There are so many wonderful baby stories floating around the fandom these days, and I simply couldn't stop myself from partaking in writing some Mills-Swan family fluff. While this is not actually a baby fic, it is a story about Regina and Emma taking the journey of motherhood again – this time together. This is a series of vignettes from the family's life together. It's set in a world where Emma and Regina are happily married, and really there is an obscene amount of over-the-top fluff. For those of you reading Broken, sorry for the delay, and I will try to update soon!

"Did you ever want to be pregnant?" Emma asks one night when Regina is lying with her head on Emma's chest; their naked legs intertwined.

"Are you offering to be my baby daddy?"

"Is that a thing?" Emma asks a little panicked. "Like with magic, can that really work?"

Regina chuckles at the fear in Emma's voice. "Relax Emma. I was only joking."

They let the silence settle. Emma won't push if Regina wants to avoid the question.

"I never really had the opportunity," the brunette says softly a few minutes later, her hand unconsciously stroking the faint stretch marks on Emma's abdomen.

"Daniel and I talked about having a big family," Regina says with the melancholy that still hangs over her memories of her first love. Emma asks about him sometimes – about the good times – and it's become easier to remember. But still there is the fog of sorrow over all the happiness those days held for Regina.

"Leopold wanted a male heir, of course. But I couldn't bear the thought of something of him growing inside me." The hatred and disgust still seethes, and Regina does nothing to hide it now.

"I know," Emma whispers as she runs her fingers through the thick, dark hair she loves to play with. She hadn't meant to bring up memories; she had just been curious.

"I cast a spell so that I wouldn't become pregnant - the witches' version of birth control."

Emma places a kiss to Regina's forehead.

"I wasn't able to love anyone for a very long time. Not until Henry."

Emma lifts Regina's chin so that she can kiss her wife properly. She's grateful everyday that Regina had loved their son from the time he was a baby.

"I held him, and I had the child that I'd always dreamed of."

Emma rests her head on Regina's shoulder. She's staring at Henry's baby album for the millionth time.

The blonde runs her fingers almost reverently over a picture of Regina holding a blue bundle in her arms. It's winter, and Henry is wrapped up so warmly that Emma can only make out the tiniest bit of skin through the layers of protection the new mother has enveloped her baby in.

Tears fall onto the picture, and Emma wipes them away quickly, afraid of ruining the beautiful photograph.

They promised each other long ago not to let themselves get lost in the past. There are too many regrets for both of them. But with Henry's birthday days away, Emma is dragged down by the sadness of the time she lost with a son she now loves so dearly.

Regina's thumb swipes at Emma's cheek, wiping away the moisture. There's such comfort in that touch. Such love. Such gratefulness for their precious son. Things that no one else would detect in such a simple gesture. Things that sustain Emma while she grieves.

"Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Henry. Happy birthday to you."

Henry wakes up to his mothers singing. Regina nudges him over so she can sit on the edge of the bed and hold the plate of pancakes covered in frosting in front of him. There are fourteen candles – one for each year and one for good luck, just like always.

Henry thinks for a minute, because there isn't much that he needs to wish for. He's happy. His mothers are both happy. He doesn't need much else really. He wishes for this to be his family's happily ever after and blows out the candles.

Regina puts the plate down on the bedside table, and Henry knows what comes next. "Mom!" he yells as she leans over, "I'm too old for birthday kisses." But the protest is perfunctory, and Henry smiles as Regina places thirteen birthday kisses to the crown of her son's head.

Emma hangs back, letting mother and son have their birthday morning tradition, until Henry yells: "Ma, come over here and help us eat the pancakes."

"Sheriff Swan," Dr. Whale calls Emma over to where he stands outside an exam room.

"What's going on?"

"Ten year old girl came in with a black eye and a broken arm. When we did x-rays and found several healed fractures."

Emma swallows hard. The memory of a social worker being called to her own bedside rises in her mind. She pushes it away. Emma can't be thinking of these memories if she's going to do her job.

The sheriff knocks on the hospital room door. "Hi." She smiles at the little girl with long dark curls lying in the bed. "My name is Emma, and I'm a police officer. Can I talk to you?" The girl nods, and Emma sits down. "What's your name?"

"Samantha, but everyone calls me Sam," the child says in a voice so tiny that Emma can barely make it out.

"It's very nice to meet you Sam. Is it ok for me to ask you a few questions about how you got hurt?"

Sam looks down, pulls at the corner of the hospital sheet. "It was an accident."

"You can tell me the truth. I promise you Sam: I'm not going to let anyone hurt you anymore."

"Please Regina. I can't let her go into foster care. Her life has been so terrible, and all that's waiting for her in the system is being sent from home to home until she ages out."

There are tears in Emma's eyes, and Regina would do anything to make it better. But this is a huge commitment. Things are finally good with Henry again, and she can't ruin that. He is her first priority.

"Emma, we can't adopt a kid without talking to Henry."

"Can we just take her for a few nights and see?"

"She's not a puppy. We're not going to take her and then toss her away when we decide we don't want her." As soon as the words are out of Regina's mouth she realizes: that is what Emma had been through; that is all she knows.

Regina wraps her arms around Emma, but the blonde is stiff and refuses the comfort of being held. "I'm sorry," Regina whispers, not letting go of her wife. "I love you." Regina has come to understand the moments when Emma most needs to be reminded of how very loved and wanted she is now. "I love you," Regina repeats, and she finally feels the blonde give in to the embrace.

"I know this seems crazy, Regina, but there is something special about this girl. I need to help her."

Regina never thought she would have a second child. She had been a single mother for a long time, and raising one kid while working full time had been enough. And then things had gotten bad with Henry, and she had needed to spend all her time proving to her son that she truly loved him. She thinks finally that he believes her, and that things have gone back to how they used to be when her son loved her unconditionally, when he knew she loved him in the same way. So, maybe he would be ok with this. Maybe they would be ok if their little family got larger.

"Do you want a second child, Emma?" Regina asks. They need to want this little girl if they're going to take her in. This can't be about guilt and obligation and making up for their own screwed up childhoods. Regina knows the commitment it takes to be a mother, and they both need to be ready to make it.

"I don't know," Emma says with a shrug. "I didn't think I wanted the first one, but I love him more than anything in the world."

Regina smiles, and she's reminded of the fact that despite all the time she spent getting ready for Henry, nothing could prepare her with the love she felt the moment he was placed in her arms.

"I just can't let her go into the system, Regina."

It takes three days for the nightmares to start – years for them to finally fade to occasional disturbances.

"Sam, sweetheart, wake up," Regina says gently touching the little girl's back. She's thrashing violently, and Regina's heart breaks to think of what the child is seeing in her dreams. "Samantha."

The little girl sits up, her eyes darting around the room frantically.

"It's ok. You're ok," Regina soothes.

Sam's eyes focus on Regina, who offers a comforting smile. "It's ok. You're safe." Regina's heart breaks at the look on this child's face. No one should feel pain like this. Regina reaches out slowly, giving Sam the chance to shift away. But the little girl leans forward into Regina's arms. "I've got you, and I'm never going to let anyone hurt you again."

Regina had been so scared that having a daughter would make it easy to recapitulate the awful relationship that she had with Cora. Regina had feared that she would need to actively resist falling into the manipulative, unhealthy patterns that had been modeled for her as a child. But Regina holds Sam and wonders more than ever how a mother could ever abuse a child like Cora had, like Sam's mother had.

It had been so easy for Regina to love this child. She didn't know if it would be the same to fall in love with a ten year old as it had been to fall in love with a baby. But Regina is hugging Samantha tightly, and all she can think is that she wants to make the pain go away, wants to take it on herself – anything just to help Sam.

Emma watches from the hallway, not wanting to ruin the moment since this is the first time Sam has let herself be hugged like this.

"It's ok," Regina repeats over and over until the words become a soothing chant.

Sam curls herself up on Regina's lap. "Gina?"

Regina's always hated that nickname, but hearing it from Samantha makes her smile.

"Yeah?"

"Am I really going to stay with you and Emma?"

"Forever," Regina promises.

Samantha snuggles against Regina's neck, and the former queen begins to hum a lullaby she remembers from when she was young. It was a tune her father sang to her when she was upset – usually after Cora had been particularly cruel – and it had always calmed Regina.

Emma's focus is pulled from her wife and daughter when Henry walks up beside her. "Mom used to sing to me like that when I was a baby."

"Sam never got to have that when she was little. She's making up for lost time," Emma says, running her fingers through her son's hair.

They're all making up for lost time it seems.

Emma may have been the one to suggest adopting Samantha, but it's Regina to whom being the girl's mother comes naturally. The brunette soothes the bad dreams away – she knows what to say and do when the little girl cries out in the middle of the night.

Emma stands at the doorway watching as Regina rocks Sam back to sleep. The former queen notices her wife watching and motions for her to join them.

Regina's arms are surrounding Sam, offering safety and warmth and protection. Emma doesn't know how to do this. She doesn't know how to love a child in this way, how to take care of a kid who needs to be held and soothed like a baby, who needs to be taught what love is.

"Lets scoot over so Emma can join us," Regina says, moving over with Sam still in her arms.

Emma lies down tentatively on the bed. Regina reaches out, wrapping an arm around her wife and pulling her closer. Emma snuggles in, rubs Samantha's back. "Hi Emma."

"Hi sweetie," Emma says. And then she lets herself trust her instincts. "It's ok, Sam. It was just a bad dream, and Regina and I are going to take care of you. I promise."

Regina sees it – the moment Emma lets herself become Samantha's mother. It's beautiful to watch, and the brunette falls more in love with her wife than she ever thought possible.

"You need new pajamas, kid," Emma tells Samantha. "You're getting too tall for your old ones."

"That's ok. You don't need to get me anything."

Emma recognizes the fear, the desire not to be a burden – being scared that if you do anything wrong, if you are too much of an inconvenience, then your new family will give you back.

"But I want to. Now tell me, what kind of pajamas do you want."

"Really, I can pick?"

"Of course you can," Emma says, wrapping her arm around Sam's shoulder.

"Can I get a pair of with fairy princesses on them?"

Emma laughs. "Sure thing. As long as I can be there when Regina sees them for the first time."

Emma is already at the sheriff's station so it's just Regina and the kids this morning. Well, just Regina and Sam really. Henry's bus is in five minutes, which means that the teenager will be rushing down the stairs anytime now to grab a pop-tart – a taste preference for which Emma is entirely to blame – and his lunch before running out the door.

"Hi Henry," Sam says as he makes his appearance right on cue.

"Hey sis," he says affectionately. He's a good big brother, and Regina couldn't be prouder. "Hi Mom."

"Have a good day at school," Regina says, handing Henry his lunch.

"Thanks. See you guys later." And then he's off to run for his bus.

"Now that the hurricane is out of the house," Regina says to Sam, whose bus to elementary school isn't for another hour, "what should we make for breakfast?"

"Can you make me scrambled eggs?" Sam asks. She's asking for what she wants now, and that makes Regina and Emma happy, makes them feel like Sam is settling in, trusting that they'll always be there.

Regina is mixing milk into the eggs when Sam asks: "Gina?" The former queen looks up from the bowl. "Would it be ok if I called you Mom like Henry does?"

Tears flood Regina's eyes and she thinks that her heart just might burst from joy. "I would be honored. I am after all your mom – just like I'm Henry's."

Sam runs over to Regina to give her a hug, and Regina bends down to kiss her daughter's head. "I love you Samantha."

"I love you too Mom."

Sam pulls away and smiles at Regina. It's a real smile, and the former queen is happy to see this expression more and more. She pulls Sam against her side, not ready to let the little girl go.

"Do you think Emma would mind if I called her Ma?"

"I know she will be just as happy as I am right now."

"Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Sam. Happy birthday to you."

Emma's holding frosted pancakes with twelve lit candles.

Henry's jumping on the bed in an effort to wake his sister. "Make a wish," he says when Sam pops her head out from under the covers.

Sam closes her eyes and blows out the candles. And then she's surrounded by her Mom, her Ma, and her brother giving her birthday kisses.