Chapter Four
It had been three weeks since Emma had received the indication of 'not pregnant' on her at-home pregnancy test, and in those three weeks, she'd only managed to become sicker. She could barely keep any food down, and she'd begun avoiding people as often as she could to circumvent the constant line of questions regarding her health.
She didn't know what the hell was wrong with her, so what was she supposed to tell anyone else?
But now, however, she was sitting in the waiting room at Dr. Whale's office, awaiting the results of a blood test, since she'd no longer been able to make excuses to Lily as to why she didn't need to seek medical attention. If it wasn't pregnancy, then Lily was worried that it might be something serious and she'd urged her friend to see a doctor about it.
Emma had a sinking feeling, however, that somehow it was pregnancy, and her fears were only confirmed when Dr. Whale walked into the room with a big smile.
"Congratulations," he said, grinning at the paperwork in his hands.
"Congratulations on the stomach flu?" Emma asked, hopefully, though her stomach was already in knots, and not from nausea this time.
"No," Whale replied, his smiling fading as he realized that he was about to deliver Emma news that she clearly didn't want to hear. "Congratulations, you're going to be a mother. Again."
Emma sighed and closed her eyes. She should have known the at-home test would be a false negative. Chances are, all those test kits had been sitting on that pharmacy shelf since 1983.
And, like she'd told Lily, she knew what pregnancy felt like, and this was it… time a thousand.
"So, I'm what? Like, three months along?" Emma asked, trying to work out how many weeks it had been since she'd last slept with Hook. She was bigger with Henry by this point, but she also hadn't been nearly as sick, and she supposed that must be a factor.
"More like three weeks," Whale corrected, looking down at the test results again. "If I were to pinpoint a date of conception, I'd guess you had a very happy Thanksgiving."
Emma blanched. "What? No, that's not possible."
"You didn't have sex on or around Thanksgiving?" Whale asked, to clarify.
"Well, I guess, technically yes, but-"
"But nothing. That technical yes left you knocked up, Sheriff," Whale concluded, with a dismissive shrug.
Emma continued to shake her head in disbelief, even as Whale led her out of the examination room, talking about ultrasound dates and other pre-natal information that was just going in one ear and out the other.
Emma couldn't process anything Whale was saying at the moment. All she could think about was that flash of magic that night with Regina and how suddenly it all made sense, and she couldn't shake the feeling that Regina had known exactly what that magic was, and had opted to end everything abruptly anyway, and since avoided Emma completely for three whole weeks.
But Regina wouldn't abandon her own child, would she?
Emma guessed that perhaps she might, if she didn't want that child to be the product of a union she so clearly regretted. Perhaps she didn't want any child unless it was Robin's, as she seemed to be making quite the happy little family unit with Robin and Roland and the baby, while Henry opted to spend more and more time with his grandparents or at Emma's house.
Regina's thoughts on the subject didn't matter right now, Emma reasoned. It wasn't like she was about to run over and share the happy news with her. She was supposed to be meeting Lily at her room at the Inn, so she decided to let herself get distracted in the search for Lily's father, and worry about her own problems down the line.
Emma sighed as she climbed into her Bug and tossed the envelope of papers Whale's nurse had given her in the backseat. She wasn't in the mood to read about any of that right now. She just wanted to pretend none of this was happening, because she had no idea how she was supposed to wrap her head around the possibility of herself and Regina somehow creating a baby through magic.
The more she thought about it, the more ridiculous it sounded.
Whale was wrong, Emma reasoned with herself as she drove. He had screwed up the numbers somewhere and she was three months pregnant, not three weeks. Afterall, he wasn't even a real doctor, so who was to say he wouldn't make a mistake?
The idea of being pregnant Hook's child wasn't any more appealing, but at least that was possible. And at least it meant she didn't have to go through the awkwardness of telling the woman who had outright rejected her that they were about to be linked by yet another child.
She and Hook had barely spoken either, but Emma was well-aware that he had no interest in becoming a father, so she was sure that he wouldn't try to weasel his way back into her life.
Chances were, she figured, that he would suddenly forget he ever knew her and she would be able to raise the baby alone.
It was for the best.
Emma drew in a deep breath as she pulled up to the Inn and got out of the car. She headed down to Lily's room, finding the door already cracked open for her.
"Hey," Emma said, as she stepped inside, drawing Lily's attention away from the journal she was currently scouring. She had finally confessed to her mother she'd taken them, and to Emma's surprise, Mal agreed that if they promised not to judge her on anything they read there, she had no issue with them reading her journals. Emma had noted, however, that the journal about Regina had mysteriously disappeared from the collection, and she wasn't sure if Mal did that out of respect to her friend's privacy, or if there was something in there she really didn't want them finding out.
"Hey!" Lily said, closing the journal and looking at Emma expectantly. "How'd it go?"
Emma shrugged and stepped over to take a seat next to Lily on the bed. "Well, apparently congratulations are in order, according to Whale."
"No shit," Lily deadpanned. "You're pregnant. I fucking knew it. I called it."
"I am aware," Emma nodded.
"Did you tell Hook yet?" Lily questioned.
Emma shook her head. "No. Not sure if I'm going to," she confessed. She opted against telling Lily what Whale had said about the date of conception. No one - not even Lily - knew about her night with Regina, and Emma was quite sure it was a non-issue. The date was wrong. She was convinced.
"Emma," Lily sighed. "You can't let your baby grow up not knowing who its father is. You and I both know how much that sucks."
"Yeah, but it will be different. This kid's not going to be an orphan. It will know me, right?"
"Yeah, and what are you gonna tell Hook when he sees that belly growing? He's gonna put two and two together, you know."
Emma breathed a heavy sigh. "Yeah. You're right. I'm gonna have to tell him. Just… not yet. I'm not ready to tell anyone else yet. Not even my parents. I just need a few days to process, okay?"
Lily nodded. "Yeah, totally. I won't tell anyone, don't worry. I got your back, Emma."
"Thanks. How goes the search?" Emma asked, desperate to change the subject.
Lily shrugged. "Not really going anywhere, honestly. I tried questioning my mom again, but she's pretty insistent that her memories from any time she's a dragon are fairly hazy. She barely remembers you slaying her, by the way."
Emma raised an eyebrow. "Really? Good to know."
"Yeah. And I know she's telling the truth because I don't really remember what happened when I was a dragon. It's weird, you know? Like you become more animal than human… all instinct and not so much conscious thought. The problem with these journals is they are all about when she's not a dragon. I got her to read some, because it triggers some dormant memories for her. Nothing useful, yet."
"Well, if the answer is in here, or out there, anywhere, we'll find it," Emma insisted, putting on a forced smile.
"Hey, Em, if it's too much for you, I can do it on my own. I pieced everything else together on my own."
"I know. I saw your place, remember? But I kind of need the distraction right now. I don't want to sit here and wallow in my own problems. I'll just drive myself crazy. Gotta keep busy."
"Right," Lily agreed. "But you gotta take care of yourself, too, because you still look like crap."
Emma nodded. "Whale mentioned something about a prescription for Diclectin. He said it will help my morning sickness. It's probably in the mess of papers he left me with. I'll get it filled when I leave here."
"You better. I'm gonna hold you to it, because Auntie Lily wants a healthy baby."
Emma rolled her eyes. "Please, I feel nauseas enough already!"
Lily just shook her head as the two got down to work on searching through more of Maleficent's sordid past, until Emma finally left to get her prescription filled.
Once she was home, she flopped onto her couch and studied the bottle of pills in her hand before finally popping one in her mouth, hoping that at least this might work and take at least one stress off of her, for the time being.
"Hey, mom, what's up?" Henry asked, coming down the stairs and eyeing his mother suspiciously.
Emma quickly crammed the pill bottled between the cushions on the couch. "Nothing, just got home. I didn't know you were here."
Henry shrugged. "I thought maybe I'd spend the night here, if that's okay?"
Emma nodded as she motioned for Henry to come sit with her. "It's always okay, you know that, but I thought you were spending this weekend at Regina's?"
Henry shrugged again.
"Kid. What's going on?"
Henry let out a sigh before finally meeting Emma's eyes. "I don't know… it's probably all in my head, but I'm starting to feel like a third wheel. Or, I guess, a fifth wheel. I know I'm older and Roland and Ryleigh need more attention than I do, but it's starting to get to me…"
"Ryleigh?" Emma repeated.
"Oh, yeah. They finally decided on a name for the baby. I guess they wanted to stick with the 'R' theme."
Emma nodded, knowingly. "Henry, you know your name is more significant to your mother than any 'R' themed name in existence," she pointed out.
"Yeah, I know," Henry agreed. "It's just… right now, I feel alone there. And you're alone here. And we don't have to be alone, you know?"
Emma smiled. "I know. You can stay here as long as you want. And everything with the baby will settle down once everyone gets adjusted. You'll see."
"I know it will. I'm just grateful that here, it's still just me and you."
Emma felt that all-too-familiar knot twisting up in her stomach again at Henry's words. How the hell was she ever supposed to tell him it wouldn't be just him and her much longer?
The more she thought about it, the more the sheer panic of the situation started to set in. She remembered just how jealous she'd been of her parents' attention to Neal when she was born, and she'd been an adult. How was Henry supposed to handle the mother who gave him up keeping and raising a second child now?
This whole thing was a mess, and Emma wasn't sure how she was supposed to fix any of it, all she knew was she was the one suffering, and Regina seemed to be getting off scott free, and it wasn't fair.