For the prompt: the moment Regina finds out she's pregnant + Robin's reaction
Just a note - Doctors in the 40s gave pregnant women terrible advice and sadly Doctor Whale's comments are what women were told 😬
She wakes up feeling tired and worn down like she hadn't just slept for twelve hours. The problem is she hadn't slept that long, she'd been so so tired and she laid down early, but then sleep evaded her, she tossed and turned, feeling restless and spent but unable to relax, her muscles tight and achy. She's been so exhausted lately but somehow can't seem to get a good night's sleep, which really is probably why she's so tired, and it's annoying. She's tried everything she can think of, but nothing works. She's been feeling off for a month or so, which she attributes to the lack of sleep and the stress of finally cutting out her mother.
Most nights when she lays down she hears again her mother's hissed insults about her whorish ways, how awful she is and how she could never love such a disgraceful daughter, what absolute shame Regina brought to the family and so on. It had been hours of hearing how terrible she was until she finally snapped and told her mother goodbye and that she hoped they never saw each other again. It's finally starting to sting a little less, greatly helped by the letters that arrived from her father telling her how proud he is, and asking if he can visit. She'd worried she'd never see him again either, that her mother would keep him away but it seems faced with the notion he may never see his daughter he finally grew a spine and stood up to her mother—or more likely she's hiding it from him but she can't say she minds that much if it is the case. The important thing is that unless her mother comes crawling back to apologize—which will never happen—she's out of Regina's life, and she can finally be herself.
She spends most of her time with Robin, and spends her days painting or reading while he's at work. She lives here, with Tink, who she has come to adore despite the circumstances but she only sleeps here once or twice a week. Her wardrobe is slowly migrating into the trunk Robin built for her after she decided she was staying. He said she could bring it to Tink's but there was already one in her room and so he put it in his room, where she could keep a change of clothes and anything else she wanted to keep at his place. Which apparently means half of her belongings.
She sighs as she stares up at the ceiling debating whether to get up. She's too damn hot that's for sure, so she pushes off the blankets, sighing again before she stretches and stands up. She's sore, and her breasts ache like they never have before. To top it all off she's getting fat, has been indulging in all the things her mother wouldn't let her have because she'd lose her figure and well looks like her mother was right about that one. She throws on a baggy dress, that hides her lost figure and then makes her way down the stairs toward the kitchen.
She's half way down when she's hit with a horrible smell that makes her stomach lurch. An overpowering reek of rotten eggs and good lord, what is Tink doing? She can hear her humming away in the kitchen apparent unphased by the noxious odour.
It only gets worse when she enters the kitchen sees Tink standing at the stove with a pot of boiling water.
"What are you making that smells so disgusting?" she asks, opening the windows as she does praying the fresh air will drown out the stench.
"I'm making deviled, err salad eggs since they are for the church's social tonight. Want one?"
Regina's stomach lurches again and absolutely not, how could anyone want something so smelly. "The smell is um, quite… potent," she says, sticking her face out the window and trying to get some fresh air without success.
"Are you alright?" Tink asks, "You are looking a little green."
"I think I'm going to go outside for a bit... that smell is um, too much for me."
Tink gives her this look, suspicious perhaps, but of what she can't figure out. It's one she's worn a couple of times now when Regina's complained about how she's feeling or her recent weight gain.
She doesn't think much of it until Tink joins her outside a while later and asks, "When's the last time you bled?"
She bristles, that is none of her business, gives back a haunty, "That's none of your concern."
"Well you haven't used any of my products, and I've never seen you wash anything…"
She realizes then what Tink is getting at, but it's absurd she can't be pregnant, she has a diaphragm, that okay yes she only got about a month ago but still. She can't be…
"I'm not pregnant."
Tink arches a brow, "Your heaving cleavage even without a bra and amplified sense of smell suggests otherwise."
She rolls her eyes in lieu of a response, that just can't be, there's no way. She and Robin have only been back together for two and half months, she can't be having his child, and god out of wedlock what would her mother say, at least she shouldn't have to find out.
She thinks back and god when was the last time she bled, she's never been great at keeping track, never mattered much and now it's coming back to bit her because she can't remember but oh god what if Tink is right. What would Robin say? They've only just gotten back together, only just said I love you again last week. Have had several conversations about not trying to rush this about her figuring herself out outside of them and her mother expectations of her. It can't be true, can it?
She knows she's showing all of her emotions on her face and has a sudden urge to cry because she is so overwhelmed, and no she can't deal with this today. Tink is wrong. She has to be.
"We should go see Doctor Whale," is all Tink says.
Her reaction is vehement, "No I don't need that I'm not—"
"Well then all it will do is prove you right, and then you can rest easy."
She hates Tink sometimes she really does, and she can see that stubborn set in Tink's jaw as she holds eye contact, her face the picture of a challenge. And god she's right (about the only way to disprove it), and Regina knows it but what if she is pregnant what then? Isn't it better not to know to continue on the way she is until there's absolutely no question. Isn't that how their mothers did it? Why can't she?
She sighs, "Fine if it means that much to you I'll make an appointment," she won't, but she'll tell Tink she did, for some time far far in the future when she's ready to deal with this.
Tink chuckles, "Doctor whale doesn't make appointments unless it's a house call, you just show up at his house, like the last time."
Good lord Tink is not going to give this up. She perks up when she remembers, "I don't have any money; I can't pay him."
"I'll use that money you put in my account from your father for rent even though I told you I didn't want it."
Shoot, she knew that was going to come and bite her but she couldn't resist, Tink had been too kind and she knows Tink gets some sort of survivor's pension because her husband was killed in the war, but it can't be much, and she's had an extra mouth to feed by taking Regina in. Paying a bit of rent was the least she could do.
Shoot she is out of excuses, so she tries to plead, "We can go some other time, just not now, please."
Tink looks sympathetic for a moment has her thinking she's won until her hopes are crushed with a "No, we're going now, or you'll never go."
Tink's not wrong, but why does she need to know the answer, why can't she stew in her ignorance for a while longer. Logically she knows this a good thing, and that if they don't go, she will spend her whole night fretting about this.
She begrudgingly gets in the car and sighing heavily as they make the drive to Doctor Whale's. She's only been there once, to obtain contraceptives and god he's going to think she's a brazen hussy. She knew she should have gone the less embarrassing mail order route, or really if she is pregnant with nothing since it was unnecessary.
She frets anxiously the whole drive, and it is not helped at all by the fact that Doctor Whale comes out to grab a patient right when they arrive, spies Tink, immediately starts beaming, and ushers them in instead.
"So what can I do for you and your friend?" he asks when they enter the room, his attention glued on Tink, and oh someone definitely has a crush, one that she suspects will go unrequited forever.
"We'd like you to confirm Regina's pregnancy," Tink states firmly as Regina's brows shoot up.
"I…" is all she stutters before Doctor Whale gestures for her to sit down in the examining chair.
As she does he asks, "When did you last bleed?" she thinks long and hard and knows that Tink is right, it was before she came to Charleston, sometime early August, maybe late July. She tells him that and he nods and then begins his examination.
It's fairly quick which she can't tell is a good or a bad thing, he asks about how she's been feeling, and she lists all of her symptoms with rising dread. But he doesn't focus too long, doesn't make her open her legs so maybe it's all okay. His hands did spend some time on her belly, doing what she's not sure and his face had of course been unreadable. He'd measured it too, though she hadn't understood what that would do given that he didn't have a before measurement, but he's the doctor, and she shouldn't question his methods.
"Well…" He begins, and she feels her breath hitch, this is it… "I can confirm it, you are pregnant Ms. Mills, you should have the baby in the spring or early summer."
That's vague she thinks before her brain catches up to what he's said and good god she's pregnant, she's going to be a mother, going to have Robin's baby and oh lord, she doesn't know if she's ready for this, but well she has to be. As much as Doctor Whale seems like a quack, all of her symptoms cannot be a coincidence.
"I… so what does that mean, do I stop doing things?" for a second but only for a second she wishes she had her mother to ask questions to, but then she thinks of the harsh and painful words that would accompany a confession she got pregnant while not married and well probably best to be in the dark.
"No, carry on as usual. Do you smoke?"
She shakes her head because no as much as it's fashionable she's always despised the habit.
Doctor Whale narrows his eyes, and she thinks he must be a smoker from that reaction. He urges, "Well you may find it useful as time goes on to calm your nerves or to control your weight gain. Hysteria and neurosis are common for women with your condition, and a smoke does wonders for the nerves."
She thinks to herself she won't take that advice, but asks curiously, "Is the weight gain such a bad thing?"
"I recommend you don't increase what you are eating, some women think of this as an excuse to eat more, but it's better if you don't do that."
And that is exactly what she was thinking, that she should eat more, logically, to her anyway, that makes sense. She's not going to starve herself even if that is his advice because she's done that before to suit her mother whims, all it did was make her tired and dizzy, and she's far too tired already without that.
They leave shortly after, with a few more tips from Doctor Whale, after he's made a couple of inappropriate passes at Tink. If Tink were anyone else she'd be worried but she sees how she laughs them off, not a hint of discomfort. It reminds her of her friend Mal, and she thinks they would get along perfectly.
As they get in the car, Tink asks, "Do you want me to drop you at Robin's? He'll be getting home when we arrive."
And she should do that, but oh god what is he going to say. She buries her face in her hands for a moment, takes a minute to calm herself. As she does, she feels Tink's hand soothingly stroking her back, hears her whispered, "It's okay; he'll be happy you know."
She looks up with tear stained eyes as she asks, "How can you know that?"
Tink smiles at her, "There is nothing that man wants more than a child, well maybe you, but it's a close second, he's going to be thrilled."
She chokes out, "You don't think he'll be mad we are moving too fast?"
She's a little annoyed when Tink just laughs but as soon as Tink spies her expression she answers, "Are you kidding? He'd be planning your wedding if things were going his way, he wants it all, just hasn't wanted to scare you. And need I remind you that you were the one that insisted on taking things slow."
She can't argue with that, it is true, but still asks pathetically, "So you think he'll be excited?"
Tink shakes her head, "He's going to be over the moon."
She lets Tink's confidence sink into her, she's not quite as convinced, but she urges, "Okay, take me to Robin's then."
When Tink drops her off she says, "You can come by anytime to get the rest of your stuff."
It's a statement she doesn't examine the full implications of because Robin pulls in the driveway as Tink is pulling out.
She takes a deep breath because okay, this is it.
He smiles as he gets out the car asking, "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
She knows that it is, that her visit is a pleasure to him and she lets that soothe some of her frazzled nerves. She waits until he's out of the car, until they've embraced and he's planted a soft kiss to her cheek that makes her melt into him to answer, "I, um, have some news."
"Oh?" He asks, his entire demeanour urging her to go on, that she's safe here, with him.
God she hopes that doesn't change when she tells him. She buries her face into his chest, soaks in the comfort of his presence, of that familiar forest scent from his day at the mill and confesses softly, "I'm pregnant."
His hand finds her face, urges her to look at him she resists for a second, but when meets his gaze she finds eyes wide with excitement as he repeats awestruck, "You're pregnant?"
She nods, and he gasps, "We're having a baby?"
She nods again tears of relief filling her eyes over his excitement and then he shocks her by picking her up, twirling her around as he yells ecstatically, "We're having a baby."
God she loves this man, should have known he'd be happy, he's perfect after all. She smiles down at him breathes, "Yeah we are," and feels her heart explode at the grin that covers his face.
He puts her down and kisses her, breaking it to again marvel, "We're having a baby!"
His enthusiasm is contagious, and that little excited part of herself she had been pushing down bursts out because they are having a baby. Them, her and Robin, and it's everything.
"Move in with me," he pleads as his hands settle on her waist, pulling her dress tightly across her belly that he looks down at in awe. "I know you've wanted to wait, but we're having a baby, and I don't want to miss any moment of it, so please Regina, I know we are going about all of this backwards, but please move in with me. This house isn't the same without you."
She offers him a shy smile but then her body betrays her, and it opens up into a smile so big her face hurts. It's just this feels so right, and all the reasons she had for delaying the inevitable seem silly now. She loves him, he loves her, and she wants to spend every moment they can together.
"Okay," she breathes, still a bit awestruck, "Let's do this."
He picks her up and swinging her around, and she giggles as he does. She's never felt quite this free and happy. He slides her down to kiss her again, and she basks in the moment, in the feeling of sheer rightness that being in his arm brings. Their love is real, it is true, and she is more than ready for this new adventure.