Pairing: Emma/August
Rating: T (minor language, baby stuff, some sexual behavior/talk)
Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Once Upon a Time.
A/N: So idek what this is. The wife is constantly asking me for daddy!August and I got a prompt on tumblr for Emma and August coming home with a new baby. So here it is. Pure slice-of-life fluff. And a little sexyness. But not too much. They just really love each other a lot. Like a lot, a lot.
"Babe, can you please get the door?" Emma slogged up the steps of the porch with a large duffle bag slung over one shoulder and the carrier containing their newborn daughter in the opposite hand. She was ready to drop, even after having spent two days lying in the hospital bed with her husband at her side, waiting on her every beck and call.
"Well if you hadn't insisted on taking that bag when I told you not to, you wouldn't need me to get the door now would you? You shouldn't even be lifting that much in the first place…" August hauled a second bag out from the backseat of the bug and cursed under his breath, then slammed the door. She knew he was just being a loving, concerned husband, but it didn't stop her from rolling her eyes. "And I really wish you'd just let me buy us a more reliable car… you know, maybe something with more than two doors?"
"August I'm not some delicate flower. I just pushed a human out of my body; I think I'll be ok. And we've talked about the car thing. We can't afford one right now and the bug is just fine…"
Before they had a chance to properly argue, the door swung open, revealing an excited Snow bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Well come in, already!" She pushed the glass storm door open for August, who in turn held it and stepped aside to let Emma to make her way inside. She set the baby carrier down next to the stairs alongside the duffel bag and let her mother hug her for a moment. "You both must be exhausted. Why don't you go rest in the living room for a while?"
Emma and August exchanged small smiles before shedding their jackets and hanging them on the coat rack. "No thanks," Emma responded. "I've been on my ass for two days, I'd like to stand for at least a little while."
Snow started on a mama-bear rant about how they'll both need to be well rested and that she and her father wouldn't be there forever. Emma sighed in relief as Charming trotted into the room wearing a cream colored apron and quirked an eyebrow at the sight before registering the aroma of something hot and savory wafting in from the kitchen. "You cooked?"
"And we filled your fridge," her father informed as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of your head. "We couldn't exactly let you starve, now could we?"
"Well we were planning on going grocery shopping, but someone got in the way." August insisted with a smirk and bent to unbuckle their daughter and scooped her tiny, writhing body into his arms. "Isn't that right, Baby Ruth? With a baby as sweet as you, I'll never eat dessert again. No, I won't…"
"Thanks, dad." She leaned against him and closed her eyes for a moment. It was true that all she wanted was to drag herself upstairs and sleep for the rest of the night, but the smell of herbs and seasoned meat made her stomach growl. After a day of eating nothing but ice chips, and the second day eating nothing but shitty hospital food, Emma was ready for a real meal.
"Well dinner's almost ready. How about I take your bags upstairs and throw some things in the wash for you?"
"That would be great." Emma watched as her mother retreated upstairs with the bags, grateful her parents had been able to convince her to come take care of things at the house when she came home from the hospital with the baby
Charming kissed her on the temple and excused himself back to the kitchen, where Henry came barreling in from a moment later. "You're home!" He collided with Emma, nearly knocking the wind out of her. "I missed you!"
"I missed you, too kid." She pulled him in for a hug and ruffled his hair.
Henry turned his attention to his step-father who was lightly bouncing Ruth and cooing sweetly to her. "Can I see her?"
"Of course you can," August replied and knelt carefully in front of Henry, tilting the infant toward him slightly. "Want to hold your sister?"
"Sure!" He held his arms out while August gently transferred the half-asleep baby to him.
"Just be careful, make sure you support her head."
After the baby was safely secured in her brother's arms, August rose and pulled his wife close. They swayed together and watched Henry tell Ruth all the things he was going to teach her, and vow to read her stories from his book when she was old enough to understand them.
Emma had been terrified when she found out she was pregnant, not that she felt she wasn't ready to try the mom thing for real, but that Henry would be angry or resentful he didn't get to have the life with her that the new baby would. But when her son quite literally leapt for joy upon hearing the news, she realized her fears were completely irrational. Despite having a difficult upbringing, her son was incredible. He amazed her every day.
The front door burst open suddenly later, heralding the arrival of Geppetto carrying a white box tied with red string. Emma made a mental note to tell August to ask his father to start using the doorbell, but shucked it off as an Italian thing and greeted him with a kiss on the cheek.
"My boy!" He bellowed as he took August by the shoulders and planted sloppy wet kisses all over his face. "And where is the little bambina, eh?" He pushed them aside, dumping the white box into August's hands and knelt in front of Henry. "So you're a big brother now, huh? It is a very important job. You must protect her, no matter what."
Emma grinned and leaned up to peck the corner of August's mouth. He beamed down at her and dipped his head to meet her lips properly, but the sound of Henry's revulsion caused their heads to snap back.
"Ah, the little signora," Geppetto began as he transferred the baby from Henry's arms to his own, "I think she needs new diaper."
Springing into action, August nearly lunged to take his daughter from him. "Ok, upstairs we go…"
"No, no, my boy. I will do it. You and the principessa need to relax."
"Well then would you mind putting her down while you're up there? Oh and make sure the baby monitor's turned on. And let us know if she's fussy, she might need to eat soon. And if you can't find something—"
"August, my son, do not worry. Nonno will take good care of la tesorina," Geppetto assured and ascended the stairs, muttering in Italian to his granddaughter.
Emma could tell her husband would be on edge until she was within his sight again, so she suggested he take Henry to the kitchen and find out when dinner would be ready in the hopes he would be distracted, at least for a few minutes. He sighed, mumbled something about cannolis and ushered Henry into the kitchen with the white box in tow as her mother came flitting downstairs.
With a sigh, Emma cocked her head to the side and looked at Snow adoringly. Though she loved August dearly and knew there was no other person she would rather spend the rest of her days with, sometimes she really just missed having some alone time with her mother. Snow approached swiftly and wrapped her arms around her daughter, hugging her close. She pulled away but held Emma's shoulders firmly.
"I'm so proud of you, Emma."
"Why? It's not like I haven't done this before…"
"But you haven't, Emma, not really. Sure, you have Henry now, but this time you're not going to miss anything." Her eyes sparkled with a glint of tears. "And I'm so happy I get to be here for it as well."
They embraced again for a long moment and broke apart when they heard the patter of Geppetto's feet in the hallway above them. Emma fought back her tears and took a deep breath as he came into view.
"Ruthie, she is asleep, safe and sound."
"Well you'd better let August know, I don't know how long he'll be able to handle not being in the same room with her."
As if on cue, August rushed into the room, apparently having heard his father's voice. "She's sleeping? Maybe I should go check on her just in case—"
"August, she's fine…" Emma cooed, and waved the receiver of the monitor in front of him. "If anything's wrong, we'll know about it.
"Well did you check the batteries, I mean, what if she starts crying and we can't hear her?"
"August Wayne Booth, you need to calm down right now. Let's get through dinner and then you can go see her, okay? She needs to rest just as much as you do." Emma never thought she'd see the day where she'd have to be the rational one in their relationship. August was always levelheaded and so adept at catering to her emotional and physical needs, that when he dissolved into a sputtering shell of a mess after she told him she was pregnant, she could scarcely believe he was the same person at times.
He sighed and smiled weakly. "Alright. Let's eat."
The meal was pleasant enough; Charming prepared a roast with vegetables, real mashed potatoes and even a loaf of freshly baked bread. Emma marveled at the spread, wondering when her parents had the time to learn to cook so well. But her bliss was constantly interrupted as August scraped at his plate nervously, picked up the receiver and shook it, shoveled a forkful of potatoes into his mouth and then began the whole cycle over again.
It was adorable, really, the way he was literally itching to be with his daughter. But at the same time, she recognized they were in for the long haul and wished he'd retain some of that energy for when Ruthie was screaming in the middle of the night, neither of them had slept in days, and it was his turn to get up to feed her. She caught his eye and gave him a small smile, hoping he could unwind long enough to get to dessert.
Geppetto disappeared into the kitchen and reentered a moment later with the white box. He went on to explain that these were no ordinary cannolis, in fact, he had them shipped in from Emma's favorite place in Boston. She leaned over to kiss her father-in-law on the cheek. After one bite into a pistachio cannoli, the cries of her daughter began to sound through the monitor.
"Someone's probably hungry," she breathed and excused herself from the table.
"Do you want me to come with? You know… for moral support?"
She shot August a look, knowing well enough that aside from the burning desire to see his daughter, he would also never turn down an opportunity to ogle her breasts. He followed her like an anxious puppy while Snow and Charming began to clean up the kitchen and Gepetto regaled Henry with stories of the old world.
August practically dove to fetch their perfect, tiny creation from the crib while Emma began to prepare herself.
"It's ok, sweet Baby Ruth, mommy and daddy are here. No need to cry, my love."
She smiled lazily and settled in to the rocking chair Geppetto had handcrafted as a shower gift, which was surprisingly comfortable for having no padding. Her heart nearly burst as she watched August rock their daughter and coo lovingly to her before depositing her into her arms. He knelt beside the chair and rocked it gently with his one hand while stroking the fine blond hairs on Ruth's head with the other. She really was a spitting image of Emma; the same blue-green irises flitted around the dim room as Emma let her own eyes flutter closed. She wanted to hold onto this moment for as long as possible, but felt herself drifting off as August's lips pressed to her temple, and allowed sleep to overtake her.
She woke in bed, lying on her side with a throw blanket draped across her body. With a smile, she noticed August lying in the same position facing her, his nose mere inches away.
"You let me sleep?" She managed to croak out. August's eyes blinked open at the sound.
"Of course." He shifted closer and draped an arm around her back. "I need you wide awake tomorrow so you can begin rearing my children."
Emma scoffed indignantly. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you going to be the one doing the child-rearing? I'm the breadwinner of this family. You're the stay-at-home dad." He opened his mouth to protest but Emma shut him down, propping her self up on an elbow. "And what do you mean by 'children' anyway? You don't honestly think you're going to knock me up again."
He leaned up to kiss her, running his tongue along the seam where their lips met and Emma moaned into his mouth involuntarily. She knew there was a reason he'd been able to impregnate her the first time… his kisses alone make her weak in the knees. He took advantage of her half-awake, half-aroused state and gripped her waist, rolling her back and sliding on top of her.
"I don't think you really want to get started now," she huffed as his mouth moved to her jaw, "Not when my junk looks like a chef salad…"
August chuckled against her skin and pushed off of her. "I'll make love to you no matter what your junk looks like."
She smiled and craned her head up to kiss him again when the sound of Ruth crying wafted across the hall and into their room. She groaned and moved to slide out from underneath her husband but he caught her by the waist. "No, I'll go. She just needs a change. You sleep."
He pecked her quickly and slipped quietly out the door. Emma turned to glance at the clock; she hadn't been asleep for long, two hours at the most, and briefly wondered what the rest of her family was up to. Looking down at herself, she grinned, noticing her shirt and nursing bra had been righted and her shoes removed. Her amazing husband deserved some kind of award for taking care of her so well.
After what seemed like way too long for just a messy diaper, she pushed up into a sitting position, groaned, and swung her legs over the side of the bed.
"August?" Emma called out hoarsely. When no reply came, she groaned again and moved to pull herself to her feet but halted in place with August came through the door holding Ruth against his chest.
"Sorry we took so long," he whispered. Emma couldn't erase the grin from her face at the sight and watched as he sat on the opposite side of the bed. Ruth was busy fidgeting in August's arms and making a contented gurgling noise that melted her heart into an even soupier pile of goo. When she thought about everything that had happened between them since that night August drove into town, she wondered how she'd even been so lucky not only to have her best friend back, but to finally have a family with him as well.
"Are my parents still here?"
"They just left. They'll be back in the morning though. And my dad is either helping Henry with his homework or distracting him from it, I couldn't really tell," he quipped.
Emma chuckled and lay back down as August twisted and set Ruth in the middle of the bed, then rolled to his side, facing them. She tickled her daughter's belly, eliciting another happy gurgle and leaned over to kiss her forehead. "We did pretty good, didn't we?"
She looked up at August to find him beaming down at mother and daughter with moist eyes. "We certainly did, cara mia," he declared quietly and leaned over the product of their love for a kiss.