After being left alone to let the news sink in, the couple finally pulled apart, both of them with fresh tears in their eyes. Regina was crying a bit more than Emma, which was to be expected with her hormones being affected by the pregnancy.
"Those are happy tears right?" Emma questioned and Regina nodded yes as she sniffled and dabbed her eyes dry. Regina tried to pretend that she was done crying, but Emma saw her lip quiver and soon Regina had fallen back into Emma's arms, her head resting on her wife's chest. Emma rubbed Regina's back, waiting for the crying to subside.
"We can always go home Gina. Do all this another time." Emma offered, concerned that all this was too much for her wife to handle.
"No." Regina picked her head up and brushed away the tears from her eyes. "No. I want to do this today. Besides another week and I won't be able to deny it." Regina gestured to her bump and Emma smiled.
"Do you want to tell them everything or just that you are pregnant?"
"We should tell them its twins. We can always keep the genders to ourselves." Regina suggested and Emma shot her a confused glance. "Regina, we don't even know the genders of the babies."
Regain tilted her head and smiled at Emma, "of course we do dear."
"Isn't it a bit early to be able to tell if it's boys or girls? I know magic is powerful, but your little magic trick couldn't have told you that."
"Of course not dear. Biology told me the gender of the babies"
"How do you figure?"
"If we had gotten pregnant through IVF then we would stand an equal chance of the babies being boys or girls, or some mix of both, but since we made them through a union of our magic there is only one conclusion we can draw."
"So we are having two…" Emma still didn't understand her wife's point.
"My magic has feminine energy behind it, so does yours. So if our magic created them, then the only option is that they are both?" Regina let Emma finish the sentence for her, with Emma finally understanding her wife's point.
"Girls. We're going to have daughters?" Regina smiled wide and patted her bump, "two princesses as it were." Emma rested her hands on top of Regina's and couldn't contain the smile that spread across her face. "Two girls." Emma repeated it again, almost like a prayer.
"You alright?" Regina asked carefully as her wife seemed to be stuck in her own world. Emma nodded and kissed Regina softly before pulling back. "I can't even begin to tell you how much I love you."
"I love you too." Emma shook her head and laughed. "Two mini Regina's running around? We're so screwed babe."
Regina had to agree, if these babies were anything like her, it wouldn't be easy come their teen years. "It will be a considerable challenge."
"No. It'll be an amazing adventure." Emma corrected, offering Regina one more kiss. "Indeed. Now I hear people moving around out there, so perhaps we should make an appearance at our own party?" Emma went into the main part of the diner while Regina fixed her make up. Ruby had finished the decorations with Henry, leaving Emma to greet guests as they came in. Regina soon joined her wife in welcoming people and her demeanor gave no suggestion that she had been crying only minutes earlier. The guests all slowly trickled in and grabbed drinks as they began to socialize with each other. Once the party was in full swing Emma hoisted herself onto the bar of the diner, much to Regina's embarrassment. She whistled and gained everyone's attention by doing so.
"Hey there everyone. Hopefully, you are all enjoying the party so far. Regina, Henry and I all love this time of year and we are glad to share it with all of you. That being said, we did have an ulterior motive in asking you all here tonight." Emma clearly didn't know how best to continue so Regina beckoned her wife to come down off the bar and she took over talking.
"What Emma is trying to say is that we have some news that will effect everyone so we though it best to tell you all at once. This coming Spring I will be doing the majority of my work from my home and as a result I'll need to appoint deputy mayors for those months." The whole room started to talk amongst themselves, many of them worried about tax season falling during the months Regina was saying she'd be gone. As it stood, Regina was one of the only people in town who understood those forms and the last thing Storybrooke needed was a tax audit. Finally, someone in the crowd asked why and that silenced the crowd, all of them turning to Regina for an answer. Regina looked to Henry for a brief moment and with a quick nod of approval from her son, Regina took a step away from Emma. In a matter of seconds Regina's signature purple smoke surrounded her and when it faded she was wearing a dress that left no room for discussion: she was definitely pregnant. There was a collective gasp and out of habit Emma placed her arm around Regina and let her hand fall to her wife's swollen stomach. She soon realized that the gasp wasn't a dangerous one and that people seemed almost happy at the thought of Regina pregnant. The mumbling among the partygoers was soon silenced by David of all people.
"I'd like to propose a toast to my daughter and her family. May Regina have a healthy pregnancy that results in a healthy, happy baby, that will no doubt give us all hell for the next 18 years." Everyone laughed at the joke and as David started to raise his glass Emma stopped him.
"Babies." She corrected her father and David froze. The whole room had fallen quiet once again and David didn't say a word as he turned to Regina, looking her right in the eye.
"Babies? You're having twins? Regina nodded and tried to explain, "we just found out today or we would have said something to you sooner…" David held up his hand to stop Regina from finishing her explanation. The two former royals stood toe to toe and Emma had no idea what her father was trying to accomplish or what was going on. With no words spoken, David extended his arms out to Regina gently taking her head in his hands. He leaned forward and pressed a firm but gentle kiss to Regina's forehead before pulling back with a huge smile on his face. He grabbed his drink, this time holding it high above his head.
"To my daughter, her wife, my grandson and my soon to be grandchildren. May they experience every happiness this world has to offer. To family." Everyone followed suit and raised their glass to the growing family. Regina was still in a bit of shock and after the toast was over she found herself unable to put into words an appropriate thank you to her father in law. Instead, she took a step forward and hugged David. This whole interaction confused Emma and that was putting it mildly. Regina and David had been slowly learning to forgive each other, but Emma always assumed that her father could never get over Regina forcing his hand in giving up Emma. In that moment, however, none of it mattered. Emma watched as her father returned the hug; hugging his former enemy turned family member with tears in his eyes. David caught Emma staring and she mouthed 'thank you' to her father. David shook his head and shut his eyes and even though he said nothing about it, Emma saw it. She saw her father's body relax and just like that, David buried his past hurt and all his anger at Regina and embraced, in a literal and figurative sense, the woman his daughter loved and the mother of his grandchildren. When the two finally broke away, everyone was quick to offer congratulations to Regina, Emma and even Henry. Emma watched as Regina walked around the room, all smiles as people offered congratulation and warm wishes.
"Must have been surprising news, finding out about the twins." Emma didn't notice her mother standing next to her until the woman spoke.
Emma shrugged her shoulders, "I gave up trying to figure out magic when it come to this pregnancy. As long as everyone is healthy by the end of it, I don't care what happens after this."
Snow pointed at David and Henry who seemed to be circling Regina like hawks. "It seems as though the men of the family are already enjoying protecting the babies."
"What's up with that anyway? I mean, I know dad and Gina have been getting better, but what happened just now was odd to say the least."
"It's not so odd in our land."
"What do you mean?" Emma had been taught, by Regina mostly, about some of the old ways of living, but they had no use for them in this world so they often went ignored.
"You know those mob movies you and Henry like so much?"
"What, like The Godfather? Sure, why?"
"In that world, kissing someone meant something powerful."
"Yeah it was the kiss of death." Emma was now concerned as to what a kiss meant in her parents' world.
"Right. Well in our world, kissing someone in a non-romantic way has the opposite effect. If a visiting ruler came into our court, your father or I would embrace them and kiss them on the cheek or the forehead. It's a public way of saying that this person is favored by the king and queen and should be respected and in fact protected as though they were the king and queen themselves."
"I still don't get it. Why was all of that necessary? We live in the United States not the Enchanted Forest."
"Some people in this land still adhere to the old customs and some of those people still have an ax to grind with Regina." Emma's eyes got big and he hand went straight for her gun.
"Who? Did someone say something?" Snow put her hand over Emma to stop her. "Emma, relax. It's under control." Emma's voice dropped to a harsh whisper.
"Under control my ass. I'm not going to let someone with an ancient complaint come after my wife, my son or my daughters and so help me God if they try I will bury them in my yard." Snow never expected Emma to get this mad over the thought of a threat to Regina, but she should have known better.
"Emma, I mean it. Your father handled it."
"Handled it how?"
"He kissed Regina on the forehead. She is protected and likewise so are the babies."
"I been kissing Regina for years, why did dad have to do it."
"You kiss her romantically. A kiss from a lover does nothing and even if it did, you are a princess in our world and Regina's a queen. She out ranks you, if you want to look at it like that. It had to be me or your father and your father is more intimidating than I am."
Emma's face softened and she relaxed her stance. "So he kissed her to keep her safe?"
Snow smiled and nodded, "yes, well, and I think he's happy about it."
"Thank him for me?"
"It was his pleasure I assure you." The two fell into a silence that Snow broke. "So, daughters huh?"
"Regina is going to kill me for letting that slip."
"I doubt that very much. Does this mean I can start buying pink things?"
"Dear god no. I'm not dressing my daughters up like actual princesses."
"Perhaps purple then?" Emma had to smile. "Well purple is Regina's color." At that moment Regina joined them, "what's my color?" Emma kissed Regina and quickly wrapped her arms around her wife's back.
"Purple."
"Making nursery plans already, are we dear?"
"Never to early to plan right?"
"Yes, well, just no pink. If we're going to be spending hours in that room it cannot be pink."
"I already said that." Emma tried defending herself.
"I see, so you did tell your mother that we are having girls?"
"I love you." Emma offered a sheepish smile and Regina smiled back.
"I'm certain you do. You're still in an awful lot of trouble. Laundry duty just became your job for the next two weeks."
"Yes ma'am." Emma rolled her eyes, but laughed. She knew Regina wasn't really angry with her so she didn't mind her new household chores.
"Your children are hungry. Any chance you could have Ruby make me a plate of something?"
"I see, so they are my children when they make you hungry? I'll go see if I can't make you a plate." Emma left and Snow rubbed Regina's shoulder. "Don't be too mad at Emma. She just let it slip because I pushed."
"I assure you dear, Emma is not in trouble. She could never keep a happy secret to herself." An awkward silence fell over the two women and Regina relented and finally spoke.
"David's support is very much appreciated. I wasn't expecting that."
"He wants to protect his family. That includes you and those babies."
"All the same, it was very kind of him to do so and a smart move I never thought of using. Now these babies are protected under old and new customs."
"I'm sure you are tired of hearing congratulations, but we really are so happy for you and Emma. If you need any help setting things up please let us know."
"Emma has already decided that the nursery will be her special project. Perhaps David can help her and Henry so that my house is still standing at the end of things."
Snow smiled and nodded, "I think we can do that. Just no pink."
Regina laughed, but got a very serious look on her face. "Absolutely no pink and that goes for the baby shower as well." Regina quickly got pulled away, by Henry who forced his mother to sit and eat the food Emma had gotten for her and to his surprise she didn't put up a fight.
"So am I having brothers or sisters?"
"It appears as though you get to remain King of the castle." Regina smiled and Henry finally caught on to what his mother was saying.
"Baby sisters. Very cool."
"You think so?"
"Totally, besides I happen to think being King of the castle is fun."
"I'm sure you do, but even Kings have curfews and bedtimes." Henry rolled his eyes, but smiled.
"Way to ruin my dream mom."
"It's what I'm here to do. Now go find your mother so I don't have to sit here by myself." Henry left his mother's side and quickly found his other mother who quickly rejoined her wife.
"Everyone seems to be having a good time. How are you doing?" Emma took the empty seat next to Regina and Regina smiled wide.
"I'm doing better than I ever could have imagined."
Sorry for the kind of abrupt ending guys. My life is super crazy and I needed to wrap this chapter up and put it to bed. Hopefully, you all enjoyed it.