A/N: Hey everyone, hope you all enjoy this chapter and thank you for the continued support for this story.
"Emma, you can't wear that for a scan" Regina scoffed as Emma came out of the guest room in a pair of jeans and a top.
The blonde felt it practical and suitable attire, a bit like her armour as if she was going in to battle. Admittedly the outfit was snug, but she felt more confident in being dressed that way. She looked at Regina, and then argued her case based on the fact she felt comforable. Regina however was having none of it. The outfit was every bit impractical given what Emma was going to have to go through for any tests or scans that might need to be done. Not to mention any checks to make sure she hadn't contracted anything nasty from the parasite was Dr Whale. She contested Emma's arguement and hurried past her, back into the guest room and to the drawers. With little searching she pulled out a dress, and a cardigan and flung them at Emma.
"Get changed, and be quick or we will be late for this appointment." she insisted as she wandered back out and went in search of her purse.
"What, no leggings?" Emma called out with an unimpressed huff.
Regina was out of earshot and so didn't reply. Emma smirked to herself, went to the drawers and grabbed a pair of black leggings, before quickly changing outfits.
Downstairs Regina gathered up Henry's baby bag, and got him settled into the car seat, before quickly changing her mind that they would have to walk. Of course her car was only two seats, and although Emma's was suitable, she refused to ride in the death trap, that was currently sat rusting away on her drive. She smiled at baby Henry, transferring him from the seat to the pram, and then glancing outside. It looked chilly, so he would need a coat and a blanket. Taking him back out again, earned her a little babble and a whine and he even squirmed as she got him all wrapped up in his little coat.
"Aren't you cute little prince?" she smiled at him as she gave him a final little cuddle before putting him the pram to settle again.
Checking the time Regina rolled her eyes, they had even more little time given their transport situation, and Emma should have been ready by now. She shook her head, shrugged at Henry, and then cocked her head up to call up the stairs. There was a seconds delay before she suddenly heard footsteps and Emma came rushing down the stairs, with a beanie hat plonked on her head, flattening her long blonde hair, leggings on, and small ankle boots. Regina sighed at the hoplessness and shook her head eyeing Emma from head to toe.
"Where is your coat?" she asked.
"Oh I'll be fine like this" Emma muttered as she peered in at Henry with a big bright smile and stroked his cheek lightly with her index finger.
"We are walking, go and put on a coat" Regina firmly told her.
"Oh yes mother!" Emma quipped playfully as she made a funny face at Henry in reaction Regina's bossiness.
The blonde hurried back up the stairs, heading into the bedroom in search of a coat, but only found a jacket so quickly shoved her arms into it whilst heading back to meet Regina in the hall. Shaking her head the brunette was not impressed. She had bought Emma a proper coat, and yet that was the best the blonde could find. There was no time for her to change though. They had to get going, so Regina just didn't comment and hurried her out of the door, as she followed with Henry in the pram.
It had taken longer than Regina had actually thought it would for them to get to the hospital, and she instantly regretted not just calling Graham and making him take them both in the Sheriff's car. Looking a little windswept, she pushed the pram up to the entrance and glarred at Emma who couldn't help but giggle. Regina starred at her unimpressed, as she used the glass door refelction of herself to fix her hair and straighten her pant suit.
Inside, Regina left Emma with the pram in the waiting area, and went to the reception desk to book Emma in and fill out the neccessary insurance forms, so that Emma's file was now up to date. When she was finished she went over and joined them as they waited.
"Thank you" Emma stated gently out of nowhere as she took Regina's hand, linked there fingers and squeezed gently.
"It needed to be sorted Emma. We need to know your position" Regina stated formerly, feeling a little awkward at all the other residents in the waiting room that they seemed to be attracting the attention of.
Emma frowned, slightly confused but feeling nervous herself just let her palm sweat into Regina's as she glanced around awkwardly at every wall, and feature of the waiting room.
It was quite a wait, and after an hour due to staffing shortage delays, a nurse finally emerged from the corridor with a clip board in hand and called for Emma Swan. The blonde had been so on edge waiting that she jumped up on the 'Em...' of her name and yanked Regina's hand painfully as she leapt out of her seat. Regina had been lost in a daydream. Wondering about Whale and how Emma was going to cope with him if he knew the baby was his. It could only go one of two ways in her mind, he would either avoid her, and his responisbility to her like the plague, or he would deny fault but use it as an excuse to hound the poor young girl. Either way her thoughts had now been interupted by Emma's jerking of her limbs, and she now had to focus on the task at hand; understanding Emma's situation.
The nurse showed them into a small, private examination room and asked Emma to make herself comfortable on the bed. She then explained to them both that it wouldn't be long until the doctor would be with them. Emma gave Regina a nervous glance and then headed over to the bed, where she pushed herself up on it and lay back on it. The nurse very abruptly then grabbed Emma's ankles to put her legs apart and in a better position.
"Right, the doctor will be right with you" she repeated again, before heading out of the room.
"Did you see that!" Emma asked Regina in an alarmed tone as she lifted her head to see her.
"Indeed" Regina replied, as she parked up Henry's pram in the corner and returned to stand closer to Emma.
"Regina" Emma uttered.
Regina, looked over at the blonde as she lay on the bed, and watched as the younger woman smiled at her and then extended her arm out to her. She just wanted her to hold her hand. After a moments hesitation, Regina came even closer and took Emma's hand. She held it tight with a little squeeze and whilst they were both distracted, in wandered the doctor.
"Well, well, well...hello babe, you just can't resist me" he joked as he came over and grabbed the clip board with all of Emma's details.
Emma's head flew up to see him the second she heard his voice, and Regina's followed suit with a glare.
"Are you the only doctor who works here Whale?" she snapped, nostrils flaring with anger she had for him.
"Well...yes it appears I am!" he gloated happily as he approached Emma.
"So, what have you done to yourself?!" he smirked, making sure he made eye contact with her.
Regina glared at him, furious that he thought he could act so unprofessionally. She tapped his hand away when he went to touch Emma's cheek and he snarled back at her finally getting the message from the mayor that his behaviour would not be tolerated. With that, Whale straightened himself up and began to properly read through Emma's notes, when he suddenly realised what exactly he was dealing with.
"Pregnant?" he questioned, earning himself a further glare from Regina.
The brunette kept a tight hold on Emma's hand, hating that the poor girl was in such a vulnerable position once again in front of Whale, but she had straightened herself up also, and was keeping a close eye on him. He looked between the two women, waiting for explanation and feeling a small pang of guilt but not much since his conscience didn't seem to be kicking in. Regina could tell the prospect of him being this baby's father scared him. Whale wasn't exactly and honest, nor decent man.
"Right well, you have been a naughty girl then!" he diverted back to joking.
Clearly his form of armour.
"What is your problem Whale?" Regina snapped, unimpressed by his comments.
He smirked and tried to conceal his chuckle but failed in succeeding. He found himself amused by the thought that whilst the whole town knew how the Queen was having her fill of taking advantage of the beautiful young girl, that Emma had been about town clearly sleeping around. Perhaps after her late shifts at the diner, couple of drinks with the loose waitress Ruby, and had had a few quickies with any eligible or willing blokes who were drunk of an evening. After all, she had been quick enough to let him have a go.
"Well, it's certainly a position to get yourself into. Who have you been having fun with other than me sweetie?" he smirked again.
"Oh I wouldn't feel so confident Whale. This is your child." Regina barked at him, her nostrils flaring again as she glared at him.
Emma just looked nervously at Regina. She didn't want to engage in any of Whale's attempted interactions with her. Regina however kept her focus on Whale, as she watched him start the general routine for an examination. Emma longed for her to look at her but she didn't.
"Right well, take those off then and we'll get started" Whale began.
"What? Wait?" Emma replied nervously.
"Why?" Regina snapped.
"A nurse can do any tests she needs"
"Well actually no, you have no qualified midwives here Madam Mayor. So it'll just have to be me" Whale explained.
Emma turned back to Regina, her eyes pleading for her to make this stop, but Regina still wasn't looking and Whale requested again that her legging be removed. Regina finally nodded in agreement, but insisted that Emma would do it herself. A bag of nerves, and quite emotional suddenly Emma shook her head, but when Regina finally looked at her, she kissed her forehead and the blonde finally calmed. She wriggled out of her leggings with Regina's help and Emma watched Regina as she went across to place the leggings over the handle of the pram.
"Right, well this will take a few minutes, I just have to check a few things, run a few tests, and then maybe a scan to see if I can determine how far along you are" he explained.
"We know how pregnant she is Whale. About 3 months!" Regina quipped.
Whale swallowed hard, nervous wondering if the woman might be right, but to him, and what he had seen in books, Emma didn't seem to be that far gone. She wasn't nearly developed enough with a bump for starters. He worked in silence then, taking his time if he was honest, psyching Emma out as he knew how uncomfortable she was with him carry out the examination. Whale poked and prodded around and each time Emma winced he earnt himself a steely stare from the Mayor.
"Well, just an ultrasound to have a little look and then we are all done here!" Whale explained as he popped his head up from between Emma's splayed legs with a cheeky smirk.
"Just get on with it Whale!" Regina hissed.
In the back of her mind, all she could really think about was who she could get in as an alternative to Whale. Given the situation bettween them, she needed a back up plan. She made a mental note to get onto that task straight away as soon as she was back in the office. Whale, picked up Emma's underwear from where he had placed it beside the table and handed it to her.
"Unless you would like me to do the honours sweetie" he whispered, as she took them with a shaky hand.
"Regina" she uttered in a hushed voice, but the brunette was lost in her hateful thoughts towards Whale.
"Regina!" Emma tried again, squeezing her hand a little in an attempt to get her attention.
Regina's head snapped in her direction with a glare.
"What?" she snapped.
"Help please" Emma muttered showing her the underwear she held.
Regina took a deep composing breath, snatched them from Emma's hand and diverted her gaze back to Whale. She snarled at him as she struggled putting Emma's underwear back on for her without looking. She watched him with narrowed eyes as he asked Emma to lift her dress up and squirted the gel onto her belly.
The whole routine for Emma was completely unfamiliar. With Henry, she had peed on a stick, been congratulated somewhat sarcastically by a warden, and then left to cope. The juvey doctor had given her a couple of very brief examinations, and a specialised nurse had come in to do what had been second long scans. The longest time she had then spent with a medical professional had been in the hospital the day he had been born. She watched Whale this time, as he grabbed a small white scanner and used it to spread the cold gel all across her tummy. He watched the screen, moving the scanner until he found something and stopped. It had taken longer than Emma had expected, and when she looked at the dot on the screen that the doctor seemed to be scrutinising, it seemed much smaller than she had expected for three months.
"What's the problem?" Regina snapped, looking at the same screen and wondering why she wasn't seeing anything remotely baby shaped.
"Where exactly is the baby. Stop messing around Whale!" Regina demanded.
"Well..." he began, turning to look at them both and then smirked.
"What?!" Regina barked, she was really losing her temper and it could now be seen.
"Well...By the looks of this scan, this...is the baby and that would indicate that Emma is only about a month pregnant" He stated with a grin as he pointed at a small dot on the monitor.
"You're wrong!" Regina was quick to accuse.
Doctor Whale took great delight in correcting her again, and smirked once more as he went from Regina to Emma and declared that was him off the hook then. Regina was beyond fuming. Emma had lied to her, she must have slept with someone else in town, which meant she had cheated. Her glare instantly left the doctor and fell upon Emma. She had that accusatory tone in her voice as she scolded Emma, branded her a liar and demanded to know who was the father of that baby.
"Regina...please...I am not lying. I have only slept with you I swear" Emma tried desperately to explain.
"It's not possible Emma. Did you miss a biology lesson somewhere in your life!" Regina yelled.
"No! Regina please. It's the truth. I love you, I haven't cheated. I swear on Henry's life" the blonde pleaded once more.
Regina shook her head. She was in complete disbelief. What she was being told was completely impossible, it was ludicrious, insane, just not...and that's when something suddenly hit her. True love. Emma said she loved her, and with magic anything was possible. She suddenly realised there was only one way she was going to learn the truth. She scowled, not loving the idea, but it was the only way she was going to know, and she had to know. Without another word, Regina fled from the room with no explanation, and left Emma crying out her name.
The blonde threw her head back against the bed and tried to hold back the tears. She bit her lip and swallowed hard, surpressing her feelings and feeling terrible vulnerable just stuck in a comprimising position, alone in a room with Doctor Whale. She looked over towards Henry's pram to avoid contact with Whale as he wiped away the gel from her tummy and started talking away about Regina's shock departure. He was cruel with his words, only hurting Emma more than she felt she deserved right now. Usually with someone like this, she would have just got up and punched them, but she couldn't find the energy. She was consumed by her own thoughts about what had made Regina run out on her. She was desperately trying to find a logical explanation, but she just couldn't think straight.
"Right Emma, you're done" Whale explained as he rose from his seat.
"Emma?" he repeated, purposely wanting her attention.
"Hey, you know if you're really comfy I have no issue with you just laying there. Hey we could even have some fun. What do you think sweetie?" he joked again, chuckling as he obviously thought he was funny.
"No" Emma muttered, her lip wobbling as she broke down.
"Oh sweetie, hey come on I can help" he explained as reached unprofessionally for her cheek and wiped at the tear with his thumb as he cupped it.
"I said no" Emma muttered a little louder.
"Well, I don't really care" Whale declared as he grabbed at her and pinned her down.
Emma protested straight away. He was strong, but out of nowhere she found some fight. She cried out no, screamed, and fought back against him. She resisted any advance he tried to make but she just wasn't in a favourable position to win the fight.
"Get off! Get..." she screamed, her voice cracking with her upset.