Thanks to SS-Swanqueen for giving this the critical once over, before I posted.

I am actually really nervous about posting this chapter, because of the strong opinions I have received from readers in both the 'pro baby' and 'no baby' camps. No writer ever wants to lose readers - but at THIS stage in the story, the only way I could satisfy everybody would be to give a way future plot twist. Where's the fun in reading a story like this, if there's no suspense?

So...abortion decision wise - it's crunch time, people.

(See disclaimer in chapter 1.)

Chapter 11

Regina, of course, had taken the Mercedes - leaving Emma stranded at the hotel. The blonde had hovered in reception as she waited for a cab, much to the distaste of Ivor on the Front Desk.

Today though, she couldn't blame the snooty receptionist for the distasteful look he had given her, as she barked orders for him to book her a cab. Emma hadn't so much as wiped the sleep from her eyes before she left the hotel room, and a quick glance in the ladies room mirror had confirmed that she did in fact look as terrible as she felt.

Just before her cab arrived, the saviour had grabbed a bottle of water from the hotel bar; her brain assaulting her with several flashbacks of her late night conversation with the barman as she did so.

Not for the first time that morning, the saviour internally berated herself for drinking so much; she only wished she could remember what had happened once she had returned to the room.

The last thing that Emma could clearly recall, was the barman asking her if she had actually told Regina how she felt.

Although the blonde was pretty sure that no amount of alcohol in her system would have given her the confidence to do that, there was still a sense of nagging doubt...

IWhat the hell did I do to make Regina go to the appointment by herself?

Everything still felt so new to Emma; so raw. Emotions that had felt so clear in her head as she spoke with the barman last night, felt so jumbled in the clear light of day.

The former queen's past and present was already so intrinsically woven into the saviour's very existence – and if the Charming family tree didn't make their situation complex enough, there was also the glaringly obvious fact that Regina...was a woman.

Emma had never had sexual feelings for another woman before – and that's exactly what they were – they were sexual feelings and that in itself was just...confusing.

I'm not attracted to women; I like men...But I am attracted to Regina, who's a woman...a very womanly woman. Emma scowled. What the hell does that mean? Am I like, Bi now? What the hell will my parents think? What will Henry think? Is Regina even into women? Will she be horrified? Did I already voice all of this out loud and that's the reason she left me at the hotel?

The cab ride took about 30 minutes and by the time Emma arrived, she had worked herself up to a state of panic. As the vehicle pulled up to the abortion clinic, Emma spotted Regina's car parked out front. Relieved that she hadn't missed her, the blonde opened the cab door and moved to rush inside.

"Hey, lady!" The cab driver wound his window down and yelled at her retreating form – stopping the blonde her tracks. "We're not a free service, you know."

"Sorry," Emma muttered as she retraced her steps to the vehicle and pushed a handful of bills into his hand, before quickly heading back towards the buildings entrance. She pulled open the door with a little too much swing, and found herself in a small foyer with a receptionist sat behind a glass window.

"Can I help you?" The receptionist was an older lady; she regarded Emma over her spectacles (complete with neck chain), which were perched on the edge of her nose.

"Yeah," Emma rushed towards the desk and rested her hands on the window sill. "My friend is in here, I'm supposed to be with her." The blonde craned her neck to see if she could see around the receptionist and into waiting room; it looked empty. "Can I go through please?"

"I can't let you through without an appointment Ma'am," the lady, who wore a name-tag that said Mary-Ellen shook her head. "It's against the rules."

"Please," Emma begged. "I've got to see her – I told her I'd be here."

"That's sweet," Mary-Ellen smiled insincerely. "But I still can't let you through without an appointment. It's for security reasons, I'm sure you understand."

"I understand," Emma sighed and pushed a hand through her hair. "Look," she leant into the counter. "Can you at least get a message to her please? Tell her I'm here?"

The woman looked Emma up and down, her eyebrow raised, before she rolled her eyes and picked up a pen. "Okay," she said. "What was her name?"

"Regina," Emma said with a relieved smile, relaxing a little. "Regina Mills."

The receptionists pen stopped moving, and she looked up from the notepad. "Ms Mills?" She asked, her eyebrows raised. "Brunette?"

"Yeah," Emma frowned.

"Kinda rude?"

"Yeah," Emma nodded in agreement without missing a beat. "That's her."

"Honey," the lady put down the pen and clasped her hands over her note pad. "She already left."

"What?" Emma asked. "Can you check? Her car's still in your parking lot-"

"I'm telling you, she's not here," Mary-Ellen said sternly as she pushed her glasses further up her nose. "She left about 15 minutes ago," the older lady got to her feet and looked over Emma's shoulder, through a window and into the parking lot. "She wants to move her damned vehicle..."

"Okay," Emma grumbled in response as she turned to exit. "Thanks."

Where the hell could she be?

Feeling confused, the Saviour pushed the exit door open slowly and stepped outside. As the door swung closed behind her, a particularly strong gust of wind caught her by surprise; her blonde tendrils whipped around and crossed her vision. As the sheriff turned her face into the wind, in order to blow the hair out of her line of sight - that's when she saw her.

Regina!

Emma's heart thudded in her chest; Regina was sat on a park bench across the road, with her back to the clinic.

Thank God.

The blonde quickly found her feet and jogged over to her friend; approaching her from the side, the saviour could see that the brunette was simply staring off into the distance, apparently deep in thought. Her arms were wrapped around the waist of her black woollen coat, her long hair was tucked into the red scarf that hung around her neck.

"Regina," Emma said, breathless, as she reached the bench; the brunette looked up, startled.

"Emma," she frowned. "What are you doing here?"

"What do you mean what am I doing here?" Emma asked incredulously. "I told you I'd come with you – but you left my ass at the hotel!"

Regina opened her mouth to say something then closed it and looked back across the large green in front of her. "I thought that you could use the rest," she said flatly before looking down at her hands where they now rested on her lap. "You were pretty drunk last night, Emma."

The saviour swallowed, her throat feeling tight as she lowered herself to the bench to sit next to the brunette. "That may be true," the blonde leant forward, her elbows on her knees and turned her head to look at Regina. "But that's not the real reason you left me at the hotel."

Regina glanced at Emma, and for a beat she looked like she might try to deny it – but instead she simply sighed and dropped her gaze back to her hands. "I thought that you might try to stop me," she said in a voice so small that the saviour almost didn't hear her.

"What?" The blonde sat up straight and twisted her body towards the brunette. "Regina, why would you even think that?" She asked, dreading the answer to her own question, even as she asked it. "I came on this trip with you so that you didn't have to go through this alone."

"I know that, Emma." Regina raised her eyebrows and nodded, her gaze still focussed on her lap. "But then last night, when you got back to the room," she turned her head to look at the blonde. "You said something that made me think differently."

Oh shit. "I did?"

"Yes," Regina narrowed her eyes. "You don't remember, do you?"

Oh my God, what the hell did I say?

"It's um-" Emma faltered; trying but failing to keep the concern from her expression. "It's a bit of a blur."

"Shocking," Regina said with a sardonic expression on her face. "Tell me," she cocked her head to one side. "Do you always sing while inebriated, or was that simply for my benefit?"

"I did not-" Emma's eyes grew wide.

"Oh relax," Regina rolled her eyes and shook her head, but didn't discount it from being the truth. "You said that..." she paused as she shifted and angled her body towards the sheriff, her expression softening as she noticed the look of sheer panic on the blondes face. "Emma, you told me that if I wanted to keep the baby, that I shouldn't be afraid," she explained, a sadness fleetingly touching her features. "And in all of this," she shrugged. "I hadn't realised that I was."

"I said that?"

"You did," Regina arched a single eyebrow curiously, at Emma's relieved expression. "What on earth did you think you'd said to me, Emma?"

The blonde felt her face flush. "Nothing," she lied and directed her gaze across the park. "I just have a tendency to run my mouth after a few drinks, that's all."

"You don't say," Regina said knowingly, before dropping her eyes to her lap once more. "You actually reminded me that my life is different now," the brunette wet her lips with her tongue before continuing. "That even if the worst were to happen again – that I was now surrounded by people who would support me," the mayor raised her head, and her eyes locking with the blondes, "...by people who love me."

"Wow," the blonde raised her eyebrows, her lips quirking into a sideways smile. "Drunk me said all that?"

"I'm paraphrasing," Regina added quickly, as she looked back across the park; her eyes absently tracing the path of a man who was jogging in the distance. "Drunk you cursed more."

"I curse like a sailor when I'm drunk," Emma admitted, with a self deprecating smile. She pulled the bottle of water from her inside jacket pocket and followed the brunette's gaze across the green as she took a swig. "I blame Hook."

In her peripheral vision, Emma saw the mayor turn her head sharply in her direction. "You never talk about him," Regina said after a few moments; it wasn't a question, but blonde answered it like it was.

"It hurts," she said, as she screwed the cap back on to the bottle, before placing it back in her pocket. Her admission about Killian was only a partial truth. It did hurt the saviour to talk about him – it hurt more to actually acknowledge how little he had been on her mind recently. Emma's thoughts about Regina had been all encompassing; to be reminded of Hook made the blonde feel guilty, it made her feel selfish.

"I know," Regina said in understanding, and when the blonde finally turned to look back at the brunette, she offered Emma a sad smile.

"I wouldn't have tried to stop you, you know. From having the abortion, I mean," the sheriff said, moving the conversation swiftly on, but holding the brunette's gaze. "I just wanted to be sure that you knew you weren't alone," she smiled thinly. "We would have supported you regardless of the decision, Regina," the blonde moved to retrieve the brunettes hand and hold it in the space between them on the bench – suddenly realising how natural it felt to touch the other woman now. "I will support you."

The brunette's eyes searched the blondes; much like she had when Emma had first agreed to come with her to the clinic. Regina's expression was one of bewilderment; it looked to the sheriff like the mayor couldn't believe that somebody would be there for her; it was as if she thought that she somehow didn't deserve it...and that thought broke Emma's heart.

"Regina, you must realise how much I care about you," the blonde said, wrapping the brunettes cool hand in both of hers and drawing it into her own lap. "Please don't shut me out," she brushed a thumb over the back of the mayor's hand. "I support you in this decision, completely."

"Well," Regina smiled shyly, a faint blush colouring her cheeks as she dropped her gaze to look at their joined hands. "That's good to hear, Emma," the brunette croaked, her voice laden with emotion, and when she looked back up at the blonde, her eyes were welling with unshed hears. "Because I didn't do it."

"You," the blonde stuttered. "You didn't have the abortion?"

Regina shook her head, her tears now falling freely down her cheeks, an fitful smile tugging at her lips.

"You didn't," Emma repeated, and this time it wasn't a question. "Oh my God, Regina."

Emma dropped the brunettes hand and instead, pulled her by her shoulders into a hug; Regina released a choked half laugh, half sob in response. "Oh my God," Emma said again as she sat back, keeping her hands on Regina's upper arms. "Regina, this is huge."

"I know,"

"I mean," Emma shook her head; she was utterly taken aback. "Was it me that changed your mind or-"

"Partially," the brunette raised her hands to wipe the tears from her cheeks. "And Henry," she dropped her hands and they automatically found Emma's again. "It appears that our son and your parents have been concocting a plan that might just work – something that I hadn't even considered..."

"The lake thing? It could work?"

"I honestly don't know," a solemn expression flashed across Regina's face. "We can't be sure, which is why the abortion is still on the table – at least for now," she continued. "I spoke with a nurse at the clinic and I still have some time," the brunette paused, as if searching for the right words. "I still have some time, to be sure."

"I understand," Emma smiled again, her heart swelling in her chest as she felt tears prickling at her own eyes.

"I'm not promising anything," Regina shook her head, lowering her gaze. "But I owe it to the baby to find out, and of course I owe it to Robin to-"

"Hey," Emma interrupted the mayor again, tugging on her hand. "What the hell?" The blonde asked incredulously. "You don't owe anybody anything," she shook her head. "Please tell me that you're not doing this to appease me, or for the baby, or even for Robin. Regina," Emma raised a hand to cup the brunette's cheek, drawing her gaze. "Do you want to keep this baby?"

"I do," the brunette said, nodding, her chin trembling slightly. "More than anything in the worlds."

"Then I will do absolutely everything within my power to make that happen," Emma ran her thumb over Regina's damp cheek bone, wiping away a stray tear. "Do you hear me?" She dipped her head to look into the brunette's eyes. "I'll do anything."

Regina nodded wordlessly, leant her face further into Emma's palm on her cheek and brought her own hand up to cover the blondes. As the brunette closed her eyes, more tears fell onto Emma's thumb – but the blonde failed to notice – too transfixed was she by the faint brush of Regina's lips against her wrist. The sheriff could have sworn that the mayor placed a soft kiss there, before she eventually pulled away.

"Come on," the brunette finally said, as she got to her feet after a few moments of comfortable silence, pulling Emma up with her as she stood. "Let's go and see what damage you've done to our hotel bill,"

"Yeah," Emma said sheepishly, as she dropped Regina's hand and shoved her own in her pockets. "Sorry about that...I'll pick up the bar bill-"

"Oh you needn't worry, Miss Swan," the mayor retorted with a smile in her voice, as her arm snaked to link around Emma's, and draw her closer. "Your behaviour when you got back to our room last night has provided me with quite enough ammunition to make up it."

"Okay," Emma nodded, temporarily distracted the brunettes proximity, as they walked arm in arm towards the car. "Wait," she frowned, finally absorbing the brunettes words. "What?"

TBC

We have reached the end of Part One 😊. Thank you for reading thus far! Part two, although equally emotional, will be more of an adventure - with a much faster pace. Expect journeys to other realms, visits from some old friends, more sarcasm from Zelena, a sprinkling of Gold and of course, the Evil Queen (I'm soooo excited to write that bit!). For those of you who were in the 'no Robin Hood baby' camp, don't be too disheartened – please remember that this is a story about magic...not science – ANYTHING can happen.

Please let me know your thoughts so far – I love to hear from you 😊.