Three weeks later...
Regina is on complete bed rest and not liking it one bit. Being confined to the bed, not being able to do anything for herself is aggravating. But, it was a necessary evil, something she had to keep telling herself every time she wanted to say screw it and get out of bed.
Zelena had come over to check on her and the baby, as she did every day since the traumatic incident, and to sit with her awhile to entertain and keep an eye on Regina. No chances we're being taken of something else going wrong with her sister or the baby. Thorough and diligent. Some might say overbearing, but they would be wrong.
"This is still so uncomfortable." Regina complained as she propped herself up on her elbows to look at the top of her sister's head over her bump.
"Well, it's awkward for me too, sis." Not so much now, truthfully. The first time, yes, it was hella uncomfortable to look at and handle her sisters bits, after the second time she was over it though.
"Easy for you to say you're not the one with hands inside of you." Regina shifted slightly when she felt Zelena spreading her. The more pregnant she grew the more uncomfortable these checks became, the more uncomfortable everything became.
"You act as though I've never had a vaginal exam before." Zelena leaned to the side so she could see Regina's face when she made her next comment. "Do you complain this much when Robin's the one doing this?" She asked playfully with a wiggle of her eyebrows which caused Regina to scoff, but she didn't miss the slight flush of her cheeks. After smirking at her victory she went back to her work.
"Well, Robin is much gentler than you are." Regina shot back with a raise of an eyebrow then a moan as Zelena entered her with something. That had to have been on purpose, it was too well timed.
"I can go get Whale if you'd rather him be sitting here?" Zelena suggested as she looked over her sisters stomach with a menacing grin. Talking of Whale usually shut Regina right up. Especially after she added, "then it'll be his hands where you're feeling mine." She said with a slide of the back of her hand up and down Regina's inner thigh.
"Well, when you put it that way..." Regina paused to cringe at the thought, "I suppose you'll have to do." She smirked at her sister which caused her to roll her eyes.
"Ow!" Regina jumped when she felt some pulling. "That was low. I was only teasing."
"Sorry, sorry." Zelena flinched then smiled at her sister sympathetically. "I'm doing an extensive exam today it's going to be uncomfortable, I told you." She said as she continued her task.
"You didn't say it would be this uncomfortable." Regina suddenly jumped again. "Ow!"
"Sorry, but you keep tensing up on me.” Zelena accused because there was only so much she could to about comfort level if her sister kept shifting about.
“I can't help it,” Regina whined as she dropped her weight back against the pillows with a huff, “my back is killing me.”
“I'm almost done, promise." Zelena was trying to work as gently but also as quickly as possible, not an easy task. With her sister finally lying back and finally holding still she was able to finish up.
A few very uncomfortable moments later for Regina, Zelena stood and removed her gloves. "Alright that's it. Could be any day now, our girls nearly in position."
"I wish she would hurry up, this bed rest is killing me!" Regina groaned as she lowered her legs and pulled her dress back down over her stomach. The human body was definitely not designed to always be sitting or laying down. Everything in her body was tight and stiff and there was nothing she could do about it. Robin would give her massages that helped immensely, but only for so long.
It was unbearable not being allowed to move, maddening having to sit still day in and day out. She had never been one to sit back and watch life pass her by. Regina was constantly moving, constantly busy. Didn't know what to do with herself since she couldn't go to work or be involved in outings with her family. Roland was a very active boy and Robin was constantly taking him to the park, or to the camp, or even just outside in their yard. The hated the latter the most, could hear them running around and laughing when they played in their backyard. It killed her to be able to hear them and not be able to join in.
Robin would bring up puzzles, books or coloring books for the three of them to enjoy together which was lovely and very thoughtful of him, but Roland's attention would only stay on them for so long before he wanted to go back outside and play knight, his favorite game.
The game was something he picked up from Henry, who had been practicing his sword fighting skills with his Grandpa for years. With wooden swords, of course, she wouldn't allow anything more dangerous. David started teaching Henry, which Robin then took over when he moved in with them and she became too pregnant. Robin himself was quite the skilled swordsman, though, not to the level he was with a bow.
Roland had asked what they were doing one afternoon and, clever boy he was, Henry told Roland he was practicing to be a knight. Ever since that day it was all Roland wanted to do. He got his own little wooden sword and would battle big bad Papa and always concur. Regina so enjoyed watching them run around the yard waving their wooden swords at each other. She missed being able to join in. During her years as the Queen she had become quite the skilled swordsman. Killed quite a few guards that didn't quite match her skill level. But now, now she was chained to her bed, only permitted to leave for the restroom or a bath.
She had also never watched so much TV in her life. Yes, she read as well, but the TV seemed to win out over books. Henry would always come into her room, snuggle up on the bed with her and start a new movie or TV show. Right now they were binging Parks and Recreation, which Emma had gotten him into. It was a funny show, a little to adult for Henry at times if you asked Regina, but most of the inappropriate jokes went right over his head. Bless.
Robin had also become captivated by the Television. They would lay in bed at night and watch episodes of Game of Thrones together. After the children were in bed, of course. They had both become incredibly wrapped up in it. It reminded them of the Enchanted Forrest's ways a bit, only the show was far more racy. She had to admit, she really enjoyed it. It was sexy and fierce. Her evenings watching with Robin were always a highlight.
Another movie they stumbled upon was 50 Shades of Grey. Neither of them knew what it was about when they agreed to try it, Emma had just told them they should and left it at that. They watched with wide eyes towards the beginning, but towards the end they were definitely into it. Robin even suggested they try a few of the things they learned when Regina was able. Now she really couldn't wait for this baby to come out! Yet, here she was. Still on bed rest with no way of knowing when it would end.
"I know, but I don't want to take any risks. You scared the hell out of me with that almost dying thing," Zelena said a little louder than she wanted to, so she followed it up with a casual wave of her hand. It was an attempt to not get too emotional, brush over the most terrifying moment of her life so she didn't have to feel it again.
"I'm sorry. It wasn’t my choice to start bleeding uncontrollably." Why was her sister yelling at her for something completely out of her control? If she had a choice in the matter none of this would have happened at all and she wouldn't be stuck in bed. She would have her baby in her arms and her pregnant belly would be gone.
Zelena rolled her eyes with a grunt and started gathering her things. It was like Regina didn't even realize how traumatized she was after what happened. As she was putting her instruments back in her bag she took some deep breaths because she didn't want to blow up on her sister. Regina really didn't need that, she needs to stay calm and if she took the cork out of the bottle she wouldn't be able to put it back in and she'd get too worked up and start yelling.
There has been a question Zelena has been wanting to ask ever since Regina's complication. She had avoided asking as long as she could, but she really wanted to know if it was just random or had a source. "I haven't asked you this before, but do you know what might have caused the abruption? Did you fall? Bump into something? Over exert yourself?"
There wasn't always a cause for those things, Zelena knew that, but occasionally one could be found so it could be prevented from happening again in the future. She definitely wanted to prevent another complication for Regina. The leading cause for an abruption is trauma to the belly, that was probably what did it and Regina hadn't even realized.
"Damn!" Regina whispered and moved her hand over her mouth as realization suddenly hit her. Why didn't she think of it before. Something, or rather someone, had hit her. But could he really have been the cause?
"What! What is it?" Zelena moved in closer to sit back down on the bed next to her stunned sister. That reaction meant Regina knew exactly what had caused the bleeding and she was going to tell her.
"Roland ran into me earlier that day. I was laying down in a chair and he ran into my side pretty hard. Could that have caused it?" Regina questioned cautiously. Her hope was to be wrong, little Roland would never intentionally harm her or his little sister. He loved her so much already, he'd be devastated if he ever found out. If that was the cause he'd never know, she would never breathe a word of it.
"Well..." She didn't have all the facts, so she didn't want to jump to conclusions and blame sweet little Roland. But, the truth was, it’s quite possible that he could muster up enough force to separate her placenta. "It could’ve. What happened after he hit you?"
"Well I felt a pretty sharp pain that continued a few minutes after, but then it went away so I thought I was alright." Regina shrugged her shoulders, trying to play it off. She didn't want Roland to have been the cause.
"Was there anything else?" Zelena questioned with a raised brow as she crossed her arms. There was always more when her sister couldn't manage to make eye contact with her. Regina was so obviously leaving something out. It was a little insulting that she thought she would be able to hide something from her, especially since her face was completely betraying her, had guilt written all over it. Her eyes never meeting her own, the way she kept biting her lower lip and her hands were fidgeting on top of her belly.
"Well, after that happened Roland didn't really want to let go of me, he felt bad for causing me pain," Regina added in her defense, "so I carried him back to the apartment." She finished without looking up. She knew a scolding was about to come.
"How far was that?" Zelena asked impatiently as she shook her head at her sister. She wished Regina would stop stalling and just come out with it.
"About a mile..." Regina answered, looking further away from her sister and scrunching her face up. Here it comes.
"Regina!" Zelena yelled as she flung her arms out. "Why would you do that after you had sharp pains! When Roland hit you he probably shifted the placenta, but you walking a mile carrying a 4 year old child probably caused it to tear!" When she said the later part she could hear her voice trembling. "What were you thinking!?" Zelena pushed herself from the bed and started pacing back and forth frantically. Her sister was out of her mind. She was trying to lose her child, and almost her life. How could she be so stupid!
"I didn't know carrying my child would cause me to almost miscarry." Regina countered, but her argument fell on deaf ears. Zelena didn't even look at her. The pacing was making her antsy, the no talking was making her more nervous. Zelena was always loud and the absence of that was unnerving. “Zelena?”
"I told you to take it easy! Not to over exert yourself and what do you do? You go and-" Zelena paused in an attempt to suppress her anger, and also her tears. "You could have died!" Before she turned away a stray tear had just fallen down her cheek, she didn't want Regina to see.
Regina suddenly felt extremely guilty. She didn't realize Zelena was so torn up about all this. She probably wouldn't have been so smart with her had she known. They were sisters, yes, and they were always taking the piss out of one another, but she was never completely sure that Zelena truly loved her. That is, until this very moment.
"I'm sorry. I didn't realize. I wanted to believe- I had hoped..." Regina stammered but kept getting caught. She was having difficulty finding her words, or words she felt were appropriate. “I didn't realize you were so upset."
Zelena turned back around and slowly came to sit beside Regina on the bed then took her hands. "You are my sister and you nearly died, of course I am. I love you." Zelena whispered, looking down at the mattress. She hated showing her emotions to people, it made her feel self-conscious. Saying the words I love you was one of the scariest things she could imagine doing. I love you meant getting attached, getting attached meant if that person you had grown so close to was suddenly gone it would hurt all the more. That was why she had always tried to keep to herself and not let anyone in.
Regina had saved her. She believed in her when no one else did. Through their time together the hate she felt slowly started to ebb away and was replaced with fondness. They had a lot in common, the two Mills girls. They had discovered that pretty early on when they started to spend a lot of time together. Regina had shown an incredible amount of trust by allowing Zelena to oversee her pregnancy and deliver her baby. No one had ever done that before. It made Zelena see her sister in a whole new light, a more open light. One that had allowed her to grow to love her.
Regina's eye began to well up with tears. "I never thought I would hear you say that. Just, the way we started... I never thought we would get here." She squeezed Zelena's hands and their eyes met. She whispered, "I love you, too."
Zelena let out a sob, which in turn caused Regina to do the same before they both pulled each other into a tight embrace. Each of them crying hysterically onto the others shoulders as they clung to their sister.
Robin walked into the room to check on them after hearing their sobs and bumped into the door, creating a creaking sound which caused the sisters to pull apart and look in his direction.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt the moment. I thought something was wrong, but it's clearly not, I'll come back." He said quickly before turning around to leave. Felt like a right git for destroying their moment. He knew how long Regina had been waiting for it.
He had been there listening to them for a few moments, heard the yelling and figured they were getting into it. The plan was to come and check on them, maybe pull them apart if it had escalated to that level. What he had heard shocked him. Zelena seemed to be crying, her words were high pitched and broken along with Regina's. He couldn't see them for the door being almost closed to allow Regina some privacy during her exam so, he moved as close to it as he could in order to hear when their voices lowered. He thought he made out the whispered words of I love you, but brushed that off because that didn't seem likely. He waited a moment longer before he heard Regina whisper a little louder than her sister, I love you too. They both started sobbing after that and he wanted to see what was going on. He only wanted to open the door a smidgen, but it let out a loud creak and he was caught.
"No, honey, it's fine. Come, sit." Regina reached out for him then patted the other side of the bed for Robin to come sit with them. "We were just talking about the baby." Always a good cover, talking about the baby. She used it because she didn't think her sister would be comfortable discussing what really just happened. Especially since her admission was barely audible even for her ears.
"Ah, and how is my little princess, hmm?" Robin asked as he rubbed Regina's swollen belly before he leaned down and placed a few small kisses on it.
Regina chuckled then placed a hand on the back of Robin's neck and began running her fingers through the hair at his nape. "She's doing fine. Could come any day now." Regina said as she and Zelena exchanged happy smiles.
“Were you ever able to discover a cause for the abruption?” Robin sat up and asked Zelena. It was something they had discussed before with Zelena telling him many examples of different reasons for the complication. When she'd said trauma his mind immediately went to Roland running into her on the beach. She had been in a sufficient amount of pain after it happened, even though the tried to hide it. He didn't say that to Zelena, just shook his head and said he didn't remember any of those happening. He didn't want to assume it was Roland and he didn't want Zelena to either.
Zelena opened her mouth to tell him what she and her sister had discussed but Regina cut her off with a, “no.”
“Huh,” Robin breathed a sigh of relief. If neither of them had considered the run-in it must not have been Roland's fault. “Just random then?”
Zelena gave Regina a glance and nodded her head, “seems like it.” Since Regina was okay she supposed Robin didn't need to know what really happened, it would only hurt him.
Regina knows that Robin would only blame himself if he knew, be torn up that he didn't protect her. He didn't need to know.
“Since everything's alright is she allowed to move about a bit more?” Regina may have already asked the question, but he certainly wanted to know the answer too. Her misery was certainly his misery.
Regina looked at her with a hopeful smile and how could she resist. “You can have one hour a day out of bed. But not more.”
“I'll take it.” Regina jumped at the opportunity. “Now please.” She threw her legs over the side of the bed and reached a hand out towards Robin. “I would really like to go down the stairs and see how well Robin's been taking care of things down there.”
Since she'd been confined to bed Zelena had not allowed her to take any stairs. Robin had offered to carry her down to the couch several times but that seemed more dangerous than her just doing them herself. The boys and Robin had been doing all of the house work since her confinement and she wanted to observe their handiwork with her own eyes. Robin kept assuring her that things were just as clean and pristine as she left them. It always made her laugh when he said that because she knew it was untrue. He'd never been very good at cleaning, at least up to the standard she set. But, whatever he was able to accomplish she would be happy with it.
Truthfully, she just wanted to go downstairs to see a different part of the house than their bedroom. She missed her kitchen, her dining room, her den. Maybe she could get some work done in there with her hour of allowed movement, that would be lovely.
“Just take it slow,” Zelena ordered as she ran up beside her sister to take one of her hands just as she reached the landing. “You haven't moved this much in weeks, you might be a bit stiff.”
“I think I'll be fine with you two on each side,” Regina chuckled.
They made it down the steps, slowly. As they reached the last few Roland came running up to them shouting, “Mama, you're up!” But he stopped short of them and looked up at her with big nervous eyes. He'd been so extra careful around her after the incident she was worried that he would be traumatized for the rest of his life.
“Yes, baby, I'm up.” She held onto Robin and Zelena's hand as she slowly knelt down to his height. “And you and I are going to make a lasagna.”
“We are?” He jumped as his face lit up.
She giggled at his excitement and reached her arms out so he would come to her. He did, finally, and she let out a sigh of relief. Their relationship wasn't completely back to normal yet, but little steps were just fine with her.