Part One
"Mom! Mom!" Henry's screams echoed loudly throughout the whole house. He felt a sharp pain in his knees as they made contact with the hard kitchen floor, but he didn't care.
"Mom!" He screamed again, shaking Regina's shoulders. "Mom, wake up! Please!"
He frantically searched Regina's pockets for her phone, but found nothing. His own phone was upstairs in his bedroom and conscious of not wanting to leave his Mom alone in case she woke up, Henry's breathing became rapid as he struggled to think what to do. His eyes scanned the room and fixated on a small black object under the kitchen table. Regina's phone. It must have fallen out of her pocket when she fell. Henry crawled across the tiles, grabbing the phone and within seconds, dialing 911. He knew that Regina would have wanted him to call Snow or Charming or Emma. He knew his mother's hatred of hospitals, but he couldn't risk it. She needed medical assistance.
"911, what's your emergency?" The voice on the other end asked.
"You need to send an ambulance, right away, my mom, she's collapsed, I don't know what happened, I just found her like this, I heard a thud and I came into the kitchen, and she's passed out on the floor, what if she hit her head, she's not waking up, please, please, come quickly." Henry's words flew out of him, his voice shaky and desperate, begging for help.
Henry gave the address to the operator, who reassured him that help was only 3 minutes away, and he hung up the phone and dialled Snow's number.
"Grandma! Come quickly! My mom, she's passed out, she won't wake up!" Henry cried as soon as Snow picked up the phone.
"What? Oh my goodness, Henry were on our way, have you called an ambulance?" Snow tried to keep her voice calm so not to panic Henry even more.
"Yes, yes, it's coming, in fact..." Henry heard the sirens outside and the red lights illuminated through his front door and into the hallway. "It's here, the ambulance is here. Just meet us at the hospital, ok?"
"Of course, were getting in the car right now, everything will be ok Henry. We'll go and get Emma too. Stay calm, ok? Regina is strong, she will be ok." Snow attempted to reassure Henry through the chaos taking place at his home. She could hear the voices of strangers, medics, as they asked Henry what had happened. She could hear Henry's heavy sobs and distressed voice as they placed his mom onto the bed and wheeled her out of the house and into the back of the ambulance.
"I have to go, Grandma. Were going to the hospital now." Henry hung up the phone and took a deep breath. "Please mom, please be ok. Please." Reaching out, he grabbed Regina's hand and squoze tightly, his face lighting up immediately when he felt her squeeze back.
Regina sat up in her hospital bed, scoffing as she tried to fluff up the pillows.
"This is ridiculous. Can I go home now, please? I just fainted. I'm fine." she frowned at Dr. Whale as he entered the room.
"You can go home in a second, Regina. But don't you want to hear what caused you to faint?" he replied, a big grin spread across his face.
Regina narrowed her eyebrows and rolled her eyes. "Well I guess you're going to tell me even if I don't want to hear it. But I already know, so you don't need to lecture me. I know I haven't been eating enough, ok. But I just lost my boyfriend four weeks ago. So excuse me if my mind has been elsewhere other than thinking about food." Regina swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up, grabbing her clothes off the chair and heading towards the bathroom. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm getting changed out of this awful sheet you've put on me, and i'm going home."
"Just one minute, Regina." Dr. Whale prompted. "That's not what caused you to faint. Although you definitely should be eating more, especially now."
Sighing loudly, Regina turned to face Dr. Whale and asked begrudgingly, "Well what then? What caused me to faint?" She tried to read his face, not able to tell if it was something serious.
"Do you want to sit down?" Dr. Whale asked, gesturing back towards the bed.
"No. I'm fine." Regina stubbornly replied, crossing her arms. "Just tell me."
"Well, your blood test showed a high level of hCG present...hCG is the pregnancy hormone." Dr. Whale began.
Regina's face dropped but she remained stubborn as she waited for him to continue.
"So we tested your urine too, and that test came back positive. Congratulations, I would say that you are about 5 weeks pregnant." Dr. Whale smiled, but took a few steps back, cautious of Regina's reaction.
Regina stood still, motionless, her face completely frozen but then, suddenly, she burst into laughter. "That's funny, who you put you up to this? Was it Henry? Emma? Very funny. But seriously, why did I faint?"
"Regina...this isn't a joke. You're pregnant. We can do an ultrasound now actually, before you go. Give you a rough due date." Dr. Whale looked at Regina, who was still grinning, but he could see the confusion in her eyes.
"What...but...no. There must be a mistake, Whale. I can't be pregnant." Regina's voice cracked as she tried to make sense of the situation. "I can't." she repeated.
"Well you are. You might feel better once you've seen the baby. Why don't you lie back down and I will go and get the sonogram machine. Do you want me to go and get Henry for you?" Dr. Whale asked.
"No! No. Not Henry. No." Regina begged as she sat back down on the bed, her body shaking, her mind racing. As Dr. Whale nodded and walked out of the room she stopped him. "Whale!"
"Yes?" He popped his head back around the door.
"Can you get Snow for me?" Regina's voice was quiet now, innocent, scared.
"Sure." He replied, and left the room once more.
"Are you sure the potion worked? Maybe it didn't work?" Snow sat next to the hospital bed and held Regina's hand as she sobbed.
"I can't do this, Snow. I can't have a baby. Not alone. Not without Robin." Regina wiped at her tears.
"Yes, you can. Regina, you can do this. You are not alone. You have Henry and Emma and myself and Charming. You even have Zelena now. You are not alone." Snow met Regina's gaze and smiled as she reached her arms around Regina and hugged her tightly. "You are strong. You're a survivor. You raised Henry by yourself for 10 years. You can do this. Don't doubt yourself."
Regina managed a smile as she asked, "But how. How has this happened? It's impossible."
"Well let's see this impossible baby shall we!" Dr. Whale burst through the door, pushing the sonogram machine and whistling loudly.
Regina nearly jumped out of her skin and scowled at him as she placed her legs in the stirrups.
"I can't believe this is happening" She muttered under her breath as Snow rubbed her shoulder and held on tightly to her hand.
"And there he or she is!" Dr. Whale announced, turning the screen towards Regina and Snow so that they could see the tiny blob inside Regina's womb. They both gasped simultaneously and looked at each other, Snow crying and Regina still in disbelief.
"Congratulations! I would say this foetus is actually about 6 weeks old which would put your due date in December. We will be able to give you a confirmed date in a few weeks once the baby has grown a bit. But for now, make sure you're eating plenty and taking lots of rest. Difficult for you, I know, but if you want a healthy child..."
"I know." Regina interrupted. "But thank you, Dr. Whale."
"You're welcome." Whale failed to hide his surprise at Regina's gratitude. "Here you go." He handed her two sonogram pictures of her baby. "And you're free to go home now." He smiled and exited the room, leaving Regina and Snow both crying over the images of the unborn child.
"Look at that. How amazing!" Snow exclaimed, putting her arm around Regina's shoulders.
"I know. Amazing." Regina replied, stroking a thumb over one of the images. "Incredible."
Regina paced up and down the hallway, checking her watch every few seconds as she waited for Henry to arrive home. It had been one week since she found out the news that she was pregnant, and she was yet to tell her son. She had debated over and over again the perfect time to tell him, but the truth was, that there was no perfect time. This morning, Henry had walked in on Regina in a bout of morning sickness, her head shoved down the toilet. She had tried to reassure him that she was fine, it was probably some bad chicken or something, but she could tell he was worried. And after last week, she doesn't want to worry him even more. So today, when Henry returns home from school, she is going to tell him. That's what Regina is telling herself anyway.
Regina jumped about ten feet in the air when the front door finally opened.
"Mom? Is everything ok?" Henry asked as he shut the door and kicked off his shoes. "Am I late? Why are you stood waiting for me?"
"No. No. Everything is fine. I was just excited to see you. That's all." Regina lied.
Henry raised one eyebrow, unconvinced. "Ok..."
"Wait!" Regina practically shouted as Henry began to make his way upstairs. She grabbed his arm gently and pulled him back down into the hallway. "Come and sit down, I want to tell you something."
As they sat on the sofa, facing each other, Regina considered backing out of the conversation, saving it for a different time, but she knew if she didn't tell him now, Snow was going to do it. And she didn't want Henry finding out from someone else. She didn't want to be keeping secrets any longer. He had to know.
Regina took both of Henry's hands in hers and looked at him, immediately reassuring him when she saw the terrified look on his face. "Henry! I'm fine! It's not bad news, I promise. Well, I don't think it is."
"Mom..." Henry began.
"No, it's ok. Just listen. Just let me say it. So, last week, when I went to the hospital, I didn't faint because of stress like I told you."
"Are you sick?!" Henry interrupted.
"Henry! No! Just listen, ok?" Regina's voice was urgent.
Henry nodded.
"I'm not sick. I'm...I'm pregnant. 7 weeks now. Due in December." Regina paused to look at Henry's face, waiting for a response. She saw the shocked expression and couldn't tell if it were a happy or sad one. "How...do you feel about that?" She asked him nervously, her hands shaking.
Henry stood up. "Pregnant? Really? You're really pregnant?"
"Yes...Henry, are you ok? You're not upset are you, oh God..." Regina started to panic and she put her face in her hands.
"No, Mom, it worked. I forgot about it. I can't believe I forgot. Wait here." Henry beamed, excited, as he ran upstairs to his room, leaving Regina totally confused.
He returned almost instantly, running down the stairs, waving a piece of paper in his hand.
"Look, look at this!" He handed Regina the paper and her eyes widened as she read the words infront of her.
"Henry, what is this?" she asked.
"I wrote it. I wrote it 2 months ago. I overheard you and Robin talking about Zelena and the baby and how you wish you could have had his child instead. But that you couldn't. I heard everything about the potion. I heard how upset you were, that you wished you had never took it. And so, I took my pen and I wrote that the potion never worked. You can have children." Henry's face was glowing with happiness as he saw his Mom smiling back at him.
"Henry why didn't you tell me? I've been going crazy trying to figure out how this happened!"
"I forgot, I'm sorry, after everything that happened. And at the time, I didn't want to tell you because I wanted it to be a nice surprise should you ever get pregnant. And I didn't want you to be mad at me. For changing the past. You're not mad are you?" Henry asked, hoping that the answer would be no.
"Of course I'm not mad at you Henry, what you've done, is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me. Even if you did change the past, which I know you're not supposed to do, and I know I have lectured you about it. But you have given the gift of life. You have given me something that I could never be mad at you for." Regina took Henry's hand and placed it on her stomach. "You're going to be a big brother!"
Henry threw his arms around Regina and hugged her tightly, resting his head on her shoulder and she stroked his hair. This was utter bliss and both Regina and Henry had never felt happier in a single moment. Henry was overjoyed at the gift he had given his mother, and he was so thrilled to see her smiling and looking forward to life as she had spent the last few weeks shattered and broken after losing Robin.
Regina held on to Henry and kissed his cheek, telling him, "Thank you, Henry. Thank you so much." She closed her eyes and thought of Robin, thought of how happy he would be to find out this news. A tear escaped as she thought about everything she had lost but everything she was about to gain. If only Robin were here for this. He would have loved this child so much.