A Thousand Words

Summary: A hug is worth a thousand words but for Emma and Snow, sometimes neither is enough on its own. Two conversations spanning two realms during and after 3x22.

A/N: While writing my daily drabbles for A Life Unexpected, I had several people request a Snow/Emma conversation after the events in 3x22…which then got me thinking about a conversation I had wanted to see in the Enchanted Forest during 3x22. So I decided to write both and voila! Fic was born. This first chapter is the Enchanted Forest convo…the Storybrooke one should be up in a few days.

As always, feedback is much appreciated!

Dedication: For my own mum, who watches OUAT with me and lets me gush incessantly about every little character and plot detail.

Disclaimer: OUAT and all of its characters belong to ABC…all I own is the first two seasons on DVD which will be getting a workout during this hiatus!

Snow woke batting imaginary flames from her clothes, a cry stifled in her throat. Heart beating rapidly, she glanced around to ensure no-one had witnessed her moment of weakness. To her relief, the campsite was quiet except for the crackle of the dying fire. Prince Charles slept propped up against a near tree, the woman who would not give her name curled under a blanket a few feet away. The infuriatingly handsome prince she'd dubbed Charming shifted somewhat restlessly beneath flickering shadows and the princess…the princess sat on a hollowed log, listlessly poking at the embers with a sharpened stick.

Leia…Leia was an enigma. Snow had been the recipient of many good deeds since she'd become a bandit, people from villages and farms far and wide giving her shelter, food and protection when she was unable to find it on her own. But none had come from any of royal blood, those she had once considered friends unwilling to risk the wrath of the Evil Queen. Yet here was this princess, who had been imprisoned and scheduled for execution, all because she had been willing to help her escape. And that hug…Snow didn't think she'd been embraced like that since she was a child, wrapped safe in her mother's arms.

Curiosity forced her out from under her blanket into the cool night air. Gingerly stepping over the uneven ground, she sat down on the log next to the object of her thoughts.

"Couldn't sleep?" Leia asked softly.

"Surprisingly, almost being roasted to death does not make for the most pleasant of dreams," she replied with a wan smile.

Leia flinched slightly at her flippant tone and Snow was reminded of the unadulterated joy the princess had shown at discovering she was alive.

"Why did you do it?"

"Do what?" Leia asked neutrally.

"Help me escape, hug me like you knew me…"

Leia shifted uncomfortably, her eyes glued to the flames. Several moments passed before she let out a sigh.

"Truthfully? You remind me of my mother."

Snow blinked. She did not know what answer she was expecting but it was not that.

"Your mother is a bandit princess on the run from her evil step-mother?" she asked lightly and was rewarded with a wry chuckle.

"Something like that," Leia murmured, dropping the stick from her hand and resting her arms behind her on the log. She seemed reluctant to elaborate and Snow, for all her curiosity wasn't going to push. She knew all too well that the topic of family could be a painful one. Even now, many years after her own mother's death, she still struggled with the memory. And with her father's more recent passing (murder, she screamed inside), discussing her parents had not become any easier.

"We haven't always been on the best of terms," Leia started suddenly, drawing Snow out of her thoughts, "My childhood was…difficult, though it was not really my parent's fault that it was. But I clung so much to those old hurts that I pushed them away, pushed her away, every time she tried to make amends."

The regret in her voice was clear, her words coloured with hints of self-loathing.

"When I watched you, when I thought you had died, I saw it as her…and I realized that nothing in the past would matter if she wasn't there in the future. There are so many things I want to tell her, so many experiences I want to share with her. I love my mom…but because I keep reverting to my default mode of running away whenever things get hard…I've never truly shown her that I do."

Snow tilted her head as a part of the puzzle that was the plain-talking princess slotted into place.

"That's why you hugged me," she whispered, more to herself than anything, "When you found out I was alive, it was like you'd been gifted…"

"A second chance?" Leia finished, agreement clear on her delicate features, "Yeah."

In that moment, Snow felt somewhat envious. She would never have that chance, never be able to see her mother again even though she ached for her as much Leia did hers.

"I would give anything," she started softly, before the image of a two-wicked candle and an impossible choice flickered through her mind, "Almost anything to have a second chance with my own mother…but I can't."

She looked across the dancing shadows to fix Leia with a mixed gaze of sadness and warning.

"Don't waste yours."

The blonde seemed taken aback for a moment, before a short flash of determination lit up her hazel eyes.

"I won't," Leia vowed with a sincerity Snow could feel to her bones, "First thing I'm going to do when I get home…"

She seemed to falter slightly on the word, a sense of wonder stealing across her expression before she repeated the word with greater emphasis, "Home is hug my mom and tell her how much I missed her."

For reasons unknown, Snow felt a surge of pride deep within her heart. It startled her and was a little unnerving, so she covered with a small smirk of amusement.

"If you hug her anything like you hugged me, she'll have no doubt you love her…once she can breathe again that is."

Leia giggled, loud enough that the two of them suddenly stopped with baited breath as their sleeping companions shifted in their spots, lightly roused by the abrupt burst of sound. Moments passed, but when none of them awoke, they relaxed back onto the log with sighs of relief.

"I'm the one who has to worry about that…where do you think I learnt the art of a suffocating hug from?" Leia teased gently.

"Runs in the family huh?"

Leia grinned, "Let's just say physical displays of affection are my parent's forte."

"Must be nice," Snow breathe out, struck by a pang of longing. Listening to Leia talk about her family made her miss hers all the more. Red was the closest she had to family, but part of her longed for a real one. For the dreams she'd had as a naïve child, of a brave and kind husband who adored her and children she could call her own.

Warm hands clasped hers.

"You'll have a family again one day Snow White."

The words were said with a fervent conviction that Snow could not, and did not want to fight against.

Instead she merely squeezed the princess' hands in gratitude as the two fell into silence, sitting side by side until the morning sun dusted light across the tops of the trees.