Night time talks

SweetMemories asked for a oneshot of Emma waking up from a bad dream and having a late night heart to heart with her father.

She just couldn't rid herself of dream. There was something about it that didn't sit right. There was no point in sitting in her bed unable to sleep. Emma decided to get up and watch a bit of TV to take her mind off the dream. Slowly, she crept downstairs and over to the TV to plug it in.

"Emma?" Someone whispered. Emma jumped, narrowly avoiding hitting her head off the corner of the TV. "What are you doing up so late?" Emma turned to see her father curled up on the couch.

"Jeez dad, you nearly gave me a heart attack." Emma whispered before shrugging. "Just couldn't sleep. Thought TV might help, what are you doing up?"

"I was tending to Neal and I always find it hard to get back to sleep when I'm up, didn't want to wake your mother. Now, do you want to tell me the real reason you're up so late?" Charming challenged her. He chuckled at the look of surprise on Emma's face. "Emma, I know you. You seem to think because you can tell when others are lying you don't give off any tells yourself." Charming told her. Emma felt her cheeks heating up slightly.

"Oh." She said, looking down at her feet. Charming sat up on the couch, patting the space beside him.

"Come on, spill." He told her.

"It's really not that big a deal." Emma sighed, coming and sitting on the couch beside him. "Just a bit of a bad dream, that's all." Charming wasn't so convinced it wasn't that bad a dream. If it wasn't too bad Emma wouldn't be down here, but he didn't want to push her too much so he went slowly.

"Oh? What happened in this dream then?" He asked her. Emma squirmed a bit, feeling a little uncomfortable.

"Really, it's not that big a deal…"

"Well then you won't mind sharing then." Charming responded. Emma sighed huffily, seeing that she wasn't going to win this one.

"It's the Dairy Queen." She started. "There's something about her…and I can't shake it. In my dream she had you and mom kidnapped. And no matter how hard I tried I couldn't save you. She was just too powerful. I know it was just a dream but there's something about her that makes me wary. Like she really does have some sort of power over me and soon she will start hurting the people I love and I won't be able to help…"

"Hey," Charming hushed her, putting an arm round her shoulders and pulling her over. "That's not going to happen. She won't get close enough for that to happen. We'll stop her soon. She's not going to hurt anyone in this family, I promise."

"You can't promise that." Emma mumbled.

"Yes, I can." Charming said firmly. "It's my job to protect this family. And I won't let you down, alright?"

"If you say so." Emma sighed. Charming gently kissed the top of her head.

"I do. Now, go on back upstairs. You need a good night's sleep." Emma raised an eyebrow.

"You and mom haven't had a good night's sleep in a month and you seem to be managing." She pointed out.

"Yes, true. However, you might be an adult now but we're still the parents and you're still the child. So up you go." He told her, gently nudging her shoulder. Emma rolled her eyes, getting up.

"Alright, I'm going. Night dad…thanks." She told him.

"Any time honey." He responded. He settled back down on the couch when she was upstairs. He decided he'd make pancakes for breakfast to make his baby smile.