Andante, Andante

Chapter Twenty-Eight

"Hello," Emma hastily answers the phone breathlessly while she balances Henry in one arm and attempts to keep the phone pointed at them, so Regina can see their faces and not the ceiling or the floor.

"Hey, are you alright? You seem flustered," Regina softly replies in concern, but Emma's mind is focused on bouncing Henry to keep him from screaming bloody murder once again.

"Yeah, Henry's....going through a phase...I think...I hope..." she mutters, making sure her knees bend aggressively so she can pop right back up to keep him moving.

Cora and Henry are out this evening and Emma's beside herself with her screaming child. She's not sure what to do anymore because clearly, he doesn't give a damn whether she feeds him, changes him or burps him. She's not going to tell Regina this piece of information, but she distinctly remembers a scene from the show Friends where Monica rocks the baby to sleep and she's so desperate that she's willing to give that a try.

"What's wrong? He's fussy?" Her girlfriend innocently inquires because she has no clue that fussy would actually be a blessing in this moment.

"Fussy...more like possessed by the devil himself," Emma deadpans, her body recklessly bouncing from side to side while Henry sniffles and hiccups after his hour long temper tantrum.

Regina sighs heavily and somehow Emma already knows there's so much more behind that exhale than just her guilt of not being there with them. She holds her breath waiting for the blow she knows is to come. She inspects the way her girlfriend anxiously runs a shaky hand through her hair, that's already in disarray from her anguish.

"This makes it so much harder," Regina mumbles mostly to herself, but Emma hears those awful words loud and clear and they instantly toss her stomach upside down. "Em, I'm so sorry, but I can't come at the end of the month like we planned."

"What? Why?" She tries her best not to sound too disappointed because she knows her girlfriend's career comes first right now and it's all for their future as a family.

"Too many people have requested off during that time and since I already had a week off in March, my name was pushed to the bottom of the list," she explains as though the words are literally slicing through her heart as they speak.

Regina's antsy fingers tread through her wild hair yet again as her head slowly falls forward in shame. She looks utterly exhausted and Emma wonders if it's because of her worry about the conversation or if she is running ragged at the hospital.

"Regina," she softly whispers to coax those beautiful brown eyes to peer up at her. "It's alright. Henry and I will be just fine. I can come to New York now with him," she offers, hoping to help settle some of the anxiety ripping her apart.

"No, I can't have you travel eleven hours on a plane with a three-month-old. That's too much, especially if he's going through a phase right now. The moment they approve my vacation request I'm coming there. I promise," she vows in a way that Emma knows, she will never cave on allowing her and Henry to travel alone.

"Alright," she slowly says, peeking over at Henry's pinched face. His eyebrows are still painfully drawn together in anger like she's the reason for his unhappiness. She sighs and places a gentle kiss to his nose while her feet continue shifting rapidly. "So, when do you think you will make it out here?"

"I'm really hoping sometime in June. I think it's feasible," her girlfriend weakly explains, expressing just how much she doesn't even believe in her own damn words.

"Okay, well, Henry and I will be fine. I'm sure your parents will be ecstatic to have us around a little while longer," she mutters, trying to make her face appear like she's looking for the silver lining.