Lily appears in Marian's kitchen, arriving in a cloud of silver-pink smoke. She stands there, smiling until she realizes that they're all staring at her.
"Shit."
Roland's in the living room, so he doesn't hear. Marian smirks. Henry's eyes go wide.
"I didn't text. I was going to text." She shakes her head then covers her mouth. "And I fucking swore."
Marian reaches for her arm to calm her and Roland runs in because now he's heard her. Hopefully not the 'fucking' part.
"Lily!" Roland throws himself at her legs and hugs her. Having him touch her seems to help, she relaxes.
"Hey little guy, did you sleep okay?"
"Is my baby? Is my baby here?"
All of them stare, hanging on that answer. Lily's eyes are red, and the circles beneath are dark. Marian touches her shoulder, nodding to her and smiling, as if that makes it okay for Lily to smile back.
"Yeah, she's here, she's tiny and sleepy, and scrunches up her face and her parents are just in love with her. All of them."
"Do we get to go in a poof?" Roland demands, tugging Lily's arm.
"Patience," Marian says, touching his shoulders. "Maybe Lily needs some tea."
"I'm okay." She finds a better smile this time. "Everyone's okay. Mom's- well, she's exhausted, but she's so happy."
"Roland, why don't you get dressed?" Marian suggests. "When you're back, we'll go to Regina's and meet your sister."
"My sister!" he yells, running off.
"He'll come back with mismatched socks and two sweaters instead of a t-shirt," Marian says, shaking her head.
Henry nods, because that sounds right.
"Mal's all right? No bleeding, tearing?" Marian asks Lily.
Henry's stomach tightens up. Maybe he shouldn't be listening to this. He's dressed already so he doesn't have an easy escape.
Lily rests her hand on the counter, and Marian hugs her tight. "Emma fixed it," she says into Marian's hair. "Nurse Ratched said she pushed too fast, and the placenta came off a little quick, I really wasn't listening because she was bleeding and-"
"She's all right now," Marian promises her.
"Emma's healing magic is good." Henry adds. "She's really good with that kind of stuff." Emma's great with blood, though it makes him kind of sick to think about having a baby and then bleeding and he read the book Mom gave him, but that's not the same as actually thinking about it. "Mal's all right, well, as all right as one can be, I guess."
"I was happy the night Roland was born. Just staring at him made me happy. Exhausted, to be sure, but happy." Marian keeps her arm around Lily, as if she needs to protect her too. "I'm sorry it was hard."
"It wasn't, not really, but-" Lily swallows the next word because Roland's back, somehow dressed.
His socks don't match and he picked his bright blue sweater and red pants, but he's dressed enough. "Can we meet my baby now?"
Lily looks down, then up at Marian and nods. "Yeah, they're all right. She's cute, dark hair, eyes like Regina's, maybe they're like mom's, she's only a little awake, and I didn't hold her that long, but you can hold her. She has brothers, the best brothers, so it's about time she met them."
Roland grins at that and runs to her. "Can we go in a poof?"
"Yeah, I can poof, come here."
There's another look between Marian and Lily, as if she understands something Lily can put words too. Henry walks over and Lily's hand rests on his shoulder and he touches her back, smiling.
"I'm glad it went okay."
"Me too, kid." Lily's smile is almost real, sort of, then magic takes them, wraps them up with the funny scent of smoke that Lily's magic has that Mom's doesn't. Mom's smells like apples, just a little, and the house does, because it's hers, but when they arrive in the living room it smells more like cleaning stuff.
That's probably good, because having a baby was messy. Mom wouldn't have let Lily come get them if it wasn't okay. There's a big blue plastic bag in the corner that no one's taken out yet, and his eyes stay on it, because that must be the mess.
There's no mess in the living room, just Mom sitting on the sofa, her arms full of this soft little purple blanket. Her hair's a mess, all out of place and the circles under her eyes are heavy. She hasn't slept all night, and this was hard, especially because she must have worried a lot, and now she looks up, crying.
Mom, happy crying, holding this little baby. His sister. Roland's sister.
"My baby's here!" Roland says, bouncing, running from Lily's grasp all the way to the sofa.
"She is." Mom looks at him, her face radiant with affection, before looking back down at the baby. "She's wonderful."
"Can I hold her?"
"Hey," Lily says, sitting down next to Roland while Henry and Marian walk closer at a more normal speed. "She's really new. Regina just started holding her when I left, so maybe give her some time."
"She's red." Roland looks up at his mother, pointing excitedly. "Why is she red?"
Marian leans over the baby, smiling before she leans down to kiss her son. "Being inside her mom meant her skin was wet, like when you're in the bath. Now she's out and it'll take her awhile to dry off."
Henry touches Roland's Lily's shoulder, because she's gone quiet staring at her sister. "What's her name?"
"Maleficent wanted to wait until you were here," Mom answers, still barely looking up from the baby's little face. She's waited so long for baby to be here, of course she's smitten.
"I need to record it, for posterity," he teases.
"When do we get to know?" Roland presses, leaning so close that his face nearly gets kicked when baby stretches.
She's tiny. No bigger than a football and the little red foot that almost hits Roland seems too small to be a baby foot. Her little fist flails out and he touches her for the first time. Her skin's too soft to be real.
"Pretty cute, huh kid?" Emma asks from behind him, coming out of the kitchen.
"If you touch her fist, she'll grab onto you," Mom says. "It's a reflex. You used to grab my fingers so tight I thought you'd never let go." She looks right at him and sighs, so happy that it hurts to look in her eyes. His chest is all hot.
"There's food in the kitchen," Emma tells Marian, maybe him too, but he's going to touch the baby, see if she'll grab his hand.
And she does, little red fingers wrapping tight around one of his. "Hi there," he whispers. "I'm Henry."
"He's your brother," Mom whispers, "and he's the one of the best big brothers you could wish for. Your other brother is right here too, he's Roland, and he wants to hold you very much so we might let him do that while you're awake."
Baby's huge dark eyes stare up at him, almost skeptical, as if she hasn't figured out what to think. She's really new, so he can give her that. Roland, Marian and Mom tell Roland how to hold her, and how to support her head and they shift her to Roland so gently that she still has Henry's finger.
His little sister looks up at him, then maybe at Roland and Lily, and for a moment it's just the four of them, different genetics, different lives, all converging in this moment as family, because their parents love each other. Love them, and they've built something together. This warm little place and a knot of people, bigger than he ever expected.
He barely looks up from his sister, but Mom's at the stairs and Robin and Mal have come down. Mal has a hand on Robin for balance, but she seems all right. Like Mom, they're both glowing, Mal most of all. Marian hugs her and they talk about the baby and share something about the delivery and then Mom kisses Mal, then Robin, and the three of them stand there in a little group of arms and kisses.
It's okay, the three of them leading, Emma and the pirate, his increasing group of siblings. Lily grins at him, melting with love for the baby, and Roland's beams with pride that he gets to hold her.
"Mal, my baby is very cute."
"I'm glad you approve, dear." Mal touches his head, then looks at Henry, and for a moment, he gets it, this aching wonder. She's happy, and Mom, Robin's so happy he laughs at Roland and they're all a knot around the baby, huddled up to watch her blink as if it's the best thing in the world.
Maybe right now it is.
"Ignacia," Mal says finally, looking at Robin and Mom. "Her name is Ignacia."
"Ignacia?" Robin asks. "What's that mean?"
"Fire," Mom explains, still smiling like her heart's breaking. "From my father's land." There's a look between her and Mal that ask if Mal's sure, and then a kiss, because Mal has decided.
"Welcome to the family, Ignacia," Robin says, leaning down to kiss her forehead. "You are perhaps the most adored little dragon child ever to grace this Earth, and we love you."
"We love you," Roland repeats. He smiles over her sleepy face. "We love you so much."
Henry kisses the tiny hand wrapped around his finger. "Welcome to Storybrooke."