What's your idea of family?
Five minutes. That was how long the instructions said, it would have taken nothing more to find out if she was pregnant or not. One line negative, two lines positive: it wasn't difficult to understand it at all, and yet the expression on the captain's face was one of pure terror and his unusual total lack of words, was making her more nervous and worried than the possible result of the test.
"You don't have to feel obliged" she said quickly, glancing at him.
A few moments passed before he slowly shook his head and took some steps, finally sitting beside her on the sofa.
"I'm not" he replied in an unexpectedly secure tone "I want to be here"
Regina, a bit surprised, nodded as only answer and focused her attention again on the piece of paper, but that awkward silence wasn't meant to last for long.
"Do you know what I really always wanted?" he suddenly asked, turning his head to her, and then continued right away "A family. I never had one, except for my brother".
She slowly turned her head to look at him and it was a caring and understanding look the one she gave him now, silently encouraging him to explain more, but when she realized that he wasn't going to add anything else, she decided to make herself a question. It wasn't about what had happened next, she was already aware of most of his story, but the missing pieces were his dreams and his thoughts and that was exactly what she wanted to discover.
"What's your idea of family?"
Hook sighed and looked around the room, thinking about it, when suddenly he fixed his eyes on an unspecified point on the wall and made a small absent-mindedly smile.
"A family is not a place, a family is a person which you can rely on and that you want defend at the same time… A family is not a house, it's home… It's love, safety, the death of loneliness… It's happy ending"
"Basically Utopia"
The pirate was taken back to reality by her sharp comment, but when he faced her, there was still a hint of that so called "utopic project" glittering in his eyes, a hint that instantly froze Regina's irony, making her want to shine like that too.
"I've been thinking the same for all my life…" he started with a bit of bitterness in his voice, though the peaceful smile was still on his lips "There had only been three moments when I saw the concrete idea of family in front of me, after Liam had passed away: with Milah, with Bae…"
He stopped to approach her more and gently place his hand on her face. It was difficult to say the last part of his speech, and not because he wasn't sure about that – it was quite the contrary, actually – but mostly because he was terrified by her possible reaction.
"And now with you… I'm seeing it now"
The soft tone he had used, mixed to the meaningfulness of those words, produced as expected a reaction in her, but not the one thought, as a silent tears started to fall from her eyes, down to her still face. Then, she opened her mouth, trying to make an attempt of an answer, but Hook prevented her from that, just pulling her in his arms and holding her with unpredictable care.
"I can't do this… I used to be the Evil Queen and maybe I don't deserve a chance to be happy" she said, between the tears, letting him comforting her.
"I know that, love… But now things have changed"
"Yes, because now I really am the Queen of nothing" she replied, filling her voice with all the sense of emptiness that had slowly been consuming her for all those years.
He let go of her, just enough to meet her look, but still so close to whisper in her ear.
"You can be the Queen of my Utopia, then"
The seriousness of his face, the way he was trying hard to reassure her and the fact that he was actually succeeding, made her chuckle suddenly. Because it was funny, after all: funny his behavior so apparently out of character, funny his Utopia, funny the moment.
Neither of them had expected things to turn like that, who could have guessed that their secret sort of affair would have led to a possible pregnancy: it had started as mere sex – at least for her - and now he was talking about family.
"If… " she said, pulling out from him and glancing around at the walls "If there is a baby, we could paint the walls of his or her room green"
His forward-looking imagination was carrying her too now and when she realized what she had just exactly said a loud, she just smiled amused again. But Hook looked everything but amused and his attention soon fit that other subject.
"I say blue ocean"
"But it would be fine only for a boy…" she pointed out, shaking her head.
"I still say blue ocean, love"
"And I say green"
Another color suddenly clashed among green and blue, ending that potential beginning of spat.
And it was pink. In two lines.
"I'm pregnant…"
That simple statement marked the actual change of their worlds and the concrete possibility of a future with a family in the picture. But, were they really ready for that?
"What do you say?" Regina asked, slowly looking up to him, hoping to find again that light in his eyes.
And it was there, along with a wide grin.
"I say… What about yellow?"
Hey, dear evil hookers, I'm back again :) If you haven't already noticed, I LOVE the idea of Regina and Hook to have a family together... I couldn't help but write a moment like this! I'd like to know what you think!
See you soon :)