WOW! First of all, thanks so much for the huge support, I'm humbled by the response so thank you so much. This story has been fun to write and I'm glad that you guys get to enjoy it ;) As for this chapter, uff, I almost skipped it over and jumped to the next 'scene', but I decided to give it a try and all I have to say is that it was hard to write. (aren't these kind of chapters always a struggle?) So if it feels a little rushed, it is because I tried to get over with it fast and quick! Hopefully I'll get back in track for the next one. Enjoy!

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"No, no… please." Mumbling the words under a shaky breath and feeling as if her heart just dropped all the way to her feet, Regina closed her eyes while pressing a shaky hand over her belly. "Not this… please not this."

Unknown to herself, she kept chanting the word no over and over again and as she felt around, she couldn't help but to notice that even though she wasn't having any kind of contractions in that moment, her stomach felt hard as stones.

That right there made her worry skyrocket and she tried to remember the things she has read about the whole thing.

Not that she could concentrate enough because as it happened, everything was adding up to her nerves and she didn't know how she was still standing while her legs felt as if they were made out of rubber.

"Regina, is everything alright?"

Swallowing hard down, she heard the words coming through the other side of her bathroom door but she didn't respond to them, she just opened her eyes and tried to react as quickly as she could under the circumstances. Yes, she tried to think and act fast, but she was all of a sudden feeling lightheaded and apparently that was making her movements as well as her thinking process slow down by a lot.

"I'm going in."

As she clumsily kicked her underwear off, put on clean ones and then fixed her dress in place, the door to her bathroom opened; she heard it all happen but almost as if she was too shocked to react accordingly, she just lifted her head up to watch him enter.

"My water didn't, break… I thought it did but…" She could feel her eyes wide and wild staring at him and when he took in the image in front of him, his eyes also widened and she could definitely see worry in his blue stare.

"Regina…. you are bleeding." His voice was low and raspy, his accent coming off as thick as she has ever heard it.

Blinking rapidly so that she could keep to herself the tears that wanted to break free, she bit down the impulse of spitting a snarky remark about him stating the obvious and she just nodded. Yes, she was bleeding and judging everything by the mess she has made of her underwear and the traces of it running down her thighs, she was bleeding a lot.

Parting her lips as if she was about to talk but instead puffing out another shaky breath, she stared at him because she just didn't know what else to do. She didn't know how to react and she didn't know how to proceed.

Her mind was too much of a mess to process it all and all she could think of was that apparently, what she thought to be her water breaking was instead blood pouring out of her. It was all too much to take in, but if there was something she could deduct about it all was that blood wasn't good, not at all.

Running a hand through his hair and walking closer to her, Robin cleared his throat. "Alright; I'll… let's get you to the hospital now."

"Okay." Regina nodded and her eyes automatically went to stare at her bloody panties laying on the floor; that little article of clothing was the reason why she came into the bathroom in the first place, to change them and clean up as she didn't want to go to the hospital all soaked; but apparently, she would have to go as she was because she didn't want to waste more time than the one she already wasted.

It was alright when she thought the liquid that came off of her was her water breaking, but now that she knew that it wasn't that, she didn't want to risk losing any more time whatsoever.

But, as if the bleeding wasn't enough, when she was about to put her feet into motion to leave at last, a new contraction rattled her whole existence and with a strangled gasp, she had to hold hard onto the vanity top as the pain of it subsided and then passed.

Once the contraction was gone, she ended up feeling dizzy and with her limbs feeling too heavy for her; if it wasn't for Robin steading her, she was sure she would have ended up fainting and more worried than ever and she started to fear for her baby even more than before.

Now, everything that happened after that happened in a blur and she was only half aware of the way Robin helped her get into the car to drive off to the hospital and later on, she had no clear recollection about Roland being in the car as well or of Little John meeting them there to take Robin's little boy with him.

All she could remember was that the contractions were coming more often and longer every time and that her back was killing her.

But even though the pain was starting to border in intolerable, Regina couldn't focus on anything else than what it could all mean to her baby. Whatever was happening, it couldn't be good because one, bleeding wasn't normal and two, because it was still too early for her to deliver.

But at the same time that she was overcome with both pain and worry, in her mind everything was just happening so fast that her brain hadn't been able to clearly register what was happening. At least until they made it to the hospital and they told them what was happening.

It was then, as she was laying on a hospital bed, a belt rounding her stomach and a bunch of cables connecting said belt to some monitors that she finally understood what was going on.

"You had a placental abruption so we need to deliver this baby right away. Now, opting for a natural delivery is a huge risk but waiting to prepare you for an emergency C-section is an even higher one."

Closing her eyes and feeling the tears she has been trying to hold escape her, she clenched her teeth hard and as the contractions would come and go, she grabbed a handful of her hair and shook her head no.

"A placental abruption… what is that?"

Clearing his throat, the doctor sighed and addressed the question Robin just asked. "That's when the placenta tears from the uterus and… well, depending on the severity of it and the distress it causes both the mother and the baby, it can be very dangerous. Now, in Regina's case, the tear provoked her to go into labor and since she's dilated enough as it is, our best chance is to deliver now."

"But she's going to be alright, isn't she?"

"She is losing too much blood and she is what we call clinically in distress so the sooner we deliver, the better. Now, the baby is just thirty-one weeks along so there might be some complications and we will have to use an incubator as soon as the delivery is done."

Clutching her hands hard around the railing of the hospital bed, Regina groaned in pain. True, what the doctor just said sounded awful but by then the pain was too much and for the moment she couldn't do anything but to try and bear it as best as she could.

But yes, she was indeed distressed, both physically and mentally. Her breathing was labored and ragged, her jaw was tensing so hard that it hurt and her skin was moist with a thin layer of transpiration. And then there was this need in her to push and push until everything would pass.

Swallowing hard and groaning once again, she felt as someone ventured to use a hand to brush a strand hair out of her face and when she opened her eyes to see who it was, she saw Robin.

He looked worried and the smile on his face looked more than a bit forced. "Hey,"

Blinking rapidly, she tried to reciprocate the smile but all she could manage was to grimace in pain as a contraction ran through her. But as she rode the pain, he leaned forward and kissed her lips briefly.

"Everything is going to be alright, don't you worry about anything."

"It's too soon… Robin, it's too soon for the baby to be born."

Still using his hand to soothe her by running it through her hair, Robin leaned even more into her and kissing her a second time he pressed his forehead to hers. "It's for the best, our baby is going to be alright… you'll see."

Shaking her head, Regina sucked in a breath and closed her eyes in distress. "No… it's too soon." Then, a second after her words were out a beeping sound started to come out of one of the machines and Robin's eyes moved to it.

The sound was accompanied by Regina crying out in discomfort and Robin couldn't do anything but to clench his teeth and watch her suffer her pain alone.

"Your contractions are coming closer now, that's a good indication." The doctor said while approaching Regina. Once the pain was done, he suspiciously placed himself right between her legs to check on her.

Regina could feel him doing only God knew what down there, but under the circumstances, she didn't even care.

"Earlier on we injected Oxytocin on your IV to accelerate dilatation and that's why the contractions are getting longer and with less time apart. It's working as it should, you are seven centimeters already so why don't' we start with this already?"

As if in cue, a blinding pain that felt as if her midsection was ripping apart took over her and she blindly fumbled for Robin's hand; once she found it she almost strangled it, clutching at it with all the strength she still had in her.

"It's going to be okay…" Robin whispered, using his other hand to caress her cheek.

"Alright Regina, this monitor right here will let you know when you will have a contraction so as soon as you hear it, I need you to take a deep breath and then, when I count to three, I need you to push with your lower body, can you do that?" That has been a nurse and closing her eyes without letting go of Robin's hand, she nodded.

That's how they did it and Regina couldn't even remember for how long and how many times she did it, all she knew was that apparently, the efforts of pushing a baby through a seven centimeter opening wasn't easy or pain-free.

But that's how she spend a good amount of time, with Robin mumbling a few encouraging words into her ear while she kept pushing and pushing until the doctor said he could see the baby's head and that he needed one big push for it to be over.

"Just one big one, come on." A nurse said and even though she was exhausted, she did as she was told.

So she pushed, she pushed hard and feeling a low pressure in her pelvis that was pretty close to being unbearable, she groaned in discomfort. It all proved to be in vain because when she finished pushing, the baby was still inside. "I can't…" She said as she let her head to drop against the mattress.

"Of course you can." Robin said and his voice made her open her eyes so that she could look at him. He was still by her side, grabbing her hand and soothing her with the other.

"One more push."

Swallowing down, she pushed again, hard. This time it felt as if her body was turning inside out and with a burning sensation that rattled her whole, she felt it slip out of her. It was hard to describe it, but once her baby was out, the pain was replaced with a sense of numbness and she collapsed in a heap against the hospital bed.

"Is the baby alright?" She asked while feeling her eyes get blurry, then after asking that she waited in silence for her ears to detect even if it was the faintest cry coming from where the baby was; but she didn't, she didn't hear anything at all.

"Robin, is the baby ok?" She asked, holding her breath and watching as the nurses took a very small baby that could only be her own. Then, before she could take a good look at him or her, they took it away in a rush.

She followed them with her eyes as a huge sense of dread started to consume her inside out, and while she felt as if her world was crumbling all around her she saw Robin getting to his feet, asking them the same questions she wanted to know.

They said something to him but she couldn't listen and feeling too scared to know, she hid her face behind her hands and she cried in silence.

She did that for what felt an eternity, but then she felt him, Robin, taking her hands in his to move them away so he could assume the same position he took when he came in, the one where he was resting his forehead to hers.

"They didn't even let me see my baby." She sobbed and for a third time he kissed her full on the lips.

"They are making sure everything is fine…"

Sucking in a breath, she blinked several times. "Is the baby alive?" Now, it took all the effort she had in her to say those words without choking on them because she didn't know what was going on. For all she knew the baby died and only to think about it forced her to swallow hard as she felt her eyes watering once more.

Using his thumb to wipe off her tears, Robin nodded. "Yes, our baby is alive and it's a girl. She needs to be taken cared off though because she had trouble breathing on her own but they say chances are that she's going to be fine…"

Feeling as if a huge weight was lifted off her shoulder, Regina couldn't hold it any longer and she began to cry.

It was stupid and she knew it but she couldn't help it. She was crying in joy, she was crying because she wasn't able to see the baby but she was also crying because her daughter was alive and that was a huge relief.

"I told you it was going to be alright, didn't I?" He said softly and despite her tears and the mess, she grabbed his face and kissed his mouth.

Pulling apart, he searched her eyes with his and then, he buried his hand into her hair and kissed again. It was a soft peck that was cut short when the nurse told them she needed to take care of the after match of the delivery.

"You know, I somehow knew that you were going to either run or evade the subject if I ever approached it. But having a 'placental abruption?' just so you wouldn't have to face it? Tsk."

It took Regina a moment to realize what he was talking about him confessing his feelings, but when she opened her mouth to reply, he slid his hands to her face and grabbing her firm, he kissed her again.

"We'll talk about it later; for now just rest."

Nodding, she did as she was told and as the nurse took care of what was left, she started to think on her baby and the future that awaited them all and as she did it, a smile formed on her lips…