Mental scars
Nan119 asked for a oneshot of Snowing fighting due to lack of sleep. Emma comes home and sees it. She runs up to her room and locks herself in the closet due to having flashbacks of childhood traumas.
"Emma come back! Emma!" Snow called after their daughter as she bolted up the stairs and into her room, the door slamming shut behind her. For the first time in over an hour there was silence in the Charming household. Snow and Charming had been fighting. They'd never fought this badly before. But they'd also never been this sleep deprived before. They loved their son dearly but they did miss a good night's sleep and it was taking its toll on their tempers. Now Emma had come home early to hear them yelling at each other and had taken it very badly.
"This has been so stupid." Charming said quietly. "None of the things we were arguing over even matter." Snow nodded in agreement as she rubbed her temple in frustration. They had both really upset Emma.
"Do we talk to her now or give it some time?" She asked, looking up the stairs.
"I'm not sure waiting will help. She might think we don't care if we leave it too long." Charming pointed out. Then, as an offer of peace, he extended his hand to Snow. Grateful for the ceasefire, she took it and together they headed up towards Emma's room. "Emma?" Charming asked as he slowly opened the door. "It's us. We just want to talk about what happened and apologise." Neither he nor Snow could see Emma, but they could both hear her somewhere in the room. Snow pointed towards the closet and Charming opened the door. There on the floor of the closet Emma was sitting. She had her hands clutched tightly around her ears, her eyes screwed shut and she was mumbling to herself. Charming gently reached for her shoulder. Emma's eyes shot open. She jumped back, looking like a deer caught in the headlights.
"It's just us." Snow said soothingly, kneeling down beside Charming. "We wanted to apologise for what you heard…Emma, is everything ok?" Emma shook her head. "Want to tell us what's wrong?"
"Can't stand the yelling." Emma mumbled, wrapping her arms around her knees. "Reminds me of when I had to leave the Swans. They both yelled a lot- about me. One why I should stay and one why I should leave. It tore them apart and it tore me apart. I can't stand yelling."
"Oh sweetheart." Charming sighed, pulling Emma into a comforting hug. "If we had known we would have never been yelling. Honey the yelling had nothing to do with you or even Neal really. And certainly neither of you are going anywhere, alright?" Emma nodded into his chest, still shaken up. Snow and Charming were still learning these little things about Emma, the terrible ordeals of her childhood and the mental scars they left behind. It didn't matter how long it took, they would work them all out, and they would never repeat this mistake again.