One month later, sixteen and a half weeks pregnant.
"Regina, babe, if we don't get going now we won't make it on time," Emma whined up the stairs. She had been ready for the past fifteen minutes, but Regina had insisted that she needed to redo her lipstick or curl another piece of hair before they left. Emma knew that no matter what, Regina would look beautiful, but the pregnant woman insisted that something needed to be changed. How one person as stunningly beautiful as Regina could ever think something needed to be fixed was beyond her.
"Can you please wait five seconds!" She heard Regina scream from the top of the stairs. Emma thought she was ready to see Regina parading down the stairs so they could go already, but she was wrong.
The sight of her nearly knocked Emma off her feet, and if she hadn't had been holding onto the door knob she most certainly would have fallen.
Regina held onto the banister as she walked down the stairs with her black heels in her hand. Not even pregnancy could keep the woman away from a good pair of red-bottomed heels. She wore a red dress that cut straight across her chest, allowing her cleavage to poke over the tops, but not too much to be distasteful. What caught Emma's eye, though, was the way her bump was so obviously noticeable. A wide smile broke over both of their faces as they took each other in.
"Holy shitballs," Emma breathed out, her eyes opening and closing as if to see if the imaging she was seeing was in fact, real. She wanted to smack herself in the face for staring at her for so long, but then she remembered that Regina was her girlfriend and she could stare all she wanted. Regina only smirked back at her and stopped at the bottom of the staircase. She leaned against the railing and pulled one foot up and put a shoe on and then the other.
"You don't look too bad yourself, darling," Regina purred out, walking over to her and running a finger down her exposed arm.
Emma didn't look bad, that much she knew. She wore a black, almost skin tight dress that dipped and curved with her body. Regina forced her to let her curl her hair, which she didn't put up a fight for. She was told to put on lipstick, preferably a deep red, and then instructed to put her shoes on and wait downstairs for Regina.
Emma almost had half a mind to throw the heels into the garbage, but she knew Regina would never forgive her if she did so. So, she sucked it up slipped on the, what seemed like mostorous heels, and walked around in them, and then decided that they weren't all too bad.
"You do realise that this is just Neal's birthday party, right? A three year old's birthday party." Emma took Regina's black jacket off the rack as she spoke and held it out so she could put it on her shoulders. The older woman only smiled and nodded her head. She turned her back to Emma and slid her arms through the sleeves.
"Yes, I am aware that nearly the entire population will be there. Yes, I am aware that you can easily see that I am pregnant with two, beautifully healthy babies. Yes, I am aware that it is a three year old's birthday party that is being treated like a damn coronation." She turned around and buttoned the top button of her coat. "I am ready to tell people, no matter what their reactions may be."
Emma smiled brightly, her entire being filling with something that could only be described as love. With a soft nod, Emma held her hand out to Regina, which the older woman took, and escorted her girlfriend out of the house.
The drive to the celebration was short, it was only across town at the Charming's farm house that they had practically redone just for the sake of the party. Outside of the stereotypically red building, the lot was filled with cars of all makes and models. Emma was sure she even saw a few horses.
"You are sure you want to do this today?" The town had taken news of their relationship relatively well, but Emma wasn't so sure as to how they would react to this.
With a hand rested protectively on top of her bump, Regina nodded and gave her a smile that easily reached her eyes. Emma raked her eyes over her girlfriend's mouth-wateringly beautiful body and suppressed a groan when her eyes rolled over her ample cleavage.
"Emma, the quicker we get in there, the quicker we get out of there." Emma knew exactly what she was alluding to by just the look in her dark eyes, and the familiar glint in her eye made Emma feel like she was a lovesick teenager again. The blonde shifted in her seat, turned the car off, and checked her makeup in the mirror once more.
"You're sure this," she motioned up and down her body, "isn't too much?" With only a chuckle and a kiss to the back of her knuckles, Regina pushed the car door open and climbed out of the car. Emma followed suit, a soft sigh falling from her lips, but it was soon replaced by a smile when she saw Regina waiting for her at the front of the car with her hands on her hips and an eyebrow raised.
"It took you long enough," the older woman teased, lacing their fingers together.
Emma had noticed a lot about Regina had changed with pregnancy. She now had an addiction to red meat, which only weirded Emma out because she had never seen her eat anything more than a salad or a few fries from Granny's beforehand.
Another thing she noticed was that she always wanted to be near Emma or touching her. Regina wasn't the most touchy-feely person before hand, but she wouldn't hold her as close as she was holding her now. Emma couldn't complain, though. She had the woman that she loved by her side and she couldn't ask for anything else.
The last thing that Emma realized was Regina could be annoyingly happy one minute, and then the next she would be about to kill the next person who walked in their front door. The Sheriff knew that it was just the hormones and the mood swings, but it scared her shitless sometimes.
"Says the woman who took two hours to get ready." Regina only shoved her as her answer and pulled her closer to the barn that was thrumming with soft music. When they got to the annoyingly large door, Emma held it open for Regina, but the brunette pulled her to the other side of the barn, practically dragging her.
"Regina, what the hell," Emma whispered out, trying not to draw attention to them from the people walking into the building. Regina pulled her around the side of the barn and once they were out of the light she pulled her around the back where she pushed her slightly against the wall.
Before Emma had time to process what was happening or ask what the hell Regina thought she was doing, Regina's lips were on her own. At first she was surprised, but Emma quickly melted into her hold and rested her hands on Regina's thicker hips.
Their kiss didn't last long, but it was just enough to get Emma to relax. Regina leaned back from her, keeping her hands on her cheeks, and pressed a soft kiss to the tip of her nose.
"I know you are nervous, and this isn't exactly your favorite thing, but I want you to know that we can say hello, spread the news, and leave as soon as we are able." Emma thought she might cry. She knew Regina knew how she felt about Neal. While she loved the boy, she couldn't help but be jealous or angry at the fact that her parents had a replacement baby as soon as they could. Of course, she would never tell anyone else about her feelings, but she told Regina everything. No matter what.
"I know. But he is my brother and you know Mom will never forgive me if I miss this party. I already missed the first two." She tried to joke, but the only thing that brought any life back to the words was the warm cloud of air that left her mouth when she breathed out.
"I know how you feel about all of this, though, and I don't want you feeling uncomfortable all night." Regina reached up and pushed a curled piece of hair away from the blonde's face. Emma leaned into her touch, and slightly turned her head, kissing the inside of Regina's hand.
"I know. But I want to do this with you. I want to tell people. As soon as we think we have told enough people, we can leave and I won't complain," she promised, her hot breath hitting Regina's cold cheeks.
Regina pressed one more quick kiss to Emma's lips and then pulled her back around the barn and to the entrance. Emma had her arm wrapped around Regina's shoulders, tucking her into her side as they walked into the building.
To say that both of them were surprised by what they found was an understatement. People were buzzing with conversation all around them, the lights hanging from the ceiling glowing blue and white. The amount of balloons were almost nauseating, and the different tables filed with different kinds of things pulled people away from the center of the room.
On the opposite side of the room Snow, David, and Neal were sitting on a raised platform so they could see the entire room. Emma sighed and tightened her hold on Regina before forcing their way through the crowd and over to her parents.
"Hi Mom. Hi Dad," she said once she got through the crowd of people with Regina on her arm.
When Snow and David didn't even acknowledge that the two of them were there, they just continued playing with their son like he was their only child, Regina scoffed out.
"Snow, David," she spit out, snapping her fingers at them. The two idiots jumped up and turned to the two woman with surprised expressions on their faces.
"Emma, Regina! We didn't know if you two would make it or not. What took so long?" Snow wasn't looking at them as she spoke. Her eyes were darting around the room, looking at every other person and committing them to memory as if it mattered. Emma sighed.
"We got caught up at the house," Regina growled out, her fingers holding tighter onto Emma.
"It is your brother's birthday, Emma. You should act like you care more," her mother whined, standing up from her chair with the toddler on her hip. Emma sighed and rolled her eyes.
Don't let her get to you, Swan. This is just how she is.
It was something she told herself every day. Something she had to remind herself every time she was around her mother and maybe even her brother. She recited it like a matra so many times that it just came natural to her.
"We just started getting ready too late, Mom. It won't happen again." She almost didn't recognize her voice. I sounded like a robot repeating something that had been drilled into it's software.
Regina was gnawing on her upper bottom lip like she was about to bite through it. Emma could practically feel her anger radiating off of her, but the Sheriff ran her thumb up and down the back of Regina's soft hand.
"But Emma you have been so detached lately. We need you to be more involved in this family."
"Snow, just drop it," Regina spit out, stepping slightly in front of their daughter. Snow's brow creased and behind her Charming sighed and ran his hand over his face. Snow shifted Neal to her other hip.
"I am sorry, Regina, but you are not in this conversation. This is a talk my daughter and I need to have that doesn't concern you." Regina raised a perfectly sculpted brow at her.
"No. Whatever talk you two need to have is one you can have in front of me. I am not going to sit here and let you talk her down and make her feel like crap, just because you want your precious little prince to have a wonderful life." By the time she was done talking she was out of breath and her chest was rising and falling. Emma ran her hand up and down her arm, trying to calm down her raging girlfriend.
"Excuse me, Regina, but you have no right to talk to me like that. She is my daughter. Not yours. So whatever claim you think you have against her doesn't matter." Neal whined in his mother's arm and buried his face in her neck, hitting her chest with his closed fists. Emma sighed and cleared her throat, rolling her eyes at her mother.
"She isn't some little doll to act like you own, Snow White. She isn't some possession that you can throw in a wardrobe whenever you don't want something to happen to her and then act like nothing happened, Snow!" Regina was yelling now, her face a light shade of red. Even in the dim blue lights Emma could see the way she was fuming and the way her eyes were wider than she had ever seen them.
"Regina, calm down, babe. Please," Emma whispered in her ear, gripping her forearm. She had her other hand wrapped around her waist and resting on her stomach, drawing small circles on the bump with her thumb.
"Yes, Regina. Do stop making a scene at my son's birthday party." Emma had never seen her mother so… mean. She had never seen her scowl at someone the way she was scowling at Regina.
"Like hell I will calm down when you are blatantly and continuously disrespecting her! The only reason any of this is here is because of Emma. The only reason you have that precious baby boy of yours is because Emma has saved all of our asses multiple times. So stop treating her like some stupid child and start treating her with respect. Start taking her own damn feelings into account instead of just your own for once, Snow!"
Emma was shocked when she heard Regina's outburst, but she looked at her mother with wide eyes when she gasped out so loudly that people around them started to look over at what was happening.
"You both need to stop this right now before people start to talk and the truth turns into lies," Emma warned, but she was shushed with a finger being held up by her mother.
"No, no, Emma. I think now is a perfect time to have this conversation. After all, Regina seems so adamant about dropping in to our conversation." Regina only glared back at the younger woman and straightened her shoulders. "Just because you are pregnant with my daughter's babies, Regina, doesn't mean you can start being a brat to me just because you have some odd obsession with her."
"What a minute. What the hell?" The words fell from Emma's mouth before she could stop them and she was pushing Regina behind her. "You have no room to talk about my relationship, Snow. You do not get a say in what I do with my life. You weren't there for me at any other point of my life, so don't act like you have any say in what I do or who I am with." Snow shook her head and let out a small chuckle, almost as if she couldn't believe what Emma was saying.
"Emma I am your mother. I have more say in your life than anyone else does and don't you dare tell me otherwise or -"
"Or what? You will throw me in a wardrobe again? You will have another replacement baby? You will make it seem like everything is my fault until you make me second guess everything I do?" Emma didn't mean for the words to pour out of her the way they did, but they needed to be said one way or another.
Snow was silent. Her mouth was slightly agape, and it wasn't until then that Emma realized how silent it was in the building. Everyone in the barn was turned and watching their heated exchange of words and Emma could hear hushed whispers around them.
"Emma I think it is time to go," Regina mumbled from behind her. Emma turned around and took in Regina's appearance.
She had calmed down tremendously, and Emma didn't know if it was because of what she had said or if the hormones had made her more conscious of her surroundings, but she looked eerily calm. She had taken her jacket off and draped it over her arm, showing off her bump to the entire crowd.
Emma sighed and turned back to her mother whose face was pale as a sheet.
"You have put me through hell and back. You do not get to try and control my life and insult the person that I love and get away with it. If you ever disrespect me or Regina again I will make sure you will never see your grandchildren or me again." With that, Emma flicked her wrist and transported her and Regina back home to their bedroom.