SORRY IT'S TAKEN ME SO LONG. HERE GOES CHAPTER 15!

DON'T OWN IT.

A loud knock echoed through the castle. Snow and James jumped up, eager to see their friends. Snow all but threw the door open, and smiled.

"Hi!"

"It feels like it's been forever." Ella said, wrapping the brunette in a bone-crushing hug.

"Uncle James!" 5-year-old Alexandra squealed, launching herself at him.

"Hey, Peanut." James chuckled. With her blonde hair and green eyes, she was what James imagined Emma looked like as a little girl. It brought a sad smile to his face.

"This isn't how I thought you'd be meeting Lexi." Thomas said, nervously shifting his weight.

"The important thing is that we are meeting her." Snow said.

"Come on in, it's cold out there." James stepped aside, the child still in his arms. The friends migrated to the kitchen where they sat down at the table.

"Are Graham and Emma done yet?" Snow asked James.

"No. Where are they?"

"Shower." Snow didn't need to say anything else to get the point across to her husband.

"Well that explains what's taking so long." He resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"I almost forgot, how's little Emma?" Ella asked, remembering the nursery Snow had proudly showed her 33 years ago- though it seemed as if it was only a few months ago.

"Not so little." James chuckled, his gaze once again resting on Alexandra.

"She's good." Snow said. "Her and Graham are getting married-" She was cut off by Ella's squeal.

"Oh my God!"

"You should help me plan." She finished.

"I would love to." Ella said.

"That's great." Thomas smiled.

"Thank you." James said. "And I apologize for them being late. They've been a little amorous lately, and we're just glad to see Emma happy."

"And Henry?"

"He's good, too. One curious little boy, I have to say." James said.

"Speaking of him, where is he?" Snow asked.

"Last I checked, he was in the stables." James answered. "I'll go get him." Just then, Henry burst in, breathless.

"Hey Grandpa! There's a carriage out-" He noticed Thomas and Ella, and finally Alexandra. "I think the carriage belongs to you." He added sheepishly, looking down at his feet.

"Hi Henry!" Ella beamed, walking over to give him a bone-crushing hug.

"Cinderella?" Henry looked up in awe.

"The one and the same." Ella gave a small curtsey. They all looked toward the stairs when laughter came floating down them.

"5,4,3,2,1," James held up his hand, each finger moving down one at a time. He had perfect timing, because Graham and Emma emerged from the top of the staircase.

"Oh my God." Ella gasped, hands flying to her mouth.

"That was my reaction, too." Graham said smoothly, easily breaking the silence as all eyes turned to Emma. She looked breath taking, her golden curls flowing to past her shoulders and hot pink dress reaching mid-thigh.

"I remember when your mom was pregnant with you-" Ella was cut off by one of Henry's hands closing over her mouth.

"I wouldn't go there." He whispered.

"Emma, this is Thomas and Ella, and their daughter, Lexi." Snow said. Emma stood at the top of the stairs, dumbfounded. Graham gave her a gentle nudge, and guided her to the bottom. Then he steered her to the table, where she managed to fall into a seat all by herself.

"She's happy to see you." James explained. "If she wasn't, she'd be half way to the meadow by now." Alexandra hopped off James and skipped over to Emma. After studying her for a moment, the five year old wrapped her in a hug.

"Hi, Lexi." Emma croaked out.

"Hi!" The girl yelled rather loudly. Emma winced, but it seemed to get her out of her trance.

"Sorry." Emma mumbled lamely. "It's a shock to see you guys."

"Can me and Lexi play a game?" Henry asked. Alexandra let Emma go and nodded her head eagerly.

"Sure." Said Emma.

"Stay inside, please." Ella said after a moment's thought.

"Yes!" Henry gave a little fist pump, and the two ran off.

"You look beautiful, Emma." Snow smiled, placing a hand over her daughter's.

"Thanks. It's a special night, and this dress is special."

"I always thought you'd have your mother's hair." Ella marveled. "You got her face, though."

"For the longest time, I couldn't tell what color James's hair was, he had it so short." Snow said, smiling lovingly at her husband. She placed a hand on his arm; lately, it felt as though they couldn't keep their hands off of each other.

"It's called a buzz cut." James retorted.

"Are they always like this?" Ella whispered, more to herself. She was grinning at her friends' antics.

"Yes." Graham and Emma answered in unison. Thomas and Ella laughed. James turned towards the kitchen.

"Is something burning?" He asked.

"Oh no…" Snow muttered, and bolted out of her seat, making a beeline for the kitchen.

"What were you making?" Emma followed her.

"Don't use the past tense; we can still save it." She frantically yanked the oven open and pulled a tray out. The smell grew stronger, and a bunch of smoke rushed out of the oven. Snow began to blow on it. "Come on…" She muttered, "don't burn."

"It's not CPR, Mary Margaret." In the midst of looking for a fire extinguisher –the thing looked like it would go up in flames any second, and Snow's blowing didn't seem to help much- Emma slipped. "I mean, Snow. Sorry, it just… That's something Mary Margaret would do." She struggled to explain.

"It's definitely burnt." Snow sighed in defeat.

"What was it?" Emma asked.

"Something out of the cookbook that I can't pronounce." She said, staring disappointedly at the charred mess.

"It's ok; I can't cook either." The blonde said, offering the shorter woman a small smile.

"I noticed. I lived with you for 5 years. You also can't clean or fix appliances." Snow gave her a smirk in return.

"That was one time!" Emma insisted. Snow raised an eyebrow at her, and Emma shut up. She followed Snow back into the dining room.

"Well, dinner's burnt, so what do you want to do?" The brunette asked.

"Skip to the alcohol consumption." Emma said, sitting back down next to Graham.

"We could make pizza." Ella suggested.

"With beer. Pizza and beer." Emma continued, earning herself a glare from James. "What? They're like peanut butter and jelly. They go together."

"I think we can do that." Snow smiled in relief. "Do you think the kids want to help?"

"I'm sure they'd love to." Ella said.

"Hey, Kid and other Kid, get down here!" Emma yelled. There was a bang upstairs, followed by giggles, and finally the sound of running. They emerged breathlessly.

"Yeah?" Henry asked

"We're going to help Snow make a pizza." Emma said

"Cool!" Alexandra squealed.

"Oh, Emma, I think I can handle the two of them, you don't need to help. I once had a classroom full of students."

"You said 'kids'. I'm your kid. I'm making a pizza with you." Emma explained her logic.

"Yeah, sure. That makes sense." Snow ushered them into the kitchen.

"What's that smell?" The others heard Henry's voice float in from the other room. They chuckled. Suddenly, Doc burst in.

"We have a situation." He said breathlessly.

"What is it?"

"Regina's heart stopped." Doc whispered so Henry wouldn't hear.

"Excuse me." James got up to get a more detailed description of what was going on.

"Where are you going?" Emma poked her head around the door.

"It's nothing, Sweetie. A horse got out." James lied, then immediately thought better of it.

"You're lying." Emma said, taking a few steps closer.

"It's really nothing you should be concerned about." He said.

"James?" Snow asked, her voice so innocent and sweet.

"Regina's technically dead, so Doc and I were gonna go deal with-"

"Were you going to tell me?" Snow clenched her fists in anger, barley keeping a steady voice. She continued at James' silence. "It's my bloodline that rules this kingdom. I was heir to the throne before Regina banished me. I was going to be Queen. It was going to be my kingdom. You don't have any right to my father's kingdom. You're only Prince because you married me." She was so close to them, their noses were practically touching. "So it's my decision. Doc, let's go." She dragged the diminutive man to where Regina was being kept.

"I'm sorry for how the evening's panning out." James offered. Emma was barely containing her laughter.

"I love my mom."

"What's happening?" Henry asked.

"Snow's going to make sure your mom's okay." Emma bent down to his level.

"Can I… can I go see her? Just in case?" Henry sounded incredibly small and fragile, and Emma couldn't say no to him when he sounded like that.

"Come on." She held out her hand, and he grabbed onto it like it was the one thing tethering him to Earth. "You," Emma glared at James. Sometimes, she couldn't get it out of her head that he wasn't David. "You, stay here and entertain the guests. Make sure the pizza doesn't burn." With that, the two set out to Regina's room.

SORRY IT TOOK ME SO LONG. I LOVED YOUR IDEAS LAST TIME, AND I'D LOVE TO HERE MORE OF THEM!