Shattered

A New Love

Regina

"Robin! Please drive faster!" Eliza groaned while my husband sped down the interstate, the tires burning rubber against the pavement as he attempted to rush towards the hospital with a laboring Evil Queen in the backseat.

"I'm going as fast as I can, can you hang on!" He cried, growing flustered as he raced down the street, nearly slamming into three other cars.

"Of course I can, but I don't want to be in this car any longer!" She cried, tossing her head back onto the seat while trying to find a comfortable position before a contraction started.

"Regina, oh god. They hurt, ooh! I need- ow ow ow!" She groaned, searching for my hand and clutching it, the other one clamped on her stomach as her muscles tightened.

"They're not bad now, they're minimal if you breathe." I reminded, causing her to scoff at me and roll her eyes in my direction. "What do you mean now?! They get worse?!" She demanded, chewing on her lip as the pain intensified.

"Well, yes. You have a baby coming out of you, it's not fun." I explained, resulting in a nervous whimper.

"Regina." Robin scolded, making me sigh and rub my thumb over the hand that was now knotted in a fist, resting in my palm.

"You can handle this." I encouraged as my husband pulled into the hospital lot, skidding into a parking spot and leaping out to find a nurse with a wheelchair.

"What if I can't?" She cried, her hands shaking as she gazed at the automatic doors of the hospital, registering the fact that she was going to exit those doors as a completely different woman. A single mother.

"You can, I'll be with you the whole time." I vowed, watching her eyes well up with tears as she tried to breathe through the next surge of pain, clinging onto my hand painfully.

"Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!" She panted, her bones wrapping around my own hands as I slowly helped her to her feet, watching the poor nurse swallow and move the chair to help her, gently setting her in it. "Alright, whoever is staying with her during the birth, follow me, anyone else, third floor waiting room." She demanded, Robin nodded at the instructions and urged me forward, his nerves showing again.

"I'll wait for Snow to bring the bag, and show her where the room is, then I'll, umm, wait to update the family." He rambled, making me chuckle and roll my eyes at him, my jaw dropping at the bone crushing grip that tightened around my hand.

"Can you two stop being nauseating so I can go and do this please!" Eliza screamed at us, her other hand squeezing the nurse's arm, making her frantically try and peel it off.

"Of course, sorry." I chuckled, squeezing her hand back to the best of my ability as the nurse nodded nervously, pushing her inside.

...

"Alright, Eliza, put this gown on, take everything else off, including underwear." Alena instructed, filling in for my sister until she got over to the hospital, still clad in her dress from the wedding.

"What! No way, I am not taking my underwear off!" She protested, making the both of us stare at her in confusion. "You do know how babies come out..." Alena questioned, making her growl and snatch the gown, slowly walking towards the bathroom.

"Do you need help?" I asked, but she just grumbled and slammed the bathroom door. "Well, I just don't understand how you keep getting sucked into these deliveries?" I chuckled, smoothing my dress with my hands, watching my daughter grin and stretch out her feet which were clad in heels.