Due to the inability to think up other options for Emma's replacement as Sheriff besides Ruby and Dr. Whale, Regina decided to hold a town meeting.
Regina sat at the head of the table, Emma sat adjacent to her left. At the far right sat Gold and Belle, the latter of which seemed to have gained their memory back. Regina was grateful that Gold had taken the seat as far away as possible from her. Across from them sat Red and Granny. Mother Superior deemed the seat adjacent to Regina's right safe to sit in. Charming sat to Emma's left, and Snow, still without a lot of her memory, sat to his left. Dr. Whale sat at Mother Superior's right. At Whale's right was Archie Hopper. The table was full, save for the opposite end where no one sat, ever.
Once everyone had arrived and was settled, Regina began, "You may be wondering why I've brought you here today, and the answer in quite simple. As some of you may or may not be aware, for nearly a full year Miss Swan and I have been engaged."
Soft murmurs rose around the table.
"Now," Regina continued. "Not only are we engaged, we're also expecting."
Emma did her best not to wince as she remembered she never told her parents of their plans. Not beyond the engagement, that is.
The murmurs around the table increased and Regina waited for order to return, ever the business woman.
"Because of this," Regina went on. "Miss Swan will be stepping down from her position as Sheriff, temporarily, in a few short months. Needless to say, she will have a replacement. That is why you are here. I am at a loss as to who this replacement shall be. This is where you come in. I will accept any and all nominations; you may even feel free to nominate yourself." She tapped on the piece of paper sitting in front of her. "This sheet of paper will go around the table counter-clockwise. Write down who you wish to nominate. If the name of the person you choose to nominate is already on the paper by the time it gets to you, make a tally mark next to the name. The five names with the most tally marks will have the choice to become official candidates. If there are any ties, the paper will go around the table again until the top five choices stand out clearly. If you find yourself nominated and don't wish to be a candidate, tell me after the meeting and I'll cross your name off the list. I want at least three candidates that the people can vote on. However, if all five are comfortable they will all become candidates and there will be two elections. The three candidates with the most votes from the first election will move on to the second where ultimately one will win. Before the elections, each candidate will have a chance to speak in order to convince the townspeople why they should be selected as Miss Swan's temporary replacement. The dates for these events will be given once decided on." And with that, Regina pushed the paper over to Mother Superior, along with a pen.
Ironically, both Ruby and Dr. Whale ended up being on the list by the time it got back to Regina. There were eight names on the list.
Charming Mother Superior Gold Ruby Belle Dr. Whale Dr. Hopper
HookCharming had one tally mark next to his name, as did Ruby. It was painfully obvious who had voted for the both of them. Emma and Regina didn't vote.
"Alright, this is going to go a bit differently than I'd planned. Charming, Ruby, are the two of you comfortable being candidates for this position?"
"And get a break from being a waitress?" Ruby spoke rhetorically. "Definitely, yes!"
"Alright, Charming?"
Charming looked at Snow, torn.
"It's okay," Snow insisted. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."
Charming nodded. "Okay, I'll accept the nomination."
"Great!" Regina crossed both names off the list. "Now, I'll pass the list around again. From the remaining names the three with the most will be asked the same question. Remember, there's no pressure if you're on this list. Just tell me if you don't want to do it and I'll ask someone else in your place." Once again, the pen and paper went to Mother Superior.
When Regina got the paper back this time, the six names had a bit more tally marks.
Mother Superior II
Gold I Belle II Dr. Whale III Dr. Hopper I
Hook
"Alright, it seems Dr. Whale, Mother Superior, and Belle are the next candidates, if you so choose," Regina announced. "If not, Gold and/or Dr. Hopper can be replacements."
"I think the hospital could use a break from me," Dr. Whale stated.
"Did I hear a vague yes somewhere in there?" Regina asked.
Dr. Whale nodded. "Yes, I'll accept."
Regina mentally smirked. Now both hers and Emma's picks were among the candidates. "Belle, what about you? I know you've just recently gotten your memories back." She was feeling iffy about her, if only because of her connection to Gold. It seemed risky for her and Emma to step down as the power couple of the town only to be replaced by Gold and Belle. She thought it to be quite enough that Gold owned the town, but she was doing her best to be democratic.
"I think I could handle it, it's not permanent."
Regina nodded. "Alright." She looked over to Mother Superior.
"Forgive me if I'm being presumptuous, but if I somehow were to make it through the first election, let alone the second, who will be marrying you to Emma?" asked Mother Superior. "I would guess the Sheriff position would be expected to have one hundred percent focus, not to be split with church matters."
"You bring up a good point," Regina agreed. "But it's your decision to make, ultimately."
"I think it would be best for me to step down." She looked around the rest of the table. "But thank you to whomever put me on that list."
Regina nodded. "Alright. Once more, the paper will go around. The vote will be between Gold and Dr. Hopper. The one with the most tallies will be asked to take Mother Superior's place as the fifth candidate." Regina crossed all the names out and wrote Gold and Dr. Hopper's name a second time underneath all the crossed out names. "This time it will be clockwise." The paper and pen went to Charming first.
Gold III Hopper IIIIII
"Well, Dr. Hopper, over half the people in this room voted for you. Will you take the opportunity?" Regina asked.
Archie Hopper gave a slight nod. He highly doubted he would make it past the first election, anyway. He thought Charming would be the one to get the job, in all honesty. Still, he felt honored that half of the room favored him over Gold, and he took it because he knew that if he refused Gold would get the fifth spot. Gold wasn't someone Archie wanted to see as Sheriff, so he'd take his chances.
"Charming, Ruby, Dr. Whale, Belle, and Dr. Hopper: Congratulations. I'll let you know when to be prepared to make a public appearance. Best of luck to you all. With this taken care of, this meeting is complete. You're free to return home to whatever you were doing beforehand."
With permission granted to do so, people began to get up from the table and prepared to leave. Charming and Snow remained behind, however. Emma mentally prepared herself for a confrontation, but to her surprise, no confrontation was to be had.
"Which one of you is carrying?" Snow asked.
"I am," Regina answered.
"How…How far along are you? You're obviously not showing yet."
"I've been carrying since the 20th of last month but the eggs were fertilized a few days before that. So just about three weeks."
"It's in vitro," Emma felt the urge to explain. "And in two days it will be exactly a year since Regina proposed."
"Regina proposed?" Charming sounded surprised.
"Yeah, well, I was drunk. But I meant what I said."
Emma was surprised that Regina admitted that.
"So… Is there a date for the wedding, yet?" Snow asked.
Emma and Regina exchanged a look. They still didn't know what to do about Snow now that she'd forgotten what she'd done.
"It might be around October," Emma answered. "But it depends on how many kids Regina ends up carrying. If there's more than two it may be bumped up sooner, everything kinda depends on how this pregnancy goes."
Charming's eyes widened. "There could be more than two?"
"That's how this sort of thing works. It could just be one, but it could also be up to four," Emma explained. "It's a bit of an odd process."
"That sounds really confusing," Snow replied.
"Well, they do multiples so that if one doesn't take it doesn't hurt as badly," Emma stated. "It's rare that all the fertilized eggs actually make it full term. But the house is basically baby-proofed already and we can handle however many decide to meet us. It's why I'll be stepping down temporarily and Regina will start working from home a lot. We'll have Henry to help out, too, so it won't be too bad."
"How is Henry?" Snow asked. "I know you think I might scare him because of how much time I've forgotten, but I really would like to see him again."
"We'll think about it," Emma promised. "We just want what's best for him, you know? And we need to decide what that is."
Snow nodded. "Yeah, yeah I know. I wish everything would just come back, then there wouldn't be a risk of scaring him."
Everyone else in the room kept their mouths shut at that comment.
Charming took Snow's hand. "We should let them leave," he told her gently. "Henry will probably be getting out of school soon and they'll need to pick him up."
Snow nodded. "Well, keep in touch, Emma. Alright?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I'll come over sometime," Emma replied.
Charming led Snow out of the room and then Regina and Emma were alone.
"That was," Regina began.
"Awkward," Emma finished. "Very awkward."
"I forgot you hadn't told them, but I had to tell the truth about why you're stepping down."
"I know. It's my own fault. I should've told them after you told me there was going to be a town meeting, but I hadn't thought about it. I guess I forgot that they'd be here."
"Well, come on, I'd like to get home."
"Okay." Emma took her hand as they began their walk back to the car. "Have you thought of when you'd like to get an ultrasound? They can be done as early as six weeks and then we'll know how many babies to expect."
Regina let out a long exhale. "I don't know if I want to do it that early. I know it's not likely, but I kind of want all four to make it. The longer I wait the longer I can pretend they will."
"I don't know if having denial like that is such a good idea. You'd get attached to the number and then it will hurt more if there's less."
"Okay, well, how about ten weeks? That's still early but not so far along to where I'll get super attached. Besides, it will be more accurate."
"Okay, ten weeks sounds good." Emma pressed a kiss to her cheek. "And if you want all four to make it then I'll hope for them to make it, too. Power of positive thinking."
It was Regina's car they'd taken, but Emma was the one who drove it. It was the compromise they'd worked out. If Emma wouldn't let Regina drive then the least Emma could do was drive Regina's car when they went somewhere together. Emma decided it was fair; she still got to drive her own car whenever she was alone.
Regina got into the passenger side and Emma got into the driver's side.
"You know," Emma grinned as they strapped themselves in. "It or they will be born close to our second anniversary."
"Yeah, I worked that out when I saw all the dates you marked on our calendar."
"You saw that, huh?" Emma asked as she started the car. "I was going to make a point to point it out to you eventually."
"I guess I beat you to it. Though I scratched out the part on the day where you wrote about Snow. Henry would've started asking questions if he saw it."
"Oh, right!" Emma started pulling into the street. "Good move. Really, I hadn't thought of that. Thank you. That wouldn't have been a good conversation, not when we're all on good terms again."
"You're welcome. It's bad enough he still doesn't quite believe what she did."
Emma sighed. "I think that's a good reason to still keep Henry away from her. At least, not let him see her without supervision. We can't just hope he doesn't ask her right off the bat if what we said was true, and she doesn't remember any of it… He'd still think we're liars. So if we start letting them see each other one or both of us will have to be with them."
Regina nodded. "Yeah, that's a good idea." She settled her head against the window. "Summer's almost here," she murmured. "Our boy's growing up."
"Yup. Middle school already."
"He's going to start bringing girls home soon, get a job, and then school will end and he'll leave."
"Woah, there. One milestone at a time." Emma reached over to give her thigh a gentle pat. "And even when he does leave, it's not like the house will be empty."
"Mm." Regina looked over to her as she changed the subject. "So, October, huh? When were you planning on including me in setting the date?"
"I was stalling!" Emma defended. "And maybe I was thinking about bringing October up…"
"That's less than half a year away."
"Yes, I know. But October's about halfway through the pregnancy and I think you'll be showing the perfect size then. Enough to make the pregnancy obvious but not so big you have limited dress options. Besides, it's not set in stone or anything. I just think it would be nice. …And it's also my birthday month. I mean, when I first got here I told you that on my birthday I just wished I didn't have to be alone, and if the wedding's close to my birthday, wouldn't it symbolize that I never have to be alone on my birthday ever again?"
"Stop being perfect."
Emma chuckled as she put her full attention on the road once more. "I'm so not perfect."
"Well, then, if love doesn't mean finding the perfect person it must mean seeing an imperfect person perfectly."
"You seriously need to be a writer of some sort."
A couple minutes later, Emma pulled into their driveway.
When they were halfway to the front door, Regina groaned, "I don't think they approve of what I ate for breakfast." Her hand rested against her stomach and she clamped her lips tightly shut, visibly fighting off nausea.
"Okay, let's get you inside." Emma quickened her pace until she reached the door and unlocked it. She held it open as Regina sped through.
Regina knew she wouldn't be able to make it up to the bathroom, so she darted into the kitchen. The kitchen sink was most definitely not her first choice, but at least it had garbage disposal. As soon as she reached it she could no longer keep it down. It burned her throat on the way out.
Regina had forgotten how truly awful this part of pregnancy was. "Why do they call it morning sickness if it lasts all day?" she moaned. "Why?" She spit out the remnants of what had invaded her mouth and turned the faucet on, making it all go down the drain.
Emma chuckled from the entrance from the doorway. "Because nature has a cruel sense of humor." She was planning on joining her, if only to hold her hair back, but it seemed it was over with as quickly as it had begun.
"Obviously." She shut the faucet off and made to leave the kitchen. "Think you could move out of the way? I need to get this horrid taste out of my mouth before it makes me sick all over again."
Emma stepped out of the way and bent in a mock bow, sweeping her arm out in a gesture to the space beyond.
"Funny," Regina commented blandly as she made her way past. "Very funny." She continued on her way so she could get to the bathroom in order to brush her teeth. She rested a hand on her stomach along the way. "You start being nicer to Mommy," she spoke to it. "Or else I'm grounding you early."
AN: Sssh, I know I mathematically goofed for the first round of voting, what with there being 10 votes when only 9 people were voting. Hook's name being there was probably someone's idea of a joke, in all honesty. Yeah. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.