Interlude

Later that night…

Since Emma often came home late in the evening it had been decided that she would take the downstairs bedroom and henry and her parents would sleep in the two rooms upstairs. For that reason, she often used the downstairs bathroom, the one with the claw footed tub favored by her mother. She was exhausted when she finally came in that night. The house was silent and she slipped off her boots so as not to wake her parents or son. She always believed herself to be in pretty good shape, but those two hours of horseback riding with her father had left her sore. All she wanted to do was soak in the tub and fall into bed. She padded into the bathroom and shrieked as her sock clad foot landed in a puddle of water. Fortunately, she was unaware of the fact that her parents had partaken of a bubble bath that had turned a little frisky. Emma no longer cared who she roused from a peaceful sleep. She stood at the bottom of the stairs and yelled up.

"Why are there puddles of water all over the bathroom floor?"

Charming snuggled close to his wife and rested his head on her shoulder. His hands were resting on her stomach, which was quickly becoming one of his favorite parts of her body. The farther she was along in her pregnancy the more he loved sleeping with his hands on their unborn child. Their daughter could be such a drama queen. He was sure that they had cleaned up most of the water that had landed on the bathroom floor. If he had not been so blissfully warm and comfortable, he would have gone downstairs and had it out with her.

Henry appeared at the top of the stairs and saw that it was indeed his mother doing the yelling and not a robber. He sleepily stumbled back to bed. Emma took off her wet socks and rolled them up in a ball and threw them into a corner of the living room. She then collapsed on her bed.

Charming heard the door to Henry's room open and close. All was quite from Emma downstairs. He inhaled the scent of his wife, the lavender from the bubble bath mixed with a scent that was uniquely Snow White.

"This is what Happy Ever After feels like." He thought to himself.

The next morning Emma glared at her father across the breakfast table making it nearly impossible for him to eat. He looked up the newspaper.

"Sorry about the water on the bathroom floor." He stated apologetically.

"Life is messy. I am used to it by now." Emma shrugged, but that did not stop her from giving him dirty looks.

"Emma, is something on your mind?" He sighed as he asked her.

"Have you told Mary Margaret about Jasmine trying to seduce you?" She asked in a snappish manner.

He put down the newspaper. "I don't intend to tell her and I would appreciate it if you kept the information to yourself as well." He remarked dryly.

"What happened to not keeping secrets from one and other?" She asked with more than a hint of accusation in her voice.

"If I thought that it was something your mother needed to know, I would tell her myself. She has a lot to worry about right now. She is dealing with the pregnancy and adjusting to us being a family and she is starting back to school. She does not need to worry about this!" He stated it with finality and raised the paper back up as a visual barrier. However, he could still feel Emma glaring at him.

Several weeks later

DA Spencer, better known as King George opened the door to Jasmine, better known as home wrecker extraordinary and current campaign manager of David Nolan's bid for Mayor of Stroybrooke.

"I brought wine." She informed him as she walked on the door. She went to a cabinet and brought out two glasses.

"Good we have much to discuss." He opened the wine and poured two glasses and handed her one. "Snow White has another ultrasound appointment tomorrow and I want you to make sure that her husband does not show up for the appointment." He sneered.

Jasmine considered for a moment, "doable, actually I find him quite doable." She smiled.

Spencer shook his head in disgust, "I do not understand the attraction he has for so many women." He cringed.

"Are you joking? He is brave, loyal, and gorgeous and most import, he is so good. The thrill of corrupting him is too powerful to resist. And to top it off, I have the chance to prove that lust and greed are more powerful than True Love."

"I like the way you think." Spencer admitted with admiration in his voice. "I don't know what made you so jaded when it comes to love, but it suites my purposes."

"True love is a myth and nothing lasts forever." Jasmine shrugged. "What time is her appointment?"

"3:30 am. I need him distanced for most of the afternoon. I am going to have a DNA sample taken from the child and I need to make sure that he is nowhere near the procedure." Spence admitted.

"Why do you need DNA test?" Jasmine asked.

"There is no point in going forward with my plan if Charming is not the father. I need proof." He stated casually.

"Isn't it a kind of an invasive test, won't she get suspicious?" Jasmine asked.

"That is why I am going to have the technician tell her that they suspect something is wrong with the development of the child." Spencer informed her.

The next day…

The bell rang dismissing class for the day. Snow White watched the eager young students as they raced out the door. She sat down hard in the chair behind her desk and closed her eyes.

Snow was starting to feel the emotional and physical effects of her 4th month of pregnancy. But she could not be happier teaching school again. She is looking forward to her ultrasound appointment scheduled for that afternoon. Her husband is supposed to meet her at the clinic and they are supposed to find out the gender of the baby. She could have found out earlier, but she wanted him to be there when she found out and he has missed her last two appointments. Running for mayor against Regina has left him busy. He has spent a great deal of time campaigning and that has left them with less time to spend together. One of the luxuries he no longer has time for is making it to her doctor's appointments. He has stopped personally overseeing the renovation of the cabin and she is not sure that the work is continuing without him. For that reason, they have not had much privacy at home and their intimacy has suffered. Each night when they got home he was tired and she was irritable and tensions were high. It had been two months since the joint bubble bath and that had been it. She couldn't even remember going two months without being together when they were under the curse. Mary Margaret and David had a better sex life than she was having at the moment.

She climbed to her feet and gathered up her belongings and tried to remain positive about her appointment.

Across town at that very moment…

Jasmine had engaged Charming in a game of one on one basketball as a means of distracting him. They had a photo session with a famous photographer scheduled for that morning and the photographer was getting exasperated because he could not get Charming to relax.

"We need to something to get your blood pumping." The photographer suggested.

"Basketball is your suggestion?" Charming asked skeptically.

"Well, I can think of one other thing that would get the desired result but it would require us to take off our clothes." Jasmine teased.

"I like the way you think." The photographer returned, "How do you feel about threesomes?" He winked at her.

"I am willing to try anything once." She smiled.

"We are all going to play basketball. Who is going to take the pictures?" Charming asked innocently.

Jasmine face palmed her forehead.

"Is this guy for real?" The photographer asked bewildered.

"Unfortunately, it is starting to look that way." She groaned. "We better just stick to basketball if you want to get your photos shot this week." She explained. "No one can be that incorruptible." She stated under her breath.

"Can we make this fast, I only have about an hour before I have to meet Snow across town for her ultrasound appointment." Charming informed them.

"Don't worry I will keep an eye on the clock." Jasmine lied

She hoped it was enough to distract him and give King George the time he needed to do whatever the hell it was that he needed to do.

It did work and the photographer got his shots and Prince Charming completely lost track of time.

Meanwhile…

Snow was lying on the exam table and staring at the clock. The ultrasound was almost complete and her husband was still not there.

"Everything looks fine to me," The tech informed her, "I will email the images to your doctor and he will look at them though." He pressed a button and the images were sent as an attachment.

"The baby is in the right position of you would like to know your child's gender?" He asked.

"Thank you Harry, but I am waiting for my husband. We want to find out together." She looked at the clock again.

"We can wait a few minutes, but then I really need to leave. I have another appointment."

Snow eyed the clock nervously.

Across town…

Jasmine and Charming walked into the loft that they were using as a campaign headquarters.

"Why can't you just admit that I won because I am the better sportsman?" He asked as he wiped perspiration from his brow.

"You won because you are 6 inches taller than I am and you cheated!" Jasmine insisted playfully.

"I never have to cheat, because I am just naturally good at sports." He countered.

"How noble, but everybody cheats at one time or another." She pointed out sarcastically.

"Not me." He stated with feeling.

Jasmine looked down at a gold box that had just been delivered.

"Godiva Chocolates these are so good. You should try one." She opened the box and offered him one.

"Lady Godiva is selling chocolate now?" He asked perplexed.

"That is just the name of the company." She took a bite of one of the chocolates and exclaimed, "This is heaven. You really should try it." She tried to force him to take a bite of the piece of candy she had just sampled.

"You ate part of that one, besides it has a marshmallow filling and I hate marshmallow!" He exclaimed in disgust.

He looked up at the clock and noticed the time. With panic in his voice he asked, "Is that really the time?"

Jasmine shrugged and replied, "There is no reason why that clock should be wrong."

"I told you we could only play for an hour. I was supposed to meet Snow for her ultrasound appointment two hours ago."

"I guess we were having so much fun that we lost track of time." Jasmine stated innocently.

"It is your job to keep track of time. I told you I had an important appointment! I need to take a shower and try and find my wife and make this up to her." He stated angrily.

"I picked you out two suites to wear tonight." Jasmine informed him. "Look them over and decide between the two."

"You are dressing me now?" He asked with frustration in his voice.

"I am your campaign manager. It is part of my job to make sure that you make a good impression. This dinner tonight will help you reach out to you voters." She instructed.

He ran his hand through his hair. He had forgotten.

"I will be wearing purple. So I left you a purple tie. It would be good if me matched, but I left you several other choices as well." She patted him on the cheek.

The loft had a bathroom and that was where he was headed.

"Do you need someone to scrub your back?" She asked hopefully.

He looked at her as if she had grown and extra head.

Meanwhile…

Snow had given up hope that her husband would make it to the appointment. She had sent the technician to his next appointment and was starting to get redressed when a nurse came in with a sever expression on her face.

"I am sorry Ms. Blanchard but the doctor reviewed the ultrasound and he thinks there maybe a problem. He would like us to perform a few extra tests." The nurse was rummaging around in a drawer.

Snow felt that the ground beneath her had opened up and she was being swallowed whole. She reached out to hold onto the hand of her husband and found that he still was not there. She gulped back tears and tried to remain calm.

"There maybe something wrong with the development of the lungs of the fetus." The nurse informed her as she pulled out the longest needle Snow White had ever seen.

"Can these tests wait until my husband is here?" She pleaded with near tears in her eyes.

"They are really very simple and painless for both you and the fetus. They will be over in a couple of minutes and then the doctor will be able to review the results and decide on a course of action."

"Unless you stop referring to my child as a fetus and tell me what is going on this minute I will do something drastic to you and it will not be quick, simple or painless!" She seethed.

The nurse gave her an unhinged smile.

"I can always sedate you if need be." The nurse threatened. She bent over Snow with a needle in her hand. She placed a hand on the stomach of the Princess and then pulled it back as if she had been attacked. She had received a very nasty shock.

The nurse was momentarily distracted and Snow used that distraction to her full advantage. She pushed the nurse over against a cabinet and ran for her life. She collided in the hallway with another person. She looked up and saw that it was Emma and she clung to her.

Across town…

The minute that Charming was alone in the bathroom he pulled out his cell phone and tried to call his wife. All he got was her voice mail.

Meanwhile…

"I was just coming to see how your appointment went." Emma looked perplexed when she saw that her mother was still wearing an exam gown.

"Something is not right here." Her mother informed her with fear in her eyes.

"I can tell from the look on your face that something is wrong. Where is David?" Emma asked suspiciously.

"I don't know. He never showed up for the appointment and then a nurse came in and said that there was something wrong with the lungs on the baby and she had a needle Emma and I ran!"

Emma looked at her mother with concerned eyes and saw that she was nearly hysterical.

Emma opened the door to the exam room and peered inside.

"The room is empty." She informed her mother.

Snow looked in and was perplexed by what she saw. "I did not imagine it!" She insisted firmly.

Emma held up a discarded needle. "I know you didn't imagine it. Is this the needle?"

"Yes," Her mother said firmly, "Was she trying to inject me with something? She mentioned sedation."

Emma looked closely at the needle. "There is nothing in it. It could be that she was going to do the test ordered by your doctor. I will help you get dressed and then we can go talk to him and get to the bottom of this."

Emma helped her mother put on her clothes and then helped her to stand up. Snow was unsteady on her feet.

"I think we should go down to the cafeteria and get you something to eat and then we will go see the doctor." Emma suggested.

"We will go see him first and then go to the cafeteria." Her mother insisted as she marched upstairs to the doctor's office.

Snow stormed into the doctor's office and stared him square in the eyes.

"What is wrong with my baby?" She asked with anger in her voice.

The doctor looked up from his computer.

"Good morning Ms Blanchard. I am looking at the ultrasound pictures right now and as far as I can see, your child is developing fine." The doctor stated calmly.

Snow was left speechless, so Emma intervened on her behalf.

"Did you request a test that involved a freaking long needle because you had some concerns about the lung development of the child?" Emma calmly asked.

"I did not request any tests. There is nothing wrong with the lung development of the child or any other aspect of development. What you are describing sounds as if someone was trying to take a DNA sample." He stated simply.

Meanwhile…

Jasmine had gone around the corner and called King George/DA Spencer.

"I hope you got what you needed," She informed him, "Because I don't think I am going to be employed as his manager for much longer." She informed him.

"I did not get what I needed. The incompetent nurse was unable to get a simple SNA sample. I am going to have to go forward with my plans without that information." He stated angrily.

"I think the man must have no interest in sex whatsoever. How he even helped conceive a child, much less two of them is beyond me." Jasmine snorted angrily.

"You assured me you could seduce him!" George replied with venom in his voice.

"There are a couple of things I can try tonight at the dinner. First of all, I can get him drunk and then I can pull out my sob story about lost love." She smiled.

Across town…

Snow felt a little better after Emma bought her a malt soda at the diner.

"Do you think that Doctor Whale might have tried to get a DNA sample?" She asked Emma.

"I doubt it. I think he just suggested that to try and wind up David. The man is a doctor he should know that there is no way in hell that he could be the father of your child unless you are carrying a pachyderm." Emma shrugged.

"True. Do you think I over reacted to that nurse?" Snow asked cautiously.

"It is a mother's job to overreact. If your doctor didn't order the test, then something bad was going on. I think you reacted to a dangerious situation." Emma ate a French fry.

Marco walked into the diner and spotted Snow and Emma sitting in a booth.

He approached them hesitantly.

Snow looked up and smiled and waved him over.

"Marco, how is the cabin renovation commencing?" She asked happily.

He looked down at his feet in embarrassment.

"Is there a problem?" Snow asked.

"I hate to bother you with this, but it has been several months since I have been able to buy materials or pay my workers." He said sadly.

"Has David blown through the treasure already?" Emma asked sarcastically.

"All I know is that I have purchase orders that must be signed, but whenever I leave messages for the Prince he does not return my calls." Marco replied.

"I am sure it must be some kind of a mistake." Snow assured him. "Can I sign the purchase orders?" She asked.

"I am sorry; it must be the signature of David Nolan. If you were his wife it would be different" He told her apologetically.

Snow nodded in understanding. That was another thing that had fallen by the wayside; their plans to get remarried had all but evaporated.

"Never mind, I have lots of money. 28 years on a teacher's salary allows you to sock away a lot in savings. I will write you a check." She pulled out her check book and scribbled an amount.

"Is this enough to pay the workers and buy materials?" She asked.

He took the check and his eyes grew big, "It is more than enough." He promised as he went away happy.

Snow frowned.

"Do you think he might have spent the treasure?" Emma asked.

"What could he have possibly spent that much money on?" Her mother exclaimed. "The last time we checked on the treasure we had hardly made a dent in it. That was a month or so ago. I know he is paying the4 rent on the loft he is using for the headquarters for his run for mayor. I guess he pays Jasmine a salary." She frowned again.

Snow's cell phone rang for what must have been the 20th time in the past 30 minutes. She looked at the caller ID and refused the call for the 20th time.

"Is that David calling again?" Emma asked rolling her eyes.

"It is your father calling." She stated angrily. "I can not think of what could have possibly sidetracked him this afternoon!"

"I have an idea." Emma stated sadly.

Snow bit the middle of her bottom lip, "Emma do you know something that I need to know about your father?" She gave her daughter an intimidating look.

She then proceeded to tell Snow about Jasmine's attempts at seducing David and how she was afraid that one of those attempts had seceded.

Snow's eyes grew large and serious, "Emma do you think that your father is cheating on me with Jasmine?" She asked.

Emma thought for a moment, "I don't know. It might explain the missing money. Have you guys been, you know close lately?" She asked seriously.

"No, but we have both been busy." Snow considered how weak that argument sounded. "If you father is cheating on me, and that is a huge if in my book, I will kill them both." She seethed.

"No court would convict a pregnant woman." Emma informed her. "I'll drive you to the loft, but first we need to make a stop and pick up something."

"What?" Her mother asked.

"We need to stop by the closed library and pick up my father's sword." Emma coolly informed her mother.

Snow had insisted on checking on the treasure as well. When they got to the cave they found that it was undisturbed and looked pretty much the same as it had the last time Snow had seen it. He husband had not burned through their nest egg.

Snow felt incredibly silly walking up to the loft carrying a sword, but Emma had suggested. The door was unlocked and she pushed it aside. The loft was furnished sparsely. A couch with a coffee table satin the middle of the room and there was a long table with banks of phones that volunteers used to call potential voters. There was a pile of posters stating that David Nolan was the man to lead Storybrooke. There was a folder of proofs from the photographic session earlier in the day. She looked through them and was surprised to see that they were of him playing one on one basketball with Jasmine. She noted a hunger in his eyes that she never seen before. She shuddered and closed the folder. There was a hanging rack with a garment bag on a hanger. She was about to unzip the bag when she heard the shower running. All kinds of horrible thoughts ran through her mind. As she made her way to the bathroom she held the sword out in front of her. She closed her eyes as she opened the shower door.

She stood there with her eyes tightly shut, with his sword in her hands and waited for her husband to kiss her and wake her up from the nightmare.