So surprisingly no one hated me for doing it that way. Glad to see you all seemed to be happy so far. Now, let's see what those baby names are.
Roughly an hour and a half had passed and Henry earned someone banging on the door. He opened the door to find his grandmother with Dr. Whale standing behind her.
"I figured I should bring him to look over the babies and make sure Regina is ok." They both hurried inside and Snow quickly went over to David who had walked in from the living room, quickly embracing his wife.
"You really delivered them?" Snow was surprised, but clearly very proud. David smiled and shook his head almost in disbelief. "Believe me, it surprised me too. They both seem ok. Breathing and all that seemed fine and Regina was feeding them without any issues earlier." David gestured for Whale to follow him to the bedroom. David knocked and Emma opened the door just enough to see who it was.
"Regina is passed out finally and so are they, do we really need to do this now?" Whale nodded, "I'd be happy to examine the babies first and allow Regina a few more minutes of rest." Emma didn't like it but she let both men in and returned to the bed, picking up one baby and handing her to Whale.
"Go with them." Emma heard Regina's voice, heavy with exhaustion finally speak.
"Whale just needs to look them over, I can stay with you." Regina opened her eyes just enough to look at Whale and then back at Emma. "No offense Victor, but I'm not leaving you alone with my daughters. Go with them please. David may stay with me if you wish." Emma looked to her father who nodded that he would stay. Emma went over to her father and hugged him a bit tighter than she meant to.
"Thank you." That was all Emma could manage and it was all that needed to be said and with that Emma picked up the second sleeping infant and she left the room with the doctor. David stood awkwardly by the bed for a while before Regina spoke.
"Stop standing there like an idiot and sit down." David smiled and did as he was told, sitting at Regina's feet.
"How are you feeling?" He knew it was a dumb question, but he didn't know what else to say.
"Tired, in some pain, but so deliriously happy that I don't care about anything else. How are you? It seems you are the hero of the day." Regina smiled though her eyes were shut. David rubbed his hand together like he didn't know what to do with them.
"I'm just glad I was here Regina. I'm not sure how I managed to do any of it."
"Instinct. Just as my body has instincts to give birth to a baby, yours, well, you had some experience when Emma was born. You have paternal instincts the same as I have maternal ones. Today you happened to have to use them in a unique way." There was a silence in the room that hung there until again Regina spoke.
"I assume you'd like to know their names? I'm sure Snow is dying to find out as well."
"Well, we can't keep calling them the girls for the rest of their lives." David smiled and so did Regina. "Indeed we cannot. Well, the one that Emma made it in time for is Emily Alexandra."
"Defender of mankind." David recited the meaning of the child's middle name and Regina nodded. "Emma insisted upon it. Said it was a family trait. I agreed and it seemed to fit her well."
"It's beautiful Regina." At that moment Emma returned with both babies in her arms. "Regina can he check you out real fast?"
"If he must. Before you let him in let your father hold his granddaughter that seemed so hell bent on being born in a hurry." Emma smiled and handed the smaller of the two babies over to her father and of course he lit up, all smiles as he looked at the baby in his arms. Emma stepped out into the hallway to tell Whale to give them a minute, again leaving Regina with David.
"And what is your name my little trouble maker?" The baby squirmed and yawned as David rocked her.
"Well, we had picked out a name a few months ago for her, but in light of recent events Emma and I decided to break a promise we had made to ourselves." David frowned.
"I don't think I understand."
"I made Emma promise no family names, but I knew the second she was born that I would break my own promise." David looked back at the baby who started to fuss a little because he had stopped moving. "Break it how? What's her name?"
"Davina." David's head snapped back to Regina and he questioned if he heard her right.
"What did you say?" Regina repeated herself. "Davina Nicole Swan-Mills if you want to get technical about it."
"Regina you didn't…"
"If the next words out of your mouth are that I didn't have to do it, save your breath and my time. I know I didn't have to. We wanted to. You did something today that was heroic. You made sure I was safe and warm, you delivered my children even though you had no training. You may not see the impact of what you did in that bathroom today, but I did and so did Emma. That precious child of mine is small, but she's already a fighter and when she was born the only people in the room was you and I, and whether we like it or not that bonded us. Henry was named for my father who was the greatest man I ever knew and now Davina has been named for the same reason." David wanted to say something, but what could he say to that. He looked at Regina and then back at the baby in his arms and before he could even try and speak the bedroom door opened and Emma led Whale into the room. David stood up from the bed, still shocked and he quickly slipped out of the room. When he got to the living room he found Snow holding Emily and Henry sitting next to her on the couch while Apollo sat near by, content on looking at the baby from a few feet away. David sat down in the recliner and continued to look at the baby in his arms like she was going to disappear if he stopped. David clearly was in his own world because Snow had to repeat his name several times over before the man finally looked up.
"Sorry, what did you say?"
"I asked what they named the first baby? Emma only told us that this little one is Emily." She cooed at the baby in her arms and looked back at David. "So what about our other granddaughter?" David opened and closed his mouth a few times before he managed to say anything.
"They, uh, they named her after me." Henry and Snow both smiled wide and waited for David to continue. Not to be out done, Davina started to squirm in her grandfather's arms and fuss.
"Hey now little one, you can't go on crying like that if we are gonna be best buddies. No one will believe they named you after me, will they Miss Davina?" Snow smiled at her husband as he snuggled the baby closer to him and gently rocked her. Snow said something about going upstairs to change Emily and Henry offered to go with her and show her where everything was. Apollo looked back and forth between the baby in David's arms and the one being taken upstairs and the poor animal didn't know who to "guard". David looked up and tilted his head toward the stairs and Apollo immediately followed Snow.
Davina started to fuss again so this time David stood up and started to walk around the room with her.
"What is it Vi? Also, let's not tell your mommy I just gave you a nickname, she hates those and only your other mommy gets to call her Gina. You just ate and you have a clean diaper so my guess is that someone is tired. Well, let's see, grandpa isn't that good of a singer, but how about I try and see if my singing is so bad you fall asleep to escape it?" David shifted the baby in his arms and continued to pace the room and he began to hum. He didn't know that Emma was in the hallway and could hear him and she stayed hidden, wanting to see her father fuss over his grandchild that had been named for him. David sold himself short because as she sang softly to Davina he wasn't half bad.
Be still and know that I'm with you
Be still and know that I am here
Be still and know that I'm with you
Be still, be still, and know
When darkness comes upon you
And covers you with fear and shame
Be still and know that I'm with you
And I will say your name
If terror falls upon your bed
And sleep no longer comes
Remember all the words I said
Be still, be still, and know
And when you go through the valley
And the shadow comes down from the hill
If morning never comes to be
Be still, be still, be still
If you forget the way to go
And lose where you came from
If no one is standing beside you
Be still and know I am
Be still and know that I'm with you
Be still and know I am
David kissed the top of his granddaughter's head and when he turned around to take her up to her crib he saw Emma looking at him with tears in her eyes and a big goofy smile spread wide across her face.
"I see you found one way to get her to sleep. Let's hope Emily is the same way." Emma took her daughter out of her father's arms and smiled. The child was fast asleep.
"I guess this means she likes you. Thank goodness, otherwise we'd have to switch their names and that would be awkward for everyone. At least she likes her namesake." Emma joked and David smiled.
"You didn't have to name her after me you know. I mean I was there when she was born, that would have been enough for me."
"But not for us. You were there, here, when I couldn't be. You of all people should understand how precious that moment is when a child is born and you can't control what is going on around you. You made the best of the situation that you could. You kept Henry safe, kept Regina focused and look what came out of that chaos." Emma gestured to her daughter and David smiled wide.
"We want her to know that the day she was born, her grandfather loved her enough to help bring her into this world. She's tiny, but she's got Regina's temper, I can already see it, so I'm hoping having your name will even that out a bit. Now if you could go fetch my other daughter, Regina wants to cuddle with them as soon as Whale leaves." David headed upstairs to do just that and Emma was left holding her sleeping daughter.
"Your grandpa is going to be silly about this whole naming you thing for a while, but he'll understand it eventually. And one day, when you get older, you'll understand it too."
Ok so I decided to let David have his moment in the sun for this chapter because the dude kind of earned it. Next chapter, will be mommy and baby time,