Author's Note: Another one that'll rot your teeth if you let it. I'm still not sorry. ;)
The bright morning sun shone down on the red nylon of the tent in just the right way for red-tinged light to play upon Snow's face and gently pull her from her slumber. Inhaling deeply through her nose, she stretched her arms and legs and tried to turn over onto her back. "Tried" being the operative term, because as the veil of sleep slowly lifted, she discovered that her back was pressed up against her husband's torso. Apparently she'd cuddled up to him during the night.
Not that Charming seemed to mind; at some point, he'd draped his arm over her side with his hand dangling in front of her stomach, hugging her to him. His arm tightened around her at her movement, telling her that he was awake. She rested her elbow on top of his and lazily traced soft lines up and down his forearm with her index finger.
"I was wondering when you were going to wake up," his soft voice whispered into her ear.
A smile curled onto her lips as she turned her head to meet her husband's gaze. From the amount of clarity in his eyes, she gathered he'd been awake for a while. "Good morning."
"Morning," he replied just as softly. After a beat, he leaned down for a kiss.
She pressed her lips back against his, swiftly getting lost in the togetherness and the stillness of the early morning. Just her and Charming …
Snow pulled away with a soft gasp. It wasn't just her and Charming. Emma and Henry were there, too, squeezed into the tent with them. "It's all right," David whispered, chuckling quietly. "The kids are still asleep."
She let out a breath of relief, if only because daughter and grandson catching her making out with her husband would have been rather embarrassing. It wouldn't have been quite as embarrassing as the day the two of them came home early with the fixings for the tacos, though. "Speaking of," he said, nudging her to recapture her attention, "do you remember how I mentioned that you were a bed hog?"
"I do," she teasingly replied, slightly sleepy eyes still focused on his face.
"Well, I think our daughter has you beat."
Snow's brow knit in confusion but when she turned her head, she understood not only David's statement but also the reason she'd woken so tightly nestled against him. Emma was lying on her side facing them but she'd vacated her own sleeping spot and had taken over half of Snow's pillow.
Grinning softly, Snow reached out to tuck the curls that had fallen across Emma's face during the night behind her ear. "She used to do the same thing in the Forest," she murmured to her husband as she gently drew her hand back. "I would wake in the morning to find her practically on top of me."
"I'm sure she was not at all embarrassed by that," he snickered.
"She never found out," Snow told him, a smile tugging at her lips at both the memory and her soundly sleeping daughter. "I always scooted away when she started to stir."
"Still, I bet you enjoyed every second before you had to move away."
"Oh, absolutely."
The two of them lay together for a long moment, watching over their slumbering family and just enjoying each other's company. Eventually, David unraveled himself from his wife's grip and sat up, pushing the sleeping bag off his legs. "Where are you going?" Snow asked, sitting up herself.
"I'm going to run out get some doughnuts. I figured camping is a good enough excuse for a not-so-healthy breakfast. Any requests?"
"Nothing specific for me, but Henry likes cinnamon and Emma will probably have your head if you forget her bear claw."
"Please," he chuckled as he pushed himself to his feet. "As if I would even entertain the notion of not getting Emma a bear claw."
The joke made her smile. Smiling back at her, David slipped out of the tent with the promise of coming right back with breakfast for everyone. Left alone with her sleeping family and her thoughts, Snow lay back down on the empty half of her pillow.
She loved that David had instinctively known how much she'd enjoyed being so close to Emma in the Enchanted Forest. He obviously felt the unfairness of it all, too, just as much as she did. They had never had the chance to share lazy mornings with their daughter when she was young. They'd never had the chance to have a tiny Emma crawl under the covers of their bed and snuggle with them before everyone started the day. The togetherness and closeness parents share with their young children … they'd missed out on all of it. Of course Snow would try to reclaim as much of the time she'd missed in any way she could.
She was drawn from her reverie when Emma curled in on herself further in her sleep, her head lightly resting on Snow's shoulder. It took all of Snow's willpower to suppress the urge to gently play with Emma's curls. If her daughter woke now, embarrassment probably wouldn't even begin to cover it.
Snow lay quietly, enjoying the stillness of the morning, until she heard Henry stirring on the other side of the tent. Taking care not to wake Emma with her movement, Snow pushed herself up on one elbow to check on her grandson. He was rubbing his eyes, more awake than asleep. She gave a half-smile, remaining quiet until Henry sat up and glanced to his side to see who else was awake. "Good morning," she whispered.
"Good morning," he whispered back sleepily. It took him a moment to notice his mother's position but once he did, he grinned at his grandmother. "I told you she was a bed hog."
"That you did," she said, smiling back at him.
Suddenly hot from the thick sleeping bag, Henry climbed out from under the covers. It was only then that he seemed to notice someone was missing. "Where's Gramps?"
"He's out getting some doughnuts for breakfast."
The boy's eyes lit up, which made Snow grin. Times like this, there could be no doubt at all that Henry was Emma's son; the two of them certainly loved their meals. "Is he getting me a cinnamon one?"
Snow chuckled. "Now, do you really think either of us would buy doughnuts without getting you cinnamon?"
The conversation must have disturbed Emma because she moaned softly and turned onto her other side, reclaiming her own pillow in the process. Snow and Henry froze and held their breath but when Emma simply settled back into sleep, they shared a relieved a quiet but relieved chuckle. Still, Snow guessed from the frequency of Emma's movements that she would be awake by the time Charming returned with the doughnuts.
Henry darted his gaze between his grandmother and mother, clearly trying to determine something. After a brief moment of waffling, he very carefully crawled around his mother's feet to join his grandmother on her sleeping bag. At least this way, the two of them could talk without bothering Emma.
Snow smiled as she reached out to smooth down a lock of his hair that was sticking up. "How did you sleep? You didn't have any more bad dreams, did you?"
"Nope," Henry said with a little shake of his head. "Just that one."
"I'm glad."
"Me, too," he agreed with a sage nod, making Snow laugh. "How about you? Did you sleep well?"
"I did indeed." She'd spent the night surrounded by her family, after a day of family fun. Despite being woken up in the middle of the night by Emma's nightmare and then staying awake until she was sure both Emma and Henry had fallen back to sleep, she'd slept extremely well the previous night.
Henry smiled at her but before he could say another word, his stomach rumbled audibly. Both Henry and Snow giggled. "Do you know when Gramps will be back with breakfast?" he asked somewhat sheepishly.
"Any minute now," she assured him. "He left about ten minutes before you woke up."
"Did someone say breakfast?" a muffled voice asked from beside them.
Snow turned her head to find Emma turning onto her stomach. She tucked her hands under the pillow and squeezed her eyes closed as if fighting being awake. "David's going to bring us back some doughnuts," Snow told her softly.
"Mmm, doughnuts. I hope he remembers my bear claw."
Like son, like mother, Snow thought with an indulgent smile. "Not that he would forget your bear claw anyway, but I did remind him before he left."
A pleased smile tugged at the corners of Emma's mouth. "Thanks. Bear claws are the best."
"Yes, darling," Snow laughingly replied. If her daughter had been more awake, she would have reached over and teasingly patted her knee.
Emma playfully made a face at her mother before rubbing her eyes and pushing herself up into a sitting position. "Does anyone know what time it is?" she asked, squinting against the morning light.
"No, but I can find out!" Henry scrambled across the tent and dug into backpack. After a moment, he pulled out a watch Snow didn't even know he owned and glanced down at the digital face. "It's 7:53. No, wait! 7:54 now."
"Seriously?" Emma groaned, lying back down and yanking the sleeping bag over her head. "It's not even eight yet? It's Saturday! Why am I awake before eight on a Saturday?"
"It might as well be eight," Snow replied, chuckling at her daughter's display.
Emma simply grunted in response, which made Henry giggle. As he watched his mother fidget under the sleeping bag in an effort to make herself comfortable enough to go back to sleep, his eyes suddenly lit up.
Oh, Snow knew that look. That look could only mean one thing: the boy had mischief on his mind.
Her intuition was proven correct when he met her eyes, brows raised in silent question. She didn't know exactly what he wanted to do but she had a general idea. Time for a quick weighing of pros and cons, she thought.
Pro: it was time for Emma to get up anyway, what with Charming coming back with breakfast soon. Con: Emma might get upset (but even that wasn't guaranteed, so maybe she should count that as half a con). Pro: it would be funny. Con … she couldn't think of another one.
With a little mischievous grin of her own, she nodded at her grandson.
Thank you, Henry mouthed before taking a moment to prepare himself. Then, with a deep breath, he whipped the sleeping bag off his mother's face.
She cried out in surprise, grabbing blindly for the heavy covers he'd already pulled out of her reach.
"Come on, Mom," he said, latching onto her flailing hand and tugging. "It's time to get up!"
"Ugh! I give! I'm up." She yanked her hand out of her son's grasp and sat up, decidedly not pleased with this turn of events. "Are you happy now?"
"Uh huh," he giggled. "Very happy."
Snow had to bite her lip to keep from laughing out loud at the annoyed expression on her poor daughter's face. "At least you'll get a bear claw soon," she reminded her.
"A bear claw is pretty much the only reason to get up before eight on a Saturday," Emma allowed. She stretched her arms and legs in an effort to wake herself up a little bit. After a brief glance around the tent, she playfully nudged her son. "I couldn't help but notice that I woke up in my own spot. See? Looks like I'm not a bed hog after all."
Henry and Snow shared an amused grin but Snow surreptitiously shook her head at her grandson in an effort to keep him quiet. He must have understood because he simply shrugged innocently at his mother, a little smile on his lips.
What Emma didn't know, Snow had decided, wouldn't hurt her.