Long Winded A/N:

I would like to take a second to address a comment I received from a reviewer on my last chapter. I'm posting here because I think it's important. I was left a negative comment which basically stated that Emma checking in with Regina during sex to make sure she's okay is stating that Emma thinks, or that I am implying that, Regina is weak. That she is so weak she is incapable of making her own decisions or of speaking up.

This is incorrect. Not only is it incorrect, it is dangerous to think that if the other person wants to object, they will. Spoiler alert: that's wrong. No matter how strong, sometimes you freeze, sometimes you panic, sometimes you just can't, for whatever reason, put a stop to things. And the other person stopping and asking, "are you okay?" or "is this okay?" gives you the chance to shake your head, to say no, or to remove yourself from the situation.

You don't check in with someone because you think they are weak. You check in because you care. You check in because you love them or at the very least respect them. You check in to make sure for them and for yourself that they still want this. That what you are doing is okay. Because even if they love you, even if they want one thing they may not want another. They might like you touching above the waist but not below. How do you know unless you ask? It's about communicating with the person you are with. And let's be honest, consent is fucking sexy. What is sexier than hearing "Yes. I want you. I want this. Touch me. (etc)".

So yes, Emma will be checking in, multiple times in fact. And it is not because Regina is weak or has no voice. And Regina will check in as well, because they love each other. Because they care. And frankly, because they should.

"A date? Haven't you moved past the dating stage? She is pregnant with your child."

Emma shrugged, leaning up against the wall outside the bathroom. Regina had practically run out of the last store, insisting she needed to pee now.

"We've technically only had one date and that ended badly. My fault. I fucked it up. And I want to make it up to her. I wanna take her on dates. I wanna dress up for her and hold her hand and listen to her talk about whatever she wants. I wanna give her my undivided attention for as long a she wants it. She deserves to be wined and dined, to be treated like the Goddess that she is, and I wanna be the one to do it."

"So where are you taking her?" Snow asked, her heart swooning a little at her daughter's declaration. She loved love and it was obvious to see the affection in her daughter's eyes.

"I was thinking that new Italian place on Fourth. Did you find an outfit like I asked?"

"Yes, we did, but it was hard to choose something with your very unhelpful pick something really nice, trust me. And I had a hard time convincing her to buy something formal without giving a reason why. You're not going to surprise her, are you?"

Emma frowned at her mother's disapproving tone.

"I was gonna tell her I had a surprise for her."

Snow immediately shook her head.

"You never surprise a pregnant woman, Emma. You don't have to tell her where you're taking her, but you need to tell her you're planning a date for tomorrow night. Besides, don't you want her to have the memory of you asking her out and not just imposing it on her?"

Emma, a little bummed, nodded.

"I kinda wanted to surprise her though."

"You can surprise her with flowers or chocolates or a gift on a random day. But don't surprise her by taking her out without warning her first. Trust me. Tell her you want a date. Besides, the anticipation will be that much better."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Right about what?" Regina asked, pressing against Emma's side as she joined the conversation.

"That… it's time for a little break because you're probably tired."

Regina nodded. They'd gone to three different maternity stores, Regina had tried on countless tops, sweaters, pants, skirts, and bras. Emma had been banished from the change rooms after she'd been a little too "helpful" while Regina tried on the maternity bras, replaced by Snow who had been annoyingly doting, gushing every time Regina's belly was exposed to her. Truthfully, Regina liked Emma's wandering eyes and hands, but not when Snow was standing just outside their change room door, so she'd been forced to push her out of the room when those wandering hands had refused to keep away from her body.

But Regina was very tired after trying on all those clothes, and even the prospect of looking at baby items wasn't enough to make her want to keep shopping without a break. She had managed to get four bags of clothing, not including the one which held an incredibly formal dress that Snow insisted she purchase ("just in case") while Emma had wandered off into a neighbouring store.

Truthfully, Regina had asked for a bathroom break so that she could sit down (in addition to the very real need to pee), but if Emma was offering to take a moment to sit down, she wasn't going to say no.

"A break would be very nice. I'm thirty."

"Why didn't you say anything, baby?" Emma chastised softly, rubbing her back. "I'd have gone to get something."

"I did," Regina smirked. "Just now. Will you get me a fruit smoothie? Strawberry, kiwi, and pineapple?"

"Anything you want. Let's go sit so I can put these bags down and I'll get you that smoothie."

Regina sat at their chosen table, sighing in relief as Emma made her way to the opposite side, seated directly across from Regina, and hung their bags on the back of the chair. She then returned, leaning over Regina and kissing her temple.

"Pineapple, strawberry, and kiwi?"

"Yes, please."

"Anything to eat?"

Regina hesitated, then realised her stomach was fairly empty.

"Yogurt? Or a muffin. Or a pastry."

Emma nodded.

"Okay. Mom? Anything?"

"A pomegranate slushie and a chocolate chip cookie."

A strange request, but Emma heeded it. She ordered that, Regina's smoothie, her own banana one and an array of snacks she thought might appeal to her pregnant girlfriend. And a doughnut, which she decided was worth hearing Regina's lecture when she read its description (caramel glazed, chocolate, hazelnut, and filled with more caramel). The doughnut was huge, took up the entire dessert plate, and Emma's stomach jumped with excitement at the prospect of eating it.

Emma carried the tray of drinks and snacks to their table, placing her mom's cookies (she'd gotten her 2) and her drink before her, before turning the tray and placing Regina's drink, her yogurt, danish, and croissant on a plate before her. She then put her own plate and drink in front of herself, getting up to place the tray she'd taken with the other dirty ones. On her way back, she spotted Regina eyeing her doughnut, obviously forcing herself to listen to whatever Snow was saying as she glanced back at the dessert. Emma sighed, resigning herself to the fact that she had just lost her treat. She eyed the line at the juice bar she'd just left, shaking her head. By the time she'd be able to get another one, her mother and girlfriend would have long finished their food. She'd just come back another day and get another one.

Emma dropped into her seat, returning Regina's smile when their eyes met.

"Here," she said, offering the dessert Regina had been eyeing. "I got this for you."

"No you didn't. You got that for yourself."

"I did," Emma admitted, "but you want it. Have it. I'll eat your danish." Strawberry and cream cheese weren't exactly what she wanted, but hey. A pastry was a pastry.

Regina hesitated. She did want that doughnut, but she certainly didn't need it. Nor did she need those calories. But she could practically taste the pastry on her lips, could feel the sugary goodness in her mouth, racing through her body. She salivated at the thought of digging her teeth into the fluffy dough, and she'd be lying through her teeth if she said she didn't really, really want it.

Emma reached over and traded their plates, placing her dessert in front of Regina and grabbing her danish.

"Are you sure?" Regina asked, even as she reached down for the delicious looking treat.

"Yeah. You and baby have it."

Snow watched from her seat, smiling to herself as she watched her daughter give up her (obviously) much desired doughnut. She knew what cravings were like, knew the way they took control and demanded to be satisfied even when you normally didn't eat crushed Cheetos and Rocky Road ice cream or ate raw onions like an apple (or needed to consume the liquid from jars of pickled carrots- discarding the carrots of course, a secret to which David is sworn under penalty of death).

But those cravings were serious when they hit and sometimes they hit out of nowhere. Snow was warmed to see that her daughter, who normally hoarded her food (Snow had asked about it once, and Emma had said something about being hungry all the time as a child and needing to fight foster siblings for food. Snow hadn't ever asked about her childhood again, too disturbed by that one comment to risk asking about anything else.), gave up her coveted dessert to Regina. Emma did a lot of things for Regina, shared a lot with her, that she normally would not with anyone else. Except maybe Henry.

Regina moaned loudly, snapping Snow from her thoughts as she looked over at the pregnant woman, who looked sinfully happy. Her eyes rolled in her head as she licked at the string of caramel oozing from the pastry in her hand, Snow feeling as though she were intruding on something much less innocent than someone enjoying a doughnut.

Emma coughed and shifted, choosing to look at the water fountain across the food court rather than at her unbelievably sexy girlfriend, who was currently licking chocolate and caramel from her fingers. Emma bit her lip as she fought both her arousal and her urge to laugh as Regina deftly tried to clean up the gooey mess, blindly reaching down for her danish and taking an impressive bite. She ate it silently, glancing around the food court, trying to convince herself this treat was more satisfying than what she had originally chosen.

"Here," Regina spoke after several quiet moments, pulling Emma's attention back to her. "I saved you a portion."

"No, it's okay. I ate my danish. It was good."

"Emma," Regina said reproachfully. "We both know that that was for me and this doughnut was for you. You were kind enough to give it up because the baby suddenly decided it needed it." She pushed the plate with the bit of pastry left over to Emma's side of the table. "The baby has had enough sugar. Here. Eat it and stop arguing with me."

Emma grinned, reaching down and popping the rest of the doughnut in her mouth. Her taste buds danced and her eyes lit up the second her tongue made contact with the tasty dessert. It was every bit as delicious as it had looked. Fuck, that's good.

"Emma!" Snow chided.

"Wha-?" Emma said, chuckling around her significant mouthful. She choked for a second before resuming laughing, quickly chewing and taking a sip of her drink to wash down the rest of her food.

"Serves you right for shoving that into your mouth like an animal."

"Oh, she's no animal. Animals know how to chew their food properly," Regina snarked, turning in her chair to get up. "Shall we?"

"You people are awful to me," Emma complained, grabbing the bags from the back of her chair. "I don't know why I'm friends with you."

"Mhmm. Come, my little pack mule," Regina said lightly, crooking her index fingers. "I'll have more bags for you to carry soon."

Regina groaned, lowering herself to the couch and propping her feet up on her coffee table (something she never did, but her feet were throbbing in pain). She sighed heavily, waiting for Emma to join her in the living room. She listened to the sound of her girlfriend carrying their bags upstairs, no doubt dropping them on her bedroom floor to sort through later. They had shopped for another additional two hours, crooning over baby clothes and toys, trying to decide what the theme for the nursery should be. They still had time to decide, not picking anything out today, but they had purchased a significant amount of gender neutral baby clothes. Regina had been unable to resist the tiny "Mommy loves me" onesies she had found (as well as a few unbearably soft baby blankets), but Emma and Snow had gone on a veritable shopping spree. They had purchased diapers, hats, mittens, booties, receiving blankets… It seemed every few feet Emma or Snow found something the baby absolutely needed.

Regina didn't mind though. She had been the same when she had been in the process of adopting Henry (and she had had an immense amount of energy at the time given that she was both younger and not pregnant). She'd loved sorting through baby clothes and toys, cooing over the tiny outfits. She did have fun this time, although if she'd have had her choice, she'd have ended things far sooner than Snow and Emma had decided to. She was exhausted, had been for a while, but Regina didn't want to deny her lover the experience so she'd let her be, only stepping in when Emma wanted to impulse buy a race-car themed stroller, insisting on something more practical (and with thorough research done before hand).

"Hey there, gorgeous. How you feeling?"

"I have never felt such pain in my feet," Regina complained.

Emma frowned, making her way into the living room and sitting down next to Regina's feet at the coffee table. She slipped her hand under one ankle, slowly stripping off a sock. Her eyes widened at the swelling of Regina's feet, fingers tracing over Regina's calves, where her socks had made ridges in her skin.

"You're swollen."

Regina nodded, closing her eyes as she rested her head back on the couch.

"We spent quite some time walking. I'm not surprised."

"Do you want me to massage them? I'll grab some lotion from the pantry."

Regina almost said no, almost, but the idea of her feet being rubbed was far too enticing to resist.

"Yes, please."

"Okay. One second."

In Emma's absence, Regina reached into her pocket and fished out her phone. She scrolled in her contacts until she reached "Superawesomeson" (he had changed his name nearly a year ago, and Regina still hadn't changed it), swiping across it and bringing the phone to her ear. Henry had texted saying that he was headed over to see his grandfather when his mothers decided they were going to continue shopping, bored of being at home alone, and Regina wanted to make sure he was still with there.

"There she is. I almost thought I'd been abandoned. You've been gone forever!"

Regina rolled her eyes.

"That is not how you answer a phone, Henry Daniel Mills."

She could hear him laughing on the other line.

"It is if I wanna make you grumpy. So how was your shopping trip? Have fun? Buy me anything nice?"

Regina opened her mouth, suddenly hit with a pang of guilt when she realised that no, she hadn't. She had bought the baby a great many things, but she hadn't bought anything for Henry.

"Mom?"

"Sorry. Yes, the shopping trip was quite productive. Your mother and grandmother purchased the entire baby store, I'm sure of it. But we didn't find anything for you there. We can go-"

"Nah, I was just bugging you, mom. I don't need anything, but I know the baby does. So what did you buy?"

"Clothes, mostly," she answered, pushing aside her guilt. "I'll show you when you arrive. What time are you coming home?"

Henry shrugged, then realised his mother couldn't see him.

"I don't know. I was gonna hang out with grandma and grandpa for a while if that's okay with you. Grandpa is making tacos."

"Ah. I see. The mother who raised you, nurtured you, and loved you unconditionally rates below tacos."

Henry remained silent for a moment, fighting the grin on his face as he answered in a serious tone.

"Mom. They're tacos. Come on."

"Goodbye, Henry," Regina said with a smirk, shaking her head and hanging up. Like mother, like son.

"What was with the tone?" Emma asked. She could hear the amusement in Regina's voice.

"Nothing. Simply that our son is far too much like his birth mother. I should have driven you out of town the second you returned with him so that you wouldn't have influenced his character the way that you have."

Emma laughed, dropping back down onto the coffee table and pulling Regina's feet into her lap. She took off the sock on her left foot, baring both feet, and squeezed a small amount of lotion into her hand. She then began to rub Regina's foot, trying her best to ignore just how much she enjoyed the woman's moans of delight.

"Yeah, but if you'd have done that, he wouldn't be as kickass as he is. And, you wouldn't be carrying that," Emma said, pointing at Regina's belly. "Protégé number 2."

Regina sighed heavily before looking down at her stomach and rubbing her hand over it in circles.

"You will be nothing like her, right? Right? You love your mommy too much. You'll be just like me."

"Oh, shit. I'm a goner then. I can barely resist you. I'll be powerless if there's two of you."

Regina smiled, pleased at the sudden flattery. Emma noticed Regina's soft expression, thoroughly enjoying the fact that she was the one to put it there.

"So, this one's going to call you 'mommy', huh?"

Regina nodded.

"Henry called me 'mommy' until he decided he was far too grown up for such a childish term. I was rather fond of it and was saddened when he chose to change it."

"It's sad when they start growing up. I was telling my dad, I think I want this one to call me 'mama' instead of ma. At least until this kid is older."

"Mama and mommy," Regina said, her tone filled with simple happiness.

Emma nodded, shifting her attention to Regina's other foot.

"You know, I was looking for like, 'moms' or 'mama' baby clothes, but there aren't any. Not that I was surprised, but I was hoping to find something. There weren't even any speciality stores where you could customise stuff, like where I got those other onesies when my dad and I went shopping for your gifts when you first said you were pregnant. I guess we'll have to go online now to get 'mommies' stuff."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, like. We got a lot of 'My mommy loves me' or 'I'm cute, just like my mom' or 'Mommy's little rockstar'. We did find that one 'I love my ma' onesie, but nothing else with 'ma' or 'mama' and nothing at all with 'moms' or 'mommies'. You know, you're mommy, but I'm ma or mama. And the kid has two moms. It's not just you who's gonna love it," Emma said softly, looking down at Regina's foot as she rubbed it. "I don't know. I guess I'd just like more things that aren't just specific to 'mom'. I want people to know there are two moms and I want the kid to know I love it too."

Regina frowned. She could hear Emma's tone. It betrayed her upset. Regina had no idea Emma felt this way. She shifted, pulling her feet away and cutting off Emma's question.

"This bothered you. Is that why you kept going through every rack of clothing?"

"Well, I mean, not the only reason."

Regina reached out, grabbing Emma's wrist.

"Emma, this child will know that he or she has two mothers who love him or her dearly. And everyone in this town will know that you helped create this child. And that you are helping to raise this baby with me. Even if everything this child wears only states 'mommy' or 'mom', that doesn't mean the clothes aren't talking about you too. But, I do understand what you're saying.

"We'll search online, alright? I know for a fact that there are several gay and lesbian friendly websites which carry baby clothing. And we will search for things that say 'ma' as well, and if there aren't any you like, we can have some custom made, just as you did before. You know that Belle is an expert with the sewing machine and Granny loves to knit. I'm sorry, my love. I had no idea this was on your mind today."

Emma shrugged, gently nudging Regina back so that she could scoop her feet into her lap again.

"It wasn't like, upsetting me or whatever. I had a really good time today and I had a lot of fun picking out stuff. It just kinda on my mind that like nothing out there says 'ma'. I guess it's not that popular?"

"Perhaps not. Or perhaps it is not as popular in this part of the country. Regardless, there is an entire other world online. There will be much more choice and you'll be overwhelmed by the amount of 'ma' baby clothes."

Emma smiled, digging her thumbs into the arch of Regina's foot and enjoying the soft groan she got from the other woman.

"Good. I wanna corrupt the kid as soon as I can. You know, teach it to be as much like me as early as possible."

Regina paused.

"On second thought, I was mistaken. There is no online shopping. And there will not be anything 'ma' related online either. So, there's no point in looking. We'll have to stick to all the 'mommy' clothes we purchased."

Emma laughed, rubbing the top of Regina's foot.

"Nice try."

She continued massaging as Regina sighed contently and closed her eyes, enjoying the attention to her swollen feet. Emma rubbed and kneaded, pressed and squeezed, and when her hands and forearms began to ache a little, she shook out her hands and kept going. Only when Regina finally cracked one eye open and gave her a lazy smile did she stop for a second.

"Yes?" Emma asked.

"I feel much better."

Emma chuckled.

"Yeah? Good. Do you want me to keep going?"

Regina shook her head. She had peeked earlier when Emma had stopped touching her feet, closing her eyes again a second later and waiting just long enough that Emma wouldn't think she had asked her to stop because she knew her lover was getting a cramp in her arms. She wouldn't have said no to another – oh – two hours of foot massaging, but she was certainly feeling better now. So she decided to put a stop to the wonderful attention, knowing Emma would have continued until her arms ached and throbbed. Even then, she probably would have kept going.

"No, darling. I'm fine now. Thank you. Now wash your hands and join me on the couch."

"Yes, ma'am."

Emma got up and hurriedly put the bottle of lotion away, scrubbing her hands clean of the slippery liquid and then returning to the living room. She paused next to Regina, who was looking at her belly and smiling. Emma gave a small, crooked grin, her heart swelling at the pure, unadulterated look of happiness on Regina's face.

"You're cute."

Regina huffed, looking up at her with disdain.

"I am not."

"Yeah, you kinda are, lying there rubbing your belly. You're cute."

"Call me cute again, Miss Swan, and you will be dodging fireballs."

Emma laughed, snuggling into the couch and curling up against Regina.

"Cute," she whispered, kissing Regina's cheek.

A/N: I also will take this chance to say thank you so much to everyone for reading and thank you to those who review. I don't have the opportunity to personally respond to every review anymore now that I don't have internet, but I just want to say your reviews are extremely encouraging. So thanks!