Song: Another Love (Tom Odell).

"Meet Mama, Gianna," Iris says proudly.

Iris gently shifted the warm, soft blanket so the camera could get a perfect view.

Roxy completely stopped breathing. She leaned so close to the big television screen that her nose almost touched the cold glass. Her green eyes were wide, taking in every single tiny detail of the little bundle.

The baby girl was awake. She was incredibly small, looking as fragile as a little doll. She had a full head of soft, dark curls, just like Roxy. But her skin was pale and flawless, and when she slowly blinked her big, beautiful eyes, they were the exact same bright, striking emerald green as the Swamp King’s.

She was perfect. She was the most beautiful thing Roxy had ever seen in her entire life.

Roxy was completely mesmerized. She raised her shaking hand and pressed her fingers flat against the television screen, right over the baby’s tiny face. She wanted to feel her soft cheeks. She wanted to smell that sweet, fresh baby powder scent. But all she felt was the hard, cold glass of the TV.

A tiny, confused wrinkle appeared between Roxy’s eyebrows. She sniffled, trying to clear her head.

"Gianna?" Roxy asked softly, her voice full of wonder.

She hadn’t picked that name. When she was locked in the dark basement, dreaming about the baby she never got to hold, she didn’t know what to call her.

Iris beamed, a giant, proud smile lighting up her face. She turned her head and pointed her free hand right at the young Swamp Queen standing behind the couch.

"Tantan named our little sister," Iris explained happily. "Isn’t she cute, Mother?"

Tanith, the tough, serious ruler of the swamps, suddenly looked very shy. Her cheeks turned a bright, pretty pink when Iris called her ’Tantan’ in front of everyone. Tanith crossed her arms and looked down at her shoes, but a small, proud smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. She had picked a strong, beautiful name for her baby sister, and she hoped her mother liked it.

Roxy let out a wet, watery laugh. The beautiful name, and the sight of her older girls taking such good care of the new baby made her heart burst.

She started sobbing harder, but this time, it was from pure, overwhelming love.

Roxy turned her head, looking away from the screen for just a second. She looked over her shoulder at the tall men standing quietly behind the couch. She found the elegant, silver-haired Swamp King standing near the edge of the rug.

"Syris," Roxy called out, her voice cracking as she reached a hand back toward him. "Syris, come look. Our daughter. Our daughter’s name is Gianna."

Syris completely froze.

For the past few months, he had pushed every single thought of the baby deep down into a locked box in his mind. He had to. When they made the terrible choice to leave the magic world, Syris didn’t even let himself walk past the nursery. He knew that if he looked at his newborn baby, if he held her even once, his heart would not have let him leave.

He had traded his chance to be a father to his little girl so he could save his wife.

Syris took a slow, heavy step forward. Then another. He walked around the big velvet sofa and stepped right up next to Roxy. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

He looked at the big television screen.

Little Gianna blinked her big green eyes, staring right back at him through the camera. She looked exactly like him.

Syris let out a sharp, shaking breath. The tall, calm, always-perfect king completely crumbled. All the guilt he had been hiding came rushing out. He felt like the worst father in the entire universe.

He wasn’t there to hold her when she cried in the middle of the night. He wasn’t there to keep her warm. He had focused entirely on finding Roxy, and he had left this tiny, perfect piece of his heart behind.

Syris stepped right up behind Roxy. He wrapped his long, strong arms completely around her waist, pulling her back flush against his chest. He held onto her so tightly, burying his face in her dark curls.

He leaned forward and placed a long, soft, lingering kiss right on the side of Roxy’s forehead. He kept his lips pressed to her skin as he turned his head just enough to look at the screen.

His emerald eyes were shining with thick, heavy tears.

"She is beautiful," Syris whispered, his voice shaking with a deep, painful guilt. "She is so beautiful, Roxy."

On the screen, the other kids saw the tears in their parents’ eyes. They didn’t want their mother and fathers to be sad. They wanted to make them smile. So, one by one, the kids all started to share sweet words to cheer them up.

"Don’t worry about her, Papa Syris!" Axel called out, wrapping his arm around Tyara to keep the tiger cub from jumping. "We take turns rocking her to sleep! Even Onyx sings to her, even though he’s really bad at it!"

Onyx turned bright red and playfully shoved Axel’s shoulder. "I am not bad at it," Onyx grumbled, but then he looked at the screen and gave Roxy a small, sweet smile. "We protect her, Mama. Nobody will ever hurt her. I promise."

"She eats a lot, Mother," Drax added, his deep voice trying to sound light and happy. "She is growing very fast and very strong. Just like you."

Tanith finally looked up from her shoes. "I check on her every time I visit from the swamps," the young Queen said seriously. "I make sure her room is warm. I make sure she has the softest blankets."

Even little Zale, who was still too overwhelmed to talk, gave a small, watery smile and waved his tiny hand at the screen.

They were all trying so hard to be brave for her. They were acting like grown-ups, taking care of the baby and taking care of each other, just so their mother wouldn’t worry. They were the best children any mother could ever ask for.

Roxy leaned her head back against Syris’s shoulder, holding his arms tightly around her waist. She looked at all of their sweet faces.

Then, little Fedor wiggled his way right up to the very front of the camera.

The tiny toddler with the fiery red hair and the big, fluffy fox tails grabbed the edge of the table where the phone was resting. He looked right into the camera lens with his big, innocent eyes. He saw the wet tears rolling down his mother’s cheeks.

Fedor reached his little hand up, as if he was trying to wipe the tears off the TV screen.

"Mama love," Fedor babbled, his sweet, tiny voice filling the quiet living room in the human city. He tilted his head, his fox ears twitching again. "Mama no sad."

The simple, sweet words hit Roxy like a warm hug.

Her baby boy didn’t want her to cry. He just wanted his mama to be happy.

Roxy knew that Zarek’s rule was absolute. She only got to do this once. In just a few minutes, the screen was going to go dark forever. She would never see them play together again. She would never see little Gianna take her first steps, and she would never hear Fedor say his second word.

Her heart was breaking into a million tiny pieces. The sadness inside her was so huge it felt like it could swallow the whole world.

But as she looked at her sweet, brave children, she knew she could not let them see how much she was hurting. She could not let their very last memory of their mother be a sad, crying woman. She had to be strong for them, just like Zarek said.

Roxy took a deep, shaky breath. She swallowed the giant lump in her throat.

She looked right at little Fedor, and she forced the biggest, brightest smile she could possibly make onto her face.

"I am not sad," Roxy lied, her voice completely steady as she smiled at her babies. "These are just tears of joy."

A/N: I swear I am not crying.