After their honeymoon, Emma and Regina were back at the hospital. Regina was going to be implanted and she'd be lying if she said she wasn't terrified. Emma sat by her wife's side and held her hand the entire time. It would be two weeks before they knew if the pregnancy took and if it was going to last. Two weeks later, Regina went to have blood work done. She was sitting on the couch when Emma arrived home from work.
"Hey, are you alright?" Emma asked when she saw how scared her wife looked.
"I had my blood work done today."
"Oh yeah, how'd that go?" Emma felt bad when the woman's eyes began to water, "I'm so sorry." She rushed to the couch and took Regina into her arms.
"I'm pregnant," Regina whispered.
"What?"
"I'm pregnant and the hormone levels are above where they wanted them."
"So that's good, right?"
Regina smiled, "so far so good."
"I knew everything would be okay."
Regina looked at her wife skeptically, "did you?"
"Okay, well, maybe I didn't, but that doesn't matter now."
The couple decided to wait to tell their family. They wanted to see what Regina's levels looked like after her next few appointments. Once they were given the okay, they told everyone. Their friends and family were excited for the two. Especially after everything Regina had been through. However, the excitement would soon turn to fear.
When Regina was five months along, the couple found out they were expecting a girl. Later that week, Emma took her wife out to celebrate. It was the first snowstorm of the season.
"Emma, maybe we should pull over," Regina said, "it's practically a whiteout."
"Yeah, okay," Emma went to pull the car over but she hit a patch of ice. The car slid and spun until it crashed into a tree head-on. "Regina, honey, are you alright?"
"I think so," Regina said weakly. "I think I hit my head."
"The baby?"
"Moving like crazy as always."
"I can't believe how far into the woods the car went." Emma looked at her phone, "I don't have a signal. I'm going to try to make it to the road to call for help."
"I'm coming with you."
"You need to stay put."
"You can help me out of this car or I can get out on my own and follow you."
"I knew I should have put the child lock on that door." Emma got out of the car and walked around to the passenger side. She helped her wife ease out of the car. "You okay?"
"Yeah," she breathed out.
Emma took Regina's arm and the two began following the tracks from their car. "Honey, stop for a second. Put your arm around my shoulders."
"I'll break your back."
"You're not that pregnant. I can carry you but I don't want to risk slipping and falling with you in my arms."
Regina put her arm around Emma and the sheriff slid her arm around Regina's waist. They walked a bit further before Regina stopped them, "Emma, I can't go any further."
Emma looked around, "I'm gonna help you sit on the ground against a tree." Regina moaned in pain as she sat down. "I'm gonna walk a little further to try and get a signal. If you need me then yell. I know you can." Emma smiled and saw Regina try to smile as well. The woman had a winter coat on, but she had forgotten her scarf at home. Emma took hers off and wrapped it around Regina's neck and chin. She kissed her forehead before walking away. By the time she had a signal, Regina was out of sight. Emma quickly made a call.
"Emma," David answered, "what's up?"
"Dad, I need you to come and pick us up."
"Where are you?"
"I honestly don't know. I can't really see anything. The car went off the road. I'm fine, but Regina's hurt. She's not telling me how bad it really is, but I can tell."
"Emma, I'm going to use the tracking app. You stay with Regina."
Emma hung up and went back to her wife. "My dad's gonna bring help."
"Emma, I can't feel my legs."
Emma quickly took her coat off and laid it over Regina's legs. "Regina," she noticed the mayor's eyes closing, "no, you need to stay awake."
"I don't think I can," she shivered.
"Keep talking to me."
"About what?"
"I don't know," Emma began to think, "baby names."
"There may not be a baby to name. There's no more movement."
"I'm sure the baby's asleep."
"Emma!" a male voice yelled.
"Dad?"
David and Snow appeared, "are you two alright?"
"Regina needs to get to a hospital. She can't walk any further," Emma said.
David lifted Regina and Snow wrapped a coat she brought with her around Emma. There was an ambulance waiting when they made it to the main road. David placed Regina on the stretcher.
After getting checked out, Emma joined her parents in the waiting room. Dr. Whale walked out after an hour and told them that Regina had hit her head hard enough to cause some damage. She was asleep and warming back up so they wouldn't know until she woke up. He said the baby was struggling, but they were trying to save her. Regina woke up the next day, but was still exhausted, "the baby?" she whispered to Emma.
"She's holding on."
"What are her chances?"
"Better with each passing hour."
"I can tell that you want to ask me something."
"Why did you hide how badly you were hurt?"
"I didn't want to worry you and I knew you'd make me stay behind. This sounds stupid, but I was afraid to stay there alone."
"That's not stupid."
"How bad's the damage?"
"To you or the car?"
"I know the car's totaled."
"Yeah, pretty much. Well, you have some brain damage, but you need to recover in order to really know the extent of it."
Blue walked in, "it's good to see you awake," she told Regina.
"I didn't know you were here."
"We're all in the waiting room. I just came to check on the baby."
"She's holding on," Regina said.
"Then it's working so far," Blue said.
"What do you mean?"
"I placed a protection spell around the embryo before you were implanted. That was the only thing I could think of."
"Thank you," Regina said quietly as tears fell. "You've done more for me than I deserve."
"That's not true. People change and you have twice. This time you're your old self and that's the Regina we're all rooting for."