mparadoxalpoised asked: Blanket... In continuance from "Chicken"? *wet Bambi eyes batting eyelashes*
Hey, iamparadoxalpoised. I finished up this for you. I hope you enjoy!
Summary - The arrival of Snow…A continuation of "Birth" and "Chicken" in the verse of magic!baby for SwanQueen.
Author's Question: Do things still qualify as ficlets if they are 1898 words?
Blanket
Henry snicked the bedroom door into place as Emma waited uncertainly in the corridor holding Jenna in her arms. "Now Mom's asleep I think we should put Jenna down, too," he said, sounding a certainty that belied his eleven years.
"So, where to?" Emma asked. Henry waved her to the next door on the same side as Regina's room. The door was ajar, and he pushed into a sunshine-filled space, stepping aside so Emma could enter with Jenna.
The walls were the first thing Emma noticed. They weren't Regina's usual black and white motif. They were the palest green. The window drapes were a slightly darker green shade, pulled open with soft linen strips of matching green. The window faced the front of the house and the late afternoon sun poured its rays into the space. Tucked beside the window was a black oak rocking chair, cushions in the same pale green.
Stepping inside, Emma noticed the tiny wardrobe, also in black oak, with the wide surface, prepared as a changing table. Next to it stood a bassinet in matching wood, the frame shaped like a flower basket on a swing. Regina had obviously been well-prepared to take care of Jenna all by herself. Emma exhaled out the shame. She wanted to make up for lost time so badly.
There was, however, one thing life had taught her. There was never any going backward. You could only make better choices going forward. At least hope to, anyway. She looked down at the bundle in her arms and noticed Jenna was fast asleep.
"You sleep now, Jenna," she murmured, pressing her lips to the baby's forehead before placing the baby in the bassinet, its basket swaying slightly on the swing-like arch.
Henry leaned on the changing table and looked into the bassinet. "Mom wanted the light in here to be good, like she knew the baby would be."
Emma swallowed. "Yeah, isn't some of this your stuff from when you were little?"
"No. Hand-me-downs isn't really Mom's style. My baby stuff's in the attic. She said it's mine. For whenever I have kids." He laughed softly.
"I hope you're planning to wait a while for that to happen, kid." She patted his shoulder. "Did she know she'd have a girl?" she asked Henry, fingering the green curtains. Green, huh, Regina, she asked silently. You really did believe.
"She didn't want to know, but I think she guessed kinda early," Henry said. "It's not like there were any boy parts involved in this, y'know?"
Emma blushed. "What the heck do you know about how babies are made, kid? You're eleven."
"I've known since I was six, Emma, when Mom told me I was adopted." Henry's face fell at his own words. "I… I really wasn't very understanding about that."
"Why would you be mad at her? I always was so angry at my parents for giving me up. Even when I had a rough time in foster care, I was more angry at my parents."
"Because she was so similar to me." He pushed at his dark hair, which Emma admitted, was a lot like Regina's. "I thought she was lying, and I couldn't figure out why she would say she wasn't my mother."
"That's messed up," Emma said, reaching out to soothe Jenna who was stirring. "I guess we better let somebody sleep." She straightened and was going to the curtains to darken the room when the doorbell sounded downstairs.
Looking out past the curtains, Emma noticed David's truck at the curb. She sighed. "It's David. And probably Mary… Snow."
Henry hurried out of the room. "I'll let them in before they ring again and wake someone."
###
Her parents. Emma's hands dampened at the thought of seeing them. They had been working on their relationship since Neverland, both supportive of Emma's rejection of Regina's news that she was pregnant with her child. Now that Emma knew the truth and would be taking care of Regina and Jenna, would the relationship slide backward once again?
David and Snow had remained in opposition to Regina, continuing to push Emma about taking Henry and going back to the Enchanted Forest. Snow was still looking to become pregnant herself. Emma couldn't count the number of times she'd listened to Snow talking about her fertility. She had appreciated every call from the station in those moments. "Gotta take this," she had said. She had stopped adding "Mom" to her statements somewhere around the fourth month. It went without remark.
Footfalls sounded on the staircase and Emma turned from the window to face her parents.
"Emma?" Henry's voice was quiet, knowing as he did that Jenna slept in the room.
She crossed the space and opened the door. "Yeah, kid, I'm still here."
"She all right?" Henry asked.
"She's sleeping," Emma replied softly. Her gaze tracked from Henry's face to Snow's, following up the woman's hand and arm that rested on Henry's shoulder. "Snow," she said quietly. It was cautious.
"Emma," Snow replied, tone just as cautious. "David said —"
"Yeah," Emma said, cutting her off.
"I thought I should… see you," Snow said.
"Yeah, I'm here."
Snow winced. "There are ways, Emma…"
Emma struck a hand crosswise through the air. "No. Regina didn't lie. I was wrong."
Snow's eyes went round and her lower lip quivered. She inhaled and took her hand from Henry's shoulder. "So it…"
"She's beautiful. We named her Jenna," Emma declared firmly.
"So.. the baby… is a girl?"
Emma nodded. Snow tried to look past Emma's shoulder. She moved aside. "She's sleeping right now," Emma said quietly.
Snow took a hesitant step forward and stopped again, her gaze taking in the room. Emma saw her mother's eyes fill with tears, then saw the jaw firm. Only one tear escaped the iron control suddenly slamming down over Snow's face.
Emma stepped in front of Snow and blocked further entry. It's then she realized that Snow has something in her hands. It's… it can't be, but it looked remarkably like… She's still staring at it when Snow noticed that her eyes were no longer on Snow's face.
Snow pulled the object out of view, but then hesitantly returned it to the front of her body. "I, uh," she stutters. "It's a blanket. Like…like yours." Emma found her hands full of the soft hand-crocheted blanket. She fingered the purple ribbon. "Purple is for royalty."
"You can't have just made this," Emma said. She looked over her shoulder toward Jenna's bassinet. "Are you giving this to me?" she asked, to be clear.
Snow looked at the bassinet and then back to Emma's eyes and nodded.
Emma walked away from Snow, reaching into the bassinet. She left the towel Jenna had been wrapped in since birth inside and instead tucked the new blanket around the tiny body and cradled her daughter, now yawning and stretching as she wakened.
Snow stepped forward. She tucked a dragging tail of the blanket inside and glimpsed the face of the baby. The tiny face was scrunched up in a yawn, eyes closed, thin dark hair sworled atop her head. She looked at Emma worriedly.
Nudging her daughter's cheek, Emma cooed, "C'mon, kidlet."
Snow watched her daughter's finger slip over the rounded cheek and then the scrunched face smoothed out, jaw working in a mimic of nursing, and when Emma's fingertip slipped over the pert little nose, wide eyes opened. Snow fell back at the sight of green.
"She has beautiful eyes, doesn't she?" A voice spoke from the doorway.
###
Snow turned and saw Regina leaning on the doorframe. In a dressing gown, the brunette looked so rumpled and tired eyed that for a moment, Snow's jaw fell open. But then she lifted her chin and closed her mouth.
Before she could speak, Snow was startled by Emma's sudden movement.
"Regina." Snow's daughter left her side and gallantly put out an elbow, which Regina took, then Emma led her to the rocking chair where she sat. Regina gathered Jenna to her chest in the blanket as Emma settled the baby into her arms. The baby moved restlessly and Emma and Regina behaved as if they have forgotten Snow was even present.
The sense of dismissal rankled and the pain goaded Snow. Snow felt the pull down on her lips watching Emma lean in. Emma brushed Regina's cheek with her lips then the top of the baby's head. Then Emma righted herself and turned to Snow.
"It's time for something to eat," Emma said. "You staying?" she asked.
Snow was bewildered by the request. She shook her head, eyes darting from Emma to Regina and back again. "No, I… I can't … don't… don't do this, Emma. Please."
"I'm headed down to the kitchen. Regina needs something to eat." Snow felt outside her body hearing the comment, as if it had been spoken to someone else. Not her, certainly not Emma's mother.
"No," Snow said firmly, finally. Then she rushed out of the room, fled down the stairs, and didn't pull up until she slapped both hands against the door of David's truck. Impact with the metal stung her palms and broke the dam holding back her tears. David was at her side in an instant.
She turned into his chest, feeling his arms come around her back and feather through the nape of her hair. "David!" she cried out. "It's really true!" Her voice broke with her anguish. Regina had not only taken Emma from her as a baby, but was now raising not one, but two, children when Snow had raised none.
###
Emma stared at the empty space where her mother had stood. Rejection washed through and weakened her muscles. She leaned on the frame of the door to support legs gone numb. She told herself she hadn't hoped. She hadn't believed it would go any differently. She heard only her mother's voice, in the Echo Cave, admitting to wanting another baby because she was disappointed she'd not raised Emma, disappointed in how Emma had turned out.
"Emma?" Regina's voice threw Emma out of her self-directed thoughts and immediately she returned to Regina's side at the rocking chair.
"I'll get some food and bring it up, all right?"
"I'm all right for now."
Emma searched Regina's face for a moment. "You sure?"
Regina's hand pulled hers from the arm of the chair to the blanket holding their daughter.
"Yes, I'm sure. Sit for a while."
Emma felt antsy, but Regina's hand on hers was soothing, so much so that she looked down to wonder if the woman fed her a bit of suppression magic. But there's only the warmth of skin and contact. She realized then she hadn't even gotten a hug from Snow. Emma pulled a straightback chair close and sat down. Her head propped onto her hands to watch Jenna whom Regina had adjusted to nurse.
Tears stung at her eyes but she could not stop their fall. She dropped her head onto the rocking chair arm and felt Regina's hand slide over the top of her hair.
There was a vague shift in the lighting around Emma but she shut her eyes more tightly rather than lift her head to search it out. The door snicked closed and Regina's hand stilled on the back of her head.
"Henry," Regina supplied, "took another picture."
"Oh."