A/N: Hey, everyone! This story picks up after our beloved fairy tale characters have returned to Storybrooke, as well as Emma and Henry. There are some scenes in the episodes that I loved and I tried to fit them into the story. The dialogues were perfect, according to me, I couldn't bring myself to change them, so if there's any scene/dialogue you recognize then it's taken directly from the show, I do not own it.
Enjoy! x
Disclaimer: I don't own Once Upon a Time nor its characters.
Chapter 1
The cup slipped from her hands without her even realizing it. She didn't bother to look down, though everyone was now staring at her, for her eyes were fixed on the young man sitting in the booth right in front of her with Emma and the Charmings. He looked at her as if she were a complete stranger.
She struggled to say something, the words seemed stuck in her throat "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you.."
"That's okay" he said nonchalantly before looking down at his cup of hot chocolate again.
Regina felt her eyes filling with tears, her heart ached more than she ever thought possible. Emma stood up, she wanted to explain everything but Regina raised a hand in her direction to stop her from coming any closer.
She hurried out of the diner as fast as she could. She felt sick to her stomach and made her way quickly to the alley next to the restaurant. She didn't even manage to reach the nearest trash can before she started emptying the contents of her stomach. She leaned against the wall for support as she started feeling dizzy, tears still threatening to spill from her eyes.
Regina headed to her car, determined to get home as fast as she could. She couldn't handle all of this. Not right now. It was when she tried to start the car that she noticed her hands were shaking, for she couldn't even insert the car key in the ignition. She managed to, after a while, and started down the street, headed straight home.
Her cell phone started ringing and she looked at the screen to see who was calling her. Emma.
Tears started falling uncontrollably and she let the phone fall back into her purse.
She looked up just in time to see a truck getting awfully close to her car. She hadn't seen the red light at the crossroad and she was going too fast.
She had no time to steer, to stop, to do anything, not even to think. All she heard was the loud crash of the other car hitting hers sideways, making her hit her head against the car window, before her world went dark.
The man who was driving the truck managed to unfasten his seat belt and slip out of the vehicle. He made his way to the other car to check if the driver was fine, only to find she clearly wasn't. The woman was unconscious and there was blood running down her head.
He started to panic and looked around frantically until his eyes fell on a woman who was passing by and asked her to go get help.
There was broken glass everywhere but he stepped carelessly on it to open the car door and lift the woman up in his arms.
Just after he managed to get her out, an ambulance arrived. The paramedics met the man halfway and he lay the woman carefully on the stretcher, never taking his eyes off of her while they lifted the stretcher into the ambulance and put a mask on her face.
"Is she going to be okay?" He asked concerned at one of the paramedics, who was trying to check him out.
"Sir, you're injured, you need to come with us to the hospital."
He looked down to see a nasty cut on his left forearm and nodded absentmindedly as he got into the ambulance.
There was something familiar about this woman but he couldn't figure out where it was that they had met. He took her hand in his and hoped with all his heart that she was alright. He didn't let go until the vehicle stopped in front of the hospital and the paramedics helped him out of the ambulance and lead him to the ER, where a nurse started stitching him up and checking if he had any other injuries.
He saw the woman being carried to another room by a doctor but they wouldn't let him follow her. He decided to stay in the waiting room until the doctor came back to ask him about her. In the meantime a blonde entered the hospital and a nurse pointed him to her.
"Hi, I'm Emma Swan, the Sheriff. I don't think we've met before, is it your first time here in Storybrooke?" she asked as she sat down next to him.
"Uhm.. yes, it is. My name is Robin, Robin of Locksley.."
Emma raised her eyebrows in shock "Robin Hood? Seriously?"
"So you heard of me, I take it"
"Uh.. yeah, I actually read stories about you.." She couldn't say she was really shocked after all she had witnessed in the past few years but, still, it felt weird to be talking to Robin Hood "I'm here because of the accident.. Can you tell me what happened?"
"A friend of mine taught me how to drive when I arrived here and I just borrowed his truck to get to the store and.. she just came out of nowhere. I think she didn't see the red light, she was going very fast.." he had concern written all over his face "I just want to know if she's okay.."
Emma, who still didn't know who else was involved in the accident, left him in the waiting room while she looked for Dr Whale. Who she didn't expect to see in the hospital bed was Regina. Emma froze on the spot and when Whale noticed her standing in the doorway, he led her outside the room to tell her everything.
"H-How is she?" Emma asked, not taking her eyes off the woman. She looked so small in the hospital bed, it almost scared the blonde to see her like that.
"She's going to be okay, Emma" Whale said "She bumped her head and has a mild concussion, and she needed stitches on her left hand, but she's going to be okay. We're still running a few tests so I'm going to keep her here for the night, just to make sure everything's fine." He gave her a reassuring smile before leading her to the waiting room. Regina needed to rest, so Emma was told to come back during visiting hours.
She went outside to get some fresh air and started dialing on her phone.
"Mary Margaret, are you still at the apartment with Henry?"
"Yeah, why? Did something happen?" she could tell by Emma's voice that something was wrong.
"Regina was involved in a car accident.."
"What!? We'll be there in —"
"Mary Margaret, calm down, she's going to be fine. Whale said she has a concussion and needs to rest right now. Besides, visiting hours don't start 'till after lunch, so there's no point for you to come here right now. Come down here in the afternoon, I'll stay here just in case.."
"What about Henry? Do you think it's a good idea to bring him there?" Snow asked hesitantly.
"I.. I'll make something up, just tell him that you're coming here to see a friend" She couldn't think of a better excuse for the whole situation right now.
"Okay.. see you later"
Emma went back inside and noticed that Robin was still sitting there, looking even more concerned than before. She sat next to him to try and calm him down a little.
"Hey.." She knew he was about to ask for her so she placed a reassuring hand on his arm and spoke before he had a chance to say a word "She's going to be okay, she just bumped her head and has a small cut on her hand but she's fine"
"Can I ask you something?" He asked a little hesitantly.
"Sure"
"Who is she? I think I've seen her before but I can't remember where"
"Her name is Regina Mills. She's the may—"
"The Queen.." He completed the sentence looking rather shocked.
"Yeah, sorry, forgot you weren't brought here by the first curse" It wasn't exactly easy for Emma to keep up with everything that happened in the town and to separate those who had been taken to Storybrooke by the first curse from the victims of the new one.
Emma noticed something curious, though. He referred to Regina only as 'the Queen' , not as 'the Evil Queen'.
"Did you meet her in the Enchanted Forest?" Emma asked.
"No, but I spent many a day running from her black knights before she cast the curse. I only saw her once, in the woods, just after she became Queen. She was travelling to the summer palace with the King and Snow White." He told Emma while getting lost in the memory "Her hair was longer back then, I guess that's why I didn't recognize her right away. I remember she had this very sad look on her face.. I'll never be able to get that look out of my head.."
Emma could tell that he was a good man.
"You've had a pretty rough day already, you should probably go home and get some rest" She suggested with a smile.
"Can I see her?" he asked with pleading eyes. He didn't know why he was so concerned with her well-being. He hadn't even been the one to cause the accident but, still, he felt somehow responsible and felt the need to see with his own eyes that she was fine.
"She's resting right now. You can come later, though. Visiting hours start at 2pm and end at 9pm."
"Thank you, Emma" he said bowing his head slightly at her before leaving.
At 2pm sharp, the Charmings and Henry entered the hospital. Emma told Henry that a friend of hers had had a car accident and she wanted to make sure she was fine. She surely couldn't tell him that she had been called by the hospital because she was still the Sheriff since he had no memories of that.
She lead them to Regina's room but Henry and David decided to wait outside. Snow and Emma agreed it was probably a good idea, considering how seeing Henry had already upset Regina.
A nurse was checking her vitals when the two women entered and Regina started slowly waking up. It took her a while to figure out she was lying in a hospital bed. Her head hurt like crazy. She looked to find Emma and Snow smiling at her and asked in a barely audible whisper "What happened?"
"You were in a car accident, Regina" Emma told her.
Regina closed her eyes for a moment, the pain was agonizing "My head hurts"
"You have a mild concussion, Regina, nothing to worry about. The pain is just temporary, trust me" they heard a male voice say and turned to see Whale standing in the doorway.
"Was someone else hurt?" she managed to ask in a whisper.
"The other driver is fine, don't worry. I ran a few extra tests to make sure everything's fine and.. if you ladies could excuse us for a moment.." Whale said, asking Snow and Emma to leave the room.
Snow saw how Regina tensed at his words and squeezed her hand before leaving the room, telling her "Don't worry, everything is going to be fine. We'll see you in a bit"
Snow and her unnerving optimism, Regina thought. After all they had been through, Snow still showed her kindness and for that Regina was grateful.
Once the two had left the room, Regina was left alone with the doctor "It's not just a concussion, is it?" she asked "I feel like crap.."
"I was telling the truth, Regina, the accident only caused the concussion and the cut on your hand but.." he was hesitant and Regina noticed.
"Get to the point, Whale. What's wrong with me?"
"We ran a few extra tests and there's something you should know.." he took a deep breath before he resumed speaking "..you're pregnant, Regina."
She just lay there for a moment, keeping her eyes closed. Everything felt so distant, as if she was dreaming. She wanted nothing more than for it all to be a bad dream, to open her eyes and find herself in her own bedroom, with her son sleeping just a couple of rooms down the hallway.
When her eyes opened once more, though, she found herself still lying in the hospital bed and the only thing she could whisper was a faint "What?"
"You are having a baby, Regina. It looks like you're 3 months along and you were very lucky, the accident didn't hurt the baby, everything is fine" he added with a smile.
She completely lost it.
"Everything's fine? How can you tell me that everything is fine?" By now she was almost screaming at him, but she didn't sound angry. She just sounded broken. "How can you tell me that everything is fine? We were cursed and lost our memories of the past year and now you're telling me that I am pregnant with a child that I will have to raise on my own, because I have no idea who the father is." The screams subsided to be replaced by a heartbreaking whisper as tears started streaming uncontrollably down her cheeks "I have a son who doesn't even remember who I am, so excuse me if I say that everything is most definitely not fine.."
She turned her head away from him to find the Charmings standing outside her room, looking at her through the glass doors, which were thankfully soundproof. When her eyes fell on Henry, who was currently playing a video game, more tears fell from her yes.
"Tell them I don't want to see them.." she told Whale as she turned the other way and curled up.
Regina fell asleep sobbing, hoping that it was just a nightmare, because if all the pain she felt was real, she wasn't sure she'd be able to take it this time.
A/N: I'd really like to know what you think about the story so far, so I'll be waiting for your reviews (which make me write and upload faster)! ;)