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David stuck the spoon into the oatmeal and then held it up. “Come on, sunshine. Don’t you want to eat for Daddy?”
“No!” Emma wailed. He used the opportunity to slide in the spoon, but she spit it out, causing it to dribbled own her chin and onto her bib.
“Please Emma, you have to eat,” he pleaded.
Emma hadn’t eaten anything in nearly 2 days, ever since she entered her little headspace. Normally she was very good and would eat on her own, but she wanted nothing they offered her. She wouldn’t even drink a bottle or sippy cup. Whale had been called and he said she’d eat when hungry, that especially with her magic, Emma wouldn’t waste away. Even so, it was hard to watch. She was just being so fussy, being particularly little, almost younger than normal. They wouldn’t have minded, if she would just eat something! Snow had to work and Leroy was working the station, so David had been home with the babies. Neal was surprisingly being the better of the two and slept through his sister’s antics.
“Don’t you want to be Daddy’s good girl?” Emma tried to grab the bowl and he knew what she was going to do, so he grabbed the other end. They were in a tug of war for a good few minutes until Emma got the better of him and some of it splattered on them both. That caused her to burst into tears. “Oh Emma.” David felt like he wanted to cry himself. He just didn’t understand what was going on with her. He gently pulled her onto his lap and gently rocked her. “What’s wrong? Why won’t you eat for Daddy?”
Emma just kept shrieking, kicking her legs and thrashing her arms about. He gently began bouncing her.
“Emma, screaming at Daddy won’t tell me what you want. Please, I will make you anything, you just have to stop being so fussy. Daddy can’t take care of his little princess when she’s like this.” The blonde sniffled, letting out some heavy breaths. She wasn’t even sure what was going on with her, she was just so tired lately. But sitting on her daddy’s lap was helping her feel better.
“Stay,” she whimpered.
“What’s that, sunshine?”
“Stay with Daddy.”
It clicked for David. “You want to sit on Daddy’s lap while you eat?” Emma nodded. “Okay, we can do that.” He held up a spoonful and she opened her mouth, allowing him to feed her. “Yes! That’s Daddy’s good girl!” He praised. He continued to feed her, cuddling her close. “Aw, there we go, doesn’t that feel nice in your tummy?”
“Baba,” Emma requested once they were done.
“Of course, angel.” He reached over, grabbing the bottle and putting it in her mouth. She suckled on it greedily, feeling suddenly very thirsty. “There we go, drink up, sunshine.” He slowly rubbed circles on her tummy and soon, she had fallen asleep. David set the bottle on the table and carefully carried her into the den, sitting on the couch and cuddling her close. He decided to rest his eyes for just a few minutes…
Snow came home a few hours later, hearing silence. That was odd, Emma had been so fussy lately. She headed into the living room and found David cuddling Emma to him. She was wearing her pink footie pajamas with the unicorns, a matching bib tied around her neck. Her husband was dead to the world as well, both asleep. Snow smiled, picking Neal (who was just waking up himself) up.
“Looks like they both needed a nap, huh?”