Chapter 4: It was her
The last thing she remembered was the moment she jumped out of the bed and the feeling of someone's arm trying to hold her in place. It was the moment she realised there is someone else in her head who tells her what to do. Someone she was very familiar with. From this moment forward she couldn't control her own actions or her own body. Before anyone could stop her, she teleportated herself into the basement. Then… darkness.
When she finally snapped out of this strange lethargy, she was drained and almost fell on the ground. Someone was screaming. The first thing she noticed was the metal door of Zelena's cell. It was bend in half and tossed to the side of the room, as if some incredible force just blew them out of the way. Then she noticed blood on the floor… She finally realised she was being held by some magical force, unable to move, which was actually a good thing because she wasn't sure she'd be able to stand. Her sister was lying on the ground across the room, she was bleeding. The red fluid was coming out of her nose and smiling mouth. She was still alive, but she was unconscious.
„Regina, stop!"
The queen looked around and saw Emma with her hands up. She was the one who was stopping her with magic. She looked at the blonde with fear in her eyes.
„What happened?"
Emma's face softened and she let out the air she was holding in her lungs.
„Can I trust you?"
„I… I don't know."
Emma lifted the spell anyway and Regina lost her ballance in the result.
„Did I do this?"
Emma reached out to help Regina get up from the ground. The blonde glanced at Zelena inside. The witch was barely breating. Anyone could see it - she was beaten up with rage. Emma tried to think of a suitable answer.
„No. I think the Evil Queen did it."
Regina was about ask something else, but she heard someone shouting her name from the distance.
Snow and Hook ran inside the basement, along with Robin who immediately took Regina into his arms. Emma, who was helping Regina stand, let go of her arm.
„Your nose."
Regina touched the space between her mouth and her nose and when she looked at her fingers, they were bloody. Robin gave her a tissue but he said nothing else.
„What the hell happened here?" Killian asked looking at Emma.
„Regina, I was afraid you were going to..." Snow said.
„Relax, she didn't." Emma said quickly. "Zelena's breathing."
"Wait, how did you get here so fast?" Snow asked her daughter and frowned.
"I was just entering the building when I heard this... noise. I also felt the ground shaking from magic and somehow I knew were it came from. It was so powerful, I've never felt anything like that before… I got to the basement and I found Regina..."
The queen looked at her and Emma stopped talking. She knew what that look meant. For some reason Emma didn't give away anything else, for some reason she kept to heself all the terrifying details.
„I'm so sorry, Robin." Regina whispered. „I'm… I should… Where are the kids? I don't know why…"
„It's okay, they're okay. Nothing happened, that's what matters."
„You know it's not nothing. I came here to kill Zelena, I completly lost control!"
„After what we found out today I would like to do the same, believe me."
„What did you find out?" This time it was Emma who was confused.
„The baby is ours. We are the biological parents. Zelena stole it from us in the very moment it was conceived four months ago."
„She tried to kill it." Regina added with pure rage in her voice. She was looking straight at her sister, shaking and breathing heavily.
Emma opened her eyes widely.
„It's yours?"
Regina closed her eyes and nodded. Emma wondered if she's doing the right thing not telling anyone what really happened during those last few minutes. She should probably tell them who she met when she entered the basement. It definitely wasn't Regina. The woman she met was magically torturing and beating up her sister and... she relished in it. She was smiling when she was doing it. Emma barely stopped her from finishing the job. She should tell them but she didn't. Instead she decided that for now she would let them believe Regina stopped herself on her own and that she was in control all this time. But they both knew it wasn't true.
xxx
The doctors took care of Zelena and locked her back up in another cell. She survived with a few bruises and a minor internal bleeding. Regina couldn't remember a thing from what happened and it was very convenient no one even tried to ask about it. She was scared of the lost time and scared it might happen again. She already came up with a plan, but she decided not to tell anyone about it, at least for now. Either way, in the following hours no one talked about anything else other than the fact they were having their own baby after all. No one cared about Zelena and the fact that Regina had magically beaten her unconscious. They all explained it to themselves with „pregnancy hormones" anyway.
You were in shock, they said. You acted impulsive, because you were understandably angry.
She should be concerned everyone just finds it normal she reacts that way, but she was more worried about the fact that this was the first and only time she could use magic since she became pregnant… and she didn't even remember it.
Still, there were some more pressing issues she needed to fix right away. First of all she had to explain herself to her children.
Henry understood it, of course he did. But she saw a bit of fear in Roland's eyes when she approached him. Then he obviously forgot about everything, as small children tend to, but still... It was the moment she promised herself that no matter what happens her children will never see this side of her again.
Once that conversation happened things got calmer and all went back to normal. Both Regina and Robin were only now adjusting to the thought of having their own child. The revelations of the past 24 hours were overwhelming, but they managed to wrap their heads around it and actually start celebrating it.
Regina desperately wanted to leave the hospital and go home, but Snow suggested they should finish the ultrasound. It was a tempting suggestion, so Regina agreed right away. Although nothing's really changed inside of Regina's womb since the first time they examined it, this time it was a completely different experiance, because they were focusing on the child itself and not only on the question whether it was even in there or how big it was.
While dr. Whale was trying to locate the heartbeat again, Regina was looking at the screen, completely out of breath and holding Robin's hand tightly.
"There." Doctor pressed on the spot on her stomach a bit harder. They held their breaths as a quiet, rhythmic sould reverberated aruond the room. "It seems okay, nothing much to say other than the sex, so.. Do you want to know what you're having?"
„You can already tell?" Robin looked at him confused.
„Sure. Four months is more than enough to see it."
„What are you betting on, honey? Boy or girl?"
„I… I already know." Regina said, not really knowing where it was coming from. But it was true.
„What?" Victor looked back at the screen to check if he didn't give anything away too soon. „Where did you learn to…?"
„No. Not from the screen. I just… I can feel it. If that makes sense." She put a hand on her belly. „We've got too many boys around the house anyway. I've got an ally in there.'
„It's…" Robin was shocked and tried to stop the tears. „It's a girl?"
„Our princess."
xxx
Two hours later they were already on their way home. It was late in the afternoon and they both were just very happy all of this was finally over. When she left the house last time she was full of worries about Robin and the baby. She feared he's gonna lose his child which could eventually lead him to lose himself. And she would lose him next. It was like an avalanche waiting to storm its way onto their lifes. But it didn't, they stopped it, they... won. Not only did they found a solution, but they got more than they could possibly hope for.
They pulled over on the driveway and stepped out of the car. It was quiet and it was getting dark, but the lights inside the house were out.
„It's strange, shouldn't Henry be home by now?" Robin asked.
Regina didn't say anything as she walked closer to the house. Her concerned expression quickly turned into annoyed one. The curtains inside the house were down in every window. The porch, where Roland usually left his bicycle and other toys, was tidy and she could sense a slight scent of freshly cooked meal in the air.
„Are you kidding me?" She murmured and with a few quick steps she found herself on the porch. Robin quickly covered the distance between them and looked at her, not realising what she just had.
"Just go with it." She rolled her eyes and sighed. She pressed the handle and when the door opened a flash of bright light lit up the entire house.
"SURPRISE!"
"WELCOME!"
"FINALLY!"
Everyone was screaming and Robin's first reaction was to shield Regina with his body. She giggled seeing this and touched his arm to calm him. He finally realised what happend and looked quite confused. She could only assume no one ever introduced him to the concept of surprise party.
It seemed like whoever organised this little event didn't exactly plan what they were going to say when they walked in, because the noise was a mixture of welcoming words and congratulations, followed by some relieved voices which sounded like "I can finally drink now". When everyone stopped shouting both Robin and Regina were flooded by a wave of shoulder taps and hugs from The Charmings.
„You don't look nearly as shocked as I hoped you would." Snow said giving Regina a hug. „What gave me away?"
„Our front yard is never that clean." Regina laughed. „And I never close all the curtains."
„We needed to hide all of this." Snow pointed the the decorations. The entire house was drowning in balloons and sweet baby things. Regina used all the strength she had not to roll her eyes again.
„You didn't say a word." Robin told her when it was his turn to hug.
„Because I knew you'd try to stop me for Regina's sake. You made the job very easy by not leaving her side even for a moment to come here."
Regina looked at Robin and he looked back at her. They exchanged their love without using any words. She was so happy in that moment. And yes, she would probably get angry if anyone even suggested throwing a party for them, but once she saw her family being genuinely happy for her, she couldn't keep herself from smiling.
The amount of people in the house actually took Regina by a surprise. All of The Charmings were obviously present and happy for her, but she also noticed lots of Merry Men, dwarfs, fairies… even Granny and Belle. It was more than she would expect. Snow couldn't force anyone to come, so it meant only one thing – they wanted to be there and celebrate their baby. In spite of who she was, they were happy that their plan worked. Another victory celebration in Storybrooke.
„Um." Regina turned to everyone in the room. „Thank you all for coming, this is very nice of you. I'm not the most likable person, I'm aware." She smiled awkwardly but no one said anything. From the moment the curse was broken, she started hating doing those speeches. They all knew who she was and what she did to them, she also knew no one really cared about what she had to say anyway. Not that it mattered to her, but she knew it did to everyone else.
Suddenly Robin put his arm around her waist and she looked at him surprised. He wasn't looking at her, he was looking at the people in the room. She realised all those people need something more from her now, and he was the only one who openly showed his devotion and support to her.
„I think we can all agree that saving a life of a child is a reason to celebrate and I assume this is mostly why you're here. I appreciate it. But… I want everyone to know that Regina fought for this baby before she even knew it was hers."
Regina's mouth opened and she wanted to stop him. She didn't need that kind of attention now.
„Zelena is still a threat. To all of us." He continued despite of her subtle attempts to make him stop. „We are gonna have to find a way to deal with her. This is why I need all of you to trust your mayor like I've trusted her with the life of my baby. She's not your enemy."
Robin was a true, well-spoken leader. She never expected anyone to expose her for the „good" she made in this situation, she never once thought about herself as a hero for the last few days. She didn't think she deserved their trust after all, but Robin was clearly done with everyone treating her like the Evil Queen. She said nothing, just waited for some reaction.
„Well then." Hook, of all people, raised his bottle of rum and smiled. „The past should be in the past."
Everyone else followed him by raising their glasses of alcohol and smiling softly. It may have been a small gesture, but Regina felt something change inside her. She felt relief. They agreed. They accepted her.
They were starting to forgive her.
xxx
"Are you sure?" Killian was already drunk when he was filling another glass. He offered it to Robin.
"Yeah, I'm good. Regina can't drink, so I won't either."
It wasn't exactly true. The real reason behind his decision was conntected to the promise he made her. They both should do everything they can to keep themselves from the darkness. Staying clear headed was more important then ever to him, they won the battle, but they still had a war ahead.
"I would." Killian said. "Three kids, mate..." They both laughed and he took a sip. They long forgot about the disagreement they had a few days ago.
The party was devived into small groups now. David, Emma, Hook and Robin were sitting in the living room, discussing the latest events, along with Blue and Belle who were standing by the fireplace.
"Okay." Emma hit Killian in the head to stop him from making jokes. "Going back to our topic... I personally think we should send Zelena as far away as possible."
"We can't let her go to another realm and hope for the best." Belle said calmly.
"I agree." David added. "This is just tossing the problem to someone else instead of solving it."
„Maybe, but do you have any other idea?" Emma frowned. "Storybrooke is the last place Zelena should be. She's a constant threat and I'm not talking about us." She turned her head around in search of the person she was speaking of.
Regina was sitting by the dinning table and feeding Roland. At the moment she was helping him put some lasagne in his mouth. When the boy finally managed to grab a fork properly she looked back at her untouched meal and sighed.
„Yeah, you're right." Robin said. He was also looking at Regina. „I mean... you all are right. We can't just send her somewhere else. If we did there's always a chance she may come back and we wouldn't have any control over her whatsoever. We can't let her stick around either, it's gonna affect Regina one way on another and last thing she needs right now is to worry."
„We'll figure something out. We always do." David said and crossed his arms.
The conversation wandered in another direction, but Emma didn't listen anymore. She kept thinking about what Robin said and realised he's only worried about Zelena hurting Regina, not the other way around. He still didn't know what really happened in that basement. As much as everyone was aware of Regina's temper, no one realised that the longer Zelena is in town, the more they were risking awakening the Evil Queen again. Being Regina's friend was never so hard to her, because she really didn't want to betray her trust again. She was still worried though. She needed to talk to her.
Emma got up and walked away. No one really noticed it, the house was very crowded and they were too deep into their conversation. She walked towards Regina, who looked up to her and frowned.
"Hey Roland." The blonde spoke to the boy with a smile."Is it good?"
It took Roland a while to find the most polite answer.
"Yea, but.. Regina does better."
"Oh, I'm sure she does." She laughed and looked at the dark-haired woman.
"28 years of practice." The queen shrugged.
"So have you eaten the chocolate cake already?" Emma continued and Regina realised what she was trying to do. The boy obviously brightened up at the sound of the word „chocolate". It didn't take much for him to get up and run away, leaving his meal untouched.
„Great. Now I definitely won't get any rest tonight. Don't you know chocolate is like caffeine for kids?"
Emma just looked at her expectantly.
„Okay. Alright." Regina sighed and hid her face in the palms of her hands. "I knew it was coming. Come on, Emma, go ahead and start your pep talk."
"I'm not here to do that." The blonde took Roland's place in the chair next to Regina. "I'm here to understand. What exactly happened today at the hospital?"
„You know what happened. You knew it before I did. You've seen it."
"Yes, you lost control. But it's wasn't the first time. I wouldn't be sitting here if I didn't feel like something's changed. It wasn't even you, Regina. Do you even remember what happened?"
„No. No, I don't." Regina clenched her fist. She was annoyed with those obvious questions.
„Doesn't that worry you?"
„Of course it does!" The queen shouted and stood up. The lights in the room flickered. Some of the guests looked at her with concern.
Regina looked at them and then she looked at her hands.
„I'm… I'm sorry. I'm just tired."
Without saying a word she headed to the stairs, leaving Emma. The blonde decided to followe her, even though it might turn out to be a very bad idea. But it was clear Regina needed a friend now and she was the only person who already knew about her "problem" so the only person she could talk to about it.
Regina quickly ran upstairs and went into Henry's room. She stood by the window and tried to calm herself, she wrapped her arms around her own waist and stroked her stomach. By the time Emma got there she already managed to steady her breathing. Emma closed the door behind her.
„I'm sorry, Regina, I won't just leave it alone."
Regina sighed and turned around to look at the savior.
„You want to know what happened? There you go. When I found out Zelena stole my baby and tried to kill it, I got furious. In that moment I had this… urge… to kill her. I generally resist those feelings, they're always there, but I've changed and I know better. But..." She looked away again to look outside the window. "This time was different. So yes, you were right."
"Different how?" Emma asked calmly.
"I let her get out, because I knew this is the only way I regain my power."
"I... I don't follow."
"Something happened when I became pregnant. I don't know why, but I lost my magic the minute it happened. Maybe if it's because of the transfering spell or maybe it's just a pregnant-witch thing... I can't tell. But I knew I needed that power and the Evil Queen was always more powerful than me."
„Regina, this sounds insane. It sounds almost like… The Evil Queen and you are two completly different people."
"This is what scared me, Emma. It felt exactly like it. I gave ger control and I couldn't get it back. I don't remember what I did to my sister."
„I understand." Emma said, more to herself than to Regina. She needed a minute to process it all. „Well, first of all, I think you should tell Robin."
„No." Regina said firmly. „I know it's not okay to keep something from him, but he's been exposed to darkness himself. I can fix this on my own, he doesn't need any more reason to worry about me."
"Okay so how are you going to fix it?"
Regina looked down embarassed. She had a plan, but it wasn't very good. She knew she needed to do something about it, but it was hard when she didn't want anyone more to know about her problem.
"First I'm gonna talk to Gold."
"Are you serious?!" Emma opened her eyes widely. "This is your plan? Trusting Gold?
"He helped me more than anyone, Swan. He gave me the spell, he made sure it's finished."
"He did it for himself and you know it."
"Maybe." Regina admitted. "But he helped and he knows more about magic than I do."
"Okay and then what?" Emma threw her hands up.
"I'm going to talk to Archie. Maybe something's just psychologically wrong with me. If that's the case then I should be able to fix it somehow."
"Are you sure it's gonna work? Because I'm putting a lot of trust in your plan right now, I should tell Robin right away, this is about his baby, too, you know."
"It will. It has to." Regina took a deep breath. „This baby won't be delivered by the Evil Queen."
„You don't get it, do you? It's not only about the delivery. You've been moody as your usual self, and you're only gonna get worse with this pregnancy. If all it takes is for you to get angry and The Evil Queen jumpes out then I think you should come up with something better than psychotherapy."
Regina could get angry with her for all the things she just said, but it would only confirm Emma's theory. It was Regina's first pregnancy and she could only predict that the mood swings would make it easier for the Evil Queen to show up. She needed to get rid of her and she needed to do it permanently. They both went back downstairs. Now when she and Emma explained everything to each other, she felt some relief someone knows about this. She wanted to tell Robin, she really did. But she knew she simply can't. Putting this on him now was pointless anyway, since there was nothing he could really do. She decided to look for a magical solution on her own as she always did.
xxx
The party came to an end and everyone went home. Regina somehow managed to put Roland to sleep and then she spent some time with Henry. When he also went to sleep, she came back to the bedroom she now shared with Robin and she saw him lying on the bed with his arm under his head, looking at the ceiling.
"What are you thinking about?" Regina whispered when she snuggled into him under the sheet.
"Well.. there's something Emma said to me today."
Regina gulped and put her head on his chest so he doesn't see her expression.
"What did she say?"
"Zelena... She can't stay in Storybrooke. We can't keep this up forever."
"I know that."
"We can't send her away either."
"You... you're not suggesting we should kill her, do you?"
"No, of course not." He put his arm around her and kissed her head. "But we should not think about it too long, who knows what more she'll do."
"For now she's locked up in there and she sleeps all the time. The doctors give her sedatives, I doubt she's in condition to think of an escaping plan. And even if she did, she doesn't have magic."
"You're right. I'm sorry. I shouldn't bring this up, it's been a long day."
Regina smiled at the thought of that. It was an eventful day, but in the end it was all so worth it. The little girl inside of her was still a wild concept, but she hoped she'd soon get enough time to get used to her.
The queen closed her eyes and fell aleep in Robin's arms quicker than ever.
xxx
On the other side of the town of Storybrooke, in a dark, cold cell there was a red-headed witch looking blankly into space. She was awake even though she knew she shouldn't be. What's more, no one watched her, no one was there to control her. She wasn't tied to her bed either. It's a trick, she thought. All of this was just too suspicious, so she decided not to move. Giving away the fact that she wasn't actually asleep could ba a huge mistake. Her so far undisturbed silance was broken by a sudden sound of unlocking the doors. It was the middle of the night, it couldn't possibly be any of the doctors.
No one came inside. There was only silence.
Zelena lifted her head a little to take look. The room was dark, but she could see some light in the slit of the opened door. Her body was aching, but she got used to that. She still didn't have magic. She slowly got up from the bed and went closer to the door. She opened it wider. There was no one behind it. The was no one there at all.
She smiled and took a step forward.