Trigger Warning: Pregnancy loss

Chapter Twenty-eight

No My Monkeys, Not My Circus: At least for an hour

"You're sorry, what do you mean you're sorry," Regina growled. "Where is the heartbeat, Whale?" Whale backed away from Regina.

"I swear, I have learned my lesson, but I cannot find one."

"Baby calm down, you said, yourself that their magic was preventing you from even checking in," Emma pointed out.

"I've been under the weather," Regina told her. "Maybe that's why, try again Whale."

"There's no fetal heart movement," Whale told her quietly. Regina stared at the screen in disbelief before she ran her hand over her stomach along with Emma. They reached out for their child, but nothing reached back for them. In fact, that magic that once was, was reabsorbing back into her body.

"Perhaps all the portal jumps took its toll, you did say it was five years."

"But they were strong," Regina whispered. "I know it…"

"Poison, maybe Leopold tried to take you out," Whale suggested.

"I can detect… everything," Regina finished lamely.

"What, what?" Emma asked.

"Some things are fated," Regina told her quietly. "The morning of the last day, I remember for some reason, that morning's tea was extremely hot that I burnt my tongue, and someone had gifted Snow with rabbits. I'm allergic to them. I couldn't smell or taste anything when Leopold started toasting Snow and her Uncle. He must have slipped me something then…" Regina let her tears fall as well as Emma.

"Uh what now?" Emma asked her primary concern was the health of Regina.

"Uh well you were about 20 weeks. We wait and see, or I could do a dilation and…"

"No," Regina snapped.

"Baby…."

"No," Regina snapped again. "I am not letting him cut up our baby into little pieces until they're unrecognizable. We'll wait and see." Emma frowned.

"All right, I get it, and we'll have a little service for them properly." Regina nodded. It was with a heavy heart she cleaned her stomach off. They returned home in silence to a full house.

"Mom," Henry called, excited. "I had the best idea and Ruby brought the stuff." He pulled Regina into the kitchen and out the door into a waiting chair before they could say anything.

"Change into a sports bra Queenie!" Ruby exclaimed. The girls were happily playing with their Godmothers and Abuelo. Cora was around but detached.

"Why?" Regina asked.

"So, we can make a belly cast, Ma's going to keep track on the paper, and then we're going to make a physical cast as it grows," Henry grinned. Regina was silent for a minute before she stood up and went back into the house as tears started spilling out.

"Mom?" Henry called. Emma cringed and told them to leave her be, because she didn't like to cry in front of others. Emma went in but stopped at the door for a minute before she came back out.

"I thought you were going to Mom," Henry said. He was sitting in the chair now huffing that Regina didn't like his plan.

"She asked me to tell you guys already," Emma replied.

"That she'll be back in a minute?" Henry asked hopefully as he perked up.

"No, she's going to go lay down, but uh we didn't get good news at the doctor's appointment today. Henry Sr. came over with Belle, Kathryn, and the girls. Cora was also paying attention now. "The last day that we were in the other realm. Leopold managed to poison Regina or rather the baby, so there will be no baby and now we need to wait for them to come out so we can have a proper burial." Before Emma could react, Henry Sr. and Henry were rushing into the house. To her slight amusement Henry Sr. was glaring at his grandson for being cuddled up to Regina.

"There's a reason he's your namesake," Emma told him. Henry Sr. huffed but sat on the end of the bed and patted her leg. He said something in Spanish and got a watery smile out of Regina. Cora came up eventually and placed a hand over Regina and her belly.

"What did you do?" Emma demanded to know as Regina was left gasping a little.

"Pulled the rest of the poison from my daughter," Cora told her. "If he weren't already dead, I'd crush his heart myself. I did unfortunately have to push the remnants into my loss grandchild, but I thought it better my living grandchildren didn't inadvertently lose a mother. And I will not lose my child again."

"Thank you," Regina whispered before she sat up in pain.

"Mom," Henry said.

"I'm okay, I just think the wait and see is happening sooner rather than later now that Mother saved me. My body wants to be rid of the poison."

"Let me pack you a bag and we'll head to the hospital." Regina nodded as she breathed through a contraction. She hated that this felt just like labor, because she knew she wouldn't be meeting her baby at the end of it.

"I will go with you, mi Cielo," Henry Sr. told her as he stroked her head. Henry glared at his grandfather as he hugged Regina close.

"Are you two gonna fight for my attention?" Regina asked them, trying to distract herself from the pain.

"I wasn't at first, but Grandpa came back with brand new energy," Henry told her.

"I've only just gotten you back mi Cielo, not even my own grandson could oust me as the most important man in your life." Henry gasped in absolute offense.

"Don't forget you're still old, I'm your replacement old man, eventually you'll die again, and I will have spent more time with her than you." Henry told him. Regina couldn't help the laugh that escaped her through her tears.

"I've got her realm's father's years too, and from my understanding that was at least twenty!" Henry Sr. cried.

"Naw, don't count old man, outlive me if you think you can," Henry argued back. He didn't know why his mom was laughing, his grandfather was dead serious as far as he could tell.

"I will," Henry Sr. declared.

"At the rate you two are going, you'll both out last me," Regina commented right before a particularly strong contraction hit.

"Move," Cora snapped at both Henry and his grandfather. They moved and Cora sent a calming magic into Regina.

"That helps," Regina sighed.

"Of course, Mother knows best," Cora said. Regina normally hated when she said that, but right now she had to agree. Emma had her bag packed and helped her down the stairs. She took a moment to give kisses to the girls and explain she would be back in a little while. Darien, however, was suspicious and started crying, which prompted Xavieré and Lincoln to also start crying. It was a mess of pulling babies away from Regina and Regina away from them so she could get medical attention because all she wanted was to cling to all her babies. Henry certainly was instrumental and earned a glare from Henry Sr as Regina clung to him in the back of the car.

"Kid, walk slowly and go get a soda for yourself and ice chips for your mom." Henry nodded as Emma gave him some money. Once Henry was gone Emma moved Henry Sr out of the way. "My turn for pain management." Henry Sr. pouted as Cora rolled her eyes at him and removed her magic. She thought Emma might activate her magic, but despite Regina crushing her hand as she lay behind her, she mostly rubbed her stomach and hugged her close.

"Daddy get the doctor," Regina told him. He nodded and went out, but it was too late as Regina hissed and she had delivered her baby in a gush of blood onto the pad she was on. She was sobbing and had wrapped her baby in a thin infant hospital blanket when her midwife came in with Dr. Whale, Henry Sr., and Henry. There were tears all around really especially from Regina seeing the dark lines that marked yet another of her children at Leopold's hand. Emma was furious inside and if she hadn't seen him die, she would honestly go back to that realm and kill him herself for this.

"Looks like we got the boy we wanted," Emma lied to Henry. Henry was all tears and pretty sure Emma was lying. Emma for her part had no idea why she'd said that, their child was gone and pretending it was a boy wasn't going to make it better. She supposed she just wanted to live in a fantasy and didn't have to face her daughter was dead.

"Do you want to give them a name?" Regina asked Henry. "You wanted them the most, so I think it's only fair."

"Not the most," Henry denied. Regina smiled at him.

"Yeah, you did, and that's all right baby, and I want you to name them." Henry wiped his tears as he nodded. Regina allowed him to hold his sibling for a little while, especially while she had to get cleaned up.

"I'm gonna name him Promise," Henry told them. "Promise Daniel Mills."

"Why Promise?" Cora asked. She didn't care for the name.

"Because I promised them, they'd join our family again," Henry told her. They're the promise of a brother." He looked slyly at Regina and Emma. Regina was conveniently not looking at him, as much as this hurt, she had no intentions of getting pregnant on purpose or accident. Especially not to experiment for a boy. She was magically coding all the condoms in advance.

"How about we promise that they're a part of the family and always in our hearts," Emma told him. "You don't get to try and play on your mother's feelings. She didn't want to be pregnant again in the first place." Henry glared at Emma and then whispered to his sibling.

"Don't worry Ma will mess up again." Emma glared at her son.

"I will not."

"You will and that's why we love you," Henry told her. "I bet you couldn't even true love kiss mom now without getting her pregnant." Regina literally shoved Emma off the bed when she saw her trying to prove a point.

"Ow, Regina!" Emma cried.

"Sorry, I've just been through hell, you were not about to do that to me again," Regina told her. Emma huffed.

"I want to be mad, but I get it."

"Could you all give Emma and I a minute alone with Promise, please?" Regina asked them. Henry gave back his sister and left out with her parents who gave her a kiss or a pat in Cora's case which was the most physical affection Regina ever got from her. They closed the door and Regina hugged Emma while she ugly cried a little.

"What should we do, should we bury her or what?" Emma asked.

"I think cremation would be best and to scatter her ashes, I thought maybe about cremating Imogene too, and putting their flames next to Xavier."

"We could do that."

"I'm torn, I want the girls to get the chance to say hello and goodbye, but they might be frightened by how they look."

"Maybe an illusion so she just looks normal to them."

"Maybe." Regina sighed. "I think I want to rest at home now, it's almost morning."

"We'll go after the girls are awake so I can bring them by to say hello and goodbye."

"I'd rather take her home, I'm too afraid Whale's going to steal the placenta or her and do weird experiments." Emma made a face.

"Ugh I wouldn't put it past him and not on the principle of him being an asshole, just one creepy mother fucker to see if he could make something." Regina nodded.

"I'm telling you my baby can't stay here."

"Still, I just want to make sure you're all right now, I can't lose you too, and you lost a lot of blood. Emma eventually asked Cora and Henry Sr. to take Henry home. They protested leaving Regina's side, but Emma insisted that Regina was only going to sleep now.

"I go nowhere, you may need my magic and I have no trust in yours yet," Cora told her and firmly planted herself in the waiting room ignoring the stares and people skirting around her.

"I will take young Henry home to rest and bring back food," Henry Sr. told her.

"Fine, I can't say Regina wants the hospital food anyway." Henry went in and said goodnight to Regina and promised to be back after he slept and to text a video from the girls so she could see they were all right too.

"Gracias, mi amor, that would be really nice to see they're okay like you," Regina told him and kissed him. He hugged Emma and left with his grandfather. Granny came by while they were sleeping, bringing food already. She left it in the room and sat outside with Cora and started knitting.

"Darien no do not throw that ball at your Aunt," Regina told her dropping her tone. She was resting on the couch exhausted from yet another sleepless night. After the miscarriage the nightmares just hit her like a freight train, but at least tonight she would get to reconnect with Emma. She was hoping getting back to normal would start to ease the nightmares when reality was so much better. The girls were all home and Emma was at the station, Henry was out with his friends. David had just dropped Rowan back home after breakfast and a day spent at the park with Snow under guard. She had thankfully been on her good behavior, but Rowan still didn't have much to say about her that was nice.

"Ah!" Darien screamed and threw it anyway. It hit Rowan in the side of the head where she was playing with her doll, which she had taken from Darien, who had previously cracked the head.

"Darien Emma Mills!" Regina yelled as Rowan screamed and threw a cup at Darien. "Rowan Bailey Nolan!"

"Mills!" Rowan screamed, inciting another argument. It wasn't official yet, so Regina and Emma still used the last name Nolan, and Rowan took great offense t o that since her birthday. Lincoln and Xavieré literally ran and crawled over to Regina in an attempt to not get hit by a toy, a plastic cup full of water, a ball, or plastic play shoe. Regina for her part couldn't move fast enough since both girls were hit anyway and howling.

"Regina, darling, I'm bored," Cora called walking into her front door without any regard to her privacy, that was another issue. Her parents were in and out, and most of the time staying the night. Cora walked in just as she froze Rowan and Darien but didn't stop them from screaming. "What happened to you would never use magic on your children dear?"

"I'm not holding them in the air and choking them," Regina snapped. "They just simply can't throw anything." She grunted as she put Lincoln and Xavieré on the couch who were crying. She released Rowan first.

"Rowan, I know Darien hurting you wasn't okay, but you don't throw things back at her. You let me handle her punishment, okay?"

"No," Rowan said stomping her foot.

"Right well, what it comes down to is since you threw things back and hurt not only Darien, but Linc and Xav you're on time out. Four minutes, go to your corner and not another word." Rowan stomped off but she didn't dare disobey after a look from Regina. Darien was a little bit more challenging, and Regina had to chase her and take her back to her time out spot more than once while trying to comfort Lincoln and Xavieré who were upset she kept getting up.

"Finally," Regina grumbled as her mother just sat with her tea. When she had prepared it, she didn't know. She took the time to get Rowan off time out but that pissed Darien off, and she ran again.

"You really should just use magic," Cora told her.

"No," Regina said and went after Darien, it wasn't like she could leave the room with the baby gate in the way and no magic. And then it happened Darien just disappeared. "No, no she did not just break through the spell."

"Oh, her no dear she's still too weak, I didn't like you inhibiting their magical growth, so I took a strain of hair from you and Emma and broke it." Regina turned to grab Xavieré, and Lincoln as Darien reappeared in front of them grinning so big.

"Linc, Xav!" She yelled and there was an explosion of toddler clothes and naked babies disappearing from her house. Rowan laughed pulled her clothes off and disappeared too.

"No, no, no," Regina cried and disappeared. Rowan wasn't as adept at avoiding her, so she had her in hand quickly, but the girls were a different story even when she enlisted Emma to help her pop after them. They didn't catch them all until well after bedtime. Not that the dishwasher didn't explode, or food went flying amid crying at the dinner table and getting them to stay in bed was the worst.

"Regina just use magic," Cora told her.

"No," Regina frowned as she sat on the floor for what felt like the umpteenth time with the girls as she fell back on sleep training techniques. They frequently popped out of bed just to where she was sitting or to their bedroom. Darien liked to stick her foot in their mouths.

"Why do they have so much energy," Emma groaned after her turn with the girls.

"I dunno," Regina groaned rubbing her head.

"Come here, you need the snuggles." Regina pretended like she didn't, but Emma pulled her close anyway and rubbed her back she was just dropping off some twenty minutes later when Darien appeared in their room jumping on their bed not that she didn't also nosedive into Emma's chin.

"Fuuuuuuuuuu…." Emma groaned as her eyes watered at the pain in her tongue because she had accidentally bit down on it.

"I can't anymore," Regina said. She grabbed Darien and put her to her breast and Darien immediately turned to suckle and relaxed against her. When she had passed out Emma took her back downstairs and into her own bed. She crept back upstairs where Regina was watching the monitor furiously.

"Is that your mother?" Emma asked.

"Yes," Regina said as she got out of bed, and they went downstairs to where she woken up Lincoln and Xavieré.

"Mother, what is going on?" Regina demanded to know.

"Mami, Mama," the girls cried.

"Well dear, I had to know if you were living by what you said or just whining at me that I was a bad mother."

"What so you thought if they got annoying enough, I would use magic on them?" Regina asked.

"Hmm…yes," Cora declared. "Don't worry I couldn't actually break your spell for very long just long enough to wreak havoc."

"Mother, I make a conscience choice every day I wake up to do the opposite of what you did to me no matter if I'm sleep deprived or angry as well. Now please go to bed and allow the girls to as well." Cora went to bed after patting the heads of Lincoln and Xavieré who reached for her and Emma. She took a minute to nurse each one separately before they put them down and crept out. Darien thankfully was still out.

"What?" Regina asked when they made it back to their room. Emma shrugged, but she smiled at Regina. "Why are you literally beaming?" Emma just smiled more.

"Because you truly are this amazing mother to my children, and I would be lucky to have all the babies in the world with you," Emma declared. Regina's eyes went wide in that moment as she literally felt Emma's true love just sort of blast itself at her.

"Oh my God no!" Regina cried and ran, but magic just followed her as Emma's eyes went wide. "Please no, I don't have a new implant yet." Regina refused to stop moving while yelling at Emma to make it stop. The entire house was awake after that.

"I knew you'd mess up sooner rather than later," Henry laughed sleepily.

"Hush, I'm trying to save your mother." Emma tried something and the magic just became visible, a large white heart.

"Seriously Ms. Swan!" Regina yelled. "This isn't better!" Rowan giggled alongside Henry and his grandfather.

"This is not funny!" Emma yelled.

"Regina, it was one thing with the children, but this is ridiculous, just blast it away with your magic," Cora ordered.

"I'm scared!" Regina yelled.

"Regina you're a Queen act like it!" Cora snapped.

"It's not that simple, I could get pregnant like yesterday," Regina said running by.

"Just try, it's not the same as when I kiss you," Emma said. "I'm obviously useless." Regina tried a weak blast, and it stopped midair.

"See, now finish it," Cora told her. Regina sent a stronger blast and the heart just swirled purple and white and started humming and chasing Regina again.

"It's too soon," Regina cried. "I hate you for this Ms. Swan."

"I know, I'm so sorry," Emma cried. They both knew that Regina was exhausted and eventually the magic would run her down.

"This is ridiculous," Cora declared and stepped in between her daughter and the magic. It split around the blast she let out which damaged Regina's wall and slammed into Cora knocking her over. Regina let out a horrified gasp and looked at Emma with wide eyes and back to her mother and back to Emma before back to her mother again. Emma seemed to catch where her thoughts were going.

"Oh, sweet baby Jesus I'm gonna be sick," Emma cried as all the color drained from her face.

"No, no, no, this family is crazy enough we don't need this, I don't need this, I cannot have a sister who is also the daughter of my future wife," Regina cried before she muttered something in Spanish as her mother finally stood up.

"Cora, are you all, right?" Henry Sr. asked.

"Fine, I knew your magic was powerful together, but that's more than I expected, is this what is in my grandchildren?"

"Hmm…more or less," Emma answered.

"Uh Mother…do…do…do…" Regina trailed off. "…feel pregnant?"

"Regina what kind of stupid things are you saying now?" Cora asked her. "Why exactly would I feel pregnant?" Regina took a deep breath and tried to explain how things worked.

"Oh no dear, I shoved that bit of the magic towards you before I passed out."

"Mierda," Regina whispered. "Why couldn't we just go to bed like normal people?"

"I'll uh make time for the doctor tomorrow," Emma said as she slowly stopped clutching her chest. She hadn't even realized what she had done. She just didn't want Cora pregnant with her child of all things. The world had looked so dark with a smidge of hope. It was still kind of dark because Regina was upset, but at this point Emma didn't think she was that upset as long as Cora wasn't about to give her a sister.

"This woman destroys everything and today she doesn't." Emma heard Regina muttering and she cringed hard. "That was mean Regina, you know you would have been upset, but now you gotta be pregnant again." Regina groaned. "Four children under five." Emma cringed again, the four children under five didn't sound like paradise, she did have to admit considering the day Regina just had. Back in their bedroom Regina fell face first onto her pillow while the girls jumped around her awake after all the excitement.

"You have a blighted ovum, you're wasting my time," Whale told them. Regina grabbed him by the collar.

"Say that again," Regina told him. Whale gulped.

"You're wasting my time?" He asked more than said.

"No, the other part," Regina told him.

"Blighted ovum, you are not pregnant this time, probably wasted all the magic it needs in Cora."

"So, I can still get my implant once I miscarry again?" Regina asked to be sure. Whale nodded as she released him, and he ran out. "Great, Emma I'm moving into Granny's until my implant."

"You are not leaving me at home with all the kids and your parents."

"They have their own place, just send them home," Regina told her as she hopped off the table and went behind the screen to put her pants back on.

"Regi, I'm not stupid, you haven't even been able to send them home, and you actually tried."

"But with my luck this won't be a blighted ovum anymore," Regina whined.

"You really don't want any more kids with me," Emma commented sadly. Regina frowned and poked her head out of the curtain as her brows furrowed.

"Em, that's just not true, I want all the babies with you, but I would rather adopt five infants tomorrow at various ages with you than be pregnant again if I don't have to be. If I am than I will deal with it and love my child, but if I am not do expect me to skip in delight."

"Yeah, but I only wanna adopt one, a little boy, and I want all my girls from you and now I feel like we just lost two babies." Regina poked her head back inside and finished dressing as she slipped into her heels.

"Well, you know you're free to get pregnant too, I'm not the only one with a womb," Regina pointed out.

"No, I'll screw her up, you see how I eat, I won't change, you see how I drink," Emma complained. "You're better at being pregnant."

"Better at sacrificing myself is what you mean," Regina told her opening the curtain.

"I wouldn't really call it a sacrifice," Emma told her. Regina raised an eyebrow at her.

"Oh, and what would you call it?" Regina asked.

"I dunno, sacrifice just seems so extreme." Regina was about to speak when a nurse came in to clean up.

"Oh, sorry Madam Mayor, Sheriff."

"It's fine, we were just leaving," Regina said and grabbed her bag and coat. The drive home was silent and as soon as she was in the door, she was met by a wave of crying and screaming and magic.

"What the hell," Regina said. Henry was huddled on the stairs with Henry Sr. and Ruby.

"Your mother wanted the girls to practice magic and yeah," Ruby said as a rock went hurling into Regina's once white room, because there was also paint. The rock shattered the picture over the mantel. Regina reasserted her control over their magic free zone and forced her mother's magic from pushing it back. The floating objects, the fire, the wind that was picking up all disappeared. Emma and Regina went to the living room door now that they weren't in danger of being hit.

"Regina why did you do that, how will they ever learn control?" Cora snapped.

"Because look at the state of my home, and when I want them to practice magic, I take them outside," Regina told her.

"Hmph, well I wasn't allowed to take them anywhere," Cora grumbled. "You're slacking on their education they can't even levitate a simple rock."

"It's the least of my worries," Regina told her looking at the screaming girls including Rowan, who Regina was surprised hadn't been excluded. Rowan ran to her, but so did Darien for comfort. They literally fought over her until she had one girl clinging to each leg. Lincoln and Xavieré weren't having it either and screamed more when Emma picked them up and arched and reached for Regina.

"No girls come on you can stay with me."

"Ruby, can you take Darien for a moment." Ruby nodded and pulled Darien away and just removed Regina from her view. There was more screaming. Regina took a moment to lift Rowan then and sat with her on the stairs since neither of her living rooms were available to her and Ruby had gone into the dining room and Emma to her study.

"All right, calma mi Chiquita, what's wrong?" Regina rubbed her back in a soothing manner and moved from side to side.

"I hate Darien!" Rowan declared. "She takes everything!"

"She's two, you both need to learn to share," Regina told her. "I will talk to Darien about taking things that don't belong to her, okay?"

"I gotta share you Regi, no more! " Rowan sobbed.

"We're all family, we all share in each other, that's the nice thing about family," Regina reminded her. Rowan shook her head furiously as she buried her face in her chest. Regina gave her a few minutes while she listened to her mother complain that she babied them too much.

"Mother, I'm trying to not pass on generational abuse, so if you could keep your comments to yourself in front of my children that would be just great. Regina grimaced and sucked in a breath as Cora and her were hit with various memories of how she reacted to Regina shedding even a single tear.

"Mom?" Henry asked, seeing her pain. It started to recede as Cora went sobbing into the messed up living room.

"I'm fine just go give your grandmother a blanket if there's even still one left in there." She convinced Rowan to calm down and cheer up by agreeing that tomorrow instead of taking some much needed her time, she would take Rowan to the office with her since Ruby, Kathryn, and Belle had planned a fun day. Regina resolved that Rowan needed a selfish Godmother asap, but she didn't know who to pick that Rowan would love, because Rowan was very selective about who she gave even the tiniest shit about. Somehow that trait from her had just grabbed onto Rowan when she was copying Regina.

"All right one down," Regina said. Henry got in on the cuddles.

"These aren't for me, these are for you, because you haven't seen the bedrooms yet." Regina looked upstairs in horror.

"Should I just live in my study?" Regina asked Henry and her father. They cringed and nodded that it was pretty bad. Regina's shoulders drooped as she accepted the cuddles from her son.

"Also, Nick, Ava, and Grace are coming over bye!" Henry ran for his room before she could say anything.

"I agreed before Cora insisted on lessons don't be angry at him mi Cielo," Henry Sr. told her. Regina huffed as there was more screaming as Darien was now hitting and kicking at Ruby.

"She's reached her limit." Ruby put her down and she ran to Regina who gave her a talking to about not hitting and kicking her wolf it wasn't kind. She managed a sobbing sorry to Ruby who gave her a kiss in forgiveness before she departed and came back.

"Uh are we getting a new Goddaughter I'm supposed to report back to Belle and Kathryn."

"No, blighted ovum," Regina told her.

"Aww, damn it," Ruby said before leaving. Regina turned her attention back to Darien, but she would not be calmed enough to separate from her like Rowan. But she did hang on her neck from behind and cry on her head while she settled the girls or attempted to, but they were like their sister.

"All right, I have a lot to get done so, Linc and Xav if you wanna stay with Mami, you have to be one person today. Regina allowed them the chance to merge, and they did. She moved Darien and got a sling, so they were settled on her back and they knocked out almost as soon as they were on her. Darien would only stay on her hip while she attempted to clean up her house and get work done for the Mayor's office. Rowan was running to her every five or so minutes to show her something. When Lincoln and Xavieré did wake up and she got them pottied they demanded to be back on her hip and Darien just cried as she cleaned them. Then she had to give them a toy which found itself poked in her head or back.

"Have you seen Emma?" Regina asked. She gave up on work and had focused on at least getting things clean, because at least she had magic as an extra set of hands. Henry Sr. shrugged and Cora had disappeared saying that she needed peace and quiet. Regina went upstairs and looked in the girls' rooms, it was going to take a deep cleaning to get the carpets and bedding clean. Magic wouldn't be enough this was her mother's doing having obviously thought she could take over for Ruby. Regina was grateful that Rowan's room was fine like Henry's.

"Where are they?" Regina murmured. She went upstairs to her room hoping to find Emma. When she walked in, there were cheers from Emma and the kids. She walked further in to see Henry, Ava, Nick, and Grace playing with Emma in her game nook. Regina took a deep breath and just made a smaller fireball as she destroyed Emma's game system. They all screamed.

"Regina!" Emma cried. "What the hell!"

"No, what the hell that for the last four hours, I have been cleaning the downstairs, rocking babies, and trying to get the budget reports done. Meanwhile you've been up here apparently napping and playing video games." Regina indicated the unmade bed and Emma blushed. She had taken her chance and took a nap after last night.

"I…"

"I don't care for excuses, get down here take your children, and clean their rooms, I need to get dinner started so they can go to bed on time, and they can go home at a reasonable hour without their parents jumping down my throat for not feeding them and getting them home safe."

"Yes ma'am." Emma climbed down and took all three girls because Lincoln and Xavieré had just separated on her back and were now fighting over the toy. She released them on the bed. She fixed the video game system for the kids and apologized that she had scared them before stomping off. Rowan was on her and talking her ear off the entire time making dinner, to her trying hard to focus on budget reports, and through dinner. Regina at that point was completely lost in what any of it had to do with the original story that Rowan was telling her. Darien refused to eat any dinner though.

"Candy!" Darien demanded and signed. Regina huffed and looked at Emma who Darien was looking at and seeing that Lincoln and Xavieré were pushing away their dinner as well. Eventually there were three demands for candy and three continuous refusals for food, so Regina did not force it. She wasn't fighting all the battles today, but they weren't getting candy either.

"Bath day," Regina told Emma as she began to clear the table and Emma ushered all three girls upstairs. When Regina came up with Rowan, she saw that Emma had given them candy again to make them behave.

"You're staying up with them until they calm down," Regina told her. Emma nodded as Regina got Rowan stripped and, in the bath, where she bullied Emma into giving her candy too.

"Reggie and I going to play mayor tomorrow," Rowan told Emma. Regina took her moment and exited the bathroom. She just needed a minute to herself.

"Darling, darling, do you think we could pick up this tree from…ah what was it m'ijo?" He turned to look back at Henry.

"Target," Henry told him.

"Yes, this Target, Henry says, I got this tree from there before, but now I hope to find this one as well."

"Yes, I'm sure we can find a day, Daddy," Regina told him. "Uh, maybe see if they have a website for their nursery and you can already order it."

"Oh, what's a website." Regina attempted to give him the short version, but he had questions that both her and Henry tried to answer. Regina just hoped he didn't end up on any bad websites. She was going to put a reminder on her phone to put a child lock on her parents devices as they acquired them. She could not sit through the sex talk again. Regina nearly scoffed, because sex was the last thing she was getting and all she wanted was to reconnect with Emma, but she swore Emma was doing her best to put her out of the mood. Not that, that really mattered either because she was on miscarriage number two or she hadn't even stopped bleeding from the last.

"You look exhausted mi Cielo," Henry Sr. commented.

"It was a long night yesterday," Regina commented. "I was hoping to get to bed early, but it's not really an option. I have so much work to get done."

"Leave it for tomorrow," Henry Sr. insisted.

"Henry do not distract her, if she's taken anything from me it's her work ethic, she knows what needs to be done when," Cora snapped.

"I thought you were home for the quiet," Henry commented.

"I was, but I got hungry," Cora told him. Henry nodded. "Now come help me warm up the food, I hadn't realized I was so late." Henry hopped off the bed and took Cora's hand leading her back downstairs. He was doing his best kill her with kindness so they could break the curse. She could always count on him to help her. Eventually babies came running naked out of the bathroom, and Regina was ready with towels, underclothes, and pajamas.

"Did Mama wash your hair too?" Regina asked Darien as she signed to her. Darien nodded as her curls fell in a tangled mess in her face. She giggled a little, making Regina smile and, enjoy it for a moment because there would be screaming as soon as she tackled the tangled mess after Emma once ripped a chunk out, which had finally grown. It took both her and Emma to get her something close to still so Regina could spray the detangler and gently work out the knots. She was not happy, but in the end her hair was braided down.

"I can't believe she bit me," Emma grumbled.

"She's vicious, I keep telling you that," Regina replied.

"I know, I know, and I know I should have followed the protocol for washing curls and not just washed her hair like Rowan's or what I do to myself."

"Oh, I know you know, because you aren't asking me to kiss your finger in sympathy," Regina told her. Lincoln and Xavieré thankfully still didn't have a ton of hair, so it wasn't as bad, and they weren't as traumatized as Darien. Rowan was waiting with her brush with a big grin that Regina couldn't help but return it.

"All right loves back downstairs, Mama needs to clean the bathroom, quickly," Regina told them, but she was looking at Emma.

"Yes," Emma said. Once they were downstairs being entertained by her father, she got their beds remade, but expected no one to sleep in them.

"These are her monkeys, and her circus tonight," Regina muttered as she hung their sleep sacks in easy reach next to their blankets. She wasn't surprised that no one went to bed on time while she worked.

"Regina help," Emma cried.

"Not my monkeys, not my circus for another hour at least," Regina told her not looking up from the budget reports. Emma huffed and slammed the study door. Regina didn't react to the small tantrum. Emma was going to learn that bribing with candy was not okay especially when she'd paid Henry to act like she hadn't raised him with any sense and rile them up against Emma while her magic muffled the sound. At some point her parents stopped in to say goodnight, it was obviously going to be a long one with Emma at the helm. When she was finished Regina opened a bottle of wine and put her feet up as she enjoyed a glass without feeling guilty and then decided she ought to finish the bottle so Emma would be forced to wait until it was out of her system.

"Regina, there you are, please start nursing them."

"Oh no can do, I had some wine to calm my nerves, and now we gotta wait, besides they're still wide awake."

"Are you going to tag me out?" Emma asked looking frazzled.

"Not my monkeys, not my circus for at least two hours after this last glass, so I'm gonna go take a bath, read something about baths helping you process alcohol faster." Emma groaned as Regina went upstairs.

"I'm sorry!" Emma yelled after her, but it was no use. Regina enjoyed her bath and wine, which she nursed to savor as long as possible, especially when somehow, she ended up in the bath with all four girls splashing around pajamas and all. Regina sighed as she glared at Emma.

"I need five minutes!" Emma yelled at her.

"Absolutely not!" Regina yelled, but Emma slammed the door shut. Five minutes were never exactly five minutes, and these were her five minutes. She had been through absolute hell and back. She huffed as she got out of the bath and almost slipped on a bath toy. She lowered the bath water to an appropriate level for the girls and honestly, she couldn't be bothered to take the pjs off right away. She put a tampon in and put her robe around herself as she looked out to see Emma wasn't in their bedroom, so she magicked another bottle of wine and refilled her glass, but she knew another glass and she'd just feel guilty when inevitably they would be over tired and need her especially Lincoln and Xavieré. She let out a long breath and magically put the wine back in the bottle and resealed it. She sent the dirty glass to the kitchen and the wine back to the cellar. She took another breath and stood up to at least properly wash her face.

"I'm naked Reggie," Rowan grinned. Regina gave her a smile back as she looked over the sink. She saw for the most part, Darien and Rowan must have helped the girls with their zippers. They signed for toys as she walked over and freed them of the soaking items completely. She was furious when she realized Emma hadn't taken off anyone's hearing aids which had been submerged in the water, particularly Darien who had thought to stash hers in her diaper.

"No more toys, you get five more minutes while mommy does her routine," Regina said and signed. There was protesting and another demand for toys, but she said no. She set the aids to the side for the moment, she couldn't leave them unattended in here, she was not feeling very quick. She got her teeth brushed and then washed her face. As expected, she was having an acme break out because of her hormones. She heard more than Darien slip and bust her lip.

"Darien!" Regina cried. The facewash stung her eyes, but she didn't care as she scooped up her daughter to comfort her and pressed a tissue to her lip. Eventually once the bleeding had stopped, she managed to wipe her own face clean with a little help from the fact Rowan had splashed them in an effort to cheer them both up.

"Time to get out." Regina released the water with magic and pulled each child out. It was another mad scramble of finding the extra things she kept in their room.

"Mom?" Henry called.

"I'm here," Regina called.

"I'm worried about Ma, she stomped out of the house and said she needed five minutes, but it's been twenty."

"She will be back soon; she probably needed some quiet."

"Mami," Darien whined and signed for milk. Regina let out a breath and looked at the clock.

"Venticinco, m'ija," Regina told her and signed. Darien straight up howled.

"What happened to her lip?" Henry asked horrified as he scooped up his sister.

"She climbed out of the bath when I wasn't looking and slipped. Regina took a chance to get into her pajamas, she paused in front of the mirror. Her hand lingered on slight bump she acquired and thought about Promise. She didn't know why Emma had told Henry it was a boy, that wasn't even possible as far as they still knew. She probably wanted to preserve something good in Henry's mind. She wasn't sure. How Emma thought she would just want to be pregnant when they didn't have the girls under control as a team was beyond her. Still, Promise had been her light in darkness and would be missed.

"Mami," Darien howled again. Regina got all five children tucked into her bed around her and produced a magical light show to pass the time until they could nurse or relax in the case of Rowan and Henry. It was just the calming activity that was needed that got them through to nurse and fall asleep next to her, she was too exhausted to carry them all down to their beds, so she just fell asleep next to them. She'd regret in the morning she had completely forgotten about their hearing aids, but the rest was much needed.

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