A/N: I must admit I can't go long with unpublished stuff on my laptop, so take this as another Easter holiday treat from me! I'm really curious what you think about this idea. I don't really know if I will continue this but I'm leaving the option for a second chapter open. For now the story is complete though. Thanks as always to the amazing waterbaby for betaing!

In case you missed it, I also updated my Asylum fic Poor Unfortunate Souls yesterday. Happy Easter everyone! And please leave me lots of chocolate bunnies… eeeeeh reviews ;)

Side Effect

They'd done it, they were back. Back from the Underworld with everyone after a hard last fight with Hades, in which Cora and some other old enemies had sacrificed themselves for all of them. All of them would finally have a moment to breathe. Dealing with Arthur and the rest of his Camelot clan and finding a way to send them home would be a piece of cake.

Everyone was looking forward to dinner at Granny's - the Blind Witch's cooking skills and constant fear they would be served children wouldn't be missed by anyone, especially not Regina who'd sworn to never complain about Granny's frozen lasagna ever again.

They stepped upon the footbridge, each one of them with their true love in their arms, Henry squeezed right between his mothers. Zelena was next to Gold, both hands wrapped in a cuff to prevent her from doing magic. She looked pissed. More than pissed, in truth. Her whole plan to "get-my-sister-and-the-heroes-stuck-in-hell-so-I-can-take-over-real-Storybrooke-with-Hades" had failed. Now Zelena had to deal once again with her annoying look-at-me-I-am-a-hero-now sister and at the same time try to get her baby and find a way back to OZ. But first things first.

"We are back," Snow whispered happily, hugging David and then extending the hug to her daughter and soon to be son-in-law. "I can't believe you did it."

"We did it," Emma grinned, leaning comfortably against Hook's shoulder. "I couldn't have done it without you. Thank you. All of you."

"I agree," Hook smiled. Even though his face was still swollen and damaged from the torture Hades had put him through, he did his best to stand tall and look well. "Thanks for the rescue mission. Who'd have thought y'all would go through hell to bring me back."

"Just try and remember that next time when you think about killing one of us," Regina remarked dryly, receiving a glare from Snow in return.

"No worries, your Majesty. It'll be remembered."

"Very well." Regina squeezed Robin's hand, giving him a soft smile. "I think there are two excited little children who're quite looking forward to seeing you." She glanced over at Zelena whose face was lacking any emotion.

"You just go, we will handle this," Emma reassured Regina who wasn't sure whether she should let her sister out of her sight for a minute.

She gave Hook a sharp glance, remembering how it was him who had freed her from her cuff the last time. "Regina, we will deal with this," Emma told her once again. "Go see your children."

"Love," Robin mumbled quite excitedly, "It's going to be fine."

"Yeah… yeah okay. I'll deal with her later. Meeting at Granny's for dinner?" Everyone nodded.

"Wait… Regina!" It was Snow, who met her eyes with hesitation. "Do you… do you think you could take David and me with you? To the children I mean? I don't want to go without Neal any longer than necessary."

"Of course," Regina smiled, flicking her hand and engulfing them all in purple smoke. It took them no longer than the blink of an eye to appear in front of the fairies' church. As if she'd known, Blue was waiting in front of the tall doors, hands patiently folded upon her stomach.

"You are back. I take it your mission was successful?"

"We brought Hook back from the dead if that's what you mean," Regina answered shortly. "But in case you're looking for a place for your next holiday you might consider giving hell a miss. Apparently there are a lot of people down there who have unfinished business with you."

A shadow crossed Blue's face and her jaw clenched. The fact Snow didn't say anything, just glared at the blue fairy was confirmation enough for the former queen.

"We would like to see our children now," David said, wrapping an arm around Snow.

"Of course. They're inside. There's just one thing you should know…" Blue didn't have time to finish when the doors sprang open and a whirlwind of dark brown curls rushed into Robin's arms with a loud "Papa!".

"My boy," Robin greeted his son, peppering small kisses all over his face and hugging him so tight he had to be careful not to hurt him.

It was Tinkerbelle who stood in the doorway with baby Neal on her arm.

"Neal!" Snow and David exclaimed, hugging their only months old happily shrieking baby boy tight.

The cheerful greeting was interrupted by a small voice, coming up right behind Tinkerbelle.

"Are you my Mommy and Daddy?"

Everyone turned around. To say they were surprised was a clear understatement. Shocked would be closer to it. Someone was clutching Tinkerbelle's legs from behind, someone quite small, smaller than Roland, with sweet brown-reddish curls and shiny white teeth.

Silence befell everyone except Roland who wriggled out of his daddy's hold to run over to Tink. "Come on, Gloria. Let's meet Papa and Mama."

Slowly, the little girl stepped forward behind Tinkerbelle, her hand gripping Roland's hard. She didn't look afraid, just extremely shy as she made her way over to the two adults who weren't able to find words for what they were just seeing.

The first question Regina had wanted to ask was "How long have we been gone?" But this proved to be unnecessary when she took a look toward Roland and Neal. It couldn't have been more than two weeks, tops!

Robin fell onto his knees next to her, his face a mixture of shock and adoration for the small girl with his eyes, his nose and his ears who was slowly walking toward him with her big brother. The last time he'd seen her she'd just been born, a tiny crying bundle in his arms and now she was… she could walk, she could speak, she was… beautiful.

"Did I do something bad?" Gloria whispered, a tiny frown on her lips as she saw the tears streaming down on Robin's cheeks. He shook his head, stretched out his hand to touch her so carefully as if she was made of china.

"You didn't, sweetheart. Come here." With a giggle she threw herself around her father's neck, Robin's face buried in her hair.

Regina's heart almost broke at the reunion between father and daughter and almost didn't see Tinkerbelle stepping up beside her.

"Regina…"

"We left the children with you to protect them! You call this protecting?!" she accused the blonde fairy immediately with clenched teeth.

"We did, Regina. We did, it's just… we think it's because of Emma's spell to accelerate Zelena's pregnancy. We tried to stop it once we figured out something was wrong. One night we put her down to sleep, barely able to sit up by herself and the next morning she was standing. Blue said… Blue said there's nothing we can do. It's dark magic, Regina."

Before the former Queen could say anything she was interrupted by Robin who was calling her softly down to them. "Regina. Gloria wants to meet you."

Reluctantly, Regina forced a much practiced cheerful smile on her face before she stepped closer to her family and knelt down next to Robin, who was still holding Gloria close to his side with one arm. She licked her dry lips, opened and closed them, not knowing what to say. There was no denying this was her sister's child, but there was no denying she was Robin's either. Gloria had her father's eyes, full of innocence and wonder, picked with perfect big lashes, now curiously looking up at her.

"Are you my mommy?" she asked quietly, her hand kneading Robin's shoulder nervously.

Regina met Robin's eyes, her silent question answered with a nod. "If you want me to be, then I'll be your mommy," Regina whispered back, her heart filled with emotion at the simple question which was not really that simple to answer.

Gloria let go of her daddy and threw her arms around the dark haired woman. She smelled wonderful, a bit like baby, a bit like earth and apple shampoo. It was Roland who followed suit moments later by throwing himself onto Gloria's back to double hug his sister and Regina. Robin walked over to them, only to kneel down once again and wrap his arms around his family. Tears were still streaming down his face, a mix of happiness to have his children back and sorrow because once again he'd lost something to the price of magic.

"What is going on," Snow was wondering aloud, her face turned questioningly toward the Blue Fairy who stood there, arms crossed with lips pressed into a thin line.

"We think it's the spell Emma used on the baby during Zelena's pregnancy. We have to talk to the Dark One and the Savior to see what we can do."

"If not," Snow whispered, not willing to finish the sentence.

"If not, I'm afraid this little girl won't have long to live," Blue answered heavily.

Xxxxx

Regina and Robin had cancelled the dinner at Granny's for obvious reasons. They weren't in the mood to celebrate their return, nor were they in the mood to deal with the prying eyes of the town's folk. Instead, they'd brought Roland and Gloria home to Regina's mansion, agreeing to meet Tink, Snow and Emma later on that night once they'd put the kids to sleep.

Both Gloria and Roland were fine to share a bed like they'd done the past few days when Gloria turned out to have outgrown the crib in record time. They snuggled under the covers together with Roland's monkey and Gloria's white polar bear named Lars, happy to have their parents back, happy to finally be home.

They were read a bedtime story and kissed on the forehead before Robin switched the light off and closed the door behind him, walking straight into Regina's waiting arms. They'd had to hide their feelings from the children for the rest of the day but now both were shaking, the weight of the situation falling down on them like Thor's hammer.

Regina teleported them straight to the couch of the living room, never letting go of her soul mate.

"What are we supposed to do?" Robin finally whispered, his eyes once again swollen from the tears he'd shed into her shirt.

The problem was, as much as she wanted to help Robin and his… no, their daughter, she didn't know how. Yes she'd dealt with her fair share of dark magic over the years and also with Rumple's Dark One magic but Regina didn't know what was happening to little Gloria. Why was the spell still working on her? She must be about Roland's age now in the span of two weeks. If she continued to age that fast… Oh God, she didn't want to think about the consequences.

"Robin, I… I don't know what to do, how to help her."

"She's not yet two weeks old and I let her down already. I failed my daughter, Regina." He slumped back against the cushions, not knowing what to do or what to say, burying his face in his hands.

"Don't say that, Robin. None of this is your fault. We… we will find a way." She couldn't promise him, not that, not that they would be able to save Gloria. If there was a chance, they would take it, but they had to find a way before it was too late.

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Regina reluctantly abandoned Robin on the couch to open the front door, surprised to see all three women as well as Rumpelstiltskin waiting on her porch. Emma looked horrible, her face as white as a sheet of paper when she carefully stepped inside, waiting for the former Queen to attack her with a fireballs, words or anything like it, but nothing happened. Instead, Regina lead them to the living room where Robin was still sitting on the couch, not having moved an inch.

"I'm so sorry," Emma blurted out, her hands shaking. "I didn't mean to, I…"

"Shut up!" Robin yelled.

"Robin," Regina mumbled, but he got up, his hands balled to a fist.

"Just… shut up Emma. Your apologies are not helping. But what will help is you going upstairs and undoing your damned spell!"

"I… I don't know if I can," Emma whispered defeated.

"It's your spell, you did this! Now fucking do something!"

"It's not that simple, dearie," Rumple threw in. All eyes were on him now, especially Robin's, since he couldn't even look at Emma right now. Snow tried to calm her daughter down by caressing her shoulder with a soothing touch but Emma shook it off.

Robin was right, this was her fault. She did this. She was responsible for the curse she'd put on that poor, innocent child.

"Spill it, Gold," Regina hissed. She was still pissed with the Dark One for involuntarily teaming up with Hades in the Underworld to save Belle and almost killing them all.

"Our lovely Savior here cast the spell when she was the Dark One. Now, as the Dark One, all magic comes with a price as we all know," Gold explained.

"What was the price?" Snow wondered.

"Time," Rumple answered. "The time it takes for a baby to grow in her mother's belly. She took that time away from the child and the curse won't stop until it sucks all the time the child has left on this world out of its bones."

"But there must be a way to stop it!" Regina explained, her hand reaching for Robin whose face had become blank.

"There isn't. The only way for Miss Swan to stop the curse would be reversing the spell."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Tink wondered.

"I can't," Emma whispered. "I can't, because… I'm not the Dark One anymore."

"That's right, dearie. And I can't undo the spell because Dark Ones can't reverse spells cast by former Dark Ones. It's the laws of dark magic."

"But there must be something we can do," Snow whispered hopefully. Her gaze wandered over to Regina and Robin who were both sitting on the couch now, hands entwined and faces full of horror.

"I'm afraid there is nothing that can be done other than enjoy the time that's left. If you'll excuse me, I have to get back to my wife and my baby." Rumpelstiltskin vanished in a cloud of green smoke, leaving the three women and defeated parents alone.

Emma sacked down onto the floor, face buried in her hands, saying over and over how sorry she was. While Snow tried to comfort her daughter, Tink mustered Regina and Robin, the people she brought together in a way, the people who'd overcome every obstacle thrown their way. They looked utterly defeated. No one knew what to do.