Emma in the middle

Swifty asked for a oneshot of Emma being the rebellious middle child. Her older sister is the air to the throne and- in Emma's eyes- the favourite. Her little brother is the only boy and the baby. There's a reason why Emma's sister has the name that she has. Well done if you work it out!

Snow smiled as her husband twirled her gracefully around the dancefloor as the song came to an end. Charming leaned down and kissed his wife softly on the lips.

"Thank you for the dance, malady." He said with a cheeky wink. Snow returned the smile and gave him an elegant curtsey.

"You're more than welcome, good sir." She responded. Their game could have gone on for hours had a worried looking Rapunzel not came over.

"Rapunzel, what's wrong?" Charming asked her. "Has a villain come in? Do you need help defending your palace?" Rapunzel shook her head.

"No, it's nothing like that." Rapunzel said. She bit her lip slightly and Snow would almost say she looked slightly embarrassed. "It's Emma. It appears she's sneaked some punch into the youth Ball and has had a little too much to drink." Rapunzel explained. "Nobody else knows except the other teens and one of my waiters. They came and told me and I wanted to come straight to you before people started talking." Snow now understood why she looked embarrassed.

"Why didn't her brother or sister stop her? Or come and tell us?" Charming asked.

"She may have locked them in a broom cupboard." Rapunzel said reluctantly. "We've got them out now." Snow nodded.

"Thank you. I am so sorry about this, Rapunzel. I do hope it hasn't spoiled your birthday. I promise you Emma will be punished severely."

"My birthday hasn't been spoiled at all. Don't be too hard on her. We all make mistakes." Charming gave another apologetic look before he and his wife headed out of the Ballroom. There sitting in the corridor with a servant watching over her was Emma.

"Well look who it is!" Emma said when she spied her parents. "The great Snow White and Prince Charming!" Snow and Charming came over to their daughter.

"Thank you for watching over her. We'll take it from here." Charming said, dismissing the servant. The man scurried off and left the couple to discipline their daughter. Charming turned to give Emma a fierce gaze. "Do you have any idea how disrespectful this was?" He said sternly. Emma just shrugged her shoulders. "Don't you give me that attitude young lady, this is totally over the line! This was completely unacceptable. Did you think at all?" Emma didn't answer.

"Emma don't you think you're in enough trouble without adding cheek?" Her mother warned. "Have you thought about Rapunzel? This is her birthday Ball, Emma. Doing this was completely selfish…" Snow stopped when Emma scoffed. "Oh, you think this is funny?" Snow said in a low, dangerous voice. "Well clearly I'm missing the joke so do explain."

"I'm the selfish one?" Emma slurred. "Remind me why we're at this stupid Ball?" Emma said.

"Keep your voice down Rapunzel could come out here." Snow snapped. "Emma you're acting like a child. Yes, if your sister found a nice suitor that would have been a bonus. But we're not just here for Marali, if you or Neal had found someone that would have been just as lovely. We are also here to celebrate with our friend Rapunzel…"

"What else was today mom?" Emma cut in. "What happened this morning?" Snow's brow furrowed together in confusion- what was Emma talking about? Charming's eyes closed and he felt his heart sink as he realised what Emma was referring to.

"Her crossbow tournament." He said quietly. "It began today." Snow's eyes widened in horror when she realised. Emma just flicked her wrist.

"There we go- gold star to dad." She said sarcastically. "It would appear that neither of you even noticed I was missing, but then that's just typical isn't it? You would have been too busy making sure Marali looked like the golden girl that she is to care what I looked like tonight let alone how my tournament went." Emma snapped.

"Emma that's just not true." Snow said as she attempted to place her hand on Emma's cheek but Emma jerked away. "We'll go to every match for the rest of the tournament- both of us."

"That's assuming I got past the first stage." Emma snapped.

"Well of course you did angel, you're the best with a crossbow in the whole kingdom. You're mom's right- we'll be at every round from now on…"

"Until something more important comes along!" Emma shouted. "Like if Marali has a series of elocution lessons you have to attend with her. Or if Neal has knight training in another kingdom. Whatever happens I'll just have to suck it up as usual." She finished bitterly. Snow and Charming hadn't been expecting that. How long had she been holding this in for?

"Emma none of that is true. We have made a promise to you and we will keep it." Snow said. "Now, you're both overtired and have had far too much to drink. We're taking you home, come on." Snow said, helping the slightly unbalanced Emma to her feet.

"Yeah, like that'll happen? Golden girl and wonder boy? You always ride with Marali dad and mom you always ride with Neal. I'm always left with whichever servant is unfortunate enough to get stuck with me because who cares if I get taken by some villain? I'm just the mistake-"

"Don't you ever call yourself that." Charming said, his heart breaking that Emma would even think that.

"Well it's true! You got the perfect little girly girl with the heart of gold to be your heir. You've got your brave little knight to take over George's old section of the Kingdom. I'm just the one in between who could have easily been missed out." Emma said bitterly. Snow took Emma's face in her hands and forced her to look at her.

"When you were conceived…"

"Eww mom that's disgusting." Emma said, screwing up her face in protest. Snow pressed a finger gently against Emma's lips.

"When you were conceived," Snow began again "all your father and I knew was that we were going to have another baby. We didn't care then if you were a boy or a girl we knew we'd love you just as much as we loved Marali. Then when Neal was conceived we knew the same again. We knew we'd love all three of you equally regardless of your genders. That is still true to this very day, Emma. You are just as loved as both your sister and brother and don't think for one second that you aren't. Now, we're taking you home. I'm sure Rapunzel will have some guards spare tomorrow who can accompany your siblings." Snow decided that tonight was not the time to bring up locking them in a cupboard. Charming could see how unsteady Emma was on her feet so he picked her up and carried her out to the carriage. Snow joined them after quickly letting Rapunzel know of the situation. She sat beside Emma and gently pulled Emma's head down so it rested in her lap. Charming took his jacket off and draped it over her. Neither could deny the slight awkwardness and coldness between their youngest daughter and them. Had they really subconsciously favoured their other two children? No, surely not. Surely that was just Emma overreacting? But the ins and outs didn't matter right now, what mattered was that's how Emma felt and they would not have her go on feeling that way. They would stay true to their word and make sure they attended every single round of Emma's tournament, everything else be damned. They would fix things with Emma, they would not leave one of their children feeling like she was worth less than the others.