darted around as though she had recently had a nightmare. She was almost definitely even colder than he was as she was shivering. She was probably changing her bedsheets out of habit whilst in a trance. He suddenly became aware that he was still stood in the doorway and probably making her feel as though she were blocked in.

He moved away from the doorway, and crouched to the side, he wasn't in front of her so if she was still in her nightmare like trance and wanted to suddenly run from him or the room she could - though he of course wouldn't let her run from the loft, he would let her have her space if she needed it though.

He rested his arms on his crouching legs and kept his voice soft when he spoke. "Hey Em."

Emma's eyes flickered up to him, then around the room, there were no longer shadows around the room and she breathed a sigh of relief that she wasn't in the dark any longer. Her eyes flickered over to her dad, then down at her sheets on the floor. Her bottom lip wobbled and she looked up at David with trepidation. "Sorry daddy." Her voice was barely above a whisper and she was only able to be heard because the loft with silent.

David's breath caught in his throat, just as it had countless times around Emma since the curse had broke, this was the first time that Emma had ever called him 'daddy'. But both her words and tone sounded young, a small crease appeared between his eyebrows as a small frown flickered onto his face only to disappear as soon as he realised it was there, he didn't want her to think that she was in trouble. He wasn't sure just yet if she seemed to be younger after a bad dream, or if like Blue had warned them Emma's mind was slipping, permanently or temporarily. But he couldn't even think about that just yet, it wasn't yet that important, first he needed to set her at ease.
"You have nothing that you need to say sorry for Emma." He promised, he kept his tone calm and gentle, as though he were talking to a scared animal or small child… and maybe he was.

She stayed silent and huddled in the corner though she un-tensed her arms though she kept them around her knees.

David noticed the slight relaxation but knew he still needed to soothe her. "Do you think that you're in trouble for something?" He asked her gently, he slipped down so he was sat cross legged on the ground, he automatically made sure that his body language wasn't closed off. He watched her shrug, obviously that was a yes, he had seen her do it before. "Can you tell me what you think that you're in trouble for?"

Emma gave another small shrug and waited for a couple of minutes in silent. "Had an accident… I'm sorry." Her voice was just as quiet as it was before when she mumbled to him.

David shook his head at her. "No kiddo, you're not in trouble for that, that was an accident and everyone has them sometimes." He kept sending her a small smile and didn't interrupt her as she examined his face clearly trying to make sure that he was telling the truth. He felt a sense of pride when she unwrapped her arms from around her knees and her knees were lowered from her chest. He noticed she was still wearing the pyjamas she had changed into before she had gone to bed, those would clearly need to be changed, well once she moved from between the machines.
"I'm sure that those pants aren't too comfortable." He hinted, he still wasn't sure how old she actually was, but he would rather play it safe and risk Emma being embarrassed by assuming she was mentally the same age as her body was, rather than treat her as though she was older and scare her.

Emma looked down at the grey pyjamas pants with the purple silhouette prints of R2-D2, in the light it was clear that they were still wet, she looked up at her dad and nodded her head as she did so she bit her lip. "They're all wet." After she spoke her bottom lip stuck out.

A tiny smile ghosted his lips, this wasn't just a nightmare, she really was thinking younger. "They are." he agreed softly. "I think you need a quick bath and some clean pyjamas, what do you think?"

Emma nodded her head again but she didn't feel quite as sad as she had before now she was certain that her dad was genuinely not mad at her. "Yeah." She agreed. "These are dirty now."

"Well, they'll be easy to clean." He assured her, he slowly moved closer to where she sat. "We can put them and your sheets in the washing machine. Would you like to help me?" He watched as she quickly nodded with a small smile now firmly on her face. "Thank you very much kiddo. But first I need you to move out from there, we don't want you trapped between the machines." The small smile on his face widened when Emma held her arms up to him as soon as he finished his sentence. He picked her up straight away. "There we go, that's much better."

Emma led her head upon his shoulder, her eyes were starting to feel heavier again, the comforting yet faint smell of her father's aftershave wasn't helping as she tried to fight sleep. "Is mommy still sleeping?"

David pressed a kiss onto the top of her head at her words. He was sure that Mary Margaret would have loved to hear that, though she like him would have probably worried a little about the slip in Emma's mental age. "She is." He kissed the top of her head again. "Do you want mommy to give you a bath or daddy?"

Emma rubbed her eye with her left fist and gave a small yawn. "You, mommy's sleeping." She reminded him thinking it was obvious. She pulled her right arm up to look at her yellow cast with a small frown. "It hurts daddy." She pouted.

"I know sweetie." David pouted sympathetically but he could feel his heart leap at her words. "We'll get you some medicine after you've had bath time." he promised. He found himself cuddling her close, he left the light on in the laundry room headed to the bathroom, even as he started running the water. He spotted some of Mary Margaret's bubble bath and poured it in .

"That's mommy's." Emma told him but she had a smile on her face.

"I'm sure mommy won't mind." He told her. As though on cue he heard Neal's gentle crying, the one he knew was the one which meant he needed feeding. He heard the shuffling noise of his wife getting up with him. "It sounds like your little brother is hungry."

Emma nodded her head in agreement. "He's very little."

David grinned at that, he could say the same about her, she was so young and looked even younger - only just five in the body of a three year old. "He is, he'll get big soon, that's why he has to drink a lot of milk." It was somewhat weird having to explain to her about Neal getting bigger, though at the same time it felt natural. "You were a lot smaller that him when you were a baby."

"Nuh uh." She shook her head with a smile.

"Uh huh." David chuckled. He couldn't help but wonder about what memories Emma had, whether she remembered her past in foster care or if she had different memories which led to her turning up in Storybrooke, yet it wasn't really the time to ask her just yet.
"You were tiny and very, very wiggly." He told her truthfully remembering how hard it had been to just wrap her in a blanket when she was first born, how terrified he had been that he'd break her just by holding her, and how she had stayed perfectly quiet and still in his arms when he had to carry her to the wardrobe. He shook his head minutely, trying to get the memory from his mind and didn't want her to notice, but she didn't notice anyway she was too busy watching the bubbles appearing in the bath.
"I think you were ready to go off and start adventures." He told her with a smile.

Emma looked up at him with a smile. "Adventures are fun." But she started to wiggle getting uncomfortable in the damp pyjamas.

David noticed the wiggling and stood up from where he had been crouched next to the bath and he kept her in his arms the entire time. "Let's go choose some pyjamas for you to wear, you can have a bath, then you can sleep in mommy and daddy's bed." He told her as he walked from the bathroom into the main part of the loft. He wasn't surprised to see Mary Margaret there, but apparently Emma was.

"Mommy." Emma greeted somewhat sleepily though there was a small smile on her face. She heard her brother making noises as her mother grabbed his comforter which normally calmed him.

Mary Margaret's mouth fell open and her heart seemed to both stop and beat faster than it ever had. Tears pooled in her eyes, she had waited for so long to hear that from her daughter. She up at David and saw he shared the same look in his eyes as she felt. Though she was also very confused why Emma called her that.

David sent her a small smile, telling her that he would explain everything to her eventually, but he couldn't fully explain in front of Emma. "Emma had a little accident but it's okay, we're just about to find her some clean pyjamas to sleep in after her bath, then I said she could sleep in our bed." He made sure t keep stressing to Emma that it was okay. "We were just saying how big Emma's getting, aren't we Emma?"

"Uh huh." Emma nodded sleepily still. She held up her hand with her fingers and thumb up. "I'm this big: one, two, three, four, five." She counted.

Mary Margaret smiled at how adorable she was being, although she was worried she would have been more worried if they hadn't already been warned about the possibility of it happening. "You're right, that is very big." She smiled as David walked closer with her in his arms, he had clearly had to reassure Emma that she wasn't in trouble for the accident. Though Mary Margaret knew that they'd have to figure out how to help Emma with the accident, they had tried almost everything she could think of, but even not drinking for a while before bed hadn't worked. She did had one idea but Emma wouldn't like it, especially if she was in her adult mindset. But it would be better than Emma having to wake up terrified every time.
"But no matter how big you get, whether you're five or thirty five, you'll always be our baby." She told her.

"Thirty-five is very, very, very old." Emma told her very seriously, she didn't understand why both of her parents chuckled at that.

David kissed the top of Emma's head, he wasn't sure if the adult her would agree that thirty five was the new eighty, he had to admit he disagreed with it too though he might be slightly biased as he was thirty-five, almost thirty-six. "Do you want mommy or daddy to give you your bath?" He asked Emma again in case she wanted to change her mind with Mary Margaret now awake, he knew Neal still needed feeding but he could bottle feed him if Emma chose Mary Margaret.

"Daddy." Emma answered, growing even sleepier, so she just leant heavier against him.

"Okay." He kissed the top of her head again. "We'll go and choose you some pyjamas and your mommy can feed Neal while we do." He felt Emma nod against him but he kept his eyes on his wife who also nodded in agreement, he knew that they'd be able to talk later when Emma was asleep.
He quickly kissed the top of Neal's head, who was starting to fuss more, then kissed Mary Margaret's forehead a promise that he was feeling the exact same as she was and that they'd be able to talk about everything as soon as possible.

*OUAT*

David headed up the stairs into Emma's room. He had see it when Emma had tried to change the bed before, she had had a systematic way of doing it, she would normally manage to keep the duvet, pillows, and blankets on the bed. He knew it was an old habit from when she was actually little, one which would have been quicker without her broken arm, so if she got caught doing it she could have pretending that she hadn't had an accident.

This time it was different, obviously Emma had come up with the system of changing the bed when she was older, as currently all of the pillows and blankets had been pushed off of her bed, even the duvet had obviously been shoved off. He spotted Emma's blanket on the floor and scooped it up on the way to Emma's wardrobe. He flicked on a lamp near the wardrobe and pulled out a couple of the pairs for her to choose from.
"Which pair do you want to wear princess?" He showed her one black pair with white stars, rockets, planets, and comets on them. "These ones will light up in the dark." He told her showing her the pyjamas.
He had noticed how relieved she had seemed whenever they left the the lights on for her, he figured that perhaps her old fear of the dark had comeback with the bedwetting.
He put that pair under his arm and showed her the other pair. The other pair had a grey top with a navy and white panda bear on, the bottoms were white with navy stripes and small copies of the panda poking over each of the stripes. Like the star pyjamas the panda pair also had cuff, though the cuffs on these were yellow.
"Or the panda bear ones?"

"Teddy bear ones." Emma told him after a brief deliberation.

David smiled at her calling the panda a teddy bear. He couldn't resist kissing the top of top of her head again. She hadn't stopped shivering since he had found her. "Good choice, kiddo. Let's get you warmed up and tucked into bed."

"Are you going to bed too?" She checked quietly.

David started to head back down the stairs. When they reached the floor he noticed that Mary Margaret wasn't there, but he had figured that she'd be feeding Neal in their room anyway, he carried Emma into the bathroom which was now much warmer, his wife had clearly turned the heat up in the bathroom which he hadn't even thought about doing - he couldn't help but smile at how thoughtful she always was.

He set Emma down on the bathmat so he could turn off the bath taps, he placed the pyjamas down next to the toddler sized fluffy towel Mary Margaret had obviously prepared. He looked back at Emma and noticed that she was still holding tight to her blanket. He smiled, he wished that he and Mary Margaret could have been there with her to look after her and for her to have never had had her bad childhood, but he was glad she at least had one thing from them. Clearly it had always meant a lot to her.
"Can I have you blanket and put it next to your pyjamas to we can get you into this nice bath, with all of these nice bubbles."

Emma looked at the bubble filled bath and held out her blanket to David. "Okay, you can look after blankie." She told him seriously.

David nodded at her, he bit his lip to stop himself from smiling, he tried his hardest to look as serious as she did but it was hard when he realised that his daughter used to call her blanket 'blankie'. "I'll keep it safe, I promise." He placed it down gently to the right of her pyjamas. "Come here kiddo lets get you out of those wet pyjamas." She lifted her arms up straight away while facing the bath, she was acting so differently that he had even forgotten about her injuries, until he took her top of.

Emma heard David take a sharp breath and she span around and looked up at him worriedly. "Daddy, what's wrong? Are you poorly like me?"

David heard her tone and it was the only thing which could make him pull his eyes away from the spot he had been staring at. At the healing scar on Emma's back. He quickly plastered a small smile onto his face and hoped that she didn't see the pain in his eyes.
"No, baby, Daddy's not poorly…" He carefully finished undressing her and lifted her into the bath. "I was just so surprised at how big my baby girl is getting." He told her, and he wasn't necessarily lying about that.
It seemed just like yesterday that Mary Margaret was pregnant with her, then she was a tiny premature baby, even the size she currently was seemed way too big let alone twenty-nine years old.

"Oh, okay." She nodded and started to press her flat palms against the bubbles and gave a quite giggle when she felt the sensation of the bubbles popping against her skin.

David looked at her lovingly. She had been so easily distracted, it was adorable, and so clearly a sign of her being so young. He watched her playing for a couple of minutes as he thought about the injuries on her, Mary Margaret may have told him about them, but to see them so clearly was an entirely different matter. He noticed her tiring even more and looking at her arm every so often, clearly it was starting to hurt more as the time went on, he made sure she was keeping her cast out of the water by gently moving it to lay on the bathtubs edge.
"Let's get you cleaned up then off to dreamland." He told her, he chose Mary Margaret's strawberry shower gel and started to bathe her.

"You need to go to dreamland too."

David grinned at her serious tone, he pressed a kiss to her forehead as she looked at him with her big green eyes, then tapped the tip of her nose. "Okay, I'll go to dreamland too." He promised.

"And mommy and Nealy." She yawned.

He had to stop himself from verbally saying 'aw' at Emma's nickname for her brother. He finished washing her. "And mommy and Nealy." He echoed before he picked her up out of the tub and wrapped her in the fluffy towel.

Emma shivered again and tried to pull the towel close around her. "I'm cold daddy." She whimpered.

"I know kiddo, let's get you dressed, you'll be warm soon I promise." He quickly got her dried off and ready for bed in her new pyjamas. He handed her the baby blanket back and smiled as she hugged it close, her eyelids were drooping in full affect now. He quickly took the plug out of the bathtub so it would drain then picked her up.

He carried her through to the kitchen, he quickly found her medicine and poured out the appropriate amount in the cup. He held it up to her lips and saw her hesitation, apparently she was always as stubborn as she was when she was in her older mindset. "This will make it feel all betters." He tried not to laugh when he heard her sigh but she opened her mouth so he quickly fed it to her and waited for her to swallow it. He placed the cup in the sink then headed to his bedroom, he could feel her cuddled up to him as they walked.

*OUAT*

Mary Margaret had been watching Neal's gentle breathing as he slept in her arms, she was thinking about Emma, naturally. She seemed so unguarded in her younger mindset, so proud of her counting ability and absolutely adorable, though she thought that Emma was rather adorable anyway no matter her age, but particularly at the moment. Yet she was worried too, she knew that Blue had told them to expect the possibility of it happening, they had checked with Regina that the fairy was telling the truth as they didn't always trust the fairy to have a hidden agenda. Nevertheless she'd check with Regina when they saw her and Henry the next day, well later that day, really considering the time. Though she wasn't sure whether Emma still remembered Henry and Regina at five years old, if she didn't they would have to make something up, or just not have the pair around at all.
But all that could be decided the next day.

She heard David's footsteps walk closer then stop in the kitchen. She yawned then stood she kissed the top of Neal's head as she walked over to the crib to tuck him back up, just as she finished tucking the blankets safely around Neal David walked in still carrying Emma.

"Nealy's gone to dreamland." Emma tried her hardest to whisper though it was a little over a whisper.

Mary Margaret smiled at Emma's words. "Yeah, sweetheart, he is. I think that it's time that another little monkey goes to dreamland too." She led David and Emma back to the bed, she could tell that Emma was exhausted, and David looked about as tired as she felt.

"Mommy and Daddy need sleepies too." Emma insisted through a big yawn.

David grabbed one of his plaid shirts from a drawer and sat on the bed with Emma on his lap, he carefully slipped the shirt onto Emma, he did it up knowing that it should keep her warm and give her some comfort.

Mary Margaret stood above David and Emma, she was ready to tuck the covers around the two of them. "Mommy and daddy will get some sleep too, baby, at the same time as you." She watched a smile appear on Emma's face at that. She watched David put the shirt on their daughter, it was clear that it would be like a dress on her if she stood up.

As soon as David was finished he wrapped Emma's blanket around her and led down, Emma automatically moved so she was over half led on his chest, and they were quickly tucked in by Mary Margaret who then climbed into the bed beside them. David stroked Emma's hair and he looked over at Mary Margaret, he leant over and quickly gave her a kiss. "I can fill you in tomorrow." He promised.

Mary Margaret nodded to him and gently placed her hand on Emma's back and cuddled up to David.

They led in silence for a couple of minutes.

"Night mommy… night daddy." Emma mumbled as she fell asleep cuddled up to her parents.