No sleep tonight
Sarah asked for a oneshot of Charming sitting on the stairs during 4x13 thus guarding both Emma and Neal and Emma finds out.
She woke up in the middle of the night needing a glass of water. Emma contemplating for a moment putting up with the uncomfortable dry mouth rather than leave her warm, cosy bed to trudge down to the kitchen to get her water. But no, it was clear after only a few moments that unless she quenched her thirst she wasn't getting back to sleep. Quietly so as not to wake anyone else up (especially her brother) Emma moved out of her room and started heading down the stairs. But as she approached the bottom she could just make out the silhouette of her dad sitting.
"Dad?" She whispered. "What are you doing here?" Fortunately for Charming it was too dark for Emma to make out the bottle of whisky sitting on the table beside him. He couldn't tell his daughter why he was really sitting there- that he was terrified one of the Queens of darkness would come and whisk his children away while he slept. Sitting here was the only place he could be sure they were both safe. He wouldn't sleep knowing there was a threat hovering above them. He couldn't tell Emma any of this- that would mean letting her know what might have been her destiny. He would not place that guilt on her. That was he and Snow's burden, never hers. He reached one of his hands over his shoulder and waited till Emma placed her hand in his. When she did he pulled it to his mouth and kissed her hand. A small gesture of comfort, to let her feel like everything was ok…even though it was the furthest thing from ok.
"I just couldn't sleep." Charming lied. "Why are you awake?" He asked her. Emma could tell her dad wasn't telling her the whole truth, but knew three am wasn't the time to push the matter. He seemed stressed, frightened.
"I just wanted some water." She answered him. Charming nodded and moved over on the step so Emma could slip past him to the kitchen. She came back a few moments later with her glass. "Night dad." She whispered as she headed back up the stairs.
"Good night sweetheart…are you windows all locked? It's chilly tonight, don't want you catching a draft." Charming said. Of course he was more worried about people slipping through the window.
"Um yeah." Emma said, wondering why he was so worried about her windows. Charming nodded and left Emma to go back upstairs to sleep, knowing he wouldn't be sleeping at all tonight.