Author's Note: Pre-established Swan Queen. Post season one finale, the curse was broken, but all characters were returned to FTL.
Disclaimer: Unfortunately, all the characters, and all Once Upon a Time trademarks, belong to ABC, and not me. You can watch Once Upon a Time on ABC, Sunday nights, at 8pm Eastern Standard Time.
Chapter 1:
Staring into a mirror can sometimes be a terrifying thing. Viewing your reflection makes you face all sorts of things you wish you could simply ignore. Wether it be that new pimple that's emerged in the middle of your face, the few extra pounds we put on over the holiday season, or the first grey hair growing from atop of your head. Mirrors can show us as we age and evolve, as our features change from those of an infant, into the features that will characterize our faces for the rest of our lives. But it was not any of these things that Emma Swan was concerned about when she stood in front of the full length mirror in her bathroom early this morning.
Emma sighed as stared into the mirror, and acceptance slowly sank in. She could feel a dull sensation of sinking in the pit of her stomach as she slowly and reluctantly redressed. With her trousers buttoned, and a loose cotton shirt thrown over her head, she emerged from the bathroom, and tossed herself onto her bed, hiding her head momentarily in the pillows. She had quite a large and well decorated room. A handsome wooden dresser sat to one side of the room, with various personal artifacts littering the top; a framed photo of the inhabitants of the home, a silver jewelry box, a recent news paper with the headline, "Dwarf Mine Break In!", and a soft, white, knitted baby blanket embroidered with purple ribbon. On the other side was a window, which was currently wide open to let the morning breeze fill the room. It offered a view of the vast rolling hills and forrest that surrounded the house. The large chestnut bed sat in the middle of the room. The side opposite of where Emma was sprawled was empty. This didn't surprise Emma in the slightest; her lover was usually up at the crack of dawn, no matter if there was nothing planned for the day at all. After laying and contemplating her options for a few minutes, Emma decided she best stop moping, and thus headed downstairs.
As she made her way down to the staircase and towards the kitchen, the smell of fresh bread filled her nose and made her stomach rumble hungrily. But she was stopped midway by a small boy, who crash landed into her, while he most certainly shouldn't have been running inside of the house.
"Woah kid, careful", said Emma automatically, although it was more of a reflex now. She had grown accustom over the past several months to living in the same house as Henry. To say he was full of energy was the understatement of the year. With an entire new world to explore, he was always running here and there, in and out of the house, and Emma never really had the heart to discipline him more than a simple warning every time she was almost knocked of her feet while he paid little attention to where he was going.
"Yes! You're fiiiiinally awake. Now you can bring me to the lake, like you promised", Henry spurted out almost instantaneously.
"Uhh, hold on there kiddo, I need some food and caffeine first," replied Emma.
Emma wasn't even sure if Henry heard her, but she thought she could hear a faint 'Okay!' from him as he ran back outside. She did notice however, the mud tracks that he left behind from his muddy boots, that trailed all the way to the door.
"Great", she muttered to herself, and made a mental note to clean it before it had the chance to harden and permanently stain the floor.
Emma turned and walked the few steps remaining into the kitchen. A beautiful raven-haired woman was facing away from her, cutting a loaf of fresh bread. She was tall and slender, with wavy hair that reached halfway down her back. She was wearing a simple pale blue dress- something that Emma once would have been shocked to see her even touch, let alone wear. But things were different now. Everything was different now. Her world had quite literally vanished in front of her very eyes just over a year ago, and it still managed to take Emma by surprise every morning.
Emma sat herself at the small table in the kitchen, where a cup of steaming coffee was waiting for her. She raised it her lips, and could almost taste the liquid caffeine, before she stopped herself, feeling highly annoyed.
"Could you pass me a glass of orange juice?" Emma asked, almost begrudgingly.
"Since when do you drink juice?" asked the puzzled women, while giving Emma a curious look.
"I just, feel like a change" replied Emma.
Her face showed she didn't believe Emma, but none the less, she poured Emma a glass of juice, and didn't push the matter any further, there was obviously something else on the woman's mind.
"I was thinking I'd come down to the lake with you and Henry today, it's been far too long since he's been off the house property with the two of us" chimed the woman.
"Mmm", replied Emma absentmindedly.
"Really? That was quite easy, usually it takes a good half hour debate until you agree, glad to see you're coming to your senses," she chuckled.
"Mmm, yeah."
The woman turned around and glanced at Emma over her shoulder, "Are you even listening to me?" she asked. "Emma?"
"What? Oh, yeah, sorry, I guess I was daydreaming" Emma said, although still not passing most of her attention to the woman standing across the room.
"What's going on? You've been acting weird lately."
"It's nothing, I don't really feel up to talking right now. I have to get ready, Henry's waiting." Emma said, and stood up from her seat at the table.
"No no, you'll tell me now," she said in a stern voice, "What's wrong?"
Emma looked up at the woman, who had now turned around the face her. Her arms were crossed over her chest, as she waited for some sort of response. Emma took a deep breath before she replied. It had to come out sooner or later.
"Regina, I'm pregnant."
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