"Helpless When She Smiles"
By: TutorGirlml (snowbellewells on Tumblr)
I wrote this a few days back for the CS Hiatus Challenge. Now that the masterlist is posted, I'm safe to put it up here as well. The prompt was David Nolan/Charming, and I really love the Daddy!Charming moments it allowed me to imagine. Enjoy!
From the very moment she was born, all he had ever wanted was for his daughter to be happy. As an infant, still squalling and red, tiny fist waving in the air, he had bent to kiss her forehead and heard Snow quietly grieving, begging him to take Emma to the wardrobe, he had wanted noting more than to keep his only child safe, to hold on even a second longer though he was impelled to let her go. Tears had spilled down his face unashamedly after gathering her tiny body to his chest while swords flashed and he fought his way through Regina's guards. When he'd placed her on the floor of the enchanted wardrobe, closed the door, and sent her beyond his reach and knowledge, he had surrendered to his wounds with calm acceptance, knowing he left behind a world where he had already lost his little princess before he could know her.
When the curse had broken – when Emma, his grown daughter, had broken it – and she had appeared before them, all questioning eyes, blond hair, and red leather, he had wanted nothing more than to hold his child in his arms once more. He was stunned by how lovely she was, not having seen her as a little girl in braids and pigtails or an awkward teen all gangly knees and elbows; his Emma stood before him a woman, strong and beautiful, despite the brokenness that had forged her strength. He hated that he had not been there to teach her so many things, to let her know how very much she had been wanted and loved every day as she was growing up. He would have shown her how to ride and sword fight as well as waltz, assured her of how precious and lovely she was, and frightened within an inch of their lives any spoiled, unworthy suitors who ever thought of hurting her. So much of Snow is in her. The very shape of her face, the round apples of her cheeks, and the determined jut of her chin bring the bandit who stole his heart with a rock in the face all those years ago to the forefront of his mind.
Snow had already moved forward, arms open to envelop their child, and he followed his True Love closer to Emma as if in a trance; overcome as all that had been forgotten flooded back into his memory and the wait for his child to save and find them again finally reached its end. As his arms came around both Snow and his daughter, his strong hand had come up to shield Emma's head protectively, feeling the fine, soft silk of her hair against his skin, and it seemed that everything had fallen back into place, that there was no more natural gesture in the world.
Emma had not let them in easily. It had been a slow and painstaking process to earn her friendship and affection, much less her trust and willingness to share with them. He had endeavored to forge a bond with her as best he could and be patient in his hope that she would come to see them as her parents, and to accept that she had a family and a home, that she should have always been a princess, not a lost little girl who believed she mattered to no one and never would. When he learned that she had fought the dragon Maleficent with his own sword, just as he once did, his chest swelled with pride. When she and Snow were swallowed by the magical hat and taken back to their homeland without him, he felt panic and despair like he had never known at losing them both again, and that time being aware of the loss. When Hook brought her back to them from New York, and Emma had turned up on their doorstep eyes wide and hopeful that he would remember her, he had pulled her into a fatherly hug and once more cupped the back of her head in his hand, as if somehow he could turn back the years and welcome her home at the end of the day and comfort her when she had been upset all those times while they were apart when she had needed her father. The smile that had blazed across her face with the brightness of the sun itself had been a wake up call. She might no longer be his little girl, but he would do anything to see her smile like that whenever she could.
He did so again when she and her pirate – who was grudgingly becoming his friend – returned from their adventure in the past. He had shared Emma's embrace with Snow, but he still cradled his palm around the back of her head and drew in a shaking breath, heart positively stuttering in its rhythm as she gave him a watery smile and called him "Dad" for the first time.
No, Prince Charming realizes now, fairy tale characters they might be, but their lives will never be easy or simple. He will never have the years he missed with his firstborn back. He may not be able to heal every scar that growing up as an orphan has given to his child, nor to right every misstep he and Snow took along the way in meaning to sacrifice for their daughter's best chance and to protect the Savior. His relationship with Emma may not be what he would have hoped for and dreamed of, but it is something he treasures all the same. She is a partner, a friend, a hero – so many things he could have never fully foreseen.
So when her True Love comes to speak to him one night while their loves are out together and Charming is alone in the loft, wanting to give just this much to tradition and get his mate's blessing to ask for Dave's daughter's hand in marriage, Charming bites back the overprotective protest that rises in his throat and nods his assent as a film of unshed tears swim blearily across his vision. He sees a bit of himself in the former villain Captain Hook. Just as he was a humble shepherd, Killian Jones is also a commoner daring to love a princess. To the outside world, both of them would have seemed unworthy of the women whose hearts they sought to win, but he sees that, just as he was for Snow, this pirate and man of honor is the only one who can love his fierce, courageous daughter as she deserves. Clasping the other man's shoulder, 'yes' is the only answer he can give.
It is no surprise to anyone then – accomplished warrior and ruler though he may be – that Prince Charming sheds more than one tear and cradle's Emma's head as he hugs her at the end of the aisle before placing her hand in Killian's on their wedding day. The smile she gives him then is the brightest he has ever seen wreath her face, and he finds himself smiling back, glad that in this case he is not truly losing her; they are only adding a dashing rapscallion to their heroes and rogues gallery of a family. He manages not to choke on the words "her mother and I do" when asked who gives this woman to be married and looks on with pride at his daughter fully allowing her heart to be open to joy as well as pain at long last.
He has had to give her away more times than he can count, but he would do anything to make her happy after all the pain she has been through. He may not be able to keep her with him always, but in this family they always find each other, and his Emma has more than proven that she is no exception.