AN~ This was the first chapter I EVER wrote for this fic. It's, surprisingly, not the worst of them.
Baby.
The word shocked Henry to his core.
A baby?
No.
She just couldn't be pregnant. It was impossible.
Of course, he'd love the baby. That was the problem. He'd love this little kid so much, and they'd be bringing it into this crazy world full of people who lived forever and monsters who killed brave men before there time; a world where one little mistake brought the entire world crashing down on top of you. It was bad enough that he'd brought Veronica into this mess, but a baby?
They'd have to leave. That was the only possible answer.. He would take Veronica and the baby away. Someplace else, someplace safe. Manhattan, maybe.
Mom would be upset, of course, but there was nothing he could do about that. They had to leave. To keep the baby safe.
Sabrina.
That was the baby's name. It was a good name, pretty.
He held little Sabrina in his arms for the first time and smiled wider than he could remember smiling since before his dad died. Definitely wider than he'd smiled since his wedding. His baby.
Three years later, Ronnie was pregnant again, and he watched as his baby went off to her first day of preschool. It was hard to see the little girl he cared about so much walk off to an unknown, a place she could be hurt (even though she'd been determined to go on her own, without her parents holding her hand on the short walk from the drive to the building). He almost ran after her, to protect her, to bring her back, but Veronica grabbed his arm and held it, smiling.
"She'll be fine."
And he knew that, it was just hard to let her go.
After all, she was his baby.
Daphne was born, and Sabrina stared at the dark-haired infant in her father's arms.
"It's so tiny!" was her first comment.
She looked worried, though, even though she was obviously fascinated.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"What's gonna happen to me now that you have another baby?"
He almost laughed. "Sweetheart, you'll always be my baby."
And it was true. Sabrina was the first, and she was a treasure. He wasn't sure how much more he could love, his heart was so full of Veronica and his two daughters.
Five years after that, as he drifted off into a sleep he could not resist, his last thought was of his baby, his little Sabrina.
Not so little anymore, was his first thought when he woke up again.
He didn't know how much time had passed. All he knew was that he had to get home, had to protect his babies from whatever might happen without him there to keep them safe.
And then he saw them. Daphne didn't look much different, the same small laughing girl with the dark braids, but Sabrina, his baby- what had happened?
She stood there, staring at him, and her face was so different. Harder, without the smiles that had been there before. Sadder, too. And older. More mature. He was instantly heartbroken at the loss of his baby girl's innocence.
He didn't like Puck.
It was obvious that Sabrina did, but he couldn't stand the way that boy looked at his baby, his Sabrina (particularly when he mentioned that they were going to get married- the girl was twelve, for goodness sakes! Nobody decided who they were going to marry at twelve!).
Of course, she almost wasn't his Sabrina anymore. So much had happened over the two years he'd been asleep that it was impossible to fathom. But she would always be his baby, his headstrong baby who took stupid risks and saved the world, because she couldn't help it. It was her nature.
When she was dying, that was all he could care about. Even knowing that he was an Everafter, when all he'd wanted to be since his dad died was an ordinary safe human with a family, didn't phase him. His baby girl was dying, poisoned by someone they'd thought was a friend, and there was nothing he could do about it.
He thought his heart might shatter.
And here she was, sixteen and beautiful and taking another risk; going to rescue her sister from who knows what. And he couldn't follow her.
"Be carefu," he whispered in her ear, giving her a hug.
"Dad, I'm not a little girl anymore." She laughed. "I can take care of myself. Besides, Puck'll be with me." She ran off, pulling a bag further onto her back as she grabbed Puck's hand.
"I know," he said, watching as they flew off together, not caring that she couldn't hear. "But you'll always be my baby."
Always.