Hey guys! This translation was requested on the Facebook group 'SwanQueen fanfiction' and the author allowed me to do it (thank you Caro!)

So here I am! I wanted to go further on my other translations in progress (from English to French) before starting to post this one, but I was just too impatient to make you discover this fabulous story!

This story is a SQ remake of 'The Parent Trap' (movie 1998).

*I am not a professional translator (yet), then there may be mistakes or clumsiness, so if you see something, pm me please and I would correct it.*

I hope that you will like it!

Enjoy!

Chapter 1: Two for one

"Congratulations, Emma, they're two beautiful boys!" The doctor's voice was almost totally covered by the peppy cries of two newborns.

"No, I can't …" Sighed the 17-year-old mother, exhausted.

"How are you going to call them?" Asked curiously the federal doctor attached to the prison of Phoenix, Arizona. He does not say a word for Emma's apparent distress but continued. "Well, for sure it will not be easy to raise them both here, but after all, in a short time you'll not be behind bars anymore, huh? So, these first names?"

Emma did not react. She had never wanted these children. Neal, the father, had seduced her, pushed her to do illegal things and because of him, she had ended up in this federal prison. No, definitely, she did not want to have any memories of him, even if they were helpless little humans. Moreover, she did not see herself raising children, not at all. Impossible.

Dr. Jones approached the bedridden young woman, with a baby in each arm and a big, silly smile on his face. He did not seem to notice the sadness of the young mother. So what was his surprise when she refused to take them for the first skin-to-skin contact. He had never seen that. He did not understand.

"Emma, take them … We will help you, but look at them, at least. They're beautiful and healthy!"

"No, please … I'm sure they'll find a loving family and much more respectable than me. Try to understand me, I can't raise children …"

Her words became sob. Dr. Jones, dismayed, put the two brothers in a large double bassinet who although being only a few hours old, were as alike as two peas in a pod. A nurse led them to the nursery of the prison hospital.

"Emma, they'll stay two days at the nursery, the time to provide them care and to do the necessary examinations. If you change your mind …"

"That will not be the case, thanks doc." She turned her head towards the barred window, firmly concluding the discussion with the doctor who got up and left the room, all enthusiasm having deserted his face.

Due to her pregnancy, a few months after arriving in prison, Emma was allowed to be in a medical cell with a comfortable bed in a larger room. Even if it was not luxurious, she was at least alone in her room, and not disturbed by snoring and other indiscreet questions from other fellow prisoners. It was just when tears began to roll that she appreciated the isolation she was lucky enough to enjoy.

"Knock, knock, knock. May I?" Asked a cheerful little voice behind the heavy dark green metal door.

Without even waiting for Emma's answer, who dried her tears as discreetly as possible, a young nurse of 18 years appeared on the threshold of the cell. Jane was very recently graduated and had her first job in the Phoenix Women's Federal Prison. Yes, it was complicated and she was scared at first, but she finally got used to the inmates and the prison life. Following Emma's pregnancy, she had come to know her. In prison, relations with others change and Emma did not rub shoulders with other inmates so she appreciated the presence of Jane who made her forget a little her morose and identical daily. They were almost the same age and got along pretty well.

"I saw your little guys, they're beautiful! Congratulations to the mother!"

"Don't get too excited, Jane, I'll not keep them." Emma answered in a monotone voice.

"How are you not going to keep them? Stop it. They're super healthy and handsome! They'll make the pride of their mom!"

"No, I'll fill out the adoption papers, Jane! I can't keep them!"

"But …"

"No discussion! Do you see me, 17-year-old single mother with twins and freshly out of prison? Ah, great family picture! I bet I couldn't even handle two month time in real life! Not to mention the wonderful education that I'll give them, yeah … I don't even have a model of mother that I could imitate …"

Emma uttered this speech without stopping and the sobs started up again with renewed vigor. She had been abandoned at birth and lugged from foster home to foster home. Emma has never known maternal love. This wound buried deep inside her now resurfaced intensely. She regretted the gesture of her mother who had never been able to love and raise her, but in a way, today of all days she understood that mother she had never known, and understood the fear and helplessness she must have felt at the birth of her daughter.

"I can't, Jane … They'll be happier without me." She said in an faded voice intermingled with sobs.

"Shh … It's ok to cry, you'll feel better. I understand your fears, Emma. I cannot say that I know how you feel, but I understand that you don't feel capable to raise them as you would want it to. You're their mother so it's your choice, and whatever it is, I'll understand it and I'll help you." The fine words of Jane reassured the pretty blonde. She took the young nurse in her arms, her body shaking. "And Neal, perhaps he wants to recognize and raise them?"

"Neal?" Iterated Emma, a mocking grin on her lips. "Neal doesn't even know they exist! He sent me to jail whereas I didn't know that I was pregnant! I don't even know where he is right now and by the way, I don't want to ever hear about him again. I should've steered clear of this guy …"

The look that was sad became dark when she spoke of her ex-boyfriend.

"Do you want to go to see them, just once? Just to see how cute they are, come on!"

"Please, Jane, don't keep on …"

"Sorry, Emma. I … Well, I'll let you rest and come back tomorrow to see if the healing is going well, ok?"

Was Jane's enthusiasm fake? Emma did not know, but the smile of her only friend had the virtue of reassuring and calming her.

"Yeah, okay. See you tomorrow and thanks for everything, Jane."

Once again alone in her cell, Emma felt devastated. She was feeling blue because of the physical fatigue and the prospect of abandoning her sons. She knew it was the best thing to do. That she would only be a burden for them, that she would not be able to raise them and that they would end up dunces, or worst: criminals!

After two hours of intense reflection, she fell asleep, exhausted.

She had not even seen her twins.

Emma was awake in the early morning hours and her decision was made. It's therefore firmly and with a strong will that she waited the opening hour of the administrative office. At 9 o'clock exactly, she was facing the secretary.

"Emma? You're up? You should rest, you know, it's not serious …"

"Yeah, I will. Anyway I … Would you have forms for …? Huh, you know, for the babies …?"

Emma dared not utter the word 'abandonment'. Putting a word on her gesture would give her a reality in which she could not go back.

"Are you talking about full adoption forms?" The secretary looked at her suspiciously over her little glasses.

"Um, yeah … I … I can't keep them, you see …"

"Yes, you're right. Indeed, I think it would be better for everyone." The contempt in her voice was by no means hidden but Emma managed to contain herself. The employee continued. "The problem is that we don't have it right now. It doesn't happen often, childbirth in prison, least of all followed by abandonment. I'll have to ask the administration, I'll not have it until tomorrow."

"Well, I'll wait."

"In any case, what else do you have to do here than wait, huh? It's not like you're oooverworked, huh? It must be said that if you had one, you probably wouldn't be here."

It was too much for Emma.

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! You don't know anything about my life, you don't know anything about my story! You're judging me but you don't know what I lived! Do you think it's better for these kids if they don't know me? Well, yes, you'll be pleased, I agree with you! I'm a drifter and the only good thing I'm going to do in my 17 years of addle existence, it's going to give these children a better chance. So don't despise me, I despise myself well enough for two …" It was as if all her pains contained since her unhappy childhood, her arrest, her delivery were ten times more intense. She was breathless and, without even looking at her, added. "I go back to my cell. I'll come back tomorrow." She slammed the door.

The secretary worked in prison for twenty years, she had seen many young people in revolt against the entire big bad adult world and did not even take offense to get water and spit in the face or be insulted. She was not used to worrying about the prisoners, but Emma's distress did not leave her unmoved. She grabbed her phone.

"Hello Jane, it's Kate from the administrative office. Am I bothering you?"

"Hi Kate, no it's ok. What's going on? Is this still a recalcitrant computer file problem?" Joked the nurse on the phone.

"Jane, it's about Emma. She just left my office and I think she's not well. She wants her kids to be adopted – well, I'm not saying it's not the right thing to do …"

"Yes, I know. She is decided and when she has something on her mind …"

"That's not what's bothering me, Jane. Let's say she looked … uh … fragile? I'm worried about her moral, you know. So I was thinking that as you are a sort of friend for her, if you could go see her, take her mind off things …"

Jane was pleasantly surprised that behind Kate's little glasses and always perfect buns, a human being with feelings was hiding. It was hard to believe.

"Oh yes. Anyway I had to go see her this afternoon for postpartum care. I'll try to make her smile … Thanks for worrying, Kate."

"Yeah. Well, have a good day."

"Good day for you too! Oh by the way, as soon as you have the forms, tell me and I'll bring them to her. It'll avoid a new scandal."

"Good idea! Thank you, bye."

The afternoon with Jane was a breath of fresh air for Emma. She laughed. She had not done it for several days, each taking care not to mention the children or abandonment.

Emma found herself alone in her cell again when evening came, she thought back to these two little beings who must surely sleep peacefully not far from where she was. For the first time in almost 24 hours, she suddenly wanted to see them.

"Just to see them, to see if they look alike, that's all."

She got up and knocked on the armored metal door. A female prison warder with a deep voice appeared in front of the porthole.

"What do you want, Swan?"

"Um … I would like to go for a walk, I'm numb …"

"Ah ah ah! Are you serious? Since the time you're here, do you think you can go out whenever you want?"

"Please, I just want to go …" She lowered her voice, as if she dared not confess it. "... at the maternity ward."

"Do you wanna see your weans? Pfff, it's good because it's you, Swan …" The door opened and the guard led Emma to the nursery. "You have 5 minutes. After this time I'll come to grab you by the scruff of the neck."

"I'll not even need that much, thank you."

When Emma entered the room whose soft warmth contrasted with the biting cold of the corridors of the prison, she felt her heart pounding hard in her chest. The young woman approached slowly. For nothing in the world she would have wanted the children to wake up and start bawling. She walked as if she were in a field full of mines. Her heart was beating so hard she was afraid they would hear it. In the room, four young children slept silently: two children aged 1 and 2 who were born in prison and raised by their mothers still here, and at the back of the room, two sleeping newborns face to face holding their hands in a small glass bassinet with wheels.

She looked at the two babies in front of her. It's true they looked alike: the same little turned-up nose, their identical closed eyes. It looked like they were both sleeping in front of a mirror. She watched them for a while, a barely visible smile on her face. She did not dare to touch them, for fear of hurting them.

Suddenly, one of the two infants gesticulated, waved his arms and finally opened his eyes. Emma froze. When he turned his head and his eyes full of life crossed his mother's emerald green eyes, Emma could not restrain the tears that had accumulated for a few minutes.

"Hey you … You wonder what I'm doing there, huh …? After all, maybe you wonder who I am … Actually, I don't know who I am … A teenager? A prisoner? Your … mom?"

No, it was not possible. He did not understand what she was saying. An infant does not understand what is said to him.

She was trying to reassure herself. Yet at the end of her monologue, the baby had smiled at her.

It was these few minutes in the nursery of a federal prison in Arizona that changed the life of the young Emma Swan.