A/N: After writing a bunch of one or two shots for the past two and a half months, I've decided to take on a multichapter fic again. I would just like to give fair warning on a couple of things: 1) I will update in a timely manner to the best of my abilities. I (unfortunately) have a life outside of writing that involves small family crises, classes, and work. Things have calmed down slightly, so I'm hoping to update at least once a week, maybe twice a week. 2) I will not tolerate any form of hate or flaming. While I love constructive criticism, I've been receiving an obnoxious amount of hate an unnecessary name-calling/other negativity. I don't need that kind of stuff in my life, and if I see it, I'll just delete it. If you disagree with a point I've made, please say so in a respectful way. I'd love to chat about it, but if you post as a guest reviewer, I can't really respond. I'm open to communicating in ways other than PMing on this site, so that's an option.

Sorry to have to post that, but I just want everyone to be aware of what to expect. Enjoy and feel free to review… admittedly, they make the updates come faster if I know people are waiting.

With both Elsa and Ingrid gone, everyone had assumed the cold weather and snow would arrive in the coming months. The cold air coming in from the north would blow more and more dead leaves of off trees, and the first snowfall would be magical.

No one expected a freak blizzard from seemingly nowhere. Emma certainly didn't, and as she stared out the window of the sheriff's station, she wondered if Elsa was playing a joke from Arendelle. Four inches had already fallen, and there were no indications that the storm was going to let up anytime soon. David had went home earlier to have lunch with Snow and Neal, and when the flakes started falling, Emma told him to stay home despite his arguments that he wanted to go back like he had originally planned. With a sigh, Emma glanced at the clock. Though it was only 3:30, she had a sneaking suspicion she too would be heading out before the little hand hit the four. Just as she reached for her phone to send a quick text to her mother, it rang, with Snow's smiling face lighting up the screen.

"Speak of the devil…" Emma muttered to herself before answering the call, "Hey."

"Hi, honey. It's starting to get bad out, maybe you should come home soon," the brunette said, her voice dripping with poorly concealed concern. Strangely enough, Emma found her heart fluttering at both her mother's concern and the pet name.

"I will. I'm just going to finish a couple things and switch the answering machine to go to my cell phone, and I'll be on my way."

"Alright. I've been watching the weather, and this isn't magical or a residual effect from Ingrid. It came in from Canada, but wasn't supposed to be here for a few more days."

"Well, that's a relief," Emma said as she tucked her phone into her neck so she could sign papers and talk at the same time. "I sort of thought it was Elsa, you know, doing a practical joke, but I guess it would be kind of hard to send snow between realms. Unless there's anything else you need to tell me, I really want to get this paperwork done so I can leave. The sooner the better."

"That was it, I just wanted to make sure you're safe."

"I am," the blonde promised, moving her phone back into her hand. "I'll text you when I'm leaving, okay?"

"Hold on, your father wants to talk to you. By sweetie, I love you."

"Love you, too," Emma smile into the phone. She heard shuffling and muffled voices, then static as David put Snow's phone to his ear.

"Emma, do you want me to pick you up in the cruiser? It handles snow better."

"No, I'll be fine," Emma shook her head before realizing he couldn't see. "I'm pretty sure the bug's indestructible."

"Okay," David said with a sigh. Clearly, he was unhappy about her decision, but knew it was up to her. "I think tomorrow we should start taking separate cars to work so I don't have to take the cruiser home for lunch."

"Sounds good." She glanced out the window again. "You know what? Tell Mom I'm just gonna take Mrs. Ginger's incident reports home with me to sign and look over. I was hoping to have them done so I could drop them at Regina's on the way home, but I think I'd rather just get out of here. I'm gonna switch the phones over, then I'll be on my way, okay?"

"Alright, just be careful. You sure you don't want me to get you?"

"I'll be fine," she replied. "See you soon." With that, she ended the call and began putting the papers she'd been reading back in their manila folder. She switched the answering machine to forward all cars to her cell phone, and put that in her back pocket. Locking the door behind her, she made her way through the freshly fallen snow to her car, trying to keep the folder as dry as possible. She smiled to herself because David had shoveled a path to her car before he'd left. Though new snow had fallen on top of his path, it was still infinitely easier to walk through. Once safely inside her bug, she allowed herself a moment to close her eyes and breathe deeply. She so wasn't looking forward to the drive ahead, but she wanted to be in her warm home.

With her parents, Henry, and a newborn.

Still, it was more than she had a right to ask for. She had her family, as dysfunctional as it was at times, and she couldn't be happier. After typing out a text to Snow asking for hot chocolate to be ready for when she got home, she started the car and pulled out of the parking lot to the barely plowed roads of Storybrooke.

"Where is she?" Snow asked, pacing in front of the window and holding a sleepy Neal in her arms. "She should have been home ten minutes ago."

"Snow, I'm sure she's just driving slowly. In case you haven't noticed, there's a blizzard out there."

"She shouldn't be driving at all," the brunette shook her head and chewed on her bottom lip. "Besides, when does she ever drive slow? For the sheriff, I think she drives faster than anyone else in this town."

"She has something to live for now, she's being careful. That's a good thing."

"I know it is, but still... I'm calling her."

"I think that's a bad idea. She shouldn't be distracted," David reasoned.

"She could be in an accident or something, and we wouldn't even know," Snow insisted, trying to keep her voice down so the baby would finally drift off.

"She's a good driver," he insisted. "Besides, if she thought it was really bad, she'd pull over and call me."

"Would she?" Snow quirked an eyebrow up. "Because I'm not sure we're talking about the same Emma Swan."

"See, I think your perspective is colored by the Emma Swan you knew as Mary Margaret. I never got to know her like you did, so I have an easier time seeing her as my daughter. But you knew her when she wasn't close with Henry, or anyone for that matter, and I think that's stuck in your head a little bit."

"Maybe," she sighed and handed Neal to her husband. "But you didn't spend every single day of those few months wondering how the hell she got that way."

"But you have an idea," David said quietly, bouncing Neal gently in an attempt to get him to sleep.

"It isn't a pretty one," she practically whispered.

"Snow," David lifted her chin to force her to meet his gaze, "she's fine."

The phone rang, startling them both. Neal squirmed and opened his mouth, but before he could cry, David started rocking him.

"I'll get the phone," Snow said, running to the counter. Finally, the baby quieted down, and David walked into his and Snow's room to put him in his crib. Almost immediately, he fell asleep without bothering to fight it. With a small smile, David went into the kitchen to find an annoyed looking Snow.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Regina. The snow's too bad, so Henry's going to spend the night there."

"That's not Regina's fault," David said.

"No, it isn't, and I'm not upset. I was just hoping it would be Emma."

"I'll tell you what; if she isn't home or doesn't call us in five minutes, I'll go out and look."

"Okay," Snow smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. He placed a tender kiss to her lips, and she deepened it. The moment was broken by the phone again. Immediately, she removed herself from her husband's arms and answered. "Hello?"

"Snow? It's Dr. Whale." Upon hearing that, she shot a worried look at David, who immediately stilled. "I think you and David should come down to the hospital. There's been an accident–"

"How is she? What happened?" Snow's frantic voice cut him off, but he wasn't annoyed.

"Miss Swan is in critical condition. Her car is in pretty bad shape, and we're still assessing the extent of her injuries, but I suspect the news won't be too good."

"Okay, we'll be right there." Just as she was about to hang up, she asked, "Viktor, please take care of her."

"Of course," the usually tactless doctor surprised her with the sincerity in his voice. Snow heard a 'click' signaling the end of the conversation, and threw herself into David's arms.

"She got in an accident. He said it's not good."

"Oh my gods," he held her tighter and took a steadying breath, determined to be her rock.

"We should go," Snow pulled back after a moment and wiped the tears off her cheeks. "Maybe you should get the car warmed up. I'll be out in a minute."

"Okay," he tried to smile at her in reassurance, but he knew she saw through it. He grabbed the keys to the cruiser off the counter and did as told while Snow plucked a sleeping Neal from his crib.

"I'm sorry, my little prince. I know you don't like to be woken up, but this is really important so I'd appreciate it if you could cooperate with me, okay?" She continued talking to him as she put him in his jacket and other winter gear. She threw the diaper bag over her shoulder, then headed upstairs to Emma's room. "I'm not sure if you know who Emma is to you yet. She's your sister. But I know you know her voice. She's the one you always smile and wave your arms around at. She's the one who protected you from the Ice Queen, and I know she's always going to protect you." Snow put Emma's pillow back in place with a frown. Why wasn't her baby blanket there? She knew from her days as Mary Margaret that Emma always kept it there.

She had known Emma still had it because she'd seen it when she was doing laundry and wanted to make sure she got everything. Knowing her roommate wasn't the most organized person, she'd done a once-over of the loft. She'd seen something white sticking out from the pillow, so she picked it up, thinking it was a shirt. She was surprised it was her baby blanket. She'd smiled at the thought of her friend. It didn't surprise her that Emma would still have the only thing connecting her to her parents, but she hadn't expected her to keep it so close to her, or anywhere remotely discoverable.

Snow wondered where her daughter would have put it. Maybe with Henry sharing the room, she was worried about him finding it. So where would she put it…

The brunette opened the bottom dresser drawer on Emma's dresser. Henry most certainly wouldn't look through her clothes, and… there! She found what she was looking for and smiled triumphantly at Neal before remembering why she was looking for it in the first place.

"Okay sweetie, we have to go now. Thanks for helping me look." Snow made her way back downstairs, put the blanket in the diaper bag and put Neal in his car seat, then made the trek to the car.

"Got everything?" David asked as she slid into the passenger seat of the cruiser.

"Yeah, let's go." With that, he flicked the cruiser lights on and went as fast as he dared to the hospital. In the backseat, Neal seemed to understand the gravity of the situation and kept quiet so his parents could focus on driving.