As she and the professor walked back to their home in the pitch black, Flora yawned. She was exhausted after spending hours on end looking for someone who simply did not want to be found, and wanted to retire to her nice warm bed. She looked up at the professor, whose eyes reflected how she felt. All was silent in the house as they entered.
"Are you hungry, my dear? We haven't eaten all day," the professor pointed out.
"Uh..." Flora yawned again, "... no... I think I'm okay. Goodnight, Professor." She wandered upstairs tiredly.
The professor smiled after her and entered the kitchen. He flicked on the light and sat down, rubbing his eyes tiredly. He saw that Emmy's camera and Luke's bag were both placed on the table, and assumed that they had returned a time ago. Emmeline, Alfendi and Layton had all decided to stay at Celeste's and monitor the progress of the machine's repair, and for that, the professor was thankful. He needed things to calm down a bit so that he could talk to Emmy and try to reassure her. As Flora had said, Emmy had been very down lately. He wondered what he should say to her.
That everything was alright? Well, judging by Emmy's downcast mood lately, everything clearly wasn't alright, at least not for her. And he knew full well what was wrong, and that nothing could change until they had fixed the machine and figured out why their younger selves were sent here in the first place. And why their older selves were being so sketchy on the details. The professor sighed heavily. The more he thought about it, the less sense it seemed to make.
But he knew that right now, Emmy would need some comfort, to lessen the stress being piled on her, for the baby's sake as much as her own. He got up and shut off the light once more, going upstairs to his and Emmy's bedroom.
He opened the door with a creak and he saw Emmy stir under the covers. She was curled up in a ball in the middle of the bed with the covers thrown over her head. The professor smiled at this sight and gently sat down beside her. He peeled the blanket off of her head and tucked her in properly, smoothening the sheets unnecessarily. Emmy didn't move as he did so, so the professor assumed that she was asleep. He leaned in and kissed her neck. He felt her stir again under the sheets and saw a smile on her face as she dreamed. The professor laid down next to her and wrapped his arms around her middle, resting his hands on her belly. He suddenly felt her hands on his.
"Hershel..." she sounded sleepy.
"Emmy," the professor whispered. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm alright," she replied. "Just tired."
The professor kissed her neck again. "Why don't you go back to sleep? Did you have another nightmare?"
"No... Not yet..." she trailed off.
"Don't worry, sweetheart; I'll protect you," the professor whispered. "I'm here."
"Did you find anything while you were out?"
"Well, we were pointed in the direction of the park, where someone saw her and her men running past, but that was as far as we were able to trace her. How about you?"
"We heard from a man that she was living in a flat above a charity shop, but the place was empty when we went to check it out, so we think she's moved on," Emmy replied. "Is there any progress on the time machine?"
"Well, it took a while for them to realise that they had to plug it in," the professor replied, smiling, "and now they've realised that the connection to a vital part of the machine is broken, so they have to look through a fifteen hundred foot wire to try to re-establish a connection. Who knows how long that will take?"
Emmy sighed heavily. "I don't know, Hershel... don't get me wrong, our older and younger selves are nice, but I just wish they'd go back where they came from."
The professor smiled. "I know the feeling. Oh, the days where we had a near empty house..."
Emmy laughed. "Well, your older self said that they had to have the time machine fixed by the end of tomorrow, so it shouldn't be too long."
The professor nodded and held Emmy tighter.
"Hershel?"
"Mmm?"
"Do you think... we'll be able to spend as much time together after the baby is born? You know... alone together...?"
"Of course we will." The professor kissed her again. "We'll make time for us."
"But... what about work? We'll have to juggle work and the baby and everyday life and we'll never have the time to spend together. And I love being around you, Hershel. I love it when we curl up together, or when we go out, but... I'm scared that we won't have time for all that anymore." She held his hands tighter.
"But we will," the professor assured her. "I'll cut back on my hours at work, and I'm sure that Flora would love to be able to help out with the baby. We'll have time together. Nothing will take that away from us, Emmy." He kissed her on the cheek and held her closer. "You're worrying too much about the future, my dear. And you're dwelling too much on the past..."
"But what am I supposed to do?" Emmy asked, agitated. "I'm so scared that we're going to drift apart, and every time I close my eyes, I can still see dad's face..."
The professor stroked her hair gently and rubbed her belly. "You need to focus on the present. On our baby boy... and on us. This whole time machine ordeal will be over by the day after tomorrow, everything will be finished with. And then, we can make the most of the time we have left until the baby comes. It will be the start of a whole new life for us, you'll see."
Emmy nodded. "I hope you're right."
"Yes..." the professor hoped so too, and yet, he had a strange feeling about it. He had the oddest feeling that there was going to be a lot more to this than he first thought.
And he was right.