***Author's Notes: So, here we are again. Happy Friday! Did you guys see that picture that Lana just casually put on her IG earlier that totally busted the interwebs? The Queen always knows how to get our attention. So anyway, back to this-I think that I'm about to the midway point of this story. A big thank you by the way, to those of you that urged me to continue this story even though I was adamant on keeping it as one-shot. I have been able to write a lot of things into this story that are very near and dear to me, and I hope that it will somehow seep into your heart the way that it has mine. With that said, the next few chapters are going to be a little bit heavier. We're going to be dealing with Emma's past (finally) and you will get to know her a little bit better. I kinda have this theme song, one that really got me through my darkest hours, and you should look it up if you don't know it. It's The Starting Line by Keane. I use music a lot for my inspiration to write and I think that this song really helped me to develop Emma's character. So, sorry for that long-winded intro (does everyone even read this part?), please enjoy and leave me a review! It always makes it easier to keep writing!***

Regina was able to easily purchase her and Emma each a one-way ticket from Seattle to JFK. The only flight out however, has a departure time of right before ten, so they eat as quickly as they can, and immediately afterwards, Regina shuffles through her bag once again and tries to repack some of it. Most of items she had previously packed were for the ski trip and even though she is sure that it will be fairly cold in New York, she is not anticipating that they will be spending very much time outside while they are there. She makes a quick decision to pack a few extra shirts for Emma too, just in case she needs them She guesses that the blonde probably only packed enough for what they had originally planned for the weekend as well. When she is finally finished, they lock up the apartment and make their way out of the building.

Emma offers to drive them to the airport and leave her car there while they are away since Regina insisted on paying for her plane ticket. Regina argues, naturally, but Emma refused to take 'no' for an answer. By the time they finally reach the airport, and make it through the security check, their flight has already started boarding.

As soon as the plane takes off, the lights in the main cabin are dimmed and most of the passengers begin making themselves more comfortable so that they can try to get a bit of sleep. Regina was only able to shut her eyes for a short while, mostly because her nerves are getting the best of her, but she does keep a close eye on Emma, making sure that she sleeps through the majority of the flight because she knows how much the younger woman hates flying. It is not until they touch down onto the runway in New York that Emma finally slowly wakes.

Because it is so early in the morning, they are able to make it out of the airport swiftly, and jump into the first available Yellow Cab towards the hospital. Regina is playing with her hands almost as soon as the cab driving starts driving, and Emma senses her anxiousness, so she reaches over and gives Regina's hands a reassuring squeeze which elicits a grateful smile.

Regina had phoned Harry the second they landed and was told that Zelena's contractions are currently just about seven to eight minutes apart. The doctor mentioned the last time he was in the room that they are still waiting until the contractions become more frequent. Harry certainly sounded calmer on the phone than she is feeling right now, but she is suddenly very relieved that she asked Emma to come along. The other woman's presence has had such a calming effect on her. "I'm just so nervous." She says quietly, more to herself than to Emma.

"Hey… it's alright to be nervous. It's your sister. Family in the hospital, no matter the circumstances is always really nerve-wracking." Emma thinks about her own experience, and how she should have gone to see her grandfather when he was there that very last time. She pushes the guilt back and focuses her attention back to Regina. "She's going to be fine. All of her family is here, and she will be so happy to see you." She says.

Regina smiles again before taking Emma's hand and intertwining their fingers. "Thank you. And thank you for coming with me. I will make this up to you. I promise."

"You don't have anything to make up for. I'm glad to be here with you for this." Emma says.

When they reach the hospital at last, Regina rushes inside and straight to the courtesy desk hoping to get directions to where they need to go. She looks around, but there is no one there. "What good is an information desk if there is no one sitting at it?" She says in frustration.

Emma walks over to her and lightly touches the small of her back, urging her towards where the elevators are located. "Come this way. I think that we will be able to find it on our own." Emma knows her way around hospitals. The truth is, she has spent a lot of time in them when she was growing up. That happens when you have family that is practically hospital royalty. She walks them over to a directory where she sees that the obstetrics area is in the West wing of the hospital on the first floor. "Aha. There we go. It's this way." She says as she takes Regina's hand again leading her in the correct direction. "Did your brother-in-law tell you what room they are in?"

"Um… Yes. They are in room 108." Regina says.

They walk in silence until they reach the area they are looking for and once they are right outside the room, they can hear someone's muffled screaming coming from inside. Emma chuckles nervously. "I think we are in the right place."

Regina sighs and laughs nervously as well. "I think you might be right. I can recognize that sound from anywhere in this building. I'm surprised, we didn't find it sooner."

Emma smiles and nudges Regina towards the door. "Well, go on. Go see your sister."

Regina nods and walks towards the door. Right before she opens it however, she turns back towards Emma and pulls her in for a hug.

Emma is taken aback by the intimate gesture. Sure, a hug is far more innocent than some of the other positions that she has found herself in with Regina as of late, but this, it just feels so different. She slowly wraps her arms around Regina's waist as the woman turns her face into the crook of her neck.

"Thank you, again." Regina says softly.

Emma tenses a little at the feeling of Regina's breath on her neck, but recovers quickly. She gives the woman another squeeze before pulling herself back. "You have nothing to thank me for."

Regina stares for a moment longer wondering how just weeks ago, she never knew this woman standing before her even existed, but now, it feels as though she has known her for ages. "You are coming in with me, right?" She asks with a smirk.

Emma hesitates for a moment before she finally answers. "Well, I mean, of course. If you want me to. I just wasn't sure how we were going to explain you bringing a total stranger to your sister's baby delivery party."

Regina chuckles. "Emma, you're not a total stranger."

"Well, I know that, but you know…" Emma laughs. "I am just some chick you met on a flight to Seattle a few short weeks ago. As far as they know, I could be an axe murderer."

Regina punches Emma in the shoulder playfully. "We don't have to give them an entire history of our friendship, Emma. They just need to know that you are a good friend of mine. That's the only thing that is important to me. And I've already told Zelena about you anyway, so she knows everything there is to know."

Emma's eyes widen at this. "Oh, she does, does she? Well, that's not going to be awkward at all. If she is as hot as you are, then I'm really in trouble."

"Emma!" Regina says in a harsh whisper.

Emma laughs. "Alright, alright. Sorry. That was super inappropriate."

"I'll say." Regina says as she lets go of Emma and slowly walks backwards towards the door to the room. "Just for the record though, I'm the hotter sister." She winks at the blonde before turning and opening the door.

Emma chuckles as she follows Regina into the room.

"GINA!" Zelena exclaims as soon as she sees Regina. They have been at the hospital for more than twelve hours now and she is feeling so many different emotions at once. She is exhausted and frustrated. She is also starving, angry, and irritated. But the second she sees her baby sister, all of that seems to fade away. "Oh my god. You're here." She says, a bit exasperated as her eyes well up with tears.

Regina rushes to her sister's side and wraps her up in the tight hug. "Hey… of course, I'm here. I told you that I wouldn't miss this." She pulls away from their hug and kisses her sister on the top of the head. "I heard that you've have quite the morning."

Zelena does not reply but looks over to the blonde woman that is standing by the door and grins mischievously. "And who might this be?" She asks.

Regina turns quickly, suddenly extremely embarrassed that she left Emma over in the corner by herself. "Oh, I'm so sorry. This is Emma, everyone." She walks over taking ahold of Emma's arm and walks her over to where her parents are sitting. "Emma, this is my mom, Cora, and my father, Henry."

Emma smiles awkwardly before reaching out her hand to shake theirs. "Hello. It's very nice to meet you."

Cora looks between her daughter and the stranger before she takes Emma's hand. "Likewise, Dear." She says with a sweet smile.

Henry nods with a smile of his own and takes Emma's hand in a strong grip. "Hello there, young lady."

Regina smiles cautiously but can tell by the looks on her parents' faces that she will be interrogated about this later. "And Emma, this is Harry. And that, is obviously Zelena."

Emma relaxes a bit when she shakes Harry's hand. But when she turns and reaches out her hand to shake Zelena's, the woman takes it and pulls her in for a hug instead.

"I'm sorry, but I'm a hugger." Zelena says happily.

Emma laughs. "Oh! No worries. I do love the occasional squeeze." She says.

"I'll bet you do." Zelena says as she winks at Regina.

Regina just rolls her eyes and walks over to her parents once again so that she can give them each a proper greeting as well. "Have you guys eaten? Why don't you go grab some breakfast and coffee? Emma and I can stay with Zee while you all take a break." She turns towards Harry then also and smiles at him. "Harry, you too. You look like you can use a break."

Henry nods. "That doesn't sound half bad, actually. I could use a walk. C'mon Honey." He gets up and reaches for his wife's hand who gladly takes it.

"Can we bring you anything, Dear?" Cora asks Regina.

Regina nods. "I'll just take a black coffee. Thanks Momma." Then she walks over to the bed and sits down on the edge of it, grabbing onto Zelena's hand.

"Anything for you, Emma?" Henry asks.

"Actually, why don't I just go with you. That way Regina can have some alone time with her sister." Emma says as she walks over to the door. She opens it and holds it for everyone. "I could actually use some breakfast and a coffee myself."

They all file out of of the room and the second the door closes Zelena takes her hand from Regina and shoves her hard in the arm.

"OW! What the hell, Zee." Regina says as she rubs at her sore shoulder.

"What the hell? You're asking me 'what the hell'? Alright, so, two things. One, Emma is hot. And two, I can't believe that you brought her here with you?" Zelena starts laughing just as her contractions are starting up again. "UGH, holy fuck! Remind me later on, if I ever tell you that I want another one of these, that it really isn't worth it."

Regina grabs her sister's hand again and Zelena gladly takes it, squeezing hard. "You've got this. Just breathe through it like the doctor told you."

"AHHHHH…" Zelena says in between a couple of long exhalations. "I just want this to be over."

"It's going to be over soon." Regina says as she is brushing some of Zelena's long curls away from her face. She watches intently as Zelena pushes through the pain and the agony eventually slowly fades from her sister's face. "There you go. That wasn't so bad."

"Ugh. Speak for yourself." Zelena says as she takes another long, deep breath. "Anyway, you know the moment that Mom saw Emma, that she already started thinking about what to name your babies, right?"

Regina laughs. "You're ridiculous."

"You say that because you know that I'm right." Zelena flashes her sister a brilliant smile. "Honestly though, she's really pretty, Gina. Goodness, I don't know how you do it, but you always snag the good-looking ones."

Regina shakes her head. "I haven't SNAGGED anyone, Zee. We're just friends. I've told you this already. Stop making it out to be something that it's not."

"You're friends that fuck." Zelena says plainly.

Regina shrugs. "Yes. And we're both on the same page about it. And stop it with the language. My niece or nephew is going to come out of there with a potty-mouth just like you." She says, the irritation evident in her voice.

Zelena sighs. "Alright, real talk. I just don't want you to get hurt again. That's all. It's not Emma that I'm worried about. It's you. You want everyone to believe that you have a black, cold heart, but I know better. I know that you are so very capable of falling in love, almost to a fault, because it always ends up being with someone who isn't worthy of you."

Regina smiles sadly then. Zelena is not wrong. She just had not been able to get it right, which is why with Emma, she is not going to let it happen at all. "I know that you're worried. I acknowledge your concern and I'm grateful for it as always, but I'm going to be fine. I promised myself that I would never allow what happened with Silas to happen again."

Before Zelena can argue, another contraction begins and she screeches in anguish. "I think they are getting closer together! Please call Harry! I think that it's time." She says through her gritted teeth.

Regina does as she is told and calls Harry's cell phone. He answers and without a word from Regina, he tells her that they are on their way back to the room.

Once everyone is back, Harry calls for the doctor. Everyone is anxiously waiting when Zelena starts screaming in pain once again.

Harry is holding his wife's hand now and Regina is off to the side. Emma walks over to Regina finally and hands her the coffee that they picked up for her. "Hey, you should have a bit of this before you guys get rushed into the delivery room."

Regina smiles and nods. "Thank you." She takes her coffee and blows on it before taking a small sip. She grimaces. "This is horrible coffee." She says.

Emma chuckles. "Yeah, it's pretty bad. Sorry." She smiles apologetically.

Regina is about to tell her that her apology is silly, but she is interrupted when two nurses come into the room to prep Zelena for the delivery room. It is decided that Cora, Regina, and Harry would go with her into the delivery room while Henry and Emma waited for them right outside. Once everyone is situated and they are ready for transport, they all follow the nurses to the end of the hallway where Henry gives Zelena a kiss on the forehead before they disappear behind the double doors.

Emma sits and watches as Henry paces back and forth a few times clearly excited but nervous. "Mr. Mills?" She says.

Henry looks over at her and laughs. "Mr. Mills was my father. You can call me Henry, Emma."

Emma smiles. "Alright. Well, you should sit, Henry. This may take a while." She says.

Henry nods before taking the seat next to her. "Have you been through this before?"

Emma chuckles. "No, but I've spent a lot of time in hospitals and it's much easier to wait in a chair than it is while you're pacing."

"Oh, I'm sorry…" Henry says.

It dawns on Emma then that he has probably misinterpreted what she said. Her fault for being so cryptic. "No, it's not like that. I was practically raised in a hospital. My mom and dad both worked a lot, so I spent a lot of time with my grandfather who worked at a hospital. He was the Chief of Medicine for most of my younger years and then he took a position as the head of the oncology department. So, I hung out in a lot of waiting rooms. He was also somewhat of a celebrity in the area that I grew up in, and he would parade me around at all of the hospital functions."

Henry smiles. "He must be so very proud of you."

Emma bites softly on the inside of her cheek wondering if she should continue. She finally comes to the conclusion that she is finding this conversation with Regina's dad to be strangely comforting, so she does. "He's not around anymore. He passed away a few years ago."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Henry says solemnly.

"It's fine. Ironically, cancer took him. He spent so much of his time and money trying to fix everyone else, in the end, he couldn't even help himself." Emma realizes that the words taste a little bitter coming out of her mouth. She has been thinking all of these things for so long, but she is not sure that she has ever said them aloud.

"Well, he sounds like he was a great man." Henry says.

Emma just nods.

"So, what do you do, Emma?" Henry asks after a few more seconds of silence.

"I'm a photographer. Well, I do freelance stuff, anyway. And when I'm not working, I mostly try to fill my time with volunteer work." Emma says nonchalantly.

"Oh? Volunteer work at the hospital, I assume?" Henry adds with a smile.

Emma chuckles. "Yes. How'd you guess?"

"Just had a hunch." Henry says, still smiling.

"Well, I volunteer at a lot of other places, too. I am passionate about a lot of causes. There's a LGBTQ youth community center that I try to help out at whenever I can. You wouldn't believe the number of kids that are on the streets because their parents put them there. It's heart-wrenching." Emma says sadly.

"I never understood that and I still don't. My girls are my world and I couldn't imagine ever loving them any less than I do. Regina was only nine or ten when she came into our bedroom and told Cora and I that she was in love." Henry laughs at the memory of his darling little girl. "She climbed into our bed, wedged her way into the spot between the two of us, and just said, 'Momma, Daddy, I'm in love with Sam. And I am going to ask her to marry me'".

Emma smiles, silently urging him to continue.

"You see, Samantha was Regina's and Zelena's nanny. She was a girl from down the street that was going to the local community college, just working to pay her way through school, and Regina was so infatuated with her."

Emma chuckles. "So, did she ever propose to Sam?"

Henry laughs boisterously and the sound echoes a bit through the hall. "You do know this is Regina we are talking about, right? Of course, she does. And Sam told her that she already had a boyfriend, so my poor babygirl was heartbroken for a whole week. In fact, she was so heartbroken, that she let Zelena have all of her desserts for that entire week because 'she couldn't taste anything sweet without hurting'."

Emma laughs. "Oh, geez."

Henry laughs again. "Yeah, she's the dramatic one, that girl. But, where I was going with the story is that when she came into our bedroom that night to tell us about Sam, Cora and I did not think twice about whom it was that she chose to love, but thought immediately about how she was going to get her heart broken. I think that some parents lose sight of what is really fundamentally important, and that for me is quite simply just that my two girls lead happy and healthy lives, always."

Emma tears up a bit but blinks them away. She thinks about her own experience and how horribly alone she felt, and still feels most of the time. "Regina is really lucky to have you and Cora as her parents." Emma says at last, her voice a bit raspy.

Henry senses from Emma's tone that there must be a story behind her sudden sadness but does not push her to tell it. "Cora and I really got lucky with those two. They were less than angels for sure, but they always got along with each other. At the very least, we didn't have to deal with much bickering when they were younger. Do you have any siblings?"

Emma shakes her head. "Nah. I'm an only child. I'm actually very envious of Regina and Zelena's relationship. It must be so nice to have someone that is constantly in your corner. I mean, I do have Ruby, she's my best friend. We've known each other since we were kids, so she's sort of like a sister to me, I guess." She nods reassuring herself before letting her mind wander to Julia. She thinks that she will probably text her later to let her know that she is in town. Maybe we can have dinner.

Henry smiles sadly, now even more curious about Emma's background than he was previously. But, before he can ask her anything else, the double doors open and Cora and Regina come out, walking towards them. Both he and Emma jump up from their seats quickly. "So?" Henry asks in anticipation.

"It's a boy!" Regina says with a bright smile.

"We have a grandson, Henry!" Cora says with a tearful smile of her own.