That night Emma was glad that her parents had offered to stay at the mansion to help with the girls. Not that they could really leave. The roads were still a bit too dangerous for Emma to feel comfortable sending her parents out into what was left of the storm. That aside, both Snow and David seemed dead set on staying and helping with the girls. Regina had passed out cold after Emma had taken the girls and put them in their nursery. David had taken the baby monitor from the bedroom and kept it with them as they slept in the master bedroom that had been vacant since Regina had been put on bed rest downstairs. Every time either baby cried Emma would wake and Regina would flinch awake and try to get up, only to have Emma pull her back down.
"You pumped milk for them and you need your sleep, at least for tonight." Regina would try and resist, but her body always won and she would fall back into the pillows and into Emma's side.
"They need me though." Regina would fight sleep like a newborn herself before eventually falling back asleep. Emma wanted to be upstairs too, but for this one night Regina needed to sleep and heal and in order to do that Emma had to be with her. The last thing Emma remembered was looking at the clock and seeing that it was 3am, so when she opened her eyes to see that it was now 9am surprised her. She slipped out of bed, leaving Regina to stay sleeping while she went upstairs to check on everything. She skipped over her and Regina's room and went straight to the nursery. Apollo was still in the room, but had moved from his spot next to the crib. He was now laying at David's feet as the former prince sat in the rocking chair, clutching one of his granddaughters to his chest; both of them fast asleep. Emma looked into the crib to see that Davina was awake but had yet to start crying so she picked her daughter up before walking over to where her father sat.
"Dad." Emma tapped David's shoulder gently and when that didn't work Apollo sat up and pushed his head against David's knee. As tired as David was, he really couldn't ignore that so he opened his eyes to see Emma standing next to him.
"What time is it?" David stood up from the rocking chair and stretched his back as much as he could without waking the baby in his arms.
"A little after nine. Why don't you let me take these two downstairs and you grab a shower or a nap?" David shook his head. "Coffee sounds better than either of those." Emma had to agree so they both went downstairs, babies in arms and Apollo following close behind them. Emma managed to get the coffee started with one hand and while they waited she poked around in the fridge for something they could eat for breakfast.
"Did you sleep at all last night or did these little sleeping beauties not do much sleeping?" Emma talked in higher voice as she looked her daughter.
"Well, we would switch off for a while, then after the last time Vi seemed happy to sleep after being fed, but this little trouble maker did not seem to agree. I sent your mother to bed, Henry came in and checked on me at one point, but eventually she fell asleep and I guess I did too." Emma poured some coffee for herself and her dad as Emily started to finally wake up and fuss in David's arms.
"I smelled coffee and then heard someone fussing." Emma looked up to see Regina standing in the doorway and she quickly moved to get Regina to sit down.
"I thought you were supposed to take it easy?"
"Emma I gave birth to children, I didn't break my leg. Besides if I stay in bed too long it'll take longer for me to heal. Even Whale said that some moving around the house is just fine; I just need to avoid heavy lifting and the ice on the sidewalks. Now will one of you hand over the baby in your arms so I can have someone to cuddle with." Emma rolled her eyes and handed over Davina to Regina while she went back to making something for breakfast.
"Are you and your sister fussing because you are hungry? Is that what all the fuss is about? I think mommy can fix that." Regina pulled back her robe enough to expose her breast to the baby in her arms and with some effort she began to feed her daughter while
Emma went back to making food for everyone. David kept gently bouncing Emily in his arms as he waited to hand her to Regina so that both babies could be fed. He tried his best to not stare at Regina as she nursed, but it didn't really matter because Regina looked up and caught his gaze anyway.
"Don't tell me that seeing my breasts is uncomfortable for you David? I mean yesterday you saw me naked from the waist down so now would hardly be the time to become shy." David's face turned a deep red color as he blushed and Regina laughed.
"Relax David, its just breastfeeding. Nothing to get red over."
"Sorry. I didn't mean to stare, it's just nice to see them when they are calm and quiet." Regina smiled as she moved to burb Davina. "Do you mean to tell me that my daughters kept you up last night?"
"They are your children through and through. When one fell asleep the other one knew they would get all the attention if they stayed awake. It was quite the battle they put up." Regina rolled her eyes and swapped Davina for Emily and immediately went back to feeding her daughter.
"Well we appreciated the one night of actual sleep. If the roads are clear today, you and Snow are released from your positions if you wish. I'm sure you have better things to do than stay up all night with these two troublemakers." Regina ran her finger along her daughter's cheek.
David looked at the newborn in his arms and shook his head. "Not really. Sleep is over rated anyway right? Besides we didn't do this with Emma so I figure this is our chance to have the sleepless nights and all that." Regina would've said she was sorry, again, but David wouldn't have heard it anyway. He was already cooing over the baby in his arms who was now awake and happy so her eyes were wide with interest as David leaned his face closer to him, even now and then giving his granddaughter kisses that the baby certainly seemed to enjoy.
"Well, I can tell you after I brought Henry home we had lots of long nights so there will be no shortage of those. You are welcome to stay as long as you'd like, but I know eventually this town will need a Sheriff and seeing as Emma will be here for a few weeks, the jobs falls to you. Sleep will be necessary to perform those duties." Regina was burping Emily when Snow came into the kitchen, followed by Henry who both looked only slightly more rested than David did. Snow set to helping Emma with breakfast while henry went over to Regina and gave her and then his baby sister each a kiss.
"Morning dear, did you manage any sleep?" Henry nodded as he sat down next to his mother. "More than grandpa got. I woke up around 4 and checked on them, grandpa was asleep but the girls were getting ready to wail." Henry stood up and leaned over his mother's shoulder so he was close to his sister. "But we figured out a fun trick didn't we Emily?"
"I didn't hear them cry at 4." David remembered falling asleep with both babies also asleep sometime around 3:30 and he only remembered seeing Henry poke his head in the room, nothing more.
"You didn't hear them cry because my trick worked." Henry held out his arms to his mother. "May I?" Regina gladly handed over Emily and Henry carefully held his baby sister to his chest.
"Follow me grandpa." David shrugged his shoulders and followed Henry into the living room where the teenager put his iPod in the speaker system they had in the house. He hit a button and soon music was drifting through the room and he started moving around the living room "dancing" with his sister being held safely on his chest. Regina, Emma and Snow watched as David mimicked the action and eventually Henry started to sing with the music that had been playing.
Wise men say only fools rush in
but I can't help falling in love with you
Shall I stay
would it be a sin
If I can't help falling in love with you
Like a river flows surely to the sea
Darling so it goes
some things are meant to be
take my hand, take my whole life too
for I can't help falling in love with you
Like a river flows surely to the sea
Darling so it goes
some things are meant to be
take my hand, take my whole life too
for I can't help falling in love with you
for I can't help falling in love with you
When the music played out David looked at both babies and they were both sound asleep. Henry looked up at his mothers and smiled.
"They like Elvis. I sang Peace In The Valley last night and it knocked them out on the spot." Henry laid his sister down in the bassinet they had set up downstairs for the girls and David quickly put Davina in the bassinet next to the one Emily was in. Both men returned to the kitchen and Henry had a satisfied grin on his face as he sat down at the table.
"Emma make the rest of that bacon please." Regina said as she sat down. Emma frowned, "why, there is plenty there?"
"Because our son just saved us a lot of trouble and hours of lost sleep so I believe he deserves some kind of thank you. I believe bacon will be thanks enough." Regina winked at her son who seemed more than happy at the praise and the thought of extra bacon. Emma rolled her eyes and put the rest of the bacon in the pan, all the while mumbling, "who doesn't like Elvis?"
It's a bit of a filler chapter I know, but next chapter it'll just be mommies and babies time for a bit so we can explore other things. So shoot me ideas if you have them. Thanks for being patient guys; I just finished my Masters degree and I am finally on vacation for a bit before my Decorate starts.