Comforters
LittleSneaker asked for a oneshot an adult Emma waking up frightened during a thunderstorm and unable to find her baby blanket. Charming hears her in distress and gets her blanket out of the dryer.
It was the thunder that had woken him up originally. His sleep addled mind convincing him he had to go out and check on the sheep. But once Charming was properly awake and remembered he had no herd to care for, something else began to bother him. He could hear what sounded like agitated grumbles coming from upstairs- Emma's agitated grumbles. Slowly so as not to waken his wife or infant son, Charming rose from the bed and crept out of the room and upstairs to Emma's room. He found the door ajar just ever so slightly. He opened it just a little more so he had enough room to peek his head through to check if he had been hearing things. But he hadn't been. In the faint moonlight he could just make out Emma pulling out the drawers under her wardrobe, tearing them apart, clearly searching for something.
"Emma?" He whispered faintly. Even that was enough to make her jump. "It's just me." He said, coming fully into the room. "What's wrong honey?"
"Nothing." She mumbled. Charming could see that she looked embarrassed about something. "I'll look again in the morning. Night dad." But Charming twigged what was up. He remembered now the discussion he and Snow got into the previous day about Emma not liking thunderstorms when they'd seen in the newspaper a big one was due to come over Storybrooke. They both knew one of the few things that could comfort Emma during times like this was her baby blanket, and Snow had noticed it was getting a little dirty so had flung it in the wash in preparation for tonight. But having had such a busy evening they'd just thrown the washing into the dryer and forgotten to iron or put anything away. Charming knew her blanket was what Emma was looking for.
"One second, I'll find 'nothing' for you." He whispered. Leaving Emma confused, Charming quickly crept downstairs and into the kitchen. He fumbled around the dryer until he felt Emma's blanket and pulled it out. He headed back upstairs and gently tossed it to her. "There you go Em." He whispered. "Sleep well." Emma looked at the blanket in shock, how had he known? She still felt a little embarrassed about the whole thing and could feel heat rushing to her cheeks.
"Ah, thanks dad." She mumbled. "You too." Charming smiled as he backed out of her room and headed back down to his own bed. Sometimes, dads just know.