Emma spat out the sip of cocoa she'd just taken. It dripped down her chin and even felt like it was spraying out of her nose as well, but she couldn't have cared less. She hastily grabbed a napkin and wiped her chin. "What?" she croaked and coughed slightly. "What?!"

"Robin's here," Regina dully repeated.

Emma immediately felt the strongest urge to whack him, and her murderous intentions clearly made her a bit slow. "In... In the restaurant?!"

", in the restaurant," Regina said just as matter of factly. "He's currently sitting at a table by the window and laughing and joking. With his son..."

"Oh my god..."

"Emma, he has a son!" Regina exclaimed and suddenly sounded alarmingly close to tears. "He has the most adorable, curly haired little boy and in a moment, I'm supposed to go over there and take their orders! I don't know what to do!" she sniffled wetly.

"Oh no!" Emma said. "Don't cry, Regina, please don't cry!"

Ruby and Belle both looked concerned.

"S-Sorry," Regina stuttered and sounded like she was trying to pull herself together. "It's just the hormones."

"You have nothing to apologize for," Emma dismissed. "Where are you right now?"

"In the backroom," Regina replied. "I sort of...made a beeline when Robin and the kid came in. Said that I would take a quick break..."

"Is there any way you can avoid serving him?" Emma asked. "There are other waitresses there, right?"

", Luisa and Carlota, but they're busy. Luisa is working in the bar, and Luisa is cleaning dishes. I can't ask to switch with one of them. I was the one who said I'd be in charge of serving because the restaurant isn't busy right now..."

"Tell them..." Emma grappled for something. "Tell them you don't feel so good!"

"I can't do that, querida. Luisa has already commented on how pale I look. If I tell them I feel ill, they'll call my father or something."

"Your father isn't there today?" Emma asked.

"No, and I thank my lucky stars for that," Regina said and clearly tried to joke a little. "God, I actually have to take his orders and bring him his food! Like I haven't given him enough already!"

"That's not even remotely funny," Emma said before asking: "any chance they've changed their mind and left?"

"Not a chance," Regina said disheartened. "I'm standing and looking at them, and they look awfully-"

"What?" Emma asked, both confused and alarmed over the sudden break. "Regina? Regina are you still there?" if her phone had decided to call the quits on her now, Emma would seriously throw it across the room!

"I'm here," Regina said quietly. "Sorry, but something just happened."

"What happened?" Emma asked. Now she really felt alarmed.

"I think he saw me."

"No!"

"Oh yes, I'm pretty sure he did," Regina said bitterly. "I don't think his face would have gone so white for no reason..."

"Please tell me he's grabbing the kid and leaving the restaurant as we speak!"

"Hold on." there was some shuffling in the other end, and then Regina's voice again: "No, doesn't look like it. He just looks really uncomfortable."

"Oh, so HE'S uncomfortable?!" Emma spat. "Well, isn't that just a fucking shame!"

Regina chuckled wetly again. "I almost wish my father was here today. He knows the story. Or parts of it. He could have come up with some great excuse to throw Robin out..."

"You can't serve them!" Emma said pathetically. Fuck, why was she not in Spain right now?!

Regina chuckled wetly. "I don't think I can get out of it. I can't hide in the backroom forever. At least it's just him and the kid having some sort of father-son dinner. If Marian came in... I have a nasty feeling she would sense that there was something different about me. Or maybe even see it. The shirt I'm wearing over my dress today isn't the most..." There was some shuffling and Emma heard her speak Spanish to someone. Emma glanced at Ruby and Belle. They both looked worried, and Ruby mouthed 'what?'

"'Trouble,'" Emma mouthed back and then continued her phone conversation. "Regina? You still there?"

"Yes, I'm still here," Regina said quietly. "I just had to get out of the backroom because Luisa had to get in. Too crowded for two people."

"So you're in the restaurant itself now?"

"I am," Regina confirmed.

"Is he looking at you?"

"Yes." Regina sighed. "I have to go. I'm not supposed to be on my phone while I'm working. I could get in trouble."

"Are you gonna serve him?"

"I have no other choice, querida. I'll call you later, okay? When he's gone."

"Isn't there any way I can stay on the phone with you while you take his order?"

"I don't think so," Regina said quickly and sounded more stressed than ever. "I'll call you later. Bye."

"Wait, Regina-" but Regina had already hung up on her. "Damnit!" Emma cursed as she slammed the phone down on the table.

"What's going on?" Belle asked concerned and sat her cup of coffee down.

Emma was fuming as she said: "the douchebag who knocked up Regina is at the restaurant."

"You're kidding me!" Ruby said and slammed a fist onto the table.

"With his SON," Emma added and curled her hands into fists. She felt SO tempted to grab her phone and buy a plane ticket to Madrid right then and there. "Apparently, he's a real family man!"

"A family man who clearly has no problems with lying about being single to coax a girl into bed with him!" Belle sneered. "God, what kind of man does that?!"

"The douchebag kind," Ruby answered the rhetorical question before turning to Emma: "is Regina okay?"

"Not even in the slightest. She's actually supposed to bring that guy food!" Emma fumed. "She's supposed to play the nice waitress when he has completely fucked up her life! God, I could kill him!"

"We're right behind you," Belle assured and nodded towards the phone. "Call her again."

"I can't," Emma sighed. "She's not supposed to be on her phone when she's at work. She promised she would call me later. When he's gone."

Ruby's eyes widened. "You don't think he'll be able to see that she's..."

"I hope to hell he won't!" Emma hissed. "I mean, sure there's a little bump on her stomach now, but it's not something a guy would notice. Right?"

"Right," Ruby said, and Belle repeated it. But in that slow manner she so often spoke in when she was uncertain of something. Emma grinded her teeth. She had seen Regina's belly when Regina had leapt from her sitting position and shrugged her oversized shirt of and jokingly showed off "la protuberancia" or "arándano" as she called it. Regina's baby bump was getting more and more noticeable, and if Robin was particularly attentive towards her, he might notice something. Put two and two together. And if he did that...

Emma's hands balled into fists once more. No. That could not happen! Regina finally felt that she was in control over the future. She was gonna meet a lovely couple and potentially pick those as the baby's parents. The last thing she needed was Robin intervening with her life. He had already done plenty of that. Emma shook her head once in an attempt to be rid of the image of Regina naked and drunk in bed with that asshat.

"Well, he's not gonna say anything to her now," Ruby said with much certainty. "Not when his son is there."

Emma shook her head. "He better fucking not! And if he does, I will hunt him down and kick him in the balls! God!" she slammed a fist against the table again. "I can't believe he's got a son! I seriously cannot-"

"Em," Belle gently interrupted and pushed the mug of cocoa towards her. "You should drink something."

"I don't need cocoa, I need a plane ticket to Madrid asap," Emma grumbled. But she took a sip of her cocoa anyway. And the warm, sweet taste actually did make her feel a little better. "I'm just so frustrated," she said quietly. "Regina's all the way over there, and she's completely alone. I'm literally the only one she can talk to about the pregnancy, and now she has to deal with that asshole too!" she angrily rubbed a hand over her face. Could actually feel tears of frustration in her eyes.

"We get it," Ruby said softly. "You love her. Of course you're worried about her."

"I just want her here," Emma muttered pathetically and swiped a finger over her eyes.

"Of course you do," said Belle and gave her hand a squeeze. "And she'll be here soon."

"In two weeks," Emma said glumly. "Too many things can happen in two weeks!"

"Nothing's gonna happen to her, Em," Ruby soothed. "She'll be fine. And so will Blueberry."

Regina smiled a little at the mention of Blueberry. "Yeah. Yeah, I know. Of course they'll be fine. I'm just being-"

"An affectionate girlfriend," Belle finished the sentence with a smile. "Nothing wrong with that. I'm sure Regina appreciates that."

Emma let out a little sigh. "I hope she'll call me soon."

"I'm sure she will," Ruby said. "Now have some more cocoa. It's on the house."

Emma obediently took another sip of her cocoa, but this time it didn't feel quite as soothing. She was seething with anger, and despite never having laid eyes on him, she imagined Robin (in her mind, he had a camel's face) sitting in the restaurant and joking with his precious son. God, what kind of father was he when he so easily could cheat on his son's mother?! Emma sucked in a breath. What if he would stare at Regina? Leer at her? Be creepy and perv on her? God, Emma would definitely come to Spain and murder him if it turned out that he had done something like that. She looked at her silent phone on the table. She hoped Regina would call her soon. She felt tempted to call her, but Regina was at work right now. She shouldn't be on her phone.

After having concluded her visit to Granny's Diner, Emma came home and pretended to do some work on her laptop. She was supposed to reply to a few emails and schedule some photo jobs, but she couldn't concentrate. She was too worried about Regina. She wished there was some sort of way she could have been there to watch over her all the time. Emma grinded her teeth. If Robin that asshole said something to her, she was gonna fucking murder him. She glanced at her watch. One forty five. Meaning that it was seven forty five in Spain. Regina's shift wouldn't be over until in a couple of hours! God damnit!

Emma cursed in frustration and since she couldn't kick Robin in the balls, she had to settle for grabbing a pillow and throwing it as a way to unleash a little bit of her frustration. She hadn't done that since she was pubescent thirteen year old who felt the world was a terrible, unfair place, but it actually felt pretty good. The pillow collided with the wall with a hard thud but accidentally hit a picture on it's way down. The picture fell to the floor and the glass shattered into a million little pieces. Oops.

"Asshat," Emma said to no one in particular as she got up from the bed with a groan. She crouched down and began to pick up the tiny little pieces of glass. With her luck she would probably slice herself in the hand. Maybe she deserved it a little bit after having ruined the picture of that beautiful lake that had been hanging on her wall since she was a little girl.

She was mumbling and complaining under her breath and doing her utmost to pick up the glass when there was a knock on the door. "Emma? Is everything alright?"

"Yes, everything is fine. Just spiffing," Emma answered her father's question and felt a little bad for sounding so sour. She wasn't a sixteen year old.

"Can I come in?" her dad asked hesitantly.

"Sure. Come in," she sighed. She was an adult. And adults did not barricade themselves in their rooms.

The door to her room opened and her dad came in. "What happened here?" he queried and raised an eyebrow upon finding Emma on the floor.

"The picture fell," Emma said a bit pathetically.

"Really?" he made a surprised noise. "It's been hanging there for as long as I can remember. Maybe it's a sign that we need to do something about the walls."

Emma let out a single, short laughter. "It fell because I threw a pillow."

Now her dad looked really surprised. "You threw a pillow?"

"Yep. Sure did."

"Okay," he said slowly as he fully stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. "Do you want to tell me why you... threw a pillow at the poor wall?"

"I do feel guilty for it now."

He chuckled slightly as he crouched down with her. "Come on. Talk to me, kid. What's going on?"

Emma smiled briefly at the old pet name and then sighed as she revealed: "It's Regina."

"Oh," her dad's hand briefly stilled with a piece of glass. "What is it? Did she do something to upset you?"

"No! God, no," Emma said quickly and shook her head to emphasize. "I'm just worried about her."

"Okay?" her father prompted in that gentle manner he so often did.

Emma picked up another piece of glass before continuing: "the guy who, uhh... got her pregnant suddenly showed up at her work, and obviously, she's pretty freaked out and doesn't want to meet him again."

"Understandable," her dad said simply, and his eyes narrowed slightly. "Makes you wonder what the hell is going on in their minds, doesn't it?"

"In whose minds?"

"Men who deliberately lies and cheats," her father emphasized and shook his head as though he was a disappointed in every last man on earth.

The gesture made Emma laugh. "Yeah, it does."

"I understand that Regina wants to take care of things herself, but if she needs a little extra money for a plane ticket to Boston, your mother and I are more than willing to pay for it."

Emma smiled at him. "Thanks, dad. But I've asked her, and she doesn't want any financial help."

"I admire her," her dad said. "When I was twenty years old, I still drove home to my mother to have her do my laundry."

Emma chuckled. "And I bet she did it without complaining."

"She did actually."

Emma laughed and shook her head. "You were such a mommy's boy."

"I was," her dad confirmed without looking the least bit ashamed.

"I wish I could have gotten the chance to know her," Emma said softly. She'd heard so many things about her grandmother Ruth. Both her mom and dad had spoken so warmly about her, and today wasn't the first time Emma had wished she could have known her. Ruth had passed away unexpectedly when Emma's mom was pregnant, and it had been a huge blow to everyone.

"You look like her," her dad said and patted her free hand affectionately.

"Yeah, so I've been told," Emma chuckled lightly.

Her dad patted her hand again. "Regina will be okay."

And that right there was the reason why Emma sometimes preferred to confide in her dad. He didn't ask a million questions. Instead he had his own, gentle way of soothing her. The way he said 'Regina will be okay' was so sure. So certain. It actually made Emma believe that Regina really would be okay.

Emma flashed her father a grateful smile.

"But the next time you feel frustrated, maybe don't take it out on innocent pictures," her dad continued and raised an eyebrow in mock tittering.

Emma laughed heartedly. "Got it."

He chuckled as he patted her hand one last time and then got up from the floor to throw the glass away.

Once he had left, Emma allowed a teeny, tiny sigh to slip past her lips. She hoped that he was right in his predictions. That Regina really was okay. She shook her head firmly and bit her lip. Of course Regina was okay. Who knew, maybe Robin had seen her and decided to take off. Like the big fat motherfucking coward he was! Anger swirled in Emma's body again. So much for feeling soothed. She wanted to hit something all over again. Just... fuck Robin! Fuck him, and his ability to keep popping into Regina's life and mess it up! Fuck him for lying and tricking her into bed. And fuck him for making Regina upset when she finally felt like she was regaining some control!

"You stupid motherfucker," Emma said to the silent room. "If I find out that you have said or done something, I'm gonna bash your fucking face in!"

"Emma?" her dad called from the hallway. "Who are you talking to?"

Emma flushed slightly. "Nobody." She got up from the floor and walked into the kitchen to dispose of the glass she was still holding. She was thankful she hadn't curled her hand into a fist. That would have hurt.

In the meantime, her dad had settled down on the couch with his feet propped up on the coffee table. Something he would never do had his wife been home. "Do you want to watch the game with me?" he asked and flashed Emma a hopeful smile.

Emma considered it for a moment. She was actually supposed to work right now, but she had recently gotten home from a longer trip, and her dad had barely seen her. And it definitely had been ages since she last watched a game of ice hockey with her dad.

"Sure," she said warmly and headed into the living room. She sat down next to her dad on the couch and did like he. Put her feet on the coffee table.

Her dad glanced and smiled. "We probably shouldn't-"

"Tell mom," Emma finished the sentence with a chuckle. "Of course not. It'll be our secret. So, who's winning?"

Her dad grinned as he began to fill her in on what she had missed of the match...

The rest of Emma's afternoon was trivial to say the least. She worked and scheduled tomorrow's photo job, but her heart wasn't in it at all. Her mind was fixated on Regina and what was happening in Toledo. She strongly believed that Robin and his kid had left, and Regina simply couldn't call her while she was at work. She strongly doubted that Robin aka douchebag was gonna hang out at the restaurant for several hours. That wouldn't be a normal thing to do.

Emma did her best to make the endless hours go quicker, and she had been tempted to text Regina several times, but she didn't. She couldn't bother Regina while she was at work, and Emma didn't want a quick little conversation. She wanted a long and detailed Skype conversation. In which she ensured that Regina really was okay.

Emma blinked and acknowledged that she was getting distracted again. She was supposed to reply to an email from a Mr. Howard who wanted to hire her to take pictures for his wedding day. That was a huge job and it would pay good money. Emma couldn't it to wait just because she was distracted. She quickly pulled herself together and wrote a nice email starting with 'dear Mr. Howard' and ending with telling him that yes, of course she was available this and that date. All he had to do was giving her the address and a couple of other details, and then they would be good to go. Emma chuckled a little. For that price she could almost buy two plane tickets to Madrid. She shifted and glanced at the clock. It couldn't be long before Regina was done for the day at the restaurant. Thank god she wasn't closing the restaurant tonight. The faster she could get home, the happier Emma would be.

Emma closed the laptop. She would have to continue her work later. Or tomorrow. She couldn't concentrate right now. It would just have to wait. And it could. Of course it could.

She headed into the kitchen and fruitlessly opened the fridge and peeked inside. She felt peckish. Like she always did when she was nervous. Or maybe it was just her period coming. She had a particular need for pizza. All that cheese and grease... Mmm. Emma licked her lips. She shut the fridge and glanced into the living room where her father was still sitting. He had replaced the television with a book. He liked catching up on his reading when he was off duty. "Hey, dad?"

"Mhmm?" he looked up from his book and flashed her a smile.

"Mom's coming home late, so I thought we could have an early dinner and order a pizza?"

"Mhmm," he repeated, but now he sounded far more interested. "Yes, that sounds good. I'll have pepperoni."

"Yeah, I know," Emma snickered. Her dear old dad loved pepperoni pizza. But he didn't have get the chance to eat it very often. Emma's mother was merciless when it came to eating healthy. Pizza was something that happened very, very rarely.

"I'll order two then," Emma decided. She was hungry enough to eat a whole pizza. Yep, her period was definitely coming.

"Great. When?"

Emma chuckled and couldn't resist to tease her father a little: "hungry?"

He put a hand on his belly and patted it in a telltale manner.

"Alright, alright, I'll order them now," Emma laughed. "But-"

"We won't tell your mother."

"Exactly," Emma nodded and blinked conspiratorially at her dad. "Our secret." Then she went and grabbed her phone to call the pizzeria. Mario, who answered the phone knew her by name and treated her like an old friend when she ordered two pizzas. Emma had eaten a lot of pizza when she lived with Neal. She had basically lived of it, really. She'd often been occupied with work all day and suddenly time had passed, and she hadn't had the time to make dinner. And Neal was not much of a cook. He hadn't had any problem with living off pizza. And Emma didn't have a problem with living of pizza tonight either. Her stomach was rumbling and tying in knots. Yep, definitely her period. She groaned quietly as she put the phone down. She should have known. She HAD been particularly tempted to rip off Robin's head earlier. Well, she still was, and she probably would still be when not on her period, but she probably wouldn't throw pillows at innocent pictures.

"The pizza's are on the way," she said as she turned around. "Should be here in approximately twenty minutes. Ish."

"That sounds great," her dad smiled. "I'm hungry!"

"Yeah, me too," Emma nodded and then she went back to her room to change into her oldest and most comfortable sweatpants. They were made of a soft, almost fluffy material and were a washed out grey color. At some point the waistband had been stretchy, but now there wasn't much stretch left anymore. The sweatpants simply hung limply on her hips, and Emma would never ever step outside while wearing them. But today she was fucking grateful for their existence! She almost groaned a little in sheer relief as she replaced her tight jeans with this pathetic excuse for a pair of pants. God, they were so comfortable! She put her hands on her hips and tried to stretch her back. She was getting a particularly nasty ache in her lower back. One that could only be fixed with a heading pad. Or a warm bath. Maybe she would take one later. Then she pulled her tanktop over her head and unclipped her bra. Might as well just put on her favorite black hoodie while she was at it. Emma rubbed a hand over her cheek. Was she getting a pimple? She grimaced. Yep, sure felt like it. Damnit. She was too fucking old to get pimples. Another grimace. She would be turning twenty nine in next month. Talk about being old. Fucking twenty nine. No, she refused to believed it. She couldn't possibly be turning twenty nine...

Emma almost felt out of breath when she stuffed the last bite of pizza inside her mouth. Seriously, that was so damn good! That cheese and grease was exactly what she needed.

David hummed in satisfaction as he wiped the corners of his mouth with a napkin. He seemed equally as satisfied. Even though he definitely wasn't on his period.

Emma leaned back and sighed a bit. Pizza was definitely good. But it never failed to make her feel guilty afterwards. The roof of her mouth was burning, and she took a large gulp of her water. Pizza was both a good idea and a terrible idea. She rubbed her stomach and cringed slightly. It felt like her pizza part had made the skin on her stomach go all tight. Or maybe she was just bloated. That was very possible too.

Her father almost looked a bit sorrowful as he stuffed the last bite of pizza inside his mouth and then got up. "Better hide the evidence," he said with a chuckle as he grabbed the now empty plates.

Emma chuckled. "Hate to break it to you, dad, but the entire house stinks of pepperoni. Mom will be able to smell it the moment she steps inside the house."

David nodded to acknowledge that and then observed: "well, in that case we're in trouble."

Emma chuckled again. "Yep, I guess we are. I'll drink to that." She jokingly lifted her glass of water and took a large sip. Then she leaned back in her chair again and considered whether she should take a couple of painkillers to soothe the worst of her cramps. But before she could even make an attempt to stand up, her phone vibrated in her pocket. Emma thrusted a hand inside her pocket and grabbed the phone. She quickly found out that it was Regina who had sent her a message. A single question. 'Skype?'

Emma was quick to reply: 'gimme five minutes, beautiful girl!' then she got up from her chair and excused herself: "Regina's ready to skype, so I think I better make sure that she's okay."

"You do that," her father said jovially. "Tell her I said hi."

"Will do." Emma smiled and gave him a pat on the back as she passed him on her way to the stairs. She snickered as he began to whistle loudly. Always in such a good mood after pizza.

Emma went upstairs to her room and grabbed her laptop. She carried it over to the bed with her and leaned back against the headboard with the laptop balancing on her thighs. She tapped in her password, opened Skype and checked to see if Regina was online. She was, so instead of waiting, Emma simply hit "call". She was far too impatient to wait until Regina called her. The familiar Skype-dialing-tone echoed in her bedroom, and Emma shifted on the bed. She was just a smidge uncomfortable because of the dull throbbing sensation in her abdomen and cramps in her lower back. She definitely should have taken those painkillers.

The call was answered, and Regina's pretty face appeared on the screen.

"Hi!" Emma said, just a tad surprised over having been pulled out of her musings.

"Hola," Regina smiled. "You look good, querida."

"Ha," Emma chuckled. "You are sweet." She knew she looked far from "good" in her old hoodie and with her hair piled into a messy bun on top of her head.

"You do," Regina said firmly and as though that wasn't something Emma could argue with.

So she didn't. "Thank you. You look good too." Regina was wearing the "stolen" tanktop. And not much else, judging by what Emma could see.

"Thank you," Regina said, and now the tiredness was seeping through her voice.

"So?" Emma gently prompted. "Are you alright?"

"No, I wouldn't say that," Regina said almost lightly. "But I survived, didn't I?"

Emma couldn't beat around the bush anymore. "What happened? Did he say something to you?"

"Yes, he said that he'd like two burgers, a glass of water and a glass of orange juice," Regina tiredly quipped.

"Regina."

"Lo siento, querida. It's just been quite the day." Regina cleared her throat. "But no, he didn't say anything to me. He just went as white as a sheet when I came down to take his order."

"No leering looks? No comments?"

"No, nothing. He doesn't know that I'm pregnant."

"Oh, good! That's good!"

"But he did give me some looks of good old fashioned horror and obvious regret of his life choices," Regina said bitterly and rubbed her chin. "Like he's the one who has the most to regret! He's not the one who's knocked up-" she shook her head, amended: "I'm sorry. I'm just tired."

"It's okay," Emma assured. "But overall, it could have gone worse, right? I mean, it's not like he was-"

"It was bad enough," Regina interrupted. "They had dessert too, and Robin allowed his son to be the one to order it."

"Meaning what?"

"Meaning that the little boy came up to the counter and ordered ice cream from me," Regina said dully. "And he was quite the curious little one. Kept asking me typical questions, what was my name, what kind of ice cream did I like, how old was I. He didn't stop until his father came up to the counter and asked him to stop asking "the waitress" so many questions. The way he said "the waitress" was just so... he might as well have said 'whore'..."

"Don't say that!" Emma hissed.

Regina puffed out air. "I felt absolutely terrible, Emma. Because that little boy was adorable. And just knowing that I'm the reason why his parents are-"

"Hey," Emma interrupted. "Robin was at that bar for a reason, right? He and Marian probably had problems way before he crossed paths with you."

"I wish that was true," Regina sighed. "And speaking of Marian..."

Emma had to physically swallow back her anxiety. "Yeah?"

"Well, she came to pick them up from the restaurant, and she saw me. Through the window. It's gonna start again. She'll start pestering me all over again!"

"You don't know that for sure," Emma said gently and tried to soothe.

"Yes, I do. The look on her face..." Regina shook her head and her chin wobbled as she did her best to put on a brave face. "Please tell me your day was better than mine."

"Uhh... I had pizza for dinner? Does that qualify as a good thing?"

Regina's smile was a bit more genuine now. "It does." She shifted a bit and briefly grimaced.

"Sore boobs?" Emma guessed and hoped it would make Regina laugh.

It did. Regina snickered as she confirmed: ". I had forgotten to put on my maternity bra this morning, and now I'm paying the price."

Emma chuckled. "Well, I can join that club tonight. Not the maternity bra club, but the sore boobs club."

Regina raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

Emma sighed mock dramatically. "Why do you think I had pizza for dinner?"

"Ohhh," Regina pushed out her bottom lip as she sympathized with Emma: "mi pobre querida. Stomach ache?"

"Yeah," Emma said and tried not to sound too pathetic. "And back ache."

"Oh amada mía ," Regina gushed. "If only I was there. I could have given you a back massage..."

"That would have been amazing," Emma half-groaned. "So much better than a heating pad!"

"Mmm," Regina said, sounding distracted all the sudden, and as Emma moved a bit closer to the screen, she could hear scrolling sounds in the other end.

"What are you doing?" she asked curiously. "Are you on your phone?"

Regina sheepishly looked up again. "Yeah, sorry, I'm googling plane tickets. I've decided to leave Madrid immediately after the doctor's appointment. I miss you and I wanna see you. And if Marian really is gonna be around again..." she licked her lips. "Well, it seems like a good idea to get out of Spain as soon as possible. If I could, I would come tomorrow, but it seems like a good idea to wait until after the ultrasound. And the meeting with that couple."

Emma nodded. "I can't wait to see you again. Do you think there's any chance I can coax you into getting a second ultrasound?"

"A second ultrasound?" Regina echoed and frowned softly.

"Mmm, here in Storybrooke, just so..." Emma shyly licked her lips. "So I could be there for it too."

"Oh," Regina smiled. "Of course. Can't harm."

"Awesome. I'll ask Doc then. He's very nice. Been my doctor since I was born."

Regina snickered. "I'm sure he's sweet. He must be if he's your doctor."

"Speaking of sweet..." Emma said upon remembering something.

"?"

"What does 'amada mía' means?" Emma asked curiously.

"Oh." Regina blushed unexpectedly. "It means... Well, it's basically just another way of saying 'querida', you know?"

"Right," Emma said. But she had the strongest hunch that Regina was lying...

To Be Continued...