Lady In The Mirror

Chapter 13: Taste of freedom.

Henry like clockwork always woke up as soon as she fell asleep, the first week with the baby was as hard for her mind as it was for her exhausted body, she hadn't slept a second since she brought the baby to her hotel, not because Henry was particularly difficult, but because she felt like she needed to watch him 24/7 for him to remain alive, like he was suddenly going to stop breathing if she closed her eyes. So, she didn't allow herself to have a single second of rest, simply worried about ruining probably her last chance to have some happiness in her life, like she ultimately always did.

She was living out of espressos and Coke, it wasn't healthy in the least, but it wasn't like she was the epitome of a healthy diet before anyways, but despite the exhaustion, she felt in a constant state of euphoria, like she was high on some kind of baby love drug. However, Henry's peaceful face as he slept in his crib and the now constant calls Emma made to her phone to ask for the baby and try to keep the loneliness she felt in prison at bay, were the only reasons why she had made it through the first week, all on her own in that hotel room.

But the day was close, when she had to leave her perfectly crafted baby stalking nest, to be at the prison the next morning with Emma and since the blonde still didn't want Henry to come, she would have to leave him. Even though Regina didn't want to separate from the baby, she knew she had to be there for the blonde, so she prepared everything for the few hours she was going to be gone, she hired a nanny to babysit Henry and hired Roxanne to babysit the sitter, because there was no way she would leave him alone with a stranger, not after spending the whole week trying to blink at a minimum rate to keep an eye on him at all cost. No, if there was something she was sure of, was that she wouldn't let anyone ruin her perfect newfound family, especially not a bubblegum-chewing high school sitter.

Everything was set and when she threatened the babysitter for the tenth time that morning she left towards the prison.

Emma looked heartbroken when they met and she tried to comfort her the best she could, but she knew the only comfort Emma had at that moment was that she was leaving prison in just a couple more months.

Regina visited her as often as she used to before Henry was born, telling her everything about the baby, how he would always grip her thumb when she gave him the bottle and how he grew up so fast, that he was leaving all the clothes she had gotten for him behind, and she had to pay a weekly visit to the local baby store.

She would also send Emma handwritten letters during the week when the wait for the visitation felt particularly long, most of them with pictures of her and their precious baby boy.

Somehow the four months left of Emma's sentence came to an end sooner than she expected, she didn't know how to explain it but it seemed like it had just been yesterday Henry was delivered and now she was on her last ride to the prison to pick up her little Swan, although, maybe not so little anymore.

...

Leaving prison felt like a fresh breeze of air reaching her lungs for the first time in months, she felt like she could finally breathe after all this time, but it wasn't only the fact that she had finally regained her freedom, but that for once in her life she felt like she had something, someone to belong with.

Regina was like a vision waiting outside of the prison near the cab she came in, tight fitted white dress, black five-inch pumps, and a huge smile decorating her plump red lips. Emma felt the urge to run to her side as soon as their eyes collided, she lifted the brunette in the air and twirled on her spot a few times before she let the brunette down on her feet again. It wasn't until she took a glance at the perfect mix between fluster and shock in Regina's face that she noticed it, her hands still firmly grasping the brunette's ass, like two squashy stress cushions she had just grabbed possession of. Emma coughed, stepping away from the brunette and shoving her hands quickly into the depths of her jeans' pockets, waiting for the brunette to say anything, anything at all, but the brunette just looked at her in that shocked state and the freedom fresh air that she was breathing seconds ago suddenly became thick.