Chapter Text
“Oh no.” Regina muttered sincerely as the golden snaking spell spilled out of the box and began to swirl around Emma’s feet snaking upwards.
“What do you mean oh no?” Emma replied calmly as she watched the spell wrap around her gently before disappearing entirely. “What’s going to happen to me now?” She looked at Regina her mouth hung agape as Regina clutched the spell containment box in her hands.
It had begun nearly three weeks ago, the sudden influx in dogs in Storybrooke was nothing the residences could not seem to handle and in fact many of them had enjoyed it. But then soon after came the reports of the strangest incidents as possible. Dogs and other animals running into the woods and coming back only to give birth to a litter days later. With Mr. Gold gone Regina and Emma had become the town’s experts in magic and together they had ventured out near the town line to find the stepping golden spell coming in from the outside world.
“I want you to know that I didn’t know that this was going to happen Miss Swan.” Regina said slowly.
Emma looked at her, believing the stunned look on the other woman face. “You said you knew who caused the spell that you had seen it before?”
She nodded. “There was a woman from another realm, she had an obsession with animals. But not live animals, she made a fortune trading their pelts. She would…” Regina paused looking Emma up and down biting at the edges of her lip. “We need to get back to my place.” She added abruptly.
Emma stood still, unmoving suddenly feeling very much like a science experiment. “What did she do Regina?” She wasn’t mad, really she wasn’t but the look of apprehension on the other woman face did nothing to quell the uneasiness she felt.
“She could get you any animal in any of the realms, rumors were that she bread them by magic. That she used a spell to create a rapid pregnancy in animals.”
Emma could feel her head spinning and her rapid heartbeat pounding in her ears as if she had just run a mile. “Am I pregnant?”
Regina looked at her with self-disappointment on her face. “I think so Miss Swan.”
Emma blinked. She looked down at her toes, at where the gooey golden spell had been wrapped around moments previous. She felt no different, perhaps suddenly a little bit hollow as her brain hurt at the thought that with some stupid little spell she could be pregnant. “With what?” She muttered aloud as Regina look her hand and began to lead her out of the forest to when they had parked their cars.
“What do you mean?” She asked off handedly with a small backward glance.
“The spell is for animals. Am I going to give birth of a dog, to a smoke monster?” To a human, she asked herself silently. Who was the father, was there a father? This went against all grasps of biology that she knew but then again most magic did.
Regina turned around, grasping a hold of both of her hands and tilting her head to meet Emma’s eye. “You know that you don’t have to do this. That we can go see Dr. Whale and….” She paused not mentioning it by name but its presence very much there.
Emma looked up at her knowing that not doing this at all was a possibility… part of her was not so eager to be a part of an experiment. What if it was human the thing that could be growing inside of her. What if it was hers and…. “You said this would be accelerated, that was what happened with all the dogs. They went out by the town line and then a week later puppies. How many days does that give me?”
Reginald face scrunched as she did the math in her head. “A month maybe, perhaps a little more.”
A month, it suddenly seemed so long. She had done it once before but when she had been pregnant with Henry she had been scared and upset and feeling so very alone. She didn’t feel those things now.
“Wait a few days.” The words were slipping out of her mouth before she could grasp onto what she was saying. “Let’s see what it is I’m pregnant with and then I’ll decided what to do.”
Regina looked at her with surprise and adoration of her bravery. “Ok then.” She said matter of factly before she turned around to continue walking back to their cars.
Regina had offered to let her spend the night with her or at least drive her to her parents. But Emma wanted none of that so she got in her little yellow bug aware of Regina’s close eyes as she drove away and somehow found herself parked outside of Granny’s Dinner moment later. She went in through the back knocking on the door praying that he would answer it quickly.
“You look like hell love.”
Something in the way that his face fell from laughing to genuine concern made her wonder why she wasn’t just living with him yet. Maybe it was the way she worried about how her parents would react, or maybe it had something to do with this strangely Disney like morals of Storybrooke but after the events of the past few months they both knew, deep down inside they knew that this was something more.
She stepped inside past him without another word, not knowing what to say watching as he danced about the small room waiting for her to say or so something. She looked at him wondering what could possibly be going through his mind, it was late, very late and here she was somewhat speechless and standing in his apartment. “Weren’t you and Regina going too…?” Emma looked up at him her face paling as his voice trailed off. She opened her mouth to speak and quickly shut it, a wave of nausea coming over her.
She ran to the bathroom falling to her knees not even managing to turn the light on before she vomited into the toilet. She closed her eyes, the smell getting to her as it suddenly hit her that this was all real. It wasn’t a dream that she was suddenly going to wake up from tomorrow and puzzle at its bizarreness, this was her reality.
Her eyes were still closed but she could sense the light turning on and a gentle hand pulling her hair back as she wretched again.
“Some drinking buddy you are.” She let out a small laugh as she felt a sudden coolness along the back of her neck that made her shiver. Her eyes fluttered open to seen him placing her hair in the crook of his hook while his hand reached up for a towel. She watched in the reflection of the mirror as he wiped gently at the corner of her mouth.
“But you did this a lot for your crew.” Emma chided, the joke making her fell only somewhat better.
His head tilted as he nodded. “Surprisingly many of them had enough hair that needed to be held back.” He paused rubbing his hand gently against her back as she vomited once more. “Sure you’re okay.”
Emma wiped her mouth again before turning to look at him. She didn’t know, she really didn’t know and that sentiment was reflected clearly in her eyes. She watched as he moved to sit down next to her on the floor as if deciding then to settle in for a long night of holding back her hair. His blue eyes looked at her calmly and steadfast. It was his simple wordless actions which told her that he wasn’t going anywhere that she could tell him the truth and he would ask what she needed.
“Can you get my phone and call or text Regina that I am here?” The surprise was evident on his face at her choice of contact.
“Emma what happened in the woods?” His voice was a trifling whisper, suddenly he seemed so small and filled with worry not at all like the larger than life man she had first met years ago.
She tried her best to give him a smile but it was impossible. “Tell her to come over and she’ll help explain.” Her hair fell around her face once more as he reached into her jacket and took her phone, he held it in his hands slowly poking at it until he placed it up to his ear.
She must have picked up on the first ring. “Regina.” There was a pause in which Emma could almost hear the relief on the other end. “This is Killian. Emma is at my apartment she would like you to come over and explain.”
Emma hear the words, in ten minutes, before he ended the call and placed the phone between them on the floor. Every line in his face was filled with worry as he looked at her, almost too afraid to touch her in case she would die. Emma took a deep rattling breath as she pulled her grip away from the toilet and sat back down on her knees. She had never done this before. Henry had been grown by the time Neal found out about him yet this seemed so much scarier. She had been mad then, mad at the actions and choices he had made about his own life, still mad about how he had abandoned her. Now she was just scared.
“Regina and I were trying to contain the spell, the one that was making all the dogs pregnant.” He nodded she had told him about it, he had even given his advice on what it could possibly be. “We nearly had it trapped inside one of Regina’s boxes. But then… it got on me. I’m pregnant.”
He blinked. “Is it ours?”
Emma fought back tears at his choice of wording. “I don’t know. It was a spell intended for animals, I don’t know what it is.”
His own eyes were watery as he nodded slowly. “What do you need?” His voice was stronger as if he had suddenly decided to stand up and be brave. “What do you need?” He asked again, she was in pain and he wanted to stop it, it was a simple as that. “Do you need something to eat because I will pillage that kitchen downstairs? Do I need to call people, make arrangements? You need somewhere to live. Because with your parents in that loft it will just be too crowded….” He was springing to his feet moving about like a mad man. “Emma.” He looked down at her a giddy little smile on his face.
Her hand reached up and took a hold of his. “Come here.” She muttered and he did as he was told. She pulled herself up and kissed him, fully aware that her breath stunk but he was kissing her just as hard. “Thank you.” She muttered as she pulled back, their foreheads touching. Thank you for not leaving, she wanted to add but there was still time for that to change.
Regina found them sitting on the bed when she arrived. Emma wrapped in Killian’s arms as his hand ran through her hair. She felt a twinge of guilt as she looked at the couple, but then she realized that even though they were happy they were in a less than ideal situation. She brought a pregnancy test for Emma, which confirmed what they all knew, she explained to Killian that they would all be meeting something with the span of a month. And then she looked up at both of them with a small smile. “Do you need anything?”
“We need a house.” Killian said firmly. “I would ask Mr. Gold but since he is gone...”
Regina nodded. “I can show you a few tomorrow.” She paused her smile widening. “When will you tell Henry?”
Emma shifted. She wondered if it would be easier to hold a press conference and tell the whole town then, everyone would likely know by the end of the week. “I’ll meet him for breakfast at Granny’s tomorrow, after I tell my parents.” She could feel him tense next to her. She looked up at him with a smirk. “Unless you’d rather I tell my father this at the station when he is armed?” Killian nodded in agreement.
Regina stood up, it was nearing midnight and she wanted her sleep as well. “Congratulations.” She said sincerely as she closed the door of the apartment on the couple.