Hurting

A guest asked for a oneshot of Snowing shouting at Emma for something she accidentally did to Neal. Feeling upset, Emma locks herself in her room and tries to self-harm. Snow realises what they've done and they have to try and stop her. Trigger alert for self harm.

Emma sat cooing at her little brother waving his fists at the toys dangling down from his play mat. Snow smiled at her children interacting from where she sat beside her husband on the couch. Suddenly, a car backfired outside. Emma jumped in fright. Her finger had been stroking Neal's face, and now there was a small gash from when she had jumped. Neal screamed out and Snow leaped into action. Snow panicked at the sight of blood on her son's face.

"I-I'm sorry!" Emma stammered, horrified with herself. "It was an accident!"

"Emma you need to be more careful!" Snow said, a bit more forcefully than she had meant. Neal had been teething, and as a result she wasn't sleeping very well at the moment. "Please, keep your fingers away from his face when your nails are so long."

"I'm sorry." Emma repeated, sounding defeated. She got up from her spot on the carpet and Snow could tell from the look on her face that she'd blown it again. Her protectiveness for her son interfering with making her daughter feel safe. "I'm going to go up to my room…let you sort him out."

"Emma, wait…" But before Snow could apologise Emma had shot out of the room and up the stairs. Snow mentally kicked herself. Neal wasn't even that hurt. Snow wiped away the small streak of blood and picked him up. Within twenty seconds he had settled again. Snow looked up to the ceiling to where Emma would be in her room. "I should talk to her." Snow said to her husband. "I seem to never learn."

"Hey." Charming said gently, coming over and wrapping his arms around his wife and son. "Don't be too harsh on yourself. We all say things we don't mean sometimes." Charming pulled away, taking Neal from Snow. "Come on, I'll go with you." Snow smiled, appreciating his support. Together they made their way upstairs. Snow gently knocked on Emma's door.

"Emma?" She asked. Emma didn't answer, but Snow could faintly hear her sobbing. "Emma, please don't cry. I'm sorry. Please, let me in."

"I'll be over in a minute." Emma croaked back. Snow winced at the sound of her voice. She had definitely been crying. True to her word, about a minute later Emma's door clicked open and she shuffled out. Snow quickly flung her arms around her daughter.

"I'm so sorry." Snow said, nearly crying herself. "I'm just tired, but that's no excuse for talking to you the way I did…"

"Snow." Charming said, interrupting the moment. Snow knew he wouldn't for no reason so broke her hug with Emma and looked to him. He motioned to Emma's sleeve. Emma tried to put her hand in her pocket but Snow gently but firmly made her keep it out. Emma was tightly clutching the edge of her sleeve to the palm of her hand, but there were faint little spots of blood just visible. Snow could also see little marks just under Emma's fingernails on the opposite hand. She'd done this to herself- probably in guilt from hurting her brother- and her reaction.

"Come on." Snow said gently, leading Emma to the bathroom. Emma whimpered, but allowed her mother to lead her on. Charming stood with Neal at the doorway, watching on anxiously. Snow grabbed one of Neal's baby wipes and again firmly removing Emma's hand from her sleeve to get access to the little wounds. She carefully wiped the little smudges of blood away before pulling her wrist up to her mouth and kissing it.

"What are you doing?" Emma asked, surprised.

"Kissing it better." Snow answered her. Charming smiled at his wife's motherly actions. Emma still needed them to care for her, and it a nice touch of Snow to kiss it better- show Emma that they care. "I shouldn't have shouted at you that was very wrong of me. I overreacted. But please don't every do this to yourself again. I don't want you getting hurt by your nails just as much as your brother." Snow told her, gently touching Emma's cheek. Emma looked at the floor, unable to look either of her parents' in the eye. "There. All better." Snow told her, letting go of her wrist. "You can go back through now, if you want. Have some quiet time?" Emma nodded, getting up and slipping past her father and into her room. Charming came over and kissed his wife's forehead.

"You did good." He reassured her. "She needed you, and you didn't let her down."

"But it was my fault she was feeling so low in the first place." Snow pointed out.

"Yes, and you fixed it." He told her. "It's going to be ok. She'll be ok." He told her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. Snow nodded, relaxing into her husband's embrace. Emma wasn't ok just now, both her parents knew that. But with their help- she would be.