22. Name

Ruby remembered watching Snow go through her nine months of pregnancy; she had helped Snow through the process and encouraged her. None of that prepared Ruby for her own pregnancy. Her moods were erratic, she was sore in places, even the thought of some foods made her gag, and her sense of smell had spiked in sensitivity. She wore her cloak as a precaution, unsure of what the full moon might do to the growing child.

The only relief in all of it was when Snow and David found out they were expecting, too. The townspeople soon became interested in the arrival of a new prince or princess, and stopped paying as much attention to the expectant mad doctor and his werewolf wife.

"If one more person made a crack about our child being born with bolts on their neck, I might've punched them," Victor grumbled.

"Someone asked me if we were expecting a litter," Ruby added.

"They do know you're not actually a wolf, right?"

"Sometimes I'm not sure," she sighed.

"Guess that means we can't name our child 'Wolf', either," Victor commented. Ruby gave him a sharp look but the spark in his eyes assured her he was joking. "Apparently one version of my story did that," he explained.

Ruby was so taken by surprise she couldn't help but laugh. "We really were meant to be." Victor matched her smile, sweeping her into his arms and pressing a kiss to her mouth. At least that part of their interactions hadn't changed. In fact, sometimes it was hard to let him leave for work.

"We should think of names, though," Ruby noted after they finally broke the embrace. Their laced hands rested over her swelling belly. "What do you think of Frederick for a boy?"

"Like Gene Wilder's character?" They had recently watched the film during their movie night, and Victor had been surprisingly delighted by all the jokes made about his character and world. "I like that idea. What about for a girl?"

"You pick," Ruby told him, giving him a gentle poke. He caught her hand and kissed the fingers. She loved his little signs of affection but these days, found it harder to not respond to them with something a lot more intimate.

"Sonia," he decided at last.

"That's pretty. Where's that name from?"

"Henry told me about a series of games that take place in a world like mine. She's a character in one of them."

Frederick or Sonia. They had an upcoming sonogram that would give them a visual of their child. Ruby's changing body assured her this was all very real every day but sometimes it still felt unbelievable that all this was happening. Finding a love that accepted and understood her was incredible on its own. But to share her life with him, to have a child with him and anticipate it enough to have a crib built and names chosen...

She never would have experienced any of this if Regina never cast the curse. She would still be in the Enchanted Forest and Victor would still be in his world. They both would've been able to continue on with their lives, but it would be a lonelier existence. Or worse...

And of course, this child wouldn't even exist were it not for the curse.

"What do you think you would be doing, if we hadn't been cursed?" she wondered out loud.

"I would probably be dead," Victor answered. "Either Gerhardt would've killed me or I would've done it myself, after finally ending his misery. There are enough bullets in a pistol for both." Sometimes his blunt language was a little too harsh and Ruby winced at the image. For her part, she knew she would've been okay as playing the best friend and cool aunt, but it would've felt empty. But that emptiness paled in comparison to how it felt thinking of life without Victor.

"Victor..." She chose her words carefully. "This pregnancy... It's going to turn out okay, you know? The sonogram's going to show us a healthy child. You'll be the one delivering the baby; it'll be fine."

"I'm not sure-" He swallowed hard. "I'm not sure it should be me." It was hard for him to escape the idea that he would lose everything again. The deaths of his blood family members had hurt, but losing this one would devastate him. And it was so fragile... He knew he wouldn't be able to bear it if something went wrong under his watch.

"Of course it should be you," Ruby argued fiercely. "You're the only one in the whole town who wasn't cursed with their medical degree. Besides, I wouldn't trust anyone else with our child."

Victor didn't answer, so Ruby grabbed his hand and dragged him the rest of the way to the hospital. She refused to let go of him, so one of the nurses got her up on the bed and applied the gel for the sonogram.

"Victor. Look at our child." Victor obeyed, the dark cloud rising as he took in the picture. He turned back to Ruby, his eyes misting over. She smiled at him and squeezed his hand. "Say hello," she encouraged him.

"Hello, Sonia or Frederick." He leaned down, pressing a kiss on Ruby's stomach. She swore she heard the baby's heart rate change and when she glanced at the screen, it looked like there was movement.

"See?" Ruby lifted his face so she could kiss him. "We are Frankensteins, and our name stands for life."