Emma frowned as she looked over a display of stuffed animals. She'd been looking for at least twenty minutes and was still unsure about what a baby would prefer. Yes, that's right a baby because her family could get weirder it seemed. So now here she was trying to find a gift for the newborn baby or more specifically her newborn baby brother.

If she's being truthful Emma is kind of relieved that she has a brother and not a sister not that she'll ever admit that out loud. The last thing she needs is being teased that she's jealous. She's a grown thirty year old woman and not actually crazy enough to be jealous of a baby, so she's not, not at all jealous honestly.

She finally decides on a dragon toy its blue or green Emma can't decide which and has the perfect fluffy cuddly fur. The tag proclaims it to be "Jellycat" whatever that means all she knows is it's a twenty five dollar stuffed animal but, her baby brother is worth it, probably. Emma pays for the toy, dropping it into a paper shopping bag before leaving the shop. She figures she should go back up to the hospital and actually meet this little brother of hers but, she can't not yet at least.

Exiting the shop she frowns trying to think of any mundane task that can keep her away from the hospital for a little longer, she's so distracted that she doesn't even notice when she literally bumps into and bounces off of Neal. He barely looks at her, barley acknowledges her before trying to scurry off. This is weird and has been weird for the last few months, Emma had thought that they had finally made it back to being friends or co-parents at the very least. Instead, Neal made almost painful attempts to avoid her and given that their town is little more than a main-street even Emma has to give credit for that impressive feat.

"Did I do something, are we fighting and you forgot to tell me?" Emma asks suddenly as she grabs onto Neal's arm to keep him from leaving.

"Nothing at all, Princess" Neal responds with a dramatic bow.

Emma lets him go like she's been burned and swallowed the lump in her throat. "Princess" she's grown used to the nickname by now but, this isn't a term of an endearment used by her father or even the respectful title that Killian uses when he's trying to be a gentleman. This is a taunt, Neal is making fun of her.

"Okay, whatever I'm done" Emma says rolling her eyes as she starts to move past him.

"Your father hates me" Neal calls after her suddenly, making Emma stop in her tacks and turn around.

"Can you blame him, I fell in love with a jewel thief and got knocked up instead of falling in love with a prince and ruling the magical forest like I was supposed to" Emma tells him with a sigh

"Enchanted Forest" Neal corrects on reflex.

"The point is, if you were in his shoes you'd hate you too and he feels too guilty to hate me" Emma explains tiredly.

"Hopefully, this new brother of mine won't be such a disappointing fuck up" She added with a shrug.

"Oh, her highness is jealous" Neal observed, catching Emma's free hand.

"I am not jealous" Emma argued as she turned to look at him, this seemed more along of their normal and easy banter.

"Its perfectly normal for an only child to be jealous of a new baby" Neal told her, a hint of teasing in his tone.

"Yeah, when they're four" Emma returned shaking her head.

"Well, you do have the temper of a four year old" Neal pointed out, not even trying to hide a smile.

Emma narrowed her eyes, dropping Neal's hand before shoving hard at his shoulder and knocking the man off his feet.

"I am not jealous" She repeats once Neal has recovered his balance and finished laughing at her.

They part ways eventually and Emma heads to the diner to get herself some lunch and probably bring some to her parents. She tries to block out labor and childbirth as much as possible but, she does remember being ravenously hungry after Henry had been born.

Emma walks into a surprisingly empty Granny's, only Ruby is behind the counter. She sighs and collapses into a booth. Seeing Neal is always an exhausting ordeal, she doesn't hate him not anymore at least but, that doesn't mean their history is an easy one or fun or something she'd ever want to repeat.

"So, how is he what's his name?" Ruby asks as she comes bounding over, excited at the arrival of a new baby.

"I don't know" Emma answers honestly as she props an elbow on the edge of the table and rests her chin in her hand.

"They won't even tell you but, don't you have special privileges or something?" Ruby asks as she sits across from Emma.

Ruby frowns and gets up, heading toward the kitchen without a word. She comes back a few minutes later with a grilled cheese and a large chocolate milkshake.

"Alright little wolf, spill what's up with you?" Ruby asks as she takes her place across from Emma again.

Emma raises an eyebrow in confusion as she takes a bite of her sandwich and then drags a few fries through a puddle of salt.

"You don't have to be jealous, everyone knows you'll still be the favorite" Ruby says with a simple shrug.

"Oh for the love...I am not jealous" Emma says, though its a little louder than she meant to.

"We love you, losing you was awful but to see you now...all grown up and here it makes everything we went through worth it" Ruby offers eventually after they sit in silence for a few minutes.

Emma frowns when Ruby mentions "We" a few times. Sure, she could be referencing her friends and the rest of their allies but, it doesn't sound like that. Its an odd way to talk about your friends baby and that's another thing, Ruby looks at her oddly. Looks at Emma and her parents like she's yearning for something. Sure, Emma knows that Ruby is a big reason as to why her parents are together, why they found each other again but, something is off. Not wrong exactly but, something doesn't fit. Something is missing.

"Oh...Oh I get it now" Emma says when the realization finally hits her.

"It's a very complicated situation" Ruby rushes to explain as a blush tints her cheeks

"No, it's not you're in love with two people who are both consenting adults, I've heard worse trust me" Emma says with an unbothered shrug as she finishes her sandwich.

"We never, we looked everywhere and tried everything to keep you with us but..." Ruby trailed off as she tried to explain, she hated talking about this and dredging up one of the worst nights of her life.

"I just need you to understand, we didn't give you up so you could be the savior, we never wanted that for you. We gave you up so you would be safe so you would have your best chance" Ruby told her with tears in her eyes.

Emma swallowed and reached out to take Ruby's hand. "I understand, I mean maybe not when I was a kid but, once I had Henry my perspective changed a bit and then even more when I learned that I wasn't just abandoned on the side of the road somewhere" She said with a shrug.

She stays with Ruby for a while, just enjoying the companionable silence. When Emma does leave its a few hours later and with enough food to feed an army. She takes a deep breath walking into the hospital, the conversation with Ruby was eye opening to say the least but, now her nerves are back in full force. Setting the shopping bag down by the door and the food on a chair Emma quietly walks over to her parents and baby brother.

Sitting on the edge of the bed and peering over her mother's shoulder at the newborn makes Emma feel impossibly young, like the little girl she's sure all of the "Adults" in her life still wish she was. Emma smiles at the baby who's looking at her now and she reaches out slowly to let her little brother grab onto her finger.

"So, do I get to know his name or do I have to wait?" Emma asked, finally taking eyes off of the baby to look up at her parents.

The pair share a look before handing the baby over to Emma. "Emma, meet your little brother Maxwell David Nolan"' her mother tells her with a smile.

" I'm going to call him Max" Emma tells them decidedly as she holds the baby carefully.

"I brought food...and something for him if that's alright" She tells them after a few moments

"Food, how did you know?" David asked as he retrieved the take out bag and got a sandwich ready for his wife.

"Well, I have done this before" Emma said with a shrug.

"Thank you, Emma we appreciate it" Snow said as she reached over and hugged her daughter.

Emma turns her head when she hears a knock on the door frame. She expects to see Ruby there, secretly hoping that she'd been able to convince the woman to come and reunite with her family. Instead, its Neal and Henry who are standing together in the doorway. Neal has an arm slung around their son's shoulder and the two are just looking in at her. Emma turns back to her parents, silently getting their permission before she beckons Henry and Neal into the room.

Henry approaches slowly, not wanting to scare the baby. He comes and stands next to Emma and joins her in admiring the newest member of the family. Emma wants to say something, knows she should offer something about the day Henry was born or remark that he was never this small but, the truth is she doesn't know. All Emma has for a reference point is the quick glimpse she got as a nurse carried Henry out of the delivery room.

She moves over and lets Henry sit down next to her, helping him to hold the newborn. Max yawns, wiggling free of his swaddled blankets as he did so.

"What's his name?" Henry asks, looking over at his grandparents expectantly as Max grabs hold of his older nephew's finger.

"I think his sister should introduce him" Snow said as she smiled over at her children and grandson.

"Henry, meet your uncle Maxwell David Nolan, but I'm just calling him Max" Emma tells him.

"I like it, I think it suits him" Henry said as he looked down at the baby.

"Yeah, he's pretty great" Emma ageed as she stood up to grab the gift she brought.

"Seeing as slaying dragons runs in the family I thought he would appreciate this" Emma added as she pulled out the stuffed animal and set it on the side table.

"I'm sure he'll love it" David assured with a smile.

Emma looked over and saw that Ruby was now lingering in the doorway. She smiled at the woman, her supposed to be other parent really. Emma glanced over at Neal, wanting to know if their thing was still there. If she could still communicate with him silently.

"We should let you get some rest" Emma offered as she took Max and placed him back in the hospital issued plastic bassinet.

Emma said goodbye to her parents and then ushered Henry and Neal out of the room. When the boys were distracted she looked over her shoulder in time to see Ruby go into the hospital room and closing the door behind her.

"So, can I buy you a drink?" Neal asked as they exited the hospital.

"A drink?" Emma asked, looking over at her Ex with surprise.

"You're a big sister, a baby's been born we should celebrate" Neal reasoned as he looked over at Emma.

"Can I come with?" Henry asked hopefully as he looked over at his biological parents.

"Absolutely not, your mother would kill me and then my mother would kill me" Emma told their son seriously.

They drop Henry off at home with Regina and make sure he not only goes inside with her but, stays inside. They can be good parents every once and a while after all. Then they head toward the bar and this time when Neal reaches for her hand Emma doesn't stop him. Walking into the Rabbit Hole Emma is immediately hit with the scent of smoke and cheap beer and it takes her back to all the hole in wall bars and dives she and Neal had ended up in years ago.

They sit down at the bar and order drinks. Everyone is looking at Emma like they're waiting for her to say something and after a minute it occurs to her that they're hoping she'll announce the birth of her brother and his name.

"Alright...Alright enough" Emma says as she stands up and hands her drink to Leroy before taking Neal's hand and climbing to stand on top of the bar.

"You all know royal tradition better than me, you know I can't say anything so stop asking me" Emma yells out at the gathered crowd.

"Buy her drinks instead, the Princess just became a big sister" Neal encourages as he stands to help Emma off the bar and back in her seat.

"Call me a princess again and I'll stab you with a fistful of those little cocktail umbrellas" Emma warns him.

They do buy her drinks. She shares a beer with Neal and then the dwarves come over. They buy rounds and entertain her with stories of Snow White the bandit. Emma knows bits and pieces of her parents story but, hearing it from a eye witness account from some of the people who are the reason she was even able to exist is something else. They don't seem to approve of her father but, they don't approve of Neal so, Emma thinks they'll be able to bond with David over that in the near future.

"Did you know I have two moms?" Emma asks, offering this piece of news after they've had a couple of drinks

"You have what, I think you're a little confused there Em" Neal says, rewarding her with a laugh and an odd look.

"No, it's true" Emma insists as she slaps her hand down on the bar-top for full effect
" My mom and Dad and Ruby are a thing" She tells him matter of factly.

Emma sighs as she looks around the bar. Most of the patrons are friends of her parents. Their allies from years ago who fought beside them and defended them. These were the people who sacrificed everything to try and come up with a solution to an unwinnable war. They tried to save her, tried to keep her and then stood by and helped to make sure that her parents could get her somewhere safe. These people were her family and Emma, she was the product of so much sacrifice. The product of their sacrifice.