5

Regina's Wish

During the next two days, Belle slept for much of the time, and so did the twins, inbetween nursing, recovering her strength from the birth. Rumple had a special spell cast over the bedroom so it would alert him if Belle or one of the babies was distressed and needed him, though his cat and his collie pup served just as well to come and get him when necessary.

Alice came over to help for the first week, and had Grace, Alina, and Henry help also when they came home from school. Even Jimmy learned how to burp and hold a baby, though at first he was as nervous as a fish out of water. But Alice didn't tolerate "missish" behavior, as she called it, and soon the young man was well versed in rocking a baby to sleep as well.

When Belle was sleeping, Rumple usually took over twin duty, unless he was busy doing something else, like working half days in shop. Both parents agreed that they would have to try and get the babies on a schedule soon, and at some point also get them accustomed to feeding from a bottle, so Rumple could give Belle a break at night.

But right then, Belle nursed both babies, so they could get all the necessary nutrients and immunity from her milk. They soon learned that while Daria was the more vocal twin, Dylan was also capable of making his wants known, and he was also the more persistent of the pair. Both twins were also very attuned to one another, and often cried in tandem, and slept holding each other's hand. And usually when one fell asleep, the other did as well, and the same went for waking up.

They had brought the twins to get checked by Dr. Jo two days after they were born, so they could be officially registered and their weight taken and other pertinent information placed in their charts, and Belle could be examined as well. All of them were pronounced healthy and thriving, and Dr. Jo told Rumple he ought to be her assistant after getting through a difficult birth like this.

Rumple had laughingly refused and told her that he'd just stick to being a sorcerer and an attorney, that one twin birth was enough for him.

When the twins were almost a week old, Regina came to visit again one night, since Snow had end-of-the-year conferences with parents and David his weekly board meeting. She was curious about the babies, and had been thinking all week about them having fairy powers. So she insisted on wearing her fairy godmother costume to the house, so she could show the twins how a "real" fairy dressed.

When she arrived, Alina was cooking some shepherd's pie while Jimmy set the table and Rumple was changing Daria while Belle showered. After stopping in the kitchen to grab an apple cider donut, Regina skipped upstairs to see her uncle and the babies.

"Unca Rumple, I's here!" she called as she pushed open the bedroom door.

"Hello, dearie," he greeted her, he had his daughter lying on a small changing pad on the bed and was applying some ointment to her bottom.

"Whatcha doin' with Daria?" Regina asked, watching him with interest.

"I'm changing her. And putting this ointment on so she doesn't get a rash," Rumple explained.

"Oh," the toddler said. "I 'member once Mommy put medicine on my butt 'cause I had a rash from dyer-rear."

"You had what?" Rumple repeated, trying not to bust out laughing at her odd pronunciation of the word.

"You know, when you poop too much," she said, rolling her eyes. Grown-ups! Sometimes they were clueless, though her uncle was usually brighter than most of them.

"Ah. Umm . . . well, this is so she doesn't get one," Rumple said, his lips quivering.

Regina peered at her cousin. "Hiya, Daria. You look better now, not so much like a raisin." Then she noticed something else. "Unca Rumple, what's that black thingy on her tummy?"

"That's just where she had the cord cut, dearie. It'll fall off in a few weeks or so."

"Oh. That's good, 'cause it looks ugly and she don't need that, she's already got problems."

Gold had just finished diapering the baby when that comment came out of the little minx's mouth, and he had to lean on the bed as he started laughing hysterically.

"What? What's so funny?"

"Ah, Regina," her uncle managed to say after a few moments. "You're a trip, dearie!"

The little girl shook her head. "No. I's a fairy godmother," she corrected, and waved around her light up wand pointedly.

Rumple chuckled and gently placed Daria back in the bassinet beside a sleepy Dylan. They had just been fed, and were now contentedly resting.

Just then the phone rang. "I have to get that, dearie. So you stay here and watch the twins for a minute, okay?" Rumple said, and went to grab the cordless from its base in the hallway.

"'Kay, Unca Rumple!" Regina nodded. Then she climbed up onto the bed so she could look at the babies while he talked on the phone. The babies made soft cooing noises and held each other's hands. Regina smiled at them, listening to them and the shower running in the master bathroom.

Freya was curled up on the floor beside the bed, as she seemed to enjoy being close to the twins, and Nala was next to her. Both animals were very protective of the babies and would bark or meow if they were crying and their parents didn't come and see what was the matter quick enough.

Regina gazed down at the babies, who were starting to look less red and wrinkled, and develop more normal skin tone and their hair now stood up in fuzzy aurioles around their head. Daria had Rumple's light brown hair and Dylan's was a bit darker and slightly reddish.

"Ya know, if you've gots fairy powers, then I guess it means you can grant wishes right?" she said to them, reaching in to take first Dylan's hand and then Daria's in her own. "Cause all fairies can do that. An' since I'm your fairy godmother, I gots sumpin' to ask you," she told them earnestly. "See, I need a baby brother, so's I gots someone to play with, an' Mommy needs help 'cause her biological clock's ticking, an' Daddy's clueless."

The twins' eyes suddenly tracked on her, smoky blue and bright green.

Regina continued. "So, here's the deal. You help me get a baby, an' I'll help you when you're in trouble with Unca Rumple an' Auntie Belle. Have we got a deal?"

Dylan cooed up at her. So did Daria.

"'kay. Now 'member, you don't break deals with me, dearie! It's not allowed!" she lectured sternly. When it seemed like the twins understood that very important point, she said, "I wish that my mama and daddy were havin' a baby! It can be a boy or a girl, but I wish they was havin' one right now!" She closed her eyes when she wished, repeating the wish three times, because three was a magic number.

Thus she didn't see the golden glowing sparkles suddenly surround their clasped hands.

When she opened them, she thought for a second the twins were kinda glowy, but when she blinked, the glow light was gone, and just the lamp from the bedside table was shining on them.

Regina gently freed her hands from them and picked up a small stuffed Hungry Caterpiller rattle hanging off the bassinet handle. "Now this is the Hungry Cat'r'pillar. And he was always very hungry, it's why it was his name," she explained to the twins, showing them the toy and making it inch along the top of the bassinet. "An' he ate a whole apple on Monday . . ."

As she told the story to her captive audience, Belle came out of the bathroom dressed in her peach lounge set with fuzzy socks on, her hair in a terry turban and called, "Rumple? Would you mind helping me with my hair?" Then she saw Regina beside the bassinet. "Hi, Regina! Are my babies being good for you?"

"Yup, we's havin' storytime," the toddler announced. "I's tellin' them 'bout the Hungry Cat'r'pillar!"

"How lovely!" Belle said, and came forwards to hug her niece. "I'm sure you're doing a great job."

"I'm twying," she told her aunt, kissing Belle on the cheek. "Only I'm not as good as Unca Rumple yet. I can't do the voices."

"Well, I'm sure you're very good, and most of us can't do voices like him, sweetie," Belle laughed.

"What can't you do?" asked her husband, coming back into the room.

"Voices when you tells stories," Regina informed him.

"Oh, you mean like this?" he said, and he picked up the fuzzy butterfly and said in a high sweet voice, "I'm Madam Butterfly, and I like to flitter all over!" Then he made the butterfly flutter over to Regina and give her kiss. "Butterfly kisses!"

Regina started giggling. "More, Unca Rumple!"

"I like to kiss everybody!" he squeaked, then he made the butterfly kiss the twins, who were dozing, and then Belle, and back to Regina once again.

Belle smiled at her husband, who rarely let his whimsical playful side come out in mixed company, only in private with his family, and she took the towel off her head and let down her hair.

Rumple saw, and handed the butterfly hand-puppet to Regina, saying, "Here, dearie. You play now, I have to help Auntie Belle with her hair."

He summoned a brush off the dresser and sat next to his wife, gently combing her deep auburn strands while Regina played happily with the butterfly and the caterpillar on the bed beside the twins, making the caterpillar cry, "I chase the butterfly, and the butterfly chases me!"

In their sleep, Daria and Dylan smiled, and a few golden sparks drifted through the air.

A/N: Well? Do you think Regina's wish will come true? Also, if you haven't read it, I posted a new GS one-shot called Storytime with Mr. Gold. Let me know what you think, please!