Summary:Regina and Emma take their families along for their first respective scans. Robin's forest inn opens, as word of the royal pregnancies starts to spread.

Author's Note: Thank you to all those who have PM'd me on this odd little story. I'll still endeavour to reply to every one, if I can.


Storybrooke Hospital – Two weeks later

Regina, Marian and Robin had agreed to hold off announcing her pregnancy until Regina had successfully got through her first trimester, just to be safe. However, that didn't include Henry or Roland, who would be told after she'd gone through her first scan, for which they were currently waiting in Storybrooke's clinic, on the top floor of the hospital.

Regina had been disappointed to discover that Hilary had been called to an emergency shortly beforehand. But her disappointment only increased when she discovered that Fletcher's boss, Doctor Victor Whale, had taken over her cases. The former Doctor Frankenstein and the former Evil Queen had a strained relationship, to put it mildly. Even now, she neither liked nor trusted the man who'd been Storybrooke's only medic for over three decades. So, she was more than surprised when Marian gave him a broad smile, moving to shake his hand when he appeared, asking them to come into the scanning room with him.

"Victor! Nice to see you again," said the taller brunette. "I gather congratulations are in order?"

"Hello Marian, said the normally taciturn man, now smiling at a friendly face. "Nice to see you too. Sorry – congratulations?"

"I gather you and the handsome Douglas are now dating? I'm pleased for you…"

Regina looked up in amazement at her wife's interaction with him. She didn't even know Whale was into men, let alone in any sort of relationship. And she'd certainly never seen him smile like that before! But now she looked closer, she could see he was more smartly dressed than usual. Was that a formal suit and shirt under the white coat, instead of his usual scrubs?

"Thank you. Yes, well…it's early days but…well, it's kind of you to say…"

"He's a lovely man, Victor. Rather clever too. I gather he's going to be going on some sort of engineering course?"

"Why yes, he's actually also got himself a-" he was interrupted by a loud, forced cough from Regina.

"Ah-em!" she theatrically cleared her throat. "I'm sorry but, can't we save this for later?"

Victor and Marian shared a look before he turned to face her. "Yes, of course. Do come in…" He looked between the women, his eyes drifting over their lower halves, to guess which one of them was pregnant, as neither had any significant curve (although Regina's was slightly more prominent). He knew about the trio entering into a relationship some months ago, so he wasn't too surprised when all three stood to join him. Regina led the way, walking to sit on the seat directly opposite the desk, while Robin waved his hand for Marian to take the chair next to her while he stood behind.

Whale sat, reading his notes on the screen before looking up at the women. "Now then, excuse me for not being prepared, but I'm covering Doctor Fletcher's surgery at rather short notice as she's been called to an emergency. So, she hasn't had time to talk me through her patients. I see you booked in yesterday to see her for an ultrasound scan? But I can't see any notes on the system. May I ask which one of you it's for?"

"It's for me," said Regina. "I saw her two weeks ago, and she took a blood test. However, I didn't want anything under my name yet, so I gather she recorded me under either 'Jane Doe 1' or Jane Doe 2', I can't recall which one."

Victor quickly flicked up both records on the system, reading through to spot the differences. The biggest one being that one had previously given birth. "Okay, so it seems you're under 'Jane Doe 2'. Blood test says 'geriatric pregnancy – eight to ten weeks. Is that the one?"

"Geriatric?" Regina growled. "What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

"It doesn't imply anything untoward, Miss Mills – sorry, Mrs. Locksley"! Although it was a small slip, he wasn't going to let himself be cowed. The former Evil Queen always had a foul temper and today he wasn't going to take any shit from her whatsoever! "It's merely a medical term for whenever a pregnant mother-to-be is over thirty five. Please don't concern yourself."

"Well it's a horrible phrase, Whale!" she whined, "You should learn some respect and-"

"Mrs. Locksley..." he spoke louder, clearly annoyed. "If you have a problem with me handling this, I'm more than happy to stop right now! You can wait until Doctor Fletcher is back. There are plenty of other patients waiting for me!"

"Don't you raise your voice to me, Whale!"

"Victor!" Marian intervened, deciding they'd both gone too far. "Please? We're sorry. Regina is stressed, and it's making her edgy. You're clearly also overworked too, so…could you please continue. Regina. please stop!" She glared at her wife, silently asking her to cease making a fuss.

"Very well…" he started to calm, taking deeper breaths. God, that woman is insufferable! "If you could pop onto the bed over there and remove all clothing around your stomach and abdomen, I'll get the gel. Marian, there's some tissues there to stop any getting on her clothes if you wouldn't mind?" It might be easier involving the more human one! Why the hell did she marry her?

Two minutes later, Regina, still silently seething from Marian siding with Whale, tried not to flinch when the cold gel-covered scanner touched and moved over her exposed stomach. Whale clicked two buttons and the room then filled with various loud blooping and swishing noises, as a wide screen on a trolley suddenly brightened into a mass of vivid green and brown swirls, amid black and white shapes.

At that, four pair of eyes focused tightly on the changing shapes. Regina, all thoughts of her contretemps with Whale now forgotten, felt a warm hand in hers and two much larger hands on her shoulders as Robin moved behind her to stare with her, Marian alongside.

Silence reigned as Whale slid the scanning device slowly across her, stopping and moving again. Hearing the deep pulse of a heartbeat, Marian gasped. "Is that – is that the baby's heart, Victor?"

"No, that's Regina's. Hang on…" As Whale stayed silent, looking back to the screen, their eyes slowly moved from it to him, noticing he now had a deep frown and looked frustrated. He shook his head slowly from side-to-side, a worried look on his face.

"Doctor?" Robin spoke softly, trying not to make Regina any more anxious than she clearly already was. "Is there a problem?" he noticed Regina now almost crushing her wife's hand in fear, her stare burning into Whale's face, trying to gauge what he was thinking.

Whale still said nothing, instead suddenly lifting the little scanner from her stomach. He looked at it, seemingly annoyed, before stepping away from the rest of them to push a button on his desk. "Clare, could you bring me another transducer in quickly, please? No, not the vaginal probe. I'm in the middle of a scan, and this one's probably broken!"

Hearing his frustration, the other three started breathing again, no longer fearing the worst.

Moment's later, a nurse hurried in, pulling something out of a rubber box, mumbling her apologies for not checking the device at the start of the day. Whale said something they couldn't quite hear, giving the nurse a sympathetic smile, before turning back to them. He quickly pulled some wires out of the back of the apparently faulty device, and inserted them into the new one.

"Sorry about that. Now let's start again, shall we?" This time, after quickly squirting more gel, he repeated the scan. Within seconds, in addition to the noisy heartbeat and whirling sounds, a very different, more detailed set of pictures came into view.

"That's better! Right now, Robin, to answer your first question, that heavy, deep beating is Regina's own heartbeat. The 'swooshing' noises are her blood pumping around, her kidneys and so on and so forth. But as for the foetus, we're listening for a…hold on…I think I can…" as he explained the sounds, a large black mass came into view. "Right - that's your bladder there and up here…" A new sound, fainter, suddenly grew slightly louder as he detected the source. "Now then, you hear that sound like a horse galloping very fast in the distance?" he looked back at the three of them, all agog, paying attention as the colours changed. "That's what I want to hear! Good, so if we look over here a bit…ah, gotcha! Now look up here…" He clicked a button, freezing the moving image. "There's our little fella!" Whale sounded almost as excited as his audience. "There's your baby!"

"Gina, look!" Robin cried out, totally unnecessarily, as both his lovers were as glued to the screen as he was. Looking down, he saw Regina's startled face, jaw dropped in astonishment, as a single tear fell down her cheek. "You said 'fella'? You're saying it's a boy?"

"Sorry, no. Figure of speech. We're just a little too early to determine the sex. In a month's time perhaps. But if I just…" he clicked buttons and the images continued to move until he froze it once again. "Now that's better! If I just zoom in a bit…" The small, peanut-like object suddenly grew substantially, into a shape they clearly recognised. The pink image, clearly of a foetus, showed the head, around the size of the rest of its body, together with the basic outline of a face, eye sockets and mouth. "There you go!"

"Robin, look at that?" gasped Marian, barely believing what she was seeing as she lifted Regina's hand, kissing it. "I can't believe it's so clear. She's beautiful!"

"She? You're convinced she's a girl?" said Regina, now through tears. "But I don't care. She, or he, is beautiful!"

"How could they not be, with you for a mother?" added Robin, looking at the overjoyed women.

They watched Whale bring some sort of marker pen up to the screen, moving it over the image, tapping it to take dimensions. before pressing more buttons. As numbers flicked across the side of the screen, a small printout appeared on the side. "Well whether it's a little boy or girl, it's certainly got a healthy heartbeat! Everything seems good so far..." He looked across to see all three had almost childlike smiles wreathing their faces. "Congratulations, all of you. I guess you'll be wanting three print outs?"

"Four please, Whale…Victor," said a now sniffling Regina, the first time she'd ever called the former Doctor Frankenstein by his first name. "You said you could tell us the expected birth date?"

"Yes," he looked at the chart. "According to this, you're almost certainly bang on eleven weeks, but judging by size and weight, I'd say you're viable now. Again, my congratulations."


Mifflin Street

"You're pregnant?" said a stunned Henry. His mother had made the call, to break the news, within hours of their return. "You're really pregnant?"

"I am, my prince," said a slightly anxious Regina, hoping he'd be happy for her. "I only had it confirmed this morning when we visited the hospital. I wanted you to be the first to know. I'm going to be telling Roland shortly, when his mum and dad bring him home."

"But how, mum? Obviously, I don't mean 'how' exactly but…you drank that potion, didn't you? The curse. I read the story! It said what you did to stop Cora from…" he stopped, knowing how painful any mention of her mother was.

"I was. But you remember when Emma had that terrible depression after Hope was born? Well the former one-handed-wonder had Lake Nostos water on his ship. He gave it to her to cure her and…he made some available for me. It seems to cure many things…"

"Blimey! Well it's certainly been one heck of a year for you, hasn't it? Marian, Robin, Roland and now this! I can hardly believe it. I'm going to be a big brother!"

"And do you regard that as good news? Or bad?"

"Good, obviously! Sorry mum, it's just such a big surprise. I can't quite believe it. Are you happy about it? After all, it must've been hard work bringing me up. But now you're a lot…a lot…" he hesitated, knowing he could be digging himself in deep.

"A lot older?" she frowned. "Was that what you were about to say, young man?"

"Sorry…I didn't mean it like that. I just meant…"

"Yes, I brought you up alone, but I now have two partners to help, don't I? I'm quite sure an old 'geriatric' like me can manage perfectly well…" she glared.

He smiled back. "Yeah, you'll do just fine. Actually, it'll be cool having a little brother or sister to ruin for you, won't it?"

"You'll do no such thing! And you forget you're also a big brother to Roland."

"True. But he's already gone past the formative bit! I can't really change him. Still, he'll probably WhatsApp me tonight after you tell him. He can be my proxy!"

"You stop talking like that!" she couldn't avoid smirking. "Or I'll call come down there, with no notice, with a dustpan, brush and rubbish sacks in hand, to clean it up once and for all…"

"Mercy, anything but that!" he chuckled back. "I already told Robin you're all invited up next month. Vi's got the lead in a real opera. It's called-"

"Lakmé. Yes, he told me. Sounds very impressive. I had no idea she was so accomplished? Hank must be very proud."

"He is. He's mates with Chrissy's dad and they'll both be there too. You have to come! Anyway, never mind that; me being a big brother again! That's brilliant. Have you told ma yet?"

Oh Henry, you really are in for a surprise there too aren't you? "She knows already. She was there when I had the blood test. The Uncharmings don't know yet, so don't you go telling anyone!"

"Scout's honour. I'm not grandma, I can keep a secret you know?! But seriously, she's really going to be over the moon! When you going to tell everyone?"


Two weeks after Regina's consultation, Emma went for her own, taking an increasingly anxious Killian along with her. Although they were keeping quiet about it, his continuous fussing around her, trying to stop her doing anything even remotely arduous, was becoming a pain! To escape from his over-protectiveness, she went to see her parents. But even her mother was acting weird, constantly asking after her health. She had a sneaking suspicion Snow knew about her 'situation', but still chose to say nothing, even though her stomach was no longer exercise-driven washboard-flat.

The ECG scan, carried out by Hilary Fletcher, proved that Emma was indeed now around ten weeks pregnant. Although they knew what to expect after Hope, it didn't stop the tears of happiness flowing from both her and Killian when they saw the sight of their healthy baby on the screen.

"She looks pretty bloody perfect to me, Swan!" he said, as Hilary printed off the photos.

"She? You still think it's another girl?"

"Pretty sure, but I really don't mind either way. You?"

She wiped her tears with the back of her hand. "I think it's a boy. And if he is, I know what name I want to give him. I'd like to call him Liam, after the most important man in your life."

He gave her a sad smile, remembering the only real blood relative who'd ever stood by and supported him. The brother he last saw in the Underworld, leaving for a better place. "I'd like that. So, when do you think we should tell everyone?"

"Let's tell Henry first, yeah? I'll call him tonight. Regina already knows because of the blood test, although I think mum already suspects something. She's been acting real weird! Let's talk to her and dad tomorrow, and hold off everyone else when we get the first three months out of the way. You good with that?"

"As you wish, Swan. Oh, before I forget, I spoke to Robin this morning. His new pub on the edge of the forest opens tomorrow. He's invited us for lunch with the ladies, if you're interested? I gather there's going to be a crowd."

"Regina told me. He's calling it The Locksley Arms, apparently. Shame I won't be able to drink!"


The Locksley Arms – Saturday

It was just after twelve when Killian and Emma turned up at the site which, two months ago, had been just a small, dilapidated, derelict cottage on the edge of woodland, on the most hidden boundary of Storybrooke. Emma had briefly walked past it three years ago, but she now stood utterly stunned at the sight before her. Instead of a ruined building, there now stood a large timbered and plastered building, resembling an English country pub! There was even a swinging sign outside, showing a picture of an armoured knight and the new name, The Locksley Arms, emblazoned on it. And on either side, around a dozen new wooden houses in a similar style.

"Wow! What the hell? Robin did all this?"

"He did. With a little help from Merlin and the Blue Fairy. Astonishing, isn't it? Most of it was done with magic, but I gather the dwarves and the Merry Men collaborated on the insides. They're trying to re-create a traditional English pub from the Middle Ages."

She agreed, it was truly astonishing. Walking inside, Hope attached in Killian's backpack, they found the party in full flow. The inside seemed so much larger than the outside! Near the bar, she spotted Robin. He seemed to be holding court, talking with Merlin (was he back again?) and some of dwarves, who all seemed to be enjoying the free drinks for the opening day.

"Emma!" yelled a voice from a table opposite the long bar. She turned at the sound to see her mother standing, starting to walk over. "Hello, darling," Snow hugged her, kissing her cheek. Over her shoulder, she could see her father standing talking with Ruby and Dorothy. "Hello to you too, Killian," Snow kissed her son-in-law. "Isn't this fantastic? Come over and sit with us? I'm afraid you missed the ribbon cutting ceremony and the speeches," she looked across at Robin. "But they'll be bringing out the food soon…"

"It's amazing! Actually, I'm glad you're here mum. Killian and I want to have a chat with you and dad? There's something we need to tell you."

"Oh right, well come over here and sit with us…" However before she could, from the corner of her eye, Emma caught the sight of Marian and Regina, arms linked, walking down a wide wooden staircase together towards the bar. Both women were wearing longer, almost formal, day dresses, the style of which reminded her of their time in Camelot. She noticed how Regina's right hand seemed to be resting on her stomach, which still seemed fairly flat, with just the slightest hint of a bump. Her best friend spotted her, giving her a small smile and mouthing her a silent 'hi', as the pair made their way to the centre of the bar, to join Robin, Merlin stepping back to let them both in. Robin smiled at his girlfriends, giving each a short, chaste kiss on the cheek, and appearing to ask Regina something. She nodded back. Then he turned to face out, Marian and Regina moving either side of him, clearly about to make a speech. The hubbub of all the surrounding drinkers died down.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Robin bellowed, to be heard across the room. As all the hubbub died down, he continued, a little lower this time. "Can I have your attention once again please? Thank you. Now, don't worry, I won't make this another long speech!" That earned a good cheer from most of them.

"I won't repeat what I said earlier, but to those of you who have just joined us…" he looked across at Emma and Killian. "I just wanted to again thank you all for coming today for the opening of the centre of the little community here. However, after talking with Their Majesties…" that earned a raised brow from Regina, who hated being called by her title, unless it was when they were in the bedroom, of course! "We would like to make an announcement. Regina?" Regina took a step forward, and Emma noticed a hint of nervousness, as she coughed slightly. Okay, they're going to tell everyone. As he was speaking, four of the older teenagers appeared, carrying trays full of glasses of sparkling wine and orange juice, moving around the room and asking everyone to take one for a toast.

"Good afternoon everyone! As Robin's already said, thank you all for coming. Marian and I would like to take the opportunity to make an announcement too. We would like you all to know that we are with child, expecting a baby in the early summer, probably around the end of March..."

Gasps of surprise were heard throughout the room, though most eyes looked towards Marian. Snow's certainly did. "Brilliant!" said Will, stepping towards the taller woman, lifting his arms to hug his old friend. She returned the hug, as Anastasia, the former Red Queen and now Will's wife, looked her over. "Mari, that's wonderful news! You don't even show!" That's when Marian noticed most eyes were fixed on her, not her wife.

"Actually…it's Regina who's pregnant!" she smiled at her wife, who now looked awkward, slightly shy as eyes turned, looking over her.

"Regina?" said a surprised voice, as Snow now appeared in front of her. "You're pregnant? But I thought you couldn't…"

Marian stopped her from saying anything further. Anything too awkward. "Lake Nostos water fixes many things, Mrs. Nolan," she glanced over to Robin. "Including bringing true loves back to us!"

"Sorry, I just thought it was Emma who was pregnant-" she stopped herself, realising she could be digging herself in further as she looked back at her daughter, now staring straight back at her. Fortunately, David appeared beside her to break the tension.

"Regina, that's wonderful news!" Charming took her hands before releasing them to wrap his arms around her in a gentle hug, kissing her cheek. "Congratulations, to all three of you. You did such a great job raising Henry – you'll continue to be a great mother to this one too. You deserve this!"

His words touched her more than he would ever know. Coming from one of the pair that she'd once tried so hard to kill on repeated occasions, from a man to whom she'd caused so many problems in her dark days, it really meant something. "Thank you, David" her voice but a whisper.

However, Snow's discomfort wasn't over yet.

"You thought I was pregnant?" said Emma, herself now alongside them, exchanging a knowing look with Regina. "How come?"

"Well…I thought it was a distinct possibility. After you came to the farm two weeks ago. You kept holding onto your stomach after all, and you haven't touched coffee since. You haven't been drinking for the last few girls' nights, and you do look a little…tired. All those things…and I knew you and Regina had gone to the hospital together, to the maternity clinic. So I kind of assumed…well, thinking she couldn't get pregnant, I thought…"

Emma couldn't fault the logic. "So why didn't you say something to me?"

"I was going to, but your father said you'd tell us when you were ready." She looked up to see Regina staring at her. "Besides, you've other people you seem to confide in more these days…"

Emma rolled her eyes, "Mu…um!" she groaned. "Look, come over here…" she led her mother back to their table, where Killian had already sat Hope into a highchair, opposite Emma's younger brother, who was sitting with an odd grin. A mug of hot chocolate that was floating in mid-air, a foot above the table, directly in front of him!

"NEAL! HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU?" Snow yelled, causing her son to look up, breaking his concentration, which in turn caused the mug to crash to the table, spilling dark brown liquid all over the tablecloth. "NOW LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE!"

Hope looked up at her young uncle, her grin turning into a chuckle as he defended himself.

"COS YOU MADE ME JUMP! YOU SHOUTED!" Neal yelled back, clearly annoyed.

"Do NOT talk to me like that, young man!" Snow countered.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Emma jumped in. "Calm down, both of you! It's just a spill. Here, let me…" she focused her mind, summoning her magic to replace the white tablecloth with a clean one. It was an easy enough spell, after all. However, the moment the mug and messy cloth disappeared, her head suddenly felt woozy, and a jolt of pain ran through her temple , dizziness overwhelming her. "Woooooah, god!" she mumbled, dropping down onto one knee and clutching her forehead in pain.

"Swan?" Killian gasped, standing up from his seat to get over to his wife. However, Robin, having seen her drop, reached her first, placing an arm gently around her back, another under her forearm, to stop her going down further. "It's okay Emma, I've got you!"

The Saviour stayed kneeling, waiting for the dizziness to slowly clear. She rose carefully, holding onto him. "Thanks Robin. I'm okay now…"

"Thanks mate…" said Killian, taking over from him to hold her up on the other side. "Emma, what happened, love?"

"It's okay, Kill. I just suddenly felt dizzy. I'll be fine, honest. You go, take care of Hope."

"She's fine love, look. I'm more concerned about you right now…"

Regina appeared beside them. "Did you just try to use magic?" Emma slowly nodded. "Yes, that happened to me when I disapparated to the stables-" she stopped, realising Emma parents were listening. It was obvious they hadn't been informed of her pregnancy yet!

"It's alright. Thanks everyone…" Emma groaned again. "Listen, could you all leave us for a minute? I need to speak to my parents. In private."


Two minutes later, after sitting at the table, gathering her thoughts, and with Killian now by her side, she told them. "Guys, there's a reason I felt dizzy and nearly fainted. Mum, I'm sorry I didn't say anything earlier, but I was planning on telling you today. You're right. I am pregnant."

"I knew it!" Snow sounded triumphant. "Wonderful. How far along are you?"

"Doc says about ten weeks. I had a scan yesterday. I've got a picture at home for you. Hang on…" she remembered something Snow had said. "You said you knew Regina and I went to the hospital together? How would you-"

"Your mother has spies and ears everywhere, Emma, you know that!" David chuckled as Snow rolled her eyes. "Despite what Regina says, not much gets past her in this town!"

"Well, I thought I might be pregnant two weeks ago. Regina was at my place seeing Henry off, and I mentioned it. I took a home test. She thought she might be too, so she took a spare. They both went positive, but she needed to keep hers quiet, so we took a blood test together. I was going to tell you both as soon as I had the scan to make sure everything was okay."

Her parents enveloped her between them in a hug, Charming cupping her head protectively as usual. She liked to pretend she hated the fuss he made of her. But in truth, she loved it. "So, what about the fainting?" he asked. "Is everything alright?"

"It's fine dad. Hilary told us magic might cause it while I'm…while both of us are pregnant. And sickness, apparently. I just forgot." As they broke apart, she noticed Regina was now sitting alongside Neal, a clean linen cloth now on the table and a fresh mug of hot chocolate.

"There now. All clean again…" said the queen, smiling at Emma's brother. Her favourite Charming, as she always reminded them. "No harm done."

"Gina, did you just…" Emma looked again at the linen "use your magic?"

"No. Robin did," she smiled up at her lover, who was now talking to Hope. "Looks like there's going to be more people with magic in Storybrooke over the coming years! Robin, Hope. And it seems your brother's powers have been released early. Well done, Neal, by the way! Levitation is particularly tricky at first, young man. You know, I never had any magic when I was your age?"

"Really?" said an astonished Neal," but you're Regina! You must have done!"

"I can assure you I didn't. Your gifts are rather powerful too, my dear." She wrapped an arm around him, kissing the top of his head. "But I think it may be a good idea if you had some lessons sooner than I imagined."

"I'd love that. Could you and Emma teach me? And Robin?"

"I don't think so, Neal." Snow protested. "Not until you're older. Magic's very dangerous! You need to wait till you're a grown up before you do anything like that." She couldn't fail to notice a look of annoyance on her daughter's face as she said it.

"I must strongly disagree!" said the Sorcerer, now appearing amongst them. "Now his powers have arrived, it could be much more dangerous for the young prince not to learn how to control them, and use them safely!"

She looked up at David, desperately wanting him to back her, but could see he had a resigned look. "Actually Snow, he's right. Remember when Emma's came in, when she had to deal with the Snow Queen? I don't want him to go through what she did, it isn't fair. Merlin, you did something to teach Robin, didn't you? Perhaps you could help us in some way?"

Merlin, all eyes on him, considered the question. "Perhaps. Actually, I've been pondering this for a while. Young Master Nolan here," he winked at Neal, "does indeed have white magic very similar to his sister's. Roland Locksley also has some, having been touched by the true love of his parents and the Dark One's wand when his mother carried him. The little lass over here," he looked at Hope. "She possesses it too. And of course, Emma and Regina's impending children already have it. In fact, even Jeffersen's teenage daughter has powers, of which she's currently unaware..."

"Hang on a minute," said Regina, surprised. "Mine and Emma's impending children? Our unborn have magic already? How on earth can you tell at this stage? I'm only three months pregnant, and Emma's earlier along than me!"

"I'm a seer. And they do indeed. Can't you feel it yourself, Regina? The searching?"

"Searching? Sorry, you've lost me. What on earth are you talking about?"

"Your foetus, despite its early stage, is putting out magical 'feelers'. It's trying to detect other magic nearby. Emma's is doing just the same. It's all automatic, perfectly harmless, and the child is unaware. But it's there nonetheless. So with all these magic practitioners coming through, I suggest to help them cope there needs to be some form of suitable training in the future."

"Like some sort of Storybrooke Hogwarts?" said Emma, grinning. "Is that what you're suggesting?"

"I like that idea!" the Sorcerer chuckled. "But perhaps nothing so formal. Most of it can be done by mind-melding, like I did with Mr. Locksley here. We would just need space to practise without hurting anyone. Perhaps I could make use of Reul Ghorm's facilities from time to time? The convent is suitably…isolated."

"My child being taught by the blue moth and her kind? Not a chance!" Regina was emphatic and Marian nodded her head in agreement. "We can do it ourselves."

"Not if you don't want to keep fainting and feeling sick, you can't" said Robin. "Why not have it here? We have new buildings nearby, and we're well away from the town. We could do it here. Sherwood School of Magic – twinned with Hogwarts? Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"