A/N: Hey guys! I am so incredibly, incredibly sorry for my absence. I have so many ideas for the story once Emma is older, but its very difficult right now, simply writing about Emma and Snow's normal life. I'm going to try and get these chapter out faster, but expect Emma to possibly start aging more quickly. Enjoy the chapter, and thanks for sticking with this story!
That October, Emma had just turned six. She and Snow were in the costume store to get something for Halloween.
"Mama Mama! You should get a Snow White costume" Emma said.
"Oh Emma" Snow said. "I don't think they make Snow White costumes for grownups like me."
"Sure they do!" the enthusiastic Emma exclaimed. "We'll find one! Come on Mama you need a costume for the Halloween party and this would be perfect!" Emma and Snow were throwing a Halloween party this year, and inviting all of Emma's school friends. Snow thought it would be a fun experience. She couldn't take Emma to balls, so she wanted to be able to give her parties.
"Why don't you be Snow White?" Snow suggested as she looked down at her daughter, who was now grasping onto her leg. Snow walked over to the rack of princess costume and picked out a Snow White dress in Emma's size. "It would look very pretty on you."
"But you're Snow White not me! I'm gonna be Cinderella!" Emma smiled and picked the blue sparkly dress off the rack. Snow smiled, chuckling at her daughter's enthusiasm. Now that she had spent some time in this world, she was upset that Halloween was not celebrated in the Enchanted Forest. It was actually rather fun.
"You can be whoever you want to be Emma" Snow said. "But I don't think…" Before Snow could finish her sentence she heard a shout from the other end of the store.
"Look Mama!" Snow glanced at her leg and noticed that Emma was no longer standing beside her. Confused, she followed the sound to find her six year old daughter standing by…what else…an adult sized Snow White dress.
Snow walked over and saw Emma staring up at her, grinning from ear to ear. She could see the longing, the wonder in her eyes. Emma was just a little girl, and just like any other little girl would be, she was enchanted with the notion that her mother was a princess. Snow in that moment knew, the battle was over. She had to give in.
"Alright Emma" she said, plucking the dress off of the rack. "You win" Emma began jumping up and down and then, holding her own costume in one hand and her mother's finger in the other, she skipped through the aisles of the store.
"This dress is gonna look so beautiful on you mama" she said.
A few days later, Emma sat anxiously on her couch, swinging her legs back and forth. Snow was in the kitchen preparing pumpkin pie. Out on the table, there were all sorts of chips and snacks. All of the appetizers were cooking in the oven. Snow wiped sweat from her brow, the heat from the oven filling the entire house.
The doorbell rang and Emma squealed, skipping around the living room in delight. Snow chuckled and opened the door. Standing there, dressed in a Peter Pan costume was Emma's best friend.
"Tamara!" Emma shouted excitedly, rushing towards the girl with open arms. The girls embraced, jumping up and down.
"You look so pretty!" Tamara said.
"And you look awesome!" Emma replied. Snow greeted Tamara's mother, a woman who she had met in the shelter on the first night there.
"Hello Karen" Snow said. Karen smiled, but Snow could tell it wasn't genuine. The woman didn't want to be here at the moment, that was clear. This was normally the expression that she wore
"Hi" Karen said, not doing a good job at faking sincerity. She looked Snow up and down. "I see Emma wrangled you into dressing up".
"Well it is a costume party!" Snow laughed, struggling to not scowl herself. "I see you didn't dress up"
"Oh well unfortunately I can't stay. I have some important errands to run" She cracked another fake smile. It quickly faded.
"Oh are you sure?" Snow said, forcing herself to sound as sweet as possible. "I'm sure Tamara would love to have you here"
"No. Im afraid I have a lot of work to do. Speaking of which, would it be okay if Tamara slept over tonight?"
"Not a problem at all." This time, Snow meant what she said. She was always happy to have Tamara spend the night, as she didn't know how much affection the child got at home. The situation now was a continuous pattern. At every party, she would watch Tamara frown as her mother left, when all of the other children's parents were in the living room.
"Well I'm afraid I have to go now. Bye Tamara." Karen said, walking towards the door.
"Bye Mommy" Tamara said, running to give her mother a hug. Karen replied with a quick squeeze and a pat on the head.
"I love…" Tamara began, but Karen was already out the door.
It hadn't always been like this, or at least, it hadn't always been this bad. Snow had met Karen at the shelter the night she arrived with Emma. When Tamara was a baby, Karen did nothing but cuddle her. Even as she was a young toddler, Tamara was always greeted with I love yous and hugs. As the years had gone on however, the affection had gradually diminished. Emma, young and naïve to the situation, smiled at her friend.
"Come on Tammy. Let's go to my room!" she said. The girls ran off, laughing the whole way.
About an hour or so later, Emma sat on the floor in her bedroom with all of her friends.
"Emma is the dress your mom is wearing her real princess dress?!" A young brunette girl, Kelly, asked with wide eyes.
"No" Emma said, flipping through her storybook. "Her dresses were different. See?" She pointed to a picture of Snow standing in Emma's nursery. All of the girls huddled around the book, staring in awe at Emma's history.
"It's so cool that you're a princess Emma" a young girl named Lilly said. "Do you remember anything about the other world?"
"No" Emma said. "I was just born when Mommy and I had to leave."
"Did your Mommy know Cinderella?" Anna, Kelly's twin sister, asked.
"Yes" Emma said. "She went to her wedding!" All of the girls gasped.
"That's…so….cool" Kelly exclaimed.
"I wish I could be a princess" Anna said.
"Well I'm not really a princess" Emma said. "Not here anyway"
"Sure you are!" Tamara said. "Your mom is the Snow White"
"Girls!" Snow called from the other room. "It's time to bob for pears!" The group of friends got up off of the floor and ran out of the room, giggling.
A while later, Emma and her friends sat in a circle on the floor of her room eating cupcakes. She smashed one into her face, letting the purple frosting cover her nose. The young girls burst into laughter.
Just then, Emma caught a glimpse of the clock.
"Oh no" she whined. "It's almost time for you guys to go home!"
"Awwe" Lilly said. "But I wanted to read more stories from your book"
"Ya and maybe we could act them out" Kelly said
"And pretend to have a ball!" added Anna
"That all sounds like so much fun!" Emma said. She thought for a moment, then smiled. "Come on!" she shouted.
The friends rushed into the living room.
"Mommy!" she said. "Can Lilly, Anna and Kelly sleep over too?"
"Oh" Snow said. "I mean, Im okay with it, but youd have to ask their mothers"
"It's alright with me" Lilly's mother said. "Ive got some things to do around the house anyway"
"Actually" Anna and Kelly's mother said, sounding uncomfortable "Um…we have dance class in the morning, so we need our sleep. You know what um…we should probably get going girls"
"But Mommy" Kelly said. "We wanna stay and play with Emma!"
"Girls I said it's time to go home!" she sounded unnaturally angry.
"Is everything alright Alice?" Snow asked, confused.
"Ya it's fine. Im sorry" Alice said, her tone mellowing out. "We just really have to go. Thank you so much for having us though!"
"Thank you for coming!" Snow said.
Kelly and Anna hugged their friends, and soon they were gone. Emma, Tamara and Lilly smiled at each other. Holding hands, the girls chuckled and ran into Emma's room.
1 year later
The following November, Emma and Snow were walking out of Emma's school hand in hand.
"So Emma, what did you do today?" Snow asked.
"I had so much fun!" Emma said, skipping along. "We learned about counting money, and in music, we sang "When You Wish Upon a Star!"
"That's great!" Snow exclaimed. She swallowed, hesitating to say the next words.
"Emma" she said. "There's something we need to talk about"
"What Mommy" Snow stopped Emma on the sidewalk, and held her shoulders.
"Emma, your teacher called today, and she said you were having trouble seeing the board."
"What?" Emma said. She looked down. "No" she mumbled.
"Emma, I also spoke to the nurse. She said that she gave you an eye exam, and that she thinks we need to go get you a prescription for glasses" Emma jerked away from her mother's touch.
"I don't want glasses!" she shouted. "Everyone's going to make fun of me! I'm gonna look weird!"
"Emma…" Snow began. Emma continued to yell.
"I wanna be a princess. Princesses don't wear glasses!" In an instant, Emma was running. Snow chased after her, finally reaching her in front of their apartment, once again grabbing her by the shoulders. Emma's face was a mess with tears.
"Emma" Snow said gently. "Trust me. We're gonna get you glasses, and you're going to see better! They come in all kinds of pretty colors. Maybe we can get you some nice pink ones!"
"My favorite color is blue!" Emma exclaimed.
"Okay then we'll get blue ones"
"I'm still gonna be you and Daddy's princess?" Snow felt a cry catch in the back of her throat, but she swallowed it down.
"Emma" she said. "No matter what, you're always going to be the prettiest princess in all the lands." At last, Emma smiled again. Snow kissed her on the head.
"And those glasses, they're gonna look beautiful on you."
At the same time in Storybrooke, Maine, David Nolan stood with Graham at the jewelry store counter. He stared lovingly at a little blue box, and the engagement ring that sat inside of it
"You really think she's gonna like it?" David asked.
"David" Graham said. "Katherine is going to love it, simply because it came from you"
"You really think so?"
"I know so. Now hurry up, you have to get ready for the big night."
David smiled. He stared into space lovingly, thinking of his soon to be fiancée.
"This is going to look so beautiful on her" he said.