**A(nother) grown-up Sabrina and Puck story. I'm sorryyyy. But not really. Also not apologizing for any OOC-ness because I love softie Puck. Also, uh, quarantine's got my head not thinking right, so I'm gonna go ahead and blame that for some of the wording here. And this story is so much longer than I thought it'd be. I am sorry for that. I'm about ready to pay someone to teach me how to write a oneshot that's less than 2k words. Anyways, all Sisters Grimm rights belong to Michael Buckley**

Her husband had been late.

He had somehow accidentally overslept through his extremely obnoxious alarm and was running behind schedule. It made her a little nervous when this happened. At the beginning of their marriage, Sabrina thought that as king of Faerie, he would have some say, or at least have some wiggle-room, as to the time he showed up to the castle, but apparently even magical Everafter jobs still held true to some human aspects when it came to work. Important meetings and deadlines all too often pulled Puck away from their bed at what seemed like the wee hours of the morning. It was November now, and in Faerie, that was tax season. The king had a set of staff to oversee that everyone did their taxes correctly, but then he had to go over and check their report. It left this particular fall month demanding for more of his time than he or his wife would like. Nevertheless, he pushed through it year after year with diligence and determination.

The desire to come home early if he could, along with the eagerness to provide the best for his family, made him work quickly and efficiently. Knowing this made Sabrina smile as she crawled over to fill the empty side of the bed. Was the man she married really the same obnoxious, full-of-himself, ever-pranking, whiny fairy she'd met in the woods thirty-four years ago? She already knew the answer: Growing up had done wonders for him.

Sure, his appetite had decelerated since puberty, but only a little, and from what she could tell from laying on his side of the bed, he still smelled like pine needles and cotton. But he'd let go of the bratty part of him that had gripped onto youth for eons too long, now embracing the married life his twelve-year-old self swore would never happen. His maturity hadn't been entirely lost to considerable amounts of mischief, laughter, and playfulness, though. That was what made him, him. It did, however, intensify his already protective nature. It let him know that there was no shame in openly showing the ones he cared about -- specifically three blondes -- that he would do anything for them.

The alarm went off once more because Puck hadn't shut it off after snoozing it. Sabrina groaned, and just as she reached over to silence the offending gadget, she heard her youngest daughter yell out to her other daughter, Alison.

They were going to be late.

Emma announced this at the top of her lungs as she stood at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for her sister to finish getting ready so she could drive them to school. This was an occurrence that took place at least once a week, and with Alison's case of senioritis combined with Emma's excitement for school that would likely wear off as her freshman year continued, Sabrina couldn't help but hope that one of these days she'd get a full week (or maybe longer) where her lovely but sometimes difficult girls didn't check off "be loud as possible" on their morning schedules.

Finally she heard the roar of the Range Rover Alison had gotten for her eighteenth birthday back out their driveway, and her nerves relaxed once more. But not for long, because a nagging thought kept circling through her mind, anxious, demanding, to be explored.

She was late.

As a lawyer and divorce attorney for Everafters in New York, Sabrina was never quite a hundred percent sure when her assistance would be needed, and while she did have regular hours where her presence had to grace her office, today was not one of those days. She wasn't late to work. Her boss was very sweet and had told her that with Thanksgiving right around the corner, she should stay at home and take an extra day off to enjoy being with her family before having to cook up a storm. He could manage the office that Friday, especially with the recent stream of clients coming to a trickle. Perhaps everyone was too busy preparing for the holiday to divorce or do ill to each other. She wasn't sure but was grateful nonetheless. Because honestly, she was freaking out a little over some unexpected revelation.

At first, she had thought it was her new Tuesday hot yoga class that was making it come late. Exactly a month and two weeks had passed since her last period, and while sometimes her cycle could be slightly irregular, she knew deep down that this time it wasn't her diet or any amount of stress causing the its absence.

The first time the thought that maybe she was pregnant crossed her mind, she had scoffed in defiance not a second later, thinking Okay, you've had some crazy ideas in your lifetime, but that's just plain ridiculous.

Was it, though?

When her youngest turned eight, the possibility of ever being with child ever again left her head for what seemed like good. And not to mention that she was forty-five! But that really was just a number. She had halted her aging close to ten years ago, and her ob-gyn had told her that she had one of the healthiest bodies at thirty years of age. All the signs were there, too. While making last Saturday's dinner, she'd been hit with a wave of nausea when the smell of raw chicken reached her nose. The only other time that had happened before was when she was newly pregnant with Emma. Then she had thrown up Monday morning, barely making it to the bathroom before the contents of her stomach made an encore. Lucky, she was, that Puck could be such a heavy sleeper sometimes. Unfortunate, she was, that the gestation period for fairies was two months shorter than the one for humans, because that meant things like morning sickness and the constant need to pee happened a whole lot earlier in the first trimester -- could you even call it that if you were only pregnant for seven months? -- then she'd like them to. Or maybe it was a blessing in disguise. Wouldn't she want to know if she was expecting a baby sooner rather than later, especially given that the whole situation was incredibly unplanned?

Unplanned. Though she was alone, her cheeks took on a furious blush in the dark room as her mind detoured off the path of worry and forced her to remember the event that was responsible for her current physical state of being. It wasn't like she and Puck weren't careful when they... But she guessed that after the last fourteen years of marriage went by and no new baby came, much to her and her husband's intent, they were just buying time until their luck decided to dry up. They knew the undiscussed chance of adding to their family remained feasible each time they physically shared themselves with each other like that, but somewhere along the way they had gotten a little too sloppy, a little too reliant on their previous, well-trusted methods of contraception.

So there she stood in her bathroom at 7:23 in the morning, holding a box which contained an at-home pregnancy test. Her resolve to answer the question that had been plaguing her all week stood strong until she actually had the stick in her fingers. Her hands were shaking badly. When she blamed her nerves on the chances of dropping the test into the toilet by accident, she knew she was lying to herself. Discarding the box into her bathroom drawer, she came to the truths behind her worry. She was worried that she wouldn't be able to handle another baby because it had been such a long time since her last one and she felt a sense of being out of practice. She was worried about what her mom -- no, scratch that -- her dad would think about her being knocked up again after so many years. She was worried how being pregnant, and then maternity leave, would affect her work. She worried about what the reactions her teenage daughters would be when they found out that they'd be getting a little sister or brother. And then there was Puck.

Oh, god, she thought as she sank back down into bed. What would he think about having another kid? Would he be mad? He'd been shocked when she told him about the arrival of Alison, and elated with the news of Emma, so why would he be upset this time? The fairy she'd come to love was too gentle and caring of her to yell at her about something like this...right? He was one of the most unpredictable Everafters she'd met, though, and that was demonstrated best when his impulsive side got the better of him, like the time he came home with an Australian Shepherd from the pound because "he looked really lonely". True, the family loved Bono very much, but this wasn't a dog. This was a baby.

A baby. Her baby. Her and Puck's baby. With this realization, she tried to keep the tears from coming, but it was no use. They dripped down her face faster than she thought was possible for her, the kick-ass, saved-the-world Sabrina Grimm, to produce. Placing a hand on her abdomen, she knew she didn't need that emergency pregnancy test she'd kept stowed away in the back of her closet to tell her that another half-fairy was growing in her stomach as she breathed. Suddenly overcome with exhaustion from her anxiety over the matter, she curled back up on the bed, threw the covers over herself, and willed sleep to come once more.

When she woke up, it was noon, and she forced herself to head downstairs for food. If she was pregnant, she had to take into consideration that she was eating for two now. Making some toast, spread with peanut butter and topped with banana slices, she concentrated on the positive possible reactions her family could have. Daphne would squeal and bite her palm as she always did; she had never grown out of doing that, at least not totally. Her mom would silently beam with joy, excitement shining on her face about becoming a grandmother once more. Uncle Jake would probably express his approval by making some perverted joke about how the baby had gotten there. Basil would be too shocked for words, but he'd be happy for her. In some sort of distorted reality, her own girls would scream with enthusiasm and hug her so tightly that she'd have to scold them to be careful. And perhaps, in her wildest dreams, Puck would sweep her off her feet, literally, and be his usual, dramatic self by yelling out to nobody in particular that he was going to be a dad...again. For some unknown reason, she wanted that last fantasy to come true more than the others, and with a start she realized it was the one that was most likely to happen. Why? Well, because Puck loved her.

Of course the rest of her family loved her too, but the love that came from her sister or had come from her Granny Relda years ago was different than how Puck loved her. When they were kids, he loved her in the romantic sense more than he let on; he'd told her this himself after they had wed. And now that they were together for life, there was no shortage of pranks and stolen kisses doused on her weekly. People who vowed to stick by each other's side until the end would be able to work through something like this, right? As five-thirty rolled around, she began to heat up frozen minestrone soup for supper, her day-long worry diminishing a little by then. She had settled on hoping that Puck's starry-eyed love for her, in addition to the friendship and family kind of love, would make him more understanding and devoted towards her condition. She had to tell him at some point, and, like ripping off a band-aid, she was going to get it over with as quickly as possible.

When the door connecting to the garage sounded as it shut, Sabrina glanced up from slicing bread at the kitchen island and saw her handsome fairy husband stumble in, looking extremely spent and hungry. His eyes met hers and he gave her a weary smile before walking over and giving her shoulder a squeeze. She saw him frown slightly at her tenseness and tried to make up for it by planting a welcome home kiss on his lips, but that gesture didn't feel like the option that wouldn't expose the turbulence in her stomach either. The pressure she'd put into the kiss was heavy, which might have been fine if the kiss was one of their longer and more passionate ones, but she cut it off short. She was scared that he would feel the underlying desperation – for acceptance, he would not know – behind her motives, and she didn't want to worry him before she could give him a reason to worry.

Puck did notice, though, and it wasn't just the odd kiss that had tipped him off. He saw the stiffness in her walk as she carried the dishes for dinner to the table. She picked at her food. Living with her for years at the Old Lady's house meant that he had gotten the opportunity to watch her eat, or not eat, numerous amounts of meals. So when it came her dining habits, he knew how to spot the differences among the three reasons for her refusal to eat: either she truly wasn't hungry, felt sick, or something was bothering her. By the way she pushed her spoon around in her soup and stared aloofly into the living room, he was guessing the latter.

His two girls were carrying on about the homework their teachers had crammed onto them in the name of completing chapters and units before the holiday break when suddenly Emma let out a loud burp.

"Excuse me," the fourteen-year-old giggled, and Alison shot her a look.

"Don't do that at the table."

"I said I was sorry!" Emma scowled at her sister, and Puck realized that Sabrina had yet to jump in to soothe the sparks of the argument. Normally she was great at nipping the snippy remarks between her teenagers right in the bud before Puck ever got a chance to. But seeing that she was fidgeting in her seat, thinking in her own little world about something, it looked like it was his turn to intervene.

"Hey, kiddos, don't bicker. At least not at the table. You know much it upsets your mother," he said, trying to sound serious. But couldn't help but wink at his youngest, therefore letting her know that her inappropriate noise had his secret approval. She beamed back at him, happy to be the favorite child at the moment.

Giving her father a skeptical look, Allie pointed out, "Aunt Daphne says that some of you and Mom's bonding came from fighting during breakfast and dinner. Don't you want me and Em to bond?"

By now Sabrina had snapped out of her reverie and, casting a dubious look in Puck's direction, said, "If you knew how many times he turned his head into a donkey's and burped straight into my ear, or stole the food off my plate every single morning, oh, girls, you'd understand why I though he was such a catch." The sarcasm oozed from her voice, and while that was the Sabrina Grimm he had fallen for, the fact that she wasn't telling him what was troubling her made the comment sting a little more than he'd like to admit. Nonetheless, he played along jokingly.

"That's right, Grimm. I was just too good to pass up. But hey, you didn't even like your grandmother's cooking, so all along I was really doing you a favor!"

Sabrina let out a light laugh. The confliction was still somewhere behind those bright blue eyes, though, and Puck could sense it. The curious and mischievous parts of him wanted him to ask her what was on her mind right then and there, but he kept his mouth shut throughout the dish washing and television after-dinner routine the family of four followed. If she didn't want to say anything around the kids, he had to respect that and just wait until she was ready to share.

That night after good-nights were exchanged, Puck looked up from his phone when Sabrina came out of their bathroom wrapped in a fluffy, white terry-cloth towel, indicating that she was done with her shower. She stood in the middle of the room and met his gaze.

"Do you know if Alison took my hairdryer? I can't find it."

It was the wringing of her hands that finally pushed him over the edge. The woman he married did not show obvious signs of emotion over a missing hair tool.

"Okay, what's going on?"

She blinked at him, startled. "Huh?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Stinky. I know something's bothering you, and it's driving me crazy not knowing."

She didn't try to deny it. Green eyes brimming with confusion, along with that small, stupid wrinkle nestled between his eyebrows that let her know that he was concerned about her was all it took for her to silently dash back into the bathroom, pull out the abandoned pregnancy test, squat over the toilet, and pee on it. She knew he had to be beyond wildered at this point and prayed that he didn't come flying – either figuratively or literally – in on her. If her mouth wouldn't do its job and let her use her words, she'd have to resort to something else. That something else was going to take up to two minutes, but apparently it was just the right amount of time she needed in order to come to terms with the finalization the two little pink lines provided.

"Here," she said softly, and handed a perplexed Puck the test. The part of her that was still unsure about his reaction wanted her to squeeze her eyes shut. But the smaller, ever-hopeful part of her, the part that had kept her faith in Mr. Canis when he was fighting the Big Bad Wolf, the part that had kept her up late looking through book after book in hopes of finding the solution to wake her parents from eternal slumber, that same part of her that had hoped Puck would somehow show up for her wedding to Bradley (and boy, had he showed up), got the better of her, promising her that she'd regret seeing his reaction, even if it was angry.

Puck stared down at the stick for a moment, no words coming from his mouth. Then he flipped it over, the confusion still evident on his face. Then, he flipped it over again. Comprehension hit Sabrina without any warning so hard that she had to slap a hand over her mouth to keep the bark of laughter from erupting. He didn't know what it was.

"Puck, do you know what that is?" The giggles were escaping, and at this, her husband looked up sharply, annoyed at his own ignorance. The tips of his pointy fairy ears were turning red with embarrassment.

"No, and I don't know why you're laughing if you're dying."

"Dying?!" At ease now, she seated herself on the side of the bed, suppressing another wave of laughter. "What makes you think that I'm dying, Pusbrain?"

Irritated, Puck tossed the pregnancy test at her. "Well, sorry if I don't know how to read the newest kind of thermometer you humans invented. You were acting all mopey this whole evening, so I was just assuming the worst."

And so was I, Sabrina thought. Out loud, she said, "I don't know why you're acting like you can't read. The lines are labeled 'Pregnant' and 'Not pregnant'. Right there." But then she picked up the test once more and realized that it indeed didn't have any writing on it. In her jitters, she must have missed that.

Well...shit.

She dared to take a peek at him, all the fear she thought had disappeared resurfacing once more in her chest. He remained frozen in place, the lips she kissed so often open slightly, long blonde eyelashes blinking slower than the common rate of fifteen to twenty times per minute. Heartbeat roaring in her ears, she jerked her head to the side so he couldn't see her face fall with defeat, the tears welling up and being hastily wiped on her priorly-damp shoulder as she tucked her forehead to her lifted arm. Would he yell? Scream? Accuse her for somehow going behind his back in hopes of conceiving? Tell her to get an abortion? Walk out on her and their kids? All kinds of terrible scenarios ran through her over-imaginative head, her world slowly unraveling with each one.

And then he did the opposite of pushing her away. Familiar hands were pulling her down onto and into their owner's body. Strong arms that had caught her from falling to her death a thousand times over wrapped around her back, and she involuntarily snuggled closer into the chest of the man she called hers, her stomach pressed against the stomach she'd sucker punched when she'd first been kissed, once upon a time. Through some leftover tears she managed to see his face once more, and the gasp that hadn't quite reached her throat when she saw the results of her pregnancy test came back as she saw nothing less than love and excitement shining in those emerald green orbs.

Finally he spoke, and when he did, it was soft. "Sabrina, what ever are you moping about? We're having a baby! This is a time to celebrate, not get girly tears all over the bed."

She wanted to laugh; she really did. But her throat was still tight from crying, and her former insecurities spilled out, fast and incoherent.

"I just thought... Too old to carry another- And then you'd be mad, and- My dad would-"

He sat up, the sudden movement jerking Sabrina backwards. He caught her, though, like he always did, and then he was kissing her, once, twice...three times. She tasted the minestrone from earlier on him, which told her that she would have to remind him for the third time that week to brush his teeth before bed. She tasted the salt from her tears, or at least she was positive that they were hers until the two came up for air and she saw the offending wetness that leaked out of its confining prison, the glaze over his eyes.

He reached up to touch her cheek and whispered, "Why would I be mad? I'd have to lose my mind to be angry about this."

She ignored his question, opting for a question of her own. "So...you're okay about this?" Biting the inside of her lip, she shifted on her uncomfortable seating arrangement. Puck's legs had always been lanky and bony.

It was as if she had grown two heads. "Of course I am! I'm beyond ecstatic!" Then it was his turn to take on an air of worry. "Are you?" Before she could even nod, the worry turned into remorse. She'd never heard him so apologetic in her life. "Oh, my god, Sabrina. I'm so sorry."

He looked like he was going to burst into tears, and not with the happy kind. Freaked out, Sabrina could only gape at him. "Sorry about what? For what?"

"I did this to you, Sabrina. We, I – should have been more careful."

His wife tittered. "Well, it's a little late for that now, huh?" she tried to joke. But he still looked sad.

"You don't do well when pregnant, Grimm, and you know this. The magic from me feeds your magic addiction, and you suffer from all kinds of crazy side effects. Remember when you were so sick with Emma that we rushed you to the nearest hospital but then remembered last minute that they wouldn't be able to help you because they don't know about magic and then when we finally got to Faerie, they said they really didn't know what to do because while half-Fae half-human pregnancies were on the rise, they hadn't had any life or death situations to take care of; and then-" He was rambling.

Sabrina cut him off. Even without their shared history of squabbling, she knew that he'd talk over her if he thought his point was important enough; that was just how the two of them functioned. So she slapped a hand over his mouth to keep him from interrupting her own viewpoint of the truth. "And then you were so selfish, using your king status to order all the healers -- all of them! – to come to the castle for just me while it was flu season. And you were stubborn and rude as hell when they told you that you'd have to leave my side to tend to the water reserve crisis. You took care of me then, and if anything happens this time around, I know that you'll do the same now."

With this promise, Sabrina found herself believing every word. Feeling silly for ever questioning the love and devotion Puck had for her, she leaned in to kiss him again, but he caught her arms and held her at arm's length, becoming serious when he said, "Alright, but if you change your mind, I understand. I understand if, at any point during the first few months if it becomes too much, if you want to-" He stopped. "Want to..." he tried again, casting his eyes downwards. "Want to get an abortion."

She hadn't heard his voice crack like that since he had hit puberty. It made her own heart crack with a flood of emotion not even her journal, which she wrote down everything in, would be hearing about. There were no appropriate words for the thoughts running through her mind.

Here was the boy who had grown up after four thousand years, who had put himself into danger time and time again, who had willingly flown back into Ferryport's barrier after having the chance to be free, all for her. Recklessness and pride had worked hand in hand with the wooden sword tween Puck had brandished in the face of foes much more powerful than he, but those traits were born as a result from his immaturity. Now as an adult with much less need to be publicly praised for every heroic deed, it was painfully obvious that he'd always cared about Sabrina and would do anything to protect her. And his daughters.

And now this baby.

The fact that he wanted to preserve her wellbeing and right to exercise bodily autonomy, even at the expense of their unborn child, might have sounded like the right choice, and while it was, she knew it wasn't an easy one for Puck to say out loud. He'd choose her over and over again, but the struggle and turmoil seeping into his voice was all it took to let her know that this baby would be welcome into his heart just like Alison and Emma each had been.

She laid back down on him, face buried into the crook his neck. "Don't worry, Fairyboy," she murmured. "No harm is ever gonna touch this baby. Not when their dad is such an-" She interrupted herself to kiss his neck. "Overprotective-" Kiss. "Worrywart." Another kiss, this time on his jaw.

This time it was Puck's turn to snort with indignance. Pulling back, Sabrina watched his face, trying to figure out what she had said to prompt the noise.

Happy with her response to the abortion option, he grinned at her. Ah, there was the smirk that was so unique to him. "Well I can't exactly have my kid getting hurt if I want her to be pulling pranks right and left." He puffed out his chest. "She's gonna be the best Trickster Princess yet! Don't tell Emma, but I think that this baby has a good chance at giving her a run for her money."

Sabrina let out a laugh. "Her? She? How are you so sure it's a girl? I'm only about a month in, and you're already speculating more than most people do during court case trials." As an Everafter attorney, Sabrina had seen her fair share of speculation in the courtroom.

"Mmm, I don't, but I really hope that it is."

She raised an eyebrow. "Whatever happened to having 'a son in my spitting image to carry on my awesomeness'?"

Puck shrugged and eyed the bath robe that was threatening to slip open if his wife if she made any sudden movements. He said, "That sounded ideal, and while having another boy around here would even the playing field a little bit, lessen the girliness, you know..."

Another eye roll.

"...I kinda don't mind the girl cooties. But don't go telling people that. It'll ruin my reputation. Not that you didn't already do that a while ago. Thanks a lot for that, by the way."

He got playfully smacked with a pillow for this, but Sabrina was smiling. If the baby was a boy, she couldn't see Puck letting him get away with the same things he'd let slip for Allie and Emma. Unfair, yes, but it was cute seeing him so happy being a father to girls.

"My dad's gonna kill you, you know."

"Grimm!" Puck face palmed, groaning. She could see between the cracks in his hand that he was doing his best to hide a growing smile. They were both thinking about when they had broken the news about Alison's arrival to her family and Henry's reaction.

"What? You're what?" Henry Grimm paused his exclamation of shock to turn from his oldest daughter to her husband beside her who was tightly squeezing her hand under the table. "You knocked my little girl up?" A disgusted look spread across his face, making Sabrina want to shrink in her seat yet simultaneously yell at him that he should be happy for them. For her. Sure, Puck had blown the roof off the old Grimm jalopy the day he met him, leaving Henry less of than a fan of his right off the bat, but his first impression on Sabrina had also left much to be desired, and look where the two were now.

"Dad, please," she said, the purple green beans and octopus eyes long-forgotten on her plate.

"Henry," Veronica said in her best warning voice, or at least the best interpretation of her authoritative self as she could muster with the abrupt overwhelming elation she was feeling for Sabrina in effect.

It had taken months for Henry to come around and finally come to terms with the fact that he was going to be a grandfather, and even more so, that the baby meant that Puck really was staying in Sabrina's life for good. Henry hadn't been let down by his son-in-law's devotion to his growing family, and while he wanted to credit it to the stern talking-to he'd given Puck, he saw that the fairy had made good, all on his own, the promise that his feelings towards Sabrina was "a little more than a crush".

"Man, my jaw hurt for a week after that punch. Sheesh, I thought you got your uppercut from your mom, but I guess not, Grimm."

"Oh, please. You healed by the end of the next day, you big baby," she retorted. At the word "baby", Puck seemed to remember what they were talking about and gingerly placed a hand on her pelvic region, becoming somber once more. Sabrina's heart fluttered; he had remembered that moment from eighteen years ago when she had moved his hand from her stomach to her lower abdominal region with the correction, "Baby Grimm-Goodfellow is actually growing here." Damn stupid pregnancy hormones, because she thought she was going to start crying again. So she stood up, announcing that she should change and then head to bed.

Later that night, as she slept tucked into the curve of Puck's body, she woke to find his arm draped over her side, hand brushing her stomach. As much as she loved cuddling with the man her younger self wanted to stay six feet away from due to his rancid smell, he was radiating too much body heat for her comfort, not to mention that his arm felt like dead weight. Rolling over, his fingertips brushed her waist. It tickled, and her knee jerked out in reflex, hitting him in the thigh.

"Ow..." he squinted at her, annoyed at being woken. "What was that for?"

She needed a cover-up, and fast. "That was for scaring me with your late response to having a baby, Stinkface."

"Oh. Well, Ratpoo, if you want an excuse to get rid of some of the pent-up pregnant-woman angst you'll soon be feeling, I'm always open to upping my pranking game."

Pranks and name-calling had been his defense mechanism for catching feelings, but when she stopped dwelling on how cumbersome it was to wash neon dye out of her hair or how embarrassing it was to be called Hippo's Breath in front of her friends, she'd realized that without the annoying side of his character, he wouldn't be the same person she'd come to undeniably love.

"You wish, Puck. Go back to sleep."

Silence fell around them like a soft blanket. Then,

"I meant what I said, you know."

"Huh?" Sabrina cracked an eye open. "About the pranking? Yeah, I know. You'd never pass up an opportunity to pelt me with grenades full of snake pee, swamp scum, and who even know what else-"

"No, not that," he intervened. "I said earlier that I was thrilled about this baby. I meant it. I can tell that you're unsure about a future with more kids, but I'm on board with it if you are. I've saved your sorry butt too many times for anyone's good to back out of, well...this, us...now. Don't worry about what your old man or what the girls think or say, or even what your office will say. Because I got you, according to the ministers words, 'for better or worse'. And of course, according to me, King of Faerie, Wayward Crooks, and All Things Mischievous."

And of My Heart, she couldn't help thinking before mentally slapping herself for being so corny.

She wanted to kiss him for that sweet confirmation, but being too tired, she settled on holding his hand as the three of them fell back asleep.

-------------------------

Turned out that telling her daughters about their new sibling wasn't the horror Sabrina thought it could possibly end up being. When she had announced that their little family was growing by one more, Emma's eyes had lit up.

"We're getting another dog?" She perked up with hope.

After explaining herself, Alison had choked on her coffee; Emma's jaw dropped open so far, it was almost comical. But they had quickly gained their composure, soon arguing over baby names and setting potential baby shower dates, something very Daphne-ish to do. Sabrina had caught a look of slight disgust fly across Alison's face when she realized that expecting a baby brother or sister meant her parents were still physically very intimate with each other, but she brushed it off quickly and congratulated her blushing mother once more.

The rest of the Grimm family and Puck's mother and brother found out even later. Sabrina and Puck had planned on telling them at Thanksgiving the next week, but then as they went around the table sharing what they were thankful for, Sabrina hadn't felt like the moment was right. Then at Christmas dinner at Granny Relda's, Sabrina had blurted it out, making Daphne drop the cranberry sauce that smelled suspiciously like goat fat. From the moment everyone had arrived at the dollhouse house, Puck and Emma had been too close for her comfort of spilling the beans -- three times each -- that she decided to take matters into her own hands. Besides, her weak excuse of wanting to stay sober for the drive home really wasn't cutting it when Uncle Jake had offered her a glass of wine he'd brought back from his recent trip to Italy.

Everyone had been insanely happy and excited for her. Her father surprised her by giving her a wink, symbolizing his support as she was being squeezed by Basil, and in that moment, Sabrina's best Christmas gift was being able to be loved by her incredibly crazy, abnormal, but amazing family.

Epilogue

It arrived late.

Her and Puck's baby, that is. When two weeks passed since Sabrina's due date, the Faerie doctors told her that induced labor would be the wise choice, not wanting to keep the magical essence in her magic-addicted body for any longer. Honestly, this pregnancy had been her least problematic one yet, but she had to agree that she was getting tired of having her little one kick against her swollen stomach every hour.

So at 7:23 pm on a late-May, borderline-June, evening, Sara Daphne Grimm-Goodfellow was born and shortly after nestled into her mother's waiting arms. Sabrina had named the last two kids, so she had decided, against her better judgement, to let Puck name this one. He had announced to her only a month before the baby's birth that he'd found the perfect name, but he wouldn't tell her what it was. The choice being so late itself made Sabrina nervous. Upon hearing his selection as little Sara dozed off in her arms, she was glad that her daughter wouldn't be teased for her name, but she was confused as to what his decision was based on. The name wasn't flashy in the least, opposing the sizeable side of Puck that liked to show-off and brag.

He'd explained that he'd wanted that name because it meant "princess", and not only because she literally was a princess, but because Sabrina's name also meant "princess" and started with the same letter. At this, she'd allowed the tears to come this time, touched by the thoughtfulness he somehow always managed to whip out of nowhere and surprise her with. Later, as Puck snoozed close by in a chair, she looked down for what felt like the millionth time at the second daughter she'd birthed that sported Puck's green eyes and her golden blonde hair. And with a smile, she realized that sometimes things happening last-minute were okay. She need not to stress or worry because the important things in life would work out all in their own time. Sometimes they were just a little late, that's all.

**hi, uhm, if you're reading this, thank you the MOST for somehow getting through all of that. I did give a warning beforehand that it was going to be long, right? (Or maybe it just feels long to me.) Anyways, this has been the most enjoyable chapter to write by far, so if you liked it too, let me know! (And yes, 7:23 was used twice on purpose, haha.) The next entry will probably be the last one, and I'm promising right now that it'll be shorter and feature P & S at the ages the books depict. Much love**