Stable Work

Week 3: April:

The body: Okay, Savior, now we're at our 3th week, and we have 37 left! During this week, the first signs of pregnancy will slowly begin to show. Your breasts will start to ache, and grow a little bit, you'll begin feeling very tired, you'll feel like going to the bathroom every 10 minutes, and if you're really 'lucky', you might start to have morning sickness as well, doesn't it sound fun? Mood swings may begin as well. Right now, your hormones are racing like crazy inside your body, and that will also cause you to be really, really exhausted at all hours of the day. Also, the baby will implant in your uterine later this week, and that might cause a some spotting, but don't worry! That's actually a good sign of a successful pregnancy.

The baby: During this week, the implantation will happen. Your baby, at this stage, called the "zygote" will take its place in the lining of your uterus. Now, your baby will start to grow here, until you give birth. When the zygote is implanted, the little ball of cells will split into two - one will be the embryo - your baby. The other will become the placenta. The placenta is your baby's source to nutrients. Now the embryo and your uterine lining will work together to form an intricate network of blood vessels to supply oxygen and food for the placenta and the embryo. Near the end of this week, your bouncing mass of cells will start producing the pregnancy hormones called: human chorionic gonadotropin - also hCG. This will be the hormone that will be the cause of most of your pregnancy symptoms during the upcoming weeks and months. By the end of this week, baby will be made of none less than 500 microscopic cells.

Emma grunted tiredly as she ran her hand over her sweaty forehead. Three stalls done, and four more to go. What exactly had been on her mind when she agreed to her parents that she, and Killian would happily volunteer on working at their farm this weekend, she would never know. Nonetheless, here she was, pitchfork in one hand, a wheelbarrow beside her, and seven horse stalls to muck out.

Killian, Robin, Hank, and David where outside, fixing the fences, while Snow, Henry, and Violet was inside, making a great lunch for the hardworking people when the tasks were done. Regina, and Zelena were also inside the house, taking care of the babies, and Roland. Snow had insisted on their work all being done without magic as a help. She liked the idea of things being done normally, and right way as she would put it.

At the thought of soon being able to sit down, and eat one of those amazing cheeseburgers her parents could make, Emma took the pitchfork in her hands, and began digging into the straw bedding, starting the routine once again, with removing the manure, and the wet, and forking it into the barrow, then wheel it out to dump it in the manure pile, when filled up.

It was far from the first time that she had been helping cleaning the stables, and sure wouldn't be the last. She was used to be physically challenged during her work, and her past as a bail bondsperson, so with that in mind, it seemed even weirder, how tired she felt while mucking the stalls today, and her working list was far from done. After the stalls were mucked out, they would need new bedding with fresh straw, fresh hay, and when that was done, she would prepare, and mix the feed to each horse, and at last, lead the horses inside.

As the barrow was filled once again, she stilled the pitchfork, grabbed the handles of the hand-propelled vehicle, and began wheeling it outside, towards the manure pile, while cursing her father for the fourth time this day for not having bought a barn loader. Yes, this job was a good, stressless, shut-your-brain-off, work, but with a loader it would at least be fun to do, and probably fun enough for Henry to volunteer as well.

Emma sighed deeply as she reached the manure pile, grabbed the handles underneath the wheelbarrow, and dumped the dirty, and smelly straw into it. Grabbing the handles of the now much lighter barrow, she wheeled it back towards the barn to finish of the fourth stall, and to begin on the fifth. Before she went in, she felt the first few drops of water on her face, looking up, she could see the dark clouds above her, and she smirked a little by the thought of that she at least was working inside.

As she reached the fourth stall again, a sudden need to go to the bathroom made her set the wheelbarrow down, and make a quick run for the small bathroom in the barn. It was far from fancy, but it would do. Especially since this was her sixth time, she had experienced the need to go in a short matter of time. 'Another weird thing to put on the list of quite a lot weird things that had been going on lately,' she thought to herself.

This morning, she had been sick. At about 5 a.m, the nausea had woken her up, and she had rushed to the bathroom. Luckily, it hadn't been loud enough to wake up Killian. Being a pirate, you, apparently, quickly, learn to sleep through the noise of someone emptying their stomach. Thinking it was a stomach bug, she had kept it lightly with her breakfast this morning, which she still had been able to keep down. She sighed again, guessing that her not eating enough was the cause of her tiredness. Quickly, Emma finished her small business and went out again, back to work.

By the time Emma had finished mucking out all seven stalls, she felt extremely exhausted. Just the mere thought of beginning her other tasks seemed too much. Going up onto the hayloft seemed like climbing a mountain in comparison. Her body was achy, especially her chest and breasts, and as she reached the loft after climbing the, otherwise, small staircase, she decided to give herself a small break. Slowly, she sat down on one of the straw bales. Breathing heavily, she leaned backwards, and laid down on the bale. "Just a few minutes," she whispered to herself, before she closed her eyes, but not before long she was fast asleep.

"So, Henry, if you'll begin chopping the cucumbers, the lettuce, and the tomatoes, I will put the buns in the oven, and begin making chopped steaks," Snow told her grandson, as she opened the oven, and took the tray of buns..

"Alright, will do!" Henry answered as he went to the fridge to get the vegetables. "And Violet, if you could start preparing the table, it will be a really helpful," she told the young girl as she closed the oven. "Okay, Snow," Violet smiled back, and began taking plates out of the cabins, and quickly walked into the dining room.

Snow smiled to herself. Finally, Violet had stopped calling her "Mrs. Charming". The girl was so polite, but a little shy as well, so seeing her warming up to her, and the rest of the family more, and more, gave her a nice, warm, feeling.

As Snow, and Henry began working in the kitchen, a small awkward silence began hanging in the air. To lift it off, Snow decided to just go for something, "so, Henry, anything interesting happening at school?" She asked the teenager as she began mixing eggs, and ground beef together in a big bowl. 'Nice going with the originality, Snow. You're working there!' She cursed herself a little bit, but Henry, being the incredibly nice, and patient teenager as he was, cleared his throat a little bit before answering;

"Not so much, grandma. Everything seems pretty normal," he answered, shrugging a bit. "That's not true. Didn't you talk about a new girl in the math class, the other day?" Both Henry, and Snow looked up from their tasks as the voice of Regina interrupted. Walking in with Neal in her arms as the kid had begun squirming, and probably was hungry, she had overheard the small conversation, and couldn't help, but interrupt.

"Hello there, handsome," Snow smiled as she cleaned her hands in a dish towel, before making her way to Regina, and her son. Regina stopped up abruptly at Snow's small outburst, frowning at the younger woman. "She was talking to the baby, mom," Henry interfered, and couldn't help but laugh a little at his adoptive mother's confused look. "Oh, right," Regina stuttered, a bit embarrassed, as her gaze went from Henry to Snow who now stood by her, kissing, and nuzzling her youngest child's cheeks as little Neal was still squirming a bit. "I think he's hungry. I was about to get him a bottle," Regina told Snow as she watched the mother caring for her child. "Of course, it's also a little past his feeding time," Snow answered, and went over to the sink to wash her hands, before going back to mixing the ground beef.

"So, a new girl?" Snow went back to the first topic as she went back to stirring the mix. "Yeah, right. She started about last week. Can't remember her name though," Henry began as he chopped the cucumbers in slices. "Mei," Violet spoke up as she had returned to the kitchen to get knives, and forks.

"Mei? That sounds Asian, Chinese perhaps?" Snow suggested as she looked back up towards Henry while stirring. "She is from one of the refugee families from the Untold Stories-people. I was in a small group with her during math class," Violet explained further, while counting the forks.

"So, do we know where they are from?" Regina asked suspiciously. Somethings in this world would never change, and Regina being suspicious about newcomers, would be one of them.

"Well, she lives outside of town with her mother, father, and grandfather, along with a small group of Asiatic people," Violet told them as she began counting the knives as well. "She is pretty sweet, and quite skilled. I don't think, we should worry," she added as she gathered the flatware, and went back towards the dining room.

"I think she's right, mom. Every newcomer doesn't have to be a new villain," Henry added as he took a bowl from a cabin to put the sliced cucumbers in.

The sound of rumbling outside made everyone in the kitchen stop what they were doing, and they gathered together to take a look through the window at the sink. The rain was now pouring down, and the rumbling was a clear sign of a small thunderstorm coming.

Not long after, the sound of the front door opening was heard, and soon after, the voices of Killian, David, Robin, and Hank filled the area. As they came into the kitchen, they were all slightly wet. It seemed like they had just gone inside as the rain got worse. "At least we didn't start on the painting today. That would have been a waste," David spoke out as he went to place a small kiss on Snow's cheek.

"It looks delicious, honey, are you done mixing the beef? We can take them out, and grill them outside, on the porch," David told her, while Killian opened the fridge, and used his hook to take out a six pack of beer. "Almost done," she answered, and went back to mixing. Quickly, she added salt, and pepper, stirred a little bit more before she took the bowl, and gave it to her husband. "There you go. I will come out with an extra plate to put the steaks on, and the cheese," she told David who nodded, and smiled at his wife. He took the bowl, and went outside with the rest of the boys.

Snow quickly took the plate, and the pack of cheese before she followed her husband. As she got outside, the rain was now pouring down even more than before, and the thunder sounds were louder. She took a quick glimpse of the paddocks while she handed the plate, and the cheese to Hank, and Robin, and to her surprise, she could see the horses were still outside, which meant that Emma wasn't done in the barn yet. 'Weird,' she thought to herself. She would have betted on Emma being almost done by now.

Going back inside, she quickly went to the kitchen. Regina had apparently gone into the living room with Zelena again, and Violet was just on carrying out glasses on a tray, to take into the dining room. "I'll go over at the barn to check on Emma," she announced to Henry who only looked up at her for a brief moment as he was chopping the lettuce, and just nodded.

"Regina, would you mind checking on the buns in about, 10 minutes? I'll be over at the barn, helping Emma getting done," she asked as she quickly stuck her head inside the living room where Regina, and Zelena was sitting, playing with the babies, while Roland was sitting with a small puzzle. Had she not been in a small hurry to check on her oldest child, Snow would, by the sight alone, have sit down with them immediately. "Sure," was the only response she got which for Snow was enough, and by that Snow quickly took on her jacket for barn work, and hurried over to the barn, before becoming too wet.

As she reached the barn, she was once again surprised by the silence, she was met with. Usually, there would be the sound of either hay, or straw being spread out, horse hooves on the cement, or, at really rare cases, she would catch her daughter in either humming, or singing. "Emma?" She called out as she walked down the small stall hall, looking into every stall. The stalls was mocked, but there wasn't put fresh bedding in for the horses.

Snow couldn't help but feel a small bit of worry now. 'The hayloft,' she thought to herself, and quickly went to the small wooden staircase. "Emma, are you up there?" She called again, but no answer. Sinking a bit, she climbed the stairs, and what she saw next almost made her heart stop. There, on one of the bales of straw, her oldest child was lying curled up. "Oh, gosh, Emma!" She called out worried as she hurried over to her daughter, thinking she had fainted, or that she was hurt. Snow's worry died down a little, when it was clear that Emma was just sleeping, but it still seemed quite un-Emma like.

"Emma, sweetheart, can you hear me? Time to wake up," Snow called gently as she shook Emma's shoulder lightly. Relief washed over her as Emma began stirring almost immediately. Emma was quite confused at first, and for a moment she couldn't recognise where she was, but the memory of her laying down here on the bale for a short rest, quickly came back to her. Looking up, she quickly made out the figure of her mother, though she had to blink a couple of times before her vision became clear.

"Are you okay?" Snow asked a bit worried as Emma sat up. "Yeah, I'm fine, just had a bit of a rough morning," Emma admitted as she stood up. Snow couldn't help, but put a hand on her daughter's forehead, fearing that maybe her daughter was about to become sick like David, and Killian had been a few weeks ago.

"I'm fine, mom, stop that" Emma grunted, feeling a sudden annoyance, and waved her mother's hand away. Guessing it was just from being woken up from her nap, Snow didn't take Emma's annoyance as anything new, and her forehead wasn't feverish either. "Well, what do you say I'll give a hand, and we'll be done? Lunch is almost ready, and the weather is terrible," Snow suggested as the sound of the pouring rain on the roof grew louder as if proving her point. It was like Emma's annoyance disappeared in a wink, and she lit up a bit by her mother's suggestion. She was still tired though, but the nap, and the thought of an extra hand, gave her a small amount of energy. At least enough for her to get the task finished.

Snow didn't need the confirmation from her daughter. She could read Emma like a book, and quickly, she went downstairs to mix the feed for the horses, while Emma grabbed the pitchfork, which stood by the hay, and began throwing down bales of both straw, and hay. Within minutes, the stalls were ready for the horses, and Emma, and Snow grabbed a couple of lead ropes as they went out to get the horses inside.

Because of the thunder, the horses were a bit spooked, and therefore eager to get inside. "Easy there, guys," Emma spoke to the animals as she opened the gate to get the first two horses; Rocinante, Regina's sorrel horse, and Nicodemus, a brown horse, which belonged to Violet. Snow couldn't help, but admire Emma's handling of the horses. When her, and David had introduced her to the task a few weeks after buying the farm, Emma seemed a little bit scared of handling the horses, but now after having done this a couple of times, it seemed that, even without knowing it, Emma had quite the skills with the animals. Oddly enough though, Emma refused to get her own horse, even though she, and David had offered it to her time, and time again.

Leading the horses out, Snow got the space to grab the next two; Samson, David's grey horse, and Bullseye, Henry's paint horse. Walking inside the barn with the horses, she was met by Emma who was hurrying back towards the paddocks, "I'll just take the rest," Emma told her as she passed them. Before Snow could give an answer, or express her worry for Emma taking on leading three horses, while they were in the middle of a thunderstorm, Emma was already out on her way to the gate.

But her worry seemed to vanish as Emma came back in a short moment after with the three animals walking behind her like dogs. Quickly, she led them in, in each of their stalls; Philippe, Belle's Belgian draft horse, Gunpowder, Snow's own black horse, and Maximus, Neal's little, spotted, shetland pony. Emma patted little Maximus on the back as he walked into his stall, and closed the stall door behind him. As all horses were checked in, and the sounds of horses chewing filled the barn. Emma, and Snow began checking them all a last time.

"Still sure you don't want a horse of your own? Your father, and I are planning on expanding the barn so the rest of the horses from the old barn can be stabled here, and we would gladly give you one," Snow suggested as they walked down the stall hall. "I don't know, me, and animals are just not a good match, I think," Emma sighed a little more unsure than usual, when this question came up. She knew Snow's suggestion was about to come up sooner, or later. It always did when they were here at the barn.

Having her own horse seemed exciting, and having her mom, dad, or even Killian to teach her how to ride, so she could join them on the family rides which they took sometimes took, seemed fun, but a voice in her mind told her that it would not work.

"That's nonsense, Emma, look at how you just took on three horses without hesitation, and you had them calmed down enough to just have them walk behind you," Snow continued on, not aware of Emma growing more, and more irritated. "Could we just drop it, ok?" Emma snapped a sudden irritation came through her, and took Snow quite by surprise. Snow stopped up while looking at her daughter, who continued walking towards the barn doors to go over to the house, clearly annoyed. "Okay, then," Snow spoke out silently, and quickly caught up with Emma.

The rain was still pouring down, but the thunder seemed to have passed. Emma, and Snow quickly ran towards the house, and reached it in seconds. As they reached the front door, the smell of grilled beef filled the air, and as they walked inside, the aroma of newly baked buns made their mouths watering. "It smells wonderful, I'm so hungry," Emma stated happily as they walked in. Whatever irritation had hit her before was gone now, replaced with a warm feeling of happiness.

"I'll just go upstairs, and change clothes quickly," Emma announced as she quickly ran up to the room her mother, and father had made for her, and Killian in case of overnight stays.

As she went into the room, the sudden urge of having to use the bathroom hit her once again, and she quickly made her way to the guest bathroom, on the second floor. As she pulled down her pants, and underwear, her breath almost got caught in her throat as she saw small spots of blood on her white underwear. "What the hell?" She whispered to herself, clearly confused, and a bit frightened. Her period was done weeks before, so it didn't make sense for it to already return.

Anyway. As it turned out, sometimes having parents of her own age, proved to be quite the advantage as she reached towards the cabin, beside the toilet. Here, Snow kept the sanitary pads for both herself, and Emma. Wincing a bit as her breasts still ached a bit, she took out the package, and put the pad on. She hadn't brought any new underwear with her, so she would have to hope that she wouldn't leave spots on the chairs, or any other furniture, in the house.

During the lunch, Emma tried as best as she could to try and be engaged in the conversations around the table, but her mind seemed to drift of to her recent discovery of her spotting again. It was first when Regina's exclaim of, "YOU DID WHAT?!" came through that Emma seemed to drop off every worry she had.

Apparently, Henry had accidently spoiled the events that happened on the Jolly Roger recently. While the experience still hang on her as one of the most amazing things, Killian had ever made her do, Regina didn't seem to be as impressed, "I told you, Captain Guyliner, that if something happened, -" "but, mom, nothing happened, see? I'm still fine," Henry tried to convince his adoptive mom as she was glaring deadly at Killian who seemed to get paler by the minute. "Regina, relax, Killian had us both secured, and, -" Emma was interrupted when she, once again, felt pressure on her bladder.

"You okay, love?" Killian asked a little worried. The whole table seemed to have become silent as well. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine guys, just nature's calling," she assured them as she stood up heading for the bathroom, once again.

That was chapter 3!

Wauw, once again I would like to thank you all for the support. The amount of favs, follows, and even reviews that I've gotten are amazing. I didn't expect it at all, so thank you so much! :)

I had quite fun writing this, as I like to imagine the Charming's farm to be quite the place for family gatherings.

Also, all of the horse names I came up with are original Disney horses. Regina's and Violet's horses names are the only OUAT-horse names I could find. I watched the part with David showing Henry his horse, but the name is not mentioned.

Otherwise, tomorrow I'm heading towards Iceland where I'm having a vacation with my family for the rest of the week, so no chapters next week, sorry, but I'll figure out plotlines for this story while travelling :)

See ya, Flaxen :)