"Hey" the soft voice and gentle tap on his arm caused him to turn around. Camille was standing there with a look mixed of joy and worry.
"What are you doing here?" he asked calmly.
"I'm sorry. I just needed to see you. How...how are you?" She asked, shifting nervously from one foot to the other.
"I'm okay." He sighed. "And so is my wife and the baby" he finished. Camille nodded her understanding. "We can't do this." he spoke softly.
"I know. I just miss you, okay?" He watched one tear travel down her cheek. "I get what you are doing. I understand that you feel guilty and you want to be there for them. But, what about me? I know you love us both, but you said it yourself that your love for her isn't the same anymore" she pleaded.
"I have to be there for her. I can't take care of her and be with you at the same time. It's not right and it's not fair for either of you. I have to put her first right now. I don't expect you to understand that...and I don't expect you to wait for me." He tried to get her to understand.
"You think I won't wait for you..." It wasn't a question.
"I don't want you to. I will always love Regina and I will always be there when she needs me. I fucked up once and I almost lost her... My love for her isn't what it used to be, but it's still strong and she still means the world to me." He looked torn in a way. "Even if we weren't together anymore... I would still drop everything if she needed me..." He paused and stepped towards Camille and grabbed one of her hands. "I do love you, but I don't expect you to understand what Regina and I have. I don't expect you to wait." He finished, hoping that she would understand his intentions.
"Okay... You're right. I don't understand your feelings for her, but..." she paused when he took his phone out of his pocket. After glancing at the screen, he silenced it and put it back. She sighed and took a step forward, placing her hands on his cheeks.
"I don't understand what you two have, but I want to. I am not going anywhere. I will wait for you and I will accept that she will always have a place in your heart..." Her left thumb stroked his cheek. "But only if you want me to. If you love me and still want to be with me, then I'll wait... I don't want to be with anyone else, Daniel." She finished, not hiding the traces of fear and hope in her features.
"You know I love you, Cami." His mind was processing everything. He didn't even register his hand moving to her hip on instinct.
Camille felt a flood of relief and couldn't stop herself from reacting. Within seconds, her lips were on his and he responded immediately. His hands wrapped around her waist as she slowly pushed him backwards towards the wall. They lost themselves in the kiss. After spending months apart, they took this moment to remember what it was like. His hands began to trace familiar outlines of her body, while she pressed herself against him, her arms around his neck. He knew he needed to stop this soon, but it was hard to pull away from lips he missed so much. The opportunity arose when his phone began to ring again.
"What the fuck do these people want?" He yanked his phone out of his pocket. When he glanced at the screen, he noticed it was a different number this time and answered immediately.
"Regina. What's up?" He inquired.
Actually, this is Michelle, a nurse here at Boston General. We have been trying to contact you. Your wife was involved in a car accident.
"Shit! Is she okay? What about the baby?" His mind was racing with concern and guilt. He assumed the caller was someone looking for a lawyer or some other client bullshit that he didn't want to deal with tonight.
Regina is stable and she should be just fine, however, we have been closely monitoring the baby...
"I'm on my way." He cut her off and hung up the phone. "I have to go." He hurried off without a second glance. He knew Regina would be okay, but now he was in full panic mode over his child. Camille had heard enough of the conversation to know not to hold him back.
The hospital was a 15 minute drive. He made it in 10, which Regina would have surely scolded him for, reminding him that it would have done nobody any good if he had killed himself on the way there. He parked quickly and made his way into the building.
"Hi, I'm Daniel Hayes, Regina Mills' husband."
"Room 108, Mr. Hayes." The nurse replied quickly.
He quickly made his way to her room, stopping dead in his tracks when he reached the door. He stepped back slightly to keep from being noticed. He stood there and observed the interactions between Regina and a blonde woman he had never met before. He knew it wasn't Kathryn. He watched as his wife ran her fingers affectionately through blonde curls and listened as the blonde spoke to Regina's stomach. He saw the look in Regina's eyes. She used to look at him that way.
He couldn't really process the emotions going through his head at that moment. With everything that had happened thus far, he was at a loss on whether to be relieved or angry. There was definitely some confusion, as he watched the blonde take hold of Regina's hand, kissing it lightly. When the hell did his wife start liking women? He lifted his arm and ran his fingers through his hair, wondering how things had changed so fast. The move caught the attention of brown eyes.
"Daniel." Regina spoke softly, garnering the tall man's attention and causing Emma to whip her head in the direction of the door.
"Regina." Daniel rushed in to embrace her. Emma moved swiftly, stepping back from the couple. "How are you feeling? Are you okay?" he asked when he pulled back.
"I'm fine. The doctor should been in soon" she assured him. They were brought out of their moment when the other person in the room cleared their throat.
"I'm...just gonna go." Emma spoke. She had to resist the urge to hug and kiss Regina. Regina nodded sadly, secretly wishing the blonde would stay.
"Thank you, Miss Swan." She spoke.
"Anytime." Emma quietly left the room.
Neither of the two remaining decided to address the issue at hand. Daniel simply focused on the well-being of Regina and their child. Regina simply didn't want to talk about it. So Daniel sat down next to her bed with her hand in his and they waited for the doctor.
"What are you doing?" Daniel asked when Regina walked into the kitchen.
"I'm thirsty" was all she said as she moved to retrieve a glass.
"I'll get it." Daniel took the glass from her hand. She sighed.
"I can fix my own glass of water, Daniel." After three days of this, she was beginning to whine like a child.
"Yes, you can. But while I'm here, you don't have to. Now go lay back down and put your feet up this time." He instructed, not leaving room for her to argue. She huffed and made her way back into the living room.
They were lucky. The doctor had informed them that the main concern was the baby's heart rate. It was far too low when she had been brought in and could have been caused by many different things. She had to stay overnight and Daniel stayed with her. They had a very enlightening conversation that night and both were surprisingly amicable about the entire thing.
"So how do you know Miss Swan?" He figured they were beyond the need to beat around the bush anymore. They had been through a lot lately. Being straightforward and honest was working for them. Regina felt the same way.
"I went out with Kat that night we argued. Emma was bar-tending at the bar we went to." She saw no point in lying. She had never told him about Emma. She figured it was irrelevant once they had agreed to work on this. However, after looking into those green eyes again...
"And how long were you sleeping with her?" His voice held a more curious tone. He honestly had no reason to be upset with her. She gave him a questioning look. "It's the way you looked at her. You used to look at me that way." He clarified.
"I stopped seeing her the day I told you I was pregnant. Today was the first time since then." she answered.
"You love her..." it wasn't a question. Regina took a deep breath.
"Daniel... It was supposed to be just sex. I was so mad at you..." A tear fell down her soft cheek. She couldn't bring herself to say much else. "I love you..."
"I know." He stood from his seat and wiped the tear from her cheek. "I have no doubts that you love me. But you are in love with her" he finished. She looked up into his brown eyes.
"I think I am..." she whispered. Daniel sighed heavily. Regina looked down at their hands, finders linked together.
"And I'm in love with Camille." He spoke softly. Regina looked up at him surprised. It wasn't that he loved Camille. It was that he admitted it.
"What are we doing?" she whispered.
"Trying to hold on..." His voice was calm. She nodded.
"Perhaps...we fell in love with the idea of you being my knight in shining armor when I needed you." She squeezed his hand, another tear falling freely.
"I will always be your knight when you need me." He smiled softly. Regina gave a light chuckle.
"I'm not sure Emma would appreciate that. Or Camille for that matter." They both knew what was happening at this moment.
"I can try to back off a bit, but they will both have to understand and accept my protectiveness over you." Daniel had been there for her unconditionally since the day they met in college. When he found out about her mentally and physically abusive mother, his loyalty increased tenfold. He fought for her till the day Cora passed away and stayed by her for years afterwards. She would always love him for that.
"And my love for you." She stroked his cheek and smiled softly.
Hopefully the women in their lives would be able to accept this.
So here they were three days later. Regina had been sentenced to bed rest. Well, she saw it as a sentence, but in the end, little Henry Daniel Mills-Hayes was worth it. She needed to take it easy until his heart rate settled at a comfortable rate. They were sent home with a special monitor to allow them to check his rate, ordered to come back if it ever fell below a certain level.
"So...you going to call her anytime soon?" Daniel came into the living room with her water. He sat it on the coffee table in front of her and took a seat in the recliner.
"I will... I have been kind of letting everything set in, you know." She took a sip of her water. "Thank you."
"I'm sure she would love to know how you two are doing" he encouraged.
"I know. Maybe, I will call her tonight" she replied.
"Good. I am going to get something started for dinner." He stood up and made his way back to the kitchen, patting her leg on his way.
I'm sorry, believe me
I love you
But not in that way