"Emma. For the last time. I will be fine." Regina huffed.
"All right. Don't get all mad at me. I was just asking." Emma said as she gathered up her things. "It's just been awhile since you've been home for a whole Saturday by yourself. I forgot I took Ruby's shift today…otherwise I would have had Henry start next week with Leroy…"
Regina crossed the room and gently laid her hands on her wife's shoulders. "Stop. I've had plenty of Saturday's on my own. I'm actually looking forward to it. I have plenty to keep me busy."
Emma just stared at her, the disbelief showing in her expression. "You do know you're super pregnant right? And you can't exactly….ouch! What was that for?" Emma rubbed her stinging shoulder where she'd just been slapped.
"Because I know super pregnant is your way of saying I'm super fat. I'm getting around just fine." Regina crossed her arms over her chest and pursed her lips together. "You should really just leave before you dig yourself any deeper."
"Yes ma'am." Emma eyed Regina wearily, but braved leaning in for a kiss before she headed out. "If you get bored you can always come down to the station…"
Regina took Emma by the shoulders again, turning her back around towards the door and physically shoved her at it. "Go."
"Love you." Emma called as she finally took the hint and made her way outside.
"Love you too, dear." Regina shut the front door and leaned against it, a half smile on her face. She really was looking forward to her day alone. With Emma and Henry's hovering getting worse the past month she felt like she'd barely had a single moment to herself.
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After an hour of trying to pick up things around the house, Regina was starting to wonder when exactly she'd lost the ability to do something so simple such as bending over to pick up something off the floor. She was also loathe to admit it, but the quiet in the house had only been soothing for a few minutes and she was starting to miss Emma. She blamed her hormones, but thankfully her pride was still in tact, otherwise she thought she just might have already been sitting down at the station with her wife.
She abandoned cleaning and decided that maybe she would just sit down on the couch and watch a movie. Resting was an activity that she excelled at lately and Emma would be proud she was doing so without her prompting. And if she was going to that, then she might as well put on some comfortable clothes too. The maternity pants that she was wearing looked presentable enough, but they were actually quite restricting. She rummaged through her side of the closet looking for something suitable when Emma's pile of hoodies in the corner caught her eye.
She picked one up and inhaled deeply, taking in the familiar scent of her wife. Weighing the options, Regina decided that she could get away with wearing it for a little while and no one would have to know about it. It would also keep her from running down to the station before Emma's shift ended. She pulled it over her head and was, for once, thankful that Emma always seemed to buy sweatshirts a few sizes to big. There was just enough room for her to pull it over her ever expanding belly. She looked around for some yoga pants to pull on, but she didn't see any of the ones that fit her any more. With a shake of her head she decided to go one step further and forgo pants all together.
It felt amazingly freeing to walk down her stairs with just a sweatshirt on. She might have just found her new secret vice. Smiling, she made her way into the living room and dug through Emma's pile of DVD's. Picking one out with two couples on the cover she popped it in the machine and settled onto the couch.
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"Hey Emma." Frederick said as he strolled into the Sheriff's station.
Emma gave him a puzzled look but returned his greeting. "Hey, what are you doing here?"
"Oh, um…I…I may have told Katherine I had to work a few hours today…" He said, fidgeting a little in the doorway of her office.
"You're just a back up-back up…oh! I gotcha. She getting a little cranky?" Emma asked with a smile.
"Yeah, you could say that. This morning I got in trouble because I was breathing too loud and too close to her. So…" He trailed off, not really knowing what to expect from Emma.
"I get it. I think David got the tv working in the break room if you just want to hang out for awhile? I still have some paperwork to finish up or I'd just let you take the rest of my shift." Emma felt like she should throw the guy a bone. He looked like a whipped puppy standing there and she might just need a favor from him in the coming days. Katherine was about a month ahead of Regina and so far it had worked out nicely because she got a fair amount of warning with the ever changing stages of pregnancy. She made a mental note to herself to expect the same thing in the coming month.
Frederick looked visibly relieved at the offer. "Thanks, I just…I mean I love her…I just…"
"Fred, I get it okay? It's no big deal. Go watch some tv and enjoy your reprieve while it lasts." Emma smiled at him again and waved him out of her office. Intent on getting back to her paperwork she suddenly felt her stomach drop and an odd tugging sensation go through her.
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Regina figured she was only half way through the movie, but she'd gone through at least half a box of tissues and she was sure it wasn't meant to be a tearjerker. She was elated when the two women finally shared their first kiss, but watching them walk away from each other in the park was more than she could handle. She tried to stop the tears, but the damn baby hormones were making it impossible. She paused the movie, hoping that she could get herself under control before she continued. Emma always called this her feel good movie so it had to have a happy ending, didn't it?
Reaching for another tissue to wipe her nose again, she started thinking about how truly lonely her life would be if just a few small things would have been different. She could have easily never met Emma or just as easily never ended up with Emma. There could easily be no Henry, or the children she was carrying. She started sobbing even more at the thought of how empty her life almost was and nearly jumped out of her skin when a cloud of yellow smoke appeared in the living room.
When it cleared, all she could do was stare, bewildered at the sight in front of her.
"What the hell just happened?!" Emma shrieked. "Did you just poof me home?"
All Regina could do was shake her head no and when she did Emma seemed to suddenly take in the scene around her. "Are you okay? Why are you crying? You aren't wearing any pants. Is that one of my hoodies?" Emma's rapid fire questions didn't really seem to need answers so Regina simply patted the spot on the couch next to her so Emma would sit and comfort her.
Emma took the cue and gathered Regina in her arms the best she could. When she felt the sobs stop, she gently pushed Regina's hair back a little and placed a kiss to the side of her head. "Can you tell me what happened? And how I got here?"
"Well," Regina started, sniffling a little more. "Cleaning didn't go very well and I started missing you. So I thought I would rest and it made sense to put this on because it smelled like you." Regina tugged at the sweatshirt she was wearing.
"And it made sense to not put pants on because pants are overrated, huh?" Emma asked with a smirk, her hand running up and down the smooth planes of Regina's leg.
"Exactly. Then I thought I'd watch a movie and when you got home you'd be proud of me for resting. But this is the saddest movie I think I've ever watched."
"Which movie is it?"
"Imagine Me and You." Regina said, the tears starting to gather in her eyes again.
Emma tried to keep the smile that was threatening at bay and kissed the top of Regina's head again to hide it. "It's not a sad movie. In fact it's a really happy lesbian movie. There's not a lot of those out there."
"But…" Regina shook her head at whatever thought just crossed her mind. "So it get's better?" She finally asked, her eyes pleading with Emma to tell her it did.
"Yes." Emma looked up at the paused screen and realized that Regina had stopped just after the two parted ways in the park. "I'll stay and watch the rest with you if you want. I'll just text Frederick and see if he can stick around the rest of the afternoon." She smiled at the happy look on her wife's face and marveled at what a change being pregnant was with how freely she showed her emotions. "None of that explains how I got here though."
"I don't know. You showed up in a cloud of yellow."
Emma scrunched her eyebrows up in confusion. "That doesn't make any sense. Your magic's purple and mines white…" She trailed off as both her and Regina looked down at her belly together, eyes wide.
"You don't think…"
"I don't have any better guesses, do you?" Emma said plainly.
"If that's the case this pregnancy just got much more difficult." Regina rubbed a hand across her stomach, wondering if it was possible for the babies to have that kind of ability already.
"Nah, I'd say it just got much more interesting. They were just taking care of their mama, they knew you needed me." Emma smiled at her wife again, hoping that she wasn't too freaked out by this latest development. "Besides, they're my kids so they're pretty advanced for their age…"
Regina just rolled her eyes at Emma's boasting. "I don't think I want to think about it any more. We'll just see if it happens again. Let's watch the movie." Regina hit the play button again and snuggled deeper into Emma's side.
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It happened again. And again. In fact, that next week it happened four times. And here she was once again, watching as the yellow haze cleared and Emma appeared none too pleased with the situation. "What is it this time?" Emma asked, the reasons for her being summoned becoming less and less pertinent.
"I got a paper cut." Regina lifted her finger up, as though she needed to prove her children had brought their mother to her for a good reason. "You're going to have to talk to them." Regina pointed down at her stomach, one eyebrow lifted for emphasis.
"They aren't even born yet! How can they be causing this much trouble already?" Emma stomped her foot in frustration. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate the motive behind them bringing her to Regina time and time again, it's that it always left her to trudge back to her office, or the diner, or the grocery store. "Will they even understand if I tell them to knock it off?"
Regina just smiled at Emma's frustration. She knew she shouldn't be, but every time it happened she was oddly amused. "They might. Do you have a better idea?"
"No."
"Okay then. Would you like to try now?" Regina still couldn't wipe the smile off her face. Emma's pout was priceless.
"Yes, get over here. Let's do it on the couch." The words brought a smirk to Emma's face and she winked at Regina suggestively.
"Mmmm, you're just going to have to wait until tonight for it. I bought something new I want to try out…" Regina smirked back at Emma, knowing she'd won this round.
"Damn woman. You sure know how to make a girl's day drag on forever." Emma waited until Regina was situated on the couch and she knelt down in front of her, putting her level with her enormous belly. She leaned down and gave it a kiss before tapping it lightly with one finger. "You guys awake in there?"
Regina rolled her eyes at Emma's dramatics, but kept her mouth shut and let the scene play out.
"I know you guys are proud of your new trick, but you can't keep poofing me to your mom all the time. I mean, I get it. I like to protect her too and she deserves to never feel upset again for the rest of her life, but you have to just reserve the poofing for emergencies and extreme situations. Okay?" Emma stared at the belly, a puzzled look on her face. She glanced up at Regina and noticed the tears in her eyes. "Really?"
Regina just narrowed them at Emma in response.
"Yeah, okay. Let me just grab you a kleenex." She walked into the bathroom, grabbed a couple and made her way back to the couch. She flopped down next to Regina and handed her the tissues. "I was just telling them to knock it off…" She rubbed her face a few times and looked over at Regina again, smiling fully at her. "I meant it."
"I know you did. If you weren't already here I think they would have brought you too me again." Regina chuckled through the tears, an every day occurrence at this stage and one that rarely bothered Emma any more. "Someday I will actually start to cry for a very good reason and you're not going to know the difference."
"Yes I will. Gold star wife remember? But seriously, you think that helped? Because between your emotions I'm feeling, the babies' new trick, and the shower this Saturday I'm about ready to drop. How do you do it?"
Regina simply shrugged her shoulder a little before answering. "Iron will. And a wife who's taking the brunt of things…"
"No kidding..." Emma said, smilingly. She pulled Regina in closer to her and laid her head on top of the brunette's. "Wouldn't change a thing though."