"Merlin!" Gold said heading into his friend's study. "We have a problem."
"What?" Michal asked, worried, Gold would only use a person's real name if it were urgent.
"Emma is pregnant."
Michal looked at Gold, confused. "How is that a problem."
"SHE'S PREGNANT!" Gold yelled. "I mean, this wasn't supposed to happen, it wasn't supposed to happen, it was supposed, I mean, we weren't, it wasn't, this wasn't supposed to happen!"
"Noooo. Really?" Michal said sarcastically.
"I mean, this wasn't supposed to happen, it wasn't supposed to happen, just, it can't be happening." It was at this moment of Gold's mad rambling that Michal slapped him.
Michal took a deep breath and the sighed. "Better?"
"Yes."
"Good. Now, how on earth is this a problem, you always wanted another child, you wanted a lot of kids."
"I know." Gold said defeated, sitting down. "It's just, I always pictured it in my latter years, Bae by my side, all my enemies safely six feet under. Usually the kids are adopted, or my grand children, I never imagined I'd be married."
"So, your married, you knew the rings would increase the likelihood of a child being conceived."
"Yes, but the point of the rings was to help me keep an eye on Emma, stop her from making a stupid mistake, not get her pregnant." Gold said almost frantic.
"And now she has a reason to stay." Michal said remaining calm.
"But if Regina finds out, she'll try and use the kid against me. This is not a safe environment to raise a child in."
"Then make it one, you have the power, and I can help with the Regina problem."
"Emma will be in a high stress and dangerous situations, what if she miscarries."
"I can enchant the ring to stop that, I might need to sleep for a few days after, but it would be worth it."
"What if I fail again?" Gold said, and Michal knew he had finally reached the heart of the issue, not that the other issues weren't valid.
"Your child was made in love, yes."
"I think it was more lust."
"Still, Emma cares about you right."
"Right." He said hesitantly.
"She is not going to pack up and leave, right."
"Right." He said even more hesitantly.
"So you will be fine." Michal said. "All your life, whenever you've helped raise a child, you've done it by yourself, and despite the occasional problem, you have done fine. Now you have Emma by your side, you have me to help keep the enemy at bay, and I'm sure Henry will take being the big brother very seriously. You will have no problems."
Gold looked reassured, and after a moment, Michal spoke again. "Now go home and take care of that wife of yours."
Emma was in shock; she immediately went to Mary Margret's. "Emma, what is it." Mary could tell something was wrong.
"I'm pregnant." Emma said, unable to think of anything other then that to say.
"Emma, that's wonderful." Mary said smiling. But Emma didn't look happy. "Oh, come on, how bad can it be, Gold must be happy."
Emma thought back to that morning.
Gold looked to be in shock. "Emma." He said.
"I can see."
"Your…" He lost track of his words.
"Pregnant." Emma finished.
"Yeah, that."
Emma looked at him; he was slowly making his way over to the couch. "Are you not happy, if you want we could…"
His head snapped up, causing Emma to be quite. "Emma, if you finish that sentence the way I think you are about to, don't." Gold said. "I'm in shock, not unhappy. At least I don't think I am, I'm just trying to make since of it all." He said. He then stood. "You should go talk to Mary, I'll meet you at her place in an hour, I, I need to think." And then he left.
"Gold just left." Mary said after Emma finished telling her the events of the day.
"Yeah." They sat in silence for a moment. "Do you think it's bad?"
"No." Mary said after a moment. Then someone was knocking on the door. When she answered it she said, "Mr. Gold, won't you come in."
"Thank you Miss Blachard." He said, and then looking at Emma he said. "Hello Emma."
"Hi."
"I think I'll go be somewhere else."
"No, it's all right if you stay dear." Gold said. Mary stayed, and after a moment he spoke to Emma. "I'm sorry."
"For what?" Emma said, genuinely confused.
"For everything. I should have been more careful, more supportive, about a dozen other things I should have done." Gold took a deep breath. "I guess it's like winning the lottery. You play every day, go to bed praying you win, but your still struck speechless when you realize you won." Gold said, looking to see if Emma was understanding him. "I defiantly want this child, it's just, I never pictured that I would ever have another kid, and whenever I did it was always someone I adopted, never in my wildest dreams was the child one I made with a woman that actually liked me." Gold said with a sad chuckle.
Emma looked at him. "I'm sorry too."
"What did you do?"
"I should have known that you wanted a kid, but frankly I don't." Gold looked at her like she had just punched him in the gut, slapped him, and kicked his puppy. "My life was not good, in any way really. It was one disappointment after another, every time I thought I hit rock bottom I fell through the floor again. I never had a good role model. And the last time I had a kid my foot was cuffed to the bed." Emma said.
"And?"
"And I don't know how to be a parent."
"And?"
"How do I know I won't fail?"
"And?"
"I'm not ready."
"And?"
"Can you please say something else?"
"Emma." Gold said calmly. "No one knows how to be a parent, good, bad, or ugly. No one can ever be sure it they are ready. Being a parent is an adventure." Gold then came and sat with her. "There is no guaranty as a parent how a child will turn out." He then held her hand. "I talked to Michal today, and he said the main reason we both lost our kid was the other half wasn't there, right."
"Right." Emma said slowly.
"So, if we stick together, we have nothing to worry about." Gold said, pulling her into a reassuring hug, when Emma relaxed into it he kissed her cheek. "You will make a wonderful mother. The kid will love you as much as I do."
Emma's eyes widened when she heard that, it was the first time Gold had ever said he loved her, but before she could comment on it. "AHHHH." They were reminded that there was a third person in the room. "I would like to formally request to being the godmother." Mary said.
Gold kissed Emma again and then looked at Mary. "Absolutely not, that would be impossible." He said shocking both women.
"Gold! How can you say that?" Emma said.
"Well she can't." Gold said simply, and now Mary looked crushed. "The Grandmother can't be the godmother to."
"What!?" They both said confused.
"Well, if we believe Henry, Miss Blanchard is Snow White, and Emma is Snow White's daughter, who is named Emma. And as we all know, a Grandmother cannot be a godmother as well." He loved the stunned look they were giving him. "And another thing, we'd better start idiot proofing the house, I don't know how dominate David Nolan's idiot genes are."
"What!" Mary said shocked.
"Well, David Nolan is your Prince Charming." Gold said smiling evilly. "But honestly, I think what you need is Prince Has-A-Brain"
"Henry thinks Emma is David and my daughter." Mary said, obviously thinking. She then looked at Emma. "Well, you do kind of have my nose."
Gold then went and stood next to Mary, looking back and forth between the two. "You know, you're right, and she does have the same green eyes."
"Oh, no, hers are hassle, mine are green." Mary said laughing slightly.
"Well," Gold looked back and forth again. "You might be right." He then looked straight at Mary Margret. "So tell me, oh mother-in-law, do I meet with your approval?" Gold said, laughing when he finished.
"Shouldn't you have asked that before marrying and getting her pregnant?"
"Maybe." Gold said, causing them both to laugh.
"You two are just enjoying this way too much." Emma said, trying to look disappointed at them and not laugh.
"Well now, Emma. Don't you want your mother to approve of your husband?" Gold asked.
"Yeah, doesn't my opinion matter?" Mary asked.
"Well, yes but, well." And then Emma started laughing. "Ok, I can laugh because I'm pregnant and have hormones, what's your excuse?"
"I'm going to be a father, blame the shock." Gold said.
"I'm going to be a grandmother, and I didn't even know I was a mother, blame the shock to." Mary said.
Yes, they were all becoming slap happy crazy, but only Gold knew it was from the curse shifting, the child growing in Emma was going to upset the balance a bit he knew, but at the moment, he couldn't bring himself to be unhappy about that.
Michal's study
"So mom's having a baby." Henry said, eating his candy bar. Michal had a whole box on the table.
"It would appear so." Michal said, sitting back with a cup of tea. "How does that make you feel?"
"I like that she's having a baby, but…" Henry trailed off.
"You are worried that the baby will replace you."
"Yeah." Henry sighed sadly.
"You know what the funny thing about children are Henry." Michal said.
"What?"
"They make their own love. A parent, a good parent, will always know that the child loves them, and that love the child gives to the parent, it will come right back around and make the parent love the child. Now Emma will be busy, she will be bonding with the baby, making sure that the baby is ok, but she will never stop loving you."
"Are you sure."
"Yes." Michal said, after thinking a moment, he spoke again. "Henry, have you ever gotten a new toy?"
Henry looked at him confused. "Yes I have."
"And when you got that new toy, you only played with it for a little while, am I right?"
"Yes."
"And you were carful, you made sure no one touched it, no one messed with it, you were very careful so it wouldn't break, right?"
"Right."
"But after a while, what did you do, after the new toy had lost that knew toyness?"
"Well, I went back to playing with my older ones."
"Exactly, same with a child, the parent knows they must bond with the child, take special care of the child, they need to baby their baby. And so the old child, the old toy, is forgotten, but the new toy doesn't replace the old, just like a new child doesn't replace the older one. It's just the new baby is new, exciting, and they want to get to know it better. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"Yeah, I think I get it."
"Good, and besides, unlike you, the older and wiser child, the baby will through a fit if it is ignored, and that is not a pretty sight let me tell you." Michal said, causing them both to laugh. "Now, I should warn you, with the baby coming, the curse with be thrown off balance."
"What does that mean?"
"Well, with a new life to try and control, the curse will need to adjust itself."
"But that didn't happen with Ashley, did it?"
"No, but Ashley was already pregnant, when the curse struck. That and Emma, the savior, is obviously more important."
"Ok, so what will the curse shifting do?"
"It will make cracks form easier in the veil over the town that keeps people trapped and unaware will shift, and when a cover moves what is underneath might be seen."
"So this is a good thing."
"Depends, if Snow White were to wake up and realize who she is, good. However, if George were to wake up and realize who he is, he could easily kill Charming, Snow, or anyone and they would be defenseless, so that would not be good."
"So what do we do?"
"We watch and wait, plant seeds in the minds of those we want awake about who they truly are, and keep an eye on the ones we want to stay asleep until this is all over." Michal said smiling.
This is the fastest I have ever updated this story. Might even be faster than my update of chap two of Ashes of The Dark One. Speaking of that story, I should have a new chap for it soon, just trying to iron out what exactly I want to have happen.
GuestRoom and lozzy035, in case it wasn't clear, Gold is not trying to manipulate Emma to do anything more than break the curse. He didn't actually want to have kids yet because of the danger they would be in. His main goal is to keep Emma here, what he is not realizing is the rings they are wherein work both ways, binding them together, helping the course of true love along.
To Twyla Mercedes I hope you like my take on how Gold handled his insecurities about having a kid, yes I agree he would be very happy, but I think we both know Gold needed to freak out a little.
And last but not least Wolfgirl2013, thanks for the review.