"You gave our baby a GUN?!"

"It was her gun!" Charming pointed out, "and she is still 29 years old, even if her body isn't. Besides," He added, lowering his voice to a whisper so Emma wouldn't overhear, "I unloaded it before I even let her touch it."

"Oh thank god."

"Neal and I are going to head over to the station to take care of a few things. Take care of our girl."

"I will."

He gave her a kiss goodbye and followed Neal out of the apartment.

Snow smiled after him before turning her attention back to Emma, who had flopped dejectedly on the couch and hadn't moved since.

"Emma, are you ok?"

"Fine."

"You don't look fine."

"I've been usurped by my own father because I shrank myself into freaking toddler. Of course I'm not fine," Emma responded grumpily. "Traitor." she added in a mumble to herself.

Snow took a seat on the couch next to her daughter, who had dropped her face back into the cushion.

"Emma. Your father loves you. He's only trying to keep you safe. You're too little right now to be handling guns and trying to run down criminals. You know that."

Emma gave a sullen sigh. She did know, but that didn't mean she had to like it.

"Are you upset because your father picked Neal to be deputy? I know he hurt you, and it's completely understandable for you to be feeling a bit upset or maybe even a little jealous –"

Emma's head shot up and she whipped around to face Snow.

"No!" Emma denied indignantly. "I'm not jealous of Neal!"

"But you didn't want him to be deputy?"

"He shouldn't be deputy! He's a felon, for crying out loud!"

"Emma. Weren't you a felon once too?" Emma crossed her arms and glared at the floor while Snow continued. "Everyone makes mistakes. I've made mistakes, you've made mistakes… and everyone deserves a chance to move past their mistakes, don't they?"

Emma continued her sullen examination of the floorboards.

"I'm not saying that he didn't do something wrong, or that it doesn't matter that he did something wrong. I'm not asking you to forgive him. But maybe it's time to give him a chance to make amends. Maybe letting him help us is a way to do that."

Emma gave no indication she'd even heard the suggestion.

"And Emma, I need you to know that your father and I love you. We're your parents, and we're on your side. No one is picking Neal over you."

"I'm not jealous," Emma reiterated.

"Ok," Snow acknowledged patiently. "But you understand, this is just about us keeping you safe, right? Because we love you, and not because of any other reason."

Emma nodded stiffly in response.

Snow smiled at her.

"Good," she said, her tone light and cheerful once more. "Now come on, let's go make some hot chocolate."

With that Snow scooped her daughter up off the couch and carried her to the kitchen before she could protest.