Hope you guys enjoy it ;) and I'm sorry for any mistakes in the writing.
Chapter 14
So it wasn't hard to convince Emma and Regina to spend the afternoon and eat dinner at the Charming's apartment the next day, it only took Henry's puppy dog eyes and Snow's persistence because it still took them almost ten minutes to make Regina cave in and surrender to their will.
As agreed, at four in the afternoon when the family of three, soon to be four, knocked on the door of the Charming's apartment. Snow was the one who opened the door and greeted them with a huge smile, after all the 'hello's' she finally moved away from the door to allow entrance to the recently arrived family and as soon as they entered they were faced with a handful of people all smiling at them that were holding little flags that read 'It's a Girl' and 'Congratulations'.
In the corner of the small living room was a table with all sorts of snacks and drinks and they could see that on top of the kitchen counter were all the presents that the guests had obviously brought, the couch had been moved to a side so they could have more space in the middle of the room.
Emma was smiling, happy that her parents had organized a baby shower for Regina and she was proud of them because it showed her that they were putting the past behind and that they were accepting Regina into their family and most importantly accepting her for who she was now and accepting her as Emma's true love.
She surrounded Regina from behind and smiling she finally spoke "Thank you guys."
Regina was still speechless, she wasn't sure how to react. Her relationship with Snow had improved and they had decided to forgive one another and try and move on but in her mind she thought they were still far from getting to be friends but this party organized by Snow made her think that maybe to Snow she was already part of her family and that made her happy. Looking around she could see Granny, Ruby, Kathryn, Frederic, Archie and David they were all smiling at her and she simply couldn't believe it.
When she felt Emma's arms surrounding her she knew that she wasn't in a dream, it was true, real, all this people had gathered to celebrate the new live that was currently growing inside her belly and they were happy for her. After hearing Emma's words she finally let herself react and so she gave them a beaming smile and she let a small tear escape her shining eyes.
Taking hold of Emma's hands she drew the strength to finally speak "Thank you all for coming here today, thank you for this amazing surprise and most importantly thank you for accepting and forgiving me."
Moving forward Archie said "The past is in the past, now is time to move forward and finally be happy. Congratulations Regina."
"Thank you Archie." Regina said in a small voice.
"So let's get this party stared." Ruby finally said and as the words came out of her mouth Henry turned on the stereo that began playing some soft pop songs.
Emma was already greeting everyone and Regina was still on the same spot thinking that this people were now all part of her family and she had to learn to accept all their forgiveness despite the fact that she sometimes felt like she didn't deserve it and she had to accept that deep down she at this stage of her life already like them all and she had to learn to let them in as they were letting her in into their lives and most importantly they were letting her in inside their hearts.
Snow was watching the older brunette, she was giving her time to digest all that was happening. She had decided to organize this baby shower mostly because she needed to prove to Regina that she wasn't alone anymore and that she now had a family, people that truly cared for her. When she saw a new smile form on Regina's face she understood that it was now time to approach her, she was ready now, she could see it in those expressive brown eyes.
"Regina…" she didn't get an opportunity to actually say anything else because Regina took the final step that kept them apart and hugged her. She wasn't expecting it but she was happy that it was happening so she hugged Regina too in a tight embrace.
All the presents in the room saw the action and smiled but kept doing what they were doing as to not interrupt what was going on between the two women, they needed their space and they respected that.
"Thank you for this, thank you for showing me that I'm not alone and that I do have a family where I belong with." Regina whispered in Snow's ear.
"You are welcome." Snow whispered back. "Now are you ready for your party?"
"Yes, I believe that I am." And with that both women went to join the others that were all chatting and eating in the middle of the living room.
After an hour and a half of having fun Snow decided that it was time to open the presents.
"So how about we open the presents now?" She asked happily.
"Yeah, good idea." Said Ruby.
"Ok, I better sit down then, I'm getting a little tired." Regina said and moved to the couch.
As soon as she was comfortable on the couch Emma sat to her right and Kath sat on her left.
"Let's begin." Snow said and brought Regina the first present "This one is from Granny." She said with a smile.
"Hope you like it. It's just practical things." Granny said.
Regina looked at her and nodded as she grabbed the package and began to open it. inside of it she found a set of six baby bodies all in different colors, alongside it was another set of three baby bottles and four baby bibs.
Smiling Regina looked at Granny and said "Thank you Granny. I think you will make a fine great-grandmother."
"Great-grandmother?" she gasped out in surprise "Don't play with my old heart young lady." Granny said trying to avoid the tears that were menacing to slip from her eyes.
"Have I ever played with serious things Granny? After all we are family now, right?" Everyone could hear the hope in the brunette's voice.
At that Granny smiled "Yes we are, we are a family now." Regina gave her a big smile and she felt her heart leap in her chest.
"Now open mine." Ruby said giving her the box that she had already in hand and trying to stop the incoming tears that were menacing to escape both women.
Opening the box Regina found inside an electronic babysitter with a camera. At seeing it Emma gasped "Ruby that's really expensive, you shouldn't have…"
Cutting Emma off Ruby simply said "I know but I wanted to, after all I'm going to be the cool Auntie Ruby and she needs to be watched all the time and that with a camera is way better than just the sound transmitting ones." She finished with a wink at both women "Now see what is left."
Emma curiously took the wrapped gift that was still inside the box and opened it "Really Rubes?" she said smiling.
"It looks just like yours." Henry said "Cool."
"I thought it was a nice touch. After all, my red cloak is kinda awesome." She said making all the presents laugh.
"Now this one is from Archie." David said as he delivered the next gift.
Emma opened it "Nice a wrap sling, this will definitely help with carrying her around, thank you Archie."
"You're welcome."
Frederic came to them with a big box in hand "Hope you ladies like it."
Both women began unwrapping it and as soon as the image printed on the box was visible they immediately smiled "Thank you guys, it's awesome, in fact we were thinking in buying a baby stroller just like this one." Emma said.
"We know Regina showed me so I thought it would be a nice gift." Kathryn said.
"Thank you Kath." Regina said grabbing the older blonde's hand and squeezing it.
"You're welcome honey." Was Kathryn's response.
"So mom here is mine, hope you like it." Henry said with a smile.
"Oh sweetie you didn't have to." Regina told him caressing his cheek.
"I know but I really wanted to give you something and grams helped me to choose." He said with a small proud grin. "Now open it."
As soon as they both opened it they saw the most adorable outfit, it was composed by a small pink skirt, a white blouse, the cutest baby pink knitted coat and to complement the outfit there was a pair of the smallest shoes.
"Oh Henry it's adorable." Regina managed to say, she was feeling extremely emotional and Emma noticing it placed her arm around her waist.
"I'm glad you liked it mom." He smiled and kissed her cheek.
"Well now you can both open up our gift." Snow said and brought them a big box.
"What do you have in there mom?" Emma asked taking in the size of the box.
"It's just something that I think it's going to be really useful." She said but the hope that Emma and Regina felt in her voice told them that Snow was expecting something to come true with this gift.
"Ok let's take this wrapping paper off then." Emma said as she kneeled on the floor and began ripping the paper apart.
"It's a portable crib." Henry said like it was the most natural thing on this earth.
Emma and Regina looked at Snow, understanding flooding them. Regina was the first to speak though.
"Indeed it is going to be very useful, in the days we have to take the baby to work with us or when our child decides to take a nap on the grandparents house." Regina said smiling and winking at Snow in end of her statement. They could all see the cheerful glee of happiness in Snow's face.
"Thank you guys for all this amazing gifts. You have no idea how happy we are." Emma said taking Regina's hand in hers and softly squeezing it making the brunette smile.
"You're welcome, we did all this just to show you how much we care about you two and we are glad that we could contribute with something to make this little girl's life even more happier when she is born because I'm pretty sure that she is extremely happy where she is now protected by her mom." Kath said placing a gentle hand on Regina's belly.
"So now that there are no more gifts what's for dinner?" Emma asked making everyone laugh. They had spent the last couple of hours eating little snacks and having drinks and obviously the Savior needed something more consistent for dinner.
"Dinner is on me. We are all going to the diner, I've already prepared something for all of us." Granny informed them.
"Nice." Was Emma's response as she got up.
"Wait." Henry said suddenly "There is one more gift on top of the counter."
"What?" Snow asked surprised "We already opened the gifts from everyone that is here." She added frowning.
"Ok let's just see what it is. Maybe it has a card on the inside." Ruby suggested and Henry gave the wrapped box to his mom.
As Regina opened the box and saw what was inside it the living room was suddenly filled with her terrifying scream as she threw the box away from her and the tears began to flow down like rain in her cheeks. Kathryn that was still seated by her side was the only one who saw what was inside and she immediately pulled Regina to her and hugged her tightly against her chest in a really protective manner whispering "It's going to be ok, we are all here to protect you honey."
Blue relished as she watched Regina's reaction to her gift. She was grinning like an insane person proud of her little stunt.
She was in her fairy size watching through the window, managing to stay unnoticed.
Now she just had to wait to see whatever the crazy man was planning to do with the Evil Queen and she was hoping that he would put up a show so she could enjoy the Queen's suffering in the first row and maybe even applaud the man depending on his performance.
Everyone was shocked by Regina's reaction and they were all staring at one another trying to understand what the hell had just happened until Emma finally reacted and grabbed the box from the floor and opened it to see what the hell was inside it.
After she opened it she spent a couple of seconds looking at its contents "Who the fuck did this?" were the angry words that flew out of her mouth.
Everyone came closer to her to see what was inside and as they saw it a unison gasp could be heard. Inside the box was a dead cat dressed with baby clothes all stained with blood, it was a terrifying thing to see.
"This is extremely cruel." Ruby managed to say.
"Just someone without a heart could do something like this." Archie added.
"But how did this appear here?" Snow asked.
"That has an easy answer Snow." Frederic told her "Magic."
"He is right, when we all arrived there was nothing on top of the counter." Granny stated.
"We need to investigate this." David said moving closer to Emma and removing the box from her hands closing it.
"I'm going to kill the bastard that did this…" Emma was cut off by Archie.
"Emma we will take care of this, you should take care of Regina. She needs you right now." Archie said calmly and pointing at the sobbing woman.
Emma looked at the love of her life and her heart just broke. She approached the brunette and tried to speak with her. "Beautiful." Was the only word that escaped her lips because Regina broke free of Kathryn's embrace and hugged her.
"Emma, why can't they leave me alone? Why can't we be happy?" she managed to say in between sobs.
"Baby don't worry we are going to get the person who did this, I promise." She said while her tears began to fall too.
"I'm so tired…" Regina managed to whisper out.
"I know baby, I've got you." She said kissing Regina's cheek. Emma managed to look at her dad over her shoulder "Dad can you please take Regina to my old bedroom?"
"Sure." he came closer to them and waited for Emma to break the embrace that she was sharing with Regina.
"Baby my dad is going to take you to my bed so you can rest and my mom and Kathryn are going to stay with you, ok?" Emma spoke softly simply receiving a nod from the woman she loved.
David came closer and picked Regina up bridal style and made his way up the stairs to Emma's old room.
"Will you two take care of her? Please? I need to find who did this, she has suffered enough, this just isn't fair." Emma said sounding sad and defeated at the same time. She felt like she was failing Regina, she was failing at protecting her.
"Emma we won't leave her side." Snow promised before her and Kathryn made their way up the stairs too.
As soon as Regina was comfortably placed on the bed David finally spoke "Regina we will find who did this and I can guarantee you that whoever it is, is going to receive his or her punishment." As he was making his way out of the bedroom he stopped when he heard Regina's voice.
"David, please protect Emma, even if that means protecting her from herself." Regina said in a raspy voice, still affected by the pain that was coursing through her heart and soul.
"I promise you I'll keep her safe." And as he left Kathryn and Snow entered the room and made their way towards the bed.
When David reached the last step of the stairs he said "If we are dealing with magic I think we better ask Gold."
Emma looked at him and with all the determination she said "Let's go." And she grabbed the box sent from hell and made her way to the door and as she opened it she added "Are you coming?" she asked looking at her father and her best friend.
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