Thanks to Abigail Sykes xxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Doctor Ruth stood outside the private entrance of the hospital, next to an orderly who was prepared with a wheelchair. They were only waiting for a few minutes in the cool air of the early Spring morning before a speeding SUV rushed up the road and stopped in front of them. Emma bursts out of the driver's door and rushes around to the passenger side to help Regina out and into the waiting wheelchair. She then opens the trunk of her car and grabs Regina's overnight bag before slinging it over her shoulder. She locks the car with the key fob and leaves it parked where it is: illegally next to the curb. She would pay any impound fee that she might get for it.

Doctor Ruth can see from the rather large damp area on the lower half of Regina's dress that her water has already broken. "Let's get her upstairs as quickly as possible please," she speaks in hushed tones to the orderly in order to not panic Emma. She knows from her past encounters with the two women that Emma is the one she needs to be concerned about at this point.

Not that Emma is paying them much attention. All her focus is on the brunette who is now being wheeled through the doors and into the building. She takes the sitting woman's hand in her own and does a slow jog next to her panting love. "You are doing so well, sweetheart. I'm here with you." Her legs feel weak, but she keeps putting one in front of the other.

Regina's cheeks are marred by a deep crimson as a sweat breaks over her brow. She clenches her teeth tightly as another contraction rips through her. "SHIT!" She growls as her internal organs feel like an ogre is squeezing them. "Please, stay with me Emma. Don't leave me," she begs between quick breaths. Her fear of abandonment rearing its ugly head at this very vulnerable time.

"I'm not going anywhere, beautiful. I'm going to stay right by your side." She leans down to kiss the back of her hand that's in her own, as the doors to the elevator they have just entered close behind them. Just like that, her legs feel strong; she feels stronger than she ever has. Regina needs her and she won't let her down.

"We have your private birthing suite ready for you, and Emma can of course stay in the room at all times, so please don't worry, Regina," Doctor Ruth offers as a way to comfort her patient. "I want you to try and focus on your breathing, Regina. Can you take a nice big deep breath for me, please?"

Regina nods her head in confirmation and follows Doctor Ruth's instructions, as the woman takes deep breaths with her.

Emma also takes a deep breath. She's doing her best to remain calm on the outside for Regina because on the inside her mind is spinning and her heart is racing.

"How far apart are your contractions?" The doctor queries, noting that the last one seemed pretty strong considering she had only been having them for just over two hours.

"About every five minutes," Regina answers a little easier. The deep breaths seem to be working for her she happily notes.

"The few she had in the car were between five minutes and twenty-three seconds and six minutes thirty-nine seconds," Emma states so that the doctor has complete clarity. She reminds herself that she will have to thank Ruby again for the watch she had gotten her for her birthday, even though she hadn't fully appreciated it at the time.

Regina, Doctor Ruth and the orderly all look at Emma, stunned by her precise time keeping.

"I thought it might be important," the blonde blushes under all of their intense gazes. She gives a small smile to Regina when she brunette gives her hand an appreciative squeeze.

"That's very helpful. Thank you, Emma," the doctor praises. "They appear to be occurring quite close together considering you only started having them a couple of hours ago," she nonchalantly adds as she looks down at her patient.

"Is that a bad thing?" Emma blurts out, as the elevator comes to a stop and they make a quick exit down the corridor to their suite.

The doctor looks down to Regina, who whips her head around to look at the doctor in panic. "No, not necessarily. It's quite common for women to actually not notice the beginning of contractions during their first birth because they can be very mild and feel like no more than a slight ache. What were you doing last night? Did you not notice anything at all?" She asks as they enter the suite and the orderly and Emma both help Regina onto the bed.

The blush on Regina's cheeks was unnoticeable because they were already a deep pink from the pain, but the blush across Emma's cheeks was unmissable.

"I see," the doctor, acknowledges when neither women answer her, but Emma's cheeks give it away. "Well, that is quite normal. Sometimes the body isn't able to decipher between labour contractions and more enjoyable contractions.

Now the orderly joins in with the blushing when he realises what the doctor is implying. He makes sure Regina is comfortable on the bed, raising the top half up so the patient can sit against it and then he puts up the side bars.

Doctor Ruth asks Emma for her car keys and the blonde hands them over, no questions asked. "Go and park her car properly, please," the doctor instructs the orderly. She wasn't concerned about the car itself; she just didn't want it getting in the way of any of the emergency vehicles that might need to get passed.

"Last night," Emma whispers to Regina, as her eyes widen in worry, "we didn't clean up afterwards…" She lets the rest of the sentence remain unsaid.

"It's okay. I sorted myself out before waking you." If she wasn't so tired and distracted by being in labour, she would have thought it sweet that Emma was concerned about that.

It's only when the doctor is silent that Emma finally realises there are two nurses in the room who are both fiddling with different pieces of equipment.

One of the nurses approaches Emma, "would you like me to take the bag?"

"Oh yeah, thanks," Emma says as she takes Regina's overnight bag off her shoulder and hands it to the nurse who puts it in a cupboard next to the bed.

Doctor Ruth snaps a pair of latex gloves onto her hands, "I'm just going to check how dilated you are." She then fixes a medical mask over her mouth and nose. "I'm just going to cut your panties off," she says nonchalantly, as she brandishes a pair of scissors. "Pop your feet into the stirrups, please."

Regina looks up at Emma and gives her a small, nervous smile.

Emma holds her hand just a little bit tighter and leans down, so they are no more than an inch apart. "It's ok, sweetheart. Everything is going to be okay. I'm right here with you and soon our little girl is going to be with us too," she whispers through a large smile on her face.

"Everything looks perfect down here. It won't be too long until you can start pushing," the good doctor states with a smile of her own as she moves from between Regina's legs.

"See, everything is going well," Emma reiterates. The blonde wasn't quite sure who she was trying to comfort the most, Regina or herself. She couldn't imagine how scared Regina must be. She was terrified and she wasn't even the one giving birth. She cursed herself for reading up on everything that could go wrong during pregnancy and in labour. At the time, she just thought she was being prepared for any eventuality but now she wished she hadn't read that stuff so that she wouldn't now have the worst case scenarios running rampant through her brain.

Regina briskly nods her head in agreement. Everything was fine. The doctor said so and so does the person she trusts most in the world. Her head falls back again the pillow encased in the hospitals crisp white linen as she lets out a pain-ridden shriek as another contraction rips through her body.

Emma bites her lip at the painful constriction of her hand in her lovers smaller one. Not that she was going to complain about it, of course. The titanic grip eventually eases off as the contraction dies down in the brunette. She lets out a breath of relief but resists the urge to remove her hand from Regina's so that she could shake the pain from it.

"I am just going to have a quick scan of your tummy to make sure everything is okay and to see what position your little one is in," Doctor Ruth announces, as she rolls next to the bed

on a chair and positions the ultrasound machine next to her. "Excuse me, Emma," she adds because the blonde is too focused on Regina to see that she is in the way of the doctor.

"Sorry," she apologises, before rushing around to the other side of the bed. She was happy to have an excuse to move to the other side of the bed because it meant she could offer Regina her other hand and could give her abused one a chance to recover.

"Baby is lining up perfectly," the doctor happily informs the parents. "We really don't have much longer so I'm going to get you something to eat and drink. You are going to need all the energy you can get."

"I've brought some things," Emma announces before she opens the cupboard that the nurse had put the overnight bag into.

Of course she has, the doctor thinks to herself, with a light smirk on her face, hidden behind her protective mask.

Emma digs around in the bag and pulls out a couple of bottles of sport drinks, a few energy gel sachets and a Tupperware box of freshly cut up fruit that she had replenished every single day for almost a month.

"I didn't know those were in the bag," Regina mentions, unaware of when Emma could have put the fresh fruit in there.

"All the good books say you need labour snacks," Emma replies, like it was obvious she would have put them in the bag. She puts down all the goodies on top of the cupboard. "Take a sip of this, sweetheart," she offers as she snaps back the sports lid on the bottle and places it against Regina's lips. It was the same isotonic drink that she uses when training. It quickly replenished the body with sugars and electrolytes to keep energy levels up, so she thought it would be perfect for the occasion.

Regina sits up and greedily swallows all the sweet flavoured liquid. She hadn't realised just how thirsty she was from her last couple of hours of sweating and panting. She wipes her lips, as Emma snaps the cap back down on the drink. She feels a little stronger almost instantly. That is until the tell-tale sign of another approaching contraction has her falling back against the pillow and reaching for Emma's hand.

Emma drops the closed bottle on the bed and takes Regina's grasping hand. "Try and breathe through it, sweetheart. It won't be so bad if you keep taking deep breathes throughout it," Emma tries to helpfully offer, not really understanding just how painful it is.

If Regina could speak, she would tell Emma to stop talking shit. Instead, she does the only thing she can as a familiar pain pulses through her body, forcing her to shout out in agony and grip onto Emma's hand as tight as she can.

"HOLY MARY MOTHER OF GOD!" Emma shouts out in a pain of her own as she falls to her knees. Her previously broken knuckle feeling like it had just been broken all over again.

When the pain subsides, Regina lets go of the blonde's hand and spits through clenched teeth, "breathe through that."

The doctor and both nurses keep their heads down, so their chuckles aren't noticed. They have seen and heard it all throughout the thousands of births they had witnessed between them over the years.

Emma cradles her hand and gets back up to her knees. "Sorry but it hurt," she mumbles in embarrassment at complaining about pain when Regina was the one giving birth.

"I'm sorry too. Please don't take anything I say seriously when I'm in pain," Regina apologises but knows she will probably do more of the same as the pain continues.

"That's a good point," doctor Ruth butts in with. "When you leave here, you leave everything that was said in this room too. You have several minutes before the next contraction, why don't you get changed into this gown and have something to eat, okay?" She suggests, as she hands a hospital gown to Emma. "Oh, and Regina, I know your stance on pain relief, but you can change your mind at any point."

Regina had said from the beginning that she wanted to avoid pumping any chemicals into her body if she could. She wanted to do this naturally; it was almost a point of pride for her. Emma had tried to talk her out of it on one occasion only. She didn't want Regina to go through any unnecessary pain, but she knew that ultimately it was Regina's decision and she would support her with whatever choices she made.

Regina nods her head and Emma unfolds the gown, as one of the nurses pulls the curtains around the bed to give them some privacy. Emma helps her out of her still damp dress and helps her into the gown. "I'm sorry," she mumbles again.

"It is fine, darling. I know you are just trying to help. I'm probably going to shout at you a lot more so grow a pair," she says with a sly smile a wink. It was a nice moment of levity between them.

Emma can't help but laugh. "That's kind of what got us into this in the first place." She ties the gown around Regina's back; making sure it's not too tight.

Regina pulls her in for a small kiss and when it finishes, Emma leans her forehead against the brunette's sweaty one. "Have another drink," she offers, before grabbing the snack box of fresh fruit and slowly feeding her small bites. She rips open an energy gel for herself, quickly swallowing the contents. Regina wasn't the only one that needed all the energy she could get.

They stay like that for a small while. Emma holds her hand, albeit with her good one, during each contraction and in between them, she offers her food, drink, and reassuring words of love and safety. The doctor and nurses both make intermittent appearances to keep an eye on how things are going.

"We should let Kat know," Emma suggests, as she rubs soothing circles on Regina's lower back. It was almost seven a.m. so Kat would probably still be sleeping in bed with Ruby.

"Kat! I had completely forgotten about her. Can you call her, please?"

"Yeah, I'll call her now." Emma whips her mobile from her pocket and scrolls through her contacts until she finds their friend's name. She hits dial and waits patiently as it rings and rings.

"What?" The newly awakened woman groans down the phone, unimpressed by whoever has the audacity to call her at this time of day, not that she knew what the time was.

"Lena's on her way," Emma says simply, as she smiles like an idiot to herself.

"Huh?" Kat grunts in confusion, as she wipes away the sleep from her eyes. "Oh Shit! Regina's in labour?" She asks sounding much more awake. "THE BABY'S COMING!" She then exclaims in excitement when she fully realises what's happening.

Ruby unhappily stirs awake at the rude interruption. "Shurrup," she mumbles, as she grabs the pillow her face is buried in and chucks it behind her, hitting Kat.

"Yeah, we are in the hospital if you want to come here." Emma acknowledges the other blonde, ignoring the arguing on the other end of the line.

"Yeah, we definitely do," she answers Emma before redirecting her attention to her dozing partner. "The baby's coming!"

"Who's coming? It's the middle of the night," Ruby replies in tired confusion.

"The baby! Wake up!" Kat hits her on the back of her head with the pillow she had just thrown at her.

"We don't have a baby."

"Regina and Emma's baby, you idiot! Regina is in labour," she says completely exasperated.

"Why didn't you say so?" Ruby demands in annoyance, like Kat hadn't been telling her just that for the last minute. "Let's go!"

"We will be there as soon as we can. Is Regina okay?" Kat asks Emma when she's finally gotten through to Ruby.

"She's doing amazing," Emma proudly replies as she leans in to kiss her lover's cheek.

"Tell her we will be there really soon. Tell her to cross her legs until then."

Emma laughs as she shakes her head and hangs up on their friend.

"They are on their way," she informs Regina who gives a weak smile and a nod of her head.

Kat and Ruby rush around their room as they get themselves ready to visit the newest member of their extended family.

"Where are the T-shirts?" Kat asks with a small smirk as she buttons up her jeans.

Ruby grabs the matching tees from one of the huge bags of baby gifts that they had ready for this moment and chucks one towards Kat, who quickly slips it on. They double-check that they have everything they need and head out towards the hospital; the sleep completely vanished from their bodies and minds, replaced with excitement.

"I bet you a grand that Emma won't stop crying all day," Ruby cockily offers.

"Why would I take a bet that I know I will definitely lose?" They both chuckle, knowing how sensitive and crazy happy their blonde friend is.

"Do you think Regina has threatened to cut her junk off yet?" Ruby asks with a chuckle.

"At least half a dozen times already, I'm sure."

As they pull up to the prestigious hospital, Ruby parks up and grabs the gift bags before they hurry to the reception. The receptionist gives them the directions they need. They head that way, stopping at the gift shop at Kat's behest before completing their journey.

The contractions had become a lot closer together, only a few minutes apart and the doctor was doing another check. "Okay, it's time. Do you feel ready to push when the next contraction comes?"

Regina could tell from the tone of her voice that it was an instruction and not a question, but she had been ready for ages anyway. She had wanted to push for a while already. "Yes," she answers simply and looks towards Emma for comfort. This was scary and she needed Emma right there with her. Not that the blonde had moved from her side since they arrived.

"You got this, sweetheart," Emma encourages her with a kiss to the crown of her head.

The next contraction comes sooner than she had expected. She bears down and pushes with all her might.

Emma wasn't sure if only a few minutes had passed or an entire day, but before she knows it, their doctor is sitting between Regina's legs and announcing she can see the head.

"That's it, Regina. Keep pushing. She's almost with us."

"Oh my god, beautiful, she's almost here. Our princess is almost here." Emma is torn between staying with Regina and moving towards the bottom of the bed so she can see their baby enter the world. She had promised her fiancée that she would stay with her throughout this, so that is what she is going to do, decision made.

When Kat and Ruby approach the birthing suite, Kat is frozen to the spot by Regina's cries of pain. It momentarily takes her back to another time, another life, when the cries of pain she heard from her friend meant something else entirely. "I'll cut your junk off myself, Emma Swan," she mumbles quietly to herself, only half meaning it. She shakes the heavy feeling from her heart and takes a step towards the door, placing her hand on the handle.

"Can I help you?" one of Regina's nurses asks, as she approaches the room to go back inside.

"No, Thanks. I can open the door myself," Kat retorts sarcastically.

Ruby tries to bite back a laugh unsuccessfully and so she moves the bunch of balloons to cover her face. She could see Kat's shoulders were tensely set and she pitied the nurse for what she had just gotten herself into.

"I mean, you can't go in there."

"My family are in there so, yes, I can."

The nurse sighs. It had been a long night and she was running out of patience. "It's not a theatre show in there. We don't need an audience. You can wait in the waiting room," she sternly replies, as she points to the waiting room behind them. "I will let them know you are here," she offers a little more softly when she notices the worry in Kat's eyes. A scream from inside the suite grabs everyone's attention. "I have to go back in there, but I promise you that mom and baby are fine and are in safe hands."

Kat nods, resigning herself to the fact that she can't do anything for her friend right now. The nurse enters the suite and does as promised, she informs Emma that they are in the waiting room. Kat turns and goes into the waiting room, while Ruby struggles through the doorway with the bags of gifts and huge bunch of balloons.

As soon as the nurse had passed the message onto Emma, the blonde leans down to Regina and repeats the message.

"I don't give a fuck if the Queen of England is here," Regina shouts as her next contraction approaches.

"This is it now, Regina. It's just a few more pushes and she'll be here. You can do this," Doctor Ruth encourages.

"Only a little longer, angel. She's almost here," Emma says, as she holds her a little tighter.

Regina takes a deep breath as the next contraction approaches and when it hits, she pushes as hard as her exhausted body can manage.

"That's it, Regina. I can see her head. Keep pushing!"

Regina is barely able to take a breath before she's bearing down again.

"There we go. She's here. Your little girl is here," the doctor says as she holds the little one and passes her to a nurse to hold for a moment. The doctor stays where she is and helps Regina through a final, smaller contraction that delivers the afterbirth. She gives Regina a check over to make sure she is okay and then helps her patient's weary legs from the stirrups, while the nurses sort out everything else.

Regina falls back against the bed, drenched in sweating and trying to catch her breath. Emma starts crying even harder when she catches a glimpse of their daughter. Their little girl's screams give Regina just enough energy to lift her head and see their baby. Emma helps her by cradling the back of her head to help hold it up. The next couple of minutes pass by in a blur of tears and smiles.

Emma smothers the side of Regina's face with loving kisses. "That's our baby. Thank you. Thank you so much."

"Would you like to cut the cord?" One of the nurses asks Emma.

She jumps up at the offer and takes the scissors. Her hands start shaking and the tears come faster as she looks at her daughter. The nurse helps steady her hand, as the other one holds the new-born. A little pressure from Emma's hand, with the help of the nurse, and it's done in a blink of an eye. The nurses carry on doing what needs to be done with the crying baby and Emma goes to sit back down with Regina.

"Here you are, ladies. Meet your daughter," Doctor Ruth happily announces, as she places the bundle of joy in Regina's arms a few moments later.

Emma extends around to undo the strings on Regina's gown so she can pull it down a little and Regina can hold their daughter tightly against her chest, for the all-important skin to skin contact.

Emma reaches over and strokes tiny fingers with her own index finger. Little Lena's hand flails for a moment until her baby fingers settle on gripping onto the giant one offered to

her. At that point, it's unclear as to which one of them is crying the hardest: the baby or Emma.

"We made her," Emma whispers proudly through her tears.

"Yes, we did," Regina sniffles, as she gently rocks the newborn. She turns her head to kiss Emma, "we did this."

Her little cries die down and she yawns as her eyes close, falling asleep against her mom's chest. They both watch her in complete awe and adoration as she sleeps peacefully.

All the medical staff finish up what they are doing and leave the family in peace. Doctor Ruth, happy with the health of both mother and baby, takes a final look at the happy little family before she leaves. All those months of panicky emails and calls from Emma seem so very worth it now, even if they had annoyed her at the time.

Almost half an hour later, Lena gives them an example of things to come by shattering the silence with a big wail.

Regina rocks her a little more and tries shushing her. Doctor Ruth, who had been hanging around outside, pops in and helpfully offers, "she's probably hungry."

Emma, who had been looking a little like a rabbit caught in the headlights, jumps into action and helps Regina pull her gown down a little further below her breast.

Regina adjusts Lena so her mouth is near her nipple, but she keeps crying and won't latch on.

The doctor can see the panic in Regina's eyes; it's the same panic she sees in every new mother's eyes. "Don't worry. It can take them a bit of time to learn to feed. She's not used to eating this way just yet."

The relief is obvious and immediate in Regina. She's happy to know it's normal and she isn't doing something wrong.

"Should I give her a demonstration of how to do it?" Emma jokes against Regina's ear.

As if she understands her other mother's threat to take away her food source, her cries die down and she starts sucking the offered nipple.

"That's my girl," Emma applauds with pride.

Regina watches silently, finally feeling like she has done something worthwhile with her life.

When's she had her fill, Lena falls back to sleep in her mother's arms, who also falls asleep just a few seconds after her. Emma picks up their little girl for the first time, as gently as she can as to not disturb either of them. She holds her against her shoulder and rubs her back until she hears a little belch in her ear. "You really are my girl." She then swaddles her perfectly, all the practise she had been doing on the baby doll at home was worth it, and places her into her cot. She sits back down next the bed and kisses Regina's temple. "I love you so much, sweetheart."

Realising she doesn't have any pictures of the new addition to their family, she pulls out her phone to rectify that immediately. She ignores the seven new messages on her phone for now and snaps away, as she leans over the cot. She also takes a few of Regina before opening the messages, all of which are from Kat. "Oops," she murmurs to herself when she reads through the increasingly impatient texts.

She quickly and quietly sneaks out of the room to go and share her happiness with her friends in the other room. The first things she notices in the waiting room are the masses of colourful balloons, flowers and gift bags everywhere.

"Finally," Kat says in relief, "how are they both?"

Emma smiles widely. "Great. They are both doing great." Fresh tears fall and both Kat and Ruby embrace her in a big bear hug. "I'm a mom," she whimpers through her tears.

"Yeah, you are, Swanny," Ruby proudly reiterates.

"Can we go and see them?" Kat eagerly asks.

"Yeah, of course. Just be quiet, they are both sleeping." She leads them through to the private suite. Kat makes a beeline for her sleeping friend and Ruby unburdens her arms of all the gifts and tokens of love they have brought for the little family.

Kat leans over Regina and gives a sweet kiss to her forehead, before rushing over to the cot to see the baby. "She's absolutely beautiful, Emma."

Ruby comes up behind Kat and holds around her waist, resting her chin on her shoulder. "She's a little beauty, Swan."

Emma beams proudly, as she stands over her two loves. "Hey… what're on your T-shirts?" She asks as she squints to try and read the wrinkles material of Ruby's top.

Ruby holds it taught with a shit-eating grin on her face, as does Kat. Emma reads one and then the other, realising they are identical. "Aren't you glad you didn't swallow?" She quietly reads out. "Regina isn't going to like that," she berates her idiot friends. They just smile at her harder.

"We got one for you too," Ruby says with far too much enjoyment, as she grabs a different tee from one of the gift bags.

Emma holds it in front of herself and reads out loud the print on it, "Yes, I have a beautiful daughter. I also have a gun, a shovel and an alibi." She chuckles at that and deciding she likes it she quickly swaps it for the top she is already wearing.

Kat and Ruby quietly go about decorating the room with all of the balloons, flowers and many teddy bears that they'd brought with them, as Emma sits between the bed and cot, keeping watch over her sleeping family. They talk in excited whispers for almost an hour until Regina starts to stir awake.

Her eyes open and her hands shoot up to her chest when she immediately notices the weight of her daughter missing from her skin.

"She's in her crib sleeping, sweetheart," Emma quickly soothes her fears.

"How long have I been sleeping?"

"Just over an hour. Kat and Ruby are here."

"Hey, Regina," Kat greets, as she gets up from her chair and moves to the side of the bed, taking Regina's hand in her own.

Regina turns her head a little more, "Hey, Kat. Hey, Ruby."

"She's so beautiful, Regina," Kat compliments.

"Yeah, thankfully she looks nothing like Emma," Ruby chimes in. She receives a punch in the arm from Emma for that comment. "Asshole," she mumbles as she rubs her arm.

"She has my chin and don't swear in front of my daughter," Emma warns.

A small gurgle from the cot distracts them all from the smiles and squabbles.

"I get to hold little Kitty Kat first," Kat jumps in, hoping the name will catch on.

"We haven't done her birth certificate yet, we can easily not give her a middle name," Regina playfully warns.

"Pay no attention to your mommies. I'm your cool Aunt Kat and we are going to have so many adventures together," Kat coos to the little girl.

The new moms ignore her and smile at each other like the two happiest people on earth.