AN: Here's the next installment. Hope you like this. Reviews make me happy. PLZ R&R!

Disclaimer: See first chapter.

Chapter 3

Neal slowly awoke and rubbed the back of his neck; it was sore after sleeping in an awkward position in a very uncomfortable chair all night. He looked next to him at the hospital bed as he grasped Emma's hand in his and spotted Henry sleeping in his mom's arms. He smiled as he saw Emma's eyes start to open. She turned over and smiled at him.

"Hey," she said softly.

"How'd you sleep?" he brushed his hands through her hair.

"Good," she smiled. "Ask me again."

"What?"

"Ask me again," Emma repeated.

"Ask you what?" Neal smirked at her playfully.

"You know what I'm talking about," she stated. "So ask me."

"Hold on," Neal smiled as he got up from the chair.

He went to their bags of belongings and rooted around until he found what he was searching for. He came back over to the bed and knelt before Emma.

"Emma Swan, would you make me the luckiest man in the world and marry me?"

"Yes," she smiled at him.

"It's about time," Henry slowly sat up and rubbed his eyes as his dad slid the ring on his mom's finger. "I've been waiting forever already."

"I'm sorry," Emma kissed Henry on his forehead before turning to kiss Neal. "I just-"

"It's ok," Neal assured her. "We both have our issues to overcome. I would've waited forever for us to become an official family."

"So when will you get married then?" Henry asked.

"Slow down," Neal smiled at his son. "It just became official. It takes a lot of planning."

"But you can help us with the planning if you want," Emma smiled at him.

"I'll think about it," Henry told them as there was a light knock on the door.

"Sorry," Mary Nolan came in. "I didn't think you would be awake yet. I was just going to leave this for you."

"Thank you," Neal spotted the gift basket. "That was very generous of you."

"I was making my rounds so it was no problem,"

"You work here?" Emma asked.

"I volunteer here, but I teach fourth grade."

"That's what grade I'm in," Henry said.

"Anyway," Mary placed the basket down on the nearby table. "It's just a few comforts. Snacks and things like that."

"Thank you," Emma said softly. "Have you been here all night? Your husband must be missing you. Your kids as well."

"David had an early shift at the station," Mary told them. "And we don't have any kids. Well, we had a daughter but…"

"Did something happen to her?" Henry asked.

"Kid," Neal tried to stop him as he glanced at Mary. "Sorry, he has no filter."

"It's ok," Mary smiled. "The truth is, we thought we were protecting her by sending her away. Turns out that the trouble we thought she would be in was a lie. A very mean and powerful person wanted to take away our happiness."

"That's awful," Emma said softly.

"If we had it to do over again, we would make sure that we would all be together."

"Do you know where she is?" Henry asked.

"We thought we were close to finding her a few times, but she was always just out of our reach."

"I'm sorry you went through that," Neal said.

"It's ok," Mary gave them a small smile. "I better get back to my rounds. If you guys need anything, just let me know."

"Actually," Neal spoke up. "She's been put on bedrest, and that includes no traveling. Which means that we can't drive back to New York for the time being."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Internally, Mary was jumping for joy.

"So we need a place to stay. Do you know of any place?"

"Granny's," Mary smiled at them. "She has an inn and she also runs the diner in town. I can leave your names with her."

"Thank you," Emma smiled at her.

"It's no problem at all. This is a town where we help each other out." Mary told them. "I'll leave you now, but I hope to see you around."

"Me too," Emma watched her leave as Henry went to the gift basket to try to find some sweets.

"What are you thinking?" Neal looked at Emma.

"She misses her daughter," she told him. "And she's not like what we were told."

"So what do you want to do?"

"I don't know,"

After his early shift at the station, David went to the hospital to meet Mary in the ICU where she was usually found on the days that she volunteered. He met up with her as she was walking out of the room.

"There you are," he smiled at her.

"Hey," she kissed him deeply on the lips.

"Not that I'm complaining, but what did I do to deserve that?"

"I stopped to see Emma this morning,"

"You know we can't be too pushy with them. We'll scare them away."

"I know. I just-dropped off a gift basket for all of them. And I found out something interesting."

"What do you mean?"

"Emma's been put on restrictions,"

"Well I would assume that she's on bedrest."

"And there's a ban on traveling. She can't leave town."

"Really?" David started to smile.

"They asked where they could stay. I told them about Granny's."

"Don't get your hopes up. We can't be pushy."

"I know. I just-"

"We have to do this the right way or people will start asking questions. Like Regina and Gold."

"I know. You're right."

"Come on," he took her hand as they started to walk towards the exit. "We'll have lunch at the diner."

"Sounds good," she smiled at him.

They reached the lobby and saw a familiar family of three coming out of one of the rooms. Henry was carrying the gift basket that Mary had dropped off as Emma was grumbling and Neal was talking softly to her as he pushed her in the wheelchair.

"I can walk, you know." Emma stated.

"It's hospital policy," Neal argued back with her. "You need to stay in it until we get out the front doors."

"It's a stupid policy. If you're able to walk, they should let you."

"It's a liability thing," Neal told her.

"Sheriff," Henry spotted them walking towards them. "Mrs. Nolan."

"You can just call us Mary and David if you would like," David smiled at him.

"Are they releasing you?" Mary looked at Emma.

"Peanut is still doing well," Neal told them.

"Peanut?"

"Henry's nickname for the baby," Emma smiled. "He said that they looked like a peanut on the ultrasound picture."

"We needed to call them something other than 'IT' and you guys said you don't want to know if it's a boy or a girl." Henry spoke up.

"We want to be surprised," Neal told his son as they walked outside. "Oh, I forgot to call for the cab."

"We can give you a ride if you would like," David told them. "I know it's a small town, but it's still going to take the cab some time to get here."

"Great," Emma grumbled.

"We don't want to put you out," Neal said.

"It wouldn't be putting us out," David assured them. "We were on our way to the diner for lunch anyway. You're more than welcome to join us."

"She makes the best grilled cheese." Mary added.

"Did you say grilled cheese?" Emma asked.

"That's mom's favorite," Henry said. "Mine too. We would live off it if it wasn't for dad."

"Excuse me for trying to get you to eat healthy," Neal defended.

"Lunch sounds good right now," Emma looked at Neal. "Especially after what this place tried to pass off as breakfast."

"All right," Neal relented.

"I'll go pull the car around," David started across the parking lot.

"You guys can talk to Granny about a couple rooms while we're there," Mary told them as David pulled up to the curb in front of them.

"Emma, you should take the front seat," David came to help them. "More room for you to stretch your legs."

"Thank you," she slowly got up out of the wheelchair with Neal's help as David held the door open for her.

Henry climbed into the back seat followed by his dad and Mary. David went back around to the driver's side and pulled away from the hospital.

The diner wasn't that far from the hospital, but it still seemed to last forever for Neal. Henry was content to watch out the window as they passed all the local businesses in the small town. They finally pulled up in front of the small eatery and Emma opened her door as Neal scrambled to get to her side.

"I can walk," she slapped his hand away. "I know that I'm sentenced to bedrest, but I'm not an invalid."

"Hormones?" David chuckled as Mary and Henry rushed ahead to walk with Emma into the diner.

"How I wish that's all it was," Neal mumbled. "She is very independent. She hates to have anyone help her if she thinks she can do it herself. Plus she is not a good patient. She hates just sitting still."

"I'm the same way," David told him. "I've been hurt on the job a few times. Was put on bedrest. I thought Mary would end up killing me by the end of it."

"I'm the same way when I get sick." Neal admitted. "I'm pretty sure that Emma came close to smothering me with a pillow."

"I know that I have absolutely no room to give you any kind of advice-"

"I will take whatever advice that you have to offer,"

"Just remember this the next time you want to get on her about something: She is carrying your child and will be delivering it soon. She's almost to the end of the pregnancy which means that she's starting to get very uncomfortable. She's going through all that to ensure that your child comes out healthy."

"I know that already,"

"Then let me give you some advice; whatever she requests of you, be it some kind of craving or something else, just try your very best to carry out her instructions to the T. It's the best for your overall health and safety."

"Got it," Neal nodded as they walked into the diner and saw Mary helping Emma into a booth towards the back and they walked towards them.

"You just want your normal?" David asked his wife.

"Yep," she smiled at him.

"We can order at the counter," David looked at Neal. "And you can talk to Granny about renting a room."

"You two still want grilled cheese then?" Neal looked at his family.

"What kind of question is that?" Henry looked at his dad.

"Of course we do," Emma smiled at her son's response. "With onion rings. Before you protest, onions are a vegetable."

"I'm too tired to argue with you," Neal started to walk with David up to the counter.

"I'm coming!" Henry started out of the booth. "I'll pick a good dessert for you mom."

"That's my boy," she smiled as he went to his dad.

"So...want to talk?" Mary started.

"About what?" Emma looked at her.

"I don't know," Mary smiled. "I guess this is awkward for us both huh?"

"Just a little," Emma smiled back. "But at least I have someone to talk to."

"So how did you and Neal meet?"

"I grew up in foster care," Emma started. "When I was seventeen, I was sick of it so I ran away from the system. I ended up in Portland with no place to stay and no way to support myself. I'm not proud of some of the stuff I did."

"What do you mean?"

"My first day, I tried to steal a car. Turns out that Neal had already stolen it."

"So you stole a stolen car?" Mary smiled and Emma nodded. "So how'd you support yourselves?"

"Petty theft and when it got cold we snuck into hotel rooms for a few hours. Like I said, I'm not proud of some of the decisions I've made."

"Well you two seem really close,"

"It's taken a lot of work," Emma stated. "And the fact that we both have trust issues and emotional baggage miles long. But we want this to work. We want our kids to have a family that we never had growing up."

"So Neal grew up in the system too?"

"He ran away from a messed up family life when he was young and he got lucky when a few families took him in right off the street."

"He was lucky," Mary agreed.

"We've both been through our fair share of stuff. We just don't want our kids to suffer like we did."

"It doesn't look like Henry is suffering one bit," Mary watched him at the counter with Neal and David.

Neal smiled as Henry scanned the list of desserts offered as David talked to Granny. He turned back to them as David mentioned that Neal was looking for a room.

"Just one?" Granny looked at Neal.

"It needs to be big enough," Neal told her. "It's for me, my fiancee, and our boy. Henry here will need his own bed. And my girl is far along in her pregnancy."

"I have the perfect room available," Granny told him. "Just stop and get the key before you leave."

"Will do," Neal smiled as she walked away.

"So….fiancee?" David looked at him. "So she answered you?"

"She told me to ask her again this morning after she woke up. I think the accident made her think of what could've happened."

"Well congratulations,"

"Thank you," Neal smiled as Granny came out again to tell them that their food was ready.

The three of them walked back to the table where Mary and Emma were talking. Henry slid in next to his mom and she smiled at him.

"So?" she looked at him.

"I ordered you a double chocolate fudge brownie with vanilla ice cream for dessert," he smiled back at her.

"What?" Neal looked at his son. "When did you order that?"

"When you were busy talking to Granny," Henry told him. "I gave the order to the waitress Ruby."

"That's my boy," Emma smiled at him. "Don't worry, I'll share it with you. But not your dad."

"Here we go," Ruby came up to them with their lunch. "Enjoy."

"Thank you," Emma smiled at her.

The group shared idle chit chat until Neal noticed that both Emma and Henry were starting to droop.

"I think maybe we should go find our room," Neal suggested. "None of us got the best sleep last night."

"I can imagine," David stated. "Those beds are most uncomfortable."

"Come on," Neal lifted Henry up into his arms as Emma slowly stood up from the booth. "We need some sleep."

"We hope we can hang out with you again," Mary told them.

"Well you are the only people in town that we know," Emma mumbled. "So it's a definite possibility."

"Get some rest," David smiled at them.

The couple watched as the family of three stopped at the counter to pay for their meal and to get the key to their room. They exited the diner and David and Mary looked at each other.

"Well at least we're getting to know them," David told his wife.

"And I found out some interesting things about her," she told him.

"What kind of things?"

"Well…." Mary started to tell him what all Emma had shared with her.

"What?" David sat in shock as Mary finished her story. "They met because they were both thieves?"

"I'd like to think she was more of a bandit," Mary smiled. "She did what she felt she had to so that she could survive."

"Sounds like someone else I know," he smiled at her. "He told me something interesting when we were up talking to Granny."

"How interesting?"

"She answered his marriage proposal."

"And?"

"She said yes." he told her. "He thinks the accident really scared her and made her think about what could have happened."

"So we have a future son-in-law," Mary whispered. "And a wedding that we might never get to attend."

Neal unlocked the door to their room and gently lay Henry down on the smaller bed. Emma slowly got herself situated on the bigger bed and lay back.

"You still ok?" Neal looked at her.

"I'm good," she smiled at him.

"I am going to go get our things then," he told her. "David said that he had gone to the garage where the car was towed to. He got all our things for us and dropped them off in the lobby downstairs."

"Don't be too long," she told him.

"I'll be back before you know it," he smiled at her before walking out of the room.

"What's going on?" Emma looked over at the other bed and saw Henry sitting up.

"Hey buddy," she smiled at him as he got off his bed and climbed up beside her.

"Where's David and Mary?"

"You were falling asleep in the booth at the diner," she told him. "So we decided to come and get settled in here."

"Can we see them again?"

"They are the only ones in town that we know," Emma smiled. "I know that I'd like to spend more time with them."

"It's weird," Henry mumbled as he lay down beside his mom. "It's like I know them. Like we were separated and are being reunited."

"I get that feeling too," she smiled at him.

"Well that didn't last long," Neal came back in with their things. "Don't want to sleep yet, kid?"

"Can we read this?" Henry held the storybook.

"You want us to read to you?" Emma looked at him. "You haven't wanted us to read to you in a long time."

"But these stories are cool. I think we all need to hear them."

"All right," Neal got onto the other side of the bed so that Henry was in the middle of his parents. "If nothing else, maybe it will tire us all out."

"Which one should we start with?" Emma opened the book.

"Start at the beginning," Henry told her. "With Prince Charming and Snow White."

"You got it," Emma glanced over at Neal before starting to read the story.

Emma barely got through Snow White and Prince Charming's first meeting before she and Neal drifted off. Henry took the book from his mom and started skimming through the pages. He stopped on the picture of the Evil Queen interrupting Snow White and Prince Charming's wedding.

"Whoa," Henry stared at the image. "It can't be...Mary? David?"

Henry quickly flipped to the back of the book where the picture showed Prince Charming putting his daughter into the wardrobe. He saw the name 'Emma' stitched onto the blanket he wrapped the baby in and gasped.

"Mom?" Henry glanced at his mom fast asleep beside him.

AN: So what'd you think? I hope you liked this. Reviews make me happy. PLZ R&R!