"Okay Regina, this gel is going to feel cold." Dr. Whale said, as he squeezed the sonogram gel onto her stomach. "Are you two ready for this?"
"Yes."
"Nope."
Emma looked over at Regina with a smirk and shrugged her shoulders a little. "He asked." She leaned over closer and kissed the top of her wife's head while Dr. Whale set up the rest of the equipment. They weren't usually very affectionate in public, but if the death grip Regina currently had on her hand was anything to go by she thought she could get away with it.
"Are we going to be able to tell if there's more than one baby in there?" Emma asked, pointing towards Regina's stomach.
"Yes, I'll be able to see today if there's more than one, but I think it's highly unlikely."
"Yeah, well it was "highly unlikely" that I got her pregnant in the first place Doc." Emma's smile faded quickly when she caught the scowl on Regina's face. "Can you just hurry up?" She finished weakly.
The doctor just nodded his head in affirmation and flipped the last switches on the monitor. "What I'll do first is try and bring the image up on the screen and then I'll turn the sound on so you can hear the heartbeat. It's not going to look like much today but…"
"We got it doc, tiny baby-hard to see. Let's go." Emma said impatiently. Regina hadn't said more than a sentence since they had woken up that morning and she knew the sooner they could see their baby and hear their baby the better.
"You should see the image on the monitor soon if this little one cooperates." He maneuvered the probe over Regina's stomach trying to get the clearest picture possible. "I'm having a hard time getting the image to come up…oh wait there it is." He reached over and clicked a few things on the machine, his face scowling a little at the image.
"Is something wrong?" Regina asked, panicked that something had already gone amiss.
"No, no nothing is wrong." Dr. Whale assured her, his eyes never leaving the screen. "I'm just going to turn on the sound and let you hear for yourselves."
Emma squinted at the image floating on the monitor and she tried to think back to Henry's sonograms. She didn't think they looked quite like this, but it had been 15 almost 16, years ago so maybe it was just the technology.
The room suddenly filled with a steady thump-thump, echoing in the sterile room. Wide eyes found Regina's and both woman teared up a little at the sound. They continued to stare at each other as Dr. Whale fiddled with the monitor a little more. "If you look up here," Dr. Whale pointed to the bottom of the screen, "you'll see one heartbeat..."
"Oh thank God…" Emma muttered under her breath.
"And here is a second heartbeat…" He chanced a look at both woman after his announcement and saw that Emma's eyes had gone wide and froze towards the screen. Regina went instantly pale and looked as though she was about ready to bolt from the room.
The increasing pressure on her hand pulled her out of her stupor and she looked down at Regina, the smile stretching across her face. Regina didn't return her gaze though, her eyes were screwed shut and her face turned away from the monitor. Realizing this was something Whale did not need to witness she asked him to step out for a minute.
"Of course. They're both healthy if that helps anything…" He trailed off as he shut down everything before sliding out the door quietly.
"Regina, honey, look at me." Emma said, her hand running across Regina's forehead and down her cheek, turning her head back towards her. "What's wrong?"
Regina looked at Emma, studying her for a moment. She was so beautiful, her blonde hair and figure still turning heads, but when she looked at Emma all she really saw were her eyes. Blue, green, depending on the light-they were always filled with love and affection and they always told her everything she needed to know. Now was no different, Emma was happy, scared, in awe, and worried. "The heartbeats…I've never heard it like this…Hearing a heartbeat always meant control or death or pain…I don't think I deserve this…" Regina was openly sobbing and Emma clamored up on the table to gather the woman in her arms as best she could on the small surface. Regina's body curled into hers and she continued to cry into her chest.
Emma buried her face in Regina's hair and started talking softly. "I want you to listen to me very closely Regina Swan-Mills. You do deserve this. You deserve this because you fought and clawed your way out of a very dark place and my life is better because of that, Henry's life is better because of that and now our life is going to be better because of it. I don't ever want to hear you say that again. We can talk about you being scared, you can have doubts but please don't ever say those words again…"
She felt Regina's head nod in her arms and she waited silently for her to gather herself.
Regina finally pulled back slightly and looked up into Emma's eyes again. "We made two babies…" A smile forming on her face.
"Two healthy babies." Emma kissed her softly, lingering only slightly, before pulling back. "Are you okay?"
Two perfectly shaped eyebrows rose, but before she could answer Emma continued. "Maybe not the best question to ask right now huh? I mean you just found out we're having twins so I'm guessing that okay isn't on your radar. Are you still happy about this?"
Brown eyes softened and Regina used both her hands on Emma's cheeks to pull her in for a kiss. "I'm ecstatic."
"Good."
SQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQ
Once Regina had collected herself and they allowed Dr. Whale back in the appointment finished up fairly quickly. Regina had a print out of the sonogram picture clutched in her hand and she was studying her wife intently. She knew that Emma's calm demeanor in the exam room was only going to last so long. She was grateful that the blonde always seemed to hold it together when she was freaking out, but her freakout was inevitable. The car had been silent for several minutes before Emma finally broke the silence.
"So I think we need to tell Henry, sooner rather than later." She said, glancing over to her passenger.
"I agree. I'm not sure we've been hiding our secret all that well anyway these last few weeks."
"Yeah? You agree? Good." Emma continued to nod her head, as though agreeing with herself, and her fingers began tapping the steering wheel nervously.
"Well of course I agree. He should definitely be the first person we tell." Regina narrowed her eyes at her wife. She appeared to be listening to her, but it didn't seem like she was computing anything but her own thoughts. Thankfully they pulled in the driveway before Emma's odd behavior could continue.
When Emma came around the car to help Regina out though, she slapped her hands away. All thoughts of trying to be sensitive towards her impending meltdown fleeing. "What are you doing? I'm eight weeks along, not 38."
Palms up, Emma backed up slowly, but continued to hover until Regina successfully extricated herself and shut the car door. They walked up the sidewalk together and Emma unlocked the front door. She strode into the house ahead of Regina and when she reached the bottom of the stairs she yelled, "Henry get down here!"
Regina froze at the bottom of the entry way steps, stunned at Emma's sudden change in behavior. Henry came stomping out of his room and started down the stairs, the same surprised look on his face.
"Listen kid, your mom is pregnant and it's twins. We have a lot to do." Emma said, before he had even made it to the bottom. His eyes went comically wide and he only momentarily glanced towards Regina.
"How far along? I mean how much time do we have? We have to get cribs and put them together and paint…."
"Excuse me." Regina said, trying to get their attention.
"…and baby proof and get changing tables. Do we need two of those too?"
"Oh man! I don't know? How are we going to figure that out?" Emma asked him, the panic evident on her face.
"I don't know. Google?"
Emma shrugged as if considering the answer before continuing. "We're going to need baby bottles and clothes and…do you know how to change a diaper?"
Henry shook his head no.
"Then we need to learn how to do that too. We can probably google that or something also…"
Henry reached the bottom of the stairs and started to open his mouth again when Regina yelled, "EXCUSE ME!"
Both sets of eyes turned towards her slowly and she used the stunned silence to finish her trek up the entry steps. She walked over to the pair and stopped in front of them, arms crossed, a less then pleased look on her face.
"Um, that probably wasn't how you wanted to tell him, huh?" Emma said sheepishly. Regina's booming voice had knocked some sense back into her and the twin-induced fog seemed to lift briefly.
"It wasn't in my top ten." She said dryly. Turning towards Henry she softened, "Henry?"
He threw himself into her arms, "Congratulations Mom!" He said, hugging her tightly. He pulled back, grinning widely. "Now seriously, we've got a ton of work to do. You need to go sit down or something. Emma and I got this."
Regina crossed her arms again, sighing loudly. "I will not just be sitting down the entire rest of my pregnancy. You two do understand that, correct?"
Two sets of owl eyes blinked back at her and she sighed again. "I am pregnant, not dead or lame or anything else that would prevent me from helping with some of the tasks you two are already planning. Like, for example, picking out cribs."
Henry and Emma both started nodding their heads enthusiastically and she suddenly realized that this was how the next 7 months of her life was going to go. The two of them doting on her to the point of ridiculousness. She wouldn't trade it for anything in the world, but that didn't mean she wasn't backing down without a fight.
"Mom, why don't you go start looking at cribs online…" Henry said, his eyes shifting towards Emma briefly.
"Smart one kid." Emma said, slapping him on the back.
Regina only rolled her eyes at them. "Fine. But I will be standing up looking at the computer just to spite you two." She leaned in and gave both of them a kiss on the cheek before heading towards her office. "And please don't go overboard on anything yet."
Emma and Henry just smiled brightly at her before Emma grabbed him in a headlock and started towards the kitchen with him. Regina thought she heard her saying something about finding a baby to borrow so they could start the baby proofing but she wasn't sure and she probably didn't really want to know.