Guest Comments
Guest (x2): First of all, hello! Welcome to the story. I feel like I went into the details of why Henry feels that way about Regina in that chapter, but let me try to clarify a little. Henry has lived the past year with Graham and Emma and a whole huge group of friends that are like family. He has lived the past year knowing what his childhood would have been like had Emma raised him: not isolated, participating in decisions relating to their family, being listened to, and genuinely being loved by someone not with a "hole in [their] heart." He also knows without a doubt that Regina killed Graham the same day they spoke to one another about the curse; he has proof of what Regina did to the man he now considers his father. Thus, Henry's feelings are very conflicted and he doesn't want to interact with his former adoptive mother right now. I hope this makes sense. I also think you need to rewatch the scene where Emma gave up Henry (not abandoned; that really is an anti-adoption view, since she did all she could to make sure he was happy and healthy), because the pain on her face shows it all. She was in jail, jobless, and poor, and in believing she couldn't give her child a good home, chose a closed adoption for his best chance. This is not abandonment at all. :)
Title: A Long Way From Before
Summary: Telling Henry he'll be a big brother.
Note: Prompted from the anon verse creator (the original prompter for this story). Also, I wrote an M rated piece in connection with this story titled "Past, Present, and Future" that I didn't include here so not to isolate my readers that are underage. You can find it on my author's page! Both pieces were written for the Gremma Appreciation Week now happening on Tumblr (link on author's page).
Emma woke to the sound of her phone ringing.
She groaned, lifting a hand to cover her eyes before rolling to the side. She hadn't gotten a fantastic amount of sleep the night before, finally retreating into exhaustion curled in her boyfriend's embrace sometime in the wee hours of the morning. It was still far too early for a weekend morning to be conscious, though Emma suspected it was after eleven.
Graham mumbled something half in sleep before waking with a sigh beside her. She grabbed the phone off the nightstand and warmed considerably to see "Kid" on the screen.
"Morning. You ready to come home?" she asked, sleep slurring her words just a bit.
Graham slid from the bed, brushing his hand over her stomach briefly before gesturing to the kitchen. She smiled in response, resting her palm over where his had been before refocusing on the call.
"Yeah. We finished up all we can do for now. I'll be over once I'm done with breakfast."
"You can eat here. Graham's about to cook," she offered, rising finally from the warmth of the sheets.
"Nah, Ritu made crepes. Be home soon!"
The phone clicked off and Emma grimaced. Well, there goes the plan of telling him over breakfast. She leaned back against the pillows, trying hard not to let the stone in her throat well up. She was worrying hard over that particular detail, the thoughts of Henry's reaction creating dizzying scenarios in her head. But … Graham was happy. And she was happy. She hadn't planned for it, but the addition of another person into their neat little family was so exhilarating.
She combed through her curls with tired fingers and padded into the kitchen. Graham was already at the counter, whisking eggs. His pajama pants were low on his waist, hair in wild tangles on his head. She grinned at the sight before wrapping her arms around his back, pressing her lips on the warm skin of his back.
"Should I make pancakes, too?" he asked, not missing a beat as he turned to pull her to his side.
"No, Henry's eating at Ritu and Sam's. Just us two eating this morning," she replied.
She could see a grin peek around his lips. "Three, technically," he said.
She scoffed, pulling out of his embrace to grab plates from the cabinets. "The new kid doesn't have much of an appetite yet in his microscopic stomach."
He yanked her back, tucking his chin onto her neck before pressing a kiss there. "Have I mentioned how happy I am?" he murmured, his hands stretching across her abdomen.
She shivered, the contented caress of his words making her heart race a little in response. "Maybe a time or two," she said nonchalantly. Then she rested her forehead against his. "Me, too, you know."
"When are we going to let Henry know?" he asked. Something flicked behind his features, a wistfulness that seemed alien to the situation.
"Maybe a late lunch? We can all go out, or even just order a pizza or something and stay in. We can talk about it more privately here."
"How's your energy?" he asked, a tight pulling of his eyebrows showing he really was worried, not joking around for once.
She shook her head; the lethargy was still there, hazing behind her eyes, but it wasn't anything too major. By this time with Henry, she had been a lot worse off. "Not a big deal. I can push through this."
"Still, I think staying in will be better," he murmured.
She raised a brow. "You're not going to start treating me like glass, are you?" she asked pointedly.
He grinned, leaning down to touch her nose with his briefly. "Wouldn't think of it. But I don't want to push you too hard, either."
"I'll let you know when I'm pushed too hard. Promise: I won't try to fake feeling well," she swore.
He narrowed his eyes to consider her statement before he shrugged. "Fair enough. But I'll be watching you, princess."
She rolled her eyes. "Just make the frittata, buddy."
He grinned and moved to the refrigerator to rummage up a few more items, then flicked on the stereo as he passed back to the countertop. She huffed a scoff at the beginning strains of the peppy song playing, even more so when she saw him mouthing the words as he diced.
"Seriously, Graham? You didn't know Kashmir, but you know the entire first verse of Hey Ya?"
He chuckled. "Hey, this is a classic. They played it at my high school prom."
She set the plates down at the table. "You didn't go to high school."
"Ah," he contradicted, tapping his temple. "Doesn't mean I don't have memories of it."
"Class of '01?" she teased.
She would have graduated in 2003, had she managed to finish out her high school career. As it was, she got her diploma during the first year half-living with Maggie in this set of memories, and passed a GED when she was 20 in the first life. Graham, though, had two sets of cursed memories: one that put them at the same age and the other that only gave him two years on her, instead of the decades she'd rather not consider most of the time.
"Second set. '03. All the best music," he joked, tossing the vegetables in the egg.
"Not exactly the most romantic song. Your poor date," she said with a smirk, folding a couple napkins for the table.
He laughed, pushing the dish in the oven. "We weren't exactly looking for romantic. We all went as a big group, peck on the cheek at the end. And, let's face it, this one's still better than Crazy Town."
She groaned out loud, recalling a high school dance she'd been half-forced to go to and some sweaty guy trying to get her to dance to that ridiculous song. "Fair enough."
"I knew you'd come around." He took her hand, twisting her into his arms.
She hid a smile under a grimace. "What are you doing?"
He grinned, unperturbed by her outward judgment. He raised his brows guilelessly as he swayed them to the music. "Getting you to shake it like a polaroid picture?" he said.
She snorted with laughter, batting him away. It sounded even more ridiculous in that damn brogue. She suspects that accent is why she lets him get away with half of his cheesy one-liners. "Hey, if you're going to be the father of my kid, your taste in music has got to be upgraded."
"You guys wanna have kids?"
She turned sharply, finding her son's wide eyes. His keys were held limply in his hand, backpack dangling from the other limb.
She felt her stomach bottom out, fear paralyzing her in the moment. Her gaze traced Henry's features, for a second seeing the Swans in front of her, their hands crossed over the large bump of Lillian's stomach, of we just can't take care of two children we hope you understand.
"Henry," Graham breathed first, clicking off the stereo. He glanced at her worriedly before swallowing. "We were going to talk to you about this later."
He nodded slowly, looking over Emma with some amount of confusion. "Mom, you okay?"
"I—" she began, then heard the crack in her voice. She looked down sharply. She had wanted more preparation than this. She looked back up, trying to manage a smile. "I didn't want you to just walk into this without us discussing it first."
Henry shrugged, letting the backpack drop. "S'okay. I was wondering if you guys were going to think about it at some point."
Emma stepped closer, cautiously. "The thing is, Henry," she paused, taking a breath. "The thing is … we're not just thinking about it. I'm … we're … there's gonna be another kid."
He's silent a long moment. Emma's eyes are focused right on his, and she can feel Graham's warmth appear at her side. It can't negate the chill she has covering her at this moment, though, the hard lump of pain coiling within her. She can't read any of the emotion crossing her son's face and that, more than anything else, concerns her.
Graham crouched down to his eye level and twisted his hands together. "I want you to know that I will do my hardest to make sure it doesn't screw up our dynamics. We all work. We want to make sure it stays working," Graham states, his voice forcefully calling to its seriousness.
Henry let out a low breath. "Then mom's right. We really gotta school you in music."
Emma's mouth dropped open, noting only dimly the short burst of laughter from her boyfriend. "You're not mad?" she blurted out.
His face twisted in bewilderment. "Mad? Why would I be mad?"
She bit down on her lip, straightening her spine as she considered it. "Because it's always been just us. And we're just figuring out how to add in Graham."
He shook his head. "No, that's not how it is. In Boston, we had Maggie and Beth and Ryan and even Tom for a while. Here, we've had Ritu and Sam and Avery and even Aamer, Gia and Georg and Matt and Damon, and Emilia and Jason and Michael. At the station we have Simmons and Lazo and Garcia and Richards and Miller …. Mom, we've always had a ton of people with us." His gaze flickered to Graham and he grimaced. "Just not in the other life."
Graham's eyes flash with sympathy, a brief glimpse of sharp empathy. "Yeah, you definitely got more people looking after you this time around."
Henry nodded, a half-smile forming. "You were always around."
Graham grinned back. "Not as much as I wanted to be."
"True," he acquiesced. "Better now."
She blew out a low breath, smoothing her hands down her sides before cupping his face gently with one palm. "But we're not as close with all these people like we all are together. We never had to live with anyone else until Graham."
Henry rolled his eyes. "Please. Maggie took over the couch in our first place. She was practically paying rent," Henry said, a grin forming.
She finally managed a small smile, feeling some of the worry shift in her belly. "It'll be a lot to deal with, and not a lot of months to deal with it," she warned.
He shrugged. "It's okay. Seriously. I never would have gotten a sibling in the first life. I kinda like the idea of getting one now." His eyes were focused on her stomach now, and subconsciously she moved to cover it. "Actually, it's really cool. This is our family, and it's getting bigger even after curses and erased memories and everything else. It's like I can't remember when it was just … well, just two people."
Emma's heart twists at that, of the reminder of what her kid's life was growing up in that first life. Their new life hadn't been the easiest, but it definitely worked out for the teenage single mom and her kid. She chanced a look up a Graham, and he immediately pressed her against his side. It almost made her miss the flash of latent pain across his features. "Not two people for sure, now."
Henry smiled. "Yeah," he said, then pressed his hand over hers, where it lingered on her stomach. "Sibling. Kinda weird to think about."
She chuckled. "You got until August to figure it out."
"Good. Hopefully I won't have Summer School again."
She sighed, pulling him to her embrace firmly. He was still a moment before winding his arms around her. An arm snaked out, grabbing Graham from her side to tug into the hug, and he melted into it smoothly.
"See?" Henry said after a moment. "We all fit. Even the newbie."
Emma laughed through her tears.