"What?!" Snow screeched, sure that she hadn't heard Regina right.
"QUIT. SAYING. THAT. WORD." Regina ground out, a contraction hitting her before she could continue.
The pain evident on Regina's face instantly snapped Snow out of her stupor and she bolted to the closet, grabbing the first thing she could get her hands on. Thankfully it was something Regina wouldn't refuse to be seen in public in. She crossed back over to the bed and awkwardly held the pants out to her. "Are you going to need help? Or do I need to get some towels or something for the bed?"
Regina didn't answer right away, instead continuing her slow breaths in and out to ease the pain of the passing contraction. She looked at Snow once she'd completed the exercise and finally spoke, this time much more calmly. "No towels. I have magic. And a waterproof mattress pad Emma insisted on. And no you are not helping me put my pants on. There are just some things I'm not willing to suffer through in this world. Just go stand in the hallway and call Emma. Tell her to meet us there." Regina waved her away, much like she was dismissing a servant and steeled herself to get up and get into the pair of pants she'd been offered.
"Okay. Hallway. Emma. Got it." Snow backed up slowly towards the door, keeping her eye on Regina as long as possible, knowing she was going to be to blame if anything went wrong on her watch. She closed the door softly and pulled out her cell phone. Pulling up Emma's number quickly she hit the call button and waited. After 3 long rings her daughter finally picked up.
"What'd she do?" Emma asked, her tone weary and a little breathless.
"Nothing. I mean, well something. But nothing to me." Snow said, not knowing how to spill such big news-for the first time in her life.
"Are you okay? What's going on?" Emma asked, this time much more alert.
"Her water broke. And I had to get her pants. And then I think there was a contraction…"
"Well that explains my stomach ache. I just thought it was a bad cheeseburger. I'll meet you guys at the hospital." Emma said, oddly calm about the situation.
"Cheeseburger? It's 10:30 in the morning? You know what? Never mind. Just meet us there. We're leaving now." Snow ended the call, her eyes on Regina who'd just appeared in the hallway, dressed and looking much more regal than any pregnant woman in labor should.
"I told Ruby to quit serving her before 11:30." Regina said, shaking her head as she made her way down the stairs. "We'll have to take your monstrosity. My car's in the shop." She said as she stood by the front door, overnight bag in hand.
"Uh…well I walked." Snow squeezed her eyes shut, unable to brave the woman's reaction. When nothing exploded, she opened one eye, only to see Regina dangling a set of keys in her face.
"You'll drive Henry's car then. He's out with friends. I don't think I have to tell you the importance of driving safely do I?"
Snow eyed Regina, still waiting for the woman to start screaming or crying or showing any kind of emotion. "No, you don't. Let's go. Why are you so calm?"
Regina simply smirked and offered a shrug of her shoulder. "I'm just saving up my rage for Emma, when she inevitably screws up making it to the hospital somehow and barely arrives in time to see her own children born."
"Of course." Snow mumbled under her breath. A prayer going up to every God she'd ever known that this be the time Emma didn't screw something up.
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Emma dropped her phone into her pocket when the call ended and scooped up her keys. She paused by her office door and took just a moment to squeal like a little girl and dance around a bit before calming herself again. After a deep breath she walked through the door and out of the station, all the while repeating to herself, "Don't screw this up. Don't screw this up. Don't screw this up."
When she got in the bug and it started on the first try she gave the dashboard a little pat and drove off towards the hospital. She paused cautiously at every intersection, not wanting to get in an accident. Once she had pulled safely into the parking lot she put the car in park and breathed a sigh of relief. She'd done it. She was there, on time and in one piece.
As she walked into the front entrance she felt invincible. Nothing was going to stop this from being the most amazing day of their lives. Then she noticed the commotion coming from the emergency room and she took off in a dead sprint down the hallway.
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It only took three blocks before Regina snapped. "That's it! Park the car and get out. Get out right now. I don't care if you ride on the hood. Just get out!"
Snow obliged, wondering if she had been too cautious in her driving. She got out of the driver's side and made her way around to the other side to help Regina out. Once the former Queen was hoisted out of the seat Snow quickly slid into her place so that she wasn't left behind.
Regina moved the driver's seat back and took her spot behind the wheel. If Snow had been driving any slower she could have walked to the hospital faster. With a quick glance in her side mirror she pulled back onto the road and continued their journey.
She realized later, that perhaps she'd been going a tad too fast. And that perhaps she should have been slightly more aware of her surroundings as she approached the hospital. But really-how could she have prevented the accident? Dr. Whale was wearing a white coat and the hospital was painted white. It was practically camouflage and made him almost impossible to see.
She'd winced at the sound of the car hitting flesh and screamed a little when Dr. Whale's face planted itself in the windshield right in front of her. As he rolled off the hood of the car another contraction hit and then everything was a blur.
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Emma skidded to a halt just inside the emergency room doors and took in the scene in front of her. Her anxiety dissipating instantly once she realized that her wife was causing the commotion, not the actual cause of it. She waited a few beats before stepping into the fray to figure out exactly what everyone was screaming about.
"Hey!" Her shout was enough to halt the action and everyone turned in her direction.
"You made it already?" Regina asked incredulously, forgetting for a moment what had her so upset moments ago.
"Yeah, what's that suppose to mean?" Emma shot back, defensively.
"That means I assumed this would be a repeat of our wedding and you'd only show up moments before the babies were born." Regina shrugged one shoulder, unrepentant in her statement. Even Snow had the audacity to nod her head in agreement.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence. Can I ask what's going on here?" Emma asked, stuffing her hands in her pockets.
"Oh, well I was just explaining to Dr. Whale's PA that there is no way possible he can be transferred to another hospital. He has to perform my C-section today."
"Hospital?" Emma glanced past Regina and her mother and noticed Dr. Whale in one of the patient beds, his leg in a splint. "What happened to him?"
Regina blanched for a moment, not willing to admit she'd been the cause of his trauma and did what any good politician would do when confronted with something she didn't want to explain. She distracted. "I think I need to sit down, I'm not feeling so well. I think another contraction might be coming on…"
Snow stepped forward to help Regina towards the bank of chairs across the room, but Emma wasn't going to be dissuaded so easily. "Regina."
With her back still to her wife Regina finally mumbled, "I hit him with the car."
Emma took a minute to process what Regina had said before she just started laughing. And laughing. And laughing. It took her a good 5 minutes before she was able to calm herself down enough to ask any questions. She walked across the room and sat down next to her wife, content with allowing the hospital staff to take care of the Dr. Whale situation before admitting them. She took Regina's hand and tried, unsuccessfully, to wipe the smirk off her face. "Care to explain that a little more?"
"I'm glad you find the fact that we are without a doctor to deliver our children so amusing." Regina huffed.
"Please, you underestimate me. Snow? Can you get started on Plan B while I get my loving wife to explain what happened?" Emma batted her eyes, still unable to wipe the smile off her face.
Snow was all to happy to get away from the current conversation and simply nodded her head and fled the room.
When Emma turned her attention back to her wife she noticed the look of pain spreading across her face and she instantly sobered. "Okay, just breath. Deep breath for me, it will pass. Squeeze my hand…" Emma continued to talk Regina through the contraction and was pleased when it started to recede and she still had a fully functioning hand. "Great distraction, babe. A+ effort. Now can you tell me what happened?"
"I hate you." Regina said, the look in her eyes saying anything but that.
"No you don't. And we've got like 15 more hours of this so you better just settle in and start appreciating my humor." Emma leaned in and kissed Regina solidly. Conveying all her emotions she wasn't willing to let spill out publicly yet. "Damn it, you did distract me."
"I'm very good." Regina sighed, knowing that she couldn't put off an explanation any longer. "It's really your mother's fault."
"Isn't everything?" Emma said sarcastically.
"Yes. But this really was. She was driving so damn slow I couldn't take it. I made her get out and I finished driving the last few blocks…when I pulled into the parking lot I didn't notice Dr. Whale crossing and I hit him. End of story."
Emma just nodded her head a little and didn't ask any follow up questions. She was sure there was a little more to the story, but really the only thing that mattered was the fact that she didn't screw anything up. Regina did it all on her own. "So just so I'm clear about this…I got the call your water broke and managed to get here unscathed in under 10 minutes. You on the other hand actually took out our doctor? Does that sound right? I didn't mess this up?"
"That's what you're going to take away from this?" Regina rolled her eyes and shook her head. She knew really, the second Dr. Whale had face-planted into the windshield that this was the exact reaction her wife would have. Unwilling to let Emma gloat any more she changed the subject. "What's your mother going to do? What's Plan B?"
Emma laughed and knew her short lived victory was over. "To be honest I thought I would screw things up somehow so we came up with some back up plans. Plan B is Doc." Emma held her hands up to stave of the angry retort brewing and quickly silenced the outburst. "Before you get mad we don't really have a choice. We had him read up on multiple births. He delivered me so think of it as a family tradition…"
"I guess it's better then the other family tradition we could have followed…" Regina mumbled under her breath.
"I heard that. And really? You're going to hit me with the jail thing?" Emma smiled to take the sting out of the comment, since she hadn't expected anything less from Regina. "Come on. Let's go get you checked in before the next contraction hits. We should have about 10 more minutes." She stood and helped her wife out of the chair, leading her to the front desk.
"I love you." Regina whispered, the situation starting to sink in. She knew without a doubt there was no way she would be able to go through this without Emma by her side.
"I love you too. You can do this, you're the strongest person I know." Emma looked at her with all the love in the world and Regina knew then that everything was going to work out just fine.
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So. I know-I know. It's been a minute since I've updated. Here's the thing-I have by no means given up on this story. It's just that I went and got myself knocked up! WHAT? Yes-after two years you did read that right. I'm pregnant. Which is amazing! But also very tiring and damn if morning sickness isn't a real thing that does last all day and shouldn't be called morning sickness and stuff that used to smell good…well-it's not good…I'm just out of my first trimester so I am hoping that some of these things will get better. Writing has been a struggle-my free time seems to be eaten up now by sleeping and just trying to function. So please-just stick with me-I will continue to update, it may just be slightly more sporadic then it was. I know exactly where I am going with the birth and I have the last few chapters planned out so writer's block won't be an issue. I just need to be able to stay awake long enough to get a quality chapter out lol. Thanks for all of the support on this fic-and the support of me in general. I appreciate all the reviews and messages I have received. You guys are the best!