There's a spoiler pic for 4x07 where Emma is standing holding a diaper bag and bottle, presumably bringing them to Mary-Margaret. This just kinda fell from my fingers.
Bottle and diaper bag in hand, Emma opened the door to the mayor's office.
A frantic Mary-Margaret had called David at the station twenty minutes earlier. Her plate full of mayoral duties, she had completely spaced on the Mommy & Me meeting she was holding in half an hour. If that wasn't bad enough, she had run out the door so quickly she forgot the diaper bag.
"It's alright." David said calmly. "I'll run home, get the bag and bring it to you." His son screeched loudly in the background.
"Could you warm up a bottle too?" Mary-Margaret asked.
"Of course. I'll see you soon." David hung up the phone to find Emma staring at him.
"I'll go." She said simply and he nodded.
Her eyes widened when she stepped inside. "Holy shit that's a lot of babies." she said under her breath. Aurora, Cinderella-Ashley and a few residents she didn't know by name were all placed throughout the large room, babies on their hips or laps.
Finding her mother, she crossed the room to her. "I told Dad I'd come instead. Bottle and diaper bag, just like you asked."
"Oh Emma thank you so much. I still can't believe I rushed out without this. It's like my lifeline!" Mary-Margaret exclaimed.
Aurora and Ashley approached them. "Are you here for the Mommy & Me meeting Emma?" Ashley asked, looking curiously at her stomach.
Emma flushed, hand immediately coming up to block their gaze. "Oh, no! No babies for me. Just dropping this off for my mom."
Ashley nodded. "This is Sean Jr." She smiled down at the baby on her hip.
"Your second, right? Wow was there something in the water in the Enchanted Forest or something? There's a lot of babies." Emma said.
Ashley laughed and nodded.
"Nice to see you all again, I gotta get back to the station. Bye, mom." Emma said.
Aurora spoke up. "Maybe if it's serious between you and the captain, you could join us in the next nine months or so."
Emma felt like a deer in the headlights. Her eyes were wide, heart beating fast and she was pretty sure her jaw had dropped. Everyone had turned to look at her, her mother included for her response. "It was one date." was all she managed to choke out.
"But it was a good one." Her mother chimed in, not helping the situation in the least.
Old insecurities flared up. She gave up her son. She wasn't fit to be a mother. She couldn't stay here. Too many questions. Too many eyes on her. The desire to run was overwhelming. "I gotta go." She all but ran from the room.
-/-
He found her sitting in her bug in front of the sheriff's station, wide eyed and slack jawed. "Love, are you okay?"
She jumped, startled that she was no longer alone. "Yeah, I'm okay." She said distractedly.
He opened the door, climbing into the passenger's side next to her, taking her hand in his. "You're not. Tell me, please?"
She met his eyes. "I can't talk to you about it."
"Rubbish. You can talk to me about anything, love. You know that." He said patiently.
"Not this."
"Please?" he pouted at her with puppy dog eyes and she couldn't help but laugh. He had that uncanny ability to add just enough light into any serious situation.
"I dropped off the diaper bag to my mom. She was having a Mommy & Me meeting. It's where new mothers get together with their babies and play or something, I dunno. There were so many babies. I think there was something in the water in the Enchanted Forest. I mean seriously, babies everywhere."
"Worried you drank the water during our little adventure?" he quipped, regretting it instantly.
Panic flared on her face. "I didn't, did I? Why can't I remember?"
"Love," he said calmly. "You know as well as I do that babies aren't made from drinking tainted water. At least, I hope that hasn't changed here and they still come from more...enjoyable activities?"
He had done it again. She snorted. "Yeah. Stork deliveries."
He didn't press her for more information, simply taking in what she had revealed to him thus far. "Swan, did you feel uncomfortable being there because you chose adoption for Henry? Did they exclude you for being without child?"
"Your perceptiveness is annoying." She confessed. "Yeah, it was awkward to be in a room of so many mothers and babies. But they didn't exclude me, they...they made it seem like I should join them."
He looked at her curiously until it finally dawned on him. "With a child of your own."
She refused to meet his eye but nodded slightly.
"It's not as though you are too old. Should you want another one." He said carefully.
"I know I'm not! You're the one who's two hundred and something!" she exclaimed before she realized what she had implied, color draining from her face.
He was convinced his heart stopped beating. It did not happen often but Captain Hook was rendered speechless. His lips parted, jaw moving, but no sound came out. So many thoughts rushed to his mind but he allowed none to cross his lips. The possibility of scaring her away was too great. He wanted it to be up to her to continue the conversation, down that path or otherwise.
He smirked, "As I said, Neverland has allowed me to retain my youthful glow. And stamina." He winked at her lewdly.
The color returned to her face, corners of her mouth lifting up just barely into a smile. "Shut up, pirate."
Relief washed over her. She knew they'd eventually need to continue that conversation, that he'd want to know how much truth was beyond her accidental implication but for now he wasn't going to press it. As always, he knew just when to push her for more and when to back off.
