Strength (Ship's Core II)

Six

Henry shot up out of bed and raced into the room next door. His mother was lying on her bed, screaming in pain, grasping her tummy, and his father was at her side, giving her words of comfort.

"Henry, thank God!" Killian sighed when Henry walked in. His eyebrows were scrunched worriedly and sweat was already beginning to form on his forehead. "Stay here with your mother while I get help!" He raced out of the room without another word.

Henry was unsure of what to do. His mother was lying there, screaming bloody murder, clearly in severe pain, and he was alone with her.

He walked over up her side and grasped her hand. She stopped screaming for moment and relaxed, panting heavily.

"I'm so sorry you have to watch this, Henry." she apologised.

"It's okay." he assured her. He opened his mouth to speak again, but was interrupted when Emma let out another piercing scream. When she relaxed again, he spoke.
"Is this what you had to do when you gave birth to me?" he asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Yes, it was." Emma panted. "Only it was much harder."

"Why?" Henry asked, confused.

"Because . . . " she groaned. "Because your father wasn't here."

Henry knew very well the story of how his parents met and fell in love, and how Emma lived with Henry and no Killian for the first few months of the boy's life.

Just then, the door burst open, and Killian entered, followed by an extremely old, extremely short man, with snowy white hair and round spectacles that say on the end of his nose.

"I got Doc." Killian announced as he ran to his wife's side. The short man waddled over to my mother and checked to see how she was doing.

"Oh my God." he sighed.

"What? What is it?" Killian almost yelled, panicked.

"This has to be the fastest labour I've ever experienced!" Doc exclaimed. "The baby's already crowning!"

The shock that appeared on Killian and Emma's faces was terrifying.

"Already?!" Emma cried. "No! No not yet, I'm not ready!"

"It's alright, Love." Killian assured her, grabbing her hand and kissing her head. "It's gonna be alright." he looked at his son. "Henry, I think it best you leave for this bit."

Henry quickly nodded in agreement before scurrying out of the room. He now stood alone in the dark hall, his mother's screams piercing his eardrums. He too was panting, just from the shock of seeing his mother in such pain.

He began walking down the dark hallway, determined to be out of earshot of his mother's screeches. He turned dark corner after dark corner, his goal just to get as far away as possible.

He heard quick footsteps along one particular corridor. He stopped in his tracks and peeked his head around the corner. The footsteps stopped, and he couldn't see anyone. He continued walking. A few corridors later, he heard the footsteps again, this time followed by a high pitched giggle. The boy got chills down his spine as he got the feeling that he was being watched. The footsteps and giggling gradually became louder, but Henry didn't move. He wasn't sure where the noise was coming from, and he didn't want to run into it's source. Eventually, when it got loud enough, he worked out that the noise was coming from the opposite direction to where he came from.

Sweat was slowly trickling down from his neck to his back, soaking his white night-top. He walked slowly and silently for a while, but as the giggling and footsteps became louder and more constant, he began to pick up his pace, until he broke into a full on sprint. The giggling continued to follow him as he ran, which only made the boy pick up his speed. The door to his parents' bedroom was just around another corner. The giggling developed into an insane cackle by the time he turned the corner, but he still couldn't see the source anywhere. As soon as he was in reach, he grabbed for the cold, golden door handle of his parents' bedroom door, and yanked it open, throwing himself inside. As soon as he shut the door behind him, the giggling abruptly ceased.

Henry had his back to the door, and he was panting frantically. He had always only been scared of dangerous things that he could see, things he knew would hurt him. Like a knife, a large, viscous animal, or climbing up a tall height. He had never been one to be effected by ghost stories, but this was just too surreal.

"Henry." he heard his father's voice and looked up at his parents. They were both lying together on their bed, Emma was drenched in sweat. Emma had, lying in her arms, a little baby, squirming around in it's little yellow blanket in her arms. As Henry walked closer, he could see more and more how beautiful the baby was with every step he took. Finally, he slowly climbed onto the bed in between his parents, his mother on his left, his father at his right.

"Henry." Emma looked down at her son. "I would like you to meet, Snow Swan-Jones." she carefully picked up the child and placed her in Henry's arms.

Henry stared at his new little sister with all the pride he could possibly hold. She was so perfect. She had tiny locks of bright blonde hair and dazzling blue eyes, as well as an adorable little button nose and little dainty lips. She barely kept her eyes open as she quietly gurgled away in Henry's arms.

"Hi, Snow." Henry said quietly to the newborn. She opened her eyes and moved her head slightly at this new voice. The boy chuckled and stroked her soft, tiny cheek. He ran his finger down from her cheek to her hand, and she grasped his finger tightly. He couldn't believe that a human being, someone of his species, could be unbelievably tiny.

The boy didn't say anything about what he heard outside, mainly because he didn't want to ruin a perfect moment with his parents and his new sister. But he knew that he would have to tell then sooner or later, and that thought left an uneasy sinking feeling in his stomach.

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So what do you think of our new family member?! If you don't approve, well too bad, because I love her!

Buckets of love,
-C🐧🐧