I'M HOPING THIS CHAPTER WILL GET UP A LITTLE FASTER THAN THE LAST ONE. I WANT TO THANK ZEROUSY FOR ALWAYS REVIEWING. YOU'RE THE BEST!
DON'T OWN IT.
Emma was a quarter mile down the road with Boston when she saw a blur of brown and black in her peripheral. It took her a moment to realize it was Graham and Henry, with the latter blowing off steam from the breakup with Johanna. Boston began barking and then jumped at Emma. With a sigh, she picked up the dog.
"It's just a horse, Boston. Okay, well, two of them. But they're not gonna hurt you." At that, Boston whimpered. She sighed again. "Let's get you back to the castle."
By the time she got back, Snow was taking a break from painting. With a smile, the brunette placed a mug of their favorite beverage in front of the stool where Emma usually sat.
"How'd the walk go?" Snow asked, taking a sip of hers.
"It was all fine and dandy until Henry and Graham took the horses out. Then Boston got scared." The blonde undid Boston's leash. He happily bounded over to his food bowl.
"He's only seven months old, Emma." Snow reminded her. "He's still getting used to us."
"I was having a nice walk, though. Or waddle. Whatever." Emma sat down next to Snow, eyeing the hot chocolate warily. "Dad just made me one of these. I don't know if all this sugar's good for the baby."
"You turned out just fine." Snow smiled. "Relax, Honey. If I thought something would be bad for her, I'd tell you." Emma shot her mother a grateful smile, then sighed happily again. She wanted to talk about the baby, about how excited she was, but opening up like that without any prompting sometimes still proved to be a struggle. "Something on your mind, Em?"
"Just thinking about the baby. I'm excited. I don't want to wait any longer. I just wanna see her."
"That's exactly how I felt with you. As much as I wanted you out so you'd stop kicking my bladder and pushing your shoulder into my spine, more than anything I just wanted to hold you. I wanted to kiss your forehead–" Snow broke off, thinking about the first and last time she held her daughter as an infant. "I only got to do that once, and I was to say goodbye." The two remained silent for a moment. Staring intently into her mug, Emma said so quietly Snow almost missed it,
"I'm actually kind of over it."
The brunette glanced up at her sharply. Emma still refused to meet her gaze. The younger woman continued,
"Of course I wish I had you and Dad growing up. But… I have Henry and I wouldn't have him if the Curse hadn't happened. And Graham would be seventy-something so there's no way I'd be having this baby, either. I love you all so much and I don't–" Emma's voice caught and she swallowed tears back, "I'm not entirely sure I'd have this kind of love for you guys. It would be natural and I wouldn't cherish it like I do. I mean, I don't long for my parents anymore, because I already have them and accept them and love them. I never thought I'd say this, but I think I've made peace with what happened." Throughout Emma's speech, Snow was staring at her baby girl with awe. Her beautiful, perfect baby girl who could hold the longest grudges only second to Regina, and was letting go of the most traumatic thing that ever happened to her. Unable to find words, Snow embraced Emma.
"I can only hope I'm half the woman you are, Emma." The queen choked through the tears that were streaming down her cheeks. Now it was Emma's turn to be speechless.
"In Storybrooke, you saw me as a different person than I saw myself." The blonde said after a few moments of thought. "And I desperately wanted to be that person. And now I realize… all that time… as much as I couldn't understand some of the things you did as Mary Margaret, I envied your ability to be so damn cheery all the time and take the risk with David, even after getting your heart trampled on over and over again. You reminded me of a younger version of myself, before Henry's father crushed me… I wanted to be oblivious as to how cruel the world could be. I wanted to go back to a time before I was hurt so badly I vowed never to let anyone in again." Despite the tears still rolling down her face, Snow leaned back from the embrace and laughed. Really laughed. Emma frowned. "What?"
"It's just funny, because in Storybrooke I always wanted to be like you." Snow smiled adoringly at the blonde.
"Like me? Why the Hell would you wanna be like me?"
"Because I wanted your strength, and your confidence, and your fearlessness. Oh, and your hair." At this both of them laughed. "I still can't believe Regina cut it off." Just then, James walked in, his hair sticking out in all directions and yellow paint covering his nose.
"There you are." He put his hands on his hips, smiling at Snow. "I got nervous when you didn't come back." He said to Snow.
"I found Emma, so we decided to have hot cocoa together." She responded, getting up to give him a peck on the lips. "You have paint on your nose." She purred. Emma rolled her eyes, turning her attention back to her hot chocolate.
"I know I do." He murmured back. "And I can see that you two were having hot chocolate together. And crying. But when I came in you were laughing. So, laughing so hard you were crying?" He asked, but there was a hint of concern to his voice, as there always was when either of his two girls were crying.
"Something like that." Emma said before downing the rest of her hot chocolate. "Don't tell me you're already done painting."
"I'm an expert painter." James bowed.
"He is." Snow agreed.
"Then again, I had a test run with your nursery. And since the dwarves already put the wood floor in–"
"I'm actually kind of rethinking that. Teaching a toddler to walk on a wood floor probably isn't good in case she falls." Snow and James shared a look. "Oh, no. Don't give me that look." Emma's stool scraped the stone floor as she stood up to bring her mug over to the sink. "I'm giving you plenty of warning. Two month's warning, actually."
"We know you are." James smirked. "It's just, I told Snow that you would change your mind on at least one thing due to the mood swings, but she vehemently denied that you would."
"He said I got mood swings when I was pregnant with you, but I don't believe him."
"You're moody anyway, My Love." He smiled. Just as she was about to respond, Graham and Henry came in, laughing at some joke.
"Hey, guys." Henry smiled.
"You're in a better mood, Kid." Emma commented from the kitchen, where she leaned against the counter, her belly sticking way out.
"Nothing like good old adrenalin to get you in better spirits." Graham agreed.
"Speaking of moods, we won the bet, Graham." James smiled triumphantly. "She wants carpet now."
"Well, I'm thinking we might as well stick a rug in there. When she gets older, she may not always want carpet." Snow said.
"Well, either way, we have two months, so we have time to think about it." James said evenly, giving Emma a warm smile. She returned it. As a sharp pain flared up her abdomen for a moment, though, it faltered and turned into a frown.
"Actually, we might not." She said, her voice trembling. "I think I just had a contraction."