Reyna paced the bathroom floor, glancing at her watch every few moments. She glared impatiently at the pregnancy test on the counter, wanting the five minutes she had to wait to be over already. Finally, finally, time was up. She grabbed the test, watching as it changed slowly…
Her heart sank. Negative. Again. They had been trying for six months. Six months. And still, nothing! She was starting to worry. And she was sure that Leo thought it was his fault, that something was wrong with him. She had tried to assure him that nothing was wrong, but she knew he was still fretting. She walked past her husband and flopped onto the bed, the negative test still in the bathroom. He sighed, sitting next to her.
"No luck, huh?" Leo asked, rubbing her back. She looked up at him.
"What if you're right?" she asked quietly. He didn't answer for a moment. "What if something is wrong with us? What if I've got bad eggs or something?" He leaned down and kissed her reassuringly.
"Then we'll find another way to have a baby." She sighed, resting her head on his shoulder. "It's fine, Rey," he whispered, kissing the top of her head. "Let's try a couple more times."
"Do you have any idea how long 'a couple more times' is when you're talking about trying to conceive a child? That's months. How much longer do you want to keep this up?" He smiled.
"How about this. We'll try two more times, and if it doesn't work, we'll go to the doctor and get ourselves checked out. Okay?" She nodded, grimacing slightly. He pressed his lips to hers again, cupping her chin. "It's going to be fine." Reyna sighed as Leo's warm arms encircled her, allowing herself to relax against his chest.
"I love you," she mumbled. He kissed her head, and she could feel his lips curve into a smile.
"I love you, too."
Reyna sighed again as Leo lay down on the bed, pulling her down with him. She curled up next to him, stressed and discouraged. She was starting to regret ever agreeing to this. She had never really thought of herself as a motherly type, so when Leo had told her he wanted kids, her immediate answer had been no. But he had slowly started to convince her, and she was sold on the idea in a few weeks. But here they were, over 6 months later, with nothing except a trash can full of negative pregnancy tests to show for it.
"You can't beat yourself up about this," she mumbled.
"I'm not," he defended, but she could hear the strain in his voice that meant he wasn't telling the full truth.
"You do know that you can't lie, right?" Leo was quiet for a moment, before sighing.
"I know." There was a pause as he tried to collect himself. "It's just- I can't really think of any other reason that this would be happening." Reyna looked up at him.
"What if we just aren't getting the timing right? Or if my body just isn't excepting it yet? Maybe it's me, not you. There are so many possibilities, Leo, you can't just assume that it's all your fault," she told him, pulling his chin down and forcing him to look at her. He sighed.
"I'm sorry," he said. "It's just, this is really frustrating." She nodded, leaning her head against his chest.
"I know." The lay there for a while, listening to each other's calm breaths. Reyna felt a bubble of emotion growing in her chest, pressing against her throat. She tried not to, but couldn't help it when she began to cry. Leo didn't notice it at first, but looked down when he felt the silent tears rolling into his T-shirt.
"Hey," he said, pulling her closer. "Hey. It's-it's okay." She nodded, burying her head into the folds of his shirt and letting him stroke her hair. It had taken a while for Leo to get Reyna to be alright with accepting help and comfort, but eventually, she had started to relax into his arms instead of jerking away and letting him fix her sink instead if trying herself for 12 hours.
"I'm sorry," she said, wiping the tears off her face. He smiled at her gently.
"No, I'm sorry. I was the one who wanted you to go through this whole thing. If anyone's to blame, it's me. You can't put yourself down just because you have emotions. Don't forget, Rey, you're only human." She sighed, smiling up at him bashfully.
"How do you always know what to say?" she asked. He grinned at her.
"I'm just fabulous like that," he explained, flexing his muscles. She kissed him.
"My Mr. Wonderful Mechanic," she mumbled against his lips.
"Don't you forget it," he mumbled back. Reyna pulled away, wrapping her arms around his neck as he began to kiss the shell of her ear. Maybe the baby could wait.