Different treatment
neongenesisevang asked for a oneshot of a teenaged Emma and her siblings talk about how unfair it is that the baby of the family gets treated differently. Snowing overhear and want to talk to their children about it.
"How come Michael never has to tidy up his own toys?" Christopher grumbled as he moodily shoved his own toys back into his toy chest. "Mom and dad always have someone help him."
"He is younger." Rosie said quietly. "He's very little."
"He's seven, Rosie, he's not a baby." Neal pointed out. "We were able to put some toys in a box when we were four. Mickey made most of this mess. I don't see why we're clearly it up."
"It's not like we shouldn't be used to it, guys. Mickey's been getting away with stuff we all never would have since he was a baby." Thirteen year old Emma pointed out.
"That's the problem." Neal sighed. "He'll always be the baby. That means he'll always get away with stuff. It's not fair."
"Agreed." Emma added, siding with her brothers. Rosie stayed quiet. She wasn't always happy with it either, but she didn't think it was nice blaming their baby brother. Neither, did their parents. None of the children knew their parents had come up to see how they were getting on with clearing up the mess in the playroom (which when they had last been in it resembled more of a warzone).
"Michael made most of this mess, did he?" Charming asked, coming into the room. All the children fell silent. Emma, Neal and Christopher all gulped.
"That's odd, because Michael hates getting his hands dirty, and I seem to recall an awful lot of clay trodden into the floor." Snow pointed out. She saw Christopher go pink.
"Yes, I agree, that is odd." Charming chimed in. "Just like it's odd that all the dress up clothes were out, when Michael can't get into them by himself." He saw Emma shift nervously. Rosie also looked rather upset at that, even though she had defended her brother.
"Oh, not to mention all the paper birds dotted around. Very strange since Michael can't fold accurately enough to make them." Snow said, seeing Neal bite his lip.
"Michael wasn't very much involved in this mess and you all know it. Stop being angry at him for not getting into trouble for something he didn't do and focus more on cleaning up your own mess. Being angry at Michael unjustly won't help it get sorted faster. And the longer you take, the less time you'll have to eat your lunch. If you run out of time before your lessons start, than means no dessert." Charming reminded them. He saw all four children look a little guilty. "Maybe something for you all to think about?" He suggested as he and Snow left them to it.
As they cleared up the remainder of the mess, not one of the children said a word. They knew they'd been silly, and that they had to listen to their dad's advice. It was best for them to focus on fixing their own mistakes rather than blaming their little brother for them.
