Grilled cheese

HeidiLK asked for a oneshot of Snowing asking Emma where her grilled cheese obsession came from.

"What do you want for lunch Em?" Snow asked, as she looked at her watch. She was beginning to feel a bit peckish. Emma pressed her lips together for a moment as she though.

"I'm feeling like a grilled cheese." Emma answered her. Charming couldn't help but smirk. Emma saw him out the corner of her eye.

"What?" She asked suspiciously, turning to face him.

"Nothing." Charming responded innocently. Emma raised her eyebrows. She knew there was a meaning behind that smirk. "Really, it's nothing. It's just, haven't you gotten sick of grilled cheese yet? You've had it twice for lunch this week already."

"Twice isn't that bad!" Emma defended herself.

"Emma, today is Wednesday." Snow pointed out, fighting back a giggle. Emma grinned awkwardly before shrugging.

"What can I say? I'm a sucker for the carbs and dairy, I guess." She said.

"Has grilled cheese always been a favourite of yours?" Charming asked her, curious. He and Snow both loved hearing little snippets of Emma's life like this. Emma shrugged again.

"Well, pretty much." She said, thinking back. "I wasn't always well fed in homes for various reasons. Grilled cheese was something that was pretty cheap on most menus. Plus, if someone sees a kid in clothes clearly too big for them and who looks like they need a good feeding, they don't always make them pay if they're good people." Emma recounted. Snow and Charming couldn't look at Emma as she told them this. They always felt sick when she told them of the darker parts of her childhood. "So basically, I associated grilled cheese with safety, with comfort. It wasn't fancy, but it was hot and filled me up. So to me, there's nothing better than the humble grilled cheese." Emma explained. Charming squeezed his daughter's hand.

"Then you can have one every lunchtime if you so please." He told her. Neither he nor Snow would ever again question or tease Emma over her love of grilled cheese. Not when it saved it from starving on so many occasions.