Starting line was pulled from hunnyfresh's list. I also blame giftofamber for mentioning #magicbaby fic over on Twitter. Consider this the outcome from viewing Jolly Roger SwanQueen graphics from Marynesq, too. LOL
Never Lie to Your Doctor
—
"Never lie to your doctor."
She stared at him from the bunk where she sat, captive there to queasiness once they'd dropped anchor offshore of the main island. Emma, her cabin mate, was off-ship with both Charming and Hook, scouting likely positions for the Lost Ones to be holding Henry.
Henry. There was no way she would allow anything to come between her and finding her child. Her brows narrowed and drew downward. "You are NOT my doctor."
"I'm the closest thing you've got right now, and I'm telling you—"
"No." Her hand slashed the air, cutting him off. "I'm telling you it. Is. Not. Possible."
"You've spent a great deal of time on this ship in the company of her captain."
"Jones! You think… Hook? How dare you? I have not slept—" She cut herself off with a snarl of disgust.
Rumpelstiltskin studied the charm he held out, dangling from a chain in the space between them. His dark eyes narrowed and watched it twisting back and forth. It was glowing a slightly lavender color. Out of the corner of his eye he caught movement and withdrew the charm, tucking it in his pocket before Regina could snatch it away.
He took a step back. "Then, of course, I must be wrong."
Regina frowned and pushed herself off the bunk, swallowing back the bile that tried to rise. She sighed. "You're seldom wrong."
"This is true," he said with a cheery cackle.
Regina's face paled. She shook her head and asked the only necessary question now. "Can you tell me who?"
"You say it's not Hook."
"It's certainly not that pansy Charming!"
"So unless you've had a visit from a Lost One, it has to be magic." Rumpelstiltskin nodded in clear agreement with his voiced thought. He cupped his chin briefly with his hand. "Since I can't say I've had the pleasure," he smirked. Regina growled. "There is someone else aboard who possesses magic."
Without her permission, Regina's eyes jerked to Emma's bunk. She started to shake her head then nodded in acquiescence to the knowledge.
The heat drained from her face and she sat back down hard on the bunk. The other night had become more than simple comfort of their fears for their son. Her heart raced and her palms and center warmed with the memories.
"It seems you have something to tell Miss Swan when she returns from the day's reconnaissance."
Regina nodded. He said nothing further and left her alone. She lifted her hand to her stomach, still staring at Emma's bunk.
Fear fluttered in her stomach now. A baby.
She had absolutely no idea what Emma would say. Regina hardly believed it, and she was well-versed in magic. Emma hated that she possessed magic. They had only just agreed for Regina to help her learn to control and use it — for Henry's sake — over breakfast the morning afterward, which had been yesterday.
Wincing, she rose again and went topside. At the railing, gripping it with tight, white knuckles, she focused on the island with everything she had in her.
Emma was crouched behind a bush, that looked like every other damn bush in this place. It was dew draped from the encroaching signs of dawn. Next to her she felt David's presence and heard his breathing against the backdrop of stillness. Further along she sensed Hook. Then she heard the underbrush crackling. She spun and rose to her feet, lifting both her right hand with her gun, and her left curled into a fist.
The Lost One standing before her didn't even flinch. Emma cursed under her breath and lowered her hands. She saw David standing a few feet away and Hook stepping through the brush further along. The cloaked figure said, "He's waiting for you."
Emma started forward only to jolt to a stop as a wave of nausea slammed into her gut. She clutched her stomach and fell to the ground, the edges of her vision darkening. She struggled at first at the hands that reached for her, thinking it the Lost One, until she distinguished David's voice from the din roaring in her ears as she hovered on the edge of consciousness.
Clear as day, Emma suddenly saw Regina standing at the bow of the Jolly Roger, knuckles white, her brown eyes searching the horizon for something.
The image wavered as she realized the Lost One wasn't alone. The clearing where they had thought to hide and spy on the Lost Ones camp had become surrounded by their quarry.
Emma. The voiceless cry filled her mind. "Regina," she murmured just before she blacked out.
She opened her eyes to find herself on her back, staring up at the sky, the ground rocking under her back. She sat up. Not the ground. The ship. She was back aboard the Jolly Roger.
"Emma!"
She heard footfalls and looked up to see Regina rushing toward her from the railing. She looked around to see she was alone. "What the hell?" Regina helped Emma to her feet, where she swayed unsteadily with the woman's grip still under her elbow. She clasped her hand around the brunette's. "You left David and Hook back there!"
"Back where?"
"On the island. Dammit! We were surrounded by Lost Ones." Emma ran to the railing. "Why did you bring me back here?"
"I didn't do anything."
Emma heard something strained in Regina's reply, not a lie, but anxiety. "So how the hell did I end up back here?"
"You used your magic, dearie."
Emma rounded on Rumpelstiltskin angrily, raising her hands. She hadn't consciously thought what she would do if she got her hands on him.
It didn't matter. The Dark One stumbled backward, his expression wide open in surprise, before he could raise his hand and steady himself with a magic-thought.
"You really must control yourself, Miss Swan. Anger is how Regina got where she is. You don't want to have the same happen to you."
He seemed almost gleeful. Emma lowered her hands. She stiffened then relaxed as she realized Regina was approaching her left shoulder.
"Emma," Regina said, "we need to talk."
Emma looked down at her hands as if they were mutinous betrayers. They were shaking, and she could just make out a glow around the finger tips. She closed her fingers out of sight into fists. The tension and anger in her body leeched away under a surprisingly soft touch as Regina's hand closed over Emma's shoulder. All that was left behind was exhaustion. She exhaled. "All right." She looked at Rumpelstiltskin. "You bring David and Hook back here," she demanded.
The Dark One gave a tight nod and grimly set his lips in a tight line. David and Hook materialized on the deck in partial fighting stances. David had his sword drawn. Hook was on his back as if fighting someone above him. They scrambled to their feet. David started toward Emma. "Emma!"
Her father was stopped by the shake of Rumple's head and the man's hand out in silent opposition.
"I need to talk to Regina," Emma said. She turned and dropped her head, stuffing her hands into her pockets as she headed below deck alongside the brunette.
Regina closed the door to their shared cabin as soon as they were inside.
"You really didn't bring me back here with magic?" Emma asked.
"I didn't. I was still sick this morning when you left with your father."
"Are you feeling any better?" Emma asked.
"That will depend on you."
"Depends on me? What can I do?" Regina smiled sadly as she was suddenly caught up in Emma's embrace.
"You can do anything, Emma. You have magic. True love magic is the most powerful magic of all. It can create happiness." When she said it — the same words she had said to young Snow an eon ago — Regina realized that's exactly what had happened.
With her magic, Emma Swan had created Regina Mills' happy ending. First she had Henry.
She looked up at the fear and doubt flickering in green eyes and cupped a cheek softly, brushing the arch of the bone with the pad of her thumb.
"And now we have something else to look forward to after we get Henry back." She pulled Emma's hand from her hip to her belly.
"Regina, I don't think this is the time for a little…"
"No. I know. Close your eyes. Just a moment."
She watched as Emma's confusion reigned briefly but then she put her trust in Regina and closed her eyes. That was another gift, Regina realized. Emma trusted her, believed her.
She adjusted the touch of Emma's palm, stroking over the back of her hand against her belly in gentle circles.
Emma's forehead touched her own, unwittingly passing the memory of her conversation with Rumpelstiltskin directly mind-to-mind.
Emma's bewilderment washed through Regina as if she was experiencing it herself. On her belly, Emma's hand shifted and tensed. Regina squeezed the back trying to offer reassurance.
The breath from Emma's mouth warmed Regina's lips. "You're pregnant." Regina didn't nod. Emma had not been asking for confirmation, just making a statement.
"You okay?" Emma asked finally after the silence had obviously lingered on too long for the younger woman.
"I'll be happier off this boat and back in Storybrooke with our son safe and sound, but yes, I'm all right." Regina exhaled and asked back, "Are you?"
She felt Emma's hesitation; the sensation sent a knot into Regina's throat. She swallowed it back. One night didn't erase a lifetime of conditioned responses; she knew that all too well. Regina continued to hold Emma's hand against her stomach, gently but definitely. She watched Emma's gaze, which didn't meet hers, instead staring at Regina's stomach in the lingering silence.
Slowly Emma's fingers began tracing random swirls against Regina's belly. Emma's magic drifted like tendrils of smoke from her fingertips, curling and uncurling.
"She's going to look just like you," Emma said. When her eyes lifted, Regina felt the flat of Emma's palm spread wide, causing a penetrating warmth to slide deep inside Regina and curl around her heart.
The weight of the emotion flowing between them felt the same as the weight of Emma's body that night: comforting.
Emma's eyes, when Regina fell into their green swirls, were so beautiful her breath hitched in her throat at the sight. The knot from earlier dislodged and she gasped into Emma's lips pressing against hers, filled with longing and love.
.