I'M SO SORRY THIS HAS TAKEN SO LONG TO GET UP. LIFE HAS KIND OF DECIDED TO MAKE IT HARD FOR ME TO FIND TIME TO WRITE, ALONG WITH GETTING SICK OVER VACATION WHEN I INTENDED TO WRITE. AGAIN, MY APOLOGIES.
I DO NOT OWN 'ONCE UPON A TIME' OR ITS CHARACTERS. ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO ABC AND ADAM HOROWITZ AND EDDY KITSIS.
*2 MONTHS LATER*
Doc smiled down at his goddaughter, who was laying on an exam table. Little did Emma know, Ruby was her godmother and she had seven godfathers.
"I'm putting your due date on October twentieth." He said, and the blonde placed a hand on her pregnant belly.
"Three more months, Babe." Graham grinned.
"And three days before her birthday." Snow chimed in, having just entered. Henry and James were quickly in tow.
"This kid isn't gonna be born on my birthday!" Emma insisted, wiping the gel off her stomach and pushing herself up.
"That would be kinda cool." Henry said, staring at image on the ultrasound screen. "That's not live, right?"
"No." Doc turned to him, a patient expression on his face. "It's not. It's just putting up the last image it captured. I can print a few copies out for you guys, if you want." He offered.s
"That would be great." Emma beamed.
"Just a sec…" Doc returned his attention to the machine and tapped a few buttons. A few moments later, five pictures of a black and white image popped out. He explained to Henry, "That's her head, and you can see her fingers there… she's sucking her thumb. Emma, how much is she kicking?"
"A lot." Emma laughed.
"That, combined with what I could see on the ultrasound, I'd say you have a healthy baby coming. I know this seems early to be talking about this, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. You might want to sit back down." Doc said. With a weary expression, Emma slowly lowered herself into one of the chairs, sharing an uneasy look with Graham, who was equally as nervous. "Emma, you were born early. Not a whole lot early, but early nonetheless. And this is your second child, so the chances of her being born prematurely are higher. Now, I'm not trying to scare you, I just want all of you to be aware that a premature birth is a possibility. I'm aware of the fact that her nursery is in the process of being set up–"
"Her crib's in there. The walls are gonna be painted this afternoon –and yeah, I know I can't be in there cause the fumes are bad for the baby. We haven't really thought about other furniture, though."
"If I can interject," Graham said, "I'd like to build a changing table and a rocking chair for her. I was going to get started on it today if James wants to help..?"
"I'd love to." The king smiled at his son-in-law. "I built Emma's crib for her, so I promise they'll be safe."
"You should have seen him, Emma." Snow looked off in the distance wistfully. "It took him two whole days, and he even climbed in himself to make sure it could hold you and it wouldn't break."
"How come that's not surprising?" The blonde sent a mildly amused but heartfelt look to her father.
"I remember." Doc smiled. "What I'm trying to say, I guess, is to be prepared. If you even think you're having contractions, come see me right away. Happy showed Snow some breathing exercises when she was pregnant with you, and I'm sure he'd be happy to do the same with you."
"Thanks." Emma smiled gratefully. "But I think I'll be okay. Henry was a natural birth –and twenty four hours, I might add– so yeah."
"What, prisons don't offer epidural?" James recalled from Storybrooke.
"I was brought to a regular hospital in Arizona." Emma explained. She stole a glance at Henry, contemplating her next words, "I chose not to have it. I guess I just, I don't know, thought that if I felt the pain of having Henry, I wouldn't get so attached and it might've helped to make me hate his father. And Henry, don't get me wrong, I loved you from the moment I found out I was pregnant, I just… I knew I couldn't keep you and that you were better off without me and if I wasn't attached to you it would be easier to give you up. I even went as far as to make it illegal for me to have any contact with you so I could never find you and risk messing up the family you had. Or thought you had."
"That complicates things." Doc frowned despite the heartfelt moment.
"What does?" Snow asked worriedly.
"Her labor being twenty four hours."
"I thought it was quicker with each kid popped out?" Emma said, her hand reaching out for Graham's. He found hers and squeezed.
"It depends. Was it ever determined why Henry took so long to get out?"
"Stubborn kid, I dunno." Emma shrugged. "Look, I was an eighteen year old inmate. You really think they gave a shit about why I was in labor for so long?"
"They should've." Snow mumbled. James rubbed soothing circles on her back.
"I'm just saying, I'd like you to also prepare for a long labor. With that comes a possible c-section."
"No." Emma gasped before she could even stop it from coming out. This was not how she envisioned giving birth to her daughter would go.
"I'm not saying it will happen, I just want you to be aware of the possibility." Doc took her hand in his and smiled gently. "Everything will be fine, Emma. So far she looks healthy, and that is the most important thing."
"By the way, are you ever gonna hop on getting cars and cell phones? You have the technology…"
"I know, I know." Doc apologized. "I will, I promise."
"Great, thanks." Emma smiled. "If that's all…"
"Yes, Princess, it is." He ushered the five out. Henry grabbed Emma's hand.
"Mom, you and the baby are gonna be okay, right?"
"Yeah. Doc's just giving us a worst case scenario type of thing. You know doctors like to do that." The blonde joked.
"Yeah." He said quietly and grasped Emma's hand tighter. Sensing he was still worried, Emma turned to face him.
"Henry, everything will be fine. This is all completely normal." She said firmly. "Now, didn't you say you have a date with Johanna?"
"I do." Henry's face lit up. "I should probably get going. I can't believe I forgot about it and I have to run up to my room to grab her present cause it's our six month anniversary…" He trailed off, running down the hall.
"Hey, Kid!" Emma called after him. "Congrats."
"So…" Graham nudged her. "You're finally warming up to her?"
"Which 'her' are we referring to?"
"Johanna."
"I never said I disliked her. I just don't like the fact that she's dating our son."
"You're absolutely sure you want the room yellow?" Snow asked, her hand poised above the 'open' tab on the paint can.
"Mom, we've been over this. Yes, her room is going to be yellow and the floors dark wood." Emma said, exasperated.
"Just checking." Snow said patiently. She opened the can with a 'pop'.
"I can't believe they've been dating for six months." Emma plopped herself down in a plastic chair that was there only temporarily; the room still needed to be decorated, but Emma liked to stand in it and envision what it was going to look like, but lately she'd have to sit down.
"Honey, you can't be in here for much longer. It's not good for the baby."
"I know." She sighed. "I just need to vent and you're a good ventee."
"Why, thank you." Snow shot her a teasing smile and set the roller brush down on the tray. "Emma, you always knew he was going to start dating sometime. At least Johanna's a good kid."
"I haven't even met her yet so how can I know if she's a good kid or not?" The blonde grumbled.
"Because Henry is a good kid who makes good decisions. Remember a few months ago when you revoked his right to visit Johanna? He's been doing more around the house–"
"Castle."
"And that's because of you. So I have every faith that if Johanna wasn't good for him, he'd end things."
"Maybe." Emma shrugged, looking down at her feet.
"Hey." Snow said softly, rushing over to her daughter. "Children dating is hard on any parent. Your father and I are just lucky that we already knew Graham. I guess my point is that you should have the same trust in Henry that we have in you."
"Teenagers make incredibly stupid decisions sometimes." Emma argued.
"Sometimes. Not all the time." Seeing her daughter's lips quirk up just a little, Snow knew she had made her point and that Emma was feeling better. "Now go. I don't want my granddaughter getting sick from the fumes."
"Yes, Mom." With that, Emma waddled out of the room.
Graham and James were sitting at the kitchen table, each of them nursing their own beers.
"How'd you do it?" Graham asked, his finger poking at the water ring on the table.
"Do what?"
"Make it through Snow's labor. I'm scared as Hell. I don't know if I can handle seeing Emma in that much pain." At that, James' heart constricted. It hadn't even occurred to him that his baby girl was going to have to go through what Snow had went through. It scared him, too.
"I'm not going to lie to you." James said slowly. "It was rough and it was hard. I tried to focus on the fact that my daughter was coming from it. But to be honest, Snow was supporting me. She was laughing and joking in between contractions. I suspect, though, that it'll be harder because my daughter is the one going through it. I know you can't really understand it yet, but seeing your child hurting is the worst feeling in the world."
"I get that with Henry." Graham said. "But I'm guessing it's different when it's your biological child."
"It is." James nodded. "You didn't raise Henry, so you don't even have that bond, but I got Emma twenty eight years late, but she's my daughter and I… it was instinctual even though we hadn't really gotten a chance to bond, it was just a prerequisite… like I said, you'll find out soon enough. It was just this… it's amazing, the love I have for Emma. It's… there's no way to describe it."
"I guess the only good thing going for me and Emma is that she's already had a baby before, so it might not be so bad this time." After a moment, James chuckled.
"Snow nearly broke my hand when she had Emma. You know, some days, it's still hard for me to make the connection that the little baby I held in my arms for a few minutes is the same person who's sitting in the spare room now."
"She's one Hell of a woman." Graham agreed, taking a swig of his beer.
"They both her." James nodded, doing the same.
"We picked good ones." The younger man smiled, clanking bottles with James.