Thanks to oncer4life11, Araya and Emilee Amethyst for the reviews!

Leaning against the windowsill in my room, I was looking at the yard in front of me and quietly sighted in discouragement. The air was smelling like summer : the sun was brightly shinning and the birds were joyfully singing in the trees. We were right in the middle of June, but it was really hot outside, and it was not difficult to guess a pretty big heatwave was awaiting for us out there. It wouldn't have bothered me at all if I hadn't found myself in my current situation, I had always liked the sun. Everyone always seemed so much happier in summer. But I was now 17 weeks pregnant, and I was forced to wear big sweaters in order to hide my baby bump. My stomach had become impossible to hide under normal clothes, and the town's citizens couldn't learn about the new baby. But with the weather, it was starting to get horribly hard to keep going that way. I would have given anything to walk outside wearing a simple t-shirt without worrying about people knowing I was pregnant. But Zelena, who was hiding somewhere after her unsuccessful try two weeks ago, had decided otherwise. I sighted once again and absent-mindlessly placed my hand on my stomach to stroke it with my thumb.

What wouldn't I do to protect you, I thought with half a smile.

"Swan! What are you doing? We're already late!"

Killian's voice startled me, and I turned back to see him walk into the room, Liam in his arms. He put our son back on the ground, and our little boy immediately started to climb on our bed to indulge in his favorite activity : jumping on the mattress, what was usually ending up by a fall and cries.

We had to go to my parents' to talk about the best way to defeat the witch. We had thought about several action plans already, but they had all failed when we had tried to put them into action. We didn't know exactly where Zelena was, we had looked everywhere but she was definitely very good at hiding. I knew deep down running after her wasn't going to help us at all : she would show herself when she would want to, and we had to be ready for that moment. But not doing anything was driving me crazy, especially with my pregnancy that was becoming more and more noticeable, and I couldn't stay still. We had to do something, even if it wasn't really useful. I had to feel like we were controlling the situation, even if I knew it was only an illusion.

"Calm down, Liam." I sighted, lifting my son up and forcing him to sit down so he stopped jumping all around. "You remember when you fell down yesterday? It wasn't nice, was it? So stay still."

My son looked at me like I was the worst mother on earth, and seeing he was about to start whining, I sat down next to him and took it on my lap to avoid his cries. My try worked the way I had hoped it would, because he instantly started to smile and cuddled into my arms.

"I thought you had fallen asleep again." Killian confessed, settling next to me and referring to the fact I was so tired these past few days I could fall asleep anywhere. The other day, he had actually walked away for literally two minutes as we were watching a movie, only to find me asleep on the couch when he had come back into the room.

"With your scream, I would have woken up anyway." I gently teased him, half a smile on my face. "Don't worry, though. I'm almost ready."

I gave him Liam to get up and go put on the big sweater that was laying on the back of a chair. Killian looked at me, frowning as I was rolling my sleeves up to keep the colder possible. But I had to do it, it was the only thing allowing me to protect my baby from Zelena. He glanced at me, looking so sorry, and said as I was approaching him :

"I'm so sorry you have to live that kind of things, love, really. If only I could do something to help you..."

"I'm fine." I shrugged, deciding to pretend that everything was okay in order no to worry him even more. "I'm only a bit warm, I'm going to survive. And you help me a lot just by being there, I'm telling you." I added, and that made him smile a little bit as he was placing his hand on the small of my back. "What mostly worries me is the fact we can't go on like this forever. My pregnancy is going to get noticeable sooner or later, even with the sweaters on. And then, I have no idea how we are going to do..."

"We'll find a solution." He promised, without really looking that convinced himself but I knew he was trying to comfort me. "Don't worry about that. And we'll manage to defeat the witch soon, I know it. We've done it several times already..."

"Yeah, we did such a good job she came back." I skeptically jeered.

"I know." He said with a small smile because of my comment. "But try to stay calm for now, okay? I really don't want you to worry too much. It's not good for you nor the little one."

I slowly nodded, touched by his concern, and he took my hand to hold it for a few seconds, pressing a light kiss on it to comfort me. I didn't even know how to tell him how important it was for me he was always there beside me. I would probably have gone crazy without him, but he was always there to reassure me when I was feeling bad or scared. He was always taking me into his arms when I was having one of my nightmares in which Zelena was hurting someone I loved. He was whispering comforting words in my ear, promising me everything would be okay and he would never let anyone hurt me. Sometimes, he was so convincing I was actually believing him. I sighted, turned my head to look at the clock and said :

"We should go. Regina is going to kill us if we're late."

He nodded with a smile, and we walked down the stairs to find Henry, who was already waiting for us in the hallway. When I opened the front door, the heat of the day hit me like a punch in the stomach and I slowly walked toward the car. I didn't know if I was going to be able to keep going like that for much longer. My hormones suddenly made my mood change completely, and I mumbled, a bit angry :

"It's gonna be a long day."

Killian didn't answer anything but looked at me in worry before leaning forward to press a gentle kiss on my temple. It wasn't much, but his support made me feel a bit better. I forced myself to smile to comfort him and climbed into the yellow bug with a discouraged sight.

We were the last ones to arrive at the little meeting happening at my parents'. Harry, Ron and Hermione were already sitting on the living room couch, looking deeply anxious. We had a way to send them home now, but we didn't know when we could use it, and I could easily understand their worry. Regina was pacing in the room, obviously in a bad mood, and she started talking at the moment we walked into the loft :

"It's about time!"

"I knew you would bitch about it." I said, rolling my eyes in annoyance.

"Well, next time try to be there on time, then."

"We're here to find a solution, not to argue." My mom tempered at the time I was opening my mouth to reply something, wanting to avoid a real argument. "We have too many problems to moan because they are late. They are here now, and it's the most important."

I nodded, aware that she was right and closed my mouth with a sight. I walked into my parents' room to say hi to my brother, who hadn't heard us arriving, to busy playing with his toys. I put Liam next to Neal on the floor where a huge amount of toys was scattered, and my baby brother smiled at me, wrapping his arms around my neck to greet me :

"Emma!" He shouted as I was gently stroking his back, moved by how happy he looked every time he was seeing me.

"How are you, sweetie?" I asked with a little laugh because of his enthusiasm.

"Great! And you?"

"I'm fine." I said with a small smile.

"And how is Peanut?"

He tried to wink at me but failed and closed both his eyes at the same time, and I burst out laughing. My brother was definitely very happy to play this code name game, and I had to admit his reactions were making me laugh a lot. The kids were brightening up my days. My family was helping me staying positive while I had the feeling I could break down sometimes, and I was so happy to finally be surrounded by people I could trust and who loved me. I had waited for that my entire life, and even if we had to face pretty difficult situations in this town sometimes, I was so happy to know they were by my side, always.

"It's really fine." I gently answered, playfully fluffing his hair to tease him.

"Peanut?" Ron asked as he had heard our conversation and probably wondering what we could be talking about.

"Yeah, it's, hum… Liam's golden fish." I lied, getting on my feet to walk back into the living room. "He's very attached to it."

"A fish who is called Peanut?" He said, looking at me as if I had gone completely crazy.

"Hey, don't question a two-year-old's tastes"

I saw Killian hiding his laugh behind a fake cough, and I had to force myself to keep serious so Ron would believe the excuse I had made up. I approached Hook and placed my hand on his back to share a smile with him as my family and I were looking at each other, eyes sparkling in amusement.

"Okay, let's talk." My mom started, changing the subject and giving us the opportunity to calm down a bit by doing so. "We need a plan."

"You're not taking your sweater off?" Ron asked me, staring at me with a frown and not paying attention to my mom, who glanced at him with an eyebrow raised in annoyance.

"No, it's fine." I casually answered, hoping this would be enough for him to stop asking questions.

"Fine? It's super warm outside, it's crazy!" He protested, shaking his head.

"She's skittish." Killian shrugged, coming to my rescue and placing his hand on the small of my back as if he wanted to shelter me from Ron's questioning look.

"Yeah, but..."

"Okay." Regina cut him off, rolling her eyes. "Are we here to try to send you back home or to talk about Emma's wardrobe?"

I glanced at her to quietly thank her for her intervention. I didn't really know what do to explain the wizard why I was dressed so warmly while the weather was so beautiful. Ron pulled himself together and his sheepish expression worsened when he saw how mad Hermione was looking.

"Okay." The witch said, shifting away from her husband and shaking her head, still looking a bit angry because of his behavior. "Do you have any idea of what we could do to defeat Zelena?"

"We have to know where she is hiding before trying anything." My mom said, biting her lower lip in worry.

"We already know she's not in the house she was living in before." My dad said, probably in a try to reassure everyone. "It's a good start. She's probably hiding somewhere in the forest."

"Did you see how big the woods are?" Regina replied, her eyebrows raised and still looking deeply nervous. "It would take us days to finally locate her"

"It's better than staying here doing nothing." Killian stated with a shrug.

Thinking with the others about what we could do, I walked toward the kitchen to take an orange that was laying in a bowl of fruit on the counter. I then approached my friends again, absent-mindlessly handing the fruit one hand from another, biting the inside of my cheek to try and focus more easily.

"Killian's right." I said, looking at my family without really seeing them as I was trying to stay optimistic. "We need to do something. We outnumber her, and a lot of us can use magic. She can't do much against us, especially now that we know she's here for Robyn."

"You can tell whatever you want, but as long as we don't know where she is, we can't do anything against her." Regina winced.

"Well, the best thing to do is to have a plan for when she'll decide to show herself, then." I countered. "We'll be waiting for her, and we'll be so ready we'll defeat her."

"I think it's the best thing to do for now." Harry nodded, looking a bit lost in his thoughts as his expression was a bit blank because of his concentration. "Let's just hope she won't stay hidden for much longer. I would like to go back to my home before the end of the year"

I smiled at his comment, still throwing the fruit in the air and catching it with my other hand without really realizing it. I was hoping to find a solution very quickly, not only to finally tell everyone about my pregnancy, but also because I was feeling very bad for the wizards. Being apart from their families was a real torture for them, and I was feeling guilty not to be able to do anything to help them for now. I was feeling helpless, and it was awful.

"Okay, y'all are going to say I'm changing the subject again." Ron said, looking up to me and driving me away from my thoughts. "But you're going to eat this orange soon, right? Seriously, stop it, it's driving me crazy."

"You really have something against me toda..."

My joke got stuck into my throat, and I almost choked on my own breath. I had just felt a kick in my stomach. It was very slight, but I was sure I hadn't imagined it. Of course I was expecting that kind of thing to happen, because I was already in my 17th week of pregnancy, and babies were always starting to kick around that time. But I had never thought it would happen in public, while we were thinking about a plan and were supposed to focus. And it was making me so happy. It was kicking. My baby was actually kicking, it was there, inside of me, and I was already loving it so much.

Everything went very fast. I forced myself not to place my hand on my stomach, what would have completely ruined our try to keep my pregnancy secret, but I grabbed Killian's wrist to calm me down a bit, and let go of the fruit, that fell on the floor in a muffled sound.

"Love, are you okay?"

I pulled myself together the faster possible and quickly let go of Hook's wrist to avoid questions. Unfortunately, everyone had noticed my strange behavior, and they were all looking at me as if I had suddenly changed into a ghost.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I… I just blacked out for a second." I lied in a shaky voice, trying hard not to smile like an idiot.

I squatted to pick the orange up and try to settle down a bit as my heart was pounding in excitement in my chest. I didn't know if I was going to start crying or laughing. It was my third pregnancy, sure, but feeling the baby's kicks was always so magical. Killian placed his hand on my shoulder and asked, looking deeply worried :

"Are you sure you're okay? You seem weird..."

I looked up to him and offered him a huge smile, but it didn't seem to reassure him at all. I could actually easily understand him : I was probably looking like a mad woman for the people who didn't know what had just happened. He reached for my hand to help me get up and stared at me with a frown. I really wanted to find an excuse and get out of the loft for a bit to share this special moment with him : he was the father, and it was such a magical moment because it was making everything so real. We were having a new baby. And I could easily remember how glad he was to feel Liam kicking when I was pregnant with our son. He was going to be so happy about the news. He needed to know.

"I'm going out for a bit, I need some fresh air." I said, panting a little bit. "You coming with me?"

"Of course." He answered, still looking concerned and following me as I was crossing the apartment's door.

I ran down the stairs, not managing to control myself because I was too excited to tell him what was going on, and I waited for him at the bottom of the stairs, bouncing up and down with a big smile. He joined me a few seconds later and placed his hand on my waist, asking me in worry :

"What's wrong, baby? You're not feeling well?"

I shook my head to comfort him and looked all around me to make sure we were alone. The hallway was empty, but I still dragged him behind the staircase so no one could hear or see us.

"No, I'm fine, I just needed an excuse to get out of there. The baby has kicked for the first time." I whispered, smiling as I was myself putting my hand on his chest.

"What? Seriously?" He said, his eyes widening in awe and he immediately placed his hand on my stomach.

I mentally prayed for the baby to move so he could feel it too, but nothing happened, and I pouted. I shrugged, a bit sad as I was seeing his look of disappointment because I really wanted to share this moment of joy with him and it wasn't the same if he wasn't feeling the baby as well.

"It's okay, babe, I'm sure it'll move again very soon." I comforted him, my other hand landing on his forearm. "I just wanted to tell you. I thought it was important."

"I know." He said, looking up to me with sparkling eyes, looking deeply moved by the situation. "It's really great."

Without even thinking about what I was doing, I pulled him closer to me to press my lips against his. The baby's first kick had put me in such a good mood, and I just wanted to feel him against me and enjoy the touch of his skin against mine. He kissed me back, so passionately that my back hit the wall behind me. He was definitely very happy as well. I laughed through our kiss and ran my hands down his chest, grabbing his waist to glue my body to his. The baby suddenly kicked again, and Killian, who had left his hand on my stomach, pulled away from me, his eyes widened in awe. He stayed still and quiet for a few seconds, stroking my bump, and I smiled at how adorable he looked. He then started to move again, and he held me close to resume his kisses. I felt his hand making its way under my sweater, then my shirt, and his fingers finally met my skin. I moved to take his jacket off as his lips on my neck were making me moan in pleasure, and it fell down on the ground. Nothing else mattered that being close to him. I didn't even know where I was anymore. I just wanted to be with him, and I wasn't even thinking about the fact we were in a public place and anyone could find us in that position.

We got interrupted by steps ringing in the stairs, and we hastily pulled away from each other. We shared a look as we were just realizing where we actually were, his hand still on my back, mine in his hair, as my skin was still burning from lust. I looked on my side to see who was coming, and recognized my father walking into the hallway, his back to us :

"Emma? Hook? Are you there?"

"If we answer him and he finds us here like that, we will never hear the end of it." I whispered, biting my lower lip to try not to laugh, what would have made David come in our direction.

Killian nodded, silently laughing as well, and I placed my head on his shoulder to stifle my giggles as his hand was still under my shirt. My dad ended up going out of he building, probably thinking we were outside. I pulled away from Killian, and he kissed my lips one last time before we both went out of our hideaway, still laughing like two teenagers. I kept his hand in mine as we were walking up the stairs to finally join my parents' loft.

"Emma!" My mom said when she saw us crossing the door, still smiling like two perfect idiots. "Are you okay? You stayed out there for a very long time, we were beginning to worry. Your father went to search for you. You haven't seen him?"

"No, we haven't." I lied, biting the inside of my cheek to erase my smile. "And I'm fine, I just needed some fresh air.

"Are you sure you're okay? Your cheeks are really red." Henry asked, raising an eyebrow at me, guessing that something was off about us.

I looked into the mirror hanging on the back of the front door to watch my reflexion. My son was right. My cheeks were bright red, and I placed my hand on them to try to cool them down a bit. My heart was still pounding very fast in my chest and I was feeling a bit dizzy. But I knew I needed to calm down if I didn't want my close ones to start asking embarrassing questions.

"It's because of my sicknesses, you know what it is..."

I looked at Killian, who was trying hard not to start laughing. Regina skeptically stared at us for a few seconds, and I answered her with my best innocent smile. Hook finally let go of a chuckle, but he covered it with a cough, mumbling something about a bloody cold that had never existed.

I was finding it so beautiful that after years spent together, two kids and a third on its way, we were still madly in love with each other and behaving like two teenagers who were living their first love. We looked at each other, biting our bottom lips, and he placed his hand on the small of my back to pull me a little bit closer to him. The conversation started again, and we talked about more serious things. Despite all my efforts to calm down, my cheeks were still burning and my heart kept on pounding, exacerbated by Killian, who was playfully running his fingers up and down my spine to kindly tease me.