Interrupted
Rhondaasked for a oneshot of Snowing celebrating their anniversary and getting a call from Emma to say that Neal has been arrested for stealing a flat screen TV from a neighbour's house.
"Can you believe we've been married for forty-five years?" Charming teased his wife. Snow rolled her eyes playfully.
"I know. It's almost as if time was frozen for twenty-eight of them." She responded playfully as she chinked her glass against Charming.
"Oh, so it's not our sapphire anniversary then? Want me to exchange that necklace for you?" He joked. Snow smiled, carefully holding the jewel in the palm of her hand.
"No, I think it would be too long a trip back for this necklace to Charlotte. I cannot believe you had a necklace shipped all the way out from North Carolina for me." Snow said lovingly. Charming just smiled at her.
"It was the perfect one for you and they were the only jewellers with it. I'd do anything for you, Snow." He reached across the table and just looked into her eyes for a moment. He would never tire of seeing those eyes. Snow leaned across the table to kiss him when…her phone rang. Snow sighed. She thought she had put it on silent.
"Sorry." She said apologetically. She went to switch it off when she saw that it was Emma calling. She frowned. Emma knew they were having their anniversary dinner tonight. She wouldn't call unless it was an emergency.
"Emma?" Snow asked as she answered. "What's wrong?"
"Mom, I'm sorry. I know you and dad are having dinner tonight, but we have a problem."
"What is it?" Snow asked.
"It's Neal." Emma answered. "I got called out to a house down the road from you guys because they'd caught some kid trying to steal their TV. It was Neal."
"Excuse me?" Snow asked, horrified. Charming was now trying to listen in. What was going on? "Emma's caught Neal burgling." Snow explained.
"What?" Charming asked, just as shocked. "That can't be right! Neal's a good kid. He wouldn't do something like that." Snow tended to agree with her husband, but Emma had caught Neal in the act.
"We'll be right with you. Where are you both?"
"At your place." Emma answered. "I wanted to avoid taking him to the station." Snow hung up and grabbed her purse.
"I'm sorry." She sighed, their dinner ruined.
"Don't be. This isn't your fault. Let's just focus on getting to the bottom of this."
Snow and Charming arrivied home within ten minutes. They found Emma sitting with a clearly guilty looking Neal in the living room.
"Start talking." Charming said instantly to his son, not impressed at all. Neal stayed silent. "Young man, you'd best explain yourself right this second. Don't make me take you to the station to spend the night there to think things over." Charming warned him. He would do it, too.
"It was just a stupid dare, alright? I wasn't going to keep it. I just had to prove that I could. Everyone knows mom was a bandit and Emma was locked up for stealing. They were saying I couldn't be a member of this family if I couldn't steal something." Snow, Charming and Emma all looked at each other. They were sympathetic with Neal, but only slightly, he had still robbed someone. Or at least attempted to.
"Neal I was a bandit because at the time, Regina was out to get me and I had no other option."
"And as you well know, I was set up for that robbery." Emma added. "You did what you did knowingly. Being dared to do it to prove yourself is not a good excuse for breaking the law."
"I know it was stupid." Neal said defensively.
"You're sure right it was." Charming agreed with his son. "So here's what's going to happen since Emma was kind enough to you that she didn't make this official and give you a criminal record. First thing tomorrow you will go round to that house and apologise for any problems caused. You will pay for any damages with your own money and you will offer to do any chores of their choosing for a month. Got it?"
"Got it." Neal replied, thinking that was probably fair.
"Good. You have ruined your mother and I'd anniversary dinner and we are incredibly disappointed in you. We didn't bring you up to think stealing was ever ok. Go upstairs to your room and start thinking about what you did." Neal nodded glumly, beginning to head up to his room. The others watched him go. Snow and Charming knew they'd have to keep a closer eye on who Neal was hanging around with. Perhaps some of his friends weren't the greatest influences.
