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.
"Henry?" She called, gaining his attention.
"Yes?" He answered properly, though he only glanced up momentarily to continue his colouring
"How was your time with Ms. Tina, dear?"
He grinned to himself, clearly engrossed in some memory. "Fun. She come over again?"
"Not anytime soon," she muttered to herself and moved to lay her forearms on the counter, opposite Henry, and nudged her head against his. "What did you two do?"
He bumped her head back, harder than intended and murmured an 'ow', rubbing it before pressing it against his mother's. Regina giggled at his antic, though before she would have been worried about even the smallest of harms coming to her child, but she was learning to let him grow. She watched as he finished his pterodactyl and carefully took a red crayon, his tongue between his teeth as he concentrated on signing his name. It was all capitals, and the Y was backwards, but he held up the book for her to see. She smiled and praised him, kissing his head for emphasis.
"We watch Nemo and Treasure Planet and 'Lantis." He stood on his feet on the stool and reached for Regina across the table.
She lifted him up and over wordlessly and sat him on the edge of the island. "Three movies?" She asked trying to keep the disapproval out of her voice.
"Yeah," he grinned holding up three fingers. "And she read to me, and told me stories about fairies and pixies."
"Did she give you any sweets?" Regina asked, cutting to the chase.
He shook his head quickly though Regina still scrutinized him under a curious gaze. "I didn't," he said with a grin, tickling his mother's waist with insistence.
She squinted and changed tactics. "Did you have any sweets?"
All she got in return was a diverted gaze as Henry turned his head toward the backyard windows and a mischievous smirk.
"Henry Mills," Regina scolded as a sigh, tugging his head to face hers. She showed no smile and offered no sympathy when Henry stared wide-eyed up at her. "Do you remember what I told you before leaving?"
He shook his head with a pout.
"I told you to listen to Ms. Tina, and that you were not allowed to have any sweets," she reiterated. "Did you listen to Mommy?"
He shook his head again, guilty tears coating his eyes.
"What did you do instead?"
"I eat sweets by myself."
"You did," Regina nodded. "Are you going to do that again?"
He shook his head and hugged her around the middle, squeezing her back tightly, and Regina had no choice but to hug him back pressing a kiss to the top of his head. "I'm not mad, sweetie," she clarified. "I just want to make sure nothing bad happens to you, and I can't be sure of that if you don't follow the rules I or the people who care for you set."