"Come on, Gina. You need to get up." Emma stared at the lump on the opposite side of the bed. She couldn't believe that she was the one begging her wife to get up. Usually it was the blonde that was sleeping in, but lately, she found that Regina had taken those extra minutes to snooze.
"No…" The blonde heard a soft groan from the blanket log that was her wife. "I just got comfortable."
"It's almost ten, baby, you have to get up." She frowned slightly and inched her way over to the brunette who had huffed and flipped onto her back, dark eyes glaring at the disturbance. Emma offered her a sheepish smile. "I'm sorry, you cute little panda bear. But we have a doctor's appointment, remember?"
Regina huffed softly. "How could I forget?"
"We get to see our baby again." The blonde continued, running her fingers along her lover's jaw. "I know you like these appointments. And the little bean has grown."
The brunette's lips twitched slightly, but the smile didn't appear. "This little bean won't let me sleep."
Emma pouted. "It's not the baby's fault."
Regina sighed softly, defeated. "No, it isn't… I just wish it wasn't so damned uncomfortable." The brunette attempted to sit up, but found it hard to do so as the blankets trapped her against the mattress. She shot a heated glare at her lover once again.
Sheepishly, Emma moved to allow her wife to sit up, the blankets getting thrown off the older woman and onto her. "Sorry, baby."
"Yes, well, at least you don't have your organs doing the shuffle into your diaphragm." She grunted softly, her brow creasing, as she gently rubbed her swollen stomach.
"Oh, come on! They're not doing that." Emma pressed her lips together, a frown slowly appearing on her face. Sometimes she wished she could take away all her wife's discomfort, but she knew that she could, and the best that she could do was cuddle the brunette until she felt better.
"Do not make me fight you, Emma." The brunette looked up with a twinkle in her eye. It was then that Emma smiled, a soft chuckle falling from her lips.
"We get to find out if we're having a boy or a girl today," she murmured softly. It was then that Regina finally smiled, something large and easy. "There's that smile," Emma purred, tracing the older woman's lips with her fingers.
"Well, damn, I was hoping to keep from doing that."
Emma rolled her eyes playfully and crinkled her nose. "I love your smile. It's beautiful."
"I know. You keep telling me." The blush still came, though, powdering Regina's cheeks in a soft, pink hue.
The blonde lost herself in her lover's features. With a soft sigh, she dropped her hand to Regina's stomach and softly massaged the small bump. "We need to go before we're late."
"Of course." The brunette let a soft sigh fall from her lips at the gentle contact, her eyelids fluttering slightly. "That feels nice…"
"Always with the tummy rubs." Emma smirked and slipped her hand underneath her wife's pajama top to trail her fingers along the warm skin. "But I don't mind."
Regina rolled her eyes at the remark before seizing the younger woman's hand, giving it a soft squeeze. "Come on, Emma. You said we need to go."
"I know," Emma whined softly before reluctantly pulling away from the brunette. With a sigh, she climbed off the bed and offered Regina a hand. The brunette stared at her for a moment, brow quirked, before she took the offered hand with a roll of her eyes.
"I'm not that big, yet," she muttered, moving towards the closet. Emma followed behind her with a chuckle.
"Yeah, but you can barely wear most of your clothes now." The blonde smirked as she watched the brunette undress after picking out one of her conservative black dresses.
"Is that a fat joke?" Regina snapped her head toward Emma who had suddenly shrunk in her spot at the sudden hostility.
"No, baby. I wouldn't care how heavy you were. I'd say fuck those clothes, burn them, and buy you new ones." She smiled cheekily when Regina narrowed her eyes before turning back to snatch the dress off a hanger.
"Nice save, sweetheart." The brunette muttered, stepping into the black number. "Perhaps we should go out soon to find more suitable outfits that I could wear."
"Yeah," she murmured in agreement, stepping forward to help the older woman zip the dress up. That was when she paused, though, staring at the zipper before she touched it. "Uh, maybe you shouldn't wear a dress. That'll be awkward when the doctor does the ultrasound."
"Oh, goddammit, I didn't think about that." The brunette sighed in defeat before shimmying the dress down her body, only to kick the fabric towards the wall. She sighed softly. "Gods, what am I doing?"
"Picking out clothes for the doctor?" Emma smiled cutely at the older woman before leaning forward to press a kiss to her bare shoulder. "Why don't you wear that nice red shirt that shows your cleavage?"
Regina snorted. "The one you like to chew people's heads off for staring at me in?"
"Hey! I haven't decapitated anybody… yet." The blonde sorted through the brunette's shirts before she pulled out the red top, grinning widely. "Here, cutie patootie."
The brunette quirked a brow with a soft chuckle before she took the shirt. "What did you just call me?"
"Uh…" Emma's eyes widened. "Nothin'." Before the brunette could say another word, Emma flew out of the closet in search of the pants she already had picked out for her wife.
"I know what you said, my swan."
"Well, you are cute!" Emma shouted from across the room where she had found the brunette's preferred yoga pants on the chaise lounge. Much to her discontent, she found that they had grown light gray furs. "Goddammit, Milly!"
Regina exited the closet wearing just her shirt and a pair of panties, a brow quirked. "What did she do?"
Emma held up the black fabric with the offending fur particles. "She slept on your pants." With a soft grumble, she headed towards her wife who immediately took the yoga pants with a shrug before slipping them on, using Emma as leverage.
"Where's the lint roller?"
"She probably knocked it under the bed again." Emma rumbled before she shucked her sleeping shorts to don a pair of skinny jeans. She kept on the T-shirt from the day before, finding it suitably clean to wear out in public.
Regina rolled her eyes and prepared to bend down in search of it before the blonde quickly stopped her. "No, let me." She kissed her cheek before getting on her hands and knees to look under the bed. It was dark. She couldn't see a damned thing.
"Uh, do you need a flashlight, sweetheart?" Regina hovered behind her.
"What time is it?" Emma asked, instead, her head under the bed as she reached for anything her hand could grab. It hit something solid which had her crawling back out, only to hit her head on the frame.
"It's a quarter to- Shit! Are you alright, Emma?" The brunette helped her wife up with a concerned frown.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." She looked at the object in her hand only to find out she had grabbed one of Milly's toys. Grumbling, she threw it on the floor and stomped over to the closet to dig out a pair of boots.
Regina was stifling laughter behind her; she could hear the occasional snort. "I think I'll be fine. Why don't we go?"
"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." Emma wrinkled her nose slightly before grabbing her phone and keys off the nightstand.
"Hey, Emma." The blonde felt Regina grab her arm, halting her before she could take off out of the room. The back of her head throbbed. "Baby."
She furrowed her brows for a moment, confused, until Regina took her hand to place on her stomach, a large smile consuming her face. Emma melted almost immediately at the action, her lips curving upwards as she kept her hand splayed on the small bump where their baby was growing. She felt a light flutter underneath the palm of her hand. "Yeah. I can't wait to see how much the bean has grown."
Regina chuckled softly and nodded, leaning forward to kiss her right between the eyes. "I know, my love. We will soon."
With that on the brain, Emma beamed, and went out of the room, this time much lighter than before. Her head didn't hurt as much. Regina followed behind her with a soft hum, their hands joined together as Emma pulled her along.
"Perhaps we can start thinking of names after we find out the gender." Regina suggested after the two of them were on the road, breaking the silence that had consumed the air between them.
Emma pondered for a moment. Honestly, she hadn't thought much about names. Everything so far had seemed surreal. Regina had only recently started to show and even then, she couldn't believe that the brunette was pregnant. And her being so meant that Emma was going to be a mother.
A mother.
"Yeah," she murmured absently. A tingle of excitement coursed down her spine. She couldn't wait to meet the little one growing inside of her wife. No doubt the little bean would be adorable. But it also scared her. She didn't know how to be a mother. Swallowing thickly, she pulled into the parking lot of the hospital and sighed, preparing herself for what was to come next.
She was nervous the first time they had an appointment with the doctor. That was also the first time that they ever saw their baby, something to make those positive tests more real. Regina had cried for a solid amount of time as she stared at the screen and even more so after she clutched the sonogram. Emma didn't want to admit she had a few tears of her own.
And, now, here they were again. This time they would find out the gender. Regina didn't want to keep it a secret until the birth. She wanted a name picked out and baby items that matched. Emma couldn't have cared less, but she was excited nonetheless. After finding out, she could tell her parents. Speaking of, the two of them had announced that Emma would be expecting a little brother just last month.
"Regina Mills," Regina spoke to the front desk attendant and it wasn't until then that Emma had realized the two of them made it inside. She always seemed to get caught up in her mind. She sighed and smiled, regardless, her excitement and nerves gripping her.
The woman behind the desk smiled at them and nodded. "Perfect. The doctor should be with you shortly."
"Thank you," the brunette said, dipping her head before she turned to take a seat in the waiting area, Emma following after her. Once they settled into their seats, Regina turned towards her and grinned. "Are you excited, dear?" Emma nodded. "Have you thought of any names?"
"Not really," the blonde admitted, fingers tracing the seam of her jeans. "I'm still trying to process everything."
The brunette laughed and took her hand. "I am, too. Sometimes I find myself forgetting that I'm even pregnant until I get cramps, or nauseous, or look in the mirror…" She trailed off, shaking her head with an amused smile.
Emma found herself chuckling this time, flipping her hand over to lace their fingers together. "The way you're describing it makes me not want to get pregnant, like, ever."
"You don't have to, my swan," Regina murmured softly.
"I know, but," she said, sighing softly. "I know that you wanted more than one kid."
"We'll see where this takes us, okay?" The brunette leaned over to kiss her cheek. "Adoption is always an option, as well, Emma."
The younger woman nodded slightly and opened her mouth to respond when the door had opened and Regina's name was called. With a soft sigh, the two of them stood and followed the nurse back to their room. As she had prepared Regina, Emma lost herself in her thoughts, thinking back to what Regina had said.
Adoption was something that Emma had considered during the process of getting pregnant. She wouldn't mind taking in a child or two to save them from some of the disgusting homes out there. The blonde knew what it was like to be tossed back and forth from home to home, which had also brought forth the idea of fostering children as well. She hadn't said a thing to Regina about it, but the thought had crossed her mind a time or two. They could also always adopt the children that they fostered, as well, to prevent them from getting tossed elsewhere. If she could help just one desperate soul, she would do it without hesitation.
Also, the more that she had watched Regina progress through her pregnancy, the less that she wanted to carry a child herself. The thought, at first, had excited her. She would carry their child and be happy and then give birth and little diapers and rattles would sing a song. But the horrors of it was slowly creeping into reality and breaking her dream, and that had terrified her senseless.
And, honestly, at points, she had no desire to carry a child. It was odd, thinking about herself being the one to do so. She shuddered at the thought. Maybe, if she changed her mind, one day she would, but that day was nowhere in the near future.
"Hello, Regina. It's good to see you back." The doctor's masculine voice withdrew Emma from her thoughts and brought her attention to the clean-shaven man who had entered. He was short with kind, green eyes and a friendly smile. "How are you two doing today?"
"Good. Nervous," Regina answered, grinning from ear to ear.
Emma smiled, herself, and replied with a, "me too."
The doctor chuckled softly and grabbed the strange gel that always had Emma's nose wrinkling. "This can be an exhilarating experience," he said, moving towards the brunette who had started to lift her shirt up to her breasts, exposing the soft, protruding flesh of her stomach. "You're showing more since the last time we saw each other."
Regina wore a proud smile and nodded, but it was Emma who had spoken. "And she's a lot more crankier."
"Emma," the brunette reprimanded, nose twitching. The man only laughed as he spread the substance on her wife's stomach. "I've been tired. I've found it difficult to find sleep."
"Ah, yes. That's normal, though it tends to happen later in the pregnancy." He smiled and wheeled his stool over along with the ultrasound machine. "Have you had any cravings yet?"
The brunette pressed her lips together sheepishly when Emma looked at her, smirking, because yes, she had and Emma never let her live it down. "For some reason I have been eating quite a bit of crackers."
"Yeah, my fish crackers." Emma sneered playfully, but the smile on her face was nothing but fond. "We went through three boxes just this week."
"Fish crackers?" The doctor quirked a brow.
"Not real fish ones. They're the Goldfish ones and they were for the house." Regina narrowed her eyes on her wife for a moment before her cheeks bloomed a deep shade of pink.
Their doctor laughed and shook his head. "I hope you keep hydrated." He flicked on the machine and sat ready, eyes on the two. "Are you ready?"
Emma could hear her wife swallow thickly as she nodded, and the blonde had, too, looking to the blank image on the screen. Heart thudding in her chest, she watched as the doctor started, moving the probe over the olive skin of her wife's stomach. Quickly, she guided her attention toward the screen to see the image of an odd blob, her heart skipping a beat. She felt Regina's hand curl into her own and she smiled absently, squeezing it.
"There's your little one," he said, pointing to the screen with his free hand. "There's the head," he continued, moving the probe around as he continued to elaborate on what they were seeing on the screen.
When Emma looked to her wife, she could see the tears welling in her chestnut orbs once again. A grin tugged at her lips at the sight before she squeezed the older woman's hand.
"That's our baby," Regina whispered, almost as if in disbelief.
"It is," she murmured in response, emerald orbs flying back towards the screen. "So tiny…"
The doctor paused for a moment with a smile on his own face. No doubt he had done this plenty of times for other couples, yet he didn't seem to mind, nor grow impatient as they stared at the screen. "Would you like to know the gender?" He asked kindly, shifting the probe to a different angle.
It took a moment for Regina to respond. She swallowed, her words stuck in her throat before she nodded, a soft sob sounding as she finally threw out her answer. "Yes, please."
Emma leaned down to press a kiss to Regina's temple which had earned a watery smile in return. It hadn't taken long before the doctor announced his findings, gaining the couple's attention. "Are you ready?" When the two merely nodded, he continued, his smile only growing. "You two are having a boy, or your baby has an extra appendage."
"A boy?" Regina gasped softly, looking closely at the screen with a bright smile.
Emma hadn't quite heard at first until it sunk in. She smiled soon, though, something that matched her wife's; wide, easy, and bright. "A boy," she echoed, squeezing Regina's hand tightly. She felt tears draw themselves to her eyes.
"That's wonderful." Regina chuckled softly, finally catching the blonde's gaze. "I know that you were hoping for one."
Emma offered a guilty smile. "Yeah. I mean, I wouldn't care, either way. I would love them no matter what." The blonde giggled, though, and couldn't help the smile that was glued onto her face.
"Congratulations," the doctor said, pulling away the probe and turning off the machine. He offered Regina a rag to clean up before standing from his spot. "I can get the sonograms for you two and then you're free. Do you have any questions?"
Emma couldn't seem to find the logic in her brain to even breathe in that moment. She was having a son, and it was then that a name crossed her mind. Regina merely nodded, thanked the doctor, and cleaned up, smiling as Emma had.
"You look happy, my love," she commented, discarding the rag into a bin before pulling her shirt down to sit up.
"I am," Emma replied, taking a few steps back as the older woman prepared to stand. "I got to see our baby. Gods, our son."
Regina let out a breathless chuckle and nodded, a hand falling to her stomach, cupping the swollen surface. "I can't believe it. It's… wow."
Wow was correct. Emma, herself, could still hardly believe any of it, even as it happened. She sighed softly and placed a hand over her wife's, humming softly. "I already love him so much." Emma had noticed the way Regina's features had seemed to soften at her words.
"I do, too," she murmured softly, her hand moving slightly over her stomach as Emma's followed. "Gods, there's so much we can get for him."
"You're thinking about shopping already?" Emma scoffed playfully, rolling her eyes. "We still need a name."
"Yes, yes, a name." She looked up, dark eyes narrowing into slits. "I knew that would bite me in the ass sooner or later."
"Well, have you thought of anything?" Emma pressed, a brow quirked.
"Well," the brunette murmured, eyes casting down. "Not exactly."
"Regina?" The doctor entered the room, a small envelop in his hand. "I've got your baby pictures here."
The older woman seemed glad for the intrusion for she stood and gently plucked the envelope from the doctor's hand. "Thank you. I appreciate it. All of this."
"Of course, Regina. It's my job." He chuckled softly and took a step back. "I'll see you back here in a couple of weeks, right?"
"Right," she answered, tucking the envelope into her purse.
"Good. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to call." He nodded one last time before saying his goodbyes and left. The two followed after him to checkout and schedule a new appointment, in which Emma had quickly typed into her phone for a reminder. She faintly wondered if Regina would be reluctant to get up for that appointment as well.
The two of them exited the building and headed back to the yellow Bug that Emma had driven there. It was Regina who had spoken when they settled in and Emma began to pull out of the parking spot, a smarmy grin on her face. "Have you thought of any names?"
Emma wrinkled her nose at the question and shot a look to her wife. "I don't know. Maybe. Kinda."
"Maybe, kinda?" Regina quirked a brow at her lover's indecisive answer. "What does that mean?"
"Well, I sorta got to thinking about a boy's name. Sometimes people want their kid's name to have significance and since no boy name really held any in mine, I thought about you."
"Me?" The brunette's voice was quiet.
"I was… I know how you talk about your father and how you loved him, and how you lost him so early in your life." Emma's own voice grew softer the more she spoke, almost as if she had lost the courage to give her answer.
"What, what do you mean, Emma?"
"I was thinking Henry would be a good name."