So, I have gotten a lot of Swanfire fans worried about the fate of them in Where The Heart Is. I've had this future fic in my mind for a while. This is more Grandpa/Daddy Charming more than anything but it will hopefully ease everyone's fears as to where they end up.

There's just no rhyme or reason
only this sense of completion
and in your eyes
I see the missing pieces
I'm searching for
I think I found my way home-Savage Garden

David heard Neal's bedroom door slam shut and he let out a long sigh, running his fingers through his hair. Emma had been rebellious, but her little brother was definitely giving her a run for her money. He had been sneaking out more and hanging out with a rough crowd, which meant parties almost every weekend. Mary had taken a girls weekend with Belle and Mal, so he was left alone to handle the most recent infraction. It was after midnight and he just wanted to go to bed, deal with a grumpy Neal come morning.

Before he could head for the stairs, there was a knock on the door. Tilting his head, he walked over to the door. Who could possibly be coming over so late?

He opened the door and found his 8-year-old grandson on the other side. "Henry?" It took him a moment to notice the duffel bag slung over his shoulder. "What's going on, bud? What are you doing here so late?"

"Can I live with you now?"

David did a double take, unsure of what was going on. Sure, Henry disagreed with his parents from time to time, but there was no doubt that he loved them. Henry didn't have many memories of living in the Nolan household before Emma and Bae finally decided to live together when he was 2, yet he knew he had a room there. Normally, though, he'd come over during daylight…and with Emma's permission. Something told him that his daughter and son-in-law had no clue about his sudden appearance.

"Come inside, bud." He put a hand on his back and lead him inside. "Do your parents know you're here?"

Henry shook his head. "They're sleeping."

"This wasn't smart. When they wake up and you're not home, they'll be worried sick."

"They won't care. They're getting a new baby."

That got David to pale. Emma and Bae had both talked about adoption for a while. Both of them had been and wanted to give back in some way. The situation had fallen awkwardly in their laps. The birth mother was a friend of Regina's, she was young and knew her baby deserved more. Emma and Baelfire had several meetings with this young woman and she had selected them to adopt her daughter when she was born in a few months time. They had been waiting to tell Henry, just until the time was right. Apparently that moment came without them realizing it.

"I heard them talking," Henry continued. "Mom said she didn't want to tell me."

David sighed. He knew Emma most likely didn't mean it that way. "Henry, your mom didn't mean it like that. She and your father have been waiting for the right time to tell you for a reason."

"What could that possibly be?"

He was a straight shooter, just like his mother. "There are lots of them. You know, we didn't tell your mom that we were thinking about adopting Neal right away. We wanted to make sure there were no complications that could lead to her getting heartbroken."

Henry scoffed and kicked the floor. David studied his face, he could tell there was more to it than that.

"And you know when we did adopt Neal, it didn't change how much we loved your mom, not one bit."

Henry folded his arms over his chest. "Things could be different."

"I don't think it will be. Henry, your parents love you more than anything in this world. A new baby won't change that."

"It might."

He knelt in front of him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Do you love one of your parents more than the other?"

Henry's mouth dropped open. "Of course not! That's crazy."

David chuckled. "What about me and Grams? Do you think we love Neal more than Emma?"

"Nuh uh. You love them both to the moon and back. Same with Nana and Papa with Gideon and Dad."

"So why would this baby and you be any different with your parents?"

Henry didn't say anything. David knew it was a hard adjustment. Emma had worried that they wouldn't have time for her anymore after they adopted Neal and had rebelled for a long time. It was going to take Henry some time to realize that his baby sister wasn't going to change anything. Plus, he needed to talk to Emma.

"Alright, why don't you go to your room here? You can stay here for the night and I'll call your mom, so she doesn't have a heart attack."

"Okay…thanks, Gramps."

"Anytime."

He watched Henry head up the stairs. Letting out a sigh, David grabbed his cellphone and clicked 2 on his speed dial. He hoped his daughter was still soundly asleep so she wouldn't be panicking…

Unfortunately, David's wish didn't come true. Emma had woken up to use the bathroom and had a weird feeling come over her. Her mom would probably call it maternal instinct. Heading down the hall, she went into Henry's room. It appeared that he was balled up, sleeping soundly. He had inherited that from his father. Emma was all over the place in her sleep, snoring loud enough to keep the house awake. She carefully walked over to the bed and pulled back the blankets, but her son wasn't there.

Her heart began racing a mile a minute. Where was her son? She had tucked him in hours ago! The story they were reading (okay, Henry was reading it to her, because he insisted upon it), was still on the nightstand. She raced back down the hall to the master bedroom and practically pushed Baelfire out of bed.

"Bae! Wake up! Henry's gone!"

Baelfire's eyes flickered open. "What?"

"Henry. Gone. Bed…empty," she managed to get out.

He slowly sat up, looking around as if their son would just appear. "Okay, calm down."

"Calm down? How the hell am I supposed to calm down? What if Milah came by…or Ed…"

"Emma." Bae got out of bed and put his hands on her shoulders. "Milah and Ed can't hurt our family anymore, you know this."

"But…"

"Look at me, deep breaths."

Emma shut her eyes and breathed in, before letting it out slowly. She repeated the actin a few times before opening her eyes once again to find Bae's comforting face looking at her.

"Better?"

"Yeah."

"I'm sure Henry is fine. Maybe he just went to the park to play with some friends or something."

"He's only 8? Kids do that?"

"I did when I was his age, probably gave Papa a heart attack or two."

Emma nodded. "Okay. Let's just go get…"

Her phone began to ring and she saw the caller ID was her father. She racked her mind to remember the schedule. No, Leroy was on duty that night. It wouldn't be him calling to report he found Henry's body. Sliding the green arrow across the screen, she cradled the phone between her ear and shoulder.

"Dad?"

"Hey Em, it's me. I have something that belongs to you."

Emma felt like a weight has been lifted off her shoulders. "4 feet tall and is about to be grounded for the rest of his life?"

David laughed. "That'd be the one. He walked over here, he knows about the baby."

She bit her lip. "And?"

"And he's having the reaction I think most kids would. You need to talk to him. I sent him to bed, but you should stop by in the morning."

"I will. Thanks, Dad."

"Anytime."

Emma hung up her phone and collapsed back on the bed. Bae sat beside her, carding his fingers through her hair.

"He's at your parents'?"

"Yup."

"Why'd he go there?"

"He overheard us talking about the baby."

"Oh."

"Please don't say I told you so."

"I won't. But now you know why I wanted to tell him."

She sighed. "I know, I know. I just was worried. I mean, she could still back out at any minute."

"True, but she probably won't. We're going to be adding another member to the family soon, Em. Keyword being family. Henry needs to feel secure."

"I wouldn't want anything else. I'll go over there in the morning and talk to him, bring him home."

"Good." Bae moved so he was laying beside her and wrapped his arms tightly around her. "Just try to get some sleep. He's safe, he's with your dad."

Emma nodded and shut her eyes, but she couldn't fall asleep. She knew her husband didn't either. There was no way they could when their son was so upset and far away from them. She waited until 6 AM and got untangled from Baelfire's arms, throwing on a sweatshirt over her pajamas and heading down the stairs. She walked across the street to her parents' house, using her key to get inside. She found her father cooking some pancakes at the stove.

"You're up early," she commented.

David smiled. "I knew you'd be over here early. Couldn't sleep?"

"How could I when my son was away from me?"

"Welcome to parenthood." David slid a mug of coffee over to her.

"Thanks," she mumbled, taking a sip. "How am I going to do this? How do you assure a child that you're not going to give up on them?"

"I don't know, what proved it to us with you?"

Emma thought about it for a minute. "You had to tell me about a million times. Though, I didn't truly believe it until Mom told me that I could test you as much as I wanted, but you weren't going anywhere."

David laughed at the memory of Emma giving her phone to Lily so they'd think she was at the Rabbit Hole. "I'm glad we can laugh about it now."

"Yeah. When will I laugh about today?"

"Another 10 years, probably." He sat next to her at the island. "You're a good mom, Em."

"Am I?"

"Yes. Every kid has these doubts, it doesn't mean you failed."

"We should've told him sooner."

"You didn't want to get his hopes up, adoption is complicated. You of all people know this."

"Still…I don't want him to think he's being replaced."

"Just talk to him. I told him the same thing I told you, I think he just needs to hear it from his mom."

Emma nodded. "Thanks, Dad."

"What are dads for?"

"Being annoyingly right it seems." A small smile played on her lips and he laughed. "Can I do the secret ingredient?" 30-years-old and it was still her favorite thing.

David smiled and lead her over to the bowl. Outside him, only three other people knew the ingredient: Emma, Neal and Henry. She tossed in just the right amount of nutmeg. By the time the pancakes were ready, Henry came down the stairs. He paused when he saw his mom. She walked straight over to him and hugged him as tight as possible. He hugged her back tighter, burying his head in her shoulder.

"If you ever scare me like that again, I'm locking you in your room for life," she said.

"I'm sorry, Mommy," he mumbled.

Emma pulled away, cupping his cheeks. "We need to talk, kid." She glanced over at her dad. "We'll be outside."

David nodded and she lead him out to the porch, the two sitting down on the swing. She caused it to start rocking gently, looking down at him. She could remember back to when she still lived with her parents. Henry would wake up at the crack of dawn, screaming loudly. The one thing to settle him down was her feeding him on the swing as they watched the sunrise together. It was one of those mornings that she saw the house across the street was for sale. She couldn't believe that had been 6 years prior. He had grown up so fast, she just wanted it to slow down.

"So, you know about your baby sister," Emma said. Henry nodded. "Kid, we were going to tell you. In fact, your father did."

"Why didn't you?"

"I wanted to make sure that things were actually official. Adoption can be complicated, this one wasn't like mine. Her biological mother is choosing to give her up, to give her a better chance. But she can change her mind." She sighed. "But I still should've told you. Kid, we're not adopting this baby to replace you."

"You may not think you are, but you might be."

Emma tilted her head back. This kid was too much like her. "Did I ever tell you that your uncle was jealous of you?"

Henry looked bewildered by this fact. "Uncle Neal?"

"Yup. We're very close and since I'm so much older than him, he didn't know how to take it. He didn't understand that I could have enough love in my heart for you both."

"But you did."

"You're right, I did. Just like I do with you and your new baby sister."

"You haven't even met her yet."

Emma smiled, looking back down at him. "Well, I knew I loved you from the very moment that I knew you were coming."

"You did?"

"Yup. I knew that you were mine and nothing would change that. I was young and scared, I didn't know what would happen. But I did know one thing: I loved you, I loved you so much. You were my baby boy. No matter what happened, that wouldn't change it. Nothing ever could."

Henry chewed on his lip and she pulled him closer to her.

"I know it'll take time," she continued. "It did with me when your grandparents adopted Neal. But just know, your dad and I love you so much. We'd never love anything more than we love you. We just have enough room in our hearts to love you and Maggie the same."

Henry nodded, a small smile going on his face. Then he paused, realizing something. "Maggie?"

"Right…you wanna know a secret?" Henry nodded. "We're naming the baby after Grams and Nana, Margaret Belle, but we're going to call her Maggie. You can't tell them, though. It's a surprise."

Henry grinned. "Our secret surprise?"

Emma nodded with a smile. "Sure, kid."

She wrapped an arm around him, hugging him tightly before pressing a kiss to her head.

"I love you, Henry," she whispered.

"I love you too, Mommy." He paused. "Can Daddy come over to have pancakes with us?"

Emma nodded. "I'll text him."

Pulling out her phone, she managed to text her husband with one hand as they went back in the house, her arm around Henry. When her son saw Neal, he raced over to him, ready to tell him all about his baby sister. Emma looked over at her father, knowing he had helped break the ice. Smiling, she mouthed, "Thanks." David grinned in return and mouthed back "Anytime."

So, as you can see, a happy ending is in store for everyone. We just…need to get through some dark times first.