Marriage day 422
"Emma."
No response.
"Emma."
A slight shake accompanied this one, but still Emma remained asleep.
Regina who was sitting up in bed at this point knew she should feel guilty about what she was going to do next, but she figured she would get over of it.
"Emma!" she said louder this time. "The baby's coming!"
Emma's eyes flashed open and she rolled off the bed barely staying on her feet.
"Ok, don't panic; we can do this. Let's get you to the hospital," Emma said looking around for her shoes.
"Do you think you can get me a glass of water? I drank the one from earlier," Regina said.
Emma stopped looking for clothes and instead focused on her wife.
"The baby is not coming," Emma said less as a question and more like a statement.
"No," Regina said. "Sorry, but you weren't waking up when I said your name and I was thirsty."
Emma tossed the shoe she was holding to the floor. "Anything else besides water while I am down there?"
"No. Thank you."
Emma left and came back up minutes later with a glass of water which Regina promptly took a small drink of and then put on the bedside table. Emma got back into bed, and Regina turned the light off again.
"Can we agree that you will never, ever do that again?" Emma said in the dark.
"Sorry."
Marriage day 425
Regina got up from her desk chair and stood, stretching to help alleviate her lower back pain. She walked over to the window and stood there for a while just watching the world outside of her office. There were days that she was still amazed that she was here in Storybrooke.
Her journey to get here seemed unreal to her.
Here she was about to be a mother again.
She looked down at her extended tummy and ran her hand along it. Today the baby had been more active than usual. Even Emma had gotten the chance to feel some kicking this morning much to her delight. Regina was surprised she even made it to work because Emma wanted to lie there in bed all day just touching her belly and talking to their child.
There had been a lot of talking to the baby lately from Emma. The blonde was determined that this child would come out of the womb being able to recognize her voice. She and Henry already had a bet going to see which one of them the baby would end up talking to first.
Regina was perfectly content to sit back and let them make their bets, or make plans for the future. As long as Regina had her family that was all that mattered to her.
"You are going to love it out here," Regina said to the baby. "There is a whole world out here for you to explore. And your mom and me and Henry, we are all going to be here waiting for you to join us."
She had a doctor's appointment just yesterday and everything was good heading into these final weeks.
It seemed like it was only yesterday that she and Emma had found out they were pregnant and now soon they would be able to hold their baby. Regina wiped a tear that had formed quickly in her eye. Her emotions were becoming harder and harder to keep under control and she worried because this was the time she needed to be the most in control. She took a deep breath to calm herself and then went back to her chair to finish up her work before the public service committee meeting she needed to go to at 5 p.m.
Later that night
Regina drove home feeling rather tired. A full day of work plus a two-hour committee meeting was enough for one day. She parked her car and headed toward the door only to see Emma and Henry, who was carrying bag, come bursting out the door and sprinting toward Emma's car. Regina stopped unsure as to what the commotion was about and when she heard Emma call out a time she was even more confused.
Emma came walking up to her a little winded and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Less than a minute. We are damn good."
"Should I even ask what you are doing?"
"Well your little stunt the other night got me thinking that we need a plan of attack, more than one actually, on getting you to the hospital, so Henry and I have been drilling. We got a bag packed with what you might need going to the hospital so it can sit there at all times ready to go. We practiced what to do if you are in bed, or in the kitchen, what routes through the house to take. You know be prepared to get you to the hospital."
"Oh, I see," Regina said. "And you and Henry can get to the car with the bag in less than minute?"
"Yep, impressive isn't it?"
"Highly," Regina said, turning and walking once again toward the door before stopping. "That is if don't take into consideration that in my current state there is no way I make it to the car in less than a minute and I am probably someone you might want to factor into your planning."
She walked inside letting her wife and son figure it all out.
Marriage day 437
It was Emma's favorite time of the day – night when Henry was in his room and she and Regina were in theirs. With Regina sitting there reading a book it left Emma with the free time to let her touch that baby bump and talk to her kid.
"I have a very important story to tell you tonight little dude," Emma said. "Now I don't want you to get scared by it. You just remember your mom is here to protect you. But I feel like you are old enough now to hear about the curse."
Regina pushed aside her book and looked at Emma who was lying on her side so that her head was near Regina's belly. Emma was propped up on an elbow with one hand on Regina.
"Emma," Regina said cautiously. "I hardly think that is an appropriate story for our unborn child."
"Little dude, one thing you will learn early on is that mom is the fun one, while your mother is not so much."
Regina swatted Emma's head with the book.
"See what I mean, she also hits your mom."
The comment earned her another hit. "Seriously Emma, I don't think you should tell our child a story about the curse."
"It will be fine," Emma said. "You worry too much."
"Fine," Regina said bringing her book back up to read although she had no intention of reading it. Most nights like this she rarely got the chance to do any actual reading as she usually spent her time listening to Emma talk to the baby.
"Alright little dude, here we go," Emma said. "It all started in 1918."
"What?" Regina blurted in.
"Hey, I am telling a story here," Emma said. "You just go back to your book."
Regina again disappeared behind her book, which could have been upside down for all she paid attention to it.
"Sorry about that, but your mother like to interrupt at times. But as I was saying it started in 1918 when our savior Babe Ruth pitched our Red Sox to the championship. It was glorious and everyone in the kingdom of Boston was so happy. Little did they know that dark days were ahead. It happened in 1920, when the evil king of the Red Sox Harry Frazee decided that he needed money to finance his musical theater productions so he sold the Babe to the evil empire known at the New York Yankees. Everyone knew that this was an injustice of great proportions and a curse settled over our Red Sox. It was the curse of the Bambino."
"Despite attempts at recapturing glory, the curse would always get in our way. In 1946 when Johnny Pesky's throw to home was too late, or 1975 when an improbable hero for the Cincinnati Reds Carlton Fisk hit a walk-off homer that set up a winner take all game 7 that our Red Sox lost. It was a dark time indeed."
"But we of the Red Sox nation never lost faith that one day the curse would be broken and in 2004 we would meet a team that was almost as bad as the Yankees. They called themselves the St. Louis Cardinals. Twice in the past the Cardinals would deny us the chance to return to glory. But this time we would not be denied. With chants of Reverse the Curse, we overcame our enemies and became the World Series Champions."
"Seriously?" Regina said.
"What?"
Regina rolled her eyes, "I am having serious second doubts about letting this child near you."
"Oh whatever. You love me and you know it," Emma said moving so she could give Regina a kiss.
"Well I might be persuaded to let you have some time with the child, but only if I get another kiss."
Emma kissed her again more deeply and then added a couple of more pecks on the lips before she settled back down in her position.
"Ok, little dude, what story would you like to hear next? I know, how about the tale of the Field of Dreams."
Marriage day 440
"Emma."
She continued to sleep.
"Emma!"
"What?" Emma groaned.
"I think the baby is coming."
"We talked about how this isn't funny."
"I'm not joking!
Emma heard the desperation in Regina's voice and she got out of bed, turning on the light in the process.
One look at Regina and Emma knew she wasn't joking.
