I decided to write this light, fluffy chapter after experiencing an unprovoked, homophobic attack at work. I am a strong person, but I feel horribly violated and degrated, and it's left me quite shaken up. Writing sweet, loving moments helps replace the ugly words with something beautiful. And of course, your lovely words of support also help lift my mood. So to anyone else who has been attacked because of who they are or for who they love, this is for you.
"So, I downloaded an app-"
"Well done, dear. You never cease to amaze me."
Emma rolled her eyes, tugging lightly at the dark locks she was currently stroking.
"I downloaded an app," Emma said a little louder, lest Regina try to cut her off again, "to track the pregnancy and find out how big the baby's getting. Wanna hear how big the baby is this week? It's the size of a raspberry."
Regina shifted, head digging into Emma's thigh as she looked up at the woman currently staring at her phone. Emma looked down and grinned, proudly displaying a picture of a raspberry on her phone.
"That's how big our baby is."
"I'll never be able to look at a raspberry the same way again," Regina said flatly, looking back down at the crossword she'd been doing. "What else does your insightful little app tell you?"
Emma resumed stroking Regina's hair, nails lightly scraping against her scalp as she read.
"You are eight weeks, six days pregnant. You are still within the first trimester of your pregnancy and your due date is in 228 days from now."
"Oh, Gods. Please refrain from continuing if you're going to inform me of how many more days I'm to live with this nausea."
Emma chuckled.
"Sorry," she said, leaning forward and kissing Regina's forehead before straightening and resuming reading. "Congratulations! You are now 8 weeks pregnant! Even though your tiny baby is only the size of a raspberry, your clothes may now be feeling a little tight on your abdomen (Emma ignored the snort from below. Regina's clothes were definitely getting a little snug, but that was bound to happen when everything you owned was skin tight). That is because your uterus was the size of your fist before pregnancy, but now it has grown to the size of an orange-"
"Seriously? How large are their oranges? An orange is roughly the size of one's fist."
"Not according to these people. Body changes: A heightened sense of smell is very common and may piggyback on other symptoms like morning sickness and food aversions. I guess that explains why you told my mom her strawberry feta salad smelled like shit."
"I did not say that. I said it smelled like a backed up septic tank."
Emma laughed.
"You're such an asshole, but my mom's face was pretty funny."
Regina bit her lip to keep from laughing, tickled as she remembered Snow's horrified expression. Emma looked back to the app, continuing her reading.
"Your breasts may have grown large enough that you'll need bigger bras with better support than your old ones." Emma halted looking over at Regina's chest, trying to gauge if they'd gotten big enough that she'd needed to buy another bra. They definitely looked much bigger, but it was hard to tell with Regina on her back. "Have you had-"
"That's none of your concern, Miss Swan."
"Maybe I should check to see. You know, make sure they're growing properly."
Regina snorted.
"Suddenly you're a doctor?"
"Well, I've played doctor with you-"
"Do cease that sentence before I cease your existence."
Emma grinned, looking back to her phone.
"Yes, your Majesty."
"Such a good peasant."
Emma rolled her eyes and continued. "Oh! Baby. Your baby is not an embryo anymore! The embryonic tail – oh gross, it had a tail?! – has finally disappeared, so your baby has officially graduated from an embryo to a foetus. Even at an early stage, this is still considered a critical period because your baby's organs are forming. Baby's muscles and nerves are also beginning to function at this early period. You can't feel any movement yet, but the baby is continuously moving and shifting now."
Emma stopped and looked down at Regina, who had lowered her crossword and was now gently stroking her stomach. There was not much of a bump to be seen yet, not unless you looked very closely. Even then, the slight curve could be attributed to overeating. Hell, Emma's stomach got bigger than Regina's last night after eating too much ice cream, and she wasn't even pregnant.
Emma reached out and placed her palm over Regina's hand, stroking her thumb over the back of it.
"Can't feel anything yet?" Emma asked quietly.
"Not yet," Regina responded, slipping her hand out from under Emma's. "My uterus is here," she explained, covering the space her hand had just occupied with Emma's. "Your child is right under here."
Emma looked down in awe, gently rubbing her hand back and forth. Her child. Her child that she had created with Regina. Their baby.
"Our baby."
Regina looked up, watching Emma's expression of unadulterated wonder as she looked down at her belly. It caused her stomach to jump, tighten, and Regina reached up to stroke Emma's cheek. Emma's attention shifted, looking down into deep brown eyes, smiling softly at the woman in her lap.
"You're so beautiful."
Regina smiled up at her, fingers sneaking behind Emma's neck and pulling her down. Emma kept her left hand in place, softly stroking over their child, as her right moved to cup the crown of Regina's head. When their lips met, Regina whimpered, Emma feeling the stomach beneath her hand jump. She smiled into their kiss, stroking Regina's lips softly with her own. She pressed forward, her back protesting but Emma ignored it resolutely. This was the first kiss they shared since Regina had announced that she was pregnant, and Emma's head was swimming with happiness at being allowed to kiss the woman she loved. She poured all of her affection into the kiss, letting out all the joy and elation she felt at knowing that Regina was carrying their child.
Regina kissed Emma insistently, tangling her fingers in the blonde locks as she opened her mouth against the tongue swiping across her lips. She moaned at the feeling of a soft, probing tongue stroking against her own, and she shifted to get a better angle. Regina's panties grew wet, a shuddering gasp ripped from her throat when she felt Emma half hard against her.
"Sorry," Emma mumbled against her lips, shifting herself away so Regina wouldn't feel the way their kiss was affecting her.
"No," Regina panted, shifting up so she straddled Emma's lap. "It's alright."
She sat back on Emma's knees, keeping their pelvises away from one another (she knew what sort of trouble that would lead to), and resumed their kiss. Regina wasn't ready for anything more, for anything beyond PG, needing to rebuild that trust with Emma before they moved to anything more intimate. Kissing though, kissing was a good start.
Emma shivered at the moan Regina released when she began scratching at the base of her scalp, where her fingers couldn't reach when Regina had been laying down. Encouraged, Emma gave long strokes of her fingers in Regina's hair as her tongue slowly, lazily moved in her lover's mouth. Her lungs were ready to burst, her head swimming with pleasure, other parts of her rock hard and aching, but Emma refused to back off. She was in Heaven, Regina practically rocking in her lap as they kissed each other tenderly. Only when Regina finally pulled away, lips swollen and panting heavily, did Emma finally, reluctantly, relinquish her hold on Regina's mouth.
Regina's head dropped onto Emma's shoulder, gasping for breath as strong hands gently rubbed her back. She smiled when a soft kiss was placed against her temple, her arms coming up to wrap around Emma's shoulders.
"Mmm."
Emma chuckled at Regina's moan of appreciation, nodding against her hair.
"Agreed."
Emma took a deep breath, breathing in the familiar scent of Regina's Coconut Butter shampoo, one arm wrapped protectively around her waist as the other lazily rubbed her back. She loved touching Regina, especially when the brunette melted into her, just as she was now.
Regina sighed contently, eyes closing as she enjoyed the hand massaging her back. She felt incredibly light, fuzzy, and happy here, safe in Emma's embrace.
"So, we're officially at eight weeks," Emma said softly, after having given their bodies time to cool down. "Still thinking you want to tell Henry now? Or did you want to wait a little longer?"
Regina took a deep breath, shaking her head.
"We should tell him. My clothes aren't fitting as they used to. It won't be long before it's obvious."
"Nothing is fitting right?"
"Some things are. My summer dresses, for example. I have a few elastic waist pants that will fit for a little while yet. But many of my skirts, my business suits, my blouses… they're getting tight."
"And you're only at eight weeks. You know, maybe it's twins and that's why stuff's already getting tight on you."
Regina yanked away, panicked.
"Don't you dare say that."
"My dad is a twin. Did you forget? Apparently it skips a generation. So, it's possible…"
Regina, wide eyed, shook her head vehemently.
"You had better not have gotten me pregnant with twins or I swear on your mother's life, I will end you."
Emma laughed loudly.
"I mean it, Emma! It's not twins," Regina denied, refusing to believe otherwise. She had only entertained the idea of one child. The idea of two… it terrified her. "I am only carrying one child, Emma Swan. One. I'm likely gaining weight because you've passed on your fat head to our child."
Emma cackled, pulling Regina back into her arms.
"Alright, alright. It's probably only one," Emma conceded, though she was still grinning widely.
"You're damn right it's only one child."
Emma chuckled softly, pressing a kiss to her cheek.
"So, we're telling Henry."
"We should."
"And my parents?"
"Well, we only have to tell your mother. But I'd like to wait until we've given Henry some time to digest the fact that he's going to be a big brother before we break the news to Snow."
Emma nodded in agreement.
"Have you thought about how we're going to tell my mom?"
"I'd very much like to do something shocking. Perhaps rent a billboard or a Zeppelin announcing the pregnancy. She'll see it on her way into school, having had no idea beforehand…" Regina grinned. "Something equally as heart attack inducing would be acceptable."
"You're such a dick," Emma laughed.
"Have you thought of how you'd like to tell her?" Regina asked with a grin.
"I watched some YouTube videos-"
"Of course you did."
"-and I got some pretty good ideas," Emma continued, ignoring Regina's jab. "No matter what we do, she's gonna cry."
"I enjoy making Snow White cry," Regina said conversationally.
Emma burst into laughter.
"Such a dick," Emma repeated.
Regina smiled proudly, not bothering to answer.
"I'm excited to tell people."
"Are you?" Regina asked, straightening to look at Emma.
"Yeah. I'm… still worried I'm gonna be a shitty parent, but it's a lot less scary now that I'm reading and stuff. Getting more information. And knowing that my dad has my back and that I'm doing this with you, it's less scary. Not used to having people, you know? It's comforting knowing there's others around to help."
Emma flushed looking down in embarrassment.
"'m used to doing things alone," Emma admittedly softly.
"You are no longer alone, Emma."
Emma looked up then, hands firmly planted on Regina's hips.
"Neither are you," she said seriously. "I'm worried, but I'm not going anywhere. I'll be worried with you instead."
"Good," Regina said softly, stroking Emma's cheek with the back of her knuckles. "I'm nervous as well, but we can do this together."
Emma reached out and took both of Regina's hands in her own, kissing them softly.
"Together."
Regina cupped Emma's cheeks, leaning forward and kissing her on the lips.
"Have you thought about how we're going to tell Henry?" Emma asked, when Regina finally pulled away. "Are we just gonna sit him down and tell him or are we going to like, surprise him with a big brother t-shirt or something?"
"I had considered simply telling him," Regina responded, clamping down on her earlier panic as Emma's words of twins played over again in her brain. There was no way she was having two babies. One was frightening enough.
"Yeah? We could do that. Or… we could do something fun."
"Something fun?" Regina asked skeptically. "What exactly did you have in mind?"
"You'll see."
A/N: Emma's reading it borrowed from the apps Ovia Pregnancy, BabyCenter, and Pregnancy Week By Week.
So... ideas for how we are going to tell Henry and Snow? Feel free to share your own stories too :)