A/N Didn't think I would update this today and wasn't sure where I was going with this but it all just hit me and ended up with this piece. Hope you like it :) Lots of mushy Snow/Emma and even Red. Up next Charming/Emma :)
Please review, the more response I receive the faster the next one will be up! (no promises though as I work through the weekend)
And if I do forget to update feel free to poke me on tumblr. I sometimes do need some nagging!
Now enjoy :)
"You've been quiet the entire way." Snow broke the silence as David pulled up the car next to their apartment. Emma was soundly asleep in Snow's arms, too tired from the entire hectic day they had and it was the only comfort Snow received after all the news, to have her child so innocently asleep, with no objection whatsoever that she kept stroking her curls.
"It's my fault" Charming said out loud finally.
"No, Charming, no" Snow looked at him with her pleading eyes. "If it's anyone's fault it's both of us. You heard him, it couldn't happen without us both wishing the same thing, so don't even try to blame yourself"
"But I kissed her, I shouldn't have!"
"You are her father for goodness sake, you're allowed to kiss her goodnight as you please. We just need to stop the blame game and move on. What's done it's done, now all we need to make sure she stays well, safe and I'm more concerned about this magic thing." Snow admitted placing a kiss on Emma's head. "She sure as hell isn't strong to handle it yet."
"And then there's Regina" Charming added tiredly.
"You're right" Snow became thoughtful.
"Okay, how about we call it a day" Charming yawned. "And see what brings tomorrow?"
Snow nodded, too occupied with her thoughts. Charming knew that familiar look which never brought any positive thoughts, so he was quick to assure. "Everything will be fine. At least she's not stuck at 4 forever" he tried to encourage her with a smile.
Snow weakly smiled back, nodding. She held up Emma wrapping the baby blanket around her and then following David inside their home.
"Can we have her sleep with us tonight?"
"Sure. I think that's best, we'll need to figure out sleeping arrangements after, because we can't leave her upstairs alone now" David agreed.
Snow nodded grateful he felt the same way. After everything that happened and could potentially happen they couldn't take the luxury to risk anything else to add up to this troubling events pile. If it takes to get a new place, more little-Emma-friendly, then shall be it.
"And" David thought whether to say this now. "I also think we need to get on with our lives"
Snow nodded understanding his position. The life didn't stop after all.
"I'll go down to the station tomorrow and take care of everything that's behind, but if you'll need my help just call me and I'll be there sooner than you can blink okay?"
"We'll be fine" Snow kissed her husband. "I'm actually looking forward to do things I was never able to do with Emma" she added with a grin. Charming chuckled imagining what this could be and nodded.
Snow unconsciously thought she heard some sort of noises through her sleep, but the sleep was so tempting it just kept pulling her in. All tiredness still lingering from Enchanted Forest had been catching up and she's been sleeping better than ever. Strangely enough she forgot entire world until sudden...
"WAKE UPPPP" and that was it. Snow's eyes flew open, blinking few times as her heartbeat was racing like mad.
A little silhouette came into the view slowly, blonde head….
"Emma" Snow sat right up remembering the very present day again.
"WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP" she now realized Emma was jumping up and down on the bed as if she just consumed entire can of sugar or…
"What the…" Snow looked around, Charming's place in bed was empty, she remembered his promise to go to check the station, then she stared back at Emma who wouldn't stop jumping up and down. "Ok enough!" Snow cried out picking up Emma. "What's with the shouts?"
"WHERE'S MY SURPRISE" Emma said very matter of factly.
Snow stared at her all confused.
"What surprise?"
"You promised me a surprise!" Emma started to get mad now all too much reminding her adult daughter.
Holy crap. Charming.
Damn.
"Oh." Snow gasped. "The surprise!" she started to break her head thinking of anything at all.
"Yeah, it's not there. I checked" Emma replied very seriously.
"You….what?" Snow jumped out of the bed. "How long have you been awake?"
"A while." Emma replied innocently, following Snow. "WHERE'S MY SURPRISE"
Snow walked out of the bedroom, not even bothering to put any slippers or robe on, much too predicting she's not going to like what she's going to see and she was right.
Her hand automatically went to cover her mouth.
That entire flat was a mess was an understatement. There were all cupboads opened, things put out, rugs moved, some suspicious substance all over the floor, with a shattered glass which it most likely came from, chairs everywhere.
"WHAT HAPPENED HERE." Snow nearly screamed out.
"There's no surprise there, you lied!" Emma retorted very honestly following her as Snow was checking the damage. "I want my surprise!"
"EMMA" Snow screamed instantly picking Emma up. She realized that instant that the girl was following her barefoot and cursed herself not thinking to order her to stay back when she went to check. Then she couldn't understand how did she not even get up when this storm was happening?
"Okay." Snow breathed walking back to the bedroom and placing Emma on the bed. "First of all. You CANNOT just go and do this mess, you should have woken me up!"
"I wanted to see the surprise" Emma defended herself now putting a whiny note in her tone.
"Well, since you just decided to help yourself like this, there will be NO surprises for you!" Snow lectured Emma feeling upset with everything she just encountered. There was no way in hell she ever expected to receive this kind of surprise herself for that matter. Never.
Emma's eyes instantly filled with tears. "I HATE YOU" Emma screamed out angry and got off the bed stomping off in a very angry manner.
Snow gasped, her eyes filling up with fresh tears. There's one thing she's not expected or desired to hear from her child ever. "Emma" she grabbed the girl before Emma could get out of the room.
"I WANNA GO" Emma wiggled out of her hands.
"No, Emma, wait" Snow blinked the tears in her eyes, wiping them off quickly and putting Emma back on bed. "Okay, look, when your father comes back you'll get a surprise! I'm sorry." she replied defeated. And hurt.
And just like that Emma instantly stopped crying or being angry. "Really?" she looked at Snow excitedly. Snow stared at her without comprehending how from such a foul mood she could turn into a happy little kid again.
She decided she was surely not equipped to be a mother yet. At all. This was never supposed to be this hard.
"Yeah" Snow said giving up. "Please, sit down and wait here" Snow looked around everywhere in her room, remembering her experience in school, she decided she had to have Emma occupied, that usually worked with kids that were too hyper and could not sit down calmly for a second. It appears now, her own daughter was one of them.
Snow grabbed one of the old books and some pens from her bag and shoved it to Emma. "Just wait here a second."
Snow then grabbed her phone walking to the kitchen and grabbed first things she encountered to start cleaning. She was too scared Emma would stumble upon some shattered glass and injure herself, not even mentioning the fact that they had to eat now. She began swiping the floor with one hand whilst holding phone to her ear after dialling a number.
"Hello?"
"Red, please please, can you come over?"
"What happened? You sounded like…OH MY GOD. What happened here?" Red blinked taking in the entire scene in front of her. Basically, she's not seen Snow's apartment, any place honestly, to be in this state…like ever.
Snow smiled sheepishly. "Can you believe this is after I cleaned a bit, it was worse before."
Red opened her mouth, then closed. No sound coming out. Then stared at Snow concerned. "Regina?"
"Nope. Emma"
"Emma? What in the world would posses her to do that? Did you guys get into a fight?"
"Well. You could say that. I need to show you something." Snow cleared her voice, nervously taking Red's hand and walking her to the bedroom.
Red stared, standing still as if her entire body had became numb, she didn't even dare to breathe.
"I…is…th-a" Red tried to speak, nothing really coming out.
There was a tiny back turned at them, blonde curly head from what Red could see and very tiny human being, who was actually now drawing on the wall.
Hearing unfamiliar voice, Emma turned observing her mother and a new adult, who was pale as a paper and then Snow smiled at her and dragged the human out. Emma shrugged and continued her masterpiece.
"EMMA?" Red finished finally her voice having a shrieking noise to it.
"Yeah" Snow affirmed, waiting for Red to say anything.
"But…how"
"Apparently, her magic acted up and she regressed back in time…Kind of Charming and mine fault to be honest, we were just talking about missing her life and Gold thinks this resulted in Emma unconsciously satisfying our curiosity."
"Oh." Red paused taking everything in. "Why is she drawing on your walls?"
Snow didn't expect that question. "Oh. That. It's fine. At least she's not breaking stuff" Snow giggled nervously.
"Okay. Honey, no." Red took Snow's hand and dragged her to the couch. "Oh my God, Snow you're bleeding"
"It's fine!" Snow got embarrassed pulling her hand out hiding it behind her back.
"No it's not fine!" Red went to take a little towel from the sink making it wet with cold water. "Hold it to stop bleeding." Snow obliged to her best friend's orders. Red had a way to make her listen as always.
"Now, tell me what's wrong, why is everything going insane here and where's David?"
"He's at the station, he left early, actually he told me to call him, but I didn't want to bother him." Snow looked at Red's eyes, then decided to fess up. "To be honest I just didn't want him to think I can't handle Emma on my own."
"Well, I guess the curiosity is answered now, I see Emma hasn't change that much since she was 4 then, has she?" Red giggled. "I mean sure, she may not break your entire apartment at 28 but..."
"She did break a toaster once" Snow smiled a little.
"See. And well other things. Anyway, these things happen. She's a kid, she needs to be taught as well."
Snow bit her lip nervously. "I feel like I'm failing, Red. I fail like a mother, I don't know what to do, how to be around her. I thought this will be so much easier, like she's my own daughter and it should come naturally! But it doesn't! No one has ever taught me this. I just…"Snow sniffled. "Miss my mom I guess. She always knew what to do. And my dad. "
Red held Snow's hands in hers. "Listen to me, you're doing amazing. The fact that you love your daughter more than anything, is already proof enough you're the best mother ever." Red smiled. "I saw you with Emma, I don't care she's 4 or she's 28, you love her and you would do anything, you would jump into unknown portal so she'd never be alone again, you made the hardest decision of your life giving her the best chance"
"Which really wasn't…"
"No, listen to me! You always put her first, you wanted the best for her. If that's not being the best mother I don't know what is." Red smiled.
"She told me she hated me" Snow tried to keep her tears in but failed.
Red reached out wiping Snow's tears. "She's a toddler, toddlers say stupid things like that, that they don't mean. I know for fact she doesn't hate you. Tell me, who jumped in front of Cora saving you a heart?"
Snow smiled a little. "But she was 28 there."
"She's still same Emma. Magic can't alter that much, if there's one thing I'm sure that even in this size she still loves you more than anything.
Snow nodded, feeling much better now.
"Now, there's one thing I always fancied is to have my own time with my goddaughter, can I?" Red asked excitedly.
"Yes, please don't say anything to her" Snow hugged Red.
Red just winked in response. "Please don't move, rest here and I'll be back in few seconds. "
"Okay" Snow promised.
Knowing Snow was far enough not to hear anything, grateful to her amazing hearing, Red took a liberty to do what she planned on since probably the moment when Snow shared with her she was pregnant back in Enchanted Forest. It has been one of the most amazing moments in Red's life and there was no question about how much she was going to be involved in Emma's life. Even at times like these.
"Emma stop it!" Red scolded the little girl who was on her tiptoes finishing to draw something akin to a tree.
Emma turned around surprised to see the unfamiliar adult back there.
"You can't just draw on the walls!" Red walked over grabbed her and put her to sit on the bed. "Your mother gave you a book why don't you use that?"
Emma scrunched her face not happy at all. "Because I want to!" she sure as hell didn't like to be ordered around.
"Okay, look, Emma" Red held the girl by her waist putting her to sit on her lap. Glad Emma didn't seem to mind that.
"I want to talk to you seriously, Emma." Red started, getting Emma's attention, who didn't wiggle and waited now curiously.
"I'm your aunt Red. Your mom is my best friend in entire world and she's like a sister to me. You know what it is right?"
Emma slowly nodded looking down. Red smiled caressing her head. "Which means, I love you so so much I would do anything for you too. Because ever since you were in your mom's belly, you made your mom so happy. And me."
Emma looked at Red with her full attention now. She's never heard a story quite like this before.
"And we were so excited for you to come. You know, your mom wanted to get all the most beautiful dresses, dolls and your dad was unaware you'll be a girl still at that point. But your mom was so excited, she even picked your name when she found out about you. This is how much she loved you even before you came into this world."
Emma stared at Red with wonder.
"So, we would make plans, how we would show you the most beautiful places in the forests, I would take you to see all the amazing animals, teach you everything I know, maybe even… you know, I sometimes, turn into a wolf" Red tried carefully waiting for Emma's reaction, whose eyes grew large.
"Really? Coooool" Emma gasped in wonder.
Red chuckled. Bless this little innocent Emma not touched by big Emma's sarcasm and ironic view of life. "Yes. And well I could protect you from everything."
"Thing is, we wanted you to have everything, we still do, you know your mom loves you very much?"
Emma bit her lip, then nodded slowly.
"And sometimes things hurt." Red said caressing Emma's cheek. "Words hurt a lot. When you said you hated her, she believed it and she was very sad. Now you don't mean that, do you?"
Emma shook her head regretfully. "I was sad" Emma explained looking down.
"Why were you sad?"
"Because they promised surprise and….and there was no surprise."
"But you did the mess in the kitchen right?"
Emma shrugged.
"It's not good Emma, you can't do that. It makes people sad. When you do bad things, it hurts. Just like when you fall down and your leg hurts, you understand me?"
Emma nodded. "I'm sorry"
"Well, you need to apologize to your mom. And when your mom was cleaning everything she's hurt her hand, so you need to help her okay?"
"Okay" Emma's eyes watered.
"Nothing ever will change the fact that your mom and dad love you more than anything in this world, okay? You're perfect the way you are, Emma, whatever you do, but you have to promise me to try to be good too and love them and think about them when you do something."
"I promise" Emma nodded.
"And if you do bad things your mom will be upset, you will have to learn things too. If she says you did bad you have to listen and not do it again."
Emma nodded. "Red?"
"Tell me, baby." Red took Emma's hand in hers, fascinated how small it was in comparison to hers.
"If mom and dad love me, how come they only found me now? How come bad people hurt me before?" Emma asked shyly.
Red felt a sharp pang in her chest. "Well, Emma. Sometimes you know there are bad people in this world who do bad things to others, they don't want others to be happy. One bad person didn't like your mom and she didn't want your mom to be happy. And having you and your dad - your mother would have had all the happiness she ever wanted. So she made a curse which separated you. But now you're together and no one will ever separate you from them, okay? You will never ever have to go anywhere."
Emma smiled. "I don't want to go anywhere."
"You won't. And me and so much more people will protect you." Red pointed Emma's nose who giggled in response.
"Auntie?"
"Yes?" Red's chest filled with the warmest sensation ever.
"Can I go with you when you're wolf?" Emma asked excitedly.
"We'll have to ask your parents about that….."
Snow checked her hand, which seemed fine now, towel stopped the bleeding and the cut didn't seem too big. She pulled up from the coach walking over to find a band aid so she could continue cleaning the mess only then stopping in her tracks as she noticed Red walking out with Emma, holding Emma's hand. Snow's mouth opened in surprise, taking in the most precious view in front and she guessed Red realized what her expression meant because she just giggled in response.
"Emma, you want to say something?" Red looked at Emma. Emma nodded biting her lip nervously and walked over to Snow. Snow instantly knelt in front of Emma.
"I'm sorry mommy." Emma extended her hands wrapping them around Snow's neck and hugging her mother. And just with that, Snow felt her heart exploding into million little pieces. She couldn't even help all the tears flowing from her eyes. Emma has called her mommy. For the first time ever, since that moment she held 28 year old Emma's face in her hands and her heart was doing leaps, she's not felt anything like this before.
"I won't do it again." Emma finished unaware of what was happening.
"Oh my Emma" Snow mumbled through tears hugging Emma so tightly, closing her eyes and just taking in all this bliss. So this is what happiness without any reservations felt like. Her Emma just called her mommy.
She looked up at Red who was mirroring her own expression with tears coming out and holding her mouth not to let out loud sobs and Snow just mouthed to her 'Thank you'.