Regina could hear Amelia screaming before she even opened the front door.
She and Emma had gotten quite adept at diagnosing the root of the problem by listening to the difference in Amelia's cries. There was the all-out scream that signaled she was hungry, the whimpering cry that meant she needed a diaper change and the hiccupping cry that she gave when she was lonely and wanted to be held.
But this one she'd never heard. Her baby was screaming and the sound of the cries made her heart hammer in her chest. Because she'd heard that type of cry before- with Henry- and she realized in terror that her baby was in pain.
She barely got through the door before she was pulling off her coat and throwing her purse and keys on the floor instead of their rightful place on the table next to the door. She had the consciousness to kick the door shut with her foot before she called out for Emma and quickly made her way into Amelia's room.
The sight that greeted her made her shaky breath catch in her throat.
Emma was cradling Amelia in her arms, bouncing and rocking the screaming baby as tears ran down her own face.
"Regina," Emma choked out as she lifted her eyes and found her in the doorway.
She crossed the room in three strides, reaching out to cup Emma's cheek as she drew her wife into a soft kiss. "It's okay," she breathed against Emma's lips, before pulling back and easing the baby out of her arms.
Amelia paused momentarily at the change and locked eyes on Regina before her screams grew almost louder in intensity.
"I don't know what's wrong with her! I've changed her, fed her, she doesn't have a temperature and I've been rocking her- walking her- nothing is working!" Emma choked out another sob before falling into the rocking chair in the corner of the room. "I'm a horrible mother," she moaned through the fingers she scrubbed down her face.
"Emma you're-" When Amelia started to squirm in her arms, Regina tore her eyes from her wife's crumpled form to focus on calming her daughter. "Shhh... shhh, Amelia, baby you're okay. It's okay princess," She cooed down to the screaming baby in her arms. "Emma," she waited until Emma's tear filled eyes lifted. "Babies feed on the emotions in the room. You're upset, so she's more upset." She smiled despite the earsplitting screams that were filling the room. "You're an amazing mother."
She continued to rock and soothe Amelia with soft words and gentle kisses, but after 15 minutes she was still just as agitated as when she first walked in. She'd always been able to calm her baby down and she quickly started searching for something else, something that could be wrong.
"She didn't have a fever?" She asked as she set Amelia down on her changing table, the baby automatically squirming and clenching her hands up at Regina.
"No." Emma sighed, rising from the rocking chair as Regina started to unbutton and remove Amelia's onesie. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know." Regina's natural instincts started kicking in, her hands automatically pushing and prodding as her mind whirled with possibilities. She couldn't feel anything wrong and felt her heart clench a little tighter as Amelia grabbed onto her arms as she started to examine her neck and head.
"God, I can't take this!" Emma pushed back from the changing table and paced the room back and forth, both hands grabbing a fistful of hair. "Gina, please," she moaned in agony, "what's wrong with her?"
"Emma it's-" She broke off suddenly as she noticed Amelia's mouth for the first time and the sore, swollen gums inside. She let out a huge sigh, a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and smiled before picking Amelia up and turning.
"Here, hold her." She placed the baby in Emma's arms and jogged out of the room, hearing Emma call after her.
In the kitchen, she washed her hands quickly, then grabbed a glass and filled it with both ice and water. She plunged two fingers from her right hand into the ice water as she walked back to the bedroom.
Emma looked on in confusion as she held her fingers in the glass and counted to thirty in her head. "What are you doing?"
Regina just shook her head and smiled before removing her fingers and reaching out to take Amelia from Emma's arms. She placed her two cold fingers in Amelia's mouth and rubbed along her inflamed gums, putting a slight pressure on them as her fingers moved.
Amelia calmed immediately.
"There you go my princess. See, Mommy made it all better." Amelia's body relaxed further into her arms, her little eyes closing as Regina ran her chilled fingers across her gums.
"She's teething?" Emma whispered as she watched Amelia grab onto Regina's wrist, the baby clearly not wanting Regina's chilled fingers to leave her mouth.
"Mmmm hmm." Regina hummed softly as she continued to rub and rock, her eyes never leaving Amelia's face.
"I'm such an idiot."
"Emma," she sighed, finally looking up.
"Regina, I let her scream for hours and didn't even think that something could be wrong with her!"
"Emma."
"I'm a horrible, awful mother! I let my baby suffer because I was too stupid to check her gums!"
"Emma!" When Emma halted misstep and looked at her she sighed again. "Neither of us expected her to start teething yet. It shouldn't have happened for another couple of months, but it's okay." She laughed before walking closer to her stunned wife. "She's fine," when Emma's eyes clouded over with tears again she crossed the remaining steps that separated them and placed a soft kiss on her mouth. "She's been cranky all week and hasn't been sleeping well so we haven't either. You're tired and stressed, so it's okay you didn't catch it."
They both looked down at the calmed baby below, still grasping Regina's wrist.
"Emma?"
"Hmmm?"
"Go wash your hands." When Emma's head snapped up she laughed. "My fingers won't stay cold forever."
They gently made the switch less than a minute later, Amelia whimpering quietly until Regina's fingers reached her gums. "I'm so sorry princess," she whispered before placing a soft kiss against Amelia's head. The baby sighed and closed her eyes, slowly drifting off now that she finally had some relief.