Hey everyone! So here we go, the next part of the story. Don't want to spoil too much, but I will say that it takes place 9 months after the last chapter. So, Emma is now 15.

Chapter One: Still Our Little Girl

David was enjoying the peacefulness, using the time to catch up on his reading. But as a father, he should have known that the peace was going to be short lived. First, he heard a crash followed by his daughter's scream. He dashed out of his study and to the source of the noise. There Emma was, halfway over the baby gate, her legs in the air and her head towards the ground. David stifled a laugh as he helped her up.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine. That wasn't there before," she huffed, gesturing to the gate.

David finally allowed himself to laugh. "I know, Mama just put it up. They're bringing Neal tomorrow and she's baby proofing." He quickly inspected her for any injuries while Emma rolled her eyes.

"I told you I'm okay."

"Just checking."

"Neal really comes tomorrow?"

David smiled. "Yeah."

Two months ago, Mary and David had decided it was time to start applying to get their foster license again, as they had let it lapse after they adopted Emma. When they were doing so, they began talking with Emma's old social worker, Helen. She told them that Ed had another child, a baby boy, Neal. The biological mother had given him up for adoption and Ed was back in prison and would be for the rest of his life. Neal had been placed with a family but then he ended up needing heart surgery. It proved to be too much for them, so he was back in the system. With the birth mother giving up her rights and Ed once again having his stripped, they would be able to adopt him after fostering him for a bit. They just had to complete the classes, which is what they were doing. Now, their family was going to be expanding.

Emma could still remember being told that he was coming. Her parents had brought up wanting to foster again a little after the holidays. She was on the fence about it, though she told them she was on board. She knew that they weren't doing it to replace her and that they loved her so much. It wasn't about not being the center of their world, either. She just liked their family the way it was. Things just seemed so simple. Mary and David had assured her that it wouldn't be starting until the end of the school year, so she figured she'd have time to adjust. Any negative feelings she had about the situation melted away as soon as she heard his story.

Two Months Ago

Emma entered the kitchen and found her parents sitting at the table, looking apprehensive.

"What's wrong?" She glanced at the clock on the wall. "I'm not late, am I? The movie was longer than Lily and I thought…"

"No sweets," Mary shook her head. "You're not in trouble, just sit down."

Emma took the seat across from them, raising an eyebrow. "What's going on?"

"You know how Daddy and I have been talking about applying to get our foster license." The blonde slowly nodded. "Well we were talking with Helen and she told us about a unique situation."

"What sort of unique situation."

"It seems that Ed had another child," David explained.

Emma's eyes widened a bit. "He…he's got another child? No…no, he can't!" She felt on the verge of a panic attack, at the very thought of that man being able to hurt another child.

Mary got up and moved to the seat beside Emma's, pulling her onto her lap. "Baby, shhh. It's okay, it's okay. The baby's safe, the baby's not with him. Ed's back in prison, he will be for the rest of his life, okay?" She rubbed her back.

The girl nodded, slowly calming down. "So, I have a baby brother or sister?"

"A brother," David replied, with a soft smile. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, removing the picture that Helen had attached to the file. "He's 8 months old and his name is Neal."

Emma bit her lip, a small smile of her own. He had baby blue eyes and dark tuffs of hair. "Where is he?"

"Well, his biological mother put him up for adoption but there were some complications, so they couldn't care for him."

A frown crossed her face. "He's in the system." As happy as she was that he wasn't with Ed, this wasn't much better. Anyone could've had him. She felt a sudden surge of protectiveness for a little baby that she didn't even know. "How could someone not want him?"

Mary stroked her hair. "Well someone does, us. Your father and I intend to get our foster license and foster him. Ed's rights were stripped away and the biological mother signed hers away. So, we can adopt him eventually." She ran a finger over Emma's cheek. "Just like we did with you. If you're okay with that."

Emma quickly nodded. This was her baby brother, her DNA. Blood didn't make a family and if they had fostered a child that she didn't share any with, she knew that she would love them just as much. But this was different, this was a baby who came from the same evil place that she did. He had luckily been able to escape it much sooner, but she didn't want him growing up as she did. "He's my baby brother, I want him with us. He needs a family."

Mary and David beamed proudly at their daughter. They knew she was nervous about them fostering and even with Neal being her brother, they were unsure of how it would go. "And he'll have one. We already love his big sister so much and adopting her was the best thing we ever did." Mary gave her a kiss on the cheek and Emma smiled.

"Where is he now?"

"Boston. A family has agreed to foster him until we get our license. It should take about 2 months, but then he'll be with us, forever and always." They all wished he could just be with them now, but there were procedures in place for a reason. "We just need you to know Emma, we're not doing this to replace you. We simply want to add to our family, because being your parents has been the greatest gift. Things may be different, but how much we love you won't change." Emma nodded and buried her head in her mother's shoulder. David moved closer, cradling his daughter's head and kissing her cheek.

"You'll always be our little girl."

There was silence for a minute. "Is it bad I'm happy that it's a boy?" Emma asked.

David chuckled. "No, but even if he was a girl, you'd still be our baby girl, my princess."

In The Present

Emma knew jealousy was going to spring up. Neal was going to have things that she never got. Yes, he was in the system but he would never remember it. He was never at the mercy of Ed and never would be. He would be safe and protected all his life. All of these were good things and it wasn't as if Emma wanted him to go through what she did. But jealousy wasn't something she could help. Still, she felt it'd be worth it at the price of knowing that her baby brother was safe.

"You know," David said, interrupting her thoughts. "I don't think any of this would've happened if you had been wearing your glasses."

Emma averted her eyes, taking interest in a family photo. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Uh huh. Found these in the kitchen." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the glasses case. "Come on, put them on."

Emma pouted but took the case, sliding the bifocals onto her face. Around the same time they had found out about Neal, they realized that Emma's vison was becoming fuzzy. It didn't matter if it was close up or far away. She tried to hide it, but of course her parents figured it out and took her to the eye doctor. She was given a pair of glasses but hated wearing them. Constantly she was "forgetting them". What seemed to do the trick was Mary keeping a pair in her office. If ever Emma was "forgetful", she was simply called down to the office. That only had to happen twice for their daughter to get embarrassed and wear them at school. Home was another story. David and Mary had finally cracked and allowed the doctor to prescribe some contacts, but due to the severity of Emma's vison and Storybrooke being a small town, they were going to take a week or two to come in.

"I don't see why you hate wearing them, you look adorable."

The teenager rolled her eyes. "I don't want to be adorable."

"But you are." Emma let out an aggravated sigh as Mary made her way down the stairs, unlatching the gate.

"What's going on?"

"Dad just said I look adorable."

"David," Mary fake scolded. "How dare you? Don't you know she's not adorable? She's precious." The mother kissed her daughter's cheek, smiling at the disgusted look that went across the teen's face.

"Argh," Emma mumbled, walking past her and up the stairs. The brunette chuckled and walked over to her husband.

"Always fun to embarrass her," she joked.

"Oh, totally. So, baby proofing all done?"

"Just about. Neal won't be able to get into anything."

"You know he is just a baby, I don't think he can get into too much trouble. Were the childproof locks on the toilet really necessary."

"I showed you the statistics, David. I want our child to be safe."

David smiled. "Over protective mother already."

"What can I say? It's like with Emma, before I even met them both, I knew they were my child."

"They certainly are." He pulled her closer, wrapping his arms around her waist. "I can't believe he'll be here tomorrow."

"I know." Mary rested her forehead against his. "We need to watch out for Emma, though. I know she's happy, but she could get jealous."

"I can't blame her. Neal is going to have everything that she didn't at that age." He sighed as his wife frowned, knowing what was on her mind. "There's nothing we can do to change that."

"10 months seems like too long without being able to love him. I know he won't remember it, but we will."

"We can't stress on the past, with either of them. All that matters is that they ended up with us, where they belong."

Mary nodded. "I'll just never be over it."

"I won't either, as Archie says we just have to learn to cope with it." He kissed her for a moment. "I'm going to head to the store, we need lightbulbs. Can I get you anything?"

"More diapers, I know we have a ton, I'm just paranoid about running out his first week."

David wanted to remind her that they probably had enough to last them a month, but let her have her moment. "Of course." He then called up to Emma. "Princess, do you need anything from the store?"

Emma's door creaked open. "Chocolate!" And with that, the door shut again.

David chuckled. "Chocolate isn't very descriptive."

"I think she's going to be needing a ton of chocolate soon," Mary said, giving him a knowing look. He made a disgusted face.

"Maybe I'll just buy every kind of chocolate they have…and a big stick to make me forget that she gets those."

"Oh please, you know you dote on her whenever she does." And it was true. Emma was always David's little princess, but during her time of the month, he went out of his way to spoil her rotten. He made sure she had her chocolate and Midol, tucked her in for naps on the couch. Mary found it absolutely adorable

"Well, she's still my little girl. Even with…that."

"You can say it David, periods. Menstrual cycles, her time of the month, Aunt Flo…"

David covered his ears. "La la la, I'm going to the store. I'll be back in an hour."

Mary giggled to herself as he left. It was fun to freak him out sometimes.

Later that night, after she had finished getting ready for bed, Emma heard a knock at the door.

"Come in." It opened and her parents walked in.

"Hey baby, going to bed?" Mary asked.

"Yeah. What's up?"

"We just wanted to talk to you, sit down." Emma sat, with her parents sitting on either side.

"Are you two getting a divorce?" She joked.

Mary rolled her eyes. "No, your father and I are still very much in love."

"Then what's up?"

"We just wanted to talk to you about tomorrow," David said. "We know things are going to be a little different…"

"Guys," Emma cut him off. "Really, we don't need to have this talk."

"Yeah, we do."

"No, we don't. Look, I get it. Neal's a baby. He's going to take up your attention, you both still love me and we'll still do stuff. That about cover it?" She smiled cheekily at them.

David sighed. "That's part of it, though we're glad that you understand."

"But as you said, Neal may take up our attention at times. However, I do not want you to ever keep some stuff from us," Mary said. "I don't ever want to hear you say that you didn't tell us something because we were busy with Neal. We are still here for you, a hundred percent."

The teen knew they were going to try to say this. "You guys don't have to…"

"Emma," Mary gave her a Look. "We are your parents and we're always here for you."

Emma had been doing better with her PTSD and depression. She still had nightmares and there were definitely times when she wasn't okay. Her parents had accepted that they couldn't fix everything, but encouraged her to at least talk about it. At the very least to not just brush stuff off by saying "I'm okay" and trying to move on.

"If something's going on," David continued. "Tell us. We're not trying to say this as a punishment but if we feel that you're holding back, you know we'll just cling tighter."

Emma partially smiled. "Yeah, I do."

"We love you so much, baby," Mary whispered, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "We don't want to go backwards, just forward."

"I promise I won't use Neal as a copout." She wasn't sure how much of that was true, but she wanted it to be.

"Good. And no matter what, there will always be time for…" She glanced over at David and he smirked. They hugged her tightly at the same time, smothering her face with kisses.

"You guys!" Emma couldn't help but laugh. They were so dorky sometimes.

David chuckled, laying one last kiss to her forehead. "Just showing how much we love you."

"I love you guys too." She gave them each a kiss on the cheek before yawning.

"Bedtime." Emma allowed her parents to tuck her in. She may have been 15, but there were still some things she just didn't mind. She had gone so long without it, it was nice.

Mary and David knew that the talk would probably have to be repeated, but they had it out in the air. Having two kids was going to be hard, but they were going to do it and they weren't going to let either down.

Mary stood by the window the next morning, anxiously waiting for the familiar station wagon to pull up. Emma walked up beside her.

"They'll be here soon," the blonde said.

"I know," she murmured. She smiled at Emma. "I stood in this exact same spot almost 2 years ago, waiting for you."

"Were you nervous?"

"Yes. And then out stepped my beautiful daughter…"

"Who had a black eye."

Mary winced, she still kicked herself for how she reacted to that. "I really was just worried, you know that? It was motherly instinct kicking in already. I wanted to know who hurt my baby."

Emma smiled. "It's alright, Mama. I probably would've done the same thing."

"You never did give me a name…"

"Because there's nothing that you can do about it."

"Oh, I can do plenty…"

Emma decided to distract her mother and luckily the perfect opportunity arose. "Isn't that Helen's car?"

Mary's head snapped up. "David! Get in here!"

David walked in from the kitchen and the family headed to the door, opening it. Helen gave a small wave before opening the back door and reaching inside. When she emerged a moment later, she was holding a baby boy. Tears sprang to Mary's eyes as she clutched David's hand. Up the walk, Helen came and soon, she was inside.

"Hello Nolan family," she said, smiling. "This is Neal."

Mary reached out and took the baby, looking down into his bright blue eyes. He looked so different from his photo, so much bigger. He stared up at her, looking confused. "Hey there Neal, you're so precious." A few stray tears fell from her eyes. In wonder, she just looked at him. She loved him already, with all her heart.

David watched his wife with the baby, feeling the tears trickle to his own eyes. He placed a hand on his wife's back and waited a few minutes. "May I have a turn?"

Mary laughed in spite of her tears. "Of course."

He gently took the baby. "Hey there big guy, look at you." Neal examined David's shirt, grabbing for the buttons. "Oh, I don't know how good those would taste, pal." The sheriff just couldn't believe it. He had a son, a little boy, who was already stealing his heart. "You're amazing."

Emma stood nearby, watching her parents, already feeling a twinge of jealousy. The way they looked at him, she knew they looked at her the same way. But he was so little and mesmerized with them. They weren't just her parents anymore.

David looked up, noticing his daughter's face. "Hey Princess, want to meet your brother?" Emma walked a little closer and he moved to put the baby in her arms.

"Oh, um, I don't know if I should…"

"It's okay, you won't drop him," David adjusted her arms appropriately.

Emma gazed down at her baby brother's face and watched as he smiled. Mary felt her heart melt, his first smile since arriving. "Hey kid," the teen whispered. "Um, I'm your big sister, Emma." Neal grabbed a fistful of her blonde curls. "You don't want to play with that, Mama and Daddy got you so many toys." She couldn't take her eyes off of him, she had never seen anything so small. This was him, her little brother. The one she had been thinking about for the past couple of months. He was there, he was safe.

He was home.

She had so much she wanted to say to him, but she couldn't, not in front of their parents.

Mary and David chatted with Helen for a bit, signing a few final papers granting them foster parents. Emma gave her brother back to her mom, though she kept staring at him.

"He has your chin," Mary said, touching her daughter's.

"Yeah, he's pretty adorable."

"Oh, so you can use that word?" David, teased.

"He's a baby!" Emma protested. "Babies are adorable."

"Uh huh." He ruffled her hair, chuckling.

"So…what now?" The teen asked after a few minutes.

Mary laughed. "Well, why don't we go to Granny's as the first time as a family of four?"

"Sounds good. But can he eat?"

"Yes, little things. Plus, I'll make him a bottle before we leave." Mary didn't want to put him down again, but handed him off to David.

"You wanna go get something to eat, big guy? I have a feeling everyone is going to love you." He lightly bounced the baby, making him smile.

"You know for a new placement, he seems to be adjusting fine," Emma commented.

"He knows this is home. He's with his mommy and daddy and big sister. Aren't you, bub?"

Once Mary fixed the bottle and grabbed the already prepared diaper bag, they headed out to Mary's car. It didn't take long before they were at Granny's. Neal proved to not like the car, as he fussed the entire way, only stopping once Mary got him out.

"Well, now we know one thing you don't like," she cooed.

Inside, Ruby immediately rushed over

"Is this Neal?" She asked.

"No, we kidnapped another baby on the way over here," Emma replied sarcastically.

The teen rolled her eyes, playfully slugging her friend in the shoulder. "He is so cute."

"Thanks Ruby," Mary smiled. "Can we get a table for 3 ½?"

Ruby nodded and lead them to a booth, grabbing one of the high chairs so they could settle Neal down. Apparently, it was sitting alone period that bothered the little one, so he ended up back in Mary's arms. "Fussy, just like his big sister."

"Shut up," Emma told her. "You're the worst best friend ever."

"As if. I'll be back in a minute to take you order."

Breakfast was spent with everyone coming by to see the new baby. The only person allowed to hold him outside the family was Granny. Mary was trying to not be terrified of germs, but she couldn't help it. Emma found the whole thing hilarious, for once her mother's overprotective wrath wasn't on her.

The rest of the day was spent going for a walk around the park, including pushing Neal on the swing. David insisted he push Emma in one of the bigger ones, just to make up for lost time with her. Emma rolled her eyes, but secretly enjoyed it while Mary just took pictures.

It was weird how naturally it came to them, as if he was supposed to be there all along. Mary held him while David had his arm linked with Emma's. It was all the couple had ever wanted.

That night, Emma woke up to hearing some fussing coming from Neal's nursery. She was a little confused, because she assumed that he would be sleeping through the night by that point. She grabbed her baby blanket and headed into the room. Mary and David had heard the crying, but Emma had beat them and they could hear her over the monitor. They decided to wait and listen.

Neal was sitting up, light tears falling down his face.

"Hey Neal," Emma whispered, lifting him into her arms and walking over to the hair chair that Marco had built for them. She settled down, holding him on his lap. "I know this must be scary, it's your first night in a new place. I know about all of that. My first night, I didn't sleep much." The baby's tears had stopped and he was just looking up at her. "It's okay to be scared, but you don't have to be. I promise this is the last stop, this is your home. You're safe."

Mary reached over and clutched David's hand, feeling her heart break a little. Emma had been through so much and all she wanted to do was comfort her baby brother.

"And you're really lucky too. Our…well I can't even call him a birth dad because he's not a dad, period. Our dad is that blonde guy that was holding you earlier. I guess we'll just call the other man, Ed. He's not nice, but don't worry, he'll never hurt you." Neal gurgled, playing with Emma's curls. "Like I said, you're safe."

"Should we go in there?" David whispered, he wasn't sure if Emma needed their comfort too. He got waved off by his wife as she shook her head.

"Anyway," Emma continued, her voice coming through crystal clear on the monitor. "Our parents are pretty awesome. Mama's really overprotective and fusses over you, but she only does it because she loves you. Never tell her I said this, but it's actually kind of nice."

Mary smiled brightly. If only her daughter knew they could hear all of it.

"But she makes awesome food, especially brownies. Plus, she'll sing to you and it's soothing. You can talk to her about stuff, both of them actually. Daddy, he thinks he's funny. Sometimes you have to laugh at his jokes, just so his feelings won't be hurt."

David gasped in offense. "I am plenty funny," he grumbled. Mary chuckled, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Despite all that, he's really great. He can be overprotective too. He always says I can't date or kiss boys, so I wonder how he'll be when you're ready to date. Though, I don't know if any girl is good enough for you."

The father went from being offended to grinning, maybe he was rubbing off on Emma after all.

"They really love you kid, from the minute they found out about you, they were so excited. They are the best parents you could ask for. They mess up, but they do what they can to make up for it. They give a lot of hugs and kisses, but it's nice. It makes you feel like you're not alone." She sighed a little. "I know you can't understand most of this, but I just need you to know it. You really are safe here. Mama and Daddy love you, I love you too."

She kissed his head and smiled when Neal's head fell against her chest, his fist still around some of her curls. "Can we trade that? Here. I know you're not supposed to have blankets in your crib yet but you can hold this until you fall back asleep." She managed to work his fist off her hair and before he could grab it again, she put her blanket in his hand. "This is my blanket, but you can borrow it. It really does help."

There was silence over the monitor for a good chunk of time, so Mary and David assumed that the baby had fallen back asleep. Mary looked up at David, tears falling down her face.

"We have a pretty spectacular daughter," she whispered.

"That we do," David replied, softly, tears of his own falling. "She's already an amazing big sister."

"Should we go make sure she can get him back in his crib okay?"

"Let's give it a minute."

The two waited and eventually went in there. They found both of their kids asleep, Emma cuddling Neal close to her chest. The parents almost started crying all over again, but contained themselves. Mary gently moved the blanket out of Neal's hands and put him back in his crib while David lifted up Emma, who's eyes flickered open a bit.

"Mmm…Daddy?"

"It's alright Princess, go back to sleep. You need plenty of rest to hear my dad jokes tomorrow."

"M'kay." Sleepy Emma had no idea what her parents had heard. Mary stifled a chuckle.

"Alright, get her back to bed." She slipped the baby blanket into Emma's arms, kissing her cheek. "We'll get Neal his own, sweets. But thank you for sharing it." The blonde just nodded, clutching it close as she yawned. David pecked his wife's lips.

"See you in a bit," he whispered as he carried his daughter off.

Well, there we have it! Decided to start off on a fluffy note! Hope you all enjoyed how little Neal entered our story. Now they're a family of 4. Plenty of drama to come, but for now they're just all so adorable. As always, let me know what you think.