Title: Caught Painting a Dotted Line… (2/?)
Fandom: Once Upon a Time
Pairing: Swan Queen (Emma Swan/Regina Mills)
Spoiler/Warning: Up till 1.21 – An Apple Red as Blood. Canon till 1.21 with slight AU happenings, veers off canon after 1.21.
Summary: Regina is pregnant. Henry eats the turnover. And there is angst, and forgiveness is not really on the horizon right away. Or something like that. I've never written a worse summary in my life.
Disclaimer: This is purely fictional. I own none of it.
[…]
A/N: Thank you so much for all your reviews, faves and story alerts. You make me very happy. Here's the second chapter. It took a while because, really, pregnancy is a little hard to write about and it's been more than two years since my compulsory two-week long rotation in the ob-gyn ward (all dentists go through that) so I had a little digging to do. As usual your feedback will be very much appreciated.
[…]
"She's what?" Emma was glad she didn't have a cup of coffee or a soda with her because she would've spat it out.
"Pregnant. With child. She is going to have a baby."
"I know what pregnant means, Dr. Whale — seriously?"
"We're 100% sure."
"And there's no chance you could be wrong."
"None whatsoever."
Emma bit her lip. "How can she be pregnant?"
"I'm sure I don't need to explain that to you, Sheriff." He awarded her with his town-famous leer.
"Uh, no, thank you, Doctor. So is the baby okay? She hasn't—" Emma couldn't bring herself to say miscarried. "Has she?"
"Oh, no, thank the Lord. She lost a large quantity of blood and it was a very close call but we were in time to save the baby. Although—"
"What?"
"The question whether the mother and the baby will survive the night remains. There is only so much we can do."
With a sickening, lurching feeling in her heart, Emma remembered how she had roughly shoved Regina around just a few hours ago. "I — but, there must be something—"
He shook his head. "Sheriff, we've done all we can without endangering the baby. The prognosis is very much uncertain right now."
How easy it was for him to say that in his formal, overbearing tone. Emma felt like punching him, but she knew it wasn't just Dr. Whale's pompousness that was the problem. Something deep inside her stung very hard that Regina was pregnant. It must be the slowly unraveling curse or the fact that Regina was the Evil Queen, she told herself but that explanation seemed unsatisfactory even to her own ears. She hadn't seen the mayor with anyone else since their night together almost two months ago. She could not even imagine who the father might be. She supposed she might have to find out and inform him now that the life of his child and his — girlfriend were in danger.
"How — how far along is she?" she asked him.
"It's hard to say with absolute certainty but I would hazard a guess at two months at most, possibly less."
Emma stared at the back of his white coat as he moved forward to check on Henry.
"Henry seems to be doing fine," he went on. "If he's just as stable in the morning, you can take him home tomorrow."
'Home' jolted Emma out of her state of shock. Up until now the kid's home had been the mayoral mansion but there was no way in hell she was letting him ever go back there to live with Regina! Not now, not when she knew the true evil that lurked beneath the calm, cool mayor's facade. She would kidnap him and spend the next decade of her life running from state to state if she had to, but her son was never going back there, or anywhere without her for that matter. Besides, Regina was in no fit state to be a parent right now and Henry needed to be cared for.
But Dr. Whale was still talking. "Since Mayor Mills has no one else here listed as her next of kin who might be informed, and you are her son's mother, in addition to being the town sheriff, so I'll be making sure you get hourly updates — plus any paperwork that might arise."
"I — I don't think—" Emma began and then sighed resignedly. "Okay."
Dr. Whale nodded and left.
It seemed like the longest night Emma Swan had ever spent — cramped in the uncomfortable hospital chair, gazing at her son's face, or pacing the small length of his hospital room, waiting on a woman to wake up, a woman who was her enemy, who was everyone's enemy, who had allegedly stolen hundreds of people's happy endings, who had plotted against her, had just tried to poison her, who had, not hours ago, almost killed her son. Not to mention everything else she had done in her previous life, the life Emma still had trouble imagining.
Emma wasn't a religious person but that night during those moments between sitting stiff and pacing frantically, during the agonizing intervals between the hourly updates, she found a small part of her heart praying to whatever God there may be to not let anything drastic happen.
It was around four in the morning when Dr. Whale burst into the room just as she had been about to nod off in her uncomfortable chair; she almost had a heart attack when he shook her awake. Looking at him, her eyes widened and she hurriedly stood up.
"Is she—?"
"She's better," he said, and Emma let out a relieved breath which seemed to have been stuck somewhere in her lungs.
"She hasn't woken up yet, but her condition isn't critical anymore. We'll know more by the morning, but now there's a strong chance she's going to make it."
"And the baby?"
"The baby is going to be fine."
"Thank you so much, doctor."
He left and Emma sank down into the chair. It was the most damnable piece of furniture she had ever encountered — and that was saying something! All and any positions were darned uncomfortable, but Emma sank down, relieved, exhausted, and slept soundly for the next four hours.
[...]
Darkness was all around her once again. Is this what death looked like? Everything seemed repressed like there was a cloud of fog in her mind. And then the fog thinned a little, was pierced by the slow but steady beep of a machine. She tried to open her eyes but they seemed to be glued together. She tried to move her hands but it was like she was made of stone. She tried to speak but her throat refused to obey, her lips refused to part. She felt a surge of panic grip her as she tried with all her might to open her eyes, to move a little, even an inch. The beeping became uneven as she felt herself sinking back into velvety blackness.
The next time she became a little conscious, the fog in her mind seemed a little clearer and the blackness had dimmed to an orange-red glow beyond her eyelids. This time the effort she put into forcing them open paid off, and she opened her eyes to find a woman's face looming over her. There was a glimpse of a nurse's uniform and then she was gone.
For a few minutes Regina couldn't figure out where she was and what she was doing there; the pristine white walls, the stiff pillow beneath her head, the scratchy bed sheet were all alien to her. Her head hurt, in fact her whole body hurt, and there was a bitter taste in her mouth. And then she heard the beeping of the machines around her, the faint static of the PA system and it all came crashing back. Henry! She struggled to get up just as Dr. Whale came barreling through the door, followed on his heels by the same nurse as before.
"Mayor Mills!" he said, slightly out of breath from his swift walking. "Good to see you're up!"
"Dr. Whale — my son —"
"Henry is fine now," he said and Regina felt relief course through her veins, making her slump back onto the pillow. Henry was fine, all was well.
"In fact," Dr. Whale continued, "he will most likely be discharged later today. I already told Sheriff Swan to make the preparations—"
"What?" Regina felt the bitter taste in her mouth increase tenfold. "How dare you! He's my son, she can't — I need to see him—"
She tried to throw back the hospital issue blanket and get up but Dr. Whale was upon her in an instant, pushing her back down.
"If you value your life, Madam Mayor, I suggest you lie back down immediately! Doctor's orders!"
"I'm fine!" Regina tried to snap, but she sounded weak even to her own ears. She was already feeling very dizzy from the effort it took her to move her head. She could not find the strength to stave off Dr. Whale's gentle but firm hold on her shoulder. "I need to see my son, please, doctor," she said, ceasing her struggle to get up.
"I will tell him to come see you," he said and Regina felt her heart sink.
"No, you don't understand, he won't—"
"Mayor, please," he said and Regina subsided a little. The man might be a lecherous douche in all other walks of life but he had never yet compromised in his professional duties.
"You have to let me…" she half-pleaded.
"No chance," he said, checking her vital signs on the monitor. "In fact I'm strongly inclined to put you on complete bed rest for the next two to three months, if not for the whole remaining seven months! Do you have any idea how much blood you lost—"
"What did you say? Seven months?"
"—jeopardizing your life, and your baby's—"
"Dr. Whale!" Regina's voice, though weakened, still possessed the commanding tone that made the man shut up at once, stethoscope raised in one hand, and peer at her. "Are you high, or have you simply lost your mind? Or are you trying to pull some kind of a prank on me? Let me remind you that the first of April is long past!"
"I beg your pardon," he looked confused. "What are you talking about?"
"What are you talking about?" Again that imperial tone. "What baby?"
Dr. Whale looked dumbstruck.
"Surely you knew, Madam Mayor, that you are pregnant."
"What utter nonsense is this?" Regina would have laughed if the idea hadn't been so completely preposterous. Instead she opted to scoff loudly which in turn brought on a coughing spasm which shook her whole body. "I'm not pregnant!" She said when the coughing had subsided and the nurse had given her a drink of water.
"I'm sorry to contradict you — but you are pregnant."
"This is ridiculous, Dr. Whale!"
"You mean you didn't know you were pregnant?" His eyebrows climbed up. "Two months is early days yet, I suppose, but surely, Madam Mayor, you must have noticed the signs and changes in the past weeks? Hasn't there been amenorrhea? When was the last time you had your period? Has there been nausea? Any morning sickness? Headaches or backaches? Sore breasts? Fatigue, mood swings?" He rattled symptoms off one by one.
Regina's argument suddenly lost conviction. Oh, she had noticed most of these things, if not all of them. She just never could have imagined that they could be related to pregnancy. She had had a lot on her plate in the last few weeks, and the last time she checked, you ought to have a father if you were to have a baby!
Dr. Whale snickered as he watched her go quiet as if he was reading her mind. "Guess one can never be sure about the protection one used, if you used any…"
One glare was enough to make him trail off.
That was exactly the point, the last time Regina had sex with a man was three and a half months ago with Graham. There hadn't been anyone else since then, unless she counted … but no, she wasn't going to think about that night and the damnable Sheriff Swan.
"I cannot be pregnant," she said, her voice low enough to be a whisper.
"We have all the test results right here, Madam Mayor. Your Progesterone levels are sky high, which might not have meant anything by themselves but your β-hCG results are through the roof. That's a very sensitive test, mind you, and the results strongly fall into the range of the two month mark," he went on. "And if you need even more proof, I'll have Nurse Hanson bring in your file from the nurses' counter, it has all the ultrasound reports. You've got one helluva strong fetus, I must say! The risks of miscarriage through the first trimester are maximum, you know, and not many two month old fetuses survive such strain and severe blood loss."
A two month old fetus.
He looked right at her. "It's a miracle you didn't miscarry. It's almost like — magic."
Magic. The word rang in her ears.
Magic.
It couldn't be!
[...]
A/N: β-hCG — the β-subunit of human Chorionic Gonadotropin. It is the standard pregnancy test (here, at least, I don't know about elsewhere) and can be used to confirm pregnancy as early as the initial fifteen days. Not to be too technical here, but higher levels of β-hCG are present only in pregnant females right after implantation and continue to surge through the second trimester, decreasing afterwards. TMI, I know, sorry. xD