The big day finally arrives. The Locksley-Swan-Mills babies are coming!

"Why can't we go to the hospital yet, Henny?" Honour sat on her big brother's lap. "Can we go soon? I want to see the babies!" she pouted.

Honour adored Henry and whenever he came back from university, she always tried to monopolize him ahead of her mothers. As she sat with her head against his broad chest, Henry told her stories from the story book of their lives.

"You'll see them soon enough! You know, it takes a long time for a baby to come; and you'd just get really, really bored, waiting in the hospital all day. Your papa will let us know when they're ready, okay? Then I promise, we'll get you there as soon as we can. I want to meet them too"

Can you appallate us there, so we get there quick, with your magic?"

Henry smiled. "I think you mean apparate? Yes, I will, though our mums told us we must be careful where I send us, so we don't frighten anybody. There's nurses carrying babies there. We don't want to drop them now, do we?"

The girl grinned, snuggling in. "Henny, I don't want you to go back to Harvid, I want you to stay with me! Mummy gets upset and cry when you go away. Granma gets sad too."

Henry placed the book down and pulled her in a little tighter. "You know, when the babies come, everyone's going to be too busy to be sad! They're going to have to spend lots of time looking after them and you'll need to help. You'll be their big sister, and they'll need you to protect them too. Think you can do that?" Before she could even respond, Henry heard his phone chirrup as a text arrived. He lifted it to read:

Robin: First baby cygnet safely delivered. Swan and her cygnet pen are doing well!

Henry grinned. "Honour, you have a baby sister! I think we should go tell Roland and Margot, don't you?"

Meanwhile...

At the hospital, Emma cradled her new-born as it lay against her chest. Patricia was busy down below, removing the placenta and cleaning up the new mother.

Regina, herself only minutes from her next contraction, gazed at the tiny wonder as Emma, under Livvy's calm direction, attempted her first feed. The tiny tot latched on almost immediately, clearly starving. "Ooh, someone's hungry!" Robin smiled at the beautiful sight. "Clearly takes after her mother?" Regina joked, earning a soft slap on her arm from her wife as they lay side-by-side, but facing opposite directions.

"She's utterly perfect, Emma!" Robin had a stray tear. "Merlin must be right, she looks like the pair of you!" Regina looked closer at the tiny face latched on to her mother's nipple. Robin's dimples were clearly there, as was his brow. The pale skin, nose and chin were definitely Emma's. But the shape of dark blue eyes and dark, almost black, hair? Could what Merlin said be true? Could this perfect little bundle of joy really be the product of all three of them?

Emma smiled back. "Regina, do you want to hold her?"

"There's nothing I want more, but best leave it till after the next contraction? I don't want to squeeze her. However, I know her dad is simply desperate for his first cuddle!" She looked up at her true love, his eyes showing he was already completely smitten.

Emma grinned up at him. "I think this little girl needs a snuggle from her dad?," she raised her up, as Robin tenderly lifted the tiny bundle from his mother and into his own arms, folding the small blanket around her.

"Oh my! You are a beautiful little thing, aren't you? Just like your mums. I'm your papa, and I'm going to love you forever! You're a very lucky girl because you have not one, but two amazing, magical mummies. And a big sister and two even bigger brothers! You're going to be surrounded by so much love…"

He carried on chatting away, while Emma and Regina exchanged a grin. The man was clearly besotted - this girl really was going to have him wrapped around her little finger! "Now young lady, a couple of house rules. First, you must always remember to do what your mummies and dad tell you to do, cos your mums they can be a bit scary otherwise." That drew an arched eyebrow from both. "For example, your blonde mummy here, in just the last hour, has threatened to castrate, disembowel, and do all sort of horrible things to your lovely daddy! Can you imagine?"

That caused both women, and the nurses, to laugh.

"Second, no boyfriends! Till you're at least forty! My old heart couldn't take that…"

"You've got no chance there, Rob!" Lavinia interrupted, still chuckling. "I mean, just look at her? You'll be shovelling them off your doorstep! Now, sorry to ruin the moment but, may I borrow her? I need to weigh and check her over. I'll bring her straight back." Reluctantly he handed her over, stepping back to Emma's side as Patricia was now checking over Regina.

"Emma, love, you can't imagine how happy you've made us. You were really brave back then. Well done." He leaned down to kiss the blonde's lips.

"No Rob, my breath stinks!" she was still grateful for the kiss.

"Who cares?" he shrugged pressing his lips down for another.

"Oh, so you agree that my breath stinks?"

He merely rolled his eyes. That's when Regina's next contraction hit. "Oooooohhh!" she groaned, instantly alerting her loves, Robin nimbly stepped around the beds, to be at her side, taking her hand. "Here, take my hand. The blood's come back after Emma crushed it! You can also threaten me all you want?"

As she continued to breathe heavily, she groaned. "I will, but without all the profanities my wife seems to love."

That earned a chuckle from the rest of them, Emma merely smiling back. "We'll see, won't we?"

~oOo~

Roughly two hours later, Henry was playing a board game with Margot and Honour when the text came in:

Robin: Second baby, another royal cygnet pen, safely delivered. You have two more beautiful sisters! Could you bring the rest of the family over? Your mothers are desperate to see all of you. Could you let everyone else know?

"Henry, come on, it's your go!" said Margot at her distracted cousin, as she handed him the dice, seeing his face break out into a huge grin. "What is it?"

"Sorry Margie, we'll have to finish this later. You have two new little sisters to meet!"

That brought a loud cheer from the two girls, and a 'yes!' from Roland, putting together a model airplane at the nearby table. "I knew it!"

Henry texted a reply:

Henry: Congratulations…Dad! Operation Royal Cygnets complete. Give them my love and we'll be over shortly. I'll let everyone know…

~oOo~

Robin read the message, smiling. "Henry sends his love and they'll be over soon. He's going to tell his grandparents. I'm sure Snow will tell everyone else."

"No doubt about it!" groaned Regina. "And no doubt she'll be over here five minutes after he tells her?"

The new mothers lay side-by-side on the top sheets of Merlin's magically-produced larger hospital bed, each with a baby in their arms. Regina held Emma's birth-child against her breast and stared into the beautiful dark-blue eyes. Emma held Regina's, allowing the tiny mouth to attempt to suckle on her.

Merlin smiled at the happy scene. "I'm so very pleased for you all. Robin, I guess you could never have imagined this?"

"Never in a million years. While I love the idea, are you sure about this three-parent thing? That they genetically belong to all of us?"

"Absolutely. I can sense their magical signatures. Can't you? Anyway, even without the magic, look at your baby in Emma's arms right now - the one Regina just gave birth too. She's got Emma's blonde hair, but dark blue eyes which will eventually turn brown, just like Regina's. And she has your face shape and hairline, Robin. And now look at the tot with Regina? Emma's birth baby? She has Regina's dark hair…"

"Her eyes are dark blue, but mine are…"

"Brown. And this baby's eyes will turn brown, I assure you. It's quite normal. They're both exceedingly beautiful and I can assure you they're the product of you all. Do you have names for them yet?"

"We do." Emma sat up. "But we wanted to wait, until the children know before we announce anything. We certainly won't be doing that Lion King announcement thing my parents did with Neal!"

"I look forward to it. Regina, Patricia told me all about Emma's birthing. I'm pleased to hear she didn't have anything unforeseen or need any stitching or aftercare. How about you? Do we need to have a consultation?"

She understood why he was asking – he is a gynaecologist after all!

"All went as planned, thank you Professor!" Though she couldn't resist adding, "I gave birth with all the dignity of a queen."

"Hmm. A very sweary, screamy, potty-mouthed queen?" Robin added, earning a fierce glare from Regina, and a loud cackle from Emma, who added "What? It's true! Gina, you called him all the names under the sun!"

"I did not!" She tried to defend herself. "I may have been a little bit stressed, but I don't remember anything else."

"Well milady, I seem to recall something along the lines of, 'It's alright for you, thief! You're not trying to push a bowling ball out of a twat designed for a tennis ball!'" Robin impersonated Regina's voice perfectly, "Quickly followed by 'If Emma doesn't sort you first, I'll gonna ram a nine-inch stiletto through your bollocks if you so much as come near me again! God help you!'"

That earned a roar of laughter from all the others present, including Merlin, and an embarrassed red face from Regina! But he wasn't done. "Though I was very impressed by the sheer variety of profanities aimed at my good self! Some of them were positively Shakespearean! I'll need to check with Henry on some of the meanings."

Even Regina gave a reluctant smile, before childishly poking her tongue out at him. "Well…you deserved it! You got us in to this!"

He looked down at their new babies, now thankfully sleeping in their mothers' arms. "Perhaps, my lady, though it takes three to tango. And seeing the results, I don't regret it for a moment!"

"Nor do I!" Emma, smiled down at Regina's new born, kissing her cheek.

"Nor me." Whispered Regina, looking down at Emma's.

"MUMMY! MAMA!" Honour yelled, as she bundled into the room, stopping only when she saw both mothers quickly moving fingers to lips in unison.

"Sshhh! They're both asleep!" Regina whispered loudly, before quickly adding, "Come up here my love, we've missed you all…"

Roland silently came up behind his sister, lifting her up to gently place her on the side of the bed. "Hi mum," he placing a kiss on her cheek.

"Hello, my not-so-little-these-days knight! Have you been alright? I've missed you." She sounded drowsy, the day clearly catching up with her.

"Fine, we've been playing at home, waiting to come over." He looked at the small dark-haired baby. "She looks just like you. And dad. What's her name?"

"Funnily enough, Emma gave birth to this one earlier! Roland, I'd like you to meet Hope Anastasia." Regina turned the tot to face her brother and sister.

"Anastasia – after my grandma, dad's mum?" asked Roland. "But wait, this one's Emma's?" He studied the baby's dark hair and hazel green eyes. "But she looks just like you!"

Regina chuckled. "Yes, it's hard to explain, but I gave birth to that little beauty over there…" She nodded her head in the direction of the little blonde Emma was holding. Roland saw the slightly lighter-skinned, fair-haired new born.

"She's different from Hope, more like you mum, but you can still see that they're sisters."

"And we've named this little one Faith Eva," added Emma. "After my grandmother. She may be blonde like me, but she's got your mum's eyes, don't you think? They said her eyes will turn brown."

Honour was silent throughout, her mouth hanging open in awe a she gently stroked Hope's cheek. "Hope and Faith? They're so beautiful, mama! May I hold one of them?"

"In a moment my love. Let Emma and I sit up and you can take our places. Perhaps daddy could help us? That is, when he stops taking pictures?"

They'd hardly noticed Robin silently taking endless snaps with his phone, of the first meeting of all five of his children. Margot however, didn't seem so delighted, looking positively sad. "Margot - you okay? Something wrong?" asked her father, pocketing the phone to lift her into his arms.

"I'm okay, daddy…I just wish you were all my family. Honny has two sisters and two big brothers now, but I've just got mum and she doesn't even want to be here."

All three parents were shocked, Regina almost tearful. "Now you listen here, missy! I regard you as my daughter too!" said Regina. "I may not have given birth to you, but I didn't give birth to Henry, Roland or Hope either. But I love them, and I love you! These are your sisters and brother, just as much as they are Honour's! All of you are your daddy's children, and we all love you and cherish you, equally."

"Yeah, Marge," said Roland, using her nickname. "You know I had a mum of my own before Regina and Emma, don't you? Her name was Marian. But she died, just like Henry's dad. But you're definitely my sister." The mothers listened to the eleven-year-old with tears in their eyes. The wild-haired dimple-cheeked young scallywag was always so good with his little sisters. Even Zelena had been surprised, though dreaded Roland finding out about Marian's death.

At that moment, Henry walked in the door with an odd grin on his face.

"What on earth took you so long, young man, that could have prevented you from meeting your new little sisters?" chided Emma, with raised eyebrows from Regina.

"Sorry mums, I was just distracted by Abby, one of the nurses here. She asked me to…" then he saw the looks from both women. "Well, it doesn't matter right now. So, you going to introduce me?"

"Another nurse, Hen?" she gave her wife a knowing look. We are definitely having words about his love life!

Robin saw the blush and changed the subject for the young man's sake. "Henry, now you're here, I'd like a picture of all of you together." He gently plopped Margo down on the bed between the women. "I don't think your mums need anyone on their laps just yet as they're still recovering, so could you move close to their sides and pick up Honour? Roland, on the other side please?" He issued instructions to organise the first ever whole family group.

"Robin, Emma and I look dreadful! Can't we just leave it until later?" sighed Regina.

"You could never look dreadful, either of you! Besides, you can use your magic again now, can't you?"

Robin apparated his proper camera into his hands then proceeded to spend the next few minutes firing off many pictures of the new babies with their mothers and siblings. "Okay Rob, please can we stop now? They're going to need feeding again soon and I could do with something…"

"Sorry, you're right. Guys, let's leave your mums to rest now, ok? With a bit of luck, they'll all be home tonight." However, he was interrupted by Patricia poking her head around the door.

"Ooh, aren't there a lot of you? Ladies, I have Mr. and Mrs. Nolan outside in the waiting room, when you're ready to see them?"

Regina groaned. "I told you! Didn't I tell you? The moment Henry gave her the news…well, I guess we won't have to let anybody know. The Storybrooke broadcasting system has arrived!"

"Oh stop!" admonished Emma. "She just loves us, that's all. Guys, I would love you all to stay but me and your mum are very shattered. We need some rest so…Henry, would you mind?"

~oOo~

The children trooped out behind Henry and into the waiting room.

The princess beamed as soon as as she saw her tall grandson. "Henry? I didn't know you were back!" she pulled him into a tight hug, before spotting the rest of them. "Hello children! How're you all? How are your mums? I can't wait to see your sisters!" she fizzed. "Can I pop in now?" She may have asked, but she charged into the room regardless.

The next hour was spent with Snow and David fussing and cooing over their new granddaughters. Snow was delighted one had been given her mother's name, but expressed concern when told the babies shared all three of their parents' DNA. "Is that ok – I mean it won't cause any health problems in the future?"

"Not according to Merlin. If anything, it makes them even stronger. It's a bit weird to grasp, but basically, although Gina gave birth to Faith over there," she said nodding toward the crib, "a quarter of her genes are mine! Same goes for Hope with Gina."

"I don't care – they're just perfect," whispered David, already besotted with them, as he now held Hope in his arms. Emma smiled up at her father. Strong, silent and protective, I would love to have known him when I was a baby. "Hope Anastasia Swan-Mills, I'm your grandpa. It's lovely to meet you!"

"Actually dad – we decided to call her Locksley. Faith too..." she smiled at Regina, who merely nodded.

The only one more surprised was Robin. "What? I'm sorry, I don't understand? Why would you…"

"Emma and I discussed it recently, Robin," Regina, grinning at her soulmate. "Roland wanted to stay with your name after we married, Honour asked us to change her name to yours, and 'Locksley-Swan-Mills' is a hell of a mouthful, don't you think?"

Emma chuckled when the former thief's jaw dropped in surprise. "Oh, and one more thing, Rob. Gina and I decided we'll take your name too, when we marry next year. So, it seems my 'Lady Locksley' dream is going to come true after all?"

His eyed reddened at the news, feeling slightly choked and his lip trembling. "All of you want this? My name? I...I just don't know what to say! I can't believe it. You'd do that...for me?"

~oOo~