Chapter 35

Hey guys! Little One is back! Who's excited? Enjoy :)

"Alright Em, are you ready?" Red asked Emma very seriously.

Emma gave her a very stern nod. She was ready.

Red raised her eyebrows at her. "Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"This might be hard," Red shrugged. "I don't know…"

Emma furrowed her eyebrows in frustration. "Auntie Red. I said I was ready."

Red held up her hands. "Alright, alright."

"Finally…" Emma sighed.

They were in the middle of a very important game of I Spy, and it was Emma's turn to figure out what her Auntie Red was spying. This was the final round, and if Emma guessed right, she would win.

"I spy, with my little eye, something…" Red hesitated for a moment and looked around the room. "Yellow!"

Emma nodded. "Yellow. Got it." Emma turned her head and searched for anything she could find that was yellow. Her Auntie Red said it was going to be hard, so Emma was searching for little things. She wasn't going to guess the poster with the giant sun or the bright yellow flowers that sat in the vase on the table right in front of them. No, this was going to be much trickier than that. "Is it that little yellow car?" Emma asked as she pointed to the magazine sitting in the chair.

Red shook her head. "Nope."

"Hmm…" Emma looked around some more. She got up and ran across the room to the window and pointed to the curtains. "These little dots?"

"Not the dots." Red said with a grin.

"Ugh," Emma sat back in her chair and pulled her knees to her chest. She rest her head on her knees and just scanned the room. She couldn't figure out what her auntie had spied. Emma knew she only had one more guess left or Auntie Red would win the game. Emma looked all around, and then she glanced down at her feet. She got the biggest smile on her face. "Is it the stripes on my socks? Is it? Is it?" She looked up at her Auntie Red and bounced up and down, hoping she was right.

Red just smiled back at Emma. "That's it! Good job, Em!" Red held up her hand and gave Emma a high-five.

"You were right, that was a hard one," Emma told her just as her tummy started to growl. "Is Granny going to be back with dinner soon? All that spying made me really hungry."

"She should be back soon," Red said with a laugh. "Hey Em, what was that you gave your mom before she left?"

Emma shrugged "Just a list of baby names."

"Oh yeah?"

Emma nodded. "Mommy and Daddy had this big book of names. They were making a list of the ones they liked, and I wanted to make my own."

"I'm sure they loved that. What were some of the names you picked?"

"Umm…" Emma had to think for a moment. "I think Joshua and Kyle. Michael too. There was one more," Emma shrugged, "but I can't remember. Oh Granny's back!" Emma jumped down from her chair and ran to Granny. "Did you bring my grilled cheese, Granny?"

"Of course I did," Granny told her with a wink, then nodded back to where Red was sitting. "Let's go sit back down and eat."

Emma quickly went back and sat down. She scarfed down all of her food, then she was able to talk Granny into playing a few rounds of I Spy with her too. After she got bored with that, she rummaged through her bag and kept herself busy with what was inside. She built a few of her puzzles, colored some pictures, and played with Buttons and Judy. When she grew tired of that, Emma cleaned up all of her toys and climbed onto her Auntie Red's lap.

"This is taking a really really long time," Emma sighed.

Red wrapped her arms around her. "I know, Em."

"We can take you back to your house if you'd like," Granny offered.

Emma just shook her head. "That's okay. I want to stay here and wait for the baby."

"Okay, hopefully it won't be took much longer," Red told her.

Emma nodded her head and let out a yawn. All this waiting around was making her sleeping. She decided she was just going to take a little nap. She laid her head down and snuggled into her Auntie. She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, wishing her baby brother would come soon.

"Emma…Emma wake up princess."

Emma slowly opened her eyes. She smiled when she saw her daddy looking down at her. "Is the baby here, Daddy?"

"He is, Em. Are you ready to meet your new little brother?"

Emma nodded her head and reached her arms up for her daddy. David scooped her up into his arms and carried her to Snow's room. As they walked down the hallway, Emma got nervous to meet her new little brother. She was also really really excited too.

David stopped in front of at the door. "Are you ready, Emma?"

"I think so, Daddy," Emma said as she shyly laid her head down. Her daddy carried her over to the bed where her mommy was laying.

Snow smiled up at her daughter. "Hi, little one."

"Hi, Mommy." Emma gave her mommy a little wave. She lifted her head a little to take a peek at what her mommy was holding.

Snow reached out a hand to Emma. "Do you want to come see him?"

Emma nodded her head and her daddy put her down onto the bed. She crawled over and snuggled up with her mommy. She sat up on her knees to get a better look at the baby. He had the tiniest fingers and a very little nose.

"He's so small, Momma…" Emma said as she looked at him.

"I know, Em. That's because he's brand new." Snow wrapped her other arm around Emma and pulled her close.

David pulled up a chair and sat down next to the bed. "He looks a lot like you did when you were born," David told her, thinking back to those few moments he had with her before putting her in that wardrobe.

"Really? Wow," Emma reached out to touch one of his tiny little fingers. When she did, he lifted his hand at her touch. Emma quickly pulled her hand back, afraid she would wake him, but his hand laid right back down and his eyes were still closed.

Snow laughed, noticing the concerned look on her little girl's face. "It's okay, Emma. You can touch him. He'll stay asleep. Actually, would you like to hold him?"

Emma looked up at her mommy. "Really, I can hold him?"

"Of course you can," Snow told her with a smile. "Scoot yourself up and lean against the back of the bed."

"Okay," Emma sat up just like her mommy said and held out her arms for the baby.

"Are you ready?" Snow asked.

"Uh huh," Emma said with a nod.

Snow shifted the baby into Emma's hands. "Okay, do you have him?" Snow let go, but left her hands close, wanting to make sure Emma had a good grip first.

"Yeah I've got him, Mommy." Emma smiled down at her new brother and gave him a kiss on the forehead. "I've got you, baby."

"You're doing such a great job, princess."

Emma smiled proudly. "Thanks Daddy."

David made eye contact with Snow, deciding whether or not it would be a good time to tell her. They both agreed that this would be the perfect time.

"Would to know what we decided to name him?" David asked her.

"You finally picked one?"

"We did," David laughed. He and Snow had taken awhile to find the perfect name.

"Before we tell you, though, you have to promise to keep it a secret. Do you think you can do that?" Snow asked her.

"Why is it a secret?"

"Well," David said. "We're going to wait to have a party Granny's and surprise everybody with his name. Can you help us with the surprise?"

"Oh okay," Emma nodded, she was excited that she got to be part of the surprise. "I won't tell anybody. I promise."

"Do you want to tell her Snow?"

Snow smiled. "We decided to go with Neal."

"Hey that name was on my list!" Emma was so excited that they picked one of her names.

Snow wrapped her arms around her little girl. "We know, baby, it was such a good choice."

"We saw it on the list and knew that was his name," David told her, giving her a kiss on the top of her head. "Good job, big sister."

Emma couldn't stop smiling. She was the one who got to name the baby. She felt like such a big girl. "It's nice to meet you baby Neal," Emma whispered to the still sleeping baby in her arms. "My name is Emma. I'm your big sister, and I love you so much."

David and Snow looked at each other and just smiled. Their hearts melted hearing Emma say that. After how Emma had been throughout the pregnancy, they were a little nervous about how she would respond to meeting her new brother. They didn't feel they had any reason to worry now. Emma was in love with baby Neal. Snow and Charming couldn't wait to get their babies home and explore this new adventure.