WARNING: This chapter is super long, and I'm really sorry I just got carried away when I was writing it. I hope everyone enjoys it, just wanted to warn y'all that it's long :)
Emma cracked her eyes open and saw sunshine leaking through the window. She popped up quickly, realizing she had slept until morning. She must have been truly exhausted, but she felt very well-rested now. She started making her way to the kitchen to get breakfast, but on the way she passed the nursery and heard voices coming through the closed door. She knocked and the voices quieted and then she opened the door.
The crowd of people in the small room crowded around the door, apparently trying to block her view of something. She stood on her tiptoes, attempting to look over them, but Killian wrapped her in a hug, pulling her back down to normal height. "Good morning love," he whispered, kissing her on the forehead, "I would ask how you slept, but apparently very well considering you slept 16 hours." He smiled at her and Emma shook her head. "Sorry. I just meant to take a little nap and then come back and help set everything up, not sleep all afternoon and night," she apologized.
Regina spoke up next. "Well, it worked out in our favor that you slept so long," she said. Mary Margaret smiled and elaborated: "We wanted to surprise you with something, and it wouldn't have been done if you only slept a few hours, but now we're finished!" As she finished speaking, the group parted so Emma could see the whole room, which had successfully been turned into a nursery overnight.
She gasped in surprise as a huge smile spread across her face. "I don't even have the words to express how thankful I am for this!" she exclaimed. "Well, there are other ways of showing appreciation," Killian teased, leaning in for a kiss. "Watch it, pirate," David warned jokingly. The nursery had been painted by Emma and Killian a few weeks earlier, but now it was fully furnished with a crib and matching changing table, a dresser and the closet contained little baby dresses.
"Where did you guys get all of this stuff?" Emma asked incredulously. "Well, the crib and changing table are from when Henry was a baby," Regina explained, "And Belle brought by a lot of dresses. She said shopping for the baby was the least she could do to make up for Rumple's behavior, and she revealed that she hasn't seen him since he left the hospital." Emma nodded, taking all of this information in stride. "We brought a few of the dresses too," Mary Margaret interjected, pulling out a beautiful little dress, though a little formal for anything Emma would ever attend.
"It's gorgeous, but why so fancy?" Emma teased. "It was going to be the dress you wore when we presented you to the kingdom," David told her proudly, "Now, Sayloire can wear it for her first town event." "What, my newborn has an itinerary?" Emma joked. "Of course. You can't expect the daughter of the saviour and a former villain to not be in high demand. Everyone wants to meet her," Mary Margaret said.
Emma shook her head. "We need to wait a little while, until we're sure that Gold's not in town anymore, before we take her out. Anyone that wants to come see her can come here, but only close friends," Emma explained. "Alright, but the first time she goes to Granny's she has to wear this dress," Mary Margaret grumbled.
"Is anyone else hungry?" Henry asked. Everyone laughed, but then the group did slowly migrate to the kitchen. Mary Margaret and David got there first and started rummaging through the cabinets, looking for food that they seemed to be failing at finding. "Do you people not eat?" David asked. "We eat plenty, we just don't cook much," Hook replied, shutting all of the cabinets the other two had left open.
"We do have lots of cereal," Emma offered. "If that's all you have I guess it'll work, but our next group project should be feeding the hungry," Regina responded smartly. "Kid you know where the cereal is, go get it," Emma told Henry. He ran to get the cereal and came back with 4 different kinds. "I didn't know what everyone liked, so I brought it all," he said with a smile, dropping the boxes on the table.
After they had all eaten breakfast, including Sayloire and Neal, they all moved to the living room to talk about the game plan concerning Rumplestilskin. "I vote that the search party consist of David, Mary Margaret, and me," Regina suggested. "What about me?" Henry asked. "Someone has to watch the babies," Emma told him, "Especially since I'm going with them."
The whole group protested at once, but then everyone silently decided to let Hook handle it. "Love, we will be fine without you just this once," he told her, wrapping his left arm around her and resting his right hand on hers, holding Sayloire. "I don't know who you think 'we' are, but I believe I left your name out of the search party," Regina told him.
"You can't possibly think I wouldn't want to come end the Crocodile after all he's done to me," Hook growled. Regina put her hands out in a calming gesture. "I know you want to come, but we need people who can look at this through a reasonable perspective, and with your complicated history, I doubt that's you," Regina said. "Emma, you and Hook both need to stay here," David said. "Then I can come?" Henry asked. "No!" Yelled everyone in unison.
Regina stood up. "Alright, here's how this is going to work. Me and the Charmings are going to go look for Gold, and we can pick Robin up on the way if it would make you all feel better, but that would mean leaving three babies here. And just to be clear, there will be three people here not counting the babies: Henry, Emma, and Hook. Everyone got it?" She asked, daring everyone to disagree with a glare. A smile that made her look very Evil Queen spread across her face as she said, "Good. Let's move out."
"We'll stop by with Ralley later," David called over his shoulder as the three of them walked out the door. "I don't like that I have to sit here and babysit," Henry complained. "It's not my favorite job either kid," Emma sympathized. "One of them is your baby, you have to take care of her," Henry said. "I love taking care of her, just not instead of helping out. I understand how you feel, but they're just trying to protect us. And Killian's not complaining, so be a man like him and shut up." Emma joked, ruffling Henry's hair.
"I'm complaining, just inside my head so I don't say things the boy doesn't need to hear," Hook said. Emma leaned her head on his shoulder, trying to distract him from the thoughts of revenge she knew would be racing around in his head. "You know, we haven't had much time with our daughter yet. You've only held her once, wanna try again?" Emma asked, gently holding Sayloire towards him. That snapped him out of his thoughts, and he smiled as he reached for her. He had to hold her with only his right arm until Emma removed his hook, but then he cradled her in both arms.
Emma smiled at the sight of them and leaned over to kiss him on the cheek. "You two are gonna be such great parents," Henry said encouragingly, reminding the two that they weren't alone. "Let's hope so," Emma said, "You know better than anyone that I've never been very nurturing and maternal." "Well, that's because I think sometimes you still see me as a really good friend, because you didn't raise me. I'm not bitter about that or anything, just letting you know I think you'll be more nurturing with Sayloire because you get to watch her grow up. And 'cause she's a girl," he teased.
"Henry, I have watched you grow up," Emma said, pulling him in for a hug. "Sure, I didn't get to see you when you were as little as Sayloire, but I met you when you were still a kid, and even though I still say 'kid' when I'm talking to you, you are definitely closer to an adult now. I watched you go through so much with Regina, your dad, me, even Hook's death matured you. I didn't want to hurt you like I did when I was the Dark One, or when I told you your dad was dead and he wasn't, but in retrospect they made you into a wonderful, intelligent, mature, and strong young man," she paused, "And Sayloire will not get any special treatment because she's a girl." They laughed and then Emma got up.
"Where are you going love?" Hook asked nervously. "To the bathroom, if that's alright," Emma said, then looked at the way he was looking between her and Sayloire, "Are you afraid to be alone with her?" He shook his head. "Of course not, love. She's my daughter," he tried to sound nonchalant, but Emma could tell he was nervous. She laughed as she walked back towards the couch. "She won't do anything while I'm gone, okay? Just hold her," she whispered, kissing behind his ear before walking to the bathroom.
Henry was still laughing at that when suddenly Sayloire started crying very loudly. This scared Neal out of his nap, so he followed suit with the loud crying. Henry picked up Neal and tried to rock him back to sleep, and Hook stood up trying to appease Sayloire. This made for a hilarious scene when Regina walked in to drop of Ralley. She laughed at them. "Men and babies, not a good combination," she joked, "Are you sure you can handle one more?" She raised her eyebrows to show that she wasn't entirely kidding about that part.
Just as she said that, Emma emerged from the bathroom and reached for Ralley. "Of course we can," she cooed. She rocked Ralley, hoping she wouldn't start crying, but she just stared wide-eyed at her fellow newborns and sucked on her pacifier. Regina put down a bag "R" written on the front. "Her bottles are in here and I brought some diapers, though I'm sure you two are not lacking in those right now. There are some extra pacifiers as well, and her blanket. There's a schedule for when she needs to be fed and when her naptime is. I think that covers it all," Regina said with a smile, "Bye-bye." She squeezed Ralley's little hand and then left with a wave.
The other two babies were still screaming, so Emma told Henry to sit down. "Now, rock him gently," she took an extra pacifier from Ralley's bag and stuck it in Neal's mouth, "And make sure that doesn't fall out." Then she went to sit by her husband and their screeching daughter. She shifted Ralle to her left arm and held out her right arm for Sayloire, and Killian gently laid her in Emma's arms.
After a few minutes of rocking both of them, the two younger babies were fast asleep and Neal was contentedly sucking on the pacifier. Killian breathed a sigh of relief. "You said she wouldn't do anything," he accused Emma with a smile. "Well, she didn't really, she just let you know something was wrong," she responded. "What was wrong?" he asked with a concerned look on his face. "She missed her mommy," she said jokingly.
Killian took her back while she slept and then everyone was holding a baby and it was relaxing for a few minutes, until Henry made a disgusted noise. "What is it kid?" Emma asked. "He's leaking," he said, holding Neal out Lion King style. Emma contained her laughter to a smile, but Hook burst out laughing. "You think it's funny?" Emma asked, smirking. Hook couldn't stop laughing to answer her, so Emma responded. "Well, since you find it so hilarious, you're on diaper duty." She told him. He stopped laughing. "You wouldn't do that to me, Swan," he said uncertainly.
"Do you even know how to change a diaper?" She asked. "Is that really relevant right now?" He asked, blowing off her question. "Killian Jones! Come with me, you cannot be a dad and not know how to change a diaper," Emma demanded with a smile. "You know how to change diapers, right kid?" She asked Henry. "Of course," he responded, "Robin and my mom have drilled that into my head these past few months."
They walked back to the nursery, babies in tow, and Emma laid Neal on the changing table. "Put the other two in the crib," she instructed the boys, "Then watch and learn." They all crowded around the changing table as Emma masterfully changed Neal's diaper, which earned a disgusted look from Killian. "I have to do that?" He asked. "Frequently," Emma responded.
After all that business was dealt with, it was almost lunch time. Emma called Ruby and ordered Granny's, telling her if she delivered she could meet the baby. Everyone else in the room heard her scream of excitement from over the phone, and she said she would be there soon. "Before our lunch gets here, we should feed the little ones and then maybe they can take a nap while we eat," Emma suggested.
"Then can we take a nap?" Hook asked. He was joking, but when Emma looked at him and Henry, she realized they looked exhausted, especially Hook. "You need to sleep actually. You didn't sleep last night or much the night before did you?" He shook his head. "Well then, as soon as we eat lunch, the two of you are taking a nap," Emma said with finality. No one argued, so Emma fixed the bottles and brought them back to the living room, handing them off to the person holding the baby the bottle belonged to. She also handed them burp cloths, which she had to explain the use of to both of them.
Feeding time proved to be the easiest task they had undertaken today. All three babies drank their whole bottles and were asleep within the next 20 minutes. Neal took a nap in his carrier, which was moved to Sayloire's room, Sayloire slept in her crib, and Ralley slept in a playpen bought in by Regina, also moved to Sayloire's room.
The three grown ups plopped down on the couch exhaustedly and were just about to turn the TV on when the doorbell rang. "That better be Ruby," Emma mumbled. Killian got up to open the door, and sure enough as soon as he opened it, Ruby rushed through the door, squealing. "Where's the baby?" she asked excitedly as she put the bags full of food on the table. "SHHH!" Everyone else whispered. "They're all asleep right now," Emma said, "But you can come look at her if you're VERY quiet." Ruby nodded excitedly, but didn't say anything else.
They headed back to the nursery, and Ruby mouthed "Aww," but once again followed Emma's request to be quiet. She studied her and the other two babies for a few more minutes, then they all walked back to the kitchen. "She's so cute!" Ruby said. Emma and Killian looked at each other and smiled. "Thanks, we try," Killian responded with a wink.
Emma, Henry, and Hook sat around the table and grabbed their orders, digging in hungrily. Ruby stood their awkwardly watching, but then decided she needed to get back to work. Finally, it was just the three of them again. They enjoyed their food in silence, enjoying the quiet calm that was coming with the slumber of the babies. After they finished, Henry and Emma walked back to the living room and sat down to watch some Netflix. Hook kissed the top of Emma's head and then told her that he was going to their room to take a nap.
Within minutes, Emma could hear her pirate quietly snoring in their room. She was so happy he was finally getting some rest. The babies had only been asleep for an hour, so she figured her and Henry had at least 30 more minutes of alone time. "This is just like old times, huh kid?" she asked, elbowing him. "Yeah it is," he smiled at her. "So, what do you want to watch?" she asked, handing him the remote. "Peter Pan," Henry replied, winking at her. "Oh, sure. You just want to see the stupid way they portrayed Killian, don't you?" Emma responded. They both laughed, and then they decided to watch Peter Pan anyway, because why not laugh at the insanity of the Disney version of that devilish little boy?
About halfway through the movie, the first cry was heard from the nursery. Emma knew that wasn't Neal, and she wasn't familiar with the cries of the girl babies yet, but she was pretty sure this one was hers. Sure enough, when she came in the room, she saw that it was Sayloire that had awoken. She picked her up and rocked her, whispering for her to "shhh" until they left the room. "Sorry kid, you might not be able to hear your movie anymore," Emma said apologetically.
"It's okay. Sayloire's worth it," Henry responded with a smile, "Can I hold her again?" "Let her calm down a little first, but then sure," Emma smiled. Sayloire's cries became whimpers within a few seconds and then there was a knock at the door. Henry opened it and in rushed the search party. "We have news," David said.