CHAPTER 17

"Step aside. Step aside," Emma directed as she pushed Regina and the wheelchair inside the hospital.

Regina had started having labor pains the day before. They'd immediately called Papa Pope who'd told them not to worry. Babies come on their own sweet time. He'd told them to wait until the contractions were 7 minutes apart before showing up at the hospital.

That had been more than 14 hours ago. Regina had been up feeling contractions move throughout her as she glared at a snoring Emma who'd fallen asleep on the sofa beside her when she was supposed to be her support coach.

Emma had woken herself up during a loud cross between a snort and a snore. Then she'd looked at Regina sheepishly with a red face before sitting up. Within minutes her head had dropped to the sofa again. Regina was left once again with nothing to do but brace herself through the pains while glaring at Emma the entire time.

Glaring at her had at least helped her to focus her energies on anything other than a life forcing itself through her body. She'd taken the parenting classes, the Lamaze classes, and devoured everything she could get her hands on to prepare her for the upcoming birth.

And although she'd once been the Evil Queen and had once enjoyed torturing those who made the mistake of annoying her too much, nothing had prepared her for that birthing video. She was pretty sure she'd never have sex ever again after that.

It had been almost 4 before the contractions reached 7 minutes. She'd pushed Emma with a bit more strength than was necessary to wake her up. As Emma pushed herself up sleepily from the floor she told her, "Get my bag. It's time," Regina made her way slowly over to the door clinging to the walls as she went.

Emma was instantly awake. She bang on Henry's door awaking the kid and yelled at him to get dressed. His little sister was on the way. Then she ran into her and Regina's room to throw on some clothes and shoes.

Regina merely wore slippers and a comfortable slip on dress. She went outside and jumped into the passenger seat of her car. She'd thankfully made it inside before being hit by another contraction.

Emma and Henry basically tripped over one another on their way to the stairs. Emma took the lead and Henry followed closely behind.

Regina actually chuckled despite the pain making its way through her back and low belly. They had both just thrown on the first thing they'd come across. Their hair was standing every which way since they'd obviously been dragged from deep sleep. To her, that just made this all the more perfect.

"You'd better call your parents," she told Emma as she and Henry made themselves comfortable in the car. "You know they won't forgive you if you don't.

After the first really big argument she could remember she and Emma ever having things had settled down nicely. Snow being Snow just had to ingratiate herself into their lives and insisted on calling them prego buddies. It took everything in Regina not to snap at her constantly.

While Regina's pregnancy had been a constant roller coaster ride, Snow's had been completely smooth. She'd even only gotten a little sick in the very beginning while Regina was plagued with morning sickness the whole way through. Regina's mood swings made people fear the return of the Evil Queen while Snow's tended to revolve around her crying and hugging everyone all the time.

When they pulled up to the hospital Emma ran inside to get a wheelchair for Regina. Regina took this last opportunity to chat her son up before his world changed again permanently.

She grabbed his hand as he stood near her open car door. "Henry, you know how much I love you right?"

"Of course Mom. I love you too."

"And this baby isn't a replacement for you. You're still our little boy."

Henry smiled, "I know Mom. I think it's going to be great to have a little sister. I always wanted a big family. And now we have it."

Regina's eyes blurred with unshed tears. She dragged Henry down into her arms, "my baby boy," she crooned as she kissed his head.

Emma came back out with the wheelchair. Henry looked a little relieved to be free but still excited about the baby. His Mom had even promised him he could be inside the room when it came. So they really were doing this as a family.

Regina was signed and then taken to and LDR room. She was hooked up to monitors and doctor came to give her a check. "Not long now," he assured her. Regina just glared at him as she huffed and puffed through a contraction. "I'll send in the anesthesiologist so that you can get some comfort," Papa Pope squeezed her shoulder before heading out.

Henry sat across from his Moms with Emma's trademark big, goofy grin across his face. He wasn't sure what would happen next but he knew that the sight of the three of them together like a family should be was something he'd been wanting even before he knew it himself.

He knew he had been a huge obstacle to everything that had come before. And he still felt guilty about the part he'd played in hurting his Mother. At the time, he'd been hurting too. And so he'd seen his treatment of her as his way of protecting his real family. It had cost him almost everything.

Until Emma came in and saved the day for them all. It was the Savior who'd risen and done what she'd been destined to do that had made this all possible. And now they could live their happily ever after. So whatever was about to come, as long as it didn't involve them splitting up, he knew it was going to be okay.

~~ F ~~

When Emma awoke next Henry was in the room again. She looked over at him bleary eyed.

He was sitting on his cot staring down at something in his hands. There were tears silently coursing their way down his face.

"Henry," she called out in a voice thick with sleep, "What's wrong?"

"Is this the baby that you're having with my Mom?"

That's when she realized what he was holding were her copies of the ultrasound. Emma sat up yawning wide and wiping the sleep out of her eyes so that she could focus properly. "Yeah," she smiled.

"Is it a boy or a girl?"

"I think it's still too early to tell," she threw her arms up and stretched her body out completely. She looked around the room trying to figure out the time. "Do you know what time it is?"

"It's 8:30 pm. My Dad said I should come and see how you were doing."

More like he thought he should pawn him off back onto her again, Emma thought. She sighed, "Have you eaten? 'Cause I'm starving right now."

When Henry shook his head, Emma rolled her eyes cursing Neal. How in the hell hard was it to make sure a kid was fed when you lived a block away from a diner? "Well give me 20 minutes to get ready and then we'll head over to the diner," she got up and began to gather her things when she remembered they'd been kicked out of the diner and why. "When we get there, you're going to apologize to Granny and Ruby and hope they let us stay. That's the only food source we have in this town."

Henry nodded his acquiescence. He knew he had done wrong. It's just he was so mad because he felt Emma should be with his Dad. But Neal had just spent the past few days explaining to him that he couldn't go around telling other people what they should do or how they should behave. He pointed out how much Henry didn't like it when it was done to him. And now he was stuck with Neal while Emma continued to go out and pursue Regina regardless of Henry's outbursts. If Henry wanted to be happy then he had to start by being happy with the way things were and move on from there.

That meant accepting that Emma and Neal may never be together like that again. And Emma wanted Regina. They were even having a baby that they made out of true love.

Henry understood true love. He knew that what his grandparents had was the greatest magic of them all. In this case it had overcome all the rules of biology. His Moms shouldn't be able to make a baby on their own. But they did. And it was their love that did it. Now Henry had a baby brother or sister on the way.

One of the things he'd always wanted was a large family. He thought after getting his fairy tale book that all the answers for life would just unfold on the pages. But the curse was broken, and the book spoke to him no more. Now Henry was beginning to understand that the answers to his life couldn't be found inside of a book.

Emma wanted his Mom. And truth be told so did he. He missed her. He looked over to his box of things that she had sent to him and saw a handprint that he had given her from elementary. She had told him it was her most prized possession. And now it was just sitting in a box like it was nothing important.

Life with Emma hadn't worked out the way that he thought it would. He thought now he'd have his Mom and grandparents and then his own parents would realize they had true love between them and they'd all live happily ever after.

But the reality was he missed his Mom. And living with Emma sometimes scared him. His Mom had never raised her voice to him the way that Emma did. Other people, sure. But never him. Not even when he yelled at her or told her he hated her. There were some days where Emma was so worked up he'd been afraid she was going to hit him.

So Henry'd agreed that he should just let the grownups handle their own lives. And he'd stop interfering. Like he'd overheard Emma saying, he was a child who needed to stay in a child's place. And a child's place was with their Mom. Right now that's where he wanted to be more than anything.

Emma came out of the bathroom and they walked down to the diner. They were just about to go in when Regina walked out. Emma stood slack jawed staring at her while Regina gave her a disgusted look that had Emma turning red.

Henry was nervous. But he dug deep and managed to find his voice, "Hi Mom." He stood playing with the zipper on his jacket while he waited for her response.

For the first time in his life ever, his Mom turned the look she used on Emma onto him. Then she walked around them as if they were something dirty she didn't want to step on and continued to her car.

Henry stood in shock. His Mom had always only ever treated him like he was the most important thing in the world to her. Now she acted as if he was nothing. He and Emma exchanged the same stunned expressions. Then they looked after Regina. It was in that moment that he knew they had a lot of work to do to get his Mom back to both of them.

~EFB~

Now they were sitting here altogether. Waiting on their baby to come like any other ordinary family. It was still a little scary. Regina had shown him a video of a childbirth so that he wouldn't be afraid. It had only scared him even more. But he wasn't going to speak up and rock the boat. They were together. And that was enough for him.

Papa Pope walked back in and gave Regina a checkup down below. Henry stayed near the top of the bed holding her hand. She was clasping it back tight. But he could take it. From the winces and the pain etched across Emma's face as she held her other hand she didn't know how long she'd be able to holdout though.

Papa Pope grinned and looked up at the family. "Time to meet your new family member."