SORRY IT'S TAKEN ME SO LONG. AS SOME OF YOU MAY KNOW, I WAS IN THE HOSPITAL, SO I DIDN'T HAVE TIME TO WRITE. THAT IS ALL.
James wasn't sure why, but he couldn't sleep. He took to what he always did when he was restless: surveying the castle. He quietly slipped out of bed and tiptoed out of his and Snow's room. He walked down the hall and wandered into Giavanna's room. Ah. That was why he couldn't sleep. Graham smiled at him.
"Why're you up?" The older man asked.
"I wanted to stay with Giavanna tonight." Graham answered. "It's silly, I know, I just… I want to protect her."
"It's not silly at all." James walked fully into the room, keeping his voice low so as not to wake the baby. "Protecting your child is perfectly normal."
"But we can't protect them from everything, can we?"
"No." He sighed. "Unfortunately not. Let me give you some advice, coming from a man who started parenting his daughter thirty three years late. Let Giavanna grow into her own person. Don't try to change her as she's growing up. Sometimes I wonder what Emma would be like had Snow and I raised her, and I like to think she wouldn't be any different –maybe a little more nurturing, but at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter. I love her just the way she is."
"I'm going to love Giavanna no matter what." Graham said quickly. "I already do. I want to hold her, but she's sleeping, and I've been told that's a rarity, so…" he shrugged, not really sure what to say next.
"What's a rarity is being able to hold your child."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean–" He hadn't been thinking about James' situation with Emma when he said that.
"Don't be. What I meant by that is she'll only be little for long, and then she won't want you to hold her anymore." James said, his eyes trained on the baby. Graham let out a breath of relief. He hadn't hurt James, the older man was just talking about life in general.
"I don't believe that." Graham shook his head. "Henry readily gives hugs to Regina, Emma, me, you, and Snow. And Emma? She secretly loves it when you guys hug her, but she'll say otherwise till her dying breath. So I'm not worried. I mean, yeah, I've already started thinking about boys." He shuddered. "But I just have this feeling she's going to value family."
"She will." James nodded in agreement. "All of us know how quickly it can be ripped from us. She'll know that."
"She'll know I won't let that happen to her." He corrected, and locked eyes with James. The older man saw the same fire he held when thinking about his family being threatened. From the crib, Giavanna gurgled. Not wanting her to start crying and wake everyone else up, Graham dashed over to the crib and picked her up. "It's okay," he soothed, "Daddy's here." This quieted her down. He walked back over to the rocking chair and sat down, carefully cradling her in his arms.
"I can't get over how tiny she is." James said, brushing his pinky over the top of her hand.
"Yeah, but she's already got me wrapped around her finger."
"Emma did, too." He chuckled quietly. "From the moment I saw her, I knew I'd never be able to deny her anything. Still can't."
"Unfortunately, I think Giavanna's going to be a mommy's girl. Especially cause Mommy picked your name."
"She still doesn't have a middle one yet, does she?"
"Nope." Graham sighed. "But she's only an hour and a half old, so we have time."
"I was lobbying for Ruth." James said, then to clarify: "For Emma. I wanted Emma Ruth."
"You and Snow had time to talk about it?"
"Yeah, remember? Unlike you, I found out a few months before she was born. Snow insisted on Hope."
"Ironic." He snorted.
"Tell me about it."
"It's hard. I want something meaningful to commemorate someone in this family, but Emma doesn't. I don't know if it's the wall or really just the fact that it's nearly impossible to choose out of… I think it was like ten? I do know she wants Mary Margaret, seeing as well, you know how good of friends they were. Are. Were?"
"You could just give her her middle name now, considering Emma picked her first one."
"No." Graham shook his head. "I want it to be one we both want."
"Giavanna Mary Margaret Swan-Humbert. It's long."
"And it might not even be that. And I really want Emma in there somewhere."
"That's not going to happen."
"Or you could give her the ten name one. There would be no confusing her with anyone else." James joked, and Giavanna kicked. "Sorry. Didn't mean to offend you." He smiled over at her.
"No… I don't think she was offended. Please don't cry, Honey. If you wake your mom up she'll kill us both. She loves her sleep." The baby's eyes were welling up. "Do you think she's hungry?" He looked at James helplessly.
"I know as much about parenting as you do." He said.
"Okay. Well let's try food. It always makes your mom happier." Graham said as he stood up. He and James walked as fast as they could down the hall, then to the stairs and padded down softly. "Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry."
"Henry can sleep through anything, I'm convinced." James said. "And Emma would happy to spend more time with her and Snow, well… you know she'll be all over her in the morning."
"Hold her while I figure out where Emma put the bottle and formula." Graham handed her off to James, who gladly accepted the small bundle.
"She's wearing the yellow one!" He said happily.
"It was either that or the pink one that says 'princess'." Graham exclaimed, trying to poke through the cabinets in the dark.
"Try the middle one. Snow might've put them in there so Henry could easily reach it when he was home alone with her." James was right. After a minute in the microwave, the bottle was ready. He gave the baby back to her father, and Graham squirted a little of the formula on his hand to test the temperature. It was just right.
"Okay, so uh… here?" He tipped the bottle upside down and Giavanna immediately latched on and began sucking. Both men breathed out a sigh of relief; crisis averted. "James?"
"Yes?"
"Thanks."
"For what? I've been no help." He laughed, staring at the baby. She really was adorable.
"You've made me feel a little better about my parenting abilities. At least I know I'm not the only one who has no idea what to do with a baby. You should have seen me and Emma trying to change her."
"Being a parent is the hardest thing in the world, but it's also the most rewarding." James replied. "It'll come to you, Graham. Don't worry. I don't know how I do, but I know what to say to Emma to make her feel better when she's upset. And it wouldn't make sense that I would, because we're practically the same age. Sometimes, it feels like she's seen a hell of a lot more than I have."
"Eh, it's okay. Sometimes she just needs help sorting out her thoughts."
"She gets that from Snow." James said. "Me? I just chill and go with the flow, but Snow can't. She feels the need to constantly be doing something. And she's so stubborn and independent, and those three things don't go well together."
"So I can blame your wife for Emma turning out the way she did? Cause it makes my life very difficult sometimes." Graham joked, looking down at his daughter. "You're gonna end up like that, too, aren't you?"
"I wish we could take the credit. But I do think stubbornness is genetic on Snow's side. It has to be."
"And general badassery." Graham laughed. Giavanna poked his chest with her fist, and he looked down to an empty bottle. "You done?"
"She can't talk yet, you know." James quipped. "What? You've been talking to her all night."
"It'll stimulate her brain. I read in a book that we're supposed to do that." He looked back down, and Giavanna yawned. "Somebody's tired. Let's get you back up to bed."
As sunlight peeked through the window, Emma threw her arm over to Graham's side of the bed. It was cold. She briefly wondered where he was –not that it was ever a surprise when she wasn't the first out of bed, but still– and out of habit, she went to rub her stomach… only to go through it. She sat upright in an instant, groaned when it hurt, and nearly fell out of the bed scrambling to get up. She ran down the hall, not even thinking that the baby might be sleeping, and into the nursery. She smiled at Graham, who was sleeping in the rocking chair, then turned her attention to her precious baby girl. Giavanna looked up at her with her green eyes.
"Hi, Honey." Emma whispered. "I missed you while I was sleeping. Did your dad keep you company?" She reached down and picked the baby up. She then surveyed the room, thinking about what she needed to do now. Then she noticed James, who was lying on the floor on his side. She could see his chest rising and falling, so he wasn't dead. "I think your grandpa kept you company, too." She felt lost, she really did. Giavanna didn't need a diaper change, and she wasn't crying so she wasn't hungry, right? "So uh… hi. I'm gonna be honest with you, I have no idea what to do next. You can't play with anything. Not that we have a lot of toys right now, cause somebody was impatient. In a few days we'll go get some, okay? And I didn't raise your brother, your great… yeah, great-grandmother did. God that's weird. And nobody else is up for me to talk to while I hold you. So like, what am I supposed to do? I mean, I'd think it'd be scary out here, with all kinds of light and sounds and stuff… God, did you really come out of me?" Giavanna just stared up at her with wide, innocent eyes. Damn kid was cute.
"Trust me, she did." Graham finally spoke up, smiling widely.
"How long have you been awake?" Emma whirled around, baby on her shoulder, and rolled her eyes.
"Since you came in the room." He stood up and stretched, delicately stepping over James, who was still sleeping. "He kept me company last night. I think we fell asleep around the same time. She ate at 1:00, and judging by the sun, it's 7:00, and they're supposed to eat every four hours, so she'll need her bottle, which is downstairs." She wanted to say something sarcastic, but her daughter was two hours late for a meal, and that was not okay with her.
"Why isn't she crying?" The blonde asked as she flew down the stairs, despite pain ripping through her entire body every time she took a step. "I mean, if she hasn't–"
"Em, I'm sure she's just not hungry." Graham assured her.
"Not hungry?" Emma raised an eyebrow once they were in the kitchen. And, Graham was right. The formula and bottle were on the counter. "I'm her mother, of course she's hungry."
"Point taken." He had to give her that. "Speaking of which, what do you want for breakfast?"
"I don't know." She mumbled, holding Giavanna with one arm and reading the directions on the formula can with the other.
"You just pour it in and nuke it for a minute." He said. "And then test it on your hand to make sure it's not too hot."
"Right." She nodded, doing as he said. "Think we should wake my dad up?"
"Nah, another hour like that's not gonna make a difference." For the first time, Graham realized that his neck was sore. "But a massage later wouldn't be minded."
"Maybe after we feed her… cause she'll be in her crib. Or should we keep her out until she needs a diaper change?" The microwave beeped, and Giavanna made a sound of disapproval. Emma yanked the door open before it beeped again. She tested it on her hand, and determined it was fine. "You did this with Daddy last night, so I know you can do it." She said as she placed the bottle in Giavanna's mouth.
"She wouldn't give you a hard time just for fun." Graham said.
"Yes, she would." Snow said in the doorway, wrapped in a white, fluffy robe. "Cause mine does it to me all the time."
"Morning, Mom." The blonde smiled.
"Good morning, Sweetie. Henry's still out like a light and your father's passed out on the floor upstairs."
"I know." She smiled. "I found them both up there like that, except Graham was in the rocking chair. Shit, I haven't checked on Henry yet."
"Emma, baby." Graham pointed to the infant.
"Oops." She sighed. "See, I told you I'd be bad at this. I swear in front of the baby and I forget to check on my other kid."
"Oh, Emma, that's not true at all. Giavanna can't even understand words yet, let alone talk. And you would have checked on Henry, but his door's closed. It's not as easy to simply peek in and see that he's breathing." Snow said.
"I forgot I gave birth last night." She continued glumly. "I went to put my hand on my stomach, but it wasn't there."
"It was a habit, Em." Snow laughed. "When I was Mary Margaret, I'd put a hand on my stomach every single morning. Of course, I didn't know why, but still… think of it this way. I completely forgot I was even a mother. So you forgetting that you had Giavanna the night before isn't really that bad."
"You were cursed." The blonde pointed out. "I'm not."
"Honey, stop being so hard on yourself." Snow said sternly, almost like it was a command. "Last night was the first time you ever held a baby." She looked at the baby. "God she's cute."
"I know." Emma smiled. "We did good, huh Graham?" with her free hand, she nudged her husband.
"We did." Graham agreed with a smile. Emma removed her hand from Graham's side and stroked her daughter's head.
"See, I told you she was hungry." Half of the bottle was gone. "And I am, too. Chocolate chip pancakes?"
"Coming right up, Princess." Graham kissed her head and brushes his finger on Giavanna's bare foot. As quietly as he could, he pulled out the pan for pancakes. Snow simply watched her daughter interact with the baby.
Ten minutes later, Giavanna was sleeping in Emma's arms, the smell of breakfast was wafting through the castle, and Snow was pouring the orange juice. At the exact same time, Henry and James pounded down the stairs, their noses to the air.
"I smell food." Henry said, sniffing to prove his point. Then he noticed his sister. Emma immediately held a finger to her lips before he woke her up.
"Dad?" She whispered.
"Hi, Honey." He said quietly. "What's up?"
"Can you set up her play bassinet? I don't want her to be upstairs all alone."
"Sure thing." After pecking Snow's cheek, he went back up to the nursery to locate the box that held the bassinet.