Thanks to Abigail Sykes for helping.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay here tonight, just for the first night? There will be nurses about if we need them," She asks hopefully as she slowly packs up the gifts that their friends had brought them. Dr Ruth had told the couple she was happy to discharge them the same day, as both mother and baby were doing well. Regina was relieved but Emma had thought it too soon.

"Emma…" she sighs as she pinches the bridge of her nose, already having had this conversation three times since being told they could go home, "I'm sure. I just want to go home. I want to sleep in our bed tonight. We are both completely fine," she tiredly argues as she looks over to their sleeping baby in the crib. "You really have to stop worrying so much."

"I can't. I've never had anyone to love before. This is the way I love, okay? Get used to it," she pouts, as she crosses her arms over her chest.

Regina smiles and places the teddy bear she was holding, onto the bed, before walking over to Emma, resting her hands on her chest. Emma holds onto her waist and gives her the best puppy dog eyes she can muster. "I love the way you love us, but you have to stop stressing yourself out. We are going home," she states with no room for argument before turning around to pick up the teddy bear she had been holding.

Kat and Ruby had gone overboard with all the gifts they had bought. There were at least a dozen teddies, but the one Regina was holding was her favourite. It was a standard brown teddy bear but on one foot it had the name 'Regina' embroidered on it and on the other foot 'Emma'. There was a red heart on its chest with their daughter's name sewn into it. She was holding onto that one instead of packing it up.

Emma grabs her car keys, that Dr Ruth had gotten back to her earlier in the day, the overnight bag and many gift bags. "I'll go bring the car to the front and get the car seat. I'll be back in a couple of minutes." She leans over Lena's crib and places a gentle kiss to her forehead before kissing Regina on the lips and slipping out of the room.

With everything packed and taken to the car, Regina takes a seat next to her daughter's crib and lightly strokes her chubby cheek. "We are going to look after your mama, aren't we? She loves to take care of us, but we need to take care of her too. Yes, we do, yes, we do," she says through a bright smile, as she speaks in her own baby-daughter specific voice.

Dr Ruth gives a little knock to the door before popping her head around it. "Excited to go home?"

"We are, but I'm not so sure that Emma is," she says with a chuckle.

"Yeah… she just asked if she could pay for a nurse to stay at your home for a few days," the doctor says with a knowing smile.

"For God's sake," Regina replies with a shake of her head. "I'm sorry doctor… you know how she gets."

"It's quite alright. You do have my number if you need anything though. Day or night."

"Thank you. Thank you for everything."

"You are more than welcome. I'm sure this won't be the last pregnancy I help you through," she says with a knowing smirk. "Take care of yourselves," she adds before leaving the mother and daughter duo.

When Emma comes back, car seat in hand, Regina picks up their little one from the crib and they both work on strapping her into it, with Emma double-checking that every strap is secure.

"Let's go home," the blonde announces, as she picks up the car seat and takes Regina's hand.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"We should give her a tour of the house," Emma excitedly suggests, when they cross the threshold of their home.

Regina gently rocks Lena in her arms. "How about a nap first?" She counter-offers, more so for herself because their baby is still fast asleep.

"Okay, the tour can wait, but just you wait until you see your room," she gushes as they make their way upstairs to the master bedroom, where Lena's temporary crib has been set up until they deem her old enough to move into her own room. "Your bed wasn't my first choice though. I had picked out a much nicer one," she explains to the unaware infant.

Regina places her in her crib and she almost instantly wakes up with a cry that keeps building. "Hungry again?" Her mommy asks as she picks her back up. She carefully climbs onto the bed and sits back against the headboard. She lifts her top over her breast and pulls the cup of her bra down. With a little bit of encouragement, a tiny mouth latches on and starts feeding.

Emma joins them on the bed and throws her arm around Regina's shoulder. "This is probably where you were conceived," she says out of nowhere to their daughter.

"Emma!" Regina reprimands a little louder than intended, startling the infant into dropping the nipple and breaking out into a cry again. "Hush little one. It's okay, it's okay," Regina whispers extra quietly, as she tries to get her to feed again.

Emma looks on apologetically and lightly strokes her tiny ear, "if you stop eating every time your mommy raises her voice then you are going to starve," the blonde teases, as she tries to make Regina smile to make up for her error in judgement.

"Idiot," Regina mumbles through a small grin as she focuses on getting Lena to latch on again, which she eventually does.

Emma watches in awe at how natural Regina seems to be at all of this. She doesn't panic or get worked up. She remains calm and does what needs to be done. Emma sits next to them throughout the feed, not wanting to miss a moment of any of this. She feels a little useless as she watches her fiancée feeding their daughter, so she does the only thing she can think of to help; she cradles her arm beneath Regina's, to assist her in taking the weight of their baby. Regina rests her head against Emma's shoulder and allows her body to relax a little, safe in the knowledge that Emma has them both in her arms.

When Lena has a belly full of her mother's milk and has been burped, Emma takes her from Regina's arms. "Get some sleep, beautiful, I'll put her in her crib. Actually, scratch that, I think someone needs a diaper change," she states as she feels the heaviness of her diaper.

"Thank you. Will you come and snuggle with me afterwards?"

"Of course," she throws over her shoulder, as she walks to the baby's room, where the diaper station is. She places her down on the soft material with high sides that are meant to stop her from rolling off. "Let's get you cleaned up, my little munchkin." Lena starts crying again, the wet diaper uncomfortable against her skin. "It's okay, sweetie pie, there's no need to be embarrassed. It happens to the best of us." Emma cleans her up and puts on a fresh diaper and romper. "There we go, all better." Her cries are replaced by soft gurgles when Emma picks her and gently bounces her in her arms.

"This is your room, princess. Look at all of your teddies," she says, knowing Lena could see no further than a few inches in front of her face. "This one," she says picking up a teddy wearing the Slayers kit, "is from where mama works. You'll get to visit mama's workplace soon. Yes, you will. I can show you off to everyone. Yes, because you're so beautiful and perfect and everyone will love you." Emma sits down in the rocking chair and they both rock until Lena falls asleep in her arms. "Let's get you to bed so I can go hold your mommy." She goes back to her bedroom and softly places the infant into her crib and then climbs in bed behind the brunette, who pushes further into her so there isn't an inch of space between them.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Emma is angrily packing her training bag with a huge scowl on her face. The items she's packing are thrown into the holdall, as if it burns her skin to touch them. Regina has to admit it's pretty impressive how quietly Emma manages to be when having a tantrum. The

blonde is obviously pissed off that she has agreed to go back to training so quickly after their daughter's birth, but she's still mindful of the sleeping infant in her crib as she sulks.

"Yeah, sure Ingrid. I'll come back to training on Wednesday," she irately whispers to herself as she replays the conversation she'd had with her manager on Sunday. She shakes her head at her own stupidity. "Stupid idiot," she berates herself.

"Come here," Regina offers her teenage-like fiancée her hand from where she has been sitting on their bed, watching with amusement.

Emma ignores the hand but goes to lie between her legs, resting her head in her lap. "I don't want to go," she whines.

"It's only for a couple of hours," Regina tries to reason with her, as she rakes her fingers through golden locks.

"It's more like three hours with travelling to and from the stadium," she childishly argues. "I'm not going."

"Uh-huh," Regina acknowledges, with a small shake of her head. She had been expecting this reaction from Emma, regardless of when the blonde was going to go back to work.

"I'm not! Lena is only five days old. It's too early to go back to work. I shouldn't have agreed to this."

"Darling, you'll only be gone for three hours. It's not like you're being sent to war."

"I don't want to go!" She huffs dramatically. "What if I miss something important?" She enquires as she looks up at her lover.

"Important? She's five days old. You're not going to miss any milestones. If she even wakes, it will only be for a diaper change or a feed and I think I can handle that," she informs her as she points to her breasts.

"I don't want to go," she says again as she kicks her feet into the mattress.

"Am I going to have to put up with this every day?"

"No, because I'm not going back. Ingrid's a shit. She shouldn't have asked me to go back just yet." She knows she's being petulant, and she is going to go to training but she just needs to get the anger out of her system.

"Don't be rude. Ingrid has always been good to you. Actually, the entire club has been amazing to us. Don't forget all of the wonderful gifts they have given Lena."

Emma lets out a big sigh. "I know," she mumbles into Regina's lycra clad thigh. "This will be the longest I will have been away from her." Her eyes are trained on the peacefully sleeping infant in her crib.

"For now, at least. There are still a few away games before the end of the season." She feels warmth on her thigh as Emma huffs against her. "But what you have to remember is that every time you go to training, you improve your performance and make it more likely to win your next match. Every match you win brings you one step closer to winning the title. I know how much you want to win that not just for yourself but for Lena as well."

"I hate it when you talk all logically," she grumbles as she pushes herself up. "Fine, I'm going." She kisses Regina lightly. "Call me if you need me." She gets off the bed and goes to say goodbye to her daughter. "I'll be back soon, baby girl. Be good for your mom." She kisses her gently on her forehead and strokes her cheek with a single fingertip. "I love you." She picks up her holdall and gives Regina another kiss. "And I love you. See you in a bit."

"Love you, darling. Try to have fun. We'll be here when you get back."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Hey, Swan," Ruby calls out as she runs across the players' parking lot to catch up with her friend.

"Hey, Rubes," she glumly replies, as she looks down at the phone in her hand.

"Someone got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Did the little one keep you up last night?"

"She woke up a few times, but she was perfect really," she replies with a small smile. "She's such a good girl."

"She's such a little angel. Ass like a demon though. There's no way I could change her diaper," she wretches for effect.

Emma smirks knowingly. Each time Kat and Ruby had been over to visit them since they had gotten home from the hospital, Ruby would flee the room heaving whenever Lena needed a diaper change.

"You'll have to get used to it when you have your own kids."

"I'm not ever having kids."

"I think Kat might have something to say about that," she replies with a raised eyebrow.

"At least I can't accidentally get her pregnant," Ruby sneers.

The snide comment is like water off a duck's back to Emma. She had a good enough relationship with Ruby to know not to take her seriously. "It's the first time my anatomy has ever worked in my favour."

"Parenthood really suits you, Swan." The frown that had been on her friend's face had immediately changed as soon as they started talking about her daughter. Not just that, but Emma was a completely different person from the sullen woman who had joined the Slayers almost two years ago when Ruby barely got a grunt as a greeting.

"I should hope so. Becoming a parent is the best thing that's ever happened to me. Regina is so incredible, you know? She takes it all in her stride. She's a complete natural."

"Obviously she's good with children, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to deal with you," Ruby chuckles and then takes off down the corridor ahead of her friend, whose eyes are still glued to her phone as she types away on the illuminated screen.

Emma ignores her as she finishes typing the message and sending it off. She then pockets her phone and continues down the corridor to the locker room.

She nearly has a small heart attack at the shouting that immediately erupts when she enters the room. Her teammates are cheering and clapping as they welcome her back to the team. Her locker immediately stands out to her as it has been painted bright pink and the training vest that hangs from it has the words 'Lena's mom' printed on it. She grins like an idiot to herself. It wasn't so bad to be back after all. When all the hollering comes to an end, the blonde thanks her teammates for the gifts they had bestowed on her daughter over the last few days. She had been deeply touched by all of the love and support her family had been shown by the club since the birth.

"This was all your doing, wasn't it?" She asks Ruby, as she takes a seat down next to her.

"I only did the vest, Elsa's to blame for the colour. Little bit stereotypical and a bit insensitive if you ask me," she whispers the last bit, so their teammates don't hear her negativity.

"It's the thought that counts. I hope it comes off though," she says with a grimace, as she squints at the bright colour marring the locker behind her.

"Can I ask you something about being a mom?" Ruby enquires sounding unusually serious.

"Sure," she agrees with a creased brow.

"Did you cry before leaving your house this morning?" She asks, as she tries to hold back a grin.

"No, of course I didn't, you shit. You really don't think much of me, do you?"

"So… it was in the car then?"

"Yeah," she sighs defeated.

"HA! I love you, Swan," she says excitedly, as she grabs her face and kisses her cheek.

"Oh my god," she snaps at the celebrating brunette, as she wipes her kissed cheek with the back of her hand. "You and Kat put a bet on it didn't you?"

"At least I gave you until you until you got in the car. Kat didn't even think you'd turn up to training."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Mamma's got you, baby girl," Emma whispers quietly, in the special voice that is only ever used for her daughter, as she picks her up from her crib. She deduces from the dry nappy and lack of smell that it was definitely a feed her little one wanted. "Let's go get you some milk before you wake mommy up," she whispers to her crying baby, before kissing her chubby cheek.

Just as she's approaching the bedroom door to leave, she hears a grunt from the bed. She looks over her shoulder and smiles. Regina had rolled over to the middle of the bed but thankfully hadn't woken up.

For the first week after returning from the hospital, Regina had insisted on breastfeeding Lena, whether it was morning, noon or night. But after those few days of constantly feeling exhausted because of constant broken sleep, she finally gave in to Emma's suggestion and began pumping her milk. Lena's crib had been moved from the foot of the bed to Emma's side of the bed, so as soon as she woke up crying in the night, demanding to be fed, Emma could jump out of bed and feed her with the expressed milk in the refrigerator. It also meant that she wouldn't miss out on any bonding opportunities.

So, there the soccer star is just after three in the morning, gently heating up her daughter's second feed of the night in the kitchen. "I know my beautiful girl, it's taking so long, but you don't like cold milk, so you have to be patient for just another minute." She gently bounces her in her arms as the bowl of warm water brings the breast milk up to room temperature. "I know my lovely, I cry when I have to wait for food as well. It should be ready now. Let me check." She takes the bottle from the bowl of warm water and swirls it gently to mix the fat. She makes sure to hold her daughter against her safely with her elbow, so her wrist is free. She splashes a few drops of the milk against the sensitive skin to make sure it isn't too warm. "Perfect," she says happily, as she readjusts the little one in her arms. "Here we go, Princess," she says as she holds the little silicone teat to her lips. The crying stops as soon as she latches on and greedily suckles the milk. "You're such a good girl, aren't you? You're the best baby in the whole wide world."

Emma mindlessly walks around the kitchen, gently rocking her baby and humming softly to her. After a while, when the small amount in the bottle had almost been completely depleted and her flailing fists slow to stillness, Emma gently pulls the bottle from little lips, watching for any sign that eyes may open, and the crying would begin again. When there were no signs, she puts the bottle down on the counter and grabs a clean tea towel to chuck over her shoulder. "Come on, sweetheart, let it out," she quietly encourages her girl as she holds her against her shoulder and gently taps her back. It takes a couple of minutes until the familiar belch can be heard. "Good girl. Any spit coming up with that?" She rubs her back as another minute passes. When she's satisfied that there's not going to be any spit up, she deftly made her way back upstairs and lays the sleeping baby in her cot before getting back in bed herself. That part was harder as Regina had managed to splay herself in nearly all four corners of the bed. Emma squeezes up against her and pulls as much of the available cover over her as she can. She sighs happily. She might be tired, and her feet might be cold, but she wouldn't have her life any other way.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Are you happy to go back to work next week?" Kat asks as she relaxes in the Jacuzzi next to her best friend.

"Half-half. The prospect of going back to work and doing what I love is pretty exciting, but the thought of being away from Lena is a little upsetting. They will only be short shifts to start with, but I haven't been separated from her for more than a couple of hours since she was born. Time has gone by so quickly and she's growing up so fast." She sighs sadly as she watches Emma and Ruby play with their daughter in the pool.

"She's only four weeks old," Kat states quizzically because Regina is talking like she's eighteen and ready to move out. "Do you think there will be tears and tantrums when you go?"

"No, Lena's far too young to understand that I'll be gone," she scoffs at her friend's lack of understanding about babies.

"I was talking about Emma." She cackles in laughter at her own joke.

"I finally know why Emma sulks every time she has to leave to go training or for a match," she says ignoring her friend's teasing, "and she went back to work a lot sooner than I am."

"I bet she's excited for next weekend. I know Ruby is."

"She is beyond excited. She has Lena's kit ready for the big day."

The following Saturday is a straightforward home game against a middle of the table team that they had already beaten away, earlier in the season. The reason that this game was so

special is because the Slayers have accrued a lead of 13 points in the table and if they win their next match, they will officially be declared league champions, even if they lose all of their remaining matches.

Regina and Emma had previously agreed that Lena wouldn't attend any of the games this season until the game where it looked like the Slayers would win the title, because of how young she is. Neither of them had anticipated the fact that the Slayers would be this close to winning the title with still a month to go of the season.

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

"Look who's all dressed up for her mama," Regina coos as she holds up their daughter to show Emma their little girl fully kitted out in a miniature version of the Slayers kit. The name 'Swan' and Emma's number seven were even printed on the back.

"Look how cute she is," Emma gushes, as she takes her from Regina. "Are you going to watch your mama kick butt today? Yes, you are. Mama's going to win that trophy so that you and mommy have one each." Her last year's winner's medal was in her trophy room, but Regina always claimed it as her own.

"I really can't mess up today," she says to Regina as she cuddles Lena against her neck. Even if they didn't win today, they only had to win one game before the end of the season to be crowned champions, but it was important to Emma that she won it when her daughter was there.

"It's an easy game. You scored a hat trick against them in the last game." Regina was a fountain of knowledge when it came to Emma's statistics on the pitch.

"I just don't want to let her down the first time she sees me play."

Regina smiles softly at Emma. "To be honest, she's not going to see much more than a foot in front of her, let alone the field all the way from the VIP box.

"You know what I mean." She rolls her eyes. "Your mommy is being pedantic," she whispers into the side of Lena's face.

"Oh… so you want your ass kicked before you even leave the house?" Regina teasingly threatens.

"Did you hear that, baby girl? Mommy's threatening me," she says to her daughter before turning to her fiancée, "I have a witness now,"

Regina laughs. "Go and get yourself ready. We are going to have a cuddle," she says as she holds her arms out to take Lena back.

Emma kisses her check before holding her out to pass her over to Regina.

"Where's my little Kitty Kat?" Kat asks, as she enters the lounge and intercepts the pass of Lena to Regina. She holds the little girl against her before turning to look at Emma, "hurry up, you. The sooner we get there, the sooner I can hit the bottle." She then goes back to paying Lena attention. "You're not the only one that likes the bottle… and the boob," she muses.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

When they arrive at the stadium, Emma escorts them all to her VIP box and stays with them for a bit until it's time for her to make her way to the locker room.

"I probably won't be able to come back up here before the game. The press conference will probably be quite a long one today," she tells Regina as Kat cradles their daughter in one of the bucket chairs.

"That's okay. We'll see you on the pitch after you win," Regina states confidently.

Emma smiles widely. "Don't forget to bring her ear defenders."

"I won't. Now go and makes us proud."

Emma kisses her deeply before rushing down to the locker room to meet with the team and coaches so they can prep for the game ahead.

When she gets her breath back from the kiss, she asks Kathryn if she would like a drink.

"Water, please."

"Water? Not champagne?" She couldn't ever remember Kat not drinking champagne on a match day.

"Are you going to let me hold Lena if I'm drunk?" She asks, knowing the answer.

"Most certainly not."

"Then I'll stick to water for now."

Regina smiles as she grabs them both a bottle of water. It warmed her heart how much Kat loved Lena too. She then switched on the TV so they could watch the build-up to the match, as well as the press conference.

Regina had been right with her earlier prediction of it being an easy game for Emma and the Slayers. They were up two-nil when the whistle ending the first half blows. Emma hadn't scored, but she had set up an easy shot for Ruby, who converted it on the fourteenth minute. Elsa doubled their lead with a header seven minutes later.

"So…." Kat drawled, with an evil smirk on her face, "at least one of our partners is able to score for the team." It was very rare for Ruby to be on the score sheet and ever rarer for Emma not to be, so she was going to enjoy winding her friend up.

"Ruby only scored because Emma got the ball to her feet," she retorts defensively.

Kat laughs at the scowl on Regina's face. "It's a team game, Regina."

"Oh, shut up. The game is only halfway through. Wait until the end before you start gloating."

By the end of the game, it was Regina's turn to gloat. It ended four-one, with Emma getting her name on the score sheet twice. "Your mama did it," she whispers happily as she picks up her sleeping daughter from the car seat she had been sleep in for most of the game.

After a few minutes, the expected knock came from the door. Regina places the ear defenders over her daughter's ears because the noise coming from the stadium would be far too much for her when they step out onto the pitch. The steward at the door leads them down the various corridors that Regina vaguely remembers from the year before.

Both she and Kat are also wearing the Slayers strip, with 'Swan' and the number seven on their backs, just like Lena, and just like they had the year before. Kat and Ruby had had a bit of an argument about that. Ruby had wanted her girlfriend to wear her name and number on the back of the top, but Kat was having none of it. As much as she loved Ruby, the Swans were her family first and foremost.

Emma was celebrating in front of the home fans with her teammates, but she made sure to keep an eye out on the players tunnel so she wouldn't miss her family coming out to celebrate with her. When she spots them, she sprints over and throws her arms around Regina, careful of the fussing infant between them. Ruby, who had been hot on her heels, picks up Kat and twirls her around.

"I told you that you'd do it," Regina proudly gushes.

"I couldn't let my girls down." She grins like an idiot as her eyes go from her lover, down to their little girl and then back up to the most beautiful woman that's ever existed. This was the stuff that dreams were made of. Everyone that had ever doubted her or told her that she would never amount to anything had been proven wrong. As far as Emma was concerned, they had all been proven wrong the minute Regina had fallen in love with her.

The ceremony and celebrations were much the same as the year before. The only difference is that this year Emma has one extra family member to have her pictures taken with. After she's been given her winners medal, she places it around Lena's neck, and she walks around the pitch with Regina at her side and their daughter in her arms.