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Henry sat on the sofa in the apartment with Grace in his arms, holding a bottle carefully while feeding her. Emma sat opposite him in the armchair and watched him with a smile, he was getting very good at caring for the baby and had even changed a diaper when they got home. Although she did suspect that Henry was no fool and had offered to do it because he knew there would be nothing so soon after the toxic waste from earlier that afternoon and would later use the excuse that he had taken his turn. Grace was wrapped up in a white fluffy towel having just had a bath and Henry had spiked the small amount of thin hair she had and was still giggling at it as she sucked hungrily on the bottle.

“Do you think Mom will let me spend more time with Grace?” Henry asked Emma doubtfully, “you know, when she’s better?”

“I think so,” Emma smiled.

He looked up at her with a smile, “really?”

“We had a little chat about it,” Emma admitted, “we haven’t really decided on anything but we agree that you should probably all spend some more time together.”

Henry grinned, “that would be cool.”

Grace finished and Henry put the empty bottle on the table in front of him and put a pacifier in her mouth, “this baby stuff’s easy,” he smiled.

Emma laughed out loud, “oh, Kid, you weren’t there for that diaper today.. and you sleep through her tantrums at night.”

Henry adjusted his grip on the baby and held her against his chest, “when Mom’s out of hospital.. and Grace isn’t staying here anymore..”

As Henry drifted off Emma looked at him to encourage him to go on, “will you go back to doing nightshifts?”

Emma hadn’t expected that question, “erm, I’m.. I’m not sure,” she admitted and pointed to the crutch, “I’m still not very mobile.”

“I don’t want you to do the nightshifts anymore,” Henry told her while looking at Grace so he didn’t have to make eye contact with Emma as he was already convinced of her answer.

“Well, I’ll have to do some,” Emma said, “but I’ll make sure it isn’t like it was before.”

Henry looked up with a bright smile, “really?”

“Really,” Emma nodded, “I have to be here for you more, I know I’ve not been around much.”

“Maybe we can all spend some time together?” Henry asked.

“All?” Emma frowned as she sat up to take Grace from him and put her to bed.

“You, me, Grace and Mom,” Henry said simply.

“Oh, well, I suppose,” Emma said casually, she knew it was hard for Henry to understand the patchwork family they had created for him and she didn’t want to make promises she couldn’t keep nor shoot his hopes down, “we’ll see when Regina is better, eh?”

She bent down and picked Grace up, thankful she was light enough to be carried easily in one hand so she could still walk with the crutch, “I’ll put her down, I’ll be a while,” she said as she started walking down towards her bedroom.

“I’ll play on my game,” Henry said excitedly and quickly got his controller out and reached for the television remote.

“No more than half an hour,” Emma told him over her shoulder and rolled her eyes at the half-mumbled agreement.

She entered her bedroom and closed the door behind her and laid Grace on the bed and started to look through the holdall of clothes she had gathered from Grace’s room, “what do you think, Gracie?”

She held up two baby sleepsuits, “pink stripes or yellow stars?”

Grace looked at her and sucked on her pacifier blankly and Emma nodded, “I know, it’s a hard decision. How about pink stripes?”

Grace continued to look at her tiredly and Emma put the other sleepsuit back in the bag and unwrapped the towel that Grace was wrapped in and started to get her into the nightwear.

“What do you think? Just wake me the once tonight? Not three times again, that was very silly,” she said in a light tone as she did the poppers up on clothes. Once she was done she put the holdall and the towel on the floor and sat on her bed with Grace in her arms and picked up a book from her bedside cabinet.

“Okay, this is about a boy called Oliver Twist,” Emma said as she opened the book, “I know that sounds unlikely but trust me when you hear the other characters you’ll think Oliver Twist is a normal name.”

She dimmed the light a little until it was just light enough for her to be able to read by and hopefully soft enough to help Grace drift off, “now I’ve read this a lot so I know you’re going to love it,” she said with a smile as she bent her head down and kissed Grace’s forehead.

Emma turned to the first page and started to softly read, “among other public buildings in a certain town, which for many reasons it will be prudent to refrain from mentioning..”

An hour later when Henry suddenly realised the time he quickly turned the television and games console off and started to turn off the lights on his way towards his bedroom. He slowly turned the handle of Emma’s bedroom door and peaked in through the crack and saw, as per the previous nights that Emma had been looking after Grace, Emma had fallen asleep with Grace sleeping peacefully in her arms.