The Monster Within

Chapter 39

"It's Regina," her best friend explained. "She needs parental consent to pull Henry out of school."

"Give it to me," Emma sighs heavily. She does her best to sound composed, still clinging to Killian's hand.

"Regina, what do I need to say?"

"Just say it to the secretary here, Mrs. DunBroch..."

"Miss," the redhead corrects. "I'm not married."

"Fine, Miss DunBroch," Regina hands the phone over to the woman.

"Hello?"

Regina waits impatiently as the secretary talks to the expectant mother. She paces back and forth across the tiny cramped office, waiting for a response. She can feel her emotions about her breakup starting to resurface. She was still hurting a lot, in fact, she feels like she'll never be whole again... like a large hole has been punched through her chest and it will never heal again. Her mind clouds with sadness again, she can't believe how awful her life can be sometimes. Why is it always her?

"Miss Mills," a Scottish voice calls out.

She turns from her pacing. The secretary hands back the woman's cell phone.

"I'll page Henry to the office now."

"Thank you,"

"I just need you to sign this to show that you are allowed to take him out of school." The woman obliges and she waits anxiously until a confused Henry enters the office with his backpack on.

"Regina?" he asks.

"Let's go, Henry,"

"Is everything okay?"

"Yes, your mom's in labour and she wants you at the hospital."

"Oh."

The two walk out of the school together and towards her Mercedes. Once they're out of the school parking lot, Henry turns to her.

"Are you okay?" he asks.

"Of course, I'm okay, why do you ask?"

"Well, my mom tried calling you more than 50 times over the past few days, she was worried about you."

"Well, that's nice of her, but I was fine."

"You don't look fine."

"How do I not look fine?"

"You're still in your pyjamas," the teen points out.

"Your Mom's water broke pretty early."

"It was one in the afternoon."

Regina bites her lip hard and fights back her tears.

"It's okay if you want to cry," he says gently. "I can understand."

"How? How can you understand?"

"You're not the only one I've seen go through a break-up."

"Right... your Mom..."

"And Neal... and it hurt me too."

"I'm sure it did," Regina says, keeping her eyes forward.

"It's hard to lose someone you love," the boy admits before turning to look out the window.

She lets a single tear fall from her eye as she tries to focus on the road, but inside, her heart was breaking and her insides were still screaming in pain.

"I called you a few times too," he adds quietly.

The real-estate agent merely nods her head and turns the corner.

...

When the two walks into the hospital waiting room, several of their close circle of friends have already shown up. Ruby stands up, still in her work clothes.

"Are you okay?" the waitress asks.

"I'm fine..." Regina insists. "Can I please go five minutes without people worrying about my well-being? I'm not the one giving birth here."

She guides Henry to the front desk and asks for the room number.

The two go upstairs and when they get to the room, they hear frantic panting. Henry hesitates before stepping inside.

"Mom?" he asks.

"Oh Henry," Emma says, reaching her hand out. He goes over to hold her hand.

"How are you doing?"

"The best I can be right now, this labour is a lot harder than yours was. You came in three hours, you were eager to get here, this baby might take longer."

Henry sits down next to her bed so Mary Margret can take a breather from the Lamaze techniques. The teacher walks towards the door to go get a drink, but stops and hugs Regina before going out into the hall.

...

Hours later of sweat, blood, screaming, and ice chips, Dr. Whale is in the room again.

"It won't be long now," he says. "We'll have to take you to the birth unit. Only the father and two other people can be there as we shouldn't crowd her. I'd recommend the child not be present for the birth, it might be too intense for him."

Henry swallows and nods in agreement. He'd seen some things in the past few hours that he did not want to see again. He couldn't stand seeing his mother in this condition, but also that she was extremely aggressive as well. It was like the nights when she had her nightmares, it was not pleasant to witness or be on the receiving end of.

"Mary Margret," Emma says. "And Regina."

Her friend's eyes go wide. "M...Me?"

"I want both her godmothers there," the blonde says, managing a tired and tiny smile.

"All right, we'll get you prepped for delivery in the meantime, I want the rest of you to get into surgical smocks. Henry, you can go wait in the waiting room."

"I love you, Henry," Emma says, kissing him on the cheek. "In a little while, you'll be a big brother."

"I love you too Mom," he says.

"I'm sorry if I shouted at you a few times," she apologizes.

"It's okay."

While everyone else leaves, Emma is left with Killian by her side.

"I love you," she says.

"I love you too Swan." He leans down and kisses her on the lips.

"I'm sorry if I was screaming stuff at you, you don't know how painful this can be."

"Aye, you're right I don't but just think of after that pain, we'll have something beautiful," he smiles.

The blonde smiles too and they kiss for a long time until Dr. Whale comes back with nurses.

"Are you ready?" the man asks.

"I am," she says. "Let's go have a baby."