A/N: Hello everyone! This is my first OutlawQueen fanfic and AU! I hope y'all like it!
Regina Mills hurried through the airport, her feet aching in her heels as she struggled to locate the gate to catch her plane. She normally prided herself on being early, always being the one to arrive at least twenty minutes before something began, but her alarm hadn't gone off this morning. Or maybe it had. Her exhaustion level had been so great lately that she'd been shutting her alarm off without completely waking up.
She blamed her pregnancy. She never overslept or ran behind her allotted schedule, but at six months pregnant, she found herself always ten minutes behind what she needed to be. It wasn't as big a deal when it came to meeting a friend for lunch or heading into work (she didn't work a job with set hours), but when it came to catching a plane, her tardiness was a problem. At this rate, she might even miss the flight.
Regina reached the gate just as the attendant started to shut the door. "Wait!" she called, rushing forward. "I have a ticket!"
The attendant turned, a look of irritation on his face, but after noticing her swollen belly, he relented and waved her forward. He scanned her ticket and pointed to the medium sized plane on the tarmac.
"You might want to hurry, Miss, they'll be shutting the doors soon."
Regina nodded and thanked him, hurrying out the door and to the plane as fast as she could, her heels click clacking as she went. The female attendant on board noticed her and helped her inside, taking her carry-on bag and checking her ticket all in one swift movement. She smiled at her, leading her down the aisle. "Your seat will be the last one on the right," she said. "I'll help you get this stored in the overhead bin, all right?"
Regina thanked her, following close behind. The plane was already packed with travelers, all of them embarking on journeys of their own. She let the voices wash over her, grateful to be getting out of Brooklyn for the week. She needed a break from the city and the memories it held for her. She needed this escape, this reprieve. As much as she loved her hometown, it was also a constant reminder of what she'd lost. It was the city that claimed the love of her life one rainy evening when a drunk driver plowed into him, an innocent pedestrian on his way home from work. Daniel hadn't stood a chance against the truck that didn't slow down, just barreling right on through the intersection, completely ignoring the walk signal that was illuminated. His death was instantaneous. The driver, the man who had stripped the happiness from her life, was still awaiting trial. Hopefully he would be charged with first degree vehicular manslaughter.
Regina shuddered at her negative turn in thought and focused on the present. It was six months later. Daniel was gone, and time was still moving forward without him. Her rounded belly was proof of that. When Daniel died, Regina hadn't even known she was pregnant. Now she only had three months to go until her baby would be born.
Which is why Regina was traveling in the first place. She was going to visit her sister in Storybrooke, a small town in Maine her sister now called home. She missed her sister, and since Daniel died, she found herself calling Zelena more often, needing someone to talk to as she worked through her grief. Her sister also worried about her. About the baby. About how she was coping going through her pregnancy alone. After Daniel was killed in the accident, Regina had struggled. She fell into a depression. She was only now starting to come out of it, and her sister wanted to ensure she was doing better. Zelena practically ordered Regina to come visit for the week, promising that she would love Storybrooke and what it had to offer. "You might even want to move here," Zelena had said the night before when they chatted via Skype. "It's like a fairytale."
"You know how much I love Brooklyn."
"I know sis, but give it a chance. You might just love it after all."
Finally. Regina reached her seat. It was the one closest to the aisle, which she knew to be a good thing, since the baby liked to press and kick on her bladder. She would definitely be making a trip to the restroom during the flight. That much was a guarantee.
She sat down, taking note of her seat companions. There was a man not much older than her asleep against the window, and a young boy in the middle playing a handheld gaming device. He was no older than five, with a mop of curly hair that hung in his eyes, and a stuffed monkey tucked under one of his arms. He was cute. Regina couldn't help but rub her own belly, hoping that her baby would be as cute and well-behaved as this little boy at that age.
After listening to the attendants rattle off the safety information, Regina braced herself for the plane taking off. She wasn't a fan of flying, and she would have preferred to drive, but Zelena wouldn't hear of it. She thought the trip was too long for Regina to make by herself and bought the tickets, saying that Regina could take her out to dinner to make up for it if she wanted, but that she absolutely wasn't driving all the way to Maine in her condition, especially in that old Mercedes she wouldn't sell for a nicer vehicle.
Pulling the book she brought out of her purse, Regina was content to sit and read. It wasn't her first time thumbing through her copy of What To Expect When You're Expecting, but she knew it would help pass the time and distract her from the plane taking off. The last thing she wanted was to have an anxiety attack. If Daniel was there, he would let her squeeze his hand until the circulation stopped if she needed to, but he wasn't. He was gone, and somehow Regina had to find a way to move on.
She didn't think it was possible though. She would likely never love again. Besides, who could ever compete with Daniel, her first love and the father of her child?
When Roland Locksley's game battery died, he knew better than to jostle his father awake and ask for the charger. His dad was cranky from lack of sleep, and after their overnight flight from England to the States, he wasn't in the best mood.
Roland sighed, squeezing his stuffed monkey tight. He was in for a long flight without his game. He should have preserved his battery better on the big plane that took them from England back to the States, but he hadn't. He had played his game to distract himself from the blonde lady who kept flirting with his father. If it hadn't been for the bright screen and his headphones, he would have endured eight hours of the lady's constant compliments and knowing glances. It was what women did when they were around his father. They batted their eyelashes, pursed their lips, and wrote their numbers down on little scraps of paper that his father tucked away in the pocket of his jeans. Sometimes he called them, sometimes not.
Roland had also been lucky enough to fall asleep for a few hours on the plane, which helped him not to feel exhausted now. His father wasn't so lucky. When the lady hadn't been throwing herself at him, she fell asleep with her head on his shoulder, keeping him pinned in such an uncomfortable position that he hadn't been able to sleep. That's why he was so tired. The plane that would fly them home to Maine hadn't even taken off yet, and already, his father was asleep against the window, jet lag and pure exhaustion from travel catching up with him.
Roland drummed his fingers against his monkey's fur, trying to think of a way to entertain himself. This plane wasn't like the other with a miniature TV screen on the back of the seat or Wifi he could use to play games on his father's phone. It was smaller and with none of the cool stuff that international flights had. He'd have to find another way to pass the time.
It was then that he noticed the lady sitting next to him.
Roland couldn't help but stare at her out of the corner of his eye. Her dark wavy hair was similar to his own mother's back when she'd been alive. She sat reading a book, one hand resting on her swollen belly, and Roland couldn't help but wonder if his mother ever did that when she was pregnant with him. He would have to ask his father when he woke up.
Roland suddenly wanted to talk to the woman. To ask her what she was reading and about the baby in her belly. What was her book about? Was her baby a boy or a girl? Questions were practically bubbling on his lips, and he found his small body quivering with the excitement of asking them.
Taking a deep breath, he tapped her shoulder. When the lady turned to look at him, he smiled, revealing a missing front tooth. "I'm Roland," he said. "What's your name?"
"Regina," she said, returning the smile.
"Is this your first time flying?" he asked. "This is my seventh."
"Wow," she said. "This is my second. I've only flown once before, back when I was a teenager."
"I fly a lot," he said. "My grandparents live in England, so my Dad and I go to visit them."
"You must be a pro at all of this then," Regina said, stiffening when the plane began to speed across the runway. "I hate takeoffs. They always make me nervous."
"You just need a distraction," Roland said. "That's what my Daddy says to me when I'm scared. Just think about something different. It might help."
Regina nodded, her lips pressed together, and pointed to the device on his lap. "What game are you playing?"
"Super Mario Odyssey," he said. "But my game died, and my Daddy has the charger in his bag. I have to wait until he wakes up to ask for it." Roland leaned in close to whisper: "He didn't sleep too good on our nighttime plane. A lady kept talking to him. I think she wanted my Daddy to take her to dinner."
Regina chuckled. "You think so?"
"I know so," he replied. "She kept blinking at him with her eyelashes and laughing really loud. I had to turn my game up to block her out."
The plane lifted into the air then, and Roland watched as Regina took a deep breath to calm her nerves before asking her next question: "Is that why your father couldn't sleep? Because the lady kept bothering him?"
Roland nodded. "Yeah, but he's got his days and nights mixed up too. We're not used to this time zone anymore. We've been in England for two weeks, and it's already the afternoon there."
The plane straightened itself out in the sky. Regina released her hold on the seat rests and turned to look at Roland. "Was your trip to England fun?"
"Yeah. My grandparents own a vineyard, so they have lots of places to play. But it's nothing like home. I'm glad to be coming back." Roland tilted his head at Regina. "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to visit my sister," Regina said. "I haven't seen her since I got pregnant, so she invited me to come spend the week with her."
The young boy looked at her swollen stomach and back to her. "Are you having a girl baby or a boy baby?" he asked, a sense of wonder in his voice.
Regina tried to hide a smile at the young boy's curiosity. "A little boy. He's due in August."
"What are you going to name him?"
"Henry," she said. "After my father."
"That's a nice name."
"It is," she agreed. Then, when Roland kept glancing at her belly: "Would you like to feel him kick?"
The boy nodded excitedly and held out his small hand. Regina placed it on her belly, and after a few seconds, the baby squirmed beneath his palm.
"Wow!" he exclaimed, his grin stretching even bigger. "Does it hurt?"
Regina shook her head. "No," she said. "It's hard to explain, but it doesn't hurt."
"That's so cool!" he exclaimed. "It's like a little alien in there!"
Roland's father began to stir beside him at the sound of his son's excited tone. Roland took his hand away, turning in his seat to face his father, hoping he would like his new friend just as much as he did. Miss Regina was very nice.