New Beginnings
Chapter 21 Look Who's Showing!
-September 10-
Regina and Emma were both getting ready for their day at work. After Emma finished brushing her teeth, she turned toward her wife who was struggling to zip up her dress.
"Need help, babe?"
Regina sighed, "Yes! Either the zipper is stuck, or it's broken."
Emma unzipped the dress, "No, the zipper is not broken. Let me try."
Emma zipped the dress, but it stopped at her waist. Emma began to pull at the sides, and Regina groaned in protest.
"What the hell are you doing to me, Emma Grace? It feels like you're tightening a corset!"
Regina's eyes widened when Emma tugged, and the problem was right in her face. A small round belly was sticking out. Regina smiled then she groaned. She realized that it was time to go shopping for maternity clothes.
"Emma, stop. I need to take this off. It's too small."
Emma unzipped the dress then Regina walked out the bathroom and toward her closet in the bedroom.
"Babe, are you alright?"
Regina found, and it slipped over the head. She put it on, and it was a perfect fit plus it showed off her growing belly just nicely. She walked back into the bathroom.
"Yes, dear, I'm fine," Regina smiled then turned to look in the mirror to fix her hair. Emma smiled when she noticed a cute little "bump" that her wife was now sporting. She walked up behind her and placed her hands right on top of the belly.
"Look who's starting to show!"
Regina laughed then she realized something. Her happiness faded and tears began to stream down her face.
Emma began to panic, "Regina…babe…what's wrong? Is it something I said?"
"Oh darling, you did absolutely nothing but made me so happy. It's just…I was robbed of this when my pregnancy was magically rushed for me to have the baby in order to…to…"
Regina lost it. The tears just poured from her eyes and Emma took her into an embrace. Emma took her into the bedroom and sat down on the bed. Emma closed the door so Henry wouldn't hear what was going on. Emma held Regina and rocked her back and forth, "My darling, I am so sorry you had to go through that. This pregnancy is different. Dr. Fabin said the heartbeat is very strong and our little one is developing at a normal rate…"
"How do you know this pregnancy is different?" Regina questioned. Emma responded, "I know this pregnancy is different. You have someone who loves you with every fiber of her being and would do anything to make sure you and the baby are safe and healthy. I will make sure that you will get to experience all nine months of feeling our little girl growing inside you."
Regina was still crying, and Emma sang, "How does a moment last forever? How can a story never die? It is love we must hold to (Regina smiled and nuzzled up to Emma). Never easy, but we try. Sometimes our happiness is captured. Somehow our time and place stand still. Love lives on inside our hearts and always will. Minutes turn to hours. Days to years then gone. But when all else has been forgotten, still our song lives on."
Emma and Regina stood up. She wrapped her arm around her wife and took Regina's free hand in hers. They began to slow dance.
Emma continued, "Maybe some moments weren't so perfect. Maybe some memories not so sweet. But we have to know some bad times or our lives are incomplete. Then when the shadows overtake us just when we feel all hope is gone. We'll hear our song and know once more our love lives on (Regina kissed Emma's cheek)."
"Oh Emma, how are you doing this? This is the second time I am crying uncontrollably, and your singing calms me."
Emma smiled and sang, "How does a moment last forever? How does our happiness endure? Through the darkest of our troubles, love is beauty love is pure. Love pays no mind to desolation. It flows like a river through the soul. Protects, persists, and perseveres and makes us whole. Minutes turn to hours. Days to years then gone. But when all else has been forgotten, still our song lives on. How does a moment last forever when our song lives on?"
They stopped dancing and embraced.
Emma kissed Regina's forehead and asked, "How are you feeling?"
Regina looked up at Emma, smiled, and gave her wife a tender loving kiss.
"I'll be alright," she locked eyes with Emma, and the blonde replied, "Are you sure?"
Regina nodded with a smile, "Yes, I will be. Now, I need to finish getting ready for work."
She walked back into the bathroom and began touching up her make-up. Emma walked up to the door frame and leaned on it. She daydreamed as she watched Regina touch up her eye make-up and lipstick. After she finished, she smoothed out her dress, and her hand rubbed her small round belly. She smiled then noticed Emma in the mirror.
"Aren't you going to be late for work?" she turned around and walked up to her wife.
Emma thought then answered, "Why must you ruin my fun?"
Regina laughed, "I'm the Mayor, dear. I make sure everything is in working order. Remember?"
"My job is to make sure everything is in working order as well since I'm the Sheriff."
"Indeed it is, Sheriff."
Emma shook her head, "I thought we were well past this."
"I'm teasing, dear. Don't get worked up. Now, you need to head down to the station, and I will see you for lunch today."
Emma smiled, "It's a date."
They shared a kiss and Emma walked out of the bedroom.
Regina followed her and said, "Hey," Emma turned then Regina smiled, "I love you."
Emma turned to her wife and said, "I love you, too."
The front door opened. Emma walked out and closed it behind her.
* * * * *NEW BEGINNINGS* * * * *
After dropping Henry off at school, Regina finally made it to the office. When she walked in, Clara smiled.
"Welcome back, Madam Mayor."
Regina smiled, "Good morning, Clara. Anything new for me?"
Clara shook her head, "You are ahead on all your paperwork. Only your computer work."
Regina nodded, "Thank you, and please forward any important calls to my office."
She walked off, and Clara got a good look at her boss and her small pregnant belly.
"You are looking adorable today, Madam Mayor. You are glowing, and the little one is making its presence known."
Regina turned around and placed a hand on her belly.
She smiled at Clara, "Thank you, Clara. Yes, the baby is letting us know that it's growing."
"You look so happy."
"I am. Alright, time for me to go catch up."
Regina walked up to her office and opened the door. She walked in, closed the door, and went to sit down in her office chair. After turning on her computer, she went through her files and began to work. After working updating a record, she made a note in a portfolio then exhaled.
"Two months behind…this will take me all day," Regina leaned back in her chair and rubbed her stomach.
She opened another file and began working. Suddenly, her cell phone dinged for a text message. She stopped, picked up the phone, and started to giggle.
Emma: Hey hot momma!
Regina: Hello beautiful, what do I owe the pleasure of this text?
She placed her phone down then returned to her work. Her phone dinged again, and she smiled. She picked it up and read the message.
Emma: I felt you were frustrated so I decided to check up on you.
Regina: I am frustrated because I am two months behind on computer work and it will take me all day.
"Finally, I can say this project is finished."
She wrote in her portfolio, and the phone dinged. She laughed and shook her head.
Emma: You need a hug don't you.
Regina: Call me!
She put her phone down and opened another file then began typing. Her office phone beeped.
"Madam Mayor…"Regina reached over and picked up, "Yes ma'am."
"You have your wife on line 1."
"Thank you," she smiled then pressed the button for the line, "that was fast."
"How's your morning going so far?"
Regina sighed as she returned to her typing, "I'm glad I'm back at work because I am so far behind. I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle."
"You need a hug."
Regina smiled, "That would be nice."
"Yes, it would be. However, you can't do that while you are on a corded phone and typing."
Regina stopped then leaned back in her chair placing a hand on her belly, "How do you know?"
"You look adorable sitting like that."
She turned to look at the door, and there was her wife leaning against the door frame. Regina hung up the phone, got up, walked over to her wife, and they took each other into an embrace.
Emma scratched her wife's back, "Feeling better?"
Regina closed her eyes when Emma began scratching her back then replied, "Much better. Why aren't you at work?"
"I was on patrol at the time when I felt your frustration. So, I decided to check up on you."
Regina broke the embrace then walked back to her chair in an attempt to get back to work. Emma followed her and pulled up a chair next to her wife.
Regina smiled at Emma and took her hand in hers, "Thank you for coming to check up on me. I think it would be best if we both went back to work. We distract each other the longer we are together."
"So I will pick up lunch. Do you have a preference?"
Regina thought and smiled evilly, "A good cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, pickles, ketchup, mustard, no onions! Oh, some good curly ques would be nice."
Emma giggled, "Cheeseburgers it is! What about to drink?"
Regina winked, "Surprise me."
Emma kissed her wife on her cheek and walked out the door.
Regina grabbed her cell phone and texted a message to her wife.
Regina: I love you!
She began typing in a document and then her phone dinged. She looked over and smiled.
Emma: I love you, too.
* * * * *NEW BEGINNINGS* * * * *
Regina thought she was at the computer for hours! She finally got to Emma's reports. While she was adding her final notes, she felt something weird happen inside her stomach. She leaned back into the chair and placed a hand on her stomach. It happened again, and she grabbed her cell phone.
Regina: Emma!
Emma: What? Are you alright? What's wrong?
Regina: Come to my office now!
Emma: You're scaring me. Are you okay?
Regina: LOL! I'm fine. Just get your cute self over here now!
Emma: Alright, I'm coming with food in tote.
Regina: :)
Regina rubbed her belly and began talking to it, "Well, hello to you, too. Please do it for Ma. She would love to feel what you just did."
"What would I love to feel?"
Regina held out her hand, "Come here and set the food down on my desk."
Emma walked to the desk, and Regina sighed in frustration, "Could you take any longer?"
Emma placed the food down and pulled a chair next to her wife. Regina grabbed her hand and placed it on her belly.
"Alright, sweetheart, Ma is here. She's ready to feel what you did earlier."
Emma waited…waited…waited…
"What am I trying to feel here?"
Then there it was. Emma felt the "flutter" in her wife's belly.
"She moved!" Emma exclaimed, and Regina replied, "Yes, she did."
Another flutter was felt, and Emma rubbed her wife's belly, "Hello my little princess, your mommy, and I love you."
Emma leaned over and kissed Regina's belly then gave her wife a tender kiss.
"We still have to think of a name for her," Regina said as she grabbed her burger and curly ques out the bag.
Emma nodded, "I agree," then asked while she grabbed her lunch out the bag, "Do you have anything in mind?"
Regina took a bite of her burger, "Mmmmm…."
After she swallowed, she replied, "I have been thinking about combining our middle names."
Emma took a sip of her sweet tea, "I like that. So, we have Katherine Grace or Grace Katherine."
"I am torn between the two," Regina took a sip of her sweet tea.
Emma smiled while holding a curly-queue, "Are you thinking of what I'm thinking?"
"Ask her tonight," they said together.
* * * * *NEW BEGINNINGS* * * * *
-Somewhere in Dreamland-
Emma was walking around in the same forestry area like the last time her daughter visited. She heard her name being called and immediately recognized the voice.
"Regina?"
"Emma, how in the world are we both here at the same time?"
A gold cloud of smoke appeared, and their daughter materialized in front of them.
"Because I wanted both of you with me."
Emma and Regina hugged their daughter then she led her mothers to a fallen tree limb and sat down.
"Did you feel me today?"
Emma nodded, "Yes!"
Regina smiled, "We did."
"It was the most wonderful feeling," Emma said as she took her daughter's hand in hers.
Regina took her daughter's free hand in hers, "We wanted to ask you a question. We thought of your name, and we agreed on combining our middle names to create your name. Which one would you like; Katherine Grace or Grace Katherine?"
"Hmmm…I like Grace Katherine, but I don't feel it here," she pointed to her heart then she continued, "Now, Katherine Grace…it makes me feel happy and loved."
Emma smiled, "It's settled. You are our Katherine Grace Swan-Mills."
Regina kissed her daughter's forehead, "Our little Katherine Grace."
Katherine smiled, "I like it," and then the tears formed.
Emma and Regina began to worry.
"Katherine, darling, are you alright?"
Emma pulled her daughter into an embrace while Regina wiped a tear away from her cheek.
"I'm alright. These are happy tears because I feel so loved and then I have a horrible headache."
Regina realized what was wrong, "Sweetheart, you're using a lot of your magic to hold us both here; that is why you have a headache. What you need to do is go to sleep."
"Sing the lullaby to me. I want both of you to do it," Katherine sobbed then Emma replied, "If we do sing to you, you will go to sleep?"
Katherine nodded then Emma and Regina smiled at each other.
Emma rested her head on her daughter's, held her hand, and sang, "Come stop your crying; it will be alright."
"Just take my hand hold it tight (Katherine squeezed Regina's hand)," Regina picked up then Emma continued, "I will protect you from all around you."
Regina ran her fingers through her daughter's hair, "I will be here don't you cry."
Katherine smiled then Emma continued, "For one so small, you seem so strong."
Regina took both her daughter and wife into an embrace, "My arms will hold you keep you safe and warm."
Together Regina and Emma harmonized, "This bond between us can't be broken. I will be here don't you cry."
Emma lifted Katherine's face to look into her eyes, "Cause you'll be in my heart."
Regina turned Katherine's face to look at her, "Yes, you'll be in my heart."
Together they harmonized, "From this day on, now and forever more."
Katherine leaned into Regina, and they embraced.
Emma took her daughter's hand, "You'll be in my heart."
Regina rested her head on her daughter's, "No matter what they say."
Together they harmonized, "You'll be here in my heart."
Emma kissed her daughter's cheek and sang softly in her ear, "Always."
Regina kissed her forehead and breathlessly stated, "Always."
Katherine was asleep, and she slowly materialized into a floating golden orb and floated back into Regina's belly. Regina placed her hand on her, and so did Emma. They exchanged a smile then everything turned black to signal that sleep took over for the rest of the evening.