Quick observation before you start: For this story I'm ignoring completely the fact that the author disappeared with the ink and everything. Just ignore that part too. I hope you enjoy Unborn and don't forget to leave a review!
She never really thought something good could come out of a failed plan. Never really imagined she would allow herself to love so deeply.
On the first ultrassom she was completely and ultimately unattached. It was as if it wasn't with her. As though she wasn't even there. Robin smiled at the tiny little dot on the screen and looked hopefully at Regina. The brunette returned the look with kindness. Her lips stayed on the same flat line they were before the eye contact.
Zelena kept her gaze fixed on the wall.
But even with all she had done, even with all that had happened, Robin still helped her out of the gurney. Still asked if she wanted something different to eat. She shook her head and he went back to Regina's side.
When her eyes met her sister's, she should have felt a small bit of victory. Because Regina could try to hide it all she wanted, but Zelena knew better, had the same poker face. The not Evil Queen was sad. And somewhere deep inside her ached immensely from the idea of the child that grew in her womb.
So at least for a little while there was that.
When she really started to show, when her belly started to grow a bump, she laid at night, the only lamp they allowed on while she gazed at the rounded flesh, while she traced the tip of her forefinger around her stomach. Imagining how it would be like, to feel the baby kicking, to feel it moving around.
Robin tried to visit sometimes. Not that he was particularly warm to her, not by then anyhow, but he tried. Tried to take care of her because not even the fact of her being who she was could erase the fact that the baby inside of her was his.
He asked her how she was feeling. Are you eating alright? Do you have enough blankets? Are all of your prenatal vitamins in order? Do you need another bed?
And she would try to sooth his nerves, maybe sooth hers too, and she would say that yes, she was fine, yes, the food was alright, yes, the blankets were enough and that yes the pills and the bed were good enough she guessed.
And he would say something every time before he left.
We all have some demons. Children find their way around it.
And he would spin on his heels and leave.
And she would be left with his voice talking to Regina when they finally met on the corridor and she would be left with the strange need to lay a hand on her bump once again.
On the second ultrassom, Regina was closer to the gurney and to Robin and to her and to the screen.
Her hand firmly on Robin's, their fingers intertwined, and was it an engagement ring? - she would ask that to him during another visit and no, it wasn't. Just a ring. But he thought about it sometimes, he would admit that much - And they would pay attention to what the doctor would say and nod their heads when he pointed at the different parts of the baby's anatomy.
Zelena's eyes still stayed glued to the wall. But she would get to know the form of the child later on, because two days later, when not only Robin but Regina too showed up for the visit, she would handle her a photograph. The blackness all around the infant ignored once her eyes fixed on the small form.
She would play it cool though. Would say a playing nice, I see? and then would secure the square piece of paper under her pillow.
But after lights were out and her lamp was on, then she would take it out of it's hidden place and she would stare at it, a hand again on top of her bigger rounded belly and a lip between her teeth.
That was the first time she felt something. The first time she could officially say she cared about the life she was creating.
When the cravings begun, Regina arranged her a cell phone, one that only called one number, hers, but a cell phone alright. And every time she caved in - and those did not, under any circumstances happened frequently - Robin would come with the package of her desired food ready to go. He wouldn't ask any questions, wouldn't pull away disgusted if their fingers happened to brush in her haze to get to the treat, wouldn't pull a face at the strange combinations she would create or at the embarrassing noises of pleasure she would let slip.
On her sixth month mark they showed up later than they normally did. She frowned when not only the couple walked through the door but also Roland and Henry.
"What is this? A family reunion?"
Her sister rolled her eyes but handed her a paper plate anyhow.
She looked at the drawing at the superficie of it and her frown deepened. A diaper. With an best baby shower written below it.
"You're throwing me a shower?" She looked at Robin's face and he smiled a little bit, nodded. And then at Regina. Her face was harder, but still not angry.
In fact, if she really thought about it, she would noticed how Regina's hair was longer, how the lines around her eyes had all but disappeared, how the light danced more freely on her features.
"Is my little sister in there?" Roland tried to whisper to Henry. But the boy didn't really know how to control his voice and the room was small. So Robin tried to explain to him what was happening. And his cute little face screwed into one that made it clear he was really concentrated. "Can I touch it?"
"No." Regina didn't think about it. Didn't let a space for doubt. But Robin turned to her, a knee still leaned on the floor, hands still on his son's tiny shoulders and she sighed. So when Robin turned back to Zelena she sighed. And nodded. So Roland walked up to her place seated on the bed and softly, with a feather-like touch, laid a hand on her stomach.
She would disguise it and no one would notice it, but the damn tear that wettened her eyes almost fell.
She blamed it on the hormones. Not on the fact that maybe, maybe she missed the small guy.
That night her daughter kicked for the very first time. And she wasn't asleep yet, so she felt it completely and straightforward. Like a little bubbling on the inside. And a small movement on the outside.
And she smiled when she laid a hand on the spot and the small feet made contact with it a second after.
On her eighth month she was scared, but she was also huge. And the room was too small for her. So after much consideration, Regina and Robin showed up one day, Henry in town - the boy had grown too much during the time she found her days spent in the hospital - and a pack your things fell from her sister's lips.
You're staying with us until you deliver, come on.
Robin encouraged her, helped her up and smiled softly when her belly bumped with his stomach. Probably because he'd never touched the bump before. He didn't want to touch her in that way and she didn't want no one touching her in anyway.
When they got to the big white house, she felt refreshed. It'd been months since she'd last seen anything besides blank walls and monotonous furniture. At least Regina had some warmth into the decor.
So for the following month she stayed at a secured room on the first floor. Easy to access in case she went into labor, close to the bathroom, to the kitchen and the living room. But all things she could use to escape were secured with powerful magic.
Not that she would think about that.
How could she think about running away being the size she was at the moment?
So she lived happily with the few things she did have access to. The TV, the library, the comfy bed.
And during that month she got to see Robin and Regina closely, she understood them. How different their love was, how adult it all had become. It wasn't just a bond due to the soulmate deal. It was love. Responsible and raw love. Because they both had kids, because he had another one on the way, because she couldn't conceive, not until they found an antidote that worked on her.
Because they loved each other and had to find a way to sooth the fights and to move past the disagreements.
When she went into labor, she was scared. She was down to the bone scared. Not of giving birth, not from the pain that ran so deeply. Not from that. But what would happen later. Because Regina would take away her daughter. Because she had the right to, because Zelena had done bad things.
And for the first time in her life, she regretted everything.
"I'm sorry." She would say between her teeth while she worked through another contraction. Regina would arch an eyebrow and give her a cup of water. With a straw that she didn't question whose idea had been. "I'm sorry. Please. I'm sorry." She would say while she was pushing and Regina would sigh while holding her hand - not that it was something she would deliberately do, but the woman's scream was driving her nuts and when Zelena blindly grabbed her hand, she didn't pull it off.
"I'm sorry Regina. Please don't take her." She would whisper while tears she really didn't pay too much attention to ran down her face and she held her daughter for the first time. The darker shade of red hair, the tiny little chin and expressive but sweet little mouth, the greenish-blue eyes. She was perfect. And she fit perfectly in her arms and she never thought she would love someone like that, never thought something so perfect would come out of a failed plan, but it did. She did. And Christine was perfect.
Regina sighed beside her, her eyes pulling away from the infant to cross with Robin's, that nodded. Her gaze went back to the baby and she kept playing with her ring, an engagement ring that time, when she whispered.
"Ok."