Disclaimer: I don't own Once Upon a Time

AN: A Guest asked for a one-shot of Emma spending the day with just Henry and baby Neal. So here you go! Hope I do it justice for you. This is post 6x17 and we'll pretend at the moment there's no imminent threats in town.

Please consider leaving a review. Feedback is always much appreciated. Have a prompt? PM me or leave it in a review!

Once Upon a Snowing

Prized Possession

Emma smiled in amusement, as she watched her mother fuss over her baby brother. Her father was looking on with much the same look as she was wearing.

"There should be plenty of bottles in the fridge," Snow said, as she kissed Neal's little head. She had convinced her parents to not only go on a date night, but have an overnight at Granny's to spend some time alone together. They both instantly loved the idea, but her mother still had trouble letting go of Neal sometimes.

When he was first born, Emma remembered feeling a tad bit of envy for her baby brother, but seeing her parents dote on her baby brother only made her smile now. It would probably always make her a little sad too, but mostly happy since she knew this was how they would have been with her too.

"And if you run out of diapers, there's a new package on the top shelf in the linen closet," Snow continued.

"Mom...we'll be fine," Emma soothed and Snow smiled, relaxing a little and David put his arms around her.

"I know...we should go. Just call if you need anything," Snow said. Emma nodded.

"I will, but we'll be fine. You two need some alone time after that stupid sleeping curse, so go and be your gooey romantic selves and tell me none of the details," Emma said. David chuckled, as they were ushered out the door.

"You still have an aversion to tacos?" he teased.

"Haven't eaten one since. Goodbye Dad," she replied, as she closed the door on him.

"Well my darling, shall we?" he asked, offering his arm. She hooked her hand on his elbow.

"Lead the way, Charming," she replied, as they descended down the stairs.

"All right, baby bro. Time to have some fun," Emma said, as she held him and he patted her face with his little hand.

"What do you have in mind?" Henry asked.

"Did you bring the stuff I asked you to get?" Emma asked in return. Henry grinned and hurried upstairs, returning moments later with a large poster board and a kit of acrylic paints and brushes.

"What are we going to do with this stuff?" Henry asked. Emma smirked at him and pointed to the fridge where a drawing Henry had done shortly after the curse had broken still hung with magnets.

"I drew that like three years ago. I can't believe Grams and Gramps still have it," Henry said, slightly embarrassed by the childish drawing of his family members, but not the words he had written on it, her parents fairy tale names with Grams and Gramps written below each. And then a drawing of Emma and Henry next to them. And in the largest letter below everyone was the word Family. At the time, this word hadn't really had much meaning for Emma. She had a family, but it hadn't truly sunken in yet. She remembered that Henry had been a bit disappointed that she had been so standoffish with her parents at first. She came to realize later that giving her up was the last thing they wanted to do. It didn't change the fact that she was alone for twenty-eight years, but it wasn't their fault.

"Of course they still have it. Your Grams was just doting over it the other day, in fact. It's one of their most prized possessions so that gave me this idea," Emma said, as she laid the poster board out and set Neal beside her.

"Mom and Dad are going to have lots of pictures drawn by this little guy when he gets a bit older and if I know them, that fridge is going to be absolutely plastered with every bit of paper this one touches," Emma said.

"But they don't have anything I drew when I was little...hell, I don't even have anything. None of the foster families cared enough to keep anything I made, so it all go tossed or left behind," she said, a touch sadly.

"So...we're going to all three draw something for them so they have something from both their kids and their grand kid?" Henry asked, catching on. She smiled. Smart as a whip, as usual.

"That's the idea, kid," she replied.

"You're gonna make Grams cry, you know that, right?" he warned. She smiled.

"Probably your Gramps too," she added, as she picked up the brush and dipped it in purple paint. Henry took his brush and dipped it in the green.

"Happy painting, kid," she said. They were quiet and Neal watched, enthralled, as they painted with bright colors. Henry used the green to draw a baby sapling. Emma used the purple decorative stars along the edges of the board. Then Henry used white for some Snow drops and Emma crafted a pretty good looking sword. Henry added some arrows to their collage with a bow and even a rock, which made them laugh. Their true love family board wouldn't be complete without several red hearts, which Henry dealt with, while Emma scrawled the word FAMILY in big bold letters in the center. They had left the perfect spot above the word for a photo, which Emma placed there after using a glue stick on the back of it. The picture was the most recent one they had taken at Granny's. Her parents in center with Neal, her and Killian on the right of them, and Regina and Henry on the left. Then finally in the space below the word family, Emma and Henry painted their hands and imprinted their hand prints on the board, leaving a space between each.

Neal watched in fascination, as his sister painted his hand and helped him press it onto the board. Neal squealed in excitement and smeared a couple more hand prints on the edges of the board, but Emma and Henry only laughed. They knew Snow and David would love it even more with the imperfections. As a final touch, Emma painted each of their names in the hand prints in small letters.

Once they were done, they washed the paint off Neal and themselves, before giving him a bath and putting him in his pajamas. Emma fed him a bottle, while Henry put on a movie. Neal was asleep long before it was over and she quietly put Neal in his crib.

Once the movie was over, Henry helped Emma hang the poster on the wall.

"Yep...they're gonna cry," Henry said.

"Mission accomplished," Emma replied, as they high-fived each other.

"All right kid, brush your teeth and then bed," she said, as she checked on Neal, before getting ready for bed herself.

"Goodnight Mom," Henry called.

"Night kid," she called back.

"Hey Mom?" he said.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"I liked this today, you know just us and Neal. Think Grams and Gramps will let us do it again?" Henry asked. Emma smiled.

"I'm positive they will. I liked it too. Goodnight Henry," she said, the loft was soon quiet and dark.

The next morning

Emma made flying noises, as she fed Neal his baby cereal.

"I think we're getting more of this on your chin than in your mouth, little man," she joked. Neal squealed in delight and pounded his hands on the highchair tray.

"Oh we get so excited!" she cooed, as she fed him another bite, as Henry munched on his cereal. There was a knock and then Killian poked his head in.

"Morning love, I come bearing gifts," Killian said, as he let himself in.

"It better not be fish and grapefruit," Henry muttered. Emma tossed him a sideways glance and a smirk. She loved her pirate, but she had to agree with her son. Charming family breakfasts consisted of pancakes and bacon. And when Dad wasn't around, bear claws and pop-tarts.

"You'll be happy to know, lad that there is nary a mackerel or grapefruit in this bag," he admonished, as Emma looked inside.

"Bear claws..." she said giddily. Killian watched her in amusement, as she took a big bite and then picked off a tiny piece from the soft inside of the pastry, feeding it to Neal. The tiny Prince gummed the sweet confection in delight.

"Thank you," she said, as she kissed his cheek.

"You're welcome, love. It seems you two fared well with the wee Prince," he mentioned.

"Yeah, we had fun and we made that," Emma said, pointing at their creation.

"I hope you have some tissues on hand for your mother," he teased and Henry held up a box. They were already prepared and it was a good thing, because they heard giggling behind that door about that time.

"Charming...stop..." they heard Snow playfully protest and then nothing. Emma rolled her eyes, knowing that meant her parents were making out. They eventually stumbled in a few moments later, arms around each other, glowing with happiness. It made Emma's heart swell to see them still so in love. She usually complained about their frequent public displays of affection, but secretly she found it wonderful that her parents still wanted each other. She hadn't seen any examples of good relationships in her childhood so knowing that her parents were the pinnacle of true love meant a lot to her. They had helped Emma believe in love again.

"Good morning," Snow greeted and then gasped, as Charming pinched her rear. She swatted him playfully, as he went to put their bags in the bedroom.

"Morning Mom," Emma greeted with a hug.

"Oh thank you for watching him. You were right, a night away was exactly what we needed," she gushed. Emma grinned.

"I'm glad...we had fun too, didn't we buddy?" she asked her baby brother, as he cooed and reached for Snow. Emma cleaned him off and he fussed, before Snow lifted him into her arms and kissed his head. She turned and it was at that moment she noticed the poster on the wall.

"What's that?" she asked curiously.

"Last night's art project. We made it for you and Dad," Emma announced. Snow's mouth was ajar, as she felt David step beside her, also staring at the creation.

"I know you guys don't have anything from my childhood that I made and I'm afraid I don't either...but now you have something all three of us made together," Emma said, watching her mother step closer to the painting.

"Are these..." she started to say, as she touched the hand prints.

"Yeah...don't worry, I gave Neal a bath after we had fun with the paint," Emma assured.

"Emma...this is amazing..." Charming uttered. Snow sniffed.

"Yeah, I thought you guys might like it," she said nonchalantly.

"Like it?" Snow squeaked.

"Oh honey...we love it," Snow cried, as she hugged her daughter tightly. David joined her and cradled Emma's head.

"I'm glad," she replied, as she swiped a few of her own tears away.

"We love you so much," David said.

"I love you guys too," she said.

"Okay...who wants pancakes?" David asked. There was a chorus of me's and David took to the kitchen to cook for his family.

The next day when Emma stopped by her parents loft, she wasn't surprised to see that they had the poster put in a nice frame and displayed with pride as their most prized possession.