Come to mama
Lulu asked for a oneshot of Emma having to learn to walk again after surgery giving her parents the chance to teach her how to walk.
"Today's the day." Snow said, a mixture of worry and excitement in her voice. Charming was standing beside Snow, the same emotions clear on his face.
"I'm not so sure." Emma said quietly from her hospital bed. "I don't know if I'm ready yet…" There had been an accident at an old warehouse Emma had been investigating. A large piece of the roof crumbled off breaking both her legs. After weeks of extreme physiotherapy it was decided that today Emma should try and walk unaided.
"You're ready Emma. You can do this." Charming assured his daughter as the nurses set about getting her up and into a wheelchair to take her to the physio room for her to try. Emma could feel only dread. What if she fell? What if she hurt her legs again? She could see she wasn't really getting a choice in what happened today. She was going to have to try. "Ok," Charming said, extending his hand to Emma once they were in the room. "Ready?"
"Not really." Emma grumbled, accepting his hand. "But needs must." Charming gave a small smile to his daughter as he helped her to her feet. He pointed to Snow who was standing at the centre of the room. "You don't need to do the whole room today, just half of it. I'll be right behind you, so don't worry if you can't do it. I'll catch you. But I don't think we're going to need to worry about that. You're going to be just fine." Emma wasn't so sure. For all the room was fairly small it felt like her mom was miles away and that she'd never reach her. Charming supported her until she was balanced. And then slowly, he let her hands go. He stood behind her, hands hovering under her arms ready to catch her if she fell. She'd already been through this process with walking bars and crutches, but doing it unaided felt totally different.
"Come on Emma!" Snow called from her spot. "You can do this, honey. Just…come to mama."
"What?" Emma panted. "Not Neal." She was slowly moving forward, Charming carefully following.
"I know you're not, but you are my daughter and you are learning to walk again so I'll take what I can get. So come on angel! That's my girl, you're doing it!" Emma focused incredibly hard. She could feel her legs starting to wobble, but she was determined to reach her mom. Since she'd started, she was as well doing this right.
"Emma come on, just one more step!" Snow encouraged her, practically bouncing on the spot. Emma used a final surge of energy to step forward and collapse into her mother's arms. She heard her mom laugh out proudly. Snow reached down and kissed the top of Emma's head as Charming did the same.
"We're so proud of you." Charming told her. "That was a big leap forward today." Emma nodded, exhausted. Snow and Charming looked at each other knowingly before Charming carefully scooped Emma up into his arms and carried her back to the wheelchair. "Come on kiddo. Let's get you back to bed. You've earned a rest."
"I'll say." Emma grumbled, head drooping in her chair as her dad wheeled her back. Snow and Charming couldn't stop grinning. Snow wanted to grab every person they passed and let them know her daughter had just walked by herself again despite some people saying it might never happen. But Snow and Charming always knew it would. They had a strong daughter. And she was well on her way to getting back on her feet.