The third installment! I hope guys have been enjoying this.
The following week came a little sooner than Regina anticipated. Stressed out was one way to describe her current state. Freaked out was more accurate. She hadn't been this nervous the day of her wedding – first to Daniel and then to Robin. She's not quite sure why she's so freaked out. She's so nervous even her stomach is doing flip flops. She'd tried to sleep the night before but she just couldn't quite get comfortable. She tried many things that would normally put her to sleep; reading manuscripts, hot tea, hot shower, snuggling into Robin and then attempting to be intimate with Robin. Nothing, not one of those things put her to sleep. So here she was lying wide awake in bed at four in the morning next to her slumbering husband running through all the things she had to do that day to make sure her blended family's Thanksgiving went off without a hitch. Regina turned away from the clock and tried to snuggle once more into Robin's side. He shifted, unconsciously to accommodate her. She smiled a little at how much he knew about her, even in his sleep. All the more reason today needed to go well. She turned onto her side and shifted so her back was against Robin and pulled his arm across her body. It was a little chilly in their room and she wanted to steal his body heat. She let out a frustrated sigh and closed her eyes once more in hopes of getting some hours of sleep. She needed all the energy she could get to power through the day ahead.
There was a warm smell that drifted through the house. It woke Roland. It even woke Henry. Both boys stumbled out of their bedrooms and headed downstairs to see what breakfast their mother decided to prepare.
"Morning boys!" a cheery voice called out.
"Daddy! You're not mommy. Whatcha makin'?" Roland asked his father, eyeing him carefully. He knew Regina didn't trust Robin that much in the kitchen so he was a bit leery as well.
"I, young man, am making pancakes," Robin responded as he flipped the current batch he was working on.
"Does my mother know you're messing around in her kitchen?" Henry questioned as he sat down at the counter in front of the stove to watch Robin.
"No, she does not. She's still sleeping. I don't think she slept well last night. I thought we could surprise her with breakfast in bed. What do you guys think?" Henry cocked his head in thought for a moment before responding.
"Hmmm, I guess that's okay. Can we all have breakfast in bed, together?"
"Well, I don't see why not. I'm almost done with the pancakes. Henry, why don't you pour up some coffee for me and your mother and some juice for you and Roland?" Henry nodded his head.
"What about me, daddy? What about me?"
"Hmmm, I know! Here, I'll take down the food trays and you can put the plates on them."
"We need flowers daddy. Can we get flowers too?"
"Oh I'm afraid we don't have any flowers, ma boy." Roland dropped is head in disappointment.
"Ohhh-kay"
"All finished with the drinks, Henry?"
"Yep."
"Well then, I've got the pancakes on their plates. Syrup, some butter and silverware. Do you think you and Roland can carry your trays? I'll put me and your mother's plates on one tray."
"Yeah, we're both big boys, right Ro?"
"Uh huh," Roland nodded his head and picked up his tray. They all headed up the stairs to surprise Regina with breakfast in bed.
Regina slowly blinked her eyes open. She laid still for a moment trying to recall in her sleepy haze what had woken her up. Cold. She was cold. She turned to Robin's side of the bed and found he wasn't there. Odd, she thought. She was always the one up before him. She blinked and turned back over to look at the clock on the nightstand. It was a little after nine. After nine?! Oh shit, she thought. She was certain she set her alarm for six o'clock. She had a lot of food to get started on before Mary-Margaret came over to ruin, help, to help her with the side dishes. Regina sat up with a start. Dizzy. She felt a little dizzy.
"Momma! You're up! We brought you breakfast in bed!" Roland exclaimed as her trio of men waltzed in the door with pancakes. She couldn't help but chuckle.
"Hello my little knight! What's all this?"
"Well, mi'lady. I had a feeling you didn't quite sleep well last night, so me and the boys thought you might like breakfast in bed before you started slaving away in the kitchen," Robin said as placed the food trays down on the bed. Regina smoothed out the covers so everyone could fit.
"Hmmm, thanks for the gesture. Did you shut off my alarm? I remember setting it for six so I could get started on the turkey. It takes the longest to prepare," Regina questioned Robin as she took a bite of pancakes. "Mmmm, these are almost as good as my pancakes! Given your talents with omelets I never would've guessed you could make pancakes," Regina barbed and leaned over to plant a kiss on Robin's cheek.
"Ewww. No kisses!" Roland cried out at his parents show of affection.
"Oh, my dear sweet wife, I have many talents in the kitchen. I just happen to know how much you love cooking and I wouldn't want to deprive you of that honor," Robin smiled and took a sip of his coffee.
"Mmmhmm. Well I appreciate the gesture. Now, let's finish breakfast. I'm already behind schedule. Mary-Margaret will be here soon and I'll need you boys to help me out. Do you think you can do that for me?" Both boys nodded their head in agreement. "Robin, you too."
"Oh, love I was hoping David and I would get to do some bonding. But I will be more than happy to help out in whichever way you need," Robin said as he popped the last bit of his stack on pancakes into his mouth.
"Great! Now here is the game plan. I am going to take a quick shower. Boys, you need to straighten up your rooms if they're not already. Robin, could you straighten up the den and dining room? And if you get to it, is there any way I can get you boys to finally rake up the leaves? Honestly, every attempt you make ends up scattered across the yard. I will head into the kitchen and start meal prep. Think you can handle this?" Everyone nodded their heads. "Great! Now let's take all this down to the kitchen and get started." They all gathered their trays and took them downstairs and set off on their different tasks.
Ding dong. The doorbell let out a tone just as Regina finished basting the turkey. She hoped it was Mary-Margaret and David come prepared to finish off the remaining side dishes and setting up. Robin and the boys were currently outside raking the leaves and the leaves seemed to be contained in their piles, for now.
"The door's open, come on in!" Regina called while she pulled out pans and ingredients for her next dish. Mary-Margaret and David and Neal rounded the corner to the kitchen. David set down the box he was carrying. "What's all this?" Regina asked, referencing David's box.
"Oh, just some stuff I thought I might need to help finish preparing dinner. Hope you don't mind. David, why don't you take Neal and see what Robin and the boys are up to? Guests will be here soon and we wouldn't want to keep them waiting."
"Alright, come on Neal, let's see what trouble we can cause Auntie Regina." David headed through the kitchen door that led to the back yard. Regina let out a silent prayer that David would help rake the leaves and not contribute to delinquency.
"So, how's it going?" Mary-Margaret asked as she began to pull out the contents of her box and set them on the kitchen counter to get started on her side dishes.
"Oh, it's going alright, I guess. I'm a little behind schedule. I had a terrible night of insomnia and when I finally got to sleep, I overslept my alarm. Or I didn't hear it and Robin turned it off."
"Regina, I meant how's everything going with you? Is you tummy still giving you fits?"
"What? Oh, every now and then, I just need to get back on my medication, that's all. Say, did you get in contact with Emma? Is she coming?"
"Medication for throwing up? And yes, I managed to pin her down. She and her new boyfriend are gonna come over a little early. I thought she could help with setting up."
"Setting up? Is she gonna set up the games station because she's not much use for anything else."
"Regina. She can make the rolls, how's that? And you skipped over my question."
"What question was that?"
"The one in which you tell me how you're on medication for throwing up. If it's medication for your ulcerative colitis, we both know throwing up is not a symptom. Try that again." Regina pursed her lips at her friend's accusation.
"Just what are you insinuating there, friend." Oh dear, Mary-Margaret forgot she was supposed to be handling this with delicate hands.
"Oh, come on, Regina. You're newly married and having sex like bunny rabbits…certainly something must've slipped." Regina cocked her head to consider her words before responding.
"I'll have you know, not that it's any of your business, but it is extremely difficult to have sex like bunny rabbits when you have a five year old who constantly forgets to knock on closed doors before they come busting into your room. Let me know how that works out for you when Neal's a little older, hm?" Regina snapped as she returned to the task of dicing the potatoes and putting them in the pot to boil.
"Uh-huh, I see. Touchy, aren't we?" Before Regina could respond, the doorbell sounded out to announce another arrival. "Oh, that must be Emma, let me go let her in." Mary-Margaret hopped of the chair she was sitting on during her meal preparation.
"Oh, Emma, I am so glad you're here! Operation Kangaroo is going down in a blaze. Come help me please." Mary-Margaret said when she opened Regina's front door to let the blonde in.
"Uh, no. I told you I would like to stay on Regina's good side. It's never good to be on her bad side. I'm already in the doghouse enough as it is. I haven't gotten a chance to spend any time with Henry since they got married and that's been about 3 months," Emma said as she walked further into the house.
"Whatever. That's because you spend all your time with Killian. She doesn't want to impose. Speaking of, hi Killian. Regina's sent all the men out to the back yard to rake up leaves. Make sure they actually end up in the bags and not strewn all over the yard, okay?" Mary-Margaret pushed Emma and Killian towards the kitchen.
"Oh, Ms. Swan, so glad you could grace us with your presence. You must be Killian," Regina smiled and stuck out her hand for Killian to shake. He took it uneasily and began a slow shake.
"Right, good to meet you as well, Regina. Uh, Mary-Margaret said you put all the men to work raking your backyard?"
"Well, since you put it so bluntly. Yes I did. It's through this door here. They should be done by now, though. I'll be nice and let you guys sit in the den and watch whatever Thanksgiving Day football game is on. I'll even bring out some snacks. Dinner should be ready in about two hours. Think you can handle that?"
"Regina!"
"It's okay, love. You warned me," Killian said with a smile. He promptly walked through the back door. Regina turned to Emma.
"Warned him? Warned him about what, exactly?"
"I told him about your no-nonsense way about life. Now what's this I hear about vomiting episodes? And you not wanting to get that checked out?"
"Honestly, really? Mary-Margaret we're gonna have to have a little heart to heart." Mary-Margaret glared at Emma.
"Um, Emma, why don't we not bother Regina about her ulcerative colitis. You know how touchy she is about that. Instead why don't we take those pregnancy tests I stashed here?"
"Yes, it's hard enough hiding those from Robin."
"What do you mean "we"?" Emma asked Mary-Margaret. Mary-Margaret glared at Emma again. Emma's face dawned in comprehension.
"Oh, I think I would feel more comfortable if we all took one. You know, like that one episode in Friends?"
"If I recall correctly, the person who wanted to be pregnant was not, indeed pregnant."
"That's okay, Regina. I would be relieved if I wasn't the one actually pregnant. I thought about what we talked about in the store, and you're right. Having another child so close in age really isn't the most practical thing to do. But, to ease my troubled mind why don't we just go ahead and get this out of the way? It's really starting to wear on me not knowing."
"Alright, fine. Let me drain the potatoes and pop the pie in the oven to bake," Regina gave an eye roll and set about finishing her current task of potato draining and coating her apple pies with butter. She rinsed her hands off and grabbed the pregnancy kits from where she hid them in the liquor cabinet. All three ladies headed upstairs to Regina's master bedroom with the en-suite bathroom.
"Alright, let's get this over with." Regina stated as soon as she entered the room and shut the door to give them all some privacy.
"Great, who wants to go first? Regina?" Emma volunteered, anxious to get this all over with. In her mind, it was just easier to rip the band-aid off with Regina. Regina's eyes went wide at that suggestion.
"Wha? Why me first? Mary-Margaret is the one who started all this. She should go first," Regina countered. This was ridiculous.
"Oh, I would love to go first! But I don't have to pee just yet. Just go first Regina, it will be okay. All you have to do is pee on the stick." Mary-Margaret smiled at Regina hoping it was innocent enough looking to get Regina to just go take the test. Regina paused for a moment.
"Oh, alright. You better hurry up and get ready to pee. We don't have all day to wait on you to pee," Regina huffed out and went into the bathroom. A few moments later she came back out and sat on the bed. "Do you have to pee now?"
"Um, no, not yet, why don't you go Emma?" It was Emma's turn to glare at Mary-Margaret.
"I don't think so, I know I'm not pregnant. I'm on my period right now, thanks."
"No one asked you to volunteer that bit of information, Ms. Swan. Alright then, it says to wait five minutes. I'm going to go downstairs and put together that snack I promised the men. They're certain to be done with the yard by now. And by the time I return I expect you to have peed on that stick as well, Mare." Regina left Emma and Mary-Margaret in the bedroom by themselves.
"Way to go, Em," Mary-Margaret said as she smacked Emma in the arm.
"What did I do? You know it's easier if you just go ahead and do it. It's no use beating around the bush. I can't believe how completely clueless she is! Has it been five minutes yet?"
"I don't know, did you set a timer, cuz I didn't."
"No, I didn't set a timer, this isn't my operation. Let's just go look and see if it says anything yet."
"You really think we should? What if she walks in on us?"
"Easy, I'll guard the door and if she comes up the stairs, just pretend you're in there peeing on the stick, kay?" Mary-Margaret nodded her head in understanding of Emma's crack-brained plan and headed over to the bathroom. She picked up the test Regina set on the side of the sink and her mouth fell open. Sure enough there was a pink plus sign. Holy Shit! Regina was pregnant. She was going to have a baby. She was -
"Almost done in there Mary-Margaret?" Emma called out. Regina must be on her way back.
"Uh, yeah. Here I come." Mary-Margaret fumbled around with the other pregnancy test. She still didn't have to pee. Instead she wet the stick with water from the sink and set it next to Regina's.
"Well now I suppose we wait another five minutes for your test to finish." Regina said once she got in the room and crossed over to sit on the bed.
"Um, yeah. Let me set the timer on my phone." Mary-Margaret picked up her phone and sent a text to Emma.
Holy Shit Em, Regina's test is positive.
A tone sounded on Emma's phone to let her know she received a text message. Her eyes went wide with shock as she typed out a response.
Holy shit indeed! This operation just got a little messy. What do we do now?"
"I don't know! I don't know! I thought it would be positive but now that it is I'm not quite sure what to do!"
"My my, aren't you two popular? Your phones just keep buzzing."
Regina is going to totally flip her shit! You better think of something! You're the one who started all of this.
"Um, Regina, what else needs to be done before dinner is ready? I'm sure Emma won't mind sitting up here with me if there's more that needs to be done."
What are you doing?
Buying us more time. She can't find out right now.
"Oh, now you don't need my company. Great. Yes, I will go finish slaving around in the kitchen while you two sit up here and do nothing."
"Don't be that way, Regina. It's only five minutes!"
"Yeah, we'll be down shortly and help you set the table!" Regina rolled her eyes in response to Emma and Mary-Margaret. She should've known those two weren't going to be of any help.
"Fine, I'll start getting everything together. I expect you downstairs in five minutes. Do not make me come back up here, I promise, you won't like it." Regina stalked out of the room and headed downstairs.
"That was a close one. What do we do now?" Mary-Margaret questioned Emma.
"We. We take a picture of her test. After we get home from this shindig we send it to her!"
"What? Seriously?"
"Seriously. It'll be fine! Now come on, let's get this over and done with before she rings our neck."
Emma went to the bathroom and snapped the picture of tests and then tossed them into the trashcan. She didn't need Regina seeing those. She exited the bathroom and grabbed Mary-Margaret by the hand and dragged her downstairs.
Regina had practically finished putting the table together by the time Emma and Mary-Margaret made it downstairs. The rest of their guests had arrived so it seemed Regina was reluctant to make a scene, lucky for them. They all sat down at the table and had a most wonderful time. Emma and Mary-Margaret felt bad for leaving most of the preparation for dinner up to Regina so they offered to stay after everyone had gone home to help clean up. It was the least they could do.
"So," Regina started off once she loaded the last dish into the dishwasher, "What did your test say?" Mary-Margaret nudged Emma. It was now or never.
"Oh, um, my test was negative."
"Oh Mare, I hope you're not too torn up about it," Regina said as she reached to give Mary-Margaret a hug.
"No, not torn up about it at all, I'm actually relieved."
"Well good. Now you can properly plan for your next child." Emma silently chuckled to herself. Telling Regina she was pregnant didn't seem as stressful now that dinner was over.
"Something funny, Ms. Swan?"
"No, nothing's funny. Nope. Why don't we get outta here? I'm sure Regina's exhausted!"
"But what about – " Mary-Margaret started, but then Emma grabbed he arm.
"Nope, let's go. We don't need to bother her about anything else. Let's go!" Mary-Margaret slowly nodded and went to grab her David and Neal. Obviously Emma had other plans about how to tell Regina she was pregnant.
Once they were outside, Mary-Margaret turned to Emma, "What are you doing? That was the perfect time to tell her!" Emma shook her head.
"No, I don't think so. I don't think we should really be in the same room as Regina when she finds out."
"Well how on earth do you plan on telling her?!"
"I'm working on that."
Regina and Robin had put the boys to bed shortly after Emma and her boyfriend and Mary-Margaret and company left. To say they were exhausted was an understatement. Even though Emma and Mary-Margaret stayed to help clean up, they still had more straightening up to do. Regina was too tired to do anything else. All she had the energy to do was to strip out of her clothes and put on one of Robin's oversized shirts to sleep in. Robin wanted to take a shower to rid himself of the outside smell he picked up from raking leaves. The shower was warm and pure heaven. Once done, he stepped out and went to brush his teeth. Then he flossed his teeth and tossed the used floss into the trash, or so he thought. The flimsy strand missed the trashcan and he bent down to pick it up and placed it in the trashcan. That was when he saw the empty pregnancy test boxes. That was when he rifled through the trash and found the two tests. One was negative and one was positive. He looked towards the entrance of the bathroom and took a moment to think. Suddenly things started to make sense. Regina's vomiting and her aversion to certain smells. Her insomnia, her tiredness. Her ravenous appetite. Her appetite for weird food combinations. But if she suspected she was pregnant why hadn't she said anything to him? And why were there two pregnancy tests in the trashcan? He decided to ask Regina all about his find, even if she was already in bed.
"Hey, uh, Regina, dear? Have you got something you want to talk to be about?" Robin approached the bed with the pregnancy tests behind his back.
"Um, the only thing I wanna talk about is why you won't let me get some sleep right now."
"Well, I found something interesting in the bathroom and I'm not sure what to think."
"What did you find in the bathroom?" Robin produced the two pregnancy tests from behind his back.
"I found these. One is positive and one is negative. I don't quite understand."
"Oh my god! Mary-Margaret didn't tell me she was pregnant! That little scamp!"
"Mare, these are Mary-Margaret's?" Robin asked as Regina snatched the positive one out of Robin's hand. "I, I don't understand. What's going on?"
"Well, Mary-Margaret thought she was pregnant. She was too chicken to take a test by herself so she asked me to take one with her. Being the good friend that I am, I agreed to it."
"So, this is Mary-Margaret's? There's no way this could be yours?" Robin asked, sounding a little disappointed.
"Well, no! There's no way I could be pregnant. I had a bit of trouble trying to get pregnant with Henry. I know it's not something we discussed, but we haven't been married that long to talk about having more children and I thought we were good with just us and the boys. We don't really need anymore, do we?"
"Well, I mean, I hadn't really thought about it. I kinda liked to think we could have a child, together. But if that's not something you want I am completely and thoroughly happy with what we have right here, right now. If you're happy, then I'm happy."
"Oh. I didn't know you felt that way. I'm sorry Robin. I guess that's something we should've talked about. And, we still can talk about it, but not tonight, okay? I'm really tired and I would like to be a bit more alert for a serious conversation about having another child. I'll text Mary-Margaret about this." Regina placed the positive test on the bed and took a picture of it to send to Mary-Margaret. A few minutes later Regina's phone buzzed signaling Mary-Margaret had responded to her inquiry of, "Care to explain this? I thought you said your test was negative."
Oh, I didn't want to distract you from your first Thanksgiving. We can talk about it tomorrow. We're still meeting for lunch, right?
Alright, that sounds fine.
I hope this wasn't too long. I wrote it in spurts.