"I know," he mumbled into her shirt.
"And, what have I told you, if you eat too many candies, you won't grow up big and strong."
"Like Emma?" He wondered.
She smiled softly and nodded against his head. "Yes. Just like Emma."
"Ms. Tina said you and Emma had fun," Henry said when he pulled back.
Regina raised an eyebrow. "Oh, did she? What exactly did she say?"
"We can watch a movie and have fun like my mommy and Emma," Henry quoted.
Regina took a moment to decipher if Ms. Bell's statement had any hidden meaning to it, and while her instinct told her yes, Henry did have a tendency to reword things to simpler terms. She wouldn't be surprised if the pre-school teacher was grilling Henry about information, but to her knowledge she didn't need to. Other parents at daycare had told her that Henry had been sharing stories of his bestest friend Emma who was a superhero to his classmates.
"Did you watch 'Lantis?" Henry asked, swinging his feet against the counter suddenly upbeat again.
Regina shook her head. "We watched an adult movie."
Emma snorted when she entered the kitchen, her hair down in damp ringlets and her body out of her running clothes and into a pair of jeans and a long sleeve. "Not quite."
Regina rolled her eyes at the implication and glared at the blonde.
"All dressed and stink free," Emma announced as she walked over to the side with the stools. Wordlessly Regina handed over Henry to Emma who nestled him on the stool beside her.
She turned and leaned against the opposite counter, trying desperately not to notice that a few droplets of water were dancing along Emma's neck from her after-run shower and cleared her throat. "I have a surprise," she repeated from earlier.
"For me?" Henry asked.
"Nah, it's for me," Emma insisted, bumping his shoulder lightly.
Regina chuckled fondly at the little glare Henry gave her. Genetics had nothing on the well-practised look he picked up from his mother. Her chuckle turned into a breathy laugh when Emma stared right back at him, a silent staring contest already commencing. It was ridiculous how quickly Emma and Henry had bonded over the short amount of time she had been there. But then again, the blonde had a certain effect on her as well. She cleared her throat, interrupting the staring contest and silently retrieved the empty wicker basket from around her side of the island and placed it in between Emma and Henry.
"Apples?!" Henry yelled, standing up on the stool so quickly it nearly slid backwards from his weight. "We go pick apples?!"
"I've figured you've earned the right to learn my famous apple turnover recipe after last night's debacle," Regina said to Emma.
"You're really gonna share that with me?" She asked in wonderment.
Regina directed her attention to Henry. "As long as you get your shoes on, young man."
Henry nearly swan dived off the stool, but Emma's strong arms caught him around the waist and eased him back onto the tile, his legs already moving to run. When he left, Emma straightened and smiled softly. "I thought you would take that recipe to the grave," she joked.
"I suppose one other person knowing it won't hurt, though you're under strict orders not to repeat it to anyone else."
Emma made a show of zipping her lips and throwing away the key.
Regina chuckled, a curled hand lightly grazing her chin as they stood watching one another in comfortable silence. Emma's eyes seemed fixated on her, shifting from her eyes to her nose and then her lips. Regina inhaled sharply, a small hitch in her breathing as she caught Emma's eye again. There it was again, the way Emma was staring at her, looking past the mask Regina was so accustomed to wearing. Brown eyes shifted momentarily only to be locked onto green once more. "Emma, I-"
Henry came bounding in, his Velcro light up Spider-Man shoes already on with quite the load in his arms. He dropped an armful of shoes onto the kitchen tile, and Emma laughed out loud while Regina shook her head when they realized that Henry had grabbed Emma's boots, the left shoe of her sneakers, and two of Regina's heels though neither matched and both were for the same foot.
"Let's go." He picked up a heel and ran to his mother, trying to lift up her leg to put her heel on.
Regina nearly lost her balance and grabbed onto the counter to steady herself. She crouched down and tapped Henry's nose, her look set. He huffed but relented. "Pleeaase?"
They decided to walk to Town Hall for the sun had decided on making a lasting appearance that mid-morning, and as soon as the trio had turned onto the sidewalk toward Main, Henry latched onto both Emma and Regina's hand. He kicked up his legs, forcing the women to react quickly as they swung him back and forth over the sidewalk. "Again," he hopped happily and kicked up again.
Regina's arm had tired by the time they arrived to Town Hall twenty minutes later. She was thankful for the few people they had caught on the street to greet the Mayor, Emma, and Henry for Henry had stopped his swinging to allow the women to speak with other adults. Regina was especially thankful when Dr. Hopper struck up a brief conversation with Emma while Pongo entertained Henry. By the time they arrived to Town Hall, Regina's right arm was exhausted. But still, the walk had only continued to open her eyes and realize how much a part of the town Emma had already become. If she hadn't reminded Emma of their destination, she was sure the blonde would have been able to speak to the therapist for another hour.
"So this is the famed Honeycrisp tree I keep hearing about," Emma said when Henry sprinted off toward the tree, climbing onto a nearby bench that neatly lined the base and standing on it to hug the trunk. "Your dad gave it to you, right?"
Regina nodded as she and Emma walked together toward the tree. "I've had it since I was a little girl."
She strung the basket to the crook of her elbow and reached Henry in time to steady him as he stretched to grab an apple from a low-hanging branch.
"So we just pick them?" Emma asked
Regina looked to Henry, giving him a squeeze to prompt him to answer as he gently laid his carefully picked apple into the basket.
"You wait till they're hard," he announced expertly. Regina kissed his head proud.
"You feel them. Make sure they're firm and feel crisp," Regina explained motioning toward the tree. "Apple trees ripen from the outside in so try to avoid the fruit toward the center."
"Seems simple enough." Emma looked up to see an apple hanging above her. She gave it a squeeze and deemed it firm, plucking it carefully and placing it beside Henry's apple. "Did I do good?"
Regina placed a hand on her shoulder as she passed by Emma with a grin, the blonde returning her own crooked smile. "You're a natural."
"Did you know the Honeycrisp tree is the most vigorous and hearty of all apple trees?" Regina asked from the other side of the tree, catching Emma's eye between the leaves. "It can survive temperatures as low as forty below and keep growing. It can weather any storm."
"Is that why your dad gave it to you?" Emma asked, ducking her head under the branches, hooking an arm around the trunk to swing closer to Regina's side. "Because it's a resilient tree?"
"Perhaps," Regina shrugged coyly, turning her back to Emma to pick another apple and handed it to Henry who had become the official apple-putter-in-the-basketer, as he had dubbed it. The basket was near full, nearly reaching the brim of the basket. Regina cast a glance over her shoulder and smirked. "Or it could have been the flavour. I have yet to taste anything more delicious than the fruit it offers."
"Oh yeah?" Emma asked, closing the gap between her and Regina with careful steps. "I'll be the judge of that."
"Catch." Henry suddenly threw an apple haphazardly Emma's way.
Regina was quick with her reflexes, catching the fruit mere inches before it made contact with Emma's face. "Henry," Regina scolded.