Not as long as usual, and not as action/plot filled, but this is actually one of my favorite chapters! It's more fluffy than anything with some great Daddy Charming. Anyway I know I promised I'd update BFA next, but I had this and I'm going abroad for 3 weeks so I thought I'd give you something rather than nothing. I SWEAR I'll do BFA when i get back. I'm done with school so i'll have nothing else to do. You all have my word!
Anyway, let me know what you think and leave me a review! As always, if you have any questions, please ask, I'll be answering them in the next chapter.
"There you are darling." Snow looked up from the pile of paperwork she had spent the better part of the morning working through. With everything that had gone on recently she had let it fall to the wayside. Thus she had been confined to her office on this beautiful morning when she would have much rather been enjoying time with her family. She smiled at the perfect blend of herself and her husband leaning in the doorway. "I was starting to wonder if you had snuck off to avoid the upcoming festivities."
"Believe me, if I thought there was a chance I could get away with it I would be gone already." Emma rolled her eye's good-naturedly walking into the office. "I've been in my final dress fitting all morning. It took far longer than I expected."
"I'm afraid that is my doing. I may have gone a little over the top." Snow admitted sheepishly. "Do you like it at least?"
"Its truly stunning." Emma assured her mother. "Opulent, a bit over the top, and there's absolutely no way I'll blend in, but stunning."
"So if it's not the dress or the ball, which as much as you go on about how much you dislike I know you secretly enjoy them." Snow studied her daughter closely. "What has you so worked up?"
Emma tried to keep the surprise off her face at her mother's question. "What are you talking about?"
"Come on Emma." Snow raised an eyebrow. "I may have missed ten years of your life but I am your mother and I know you. I can tell when something's bothering you."
"It's nothing…" Emma shook her head. "It's stupid really."
"If it's upsetting you it's not nothing." Snow pushed herself from her desk and walked around to her daughter "You can talk to me about it."
"It's just," Emma shook her head, feeling stupid for worrying about something so trivial after everything they had been through. "Everyone is going to be there."
"They all want to celebrate you and everything you've done for us." Snow assured her daughter, misreading her daughter's discomfort. "It's nothing to be worried about. We'll be by your side the entire time, not that you'll need it."
"It's not that." Emma shook her head.
Snow's eyes widened as a thought crossed her mind. "Is it not so much everyone as a certain three young men who will be there?"
"It's stupid." Emma put her hand to her forehead. "It's just… before there was the war to focus on. I couldn't think about anything else because I had to focus on that. They all understood that. But now…"
"Now there's nothing to distract you, to keep you from making a decision." Snow finished for her daughter.
"They all care about me." Emma looked at her mother. "And I care about all of them. Truly I could love them all, I could be happy with them all. But I just don't know, I can't possibly make a decision on who I love. I'm barely seventeen. I know that for most nobles that is the age where you begin courting and looking to choose a partner for the intent of future marriage but…"
"You're not most nobles." Snow replied softly.
Emma let her head fall to her hands as she dropped down onto the chaise. "There's just so much pressure."
"Emma your father and I would never pressure you into choosing someone." Snow moved to sit next to Emma, putting a hand on her daughter's knee. "Proper timelines be damned, you can choose whomever you want when you're ready."
"No I know that. I do." Emma assured Snow. "I know that you would never force me to do anything and I love you for that. The problem is that I have three incredible guys who love me and care for me and would do anything for me. And I feel so terrible that I can't make a decision for them. I love them all in different ways. I just don't know who I love the most."
"Love is a tricky thing." Snow brushed Emma's hair out of the way, revealing her daughter's worry-filled captivating green eyes. "But sweetheart it's not just about who you love the most. We love many people, not all in the same way. There is true love that comes in the form of friendship or family and then true love that is in romance. We will all love many people. But when it comes to marriage and who you choose to spend your life with, don't try to decide who you love the most, think about who you can't live without. Who is it that you can't imagine a life where you're not by their side everyday? That is how you know someone is your true love."
Emma sighed. "That's easier said than done."
"I have a feeling you already know the answer to your question my dear." Snow smiled softly. "You're just afraid to make it for fear of making the wrong decision, and for fear of hurting others."
"I'm afraid of hurting them, of pushing them away." Emma admitted. "I care for all of them. I can't imagine never seeing any of them again."
"If they truly care for you they will understand your decision." Snow took Emma's hand into her own, locking eyes with her daughter. "It may be hard at first. But eventually they will understand that you made the right decision not only for yourself, but also for them. And they will love you more for allowing them to move on and find their happy ending."
Emma looked down at the ground. "I suppose you're right."
"I know I am." Snow leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on Emma's forehead. "Now I am sorry, but I am needed in a meeting. Will you be all right?"
"Yeah." Emma nodded, pushing herself to a stand. She allowed her mother to wrap her arm around her shoulder and lead her out of the office. "I've handled harder situations with far more grace."
"That you have my darling." Snow smiled. "I'll see you tonight."
"Of course." Emma nodded, lingering as her mother disappeared down the hallway. Although the conversation with her mother had helped, it hadn't completely eased her mind. Sighing she leaned against the balcony overlooking the grand hall below. Although the ball wasn't until the following night the palace was already filled with the chaos of decorations and other necessary preparations. She became so engrossed in the synchronized movements of the workers below she didn't hear her father walk up behind her. "What where you and your mother talking so intently about?"
"Dear lord." Emma jumped and put her hand to her chest. She looked at her father wide-eyed, waiting for her heart to slow. "You scared me half to death."
"You were scared to death by that?" James raised an eyebrow.
Emma let her hand fall to her side. "Well I wasn't expecting it so yes."
"Aren't you supposed to be trained to be prepared for all situations at all times?" James teased.
"Isn't this palace supposed to be a safe place where I can let my guard down and don't have to be hyper vigilant at all times?" Emma eyed her father pointedly.
"Touché." James chuckled. "So are you going to tell me what has the two of you so serious on a day that should be so carefree?"
"Probably a topic you would prefer to avoid." Emma warned, leaning back against the balcony.
"Oh really?" James's interest was clearly peaked. "And what would that be."
Emma glanced at her father, an amused look on her face as she wondered how this would turn out. "Love."
"Love?" James repeated slowly.
"Yes." Emma nodded. Her father didn't exactly seem like he would be the most receptive to this conversation, but his advice couldn't hurt her situation. "I just keep thinking about how all three of them will be at the ball. And I know they're all far too much of gentlemen to pressure me into anything, but I can't stall forever. They're going to want an answer, and I have no more excuses to avoid it."
"I see." James nodded slowly, unsure of how to approach the situation. Everything in him screamed for him to tell her love was foolish; warn her that she was far too young, but he knew that would only alienate her on the subject. "Well I imagine whatever advice your mother gave you is far more appropriate in this situation than anything I can tell you."
"Considering you would probably tell me to take a vow of celibacy?" Emma rolled her eyes.
James held his hands up and shrugged. "I don't see the harm in that course of action."
"That's the problem." Emma laughed as she shook her head. "You and mother got so lucky. You just knew that the other person was the one. There was no confusion. You had love at first sight and just knew. It's so unfair."
"I wouldn't quite call it love at first sight." James mused. "More like contempt."
"Contempt?" Emma asked in surprise. She was sure he must have misspoke.
"Well she did attempt to rob me and then hit me over the head with a rock." James pointed out.
"You mean that didn't make you fall in love with her?" Emma teased.
"It certainly caught my interest and set me on the path to finding love." James laughed. "But love at first sight? Far from it."
"I wonder if there can even be such a thing?" Emma sighed. "I mean it seems so impossible, just seeing someone for the first time and instantly knowing they are someone you will love for the rest of your life."
"Well I for one can vouch that it's not impossible." James looked at his daughter. "I've experienced it before."
Emma's eyebrows knit together in confusion. "But you just said…"
"Not with your mother." James shook his head. "With you, and Will."
Emma's eyes widened in surprise. "Me?"
"Yes you." James reached over and took his daughter's hand into his, relishing how perfectly his fit around hers, as if he were always meant to protect her. "The moment I saw you, held you, it was like I was struck by lightning. I knew in that moment my life had changed forever. I had a new purpose in my life, and that was to protect you. I was filled with that instant, unconditional love that you can only have for your child. I had never felt a love like that before. It was so incredibly powerful. I knew I would always do whatever I could to protect you from anything in the world that might try to harm you. It seems I failed slightly at that part. "
"Hey." Emma shook her head, unwilling to let her father blame himself for something beyond his power. "You didn't fail, at least not at anything you could have controlled."
"But I should have been able to protect you." James insisted.
"There were forces far greater than anyone could have predicted that intervened in our lives." Emma reminded him softly. "You did everything you could be expected to do to protect me."
"I should have been there for you that night." James whispered, his guilt making him unable to look his daughter in the eyes.
"And if you had I would probably not be here now." Emma countered. "What happened, as painful as it was, was necessary for me to become the person I needed to be, the person who could give us all a better chance at our future. And now we have that future, together."
James finally smiled as he wrapped his arms around his daughter, pulling her close. "I need you to keep things in perspective. We've gone through all this and now you're just like every other teenage girl who's biggest concerns is making a decision between boys."
"And you know, presiding over the entirety of the magical realms." Emma replied nonchalantly as she pulled away.
James shrugged. "Well that small thing too."
Emma laughed. "My life will never be boring will it?"
"I do not think so my dear." James ran his hand over Emma's hair, his smile reaching his eyes. "But you will never be alone in it."
Emma nodded. "That's what keeps me going."
"Sweetheart." James sighed. "I know you think you have to make a decision right now, but you don't if you're not ready. This is a big decision, with big implications. But you've only just turned seventeen. You don't have to be in love right now. You're not getting married tomorrow. You can wait to make a decision."
"That's not a very good love story." Emma pointed out.
"You're seventeen." James reminded his daughter. "You don't need a love story quite yet."
"Well the minstrels will be very disappointed." Emma shook her head.
"I think they'll be quite all right." James chuckled. "You've given them more than enough material to right about." His voice took a more serious tone before he spoke again. "I know you're worried they don't want to wait, but sweetheart if they truly love you they will. You can tell them you're not ready. If it's meant to be, they will still be there in a few years."
Emma looked up at her father, trepidation in her eyes. "But what if they don't want to wait?"
"Then they aren't the one you are meant to spend the rest of your life with and they do not deserve you. Granted, I may have selfish intentions in all of this. I don't want to give you away to a boy quite yet. I want more time with you. Your true love can wait." James cupped his daughter's cheek with his hand. "You already have a man that will love you forever."
"Thank you dad. That was actually, really helpful to hear." Emma leaned forward to hug her father. "Even when I do get married, you'll always be the first man I loved."