Completely blown away by all the follows and favorites for this story, and one of the central characters didn't even show up yet! Thank you all so SO much.

The two women lounged in Snow and Charming's bedroom, the drapes open on the vacant apartment. Side by side, the leaned up against the headboard, each submerged in a novel.

Or at least trying to appear that they were.

Emma's head swam with conflicting arguments over whether or not to tell her mother the situation or to remain in denial and hope that time would stop for a while so she wouldn't have to. On more than one occasion she felt her chest move as if she were about to speak but no sound ever left her lungs. She was getting absolutely nowhere, and the clock was ticking.

"Emma." Snow stated the name in an attempt to break her daughter from her very apparent trance.

Emma looked up at the brunette, the daydream fading from her eyes and tilted her head in question.

Snow sighed. "You've been playing with the loose string from you t-shirt for the last five minutes. And you only do that when you're upset or nervous, so which is it?"

Emma just looked at Snow, surprised at her blatant observation—which was oddly accurate.

"Are you really going to make me do this?" Snow sighed again, pushing herself up straighter against the headboard. Without another word she just stared directly into Emma's eyes and waited.

Emma exhaled and spoke softly, "It's nothing. I don't know..." She clumsily crawled down and repositioned herself so that she lay longways across the foot of the bed and stared at the ceiling, her hands discreetly trying to cover the curvature between her hips. The parallel of this moment to one they'd had years before was pressing forward in her mind. They'd sat in this same position, spoke about family, and it had ended with her walking out. Not in any sort of anger, but she had been somewhat running from the inevitable emotion of it all. Their conversations had been so much more natural back then; it had all been so much easier.

Emma fidgeted in her spot and glanced around before returning her gaze to the former schoolteacher. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Yeah." Snow chuckled lightly as she responded. Internally she was roaring with laughter at the obvious energy emanating from the blonde.

Emma exhaled. Just do it, she told herself. It's like a band-aid, just rip it off.

She mustered her courage, and sat up, pulling her legs into an Indian-style sit, and plopping her hands in her lap. She kept her gaze low as she formulated her thoughts. She was hoping to speak clearly but instead out burst a slur of rambling words.

"I need to tell you something, and before I do I want you to know that I'm really sorry. And I won't blame you in any way for your reaction to what I'm about to say. It's gonna be a lot to take in and I trust you, I do, I just want you to be okay, and…." Emma paused and inhaled. "I know that you haven't been able to have more of your own, and that was really hard for you. And I still believe you will, it just takes time, but right now THIS probably isn't gonna help. And I'm sorry. And I just…."

She breathed, "I'm pregnant."

Snow smirked, "Mmhmm…and?"

Emma was baffled. "And… that's it." Her eyes were scanning rapidly over the other woman's calm face. "You're not freaking out. Why am I the only one freaking out here?" She cried softly.

Emma was horribly confused by the "duh" look on Snow's face, but then it dawned on her. "You knew…! How did you know? Was it Red? Oh, I could kill her!"

Snow's soft laughter startled Emma as it wove through the room. But just as soon as Snow's smile had come, it left, as she had a realization. Suddenly a look of hurt consumed her face and she looked directly at her daughter.

"Red knew? You told her….Before me?" Her voice clearly relayed the betrayed feeling she had.

Emma rushed to lean forward and grabbed Snow's hand to get her attention. "She figured it out on her own—I promise—I made her swear not to tell anyone. I wanted to give it some time before telling you. I didn't know how you'd react. I promise you are the first person I have actually told besides Graham."

Snow's face softened as she processed her daughter's words.

"But, aside from that. How did you know?! It obviously wasn't Red who told you then…" Emma sat back, running through her mind anyone else that could have figured it out and told Snow.

"Seriously?!" the brunette retorted with a returning grin. "Emma, you're my daughter, you honestly thought I wouldn't catch on? I have been pregnant before you know. With you, no less. I know the signs. A stomach bug? It was a nice try really. But the rest you couldn't have hidden better if you'd tried. Your face is fuller—you're not fat, don't even go there—you've been unnaturally glowing for weeks, and that's not just a fairytale princess thing you inherited from me, and I don't think I have ever seen you eat so much in the four years that I have known you, and don't even get me started on those."

Snow pointedly nodded toward Emma's chest, who responded with flushed cheeks, and a look of horrified embarrassment. "And besides, I know you well enough to tell when something is different."

"And sweetheart…" Emma's mind contracted at the term of endearment, "If you're going to try and hide it once you're showing you should next time consider investing in some not so skin-tight clothing."

"Wha—" Emma removed her hands from her lap and look down at her stomach. "Is it really that obvious? I thought people might think I'd just eaten too many pies or something…"

Snow threw her an understanding smile, and tried not to look too intently at the bump of her daughter's abdomen. She was thrilled for her but Emma greatly disliked such looks. "Yeah…probably not."

Emma got up from the bed exasperatedly and walked over the mirror to examine her reflection. She stood sideways, allowing her profile to fill the frame. In her opinion she looked relatively the same, but as her eyes traces down her outline she realized that the mound was more obvious than she had hoped. Contracting the muscles in her abdomen, she watched for a moment, but released when her hopes were squandered.

"Seriously? I can't even suck it in?"

Snow chuckled from her place on the bed. "Emma…you are Henry's mother aren't you?"

Emma rolled her eyes. "Of course, but I didn't have this problem last time. I was on my own; I didn't have anyone to hide it from. How was I supposed to know it's hard to mask?"

The brunette sighed and joined her daughter in front of the mirror. For a minute she just stared at their blatant resemblance… the face, the long flowing locks that she'd once had, the relaxed stature, the small but strong limbs, all of it. Glancing toward the right edge of the mirror she saw Emma's eyes reflecting directly back at her. She turned to face the physical form of her daughter and gave her a kind smile.

"You really do look like me, you know." Snow knew the moment was brimming on being too sweet for Emma, but she HAD to throw in one last comment.

"And you know. If you have a daughter, the odds are, she'll look like you too. I looked just like my mother, and she did, hers. It seems to be a trend in our family."

Emma pales slightly at the word "daughter." She hadn't even considered that it wouldn't be another boy. She was so used to thinking of herself as a mother with a son. She'd never pictured herself with a girl. Snow immediately noticed this and grasped Emma's arms, turning the blonde towards her.

"Emma. You are going to be a wonderful mother."

Emma's eyes shied away, clearly not believing her mother. Snow huffed and brought the girl to the bed and sat across from her, but not too close so as to cause discomfort.

"I'm going to tell something. Something that no living person knows, except myself." She paused and took a few breaths, making sure that she gave Emma time to start paying attention, at least partly.

"And mind you, your father doesn't even know this, so please keep it between us." Emma nodded slightly. "Before I got married to your father, I was poisoned by King George so that I could never have children."

This piece of information finally caught the blonde's attention and her blue eyes flickered upward. She moved to question but Snow continued.

"In the end I was healed, but throughout the course of my curse I kept thinking that it was all for the best. My own mother had died when I was very young, so I had never experienced being cared for by a mother. I didn't think I'd be good one, myself. And as you could guess, Regina didn't fill very much of that void.

"I was so afraid to be a parent and when I found out that I was pregnant with you I was ridden with worry. Of course I was overjoyed, but I didn't know if I would be able to protect you. I doubted myself; many nights I would lay awake, normally when you were very active, and think about the fact that I would be entirely responsible for how you turned out. And that scared me more than anything.

"But the minute I held you in my arms…for the few seconds that I knew that you would always be mine…"

Snow's words cut off as she attempted to compose herself before tears began to fall. Emma had never been comfortable in the midst of someone who was emotional, and she didn't want to cause her to leave.

Emma sighed. She realized what her mother was trying to prove. And now, when it seemed as though her parents may never be successful in having another child of their own, and there wasn't an explanation for their struggles, it was more troubling. They would never be able to raise their own child from the very beginning, and here she was, fretting over the possibility that she'd have to. She also understood that what Snow said was all true, but fear was fear. It would take more than a few words to wipe it away. As if reading her mind, Snow added a final comment.

"And I know that testimonies and speeches don't really help, but I promise you Emma, you'll be fine. You may not have raised Henry from infancy, but you are definitely responsible for how he is now. And he's a fine young man."

Emma allowed a small smile of pride to creep onto her face. Snow caught this and crinkled the corners of her eyes in response. Looking to move the subject to slightly less deep subjects, Emma straightened herself up.

"But we still have a problem."

Snow responded with a concerned, "What is it?"

"I have very few children-related skills. I can't change a diaper, I don't think I've ever even touched one; I have no idea how to hold the kid, or make a bottle, and get it to stop crying. I've heard they cry a lot…"

Interrupting the blonde's thought, Snow laughed loudly. "Well of course not! Neither do I. I still haven't done any of that. I missed all of it with you, remember?"

Mid-sentence Snow realized the reality of what she was saying and suddenly her eyes grew dark and her face fell. She really had missed everything. She hated being reminded of that. Sometimes it was easy to forget when she was with her daughter because she's only ever truly known her as an adult, but when subjects such as this appeared, reminders were everywhere. Quickly an epiphany came to her.

"I'm going to be a grandmother again….. How did I not realize this?" The light returned to her eyes and she was beaming. "Two grandchildren before I'm even thirty-five. I say, that must be world record."

Emma's face was a mix between confused and amused. "Seriously? What, did you just forget that I'm your kid? Gee, thanks."

Snow playfully pushed her daughter in the arm and threw her a pursed-lip smile. "You know what I meant. The age thing still throws me off sometimes that's all."

A peaceful silence fell at the end of the playful moment. For a minute Emma allowed herself to picture what having a daughter would be like. Short brown curls like Graham, her own green eyes and chin, and the most beautiful smile she'd ever seen.

But it could still be a boy, she reassured herself. Again, as if reading her thoughts Snow spoke up.

"We could find out you know." When Emma only looked confused she explained, "If you really would like to know if it's a boy or a girl…There's a way you could find out."

Emma sniggered, "Yeah. Like an ultrasound…?"

Snow shook her head. "No, no no no. That's not what I meant. You have to wait another month or more for that. I have a way you could find out now."

Not waiting a moment for Emma to give consent, she leapt off the bed and dashed toward the front door, calling out, "I'll be back in less than an hour! It's getting toward lunch time so try to eat something! And take a nap!"

And with that the front door shut loudly and Emma was left in abrupt silence.

Thanks for reading, let me know what you thought? Did it seem realistic?