Marriage day 337

Emma excused herself from the kitchen at her parent's home in order to leave Regina and Snow alone. The two were currently discussing the merits of "different" shades of the same colors for the nursery. To Emma most of them looked as good or the same as another and she had frankly exhausted her enthusiasm for the topic of the colors.

They had finally picked a theme for the nursery after much debate and Emma thought they could then start right away but no, Regina was insisting that colors too had to be just right. It's not that Emma didn't understand or didn't care, but once Regina got started on such topics it was hard for Emma not to want to scream that sometimes a color was good enough and there didn't need to be a debate over it.

Unfortunately the theme they had agreed on included quite a few colors. In the end it was a full family vote between Regina, Emma and Henry and the only one they could all agree on was a theme that used the colorful alphabet toy blocks. It was bright, somewhat educational and appropriate for a boy or a girl.

The problem was those blocks came in the colors of red, blue, yellow and green – and that was a lot of color to deal with. It was also the reason they were having this family dinner time so Regina could consult with Snow.

Emma left them in the midst of their color palettes and found her dad and Henry out in the backyard where Charming was going over some sword movements with Henry. Learning to use a sword (only a wooden practice one to start) had caused much debate in their household. And surprisingly it was Emma who had objected.

Regina hadn't seen it as a big deal when Henry had first asked them. In fact Regina had told him it was fine before Emma had said a word. This was one thing that Emma wasn't sure about – her son learning to use a weapon. Yes, she had used a sword because she was more or less forced to but for Henry to use one was quite another matter. Regina thought Charming would be the perfect person to teach him because he was an excellent swordmaster and she pointed out that if they were in the Enchanted Forest Henry would have started to learn to use one long before now.

Emma had been so stunned at Regina's support of it that it took her entire day to bring the topic back up and object to it. The only reason she finally allowed it was because she knew it meant so much to her father to teach his grandson this skill.

Charming set Henry on practicing some movements and he retreated to stand next to Emma.

"How long do you think they will be in there discussing paint?" Charming asked.

"I don't know. Do you have a spare bedroom for Regina to spend the night?"

Charming laughed. "It means the world to Snow that Regina would even seek out her opinion. After all they have been through it is sometimes easy to forget that when those two first met Snow was completely enamored by Regina."

"I am all for their little pow wows because it typically means I don't have to sit through them. I just wish Regina would be a little quicker about making decisions. She's nearly six months pregnant and that has seemed to me to fly by so three months doesn't really leave us a lot of time to get the nursery done and do what I am sure is gigantic to-do list to prepare. But at the same time I want her to relax a bit too."

"Snow told me about the last ultrasound."

They had gone to their doctor's appointment two days ago and while everything with the baby was fine, the doctor had said that Regina's blood pressure was a little higher than she liked. Regina had shrugged it off, but it worried Emma – mostly because she knew her wife didn't like having days where she wasn't being productive in some fashion. Emma had tried to broach the subject once again about when it was closer to the time for the baby to come that Regina should consider cutting back on her work hours. Being mayor was not a 40 hour job by any stretch of the imagination and Regina tended to act like it was a small miracle if the town ran smoothly without her.

Emma begrudgingly had to agree in part that the town did run well with her in charge. She just wished that there was a week that would go by that there wasn't some minor disaster that Regina didn't get a call about on the weekends or after she had already worked a long day. It wasn't until after all of her own magical tasks were complete that Emma learned that Regina had chosen each one mostly because they were things that people had been bothering her about and wanting the town to take care of or at least help out. That made Emma feel better about doing them, but at the same time she wondered how many times Regina had done things like that with her own magic. She had begun to ask a few more questions around town and had come to find out that Regina had used her magic in various ways to fix issues.

When she had asked Regina about it Regina acted like it wasn't a big deal – in fact she said she hadn't done such things since becoming pregnant just in case. Still Emma wanted to know why she did it. Some of the things could have been solved by simple manpower, not magical power. Regina admitted she did it because she wanted people in the town to see she really had changed and that they didn't need to fear her or her magic.

Again Emma couldn't fault her for that. But she made it clear to her wife that if such things arose again that she would let the manpower take care of it and if it was absolutely needed Emma would use her magic, at least until the baby was born.

"Regina doesn't think the blood pressure thing is something to worry about," Emma told her father.

"But you think otherwise?"

"I don't know. The doctor said it wasn't unusual, it was just a little higher than what she would like. It's frustrating because I know how Regina is and I know that she isn't going to want to slow down even as that baby starts weighing her down more. In some respects I am not sure she quite understands the whole pregnancy thing."

"How so?"

"It is hard to explain. When we first found out she was pregnant she only had the one thing where eating salads made her nauseous but the smell and taste of meat was suddenly appealing to her. But that didn't really last much past of the first trimester. Yes, she will still eat meat but she can eat her salads and what not fine now. Then there was the whole be careful with magic thing. Yeah, I hadn't done a great job with that but it's been like nothing to her despite her fears there at the very beginning. She complained about gaining weight at first but now doesn't seem to be bothered by it. And that's about it – anything that even slightly has fazed her seems to last for a week or a couple of weeks and then nothing. She hasn't had any weird cravings. She isn't bothered by the kid moving around in there. It's like every thing that a pregnant woman legitimately can complain about, be bothered by or find inconvenient, she either hasn't experienced it or it hasn't been a big deal."

"And this is a problem in your eyes because I got to tell you that getting up at 3 a.m. in the morning to go get some food your wife is craving; or being woken up by her having to pee like every 20 minutes isn't exactly a joy."

"I know I shouldn't be complaining and I am grateful that this pregnancy has been going along according to any other normal pregnancy, but I am worried that all that kind of stuff could still happen and she is going to be ill-prepared for it."

"If it happens, it happens. You've been pregnant yourself so I am sure you can help guide her through any rough patches. Hopefully there will be none and you two can have a stress-free third trimester and birth."

"Let's hope so."

They were silent a moment just watching Henry.

"I have been meaning to ask you something," Charming said. "Have you two talked about baby names yet?"

"I am 99 percent sure our child will be born without a name. Maybe by their first birthday we can agree on one."

"That bad?"

"We simply have agreed not to talk about it at this point."

"That's pretty bad."

"You have no idea."

Marriage day 343

Emma took a sip of her coffee and read the morning paper while sitting at the counter at Granny's. She was taking her time, waiting for Ruby to get a spare moment to come talk to her.

She had dropped Regina off at work because her car was getting a tune up at the shop. They had briefly talked about whether they should get a more family suitable mode of transportation. While Emma used her sheriff's car, she still her Bug and she wasn't really looking to part with it and Regina loved her car like it was a second child so they didn't really talk much about it although they both agreed they probably should get another vehicle.

Emma supposed that the Bug would be an ideal car for Henry to learn to drive in and possibly use. After all it was part hers and part Neal's in a way so if she was going to give it up it would probably only be to Henry. Regina on the other hand probably wouldn't want Henry driving it as she barely tolerated the vehicle herself.

There was no way Henry was getting Regina's car of that Emma was certain.

She had started to think about how having the baby was going to change things for them. While she hadn't gotten to raise Henry she was familiar with how babies functioned which meant they didn't function without a lot of hands on supervision. A child could severely mess up a person's sleep cycle. Right now at least she didn't mind the idea at all. They had already decided the nursery needed a rocking chair so they could sit and hold the baby during feedings or when they got fussy. Emma was looking forward to doing all those little things she missed out on the first time.

"Finally a moment to rest," Ruby said as she sat down next to Emma. "Now what can I do for you?"

"My anniversary is coming up and I don't have a single clue as to what to do for it. I was hoping you might have some ideas."

"The first anniversary is a big deal."

"I know, I know, but I don't really know what to do. Like everything I thought of – for instance a romantic getaway to some beach – isn't really possible when your wife is nearly six months pregnant. I mean it is possible, but you know what I mean. We can't even just get piss ass drunk and fuck."

"Do you talk like that to your wife?"

"Um … not usually."

"Didn't think so. Alright, we can do this. Your anniversary is still a couple of weeks away so we have time to come up with something and plan it out. What do you think Regina would like to do?"

Emma shrugged, "If I knew that I wouldn't be asking you. She planned this amazing wedding on our six-month anniversary and I just feel like it's my responsible to do something nice for our anniversary."

"Let's start with the basics – you want it to be romantic, right?"

"Of course."

"And no kid besides the one in the Regina oven?"

"Correct."

"In town or out of town?"

"I think we should stay in town you know just in case there are any emergencies."

"Ok, now we are getting somewhere with the decisions. What about dinner, do you want to go eat out someplace or do something like an intimate dinner at home?"

Emma shrugged.

"Let's skip that question for now. What are you getting her for your anniversary?"

"Oh, I got the baby's crib," Emma said excitedly. "I was going to put it together while she is at work that day and then when we got home I would surprise her with it."

Ruby shook her head.

"What?" Emma asked.

"It's sweet, don't get me wrong, but this is your anniversary so you should be getting her something for her, not something for the baby. There is plenty of time for baby gifts, but you only get one shot at a first anniversary gift. Now there are certain traditional things they say you are supposed to get for anniversaries, but let's face it, your marriage was anything but traditional. I think you have free rein in that case as far as a gift goes."

Emma buried her head in her hands. "Why does this have to be so complicated?"

"The only one making it complicated is you," Ruby said. "Let's start with flowers. Your anniversary is on a weekday so have flowers delivered to Regina's office while she is at work. It will be a good first step to letting her know you are thinking about her and anticipating spending the evening with her. Now are you also working that day?"

"I was planning on going in that morning and then taking a break to set up the crib, but since that is apparently out, I don't know."

"I think you should go into work in the morning if nothing else so Regina thinks you are at work," Ruby said smiling. "And I think I have an idea of how you can make the day memorable for the both of you."

Marriage day 347

The alarm went off and Regina reached over and shut if off, sitting up in bed. Beside her Emma groaned.

"Why do you insist on setting that alarm every day? It's the weekend. We don't have to be at work today."

"That doesn't mean there aren't things to get done," Regina said. "We have to get the furniture moved out of the guest bedroom so we can get started on the nursery. Once the furniture is out we need to lay the new carpet and put the drop cloths down so we can paint."

"Yes, but all of that doesn't need to be done in some set time. Lay back down."

Regina glanced at the alarm clock and bit her lip.

"Stop thinking about it," Emma said pulling her back down onto the bed. "Let's get back into our comfy position."

Regina allowed Emma to direct her back down onto her side and Emma wrapped an arm around her. She was fairly sure that she was not going to be able to get back to sleep but she closed her eyes anyway. A little cuddle time with her wife was ok, she thought, as long as it didn't take up too much time.

Later that day (later than Regina would have liked)

Emma and Henry each grabbed ends of the mattress and began to carry it out of the room and down the stairs. Her father would be coming later in the day with the truck to take the mattress and other items from the room away to a storage unit they had rented until they decided what to do with what they were removing.

Nothing was staying in the room as they were purchasing all new items for the nursery.

Emma of course wasn't going to let Regina actually help with this process of clearing out the room. She didn't want Regina going up and down the stairs a lot. Regina argued that she could handle carrying the smaller items down, but ended up relenting to Emma's wishes. The only reason she did was because Emma threatened that she would not only paint without drop cloths, but she would also change up which colors went where. Regina knew it was an empty threat, but she also knew that Emma had only made it because she didn't want her over exerting herself.

The whole process seemed to go even slower for Regina because she couldn't help. Still, she stayed there observing, trying to be a part of the process at least. As the room became emptier she began to think about what the room would like when it was done. She pictured it clearly in her mind, even so far as picturing herself sitting in the rocking chair feeding a bottle to their baby. It brought a smile to her face.

"What is that smile for?" Emma asked, having noticed Regina standing against the wall where she had fallen silent.

"Nothing," Regina said keeping her thoughts to herself. Emma gave her a curious look but didn't press for a better answer.

They managed to get the furniture out, the old carpet torn out and the new one down, but by the time that was finished; they decided to stop for the day. They still had plenty of time to get it done, so they there was no reason to rush through it.

Regina stood in the doorway looking at the room. Emma and Henry had gone with her father to take the furniture to the storage unit and she was all alone for a little while at least.

Like the room would soon be all put together, she thought about how her life has finally been put together. There were times that it all seemed surreal to her; that maybe this was some intense dream and she would wake up to an empty bed and the only place in her heart built for love was the love of her son.

She looked down now at her baby bump and rubbed her hand across it.

"I can't wait until you get here little one," she said.