Prompt:
Charming telling Emma a story from his childhood while on the boat to Neverland.
A farmer is not meant to sleep on a boat, David is pretty sure. The boat keeps rolling softly, something he got used to deal with while walking, but finds far more troublesome while trying to sleep.
Snow is already sleeping, curled up against him with a hand resting on his chest. The movement of the ship doesn't seem to bother her, or perhaps she is simply too exhausted to care. It's been a long day for her too, he knows. A very long day for them all, and yet he can't sleep.
Gently, he kisses his wife's forehead, then very gently her lips before easing out of the bunk. Snow makes a soft moan of protest, but doesn't wake. Quietly, he finds his clothes and heads out on deck.
It's a starry night, but the stars are all unfamiliar to him. An unfamiliar sky over an unfamiliar land, this Neverland. Yet as long as his family is here, there is nowhere else he'd want to be.
He's not alone, he notices. There is a lone figure standing by the stern of the ship, looking towards land. Emma.
He walks over slowly, coming to stand next to her. He says nothing, in case silence is what she wants. He just stands there to let her know she is not alone, and that he's there, should she want it.
"Did you ever camp out?" Emma suddenly asks. He looks up at her and she glances down. "Sorry, I just... Henry had been asking to go camping with me. He wanted to sleep under the open sky, but not without me. I'm just... Wondering how he's doing."
"I know," he says softly. "He's brave, Emma."
She nods, but she bites her lip too. "I should be there with him."
"I got lost once," David says after a moment, and she looks up at him. "I was about the age Henry is now. We'd lost one of our lambs in the forest. My mother and I were quite poor, so I knew every lamb was precious."
"It's hard to imagine you as a shepherd boy," she admits and he smiles easily.
"I wasn't always Charming," he jokes, and her lips curve upwards just a touch. "So yes, I was a shepherd boy and I went into the forest to find our lamb. I was terrified. There were wolves in the forest. There were even rumors the wolves had taken a boy and were raising him. But even as afraid as I was, I thought of my mother and went further in."
She listens, clearly wondering where his story is going, but also really listening to him. Just that makes him strangely happy. It might be a little thing, to have your daughter listen to you telling a story, but it's something he's not had yet, which makes it a great thing indeed.
"Eventually, I found the lamb," he says. "She was afraid too, and shivering. It was getting darker, and as I carried her through the forest I realized it would be night soon. If I tried to find my way in the dark, I would probably get lost."
"So what did you do?"
"I climbed a tree with the lamb and I sat there until morning," he says softly. "I thought of my mother the whole time. When I found my way back in the morning, I was so proud I had saved our lamb and been brave. I felt like quite the hero."
"I'm guessing you didn't get a hero's welcome," Emma says drily.
"My mother gave me a very stern talking-to, telling me no matter how poor we were, I would always be worth more than all the riches in the kingdom," he says softly. "I was so young, I didn't understand what she meant. I do now."
"Oh," Emma says faintly. Very gently, he puts a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Henry is going to think of you and feel brave," he tells her. "He's going to get through the night. We're going to find him, Emma. In this family we do."
"Mary Margaret told me something about you once," Emma says, and he smiles at the affection Emma puts into her mother's name. "She said you taught her never to give up."
He chuckles fondly, thinking of his wife. "She taught me a lot of things as well, trust me."
Emma nods, glancing up at him. She seems less anxious then when he joined her. "Thanks."
"For what?"
"For giving me someone to think about," she says and leans against him. He holds her while they watch the stars in silence, waiting for the night to end.