Baby Fever 3 - 'By any other name'
David set a cup of coffee on the table and then went to sit next to Emma in the near-empty cafeteria. She had her elbows on her knees, resting her chin on her hands, staring intently into space. They were taking a break from waiting around outside Regina's hospital room like they had been ever since she had been admitted that evening.
"How are you doing?" said David, rubbing a hand across Emma's back.
"Worried about my family," said Emma tonelessly. "Regina. The baby. Henry."
David noticed that she hadn't really answered the question he'd asked. "We'll find him."
"I know, it's just -" Emma scrubbed her hands over her drawn face. "How could I do this? I gave him up - again!"
"This is nothing like the last time, I think you know that."
"Yes, this is worse. Because I knew what I was doing when I made the deal. I gave him over to some evil bastard who has god-knows-what in mind. Regina is never gonna forgive me for this. I can't forgive myself. If anything happens to Henry-"
David drew his daughter to his side in a hug and just held her. He had to admit, though he hated the thought, he had the same unspoken fears for the marriage between his daughter and her wife. Not many a couple could stand to lose a child and stay together.
"You guys are strong. You'll pull through this," said David.
"How do you deal with it," wondered Emma wearily.
"What?"
"Losing a child."
"I don't know," David admitted grimly and raised one shoulder. "I guess you just-"
"We're not gonna make it are we," said Emma suddenly, voice clouding with tears.
David sighed internally, thinking of three women in his life. Mary Margaret, Emma, and Regina had more in common than ever before. They were all mothers who had lost a baby one way or another shortly after giving birth.
He patted Emma's shoulder and indicated for her to get up and follow him. He knew what his daughter needed right now.
Mary Margaret poked her head through the door to Regina's hospital room, checking to see if she was awake this late. The hospital staff were being really lenient with regards to visiting hours but only after Emma had taken to flashing her badge around them. The pixie-haired woman went over to sit by the bed and then realised why Regina was sitting up and holding the baby to her chest with a light sheet draped over her shoulder.
"Oh! Sorry, do you want me to go?" Mary Margaret whispered.
"Please, stay."
Mary Margaret smiled gently. "Of course. How is my little grandson enjoying the world so far?"
Regina bit her lip anxiously. "He won't feed."
"Oh well, he's still learning. Do you want me to go get Emma. Or the nurse?"
Regina firmly indicated no and fixed her gown back up.
"How can you forgive me," asked Regina, gazing down into her baby's lovely face.
"Forgive you for what?" Mary Margaret asked carefully, not sure if the new mother was talking to the baby or her. Emma had warned her and David about keeping an eye on Regina's state of mind.
"Was it like this for you?"
"I don't understand."
"I ripped your child out of your arms at birth... why aren't you happy that I know how it feels now?"
Mary Margaret was full of compassion for her daughter's wife but she was puzzled where this fixation on the past was coming from. "I would never wish that on anyone, least of all you."
But that wasn't reassuring and the guilt seeped from Regina's every pore. She didn't want to be hated but neither did she want to be forgiven so easily. It set her up against an impossible standard she thought she wasn't even deserving to be near. How could she hold Emma responsible for this when she herself had done much worse?
"Hey, have you two thought of a name yet?" asked Mary Margaret brightly.
Regina looked up, focussing on something distant. "Emma is going to name the baby. She picked one of each I think."
"Oh no. I'm not sure I'd trust my daughter to name anything... after all, she calls Henry 'kid' and she named her car 'Bug'."
Mary Margaret almost cheered upon seeing she'd earned a small wistful smile from Regina but she gaped at her next words.
"Then I suppose you don't want to know what she named my breasts."
The two women looked up when the door to her room opened and David came in with Emma, who was fidgeting nervously. Emma's eyes were immediately drawn to her wife and child. Green locked onto brown and held.
"Hi, gorgeous," Emma whispered hopefully.
"Where are we going Mr Gold?" asked Henry, looking away from the departures board at the airport. The domestic terminal was full of people darting about chaotically. Boarding announcements came over the PA but they were barely audible over the din.
"We're going to find my son," Gold stuffed a scarf into his bag.
"I didn't know you had a son."
Gold hid a sigh, thinking of long ago. "Before the curse, my son came to this land. I need to find him."
"But doesn't that mean he could be anywhere? How are we going to find him - magic?"
Gold gave the teen a wry look. "The internet."
Henry pumped his fist triumphantly. "Now THAT I can help with. Emma taught me everything she knows about finding people but I've got a few tricks too."
"You're a smart young man, Henry." Gold nodded at him once and went to go to the bathroom.
Henry grinned to himself and took a seat in the lounge. He checked over his shoulder first before pulling out his laptop and typing in a website in order to leave a breadcrumb.
"Yep, you have no idea what I'm capable of."
Regina had been in the hospital for four nights but she asked to be discharged on the fifth day to settle in at home. Dr Reed had given her and the baby the all-clear since she was recovering from the birth well, her mood seemed to be stable (taking into account her anxiety about Henry being missing) and since she was now nursing with no problems she was fine to leave.
Emma was still keeping as close an eye on her as possible although her priorities were divided and she felt like she was being pulled in all different directions. Every night she bullied the nurses into letting her stay at the hospital so she could help with Regina and the baby. During the day she would spend a few hours at the station with David overseeing the disaster recovery effort as well as trying to figure out what to do about Henry... but they both knew this wasn't just an ordinary case of a missing child. They knew exactly what'd happened to him and who had taken him. They just didn't know where he was or how to even start to look for him, given that Gold had all the power of magic at his fingertips.
Emma sat on Regina's hospital bed while her wife changed into the clothes she'd brought her from home. She flicked through the hospital discharge paperwork and pulled out one of the forms just as Regina came out of the bathroom dressed.
"You ok?" Emma eyed her face carefully.
"Yes, Emma," sighed Regina. "If you'd stop asking me every five minutes..."
"Ok, we gotta name this kid," said Emma after a while. She started to fill in the birth certificate while taking glances at the baby sleeping in the pram ready to go.
"With your unimaginative way of naming things I'm almost afraid to ask," said Regina, gathering up her things into the duffle bag Emma brought.
"Don't tempt me," said Emma with a little of their old playfulness and then announced what she'd had in mind for months.
"DJ."
Regina pinned a warning look on her. "Emma..."
Emma held up the birth certificate to show what she'd written for the name.
"His name is David James Mills?" said Regina.
Emma nodded. "I gave birth to Henry and you named him after your father. You gave birth to David James and I named him after mine. It has that thing."
"Symmetry?"
"Yep."
Regina lifted an eyebrow at her. "Emma, you do realise your father's real name is neither David nor James."
"I know, but he wouldn't tell me his actual name. I think he knew why I was asking. I bet his name is something weird. So unless you want our kid to be named 'Shepherd boy'..."
A knock sounded at the open door and they saw Ethel Montague there with her son, a blond fourteen year old who was taller than she was.
"Are visitors welcome?" Mrs Montague asked.
Emma smiled mildly. "Yes of course, thank you. We're not going to be here much longer though..."
"Oh we won't stay long! Tim just came to bring a gift and see if Henry was here or not."
The air between Regina and Emma cracked like a glacier at the mention of the topic that had been frozen between them for days. They'd avoided talking about it, each trying not to upset the other by bringing up what they couldn't do anything about. So they'd focussed on the baby instead.
Mrs Montague went over to coo at the sleeping baby in the pram and Tim handed a gift bag to Regina that was full of soft toys and stuffed balls with bells inside them.
"Congratulations, Mrs Mills," said Tim shyly. "Henry picked the toys too."
"That's very sweet, Tim," said Regina, forcing a bright smile.
"How come Henry's in New York?" asked Tim curiously.
Emma's heart leapt into her throat and she exchanged an urgent glance with Regina. "Tim, why do you think Henry's in New York?"
The teen shrugged and pulled out his oddly-sized iPhone to show Emma the screen. "He tweeted me yesterday, see?"
Emma took the phone with shaky hands. "Tim, I'm old. Explain this to me."
"Ok well, the bit that says tickingtimbomb is me and the rest is the message Henry wrote to me."
"All it says is 'BIG APPLE'?" said Emma, checking with the boy.
Tim shrugged again. "I thought it was weird him being there when the baby was coming. But it says 'posted near Times Square'..."
The iPhone beeped with a new message and Tim grabbed it back to scroll through to check it. "Look, he's just posted a new photo."
It was a photo Henry had taken of himself making a Rock On gesture with his hand, standing in front of a crowded intersection which Emma recognised immediately.
"That IS Times Square! What is he doing there?"
"He's ok?" breathed Regina, relieved to see evidence of her son. "Thankyou for showing this to us, Tim."
Thanks to his best friend they both knew now that Henry was ok (or at least alive and unhurt) but this raised more questions than it answered. Emma berated herself that she hadn't thought to check Henry's online accounts. She'd been so out-of-it operating on zero sleep, she couldn't think properly through the fatigue... wait, since when did Henry have a twitter? And how had he taken the photo? Emma had found his phone at home in his room after trying to call it. Her son was smiling happily in the photo - what was that kid up to?
What did Gold want with taking Henry to New York?
