"It's a boy, I'm telling you."
Leaning against the wall as he polished his hook, the Captain of the Jolly Roger was the one to break the silence as everyone waited anxiously for Doc to show up in the Charmings' castle. Until then, the only sounds to fill the air had been Snow's deep sighs, Rumplestiltskin's cane tapping the floor time and again and the constant clacking of Charming's boots as he paced up and down the corridor that led to the royal bedchambers.
"But that's fine, I'm willing to give others a chance," the pirate continued, ignoring the thick cloud of concern above everyone's heads. "I'm taking bets. Of course, 'Mr. I-can-see-the-future' over there is not welcome to play for obvious reasons," he said, pointing towards his archenemy with a smirk. "Neither are you, Belle because of, you know, shared information."
Belle raised her eyebrows, lips pursed for an instant as she held her hands over her lap.
Hook, however, was not about to give up anytime soon.
"Charming, what do you think?" he asked.
"Girl."
The man stopped for a moment, but not long enough for Hook to catch him for a bit of conversation, so the pirate turned his attention to Emma's mother instead.
"Snow?"
She raised her eyes from the ground, and it was obvious her mind was filled with much more important thoughts rather than guesses about the sex of her grandchild.
"I don't know...Maybe a girl, too."
"Well, I'm doubling down on my guess," Rumplestiltskin seemed on the verge of a stroke when Hook spoke again, his voice more cheerful than ever. "You can take all the gold I have if I'm wrong. It's a boy."
Just then, the door to one of the bedchambers opened and a very distraught Neal came marching down the corridor, his hair more messed than ever, as if he had been tugging at it for quite a while.
"Oh, there he is, the man we were all waiting for!" exclaimed Hook, his arms outstretched as Charming hurried to talk to his son-in-law.
"Belle, I swear, this man..." Rumplestiltskin muttered from under his breath as his wife tried to restrain him by pulling on his shirt.
"So how are th-"
"Bae," Hook butted in before Charming could finish his question. "Tell me. Is it a boy or a girl?"
"And how am I supposed to know?" the other man replied, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "Last time I used a crystal ball was a long time ago."
"Take a stab, then."
"Right..." Neal snorted, arching an eyebrow as he stared at Hook for a moment before searching around for his mother-in-law. "Snow, could you please come with me?"
"Of course."
With a quick nod, Snow rushed to the room with Neal a few steps ahead of her.
"But wait, you didn't-"
"Oh shut up, Hook!"
Rumplestiltskin had had enough. He had tried his best to remain calm and collected, but how could he?
"No one wants to listen to you, can't you see it?" he snarled, rising to his feet as he approached his rival. "No one even invited you, and yet, you keep forcing yourself on a family you don't belong to..."
Hook's eyes seemed to lose some of their spark, but only for a brief instant. Soon enough, his lips were curled in the usual smirk he sported when faced with the prospect of conflict.
"Well, I think I do."
"No, you don't. If you did, your family would recognize you as part of it," said the older man, barely hiding his contempt as he took another step forward. "Look around. No one here does."
"Well, let's not resort to-"
"Oh, I see," again, Hook interrupted Charming mid-sentence. "All the 'blood-related' bullshit," he snorted, and turned his attention to his hook again. "Well... Unless Baelfire and Emma themselves tell me to leave, then I'm not going anywhere.
"How da-"
"Hook is right," following through with the chain of interruptions, it was Charming's turn to cut Rumplestiltskin short. "He helped us save Henry, and he knows your son. If anything, he's a family friend."
"Indeed I am," the Captain responded, stuffing his chest as if trying to show everyone else around him he was as entitled to stay around to see Emma and Baelfire's heir as any other member of the family.
"Don't push it," Charming muttered, while Belle once again had to physically stop her husband from descending his cane onto Hook's head one minute before it was too late.
Unaware of the events taking place outside, Neal sat by his wife's side, holding her hand as she whimpered.
"Neal, I'm serious... Get me out of here, please."
"Emma, we both knew it would be like this..."
"You're saying this because you're not the one being torn here!"
He winced when she squeezed his hand again as another contraction made her writhe on the bed.
"Oh God!"
"Try to stay calm."
"I wanna go back," she panted, sweat trickling down her temples. "To the land... of painkillers... and technology... and well-equipped hospitals..." she said, letting her head fall onto one of the pillows. "Neal, please get me out of this enchanted jungle."
"Where is Doc?" Neal asked Snow, who was busy holding her daughter's other hand while trying to wipe away the sweat from her forehead with a cloth.
"I don't know!"
"It's been hours since her water broke, we can't wait anymore."
He kissed his wife's forehead, and looked at her closed eyes for a long minute.
"Okay," he said, rolling up his sleeves as he stood up. "I'll need cloths, a bowl with warm water, and blankets. Lots of blankets."
Emma's eyes shot open at her husband's words. He could not mean what she thought he meant.
"I'll go wash my hands."
"What?" she exclaimed, her eyes following Neal to the sink on a far corner of the room. "Neal, what the hell are you doing?"
"If Doc is nowhere to be found," he replied, scrubbing his fingers, "then we'll make do with anyone who has delivered a baby before."
"And that person would be..." said Snow, although she did know how that sentence would end.
Neal swallowed, and the artery throbbing on his neck was so obvious that it didn't take much for one to realize his heart was probably about to burst out of his chest.
"Yeah," he answered, avoiding Emma's eyes as she shook her head.
"No."
"Emma, I've done this before."
"I don't care if you've done this before, you're not doing this nooooooooowwww!" her rant ended in a wail as she held her belly, as yet another contraction took her breath away. "Mom, get him out of here."
Snow, however, had other plans.
"I'll go get what you need," she said, looking at Neal as she left the room, much to Emma's dismay.
"Emma, look, listen to me," he had approached the bed, and was once again holding his wife's hand in his as he pulled a strand of hair away from her face. "It's fine. We'll be good."
"No."
"Don't be stubborn. I can help you, the two of you."
"Neal! No! You're not supposed to see this!"
"See this what? Our baby?"
"You know what I'm talking about!"
He chuckled and lowered his lips to hers to try and calm her down, knowing very well what she was talking about.
"Well it won't be the first time I see it, okay? I'll live."
She closed her eyes, a mere second before her mother made her way back into the room.
"Will we still have a sex life after that?" she asked, pouting slightly as he caressed her hair.
"Oh you bet we will," he answered, smiling as he looked at her worried face. "Definitely. Just breathe, okay? Breathe."
His lips had moved to her ear, and he took that chance to bite her earlobe, sucking on it lightly.
"Oh," she moaned, feeling shivers go up and down her spine despite all the pain that seemed to be scorching every single nerve in her body. "Oh, that felt good. Do it again."
And when he did, she moaned louder, her eyes shooting open and falling upon her mother on the other side of the bed.
"Oh God, sorry about that," Emma muttered, trying not to blush as Snow pressed another cloth to her forehead.
"Pretend I'm not here."
Thank Heavens for understanding parents.
When the next contraction made her wince, she started pushing, just to be interrupted by her husband.
"Emma, Emma, stop, don't push, wait."
"What?"
"You're not ready yet, wait."
"For what?"
"You're not dilated, don't force it."
Dilated. The word reminded her that it was her husband following the changes in her body.
Oh, well. If anyone knew her body well, it had to be him.
"For Christ's sake, Neal."
"Breathe," he replied, helping her lie on her side as he rubbed her lower back. "Just breathe."
"Where is she?"
"Henry!" Charming caught the boy in a hug as soon as he rushed into the hall, followed by Regina. "It's okay, your father... he is... well..."
"Your father is helping deliver the baby," said Rumplestiltskin just as Hook opened his mouth - whether to tell Henry about his father, or to ask the kid whether he thought he would have a baby brother or sister, nobody knew.
"Dad knows how to do that?"
"Yes, apparently he does."
As he spoke, Rumplestiltskin took his time to study his grandson's face. For so long, he had been so busy with other concerns that he failed to notice how much that boy reminded him of his son, and not only physically.
"Wow..." Henry muttered, his eyes darting to the door that led to his parents' room.
"There is a lot about him that we don't know yet, isn't there?"
The boy nodded at his grandfather with a smile, unaware that not too far from where he was, things were starting to get serious.
"Okay... Okay..." Neal was breathing hard as he muttered instructions to his wife. "It's time. Push."
He ignored the torrent of curses that followed her efforts.
"Breathe, come on, try again."
"Oh God, Neal, stop," Emma panted, as her mother pressed a wet cloth to her forehead. "There is something wrong, it shouldn't hurt this much."
"Yes it hurts, you just don't remember the pain."
He regretted those words as soon as they left his mouth. Emma's shoulders had drooped in defeat, and her eyes were suddenly very bleak and vacant.
"Emma, I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm so sorry, that is not what I-"
"Neal, I can't do this."
Tears started streaming down her face as her shoulders shook, memories of another labor filling her mind and taking her breath away.
"I can't, I can't."
She found herself caught up in a mixture of physical and emotional pain that was draining her, making her feel weaker by the minute.
"I didn't even hold him in my arms," she sobbed. "I didn't want to see him, Neal, I couldn't..." she didn't even care if she was making sense or not; all she knew was that years of guilt and sorrow seemed to be pouring from her eyes and from her chest, and she needed to let it all out.
"Emma..."
At the edge of the bed, she realized her husband was on the verge of tears.
"I wanna see Henry," she said. "Please let me see Henry."
Neal looked at the ceiling as another contraction made her grit her teeth in pain, and after he covered her legs with a blanket, Snow rushed out of the room, only to reappear with Henry a minute later.
"Henry..." Emma whispered, outstretching her arms. "I'm so sorry, I'm so, so sorry."
The boy held her hands, searching around for his father as he tried to make sense of what was going on.
"I love you so much," he heard his mother say. "Can you forgive me? I love you so, so much."
"What is going on?" Henry asked, looking at his father, who took that chance to kiss the top of the boy's head.
"Just give her a hug, okay?" he whispered into the boy's ear. "There's nothing wrong, son. It's okay."
Neal watched as the two of them hugged. Emma clung so tightly to the kid he would be surprised if he didn't end up with some sort of bruise. By his side, Snow waited until mother and child were ready to part to lead a still very confused Henry out of the room.
"Now go wait outside with the rest of the family, okay?" she told the boy, while Neal sat by Emma's side on the bed, kissing her forehead and trying to ignore the pain in his chest. He too felt like he was about to drown in memories of everything that could have been, but he couldn't let himself go there - not when they were about to welcome their second child into the world.
"Emma... Baby, please don't cry," he whispered, watching her face as she tried to catch her breath. "I know I was not there the first time... But you did it then, and you can do it now."
He saw Emma's gaze shift to her mother's smiling face, and then back to his.
"I'm not going anywhere, your mother is not going anywhere. Okay?" he said, relief washing over him when his wife nodded and steadied herself on the bed. "I love you."
When her eyes met his, they were still glistening with tears, but also with a spark of determination, and he couldn't help but admire her even more for her strength.
"Push," he said, feeling his voice catch in his throat as they kept staring at each other, her hand reaching his arm right below the elbow while he grabbed her arm as well. "Just push."
Outside, Regina Mills let her eyes drift from Henry to the boy's relatives scattered around the hall, and then to Hook. The man was looking out of the window, in quiet resignation after she had also refused to take part in the "guess-the-sex-of-the-baby" game. Henry, at least, had agreed to participate: just like his maternal grandparents, he believed the baby was going to be a girl.
"Well, you're wrong," had been Hook's response, as he raised an eyebrow, smirking. "I'm good at bets, mate. And I'm telling you, it will be a boy."
"Then why do you keep pestering everyone, if you are so sure?"
The comment that followed had obviously come from Henry's other grandfather, and everyone around them could do nothing but roll their eyes as the two men engaged in another round of bickering.
Regina took that opportunity to take a step closer to Belle.
"So..." she said, after clearing her throat and making an effort to look as amiable as she could, knowing that she probably wasn't doing a very good job. "I'm sorry for the... Lacey episode."
"Oh... that."
"That was... perhaps, a little unnecessary."
"I'm glad you realize that."
"And also... for locking you up in the asylum," Regina went on, her face of someone who had just sucked on a lemon. "Though you didn't actually miss that much, Storybrooke was never meant to be Party Central."
"No hard feelings," Belle said, with a little smile as she looked around, not entirely comfortable with where that conversation was heading. "I'm glad we are sorting that out."
"Right. And…" Regina's face contorted into a very strange, artificial smile when she spoke again. "Congratulations for the twins."
Belle blinked, her eyes going wide as both Hook and Rumplestiltskin whipped their heads around.
"Excuse me?" she gasped.
"I read it on the newspaper," said Regina, with a shrug.
"What? What newspaper?"
"You're pregnant?" asked Rumplestiltskin, his expression a mix of confusion and hope.
"Twins?"
It was Hook's turn to look as if he had just tasted something very bitter.
"Belle?"
"I'm not... I don't..."
"Why didn't you tell me you're pregnant?" Rumplestiltskin insisted, looking as pale as a ghost.
"B-Because I'm not, at least I don't think I am."
"It was on the Storybrooke Daily Mirror," Regina explained, raising the newspaper.
"Let me see that," hissed the older man by her side, snatching it from her hands. "And on lighter news, Belle French was spotted leaving the town hospital after an appointment with Doctor Whale to check on the health of the Dark One's twins: Killian and Milah!", Rumplestiltskin spat out, throwing the newspaper on Hook's face. "Is this your idea of a joke, you bastard?!"
"What are you talking about?"
Hook, however, looked as confused as anyone else.
"Rumple, wait," said Belle, as her eyes scanned the newspaper. "I don't think it was him, unless he's really marrying Regina and hasn't told us about it."
"What?" Hook and Regina exclaimed at the same time.
"Here," she said, pointing to a picture of the Jolly Roger. "The wedding ceremony between Regina Mills, demoted Storybrooke Mayor, formerly known as the Evil Queen, and Killian Jones, also known as Captain Hook of the Jolly Roger, is going to take place next Friday, in the famous magical vessel. None of the town villagers are invited."
"Who wrote that?" asked the former mayor/Evil Queen, the vein in her forehead threatening to burst at any given minute.
"I heard Sidney Glass got back to his activities," Charming said, reaching for the newspaper. "But apparently, he's not entirely sane. Something about being locked in an asylum... I'm not sure of the details."
Regina's eye twitched as all heads turned to look at her.
"A wedding, huh," said Hook, elbowing the woman by his side as he winked. "I'm game if you are."
"Shut up, Captain."
"Doc!"
It was Henry who noticed the dwarf walking as fast as he could towards the group.
"Oh, thank God!" Charming said, leading the man towards Emma's room.
"How is she?" asked Doc, wiping the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief.
Behind the door, Neal could also do with something to wipe his sweat away.
"Yes, Emma!" he exclaimed, "I can see the head, stop pushing honey, just breathe, breathe!"
"Neal don't ask me to stop now it's hurting like fu-"
"I'm sorry I'm late!" said Doc, opening the door at once.
"GET OUT!"
The dwarf closed the door and left the room as soon as Snow's and Neal's voices echoed in the hall.
"I'm not sure I understand..." he muttered, looking at Charming with nothing but confusion on his face.
"Snow, give me those cloths."
With shaky hands, Neal dipped one of the pieces of fabric on the warm water and made compresses to avoid further trauma as the baby moved down.
"We're so close, Emma, you're doing great."
Truth was, that moment was scaring the bejesus out of him. That was when things could get bad, for her and the baby, and even though he had indeed seen it before, he was not ready to see his wife suffer more than necessary because he got the timing wrong.
"Neal..."
"Okay... okay..." at that point, he was saying those words more to calm himself down than anything else. "Wait, keep breathing, just breathe."
He raised his eyes to his wife's face and realized he was mirroring her gasps, his chest heaving up and down in synchrony with hers.
"Let your body adjust to it, the head is almost totally out," he smiled, "Come on. One more push. We're almost finished."
His eyes filled with tears when he finally saw the baby's face, and then the shoulders, Emma's screams mixing with his laughter as he finally held their child in his hands.
"It's a boy," he whispered, looking in awe at the baby in his hands. "It's a beautiful baby boy!"
His hands were still shaking when he cleaned the child's nose and mouth, his first cry filling the air as he placed the baby on his mother's chest.
"Oh, Emma, look at him! He's perfect."
Snow's voice woke him up from the trance, and he looked at his hands and arms, covered in blood, and for the first time he thought of how wrong things could have gone.
"We need to clamp the cord," he muttered, tears streaming down his face as he stood up and looked around for something he could use.
"Neal," he heard his wife's voice behind him, but did not turn around. "Come here, you idiot, you've done enough."
"It's not over yet," he whispered, trying to get a hold on his emotions as he distracted himself looking for a piece of string or something of the sort. He was a father, again. And although his whole body seemed to be jolting with happiness, for the first time he was fully aware of how unbearable it would be to give that child away, after all the pain and effort and love, and all of a sudden he couldn't bring himself to look at Emma's face.
"I know it's not, but you can let Doc do the rest," she said. "Come see your son."
"You should nurse him."
"I am nursing him, you would know that if you were looking at us."
He forced himself to breathe, but his courage failed him yet again. He turned around, but instead of heading to the bed, he walked towards the door, wiping his tears away.
"I'll go tell the others."
"Neal!"
He opened the door, trying not to let his regret strangle him as he heard his son whimpering behind him.
"It's a boy," he announced, avoiding the curious glances that all at once shifted to his face.
"I knew it!"
That time, however, Rumplestiltskin didn't even bother to burst Hook's bubble. He was too busy looking at his son's face, with a frown.
Neal accepted everyone's congratulations, hugged his older son with a somewhat numb embrace, and excused himself.
"I... I have to clean myself, I'll be right back."
He made a particularly long stop at the furthest royal restroom, washing his hands and arms with surgical precision as he tried to void his mind of the jumble of images of a very distant past, of wrong choices, of bad decisions, of pain. When he raised his eyes to the mirror in front of him, he saw the image of his father, and whipped his head around.
"What's wrong, son?"
His lip trembled as he sniffed, avoiding the older man's eyes as he dried his hands on a towel.
"Nothing," he said. "I'm just tired."
"Oh, I'm sure you are," his father answered, the tranquility in his voice somehow soothing his wrecked nerves. "You did a remarkable job, Doc has just said he wouldn't have done it better himself."
"Yeah..."
"Had you done it before?"
"Yeah..." he replied, knowing very well that his father was only trying to put him at ease before trying again to find out what was wrong. "I was at the market once... and there was this lady, she... she went into labor and it was late, there was only me and an old lady, the guy at the cashier called 911 and I just... I just followed the instructions."
"Ah, that is very typical of you," Rumplestiltskin replied, not sure of what "911" was and finding it unnecessary to ask, as he clutched his cane with a peaceful smile on his lips. "Thinking of others... before yourself."
Neal felt the corners of his eyes prickle, and once again he was drowning in memories.
"It was my fault," he said, his voice no louder than a whisper. "She had to give up our son and it was my fault."
"It was not your fault, Bae..."
"It was. We would have kept him, we would have found a way," each word seemed to be tearing his throat. "I gave her no choice."
"You were given no choice."
"No," he shook his head, smiling bitterly. "It was my fault, and I can't... I can't even look at her face."
"Bae..." his father followed him around as he paced up and down. "Get yourself together, son. Emma is waiting for you, your children are waiting for you."
He felt his father's hand on his shoulder, and closed his eyes as he leaned against the wall.
"You are not a horrible man, Bae. Or a horrible father."
Fresh tears ran down his face as once more the memories of a series of past mistakes filled his mind.
"You are a good man that did the best you could do... under very difficult circumstances."
For a very long time, much longer than he would like to admit, he had waited for exactly that: his father's arms wrapped around him, giving him the comfort that he craved so much.
"I am so proud of you, Bae," he heard his father say, and his voice was no longer steady as it had been minutes before. "I have always been. I wish I had been around to tell you."
He felt his shoulders shake as he tightened his grip around the other man, feeling like a 14-year old boy again.
"I should have never let you go," he had opened his mouth to speak, but his old man was faster. "I didn't mean to be a bad father myself."
For some reason, he felt those words were healing him in a way he never thought possible. He took a long, deep breath as he pulled back, wiping his tears away with a smile as he looked at the man in front of him.
"Thank you."
"No, son," his father replied, and for a moment he looked just like the man he used to be before all the tragic events that led him into being the Dark One. "Thank you, for being the better man."
"Ah..."
They both whipped their heads to look at the door.
"There you are!" Hook exclaimed. "Emma is driving everyone mad asking about you!"
"I see..." Neal replied, drawing in another breath as he prepared to walk outside. "I'm on my way, then."
"Yeah..." the pirate arched an eyebrow as he looked at him. "Are you okay?"
"I am," he answered, patting the man on the shoulder. "Thanks for asking."
"You know..." Rumplestiltskin said, as he walked outside. "Maybe you are not as stupid as I always thought you were."
"Of course I'm not stupid," Hook replied, frowning. "Took you long enough to find out."
"Or you might as well be, and I was always right..."
And so, the two of them kept the usual exchange of insults and snarky remarks, walking side by side on their way back to where everyone was.
"Oh, he's back."
Belle's voice was the first one he heard when he entered the room. The whole family was gathering around Emma's bed, whispering and taking turns to tickle the baby's head as he slept in his mother's arms.
"He's precious," Belle said, squeezing his shoulder. "Congratulations, Bae."
"Thanks."
"Henry, your mom is starving," said Snow, after spotting Neal by the door. "What do you say we go fix her something to eat?"
The boy nodded, although Emma seemed a little reluctant to let him go.
"Charming?"
"What?"
Emma's father kept smiling goofily at his daughter and the baby.
"Will you join us?"
"Oh, no... You go ahead."
Snow nudged him on the ribs and tilted her head towards the door, and only then did Charming realize Neal walking towards them.
"Oh... Of course."
Neal lowered his head and nodded gratefully as all the family left the room and he was left alone with his wife and son.
"Hey," Emma said, her voice as sleepy as her eyes as she smiled at him.
"Hey..."
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah..." he replied, sitting on the bed by her side. "Sorry about... earlier."
His eyes fell on his son's face, sleeping deeply against his mother's chest.
"How are you feeling?" he asked, holding Emma's hand as he pressed a kiss to the baby's forehead.
"Tired," she answered, trying to stifle a yawn. "Wanna hold him a little?"
"I don't wanna wake him up."
"You won't."
When he caught the little bundle in his arms, he felt his heart beat faster.
"He has your eyes, you know?"
"Yeah?"
"Uh-hmm..." she stretched, putting a pillow behind her back as she sat up. "He opened them while I was nursing him. You would have seen it, if you had stayed..."
He smiled sadly, holding the baby's tiny hand.
"I'm sorry things happened the way they did, Emma..."
"I know," she said, moving closer to him. "But now that we were given a second chance, what do you say we don't waste it?"
When he looked into her eyes again, he realized they were peaceful in a way he hadn't seen in a very long time. If she, Emma, the woman he had unintentionally hurt so much, could find it in her to forgive him, then maybe it was time he did the same.
"Deal," he said, a much brighter smile curling his lips as his wife kissed his head.
When he looked at her again, she was raising the eyebrows and nudging him so that he would look at the baby on his arms.
Their son had opened his eyes, and was now looking at him.
"Hey there, buddy," he whispered, leading the tiny hand he was holding to his lips, just as the door to the room opened again and Henry came in, with a tray full of fruit and other snacks.
"Is he awake?" the boy asked.
"Yup," Neal answered, standing up to approach his older son. "Wanna hold him?"
"Can I?"
"Yeah, just put the tray next to your mother and I'll show you how."
While Neal showed Henry how to hold the baby, Charming poked his head into the room.
"Can we come in?"
"Yes," Emma replied, smiling sleepily as she closed her eyes. "I just can't guarantee I'll be awake for much longer..."
"Don't worry, we'll let you rest, I promise," said Snow, pouring her daughter a glass of juice. "It's just that Henry wants to take a picture of the whole family while everybody is here."
"A picture?" Neal asked, turning to look at Henry. "I thought your camera had run out of battery?"
"It has," the boy replied, putting the baby back into his mother's arms when he started crying. "But the Blue Fairy put a spell on it so that I can snap a picture of our family, and then it will show in the canvas."
"What can-"
Before he could finish his sentence, Neal turned to look at the place behind him the boy was pointing at.
"Oh," he muttered, as soon as his eyes fell upon a huge canvas that covered half of one of the walls in the room. "I see."
"Come on, now," said Snow. "Emma needs to rest, so everybody gather around!"
One by one, Hook, Charming, Belle, Rumplestiltskin and Regina got closer to the bed, and when all of them were ready, Henry stated the obvious detail everyone else seemed to be missing.
"But... who will take the picture?"
Doc had already left the Castle, and all the members of the family engaged in quiet whispers to each other although nobody seemed willing to volunteer to be out of that picture.
"Oh, well..."
As usual, Hook was the one to speak up.
"I will."
He took the camera from Henry's hands, mumbling something about 'not being a part of the family anyway'.
"Don't be ridiculous."
As usual, Rumplestiltskin was the one to respond.
"If you don't appear in the picture, then the kid will never believe there was this presumptuous clown trying to get all the family to guess if he would be a boy or a girl the day he was born."
"You want me to be in a picture with your family, Crocodile?"
"That's not what I said."
There was a moment of silence in which everybody waited for the resolution of yet another squabble.
"Still, I was the only one who got it right," said the pirate, gingerly making his way back to the group as he stood behind Regina. "Give it your best smile, sweetheart, I'm right behind you," he whispered into her ear. "Remember that this day is the day we almost got married, huh?"
"The newspaper said 'Friday'."
"Good," he replied, noticing she had a smirk on her lips. "Then we still have time."
"I'm proud of you," Belle told Rumplestiltskin as he made Henry's camera levitate in front of the group.
"Don't be. I still feel like punching him right between the eyes."
"Do we have a name for the baby yet?" Hook muttered between gritted teeth as he smiled to the camera. "Because I have a few suggestions..."
"Oh Gods, not again..."
And then, while Rumplestiltskin was still rolling his eyes, a flash of light blinded them for a moment, and shapes slowly started forming in the canvas, to reveal an image that had taken centuries of unlikely events, missteps and victories to come true:
The Charmingtiltskins-Jones-Mills first family picture.