"Regina, where are you taking me?"
It had to have been the tenth time Emma Swan-Mills had asked her wife that question since they'd gotten into Regina's Benz two hours earlier. The car turned a particularly sharp curve around a rocky mountainside, plunging deeper and deeper into forest. Further and further from civilization. Emma tried to think when they last saw any signs of life. It had to have been a good forty-five miles back. Forty-five miles to the nearest town. To the nearest gas station or police station. The blonde had never been a paranoid or even cautious person before, but her time serving as Storybrooke's sheriff had certainly opened her eyes wide to the possibilities. Mixed with the hormonal roller-coaster she was currently strapped into, Emma found her usually carefree personality plagued with worry. Worst-case scenarios streaked through her mind at the speed of light, and her grip on her wife's hand tightened involuntarily.
"Emma, my circulation," Regina reminded her, and Emma loosened her grip with a long sigh. "Relax, dear. I promise that the surprise I have planned for you isn't a bad one. Not even slightly. You're going to love it."
"I'm sure I am," the blonde said, head turned as she scanned the pine forests out of the car window. "Whatever you've got planned is bound to be lovely, but you know how surprises make me anxious."
"They never used to," Regina noted in a soft voice. Everyone had noticed the subtle changes in the Sheriff over the past seven months but none more than Regina herself. She observed how the blonde's brow pinched with concern more often and how she'd made a habit of picking at her nail beds uncertainly. She barely resembled the ever-confident woman Regina had married two years prior.
Emma looked back at Regina and smiled slightly. "I know. I always get weird when I'm pregnant." The hand that wasn't tangled in her wife's fell on her own bloated stomach, fingers dancing up and down over the bump there. Not really a bump. More like a hill or a mountain. At thirty-four weeks, Emma felt like someone had strapped a beach ball to her abdomen. "Super sentimental and emotional. It wasn't quite as intense with Henry, though. Mostly, I was just sad all the time with him." The corners of her lips pulled down slightly at the memory. Prison was a lonely place, but the idea of a baby had brought her hope while she was inside. That hope, however, was always overshadowed by the heart-crushing knowledge that she wouldn't be able to keep the child. She smiled slightly to herself. Who would've ever thought that Henry would've come back and found her, and then four years later she'd be married to his adoptive mother and pregnant with their magical baby. Literally, no one, but, God, was she thankful he had. "I think it's different now because I've got so much to be happy about." She practically glowed when she smiled over at Regina. "Everything I ever wanted, really. I finally found my parents. I have Henry, and you." Her eyes fell back on her stomach. "And in another six weeks, I'll have this little bun." She tapped lightly on her stomach. "Hey, you hear me in there? You've got a lot of people excited to meet you." There was an enthusiastic kick against Emma's stomach in response that made both women smile. "I think I just woke it up."
"It," Regina scoffed with a roll of her eyes. "I can't believe we have to call our child an 'it.' We should've had Dr. Whale tell us the sex."
"No way," Emma shook her head. "It'll be a surprise."
The brunette cocked an eyebrow at her. "I thought you didn't like surprises."
Emma blushed slightly. "Well, that's one surprise I can handle." Regina turned the vehicle down a gravel road cutting through the forest. "Okay, babe, you've got to tell me where we're going. This is getting way too axe-murderer-movie for me."
"You don't trust me?" Regina questioned, and she couldn't fully hide the hurt in her voice. After everything they had been through, she knew that Emma knew her better than anyone. She believed she'd redeemed herself Emma's eyes if in no one else's. The idea that her wife still saw her as little more than the Evil Queen from their son's story book cut deeply.
"Of course, I do," Emma assured her, lifting Regina's hand to her lips and pressing a firm kiss there. "Gina, you've saved my ass a hundred times before. I trust you with my life. I love you." Even after two years of marriage, the words still sent a swell of warmth through Regina's body, and she smiled at them. "It's just that we're super far out here in the middle of bumfuck nowhere, and that makes me a little nervous." She glanced down at the cell phone in her lap. "I don't even get any cell reception out here."
"That's kind of the point, dear," Regina chuckled, and Emma frowned at her in confusion. "It's a weekend getaway, Emma. That means no cell phones. No stressing. No worrying. Just relaxation."
"But what if we need to get a hold of someone in case of an emergency?" The blonde demanded. "What if someone back home needs to talk to us? What if more big baddies come rolling into town? What if my parents need me? What if Henry needs us?"
Regina smiled over at her wife's wide green eyes, shifting the Mercedes into park. "Emma, sweetie, will you please just look forward?"
Emma was so caught up in her own fears that she hadn't even realized the car had come to a stop on the gravel. As she turned her head forward, her mouth fell open in awe. They sat parked in front of a two-story log cabin nestled in among the woods. No. Not just a cabin, Emma corrected herself. A fucking architectural masterpiece. It was built modern out of red cedar with metal beams and stacked-stone trim. The cabin was lined with large, rectangular windows all-around. Despite its contemporary design, the house fit in perfectly with its rugged location, melting in with the forest itself beautifully.
"There's a landline and internet service," Regina informed. "Everyone who might need it has the number in the case of an emergency. If you need to talk to your parents so badly, dear, you'll be able to do it for as long as you like. Though I'd prefer it if you kept those conversations as brief as possible. I'd like to have you mostly if not all to myself for the next three days."
"Holy shit," Emma muttered, and Regina laughed. "Regina, what is this?"
"It's my gift to you," she answered. Emma finally pried her eyes away from the cabin to give her wife a puzzled look. "Well, I suppose it's more a gift to the whole family. We'll all use it."
"You bought this place?" The words choked their way out of the back of Emma's throat.
"I did," the brunette nodded. "I thought, with our family expanding, we could use a place to get away together every so often. It's close enough that we could make a weekend trip if we wanted." Her chocolate brown eyes skittered down to her hands as she continued on. "You've seemed very stressed out recently. Not like yourself. I know you're worried, and I know it's to be expected, but I still don't like it. It's not good for you or the baby. I hoped that a vacation, if it is only for a few days, might be good for you." She chanced a look up to find her wife still stunned. "Do you like it?"
"Do I like it?" Emma repeated incredulously. "Baby, I love it." Regina's expression brightened as she smiled widely. "You bought me a fucking cabin. Nobody's ever done anything like that for me before." Leaning over the console, she kissed the brunette's lips tenderly. "I love you, Gina."
"I love you, too, Em," Regina grinned. "Now, come on. Let me show you the inside." Before Emma could even fully open her door, Regina was outside and opening it for her, helping her out of the vehicle carefully. Though the blonde always maintained that she was still just as capable as before she got pregnant, Regina couldn't stop herself from doting and waiting on Emma hand-and-foot. She couldn't help it—taking care of those she loved was something she'd always done. She'd done it for Henry his whole life, and she'd done it for Emma since they'd first begun dating. And she'd do it for the new baby when it came.
Regina gave Emma the grand tour of their new vacation home, leading her through all three of the bedrooms and the two baths as well as the attached, entirely glass building that contained a pool and hot-tub. Emma gawked at it all with wide eyes. She began to wonder how exactly they'd afforded to purchase such a nice property, but she dismissed the thought almost immediately. The curse had given Regina a very comfortable bank account, and their combined income as the town's mayor and sheriff were nothing to sneeze at. No doubt Regina had been squirrelling money back for a while for such a purchase.
The two women brought their bags for their weekend getaway inside the cabin and unpacked. Once they were finished, Regina moved to the kitchen to find something to cook for dinner that night.
"What do you say to lasagna?" She called out to her wife with a smirk as she reached for the noodles and sauce. It wasn't even a question in actuality. Emma never said no to her lasagna. However, there was no answer, and Regina frowned, turning. "Emma?" No answer. Regina moved through the house in search of her wife before finally finding her in the den, settled on the sofa, tucked under a plush blanket. With her legs folded under her, Emma stared dreamily out the sliding glass doors at the forest. What leaves November had left on the trees were burnt shades of red, orange, and yellow, and the chilly wind was trying its hardest to strip them away.
"What are you doing?" The brunette questioned, smiling slightly.
Emma looked at her with eager eyes. "Have you seen what color the sky is?"
Regina glanced out the window before shrugging. "White. So, what?"
"White," the blonde nodded with a grin. "White like snow. I think it's going to snow, Gina. The weatherman said there was a fifty percent chance."
Regina smiled. If there was one thing her wife had always loved, it was snow. "It certainly looks like it could. Maybe you should do your snow dance to be sure."
Emma pointed her finger at the brunette. "Joke all you want, but that shit worked, and it got us out of work and Henry out of school the next day." Regina laughed, and Emma smiled at the sound. She loved Regina's laugh. Pulling one side of the blanket free, she held it out as an offering. "Come here."
Regina paused a moment before walking over and joining her wife. The two wrapped up together in the thick blanket.
"This is wonderful," the blonde finally whispered. "I love it. Everything." She kissed her wife's collarbone intimately. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Regina said back, wrapping her arms around Emma and pulling her close. Her hand found her wife's swollen stomach and rested their contentedly. "I love you." Emma gasped, body tightening, and Regina looked at her with wide-eyed concern. "What's wrong? Are you hurting? Is it the baby?"
"No." Emma exhaled a long breath before smiling lopsidedly to her wife. "It's not pain. He just really loves it whenever you put your hand there. He was, like, cutting flips. Doesn't hurt. It's just… weird, but a good weird." She looked back out the glass doors, and her face lit with excited. "Snowflakes!"