There was something wet between her legs, something that splashed against her ankles that wasn't tea.

"Belle!" Rapunzel ran back into the room and to her side. "I heard you yell-oh my…"

"Ah!" she cried as another cramp rocked through her body and around her back, up her spine! Oh she only wanted to make herself smaller, to hug her legs to her chest to ease the pain but she knew she couldn't! Her belly wouldn't allow her to, her son…

She cried out again. No sooner had one cramp ended did the next begin. She felt her knees begin to weaken. She heard people speak and then there was the sound of a chair scraping and hands easing her into a sitting position as she struggled to breathe.

Rapunzel was on one side. Emma on the other. Granny was at the counter.

"Her water broke!" she yelled.

"Those are contractions; she's in labor we have to get her to the hospital."

"No!" she insisted, that dreaded word snapping her to attention. "No…no hospital! I've seen too many babies taken from there! I won't let Rumple get mine! Ah!"

Not a cramp. She didn't know a lot, but she knew enough that cramps didn't come with childbirth. It was a contraction. Her pregnancy had been sped up and now her body was doing it's best to get rid of the fully gown baby within. Her baby was coming! She could feel herself swelling with the tides, but she couldn't let it happen here, or at the library, and certainly not at the hospital. It had to be somewhere safe. She had to think fast.

"The convent," she gasped. "The fairies can put a spell up to keep out Dark Magic and Jackie…Jackie delivers…she…ahh!"

"Breathe! You aren't breathing through them!" she heard Granny shout as she squeezed her eyes shut and squeezed Rapunzel's hand so that she was sure she must have been breaking her bones.

"Jackie? Who's Jackie?" Emma questioned.

"It's her doctor," Rapunzel answered. "I can get her number and call her."

"Call her," Emma ordered. "We've got to go now."

"No, no!" she cried as her chest heaved. She grasped Rapunzel's hand. "I don't have anything. I need…I need…" But she couldn't recall what she needed. She just knew that she did. She needed…things! She couldn't have a baby without things! She didn't even have a crib.

"I know," Rapunzel breathed. "I know, don't worry, I'm going to get it. I'm going to-"

She cut Rapunzel off as she screamed again and spread her legs just so she could tuck herself together to help the pain.

"Whoa! Okay. She's got to go now!"

Before she could say anything someone, Killian, had lifted her up off the chair and was carrying her away. "Rapunzel!" she managed to yell as she felt her stomach give off another spasm.

"I know!" she heard her friend call. "I'm going to call Jackie and Flynn; we'll be right behind you!"

It was such a strange feeling that had come over her. The drive to the hospital was…odd. Emma had to drive and she had no interest in sharing a back seat with Killian, so they let her lounge in the back as something that felt like waves rocked her body. It would come on, starting toward the top of her swollen abdomen and moving downward, intensifying at every moment until the cramping and twisting finally began to recede again. The problem was that it only just barely would leave before another would begin. Her breathing was erratic, coming out in short puffs that made her feel like she just couldn't catch her breath as Emma drove like a mad woman through the streets of Storybrooke and up to the convent. And yet…

Her body was occupied, and frenzied, but her mind was not.

Her mind was working just as it always did. She thought about each turn, tracked where they were and how much longer it would be before they were there. She thought about Rapunzel and all the research they'd done. She held on to the regret that after this baby came she had no plan, no ideas, no way to save him from what his father had planned for him. She wished she had a plan. She wished she knew what was happening to her.

Pressure.

She began to feel it when Emma finally parked the car on the grounds nice and close to the front door. It was there just at the center of her and it was odd to her how she knew that the only way to give rid of it was to push even though she'd never done this before. It was like the first time she'd had sex. She might not have known what to do, but her body did.

Killian managed to get her out of the car and carried her into the convent as Emma yelled for help. She was only vaguely aware of the Blue Fairy coming to their aid. Of the quick explanation of the dust and Gold arriving, of the orders given to put protections around the convent against the Dark One's Magic. It wouldn't hold him forever, but it would hold him long enough.

Hold him.

Soon she'd be holding her son.

The son she'd conceived only weeks ago.

How had they gotten here?

The fairies took her into a back space with small iron bed and bedside tables. It must have been the infirmary. Killian placed her on a bed and though she laid down she had the urge not to almost immediately.

"Belle, don't do that yet, not until the doctor gets here!"

She cried as she lay back in the bed, overwhelmed by the sudden pain by the rush of anxiety. A cell phone's ring cut through the pain but the words that followed in the conversation didn't phase her. The one's that followed did.

"That was Rapunzel," she heard Emma explain. "She's almost here but the hospital just called her back. Jackie is in the middle of a delivery. She can't make it here for another two or three hours."

"We'll do our best to keep her comfortable," Blue insisted quickly. But the words were barely out of her mouth before she felt another wave move over her and let out a cry at it. The pressure was getting worse.

"All due respect, I don't think we have that long," Emma explained.

There was some conversation among the fairies about who had assisted Jackie with the most births and the conclusion, to her surprise, was a fairy that looked younger than she did! Though she knew that looks could be deceiving. The fairy was elected to take over and as she cried out at the pain the world seemed to begin to shift and so did her belly. Emma was at her side, telling her what she remembered of childbirth and how she needed to breath to get through the pushing. A sheet was placed over her legs, delicates were moved aside, and when the younger fairy sat between them and touched her she felt no shame just relief as she mentioned something about a crown.

She'd never in her life been so torn. In more ways than one. Her body wanted this to happen, needed it to happen and be over with as quickly as possible. Her head wanted him to stay right where he was. She couldn't protect him if he was outside her body.

"Mother!" one of the nuns called hurrying over to the place Mother Superior was watching. "Rapunzel and Flynn Rider are here, and…so is he."

She felt the entire room go still.

"Where?"

"Outside, just beyond our protections. He's trying to break through."

She let out a groan. "Oh no. No, no, no!"

"Are our spells holding?"

"For now."

"Good, get whatever available fairies you can to continue to strengthen the barrier."

"Belle…" the young fairy called as though she'd been trying to get her attention for some time. "It's time to start pushing."

No. No, it wasn't. In her heart she knew that she couldn't expose her child to the cruelties of this world and the plans of his father, but her body didn't respond to thinking at the moment. Emma helped bring her shoulders forward and padded her back against pillows so that half of her was hanging off the bed.

She wondered if she'd get enough time to say good-bye.

Pushing was easy and hard all at once. There was really nothing to it, no art or science. It was just allowing her body to do what it wanted to do. But the energy it required, the way her muscles clenched and fought it at the same time they embraced it was exhausting. The breathing! Emma kept trying to remind her about the breathing! But it was so hard to remember! So hard when all she wanted to do was sleep and continue and rest and prevent it all at once. The times between pushes were almost like salvation. The pain seemed to evaporate. Her lids were heavier and heavier all the time!

"Belle, you have to stay with us, now!"

"Belle! It's almost time."

"You're almost there."

"Someone get Rapunzel she needs help!"

She closed her eyes as she rested a top the pillows, hearing every heartbeat and trickle of sweat running down her body. She wasn't prepared for this.

From somewhere in the recesses of her mind she heard a small child, a boy, ask to be pushed on a swing and as she looked around for him she found herself in a dark cemetery, surrounded by tombstones and dusts of light. She was dreaming again.

She felt her heart race as she searched for-

There.

Her son was here. Sitting in one of the swings, just as she'd always seen him. She let out a sigh of relief and clutched a blanket tighter around her shoulders. Why was the world so cold all of a sudden. "I was uh...I was afraid I wouldn't be able to find you," she breathed moving toward him.

"You'll always find me…when you need to," he answered, smiling up at her from the swing. She beamed and rested her hand on his shoulder. He was just like his brother. Always there when she needed him, but…how would that change. This was a dream. She was in the middle of labor. What would happen when he was born? If he had the answer to how she could save him…now was the time to give it. Before another contraction rocked her body.

Her son motioned to the empty swing beside him and she took it. "So, look. We don't have much time now, okay? Your father's coming, and he will use those shears," she explained to him. "So, please, if you know how to stop him, you have to let me know."

"You know what you must do," he answered.

She knew? She knew what she had to do? No. No, that wasn't true, she'd been searching day and night and the only viable conclusion she'd come to so far was-

No. No, it couldn't be.

But he was looking at her with such assurance.

"No," she choked out. She wasn't sure she was strong enough. "No!" she cried launching herself out of the swing to stand before him. "No. No. I can't. I won't. There has to be another way." Her voice echoed off the walls of the hallowed dream that she knew would never come true, the dream that was ending right in front of her eyes.

Her son, strong and brave, rose from his seat still looking confident as ever. "There isn't. As you said, we're out of time."

There were tears gathered in both of their eyes as he came to the natural conclusion that they were both left with and she felt her heart break in her chest. It was more painful than the contractions and she ignored the dull ache the dream suddenly had to it. She reached out to hold her son. "I love you," she cried against him, unsure how she could ever bear to let go. "I love you more than anything in the world." The sob tore through her body as the pain intensified and the grip her son had on her tightened.

"I know. And I won't ever forget it," he whispered in her ear as she cried. Acceptance spread through her. She hated herself for giving in so easily. But this was what she had to do. This was the way it had to be.

"Oh, and Mother…" he muttered releasing her so quickly she was sent off balance. She looked up into his beautiful face, marveling at the work they'd done, with no doubt in her mind that if things had been different, and Rumpelstiltskin had made other choices, they could have made the world a far better place together just by making this boy. "Don't forget the book," her son finally muttered.

Book?

"What book?" she questioned.

But suddenly the pain that she felt was growing in intensity once more and she felt pressure. So much pressure that she was screaming when she woke up, sitting perfectly upright, Emma still clutching her hand as she pushed harder than she'd pushed before, even through the exhaustion she felt.

She felt something slippery pass between her thighs as the intensity of the contraction faded, and she lay back on the pillows.

Emma rubbed her shoulder as her determination spread through her.

This was the way it had to be.

A moment later, she heard a baby cry.


For the record, the fairy that delivers Gideon is NOT the fairy that Rumple attacked. I know a lot of people thought that, and I even considered it for a good long time. But I eventually had to pull up two images of the women and found that there was a pretty obvious freckle on one that was not present on the other. So while they look similar they are not the same person. I promise, I checked. Also, I hope the transition from delivery to dream is okay. It was a tricky one to write out because of the way they cut those scenes together. I'm not really pleased with that, but I do feel that I've done the best that I can on that one.

Thank you, Grace5231973, Fox24, , Curly J, and Teresa Martin for your reviews on the last chapter. Only two chapters left. Gee, I wonder what's going to happen next?! Actually, a whole lot you don't know about because the next chapter was just a cluster of crazy things the writers didn't think through when they put this storyline together. But more on that next, I suppose. Peace and Happy Reading!