26. LIFE.

All those clothes were so tiny that Aurora couldn't assume that she had been that size once. She was in Snow's castle, looking at everything they'd bought for Allan during the last days: clothes, sheets, stuffed toys, bottles... as Snow had said, it had been fun, but really exhausting. Well, to be honest, she'd learned to live with exhaustion in the last days. Althought for months, she'd felt the tiredness in a lot of levels, now that there were just a couple of weeks until the baby was born, it had increased remarkably: Allan kicked and moved more than never, almost all the time, making her stay awake during long parts of most of the nights. His weight and her large belly didn't help either.

And she missed Killian. It wasn't like the other times, when she was so scared and worried about him and had no news about how he was, but she still missed him by her side.

But she couldn't complain because, if there was something that she hadn't been during that three weeks was alone. Snow was quite busy taking care of two kingdoms (althought Aurora's one could be considered as a mini-kingdom) but she'd spend a lot of time with her preparing for the boy's arrival and, if she couldn't, there was always someone to keep her company, usually Red or Ella. Snow had introduced them just a couple of days after Killian had left and the group had spent a lot of time together so Aurora had developed a good relationship with the two women.

She heard a knock on the door, followed by Snow's voice:

"It's me." she said.

"Come in."

The queen opened the door and, smiling, she approached Aurora.

"Good news." Snow said. "Everything's gone as we planned and the boys are on their way back here. You'll soon have Killian with you again. Just one more week."

Aurora smiled with excitement.

"That's great" she said. Snow approached her and sat by her side on the bed, moving some of the little objects that were scattered on it. "I know this is quite messy." she added as an apology.

"Bah" the queen made a gesture with her hand as if she were getting rid of a fly "I was worse than you before Emma was born. I used to spread everything like this everytime I was given a new present for her... it made Charming get nervous sometimes but I liked it, I liked to imagine my daughter using all that stuff..." she stopped suddenly and her smile faded away. Aurora knew why: Snow had never had the chance to see that visions come true, she'd missed 28 long years of her baby girl's life. Maybe she even was unconciously doing with Aurora what she hadn't had the opportunity to do with Emma: guiding and taking care of her when she was pregnant with Henry. The princess rubbed her back, mumbling a quiet 'I'm sorry'.

"No problem, don't worry about me." Snow sighed "So... were you thinking of a mini-Killian playing with this?" she asked, taking a teddy bear.

"Not really. Sometimes I've tried to imagine how he will be, but I'm unable to do it." Aurora answered.

"You'll see how he is very soon."

"Yeah, I will." she agreed quietly, becoming paler. Snow's words had brought to her mind exactly what she feared the most at that moment. She was desiring to have her son in her arms and finish with the tiredness, the aches, the agitated hormones and everything and recover her body as (or almost as) it had always been but, on the other hand, as her due date approached, she was feeling more anxious about that moment and a lot of worrying questions about the process and herself filled her mind as days passed.

"Are you fine, honey?" Snow asked worried.

"Yeah, it's just that..." she hesitated for a moment "... that I'm scared." The queen looked at her with an indulgent look, making Aurora see that she understood what she meant and the princess felt quite relieved for having confessed that. "What if something goes wrong? What if I'm not strong enough, if I can't...?" on that days, she felt like weak and spoiled princess she used to be years before, unable to handle that particular situation.

"Don't worry, sweetheart." Snow said, hugging her "Everything will be fine, you'll see." she separeted from Aurora and looked her in the eyes "You've showed everyone how strong you are and you're going to make it, of course you will, you'll see."

"But if something happens... if something happens to him." Aurora said, putting a hand on her belly.

"Nothing's going to happen" Mary Margaret comforted her "You'll be in good hands and at the first signal of something not going well, we've got a backup plan... more than one, in fact. We're not letting anything happen to you two, so don't worry about anything."

She sounded as calm and confident that Aurora started to calm down herself too, although she was still afraid. She sighed deeply and let Snow hug her again, letting her head rest on the queen's shoulder.

The silent and peaceful moment was broken by a knock on the door.

"Come in" Snow said. A servant appeared on the doorstep and, after bowing, he told them:

"Your majesty, your highness, Ms. Fa Mulan has just arrived with two companions."

Aurora's face brightened and Snow answered to the announcement immediately with a 'We'll meet them right now', quite intrigued about who that two companions were.

When they reached the place where the warrior was, they finally saw who they were: Belle and a tall and strong chinese man who couldn't be another than Shang, Mulan's mysterious boyfriend.

"Hey" the warrior said, hugging her two friends. Belle hugged Snow while Mulan did the same with Aurora, asking her how she was. "I think you don't know Belle yet."

"Nice to meet you at last" Aurora said to the former librarian.

"Me too... can I hug you?"

"Of course" she answered smiling. The happiness that Belle irradiated was contagious. "Thank you for all what you did for Killian."

"You're welcome." Mulan coughed and they separated, guessing what she meant "There will be time to talk about it later."

"Aurora" the warrior started, as red as a beetroot "This is Shang..."

The princess didn't know if her hormones had something to do with it, but she found her friend's boyfriend really attractive in every aspect. The warrior had made a really good choice.

"Mulan's told me a lot about you" he said.

"I can say the same." Aurora answered. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you" it really was, what a man! She couldn't be happier for Mulan. She would have to tell her later.

After all the greetings, Snow guided everyone to a living room where they could speak calmly.

The first thing Mulan did was to tell how she'd taken the occasion to call by to see Belle and how the former librarian had wanted to join her.

"I can't believe your husband has let you come here." Snow told Belle.

"I needed a lot of persuasion, he's so overprotective." she answered "I promised him that Shang would accompany me back home before the night comes." the man nodded, confirming what she'd just said. Belle looked at Aurora, wanting to clarify the issue "I'm going to be a mother too." she said, caressing her own little baby bump which hadn't been noticed before by the princess.

"Wow, congratulations" she said "I didn't know it... you're so... energetic." she added, remembering that she'd never been so great during her entire pregnancy.

"I am" Belle agreed "Everybody tells me that, but I have my bad times too."

They spent the rest of the day talking about everything and, in the afternoon, they said goodbye to Belle and Shang (who would return to his home too) and watched how they disappeared in the distance.

.

(A week later)

The calendar said that they'd been sailing for two and a half weeks, but that was the last day of their journey: before the night came, they would be in Snow's castle again.

"Something's bothering you" Charming said to Killian, who was at the helm, but wasn't really paying attention at what he was doing, too lost in his own thoughts. "Are you nervous?"

"About what?" the captaina asked.

"Becoming a father." he simply answered. Killian sighed, he'd been unmasked. After finishing with all the William's issue, there was just one thing left to think about, and, although he was happy about it, he was scared too (even terrified), and so he told David:

"Aye, sure I am." he admitted.

"I know it's scary, but don't worry, Aurora and the baby will be fine."

"That's not what I'm worried about... well, not my main worry." Charming looked at him intrigued "I don't know how to be a father, mate. I grew up without my own one since he did what he did, and he hadn't been exactly a good example before that. And I'm happy about having a son, of course I am, and I do love him, but I'm afraid of not being enough for him, of being unable to give him what he needs or hurt him for being a failure as a father... I don't want to disappoint him, but I have no idea about what to do... it's a huge responsibility, and I haven't taken one of them in all my life, I feel like I'm going to spoil everything. How are we supposed to do that? How does a guy like me become a good father?"

There it was, he'd said everything that was running through his mind. The king, who had remained silent durint all that speech, stared at Killian for many seconds, thinking about what to say to him.

"Well..." he started "I didn't have the opportunity to raise my own daughter, so I'm afraid I'm not an expert on that subject... If I had known I would have invited Thomas to join us" Hook looked at him puzzled "A friend... doesn't matter. The thing is that you're going to do it well. Maybe you don't know how now, but you'll learn. Because you want to learn, don't you?"

"Yeah."

"I'll tell you something. Do you remember that time in the cannery when I told you that my reason to fight was my family and, when I asked you for yours, you simply answered 'myself'?" Charming asked.

"You know I changed my mind long ago" Killian answered, without knowing what the king meant with that memory. "Now I totally agree with you."

"Yes, that's the point, you're not that scoundrel anymore and you love Aurora and your son, you've faced a dragon for them and you hadn't even met your boy, but you were willing to risk everything for him. And, as long as you keep wanting the best for him, you'll find the way to be a good father. You're not alone anymore, you know that." 'The optimistic David attacking again', Killian thought, but he couldn't deny that he was right. He'd do anything for Allan. The king continued with his speech "And when you have your son in your arms, you'll know you'll be able to do anything, to face any dangers just to protect him. That's how I felt when Emma was born." he made another pause "It's a real gift to be able to raise your son."

"I know, and I'm really grateful for that, specially everytime I remember the months in prison. Sometimes I thought I wouldn't get out of there in years and that my son would know me as the guy who never was there for him, as a stranger... and when, under the rocks, I thought he'd lost me..." his tone had become sadder with every word. He sighed. "I want to do it well, he's my son... and I love him." he repeated.

"And that's all that you need." David clapped Killian's back and the former pirate felt relieved, as if he was getting rid of a weight. He was still nervous and scared, but he had hope now "Well, enough worrying, stop the ship and let's have a drink." he approached the railing of the quarterdeck "Jour!" the blond, who was staring at the sea on the deck, turned to face him.

"Tell me" he said.

"Call Phillip and bring some rum, let's have a drink in honour of the future dad here."

"Going!" Jour answered and went to fulfill the task.

Suddenly, David's eyes caught something in the sky: a dove with a message tied to one of its legs which was flying straight to him. Intrigued, he approached the bird and took the paper it brought. His eyes widened.

"Jour!" he shouted.

"What?" the blond asked, stopping in the middle of his way to the hold.

"Forget about the rum, look for something stronger." he answered in a serious tone.

"But what...?" the young king had noticed that something was happening and went to the quarterdeck.

"Killian, forget about stopping the ship, we have to run... let me take the helm" David said. The captain looked at him with the same puzzled look as his brother- in- law, wondering what the hell had happened "It's Aurora" he finally told them "she's gone into labor." two anxious faces stared at him at the same time.