Emma chuckled and relaxed back into the bed. "I'm sure that's what you meant."
Regina rolled her eyes, glaring softly at the blonde in the bed before her gaze zeroed in on the charm hanging on the beaded chain of her dog tag. "You kept it," Regina observed, leaning over to finger the swan charm partially hidden behind the identification tags.
Emma looked down at Regina's touch and reflexively pressed her own fingers to her necklace, brushing Regina's in the process. The brunette made no start to move her hand and instead grazed her thumb over the engraving.
"Yeah," Emma said, lifting up the chain between them as they both examined the charm closely. "Why wouldn't I?"
"I didn't expect you would wear it on your person." Regina moved her fingers to one of the two dog tags, squinting her eyes at the piece of metal. "I always wondered what these meant."
"They're ID tags," Emma explained, easing the one Regina was fingering out of the woman's grasp before scooting closer so she could help bring it into the glowing light of the morning sun. She skimmed over every embossed line and spoke. "My name. Social security number. And blood type. There's two tags so that one can be left with the body in case..."
"In case your body can't be retrieved right away," Regina provided darkly, meeting Emma's gaze, but the blonde nodded nonetheless.
Regina shook her head. "The tag taken, who do they notify in the event of a fatality?"
"Usually a spouse, but the closest kin or the emergency contact."
"Who do they notify if anything happens to you?" Regina clarified.
Emma bit the inside of her cheek, rolling a shoulder nonchalantly. "I don't know, I haven't really put anyone down for it."
"Why not?" Regina asked alarmed.
"Group home to group home to boot camp, remember?" Emma said with a tight smile. "Nobody to contact. I'm a glorified ward of the state."
Regina opened her mouth, but as soon as the barest of sounds escaped her lips both Emma and Regina turned their heads at the sound of Regina's alarm clock blaring in her room.
Emma feigned a stretch and looked at Regina pointedly. "Well good morning, Regina."
Regina laughed once and stood. "I'll turn that off and let you return to bed."
Her statement was useless for Emma was already up and out of bed, fluffing out the blanket to drape it over its length, tucking the ends under the mattress until it was taut. "I get up with the sun. I was hoping to go for a run."
"Of course," Regina said standing by the wall, impressed at Emma's impeccable bed-making skills. Looking at the blonde, one would question her discipline since her light-hearted and jovial nature was her most striking characteristic, but habit and duty was ingrained in her blood and surfaced at even the oddest moments.
Emma smirked when Regina blushed down at her attire, finally realizing that her blue nightie was more revealing than she had expected. Her haste to see to her guest superseded her need for modesty. Suppressing a chuckle, Emma stood proud in her own tank top and underwear attempting to make Regina feel as comfortable as possible. Regina left the room, and soon the house quieted from the blaring alarm, and Regina returned to Emma's room, donning a robe cinched tightly around her waist.
"I'm afraid I can't give you that tour I promised you for today. I have a few meetings that I couldn't reschedule."
"It's okay. I'll explore the town." Emma moved to the far wall where her rucksack lay and bent over to retrieve a pair of leggings before pausing in thought. "My sneakers are in my duffel in my car."
"Right," Regina remembered. "I'll call the sheriff."
Emma's run had been put on hold, so instead, she opted into doing push ups on the floor of the guest room while Regina showered. It was just after her first round of fifty when the sudden weight of a little boy jumping onto her back as she dipped down interrupted her work out.
"Morning, Emma." Henry wrapped his arms around her neck as he straddled her back koala-style.
The blonde grinned as the boy snuggled in between her shoulder blades, his voice still laced with sleep and the plush dragon clutched between his fingers dangling in front of Emma's face. She continued her work out unphased, purposely jostling her body to wake up the boy who giggled and held on tighter. "Hey little man."
"You a horsy-horsy." Henry sat up, using the back of Emma's tank for his reigns as he bounced up and down on her back.
"A horse?" Emma reared up on all fours and crawled around the room. She neighed obnoxiously and pulled up onto her knees, wrapping her arms around her back to keep Henry stable.
"Emma!" He laughed happily and clung tighter to her neck. "I falling!"
"Hold on tight!" She dipped down back to all fours and crawled quickly around the room, bucking wildly.
The dragon in Henry's grasp slipped from his fingers, but Emma moved quickly to catch it, simultaneously sliding him off her back and catching him under the arms to rocket ship him onto the bed. His laugh was infectious, a high pitched squeal as Emma found an especially ticklish area under his right ribcage. She lowered her voice to a deep gruff as she used Henry's dragon to tickle at his neck. "I'm going to eat you!"
"Help me, Mommy!" Henry gasped in laughter when he saw Regina standing at the door with a pleased smile gracing her lips.
Emma straightened almost immediately when she realized Regina was standing in the doorway. "Hi." She pointed to the dragon and shrugged. "Must be a carnivore."
Regina's eyes twinkled with mirth while her lips pulled up into a smirk when Henry pouted at the adults talking and proceeded to grab Emma's free hand and moving it back to his ribs to coax the blonde into tickling him again.
"I can see that," Regina said amused when Emma realized Henry's tactic and allowed her fingers to scrape at his tickle spot. With a smirk, Regina turned from the door and called over her shoulder, "he's especially ticklish at his collar bone."
"Mommy!" Henry reprimanded, but it was immediately cut off when Emma zeroed in at his neck.
Emma slammed the door of her car shut, the vehicle still booted, as she draped her duffel around a shoulder. After dropping off Henry at daycare, Regina had called the Sheriff only to be redirected to a voicemail saying he was out on patrol. That left the pair to walk back to the clock tower for Emma to retrieve her belongings for the time being. "So that B&B over there has accommodations, right?"
Regina pulled her jacket around her to protect her from the light breeze as both she and Emma crossed the street. "Nonsense, you'll stay with me."
Emma raised an eyebrow and did little to suppress her smirk. "Is that so?"
"It's the least I could do." Regina motioned behind them to Emma's bug when they crossed the street. "Plus, I'll be leaving you stranded for the day or so."
The blonde laughed and adjusted her duffel. "It's killing you that I've totally surprised you and you can't be as hospitable as you normally would, isn't it?"
Regina glared only reinforcing Emma's laughter. "You have my number, correct?"
"Yes."
"And the address to town hall?"
"Yes."
"And you know your way back to the mansion?" Regina stopped when Emma cheekily bit her lip suppressing a new wave of laughter. "What?"
"I can't wait until Henry starts dating," Emma explained. "If you're grilling me, I can only imagine the poor soul the kid brings home."
"Well that's enough of your foresight for the morning," Regina huffed and turned. "I will see you later, soldier."
Emma smirked, watching the brunette walk down the street. She gave Regina a pointed look when Regina turned her head to catch Emma still watching her before she shook her perfectly coiffed locks and continued down the street.