Emma in the middle- part 18
Emiily asked for a oneshot of what will now be an 18th instalment of "Emma in the middle" where Emma and Marali are sick and it appears like Snowing are only worrying about Marali. Set when Emma is 5. Emmainthemiddle also asked for a sequel to this chapter where her parents try and get Emma to open up before they realised anything, and I thought it would fit in here.
Emma didn't know where her parents were. She didn't feel well. Her tummy hurt and she kept being sick. Why wasn't one of them here? Normally when she or one of her siblings were sick, at least one of her mommy or daddy would take the day off to look after them. Why wasn't one of them here? Emma wondered if they knew she wasn't well. Maybe nobody had told them. Even though it made her feel dizzy when she stood up, Emma made herself get up and stumbled out of her bedroom to try and find her mommy and daddy. Bleary eyed, she set about searching for them. That's when she heard somebody else being sick. Maybe that was it. Maybe they were sick too. If that was it, Emma had to look after them! They always looked after her. Emma followed the sound of the sick which led her to…her sister's room? Emma peered inside and saw not her parents being sick, but her big sister. With her parents on either side of her. So Marali wasn't well either. That didn't seem very fair though. Emma was sick too. Why were both her parents with Marali when she was sick too? Had she been bad? Emma didn't like this feeling. It was worse than being sick. Emma just knew she didn't want anyone to see her. Emma carefully snuck back to her own bed and curled up into a shivering ball and fell back asleep.
What Emma didn't know was that her first assumption was right. Snow and Charming had been woken in the night by Marali vomiting. Nobody had told them Emma was also sick. Of course if they had known earlier they would have split up to be with both girls. It was only when they went to make sure Emma and Neal had both had lunch that they were told Emma was upstairs sick in her bed. As soon as they knew, Snow went through to her. Poor thing, she was burning up. Snow coming into the room made Emma begin to stir. Snow sat on the edge of her bed as she woke up.
"Hey beautiful." Snow said, smiling at her. She was worried when Emma didn't smile back. Even when she was sick, Emma always smiled. "You not feeling good?" Emma shook her head, but didn't speak. She didn't feel like speaking to her mommy. Snow just took this as her feeling weak. "My poor little girl." Snow said, stroking her hot cheek. Snow and Charming had agreed that it might be best to keep the girls together. That way it was easier to make sure at least one of them was always with the girls. Charming had already taken Marali through to their bed. Now Snow had to move Emma.
"Come on you. You're coming to mommy and daddy's bed." Emma didn't respond. She still didn't want to talk. She felt even worse when she saw her sister on the bed too. Snow put Emma on the bed and she immediately curled into a ball away from her sister and put her thumb in her mouth.
"Hey baby girl." Charming said, stroking Emma's back. Emma didn't respond to her dad at all. Snow and Charming were concerned. This wasn't like Emma at all. "Emma, princess, what's wrong? What hurts?" Emma couldn't describe what hurt here. She didn't really know.
"Don't feel well." Was all she could say for sure."
"I know baby." Charming answered sympathetically. "We'll look after you until you're all better." Charming promised her. That, however, was not what Emma heard. She heard that they would watch her, alright. They would really make sure Marali got all better. They just didn't want Emma throwing up. That was a feeling that wouldn't leave Emma for several years. For a very long time, she would be the little girl in the bed thinking her sick sister mattered more than her.
