AN:: I think about this story way too much. It seriously takes up SO much of my day, it's ridiculous.
Also, sorry for the late post - my life is going to be crazy for a little while. I have one full time job, one part time job, and I'm trying to move into a new apartment here soon, so bear with me. I'm not going to give up on this one (or any of the others) I just need time. But I appreciate everyone who's giving feedback and favorite/follow -ing this thing.
Thanks again to Sammichbatch, who also has a ton going on in her life, yet she still takes the time out to help me with all of my stupid gramatical mistakes and reassures me and makes me at least a little less insane for the moment! Ya'll should check out her page too - she's wonderful.
Don't forget that you are loved! And thank you again.
Enjoy!
Henry sprang from the ultrasound room immediately doing a slide on his knees down the hallway, air guitar and all.
Cora gave him a particularly intimidating look that made him get back to his feet, though not without his beaming smile.
"I was right! Let the record show - I was right."
Emma laughed at him, noting the same exact expression on Regina's face. A face that had gotten a bit rounder over the past couple months but not at all less beautiful.
"Henry, please calm down." She said in her very patient way.
"I can't! I'm getting a little brother."
He jumped again and Cora grabbed a hold of his hand. "We're all excited, but you can wait until we get outside to act like a heathen."
Emma leaned over so only Regina could hear. "I'm the heathen influence, right?"
"Yes." Regina whispered back.
She nodded. "Good."
Cora turned around with a grin for only her daughter. "Do you think you're ready to handle two boys?"
Regina's hand went to her belly, now just barely enough to rest her hand atop of. "I suppose I'll have to be."
Henry kept rambling on over sordid glances his grandmother made to his biological mother, to which Emma ignored completely. The few times she'd picked the kid up from her house, the older woman had made it blatantly clear she wasn't supportive of the idea he would be in her care without Regina at all, even if it was only for a few hours.
Regina on the other hand held on to her elation that everything was still going to plan. Her belly measured to size, even if she was carrying a bit low, and that the baby was healthy and still growing on schedule. She got her phone out, ready to return the volume when she noticed the missed calls and the lack of voice messages.
She elbowed Emma and showed her.
"Weird."
"I know."
"Just deal with it when we get back to the house."
Regina nodded. "Do you have to work?"
Emma shook her head. "No, I have Sean covering until I do graveyard."
"Sean..."
"Sean Herman. Like Ashley and Sean. They just had their baby-"
"Right! That's right. How are they?"
Emma shrugged. "They're struggling, but I was going to ask you at the end of the month if I could hire him on? He's awesome with people and he follows instructions to the T. And it would be a huge raise from what he's making at the auto shop."
"Absolutely. I'll look over his volunteer forms and get back to you this week. I forgot I'd approved him." Her tone was flat, her thumb going in circles over her phone in her pocket.
"What are you two mumbling about?" Cora tried to be playful, though it was all but painfully obvious as they made it to the elevator she was tired of not being the first to hear about what was happening with her daughter's family. And the fact her advice wasn't being taken. Emma hadn't just taken over Graham's duties but offered Regina a sounding board that wasn't there to talk down to her, just offer her opinion instead of demonstrating the divine and absolute authority Cora obviously thought she had.
Regina smiled and shrugged. "Work things. Hiring on extra hands at the station."
"Volunteers help, but it's hard to keep the schedule we need right now."
"Can't handle it on your own?"
Emma's eyes went wide. "Excuse me?"
"Mother." Regina sighed, her head falling behind her to the fake wood paneling on the elevator wall.
The doors opened with a ding and they all filed out, Henry looking up at the adults around him and just barely aware of the tension rooted between them.
"Can we stop for ice cream on the way home?"
"No." Emma and Regina reply together.
Cora eyed both of them as they shared the smallest of smirks over Henry's never ending pushing of boundaries.
They'd gotten to a point where they were on the same page more of the time than not. Everything was still up to Regina as far as Henry was concerned, and Emma never failed to ask any and all questions that she thought necessary - but there was a trust there that Regina didn't seem to give to anyone else. Even the blonde saw her apprehension in allowing others into her life, and she wondered what she'd actually done to deserve such treatment, not that she would ever think to question it with the simple fear of it being questioned and the chance it could disappear.
Cora on the other hand questioned it every chance she had, reminding Regina how little she actually knew of the woman who'd given her Henry. And yet, all she did was shrug off her concern and change the subject.
"I'm afraid I must be off, then."
Regina looked to her mother and gave a small smile, passing the keys off to Emma before returning Cora's embrace, pursing her lips as their cheeks brushed. "I'll call you in the morning."
"Very well, dear... and be good, you." She squeezed her grandson tight. Then refused to look at Emma as she got in her car, threw her shades on and raced away.
Emma just grinned to herself as she unlocked the Benz.
Regina scowled at her. "What?"
"I think she's warming up to me." Emma grinned obnoxiously.
All Regina could do was roll her eyes and ease herself into the passenger seat.
The ride home was nearly silent other than the sounds coming from Henry's video games and the grinding sound Regina's mind was making as her wheels turned.
Emma reached over and pinched her elbow lightly.
Regina looked like she was coming out of a trance, eyebrows up and eyes aware.
"You okay?"
She just nodded and sat back, getting out her phone again.
It wasn't until they were in the driveway and Henry had already started out of the car she held it up to her ear.
Emma threw another concerned look, but Regina smiled this time and nodded. "I'll be inside before too long."
And it would have set Emma's mind at ease if it had been real, but she knew the dismissive mom look by now - especially on Regina.
But it wasn't her place. None of this was her place, but she was invited and she needed to be wanted by people in the most basic ways. It was the only way she kept herself above water with all of her stupid emotions, what with knowing she loved Henry with everything she had now, and shifting between friendship and attraction with his mother every other day. She knew she didn't need to be... anything other than what they were with Regina. She didn't need it. But she wanted it.
"I'll start up dinner."
And at this Regina's smile is real - surely because she knew now that Emma can start most dinners by herself.
Emma set the keys on the seat before going up the drive as well, closing the door after Henry and kicking her shoes off.
"Where's mom?"
She nods back the way they came. "On the phone. She'll come in when she's done." She sighs, fatigue setting in her shoulders right after she lets her stretch subside. But she straightens up and waves him into the kitchen anyway. "Come help me start dinner."
"What about homework?"
"What about it?"
Henry looks at her, wide eyed and understanding.
She narrows her eyes at him. "You told your mom you finished it in the waiting room."
He looks at his socks, and Emma shakes her head.
"Sorry."
"Don't be sorry - get it out and if your mom asks tell her you forgot and have some to finish up."
"It's just math."
Emma laughs and squeezes his shoulder. "Good - then do it quick and maybe she'll believe you."
And Henry has to smile back because he knows she won't.
Henry stalked away, leaving his video games on the counter before setting up at the dining room table and Emma ran lettuce under the faucet - cool water, she'd learned. That and that grilled cheese works out best on low heat, and a shit ton of butter on the outside of both sides of bread, that milk worked better in hot cocoa than water - that one came with the long realization that it's why her home made ones were never as good. She'd gone from two dinners a week to helping every night. Homework, helping Regina sort through all of her pregnancy books and online articles - then the forty hour weeks in the station or on patrol.
And no matter how tired she was, she'd get up and keep going, knowing how Henry looked at her when he finally understood that one question or the smile they'd get after his frustration died down.
Family.
It had taken her about a day and a half for her to realize she loved it, and then the following hour to promise to herself that she was going to do her best to make sure they were safe and comfortable. Even from a six minute walk or a two minute drive away.
The door closed and Emma realized she'd just been staring at the lettuce.
Regina walked in the kitchen only peeking in on Henry before going straight over to the blonde. "Katherine's coming over."
She nodded. "We have more than enough-"
"Graham... Graham's lawyer finally got back to us. And he's not happy. He already sent the DNA in for the paternity test, but he said he's not signing his rights over and that he's going to try and get custody-"
"He's not going to get the baby, Regina-"
"I know that." She nods. She seems a little red in the face and Emma can't help but squeeze her arm. Regina just sighs and leans against the counter sluggishly. "I know. I just wished this would go better than this. I didn't think it would but I certainly wished."
Emma offered a small smile before turning the faucet off and handing the lettuce over to Regina, not realizing the yawn she tucked into her arm as she did so.
And Regina's eyes stayed glued on her, taking in the barely-there blue that tinged the skin just under Emma's eyes. Her chest tightened a bit. "Didn't know you were in for all of this, did you?" She asked delicately.
"What do you mean?" Her voice muffled by the refrigerator door. She pulls back with more vegetables and preheats the oven.
Regina looked around. "You sort of fell into playing mommy number two." Her smile turned sad all of the sudden. "Not that I'm complaining. It just seems like more than you bargained for."
"I didn't bargain, Regina - I offered." She put her hair up in a messy bun, handing the almost defrosted chicken to Regina. "I mean... I'm not ready to do the raw meat thing yet, but I'm good with helping with everything else." She threw in with a cheeky grin.
She wanted to say more, but Regina just nodded.
It's not until dinner is almost ready and she's scolding Emma for the excessive amount of garlic butter that she actually looks at her, throwing all the waves of silliness away. "I don't want to ask too much of you."
"You think I can't handle some garlic bread?"
"That's not-"
"I know what you meant." Emma cut her off and let her smile fall away. "It's not easy and I know that. And I know it's only going to get harder, but you guys mean more to me than being a little bit tired, okay? If you really don't mind me being all in your business, then I want to help you."
"Just because I let you see Henry?"
"Because you're letting me play an active role in his life. You could have easily told me to get the fuck outta dodge, or called the cops, you could have done a hundred things that would have all been justified because you wanted to keep Henry safe, or... whatever reason. You could have let me walk away because I was scared too. But you did what was best for him. And you showed me what caring felt like."
She saw the change in Regina's face and took a breath.
"We'll have time to talk about all my shitty emotions later. Just... I promise I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to be. Don't worry about overworking me. Try and remember I really feel like I owe you guys. And I do."
Regina shook her head but smiled all the same, a hint of worry somewhere in there, but Emma decided she just wanted to move away from the whole thing. Shit got heavy way too fast and she didn't like the feeling. It made her want to hold the older woman's hand and that's not a good idea - that would be way too transparent and she wasn't ready to be that exposed to anyone.
So instead, Emma ran around the kitchen, all but ignoring Regina. She even called Henry in to set the table, and got most of the food out by herself.
"Should I get anything?" Regina asked quietly, a hint of surprise playing on her mouth.
Yet Emma finds it in herself to roll her eyes and move past Regina carefully, putting a hand on her belly as she reaches past to get the fancy napkin holders from their usual decorative place in the windowsill. "You can get the bread when it's done." Her fingers move quickly, both getting the little metal rings and making a small scratching motion on Regina's stomach. "I already have the serving dish out so you don't have to move it."
"I'm pregnant, not disabled."
Emma tisked. "Handi-capable. You're atrocious."
"Spell 'atrocious,' Emma!"
Henry laughed along with both of them, not understanding how it was funny. But the sound of the doorbell got him up and off of the couch like a bolt, opening the door and smiling at Katherine.
"Hi there, Henry." She grinned.
The little boy just grinned up at her, his blush wearing into his face.
Regina clicked down the hallway and hugged her quickly, both of their expressions sobering a bit.
"Henry-"
Emma waved her greeting and moved Henry back into the living room, not needing the thank you in Regina's eyes.
"They need to talk for a minute, kid."
He looked up at her, his upper lip curled in a blatant 'I don't care' way. "Why?"
"Because Katherine is your mom's lawyer and they have law stuff for them to talk about."
"That doesn't make sense. Mom doesn't do lawyer stuff anymore."
"What?"
Henry shrugged. "What?"
She smiled and shook her head. "Your mom used to do lawyer stuff."
"Yeah. Before I was born. She said that's why she's the mayor because she knew about the law and she worked at the town hall before." He said it like it was the most obvious thing that'd ever been said but it makes Emma peer into the other room as they look over papers - understanding the intensity with which Regina pours over the documents now. She bet she'd even had a big part in writing them too.
"That makes sense..."
"Hey!"
Mrs. Blanchard turned around with a warm smile and waved. "Hi there, Emma."
"Hi- glad I caught you." She handed over the envelope with her rent in it. "Sorry it's late. Dinner ran a little late."
"It's no trouble." The older woman shrugged and smiled, tiny fine lines starting to crease around her eyes. If Ruby's mother went to school with her, then she could only be about forty, Emma assumed- counting on the fact Ruby was only turning twenty two here soon, but she didn't seem much older than Regina aside from the minor creasing in her skin. Maybe she just had a young face.
She put the envelope in her purse without opening it and smiled back up at the blonde. "How is Regina. I haven't had the chance to see her since you've started picking up Henry."
"She's good. Her morning sickness stopped a few weeks ago and she's still in her heels, so... ya know. She's tough."
"Oh we all know."
"What?" She squinted.
Mrs. Blanchard pointed down the sidewalk. "I was going to go on a walk, if you'd like to join me?"
Emma stuck her hands in her pockets and nodded, starting on their way.
The older woman took a moment before starting in again. "I was just.. referring to the fact she's still been loyal to her position and not let, things affect her."
"Yeah." Emma nodded.
"I didn't mean it as though everyone gossips about her-"
"Although they do." Emma looked at her. "She knows. It's not hard to see."
"But not all of it's bad."
"None of it should be bad. She raises a child on her own, runs a town, and manages to do it with grace and professionalism. I think she should get a lot more credit than she does."
She nodded and looked at the pavement. "I think we're all just a little intimidated. It's easier to focus on the the little flaws than to praise her for all of the things that we've become used to her doing. So the fact that she's pregnant and single has drawn a lot more attention than it should."
Emma looked at her.
"I think she's brave."
"Me too."
"Do you like your name?"
Emma frowned, taken off guard completely. "What?"
"Do you like the name 'Emma?'" She shrugged. "I've always liked that name. When I was small, all of my baby dolls were named Emma."
"Oh. I mean... yeah. No one teased me for my name growing up, so. I guess it's okay. I've never really thought about it."
Mrs. Blanchard's eyes seemed far away for a good moment as she simply nodded. "I always told myself if I had a daughter, I'd name her Emma."
All she could think was that Ruby had been very right. This lady was a more than a little weird, but from what she'd seen of her, being alone as much as she was had probably taken it's tole. Lonely and regretful about giving up a baby. And Emma knew exactly how that felt.
"I thought Henry was going to be a girl."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I tried not to think about giving it a name, though - just because I knew I wouldn't keep him."
She flashed a questioning look up at the blonde, but didn't say anything.
"I was seventeen. And I didn't have any family to help me out, so I knew if I put him up for adoption right away - being a baby there would be parents all over the U.S. trying to get their hands on him."
"How did you know that?"
"I was in foster care my whole life up until then. The younger the kid, the more likely they'd get adopted. The older you were the harder it was."
"You were in foster care?"
Emma nodded.
"Why?"
"I don't know."
Her frown turned quickly into a frantic curiosity. "What-"
"I was found on the side of the road somewhere in upstate New York, like a day old or so - no one knows who my parents are. So I was just immediately put into the foster care system... after like a week in the hospital because I hadn't been fed. But I wasn't put up for adoption because they tried to find who I belonged to for like a year. So I know all about that shit. And it sucks."
"How old are you?"
Emma frowned at her tone. "The fuck? How old are you?"
Without any warning, she just turned and walked toward her house again, leaving Emma confused and thoroughly weirded out.
"Okay, bye?" She said to herself.
Lady was weird as shit. There was no way Emma was hers... unless she got knocked up when she was like eleven. Fuck that.
Cora started throwing jabs early - even before Henry could run and play outside. Granted they were low and her grandson had taken them as simple jokes, similar to the ones that Emma and Regina would toss at each other with smiles. He didn't understand that they were built on real feeling, and the fact Emma wasn't there to defend herself meant she was saying them just to be mean spirited and condescending.
Regina was thankful he didn't understand. She held her composure for most of the meal and let her mother and her son chat for a bit. But when it had come time to say goodbyes, Regina unlocked the car for Henry and pretended she left something in the house.
The older woman was still smiling warmly at the door when Regina nearly broke her heels stomping back up the steps.
"Darling, is-"
"You have to stop. I will not have you talk about Emma that way in front of Henry. Or in front of me for that matter."
Cora just grinned, looking toward the ground as she gathered words to waft away the seriousness that had washed over her daughter. "I'm not-"
"You are being serious. And it has to stop - I don't care what you think of her or how you talk about her with your country club cronies. But I care about you treating her like a second class citizen when she's done nothing but prove herself from the minute she made the commitment to Henry to stay. She's helped me and she's stood up for me, and she's given so much of her time and effort for both of us. I love you dearly, and I know you mean well and that you want to protect me. But attacking a woman who is doing the very best she can for people she barely knows... attacking someone that means very much to me as well, mother - I won't stand for it. I don't care if you're jealous or insecure under it all. She's staying."
"You seem so sure."
"I am."
With a hand on her baby bumpand a determination in her eye, Regina wentback to the car and drove away.
It's almost exactly a week later when caves in and tries on the maternity clothes Emma picked out. She still goes down to Boston and to New York every few weekends to try and pick up some extra cash. And on the occasions she does, she brings Henry back a comic book or a map - the nerdy things he likes the most. Every once and a while something will pop out at her that she knows Regina would love. The time before last it was a jar painted from the inside, little designs all over you put over a candle and it lights up.
This time, it was the pants. Still slim in the legs but with a full spandex waist to stretch over her bump, and pin striped.
They sat on her dresser for the better part of the week, and before Emma shows up for lunch and to take Henry on a bike ride, Regina slips them on... and hated herself for how comfortable she found herself.
Emma walked in and recognized it immediately, smiling brightly at the way Regina slumped over. "I didn't want to like them."
"But you love them, right?"
Regina rubbed her face. "I want three more pairs to go with all of my jackets." She admitted with a grin.
Henry comes down the stairs full blast, still in pajamas. His grin is all of a hello that's needed, though he hugs her anyway, then pulls both of his mothers into the living room with him.
"What's this?" Regina asks.
Henry plops down in the middle, daring them to sit with him. "Old school cartoons are on. We should watch them."
"Old school?" Emma raises an eyebrow.
He just turns the TV on and sits back, waiting as both women look toward the screen and see the grainy 'POW' and 'BOOM' from the opening sequence of a batman series that has to be long since retired.
"What about the bike ride?" Regina asks.
He shrugs and pulls his feet underneath himself.
Emma's the first to shrug and sit down, sighing into the couch and letting her back curl in a way she knows will probably not feel the best later, but right now it's relaxing.
And looking at the two of them, Regina knows she doesn't actually care either. She eases herself down a little sideways so she can pick her legs up, tucking her feet behind Henry's back.
And they sit there, more like family than they think they'd ever felt like.
Two episodes come and go before Regina waves her hand at the two of them. She put a finger to her lips and grabs at Henry's hand.
He looked at her, completely puzzled. Then his mother pressed his fingers over her side - right under her ribs and there's a soft drumming.
His eyes went wide and he scrambled closer, putting both hands on his mother's belly, then his face a moment later.
Emma sat and grinned at them.
But Regina frowned and reached for her hand too.
"What?"
"Come here." She whispered. "He only goes when he thinks I'm asleep."
Henry moved over so Emma could get closer too. Regina took her hand and put it a little higher - right between her breast and her belly button and there's a hard kick.
"You guys feel him?" She asked softly.
Emma couldn't answer. She decided not to because she didn't know how to tell them she'd never felt this before - the memories are fuzzy but she knows she never attempted to feel Henry when she was pregnant. It was scary, and this was scary.
She gulped one more time before she could take her eyes off Regina's belly and actually smile at her.
"About time, right?"
The blonde would have nodded if the giant knock at the door hadn't shocked her out of their happy little family moment.
Regina twisted and looked toward the entry way, confusion melting every last bit of her face.
"You're not expecting anyone?" Emma's gut turns.
She shook her head and got up slowly.
Without any real need, Emma gave Henry a look to just stay put and followed Regina - followed and then got in front of her looking through the peep hole before Regina could. And her gut tightened again.
He banged on the door a second time - just two hits, but they're solid and suddenly she's nervous enough to push Regina back lightly.
"Em-"
"It's Graham."
Regina's face drops. Her hands went over her belly like he could take it from her.
Emma couldn't say that it's okay before he opened the door, and she flipped around immediately, putting herself between them. "You can't be here."
"There's no restraining order."
Regina shook her head. "But you don't live here anymore. It's trespassing and I can have you arrested."
"You think Emma could arrest me?" He almost smiled before his eyes landed on Regina. More specifically the roundness under her hand and he stiffened visibly.
Emma couldn't help but look between them for a moment, and Regina looked back gulping back the sudden tears.
"How.. how many-"
Regina cut him off and moved toward Henry suddenly. "Get out. You can talk to Katherine."
Graham seemed dead set on moving in the house, but Emma waits until Regina has Henry out of sight before she pushes him back outside, locking the door behind them. She didn't have her cuffs on her or she would have absolutely taken him to the station and let him sit in his embarrassment for as long as she could manage to get away with. But seeing as she just had her hands, she got him out the door and down the steps rather easily.
"She has to talk to me at some point."
"And she will. You're forgetting she could have just not told you anything - left you in the dark like you didn't have rights to take away in the first place."
"Yeah, but she's a bit more mature than you are."
Emma felt the sting immediately. It took her a few hard seconds of glaring at the son of a bitch to decide she didn't care.
Her fist connected with his nose first, and as soon as he took one of his hands away and looked back at her, Emma swung again and got him square in the jaw.
That last one made her wrist feel that sharp pain a bit, not enough to make her back down though.
Her hand slipped into the collar of his shirt and she pushed him all the way back to his car and hit him again, twice in the side of the head. She could feel her blood pumping through her and the anger wrapping around her chest as Regina's face flashed through her head again, the tears she'd shed over him and the uncertainty of taking on motherhood again. If it were anyone else - anyone that didn't know how to file a report, Emma would have kept going. She would have beat him into a pulp because she's been doing it all her life and she knew how to make someone even twice her size roll on the ground in agony.
She settled for watching the over grown man-child that was Regina's ex hold his face as he leaned against his car.
But she did get in his face.
"I want you to listen to me very carefully." Her voice rattled in her throat, somewhere between fury and horror at what Regina and Henry might be feeling. "If you ever touch Henry, or Regina, or even that baby if Regina says you can't.. I will fucking murder you." She waited until his eyes meet hers before she nods slowly. "I am not above committing crimes to keep them safe. So get in your car, and conduct yourself like an adult. Sign some papers and slither back into the hole you came from."
She started to walk away until she hears laughing. She just stops.
"You're a guard dog. You're not a part of their family. You're like the babysitter that won't go away."
"And you're an idiot! You treat the one person who could have dealt with your sorry ass like shit! Her and that kid in there who, yes - he really did want to look up to you, until you showed you were an asshole!" She stomped back over to him and pushed him on the gravel without much effort. "You don't deserve her or her baby-"
"Sounds like someone has a crush."
Her boot digs in his ribs before she could stop herself.
Graham sputtered and rolled over. Blood from his nose had just about covered a third of his shirt at this point and Emma's just standing over him, seething.
"I'm filing charges."
She smiled. "Fourth amendment - self defense; the act of using lethal force against the perceived threat of danger to ones self or their loved ones. Fuck your charges. And fuck you."
"I'm not signing my rights over."
Emma shrugged and walked away. "Then Regina will win them from you."
She couldn't even make it all the way up the steps before the door opened, and even then it wasn't until the tears on Henry's cheeks hit her that everything slows down.
She didn't even think before dropping to her knees and hugging the little boy to her. "It's okay, kid. I'm okay. I'm sorry."
"A-are you okay?" He whimpered
"Yeah, absolutely."
"You didn't have to lock yourself out there with him." Regina frowned, but it's much more out of worry. Emma saw it in her face and smiled just a little bit because of it.
"I'm sorry." She said again. She stood with Henry still in her arms and Regina's hand went immediately to the swollen, red knuckles, running a thumb over them. Emma waited for her to look back up. "I didn't want him back in the house if he got around me."
"And if he got around you, dear?"
"He didn't."
"And I'm glad, but please try to avoid it altogether, next time." Emma knew Regina should be angry, but all she can read is worry. Something about that made her relieved and thankful.
She put Henry down and kissed his head. "Can you go upstairs and get dressed for me? I think we should all spend the day somewhere fun, okay?"
He just nodded and wiped tears away as he went.
Regina looked after him all the way up until the door to his room shut, and then simply walked back in the kitchen.
"Regina.. I'm sorry-" She started after her but stopped in the doorway. "I-"
"You were protecting us." Regina finished quietly. She got out a plastic bag and put ice in it. Emma stood there watching, and Regina keeps going, wrapping a damp towel around the bag and putting it on Emma's knuckles. "And thank you for that, but I was scared..."
Regina's lip curled over and Emma didn't have to go in for the hug - Regina's arms wrapped around her neck so fast she didn't know what to do accept (except) for hold her back.
"I'm sorry." She repeated again.
Regina shook her head. "I'm sorry he came here - I'm sorry you had to go.."
"It's okay." Emma pulled back and wiped the tears away with her thumb. "Regina, everything is going to work out like it's supposed to. Even though it's not easy right now, everything will be fine. We'll get through it-"
Suddenly Regina takes a big breath, holding on to Emma's arms for support. Emma felt like she almost saw actual pain in it, but on second look it just seemed like concentration. Her breaths are calculated and meant to calm herself.
"We'll get through it." The brunette repeated. "Together."
It made Emma feel like crying. But she kept it down, looking at Regina's belly and then at her hand holding the ice pack around her own knuckles.
Emma smiled before nodding up to Henry's room. "You two should pack a bag. I think you should stay at my apartment, where there are cameras in the halls if he decides to do something stupid."
There's a second that Regina's eyes decide to get all lost before she nodded. "Alright."
"We can tell Henry it's a sleep over."
"He'll like that."
Emma took her good hand away and tapped Regina's jaw with it, happy to see the smallest of smiles press into her lips.
But just as soon as it came it went away. Something altogether different came over her and all Emma could do was wait.
Regina's hand slipped into her own and she saw the hurt processing over her features.
"Emma, you're my best friend."
There it is. Her heart pounds in her chest in the most painful way.
"I'm so thankful for you and I couldn't stand to see you hurt on my account."
"You won't." Emma gulped down her words.
"I won't see it, or it won't happen."
Emma just smiled and hugged her again. "You won't." She repeated herself because she didn't know the answer. She was pretty sure she was hurting right then. Mostly because she just wanted to kiss Regina until she couldn't see straight. But that wasn't fair. Just because she was the only person to ever really offer her something of a family... well that was it. This was the only person who had ever offered her a family and she wouldn't ruin it because of inappropriate feelings.
"Emma..."
"Let's go get Henry."
They both give each other strange smiles, but head up the stairs anyway.
