No one had been expecting Snow to fall pregnant for the second time, the first time had been when she was only twenty, and that was fifteen years before. Yes she had become a mother again, when Ruby had given the trio their second baby boy two short years later, and they weren't necessarily trying or not trying (que sera, sera, as the song always said) for any more but they seemed to be stuck at two. They were all happy. David was the sheriff of their town, Snow an elementary school teacher, and Ruby ran her grandmother's diner, they never wanted for money, all three of them had inherited a fair sum of money when each of their parents had died. The family often traveled around the country, going to different cities, sometimes they even went to different countries. The boys had their hobbies, Neal was academic, loved books, and couldn't wait to go to college, while Tyler was athletic, he was normally covered in mud from playing one sport or another, he was particularly talented at soccer and had captured interest from scouts already.

But after thirteen years of only having two kids when Snow suddenly started to feel sick in the mornings and tired easily, pregnancy was the last thing on her mind. It was only after Neal and Tyler had mentioned it to their Grandma (Snow's step-mother) and she pointed out that she was only getting sick in the morning time, that Snow took a pregnancy test.

Then another.

Then yet another.

All told her the same thing.
She told her spouses, who like her were over the moon, but also a little in shock.
Their baby was due to be born on the 23rd of December, 'coincidentally', or so they claimed, nine months after their wedding anniversary.

They told the boys after the twelve week scan, before they let anyone else know. As the boys were older it was a little different, it wasn't as though they had to explain that they would still be loved or where babies came from- in fact the teenaged boys would much have preferred it if they hadn't known where babies had come from when their parents were expecting another one. Other than the scarring mental image the boys were overjoyed.

Neal threw him into researching all about babies ,and started to buy baby books ready for the new addition to the family to kickstart their library, in the hopes that at least one of his younger siblings would like books as much as he did.

Tyler decided to grow the baby's toy collection, and helped his parents decide on how to decorate the baby's room. Technically he would be the baby's biological half sibling, but he knew very well that that blood wasn't what made a family, and like he and Neal, the baby would have all three of their very loving parents on their birth certificates and in their lives.

The two boys insisted it would be a girl, while both Ruby and David were insisting they'd be welcoming another boy into their family.

"How about Taylor?"

"Works for a boy or girl."

"Yeah, but we'll get mixed up between Ty and Tay."

"Emma?"

"What's it mean Nee?"

"Erm…." He read the sentence below the name in the book. "Whole or universal."

"That's sweet."

"As nice as it is to have you boys agreeing with each other… I don't know how happy he'll be to have a girl's name…."

Snow stayed quiet whenever they debated this - she claimed that she knew fully well which side was correct, but that it didn't matter, so long as the baby was healthy.

They all agreed with her.

On the day marking two months until the baby was due, Snow had the day off from work, she saw her family off to work and school - she was looking forward to a nice day relaxing.

She started to feel a little weird. Her back ached, but she brushed it off, she was pregnant after all. She would just have to take it easy, she decided. But as an hour passed she started to have cramps which felt suspiciously familiar. She just hoped that it was a one time thing.

But then her water broke.

She could no longer deny what was happening.

She was only 34 weeks.

It was too early.

She took a couple of shaky breaths, she picked up her phone and managed to stop her hand from shaking for long enough that she could dial David's work number, his work was closer to their home than Ruby's was.
As the line rang she stroked her protruding tummy. "Hang in there baby. Please. You just stay in there for a little longer, I know you want to see mommy, and daddy, and mama but it's not time for you to go on adventures just yet."

The line clicked as David picked up the phone. "Hey, babe, missing me already?"

Snow could almost hear that famous charming smirk on his face. "David?" Her voice was shaky. "I need you to come pick me up. We can pick up Rubes on the way, but I, I'm… I need my bag, it's upstairs, but I still haven't got some of the things I need, I was going to wait and get them closer to the time-"

David could hear his wife panicking and became alert. "Snow. Take a breath for me. What's going on?" He nodded to his co-sheriff and signalled that he was leaving.

Snow's voice broke. "David, the baby's coming… It's too soon."

"A thirty four week old baby is around the size of a cantaloup." Neal remembered as he sat beside his brother in the back of their grandma's car. He played with the straps of his swim bag, his one sport, he had been planning on going swimming that afternoon after school before he picked up his brother from soccer practice. That was far from his mind now.

After David, Snow, and Ruby, had gotten to the hospital and found out what was happening and going to happen they had called Regina. There was no way any of the parents would be back that night, even though Neal had his own car and usually gave Ty lifts to and from practice, the boys needed to know, and Ruby, David, and Snow needed to know that they were safe without worrying about them.

"Is that… that's really small, right?" Tyler frowned, he didn't even care about practice he was missing, his foot tapped restlessly as Regina drove. His eyes, full of fear, flickered to his brother. The boys would argue every now and then, they were brothers and teenagers after all, but Tyler still looked up to Neal and looked to him for answers.

Neal opened his mouth then closed it again. He knew full well that Snow had only just reached thirty-four weeks. He gave his brother a brave and sympathetic smile. "She can start to regulate her body temperature by herself… her lungs might be a little smaller than idea and need to develop a bit… but she's in the best hands." He assured him. "And she had mom, and dad, and mama - they would never let anything happen to her."

Silence fell in the car again as Regina wove her way to the Charmings' house to grab the boys stuff ready to stay at hers. "You know, Tyler, you were one of the chubbiest little babies I ever saw, and you had a headful of black hair as soon as you were born, just like your brother."

"Sadly you didn't take after me in my amazing good looks, Ty." Neal winked.

"At least he was born on time Neal." Regina pointed out. "I think I had your parents ringing me every five minutes because you decided to stay put for almost two weeks past you were due."

"Well, what can I say? I like to make a good appearance."

Regina looked at her eldest grandson through the mirror, she could tell he was trying to keep his spirits up for his brother, but she could see the same boy who was scared of climbing the monkey bars when he was four.

There was nothing she could really do to help him feel better. She was scared for her new granddaughter, along with her step-daughter's health, Neal had read every book on pregnancy and babies he could find… he must be terrified.

The boys weren't allowed to visit the hospital for five days. David and Ruby took time with the boys, and Snow rang them every day, but they hadn't been able to see the baby in more than pictures, and neither of them knew her name yet.

On the Friday when they got out of the school doors they saw their dad leaning against his SUV, grinning at them both. They rushed over, not having expected him there, they were meant to be picked up by Regina and taken to hers.

"Dad, what's up, is the baby okay?" Tyler worried.

"Is mom okay?" Neal demanded not waiting to let David answer.

David chuckled, his sons were certainly like their mother, that much was certain. "They're both fine… maybe you'd like to see that for yourselves?"

Both Neal and Tyler's eyes widened at the same time.

"We get to go?"
"We get to see them?"

"Yeah, I mean, if you guys want to? If not we could grab some pizza and play video games?"

"Hell no!" Neal protested as both he and Tyler jumped into the car.

David chuckled before he climbed into the car. That little girl of his certainly had them all wrapped around her little finger, already, that was probably only going to increase.

The Charming boys reached the NICU and sanitised their hands before they were allowed in to see Ruby, Snow, and the baby.

Snow beamed when she saw them. Although they spoke at least twice a day and she heard about them through David and Ruby, but she had missed her other babies.

Tyler rushed over to hug her but Neal's eyes were on the tiny baby in the crib beside her.

Ruby walked over to him and pulled him into a hug. "It's okay, hon, she's going to be okay. They think only a day or two and we can take her home."

"She's so small." He whispered his eyes not leaving the little girl.

"Yeah." Ruby sighed. "But she's a little fighter. I think she got your brains, she's been wowing the nurses with how quickly she's taken to feeding-"

"That might just be mom's stubbornness." He joked weakly.

Snow smiled over at her first born as she stroked her second's curled hair. "If you sit down you can hold her." She offered. "You won't break her, I promise, I don't think she'd put up with that." She joked fondly, she had gotten to know her well in the past five days, she was much more a knight than a princess, she was going to fit in perfect in their family.

"Er… Okay. Do I have to pick her up or …?"

"I'll pass her to you bud." David waited for Neal to sit down and Ruby to show him how to hold his arms so he'd properly support her neck. He carefully picked her up, the only machines connected to her now were ones monitoring her, he placed her into Neal's waiting arms - Neal's face went from nervous to ecstatic.

Ruby managed to snap a couple of pictures of the pair before Tyler crouched beside Neal and the baby girl who was in an impossibly small baby grow and hat with different coloured owls on them. When he joined the pair Ruby took several more pictures of their three kids before she walked back over to sit on the arm of Snow's chair.

She wrapped her arm around David's waist as he joined his wives. Ruby pressed a kiss to Snow's waiting lips before David leant down and did the same to both of them.

"Hey there, you." Tyler greeted. He gently stroked the back of his finger down her cheek. He beamed as she looked towards him with the sound of his voice. "I'm Tyler, I'm your big brother, and that's our even bigger brother Neal. He can be annoying but he's awesome to have on your side."

The three parents watched their three kids for a little while. They were beyond happy, they were euphoric, and completely in love with each other and with their perfect babies.

Snow shared a look with Ruby and David about something they had decided upon a day before. She smiled when they nodded at her telling her that she could do the honours, she hadn't been able to spend time with the boys for almost a week, or comfort them by being there like her spouses had.
"You guys wanna know her name?"

"Nah, I was just planning on calling her 'Hey you'." Tyler joked but looked at her with great interest.

"Emma." Snow smiled. "Emma Ruth Charming."

Tyler grinned at the baby who still had a tight hold on his finger. "Hey there Emma, It's nice to meet you, you did a good job in scaring mom, dad, and mama- I can teach you some more if you like."

"Hey, Emma. Welcome to the family."

Two months later the family all happily sat in their home watching Christmas movies. Emma was now the size of an average newborn, all of the family and their extended family were utterly besotted with her, she was a little small for her age but she was so alert and interested in the world, she listened as Neal read her stories and Tyler told her about his day. She loved being cuddled by all of her parents, but it was clear already that she was a daddy's girl, David seemed to be the only one who could stop her crying.

The family were looking forwards to spending their first Christmas together, now that they were whole.