WHO:Emma & Neal with NPC!Henry and Nikolas WHEN: July 4th WHERE: Swanfire home then the hospital WHAT: The Swanfire family grows by one, with spectacular timing. RATING/WARNINGS: Swearing, light violence towards flying simians, birth sorts of things. STATUS: Complete
Shit was hitting the goddamn fan, and it was hitting hard. Neal wasn’t even privy to all the details - he just knew it had to do with dream inconveniences bleeding through, which was a way of life at this point, and also has to do with rifts torn in the fabric of their known reality, wherein demons were literally being pooped out. The original tear was one huge asshole ripped into the Heavens (over Wal-Mart of all places - kinda funny, if you thought about it), and while demons raining from the sky was new, people would band together as they always did.
He’d heard of some crazy crap emerging from those openings, though - like the mermaids, circling Killian’s houseboat, and other ghosts and ghoulies from the dreamworlds of others, enemies they probably hoped they’d never have to face in this world. And yet here they were.
Henry, naturally, thought it was the coolest thing ever. He was plastered to the window, watching and probably hoping that a rift would open on the fucking front lawn like one had at Regina’s, and when he wasn’t doing that he was online looking at news updates to see how the media was spinning the story. It was fascinating to him.
“They keep saying freak tornadoes are in the area, and giving warnings!” he yelled, as an update, after pausing the Call of Duty game to borrow Neal’s laptop and browse. As for Neal himself, he couldn’t really resist checking the window every few minutes either - they were well fortified here, with supplies and a panic room just in case, but a part of him also wanted to be out there helping more. Emma had her magic, and he had demon apocalypse survival skills - they’d have made a good team patrolling the streets, if she wasn’t pretty much past her due date and probably so done. Nikolas seemed like he didn’t want to come out in all this mess though - who could blame him?
Stepping away from the living room window, Neal reached for his phone to check the network since Henry was on the laptop. “Freak tornadoes. Seems legit.” Well, since it was technically the 4th of July, he could probably handle a barbecue at least? Maybe invite some people over, pretend they were normal...
Yeah, right. Nothing about this was normal.
It said a lot about their lives that demons and other creatures ripping forth from tears in the reality felt just like any other Monday. But Orange County had a habit of doing these things to them, and at least it didn’t seem like the world was ending again.
It would really be the icing on the cake if it were the case, Emma was sure. She was week past her due date, even with her little attempts to coax Niko along, he was having none of it. She felt bloated and fat and uncomfortable all the time now. She was cranky and hungry and just didn’t know what to do with herself.
Which naturally had her walking between the living room where Henry was playing his game, back to the kitchen to stare into the fridge, walk around the counters like there was anything she wanted to eat, before heading back to the living room to see if anything else out of the ordinary had happened. So far, aside from the demons spilling out into Orange County and the subsequent clean up that most of their friends were doing while she was the size of a house and most definitely not getting involved in the carnage, nothing else was going on.
Except the near constant twinges in her side, probably from Niko leaning on something, which had Emma constantly rubbing at the side of her bump. “At least no one is claiming there’s something in the water.” Emma murmured as she came back into the living room to peer at the laptop over Henry’s shoulder. “If all else fails, it’ll be a Global Warming thing again.”
“They haven’t said anything yet, about what caused it - but I think some articles said it was a movie being filmed?” Henry grinned, clicking away on the laptop - since he knew the truth, naturally he just found it hysterical. But then again, you really couldn’t tell the general public that demons were running amuck.
How this county hadn’t been blown off the map yet, Neal honestly didn’t know. The messes, the dream bleedovers, were just getting harder and harder to clean up.
Dutifully, he wandered to Emma’s side, resting a hand on her shoulder to knead there and rub away knotted muscle, any tension that had gathered - so much stress lately, it seemed par the course. “You feeling okay, babe?”
There’d be speculation for a few days, people claiming it was a really easily explained freak accident. And for some reason those thinly expanded on stories were always accepted. It made little sense, but then, in Orange County they got used to it. Emma was just fed up with everything right then.
“Yeah,” the loosening of a small amount of the tension was nice though, her shoulders were constantly tight, she was just this tightly wound ball of ‘hurry up, c’mon’ right then, and all of it was aimed towards her little waterbaby. “Just sore.” It was near constant right then. “I’m getting twinges in my side, I think he’s stretching.” Hopefully he’d figure out that he’d be way more comfortable outside and stop lazing around. But it seemed he was a lot like his mother and was happy to laze around if no one needed anything.
But someone needed to get his little squishy butt moving. “He’s gotta be getting ready to---” Emma had just said it when she felt a little pop, like cracking knuckles but inside, and then just the steady warm trickle which --- “Um…” Maybe she should’ve been careful what she wished for, because of course… Of fucking course, “I think…. I think my water just broke.” The gush that followed pretty much confirmed that.
Whaaaaaaaaat? It took a moment for everything to register with Neal - but seeing the puddle on the floor, well, that sort of caused everything to click into place. He’d been about to suggest that maybe heading upstairs and going at it doggie style would work at coaxing Niko out (hey, come on, it was true - ask any doctor), but then it appeared as if the littlest Cassidy didn’t need any more nudges. He had announced his grand intentions for an equally grand arrival, on this day, our nation’s ‘birthday,’ a day wherein you couldn’t walk ten feet outside without running into some sort of demon.
“Oh, fuck me,” Neal regretted the f-bomb as soon as it was dropped (another quarter in the swear jar - he thought he had that problem under control), and Henry twisted around to look at what the commotion was. “Let’s go, in the car - Henry, can you grab your mom’s bag?”
He knew where it was, they’d packed for the hospital trip well in advance. “Got it!” Henry dashed upstairs, while Neal got busy with helping Emma to the yellow bug, parked in the garage. Henry came back in almost the blink of an eye, with the bag and also his BB gun. “In case I need to shoot something,” he explained, before climbing into the backseat. “Mom, are you still leaking??” Eeeeeew.
Thank you Henry, for that wonderful reminder of just what was happening every time Emma so much as shifted. It felt weird, like really weird, like someone was wringing out a cloth and every shift and move just had that little bit more water escaping to trickle and… Okay, so it was gross, but she assumed there was a lot going on in there.
“Yes, Henry, I am leaking. I am probably going to be screaming soon, so the leaking isn’t really my biggest worry.” Ambling out to the car had been fun, and finding a comfortable spot in her seat was just not happening at all. She knew it wasn’t a big deal right then, but she felt like she couldn’t really sit properly since, well, you know the baby was coming and everything. She’d done this before though, so she knew that she’d need to at least brace for the contractions that would likely start very soon. Contractions that would have the previous false-contractions looking like kidney jabs from the tiny little foot of her squirmy little baby.
“Oh god, just… Get us to the hospital.” Hopefully without some utter hell going on around them. “Should we tell Regina? Mary Margaret? Should we bother right now?” Because you know, mermaids and monsters and giant rips spewing out demons.
“I’ll call them when you’re settled - for now, let’s just get to the hospital,” Neal responded, feeling really close to the edge - nerves, they were getting him, though he couldn’t imagine how Emma was feeling now. He’d be there for her either way, even if she kicked him out of the delivery room. If potentially the sight of seeing him there during those screaming moments caused irrational anger for knocking her up.
Except there, in the driveway as soon as he opened the garage door and got the bug going, he was greeted by a sight which had him slamming on the brakes abruptly - and they hadn’t even gone very far yet. A classic stand-off, just a few seconds of Neal staring, because what the fuck?
“Are those...monkeys?” Henry asked, leaning forward with his face between the two front seats. “They look like the ones from The Wizard of Oz.”
“No, hell, no, absolutely not,” Neal snarled, snapping back to attention and focusing. They did not have time for this bullshit! The winged creatures were simply waiting there, hunters on the prowl - and when he pushed down on the gas, the yellow bug now a bowling ball knocking into furry, feathered pins, the screeeeeeech emitted was loud and ear-splitting.
Another squeal, tires burning rubber, after he mowed down the monkeys blocking their way. “Seatbelt on, Henry!” Neal called back. “Em - “
“Dad!” That was Henry’s warning, as a giant thud sounded on the roof, clearly a monkey making contact - and the remaining ones were still circling, wings pafing as they flew above.
“Seriously?” Was everything just conspiring to make this the most stressful however long it took? Emma just braced her elbow against the door and her knees spread to brace the dash while she focused on breathing through the panic of baby coming and flying monkeys. “The bug can take it, she took on a Chernabog, she can run over a few flying vermin.” God, she’d never wanted to see those things again.
Not that Orange County gave a shit.
The contractions were starting to build up though, the first one feeling more like something pulling from her belly outwards while pressing down hard, exceptionally uncomfortable, but not to the screaming stage yet at all. She knew she was supposed to time how far apart they were, but she figured she should be forgiven for not really paying a lot of attention to that when winged monkeys were circling them right then.
“You ever feel… Like we should’ve got a sunroof on this thing?” Maybe then someone could’ve shot the things out of the roof, gritting her teeth, hoping that these things didn’t cause too much hassle and that they weren’t about to end up in a ditch to birth Niko right now.
Shooting them wasn’t a bad plan, but Neal really wished that his soon-to-be-thirteen-year-old son wasn’t the one volunteering. “Scoot over, I can aim and fire,” Henry volunteered, because sure enough. He had his BB gun at the ready, and clearly had foregone the seatbelt command because it would be difficult to be restrained and shooting things.
“You’ve been playing too much Call of Duty, kid,” Neal rumbled, and his eyes briefly cut over to Emma to see how she was doing - she looked to be in pain, uncomfortable in the confined space of the car and he just hoped both she and Niko could hold on ‘til they got to the hospital. Given how overdue she was, that baby had to be at least a nine-pounder by now - pushing him out was probably better not in a ditch. “It’s okay, Em, just breathe - I’m gonna get us there quick.”
“To the right, dad,” Henry was leaning over, wiggling to have enough room to aim out the driver’s side window. Pow, the BB gun went off, and a monkey came spiraling down like a kamikaze fighter jet. Mayday, mayday!
Huh. Well, that wasn’t bad at all.
Henry was definitely Neal’s son, these were totally times when Emma really saw it. Not just the leaping into danger thing that she really wished he hadn’t inherited from them, but the fierce determination to help. At any other time, she’d be proud. Right now, she was focusing on breathing through the weird burning, pressing pain of contractions which, yeah, they felt way worse than she remembered.
At least with Henry shooting the monkeys out of the sky, and Neal more than prepared to ram them if needed, it seemed far more likely that they’d avoid getting too close. Not that Emma was about to roll down the window or anything, she remembered how vile those things were, and she did not want to see if the curse of turning into a monkey when scratched came here too. She so did not have the capability to deal with that right now.
“I will set them on fire, I swear to god, if I need to I will set them on fire.” Maybe, probably not. Her magic got wonky with high stress and emotional situations, she figured this was probably the highest stressful emotional situation she could be in right now. “Jesus, I feel like I’m on fire.” Lord, general pain in the whole uterus/womb/crotch area.
Pushing the yellow bug to its absolute limit (how this thing managed to last as long as it did, Neal didn’t know - but his and Emma’s first baby was a brave workhorse), Neal sped up. Another monkey, apparently that Henry had shot, landed with an angry bang onto the hood, and then when Neal cut a sharp corner - simultaneously running a red light - the dead weight winged creature was pitched off.
He really hoped that wasn’t any cursed person that they knew.
“I don’t see anymore,” Henry announced. “But if another one appears, set it on fire!” Naturally, he would want to observe some of his mom’s pyrotechnics. It was the 4th of July anyway, there was a reason for it.
Grateful to see the ‘Emergency Room’ sign in view, Neal parked the car in the hospital’s lot - he’d arranged for a room beforehand, this was the right hospital, and he just hoped they’d get Emma in there quickly. Henry made sure to grab the packed bag, which was next to him. “No BB guns in the hospital, kiddo,” Neal said, going around to help Emma inside. “You want me in there with you when you get settled, Em?”
He’d hang out in the waiting room while they did that, then would join his suffering, in-labor girlfriend. And probably feed her ice chips or something, rubbing her back while she cursed his balls and their baby-making seeds.
Getting out of the car was as interesting as getting in, and she didn’t even think twice about clinging to Neal right then to get her up and moving. She felt like her legs were cramping up from the thighs upwards right then and waddling wasn’t even the word for it now. “Yes, oh fuu--” Walking and breathing wasn’t happening, having to lean on the car and Neal to breath through another contraction before she could consider getting herself moving again.
Honestly, Emma was pretty sure she wanted Neal to go through this as much as she’d need to; not just because the moral support would be massively required, but well, because missing an instant just wasn’t what this was about. And she was more than sure that she’d get weepy and emotional, her hormones going crazy along with the adrenaline from the onset of labor, but she really just wanted Neal to get to experience every second he could here.
Then again, she’d probably start cursing him a while in, and that was part of the process too, so experiences were needed. “I am so ready for this to be over, oh God, my belly is literally burning right now Jesus.” She flat out refused, from this moment forward, to commit to any swear-jar infractions.
That sounded...awful. And Emma hadn’t even started pushing yet. Neal was internally panicking only a little though, holding it together because his ‘second time father, but first time going through all this’ nerves wouldn’t help the situation any. But he was good, he was calm, as Henry picked a spot in the waiting room to play games on his phone until there were updates and Emma was settled in her glorious hospital room with a view.
All nice and spread-eagled, with the doctor snapping a glove onto his wrist and getting ready to poke in between her legs.
“Alright, let’s just check a few things first,” he drawled, settling on the stool so he’d have the best view into his very happy patient’s nether regions. “Not quite ready to push yet, I’m afraid.”
Breathing exercises though, they were a go. And a cup full of ice chips, Neal had those as he stood beside Emma’s bed. Gently, he placed a cold compress on her forehead because she looked like she was burning up, and hopefully it felt nice. “There are, uh...she gets drugs, right?” he asked eagerly.
That was apparently a thing too. Nurses were on standby to administer the epidural - if too much time passed it’d be too late, but Neal was fairly sure he’d heard something about give me druuuuuuuuugs when he and Emma talked about the delivery room action before.
There was very little dignity in getting into stirrups, and while Emma was entirely prepared for the matter, it was still one hell of a set up. But it did mean she was in the home stretch, sort of. She was in place, she was ready, they just needed to wait for Niko to get a little more ready and they’d have the main event before long. And God, this was when the nerves really hit. Were they ready for the baby? Did they have everything? Was the car seat going to be okay? Would he be okay coming out? Could they handle the long nights and the crying and pooping and puking?
And panicking about that was not going to help these breathing exercises at all. God, she needed to get a grip. Which was exactly what she did, just as she felt another contraction start, her hand closing around Neal’s tightly. “These are definitely getting stronger.” And closer together, that was good right? That meant the drugs would come soon and then there would be the hullabaloo and boom, baby.
She really hoped this wasn’t going to be a long labor. “Why did we do this? We need to stop making babies, damn it.” Because she wanted to stop giving birth.
“I don’t know??” Really, Neal didn’t have an answer for why they did this - though it was likely, ‘because we didn’t use protection’ but Emma knew that already. “It’ll be worth it, Em, you’ve got this, we’ve got this, our kids are both awesome,” he rubbed her back and shoulders, trying to help ease the pain of the latest contraction a little - but they were coming on hard, and faster, so he assumed that the Time of Reckoning would soon be on them.
Drugs administered, numbness settling in - yes, pushing a baby out with an epidural in effect wasn’t even that bad at all! Maybe? The doctor kept checking, eagle eye and gloved fingers on the Savior’s magical lady parts, and finally...
“Battlestations - “ That was a joke, they apparently got a comedian for a medical professional, “Start pushing.”
Neal squeezed Emma’s hand, focused on her face (because he wasn’t looking at what was going on down below, nope). “I’m right here, babe.”
Their kids were awesome, weren’t they? Henry was the best, he was, he was all their good qualities and some of his own, he was just so damn caring too. And this one would be just as awesome, she was sure. She just needed to get through this and… Finally meet the little guy.
At least the drugs were starting to circulate her system, numbing some of the pain from the contractions to the point where she could at least focus on the main part of it all, which was pushing this lazy little boy out of her -God she hoped now he’d decided to join them he did it promptly. If she was feeling a little less like her stomach and crotch were ready to explode, then she might’ve asked for something to throw at the doctor for his quips, but that might mean letting go of the rail and Neal and she wasn’t prepared to do that just yet.
She could remember the breathing exercises, how to manage her pushing without gritting her teeth so hard her jaw might break. It was a lot of toe clenching, hand squeezing, lung burning pushing and God it felt terrible really, but in that really good way that it was nearing then end, right?
“Arrrgh.” She had to stop with a shout, her hair matting around her forehead from sweat and the damp cloth, panting slightly from exertion.
“Doing great, just a little more,” was the encouragement from the doctor, masked and busy with his face barely visible - looked like he was ready to catch the baby, should Nikolas come flying out as if he’d been punted like a football. Or at least, that was what Neal was kind of imagining - he had no idea how this was supposed to go.
To be somewhat helpful (because he couldn’t jump in and give a hand with the actual birthing, couldn’t fix the ripping and tearing and how did humans do this) he brushed aside Emma’s sweat-soaked hair, dabbing at her forehead with another cloth to provide some comfort with that. “She’s almost there - you’re almost there, Em. There’s a head, right? You can see the head?” he asked the doctor, because Proud Papa looking, uh. Probably not.
But yes, the head could in fact, be seen. Just one more push!
God, they made it sound like she was just doing laps or something. Almost there? Really. Well almost there still felt like a lifetime away. She was tired, she was sore, she was damn well fed up. She just wanted to lie back and sleep, but the rather prominent discomfort between her legs meant that it was in no way an option for now.
“Little more… okay.” She was definitely losing the energy, and while the drugs were still fantastically numbing the pain that she was sensing in that odd ‘this should hurt but yay painkillers’ kind of way, she was still largely aware of just what was going on down there. Her jaw hurt more really though. Stupid localised meds.
“All the night feeds, all the poopy nappies, all the squawking, you are dealing with every single one of those.” She probably didn’t mean it, maybe, potentially. But right then, with their week overdue, monster of a child breaching from her and leaving all kinds of horrendously self-conscious images in Emma’s head, she was adamant that Neal would somehow be making up for biology’s predetermined nature that she needed to be the one doing this.
The final push felt like it lasted an hour, Emma’s breath going in before she started to scream with the exhale, calves cramping up with the force she braced on her feet in the stirrups and Neal’s hand clenched tightly before she felt that last little bit of resistence give and the whining squawks of said baby replaced Emma’s cries.
It really wasn’t the heart-wrenching scene movies made it out to be, not this giving birth thing - mostly, it was loud and messy with a lot of blood and gunk. But there Nikolas was, crying loudly and Neal was nearly in tears himself, even as he got his nerves under control enough to cut the cord with actual, sharp scissors. Thank fuck it wasn’t one of his own fingers by accident.
“Holy shit, he’s beautiful,” and alright, maybe by ‘beautiful’ Neal meant that he needed to have goop sucked from his nose and mouth and the tiny, shriveled human also needed to be toweled off but to him? Nikolas was beautiful. Healthy and perfect. “He’s also a butterball,” Neal added, when he and Emma were informed that their creation weighed nine pounds, four ounces. Daaaaamn.
The bundle was wrapped in a blanket and given to Emma, resting against her, for the purposes of warm bonding. Aww.
She at least got those few moments to rest between Nikolas bursting into the world (terrible imagery there) and getting cleaned up before she was given her little bundle, all swaddled and less screamy but gurning all the same. She pretty much just had to ignore everything else that was going on around there with their little wrinkley, pink tubby thing cuddled in her arms. “He is,” and hell, she didn’t even care about the last however long she’d been in pain and waddling and not sleeping and peeing constantly, not a single bit of it mattered. “A perfect, beautiful little butterball.”
Clearly, their kid was waiting for the best moment to arrive on the scene, and during another disaster was exactly that moment.
Of course that instantly meant the cutesy voices came out, but Emma would definitely blame it on her voice catching just a little along the way, “Hey little guy,” he was definitely less screamy, bundled up close against her, little fists balled up. “God, he is just perfect.”
“Hey Niko,” Neal grinned deliriously at the adorable chub, offering his index finger, stroking over the tiny balled fists. The baby had fingernails, such small ones, it was the coolest thing. Miracle of life and all that. “We’re so glad you’re here. Took your sweet-ass time though, huh?”
The response was a gurgle, and then a yawn. Niko was probably tired already - it was tough work, being pushed out of that cozy waterbed you made your home for nine months or so. “Thanks, by the way,” Neal told Emma, smoothing her hair gently. “I mean, just...everything. It’s all I ever wanted.” Love and family, two very important and fundamental concepts - and what he never really expected to have in his life, before he’d made the decision to turn it all around.
Henry appeared in the doorway then, somewhat cautiously. Apparently he’d gotten bored sitting in the waiting room - or the battery on his phone was dying, either one. “I asked and they said it was okay for me to come back,” he said. “Is that...” He stepped closer to observe the wrapped bundle. “That’s him?”
Emma just gave Neal the most tired, happy, sweaty smile she could conjure up. They’d done it, hadn’t they. It might not be that ‘happy ending’ everyone in Storybrooke was chasing, but… This was their Tallahassee, wasn’t it? Henry and Niko, each other. “Me too.” Having a family, belonging somewhere, that was what all of this was about, and bitching aside, Emma was a million percent positive she’d do it all again, no questions asked.
With Henry poking his head through, Emma turned attention to their other son, “Hey, c’mon, come meet your little brother.” Because he’d finally made his way out into the world to join them, even if he was still as lazy as ever, eyes closed, fist in mouth, settling in happily while all the doctors and nurses did whatever doctors and nurses did after the show was over.
Getting his cradle in the nursery all set, maybe - Niko and Emma would have to stay a few days in the hospital, just for observation and to work with the new mother at feeding and everything else. Plus, the doctor had a lot of gunk on his hands too - might want to wash that off while letting the family bond. “He’s really little,” Henry said in awe, coming to sit gingerly on the hospital bed - there was sort of enough room for two, but he tried not to jostle Emma very much. “‘Sup Niko. Can I hold him?”
Neal chuckled, patting Henry on the shoulder. “I’ll go call Mary Margaret, and Killian and Regina,” he offered, since he hadn’t gotten much of a chance to do anything besides nearly have a nervous stroke, when they were getting Emma settled in the delivery room before, putting a hospital gown on her and poking at her cervix.
Really, Emma didn't mind that she'd be getting a little stay over, not if there were still a bunch of monkeys flying around. She would rather wait until it was totally safe to get the little man home.
“Okay, make sure everyone is okay, yeah?” Because she was a little worried about how everyone was coping. They were safe and sound in there, but the others might be at risk.
“C’mere then Henry, you’ll need to budge in,” so long as he didn't jostle her too much, it'd be fine. “Support his head and keep him close.” Emma hadn't actually done this baby thing before. But she was pretty sure they could work it out.
Neal at least wanted to hover in the doorway for a minute to watch as Henry tried not to be too awkward teenager about holding his little brother - it was sweet though, how careful he was, brow scrunched in concentration like Niko was made of glass. Eventually he eased into it though, even rocking the baby gently as he drifted off into a nap. Before he likely woke up screaming for sustenance. “I’ll be back in a bit,” Neal promised, and then headed for the waiting room.
He probably needed to tend to biological needs at some point, but fuck it. There were still green rifts outside, and probably flying monkeys, but most importantly - their family had expanded, officially, and that just made the day all the more memorable and special. Happy freaking Independence Day indeed.