hunnyfresh - Letters from War

The two women evened their breathing at the last moment as Henry stopped from bursting into the room. When he noticed their apparent sleeping form, Regina heard him close the door ever so quietly, giving it a shush when the hinges decided to creak. She imagined him tip toeing to the bed, doing his best to remain quiet as he struggled to climb onto the queen. Her chest rose quickly in her attempt to hold in her snort when Henry audibly 'oofed' as he toppled onto the duvet. It was Henry's wiggling into the tight space between Emma and Regina that had Regina releasing her laugh as Henry squeezed his head from below in between the two women. His head knocked into Regina's jaw, but after a content sigh, he settled in between them. Regina peaked an eye open to see Henry with his eyes shut. She felt a gaze on her to see Emma staring at her with a smirk, and with a silent agreement, they both attacked Henry with tickles and kisses.

He squealed, kicking his feet so the duvet bunched about their legs. He tucked his chin into his neck, but Regina zeroed in under his arms while Emma attacked his belly. His laughter filled the room that bright Saturday morning, and for the briefest second, Regina was content with the fact that Henry was happy, laughing in her bed where she and Emma lay. The feeling passed when Henry squirmed away from his mother, but all that did was put him closer to Emma who wrapped a leg around him and blew raspberries on his cheeks.

"Stop!" He gasped, rolling onto his stomach to scurry away. He managed to pull the covers over him and crawl to the foot of the bed, a giggling lump shaking happily by Emma and Regina's feet. "Can't get me now."

"Oh, really?" Emma questioned as she and Regina sat up. With a conniving smirk, Emma threw off the covers while Regina grabbed hold of Henry around the middle. It was easy for he was curled into a ball on his knees with his hands placed over his head.

He screamed happily as Regina pulled him against her chest and sat up with him in her lap. "You're funny, Mommy," Henry praised, fighting off Regina's tickling fingers.

"You're funny, Henry," Regina mimicked sincerely before placing a kiss on her son's cheek to calm him down. "And where were you this morning?"

"I sleep in my room 'cause Mommy and Emma are too hot," he explain matter of fact.

"But you missed the snuggles this morning," Emma said with a feigned pout, sitting against the headboard beside the brunette.

"You snuggle with Mommy?" He asked the blonde. The question made Emma turn a light shade of pink before Regina interrupted, her own coy grin subtly directed at the younger woman before speaking seriously with her son. "Yes. No Henry's allowed."

It was a bold move on Regina's part to suddenly press herself against Emma's side. A month ago the thought of such carefree behaviour was unimaginable, but as of late she found herself more compelled to do so, to let herself go. So she teased her son and snuggled into Emma's arm. The blonde caught on quickly, almost automatically, and wrapped around the older woman with a playful smirk directed at the boy. "Yeah, no Henry's allowed," she chanted.

Despite the deliberate exclusion, Henry laughed at their chant and clapped along to it, jumping in at the last verse before he finally decided that that would simply not do. "Henry's allowed," he insisted, crossing his arms around his chest.

He pried Emma's arms away from Regina's torso and wrapped his own small arms around his mother. "See, Henry allowed."

Regina simply looked at him then at Emma, motioning her head toward her son. "Should we make an exception?"

Emma pursed her lips in thought. "I don't know, is Henry a good hugger?"

"Mommy says I'm the bestest." He released an arm from around Regina to include Emma, though his wingspan only caught to the middle of her stomach.

Emma gave him a squeeze and growled, "you do seem like the bestest."

"Henry's allowed then," Regina conceded.

Henry released them and jumped up onto his feet bouncing up and down in his cheer. He'd occasionally catch a leg or a thigh hidden under the duvet and stumble while the women held in a pained groan, but both Emma and Regina were there to catch his fall. When Regina's alarm clock habitually went off, the brunette shook her head at her son and eased herself out of bed. She caught Henry mid-jump and spun him around once before setting him on his feet where he dramatically feigned dizziness and fell to the ground. The whoosh of the blanket had her turning to see Emma also out of bed and already flipping out the duvet to make the bed.

"You get the kid. I'll get this," Emma said, smoothing out the covers and tucking them in until it was taut.

Regina donned her robe, cinching it tight around the waist before offering her hand to Henry who dawdled in getting up.

"Let's sleepover again, Mommy," Henry suggested, grabbing Regina's hand and pulling himself up.

"But no Henry's allowed," Emma teased.

He stuck out his tongue and clung tightly to Regina's leg. The brunette rolled her eyes at Emma as she picked up her son and made her way out of the room.

"What we doing today, Mommy?" Henry asked after he and Regina had changed and brushed their teeth with a quick shower for the latter as he climbed up onto the barstool with little help.

"I have a surprise."

"A surprise?" Emma asked from the doorway.

Regina held her breath as she took in the thin layer of sweat that coated Emma's torso and neck as the blonde wiped at her face with the tank top she had just removed, leaving her clad in only her sports bra and leggings. She knew Emma was fit and had caught the blonde doing push-ups with Henry on her back, or working out her legs with Henry on the soles of her feet when he thought they were playing airplanes, but she had never seen it firsthand before. Regina had always considered herself fit, but dear god, Emma was something else entirely. The blonde must have noticed Regina gaping for she looked down at herself and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, do I stink?"

"Yes," Henry said firmly.

Regina cleared her throat and turned to put the coffee on, happy for the distraction. "No," she said tightly. "Just come down when you're ready."

"Okay."

Regina waited until the sounds of Emma's feet reaching the top landing sounded before she exhaled deeply. Her mind was on overload apparently, and she had no idea how to stop it. What scared her the most was that she didn't want to stop it. Gods, she hadn't even put water in the pot. Fixing the coffee properly, Regina eyed the machine as her mind floated back toward what it had been stuck on recently.

Regina was in over her head. The perpetual giddy feeling she had by the mere thought of Emma Swan had her near nauseous. Though whether it was due to actual sickness or butterflies in the stomach, she wasn't sure. She was hoping for actual sickness to explain away this feeling. At least that was treatable.

Last night had changed things.

She felt more connected to Emma in a way that was different than her motherly bond with Henry. Emma was her best friend, that much she was sure of. She had shared with her secrets she had never told anyone. But it was also more than that. There was some sort of attraction there, Regina couldn't lie to herself now. She couldn't help but notice the lingering gazes and the meaningful comments that made her wonder if perhaps there was something more for Emma as well. It was something they needed to discuss, though Regina had no idea how to go about it.

She eyed Henry sitting quietly at the counter, colouring absent-mindedly in a colouring book of dinosaurs. He always told her that the greens and browns she chose to colour the dinosaurs were boring, despite the fact that Regina had told him it was realistic, even going so far as to showing her son pictures of the extinct beasts, but he shook his head and always chose to use the brightest colours. Currently a pterodactyl was getting quite the shade of violet and yellow. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously at his pleasant behaviour. Normally when Henry fussed and fought bedtime, he was quite grumpy the following day, yet here he was, content and quiet and already dressed for the day.