The Wooden Swan Cuckoo Clock

By Schroederplayspiano

Eight-Fifteen am: I'm Gonna Find My Way

Anna shifts her position, stirring me awake beside her. On the morning of my wedding anniversary, the first image I see is my two girls lying beside me. Our daughter sleeps between Emma and me. I insisted on sleeping with her last night – the night of my return from my under sea adventure. Emma had other plans for my first night home. They were tempting. However, Anna was already asleep by the time we made it to her room and we didn't want to wake her. After listening to Emma describe her changed behavior in my absence, I knew I couldn't do anything until my daughter knew her father was safely home.

Emma flinches unconsciously in a way that lets me know she's about to awake. Excitement sparks through me and I consider moving to her side, but hesitate. After yesterday, I want Anna safely between us.

She blinks. Once. Twice. It takes a moment for her eyes to focus. Once she does, Emma smiles and whispers, "Happy Anniversary."

I press my lips into a smile. Slowly, I stretch my arm over Anna to intertwine my fingers with Emma. "You too."

Emma turns to her side and adjusts a strand of hair behind her ear. It's cute. I try to remember all the other times her small actions have made long for her even more.

"You know what?" Emma asks softy.

I replay other times her unconscious movements have made her more attractive to me: Shrugging her shoulders, the challenge in her eyes as she calls me on a lie, readjusting her hair strands around her tiara…

"What?" I whisper back.

"You don't snore without a nose. It's actually quite enjoyable." Her eyes sparkle the same way they always do when she makes fun of me. "I didn't think of that last night at the docks."

My insulted expression, whatever it looks like, makes Emma laugh out loud.

I sit up. "I never snored."

"Oh?" Emma acts amused. "Did I never mention that?"

"Emma, I don't snore."

She turns to me with a straight face despite the laughter in her eyes. "That's right. You don't."

"Thank you." I say and as I am about to fall back to my pillow she interrupts the action.

"Anymore!"

The bed creaks when I jump off it to run to Emma. Her laughter roars through the room. I feel her ribcage vibrate as I wrap my arms around her. She responds by reaching around my neck and continues laughing into my hair.

There are many nice ways to start an anniversary morning; many of them dirty – which can have its advantages – but starting the day with laughter seems like one of the best ways to me.

Emma's laughter soon fades. Her fingers smooth out the hairs on the back of my neck. Longing grows in her expression.

"Why didn't you ever tell me about my snoring?"

"I don't know," Emma whispers, still focusing on my neck. "I know how sensitive you are – were – about your nose."

"There is magic to heal snoring, you know," I tease her.

Emma loses the color in her cheeks. "There is?"

"Emma!" I shake my head. "What are we going to do with you? Aren't you the product of the most powerful magic around?"

Pride glows in Emma and she sits up straighter in my arms. Her hair falls off her shoulders and down her back. "Well, I was trying to say that maybe losing your nose is really a blessing in disguise."

I loosen my grip on her. "Do I seem like I need comfort about my nose loss?"

"No…"

"Did I seem hurt and upset about it last night?"

My wife rolls her eyes at me. She reminds me of the younger woman version of herself – the one I dated in Storybrooke. "No…"

"Huh." I note smugly. "So could your effort to comfort me really be directed at yourself?"

Pulling back a little, Emma thinks before answering – a skill she doesn't practice as much as she should. "I'm just saying – a husband no longer snoring – that's a pretty good anniversary present."

A little hurt, for some reason, I take a moment before responding. Her gift, the story I spent so much time writing and binding together flashes before me. "Okay. So much for the work I spent on your gift this year."

"The work?" Emma pushes on the mattress to bounce herself upwards. She reminds me of a kid begging for candy. "Did you build me something? Oooo -" Her eyes turn into saucers. "Did you carve me a cuckoo clock?"

I blink at her excitement. My smile fades with my double take. "A cuckoo clock? Don't you already have one of those…Yeah, I'm pretty sure you called it the most precious thing you own besides your baby blanket."

Emma lifts her palm out into thin air. "Right? So, doesn't that give you a great idea for a gift?" I shake my head in disapproval again. She scoots closer to whisper in my ear. "Plus, your father gave me that one, not you."

"Yeah," my tone stays unconsciously casual. "That is because he is a carpenter and I am a writer."

Emma releases me. I can practically see the wheels in her head click into gear, putting the pieces together.

Shit.

"No…" Emma looks around the room. She takes her time circling back to me. We both are hesitant to make eye contact with one another. When we finally do, Emma continues in the same tone of disbelief. Tears form in her eyes and threaten to spill over. "…You didn't…"

I try to hide my smile and shrug innocently instead. "I guess you'll never know since solving my snoring problem was already named a pretty good gift…"

Emma clings onto me, her excitement growing. "Where is it?"

"It's right here." I sit up straighter and point to myself. "Your peaceful-sleeping, non-snoring husband."

Usually, Emma would roll her eyes at me. Some comment about my boastfulness would follow next. She is too impatient. Her grip tightens on my arm and she bounces on the bed again. "August, please. I want to read it."

"Read it?" I try to pull back from her. She doesn't let me. "You don't even know what it is."

Right then, Emma looses all her excitement. Her joyful expression is wiped off her face and replaced with a stony one. "Your blush gave you away, Pinocchio." She says in a neutral tone. "Now go get the book."

I fall sideways on the bed in surrender. Anna's still sleeping figure makes no notice of me.

She continues to pull on my arm like a child. "You are not tired, Mr. Hero." My heart melts at my new title. "Get up."

I close my eyes. "Can't we do this tonight when we're alone and romance is in the air?"

"No! I need to read it. I need to spend all day reading it." Huh. There's another nice way to spend an anniversary. "And then I can show you how much I loved it tonight."

I sit up. My eyebrows rise. Emma laughs.

"Interested?" She tries to sell her plan. I still look at her with suspicion. She takes my silence as an opportunity to persuade me more. "If you give it to me tonight, then I will have to read it then and I guarantee I will have no time to share my thoughts with you."

"Or…" I start slowly, knowing my suggestion will not go over well. "I could save it until next year like I suggested and you will have to accept the non-snoring husband as your only gift."

"And in that case," Emma keeps up with my banter. We haven't bickered in a while. It's nice. "You can spend tonight in here with your daughter instead of with me."

"I don't think threatening me is the right way to convince me to give you my gift."

"Okay, then," Emma concedes both with her words and her quieted actions. She leans in closer, "What way," she kisses my lips. "Is," she kisses my cheek. "The right," she captures my ear lobe. "Way?"

I stand. "Fine!" I cry out to Emma's victorious expression. I start digging in the bottom desk drawer. I put in between some old files…

"Wait." Emma looks around again. "You hid it in here? In our daughter's room?"

I love when Emma calls Anna our daughter.

I feel the binding…my fingers wrap around it. "Where else was I supposed to hide it?" I press the book to my back. "Are you sure you want me to give it to you now? Because there's no turning back once -"

"I'm sure." Emma surprises me with a small smile. The bounce in her legs seems to have disappeared. Her calm behavior is how I know she's truly ready.

I sit down next to her and take a deep breath. I place the leather-bound book on my lap. Once Emma sees it, she can't take her eyes off of it. Gently, I lift her chin up to mine. "I love you so much, Emma…"

Her gaze stays on the leather-binding. "Uh-huh," she mummers and reaches out.

I snatch it back. "No!" I cry out, somewhat offended. "We're not going to do it this way. You are going to let me say my peace before you read it."

Emma sags her head in disappointment but soon perks up. Our gazes collide and a genuine smile crosses her face. "Okay," she agrees.

"I-" I start my speech again but a knock on the door interrupts them.

"Hey!" Henry uses the door's molding to swing into the room. "Grace and I are off to Dad's."

"Okay," comes out of Emma's mouth, but I doubt she comprehend any of Henry's words, too wrapped up in her anticipation.

Henry scans over his sister's room and then focuses on me. "What, did Monstro bite off your nose or something?"

"Pretty much."

"Ah…Okay," he accepts my story and turns back to Emma. "Mom." Henry demands her attention and waits for it. Emma finally looks up at him. "I'm off to Dad's, I'll be back after dinner."

Emma digests his words and looses all interest in her anniversary gift. She brings her fingers to her forehead and drags them across it. Six months have passed since Bae was released from jail, eight months since Henry legally turned into an adult. I know Emma's worry surrounding the subject will never leave her. "Okay," she repeats with more clarity before Henry disappears down the hall.

Still frozen, Emma watches the door in a haze. I hesitatingly lower my hand onto hers.

Running footsteps down the hall prevent me from speaking again. Henry reappears in the doorway and Emma perks up again. "I almost forgot," he announces with a smile. "Happy Anniversary." He says before approaching her and kissing her cheek. "Congratulations."

Color returns to Emma's face. "Thanks, kid."

Henry smiles before leaving her gaze to give my shoulder a playful punch. "You too."

"Thanks." I say and he runs out the door.

I am still looking down the hallway, imagining Emma watching the doorway as well, when I feel her hand around my leg.

"Hey!" I protest, but she's already opening the leather cover.

"'Two Households of Dignity.' What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

What a great first reaction to something I've worked so hard on for her.

"That's why you read a story." I inform her. "To understand its title."

"HA!" Emma starts flipping through the pages. "Maybe that's why you read a book."

My fingers tighten around one side of the cover and threaten to pull it away. "If you are not going to be nice then you cannot read it. I poured my heart and soul into it."

She stops flipping through the pages. Only her eyes look up at me. "You're right. Sorry."

I raise my eyebrows and tilt my head, challenging her. Emma ignores the insinuation and goes back to my writing.

"You're supposed to start from the beginning-"

"Shhh!" Emma insists over me. "Be quiet."

Waiting for her reaction is killing me. My gaze drifts over the room before falling onto my daughter. Anna's breath plays with a black curl resting on her face.

"You did not win that game of BS." Emma announces. "I totally did."

"What-" I speak my thoughts before I process them. "Are you doing? You can't skip to the end!"

"Sure I can!" Emma retorts with a smile. "And you are a terrible liar."

I cross my arms. "I did not write that I won the game."

"You imply that you do!" Emma stands in anger. "I won that game."

"Never said you didn't."

"What else do you lie about in here?" Emma tackles me, pushing me further onto the bed. "August! Tell me!"

Anna wakes to her Mother's shrieks. "Loud!" She announces. Anna has never woken up talking before – at least not right away.

"Loud, Anna?" I run to her side of the bed and put my arms around her. She giggles. Her laugh is the most infectious laugh in the world. "Is Mommy being loud?"

All of a sudden, Anna stops to look at me. For a moment, we are the only two people in the world. She raises her finger to the woodchip on my face. "Wood." She whispers. Emma makes her way around the bed to watch. I don't dare move. I won't let anything ruin our moment. Anna moves her finger across my cheek. "Boy." She whispers another descriptive word. I see the tears flowing down Emma's cheeks out of the corner of my eye. I try to make eye contact with my daughter, but she won't let me. Instead, she leans down on my shoulder to give me a hug. There is no better feeling in the world. "Daddy," Anna says for the first time.

And that's when the tears start to flow down my cheeks.

There is no better feeling in the world than the one that name produces. Emma's 'Hero' has nothing on Anna's newest word.

Best. Anniversary. Ever.

A/N: Hey guys - I'm so sorry for the delay. I was horribly ill for a week and then I went on vacation. The good news is I had time to finish this update and the last one. I thought I'd give my loyal readers a choice - I can post the last update next Sunday, my usual update day, or sometime this week. What can I tease? Hmm - There are handcuffs and clocks and rings...Yeah - I think that's enough :-). xoxo