I posted this as Day 6 of Happy Ending Week, but I wanted it to be here too, so if you didn't read it under "Happily Ever Afters" then here it is! Lol Thank you for all your support during my first multi-chapter fic, and as always, please leave a review and let me know what you thought :)
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Pregnant.
The word keeps flashing through her mind ever since she took a test earlier today. Regina is feeling a cacophony of emotions - excited, terrified, worried, emotional. She and Robin have been married for two years now, it's not like this is an ill-timed pregnancy. Things are great - work on Mayor Heller's mansion had gone over swimmingly. He'd loved her redesign of his residence so much that he's hired her to redo his summer home. She'll be starting that project in the next few weeks, as soon as she finishes the King's summer house.
How nice it must be to own a summer home. They could afford it, they really could, what with Robin's business going so well with his multi-million dollar deals and Storybook Décor gaining such a large clientele over the last two years. But it seems a bit pretentious to her. Maybe once the kids are grown and moved out… in another eighteen years, she thinks, daydreaming of that pregnancy test again.
Tears well in her eyes. A baby. Her and Robin made a baby all on their own. She loves Roland as if he were hers, forgets sometimes that he isn't hers by blood, but it's exciting to think of a baby with her and her husband's genes mixed together. What will he or she look like? She imagines dark, raven hair like her but crystal blue eyes like Robin. God, she loves those eyes. She hopes any child they make, this one or any of the others she's suddenly planning to have over the next few years, come out with his eyes… and dimples.
He always claims he could look into her eyes for an eternity, just like he'd told her while proposing when he said, "You are so gorgeous, my love. I love looking into your eyes; I was born to gaze into them, I'm convinced."
She'd giggled at him at the time, but when she thinks about it, he isn't half crazy. A life where she gets to look at him forever is a pretty good one to her. She could stare at him for an eternity.
Thinking of her proposal, she remembers how he'd asked her to, "make me the happiest man on this Earth and marry me," and she can't help but smile as she sits in her kitchen chair, hand rubbing her still flat stomach that this news might just make him the happiest she's ever seen him.
Standing, she walks to the stove, pulling the kettle from the burner as it whistles it's completion. Steeping her tea bag in her favorite mug (the one that has two handprints on it, one for Henry and the other, Roland, and the words "WORLD'S GREATEST MOM!" inscribed upon it), she thinks of ways to tell Robin her joyous news.
Does she do some big, grand gesture? Or does she just hand him the test wrapped in a little bow? Should the boys be there? She shakes her head at herself, walking toward the living room to cuddle up on the couch. She wants to do this just the two of them before they tell their sons.
Pulling the blanket up over her legs and placing her laptop on her thighs, she clicks on the television. The house is quiet today, too quiet with Robin at work and her sons over at Emma's. Her best friend and Neal had gotten married a year ago, and just welcomed a little baby girl six months ago. The boys, who she thought at first wouldn't find any enjoyment in spending time with a newborn, have actually surprised her. Henry and Roland love playing with Elizabeth and often ask to go visit.
Today had worked out with Robin needing to go into the office (even though it's Sunday) and Regina needing to catch up on some digital designs, so off the boys went to Emma's house. Neal had picked them up earlier with a trio of wahoo!'s echoed throughout their apartment.
Giggling at the memory, she picks up her phone to text Emma, wanting to check in on her sons. The blonde assures them they're fine, sending her an adorable picture of Roland holding the baby as Henry reaches for Elizabeth's chubby little hand, so Regina sits back, sipping her tea and drawing inspiration from the Property Brother's episode that is playing in the background.
She opens her laptop, sending Tink an email to check in on the their former nanny's progress in her first solo project. Tink had graduated from design school a few months after Regina and Henry moved in to Robin's place. Since then, the girl has interned with Regina, and when the internship was up, Regina just couldn't let her go. She's been working at Storybook Décor for a little over two years now, and has proven to be a worthy asset.
She and Tink send a few messages back and forth, confirming wall colors and decoration she'd found at a flea market. After a while, she clicks over to the King's summer home, finalizing the last few touches with Mary Margaret.
Regina had sworn up and down during her first go round with the Kings that she would never, ever work with them again, but a year later, Mr. King had informed her that they were renovating their summer home like he'd told her after she redid their regular mansion and would be needing her design assistance in the near future. This project has taken far longer than their first house, rounding in on about ten months at this point, but she's almost done. Mr. and Mrs. King haven't been as insufferable this time, which she's been very thankful for.
Pulling herself from her thoughts about work, she opens up a new tab on her browser and opens up Pinterest. She's clueless as to how to tell Robin about the baby, so surely someone on this website has a cute idea.
After scrolling for a few minutes, her face lights up. Perfect, she thinks. She orders what she needs and closes her laptop, deciding she needs a shower before all the boys get home.
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Thank God for next day delivery, Regina thinks to herself, as she places the box on her counter. Last night had been torture not telling Robin about the baby. He'd noticed her odd behavior, she has no doubt about that. He kept asking if she was alright, if she needed anything, if she felt okay… to which Regina just smiled, promising him she was fine. She just had, "a lot of work to think about."
Robin, like always, had been understanding, offering to give her a shoulder rub while she got some work done on the laptop in bed that night. She'd willingly accepted.
Pulling the surprise out now, though, the tears spring to her eyes again. A baby. She can't believe she's going to have another baby. Henry's pregnancy had been so easy, she was only sick for the first month. Her ankles were swollen near the end, but all in all, it had been a breeze. She's heard horror stories of how each pregnancy can affect a woman differently, so she's anxious to see how this one plays out.
She wraps the gift up, placing it on the top shelf of the hall closet. She'd hate for Roland to find it and open it, effectively ruining the surprise for everyone. He's only eight (almost nine, as he likes to point out every chance he gets), so she'll cut him some slack.
She'd dropped Roland and Henry off at her parent's house a few hours ago for a fun filled evening of horseback riding with her father and dinner at the country club and came home to clean the apartment.
After cleaning the living room, she began pulling out ingredients for dinner. Tacos. Their go to dinner for special occasions now. It's simple, and not fancy by any means, but they hold a special meaning to them and their relationship.
As she's turning off the oven's burner where she's been browning the meat, the front door opens. Looking to her right, she sees Robin walking in, hanging his briefcase on the hook by the door and slipping off his jacket.
"Hey, love," he says with a tired smile, making his way over to where she stands, one hip leaning into the kitchen island. He bends down, placing a kiss to her lips.
She lets it linger, longer than he was planning if his surprised moan is anything to go by. Pulling apart, she smiles brightly up at him. "How was your day?"
He'd had to work later than usual, calling earlier to let her know he'd be home around eight instead of his usual six. That worked out for her though, having worked until five herself, then rushing to get the boys to her parents' house after they came home from school.
Robin walks to the refrigerator, pulling out the Brita and filling two glasses of water. He tells her work was fine, talks about the Sleep Tight: Baby Shampoo project he's been handling lately (the baby body wash campaign he'd done for them their first year together had been such a success, the company couldn't think of anyone better to handle the new Sleep Tight product) and tells her his newest employee, Mulan, has been a great help. "She's been a huge asset to this project, and seems to fit in with the guys just fine."
Regina smiles, glad he was able to find someone who fit in. He'd hired a man named Greg after Tuck went to seminary, but the man had been terrible at his job, and couldn't make it at Locksley Advertising. Robin had fired him a month into his employment.
He takes the waters he's poured over to the table before walking back over to Regina, wrapping his arms around her waist. She leans her head back onto his shoulder and sighs, imagining in a few months how her belly will be rounded and he might not be able to wrap his hands all the way around her. She giggles to herself at the mental image, excited already to get there.
"What's so funny?" he asks, pressing a kiss to the back of her head.
She giggles again, assuring him it's nothing. Regina moves out of his embrace, bending down to pull the taco shells out of the oven where she's placed them to stay warm. "Do you want the hard or soft shell tonight?"
He hums, going to pull plates out of the cabinet. "I might do one of each to start."
Rolling her eyes at his never ending appetite, a trait both Rolan and Henry seemed to have picked up lately, she takes the offered plate from his hands, giving him a grateful smile.
After fixing their plates, they move to the table, sitting across from each other. They eat, and talk, and relax, commenting on how weird it is to have the boys out of the house two days in a row. They'd eaten dinner at Neal and Emma's last night before being delivered back to them, so they've had both evenings just to themselves, a rare luxury in the lives of busy parents, especially with Regina's mother offering to keep the boys over night and drop them off at school in the morning. Regina smiles to herself, thinking how they won't have one of these for a while once the baby comes, but she couldn't be happier about that.
Her feet end up in his lap when she finishes eating as Robin rubs them lightly, digging in when he reaches the arch of her foot, knowing those always hurt more than any other part.
"Mmm," she moans, closing her eyes and leaning her head back. "That feels amazing."
He smiles, placing her feet back on the ground and standing, taking their plates. "Why don't you move to the couch while I clean up, my love, and then I'll give you a proper rub down?"
She grins at his wagging eyebrows but doesn't protest. Regina stands, placing a kiss to his cheek and a pat to his rear as he walks away. He chuckles out a minx as he makes his way to the kitchen.
While he's rinsing off and loading their dishes into the washer, she scurries to the hall closet to grab her surprise.
She places it on the coffee table before snuggling onto the couch to wait for him. He's talking to her about their weekend plans, how Neal wants all of them to go to his lake house on Saturday just to get away and let the baby experience it for the first time, but as soon as Robin utters the word baby, her mind is gone, imagining once again what their baby will look like. Will she have dark hair or blonde? Brown eyes? Blue? Whatever she has, she'll be beautiful. Or he. It could be a boy, but Regina just has a feeling, maybe just wishful thinking, that this one will be a girl.
"Where'd you go?" Robin chuckles, picking up her legs to sit, placing them back down in his lap. His hand begins to rub lightly up and down her calves, giving the balls of her feet a nice squeeze each time.
She laughs out a, "Sorry. In my own world, I guess," before sitting up and reaching for the present.
Robin's eyebrows crinkle as he shakes his head gently, asking, "What's this?"
Regina sits criss cross on the couch, making sure to face him completely as she hands it over. "Just a little something I saw that I wanted you to have."
"What's the occasion?"
"No reason," she laughs with a shrug to her shoulders, leaning over the press a peck to his lips.
He smiles at her, telling her she didn't have to get him anything, especially for no reason at all. She just shrugs again, urging him to open it.
As he's peeling the paper away, Regina wrings her hands together, suddenly nervous of his reaction. She knows he wants a baby, has no doubt about that, but is this the way she should tell him? Maybe she should've just given him the pregnancy test yesterday after taking it like most people do. "I need to tell you something, so I bought this to help me."
He's tosses the paper into her lap with a smirk and is lifting the lid of the box, but tilts his head up to look at her, confusion coloring his features. "What do you mean?"
"Just open it, babe!" she giggles when she sees he's stopped his ministrations on the present.
He chuckles, turning his attention to the box. He places the lid onto the coffee table before peering down inside.
Silence. It engulfs them for a second, and Regina feels as if all the air has left her lungs. He's staring at his gift, eyes wide but brows furrowed. He looks up at her, eyes glistening, then looks back down into the box.
"Regina," he whispers. "Truly?"
He pulls out the pregnancy test first (which she cleaned thoroughly beforehand), staring at it in disbelief. He covers his mouth with one hand, still holding the test close to his face with the other, the little plus sign staring at him dead on. He looks at her again, eyes still as wide, then looks down in the box. He places the pregnancy test on his knee while he pulls out the onesie she'd ordered. It's a little light gray one with the words "Let the Adventure Begin" written on it in white, a small arrow underlining the word adventure. It was too cute to pass up when she saw it yesterday online, knowing this is definitely going to be a new adventure for their family. They've never raised a baby together - three AM feedings, diaper changes, crying and teething… she can't wait.
"You're pregnant?" he asks incredulously, still looking at her in disbelief. His eyes drift down to her stomach as if he can see the baby through the layers of clothes and skin. When he looks back up to her for confirmation, his eyes are wet, a single tear threatening to fall down his cheek.
She giggles wetly, nodding her head and swallowing around the lump in her throat. "Yes," she breathes shakily, "We're having a baby, Robin."
He lets out a deep breath, moving the contents of his present to the table so he can wrap Regina in his arms. "Oh my god," he cries, that tear finally falling.
She reaches up, wiping the tears from his cheeks and pressing her lips to his. They pull apart, smiling widely at each other. "We're having a baby," he whispers reverently into the space between them.
Robin pulls her into his lap, her legs dangling off one side as her arms wrap around his shoulders. He buries his nose into her neck, breathing her in and whispering I love you over and over again.
He sits back, looking into her eyes, and reaches up to wipe the wetness from under her eyes. "I love you too," she tells him, bumping her nose to his.
"So what's next?" he asks excitedly, pulling her close to him as he settles back onto the couch. "Do we go to the doctor? We need to buy clothes, and diapers, and bottles, and…"
She laughs at his questions, at his excitement, promising all of that will come. "It's still really early, honey, but yes, I need to make a doctor's appointment first."
He nods, telling her to let him know when it is so, "I can take off work. I want to be there, at every single appointment, so I can get a glimpse of this little guy every chance I get." His hand finds its way to her stomach, giving her a gentle rub.
"Little guy, huh?" she asks, turning her head to look at him with a raised brow. "What if it's a girl?"
He chuckles, placing a kiss to her shoulder. "Then she'll be the most beautiful baby girl to ever be born… and the most protected with all these boys around her."
They laugh together, imagining how protective Henry and Roland would be of their baby sister (if Elizabeth is any indication), along with Robin looking out for her.
"She'll never date with all of you surrounding her," she laughs, running a hand through Robin's hair.
"She won't need to date!" he declares indignantly, "She'll have me, and Henry, and Roland to keep her company."
She tilts her head back in laughter, saying they'll cross that bridge when they get there. She scoots off his lap, cuddling into his side as they both prop their feet up onto the wooden coffee table. "First things first, we have to wait a few more weeks to even see if it's a boy or a girl."
Robin sighs, whispering an it's going to be a girl, I can just feel it, which makes her smile, glad to see she convinced him so easily that their baby would be a girl. She'll be overjoyed and will love another baby boy, no doubt, but it'd be nice to have some more estrogen in this apartment, too.
"Boy or girl, it's going to be amazing," Robin says, resting his head atop hers. They sit in silence for a beat, his hand never leaving her abdomen.
She laces their fingers together over her belly, talking quietly with one another about how her stomach will grow over the next few months. They discuss what color hair and eyes they think it'll have, agreeing that no matter what, it'll be beautiful.
"The boys are going to be so excited!" Robin says suddenly, breaking their bubble of silence. "Roland's been asking about a baby ever since we came home from the cruise!"
Regina laughs, agreeing that both boys will be very excited. "They might not be as excited when the baby wakes them up at four AM crying, but they'll love her just the same."
There'd been lots of babies surrounding them two years ago, half a year before their wedding, on their family cruise, and Roland has been insistent ever since that they needed a baby in this house. After Emma gave birth, he's been asking more and more about when their baby was going to get there, leading Regina to tell Robin that it might be time to explain where babies come from to him.
He laughs, pulling her closer and pressing another kiss to her lips. "The boys will love this baby," he says, rubbing her stomach again, "no matter what it is."
She hums in agreement, telling him she wants to wait a little bit longer before they tell the boys, to which her agrees. Smiling up at him, Regina pats Robin's chest softly and presses a gentle kiss to his lips before sitting up. She stands, holding out her hand for his, and he takes it, standing and wrapping his arms around her waist. Regina smiles, leaning in to kiss his lips fully. They stand there, enjoying the freedom that comes with not having any little boys' ewwww's echoing throughout the apartment at their displays of affection.
She deepens the kiss, letting her tongue trail along the line of his lips until he opens, granting her access. Her hands intertwine into the hair at the nape of his neck, while one of his hands holds her waist and the other pushes her hair back before cradling her neck. He moans, opening his mouth wider. They stand there, hands roaming and mouths connecting until the need to breathe is too strong. They break apart, both smiling ear to ear.
"Robin," she says seductively, stepping back and taking his hand. "Take me to bed."
He smiles cheekily, lacing their fingers together and pulling her down the hallway in the direction of their bedroom with a gladly, darling, falling from his lips. He turns the lights in the living room off, save for the lamp that's on a timer, ensuring they won't need to leave their room the rest of the night to come clean up or turn anything off.
She giggles, grabbing him to her halfway down the hall and kissing him soundly. He walks them back so her back presses against the wall, kissing and sucking her neck. "I love you," she breathes out, letting her hand roam down his back.
"And I, you," he vows, stepping back a touch and running his nose along the length of hers before picking her up and carrying her back to the comfort of their bed.
She never thought three years ago when she agreed to move in with Robin that life would take such a drastic, yet wonderful, turn. Engaged, married and pregnant all within the span of almost four years. It hasn't seemed too quick to her, though, they've just been living life. That's the thing with soulmates - it's all about the timing. You don't need a lot of time to figure life out, you just live it… together.
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If you missed Robin's proposal that I referenced at the beginning of this story, it can be found in my first chapter of "Designing Our Future". Remember, DOF is by prompts only so if you would like to see more of Robin and Regina in the Designing Love verse, DM me prompts on here or twitter and I'll add them to the list! Thanks again for your support :)