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Chapter Text

Chapter one

The hand on Emma Swan’s shoulder was supposed to be reassuring, a fact she would usually have appreciated. 

The plastic rectangle held between her fingers was making it difficult to be more than vaguely aware of her surroundings.

Her bedroom was just as cluttered, except for the shelf that proudly displayed her various soccer trophies, but none of that mattered anymore.

This could not be happening! 

She’d only taken the test at Killian’s joking insistence before moving onto the next possibilities for her ‘symptoms’. 

By the look on the teen’s face as she turned her own tear-stained one up to him to provide him blurry eye contact, he had no idea what to do with the fact that he was right.

“Emma…” he began, but trailed off, there was nothing that he could say to make her feel better. 

Emma shrugged away his touch and dropped down onto her mattress. 

“What am I going to do?” she asked in a meek voice. 

Killian shoved his hands into his pockets, unable to think of any way to offer comfort.

Thankfully, the door knocked and Emma tensed, tucking the plastic under her leg, though she did relax a little as it didn’t immediately open. 

“Emma?” Mary Marget called through the door, her voice raising a pitch at not getting the usual instant response from her daughter.

“Yeah, mom?” Emma replied, her dry throat causing an unbidden crack in her voice. 

There was a pause on the other side of the door, “Regina is here, are you ready to go?”

Emma’s eyes widened and she looked at Killian with an expression that said ‘I completely forgot’. 

Killian frowned at his best friend. 

He couldn’t think of a single instance of his friend forgetting plans with her girlfriend. 

An assessment that Mary Margaret would certainly agree with and would lead to her not giving up until she found out what was going on with her daughter. 

Emma’s eyes bore into Killian pleadingly until he said, while pushing her down to the bed, “Emma isn’t feeling well, Mrs Swan.”

Emma just about managed to pull the blanket over herself as the doorknob twisted. 

The brunette school-teacher scanned the room until she honed in on her daughter swaddled in her bed, unaware that there was a piece of plastic that she was gripping for dear life. 

She then turned her attention to Killian who was standing awkwardly by the bed.

If it were anyone but Killian Jones, she would have been suspicious. 

The friends had been inseparable since kindergarten and there was also the fact that Emma and Regina Mills had been together for over a year now. 

The only thing that gave her pause was that Emma hadn’t called her girlfriend to inform her of her condition. 

Emma offered her mom a weak smile, hoping that she would attribute the dried tears on her crimson cheeks to whatever illness she thought she had been struck down with. 

“Can you tell Regina I don’t feel well? And…that I’ll text her later?” Emma asked, obscuring her face as best as she could.

Mary Margaret said unsurely, considering that she could invite Regina in (with an open door policy, of course) to lift Emma’s spirits.

She decided against it, Emma would have asked if she wanted her girlfriend right now, “call me if you need anything, sweetheart?”

Emma nodded quickly and Mary Margaret glanced at Killian questioningly, as if asking him if he would be staying or not. 

It would absolutely be weird for Killian to stay after sending Regina away so he readily picked up his bag. 

“Text me later when…you’re feeling better?” Killian said, knowing that his best friend knew what he really wanted to talk about.

The bed-ridden teen nodded and Killian turned to follow her mother, already dreading having to talk to a very confused, and possibly hurt, Regina Mills. 

Despite his worry, he still remembered to close the door behind him, knowing full well that Emma would be needing some privacy right now.

When the door clicked into place, Emma shot up into a sitting position and pulled the whit plastic up so that she could stare blankly at the little green plus sign.

Emma muttered ‘idiot’ as she sank into her pillow holding the positive pregnancy test up high.

s

Regina Mills thought they’d gotten past the pettiness that led to their very short-lived breakup. 

It was a misunderstanding born from school-related stress and they’d mutually apologised over a month ago and, since then, her relationship with Emma Swan had been close to perfect.

She wasn’t feeling that right now as she pushed her way through the door and into the mayoral mansion, wearing a deep frown with her phone balance precariously on her palm.

She had one notification that she’d scrambled to open while pushing her key into the lock:

Emma- ‘I’m fine, just tired. Call you later xx’

The text was not at all out of the ordinary but, on top of the date cancelled at the last minute, she was suspicious. 

Especially when she added in the refusal to allow her to go and quickly check on her. 

Reluctantly chalking it up to a desire not to infect her girlfriend, Regina dutifully left, but Killian walking silently behind her stirred up a red flag.

Not for a moment did she think that there was anything untoward going on between the pair in the romantic sense, but there was definitely something there.

Why else would the other teen refuse her even the impression of eye contact.

She’d hoped that the text she sent to Emma the moment she was in her car would alleviate all of these unfounded worries, but the response was doing nothing for her building anxieties. 

“Regina?”

The teen tore her gaze away from the screen that she must have been taking in for far too long to find concern on the face of the brunette woman at the bottom of the staircase.

 Regina pushed her phone back into her pocket and said, “hi mom,” as she straightened her jacket. 

Cora quirked an eyebrow at her daughter and came down the final couple steps so that she was standing close to her in the foyer. 

“I was under the impression that you would be spending the night with Miss Swan?” the Mayor of Storybrooke asked with a tilted head. 

After their temporary breakup, Corq had been more attentive to her daughter’s expressions after returning from her time with Emma, making sure that she didn’t get hurt again and the downtrodden aura was not helping with the lack of trust that Emma had yet to earn back from the Mills’ matriarch. 

Before deciding how she would destroy the girl this time, she waited for the explanation that could deter her.

“Emma’s sick,” Regina replied, desperately trying not to sound devastated.

She wasn’t successful enough to convince her mother that there wasn’t something more serious going on as the mayor continued to look at her critically. 

“And she didn’t tell you this before you left to meet her?”

Regina sighed and shook her head. 

She wasn’t really in the mood for what she and Zelena had labelled ‘mama bear mode’, she didn’t have enough proof that it was deserved yet. 

It wasn’t like her girlfriend could be convicted for being too ill to remember to send a text message. 

Getting a weird feeling from her and Killian all day at school was hardly evidence that there was something going on.

If only she had asked to go and see her before leaving thens he would have had the chance to alleviate all of her suspicions!

As it was, she had to settle for calling her in a few hours to check in on her, there was no reason to think that she wouldn’t answer and prove to her that she was being an idiot. 

It was for this reason that she plastered something like a smile and defended her girlfriend, “I’m sure she just forgot because she’s ill, mom, it’s fine.”

Cora hummed suspiciously, “if you’re sure?”

“I am,” Regina said, too quickly and defensively. 

“Very well,” the mayor replied, “Your father and I were just going to have dinner at Granny’s if you would like to join us?”

Regina nodded, unable to think of a reason that her mother would accept.

One that would allow her to go to her room so that she could overthink her limited ‘evidence’.

Chapter Text

Chapter two

“What do you mean you’re not coming to school, Swan?!” Killian hissed.

“What else could it mean?” the girl on the other side of the phone replied tiredly as Killian weaved his way through the morning trickle of students entering Storybrooke High School.

After a weekend of radio silence, he’d been counting on getting answers on Monday morning, but this phone call was dashing any hopes of that.

“How long are you going to tell your parents you’re sick for?” he asked as he made it to his locker.

“Do you think they’ll believe nine months?” Emma asked meekly. 

Killian leaned against his locker, making sure that there was no one within ear-shot before he replied, “How did this happen, Em?”

There was a silence on the other side of the call during which he was certain that Emma was making sure that neither of her concerned parents was close enough to hear this conversation.

Finally, she replied, reluctantly, “Do you remember that fight I had with Regina a while ago?”

“You mean the one where you were both wrong but were too stubborn to apologise?”

After a heavy sigh, Emma said, “yeah, Killian, that one.”

“Okay,” he replied, “and?”

“Well…we technically were broken up for like…twelve hours…I know I should have stayed home, but I went to Robin’s party without her…”

“Oh god, it’s not Robin’s…” Killian cringed.

“Ew no,” Emma cut him off before he could make the insinuation.

“Then who…”

“Well…I go like really drunk…Neal was as well…” she replied and her friend cringed harder, “I didn’t remember what happened until a week later…me and Regina were already back together…”

“So you didn’t tell her?” Killian demanded, receiving a few curious glances from passersby.

As if she knew this by the sheer volume, Emma rushed out, “shh…”

“Killian didn’t react to the questioning looks and ploughed ahead:

“How could you get back together without telling her? If you were broken up, she might have understood,” he insisted.

“We were broken up for less than half a day, Killian,” Emma whined regretfully, “I wouldn’t expect her to understand. Even if it wasn’t cheating I still betrayed her…how could I break her heart again?”

Killian released a huff.

He truly liked Regina, he even considered her a friend, but Emma Swan would always be his best friend. 

Even if he firmly disagreed with her actions, he had to be on her side.

He knew her well enough to know that she had no intention of hurting anyone involved. That she probably longed to do the right thing but things had gotten too complicated. 

“Em,” he sighed, “you have to talk to your girlfriend, she’s texted me twice already to ask what’s going on.”

“What did you tell her,” Emma snapped, a shuffling carrying through the device as she sat up straight on her bed.

“Nothing,” he reassured, “I didn’t really because you need to talk to her!”

“What am I supposed to say?!” Emma demanded exasperatedly.

“I don’t know!” he hissed, “but it won’t be too long before she can figure it out for herself! You’re forgetting how intelligent Regina Mills is!”

Another silence on the other side of the phone, during which Killian was waiting to be told that he was pushing too much.

It hadn’t been his intention, but it had been boiling up all weekend. 

It wasn’t helped by the fact that it happened with someone that Emma had never been more than passing friends with.

“Don’t you think I should tell Neal first? I mean…it affects his life more, right?” Emma asked, but swiftly switched course, “or maybe mom and dad deserve to know first? Or should it be Regina…”

“Emma!” Killian said, interrupting her rising panic, “calm down, take a breath!”

He waited, counting the deep breaths coming through his phone until he determined that it had evened out enough to continue their conversation.

“Just focusing on telling one person first, okay?” he said encouragingly.

“Telling one person what?”

Killian yelped and hung up his phone without so much as an attempt at explaining that Regina Mills had materialised before him.

Clutching the device hard in his hand, the row of lockers rang out behind him as he took in the teen standing before him with her arms crossed.

He already knew why she looked so pissed.

Under normal circumstances, he would have assumed she was overreacting, but knowing what was being hidden from her made it difficult to feel anything but sympathy for her.

“Good morning, Regina,” he said brightly, trying to recover from his surprise, “You’re looking well as always…”

“Shut up, Killian,” the other teen snapped and he winced.

It was so out of character and yet so earned that he couldn’t be at all insulted by the reaction. If he’d spent the weekend on tenterhooks with the insight that he had, he couldn’t imagine how she must be feeling.

Based on what he’d witnessed, she didn’t fully believe that her girlfriend was ill and he knew personally that Emma had been acting strangely for days already. 

As much as he wished that he could tell her the truth, it simply wasn’t his place, nor would it make her feel any better right now.

So he replied, “it’s nice to see you too…”

Regina let out a huff that signified that she was aware that she was acting rudely.

“Were you just talking to Emma?” she asked.

Killian swallowed, considering lying, before he said, “yeah…she’s still not feeling well…didn’t she tell you?”

Regina drew her eyebrows together, confirming what he already knew to be true.

His best friend had been too afraid to send any follow-up texts to her girlfriend since their last interaction. That was out-of-character enough to justify her anxieties.

Since they got together, it had been disgusting how often they felt the need to communicate. 

“What’s wrong with her?”

Killian shrugged, “The flu, I guess? She didn’t get too specific?”

Regina narrowed her eyes and Killian squirmed.

“What’s going on, Killian?” she finally asked, tiredly.

Killian pressed his lips together, looking to the ceiling as he waited for an answer to save him from this. He got one in the form of the first bell ringing.

Deftly slipping away from his locker without placing anything inside it, he said, “gotta go…” but he paused after a few steps and added, “you should really talk to Emma, Regina.”

Watching her girlfriend’s best friend rushing away from her, Regina sighed and muttered, “That’s what I’ve been trying to do.”

S

After another day spent curled up in bed, the answer to Emma’s earlier question came to her. 

There was no way that she could gather everyone concerned and tell them at once, so she had to choose just one. 

Following some rumination, the right person became clear to her. 

Neal Cassidy. 

She hadn’t quite gotten to the stage of considering what her options were but had sort of accepted the reality. 

She and Neal had done something incredibly stupid and misguided, something that she was convinced they had an unspoken agreement to ignore.

Whenever she saw him at school following the unfortunate party, he gave her only a moment of eye contact before going back to what he was doing. 

Once she and Regina were back together, she found it easier to not look at him at all.

This strategy was no longer an option.

It was ultimately her choice how this ended, but it still affected him, right? He should at least be aware that there was a choice that she had to make. 

Maybe saying it aloud to him would force her mind to start thinking past how she was going to tell Regina and her parents?

This decision was how she found herself in the Cassidy house; it turned out that dating the mayor’s daughter led to very little suspicion from his parents.

She was sure that if they knew what she had just said, they would have been less comfortable with the fact that she was sitting on their son’s bed with the door closed. 

Said son was currently in the process of digging grooves into the rug, manoeuvring around the clutter typical for a sixteen-year-old boy.

On her part, Emma couldn’t help but glance at the ‘action figures’ taking up more shelf room than any of his books. A few days ago, she would have found them kind of cool, but right now, she was just thinking that they didn’t bode particularly well. 

Not that her bedroom exactly looked like it belonged to an expectant mother, who was she to judge?

Finally, Neal stopped his pacing, his knuckles whitening under the pressure of his tightened fists as he said, feebly, “I need you to say that again…”

“Neal…” Emma sighed.

“Please?” he said pathetically.

Shifting in her seat, her nose wrinkling at the smell of aftershave (was it too soon for that to be from her newest condition?), she took a deep breath and said again, “I’m pregnant, Neal.”

Clutching at his chin, the boy asked, “and you’re sure that it’s…that there isn’t anybody else…”

Feeling as if she should be insulted by the suggestion, Emma just shook her head. 

“You’re not exactly my usual type. There’s no way that it could be anybody else’s…”

Neal’s eyes widened, but for the wrong reason, “Oh my god, I’m going to be murdered by Regina Mills…”

“She doesn’t know yet,” Emma reassured, though she did run her hand over her face.

It wasn’t so much her girlfriend that she was concerned about in the anger department.

The more she ran through the scenarios, she was pretty sure that Regina would be more hurt than angry, that she would cut things off on the spot and would never talk to her again.

Honestly, she would agree that she deserved that.

Cora Mills, on the other hand, was a different story. She had already been on thin ice with the mayor following their brief break-up, so she couldn’t see how this could go over well.

Mayors didn’t have the power to banish people anymore, right?

“You haven’t told your girlfriend yet?” he squeaked. 

“I figured that you should know first,” Emma shrugged, not wanting to go into the fact that she wasn’t quite ready for them to break up. 

“And what am I supposed to…” Neal started, but abruptly stopped and dropped down to one knee. A course of action had occurred to him, “Emma Swan, will…”

Emma was off the bed before he could get her name out, pulling him back up into a standing position, gripping painfully at his arms.

“Don’t be an idiot, Neal,” she snapped, “that’s not what I want!”

The footballer blew out a long breath of relief, though it was still tainted by nerves.

Nerves that were well deserved in Emma’s opinion. 

He nodded as she let go of him and said, “thank god…then what… “I don’t know,” Emma admitted, “I just thought you should know…”

“And what do you want to…”

“I don’t know!” Emma snapped, much louder.

Neal glanced at the door before he returned his eyes to the girl, registering that she was on the verge of tears.

He deflated and crossed to bring her into a hug. 

“Thank you for telling me, Emma,” he said as she held onto him tightly, “Could you…tell me what you decide when you figure it out?”

“Okay,” Emma replied, meekly.

Chapter Text

Chapter 3

“Oh my god, you’re alive!”

Emma groaned, trying not to allow her face to fall forward into her locker.

If only she could trap her head in there until the hallway cleared, she was confident that she could get through the day.

Frankly, she would have preferred to have the next nine months locked away in her bedroom, but her parents were already suspicious. The third time her mom asked her to see a doctor, Emma had to claim to be better, which meant going to school.

After a week of radio silence, she did get a few curious looks from people she considered to be low-level friends.

There were only two people in the building who would be bold enough to talk to her about her odd disappearance.

The first of that pair knew exactly why she’d been avoiding these buzzing hallways.

As it was, Killian was one of two people in the entire town who knew why she had been so scarce.

It was for this reason that she pulled her head out of her locker and played with the straps of her backpack.

Killian cringed when she finally faced him for the first time since she had to cancel her date.

“You look terrible,” he said, somewhere between joking and genuine concern.

Emma sighed as she closed her locker so that she could lean against it and bang the back of her head against it.

Her resignation only increased as Killian’s eyes naturally flicked down to her stomach which was unnecessarily covered in a baggy hoodie.

During her isolation, she’d spent a lot of time looking in the mirror for signs that it was obvious, but from all of her Incognito Googling, she’d gauged that she was weeks away from clothing choices being a problem.

It created quite the deadline for her.

Running her hand over her face, she replied, “I couldn’t sleep last night.”

“Because of school?” Killian asked, sliding up beside his friend to block the view of a group of cheerleaders who were staring and whispering.

“Because of who’s at school,” Emma replied, “Is there any chance that she isn’t here?”

“You think that Regina Mills would sully her perfect attendance record?”

“I guess not,” Emma huffed.

“You can’t avoid your girlfriend forever, Swan. You should just tell her. You have no idea how worried she has been,” Killian said quietly.

“She’s going to break up with me,” Emma replied, staring down at her feet.

She’d played through many scenarios in her mind and they all ended the same way and she couldn’t fathom a way that Regina wouldn’t be justified in that reaction.

Even without the pregnancy, she had lied about where she’d been that night. Regina was so apologetic the next day that she couldn’t let it slip that she had been to the party without her after their ridiculous argument.

Why hadn’t she just stayed with Regina instead of going to drink everything in sight to end up with an equally drunk Neal Cassidy?

To be fair to him, she could be in this situation with a worse person. As abjectly terrified as he also was, she’d received multiple messages and calls to discuss the future to remind her over and over that he would be there no matter what she decided. 

He even stayed in contact after she told him that she was pretty sure that she wanted to keep the baby.

No matter how she looked at it, she couldn’t see herself going with any other option, though it would probably help if she had talked to an actual adult about all of this instead of relying on the internet for all of the pros and cons that were almost always swirling around her head.

Regardless of what she ultimately decided, however, nothing would change the fact that there were three people who still needed to know the truth.

A hand on her shoulder had her look at her friend, there was sympathy shining from him but he didn’t bother lying to her.

“She deserves to know the truth, Em,” he replied.

As he spoke, Emma’s attention was stolen by the approaching object of the majority of her thoughts when she wasn’t spiralling on the internet.

In all of her searches, she struggled to find any cases of the wronged party not breaking up instantly. There were a few but none that she imagined would have been written by a person remotely similar to her girlfriend.

The teen held her breath as the deep brown eyes met her own and she very nearly ran away from the girl she loved so much.

How was she supposed to resign herself to ending what they had?

“Tell her,” Killian urged, with Regina halfway to them.

Emma ran her tongue over her lips and said, “After school, I want to have a girlfriend for a few more hours.”

Killian couldn’t retort before Regina got to them.

The mayor’s daughter frowned at him but her face softened upon at last looking at her girlfriend.

She stepped into her personal space and asked, “Emma, are you sure that you feel better, you look…”

Emma took both of her hands, ignoring Killian rolling his eyes as she attached her lips to Regina’s for what she was sure would be the last time.

This was why it lingered longer than any of their other public kisses, so much so that Regina looked intensely confused when she pulled back.

The kiss was all the reinforcement that she needed to put off serious discussions until much later on.

“I’m okay,” she reassured, “I’m just tired…and I really missed you.”

This admission had a small smile tug at Regina’s lips which she used to take another kiss.

“Are you sure?” Regina asked, glancing at Killian no doubt searching for signs that they were conspiring after not seeing Emma for what felt like an eternity, for Emma at least.

“I’m sure,” Emma replied, feeling terrible for lying. This was exactly why she’d avoided her for as long as she had.

Regina tilted her head, but the bell ringing stopped any of her follow-up questions.

Emma tightened her grip on her girlfriend’s hand and began heading toward their homeroom.

S

Time was up.

School was perfectly normal, other than the sword hanging over Emma’s head.

With every touch, smile and normal conversation that she had with Regina Mills, her guilt rose exponentially.

It wasn’t fair that she had been hiding something so monumental while Regina was worried for her wellbeing.

Naturally, her girlfriend invited her over to the mayoral mansion after school to ‘catch up’.

Considering that she believed that Emma had been held up in her bed for days on end struggling to stay awake, she could guess what Regina was trying to insinuate with that phrasing.

As eager as she was to once again have the opportunity to make out with Regina Mills, she couldn’t do that under false pretences.

This led her to sit at Regina’s desk, chewing at the tassel of her hoodie.

It wasn’t enough to be rid of her nervous energy, nothing would be until this was over. Not until she found out which of the many scenarios this was going to end with.

She bit hard as the door opened to Regina asking, “Are you sure that you just want water? We have that soda you like.”

Unable to blurt out that she was pretty sure that caffeine was bad for the foetus, Emma shrugged and replied, “Trying to cut down.”

Regina frowned but something seemed to overtake her drink-related queries, “Why are you all the way over there?” she asked, going over to the bed, placing down two cups at the table at her side.

Emma shifted so that the chair creaked and she crossed her legs as if this would somehow give her more balance.  

“I have to tell you something, Gina, and I don’t think you’ll want me sitting next to you when you hear this.”

Any sense of relieved mirth that Regina displayed periodically throughout the day disappeared so Emma was certain she must have at least suspected that something was going on, that fact almost stopped Emma in her tracks.

She had at least a couple of weeks before the truth had to come out, so why not enjoy them?

Today may have been difficult, but she could bear it to give herself a little more time with the girl that she loved so deeply.

Why should a little mistake rob her of that love?

Some invisible barrier kept her away from the bed, however.

She knew that all of those rationalisations were wrong. Regina deserved so much more than this, so much more than her.

Reluctantly, Regina said, “There’s nothing that would do that, Emma. I have missed you so much…”

“I’m pregnant,” Emma cut her off.

This effectively shut Regina up and she made no attempt to stand to be closer to the other teen.

Regina continued to stare at her blankly so Emma had to go into the third version of the explanation that she had prepared for this occasion.

“It happened at the party…you know when we were broken up…”

“Who?” Regina asked.

Emma’s stomach jumped. The word was neutral on the surface but there was fury simmering under it.

“That doesn’t matter.”

“Yes, it does, who?”

“Neal Cassidy…but we weren’t together, I didn’t mean…” Emma scrambled, finding no justification.

Regina delivered a stabbing blow to Emma’s heart, asking lowly, “Did you find out when we were broken up?”

Sliding off the bed as if to more easily raise her voice, Regina replied, “Then you lied to me, Emma! Did you not think that I deserved to know that my girlfriend ran to some footballer after a disagreement?!”

“A disagreement?! You broke up with me, Regina!”

“And I apologised twelve hours later! While I was crying you were apparently having the time of your life!”

The chair squeaked as Emma jumped out of her chair, her anger making it impossible to remain seated.

This was the first reaction she’d pictured, but the fact that it was actually happening than the moment that the damn stick gave her the fateful results. 

“That’s not…I didn’t mean to…I was drunk!” Emma retorted.

“And I thought that you were not as cliche as the rest of this town, Emma!” Regina shouted back and Emma had to shrink back as the other girl’s voice cracked.

More softly, she said, “Regina, I’m sorry, but can we talk about this?”

Regina looked to the carpet in a failed attempt to obscure her tears.

“Get out,” she said in a hushed tone.

“Regina, please…” Emma said, making to go over to her but Regina’s visibly tensed so she fell back.

“Get out!” Regina shouted this time.

Emma stayed rooted, unwilling to give up just yet, “Regina, I love you…”

Regina sucked in a sharp breath, no doubt for more shouting, but a knock at the door prevented the onslaught.

After the solid five seconds, it would usually take for the couple to part. Right now, they couldn’t be further apart.

Cora didn’t notice this as she entered the room though, asking, “Sorry to interrupt, but will Miss Swan be staying for dinner?” 

She halted upon registering their positions and Regina stared straight at her ex-girlfriend as she said, “No, she has to go.”

“Is there something wrong?” Cora asked, instinctively narrowing her eyes at Emma.

Emma wet her lips and swiped her bag up before going to the door.

She didn’t look at Cora as she went but the matriarch clearly saw the glistening on her cheeks as she passed.

The mayor was much more concerned with the teen that remained though so she turned to Regina and asked again, “What happened, Regina?”

Regina stared downward like silence would get her mother to leave.

“Regina?” Cora prompted.

This was enough to break the younger Mills, with tears flowing freely, she crossed the room and crashed into Cora.

With her face on her mother’s shoulder, Regina cried.

Despite not understanding the situation, Cora hugged her daughter and whispered reassurances to her.

Chapter Text

Chapter Four

Emma Swan had never been so devastated in her life.

She had, of course, cried a few weeks ago after their disagreement but it hadn’t obscured her vision as she drove through the streets of Storybrooke as it was right now.

It hadn’t left her feeling so empty and helpless, but then again, it firmly wasn’t her fault that they had temporarily split. Regina herself had admitted that she was simply frustrated and that it wasn’t actually a reflection of their relationship. 

That wasn’t true right now. 

She had screwed up so completely that there was nothing that she could say to change Regina’s mind and that fact actually took her breath away.

As her yellow bug pulled up outside the perfect suburban home she’d lived in her whole life, she dragged her arm over her face and looked out at it.

She could practically see smaller versions of herself and Killian chasing each other across the front yard as Mary Margaret watched lovingly. What she couldn’t imagine was her own child doing the same while she watched. 

How was it possible that she could be old enough for this? How was her life going to look when she was a mother?

She’d only recently decided what college to go to with a lot of help from Regina. How was she supposed to make monumental decisions without her girlfriend?

The house that currently loomed over her offered the solution to that. 

Mary Margaret and David Swan had always been understanding parents, they had always supported everything that she did. What would she do if this proved to be the exception?

Perhaps Killian could convince his parents that his best friend needed a place to stay?

With a groan, she hit her head but jumped back as the horn of her car beeped and she hastily pulled the key out. 

Telling Regina was all she could handle today, so she put aside thoughts of having the conversation again and looked into the mirror. Her cheeks were crimson and she was quite clearly heartbroken, but she had no idea what she could do about that.

As if practising, she tried for a smile but it dropped as soon as it came. It felt far too unnatural under the circumstances, so she figured that she would go straight to her room and hide. 

They would believe that she didn’t feel well again, right?

Grabbing her bag, she reluctantly left the car and walked slowly towards the front door, which she opened before she could change her mind. 

Sizzling reached her ears and she halted halfway down the hallway and clutched her stomach as she swayed and tried to stave off nausea. 

Ordinarily, she would have been rather excited to smell steak, but recently meat seemed to trigger a response that gave her reason to believe she was creating a vegetarian. 

Unfortunately, the closing of the door summoned the chef who stuck his head out from the kitchen.

“Em?” David asked and Emma’s eyes flew open in time for her to see her father’s face contort in concern, “Is something wrong?”

Emma dropped her hand and put it behind her back and opened her mouth to say that nothing was wrong, but nothing came out. At the same time, Mary Margaret appeared from the living room.

“Emma, is that you sweetheart? I thought you would be having dinner with Regina?” her mother asked. 

That name sent a shot through Emma’s heart and wiped away any desire to lie to her parents any longer and tears gathered in her eyes so she shot off down the hallway.

She slammed her bedroom door open, not bothering to close it behind her as she dropped onto her bed.

She was certain that her parents were currently sharing a look of shock before they would inevitably follow her.

At the very least, she was far enough away that she no longer felt the need to wretch violently. It wasn’t how she wanted them to find out anyway. 

She pushed her tear-covered face into her pillow and felt her mattress dip as expected. A hand gripped her leg but she didn’t look up until Mary Margaret asked, “What happened?”

Emma glanced between Mary Margaret next to her on the bed and her father standing with his arms crossed in the middle of the floor. He had that look about him that meant that he wanted to know who needed to be taught a lesson for hurting his daughter and Emma swallowed hard because she knew that he was going to be horribly disappointed soon. 

“Regina broke up with me,” she admitted, her voice cracking and her father’s face contorted.

“How could she? I’ll…” David started, not at all deterred by the warning exuding from his wife that was presumably meant to remind him that he was talking about a young girl.

Emma effectively put an end to it, however, by saying, “She broke up with me because…I cheated on her.”

David dropped his arms and Mary Margaret’s demeanour shifted markedly in a way that Emma couldn’t read, silence passed between the family as Emma’s tears streamed faster.

She knew it! She knew that they would be so disappointed in her and they didn’t even know the full story yet. Of course, the couple who had been so deeply in love since high school would be irrevocably ashamed of their daughter doing something so awful to a girl she claimed to be in love with. To a girl she was planning to go to the same college as to make sure they wouldn’t have to be apart for four years.

Not that any of that mattered anymore. 

An arm snaked around her shoulder at last, however, and Emma slumped into her mother, now openly sobbing.

In between her cries, she asked, brokenly, “Do you think I’m a terrible person?”

“Of course not,” Mary Margaret cooed, stroking her hair, “There is nothing that you could do to make us think less of you.”

Emma sucked in a breath and replied, “You might be speaking too soon, mom.”

“What does that mean?” David asked.

“I…I’m…” Emma choked. 

David took a seat on her other side and placed a hand on her knee and said reassuringly, “You know that you can tell us anything?”

Emma dragged her face away from her mother to look straight into her father’s eyes and tried to commit the gaze to memory.

Would he ever look at her the same way again after this? Would she still feel like the little princess who was one of the most important things in the world to him?

It was this distressing thought that had her reply, “I really don’t think you want to hear this, dad.”

“Please tell us, Emma,” Mary Margaret urged, her voice now officially tinged with fear.

Emma hung her head to make sure that she wouldn’t have to see the reaction of either of them and then replied, “I’m…pregnant.”

There was a long moment during which Emma was sure that her parents were once again sharing a look to find out how the other felt. Emma’s throat tightened and her mother’s grip loosened momentarily, but it really was only for a moment. 

Almost as soon as it happened, Mary Margaret pulled her daughter against her and she felt David shift closer to her.

“Who…with who?” David asked, probably not as softly as he intended. 

“David, do you really think this is the time for that?” Snow admonished. 

“Neal Cassidy,” Emma admitted, “I…may have lied when I said I only had one beer at Robin’s party, I’m so sorry.”

Her shoulders shook under the force of her tears and Mary Margaret brought her other hand around to hug her daughter close to her body.

For a few minutes, Mary Margaret whispered promises to her until she calmed down and once she lay exhausted on her mother, the woman ventured, “Have you…been to see a doctor yet?”

Emma was almost certain that she heard some hope there. Hope that her teenage daughter had taken an unreliable test, but Emma was sure that the amount of money she had spent on tests was worth some level of certainty. 

A part of her was grateful that they were not questioning the fact that their ‘gay’ daughter had been with a boy, a fact that she hadn’t thought about much herself because she knew that the only person she wanted to be with right now was female. 

It certainly didn’t help that she could only remember the odd moment of her very short, drunken escapade with the boy that she hadn’t ever felt so much as an attraction towards.

God, how could she have done something so stupid?! 

Rather than going into any of that, she shook her head against her mother’s chest. 

“What do you think about going to see Dr Whale tonight? To make sure that everything is okay?” Snow asked and it was almost enough to make her believe that everything was going to be fine.

Still, she stiffened and sobbed, “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s going to be okay,” Snow said, close to a whisper, “Whatever you want…it’s going to be…okay.”

A large hand was also placed on her back and Emma was close to believing that she could breathe again. Actual adults were finally aware of her situation, they would know exactly what she needed to do. 

She wasn’t quite there, however, somehow she still felt so alone in what was ahead of her. 

S

It wasn’t easy, but eventually, Regina was able to get away from Milfin Street without telling her mother exactly what happened.

It helped as her father chose that moment to return from work. His confusion gave her the space that she needed to slip away while Cora tried to explain to Henry what was going on despite not really understanding herself.

No doubt, she thought that it was just like last time.

That Regina had once again allowed her school schedule to get to her and had taken it out on her girlfriend. She had sworn that it would never happen again after their last short-lived break-up, but she didn’t see it being so brief this time around. 

Saying any of that out loud to her parents would be too much. She could easily see them going from outraged to sympathetic with that undercurrent of ‘I told you so’. 

Before Emma’s admission, she had thought that her mother’s disdain for her then-girlfriend was only born from the fact that she’d seen her cry after their last argument but perhaps she had seen something about the once sweet girl that she hadn’t?

Regina simply could not understand how the shy teen that she had spent so much time with could have done something like this, and could have lied to her for so long. 

In a haze, she got back to her car and just drove, not at all cognizant of what direction she was going. 

As she came up to Main Street, however, she did have to make a decision and instinctively turned left towards Storybrooke University and soon parked outside the large dorm building. 

She freed her buzzing phone from her pocket as soon as she came to a stop but declined the call coming from ‘mom’ without even a thought. Some distant part of her was aware that the woman was only checking on her but she just couldn’t at that moment.

This was only compounded as the call screen disappeared to reveal the lock screen image that was perfect just an hour ago. 

It was an image of herself grinning from ear to ear with a blonde draped over her shoulders and preparing to give her a kiss. She’d interrupted the selfie at the exact moment to capture their relationship.

Regina couldn’t imagine smiling so naturally anymore, especially if she was in the offending girl’s presence. How could it be that the person who could cheer her up in a split second was now the source of the tears that were again pricking at her eyes?

Violently, she locked her phone and left the car, her teeth instantly chattering as she realised that she had failed to grab a coat during her great escape from the mayoral mansion. She couldn’t allow herself to dwell on this, however, as she instead strode towards the building, ignoring the curious glances from the students two years older than her. 

The majority of the student body of course knew who the daughter of the mayor was, so she faced no resistance even as she got into the hallway and headed towards the room that she had been to a few times at this point. 

She knocked swiftly and then hugged herself, at last considering what she must look like.

She had gone from shouting at Emma to being smothered in a hug from her mother, before driving as quickly as she could from the suffocation of her room. 

At no point had she bothered to wipe her face or worry about the fact that it was painfully obvious that she had been crying? 

She didn’t have the time to do anything about that as the door was torn open to reveal a tall brunette pulling on a jacket that would do nothing to warm her up considering the lack of material in the rest of her scanty outfit. 

“Oh hey, Regina,” Ruby greeted, but her bright mood must have been dampened as she took in the teen before her, “Is everything okay?”

Regina sniffed and felt anger swell in her when it occurred to her that there was so obviously something wrong with her. How was it fair that everyone was so aware of how in love she was with Emma Swan?

“Is Zelena here?” she croaked.

“We were actually just heading out…” Ruby replied but stopped as the door was pulled the rest of the way open.

The red-headed occupant of the room was much more covered up than her friend, but her outfit was still more considered and put together than anything she would be wearing for a lazy night in. 

Zelena opened her mouth to greet the younger Mills, but no words came out as she instead took a moment to inspect her cold, tear-stained little sister. She released the door and urged Ruby, “You go ahead, I’ll catch up.”

Ruby nodded, not offering any argument as she plucked up a clutch bag and slipped out of the door, touching the younger girl’s shoulder as she passed her, “Hope you’re okay Regina,” she offered.

Zelena took her place at the threshold, seemingly to get a better view of her sister, which couldn’t have done much for her level of concern. 

Regina could only continue to hug herself and stare at the ground, not even thinking about complaining about the stickiness of the dorm hallway like she had on every other visit here.

This must have been a big enough red flag for the older Mills, as she reached forward to lead her inside the cleaner-than-average room.

The door closed behind them and Regina sighed in relief as she was pushed to sit on her sister’s bed, though she didn’t move back onto it, opting instead to perch on the edge as she stared up at her sister. 

Zelena sat down beside her and asked, “What’s going on, Gina?”

Regina licked her lips, suddenly very aware of just how selfish she was being. Was it this obsession with her own interests that had driven Emma to do something like this?

“You were going out, I should have called first…I’m sorry…” Regina started, but any attempt to stand and leave was thwarted by Zelena pulling her, forcing her further back onto the mattress.

Regina sniffed again as she sank into the pillows, appreciating the way that the material hugged at the chill still running through her. 

It only helped the physical coldness, however. 

“You don’t need to apologise,” Zelena assured, huddling up beside her, “Especially when you’re upset, please just tell me what happened.”

Regina played with her fingers and replied, in close to a whisper, “Emma’s pregnant.”

Regina waited through a stunned silence until she just had to look up at her frowning sister, “Is there something I should know…” 

The younger Mills just had to roll her eyes, even if it was better than the shouts that she pictured coming from her parents in response to the news.

“She slept with a footballer at a party.”

“Oh, that makes more sense,” Zelena said and Regina threw her face into her hands, shocked to feel herself once again wracked with sobs. How was she not dehydrated by this point?! 

Zelena slipped down next to her to pull the shorter girl against her as she continued to cry and she murmured, with clenched teeth, “I’m so sorry, Gina.”

It took some time for Regina to feel calm enough to lift her head from her sister’s shoulder and she lamented, “She said she loves me, how could she do this?”

“I don’t know,” Zelena sighed, and Regina had to guess that she was holding back some more choice words from her crying sister, but what she added wasn’t exactly soft, “but I’m going to kill her.”

“Zelena,” Regina admonished, “This is why I didn’t tell mom and dad.”

“Right,” Zelena breathed, hitting her head against the headboard with a huff, “So what…do you want?”

Regina shrugged, “You were meeting your friends, I can just go home.”

“They’ll live, I’ll tell them my sister needs me,” Zelena replied, not a hint of the usual sibling ire that they held for each other.

A smile tugged at the corner of Regina’s lips and she found her own phone as Zelena grabbed hers, presumably to text Ruby.

“I should tell mom I’m alive,” she said but winced as the screen lit up with that damn picture again. 

Zelena noticed the violent reaction, but it took only a second to figure out what caused it, so Regina felt her phone being taken from her before she could renew her heartbroken sobs.

She propped herself up to watch her sister unlock her phone and wordlessly navigate to the settings that allowed her to change the picture to a mundane, but comforting image of their family. 

She then shot off a text to their mother and abandoned both devices on the bedside table.

“So…what do you need?” Zelena asked.

“Do you have any ice cream?” Regina replied timidly, prepared to be ridiculed for the cliche.

Zelena hopped up though without a hint of sarcasm, “I’m sure I can find some,” she replied, “Do you want to watch a movie?”

“No romcoms,” Regina warned.

“Of course not, Gina.” Zelena laughed.

Chapter Text

Chapter Five

Mary Margaret Swan was working hard to keep herself together, but Dr Whale’s words rebounding around her head were not helping.

‘I can confirm that the pregnancy test is positive’.

This led to other tests and checkups that gave them the pleasure of spending hours at Storybrooke General.

Dr Whale seemed to understand that Emma couldn’t handle waiting for a routine appointment and so agreed to do all of this in between his more urgent patients.

It was for this reason that the trio did not arrive home until 2 am with the knowledge that Emma was growing a child and that they were both as healthy as they should be. 

Emma had dashed by them as soon as the door opened to get to the bathroom and Mary Margaret and David followed her swiftly in time to see her retching over the toilet.

The married couple shared a strained look until Mary Margaret dropped down to move her hair and rub her back as she whispered reassurances.

It was exactly what David did during her bouts of morning sickness so she hoped that it was also comforting for their daughter. 

Presumably, she would be doing a lot of this in the coming months?

“It’s okay, sweetheart,” she had cooed as the teen slumped against her and she held her close.

“Can I sleep in your bed tonight?” Emma asked, her voice cracking.

It was this that led to Mary Margaret staring at the ceiling as she waited for her daughter to clean up and get ready for bed.

Now that she was finally alone, she pinched the bridge of her nose and took in a ragged breath. 

She quickly adjusted the position as the door creaked open timidly to reveal Emma hugging her flat stomach, now in her PJs.

She must have washed her face, but it was still marred by the signs of the tears she’d periodically shed throughout the night.

“Are you sure I can stay in here?” Emma asked.

Mary Margaret sat up and extended her arm, “Of course you can, come on.”

Emma licked her lips and rocked back and forth on her heels before she approached the bed cautiously. After some hesitation, she crawled across the mattress and dropped heavily against her mother.

Her sigh of relief as she was pulled into a hug almost broke Mary Margaret’s heart. 

The way that Emma was feeling was surely punishment enough for all of the rules that she had broken, but Mary Margaret wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do.

Only yesterday, she had been under the impression that she and David had lucked out with the perfect daughter and it was hard to believe that she should see her any differently now. 

All she wanted was for her to feel better but she had no idea how to go about making that happen. 

“I’m sorry, mom, you must think I’m such an idiot,” Emma mumbled against her collarbone. 

“We love you, Emma,” Mary Margaret reassured, dropping a kiss to her forehead, “We’ll figure this out, you know that. Right now, all I want you to worry about is sleeping.”

“Do I have to go to school tomorrow?”

Mary Margaret turned her head so that she could cringe unseen, that shouldn’t be the first question that came from an expectant mother.

She recovered, though and replied, “Of course not, I’ll talk to the principal.”

“Do we have to tell him?” Emma asked vulnerably. 

“I’m afraid so,” she replied, “But don’t worry about that. Just try and sleep, okay?”

“Okay…” Emma mumbled, her eyes slipping shut, “I love you, mom.”

“I love you too,” Mary Margaret said automatically as her eyes returned to the ceiling.

It took a few minutes for the exhausted girl’s breathing to even out and Mary Magaret ran a hand through her hair. 

The weight against her was more significant than the last time they’d done this since her small child had a nightmare that only her parents could soothe.

Somehow, she still felt tiny against her.

Her bedroom door was pushed again and she didn’t even have to shush her showered husband who faltered to take in the most important people in his life.

Finally, David dropped down to his side of the bed and whispered, “Is she okay?”

“No, she’s terrified,” Mary Margaret admitted.

“Do you blame her?” David replied, laying his hand against his daughter’s back, no doubt picking up on the distress exuding from her even as she slept, “How is this possible? She’s way too young.”

“She’s sixteen, David,” Mary Margaret pointed out, though she knew that he wasn’t referring to whether it was physically possible.

“Exactly!” David whispered back forcibly, “She was a baby not that long ago! Our baby can’t be a…”

He scrambled so Mary Margaret supplied, “A mother?”

David winced and started making circles on Emma’s back, successfully calming the sleeping girl as he had so many times since she was born. 

“Whale suggested that she doesn’t have to keep the baby and she looked even more scared, David. I don’t think she sees any other option than to go through with this,” Mary Margaret said.

“I know,” David sighed, they’d made it clear that Emma could change her mind at any point or could explore other options later on, but as it was right now, it seemed that the teen knew what she felt she needed to do.

“She’s scared and heartbroken over Regina, we need a way to make sure that she knows that everything will be okay no matter what she decides.”

“Maybe I could collect some of the baby things from the basement? We kept the crib, right?” David asked.

“That is a wonderful idea,” Mary Margaret replied, lovingly laying back with Emma snoozing close.

David also lay back and mused, “You know, we are far too young to be grandparents.”

Despite everything, Mary Margaret laughed.

S

Killian Jones thought he would be relieved that the truth was out in the open but that was not the case.

He was just worried.

Emma had only been back for one day and now she was ‘sick’ again, so he wasted no time in calling her as soon as her text message hit his phone.

Weaving through the student body of Storybrooke High, he asked, “Are you okay, Em?”

“Dr Whale said everything is fine,” Emma replied after a long pause.

“You know that’s not what I mean,” he whispered, “You told your parents and your girlfriend…”

“My parents are disappointed but they at least care enough to try and hide it,” Emma sighed before adding brokenly, “And I don’t have a girlfriend anymore.” 

Killian halted just shy of his locker but was carried over to it by the relentless flow of his peers.

Leaning against the metal, he said with pure sympathy for his best friend’s plight, “I’m sorry, Emma.”

“It’s my own fault,” Emma replied resignedly and Killian couldn’t think of a way to defend her actions.

She may not have technically cheated on Regina, but what she did was certainly a betrayal. What followed hadn’t made it any better.

If she had only told her what happened at the party, before they got back together, perhaps it would have made things more bearable.

It would have softened the blow of the much bigger news.

All the same, Emma Swan was his best and closest friend so he had to be on her side even when she had screwed up so royally.

This meant that he couldn’t think of anything that could be of comfort at this moment but he could at least keep talking to her.

It was for this reason that he changed the topic.

“Did your mom call the principal?”

“I have an appointment at ten,” Emma said heavily.

"Do you think you’ll be pulled out of school?” Killian asked, chewing at his lip.

Sure he had other friends to interact with, but Storybrooke High somehow felt emptier without his best friend around.

“My parents don’t have the time or money to homeschool me, you know that,” Emma said, “Maybe I’ll get out of gym if I’m lucky?”

Killian smiled as the crowded hallway started to thin out, “Trust you to find the silver lining, Swan.” 

Emma laughed but it wasn’t quite the hearty kind that he was used to from his years of experience with her.

He was also distracted now that the hall was less packed.

Across the space, he saw evidence that Regina Mills would indeed never sully her perfect attendance record, even under these circumstances.

During the days when she was worried out of her mind about her girlfriend, she would have come straight over to him to enquire about her condition. 

On this day, she was flanked by her friends as she organised her locker listlessly.

Daniel Colter appeared to be trying to cheer her up with some joke that Mal Page was rolling her eyes at.

Regina, on the other hand, barely reacted to his words.

“Let me call you back, Em?” Killian asked his stomach flipping and telling him that there was something he needed to do.

“Sure, I’ll be here,” Emma sighed as the line clicked off.

Kilian’s arm flopped to his side and he crossed the hall before he could change his mind.

Daniel stopped mid-sentence at his approach causing Regina to turn around to find out what had granted her the silence.

Killian wasn’t at all surprised by her deep-set scowl, so he didn’t let it deter him. 

“Hey, Gina, can I get a second?” he asked.

Both Daniel and Mal also scowled at him.

Closing her locker, Regina said, “I’ll meet you both in homeroom.”

Daniel and Mal shared a look but eventually made their way down the hall as asked and Regina crossed her arms as she looked at Killian expectantly.

“You told them?” Killian huffed, trying to discern just how deep their anger had been.

“I told my friend that I broke up with my girlfriend,” Regina replied curtly.

“Did you tell them why?” Killian asked.

He couldn’t imagine that Emma was ready for everyone to know just yet, she still hadn’t told Neal what she was planning to do. 

“Do you honestly think so little of me, Jones?” Regina asked her lips in a thin line.

“You’re right, I didn’t…” Kilian said, trailing off as he scratched the back of his neck nervously.

“If you expect me to forgive her…” Regina warned.

“No, that’s not it at all,” Kilian replied hastily, “I wanted to apologise.”

“Because you knew all along?” Regina asked, looking away no doubt to hide the tears pricking at her eyes.

Killian was certain that she didn’t want anyone in these halls to know that she was capable of crying.

“Yeah…I’m so sorry…”

“It’s fine, she’s your friend. Emma is the one who should have told me,” Regina said, her eyes shining adamantly as she met Killian’s.

With that, she made to walk in the same direction as her friends but Killian grabbed her arm to stop her escape.

“You know, she’s terrified,” he offered, searching for any sign of the girl who was unconditionally in love with his best friend the day before.

Regina allowed that girl to pass over her face for a split second before she schooled it away.

“How terrible for her,” she bit back, wrenching her arm back and heading to homeroom.

Killian blew out a breath, imagining how awkward it would be to detail that to Emma. Still, he brought out his phone to call her back as promised.

S

It had been one of the longest days of Emma’s life, even though most of it had been spent waiting.

As suspected, the meeting with the principal resulted in her being excused from gym but little else would change in her day-to-day schedule.

Eventually, they would need to have another review to discuss whether the pregnancy affected her GPA but until then, he just encouraged her to try her best. 

He assured her that she would have plenty of options to make sure that she graduated, but he didn’t want her to worry about that until later.

Right now, graduation was the last thing on her mind, she was sitting in Granny’s diner waiting to be joined by someone that she desperately needed to talk to.

There was one other person, of course, but whenever she tried to call her ex-girlfriend the number always conspicuously came up as unavailable without even ringing.

The conversation that she was about to have wasn’t going to be easy, but it still felt much more doable than figuring out what to say to Regina Mills.

She couldn’t think of a defence that didn’t involve admitting that she was scared out of her mind and she didn’t think she could do it without the girl she loved so deeply. 

She had no right to expect anything but ire from Regina though. She’d hardly signed up for accidental teen pregnancy when she agreed to go on a date with Emma Swan. 

This was why she had given up on her second attempt to call her and instead clicked on ‘Neal Cassidy’ in her contacts. 

As promised, he was just walking through the diner’s entrance as she nervously fidgeted with the menu while trying to put Regina out of her mind.

Her ex didn’t exactly factor into what they were about to talk about, but as he came over to the secluded booth, a rather childish notion occurred to her.

How could the chance to be with him ever be worth losing someone as beautiful as Regina?

Neal was nice enough but he didn’t feel nearly as at ease with him as she did with her ex-girlfriend. 

Obviously undeterred by the thoughts that he couldn’t hear, Neal slipped into the booth and smiled at her tightly.

Taking her lead, he pulled the other menu towards himself to distract from the only thing that they had in common. 

“Do you want something to eat?” Neal asked.

Emma shook her head and replied, “Nauseous.”

“Oh…right,” Neal mumbled, deflating into the worn leather.

“My mom said it happened to her, we need to figure out what I can stomach, at least for the first trimester,” Emma replied quietly.

Neal gulped, officially abandoning the menu to give Emma his full attention. 

“So you really told your parents?” Neal asked.

“I know I should have talked to you first but…”

“Hey no,” Neal reassured swiftly, “You don’t have to run anything by me. This is just…a lot…”

The words filled Emma with immeasurable relief, the kind that made her feel bad for comparing him to Regina.

Perhaps what she was about to say wouldn’t be so mad? He did seem to be the only one who really understood how he felt about the entire situation.

“There is one thing I should probably tell you…Dr Whale…he spent a long time going through my options but…I’m pretty sure I’m going to keep it.”

Neal nodded but did breathe sharply, “I figured.”

Emma tilted her head, “You’re…okay with that?”

The boy inclined his head, “Well, you know…it’s your choice.”

It was the perfect response and Emma once again regretted doubting him. She couldn’t ever feel for him what she did for Regina but she could envision a future where they could be friends.

That wouldn’t totally mess up their kid, right?

“You can still have an opinion, though,” Emma assured, giving him an encouraging nod.

Neal blinked and Emma waited the moment that he needed to process the life-changing bomb that had just been dropped on him. 

“I…think my opinion is that…I want to help…tell me how I can help?” he asked, leaning forward expectantly.

“Well…my parents are being super supportive but I can’t expect them to pay for everything. That’s not fair, Granny gave me a job,” Emma replied cautiously, examining him carefully to make sure that she wasn’t asking too much of him.

He was excited, though. He finally knew what he should be doing.

“I can get a job too!”

“Are you sure?” Emma replied.

Laying his hands down on the table, he said, “Look…this is all terrifying but…you don’t have to do it alone.”

This shot anxiety through Emma and she swallowed hard against a sudden doubt, she had to make sure that he knew what to expect even if it shattered any chance that she would be getting the support he was offering.

“Even if I tell you that I’m gay?” she whispered.

Neal looked around as if anyone was listening to the teens’ conversation.

“Everyone knows that, Emma,” he replied.

Emma huffed, she’d done the coming out ordeal years ago and it had all gone smoothly, but she got the distinct feeling that this would confuse it.

While her hand brushed over her flat stomach, she said, “Well when this gets out, there will be lots of…theories…”

“I was there too,” he reminded her, “It was just two drunk idiots, attraction had nothing to do with it. I’m sorry I shouldn’t have…”

“You didn’t take advantage, Neal,” Emma cut him off, “Right now, I’m kind of glad it was you if it had to happen.”

“You may be talking too soon there,” Neal laughed nervously.

“You’re doing great,” Emma said, “But I would suggest that you tell your parents, it helps.”

“I will,” Neal replied, covering his face with his menu, “How about we figure out what won’t make you throw up?”

“Good luck with that,” Emma snorted. 

Chapter Text

Chapter six 

During their relationship, Regina and Emma could hardly go a day without interacting in some way.

When Regina wasn’t thinking about her family or her quest for a perfect GPA, she was preoccupied with her girlfriend.

It had become quite the adjustment to no longer having the right to have on her mind. 

It felt completely unfair seeing as she wasn’t the one who had messed up so monumentally, but Regina had to ignore how badly she missed the girl who she thought would have never done something so stupid.

Focusing on her schoolwork had become infinitely harder over the three months that followed. All Storybrooke High seemed to care about the scandalous story of the pregnant lesbian and her poor, slighted ex-girlfriend.

Regina hated the pity, which only Mal and Daniel understood at school.

Three months following the break-up, Regina, at last, disregarded her rule of studying on Saturday mornings once Zelena invited her to lunch. 

When she discovered who the waitress was on duty at Granny’s, she was grateful that she had a social studies book in her bag ready to pull out after grabbing a coffee from Ruby at the counter.

Through the pages of the propped-up book, she could feel the emerald eyes eager to burn through the paper to catch her gaze.

At school, Emma could easily attempt to hide her slightly swollen stomach under any number of baggy hoodies that she already owned but in her diner uniform, it was clear why it was that she needed a job.

Not that there could be a soul left in this town who didn’t already know but it made it all the more difficult for Regina to look at her.

Why did her betrayal have to be so visible for everyone?!

It wouldn’t be right to ditch her sister because of the waitress, would it?

As if summoned by the thought, Regina’s throat constricted as the book was removed from her grip but she relaxed as it revealed the redhead she had been waiting for standing over the booth.

Zelena inspected the textbook with a raised eyebrow, “If you don’t slow down, you’ll be a lawyer before graduation.”

Regina snatched the book back, hugging it close as if it would restore her shield.

“Hilarious,” she huffed and Zelena laughed but the bell rang out before she could drop into the booth opposite her sister. 

The mayor redirected her path away from the counter when her gaze landed on the booth and she instead approached her children.

“Look who has finally emerged from campus,” Cora said, pulling her daughter into a hug.

“Campus is ten minutes from here, mother, and I was at dinner two days ago,” Zelena argued as she was let go.

“Is it a crime for a mother to miss her child?” Cora asked, looking to Regina for support, but she was sinking into her seat as the waitress came over now that their party appeared to be complete.

She couldn’t exactly pull open the book in the presence of her family to prevent herself from seeing her ex-girlfriend up close.

Cora and Zelena recognised the reaction and simultaneously turned to the source of her discomfort.

Emma went for a strained smile and tapped her pen against the notepad.

“Hey…are you all ready to order?” she asked timidly.

Cora drew herself up as Regina sank further.

“I won’t be eating today, Miss Swan,” the mayor said shortly and then headed to the counter, no doubt to grab a coffee before heading back to work.

Emma continued to tap incessantly at the notepad and laughed nervously as she addressed Regina, “So your mom definitely hates me, right?”

“Who said you could talk to her?” Zelena said, finally sitting down in the booth.

“Zelena!” Regina hissed as Emma flushed, her pen stilling as she shoved the pad into her apron. 

“No, it’s…okay,” Emma replied, “I’ll get Ruby.”

Emma retreated and Regina deposited the book on the table to drag her hand through her hair.

She prepared to tell her sister just how unnecessary that was but the bell divided her attention and made her reconsider her decision to tell Zelena off.

Neal Cassidy looked ridiculous in a shirt and tie but apparently, it was the dress code of his father’s shop.

Zelena waved at Cora on her way out, but Regina couldn’t look away from the counter as Neal took her mother’s place and Emma came over to him.

She smiled naturally at the father of her child, which broadened as he produced a bag of gummy bears for her.

Regina’s setting rage boiled as Emma’s laugh hit her ear, what could he have possibly said that was so funny?

Her view of the scene was blocked by a much cheerier young woman and it was admittedly nice to be faced with someone with no stake in all of the high school drama beyond being her sister’s roommate.

“Hey, Z,” Ruby greeted, “Everything alright over here?’

“All good,” Zelena assured, “Could we get our usuals?”

“Sure,” Ruby replied, lingering on Regina who was refusing to look up, “Coming right up.”

She scribbled the order down and Zelena said, “Thank Rubes.”

Once the waitress was gone, Zelena stole a sip from Regina’s coffee while watching carefully for a reaction. One never came so she suggested, “Maybe you should go back to your books?”

“I’m fine,” Regina deadpanned.

“You’re jealous,” Zelena countered.

Regina glanced at the object of this discussion.

Neal was leaning over the counter, apparently to get a view of the bump in response to whatever Emma was saying, presumably about their child.

How could Regina begrudge him the right to be invested? She could be mature enough to be grateful that Emma had someone to support her through something that she couldn’t.

Perhaps that was too mature for a broken sixteen-year-old?

“Jealous of teenage pregnancy?” Regina bit back, even though she knew that her sister wouldn’t back down.

“Or that Neal can talk to her?” Zelena retorted.

“I could talk to Emma if I actually wanted to,” Regina said, petulantly crossing her arms.

Zelena hummed and suggested, “What do you think about getting our lunch to go?”

“Sounds perfect,” Regina sighed. 

S

The following day, Regina kept her head down in English class, making detailed notes on everything that the teacher had said about the requirements for their major project.

She was already irritated by the introduction of ‘paired project’ which was only worsened by the groan-inducing news that partners would be drawn from a hat by him.

He was just going through this agonising exercise and Regina was trying to ignore the growing foreboding in her chest.

With each name, her greatest anxiety was closer to coming true. 

Unfortunately, Mr Clarke was perhaps the least likely to care about school gossip or to allow teenage relationship drama to impact his lessons. 

It didn’t matter that Regina was firmly of the belief that their issues went beyond the typical high school bickering that he was likely used to after so many years in the profession. 

Her pen stilled as he called out, “Regina Mills…” and then after some rustling, “Emma Swan.”

Regina’s eyes fluttered shut as this was met with a cacophony of juvenile ‘oohs’ from all sides.

Mr Clarke scowled and the sound instantly died.

“Is there a problem?” he asked and looked between the girls who he probably hadn’t noticed had begun sitting on opposite sides of the room a few months ago.

Regina couldn’t see her ex-girlfriend from here but she had to assume that her face was bright red, explaining the lack of response.

“Miss Mills?” the teacher prompted.

Regina cleared her throat and replied, “No sir, no problem.”

“Excellent,” he said and Regina was certain that she heard someone whisper, ‘that’s gonna be awkward’ but she didn’t turn to find out who it was.

She also tuned out whatever else Mr Clarke was saying until the bell rang as she attempted to imagine holding a conversation with Emma.

As long as it was only about The Merchant of Venice then she was pretty sure that it was doable.

She’d just realised that the rest of the class was heading to the door as she began the process of returning her books to her bag.

“Hey,” came a timid voice beside her and she froze in place.

If this was a few months ago, she would have stood to take the owner of the voice’s hand, more often than not Emma would take her bag from her.

They would quite happily be partnered for a project, and it would mean even more time together.

Now, it meant no longer being able to avoid each other.

“Hello,” Regina said curtly, finally grabbing her bag and standing.

Emma played with the strap of her bag and took a conscious step backwards.

“I can explain to Mr Clarke why we can’t work together,” she suggested.

Regina should have agreed, should have let her take responsibility for this but she shook her head.

Maybe if they could be civil for academic purposes it would prove to the student body that they were not nearly as interesting as they thought they were?

“No, it’s fine,” Regina said, going for unaffected by the whole thing, “it’s just a school project, I’m sure we can handle that, right? Can you come to my house after school?”

Emma swallowed hard, “I…have an…er…appointment…”

Regina clenched her jaw as the girl shoved her hands into her hoodie pocket. Up close, it was on the cusp of not being quite as baggy.

Maybe it was just that its wearer was no longer as comfortable in it?

Her tension was definitely not making Regina want to steal the garment as she had so many times in the post?

“After that then?” she asked, with absolutely no desire to ask for clarification as to what the appointment was. 

“Sure,” Emma replied, “I can text you if…you could, you know…unblock my number?”

“As long as it’s only about the project,” Regina insisted firmly.

“Of course,” Emma sighed and Regina, at last, made it towards the door that was her escape.

“I suppose I’ll see you later then,” Regina said resignedly, leaving her ex with her shoulders slumped. 

S

As the sheriff of Storybrooke, David Swan liked to think that he was pretty much prepared for anything but, even three months later, he still wasn’t used to the idea.

How could he ever instinctively know that his daughter was pregnant and that she would one day, too soon, be an actual mother?

It was something that he was reminded of each time he saw her now.

He was torn whenever this happened.

She’d made a mistake but had more than risen to the occasion, working incredibly hard at school and at the diner, but David still found himself lamenting the life that she wanted before all of this despite his pride for his daughter.

Other than how happy it made her, one of the major benefits of her relationship with Regina was her desire to go to Harvard with her, it did wonders for her academic achievement.

As it was now, that didn’t seem very likely. There were only so many hours in a day and with the eclectic side effects that came with pregnancy, it was probably fair to say that she and Regina wouldn’t be in the same year at college even if Emma somehow made it into the Ivy League school.

He doubted that she was thinking about any of this as her leg bounced and she highlighted her copy of The Merchant of Venice placed against a folder on her lap. 

Any parent would have been happy with the intense focus with which she was preparing for her homework, but the genuine anxiety was more than a little concerning. He exchanged a look with his wife sitting on the other side of Emma, but they agreed that there was nothing that they could say or do to make this better for her. Short of calling the school to ask to make sure that Emma Swan was never paired with Regina Mills for a project. 

There was no way that would actually help and the appointment that they were currently waiting for had to take priority right now. 

Emma had already asked her mother all of the questions that she had about it, so there was no need for much talking as they waited to be called for her check-up scan. 

Of course, however, Mary Margaret was always capable of thinking of something to break the silence with a maternal thought. 

She placed her hand on the bouncing leg and asked, “Are you sure that you don’t want dinner before your project work?”

“No time,” Emma said, her words muffled by the highlighter in her mouth. 

“You do know how important food is, right?” Mary Margaret insisted, somehow not cringing as she added, “You are eating for two.”

David looked down, resenting the bile that rose in his throat at the statement. Thankfully, Mary Margaret had assured him that this never showed on his face for Emma to see and that she was confident that it was natural for a father to feel this way when it came to teenage pregnancies. 

Focusing on his shame, though, did mean that he wasn’t really thinking as he added, “And I doubt that Cora will feed you.”

“David!” Mary Margaret hissed and Emma finally looked up at him; he could only shrug. 

She took the highlighter out of her mouth and said, “I’ll grab a sandwich on my way to Regina’s?”

Mary Margaret appeared to be satisfied with this response, but she didn’t get to express this as sneakers squeaked against the polished floor and something stronger than bile rose in David. It was a miracle that the sheriff hadn’t formed an ulcer over the last three months with the increased frequency with which he saw Neal Cassidy. 

It wouldn’t have bothered him in the slightest before, but now he was very aware of the process by which his daughter had created a child with the other nervous teen. Frankly, he wasn’t entirely sure whether there was anything that his grandchild’s father would be able to do to get into his good graces, even if he intellectually understood that Emma held equal responsibility for all of this. 

Mary Margaret smiled easily at Neal and David made a mental note to get her to remind him later why it was that she actually liked him. Logically, he knew that he had shouldered the responsibility just as Emma had and they had no reason to feel actual disdain for him but he couldn’t help it.

Apparently, he did little to keep this off his face whenever he encountered the teen. 

Neal winced once he caught his breath and focused on the female side of the trio, “Did I miss it? Practice ran over…”

“No, you’re good…” Emma assured and Neal threw his head back in genuine relief that made David feel just a little bad.

Was it really fair to treat him so coldly when he so obviously cared about all of this?

Before he could think about asking him whether he wanted to take a seat next to him without an edge of annoyance, a nurse appeared and called, “Emma Swan?”

Emma sucked in a breath and stood as she transferred her books onto her father’s lap and turned to Mary Margaret.

“Mom, could you…” she asked and the woman stood without her even needing to finish the question. 

“Of course,” Mary Margaret replied, taking her arm and leading her towards the nurse. 

Neal puffed out his cheeks but did turn to follow them without the need for much hesitation and David had to assume that they had already discussed that he would be welcome in the room during the appointment. 

On his part, David instinctively knew that it was too sensitive an appointment for Emma to want her father to be present, so he was quite happy to stay behind and guard her belongings until she came back and told him how it went. 

He pulled out his phone to check for any messages from the station but found nothing that could serve as a distraction from what was going on in the examination room. 

Despite everything, he wanted his grandchild to be healthy and for his daughter to suffer no (unusual) ill effects from the pregnancy, so it wasn’t long until his leg was bouncing in much the same way as Emma’s had been. 

He was just about to open the play that she had been studying as a distraction after thirty minutes of waiting, when his wife, daughter and whatever Neal was to him, walked back over to him.

Mary Margaret had a hand draped over Emma’s shoulder and appeared to be whispering reassuringly to the pair. While in the process of this, she shot a thumbs up to her husband, who sighed in relief and stood, shouldering Emma’s backpack as he went over to meet them. 

“Everything is good,” Mary Margaret reiterated, releasing Emma who switched to stand next to her other parent, “I’m running late for volunteering, but don’t forget to eat something?”

“I won’t, mom, I promise,” Emma said, sounding very much drained as she accepted a kiss on the cheek from her mother before she rushed off. 

David squeezed her arm and said, “Well, that’s…great, did you decide if…you wanted to know?”

“Boy,” Emma replied distantly and David noticed that Neal appeared to be similarly pale. Though he didn’t know exactly how the young pair were feeling considering that he and Mary Margaret had been married for a while before they had this appointment, he could still recall the clench in his heart when he discovered that his wife was set to have a girl and he could finally imagine the little person who would rely on them for everything. 

He couldn’t imagine that it would be at all different if Emma had been a boy instead. 

It was for this reason that he unhitched from Emma to clasp Neal on the shoulder before returning to pull Emma into his side as he said, “Well, I look forward to getting to meet my grandson.”

Neal managed something resembling a smile as he fiddled with the printed sonogram in his hands and then he said, “I really need to get to work but…text me if you need anything, Em?’

Emma nodded, returning his smile and letting him quickly hug her before she leaned into her father, also staring at her copy of the sonogram, which David peered at as Neal’s sneakers squeaked under his running.

“He has my chin,” David announced and Emma furrowed her brow as she looked up from the squiggly lines and up to her father. 

As had happened many times in the last sixteen years, her confusion melted into a smile at the goofy man. 

“Very funny, dad,” she replied and allowed herself to be led away from the waiting room. 

“I try,” he said, “I know this must be freaking you out, but you’re both healthy, that is the news you wanted, right?”

Emma didn’t even need half a second to think before she said automatically, “Yeah, it’s what I wanted, I guess we should start thinking of a name for him?”

“Please tell me Neal isn’t at the top of that list?” David sighed and Emma rolled her eyes. 

“He’s really trying dad, can’t you give him a break?” she lamented.

“What do you think that was?” David asked indignantly, pointing down the hall where he had touched the boy’s shoulder. 

“He’s probably going to be around for a while, I think you should probably try a little harder than that.”

David drew his mouth into a thin line, knowing that he couldn’t reveal all of the irrational reasons that he had for not liking the teen who was doing everything right. She had raised a good point, however, that reminded him of something that Mary Margaret had mentioned the night before that he had thought could be put off for a while. 

“Maybe it’s time for dinner? With Neal and his parents? We have a lot to talk about.”

Emma scrunched her nose up and groaned, “He’s not my boyfriend, you believe that right?”

Knowing that the student body of Storybrooke High making that assumption was starting to get to her, David was not at all offended by the exasperation in her tone. Besides, he didn’t see how he could be mad at her now for being frustrated. Teenage hormones were hard enough when you didn’t throw in the addition of growing another human being. 

He didn’t let it deter him from what he knew his wife wanted, though, so he pulled her to a stop near the exit to Storybrooke General and said, seriously, “I know that you’re gay and that you would have told us if that wasn’t the case. But you have to understand that this situation is extra weird for all of us. I think everyone getting together would help us all…figure this out.”

Emma was resigned but eventually nodded, “I’ll ask Neal.”

She made to reach for her backpack, but he pulled it out of her reach and her shoulders slumped as he passed his arm through hers and made to go towards the sign that said ‘cafeteria’. 

“Dad, I gotta go,” Emma protested.

“You promised your mother that you would get a sandwich, I am making sure you keep that promise,” he said firmly. 

“Well, Regina already hates me, what’s the worst that could happen if I’m late,” Emma huffed and the only response that David could think to give was a kiss to her temple as he resolutely continued their forward path towards the cafeteria. 

Chapter Text

Chapter Seven

Emma was already exhausted but she had so much to do. Hearing the heartbeat of the actual human that was growing inside of her was draining enough if it wasn’t for the fact that Neal was also terrified. 

Every beat seemed to wipe a shade of colour from his face until he had to hold onto a side table but Mary Margaret had a calming enough presence that she was sure that she could go through with all of this.

Her father’s following frog march to the cafeteria to buy the sandwich that contained the most sustenance possible invigorated her temporarily until the sheriff released her bag from his custody and she remembered what was next in the itinerary. 

It wasn’t too long ago that she would have been elated to be paired with Regina Mills. It would have been the perfect opportunity to blend the obligation into a date, effectively blending their studies into a make-out session.

Now Emma doubted that she would be allowed close enough to touch her. It was imagining the pulsing awkward aura between them while they analysed Shakespeare, even if it was mercifully not one of his more romantic plays.

This feeling reminded her why it was that she had initially refused to eat, it was very liable to come back up and on this occasion, she couldn’t blame her son for that fact.

She swallowed thickly as her bug trundled up the pathway towards the looming building that had once almost intimidated her out of picking Regina up for their first date. This time around, their argument was playing on a loop in her mind, how she had foolishly tried to defend herself.

She’d had plenty of time to dwell on this while trying to sleep but there was no angle that allowed her to sympathise with her own plight. They were technically broken up but no one online agreed that twelve hours was long enough to be with someone else. They couldn’t agree on whether it made it worse that she did it with someone to who she had literally zero attraction.

Emma may have been grateful that it was someone as supportive as Neal if it had to happen but she still often compared him to the girlfriend that she’d lost periodically.

Her phone buzzed as she placed the creaking car into park, a welcome distraction from what was about to ensue. Unfortunately, the content was not the topic that she would have liked.

‘Glad lil’ Junior is all good, if you need extraction from your studies, you know the signal’.

Emma rolled her eyes but typed out her response anyway, ‘Thanks Killian, but I think I can handle some Shakespeare. Call you after?’

The dots appeared for a few seconds, followed by another message - ‘You better. You have an hour before I call your dad to report the mayor for whatever horrible revenge she has planned’.

‘This has been the exact confidence boost I needed as always ‘ she typed with a huff.

‘No problem ;)’.

Emma stared at the words trying to think of a way to prolong the conversation and save her from going to the door. Ultimately, she stowed the device away and exited the car, twisting awkwardly to get her as she did.

The bump may not be too big just yet but she still wasn’t used to its presence so it did take some additional effort some days to figure out how to move like she used to.

She held her breath until she reached the mansion and knocked with bated breath. In the ten seconds it took to open, Emma clasped her hands in front of her, behind and then rocked on her heels while twisting her hoodie.

It was tighter than she would like but could that be because she was hyper-aware that there was a baby in there now that she knew that he was a boy?

Somehow that fact made the thing feel more like an actual person than ever before. She doubted that any of the occupants of Milfin Street would feel the same strange mix of terror and adoration when it came to the bump.

By the time Mayor Mills was towering over Emma was again tugging helplessly at the hoodie, likely drawing attention to what she was trying to conceal. Cora’s eyes lingered there for a second before she cleared her throat and drew herself up, clearly gifted in the act of intimidation. 

It was once more playful but now, under her withering gaze, she felt as though she was finding out what actually happened when you hurt someone’s daughter. 

Swallowing her desire to run, Emma said, “Mrs Mills…Hi…I don’t know if Regina told you but…”

“She told me to expect you thirty minutes ago,” Cora deadpanned.

Emma’s mouth dried and she stuttered, “I…texted her about that. She said it was fine.”

“Well, she has been learning to deal with disappointment lately,” Cora replied evenly despite narrowing her eyes more with each word.

The younger girl’s stuttering became full-on stammering as she tried to think of a defence, “I…didn’t mean…I…”

“Mom?” came through the door behind the mayor, “What are you doing?”

Cora stepped aside to reveal that her saviour was wearing a blank expression, at least in stark contrast to the storm on her mother’s face. Emma suspected that she wasn’t far off assuming similar disdain, however.

“I was greeting our guest, dear,” Cora said.

Regina uncrossed her arms and turned on her heels, probably so that Cora didn’t see her rolling her eyes. 

“Come on, Emma,” Regina called over her shoulder, not checking that she was following.

Emma opened and closed her mouth a few times locking eyes with Cora who had finally stepped out of her path into her home.

“I believe you know the way, Miss Swan?” Cora said tightly.

Emma ducked her head and rushed by the woman who she was sure had a lot more biting quips prepared for their interaction.

She didn’t need to lift her head throughout the entire path through the mansion and into the only bedroom open to her. 

Of course, she’d been in here countless times but now it was more like unexplored, frozen territory. Their relationship was once splashed across the space, immortalised in pictures and signified in the items that Emma would leave there, specifically the hoodies and jackets that Regina claimed custody of. 

It appeared to have been scrubbed away now.

Briefly, Emma eyed the closet, thinking about asking for her stuff back but it wasn’t like the clothes would fit her well right now and the rest of it would probably be as painful to behold as the box stowed away in her own room. 

Dismissing the thought, she closed the door behind her and searched out the room’s owner. Regina was sitting on her bed, surrounded by books from a plethora of subjects and was already tapping quite violently at her laptop. 

Once upon a time, Emma wouldn’t have missed the chance to comment on the cute little pinch to her brow as she worked away and then she would have settled beside her and the other girl would, at last, take a breath through her pursuit of academic perfection. 

Today, things were not quite so easy and light between them. 

She took a second to play with the strap of her bag longing to sit on the ridiculously comfortable bed, for so many reasons. 

She didn’t need to ask where she should set up her stuff, however, drifting over to the desk that seemed to have been cleared for her.

Emma cleared her throat and plopped her bag onto the wooden surface, starting the process of fishing out everything that she would need to effectively start the project. 

Conversationally, as she organised her books, she said, “Sorry I’m late, my mom forced me to…”

Regina stopped typing sharply and Emma bit her tongue as she was cut off sternly, “It’s fine. Did you read the play?”

Releasing the crumpled copy of The Merchant of Venice from the pile on the desk, Emma nodded and shifted her bag to the floor.

“Of course I did,” she replied, never so relieved that English wasn’t a class that she had fallen behind in during her endeavours to balance school, work and the general effects of growing another person.

For the following twenty minutes, she and Regina lived up to their promise to be civil in the interest of school and discussed all things Shylock, Antonio and Portia among other characters and themes. That was until Emma gripped her pen and huffed, her free hand coming up to cup the bump.

“Is everything okay?” Regina asked, almost sounding like she cared.

“I’m fine,” Emma assured, the pair of them at last sharing real eye contact, “I’m sure that you don’t want to hear about this…”

“If you’re in pain…”

“It’s not pain,” Emma replied, “He’s just moving.”

Regina stared at her blankly for a while, apparently trying to decide who she was referring to, “He?”

Emma squirmed, unconsciously keeping her hand in place even though the movement had settled. 

“We found out today…Dr Whale said he’s healthy.”

Regina cleared her throat and continued typing absently, “That’s good, I’m happy for you.”

The bitterness pushed a chill through Emma, destroying any notion that they were having a moment.

“Regina…” she sighed.

“Can we just get this over and done with please?” Regina snapped.

The tone transported Emma to the day that she’d told Regina the truth, the heartbreak, the fear, the tears. She could feel their tenuous truce shaking and then hurtling towards another explosion. 

To prevent this, she started gathering her books together frantically.

“I…er…I think I can do my section at home. I’ll…”

She stood with a precarious hold on her things but Regina pushed her laptop to also stand so that she could hold out her hand to stop her.

“You don’t have to go,” she huffed, “We’re supposed to do this together.”

Emma bit her cheek as if it would stop her from taking this as hope that the other girl wouldn’t always hate her. That wasn’t what this was about, it was just a school assignment.

Emma hesitated, trying to balance her books as she argued, “Pretty sure that your mom is furious that I’m in her house.”

Regina dropped back to her academia-infested bed and said, “She’ll be more furious if I fail English.”

Emma released a long breath but her back was thankful that she deposited the pile onto the desk and retook her position on the chair.

“Okay, if you’re sure?”

“I’m sure,” Regina replied unconvincingly but Emma still sought out her pen so that they could continue discussing only The Merchant of Venice. 

S

After a long day at school, the last thing that Mary Margaret wanted was to host potentially the most awkward meal of her life.

She had been around Neal Cassidy enough now that his presence was not an issue, even if her husband would disagree. For her, it was their fellow parents that they had little interaction with up until now.

Milah Cassidy seemed nice enough, but her husband, commonly known as Gold due to his long-standing store, did not have the most comforting aura.

Thus far, they had all been sharing small talk as they chewed slowly at the meal that she had painstakingly prepared, but none of them wanted to address the reason that they were all here.

Emma and Neal each had their heads ducked while they ate and Mary Margaret wished that she could think of a way to assure them that they were not in trouble, the purpose of this was for them to all figure out what the future held. 

As Emma grimaced and pushed a tomato away, it was Milah who beat Mary Margaret to starting a conversation, “So Emma, how are you feeling?”

Emma’s head shot up almost comically, at least it would have been funny if Mary Margaret wasn’t looking at her terrified daughter. 

The girl recovered though and replied, “I’m okay, Mrs Cassidy.”

Milah smiled warmly before she pushed further and asked, “Have the cravings started yet? Neal wanted me to have everything with Nutella, it was disgusting.”

“Mom!” Neal objected, dropping his fork. 

“Honestly, how is that embarrassing?” Milah admonished.

Neal’s shoulders slumped and he sheepishly picked up the fork, looking at Emma who was biting her lip in amusement. 

“I don’t know,” he admitted.

“The cravings haven’t started yet,” Emma interjected, “Nutella doesn’t sound so bad though.”

“I got them quite late,” Mary Margaret added, “With any luck, we can keep pickles out of the cupboard for a while.”

Milah and Mary Margaret shared a laugh, during which David and Gold dragged their gazes from their food to exchange strained looks.

It would appear that it was the men who were struggling with this on both sides?

Emma attempted to placate this, at least on the Cassidy side, as she said, “The only thing I’ve really wanted is gummy bears but Neal brings them to me whenever I ask. He’s been great.”

Neal flushed as his parents both exuded pride in his direction and Gold at last spoke up:

“Well, that is good to know. We can see that you have both been working exceptionally hard,” Emma responded by ducking her head again and pushing her food around the plate as the man continued, “I understand that you are planning to go to Harvard?”

Neal scowled at him and Milah elbowed him. Had he been coached in the same way that David had? The sheriff was currently opting to say nothing to live up to his promises to not allow things to get too awkward.

“Yeah…” Emma replied, clearly trying to hold in a sigh as she indicated her growing stomach, “I’m not sure that’s possible now, we need to figure this out first.”

Gold replied, “Yes but…”

“Dad,” Neal cut him off, “College is a while off. We haven’t thought that far ahead. We need to meet him first.”

Following a nudge from Milah, Gold sobered and said, “Of course, you’re right.”

Milah kept up her unimpressed expression at her husband until she smiled reassuringly at Emma and said, “Sorry for pressing but I’m sure that you can understand that we just want to know how to help you both.”

“Thank you, Mrs Cassidy,” Emma replied.

A silence fell over the table, during which they finished their meals and Mary Margaret asked, “Emma, didn’t you mention math homework? Maybe you could do that while we talk?”

Emma nodded as Neal’s eyes widened.

“Oh crap, I need to do that too,” he rushed out.

“Language!” Milah scolded.

“Sorry mom,” he mumbled.

“I can help you with it?” Emma suggested and he eagerly fled his seat to follow her.

Once they were out of earshot, Milah sighed and lamented, “They are so young.”

“We know,” David affirmed, speaking for the first time during the meal.

“Should we make sure that the bedroom door is open?” Gold suggested.

Mary Margaret waved her hand dismissively, “You don’t need to worry about that, Emma is still in love with Regina Mills.”

Gold frowned and took a deep sip of wine before he said, “It would appear that High School has become significantly more complicated since we graduated.”

“Definitely,” David agreed and the two women hummed before the four of them launched into their theories as to how the responsibility would be split between their children when it came to their grandson. 

Chapter Text

Chapter Eight 

Regina was usually at ease in the library of Storybrooke High, especially when she was planning an essay well ahead of the deadline, but Daniel had noticed that feeling was difficult to come by for her lately.

She was visibly tense as he and Mal took the seat opposite her.

He was aware that if he asked what was wrong she would blame her Ivy League oriented workload and that she absolutely wouldn’t appreciate him mentioning that she was never this overwhelmed when she had a girlfriend. 

It was for this reason that he went with a different method, offering her a way out of the little academic cell she had created for herself.

“Hey Gina, do you want to go to Granny’s after school?”

Regina held in a sigh, but released her pen as if accepting that she was bound by friendship to not ignore such a gracious invitation.

It was Mal who replied first though, sniping at him, “Is this another attempt to ask Ruby out? She’s still too old even if you could actually talk to her.”

Feigning offence like it would hide his blush, Daniel replied, “No, I want a milkshake. What do you say, Gina?”

“I can’t today,” Regina said to no one’s great surprise, “I’m working on my English project after school.”

The additional explanation instantly drew Daniel and Mal to exchange a look to express their shock with unnecessarily widened eyes.

“What?” Regina demanded.

“Your English project with Emma?” Mal prodded.

“Yes,” Regina replied with a huff as she viciously dragged her hand through her hair, “I assume you have a point?”

“You didn’t frown,” Daniel shot back, pointing daringly at her increasingly frustrated face, “Are you actually happy to see her?”

“Of course not,” Regina scoffed, curling her fingers into a fist, presumably so that she didn’t slap his finger in the middle of the library, “I just want to finish the project.”

“Does that mean that you will come to Eric’s party?” Mal interjected before Daniel could press for more details regarding her feelings about Emma Swan.

Regina switched from touching her hair to pushing her fingertips against her temple as she stared longingly at whatever essay she was working on today.

“Why would I do that?” Regina sighed hard.

“You know,” Mal shrugged, “The best way to get over someone is to…”

Regina snapped her pen up to thrust in Mal’s directions and said warningly, “Do not finish that sentence!”

“So you’re going to spend the rest of High School as an unsociable hermit?” Daniel challenged.

Regina opened her mouth to retort but a screeching bell all around her had her gathering her things with impressive speed instead,, “I have class, sorry to put an end to this overwhelming support.”

She retreated before either of her friends could object, so Mal slumped back and muttered, “Wll it was worth a shot.”

Daniel crossed his arms and asked, “You really think that she needs to be with someone else?”

Mal pulled herself up, her face painted with incredulity, “You can’t be serious, Emma’s pregnant, remember?”

Daniel shrugged, increasing her indignation, “They were so happy before though, Emma just made a mistake.”

“An unforgivable mistake, Daniel. We need to help her move on,” Mal said resolutely. 

“With who exactly?” he challenged, sure that she couldn’t think of anyone more compatible. 

“I don’t know…maybe Ariel?” Mal suggested.

Daniel tilted his head, dropping his arms and said, “I thought she’s straight?”

“Pretty sure she’s bi.”

“And that’s enough for them to be together?” he asked, glad that the library was characteristically empty for this talk. Rumours would not help Regina’s levels of social integration, “Don’t you think Ariel is a bit too…shiny for Regina?”

“And who would you suggest?” Mal demanded, exasperatedly.

“Emma,” Daniel said, shrugging again.

Mal pushed her finger into her forehead but also stood to swipe at her bag, “You’re delusional…I need to get to class, use your free period to think of someone.”

Daniel hung his head over the back of the chair to watch her leave and reassured, “I’ll think of nothing else.”

Mal rolled her eyes and he watched her go until he lifted his head, figuring he could make a start on his homework, but jumped upon someone materialising to take Regina’s seat.

“Oh god, Killian, where’d you come from?” he breathed.

Killian waved the question away and asked, “How’s it going?”

“Not well,” Daniel admitted, “But I’m pretty sure that Regina can stand being in the same room as Emma again.”

Killian puffed out his cheeks and said, “Well, that’s a start.”

Daniel nodded.

When Killian initially approached him for help, he figured that it was wrong to be colluding after the break up, especially when he was also still angry with Emma at the time.

WItnessing Regina’s misery changed his tune rather quickly.

“Any chance that you could get EMma to go to Eric’s party?” Daniel ventured.

“Not really her scene right now,” Killian sighed.

Daniel nodded in understanding despite his resignation, “Is there anything else you had in mind?”

“Keep suggesting that she should try and forgive Emma?”

“As long as Regina doesn’t murder me, I’ll give it a shot,” Daniel promised. 

“Good, hopefully they won’t be miserable if they can at least be friends,” Killian replied.

“Can you think of anyone that Regina could date?” Daniel asked.

“Not really sure that you get what we’re doing here, Colter?”

“Mal is convinced she needs to move one and trust me, she will find a way  but if we can control it…” Daniel explained.

Killian perked up and finished, “Maybe we can remind Regina what she is missing!”

“Exactly!” Daniel said, excited again, now that he wasn’t faced with someone who hated Emma Swan, “So…any ideas?”

Killian reached over to steal Daniel’s notebook and produced a pen which he clicked with a flourish.

“Let’s figure it out!”

S

Regina blocked out her conversation with her friends as the day went on which became especially necessary when Emma appeared at her door.

She couldn’t think about ‘getting under someone’ as Mal would put it while she was in the same room as her ex-girlfriend.

Things may have changed dramatically since a time when Emma would have cuddled into her side, making jokes while Regina tried to do their project but it didn’t mean the feelings were gone.

It certainly didn’t mean that she was any less beautiful. Much to Regina’s chagrin, she now understood well what people meant when they said that pregnant women glowed.

It was this that made it so difficult to think about being with anyone else, they would always be compared to what they had before everything had blown up so spectacularly.

Putting this out of her mind was the only thing that allowed her to discuss passages of Shakespeare without caving into impulses to forgive Emma just so she would be allowed to kiss her again.

Hatred was so much easier when they were not in the same room though it was complicated by the visible bump that she had either given up on hiding or had run out of clothes to do so.

It was even more prominent now as she kept shifting as she pressed her back hard against the back of the chair as she suggested themes contained in The Merchant of Venice. 

It was different to last time, she wasn’t touching the bump so Regina had to assume that the issue wasn’t the baby moving but that she was genuinely uncomfortable.

Regina objectively shouldn’t care whether or not the desk chair was to her liking. They should just be getting through their to-do list so that Emma could be on her way.

The words left Regina’s mouth anyway, “Are you okay?”

This cut Emma off mid-sentence about Shylock’s ‘pound of flesh’ and she was momentarily too disarmed to reply but did eventually pull herself together,

“Yeah…it’s just my back but I can deal with it…”

Regina repositioned her books so that they created a little barrier in  the middle of her bed and then said, “You can come and sit here instead.”

Emma’s gaze lingered longingly on the bed, her cheeks flushing but she replied, “It’s okay, Regina, I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“You don’t need to be in pain, just…come on,” Regina insisted.

Emma considered this, but ultimately was unable to resist the offer to make contact with the exquisitely soft mattress.

She gathered her notebooks and stuck her pen into her mouth as she unsteadily approached what had become forbidden terrain. 

She dropped the books to the surface but the impact forced a loose piece of paper out of the pages and flew out onto the bed. 

The pen fell out of Emma’s mouth and she reached out to pick it up but it was too late: Regina had already instinctively picked up the sonogram to pass it back. 

Regina stiffened upon registering what it was and Emma stood bolt upright beside the bed, sure that she was about to be sent back to the desk.

Regina’s mouth dried, unable to resist inspecting it more closely. 

She, of course, knew what pregnancy meant and what was concealed by the ever growing bump, but this felt like proof of some kind. 

Evidence that the person she most wanted to ‘get under’ was in the process of creating another living thing. 

She cleared her throat to cut through the oppressive aura that had descended but scrambled when it came to finding actual words, “He has your…”

“Squiggly lines?” Emma supplied with a little chuckle but this was cut short as if she’d realised where she was and what they were actually talking about. 

Regina lingered on the lines a little longer until she coughed to slice through the tension and said, “I’m sure he will  be pretty cute, Neal isn’t…bad looking.”

Emma tilted her head, at last taking a seat, sure to keep sufficient distance from the book wall. 

“I hadn’t noticed,” Emma replied, beginning to flip through the play to return to the scene that they had been discussing before the interlude. 

Regina frowned, neglecting the opening to move on.

“Really?” she asked.

Emma dragged her face up, suddenly bashful.

They were hardly cuddling but it was the closest they’d been in months.

The topic of conversation certainly wasn’t helping.

“Yeah…” Emma said slowly, flicking involuntarily up and down her ex-girlfriend, “We’re just friends. He’s not really my type you know…”

Regina palmed her notebook with her free hand and used the other to thrust the sonogram at her.

Was it supposed to make her feel better that their relationship had ended over someone she wasn’t even attracted to?

Sparks at her fingers drew her attention to where Emma brushed hers as she took the sonogram back.

Emma’s eyes were wide, also stuck on where they had just touched.

“Sorry…” Emma said.

“It’s…okay…” Regina interrupted, violently turning to her unfinished page, “Do you think that we could include Shylock in the second section?”

Emma stowed the offending image back into her book and then scratched the back of her neck, “Yeah…that would work,” she replied, returning to their awkwardly professional dynamic despite now sharing the bed. 

S

Regina Mills was not one to sleep in but multiple study sessions with her ex-girlfriend that week was enough to render her more tired than usual.

Trying to maintain a civil facade was always going to be exhausting, she knew that when she’d foolishly made the decision not to allow Emma to ask for a change in partnership. 

The worst part of it was wholly unexpected, she still enjoyed Emma’s company, found her funny when jokes slipped out and truly cared about how she was.

On more than one occasion, she caught herself wanting to ask whether pregnancy was as arduous as it seemed to be and it was this that had her swaddled at 9 am on a Saturday morning.

It allowed her to think about the cosiness rather than whether she was on the path to forgiveness, that was supposed to be impossible.

As with a lot of her plans as of late, it was shattered quite swiftly, this time more dramatically by a weight dropping onto her. 

She shot up instantly to push at the mass and Daniel flopped down next to her, laughing as he announced, “Morning Gina.”

Regina scowled first at him and then at Mal lingering back at the door, her arms crossed as she rolled her eyes.

“How did you get in?” she demanded, slapping her blanket down out of pure tired exasperation.

“Your dad let us in,” Mal replied.

“At 9 am?” Regina shot back, doubtfully raking her fingers through her unbrushed hair.

She didn’t at all care about either of them seeing her like this, but her mind was trying to catch up with whether this was actually reality or if it was an exceedingly annoying dream.

“He probably assumed that you’ve been studying since 5 am,” Daniel said, popping up, far too cheerily.

“What do you want?” Regina huffed, longing to lay back down.

“We’re here for an intervention,” Mal announced, unmoved by the pure frustration exuding from the bed.

“More like a rescue mission,” Daniel added.

“What are you talking about?” Regina sighed.

“Your social life,” he supplied eagerly.

“It’s been dire since…” Mal started.

“Since my girlfriend cheated on me?” Regina snapped, expecting silence as but they were each undeterred.

“I mean one time is hardly an affair,” Daniel mused as Regina’s face twisted, scandalised by the suggestion that her own brain had already conjured a time or two when her guard was down. She had no desire to think about Emma in that way, at least not with another person.

Mal held her hand in Daniel’s direction before Regina could detail to him how ridiculous that statement was, “We’re not here to talk about Emma, Eric’s party…”

“Is in twelve hours,” Regina said, “And I’m not going, I have too much to do.”

“Like what?” Daniel challenged.

“Extra credit,” she replied, aware that her position under the blanket was not compelling evidence for anything urgent enough to refuse the invitation. 

Not that she could see why it was that she had to justify herself.

“What do you need extra credit for?” Daniel asked, “What’s more perfect than perfect?”

Regina was not allowed to reply with ‘Harvard’ as Mal said forcefully, “You are going and you’re coming to the mall with us to get something to wear.”

Regina ran her hand over her face, deciding that her life would probably be simpler if she conceded to one party to prove that she could socialise.

Maybe then they would see that she was fine with the way things were?

“And this couldn’t have waited until later?” she asked.

“We figured it would take at least an hour to convince you and Daniel requires a lot of food in exchange for shopping,” Mal explained while Daniel nodded exaggeratedly.

“Thank you for your sacrifice,” Regina drawled sarcastically as she threw her blanket away with great reluctance.

“As you should,” Daniel agreed, stretching out along the mattress.

“So you will come?” Mal asked.

Regina puffed out a breath as she stood to search for something to wear for clothes shopping.

“I don’t see any other way to convince you that this is unnecessary,” Regina said, ripping her jeans out of the closet as Daniel beamed triumphantly at Mal.

Chapter Text

Chapter Nine

Regina wasn’t sure how she’d ended up in this position after insisting for days that she didn’t want to go to a party. 

Of course, she knew who to blame for it, but she couldn’t exactly pinpoint how it was that Mal and Daniel had dragged her away from her schoolwork.

Daniel draped his arm over her shoulder, keeping her on track towards the open door through which buzzed high schoolers were already spilling out from.

It was as if her friend thought she was a flight risk which perhaps wasn’t too far from the truth based on the way that she was hugging herself the closer she got.

“Remind me why you think this is so essential?” Regina asked and the other teen squeezed her shoulder.

“Socialising is important,” he replied and Regina rolled her eyes but allowed him to keep pushing her in the direction of the house.

She’d promised to try for an hour and then she could bail with an argument for the next time they insisted she come to a party.

For the first ten minutes, she tried to come up with viable excuses to prove that the experiment was a failure, not that Daniel or Mal would entertain any of them.

For the following ten minutes, she allowed Mal to lead her onto the dance floor, her limbs loosened significantly by the single shot of vodka that she’d instantly regretted taking.

Things turned around for the entire event when Daniel appeared to pull her and Mal over to spin the bottle set up in the kitchen area.

Regina rolled her eyes for maybe the hundredth time since their arrival but leaned onto the kitchen island.

This put her in the perfect position to see why Daniel had accosted her, urgently announcing that she should come and play.

Directly across from her was Emma Swan, smiling at something that Killian Jones had said to her.

As she made eye contact with Regina, she felt the telltale burst of fluttering in her stomach and Daniel nudged her encouragingly.

Over the booming base of the sound system, Regina had not heard Eric suggest that the newcomer go first but it became clear what he wanted as he thrust the empty beer bottle at her.

Her hesitation was long enough that Daniel had to take the bottle for her but failed to spin it, having to nudge her again so that she would do what all of the other intoxicated teenagers were expecting. 

She spun it strongly, praying that it would land on either of her friends, that way she could spend seven minutes in the pantry complaining about how ridiculous this all was.

Fate had other plans.

The bottle spun around a few times until it stopped pointing straight and unmistakably at Emma Swan.

Regina felt the flutter again as the other girl straightened, her eyes wide and an obvious blush adorning her features

Did she feel the same way even if they have barely interacted outside of class?

Killian patted Emma’s back in much the same way that Daniel did for  her.

All too quickly, Regina found herself being urged towards the pantry, Emma in tow.

The door closed behind them, taking the edge off the overwhelming music.

It was enough for the pair to hear each other, not that either of them jumped to say anything.

Regina hung back by the shelves, hugging herself again.

With the better lighting, she had a great view of the simple skinny jeans and shirt combination that suited Emma so well.

It wasn’t helping the flutter that was now erupting in her stomach.

Swallowing hard, she said, “We don’t have to…it’s just a silly game…”

“A silly game?” Emma repeated, “I don’t know, I think it’s pretty fun. Or it can be…if you want it to be?”

Later, Regina would discover that this confidence was born from a few shots and the other girl was usually much shyer than this in an undeniably adorable way.

In this moment, however, the words had the exact effect that they needed to in order to kickstart their relationship.

Emma approached her, but stopped a step away from her.

“We can just wait out the seven minutes if…” Emma started but was cut off by Regina surging forward to connect their lips. 

Emma initially stumbled but balanced herself, all the while keeping the kiss going.

This banished the butterflies completely leaving behind only certainty that this felt right.

A minute in, Regina’s back hit the shelf but neither of them noticed the pockets of food dropping under the force.

They didn’t spring apart until they were over by two minutes, indicated by a sharp knock.

They looked at each other with wide eyes, until smiles crept across both of their faces.

With a laugh, Emma asked, “Can I take you for lunch tomorrow?”

Grinning broadly, Regina nodded.

Maybe the party wasn’t such a bad idea after all?

S

A bit over a year later, Regina couldn’t decide whether she was right or not about parties.

Unfortunately, she felt a strong sense of deja vu the moment that Mal and Daniel began encouraging her to go to another one of Eric’s parties.

She couldn’t tell them that it brought up too many memories with her ex-girlfriend, that would destroy the uncaring facade that she had carefully constructed.

As magical as the kiss in the pantry had been, along with the many subsequent dates, it was all sullied now.

This time around, she’d promised only half an hour before she would slip away back to her sanctuary of academia.

The first difference this time was that Regina strode up to the open door that was already rippling under the sound of the music.

She didn’t need Mal or Daniel to lead her in, she figured the sooner she got in, the sooner she would get to go home.

The next difference, perhaps the most significant, was the speed with which she accepted offers of alcohol.

After a few shots, she accepted a beer which meant that she didn’t overthink it as she was invited over to another game of spin the bottle. 

Mal tried to talk her out of it but Daniel argued that this was the kind of ‘socialisation’ they had been attempting to encourage.

Regina once again leaned across the kitchen island, but when she looked opposite her, there were no beautiful blondes about to provide her with the memory of the best kiss she had ever shared with anyone. 

Unlike a year ago, the bottle thankfully wasn’t handed to her so Regina barely paid attention as it was spun.

That was until Daniel elbowed her and she blinked upon finding the bottle was pointing at her.

She looked around for the culprit, praying that it wasn’t some guy who was going to get his ego knocked when she told them that they were not her type.

She wasn’t sure how she felt about the gaze of Belle French..

The other girl was not blushing to the degree that Emma had been in this same situation but not every spin the bottle was a matchmaker.

Actively reminding herself that she was single to push through the sudden onslaught of guilt, Regina detached herself from the island to head towards the familiar pantry without looking back.

Belle joined her a couple of seconds later, scratching timidly at the back of her neck as she looked at Regina.

“We don’t have to…” Belle began transporting Regina back to a year ago.

Filled with determination, Regina shook her head and replied, “It is the point of the game, right? Unless you don’t want to?”

Belle also shook her head and Regina spent a second or two deciphering that this motion was meant as consent. 

Still unsure of this, she approached Belle, giving her a second to push her away. When she didn’t, Regina tentatively touched their lips.

Belle promptly melted into the kiss, but their hands remained firmly at their sides.

There was no touching, no stumbling back to the shelves or opening of mouths to invite further passion into the kiss. 

After only thirty seconds, Regina wrenched herself back, unable to feel bad about the hurt passing over Belle.

She was too busy panicking over the fact that she was comparing the interaction to her last in this pantry.

“I’m sorry,” she stuttered as Belle’s hurt became bewilderment, “I need to go…I’m sorry again…”

The flustered Regina was out the door before Belle got a chance to say anything.

She found the exit to the house and as soon as the cool air hit her face, she knew exactly who it was that would calm her racing thoughts and there was no reason that her drunken mind could come up with as to why she shouldn’t be allowed to do what she really wanted.

S

Emma was very aware of the party that all students of Storybrooke High would be attending tonight.

Killian had insisted that she could still go, that she could enjoy being around others while sober, but Emma shut that notion down quickly.

Even if the idea of being around her peers who spent months judging her sounded like hell, there was also the matter of her workload.

Between work and school, there wasn’t much time remaining for parties even if her back didn’t ache the longer she remained standing.

Music played owly across the books carefully laid out across the dinner table, the only surface in her home capable of containing it all.

Just as she began to get into a typing flow with her history paper, her son seemed to decide that this was unacceptable or maybe he just wanted her to remember that he was there?

He chose that moment to begin squirming inside of her.
Her fingers tensed and she closed her eyes in frustration as she cupped the bump, allowing him to kick her palm. 

At least it wasn’t her bladder as her mother warned her would be another joy that she would soon be subjected to.

Muttering, she said, “Come on, just let me finish this and I swear I will find the peanut butter and Nutella.”

The promise to fulfil the craving that had started twenty minutes ago did little to still the movement.

Emma was just about to hit her head against the back of the chair to vent some frustration but the action was halted by a sharp knock at the door.

Emma frowned, waiting a second to wonder who that was, before she remembered that she had assured her parents that she would be fine if they went out for a date.

It had been a long time since they’d had an issue leaving her home alone but the recent turn of events marked a change in their trust in their daughter, not that they would say that aloud.

With some effort, she abandoned her study station just as the knocking sounded more insistently through the house.

With the baby still moving, she manoeuvred to the front door.

The peep hole revealed the last person in Storybrooke she would expect outside her house at 8.30 pm.

Despite her confusion, she knew that it was safe to open the door so she did so promptly, allowing her to see that Regina Mills was indeed swaying.

“Regina?” Emma asked, helping the other girl to steady herself, “Are you okay?”

Regina failed to push her away, which was the first clue that there was something wrong, the next was the compliment that she slurred out, “How are you still so beautiful, Emma? It’s not fair, you should stop it.”

Emma blinked and asked, “Are you drunk, Regina?”

Regina shrugged, “Maybe a little.”

Emma hummed, unable to comprehend how bizarre this was. She’d never seen her ex-girlfriend more than a little buzzed, but the right thing to do came to her quickly.

“Come on, I’ll take you home,” Emma announced, trying to remember where her shoes and keys were.

Regina interrupted her thought process though by widening her eyes comically and objecting conspiratorially, “No! My parents can’t see me like this! They think I’m all perfect…”

Emma let out one laugh but quickly became serious since she wouldn’t want Regina to leave in her current condition.

“Okay then, at least come in?” Emma offered, “I’ll get you some water.”

Regina nodded, dutifully following her ex-girlfriend inside.

It took some convincing but she got her to sit on the couch so that she could go to the kitchen and grab a glass to fill with water.

Upon returning to the den, she discovered Regina was standing.

Depositing the glass to a side table, Emma planned to attempt to convince Regina to sit back down and drink.

She didn’t get to open her mouth, however, before it was covered by Regina’s lips.

It was Emma’s turn to stumble but Regina steaded her with practised ease by circling her waist.

Emma allowed her to deepen the kiss, until Regina’s hands came to the bottom of her shirt, brushing the bump.

This sent a shock through Emma who became suddenly away from the continued motion in her stomach as well as the flash of vodka on Regina’s breath.

This was enough for Emma to pull away before Regina could succeed in pulling her shirt up.

Initially, she couldn't help feeling conscious of the fact that she no longer looked like she used to. Then she became aware that wasn’t the biggest issue here.

Stepping backwards she held her hand out and breathed, “No wait, we can’t!”

Uncharacteristically whining, Regina asked, “Why not? We’ve done it before.”

“Things were different back then,” Emma pointed out, her lips tingling in protest to her refusal.

Hugging herself, Regina said, “You mean you hadn’t cheated on me?”

“We were broken up…” Emma began but quickly adjusted her defence, “Look it doesn’t matter right now. I can’t have this discussion with you while you’re drunk. I know from experience that you’ll regret it tomorrow.”

This sobered Regina (figuratively speaking) and she asked, “You regret it?”

Emma huffed at the disbelief, she was under the impression that her feelings were not well hidden.

It was for this reason that she saw no problem telling the truth.

“Of course I do, I never wanted to hurt you. I love you.”

Regina frowned deeply and inquired timidly, “Present tense?”

Emma pressed her lips together and then replied, “Yep.”

“Even though I’ve been a huge bitch to you?”

“Okay,” Emma said definitively, “You’re definitely too drunk for this, come one you should at least lay down.”

With her walls lowered by the admission of love, the drunken Regina was malleable enough to let Emma take her to her room.

She did think about letting her sleep on the couch but it would be better to avoid the chance of her parents stumbling upon her ex-girlfriend.

Surely by the time Emma finished all of her school assignments, Regina would have had enough rest to allow her to take her home?

Hopefully she could do so covertly?

Regina lay down on the bed without any resistance and Emma said, “Give me your phone.”

Regina handed it over and only then asked, “Why?”

Emma paused at the lock screen photo that had obviously changed but entered the passcode, glad to find that it was the same.

Pushing through another influx of regret for the ending of their relationship, Emma began tapping the screen, “I’m going to text your mom that you’re staying at Mal’s tonight.”

Regina pointed unsteadily as Emma typed and slurred, “That is a good idea, she does not like you.”

“I’ve noticed,” Emma murmured, putting the phone down, “I need to finish my history paper so…just try to sleep and I’ll get your water…”

Before Emma could turn to leave her ex-girlfriend in her bed in a futile attempt to finish her schoolwork, her arm was grasped by the girl whose eyes were already closed. 

Regina pulled her down to the mattress and circled her arm around her waist in one swift motion.

Emma was just about to struggle free but the sudden stilling of the movement inside her had her reconsider.

For the first time in weeks, she actually felt comfortable. 

Putting her hand atop Regina’s, Emma said, “You are going to be so pissed in the morning.”

With that, she allowed her eyes to close against her better judgement. 

Chapter Text

Chapter Ten

Mary Margaret Swan initially refused to go out for dinner with her husband, leaving their daughter home alone like they had a thousand times before.

It feels different now.

She was well aware of the difficulties that came with pregnancy even without the pressures of being a teenager still in high school.

Emma insisted that she would call them in the unlikely event that anything happened, that they should take the opportunity to spend time together as a couple without worrying about her.

Mary Margaret was certain that it was more of a test to see how close she was to regaining the trust that she’d lost even if no one would say it aloud.

With her commitment to her studies and work, it was undeniable that she deserved at least a chance.

Despite the circumstances she had risen to the occasion and she’d made a good point that they didn’t need to be present for her night of homework.

The date turned out to be worth the anxiety, though it was just a meal at Granny’s.

As it turned out, weeks of talking about all of the arrangements they needed to make to help support their daughter meant that they had a lot of other topics to cover.

Unfortunately this came to an end just after dessert when David’s phone lit up

In a small town like Storybrooke, there were few true emergencies that required the sheriff’s attention but there were a lot of people who disagreed with that sentiment.

With a sigh, he’d announced that he needed to check out a noise complaint and kissed her while assuring her that he would be home as soon as time allowed.

This was how Mary Margaret found herself returning home alone, still smiling.

Things were finally beginning to feel normal-ish, like they could really do the grandparent thing way before either of them had planned it.

She pushed through the front door, unsurprised to find the light still on in the dining room.

Depositing her coat and keys, she headed to the beckoning light planning to remind her daughter that all nighters were out of the question for her. It was an endeavour that the teen had failed to achieve anyway with her restricted caffeine intake.

She sucked in a breath to begin her lecture (which would have ended with a kiss to her forehead) but she was cut off by the sight of an empty chair besieged by textbooks.

Mary Margaret frowned, leaning back to find that the bathroom light wasn’t on either.

For a couple of seconds, wondered whether she was being far too overprotective as she was rushed with worry.

Logically, her daughter had gone to bed and forgotten to clear away. It wasn’t like she herself was the most diligent while pregnant.

All the same, she couldn't ignore the alarm bells caused by the conspicuous absence so why not just peek into her room to check on her?

Emma would understand the compulsion when she met her son anyway so Mary Margaret didn’t allow her objections to stop her feet from taking her towards her daughter’s bedroom.

She cracked the door open and all guilt eeped out of her at once upon finding Emma was not alone.

Naturally, it wasn’t the first time she’d seen Regina hugging Emma but it was the first that they did so without her knowing that the other teen was in her house.

Mary Margaret’s gaze dropped to the hand on the visible bump and her mouth set into a thin line.

She had no idea how they had gotten to this point but she didn’t trust it.

As much as she understood the break up she couldn’t stand to see her child cry, no matter how badly she had screwed up in their relationship.

Her stare seemed to be enough for Emma to stir and open her eyes, which promptly widened. She glanced over to make sure that Regina was fast asleep before she began the task of extricating herself.

It took a few extra seconds than normal to get up but she managed it and approached the door to close behind them, obscuring her mother’s vision of her sleeping ex-girlfriend. 

Groggily, Emma said, “Mom, I…”

“You know the rules,” Mary Margaret interjected, “If you have a girl in your room, you need to ask us.”

Emma sighed, leaning against the door, “It’s not like that, mom. Regina just showed up…she needed somewhere to stay…”

Mary Margaret narrowed her eyes out of suspicion.
Regina Mills always had her days scheduled so tightly that it was improbable that she would show up unplanned, especially to the house of the girl who had broken her heart.

There had to be more to the story.

“Why?” she asked.

“She…err…”

“The truth, young lady,” Mary Margaret demanded.

Emma shuffled, shoving her hands into her pockets, which had Mary Margaret realise that she hadn’t changed into her PJs.

Maybe the cuddling hadn’t been planned?

“She may be…a little drunk?” Emma admitted as if it was a question.

A gasp passed Mary Margaret’s lips, “You’ve been drinking?”

“No!” Emma said, hurt dripping through the word as she removed her hands to cradle her bump, “I was studying and she came here after a party, I can’t believe you think I would do that to him…”

Mary Margaret deflated, guilt washing over her, especially when she saw the telltale shining in her daughter’s eyes.

Covering her hands so that she could feel the still bizarre motion there, Mary Margaret said, “You’re right, I’m sorry sweetheart. I didn’t mean to accuse you. It’s just…I saw how devastated you were after your break up. I would hate for you to go through that again. I’m just worried.”

“You have nothing to worry about,” Emma promised, “Regina is sort of my friend. I think she’s just under a lot of pressure right now. I couldn’t send her away.”

“So nothing happened?” the older woman asked, running the pad of her thumb to her cheek to make sure that no tears had escaped.

“Nothing,” Emma said.

“Okay,” Mary Margaret replied, immediately relieved, “Regina can stay.”

“Thanks mom,” Emma replied, hugging her gratefully before pulling back and biting her bottom lip, “We told her parents that she’s staying with Mal because they, you know…hate me, do you think you could…”

Holding up her hand, Mary Margaret said, “I doubt Cora would ask me, Emma, but yes I will keep your little secret as long as you promise to tell me if anything happens?”

Emma nodded and made to turn towards her room but cringed and stopped to admit, “She did…kiss me,” Mary Margaret inhaled to respond but Emma hastened to add, “But I stopped her! Like I said, she’s under a lot of pressure…and she’s really drunk.”

Raising an eyebrow, Mary Margaret challenged, “What happened to a little drunk?”

Emma’s shoulders slumped and she begged, “Please don’t make her leave, mom? I know she didn’t mean it and I don’t want her to get into trouble.”

Mary Margaret bit the inside of her cheek, trying to remember that it was teenagers in question here.

She couldn’t legitimately be angry with someone so young, there were adults who would be confused in this scenario so she couldn’t blame Regina (particularly when drunk) for not being sure about her feelings.

“You can sleep in the guest room,” Mary Margaret said, managing to keep it even.

“But that’s all full of crib pieces and stuff,” Emma objected, actually more upset about losing access to her most comfortable sleep in weeks.

“This is not a negotiation,” Mary Margaret said firmly, “It’s that or I take Regina home.”

Emma hit her head against the door lightly but then nodded, “Okay,” before she peeled off it to head down the hall. She dragged to a stop though, turning with her hands back on her stomach, “Where did you learn all of this?”

“All of what?”

“You know…the mom thing?” Emma elaborated.

Mary Margaret smiled adoringly at her and approached to give her a side hug which Emma leaned into.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get it,” she said softly, “You’ll have plenty of help.”

S

Regina didn’t usually have trouble waking up in the morning, in fact, her sister would often mock her for getting up so early without the need of an alarm.

On this particular day, it was a Herculean task to even drag her eyelids apart so that her pupils could be assaulted with streams of light screaming that the morning was further along than was normal for her.

Rather than going straight to her mental to-do list, she groaned as the light made her very aware of the pain running around every brain cell.

She threw her arm over her eyes and pulled herself up, frowning as she felt an irregular number of pillows behind her.

There was only one person she knew who needed a soft mountain to be capable of sleeping, even before she found out that she was growing a person.

Despite the pain it would cause, Regina wrenched her arm away, shooting upright before deflating.

The next pressing matter became, how did she get here and why did it feel like she was being repeatedly stabbed in the head?

It took a few extra moments for her to piece it together than it should have, mostly because the wall of pictures on the corkboard opposite her still heavily featured images from their dates alongside stills of Emma and Killian essentially growing up together.

Maybe Emma simply didn’t have time to take them down?
This idea was stricken by the sharp memory of Emma’s voice telling her that she loved her as recently as the night before.

That was how it all came back.

The party.

The copious, ill-advised coping mechanism that was shots of whatever alcohol was presented to her.

Spin the bottle.

Kissing Belle French.

Fleeing like it wasn’t an objectively pleasant kiss.

Seeking out the kind of passion she was missing.

Naturally, Emma Swan was inherently good enough to not send her away.

Why then, had she not woken her up before anyone else in the house would be alert enough to realise she was here?

More perplexingly, why had she ended their kiss so prematurely? Regina would have much preferred more.

She swiftly pushed this aside.

The alcohol may have uncovered her physical attraction for her ex-girlfriend but that was hardly a secret.

Their problems went far beyond that and she was able to remember that now that she was sober. This allowed her to realise what was most pertinent here, he needed to get out.

Her muscles screamed as she dragged herself out of the bed, making short work of locating her phone to shove in her pocket before she began the process of creeping out.

She winced at the clattering coming from the kitchen but persevered, only getting a small distance before a voice called, “Regina.”

The teen cringed, wondering how rude it would be to continue her escape.

Ultimately, the lack of surprise in Mary Margaret Swan’s voice meant that she already knew she was in her house so leaving wasn’t an option.

Did Emma tell her? Would she have told her parents?

No, if she had, Cora would be at the door insisting that she would take her home.

Perhaps there was one silver lining?

Slowly, she dragged herself to the kitchen to be faced with Emma in her diner uniform typing furiously at her laptop while biting periodically into pancake that appeared to have been paired with a pickle or two.

Regina didn’t dwell on how disgusting that was, instead looking to the counter where the scraping of a knife against toast made her want to scrunch her face both in pain and due to the nausea incited at the thought of eating, even when it appeared to be a normal food combination.

“Good morning, Regina,” Mary Margaret said, placing the plate at the seat opposite her daughter.

Emma glanced over the top of her laptop and smiled shyly at her before returning to her work.

Rocking on her heels, Regina said, “Hello, Mrs Swan…I’m sorry but I really should go…”

“I hope that you don’t have much experience with hangovers,” Mary Margaret cut her off and Regina narrowed her eyes at Emma who sank into her seat as she typed more slowly, “You should know that it is essential to eat if you hope to salvage the day.”

“She’s right,” Emma offered into the ensuing silence.

“Excuse me?” Mary Margaret shot back.

Emma’s eyes widened and she amended, “I mean…I assume she’s right?”

Regina had to bite her bottom lip to stop the smile that wanted to tug at the corner of her mouth as Mary Margaret shook her head.

The woman filled a glass with juice to put next to the plate along with two pills.

“Come on, Regina, try and eat and take these?” Mary Margaret tried again.

Regina absolutely wanted to refuse the first but the latter was now the thing that she desired most in the world with the volleying stabs in her head,

Perhaps it was worth the sacrifice?

Reluctantly she nodded and sat at the table, “Thank you, Mrs Swan,” she mumbled, hungrily taking the pills and then nibbling tentatively at the toast.

Mary Margaret leaned against the counter drinking her coffee and surveying the teens.
A few months ago, Emma wouldn’t have been able to focus on school work for long in her girlfriend’s presence and Regina definitely would not be staring adamantly at her plate.

They would have been sat as close as they could without  heading into PDA territory under a parents’ gaze.

In the new form of their relationship (or was it post-relationship?) the clacking of keys was the only sound pervading the stilted awkwardness, neither of them saying so much as a word to each other.

This continued until Emma slammed her laptop shut and Regina winced hard at the force.

“I gotta go, I’m so late for work,” Emma announced, kissing her mother’s cheek, being sure to be softer while she placed her plate into the sink, “I’ll see you later, Regina? For our project?” 

Regina held in a sigh as she nodded, of course she would be seeing her again so soon.

Emma fled after some hesitation and Regina made a concerted effort to finish the toast.

She stood to also put her plate on top of Emma’s.

“Thank you, Mrs Swan, I really should go…”

“There is just one thing,” Mary Margaret interrupted and Regina halted wondering how she’d gotten to this point. It all felt very avoidable, she still nodded despite her wish to flee as quickly as Emma had. “I understand that you are angry with my daughter and I don’t doubt that she deserves it, but there is one thing I take issue with…”

Regina knit her brow together until it hit her what this admonishment must be about.

“Emma told you about the kiss?”

“Yes,” Mary Margaret said, “I coaxed it out of her.”

Regina’s anger quickly depleted.

It was her that showed up here, too drunk to go home alone and Emma gave her a safe place to stay. Of course, Mary Margaret deserved to know what happened in her own home.

“I’m sorry,” Regina replied, shoving her hands into her pockets so that she didn’t play with her fingers nervously, “I know I shouldn’t have done it but Emma handled it perfectly and it won’t happen again…”

“It’s not that,” Mary Margaret said and Regina’s eyes shot up to her. Did she not think that them being together would be impossible now? The woman confirmed this, “I wouldn’t have any issue if you and Emma were to try again.”

Frowning but intrigued, Regina asked, “Then what do you have issue with?”

Regina expected a pause but she’d evidently had time to think about exactly what she wanted to say, “With you confusing her. She is already in a vulnerable state with all of the changes in her life. I don’t want her to get hurt again.”

More incredulous than she’d ever been with an adult, Regina scoffed, “You’re worried about me hurting her ?”

Mary Margaret put her coffee down and Regina dug her hands further into her pockets, shrinking back as she realised how disrespectful that was.

That was definitely not how her political mother had taught her to conduct herself with her seniors.

Thankfully, the school teacher didn’t comment on that, laser focused on their current conversation.

“Yes, she loves you,” Mary Margaret said firmly, “You are well within your rights to not feel the same after what happened but please do not make her think that there is a chance when there isn’t.”

Regina took in a long breath, this was the perfect opportunity to admit what she couldn’t to her family.

“What if I love her but I can’t forgive her?”

Mary Margaret’s features softened and she said, “Then I would suggest not kissing her again until you figure it out? You could maybe try friendship?”

Regina nodded slowly, liking the sound of that despite everything.

Maybe that was the middle ground she’d been searching for?

It wasn’t as though her attempts to stay had been successful anyway.

“I’m sorry…it won’t happen again,” she assured.

“It’s not me that you need to apologise to,” Mary Margaret replied, picking her coffee back up.

Regina swallowed, “You’re right…thank you for the breakfast, Mrs Swan. I’m starting to feel…better.”

“You’re very welcome, Regina.”

Seeing this as permission to vacate, Regina managed a small smile and headed out.

She could go to the diner to make good on her promise but she instead decided to head somewhere to clear her head as best she could.

Chapter Text

Chapter Eleven 

Regina Mills had never been so embarrassed in her life, more so as the events of the previous night came back to her with increasing clarity.

The whole ‘we’ve done it before’ was certainly not one of her finest moments nor was how desperately she wanted her pregnant ex-girlfriend to kiss her at that moment.

In the cold, hard, sobering daylight, it was more obvious to her why she’d been resisting the impulse to be that close to her again. 

Making it all infinitely worse was how badly she wished that Emma hadn’t been so quick to put an end to the kiss that could have gone so much further if she let it.

It was undoubtedly the right thing to do, but it wasn’t like Emma was prone to doing the right thing lately.

The complicated swirl of emotions that came with both hating Emma Swan and a deep need to kiss her annoyingly attractive face led her to the one place that she was hoping would distract her.

She would usually go straight to school work (including extra credit when necessary) but that wouldn’t work with the headache pounding its way through the effects of the aspirin provided during one of the most awkward breakfasts of her life.

With the excuse of academia to hold her attention she instead chose to go somewhere that she’d not been to in a while because her girlfriend was afraid of horses.

Emma had tried multiple times to have dates at the stables until Regina assured her that it wasn’t necessary that she face her fear for her.

It didn’t give her much time to visit Rocinante, the stallion gifted to her by her father around five years ago.

Her stomach twisted as she approached though it was unclear whether this was because she felt nauseous or because of the guilt from abandoning her horse, but she persevered either way.

Rocinante was exactly the kind of silent support she needed but what she wasn’t expecting was to find someone already brushing his mane.

Halting, she briefly considered whether she could back away unseen but the illusion that this was possible was shattered as her father called, brightly, “What an unexpected surprise, Regina.”

“Good morning, Daddy,” Regina replied tightly, barely catching the brush that was tossed to her as the older man continued to work his own side of the horse’s mane.

Henry Mills frowned at her as she blinked a couple of times before beginning to do the same to Rocinante’s other side, running her other hand through his hair.

If she was alone, it may have had the calming effect that she was looking for; under her father’s critical gaze, however, it was the opposite.

“Is something wrong, Regina?” he asked, confirming that she was being far from subtle.

“Headache,” she replied, vaguely.

Henry hUmmed, “Induced by how many shots?”

“What…I would never…” Regina stammered with widened eyes.

Henry held up his hand and Regina slowly realised that there was indeed a soft smile playing across his lips. It certainly wasn’t the kind of disappointment or rage she had envisioned should either of her parents find out what she was up to the previous night. 

“I have enough experience of my own, there is nothing you could say that would convince me,” he said, strangely calm.

Regina was far too tired to figure out whether this was some kind of trick so she just kept her eyes firmly on the horse and mumbled, “I’m sorry.”

“There is no need to apologise, “ he said airily and Regina’s eyes shot up to make sure that he was being genuine, “If there is a next time though, I would prefer that you call for a ride home rather than hiding at Mal’s.”

Overcome by the support and understanding, Regina glanced away and admitted, “I was at Mal’s.”

The man paused and then replied, “Oh?” obviously going for casual.

Regina could have stopped while she was ahead but the support she’d received thus far made it seem like a good time to bring up the topic that had been so skilfully avoided with every other member of the Mills family up until this point.

“I wanted to see Emma,” she said stiffly.

Henry tilted his head but didn’t appear overly surprised by the admission.

“I see,” he replied and after a pause, he swiped the brush through the mane that was well and truly untangled at this point.

“That’s it?” Regina asked, “You’re not going to ground me?”

“Of course not, Regina,” he said, finally discarding the brush to come around to the same side of Rocinante as her, “I only hope that you won’t feel the need to lie about your location in the future.”

Hunching her shoulder, Regina defended, “Mom hates Emma, I thought it would just be…easier…”

“I was under the impression that you felt the same way about Emma?”

Dragging her teeth across her bottom lip, Regina leaned against her father, “It’s…impossible to hate her. Is that wrong?”

“The way you feel is never wrong,” he replied.

“It is confusing though,” Regina sighed/

“I would imagine it is,” he agreed.

It was his least helpful response yet so Regina at last allowed the direct question that had been plaguing her to come out, “Do you think I could be friends with my pregnant ex-girlfriend?”

Henry pursed his lips for half a second but settled on replying, “Is that what you want?”

“I think so?” Regina ventured uncertainly.

“Then absolutely you can,” he said, peeling away, “Did you want to ride Rocinante? I find it always helps to clear my mind.”

A soft smile adorned her face and she nodded, beginning to assist in strapping the saddle securely onto the horse.

At the same moment, it occurred to her that she should probably plan to call Belle and apologise for the previous night. Perhaps going as far as asking her to lunch could make it easier to be friends with Emma Swan?

S

Emma felt blessed that Granny’s diner was as slammed as ever for breakfast and then lunch, it gave her very little time to dwell on the event of the previous night.

Her mind was clouded by thoughts of Regina Mills as it usually was but the kiss followed by the cuddling session just turned the dial passed 100.

It made the impossible no longer feel quite so implausible anymore, not when she knew that Regina so obviously still felt for her.

Could they actually be together again one day?

The endless orders and customer queries meant that she had no opportunity to fall down that mental rabbit hole.

As lunch wound down, that privilege slipped away, especially as she was approaching the next thing on her to-do list for this particular day.

How was she supposed to avoid thinking about Regina when she was soon to be sitting in her bedroom finalising their project?

Just as she began the process of packing away her bag to begin the march to Milfin Street, she was distracted by the bell over the door heralding the arrival of yet another customer.

Neal approached the counter with shoulders slumped and plopped down with a groan.

Poking him with a pencil, Emma asked, “You okay?”

Neal balanced his chin on his crossed arms and replied, “Just tired, apparently Dad doesn’t believe in giving his own son the easy work.”

Emma hummed, “Your nepotism not working out for you?”

Neal grabbed a napkin, balling it up and throwing it ineffectively at her, “Very funny,” he grumbled.

Emma laughed as it fell to her feet and offered, “Want some coffee?”

“Yes please,” Neal pleaded, pulling the mug into himself as soon as it was placed in front of him.

Returning to the task of shoving her stuff into her bag, Emma asked, “You’re coming to my scan tomorrow, right?”

“Definitely,” Neal replied, frowning at her bag, “You leaving early?”

“I have a project meeting with Regina.”

The response did nothing for his frown and Emma had to assume that it was because it wasn’t accompanied by a patent Regina-related sigh.

“So she hasn’t banished you yet?”

Emma shrugged as she removed her apron, “We’re civil.”

Neal cocked his head, preventing her from slinging her bag over her shoulder as she waited for the incoming question.

“Is that all?” Neal pressed.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Emma huffed.

Neal laced his fingers around his mug, though it sounded as though it wasn’t the first time he’d thought about the words coming out of him, even with the hint of uncertainty:

“If you two wanted to…you know…I would be happy for you but I just think I need to prepare myself if Regina Mills is going to be in my life for a while.”

Emma pressed her lips into a thin line as she shouldered the bag.

She hadn’t exactly thought that far ahead to consider that all of her decisions from now on were important. Any future girlfriend would have to deal with her son and his father, surely that was going to make it impossible to date until she was sufficiently old enough for that arrangement to be more plausible.

What high school or even college student would want to deal with that whole situation?

“You have nothing to worry about, we’re just studying,” she promised while retreating, “I’ll see you later.”

“Sure,” Neal replied disbelievingly, noting the blush adorning her cheeks as she went by. He was about to slouch and attempt to enjoy his break and coffee but promptly found himself flanked on either side almost as soon as the bell announced Emma’s departure.

“What did you find out?” Killian demanded without pretence.

“Nothing,” Neal replied, rolling his eyes.

He was not nearly as invested as the pair was but promised to try and get some information to get them to leave him alone, which didn’t seem to be working right now.

“We need to know what happened after the party!” Daniel insisted.

“You know, we don’t really have that kind of relationship,” Neal defended, “We’re just…”

“Having a baby together?” Killian offered the edge of accusation officially putting an end to the conversation and Neal’s desire to finish his drink.

Slipping off the stool, he abandoned the mug and silently left after rolling his eyes as Killian and Daniel shared an exasperated look. 

S

Emma Swan always had quite the nervous disposition, which she learned to mask, especially when she had everything she wanted.

Now that had changed and she was worried about almost everything.

School. Work. Pregnancy. Eventually being a mother. Having enough money to not be a complete burden to her parents for the foreseeable future. The seemingly insurmountable task of getting into college at the same time as her peers.

None of that was currently bothering her as she once again approached the mayoral mansion. 

She had no idea how she was supposed to face Regina after the previous night, at least in the morning she had her mother as a buffer.

In a few minutes, they were set to be alone in a room together and Emma had no idea how Regina wanted to play this.

Would she want to deny that the night before ever happened? Never discuss it again and stick to finishing their project.

Once they submitted their work, there would be no reason for them to talk to each other again as long as they could avoid being paired for the rest of their time at Storybrooke High School.

The other option would be to talk about what it meant, how much of a mistake the kiss was and how Regina couldn’t feel the same way as she claimed to. How Emma’s actions and lies meant that they no longer had a chance to be together.

Emma was aware of all of that logically but she would prefer not to hear the words aloud when she had so much else to contend with.

Luckily on this occasion, it was the patriarch of the house who opened the door.

Emma always got the sense that he liked her and her brief interactions with him since the break up had certainly been icy but he was much more capable of hiding his outright disdain than his wife was.

Today, Emma could almost swear that he was going as far as directing a soft smile at her but she didn’t look up long enough to determine whether she was imagining things.

As she discovered early on, it was much easier to keep her gaze on her feet as she headed up the stairs to knock on her ex-girlfriend’s bedroom door.

The last few times, she knocked without giving herself time to delay, today she did hesitate.

She was too consumed with remembering the feeling of Regina’s lips on her own, which was clearer in her mind than it had been for months. She made a conscious effort to push it aside.

She could hardly flee now that she was already here, she might as well get through this and then deal with never getting to talk to her again after.

After swallowing hard, she at last knocked and entered the familiar room.

As usual, Regina was set up on her bed at the centre of a ring of notebooks and textbooks. Unlike every other time though, she had her head propped up on her hand and Emma was certain that her drunken sleep was not enough. 

“Hey,” Emma called, receiving a weak smile from the other girl who appeared to be barely cognisant of her presence for a second as she dragged her attention away from the book she was reading. The look was enough permission for Emma to come over and sit on her side of the bed as she began to pull out her laptop, “Are you feeling better?”

Regina twirled her pen a few times, an adorable action that Emma used to love watching. It meant that the usually certain girl was thinking over something, in this moment, Emma was certain that she was attempting to find a way to ignore what had happened the night before.

Eventually, Regina replied, “I am…thank you.”

Emma nodded, as she opened her laptop, quickly finding their work thus far.

“So, do you want to start with…”

“Actually,” Regina cut her off, “I…wanted to apologise for last night.”

Emma’s mouth dried, certain that this wouldn’t come up unless she was the one to mention it. Still, she managed to come up with a gracious response, “It’s okay, I get it. You didn’t mean it so we don’t need to talk about it.”

Throughout this, she kept her eyes on the screen, sure that this line of conversation would pass, that the apology would be enough to assuage Regina’s guilt for the inconvenience of the previous night.

It couldn’t be that she actually felt what her drunk self claimed to, that would be too lucky after everything that had happened and there would be too much to figure out anyway.

Regina Mills wanted to go to Harvard, she couldn’t have a pregnant girlfriend and she certainly couldn’t be interested in becoming a step-mother anytime soon.

Regina continued to buck her expectations as she continued the non-Shakespeare-related line of discussion, insisting, “I do need to say sorry, Emma. You said you were drunk and I didn’t understand but…I get it now. I know you didn’t mean to hurt me…”

Emma blinked, unable to look at the screen anymore as she took in the sincerity behind the hazel staring back at her. 

It was all she wanted to hear since their argument so she had to touch her bump to remind herself of the reasons that they were unlikely to get back together no matter how much Regina now understood.

Perhaps they could be friends now that she knew that she hadn’t meant to hurt her? The possibility flushed hope through Emma’s system.

“I really didn’t,” Emma confirmed.

Regina wrung her hands together and Emma had to assume that she had been planning this talk all day, which made her heart soar. This was obviously important to her.

“Do you think…” Regina said, stumbling over her words and picking at the duvet, “Could we be…friends?”

Emma allowed a broad smile to spread across her face, all anxiety she felt on her way to the mansion drifting away. 

Resisting her desire to touch Regina in some way to affirm how much this meant to her, Emma settled for replying, “I would likely like that.”

Regina hesitated for a few seconds before reaching over to her bedside table to pick up a packet that Emma hadn’t registered before now.

Handing over the gummy bears, she said, “I got these for you. I hope they’re the right ones?”

Grinning more than she had in a while, Emma accepted the candy and replied, “They’re perfect, thank you, Regina.”

Chapter Text

Chapter Twelve

Emma found a good routine in the two weeks since her peace negotiations with Regina.

Being friends with her ex-girlfriend was so much easier than dealing with gnawing guilt for what she had done on top of everything else that she had to deal with.

Having Regina now truly understand the effects of alcohol, and how it could distort intentions, was a weight off her shoulders.

It obviously didn’t absolve her indiscretions, or the continued decision to lie when she was very much sober, so it didn’t mean that she would acknowledge her feeble hope that they could be more again at any point in the future, but friendship was more than what they had.

It allowed her to comfortably settle into the routine of going to school, working at Granny’s and more successfully managing her homework with Regina’s help on the subjects that she struggled the most with.

She didn’t get to see her as often as she would like and they had yet to make non-academic plans, but Emma Swan was not in a position to complain about what she had.

Not complaining had gotten her this far without giving into her desire to cry and rage against the version of her life she would have never volunteered to have.

Today’s break in routine was fraying her resolve.

Mary Margaret Swan announced that it was at last time to face the truth that she needed new clothes.

She was exclusively wearing sweatpants that were becoming more uncomfortable with each day that went by, welcoming her stomach to continue growing.

With nothing to stop this expansion, the answer was glaringly obvious while also being the last thing she wanted in the world.

She had to switch shifts with Ruby, giving up precious dollars to go to the mall with her mother to pick out a serviceable selection of maternity clothes.

At school, it was easy to ignore the stares and whispers from her peers.

The gossip had definitely died down since it had initially swept Storybrooke High School but it would likely never be banished completely from the halls.

Teenaged pregnancy was out of place enough for such a small town, but having it come from an out and proud gay student who was in a relationship at the time made it all the more dramatic for them.

Regina was a brick wall when it came to her personal life, so other students tended to try and glean information from the one who was always close to a breakdown with her imbalance hormones and all of the pressure.

Her mother holding up a frilly shirt amidst the soft laughs and whispers from a group of cheerleaders not far from them was tipping the scales towards tears at this moment.

She was aware that it was a cliche to believe that the laughs were directed at her, but in this case, she thought it was a good bet.

The embarrassment was getting too much to handle, regardless of how hard she tried to shield herself by hugging herself.

Mary Margaret absolutely noticed her discomfort, otherwise, she wouldn’t have rushed through the rack to grab an item she would never usually suggest for her, her smile was tight as she encouraged with obvious effort, “This looks nice.”

The laughs seemed to increase in volume in conjunction with the heating of Emma’s cheeks and she stared down while she replied, dejectedly, “It’s not really my style, Mom.”

Stowing it hastily back onto the rack, Mary Margaret nodded in understanding, returning to pursuing the items that had not been designed for Emma’s ‘style’.

She said, hopefully, “That’s okay…there must be something here…”

“Do we need to do this now?” Emma sighed, resisting the nervous tick of touching the bump pushing at her sweater, it would bring attention to the reason that this had become so urgent.

Her mother turned away from the rail, glancing at the group of cheerleaders.

If they were in private, the woman probably would have hugged her and reiterated that she shouldn’t worry about what others thought of her.

It was advice she had given many times but had cropped up more frequently as of late.

Being a school teacher, she had the good sense not to do this in front of the girls whom she was curling her lip in disdain towards.

It took some clear effort for Mary Margaret to keep her distance as she said, “I know this is awkward, honey. You need clothes that will fit you.”

“We could find them online,” Emma argued.

“You need to try some on first and then we can look online,” Mary Margaret replied using the same words that she had that morning when Emma tried to convince her that this trip was unnecessary.

Emma sighed again so Mary Margaret offered, reluctantly, “I can talk to them if they’re upsetting you, sweetheart.”

“No!” Emma rushed out, dropping her hands from her midsection, “Please don’t Mom.”

Mary Margaret thinned her lips, narrowing her eyes at the cheerleaders but stopped herself from letting out whatever lecture was likely brewing in her mind, returning futilely to the rack.

Emma stepped closer, hoping to find one item that was serviceable among the ones that her mother was flipping through at impressive speed, also wanted to get out of there quickly.

It was Mary Margaret’s turn to sigh as she reached the last garment and she peered over her shoulder and Emma could guess that she was attempting to think of a more appropriate store.

Emma followed her gaze after hearing the laughing had diminished, hoping to find that they had gotten bored and had finally moved on.

Instead, she found that they had gotten sidetracked by the arrival of Regina Mills and Daniel Colter into the store, one of them going as far as to point and laugh at the teen who was surveying a pair of jeans while her friend hung his head back in sheer boredom.

The cheerleaders were probably postulating as to how awkward this could be seeing as not many students of Storybrooke High School were aware that they no longer hated one another.

Their next mistake was to resume their inane giggling, catching Regina’s attention.

Daniel touched her arm, and Emma guessed that he was telling her that they were not worth her attention, but when Regina caught Emma’s eye line, noticing the crimson shining from her features, she tore her arm away from her friend and was on the move.

It took this for Emma to register that her ex-girlfriend was holding an iced coffee, not that it stayed in her grasp for much longer as she went by the cheerleaders and made a show of ‘dropping’ it.

The shriek from the lead cheerleader officially put an end to the laughs and giggles.

“Oops, sorry,” Regina said, loudly enough for the entire watching store to hear.

Daniel stood a few paces behind Regina with his closed fist covering his smirk.

“What the hell?” the cheerleader demanded, patting at her uniform that was destined to be stained.

“I said I’m sorry,” Regina replied in faux confusion, acting as though the reaction genuinely hurt her.

It welcomed the beginnings of a smirk to Emma’s lips as well.

The cheerleader huffed, a moment from stamping her foot as she exclaimed, “Freak!” before storming away, her followers scurrying after her as a pack.

Emma’s smirk grew into a smile as Regina picked up the empty cup and an employee approached to take it, looking as though they were assuring her that it was okay and that they would clear it up.

From the distance, and with the store returning to its regular volume, Emma could make out that Regina was sincerely apologising to the employee and that they were telling her that they would clear it up, potentially impressed with her actions.

Once this was settled, Regina and Daniel approached Emma and her mother.

“Hello, Regina,” Mary Magaret greeted, gratitude dripping through her tone and demeanour, “I trust that was an accident?”

“Of course, Mrs Swan,” Regina replied and Mary Margaret hummed, eyeing the smirking but silent Daniel as Regina asked Emma directly, “Is everything okay, Emma?”

Feeling the heat engulf her face harshly, Emma gestured at the rack that was labelled in letters too large for her liking, “Yeah…I need to get some…you know…”

Regina tilted her head at the collection, not needing much time to observe, “These don’t really look like your style.”

Emma nodded in agreement, shrugging defeatedly but she perked up as Regina added, “We could help you find some if you want?”

“I was promised one store!” Daniel protested, apparently coming out as an instinct.

He clamped his mouth shut though when Regina smacked his arm without looking at him as she said, “We can go for lunch after, it won’t take long.”

“I…” Emma blinked disbelievingly, attempting to discern whether this was some kind of wistful hallucination. Had they returned to a point where Regina wanted to help make her feel better? Surely shopping for maternity clothes with her ex-girlfriend should be an impossible eventuality? Not wanting her hesitation to rob her of this golden opportunity that would surely reduce the ridicule she would face in this humiliating endeavour, she swiftly untangled her tongue, “That would be great. Is it okay, mom?”

Mary Margaret, reaching into her purse to produce her card, shook her head, smiling easily at Regina gratefully.

It was a far cry from the ration to when she found the girl was in her home without permission.

“Of course not, sweetheart,” she replied, handing over the card, “Get whatever you need.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Emma said, quickly kissing her cheek before following after Regina and Daniel, the female of the pair seemingly having an idea of where she wanted to go.

As ever, shopping with Regina was an efficient affair, one of the many things she appreciated about her.

Their time together was generally always more interesting than what the mall could offer.

Just under an hour later, they found a couple of decent pairs of jeans designed for those in Emma’s condition, comfortably cushioning the bump. Other than that, she helped her to select a few t-shirts and hoodies in larger sizes to be extra baggy.

If Emma wasn’t so preoccupied with the perfect choices, she may have noticed Daniel’s uncharacteristic silence while he appreciated the ease with which the former couple were interacting, even if it was just over clothes.

This excitement soon turned to disgust, however, in the food court when Emma returned with some fries in chocolate sauce that took some convincing to obtain.

He swallowed his burger bite hard as Regina slipped in beside him with a salad, also wrinkling her nose at Emma’s choice.

“That is disgusting,” Daniel accused.

“Normally, I would agree with you,” Emma replied, opting not to dwell on the reason that the craving was present. This was the most like a teenager she had felt in a while and telling them that her son wanted the gross combination wouldn’t aid that so she popped one in her mouth, the salty sweetness somehow delicious to her. Satisfied that the cravings would be at bay for a few hours at least, she said, indicating the bags gathered on the empty chair beside her, “Thank you by the way…to both of you.”

This was promptly shattered, however, as a wave from a few tables over caught Emma’s attention.

Belle French was sitting with a few friends who seemed to be egging her on to wave in Regina’s direction. Stranger still, Regina waved back, a distinctive pinkness overcoming her cheeks.

Attempting to remain as calm as was befitting of their relationship status, Emma said, questioningly, “I didn’t know you knew Belle?”

Regina cleared her throat, looking squarely at her food, “I don’t really, not well anyway.”

“You haven’t talked to her since the spin the bottle, right?” Daniel offered and Regina’s fork stilled as the pink became crimson and she peeked up as if to see Emma’s reaction.

On her part, Emma was giving all she had to school her features appropriately.

She was the last person to judge no matter how much the idea put her off her food.

Regina scowled at her friend as Emma cleared her throat and asked, hearing the jealousy she was trying to squash as she picked at her lunch, “You and…Belle played spin the bottle?”

Somehow in her scrambled thoughts, she was able to pinpoint that the night of the last party when this was liable to have happened was also the last time that Regina Mills had kissed her.

She had thought it was solely the alcohol but was there more to that night than she had thought?

Not deterred, Daniel suggested, “You should probably talk to her, Gina.”

“Maybe,” Regina said shortly, swiftly changing the subject, “So Emma, do you still need help with Chemistry?”

Emma nodded, only partly glad that they were moving on but also struck by the idea that Regina would probably benefit from doing the same in her romantic life.

The question became, how painful would it be to witness that inevitability as her friend?

S

Regina was enjoying being friends with Emma.

Hatred and resentment weighed her down ever since their break up, it certainly did nothing to make her feel better about the betrayal.

The night of Eric’s party had proven that.

Being friends with her made it easier to keep her feelings in check whilst maintaining enough distance that she didn’t end up dwelling upon whether there was any chance they could rekindle what they had.

She hadn’t the faintest idea what Emma’s college plans were but having a son would surely complicate the future that they had discussed so many times.

If she could still get into Harvard, they couldn’t attempt to share a dorm even if Emma would want to stay away from her child for at least four years.

There was also the unfortunate need to factor in Neal Cassidy into all of this.

Having never uttered a word to the boy, Regina wouldn’t pretend to know what he wanted, but he and Emma were not inextricably linked for the rest of their lives.

Overall, Regina preferred not to think about it all and helping Emma with her schoolwork did little to force her into having to do so.

Seeing Emma on the verge of tears in the store at the mall had opened up the avenue for another emotion for the girl that Regina had been trying to quash: compassion.

Was there any need to laugh openly at someone who was so obviously already embarrassed?

Before the party, Regina might have swerved out of the store but she couldn’t ignore a friend in need, especially not when she knew exactly how to help.

Shopping with Emma, while Daniel surprisingly made no protests, had been actually nice. She even found herself partially forgetting why it was that she needed new clothes once they’d got past the maternity jeans.

The incident at lunch had shattered the illusion that they could easily remain platonic.

If they were only friends, Regina wouldn’t have felt guilty about playing spin the bottle, she may have even told Emma about it, but then, Emma wouldn’t have been so overtly jealous if they were in a place for that kind of conversation.

Changing the subject to school was as effective as it always was for her and they fell back into their conversation, albeit slightly awkwardly after the revelation that Daniel had so unceremoniously dropped. 

Despite this, the mall had proven that they were capable of interacting normally, so she had no qualms about accepting an invite to the movies with Daniel, Mal, Killian and Emma.

It wasn’t anything they hadn’t done before with the difference that the seating arrangement would have to be altered.

She was now going to the movies to watch the actual film rather than to hold her girlfriend’s hand and pretend to be scared whenever she got to pick a horror film.

On this occasion, she’d insisted on an easy-to-watch superhero flick to ease them back into a group dynamic that could hopefully further set up a future starved of resentment and pressure.

So why was it that Regina was nervous?

On more than a few moments leading up to the harmless plans, she came up with excuses.

Mal and Daniel would not believe she had more school work to do and claiming to be sick would invite interrogation from both of them, the unfortunate consequence of being so close was that they knew when she was lying.

It was for this reason that she had steeled herself for what should be a simple task, she could be nice to Emma while devoting most of her attention to the others in the group.

In fact, it had been a while since she had spoken to Killian, she could use up a lot of time catching up with him!

As she entered Storybrooke’s small movie theatre, she had successfully convinced herself that she could do this, that she would feel so much better when this was over.

This confidence came crashing down with two quick beeps from her phone as soon as she had her ticket scanned.

Pulling it out with a bad feeling that she already knew what the text message would be about, she found the group chat containing one message from Mal and another from Daniel.

Apparently, Mal was being forced to babysit her cousin while Daniel had completely forgotten about an assignment for English and his mom wouldn’t let him out until it was done.

Regina knew instantly that they were lying but for what purpose?

She was about to whip around to escape but it was evidently too late.

“Hey,” came a shy greeting.

Regina bit the inside of her cheek but managed a smile as she turned to Emma, appearing much more comfortable in one of the outfits they’d chosen together.

In fact, she looked pretty good, if she kept the hoodie on, Regina could pretend that the bump wasn’t there.

If that was the case, Regina would be hugging and kissing her girlfriend, instead, she hung back while Emma fiddled with the oversized sleeves.

“Hi,” Regina replied, holding up her phone as if she needed evidence, “Mal and Daniel can’t make it.”

Furrowing her brow, Emma said, “That’s weird, Killian can’t either, he said he’s not feeling well.”

Panic flared within Regina, and she had to assume it showed on her face without permission as Emma looked down, her gaze glued to her sneakers.

Regina was pretty sure that Emma understood the reaction though.

They’d made unprecedented progress compared to the day they had broken up but this was too intimate regardless of the lack of inherent romance in the activity.

Friends watched movies together all of the time, right?

Just as Regina settled onto the idea that they could do this, Emma glanced to the side, noticing the same thing that she did.

Belle was across from them, checking her phone, wearing a frown before she put it away and began approaching the exit.

“Hey Belle,” Emma called over before Regina could protest.

The girl turned to the voice, coming over to them after a second of hesitation, “Everything okay?”

“Yeah,” Belle replied, sighing after a cautious glance at Regina, “Merida couldn’t make it so I was just going…”

“Our group kind of fell apart too,” Emma said, “Maybe you could…”

Belle frowned, “You want me to watch a movie with the two of you?”

Regina was beginning to shake her head, struck by how weird that would be.

She had been meaning to apologise properly to Belle for the events of the party but it wasn’t supposed to go beyond that.

She certainly didn’t want to invite her to spend time with her and her ex-girlfriend.

This objection was obliterated, however, as Emma suddenly placed her palm against her own back and said, “Actually, I was just telling Regina that my back hurts, I should probably go and lay down. I wouldn’t feel as bad if you wanted to stay with her?”

Regina bit her tongue hard, realising that Emma must think she would prefer to spend time with Belle but objecting would reveal what she really wanted and she wasn’t even completely sure what that was at this moment.

She did know that she wanted Emma to stay, but couldn’t voice that desire openly.

Looking between the pair, Belle said, “If you’re sure…that would be great.”

Emma nodded, passing over her ticket to the other teen, “Hope you enjoy…see you later, Regina.”

Through her surprise at the change in the course of this whole evening, Regina could only offer a wave to Emma before she found her voice to address her new companion, “I know I never apologised…”

Belle looked up from the ticket and cut her off, “It’s okay, Regina, you don’t need to apologise. If you’d rather go home…I know you probably would rather watch this with your friends…”

Feeling guilt flare again, Regina interjected, “No, it’s okay. I really wanted to see this…I would…love to see it with you.”

Belle smiled tentatively, nodding towards the concession kiosk, “Want some candy?”

Regina nodded, gesturing for her friend (or was it date?) to lead the way, planning to offer to get the popcorn.

She may have experienced a couple of disappointments tonight but she could make the best of it.

What would be the harm in watching a movie with a cute girl?

She would just have to get through the two hours without lamenting that the cute girl was almost her ex-girlfriend. 

Chapter Text

Chapter Thirteen 

The movie wasn’t particularly great but it did mean that Regina didn’t have to come up with anything to say to her unexpected date. Belle French was a perfectly nice girl but she knew nothing about her other than the fact that she had once been left alone during a game of spin-the-bottle.

The advantage of the movie theatre didn’t apply after the credits rolled and she felt obligated to offer to walk the other girl home.

Initially, the pair walked silently down the street while Regina berated herself for making the offer. It was objectively the right thing to do but the awkwardness pressing down upon them made her second guess this.

Plus, she didn’t want to give false hope, did she? If there was any chance that Belle had mistook the last two hours as romantic, which would be quite the leap considering they just sat side by side and watched a movie on a huge screen, then Regina would have to shut that down gently.

As much as her friends were convinced that she should move on, her overwhelming disappointment when Emma had left the movie theatre was now undeniable.

Belle broke the silence, forcing Regina to look up from the sidewalk, “The movie was great.”

“It was,” Regina agreed tightly.

Belle smiled weakly but kept walking, seemingly having come to an end of things to say.

Regina held in a breath, lamenting how she would usually get to hear Emma unleash her nerdy side after a superhero movie. This would be where she would learn about all of the comic inaccuracies, especially cool moments and then what was scheduled to come out next.

Of course, it would be unlikely that Emma would have much time recently to keep up with her comic book hobby.

Most of all, Regina felt the palm of her hand itch, missing her girlfriend’s hand to hold as they walked.

Eventually, Regina couldn’t stand the quiet or the guilt anymore, so she let out a heavy sigh and said, unevenly, “Belle...I just wanted to apologise for the party again. I shouldn’t have left you alone like that…”

“It’s really okay,” Belle waved off, “It’s not like spin-the-bottle is a legally binding contract. Where did you go so quick though?”

“I…” Regina swallowed. It would be easy to lie that she didn’t feel well or maybe that she felt overwhelmed and she went home to deal with it. Lying to Belle felt wrong, though, so she admitted, “I went to see Emma.” Belle nodded and Regina frowned at her, “You don’t seem surprised?”

Belle shrugged, “The whole school is so interested in what is happening between you two. I’ve heard about it all.”

Narrowing her eyes, Regina was close to demanding, but managed to keep the edge out of her voice, “What have you heard?”

“That you’re jealous,” Belle said, nonchalantly.

“Of what?” Regina scoffed, screeching to a stop.

Belle stopped a step ahead of her and turned to look at the other girl with a raised eyebrow, “Neal,” she replied.

Regina crossed her arms as she shook her head, “That’s ridiculous, Emma is gay.”

Belle frowned, “But you see why the rumour mill might doubt that a little, right?”

Regina clenched her jaw but ultimately had to nod, “I guess I can…” before she added defensively, “But Emma and I are friends now.”

Belle’s eyebrows rose further, exuding disbelief, “You looked disappointed when she left the movie theatre. I know it wasn’t me you wanted there with you.”

All of the indignation that arose whenever Regina was reminded that all of her peers were so incessantly interested in her personal life just because her ex-girlfriend was pregnant melted and she tried, “I didn’t mean to insult you, Belle…”

“You didn’t,” Belle promised, not a hint of jealousy in her voice, “I did have fun but I don’t think we can be more than friends.”

Despite thinking the same about the prospect of a romantic relationship between the two of them, Regina felt the need to defend, “Emma is going to be a mother soon…it’s too complicated to even think about going there again.”

“I get that,” Belle said sympathetically, “You shouldn’t be thinking about moving on when you’re not ready.”

“Mai and Daniel would disagree with you,” Regina replied resignedly, “They’ve been trying to force it since the breakup.”

“They obviously care about you, but you should probably tell them to stop?” Belle suggested.

“Historically, that has not been very effective,” Regina sighed, especially now that she had reason to suspect that Killian Jones had some involvement in their devious schemes. Smiling kindly at the frustrated girl, Belle said nothing until Regina let out another sigh and added, “Thank you, Belle, it’s good to actually talk about it.”

Belle nodded understandably, before she began to slowly walk away, “I’m not too far from here, I’ll see you at school.”

If she hadn’t spent the last few minutes discussing her ex-girlfriend, Regina may have objected that she couldn’t let her walk alone, as it was, it wasn’t hard to guess that she probably didn’t want to prolong their shared awkwardness.

At least she had achieved one thing that night, she had at last confirmed that dating would not be an option for her right now.

S

Emma regretted leaving the movie theatre the moment that she crossed the threshold. As nervous as she had been about spending time with her ex-girlfriend, the group had been the perfect opportunity to see Regina outside of schoolwork.

Plus, there was the benefit that it was one of the first times that her back had not hurt in days. 

The moment she discovered that Regina’s friends had stood her up too, it became clear what was happening and she decided that she couldn’t put Regina through that.

No matter what, their relationship could never be the simple high school romance that they had before everything, no matter what their friends believed was meant to be.

The following morning, she had yet to bring this up with her best friend, instead choosing to utilise her time to type furiously at her laptop on her desk to optimise her hour before her shift at the diner in order to finish yet another essay.

Despite coming over to ‘help’, Killian’s greatest contribution thus far had been to provide her with lunch (or perhaps it was more aptly called ‘brunch’ at this time in the morning?).

Other than that, he had every little respect for her packed to-do list, lounging on her bed behind her, he asked, “What about Killian Jr?”

Emma had so far managed to ignore his incessant suggestions for baby names, apparently he didn’t register her response that this was a discussion that she would need to have with Neal. At this suggestion, Emma felt compelled to turn around so that he could see the full force of her scowl as she replied, “You realise he isn’t your son, right?”

“A kid can be named after their cool uncle,” Killian defended, “Besides, it’s better than Neal Jr.”

Emma rolled her eyes, “Neal hasn’t done anything wrong,” she shot back and Killian sat up to look pointedly at her stomach that she didn’t bother to hide in her own bedroom, “We both have responsibility for this and he has been great. I think he’ll be a good dad.”

“You’ll be good at it too, Em,” Killian replied softly, obviously more comfortable complimenting her than the boy who he perceived to have broken up his favourite couple.

Laughing nervously, Emma challenged, “Based on what?”

Killian shrugged, “You seem to have it all together.”

“I’m glad it at least looks that way,” Emma huffed but didn’t quite get to turn around before Killian asked the question that he had presumably waiting to ask:

“So how were the movies?”

Killian looked down at the textbook that he had yet to open, going for casual but he kept glancing up at her as if trying to gauge her reaction. He winced upon finding that she was scowling at him, somehow the ire was more potent since the hormones had taken over.

“You mean your ploy to get me alone with my ex-girlfriend?” Emma replied.

Sitting up straight against the headboard, he held his hands over his head and started, “What? I would never…”

He didn’t get far as she waved her hand to halt his words followed by an interjection, “Killian, you’re obviously scheming, I assume with Daniel?”

Killian looked like he was about to deny but he eventually deflated and defended, rather sheepishly, “You both were happy back then, is it a crime to want our friends to be happy again?”

“Things are not as simple as they were,” Emma retorted, “I wish they could be but we are friends so things are better at least.”

Killian hung his head back resignedly, “Is this your way of telling me the movie didn’t go well?”

Emma unconsciously touched her bump as she recalled Regina’s look of terror upon realising that they were alone together, clearing her throat, she admitted, “It didn’t go at all, I left Regina with Belle.”

The other teen blanched way too dramatically than was warranted, “Why would you do that, Emma?!”

Emma sniffed, trying not to allow emotion to overwhelm her, not when she had been so proud of the maturity with which she had handled the situation. After a second to centre herself, she explained, “Because, it was already pretty awkward when we were going as a group. You didn’t see her face when we realised everyone had cancelled, she was terrified, Killian.”

“But you two are alone together all of the time,” Killian argued, passionately.

“For school,” Emma crossed her arms before adding in a mumble, “And it’s still pretty awkward.”

Sobered significantly by the vulnerability with which Emma spoke, Killian asked softly, “Don’t you want to get back together?”

This time when Emma touched her stomach, she was fully conscious of it, something that her son made sure of by opting to kick at this moment.

Shifting to get into the closest thing to a comfortable position available to her while her womb was inhabited by a presence that she had no control over. It wasn’t like she could stop talking to her best friend about his plans to interfere with the ruins of her relationship to offer her son some Nutella as a peace offering.

“I don’t think it really matters what I want anymore,” she said as he kept kicking her palm.

“Emma…” Killian sighed.

“Just promise me no more scheming please?” Emma cut him off, not wanting to get into all of the ways that her future had changed, “I like being friends with her and the pressure might scare her away.”

“Not even a little scheming?” Killian negotiated.

“Killian,” Emma warned.

“Okay fine,” he hastened to reply, holding his hands up in surrender, “No scheming, I swear.”

Emma nodded, about to turn around satisfied with the outcome but a loophole occurred to her and she pointed accusatorially, “This includes your co-conspirators too.”

Killian blew out a long breath but inclined his head as he lamented, “Maybe you should consider becoming a lawyer like Regina?”

“I would need to ask Granny for a raise,” Emma shook her head as she tapped the spacebar in order to wake up her laptop, the abysmal word count screaming at her from the corner of the screen.

“And I would not want to be there when you do that,” Killian chuckled, placing his hands behind his head, all of his school things remaining untouched.

“Can you help with this?” Emma huffed, indicating the document that she had hoped would be more filled up by this point in her busy morning.

Not moving from his relaxed position, Killian yawned, “Which class is it?”

“History.”

“Then no,” he replied, “I can be moral support though.”

“Do your homework, Killian,” Emma admonished, at last starting to type again.

“Told you that you have the mom thing down,” Killian huffed, flopping down to stubbornly open his book.

Not fully aware of the words she was typing about the Civil War, Emma found herself grinning. Somehow the grumpy teenage remark was just the kind of confidence boost that she needed.

Chapter Text

Chapter Fourteen

Regina no longer had any issues sharing a bed with her ex-girlfriend, though their definition of this had changed quite significantly.

As friends, there always seemed to be an invisible barrier between them that wasn’t there before but she figured that this was as good as it would get.

It had been a couple of months since her talk with Belle and she still had not felt the desire to be with anyone other than Emma, but also couldn’t entertain the possibility that their relationship was a possibility now.

Despite their awkward moments, though, the pair of them were overall good and there didn’t seem to be any further schemes to force their romantic relationship.

This all meant that Regina had no qualms about going over to Emma’s house (with assurances that the Swans knew she was there) so that she could help with her schoolwork.

On the other side of the pile of books between them, Emma was doing practice math problems while Regina read over her English essay on the other.

By this point, Emma no longer bothered to try hiding her prominent bump that told the world that she was due in about three weeks.

No doubt this contributed to her decision to request academic assistance before she was put on whatever the school version of maternity leave was called.

Regina was of the opinion that she probably should have already been on that.

 Despite the rapid clip with which her pencil moved, Emma had pronounced circles under her eyes and the slump of her shoulders was clear. It was obvious that she was exhausted but who wouldn’t be while in full-time education, with a part-time job and also in the process of growing a person on top of all of that?

Thus far, Regina had refrained from mentioning this, unable to ignore the feeling that this concern fell into the purview of a girlfriend.

It wasn’t weird for a friend to be there to lighten the workload a little, right?

Coming to the end of the well written piece, Regina lay down the highlighter which had picked up on the odd typo that wouldn’t take long to amend, she announced, “This is good, it should get an A with the little tweaks.”

Emma smiled around the pencil clenched hard in her mouth, in addition to the one in her hand, she only seemed to be aware of it when she said, “Thank you,” around it. Regina looked down to obscure her blush as Emma added, after removing the pencil, “That would be a nice change.”

Regina's gaze was drawn up by this comment. Frowning, she replied, “I thought your grades were good?”

“By my old standards, they’re pretty good,” Emma agreed, “Maybe not for Harvard, but it’s not like I’m going to college anyway.”

This was said so flippantly that Emma had assuredly been thinking about this for long enough to be comfortable with this conclusion but it couldn’t be more illogical to Regina who had dedicated so many hours to getting into an Ivy League.

This was all in aid of becoming a lawyer, a goal that she’d had for as long as she could remember. Did Emma have the same clear aspirations? Hadn’t that been the source of the argument that had sent her to that fateful party which had been the beginning of the end?

The last time they had seriously talked about it, Emma had perused the brochure and expressed interest in a number of different majors but the conversation turned to the track that Regina was on.

How had she not noticed before that Emma’s only real plan had been to go with her so that they wouldn’t have to break up?

It was more than obvious why travelling across the country was not really an option for her anymore but Regina couldn’t fathom not going on to further education after High School.

They may both have a year to go until then but Regina couldn’t see anything changing her mind. It was for this reason that she insisted, “Emma…you can go to college.”

“Maybe Storybrooke U would be an option but…” Emma shrugged, “Paying for college and a baby on a diner salary would take some…creative math and I actually got a C in that class.”

Emma’s attempt to lighten the mood hadn’t done much for Regina’s frown as she argued, “But your parents…”

“They’ve already helped me so much,” Emma sighed, now completely serious, “Plus they probably thought you were done with babies now they are going to live with one again. I can’t ask them to worry about college as well. I need to contribute.”

Regina nodded along, the answer had come to her even before she finished her own cut-off question, but there was still one thing that didn’t make sense to her, “Then…why have you been trying so hard?”

Touching her bump, Emma explained,  by the sounds of it not for the first time, “If I’m going to be a teenage mom, I at least want to have a High School diploma. The more I do now, the fewer credits I’ll need next year when he’s here.”

Regina tilted her head, “How long have you been thinking about this?”

Shrugging again, the pregnant girl replied, “It just makes sense. I can still have the option to go to college when I figure out if I need to but for now…I need to focus on what’s most important.”

Regina hummed, once again seeing their futures would follow different courses in spite of the lengths that Emma had once been willing to go in order to follow her to Harvard.

Their diverging fates wouldn’t stop her from helping her friend again right now, however, which was why she pushed the folder in front of her away as she suggested, “In that case, I can send you my notes later for the rest, maybe you should take a break?”

“But I have so much to do,” Emma objected, but Regina was already dismantling the piles of books between them, pushing them to the end of the bed.

“If you’re focusing on what is important, you should take a break,” Regina insisted, but when the other girl remained unconvinced, she indicated the bump, “It would be good for him, right?”

Emma lay her plan back onto her stomach, unable to deny this argument but remained unsure in her response, “How…would I take a break?”

Regina paused. They had yet to establish how they take breaks as friends. Under their old dynamic, they wouldn’t have been so far apart to begin with, Regina would have cuddled up to her girlfriend.

They probably would have been making out by now.

With their new set of boundaries, Regina had to look around the room for an answer to Emma’s question, until the TV across from them provided an answer.

“We could watch a movie.”

“That would be good,” Emma agreed, after a brief hesitation, ”I have a few hours before work.”

Regina accepted the remote from the other girl finding that it had a conspicuous layer of dust atop it from disuse.

She didn’t think too hard before selecting the first superhero movie that came up, her stomach twisting as it hit her that it was the one that she had watched with Belle instead of Emma.

Would anything be different right now if her reaction hadn’t made Emma believe that she didn’t want to spend time with her? Did she want anything to be different? Wasn’t friendship as far as she could handle?

Emma’s smile had her doubting this through her relief that the girl didn’t seem to notice the significance that this movie held, especially since they had never actually talked about Regina’s ‘date’ with Belle.

Come to think of it, did she even know that her ex-girlfriend was still single? Would she even care about that with her changed priorities?

In this moment, she was smiling easily as she sank into her pillow and said. “Oh, I really wanted to see this. I heard it’s pretty accurate to the comics.”

Regina’s mouth curved upwards at the nerdy tone she had yearned for two months ago. She wouldn’t get to hear more about the comic book accuracy however as, twenty minutes in, Emma’s eyes fluttered shut and soft snores began emitting from her.

Regina bit the inside of her cheek and watched her pensively but ultimately decided that she deserved the rest with all of the pressure that she was under.

Grabbing a blanket, she draped it over her before switching the TV off so that she could grab the folder that contained Emma’s history paper.

She could wake up Emma in time for work but in the meantime she was going to do everything she could to lighten her workload.

S

A week went by and Regina was increasingly convinced that Emma should not be at school.

Today, her concerns were off the charts.

 Emma had looked tired for months but there was something more going on even if Regina couldn’t put her finger on it.

She had been watching her since this feeling reared its head that morning when she witnessed how spaced out she appeared to be.

It was in English class that she didn’t hear a word that the teacher said as she was dwelling upon how pale her ex-girlfriend was as she tried in vain to pay attention.

Regina didn’t get to catch up with her until lunchtime when she laid eyes on Emma coming out into the courtyard with her tray between her hands.

From a distance, she seemed to be just as lost as she had all day but Regina approached her before she observed her for long.

She took the tray from the other girl the moment she was in front of her, to which Emma had no objection. Up close, Regina’s concern flared more strongly into a wildfire of anxiety.

She had known Emma Swan long enough to be sure that there was something seriously wrong despite having very little evidence.

Emma blinked slowly as she took in who was suddenly in front of her, glancing over to the table across the way where Killian, Mal and Daniel were waiting for them.

It was almost just like old times if it wasn’t for the rounding of Emma’s stomach.

“Hey, are you feeling okay?” Regina asked, bringing Emma’s attention back to her, though her eyes were still noticeably unfocused.

“I’m a little tired,” Emma admitted, trying for a small, unsuccessful laugh, “But I’ve felt that for a while now.”

“Maybe you should go home?” Regina insisted, denying her attempt to take the tray back.

Emma frowned as she shook her head, though her voice lacked passion as she replied, “I have a math quiz after lunch.”

The aura of confusion fanned the flames of Regina’s anxiety.

A year ago, she would have assumed this was a flu or cold of some kind but the stakes were so much higher now.

Even though her attempts to feign indifference, she’d found herself Googling all of the potential complications Emma could face, a lot of them equally as dangerous to her as they could be to the baby.

Not wanting to freak her out with all of these possibilities that she would need a medical degree to understand, as she placed the tray down on the nearest table, “You can make the credits up later, Emma.”

The other girl shook her head again but her body betrayed her as she attempted a step forward and stumbled. Regina’s hands shot out to steady her, “Woah, maybe you should call your dad?”

“He’s working,” Emma objected as Regina felt her sway slightly in her hold, “I can’t distract him from real emergencies because I feel a little…”

“So you do feel sick?” Regina prompted urgently.

“And a little dizzy,” Emma sighed and then touching just below her bump, “And some pain here…”

Swallowing hard, Regina did all she could not to match these symptoms to any of the conditions that had come up in her research. She had to make sure that she got help from professionals with the qualifications to help her.

Refusing to let go of her arms, Regina on the verge of begging, said, “Emma…I think you need to go to the hospital.”

“No…I have a couple of weeks and…I have my quiz,” Emma replied absently.

“At least sit-down,” Regina implored, letting go to indicate the nearest available seat.

She was about to lay her hand on her back to encourage her, with plans to get her to drink some water and then hopefully see the nurse, but Regina didn’t get that far. 

Emma had attempted another step, stumbling in the process. This time when Regina tried steadying her, the other girl dropped like a dead weight into her arms.

“Emma!” Regina shouted, silencing all of the chatter in the courtyard though Regina was unaware of the sudden quiet. It took all of her strength to not allow the unconscious teen to painfully hit the floor.

Regina buckled under her weight, her knees hitting the floor as Emma’s head fell onto her lap.

Pushing the hair from her face, Regina could only hold onto the fact that she seemed to be breathing. It was all she could hold onto when she didn’t react to her touch, her ex-girlfriend was definitely unconscious.

“Oh my god!” she heard from behind her and she wouldn’t realise until late that this voice belonged to Killian Jones. He, Daniel and Mal had all rushed over to the front of the crowd forming around them.

“What happened?” Daniel asked frantically.

Taking heaving breaths, Regina lamented, “I don’t know,” and then after a few insistent shakes that Emma didn’t respond to, she shouted, “Someone call an ambulance!”

The EMTs arrived mere minutes later but to Regina it felt like forever as she stared into Emma’s limp form with Killian kneeling on the other side, his features as stricken as she felt.

Somehow she managed to answer all of the paramedic's questions albeit in a shaking voice.

Emma remained stubbornly unconscious as she was loaded onto the gurney and wheeled towards the ambulance.

At some point, a few teachers must have been alerted to the incident as they joined the crowd tracking their progress.

 The presence of adults did little to alleviate Regina’s spiking heartbeat, the only thing that provided her with any comfort was holding onto Emma’s wrist as she was wheeled to the ambulance, her eyes glued to the portable heart monitor that displayed that she was alive despite all of the evidence to the contrary.

The EMT held out his hand to her, once they were at the vehicle that would hopefully take Emma to someone who could help her. His voice dripping with sympathy, he said, “Sorry, we can’t take anyone with us.”

It took all of Regina’s will to wrench her hand away from Emma Swan, no idea how she would get through today without constant updates as to her status.

Daniel and Mal were both there to catch her, probably the only thing keeping her upright, Killian stood frozen unable to keep her eyes off his best friend. 

Before the paramedics could close the door, the growing crowd parted to allow a bewildered teen through.

Neal Cassidy had a wild look about him and it was perhaps the first time that Regina had felt sorry for him.

“Emma?” he asked, trailing over to the back of the ambulance, only for the EMT to hold out his hand again.

Having been unable to come up with a reason why she should be allowed to go with her, it wasn’t difficult to come up with one for Neal, even if he didn’t appear to be voicing it himself.

It was for this reason that she said, “The baby is his.”

The EMT exchanged a look with his colleague, silently agreeing on the best course of action, “Come one, kid, let’s go.”

Regina saw Neal’s throat move as he swallowed hard, but he dutifully climbed into the back, where she wished she could be.

The blue lights blurred her vision but she didn’t look away as the vehicle drove away and out of sight while the teachers dispersed the crowd.

The woman was wearing a more sympathetic look as she came over to the four teens who were expecting to have lunch with Emma Swan today.

“Come on, we should call your parents,” she offered, understanding that it wasn’t fair to expect them to return to their classes.

Regina distractedly followed them. To the office, aware that they would need to call David and Mary Margaret Swan first to inform them that their daughter had been blue lighted to the hospital.