hunnyfresh - Letters from War

"She's in the washroom. You can still say goodbye to her."

He nodded and sat up despite Regina's attempt to cradle him back down then climbed over the armrests to sit in his mother's lap. "She come back tomorrow?" He asked hopefully, clutching Regina's cheeks to her eye contact.

Regina chuckled softly. "No, sweetie, not tomorrow."

He pouted and looked to be on the verge of arguing when he turned and awed audibly. Regina looked for the source of his wonderment and found Emma, strutting from the hallway in her shades of beige and pale green camouflage uniform and her hair pulled back into a severe bun. If Regina were to see her on the street, she would have thought this woman serious and no nonsense. Seeing the transformation from Emma Swan to Corporal Swan was quite impressive just from the vast disparity between the two. Gone was the wild-haired blonde who chased her son around with cardboard swords. In her place was the disciplined soldier who had seen too much at too young an age.

"What are you doing awake?" Emma's voice was soft despite the hardness of her face as she sat beside Regina, using a finger to poke at Henry and offering Regina a to-go cup of coffee the brunette hadn't noticed until now.

She smiled her thanks as the boy moved silently from Regina's lap into Emma's, leaning back to eye her uniform curiosity.

"You clean up well, soldier," Regina commented, one edge of her lips curling upwards as she took in the blonde beside her.

Emma smirked and nuzzled her forehead against Henry's. "I'm glad you're awake. I got you something too."

"A present?" He asked eagerly.

She produced a small United States flag pin from her pocket, displaying it in the palm of her hand. "There was only a tiny kiosk opened this late."

Henry didn't hear her explanation as he picked up the pin and inspected it with careful eyes. "Is it a toy?"

She shook her head. "Remember how you wanted a necklace like me and August?" When Henry nodded, she continued. "It's kind of like that, except you can pin it onto your shirt. I work for them too,"'she explained pointing to the pin, "and you can pretend."

He grinned his acceptance to Regina who smiled fondly at the two before stretching out the front of his sweater for Emma to pin it on. With a grin of her own, she unclasped the backing and carefully pressed the pin through his hoodie and slid her other hand under it to close the fastening. She nudged his chin with a knuckle when she was done. "Look at you, kid."

Henry looked down at the pin and grinned widely. "Look, Mommy!"

"I see, sweetheart." Regina said straightening out his sweater. "You clean up well too."

He giggled happily and scooted off Emma's lap, running to the seat he had vacated, Regina's coat now sprawled haphazardly against the chair and Rex still sleeping the night away. He grabbed the dinosaur and was already holding him out in front of him before running the two steps back to Emma. "Rex cleans up too," he mimicked, tilting the dinosaur side to side in some dance move. "He's for you."

"Kid..." Emma tried but Henry climbed back up into her lap and placed Rex insistently into her arms.

"Rex is really good at giving hugs," Henry explained playing with the stubby arms of the toy. "He doesn't like hide and seek 'cause I always find him and I always pick the bestest hiding spots, and he makes the bad dreams go away."

The last one hit a nerve in Emma's chest, and without further control of her body, her eyes watered as she quickly pulled Henry and Rex into a tight hug. She pressed a kiss to the curve of his neck. "You're the best, kid."

He giggled into Emma's chest. "I know," he said pulling back and pointing at the E. Swan patch stitched onto the right breast of the blonde's jacket. "What's that?"

"My name," she explained easily.

"Can you show Emma how you know your letters?" Regina interjected, giving Henry a minute as she pointed to the first.

He scrunched up his face in adorable concentration. "E...Ssss...W...ah....A....and...N!"

"Good job, sweetie," Regina praised with adoration as Emma held up a hand for a high five, shaking it out with dramatic effect when Henry connected with all his might.

"What does it say?"

He squinted an eye in thought. "Emma?"

They laughed as the blonde shook her head. "It says Swan. My last name."

Nodding quickly, Henry looked for more things to point out on her uniform until he found her rank insignia stitched on the sleeve. "What's that?" He used his finger to trace the two chevrons pointing pointing upward.

"It's to show other people that I'm a Corporal."

"What's mine?" He asked.

Emma was pretty good at thinking on her feet and even Regina seemed to be milling around her mind for a suitable answer should Emma not be quick enough, but half a second later the blonde grinned. "Remember that apple on your shield at your birthday?"

He nodded his understanding.

"That means you're a Mills like Mommy."

"Yeah!" He agreed happily before brightening up at a thought. "You had one too. On your sword, 'member?"

This time Regina grinned wickedly and nudged the blonde with her shoulder, doing little to hide her smile behind her coffee cup. "Yes, dear, you had one too."

"We're all Millses," Henry decided with finality.

The thought of being claimed by another used to frighten Emma but coming from the little boy sitting on her lap as his mother, her girlfriend of sorts, she realized with an amazed internal smile, being part of something like that wasn't so scary at all. She chuckled softly. "I don't know, you guys look like Swans to me."

"No!" Henry shook his head, covering his mouth from his laughter. "I'm not a bird."

The lobby echoed with their laughter when they realized Henry didn't quite understand the idea behind Emma's surname.

"No, you're not a bird," Regina acknowledged dutifully, rubbing Henry's back in agreement before muttering more to the blonde than her son. "Plus, I have no intention of giving up my maiden."

Emma caught Regina's eye with meaning, and in that moment, it was as if both women realized the future they had ahead of them with the other and shared a shy smile. "Well neither am I," the blonde argued.

"Well it looks like we're at a stalemate then," Regina said quietly with a shrug of her shoulder as she held a meaningful gaze with the younger woman.

Bored with their conversation and wired up despite the late hour, Henry slipped off Emma's lap and began running around the terminal, the airport his new playground. Usually Regina would restrain him from being so hyper in such a public setting, but with the single other passenger that walked by in the last half hour gone, she allowed Henry to have free reign.

"You look good," Regina complimented, running her hand up and down Emma's arm.

"That's why I enlisted. I look amazing in camo," teased the blonde.

Regina rolled her eyes and caught Emma's fingers, her thumb tracing a smooth path from the blonde's index along the curve where her thumb extended.

"Where do you want to go?" Emma asked quietly as they watched Henry gallop back and forth from the directory to the garbage bin.

Regina suppressed a yawn with her closed fist. "A little context, dear."

"When I get back," the blonde explained. "I want to take you on a date."

Regina glanced shyly up at Emma as red tinted her cheeks. "If my count is correct this will be date number two."

"Right, we already did the classic dinner and a movie thing, huh?" With a wry grin, Emma added, "too bad we didn't do the classic make out in the back seat of my car thing."

"I can see you have a one-track mind, soldier. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you wanted me only for my body."

Emma chuckled but squeezed Regina's hand sincerely as she shook her head. "I didn't have to see what you looked like to know how awesome you are."