The midnight munchies

A guest asked for a oneshot of little Emma waking up in the night feeling hungry. Snowing don't have anything for her to eat because they were planning on going shopping the next day. Emma, in the meantime, is becoming increasingly agitated through hunger and keeps crying. Neal wakes up crying because he's hungry too but Snow can easily feed him. Snowing still have to feed Emma.

It had been hard for the royals to adjust to living in the land without magic. They had everything just so for when Emma arrived, now here she was with only a blanket to her name. Well, a blanket and two parents who loved the bones of her. After coming through and a kind pair of strangers taking them to something called a hospital, they found themselves in the State of New York in an apartment in the Bronx. They were just finding their feet when they found themselves expecting again. Now here they were eighteen months after arriving in this strange new world with a toddler and a newborn. That was another strange adjustment to make; having more than one child. It had completely thrown off their routine that they had in place, but like they had so many times before, they would make it work.

Snow awoke later into the night that night feeling someone tugging at her top. She woke up groggily and looked down, eyes still adjusting to the light.

"Mama." The little one whined, clearly in distress. Snow squinted, trying to see more clearly.

"Emma?" She whispered before pulling the tot up onto the bed. "Just how did you get out of your cot, little missy?" She said, tickling her daughter's tummy, but Emma wasn't finding it funny. She moved her mom's hand away. By this point, Charming had now woken up too. He groaned, looking over to Snow and Emma.

"What's going on?" He asked. "Why's Emma here? How is Emma here?"

"I think someone's learned how to climb out of their crib." Snow explained. "She's upset about something." Snow got up with Emma in her arms. "Maybe she's wet. I'll change her." Snow got Emma onto the changing mat and got one of her diapers ready in a speed and precision only a parent with an infant can. That was definitely one advantage to this world: disposable diapers. As Snow started to change Emma, she started wailing, which was most unlike her. Snow quickly finished off, but she didn't stop.

"Mama!" She screamed. Snow tried to comfort her, but Emma wasn't having any of it. "Nimis!" Emma screamed. Now Snow understood. Emma had been given her dinner earlier than usual the previous evening. Nimis was her word for food. She was hungry. The only problem was, they were out of Emma friendly foods. Charming was planning on going shopping the next morning. All they had left for her was some bread for toast for her breakfast. But if they gave her that now, she'd have no breakfast and be like this the next morning. Charming had heard Emma's wailed. Their whole building probably had by now. Especially since Neal then started to join in. Snow didn't know what to do. She couldn't feed Neal and try to console Emma until they managed to get her some food. Charming took Emma off of Snow, which she did not appreciate.

"You feed Neal." Charming said. "Little Miss Hungry and I will make a late night stop to the twenty-four-hour shop a few blocks away and I'll grab her something she can chow down on until tomorrow." Snow kissed Charming.

"My hero." She said over both Emma and Neal's wails. She felt awful for her poor hungry girl. Lesson learnt: regardless of hospital appointments and paydays, make sure to shop a few days in advance.

When Charming was away with Emma, Snow was able to make sure Neal had his late night snack. She had him fed and settled back in bed before Charming came back with Emma and a bag with some yogurt. Quick and easy. Charming got Emma into her highchair and pulled the lid off one of the cartons before grabbing a spoon and offering it to Emma. The tot gratefully accepted, and finished off the whole yogurt in no time. After that, Emma settled down pretty quickly and fell asleep not long after, allowing her daddy to put her back in her crib before collapsing, exhausted, into bed with Snow.

"She ok?" Snow asked sleepily.

"Yeah." Charming responded, kissing the side of Snow's head. "She's back asleep now. Neal?"

"Dead to the world." Snow told him.

"Good." Charming said, holding Snow tight to him. "Now it's our turn." Snow chuckled lightly, but how right he was. Being parents to two children under two was exhausting, but neither of them would have it any other way.