Authors Note: Hey guys! I'm so sorry it took me so long to update. I've just had finals in school, but the good news is that school is done and I can get more chapters up and faster. Hope you enjoy :)


Chapter 10

Snow was walking through the garden, looking at the trees that surrounded it. It looked like a mini forest. She could almost hear Emma's laughter and it made her smile until she realized that it was actually Emma laughing. She turned her head to the sound and followed it until she reached a tree. All of a sudden Snow went still in fear. "Emma, what on earth are you doing? Come down before you get hurt!" she cried, as she watched her daughter climbing a tree. A tree, that Snow felt, was much too big for her six year old to be climbing.

"But Papa's been teaching me! I'm ok, Mama," Emma tried to reassure her mother as she continued to climb the tree.

"Emma Ruth!" she said again, but her daughter didn't listen and kept on climbing up the tree until the leaves made her vanish.

"Come on, Snow." She looked around at the familiar voice trying to find its owner, but couldn't. She then heard his laughter, which was clearly directed at her search to locate him. "Maybe looking up would help."

Snow lifted her head to the tree and saw her husband's head popping out from the leaves, watching her. "What are you thinking, David?! She could get hurt!"

"She's alright, I'm here Snow." He chuckled and disappeared back into the tree.

Still looking at the spot she last saw her husband, she continued speaking, "What are you doing up there, anyways?" The worry in her voice started to fade into a more curious one.

"A fort!" Emma yelled. Snow could hear from Emma's tone that she was excited and happy. Snow let out a smile when she saw her daughter pop her head out in the same spot her husband had.

"A fort?" Snow lifted a brow and smirked.

"Yeah, Mama. A really, really cool fort!" Emma giggled as she vanished into the tree, and then almost as quickly as she disappeared, she stuck her head back out. "Come up and see it, Mama!"

"Climb up the tree, to see your fort?" Snow looked at her daughter who just nodded her head in return and disappeared back into the tree. Snow took a look down at her clothing and thanked the fact that she was in her riding clothes. (She was trying to find Emma so they could spend the afternoon riding, but this would be just as much fun).

"But if you choose to come up, you're not allowed to worry," Snow heard her husband say. Snow rolled her eyes and started to climb up the tree. When she reached the fort she could see that this wasn't a project that they had just started. No, this was something that has been going on for a while.

Emma ran to her mother and Snow pulled her into a tight hug. "What do you think, Mama? It's cool isn't it?" Emma looked up at her mother with her wide green eyes and smiled.

"Yeah, it's pretty cool." Snow pocked Emma's nose. "How long have you two been doing this?" She walked around the base.

"Maybe a couple of weeks," Charming admitted and could tell that wasn't something she wanted to hear.

"WEEKS?" Snow was stunned. Emma had only turned six last week and she was a small six year old.

"Yes, Snow. This was one of her birthday presents," he tried to reason with her.

"You let our five year old daughter, at the time, climb up this tree?"

"Snow, it's not like she's grown in the past couple weeks."

"HEY!" They both turned to see their daughter a little upset. On her birthday everyone had told her that she was much taller than she was when she was five.

"I mean, she's not that much taller," Charming corrected himself and Emma gave her nod of approval.

"Charming, I know it might sound like I'm being overprotective, but this tree is still far too tall and big for her to climb. The smaller ones I don't mind, but this one, the branches are far apart and it's hard for her to reach them." She tried to keep her voice down not wanting to upset her daughter.

"Snow," Charming bent down to be at eye level with his wife " Emma only started coming up here last week."

"What?"

"Yeah, Mama." Emma walked towards them. "This was my present from Papa. He showed it to me on my birthday and we've been working on it together ever since."

"I know she's little but I watch her climb up and down. She's been climbing things since she's learnt how to walk Snow. She's safe up here."

"So she's never gotten hurt?" Snow questioned.

"Emma, have you ever gotten hurt up here?" Charming looked down at his daughter who shook her head. "See, safe as can be. And we've had lots of fun."

"Oh you have, have you? Fun without me?" Snow trapped her daughter in a hug and started to tickle her.

"Yes, the same way you have your tea parties and other things." Charming laughed at his daughter who was struggling to get out of her mother's grasp.

"Mama, stop!" Emma squealed in a fit of laughter.

After a couple of minutes Snow finally stopped and took Emma into a hug, letting her daughter calm down. "I do have to say that you've done a good job building this." Snow gazed around at the fort.

"Thank you," the father and daughter said in unison.

"Alright, should we get back to work?" Snow looked at Emma, whose eyes grew with excitement.

"Yeah! And I can teach you Mama! Just like Papa's teaching me and Geppetto taught him!" Emma jumped and pulled her mother with her.

"Good, because I don't know much about building. That's always been your father's thing." She winked at her daughter.

"That's true," Emma responded and looked back up at her father. "Papa's the bestest. Well, I have to say that Geppetto is the best but you know what I mean." Emma gave Charming an apologetic look and returned her focus towards her mother.

They spent the afternoon playing and building. Once the building was done for the day, Snow thought of a fun idea. "What if we bring up some things and have a tea party up here?"

"That would be sooo much fun, Mama!" Emma jumped a little at the idea.

"If you would like, we can head back to the castle and you can grab a couple of friends to join us, while I prepare the tea," Snow suggested, it took no time at all for Emma to attempt to climb down the tree.

"Hold on there, princess," Charming stopped his daughter. "I know we have a rule that ladies go first but what's our rule when climbing down the tree?"

"Papa goes first so he can make sure that I don't slip while climbing down." Emma rolled her eyes, clearly annoyed.

Snow hid her laughter. Her daughter did always like being independent and setting rules for her didn't always go well.

Once the family had made it back up to the fort, Charming was about to leave again to allow the mother and daughter some time alone. "Papa? Where are you going?" Emma asked curiously, hoping that he wasn't leaving.

Charming turned around to face his daughter, who had her Wolf sitting next to her on one side and her Dolly sitting on the other. "I was going to go back and maybe start on some work."

"No, you're going to sit down and join us for our tea party." Emma furrowed her brow.

"Em, I do have a lot of work to get done."

"Please, Papa. Please stay for my tea party." Emma gave him the puppy dog eyes and he knew he couldn't say no to that.

"Yeah, Papa," Snow mimicked her daughter. "Please stay. You make tea parties oh so much fun"

"Ok, no teaming up on me, that's not fair," he whined, but the puppy eyes didn't stop. He sighed and took his seat next to Emma's dolly and before he could even get comfortable, Emma's arms were wrapped around his neck.

"Thank you, Papa." She smiled and gave his cheek a quick kiss before returning to her own spot.

"Anything for my princess." He took a sip of his tea and looked at his wife who gave him a smirk.

"I do love this fort. I'm thinking we should do this more often!" Snow noted.

"Oooo, yes it would be so much fun!" Emma responded "Now pinkies up!" Emma said and the family clanked their tea cups together and laughed.


Note: Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Don't forget to leave a review and let me know what you thought :) Thanks :)