Sorry for the wait but now that school is over, updates will be faster for all three of my stories.

Chapter 4 The Fourth Month

Regina noticed it the moment she was standing infront of her full length mirror that morning. She had been getting ready for her appointment and now she was staring at her reflection with her shirt bunched up below her breast. Her eyes were fixed on her belly. She could barely see it, but it was there. The small bump, the first physical sign that her baby was indeed in there.

She could feel her and she raised a shaking hand and gently placed it on the small curve of her baby. She loved it already. No matter how much pain she was in for Robin leaving and never knowing about the child he left behind, she already loved this baby just as much as she loved Henry.

"Regina, darling we're going to be late. Are you ready?" Cora's voice sounded from the hall, and when she walked in, she froze at the sight before her.

Her daughter with her hand on top of the barely visible bump she could now clearly see.

She didn't say a word as she quietly approached her from behind. Regina stiffened at the contact at first but then let herself relax as Cora pulled her back against her, holding her as her hand clasped Regina's atop of the small bump. She rested her head on Regina's shoulder, meeting her daughter's gaze through their reflection.

"You're showing," Cora whispered and Regina slowly pulled away, unable to stand so much affection radiating from her mother. She had a hard time getting used to it and Cora didn't let it show how much it hurt when she'd pull away from an embrace so quickly.

"That I am," she said, pulling down her shirt and slipping on her boots.

"The way you looked at her…" Cora observed. "I could tell you love her already. I couldn't look at you like that when I first started showing. I knew that I could, but without my heart I felt numb. I remember looking into the mirror just like you and thinking that I should feel something. It was all wrong."

"And that feeling wasn't enough to put your heart back in your chest?" Regina asked, her voice cold but Cora could hear the tremble as she spoke. She was trying not to show her true emotions. Trying to hide how much it hurt to hear she just wasn't enough.

"I was incapable of love, Regina," she explained. "But now that I look back, I know I would have loved you more than what was even possible. I would have loved you just as much as you love Henry… As much as you already love your little girl."

"You really think it's a girl?" she asked and this time she was letting Cora see the pain in her eyes. And no, she didn't think Regina was weak. She would never again be called weak for being open because her daughter had always been able to feel more deeply than anyone. Denying her the freedom of emotionally expressing herself had caused so much damage and Cora could see it now. Another regret in her long expanding list of regrets.

"Do you?" she asked, smiling through teary eyes as Regina's hand subconsciously landed on her belly.

"I know she is," she whispered and she tore her gaze from her mother and looked at the small baby bump. "I could feel her."

The morning sickness had passed, not completely but she could finally keep food down. Sugar is what she craved, much to Cora's annoyance. She had finally entered the second trimester and she couldn't seem to get enough of anything sweet. The ice cream was what really tested Cora's patience and Regina knew it. Sometimes she ate right out of the carton just to piss her mother off.

"Reyna."

"No."

"Maria."

"No."

"Are you going to say no to every name on the list?" Cora asked, crossing the name off her notebook. "You said you wanted a Latina middle name to represent your and your father's heritage."

"I know, but none of them seem right," Regina sulked. They were both on the couch that evening watching reruns of Revenge on Netflix. Regina was snacking on a bag of dark chocolate covered blueberries from Brookside. Cora tried not to let it get to her.

"It'll be easier if you just tell me the name you chose," Cora practically pleaded out of frustration. Regina chose the baby's first name. A girl and a boy name just in case. The only thing was Regina didn't want her to know until the baby was born.

"No amount of pleading will work," Regina said before popping more chocolate into her mouth. Cora glared at her, grumbling something about her being stubborn under her breath. Regina only rolled her eyes but she could see the affectionate ghost of a smirk playing on her mother's lips.

"Elena," Cora suddenly spoke up after a moment of silence. Regina looked away from the show, giving her mother her full attention. "Your father wanted to name you that."

"And you refused," Regina stated, her mood suddenly going dark and she turned away, unable to look at her. "It was too common. Not like the meaning "Regina" had. It didn't fit in your grand scheme of the way you wanted my life to turn out."

Cora didn't know what to say at the truth of those words. She reached out, taking the bag of Brookside chocolate from Regina and placing it on the coffee table.

"Look at me Regina, please," she said softly and after a moment of hesitance Regina slowly met her gaze. "You couldn't be more right. The meaning alone frightened me. You know how in the Enchanted Forest, magic was everything. The land thrived on it, and names and their meanings often predicted the nature of a child. It didn't mean you were destined to be Queen. It only meant it could be a possible path. The meaning of Elena…" she paused, shaking her head at her own arrogance from the past. "I saw it as weakness."

"What does it mean?" she asked and Cora could see the dark mood finally lifting from her daughter.

"Elena means light."

"Elena…" Regina murmured to herself and then mentally saying it with the name she had already chosen.

"Does that satisfy her majesties wishes?" Cora asked, trying to get a smile out of her. Regina seem to mange a small one as she grabbed a whole of her chocolates from the coffee table.

"No," she answered and Cora let out a sigh of frustration. As she went over the rest of the list Regina tried not smile at the fact that she already had a middle name picked out. Now she was just having a little bit of fun.

By the end of the month her cravings had gotten weirder and Regina knew her mother would kill her if she found her sitting on the counter with a carton of mint chocolate chip ice cream. Her belly had gotten bigger and she knew soon she wouldn't be able to hide the little bump under large sweaters. The town would find out. She tossed and turned, worrying and unable to sleep so she gave up and had went down to the kitchen. Besides her baby was hungry.

"Grandma hates when I do this," she spoke to the baby as she ate a spoonful of ice cream. "It'll be our secret, ok. Besides, it's our house and we could have all the ice cream we want."

"Is that so," a voice sounded in the darkness and then Regina was shielding her eyes against the bright lights. "Get off the counter and it's the middle of the night Regina. Honestly, it's enough you indulge during the day, but sneaking ice cream late at night?"

"It's my house," she shrugged, repeating her earlier words to the baby as she ate another spoonful.

"Yeah, I heard," Cora deadpanned.

"You know what would be great with this?" she asked and Cora rolled her eyes.

"What," she growled.

"Whip cream and watermelon."

"We're out," she lied and Regina jumped down from the counter and opened the fridge, shooting her mother a look as she took out the whip cream and the bowl of cut watermelon squares she had prepared the day before.

As she watched Regina throw in the watermelon cubes into the carton along with the whip cream she couldn't help but ask the question that's been on her mind for days.

"Somethings bothering you," she stated and she hoped it wasn't something she had done. Things between them had been so good lately and Regina was no longer fearful around her. She took a bite out of the sugary cold snack and looked up at her mother.

"Nothing's bother me," she shrugged, avoiding the issue all together.

"You're avoiding it."

"No, I'm not."

"Regina." Cora wasn't letting her off so easily. "You haven't been sleeping. Your mind is somewhere else half the time."

"I'm just…" she shook her head, still not comfortable about discussing her emotions with her mother. Sure the fighting had stopped and the pain didn't hurt as much as it did before, but talking like this was still so damn hard. "I'm getting bigger and soon the town will know."

"And why does that worry you," she asked.

"They still hate me. I know they do, no matter how much Snow convinced them that I had changed. They'll hate her because she came from me."

"Who cares what they think."

"It's not that I care about their opinions. What if they try to hurt her because of me?"

"Oh sweet girl," Cora tried soothing her fears. She placed her hand on her cheek, looking into those deep brown eyes. "We won't let them. She has us and she has that group of insufferable heroes you love hanging around with so much. She's loved by so many. She's going to be just fine."

Regina smiled at her and pulled away from her touch. It still made her uncomfortable.

"Thank you mother," she whispered and after eating a few spoonfuls of ice cream in silence she finally decided to fess up and end Cora's torture.

"You could stop making baby name lists now."

"What?" Cora looked at her in confusion.

"I already chose a name."

"Since when?" Cora asked, a frown marring her features because she had been going crazy all month trying to help find the perfect name.

"Few weeks ago."

"So let me get this straight," Cora growled. "You've had a name picked out this entire time, and what? You just decided to let me drive myself insane with finding the perfect one for you."

"Pretty much," Regina laughed. Cora had it and with a flick of her wrist Regina's ice creamed disappeared in blue smoke.

"Mother!" she yelled. "Give it back!"

"It's at the dump," Cora snapped.

"The baby's hungry!"

"Try feeding her some fruit," Cora growled as she turned and headed back to bed. She was too tired to deal with Regina's idea of a joke.

"It did have fruit in it!" she heard Regina shout back and she couldn't stop the soft chuckle from escaping her lips.