By the time David arrived at the diner, Snow, Ruby and Granny were tying red ribbons onto Emma's pigtails. Emma spotted him as he entered the diner, and her eyes begged him to save her. David smiled.
"Snow! Emma!" he greeted as he approached them.
Snow turned to him with a cheerful expression - she was very clearly enjoying babying little Emma. David kissed his wife briefly before scooping his daughter up of the counter and into a hug and a kiss. Emma didn't protest against the overt display of affection, as he had quite effectively put a stop to Ruby and Snow's makeover.
"Shall we?" He gestured towards a table.
"Oh, right," Snow said, "Lunch. We got a little side-tracked…"
"So I see," David commented, flicking one of Emma's pigtails.
Snow looked slightly guilty. Ruby just looked pleased.
"You guys go sit down and I'll bring your lunch. The usual, right?" Ruby asked.
All three nodded and they took their seats. Emma sat next to David, facing the counter so she would be able to see Ruby coming.
As the waited for their orders, David made a face like he had just remembered something.
"Oh! I hope you don't mind, but I invited Neal to join us for lunch."
Emma gave her father a look of utter disbelief.
"You didn't."
"I did…" David trailed off as he read the unhappiness on his daughter's face, and his expression became contrite. "… and I shouldn't have?"
The door bell rang as someone entered the diner and Emma quickly disappeared under the table and started yanking the pigtails out of her hair. She ran her fingers through her hair and hid the ribbons in her pocket before re-emerging.
Neal watched her appear from under the table and raised an eyebrow.
"I dropped my fork," Emma explained, producing the fork she had grabbed as she slid under the table.
"Nice dress," Neal responded.
Emma's cheeks burned red as tomatoes. Neal sat down, she shot her father an exasperated look.
'Sorry' he mouthed.
She she shook her head unhappily and returned to her seat.