Title: This Is Why We Fight
Author: snarkysweetness
Rating: R
Characters: Emma, August, Henry, Snow, Granny, Doc, Dr. Whale (Prince Eric/Monstro), & Regina; Emma/August & Snow/Charming
Summary: Set six years after the first season, Emma has finally defeated Regina. Though the final battle still haunts her, something miraculous manages to result from all of the horror they've suffered; the happy endings really have come back.
Warnings: Major character death, references to violence, brief sexuality, and also fluff. Like seriously, so much fluff I feel a little sick from it, but like Ron Weasley would say 'you're going to suffer, but you're going to be happy about it."
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Author's Notes: My fellow Booth Babes were all emo this weekend and I needed to write them some fluff, however, happiness means nothing without a little suffering, so I threw that in there too. Also, I am on the ship that Dr. Whale is Prince Eric who was turned into Monstro by Ursula when he chose Ariel over her and screwed over her entire overthrowing Triton thing. David Anders is the only one handsome enough to do Eric justice, let's be real. I'm sure this will get Jossed next season, but oh well, I'll deal.
Emma wrings her hands as she paces in front of her window. Her stomach feels as though it's in her chest and she fights to keep down this morning's breakfast. She isn't sure if this can really be happening, maybe it's all a dream, but as she hunches herself over the trash bin to empty the contents of her stomach, she knows it's not a dream; she's going to be a mother again and she's completely terrified.
It's only been three months since they finally defeated Regina and this is not the time to be having a baby. The Kingdoms were still recovering and rebuilding; Emma had so much to do and she didn't even know where to begin. Fighting a war had been easy compared to all of this diplomatic bullshit. Not to mention being back in their world was new and uncomfortable for Emma. All she wanted to do was curl up with a bad movie and Chinese food, but that wasn't a possibility anymore.
And what would her parents say? Snow wanted nothing more than to have another child, so much so that she'd asked Emma if she'd be okay with it because she didn't want her to feel weird about it. Now Emma was the one who felt weird.
Plus Henry would freak out, right? He was going to be sixteen soon, wouldn't having a baby sibling at his age be weird? And what if he felt left out because Emma missed out on the first ten years of his life but stuck around for this kid's entire life?
No, not her kid, he didn't see the world in black or white, he saw everything in grey. Plus, the kid loved August like he was his own father; he'd probably be thrilled at the idea.
Emma stops pacing to look out onto the Palace grounds where Henry and August were throwing a ball around. She leans into the window with a smile. The two of them looked so happy. She didn't know exactly when it happened, somewhere between August falling in love with the kid and then falling in love with her, but he'd become Henry's father, biology be damned.
August looks up, catching sight of her and gives her a small wave. Waving back, Emma watches them for another moment before stepping away from the window, needing to collect her thoughts.
How had this even happened? They'd been perfectly careful for years and the moment they were back in their own world suddenly she was knocked up? No, that wasn't it, it was right there in the front of her mind but she couldn't quite get a grasp on it. When had this happened?
Then it hits her and the memories of that horrible night come crashing back.
Emma's face was covered in tears, her body felt broken and dirty from sweat, mud, and blood. Her entire body shook as she stared down at the sword in her hand. After a moment she dropped it, horrified, before falling to her knees and curling up into a small ball.
It was done, then.
"EMMA!"
She felt his arms wrap around her and she leaned into his chest, sobbing.
"I killed her-"
"You had to! It was the only way she-"
"GODDAMMIT, AUGUST! I killed her! I-"
Emma gathered the fabric of his shirt in her fist and buried her face there, sobbing uncontrollably.
Running his hand through her hair, August held her close, rocking her back and forth to sooth her.
"We all knew it had to come down to this, Emma. She was out of control, you didn't have a choice."
"She was Henry's mom too, what do you think this is going to do to him?"
"Emma, he's been prepared for this for years. There was no good left in her, Emma. At least now she's free from all of that hate and evil that took root in her."
She pulled away from him, her face covered in tears.
"Do you really believe all of that crap?"
August pushed her hair back from her face and took it in his hands.
"Yes. Think about everyone who had to die because of her hate, Emma, do you really think locking her away in a prison would stop that? She'd find a way out and then this would all start over again. Now it's over, we can all move on with our lives. Everyone can find happiness again."
He leaned in and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
"Come on," he whispered, helping her to her feet. Leaving the sword where it was, August tried to lead her away, but Emma shook her head.
"No, this isn't right; we need to do something with the body. She may have been a lot of things but she raised Henry and my mother, she deserves better than this."
"The dwarves and your mother will see to it that there's a proper funeral, come on, you're covered in blood and I doubt all of it's Regina's."
August had managed to get her back to camp without letting anyone speak to her or congratulate her or anything. Emma didn't want to hear about how grateful people were that she'd finally killed the Evil Queen. All of this made her sick and angry. She'd give anything to just forget about all of this, even for a few minutes.
"Come on, you need to get this off."
Too exhausted to do it herself, she let August undress her. When he finished, she stood there, arms wrapped around her chest, freezing.
"I'll get Doc or Eric in here, they can look you over, some of these look really bad."
"Eric isn't a real doctor and neither is Doc, I'd be better off with Granny," she muttered.
"Eric spent twenty-nine years as a doctor back hom-there, I think he knows what he's doing."
Emma reaches for him before he can leave their tent and pulls him in for a kiss. August breaks it after a moment, resting his forehead against hers.
"Not now."
"Please? I just need to forget today happened, August."
"After you clean up and let them bandage your wounds, I'm not letting my wife die of an infection because she's too damn stubborn to let me take care of her. Here, clean up, I'll be right back."
He kissed her forehead again before leaving.
When he returned, Granny was the only one she'd let touch her. Not that she had anything against dear old Eric or Doc, but sometimes a girl needed her grandmother and seeing as Emma had just killed the closest relative she had to one, she'd have to do with her surrogate grandmother.
"My mom is never going to look at me the same," Emma whispered as Granny wrapped up Emma's ribs. August paced behind her, glaring at Doc and Eric, wanting to make sure neither of them looked in Emma's direction while she was in a state of undress.
"If she had been in the same position, she'd have done the same, don't be silly, girl. Here, drink this," Granny thrust a vial of some foul tasting potion into Emma's hands.
Emma tossed it back and made a face.
"Regina raised her, I mean…I know she was a raging bitch, but my mom love-"
"You're going to be Queen someday, do you understand that? You cannot show weakness during wartime. Sometimes we have to do things we don't want to do for the greater good. Stop feeling guilty and get some rest. Tomorrow when you see your people no longer living in fear, you'll forget how you're feeling now."
Granny's words were harsh, but when she patted Emma on the cheek and looked at her, Emma could see the fondness the old woman had for her. Emma leaned up and kissed Granny on the cheek. She was a tough old broad and Emma loved her for it.
Granny brushed her off and gave August a stern look before she left.
"Make sure she rests before we ride out in the morning. I'll know if she doesn't."
August rolled his eyes and ushered the men out after Doc assured Emma that Henry was still safe in the castle with his guards.
Once they were alone, August sat down next to Emma, taking her hand.
"Are you feelin-"
Emma cut him off by kissing him. His attempts to distract her by keeping the healers there longer than necessary hadn't made her need for him go away. When August tried to pull away, she kissed him again.
"Please, August. If I sleep I'm going to dream about tonight and I just can't handle that right now. And if I just sit here I'll think about it. You're my husband, for or worse, remember? Right now, I just need you to fuck the shit out of me so I can forget the bad stuff for a few hours."
The great thing about August? When she really needed him to, he didn't argue with her crap logic and he just rolled with whatever she needed in that moment.
Emma blows out a sigh. They'd been too busy 'forgetting' that they'd forgotten to use a condom too. The Enchanted Forest didn't exactly have birth control pills in stock so forgetting was pretty much guaranteeing you'd end up knocked up.
"Emma?"
She turns to find her mother in the doorway, holding out a tray of cookies. Emma has no idea how Granny still manages to make awesome deserts without a grocery store to get everything from, but Emma doesn't care. As long as people who knew what they were doing stuck around her, she'd never have to bother learning how to do it all. Emma was incapable of cooking a box of macaroni and cheese, she didn't even want to know what she'd do to the poor Palace's kitchen.
"Hi mom."
Snow set the tray down and moved to Emma, taking her face in her hands.
"Are you feeling better?"
Emma gave her a nod.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"This. I wasn't even trying and I know you and dad reall-"
"Stop. Your father and I love you and I'm happy for you. You gave me Henry and another grandchild is a blessing. Your father will be pleased too. And you know, pregnancy is like a fever, everyone catches it, and maybe we'll be next."
"I'm glad you're so optimistic."
It should be weird, the idea of her mother having kids after her, but their life wasn't exactly normal. Emma really does hope her parents got to have another kid, she knew how badly they felt about missing out on her life and maybe a new kid would make them stop feeling so guilty all the time.
"Your Majesties?"
Emma rolls her eyes.
"Don't you have your own Kingdom to run?"
Emma looks over her mother's shoulder to find Eric standing there, looking like his usual cocky self. Okay, maybe he wasn't as bad as when she first met him as Whale, but he was still an arrogant little fuck.
"I do, but I prefer medicine to being a Monarch. Here," he set down a bag filled with different herbs. "Drink one glass of tea with these every day for the nausea. Granny's working on a blend that will hopefully be similar to pre-natal vitamins. And Doc may not be a real doctor, but he delivered you, so he'll know what he's doing when it's time."
"You're finally leaving? I mean…thanks," Emma corrects herself when her mother shoots a glare her way.
"Belle thinks Rumpelstiltskin may have finally figured out a potion to turn Ariel back into a human."
"That's great!"
Snow goes to hug him but they have an awkward attempt at it before they finally get it right and Emma turns to hide her amusement. There were so many awkward 'we had sex in Storybrooke' feelings all over the place.
They spoke for another few moments about the summit they were having the next Month to make sure all peace talks were finalized and Emma bit into one of the cookies as he left the room.
"Whale."
"Booth."
August enters the room and glares in Eric's direction until he's out of sight.
"Shouldn't you get over your whole hating him thing?"
"He actually tried to me, so no."
Emma rolls her eyes and Snow gives her a kiss on the cheek.
"I'll leave you two alone; I have another batch of cookies for Henry."
Emma groans. Her mother is about as subtle as a hurricane.
"What was that about?"
"What?"
"Why was your mom looking at me like she wanted to kiss me?"
"You married her only daughter and took in her bastard son like he's your own; I think my mom always wants to kiss you. You saved me from a life of shame and spinsterdom."
August chuckles and leans down to kiss her and Emma kisses him back with a smile.
"Was that jackass here because you finally decided to see someone about being sick? You're a stubborn piece of work, Princess."
Emma lets out a sigh.
"Actually, he was. And um…maybe you need to sit down."
August gives her a raised brow but he pulls her towards their bed and sits down, pulling her into his lap.
"Okay, are you dying?"
Emma smacks his chest.
"NO! I'm…well…" Emma bites her lip before deciding to just say it. Like ripping off a bandage. She takes August's hands in hers and looks into his eyes. "I-We're pregnant."
She doesn't know what she was expecting, but him laughing wasn't it.
"Yeah, I know."
That cheeky bastard.
"You know? How? I just found out!
August kisses her again and wraps his arms around her waist, pulling her flush against his body.
"Because I'm not an idiot, Emma. You've been in some serious denial for weeks. I just didn't say anything because I know you too well, and you needed to come up with it on your own," he teased, kissing her neck.
Emma pushes him away.
"You're an ass."
August pushes down the sleeve on her dress, muttering an 'uh huh' as he looks down at her cleavage.
"I'm an ass because I'm observant enough of my wife to notice that she always pukes right around noon, her epic tits are even bigger than usual, and that she can't stop eating cookies? If so, then I will happily be an ass. I will also happily enjoy these, hello girls."
Emma slaps his hand away.
"August!"
"What, you look hot and it's not like I can knock you up some more."
Emma laughs as he pulls her back onto the bed, his hand moving up her shirt.
"You're incorrigible."
"You know it."
August kisses her again and moves his hand into her hair, pulling her closer. Emma lets herself get lost in kissing him. August pulls her on top of him and moves his hands to cup her breasts and Emma lets out a small groan of protest. The damn things were already getting sore. She's beginning to remember how much being pregnant could suck.
"What," August asks, breaking the kiss.
"Nothing, I just…wasn't ready to do this again. I'm sorry, you're being awesome about this and I'm just not sure if I can do this. I mean, do it right this time."
August sits up and takes her hands in his.
"You're going to be great. I love you and look at Henry, he's perfect."
"That's not really because of me."
"You did the best you could with him and he's fine. And we'll be fine. I'm going to be here every step of the way, so you won't have to do it alone this time. Our kid is going to be perfect, baby. Okay?"
Emma gives him a nod, her eyes filling with tears.
August leans up to kiss her as he wipes away a stray tear from her face.
"I love you and I love Henry and I love our kid, so don't worry about anything."
August moves his hand over her belly and Emma choked back a sob.
"Goddamn you, why are you so perfect?"
"Because it's what you deserve," he whispers before kissing her again.
Emma kisses him back and runs her fingers through his hair. He could be such a fucking cheeky bastard at times but then there were times like this moment that made her remember why she loved him so much.
"Oh God, close the door, will you?"
Emma pulls away with a small chuckle as Henry slams their bedroom door. She presses her forehead against August's, trying not to laugh.
"We should go tell him, no one in this castle can keep a secret."
"We should," August says, nodding. "Unless," he sits up and slides her off of him, "I tell him first."
"AUGUST!"
Emma waits a moment, shaking her head, a mix of annoyed and amused, before deciding that if she runs after him, she can beat him to Henry.
Things may not be perfect. She and August both have demons that will never go away, not to mention their entire world had years of recovery before anything got even close to normal again. Yet, in this moment, Emma realizes that maybe, just maybe, the happy endings really are coming back.