A/N: I made a gifset on Tumblr about it looking like Emma and Elsa were running away from the scene of a prank in the last episode and here we are. I hope we all survive the next episode but if we don't, thank you everyone for the favourites, follows and reviews. It means the world to me.
As always, I don't own anything. Please enjoy and review.
Emma stares at the coffee mug on David's desk and wills it to come to her. She roughly leans back in her chair when it remains perfectly still, sneaking a glance at Elsa, who still has her eyes closed.
She pushes herself out of her chair, pacing to rid herself of her restlessness and Elsa still doesn't move an inch. She practices her darts – much better than when she first played in this office – and Elsa is still sitting where she left her, brow slightly furrowed.
"Enough, Elsa," she finally says, "This isn't getting us anywhere."
Elsa frowns at her, all queenly reserve, "This was your idea."
"Yeah, well, it's not working," she grumbles, "We need a new approach."
Elsa signs and adjusts her dress, "I've only ever had my ice magic, Emma. I know Ingrid had other abilities but I can't seem to activate them – if I even have the potential in the first place."
Emma rubs her temples, warding off her approaching headache. Her eyes fall on a book Henry must have left in the station and she suddenly brightens.
"I got it," she declares, "We just need to make it fun."
She elaborates at Elsa's 'what-kind-of-crazy-person-am-I-dealing-with' look, "My kid, Henry, had the biggest trouble learning to read. What it took was us to find him something that he was interested in, with a lot of perseverance and hard work, he was reading those fairy tales all on his own."
Emma can remember the feeling that surged in her as Henry learnt to read, as he smiled because those squiggles finally started to make sense and it's almost like the air is knocked out of her when she finally remembers it wasn't real.
"Emma?" Elsa asks with concern, standing.
She shrugs and swallows, blinking back sudden tears, "I'm fine."
Elsa nods, accepting her answer and Emma is grateful as Elsa looks on thoughtfully, "So how can we make magic practice fun?"
"Not sure, we should probably steer clear of any caves though," Emma muses, grinning at Elsa's chagrined look, "It was kind of fun running from Regina."
"Emma, she was trying to kill us," Elsa reminds her, but Emma catches the slight smile.
"Please, I heard you laugh as we ran away, you loved it."
"Have you tried running in this dress, Emma?" Elsa says haughtily, "It was a nightmare."
When Emma simply raises an eyebrow Elsa flushes slightly and mutters, "It was a little fun."
Emma cheers, "That's settled then, we are pranking people."
"How did you come to that conclusion?"
"It's like we were running away from someone after we did a prank, you know, like ding dong ditch?" Emma laughs to herself, "We ding dong ditched the witch."
"I have no idea what that means," Elsa says.
Emma deflates slightly and takes a seat, motioning Elsa to sit next to her, "I suppose you don't have doorbells in Arendelle. What do you guys do for pranks then?"
Elsa shrugs gracefully – as she seems to do everything – eyes suddenly sad, "I spent most of my childhood away from others, it didn't leave much time for silly jokes."
She doesn't resist the urge to comfort, reaching across and grabbing Elsa's hand, smiling sadly, "Pranking wasn't encouraged where I grew up either. It meant you were trouble and trouble kids got shipped away very quickly."
They have a moment of shared understanding before Emma straightens in her seat, determined for them both to have the experiences fate or circumstance took from them.
"Let's get started then," Emma says, face breaking out into a cheeky grin.
Grumpy roughly pushes the button to answer the phone, craning his head to watch the TV around Walter.
"Dwarves house."
"Hello," a heavily accented voice says, "is there a Mr. Wall there?"
"No dwarves called Wall, sister."
"What about Mrs. Wall?"
Walter shifts on the couch, blocking Grumpy's view, "There are no Walls here," he huffs.
The voice on the line seems to giggle, "Then may I ask, what is holding up your roof?"
Grumpy stares in the phone in bewilderment, the caller breaking out into laughter and immediately hanging up. He grumbles and mutters about the children in this damn town, moving Walter out of the way so he can continue with his viewing.
"Granny's Diner," Granny answers, wanting nothing more than to close early.
"Hello," a deep voice says, "Is your refrigerator running?"
Granny peers over her glasses to the device in question, "Yes."
"Well, then," the voice snorts, becoming higher for a moment, "You'd better go catch it."
The caller hangs up, leaving Granny stunned, "Ruby, you're in charge, I need a break."
Killian is perusing the docks, taking note of the different vessels and wondering which he may be able to utilise for his next jaunt when there is a vibrating in his pocket. Noise emerges a moment later and he pulls the talking device out, reminding himself to ask Swan what an 'unknown number' means.
"Hello," he says after a beat.
"Hello sir," the person on the other phone says, in what he imagines is a parody of his own accent, "Did you order a penguin called Pablo?"
There is a giggle in the background as Killian frowns in confusion, "Swan, is that you?"
"Shit," he hears before the line goes dead. Killian considers his phone before pocketing it, wandering what strange custom he just partook in.
Elsa won't stop laughing as Emma glares at her, "It's not funny."
"You should have seen your face, Emma, it was hilarious," Elsa coughs out, wiping her eyes.
"Well, your delivery on the refrigerator joke could have used some work."
"It would help if I knew what a refrigerator actually was," Elsa replies indignantly.
They both break out into laughter again, leaning back in the rickety chairs in the station.
"As fun as this is, Emma," Elsa says, "I'm not sure how it would qualify as magic practice."
Emma nods seriously, "You're right," she quickly glances at the time and grins, "And I know just what to do next."
David had taken a well-deserved day off but even then he followed a certain pattern and it was one Emma had quickly learnt. At this moment, Neal should be having his nap and her father would be attempting to do the same.
Emma creeps in to the loft, Elsa trailing behind her, hoping her mother had gone through with her plans to spend the day in the forest with Marian.
She smiles fondly as she spots her father, snoring on the couch and almost feels bad about what's about to happen. She figures sooner or later, she needs to make up for lost time.
She nods to Elsa and shakes the whipcream can in her hand, taking some to test. Emma doesn't bother offering any to Elsa, knowing the other woman will delicately scrunch her nose up at anything that isn't chocolate.
Emma tip toes over to her father's side and pulls his hand off his chest, laying it next to him. She squirts the cream into his hand and grabs the feather from Elsa, leaving it on his chest.
They both sneak back to the door, freezing when Elsa steps on a particularly creaky board and David mumbles in his sleep. Emma looks to her father over her shoulder, relaxing when she notes his chest is rising and falling deeply.
They get into position, peering around the doorframe as Emma concentrates, focusing her magic towards the feather. It is a difficult task as the feather rises, Emma splitting her attention to stop David's other hand from moving.
The feather flies about his nose, tickling him and her father's bound hand twitches under her spell. She adjusts the feather once again, elbowing Elsa to stop her from giggling and David's creamed hand rushes to his face, a satisfying splat echoing throughout the loft as it hits.
David struggles up on the couch, cursing as Emma pulls the door shut, hearing her father curse as she follows Elsa down the stairs.
They're gasping on the street, doubled over, "See," Emma manages, "Magic practice."
"Fine, you were right, Emma," Elsa admits, "Now will you show me how this 'Ding Dong ditch' works?"
Regina is almost disgusted to find herself humming as she puts the final touches on her apple pie. The baking has calmed her, a calm which is stirred by the ringing of her doorbell. Her shoes clack down her hallway and she pulls open the door, ready to berate anyone who would disturb her, only her porch is empty.
She pokes her head out of looks around, not seeing the culprit and slams her door shut, attempting to find her calm.
She almost makes it to her kitchen when the doorbell rings again and this time she uses magic to appear on her doorstep. Her eyes narrow at the glint of blue she spots disappearing around her house and a malicious grin spreads over her face.
She has multiple spells ready as she turns the corner... Only to find it free of any miscreants. Regina curses and her footsteps are angry as she moves back inside her house, rolling her frustration into another pie crust.
"How did you manage that, Emma?" Elsa asks as Emma slides down the alley wall.
"I don't know, I was thinking, 'oh, shit, she's after us' and I really wanted to vanish and here we are," she says with a wave of her arms.
Elsa taps her lips thoughtfully, "Well, both of our magic is tied to emotions – and requires partial visualisation – so you need to remember exactly what was going through your mind."
Emma is nodding and internally sighing before Elsa smiles cheekily, a look that would start anyone's warning bells, "But I feel the best way to discover how you did it is to enter a similar situation as before."
Emma grins and pushes herself to her feet, "I couldn't agree with you more."
David sighs as he hangs up the phone, wondering how many more calls he'll have to field concerning doorbells and mysterious jokers. His gaze lingers on Emma's office, knowing exactly how to put an end to all of it but instead he smiles.
"What's got you so happy?" Mary Margaret asks from the entryway, pushing Neal towards him.
He coos at his son and gives his wife a quick kiss before responding, "Just enjoying the fact that we can still have childish moments with our thirty year old daughter."
Mary Margaret laughs at that, "Are the pranks continuing?"
"I think most of the calls are people complaining from yesterday, I don't think they've done anything new today."
"Do you ever wonder?" His wife asks wistfully.
"What trouble they would have gotten into if were weren't cursed and Elsa wasn't technically twenty-ish years older?" He questions before sighing, "All the time."
They can do nothing more than hold each other in these moments, where the weight of what they lost – what Emma lost – nearly crushes them. They both allow themselves a moment before they carry on, Mary Margaret onto her class with Neal and David continuing to answer calls, making sure his daughter is able to reclaim at least one moment of her childhood.
A/N: So it took me so long it reply to your latest reviews... I kind of forgot, to be honest (it was one of those things where I said I'd do it tomorrow and then tomorrow turned into a week). Thank you also to the Guest reviewer and ninaluvsathena (I don't want to think about the hiatus either).
Enjoy the next episode everyone,
Adrina Stark.