Long A/N to start: It's been a really long time since I wrote fanfiction and I apologize for that. I took some time to complete my novel and now that it's in the agent-hunting phase, I'm back to my first love. I know I still need to finish "Dear Elena," but I will admit I've been sidetracked by the pairing of Regina and Emma. This is my first crack at Swanqueen, so be gentle. My life has settled into something of a rhythm so my hope is to update this every Sunday and dedicate some time to finishing "Dear Elena."

Chapter 1

Storybrooke

Before she even opened her eyes, Regina knew something was wrong. She was in her bed, that much she was sure of, because although it was too dark to see anything, she knew the feel of her sheets and the smell of her comforter. She was in her own room, so the curse must not have worked. But something was off because as she lay on her back, she felt a sudden discomfort like there was a weight on her chest. She rolled to her right side and nearly yelped in pain at the way her lungs seemed to collapse. She rolled to the left side, finally finding a position that she could tolerate, but she noticed how long it took her to turn over. She felt big and slow and entirely not like herself, like someone had strapped a thirty-pound weight to her. Before she could turn on the light and investigate, though, she heard Henry call for her.

"Mom!"

His voice was panicked, and Regina threw off her covers and jumped out of bed. She groaned at the way the sudden movement nearly made her fall over, but she kept moving until she had thrown her door open and she was face to face with Henry. Or at least some young man who looked like Henry. Seemingly over night, her son had grown at least a foot taller and was looming over her for the first time in their lives. He had peach fuzz growing above and below his lips and her mouth dropped open in shock.

"Henry?" she asked, unable to comprehend that her little boy had changed this much over one night.

"M-Mom?" he asked, and oh God, his voice was deep and manly. His huge eyes dropped to her abdomen and he said, "you're pregnant!"

For the first time, Regina's own eyes fell to her stomach and a nauseating wave hit her because she was, indeed, pregnant. If the way her stomach protruded was any indication, she was quite pregnant in fact. At least five or six months along. Regina blinked repeatedly, and then she felt like she might pass out. She swayed on her feet, and Henry jumped and caught her before she hit the floor.

"Whoa, be careful, Mom. You don't want to hurt the baby."

The baby. Those two words went around and around Regina's head like water swirling a drain but never disappearing. Henry was saying something as he walked her back to her room, but Regina didn't hear any of it. All she could think about was that she'd gone to bed normally and had woken up very much with child. How did it happen? Who was the father? How was it even possible, given that she'd taken a potion to prevent her from ever being able to carry a baby? Henry helped her sit on her bed and she was able to get out of her fog long enough to nod when he asked her if she wanted him to make breakfast. He left, and she sat in the darkness of her room, staring straight ahead at nothing and trying to put the pieces together.

It was obvious that the curse had, in fact, been enacted and Regina didn't remember what happened. By the way he reacted, she knew that Henry didn't remember, either. So not only had Zelena enacted her curse but she'd done a forgetting spell, too. How unoriginal of her. Regina knew from the state of her body that they had been cursed for at least five or six months, but she gathered it was probably longer than that. A year? Two years? It was hard to gauge by looking at Henry because puberty could hit boys so suddenly that his appearance wasn't a good indicator of time.

She got up from her bed, slowly this time, and checked the clock on her bedside table. It was just after six in the morning. She turned on a lamp to light her way to the bathroom, and when she got there, she turned on all the lights and looked at herself in the mirror. Shock didn't even begin to describe what she felt when she saw her own reflection staring back at her.

Her hair was long like she used to wear it in the Enchanted Forest. Her normally slim face had filled in not to the point of making her fat but it was a noticeable change from her usual. Her eyes trailed down her nightie, where bigger breasts than she'd had all her life strained against the top that was made for a woman with a small bust line. And below those breasts was a high and round stomach. It swelled so much that her nightie a few inches shorter in the front than it was supposed to be.

With a shaky hand, Regina lifted the front of her nightie and gasped when she saw her stomach uncovered. Her innie belly button had popped out, and the skin of her stomach had stretched to accommodate its temporary guest. The skin was tight, with no stretch marks, but there was a long dark line down the center of her stomach. Regina marveled at it for several minutes before she slowly and gently ran her hand over it. She bit back tears, both from being suddenly pregnant when she never wanted to be and from the beauty of it. She was overwhelmed with a flurry of emotions: confusion, anger, amazement and a small amount of curiosity about how all of this would play out.

She didn't know how long she stood there but she snapped out of her own thoughts when she heard the doorbell, followed by the muffled sound of voices. She magicked herself into some different clothes and frowned when she was unable to conjure an outfit that hid her protruding belly. She sighed and finally gave in to the fact that she would have to wear maternity clothes, and she settled on a top that hugged her new larger breasts and flowed down loosely over her midsection and jeans with the elastic band. She took her time brushing her teeth and hair and washing her face. When she felt at least a little more like herself, she ventured downstairs.

She came around the corner to her kitchen but stopped when saw that baby Neal, who had just been born as far as she could remember, was walking around and holding his own cup. Snow, who was perched on a bar stool at the counter, looked close to tears as she said, "it happened again. I missed another baby's first steps, first word, first everything."

"Snow, it's gonna be okay," David said with a reassuring rub on her back. "We'll get these memories back just like we did before."

"What does Regina think?" Snow asked, sending a hopeful look Henry's way.

"Uh…" His eyes got wide like he didn't know what to say, and she knew he was wondering if he should break the news to them or not.

"Where is she is anyway?" Emma asked.

At that point, Regina gathered her courage, stepped into the kitchen and cleared her throat. Everyone turned to her and three jaws hit the floor at once.

"Oh my God," David breathed.

"Regina! You're…you're…" Snow shook her head in disbelief, and it was Emma who finished the thought.

"Holy shit, you're pregnant?"

Regina squirmed under the intensity of their gazes and then straightened her back and nodded.

"It would appear that way."

Emma's eyes widened even more and she said to nobody in particular, "what is with people waking up pregnant after curses around here?!"

"It does seem to be a rather disturbing trend," Regina said, and she glided as much as she could to the counter and thanked Henry with a nod of her head as he slid her a plate of eggs and toast.

"Do you have any idea how this happened?" David asked, still gaping at her.

"I have no memories of it at all. The last thing I recall is Snow giving birth and Zelena attempting her curse."

"So you don't know who the father is," Snow determined.

Regina rolled her eyes because only Snow would think that was the most important part of this whole debacle. "Obviously I don't know that. Unless something drastic changed during the curse, I suspect that the father is Robin but who knows what Zelena made happen?"

At the mention of Robin's name, Regina felt a niggling sense of…something…in her veins. It was a feeling she couldn't quite put her finger on but it twisted her stomach like when she was feeling uncomfortable. Or jealous. But neither of those emotions fit the situation so she disregarded it.

"As soon as I finish eating, I'm going to confront my dear sister about what happened."

"Not by yourself," Emma said immediately. "Not like that."

"I am not an invalid, Miss Swan."

"No, but you are pregnant and that's damn close."

Regina wanted to argue with her, but she didn't. There were too many thoughts swirling in her mind to fight with Emma and the truth was that the blonde was probably right. It was unwise to talk to Zelena alone in any situation, and doubly so while she was vulnerable.

"Fine," Regina said grudgingly.

She ate her breakfast and contributed little to the rest of the conversation while the others tried and failed to recall anything from the past year or so. When Regina had eaten enough to the satisfaction of Emma, Henry and Snow, she and Emma headed out to the car to go see Zelena. Throughout the ride, Emma's eyes sneaked over to Regina and landed on her stomach.

"Miss Swan, do try to keep your eyes on the road lest you kill us both."

"Sorry. It's just you being pregnant is…"

She didn't finish the thought and Regina narrowed her eyes.

"What, you can't possibly imagine who would want to knock up the Evil Queen?"

"No." Regina snapped her head in Emma's direction and the Sheriff quickly added, "I mean no, that's not what I meant."

"Then please tell me what you did mean."

"I meant to say that pregnancy looks good on you."

That caught Regina off guard and she blinked a few times before asking, "what?"

"You know how they say pregnancy gives women a certain glow? I mean, I never had it. When I was pregnant with Henry, I had horrible breakouts and looked like a freak for nine months. But you…you definitely have that glow. It's nice."

Regina didn't know how to respond to that, so she didn't. They drove the rest of the way in silence and when they got to Zelena's farmhouse, Emma got out first and opened the door for Regina. The mayor was thinking about commenting on how she did not want to be treated like a delicate flower, but she knew Emma wouldn't listen so she didn't even waste her time on it. They got up to the front door and Regina blew it open with magic. They found Zelena in her kitchen, sipping tea and being totally content.

"Well, well, well," the redhead said with a a wicked grin. "What have we here? You've been busy, Regina."

"Cut the shit," Regina snapped. "What the hell did you do to me?"

"Oh, sister, I can assure you that I had absolutely nothing to do with that," she said, gesturing to the pregnant stomach.

"You cursed us and made us forget what happened. I deserve to know how I ended up pregnant."

"Would you like a diagram? I'm told that when two people love each other very much, they give each other a very special hug, and…"

"Shut up," Emma said.

That only made Zelena smile. "Oh, Regina, do train your pet to mind her manners."

"I want my memories back," Regina said.

"Then I'll suppose you'll have to get them the old fashioned away: true love's kiss."

"Great idea. I'll go kiss Henry right now."

"Uh, uh, sorry love, not this time. I may not be able to keep true love's kiss from breaking a curse, but I can dictate what kind of kiss will do the job. And for you, my dear sister, it must be of the romantic sort."

Regina's jaw clenched. "My romantic true love died years ago. You know that."

Zelena feigned surprise. "Did he? Oh dear, then I suppose you'll never know, will you?"

Anger flooded Regina's veins and her natural reaction was to raise her hand and summon a fireball. But at as soon as she did, Emma grabbed her arm and said, "don't. It's not worth it. And we don't know what using magic might do to the baby."

"It hasn't done anything so far, has it?" Regina snapped.

Emma rolled her eyes. "Oh, you mean when you opened the door? Somehow I don't think that requires as much energy as trying to kill Zelena."

Regina very nearly told her that she'd also used magic to change her clothes, but she swallowed those words because they didn't exactly help her case. She extinguished the fire and lowered her hand slowly, and Zelena smiled like the cat who caught the canary.

"Yes, darling, listen to your pet. You wouldn't want to hurt your unborn child, would you? Especially when it's your only chance to be a real mother and not just a placeholder until someone better comes along."

Emma stepped in between the two of the them and gently took Regina by the shoulders.

"Let's go," she said. "She's just trying to rile you up."

Regina stared the redhead down and only fought back a little as Emma directed her out and back into the car. She took a deep breath as they drove away and calmed down a tad.

"She definitely knows what happened," she said when she didn't feel like she might commit murder anymore. "I can tell from that stupid grin on her face that she knows exactly how I ended up like this."

Emma's hands tightened on the wheel and her green eyes flitted to Regina's stomach once or twice.

"You don't think she let some guy…" She waved her right hand around. "You know…"

"Force himself on me?"

"Yeah."

"I don't know." The mayor looked out of the window at the passing scenery. "She is a vindictive bitch, so it wouldn't surprise me." A flash of another emotion that felt like a twisted combination of rage and sadness settled into her stomach, and she felt the need to smooth over the statement even though she wasn't sure why. "But probably not. She was too pleased with herself. Letting some stranger have his way with me wouldn't suit her purpose, I don't think."

"And what is her purpose?"

"As far as I can tell, to make me miserable."

"Getting pregnant by a stranger and not remembering it doesn't make you miserable?"

Regina sighed and said, "it could be worse, I suppose. The father could be one of those awful dwarves." She looked at Emma with wide eyes and asked, "oh my God, what if it's one of the dwarves?"

Emma pressed her lips together in a miserable attempt to keep her laughter to herself.

"Are they even, like, you know, equipped for that?"

Regina did not attempt to hold back her laughter, and it came out in a loud, head-rearing huff of throatiness. "Are you seriously asking me if dwarves can have sex?"

"You brought it up!"

And for one stress-free moment, they laughed together. Regina noted then that she wasn't sure she'd ever seen Emma smile so genuinely and it wasn't an entirely unpleasant picture. When the laughter died down, though, her thoughts inevitably went back to her pregnancy. She eyed the trees passing by and remembered something.

"Would you mind dropping me off near the town line?" she asked. "I need to speak to Robin and that's usually where they are."

That deep, uncomfortable sensation flashed through her again but was gone before she could figure out its cause.

"You want me to just leave you in the forest?" Emma asked with a wary look.

"You are aware that I can walk?"

"And you're aware that your crazy ass sister has been using flying monkeys to kidnap people?"

"Don't you think if she wanted to kidnap me, she would have done so by now?"

Emma gave her a disapproving look but drove to the town line anyway. She didn't walk Regina out, although the brunette could tell she was itching to. She did roll down the side window and call out, "do you want me to wait for you to get back?"

"I'll be fine. I can use magic."

"For all we know, your magic's all wonky and you could transport yourself halfway across the country."

"Miss Swan, I think I can handle it."

Emma rolled her eyes and didn't move her Bug until Regina was well out of sight. Regina wrapped her arms around herself, in a way she wasn't sure was protective or her or the fetus, but she forced herself to drop them when she came upon Robin's camp. One of his Merry Men saw her first and he tapped Robin on the shoulder. When Robin turned, his eyes got huge and his mouth fell open.

"Regina?"

He ran to her and gently put his hands on her shoulders and looked at her stomach.

"Are you all right?"

"Fine. Just a bit pregnant, as I'm sure you can see."

He opened and closed his mouth several times before shaking his head.

"I don't know what to say," he admitted.

"Neither do I."

"Do you recall anything of what's happened?"

"Nothing. You?"

"I'm afraid not."

They stood staring at each other and Regina was at a loss for words. She liked Robin and knew that he was her soulmate, but they'd only just started seeing each other in this realm and this was a lot to process.

"Listen, Robin, I…"

"Do you think the child is mine?" he asked, with eyes that almost looked afraid of her answer.

Regina swallowed hard.

"Honestly, I'm not sure what to think. But I do know that I care for you and that we were trying to make something work between us. I have no idea what happened while we were cursed or what Zelena's twisted mind dreamt up. I'd understand if you don't want to have anything to do with this."

"I'd like very much to have something to do with this," he said, shocking her.

"What?"

"Regina, I realize that this is a different place and time but where I come from, men stepped up in such situations. I know that neither of us can know for certain at this point whether I'm the child's father or not, but I'd prefer to assume I am and be there to help you than to stay away and later regret not being involved."

Intense relief washed over and she swayed on her feet with it. She smiled at him and nodded.

"I'd like for you to be involved, too."

He smiled, too, and said, "then perhaps we'd ought to give some thought to moving in together."

Suddenly, Regina felt like she was suffocating. It was too much happening at once with the baby and the curse and Robin inviting himself to move in. But she had been a queen before and she was a master of the Poker face. She managed a smile and small nod.

"I'll certainly think about it."

Robin smiled and kissed her cheek and she was on her way. She poofed herself back home and started to pour herself a very tall glass of cider before she remembered that she couldn't drink. Her hands shook as she sat in her study and replayed the whole horrible day. Henry popped in twice, once to ask if she was okay and then again to ask if he could order pizza. She realized then that she hadn't moved from her spot in the study for hours and she wordlessly nodded her head. The next time someone was in the room, it wasn't Henry.

"Hey."

Regina turned and saw Emma looking at her, clearly unsure of if she was welcome or not.

"Hey," she said back.

"Henry called me. He said you were sitting in here by yourself and let him order pizza. I think he's concerned that you're having a mental breakdown."

Regina smiled just a little and said, "I'm not sure that's completely inaccurate."

Emma eased into the room a little more.

"You want to talk about it?"

"I don't know."

"Okay." The blonde took a seat on the couch opposite Regina. "'Cause you know, if you did want to talk about it, I can relate to what you're feeling. I don't know if you know this, but I'm kind of familiar with unplanned pregnancies."

Regina looked into Emma's ridiculously genuine Charming eyes and felt herself talking, even though she wasn't sure she wanted to admit some of the things in her head.

"I never wanted this," she said quietly. "Being pregnant, I mean. I thought I did when I was younger because I was in love with Daniel, but after that, I took a potion for the specific purpose of making me unable to have children. So to wake up one day like this is just…"

"Overwhelming."

"Yes." She fiddled with her slim fingers and wished like hell that she could have some cider. "I know that there are plenty of women out there who'd give anything to be able to be pregnant, but I'm not one of them. Does that make me a bad mother already?"

"No." Emma reached over and took Regina's hands in an uncharacteristic display of physical support. "It doesn't. At all."

"I feel completely unprepared," she went on. "Not only for the physical demands of pregnancy, but to be a mother again. I'd been okay with the idea of raising Henry and being done with the whole thing and now…now there's going to be this little baby that wakes up all night and cries for no reason and needs diapers and formula and…" She stopped herself because she felt the annoying sting of tears in her eyes.

Emma moved so that she was on her knees in front of Regina, still holding her hands, still looking at her with doe eyes that probably got her what she wanted far more than she realized.

"You don't have to do this alone," she promised.

"Oh, and that's another thing," Regina said, as a few tears trickled down. "When I told Robin, he all but invited himself to move in with me! It's too much."

"So don't let him move in with you. There's nothing saying you have to do that."

"But what if this is his child, Emma? He's one of the rare men who wants to be there to help through this whole process and I can't just tell him no."

"It's not telling him no. It's telling him not right now. Give yourself some space to get used to this idea first. There's nothing wrong with that. Okay?"

Regina sniffed back some more tears and nodded. Emma smiled at her in a way that she didn't smile at anyone very often, and warmth spread through Regina's body. And then suddenly she felt a sharp pain in her stomach.

"Ouch!"

Emma jumped back. "What? What happened?"

Regina looked at her stomach disbelievingly and said, "she kicked me!"

"Who? The baby?"

"Yes. And for something that small, it really hurt."

"Awwww," was not the reaction Regina expected, but Emma said it and she was down on her knees again. She held her hand out and looked at Regina expectantly. The brunette nodded her head and Emma excitedly put her hand on the protruding belly and the baby kicked again. "Oh my God! I loved this part of pregnancy."

"You mean you enjoyed being batted around like a soccer ball?"

"I enjoyed knowing that Henry was alive and okay in there," she said. She kept smiling and rubbing and every time the baby kicked, she grinned and Regina frowned. Then a thought hit Emma and she said, "you called it 'she.' You said 'she kicked me.'"

"I did?"

"Yeah."

Regina thought about it briefly and said, "I guess in my head I've just assumed it's a girl."

Emma got a look on her face that could only be described as 'dreamy,' and then said, "that'd be nice, since we already have a boy. It'd be nice for us to have a girl."

At this, Regina got a Madam Mayor-esque smirk and asked, "us and we? Already planning to steal another one of my children, Ms. Swan?"

Emma's pale face flushed red and she finally took her hand away and stood up.

"No, I'm not. I'm just saying, you know. There are already two boys in the family and we missed Neal being a baby, so yeah, it'd be cool if it was a girl."

Regina didn't comment on how she was included "in the family," but she couldn't wipe the smile off her face.

"I'll let you get some rest now," Emma said. "Sleep while you can. It gets pretty rough at the end."

"I'll take that under advisement."

Emma nodded and turned to leave. Before she was out of the archway, though, Regina called, "Emma?" The blonde stuck her head in and Regina said, "thank you. For listening."

The smile was back and Emma said, "any time."

Regina watched her leave and noted that she felt better. Not perfect, not anywhere near prepared. But better. She didn't like depending on other people but she realized right then that Emma Swan might be a good person to lean on during this whole ordeal. And the thought didn't upset her nearly as much as it should have.