A/N: Hi lovelies, thanks for reading and thanks for the comments so far. One of the big questions will be answered in this chapter :).
Baby Fever 2 - 'Lightning fast'
Emma helped Regina upstairs to their bedroom and got her into bed. Her contractions were still coming hard and fast and she wouldn't let Emma leave her side. Mary Margaret and Kathryn brought in a bunch of towels and whatever they could find that would be useful. The town's obstetrician Dr Reed was on speaker phone giving them instructions as best he could.
Emma sat with her back against the headboard of the bed holding Regina in front of her. She gripped her hand with white knuckles and the other hand was fisted in the bedsheets. Emma murmured encouragements in her ear.
"You're doing great, gorgeous. Soon our baby will be in your arms..."
"This was your idea." Regina clenched her teeth against the pain.
"Last chance for a spoiler! Is it a boy or a girl?"
Regina panted with the effort of trying to talk with no breath left. "I can't believe you'd - try to get it out of - me when I'm labouring!"
Emma placed a kiss in her hair near her temple. "Love you, Gi."
"I hate it when you call - me that."
Kathryn moved the bottom of the bedsheet up while after Reed finished talking. "Regina honey, I just have to check how it's going, ok."
A loud crash from outside and a light that split the sky made them all jump.
"I think lightning just struck in the yard," cringed Mary Margaret, holding a receiving blanket across her forearms.
"Well, this is one lightning-fast kid," chuckled Dr Reed's voice, coming over the tinny speaker.
The doctor gave the ok to push and Emma shifted Regina to the edge of the bed in front of Kathryn.
"Ok here we go!"
Kathryn whisked the baby away with Mary Margaret so they could check the infant over according to Reed's instructions. The short punctuated cries were reassuring and the baby's colour, reflex, and tone all looked good. They would have to get to a hospital soon for proper medical care however.
"Please, give her to me," pleaded Regina breathlessly.
"Guys, can you hurry it up," said Emma, getting anxious on behalf of her wife. She smoothed Regina's sweaty hair out of her face and let her wife lay back against her in exhaustion.
Mary Margaret swaddled the baby and carefully placed the bundle in Regina's grateful arms.
"It's a boy," announced Kathryn to the new parents.
Emma smiled joyfully but Regina surprised them with her shocked face. "What?! But Dr Reed said she was supposed to be a girl!"
"Maybe this little guy was shy on the sonograms?" suggested Kathryn with a smile.
Regina started to panic and shook her head. "No. No. Emma, you have to take the baby!"
"Everything's ok. We'll get to hospital as soon as we can," soothed Emma.
"No, you have to take him!"
Emma looked at her wife in alarm. "Gi, you're scaring me."
A figure materialised in the corner of the room, an all-too-familiar form seemingly appearing out of nowhere. He wore his usual suave black suit with accents in the tie and pocket and leaned on a silver-tipped cane with both hands.
"Congratulations on the birth of your son, Your Majesty."
"Gold," Regina growled protectively and held the baby closer.
"What the hell are you doing here?" demanded Emma.
"I'm here for that baby," said Gold, pointing at the child to clarify the one he meant, as though there were any other in the room for it to be confused with.
"What!" spat Emma.
"A deal's a deal."
"What deal?!" yelled Emma, causing the baby to cry out in fear in halting mewls.
"Sorry, dearies. It's naptime."
Gold waved his hand in the air and Emma slumped unconscious where she was. Mary Margaret and Kathryn slid to the floor in identical fainting thuds.
Regina glared at him tearfully with pure hatred burning in her eyes. "I'll kill you for this."
Gold regarded her casually as though she amused him. "Hell hath no fury? The phrase could've been invented for you, Regina."
"Please no!"
Regina gasped in shock when her baby disappeared out of her arms and vanished into a cloud of purple smoke. Gold left with the little boy as quick as he'd come.
When Emma and the others regained consciousness, Regina was lying on her side sobbing uncontrollably in pain. The baby was nowhere to be seen.
Henry and David jogged up Mifflin St. Some of the roads were still blocked so they'd driven as far they could and then decided to go the rest of the way on foot since it wasn't that far. Thankfully ambulances were getting through now but they were overwhelmed with calls. David slowed to a march so that he could field calls from Emergency Services updating him on the situation.
Water mains had burst on Main, Second, and Third Streets. Power was still out in various parts of the town. The tremors had stopped thankfully, but some buildings had taken a fair bit of damage. There were no reports of any actual deaths so far, but David didn't want to put too much hope into it since there were a number of people reported unaccounted for.
"What's causing this?" David wondered in frustration as he hung up the phone.
"Mom's magic has been going haywire... maybe it's that?" suggested Henry, trying to keep pace with the taller man.
"If it is... let's hope the baby comes before she destroys half the town."
When the pair of them got to the house, they ran upstairs calling out but received no answers. David checked the upstairs bedroom and the somber mood of the women inside filled him with a sickening sense of dread. His first thought sent chilling terror down his spine, that the baby hadn't survived.
Mary Margaret was kneeling in front of the bedside next to Kathryn, they were both trying to comfort Regina. Emma sat on the edge on the opposite far side with her head in her hands and her back to the door.
"Mom?" Henry went straight to Regina but she squeezed her eyes shut at the sight of him.
"What happened?" said David to Mary Margaret in bewilderment. "Where's the baby?"
Mary Margaret gave him the saddest look he'd ever seen and explained what'd happened with a single word. "Rumpelstiltzskin."
David's heart sank like lead into his stomach as he realised what must've happened. Gold must've taken the baby. It certainly explained the devastation written all over his daughter and her wife. But why? He vowed silently that they would do whatever it took to get the newest member of their family back.
Emma spoke up in a monotone voice. "Regina needs to go to the hospital."
Kathryn wrapped the cover from the bed around Regina so that David could lift her carefully into his arms, taking her downstairs to the car. Regina didn't make a sound of protest, merely laying her head weakly on his shoulder.
In the driveway Emma and Henry watched them settle into the car and buckle up. "We'll follow you in my Bug. Meet you there."
Mary Margaret sat in the back with Regina, and David and Kathryn sat in the front as they pulled out of the driveway. Emma watched the car slowly make it's way down the street.
"We're not going to the hospital are we," said Henry.
"No, kid," said Emma grimly. "We're not."
Emma kicked open the door to Gold's pawn shop and it slammed against the wall shattering each of the panes of glass. The bell rang with a bright ding as it crashed to the floor. She and Henry scanned the empty room quickly and then they heard a baby cry out in the back.
"GOLD!" screamed Emma, striding for the back of the shop. "WHERE'S MY SON?!"
She ran through the doorway to see Mr Gold sitting in a chair holding a bottle for the newborn to suck on. But the baby was crying in distress and refusing to suckle. The sound of the cries set every nerve of Emma's on edge as the protective instinct rose to a furour inside her.
"What do you want with our son!" demanded Emma, when Gold noticed them.
"A Mills first-born son. That was the deal."
"I don't care about your stupid deal!" said Emma fiercely. "The baby needs to go to the hospital. He needs his mother. See, he won't even eat. He won't thrive without her. Please, I'm begging you."
"There are consequences to breaking a deal, dearie," warned Gold.
Emma inhaled heavily. "Fine. Then we'll make a new deal."
"What do you have to offer."
Emma wanted to scream at him, she had nothing to bargain with of course. "What do you want?"
"Another child," said Gold, with a significant look towards the teen at Emma's side. "Henry for the baby."
Horror filled her at what he seemed to be implying. "Choose between my sons? You can't ask me to make such a disgusting choice."
"And yet I just did. The choice is yours. Make sure it's the right one."
The baby or Henry... Regina... The baby or Henry... Regina... The baby...
Emma felt sick and closed her eyes before whispering. "Deal."
She grabbed Henry's arm and started reassuring him furiously. "Henry, I'm gonna get you back if it's the last thing I do - I promise - nothing will stop me - but I have to do this -"
Henry nodded to interrupt her. "Mom! Mom, I know! It's the right choice. Take my baby brother home."
"Henry, whatever happens-"
"I'll be fine and I'll find you again I promise. This is what big brothers do."
Henry lifted his chin proudly and his bravery almost broke her heart in two. At fourteen years old he stood nearly as tall as Regina now but he was all gangly limbs like Emma herself had been when she was growing up and his hair was cut short like David's. He had run away at only ten and brought Emma to Storybrooke, starting a chain reaction of events that eventually led Emma and Regina to each other. Now he was going to pay the price of the deal for whatever Gold wanted with him, and she was terrified of losing her son.
Henry took the crying bundle from Gold and handed him over to Emma. The teen placed a kiss on his baby brother's forehead and whispered goodbye.
"I'll see you soon, Emma. Tell Mom I love her."
Purple smoke swirled around the boy and the man until they disappeared into thin air.
Emma pushed the clear plastic pram/trolley holding her baby son into Regina's hospital room where the brunette was sleeping with a frown on her face. The baby was fine and Emma had almost cried with relief when the ER doctor checked him out. He was a little small but there were no problems so far. He was healthy. Beautiful. Safe.
Emma sat on the bed gently and took Regina's hand in hers in their favourite way, the way they'd been joined when they'd been stuck together by Love Flu.
Regina stirred and her eyes fluttered open tiredly. "Emma?"
The baby mewled and Regina's eyes snapped immediately to her son. "My baby! How did you get him back?"
Emma was saved from having to explain by the appearance of Dr Reed knocking on the door coming to check on them all.
"Hi, you three. A bit of excitement we've had today haven't we," said the kind middle-aged doctor.
"Is Regina ok?" Emma asked him anxiously.
"Yes, don't worry Mommy," he smiled at Emma. "Mommy and the bub are both doing well."
"But - she's ok right - I mean, she gave birth at home like it's the year 1815 or something and we didn't have any idea what we were doing-"
Dr Reed nodded reassuringly. "Yes, everything is fine considering all that. The baby is a bit on the small side but not too underweight, that was why we were intending to induce Regina next week in the first place."
Emma shot her wife a confused look. "Induce? What- Why didn't you tell me?"
"I forgot," said Regina, avoiding her wife's worried eyes.
Emma paused, pushing aside her own feelings. "It's okay. Um, Dr Reed? Could I have a word in the hall? About the - insurance forms - you know."
Regina's eyes narrowed suspiciously as Emma led the doctor outside her room and shut the door.
Emma glanced sideways and lowered her voice to Reed. "What is going on? Is there something you're not telling me? Is my wife really ok?"
Dr Reed nodded yet again. "Yes, Emma. I'm sorry, I didn't know you weren't aware of the birth plan for next week. Because of her slight build and the fact that the baby was also small I thought it best to be safe."
"I wasn't at the last appointment... are you saying my wife forgot to tell me when our son was going to be born? She forgot? Does that make sense to you?"
Reed placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Emma, she may have. But I am concerned about her. It's perfectly normal to have mood changes after delivery, but you must keep an eye on her in case it develops into post-natal depression."
Emma rubbed a hand over her eyes and spoke half to herself. "Our son, Henry, is missing. She doesn't know. What am I going to tell her?"
She thanked Reed again for his understanding and went back into the hospital room where Regina was staring sightlessly at the baby.
"Emma, how did you get the baby back."
Panic attacked Emma's lungs and seized her breath, she had to fight down nausea. "I made a deal. I traded Henry for the baby."
"What have you done!" cried Regina. "You gave that man our son?!"
The baby woke in fright and started to cry loudly.
"They're both our sons, what was I supposed to do? The baby needs you-"
"Emma," said Regina with cold fury. "Get out."
Emma obeyed on shaky legs, bursting out of the room and into the hall. She saw her parents who had returned from getting dinner, but she went right past them. She wasn't going to make it to the bathroom so she grabbed the nearest bin and threw up.