Anonymous asked: Chicken (this one is gonna be cool, cause there are sssooo many ways that that canbe worked with... so excited. :))

Here's the results of your prompt anon. This is also a continuation of my previous mini-fic "Birth."

Chicken

Emma was just transferring Jenna to Regina's arms when the front door downstairs could be heard slamming open. Adrenaline flooded her veins, tensing her muscles and she looked around quickly analyzing objects for their defensive weapon potential.

. Thomp-thomp. Whomp. Rapid, heavy footfalls that made it sound like an army was coming resounded on the staircase.

Emma grabbed a floor lamp.

Regina gasped. The bedroom door flung inward. Emma shouted and swung the lamp like a fighting staff.

Metal and glass shattered and bent against the forearm of… David!

"What the—!" David darted his other arm out and stopped the forward rush of the smaller figure beside him.

"Henry!" Regina shouted with surprise.

Emma's eyes darted from her father's face to Henry's. "Mom!" the boy shouted then pushed his grandfather's arm aside and rushed forward.

Emma stared as Henry brushed hard past her and rushed to Regina. "Kid!"

"Mom," Henry said, eyes only for the brunette on the bed. "Are you OK?" He drew to a halt in front of Regina, his gaze searching her body intently. Then he tentatively reached toward the towel-wrapped bundle in Regina's arms. "Is she OK?"

"She's OK. We're both all right, dear," Regina's voice was gentle, reassuring as she leaned into her son's arms going around her shoulders and enfolding her and Jenna.

Emma stared in bewilderment. David moved alongside her.

Henry was cooing to his new sister, smiling big and brushing lightly on her dark fluffs of hair.

"You knew," Emma said. "You knew, didn't you?" she demanded of him. He'd been so happy coming here, staying here, while Emma had been fighting with herself for months.

Henry turned to Emma, his arm staying around his mother's shoulder. "Yes, I knew."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Emma knew her anguish was plain, but she was at sea here, shameful of her actions, ignoring Regina, disbelieving the woman. She felt like she had abandoned the woman, as she had once been abandoned, and that would never sit well on her mind.

"Because you'd have believed me, but not her. You were a chicken, Emma," he accused. "My mom needed someone who would be there for her. Not someone who would run away because they couldn't believe." He stopped when Regina put a hand on his on her shoulder.

"Even after everything that's happened," he added after a moment, "You find it so hard to believe."

"Henry," Regina started.

"Kid, my life —"

Henry cut her off. "I know. I know, OK? But you're still afraid it will all disappear. This is Storybrooke, not Brigadoon," he added ruefully.

Emma's eyes filled with tears. Her bottom lip quivered.

"Henry." Regina moved her hand, pushing off Henry's arm. "It's all right now," she looked up into her son's face looking down into hers.

"She accepted the baby? She accepted you?" he asked more intently.

"She knows Jenna is hers," Regina said.

Henry looked at Emma. "Do you? Do you really believe?"

Emma slowly lowered to her knees on the floor, as she had earlier, now between Regina and Henry, looking up into both their faces. She put a hand on Henry's arm and Regina's knee before answering.

"I believe, Henry. I'm not going anywhere. Not anymore. This chicken has come home to roost."

"Emma?" David's voice sounded strangled and he cleared his throat as all three looked at him. He was pale, his eyes wide, his jaw half open, eyes darting between each of them. "Regina's baby is…?"

"Is mine," Emma affirmed. Her hand slipped from Regina's knee to the towel covering Jenna. "She's ours." His shoulders slumped. "Would you like to meet… your granddaughter?" Emma asked.

He didn't move for the longest breath and then he nodded almost stupidly, a funny jerk-shake of his head. He was clearly still processing the impossible news.

Emma, with Henry guarding her, lifted Jenna from Regina's arms, offering a reassuring smile to the brunette with a twitch of her lips, and then turned to her father. He took a stumbling step forward. Emma moved the baby aside in case he should fall. When he righted himself and reached toward the bundle, she brought Jenna forward once more.

The baby blinked up at him — Emma's eyes — and his face broke. He was once more a brand new father — Emma's father — having her thrust into his arms, to send her away. Tears poured forth.

"Oh god," he murmured, so full of pain. "I'm so, so sorry." He said it over and over again. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

He pulled Emma into his arms, baby Jenna snug between their bodies and he cried into Emma's shoulder, as she pressed her face, crying too, into his chest.

Henry helped his mother to her feet, holding her up around the waist as she walked to Emma's side. Emma sensed Regina's presence and stepped back from her father. Regina reached across Emma's body and adjusted Jenna's towel.

David stepped backward and nodded, wiping at his face. "Regina," he said quietly, no reproach in his tone.

"David," Regina replied, and Emma heard no malice, no derision in the address, only quiet pride.

After a moment of meeting his daughter's gaze, David dipped his head in acknowledgement and withdrew. He pulled the bedroom door closed quietly behind him and they were all silent as his footfalls departed down the stairs, out the front door, and that door closed behind him.

Henry walked around in front of Emma and Regina.

"You really OK?" he asked again. He was looking at Regina.

"Yeah, Kid," Emma answered. She leaned her head against Regina's on her shoulder and both of them looked down into Jenna's blinking face. "Yeah, we're gonna be fine."

A flash made Emma look up. Henry was just lowering Regina's phone. "A memory," he said with a smile.

"Yeah, Kid." Although, Emma didn't think she'd ever forget this day. She passed Jenna to Regina's arms and wrapped her own arms tenderly around the brunette's waist, resting her chin on the fine boned shoulder to look down into her daughter's beautiful green eyes. "Yeah," she murmured.

Henry beamed and snapped another picture.

In which Regina was smiling.