Conventional
JustAFan asked for a oneshot of Snowing asking Emma to act more like a child with them when Henry's not present.
If English isn't your first language, please don't feel any need to apologise for mistakes. I think being able to speak a second language at all takes great intelligence!
Some people might not be comfortable with this chapter. That's ok, but then I ask that you just skip it. I try and write lots of things, because there could be any reason why someone asked for their prompt to be written. I ask that the rest of you be respectful of that too.
Having a child that was the same age as you wasn't always an easy situation. In fact, it rarely was. Emma had done her best to share her childhood with her parents, and at the same time, learn how to be someone's daughter. It wasn't easy for her. She'd spent the majority of her life looking after herself. It was a long and slow process learning how to be able to rely on someone else not to let you down.
The problem was, Snow and Charming were feeling quite impatient. They thought having Neal might ease up their parental urges with Emma, but if anything it just made them stronger. Something both of them had been taught in life was: if you don't ask, you don't get. So since Henry was spending the weekend with his other mom, they thought they might as well ask Emma how she felt about letting those walls of hers down just a little bit more. Letting them be just that little more like conventional parents. Sure, they were nervous that she might react badly, but unless they tried they would never know.
They started off with a little buttering up. Henry had left early on the Friday morning (it was a three day weekend) so Snow had prepared Emma her favourite breakfast; hot cocoa- with cinnamon and homemade French toast. Emma seemed more than happy with this special treat. Things only got better when her dad told her that he had arranged for Red and the dwarves to run the station over the long weekend so he and Emma could have a well-deserved weekend off.
"What's the catch?" Emma teased. She wasn't expecting for her parents to suddenly look so sheepish. So there really was a catch. Of course there was. There was always a catch. "What's going on guys?" Emma asked, pushing her plate of half eaten French toast away. Snow and Charming took their own seats at the kitchen island.
"Well, you, us and Neal have the house to ourselves all the long weekend." Charming began. "It's not always we get to have some quality time with both our kids." Emma raised an eyebrow. Where were they going with this?
"It's just that…our family isn't like other families with their kids, is it?" Snow continued. "Our relationship with you is special, and we love it just like we love you. We just feel that sometimes it would be nice if we got to at least pretend our kids were like everyone else's." Emma could feel the hurt in her parents' voices. She shifted uncomfortably. What were they asking her to do?"
"We're not meaning anything…weird." Charming said, almost reading his daughter's mind. "We just mean like little things. Like watching cartoons together in our pyjamas. Letting us do little things for you like, I don't know, cut up your food or something. You never got to have parents growing up, Em. We never got to be the parents you deserved. We know we can't turn back the clock and do it all again, but we can still make up for some of the losses we all had. We're just asking that you give us that chance." Charming pleaded with their daughter. Emma thought for a minute, very aware of her parents still watching her, waiting for an answer.
"I do like Spongebob." Emma commented quietly. Snow and Charming's faces broke out in grins. They took that as a yes.
"Jammie day it is." Snow commented, excited. They knew it would take both baby steps and compromise on both sides. But a more conventional parent/child relationship was clearly achievable, much to everyone's delight.
