Princess Emma

I got this idea from reading other fanfiction when recovering from strep. I loved the ones that talked about how the Charming's raising Emma in the Enchanted Forest but I felt like they were missing something so I had to write it. I don't know where it's going so just roll with me.

Charming and Snow raise Emma in the Enchanted forest with the threat of Regina and King George looming. They have wanted to kill Emma since she was a child in order to take away Snow and Charming's happiness but Snow and Charming have always protected Emma. However that has become a lot harder with Emma becoming older and wanting her independence. Baby Neal and Hook will show up in this story as well.

I do not own Once Upon a Time or any of the Characters I just love them!

Snow heard bickering coming from down the hall. She loved her children but when they got into it she was ready to pull her hair out. Emma may have been older than Neal but David had recently told him that he was supposed to always protect his sister and Emma did not take too kindly to his antics. He would follow her around all the time and stop her from doing anything he felt may be remotely dangerous or against David's order.

David loved it but Emma was ready to lock him in a closet which had already happened twice last week and Snow felt that it was happening again for the third time.

"LET ME OUT!" Neal cried from inside the wardrobe. Emma had showed him in there and placed a chair up under the handles to keep him from being able to get out as she lounged on her bed admiring her work.

"Not happening" Emma responded happy to finally have Neal out from under her feet

"I'm supposed to protect you and I can't do dat from inside here" Neal shouted.

"That's kind of the point you idiot" Emma yelled back. She was just waiting for him to eventually either fall asleep or just stop talking so she could finally sneak out and do what she wanted

"Emma Ruth..." Emma heard her mother's voice echo down the hall making Emma jump off the bed and run for the wardrobe to let Neal out before she saw what she did. However she wasn't fast enough as Snow walked in just as Emma had put her hand on the chair

"EMMA! First off stop calling your brother names and second stop locking him in your wardrobe!" She scolded her daughter as she pulled the chair out form under the handles on the wardrobe followed by Neal's clumsy exit.

"Emma I have to protect you! Dad said so!" Neal said crossing his arms and stomping his foot.

"Neal you are so annoying! GO AWAY!" Emma said bending down and shouting directly into her little brothers face

"NO!" Neal yelled back

"ENOUGH!" Snow said causing the pair to stop and stair at their mother. "I can't handle this you two! Your arguing is getting out of hand" She turned first to her son. "Neal, I understand you want to protect your sister and that is very noble of you. But you also have to remember that sometimes your sister needs some space to herself. How about you put off protecting her to only times when we are outside the palace?"

Neal took a minute and thought about what his mother said. He wanted to protect his sister like his father told him but his mom might have had a point, Emma was pretty boring when she was just sitting in her room. "Okay mommy, I can do that" and with that the little man was off

"Now for you young lady..."

"THANK YOU!" Emma said flinging herself at her mother

"Oh..." Snow said a bit taken a back by her daughter's reaction

"I know I shouldn't call him names or lock him in a wardrobe but he was driving me absolutely mad! I'll apologize, I'll take a slap on the wrist whatever you come up with for punishment but I couldn't take one more day of him as my shadow!" Emma spat out from sheer frustration

"Okay...I need to take a minute. I was not expecting this reaction" Snow said completely confused by her daughter. After a beat she finally spoke "Alright, I'm going to act like all this never happened and just ask that you stop calling your brother names and locking him in various pieces of furniture...And your welcome" Snow said as she was walking out of the room but turned to give her daughter a sly smile

"This is why I love you!" Emma said feeling the relief of no longer having her brother following her every where she went. She knew this was her time to finally get some peace and quiet as well as some time away from the palace.

Emma hated how any time her family went anywhere they were always surrounded by a huge group of people. The only place she could be alone was in her room, or it was until her dad sicked her little brother on her.

She was almost thirteen years old and she felt that her parents were being completely unfair making her always have to be chaperoned everywhere she went. She understood when she was a child but she was almost a teenager. She wanted to be treated like an adult. She decided she would just have to show her parents just how adult she was.

Before she could start getting her riding gear on her mother popped her head into her room giving her a start. "Hey Emma" Snow said

"MOM!" Emma yelled startled

"Oh, Emma I'm sorry I scared you. I just wanted to let you know your father and I have a meeting with the royal council. If you and Neal need anything Sophie will be looking after you both. I trust you and your brother can play nice and not kill each other until we are adjourned?"

Sophia was Emma and Neal's nanny since Emma was a baby and watched over them any time their parents were attending to official royal business although they did their best to always have one of them be there for Emma and Neal whenever possible if not them then it was Sophie but their Aunt Red, Grannie or their seven Uncles were always a special treat.

"As long as he leaves me alone then he can continue to breath another day" Emma responded gathering her riding suit behind her wardrobe door out of sight of her mother so she could change and be out the door as soon as possible.

"I already talked to him and he agreed to leave you alone. I'm running late but I love you" Snow said as she left Emma's room

"Love you!" Emma yelled back as she began immediately changing into her riding uniform. As soon as she was changed she poked her head out into the hallway to make sure the coast was clear and immediately b-lined for the staircase she knew would get her out of the castle and toward the stables

She kept looking behind her to be sure she wasn't followed as she made her way to the stables. As soon as she was sure the coast was clear she got buttercup out of her stall and pet her nose before getting her saddled and taking off.

Emma had never felt so free as she rode to the edge of the palace grounds before finding the far gate that was never guarded. She had slipped the key from one of the guards a few weeks before waiting for the exact moment that she would be able to make her escape.

OUAT

"Princess?" Sophia said poking her head into Emma's room to check on her. She knew that Emma didn't need her very much anymore but she also knew that Emma had her own way of getting into trouble. When she was not given a response she open the door further and began to look around. Not seeing the princess she began looking up and down the halls and in each room including Neal's room where she found the little prince playing.

"Well hello little prince. Have you seen your big sister?" Sophia asked as calmly as she could as to not alarm the boy

"She was in her room last time I saw her. My mom said I have to leave her alone for right now" Neal said not looking up from the page he was coloring

"Okay, thanks Neal. You doing okay?" She asked trying to keep him in his blissful state

"Yep!" He said giving her a thumbs up.

As Sophia began to walk out Neal looked up "Sophia is Emma okay?" he asked with a bit of concern in his voice

"Oh yes she's fine. I think we just crossed paths and I missed her on my way to check on you but I'm headed to her room right now to do so. Okay?" Sophia said hoping that Neal would take her answer for now

"Can I come with you?" Neal said perking up. He figured his mom couldn't be mad at him for checking on his sister if he was doing it with Sophia.

"Why don't you stay here and finish coloring?" Sophia said knowing that she was now going to have to get word to the King and Queen that their daughter was missing and did not want Neal to be concerned with such things.

"But I miss my sister!" Neal said walking up to Sophia and giving her his best puppy dog eyes

"Next time little prince okay?" Sophia said placing her hands on Neal's head

"Fine..." Neal said a bit defeated and returned to his coloring page

Sophia quickly exited his room and made her way to where the Royal council was holding their meeting and asked the guards to notify the King and Queen of Emma's unknown whereabouts. David and Snow quickly rushed out of the meeting and were out in the hall within moments

OUAT

Emma had never felt so free in her life. She loved the feeling of the wind blowing through her hair and the smell of the meadow. She and buttercup where one being making their way along. Emma was starting to wonder what her parents found so wrong with her having this little bit of freedom as there was no one even remotely in sight that could harm her and even if there was she would have no problem outrunning them on buttercup

After a little while buttercup had slowed down and they had come to a small stream running through the middle of the meadow so Emma jumped off and led buttercup over to get a drink. She patter her horse and got out the brush to clean off some of the small bugs and twings and such that had gotten stuck to her fur.

Suddenly Emma heard a noise coming from the woods to her left. She quickly mounted buttercup and was about to gallop away when she saw a boy who could not have been much older then herself bringing his own horse to the same stream

"Hello?" Emma said a bit cautious

"Well hello there. I'm sorry to scare you. I didn't expect to see anyone out here" the young man said

"Neither did I Emma responded" she dismounted buttercup and allowed her to rest a bit longer as she went back to brushing her mane.

"I'm Thomas" the young man said after a moment of awkward silence

"I'm..." Emma paused. She wasn't sure if she should tell the young man her real name in case he recognized it and started treating her different

"I'm Mary" Emma said nervously

"Hi Mary. it's very nice to meet you" Thomas said with a slight bow. Emma answered with a small bow as well and they went back to the uncomfortable silence

"Well I better get going now" Emma said finally becoming too uncomfortable with the awkwardness

"May I see you again?" Thomas said looking up at Emma as she mounted buttercup

"We'll see" She replied

"Meet me here tomorrow, same time" Tomas said eagerly

"I'll do my best" Emma said with a small smile as her face started to blush

"Goodbye Mary" Thomas called after her. Emma just looked back with a smile and rode off back toward the palace. She knew it wouldn't be long until Sophia or her parents noticed she was missing

OUAT

"Sophia what do you mean Emma is missing?" Snow said as she began to panic

"Snow it's okay, we will find her" David said signaling for one of the guards to follow him

"I'm so sorry your majesty! I should have never let her out of my sight" Sophia said as she finally allowed her own panic to rise to the surface

Snow saw the fear in the woman's eyes and placed her hands on her arms "Sophia it is not your fault. Emma would have done this even if David and I had been watching her. We don't hold it against you in any way. You have been nothing but faithful to our family and we do not take that for granted"

"I do appreciate it your majesty but I still feel responsible" Sophia said looking at the ground

"Please don't! David will find Emma and bring her back safely! I have no doubt about that. Now would you mind going to keep an eye on Neal? I'm going go speak to David before he goes" Snow said giving the woman a kind look

"Of course" and with that Sophia was off to Neal's room. She would never let that little prince out of her sight if it was the last thing she did.

Snow then made her way to the palace entrance where she knew David would be gathering with the guards to go out and look for Emma.

"Charming please be careful out there. I want both you and Emma to come back safe" she said wrapping her arms around Charming's waist

"I always am Snow. I promise I will bring her home safe and sound" He replied looking down at her and then kissing her forehead

"I know you will" She said before she put her hands on his face and kissed him passionately

"Let's go men" Charming said mounting his horse and taking the lead of the search party

OUAT

Emma came to the far gate where she had snuck out originally and dismounted buttercup to unlock the gate. After walking buttercup through and relocking the gate she decided that it was not a good idea to keep the key on her person as her parents may find it. She found a small rock that had a purple color on it and picked it up. She discretely placed the key on the ground by the base of the gate and covered it with the colored rock over it so she could find it later on.

After she had effectively hidden the key she took off to the stables to try and make it look like she had been there the whole time

As soon as she got to the stable she quickly got buttercup into the riding pin and grabbed out his brush so as to give him a break from riding but also to make it look like she was doing her due diligence in taking care of her horse.

Just as she began her father and his knights came riding up to the stables and Charming's face flooded with a look of relief

"Emma Ruth what are you doing out here?" Charming said in a stern voice

"I'm just taking care of buttercup and getting in some riding time while you and mom where in your royal council meeting" She said as calmly as possible as to not give herself away

"We were worried sick. If you are going to come out here you should have let Sophia know. The poor woman feels awful thinking that you disappeared on her watch." He said dismounting his horse and coming over to his daughter

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make anyone worry" She said continuing to brush the horse and effectively avoiding eye contact with her father

Charming could tell his daughter was only telling him part of the truth. He waved to the guards that they could return to the castle and all but the two assigned to watch over the royal family began to ride back to the palace. Having guards accompany the royal family where they went had become customer since the threats that had been form both Regina and George

"Emma" Charming said coming up to Emma and placing his hand on top of her's effectively stopping her from continuing to brush buttercup and forcing her to have a serious conversation. "I know that buttercup didn't get this tired riding around the pin for the last hour."

Emma decided that if she was going to go through with her lie she had to make it convincing so she looked up at her dad and made direct eye contact "Dad, you're the one who said I'm a natural. I got her going pretty fast even just in this small space." She really hoped that her dad wasn't able to see though her lie

"Okay, I'll buy that. But why were you out here alone? You know the rules. If you step outside the palace you are to be accompanied by two knights for your own safety" He said placing his hand on his hip a bit curious to see what kind of lie she would come up with this time. He knew she had lied about the horse being tired from simply running in the stable pen but he wanted to wait before he let Emma know that

"Honestly? I get nervous with them constantly watching me. I just wanted some time alone in the fresh air, just me and buttercup" She said nuzzling the horses nose in order to break the eye contact she had been holding with her father

"Emma" David said giving her his dad look "I'm going to give you one last time to tell me the truth. What did you REALLY do?"

Emma knew she was backed into a corner. He dad had always been able to read her like an open book but she was really hoping that this time would be different but obviously it wasn't. She waited a moment and decided that she would give it one more shot. Emma had always had the philosophy that it was better to go down fighting then to take a punishment laying down

"I already told you dad. I was out here practicing my riding and I didn't bring the knights with me because I wanted some time just me and buttercup. Besides, I didn't actually leave the palace grounds so there was no need for me to bring two knights" She knew this was it. Either her father believed her or he didn't but she would do it all again if given a second chance. She knew she was old enough to be out on her own and that she had proved that by going out into the meadow and coming back completely fine with any type of supervision.

"Emma I know you are lying to me" David said placing his hand on Emma's chin to force her to make eye contact. "I don't know where you have been but I know that you have not been here at the stable this entire time. Your blatant disregard for your mother and I's rules along with your lying is going to result in a punishment that I will discuss with your mother and will inform you of later.

"DAD!" Emma began to protest but stopped after the pointed look from David that let her know this was not the time

He signaled for the stable boy to come and take buttercup back to her stall and took Emma by the arm and led her to his own horse where he got on and then pulled her up so she was sitting in front of him as they road back to the castle followed by the two knights who had been keeping watch.

Emma knew that she may have pushed the boundaries a bit too far this time but she was still determined to do the exact same thing tomorrow and once again meet the boy, Thomas at the stream that she had encountered earlier that day. The consequences were worth it in her mind. She would show her parents that she was ready to take on more adult responsibilities.