Andante, Andante

Chapter Seventeen

One week after Emma broke her heart, the week her girlfriend was supposed to be home and she was supposed to be in Boston with her. They should have been lost in the throes of their wild passion, confessing their love and making more plans for their future, but instead Regina spent that weekend drinking herself stupid.

One week after that, a week she had originally imagined Emma would come to visit her and they would realize being apart was harder than they had anticipated and would plan for a better future for them. That week, she spent calling the blonde and begging her to just tell her what had changed. The first two days, Emma ignored her. Day three, her ex finally answered her phone calls, but told her now was just not the time for them to be together. Day four, Emma ignored her again. Day five, she answered only through texts and by days six and seven, Emma was back to ignoring her once again. Regina knew she was acting crazy and on a downward spiral, but none of the recent events made any sense to her. Her and Emma were beautiful.

They were magical.

They were meant for destruction.

Regina finally stopped calling after day seven, in week two. She picked herself up and focused on her career just like her mother instructed her to. Her mother, she groans just thinking about her, her mother called every day to check in on her, but she could only handle one call a week, because she knew in her gut, Cora was spending every day with Emma.

With the love of her life.

When September rolled around, she was completely focused on following Doctor Belfrey around. She spent as much time as she could shadowing the woman and learning as much as humanly possible. Of course, she knew she had thrown herself into her work to neglect her feelings, but she was proud of herself for not drowning in a bottle to ease her sorrows.

October rolled around far too quickly. By then, she tried not to think about the girl who stole her heart in Sicily anymore. Every time the gorgeous blonde popped in her mind, she would recite the hardest medical term she knew, or she would bury her nose in another medical book.

Things weren't perfect, but her life was starting to become easier with her busy routine. She actually started to feel somewhat normal again. Even though, her heart wasn't completely healed and every day she still felt the cold sting from the gaping hole of a love lost, but hey, at least she was back on track.

That was until Halloween night...

The rapid knock echoes through her little New York apartment and she can picture the excited children all hyped up on candy as they beat their fists against her door, begging for more. And truthfully, she's just as excited and cannot wait for the day where she can take her own children trick-or-treating.

"I'm coming," she calls out as she snatches the bowl of candy off her kitchen counter and rushes toward the obsessive knocking. She swings open her door expecting the cheerful trick-or-treat, but instead she is greeted with one little boy and his father. "Uh..."

"Trick-or-treat, Regina," he smiles brightly, lightly tapping his son's shoulders.

"Robin," she breathes in pure shock as she gapes in utter shock at the two standing on her doorstep.

"Trick-or-treat, Regina," Roland softly greets her beneath his red and blue Spider-Man costume.

She swallows the uncomfortable lump forming in the back of her throat and fakes her best smile toward the little boy who stole her heart years ago.

"Happy Halloween, Roland," she cheerful replies and slowly lifts the mask, so she can see his little dimples that she has missed so much.

"You're back from vacation?" He innocently questions, forcing her eyes to dart to his father for an explanation.