Unfortunately, there was no way to do a paternity test until eight weeks after pregnancy. For four long, lonely weeks I was forced to wait alone. During all that time Emma never came home. I called her multiple times, but I was immediately taken to her voicemail. She texted me about a week after the doctor's appointment, saying that all I needed to do was tell her who the father was, and we could work through this. I couldn't have told her, even if I'd wanted to. After that, it was more silence.
Henry took the news remarkably well. All he said was, "Mom loves you, and I know you love her. I know you wouldn't do anything to hurt her. You'll find an explanation and get her back, but in the meantime, I love you, too." Then he hugged me tightly. I squeezed him, almost afraid that if I let go he'd be gone, too.
Finally, the day of the appointment arrived. That day I awoke, my shock and a anxiety replaced by determination. I had set up an appointment for just before lunch since I had to be at the hospital already. I was almost ready to go when I heard the doorbell.
"Just a moment" I yelled. I was still sticking in earrings as I walked to the door, my purse under my arm. When I opened the door and saw who was there, my jaw dropped. "Emma?"
"Hi," she said after a moment. There was an awkward pause. She stuck her hands in her pockets, looking down and not saying a word.
"Um...did you want to come in?" I asked uncertainly.
She thought for a moment. "Yes, I think I do," she finally responded.
I nodded and moved aside, allowing her to walk in. "Can I get you something to drink?" I asked. Immediately I felt horribly stupid; I was treating my own wife as a stranger in our own home. She seemed to notice it, as well.
"Regina, I hate this," she said suddenly. "I hate feeling so distant from you, and I miss you."
"I miss you, too," I said quietly.
"I'm not saying that I'm not still upset—I definitely am—but I love you, and I trust you. If you say you don't know how this happened, then as unlikely as it might be, I believe you.
And most importantly," she said, grasping my hand firmly in hers, "I won't let you go through this alone."
I started tearing up. "Really?" I asked, beaming.
Emma smiled. "Really." Then she pulled me in, lifted my chin and kissed me lightly on my waiting lips. "I love you."
"I love you more."
She shook her head. "Not possible," she whispered.
After a minute of just staring into each other's eyes, she finally spoke. "So, where are you off to today? Work?"
"Actually, I have an appointment with Doctor Whale," I said.
I saw her tense up briefly. "Oh?" She said, her voice cracking slightly.
"Yes. I...I wanted to see about having a paternity test. I figured the first step to figuring out what happened would be to find out who the father is."
"Naturally," she said, nodding. "I thought you needed DNA samples from the fathers for a paternity test?"
"Well, yes, about that," I said sheepishly, "as a kind of safeguard for the curse, the hospital has a database of DNA which includes almost all of Storybrooke."
"Oh!" Emma said, eyes widening in surprise. "That's...handy...and a potential invasion of privacy..."
"It was the curse," I replied. "I didn't even know about DNA or databases until I was plopped in this town."
Emma shrugged. "Fair point." She took a deep breath. "Alright, let's go."
I looked at her, surprised. "What?"
Emma put her hands on her hips. "I said I wasn't letting you go through this in your own. I'm coming with you, and nothing you say or do is gonna stop me. Now let's go, I'm driving." Immediately she grabbed the keys to her bug and started walking out the door. I was frozen in shock for a moment, but quickly pulled myself together and all but ran to catch up to her.
I hadn't realized until the moment I closed the door how much I loved that little yellow bug. Though I often made fun of her for it, the bug was almost an extension of Emma herself, and I loved every part of it. I sat contently with my head resting against the window as Emma drove me to the hospital, an absentminded smile playing across my lips.
The appointment was nothing special, other than the moment they had to draw blood. Apparently, trace amounts of the fetal DNA were currently in my blood, and that was enough for a paternity test. Emma, knowing my distaste for needles, held my hand the entire time. Doctor Whale told us that he would begin running my blood through the database and that I would be notified as soon as there were any results. He said it could take anywhere between one to seven days, and we would be notified as soon as they had any news. We thanked him, paid the receptionist, and walked back into the waiting room.
"Hey," Emma said, pulling me aside, "did you want to go get something to eat before I have to go back to work?"
"Oh, I wish I could!" I said. " Unfortunately, I have a previous obligation to attend to. But what about dinner tonight?"
Emma smiled. "Dinner sounds perfect." She quickly pulled me closer and kissed my cheek. "I'll see you tonight, then."
"I can't wait." I waited until I saw Emma's car disappear around the corner before I turned around and went back inside the hospital.
After the appointment, all I wanted to do was go and relax with Emma, but I had business to attend to first...family business. I sighed. I wasn't in the mood to deal with my sister in the middle of my marital problems, but I was the mayor, and I had responsibilities. That, and I'd promised Zelena she could go to Granny's under supervision once a week since she turned herself in. Grudgingly, I walked into the hospital, signed her out, and opened her cell door. Upon hearing the door open, she immediately looked up and smiled. I wasn't sure, but I felt like every week her smile became softer, more genuine; it was looking more and more like she was actually happy to see me, rather than just happy to escape the cell.
"Hello, sis!" She exclaimed, hopping up excitedly. "Is it Thursday already?"
"It is, indeed," I replied. "Let's go." I handed her her coat, which was kept behind the basement desk, and led her outside. She took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. "You know, it's funny the things you start missing when you're incarcerated," she said. "Fresh air, decent food, my favorite little sister..."
"Ha ha," I said with no humor.
"What? I mean it!" She insisted.
"Sis, it's going to be a long time before I trust you enough to believe that."
She sighed. "Well, good thing for you, I'm in it for the long haul."
We walked a little further before I suddenly remembered something. "Oh!" I exclaimed.
"What?"
"I just remembered I didn't drive today. Emma drove me today, and she took her car to work."
"Emma? Really?" She asked. "Huh. You haven't talked about her in a while; I assumed there might have been trouble in paradise."
I shook my head. "No, nothing like that." Even if I was feeling closer to Zelena, she didn't need to know about my marital problems. Not yet, at least. "Well, I suppose there's nothing to do but walk to Granny's."
"Walk?" she asked incredulously. "Really?"
"It's either that or you go back to your cell," I challenged. Within a couple seconds, she was already ahead of me, walking briskly towards the rest of town.
"Well, are you coming?" she shouted over her shoulder. I sighed. Is this what it feels like to have a sister? I wondered. I picked up the pace to catch up with her. She asked about Henry and how he was liking school, about my work, and other things. She seemed particularly interested in the town, asking about various buildings as we passed. I told her whatever I could, offering stories about the clock tower and the library. I told her some stories about Henry when he was little, like the time he broke his arm trying to swing on a tree like Tarzan, and the time he tried to cook breakfast for Mother's Day and I woke up to the smoke alarm.
Suddenly, Zelena's face fell and she sighed. "What's wrong?" I asked.
"I was just thinking...I wish we'd grown up together and been a family."
I nodded. "I understand; all I wanted growing up was a sister, but Mother always told me that I needed to learn to stand on my own; she said the only person I could depend on was myself. I think you dodged a bullet on that one."
"You'd be surprised," she said softly.
I stopped to look at her, seeing the somber expression on her face. Hesitantly, I lifted my hand to gently place it on her shoulder. She smiled slightly, placing her hand on top of mine. Neither one of us said a word; we didn't need to.
After a few moments, I opened my mouth to ask her more. Suddenly, a cloud of blue smoke appeared in front of us. It was identical to the smoke on the hospital tape. Instinctively, I stepped in front of Zelena, one arm wrapping around her protectively while a fireball ignited in my other hand. The smoke dissipated after a moment, and in its place stood a pale man with short red hair wearing a long black coat. Zelena gasped audibly.
The man looked up at the sound and smiled. "Hello, Zelena," he said in a low voice.
"Zelena, do you know him?" I demanded. I felt her step back, away from the man.
"Don't you remember me, Zelena?" he asked, stepping forward. "It couldn't have been that long ago."
"Hades," whispered Zelena.
His smile widened. "I knew it would come back to you."
"Wait!" I interrupted incredulously. "Hades? The Hades? As in "God of the Underworld" Hades?"
"The one and only," he said, extending his arms and giving a slight bow.
"Zelena, how do you know Hades?"
"It's...a long story," she deflected.
As much as I wanted to push her, I pulled myself together and started interrogating the intruder. "What are you doing in Storybrooke?" I asked with authority.
"Look," he said, ignoring my question, "I'd love to spend the afternoon chatting, but I have some private matters to discuss with Zelena." He gestured towards her smiling again.
"Over my dead body!" I threatened, tightening my arm around her. I prepared to fight, widening my stance, ready to throw the fireball that was in my hand.
"As fun as that would be, that won't be necessary." With that, Hades waved a hand and disappeared in a cloud of blue smoke. When I turned around, Zelena was gone.