A/N: so after there was a debacle regarding the Graham situation on tumblr - I figured most of us were probably in need of a dose of what a friend of mine has dubbed "Vitamin Squee."
Unfortunately, my muse has decided to be a bit whiny about doing my current prompts, so I decided to take a chance on unprompted fluff - which has not turned out as fluffy as I intended.
Enchanted Forest Reunion Post 3x11 verse. Some notes - there is no Zelena, and Marian is not dead b/c Robin/Marian is OTP 5ever and I'm not ever going to write a verse where OQ could even be inferred by you guys b/c of canon and whatnot. No. My verses are Robin/Marian or not at all. And I only bring that up because in the first piece Graham was hanging out with Robin's gang.
They've been in the Enchanted Forest for a few months now, the people from Storybrooke.
Henry seems rather taken with this world, if missing a few of the modern conveniences. Graham worries about Emma sometimes, though.
It's almost funny how he's thinking about that when he enters their chambers and sees her sitting, curled into herself, at the window. Almost. Not quite.
He sits with her, and she shifts automatically, curling onto his lap, her head tucked almost awkwardly into the crook of his neck. Her sadness is overwhelming and he worries for what might have caused this.
"Em, what's wrong? Did- Did something happen to the baby?" he asks, frightened, his palm finding her still nearly-flat stomach through the silken fabric of the dress she wears. She'd tried to refuse the fancy, princess-y clothes a million times, but her mother wouldn't listen.
"No, no, nothing like that, we're fine. I promise," she shakes her head, placing her hand atop his, "I- I was going to tell Mary Margaret."
"But you didn't?" he picks up, quietly prompting her to continue. They've known for maybe a month now, been talking about telling Henry and her parents for the past week. With their own little cottage in the woods almost done - because they could not stay in this castle forever, neither one of them - the timing seemed right. Their own home, their own family, all at once, even if Snow was still planning them an extravagant wedding they wanted no part of simply because she could.
"I didn't get the chance. I started to, but- She completely misunderstood me. She thought I was asking if she was- Asked how I figured it out, because she hasn't even told David. Got excited and ran off to tell him." She shifts, turning sideways, her head moving to rest against his heart. He holds her tighter, knowing how hard everything has been for her, a new world, adjusting to having a family, having to share the castle with a good portion of the kingdom, having to share Henry with both Regina and Neal in a way that was fair to all three of them. Adjusting to him not being dead, even. So he had been revived almost immediately, she hadn't known that. Emma was strong, but her world had turned on its head.
And she had been so worried about their own child - about how that would change their lives - and now she also had to deal with the fact that she was to be a sister as well.
"It's not fair," she mutters, and his hand comes up to stroke her hair, "I know I shouldn't be upset but I am. They deserve a chance to be parents but- That baby is going to get everything I ever wanted and could never have. I should be happy for them but all- All I feel is sad and jealous."
"If anyone in the world is allowed to be jealous, it's you Em. Everything you were supposed to have was torn away from you for no good reason," he soothes. They have never quite talked about the life she was supposed to have, where she would have been a princess and he would have been one of the monsters to scare her to sleep at night, the Queen's dreaded Huntsman, a heartless beast he is certain she never would have seen past to love.
"But I didn't- Graham, I didn't lose everything I was supposed to have. Without the curse- I would have never had Henry. Or you. And that- That would have been miserable. Not that the life I had growing up wasn't, but- You two- And our baby- You make it worth it."
"You know I feel the same," he agrees, a warm feeling stirring within him at Emma's statement that he makes her life worth it. No one before her has placed value on him, "But you're still allowed to wish that you'd had that life."
"How can we tell them now, though? The timing is all wrong, we can't- We can't steal their happiness."
"The timing might not be ideal, but this- This isn't stealing their happiness. If anything, it will make them even happier. This is their grandchild. Their family is growing. That's- That's what they've always wanted."
"That's not what I meant," she sighs, a small smile lighting her face for a split second.
"I know," he stands, pulling Emma up with him, and kissing her tenderly, "But we can't change it. Now come on. Let's go find those parents of yours, shall we?"