A/N: Have I told you lately how much I love and appreciate every person who reads this fic? Because I do :) This drabble is for the second guest reviewer who asked for the birth of Snow and Charming's second child. It turned out to be more of a Snow introspective piece but I hope I did your prompt justice.

Delivery

Snow didn't know exactly what she had expected when the first contractions had hit in the middle of the night, but it wasn't this…calm.

Emma's birth had been marked by haste and fear and tempered joy. She'd been in labour for a relatively short time and the physical pain had been nothing compared to the growing dread of what was to come.

But this time?

This time she was lying in a quiet hospital room, head pillowed against her husband's chest. Her labour was progressing slowly enough that the pain was manageable without the use of medications and her emotions were settled in a way she couldn't have imagined. Though it probably helped that Emma was staying in the room with them, her hand curled around Snow's own in silent support.

That wasn't to say that she wasn't afraid, no matter how irrational she told herself that fear was. The last time she'd been through this, she had only gotten to hold her child for mere minutes before sending her away and that had left scars which truthfully were only beginning to heal.

However, she did have one ally in fighting against the fear…her Charming.

Oh, she knew he was worried too. She could see it in the depth of his eyes and the slightly rigid edge to his body…but he hadn't let that once stop him from being her rock. From the moment her sudden gasp at the pain of a contraction had jolted him awake to the now long hours spent waiting in the hospital, he'd been every inch of the loving, attentive and solid presence she'd needed him to be.

She clung to that, to the strength he gave her throughout the next few hours as things progressed to the point that she could think of nothing else but bringing their second child into the world.

And when she did, when she held the newborn close to her heart with her husband's arms cradling them both and her firstborn looking on with loving awe…

She let the fear go. Nothing would again tear this family apart…none of them would let it.