Disclaimer: I do not own The 10th Kingdom. This is merely a fanfiction.

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"How many dirty diapers can one kid produce?!"

Leone was at his wits end. His eyes were wide, dark bags under them, as baby Fen kicked and squealed as the assassin tried to change his clothe. Virginia and Tony stood behind him, arms folded.

"Watch his legs," Virginia insisted.

"I could use some help here!" Leone shot back over his shoulder.

"Oh no, you're doing great," Virginia replied dryly. "Besides, I handled the last ten diapers and my dad did the last five. You want to help out so much, here you go!"

Leone frowned as the baby kicked a pin out of his hand. He bent down to grab it.

"I should warn you –" Tony started.

Leone was back up on his feet. A yellow jet shot up into his face.

"- to watch out for that," Tony finished.

Leone stood there, shocked, perplexed. He slammed his hand down on the table. "That is enough! I have been urinated on, defecated on, spit up on! Enough!" Baby Fen's face scrunched up at the yelling and his lips twisted. His mouth opened. Leone saw the warning signs. "Oh no, don't cry! Please don't cry, I didn't mean it! Please, I can't take another bout of -"

An ear-piercing wail shuddered through the house. Fen kicked his little baby feet and his little wolf tail swished from side-to-side.

"Now look what you've done!" Virginia scowled. She stormed over and gently scooped the child into her arms. "There, there, mommy's got you. No ill-tempered, cranky assassin is gonna hurt you."

Leone's nose wrinkled as she passed him.

"I am not cranky!"

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Acorn and Mother Holle sat at a table in the small kitchen sipping tea as the group argued in the other room as the baby cried. Prince lay at their feet, his ears over his eyes, trying to drown out the sound of the baby's wailing. Acorn lifted his mug to his lips.

"Sounds like they got everythin' under control."

"Quite right," Mother Holle agreed, not wanting to get up from the comfy wood chair. "Another biscuit, eh?"

They passed a plate of cookies between themselves, enjoying their sweets and the sounds of the comedy show going on in the next room.

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"Give him here! Come on – it's Grandpa time! Gimme!" Tony was practically jumping up and down, his hands outstretched and fingers wiggling.

Virginia rocked the crying baby in her arms. "No way, you already had him. Besides, he's crying and he needs his Momma, isn't that right my little cub?"

"He's crying because he wants his Gramps! Come on, gimme!"

Virginia sighed as she passed the swaddled baby to her father. "I should've known you'd be that kind of grandparent."

"What kind?" Tony asked as he rocked the baby. "The kind that showers love and attention on his grandkid?"

"You never showed me with that kind of love and attention!"

"That's because I had to keep you at the end of the day! That's the beauty of being a grandparent – the kid goes back to Mommy and Daddy at night. But not before Grandpa showers him with love, attention and lots of sugar!"

Virginia sat at a table and rested her hand on her chin. "You are going to spoil him."

"Oh, without a doubt." Tony lowered his face to the baby's. The baby paused his crying as his grandpa made a goofy face. He stared up at him, confused. Tony went through a litany of goofy faces as the baby stared at him in utter perplexity. Tony's eyes went upwards and his lips pursed in a goofy manner. The baby's face wrinkled in response and started crying. "Oh no," Tony tried to soothe him. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Grandpa tried to make a funny face, he didn't mean to make a scary face! Um … umm … how about a song? Gypsies, tramps and thieves …"

Virginia stood up. "Nice to see you've got everything under control here, Dad. I need some morning coffee now that you got the whole Sixth Kingdom hooked on it. Besides, I've been up all night. I need caffeine." She headed for the door.

Leone's head spun in her direction as Tony rocked the baby. "You can't leave me alone with the baby!"

"You've got my Dad," she called over her shoulder.

"You can't leave me alone with two babies!"

Virginia was already out the door heading for the kitchen. Leone sighed. Suddenly, the baby stopped crying. His little face scrunched up and he began wiggling in Tony's arms. "What's he doing?" Leone asked.

Tony handed the baby off to him. "He just made a boom boom. Your turn!" He sat down on a chair and rested his eyes.

Leone was ready to lose it. "This is the tenth dirty diaper I've changed in an hour! Who much could one baby possibly poop?!"

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Virginia stretched as she entered the hut's cabin. Acorn raised his mug in a toast to her as Prince wagged his tail and licked at her hands. "Did ya' manage any sleep?" he asked.

"An hour," Virginia replied. "I knew motherhood would be exhausting – but I just didn't realize how much so."

"Aye, it'll get easier," Mother Holle replied as she sipped her brew. "Motherhood is instinctual, it is."

"I just wish Wolf were here to enjoy it with me," Virginia sighed as she slumped into a chair. "I mean, not that no sleep is enjoyable. Or having my body used as a toilet. But – the joy of holding your own child and seeing that little face -."

"And that bushy tail" Acorn grinned.

"You'll be rememberin' our conversation last night?" Mother Holle replied. "To leave the Nine Kingdoms with your child?"

"That's also what kept me up too," Virginia admitted. "I'm not getting this whole thing – how can I be the Snow Queen? How can there be another me?"

Mother Holle plopped her mug on the table and leaned forward seriously. "Magic runs deeper and transcends even time, it does." The old woman looked around at the table for an illustration. Her eyes lit up at the sight of a fork. She picked it up. "Think o' time like this fork. One long piece, but then it branches out into different prongs. One timeline – yet there can be different branches off it – like a tree."

Virginia rubbed her sinuses. "Okay, I'm on one hour of sleep, no coffee, this is all over my head."

"One alternate timeline happened – I delivered your child. He was stillborn."

"Okay – so I lost Fen in an alternate timeline."

"Aye," Mother Holle sipped her tea. "And your hubby was gone … you couldn't bear the pain. So you sought out the Devil's Mirror. Asked it to remove that pain – to remove your heart. So it froze it – turned it to ice. You became the new Snow Queen, took the old one's place. But now your heart was a frozen shell – power became all you were concerned with. But you also knew, that if history were to be diverted – if the child were to survive – you would never become the Snow Queen at all and she would cease to exist."

"Which means?"

"The Devil's Mirror is connected to all divergent paths. You – as the new Snow Queen – stepped back into this timeline and froze yourself. Waiting."

"For what?"

"You."

"But I'm her."

"Exactly."

Virginia's eyes crossed. "Please – I am too exhausted for this!"

"If you do not become the Snow Queen in this timeline, she will cease to exist!" Mother Holle warned. "You traveled through the Devil's Mirror to this timeline. You then did everything you could to ensure that history would repeat itself in this timeline – she manipulated every step to turn you into her. Even using the Devil's Mirror to poison your mother's mind."

"You mean -?" Virginia slunk into her chair. "I'm the one who turned my mother into the Evil Queen? I'm the reason she ran out on us and came here in the first place?" She buried her face in her hands. "… and then I killed her."

"Her soul is trapped in the Devil's Mirror," Mother Holle explained.

"No … is there any way to save her …?"

"Only the destruction of the Devil's Mirror will set her free …"

"But Wallace destroyed the Devil's Thorn," Virginia remembered. "But if I don't become the Snow Queen – then she ceases to exist. So is she -."

Mother Holle nodded somberly. "The Snow Queen still exists in this realm."

"Which means … I'll still become her." Her brow furrowed and panic set in. Her heart racing, she turned her head to the makeshift nursery. "Which means Fen -."

"- may yet still be lost." Mother Holle stared into her eyes. "Which is why you must return to New York right away! She will stop at nothing to preserve her existence! Her heart is gone – killing the baby will be nothing to her now! She will hunt him down! All this has been about getting you and the child here. She will destroy him and ensure you become her!"

Virginia clenched her fist. "Not on my watch! I will not lose my child and I will not become her! After all she's done – she ruined my life and I will see her fade away into nothing!"

Acorn grinned and lifted his mug in support. "Here, here!"

"You are her," Mother Holle answered.

"No," Viriginia said firmly. "Not. Yet." She stood up, her fists clenched. "I will never become her. Besides – you said it yourself. She'll hunt me down. Wallace has the Traveling Mirror, remember? She'll just follow me to Manhattan. She'll follow me wherever I go. So I'm going after her first!" She stormed off.

Acorn took another sip as he eyed Mother Holle. "I think she took it all rather well."

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Virginia stood on the shoreline of a pond, holding Fen to her chest. She held him tightly, rocking him. Her tears stained his swaddling. "I come won't it come true, Fen," she whispered. "I won't let her hurt you. And I'll never become her!"

Anger filled her very being. She stared at the sky across the horizon and began crying out. "You hear me! I won't become you! I won't let you tear my family apart anymore! I'm coming for you! I know your thoughts inside and out and I will stop at nothing to see you fade out of existence!"

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Across the realms, in the heart of her palace, the Snow Queen stood in front of the Devil's Mirror watching Virginia.

"Oh no, my dear past self," she cooed. "I know your thoughts inside and out too. You will become me. It is written in the stars. Nothing will stop my ascent over all realms and time!"