He woke to the sound of his alarm telling him it was 7:30 and he had to get up for work. The light was pouring the shades, blinding him as he opened his eyes to find his phone. He fumbled around, eventually finding it on his bedside table and clicked the lock button, stopping the stupidly loud beeping. Of course, if it wasn't stupidly loud then it wouldn't wake up a certain deep sleeper and he would have to find other ways to rouse her from her unconscious state. He smiled at the thought of and turned towards her. She was facing away from him towards the window, clearly she had slept extremely well last night. Her golden hair flowed down her back and over her shoulder. He could see the gentle movements of her body as she breathed steadily. He had to wake her, as much as he hated to, or she would be very late for work. He scooted over and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her body into his. She groaned slightly and her eyelids flickered.

"Hi." He spoke straight into her causing her to jump slightly. He laughed and kissed her ear. "Come on babe, we gotta get up." He said.

"No, no you have to go away, you have to take your horrible talky mouth away from here." He laughed again and decided she probably wasn't going to wake up of her own accord. So he stood from the bed. "Okay, I'll go call you in sick." He didn't get a response and assumed she had fallen asleep again. He went to the bathroom and took a flannel from the shelf. He held it under the tap until it was soaked through and dripped with cold water. He snuck back into the bedroom, this time to her side of the bed. He held it directly over her head and squeezed.

"Ahhhhhhhhh!" She screamed as the cold water made contact with her head and shoulders. "Neal?! What the hell?" She sat up and smacked him on the arm. He bent down so their heads were level and spoke.

"You weren't getting up. I did something about it." She laughed and pulled him by the chin, placing a quick kiss on his lips. She pulled back and smiled. Then, he heard footsteps coming down the hall and the bedroom door flew open.

"GOOD MORNING!" Henry came bounding into the room and jumped up onto his parent's bed. Emma was ringing out her hair and laughing. She always looked gorgeous in the morning. "So?" Emma and Neal both looked at eachother.

"So what?" Emma asked teasingly.

"Well, today is kind of an important day." Henry said as more of a question than anything. "You know…"

"No, if it was important we would remember." Said Neal, looking at his son with mischief in his eyes.

"We sure would." Agreed Emma. "Although it does ring a bell for some reason… is it the election?"

"NO! IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!" Henry shouted.

"Ohhhhh!" His parents both said sarcastically. They both burst out laughing and Henry soon joined in. "Happy Birthday, kid." Emma hugged him and smiled. Neal then did the same.

"So, where are they?" She knew what he meant but the answer wasn't going to be what he wanted and she knew he would be hyper all day because of it but she didn't care. She loved teasing her son.

"Nuh-uh, not until after school. Now go get ready!" She laughed when Henry made his puppy dog eyes and pouted but it didn't work on either of them, luckily. "Oh no, that's not going to work. Now go!"

"Ohhhhhhh!" Henry jumped off the bed and stomped to the door, hanging his head as he left back towards his room.

"You know, he's going to be hyper all day, right?" Neal looked at Emma and laughed. She was smiling as she only ever did when she teased Henry.

"I know." She said as she finally moved from the bed towards him. "But, I didn't want him to have our presents now and everyone else's later, I want him to have them all at once. What time did we tell everyone to be here?" She asked, wrapping her arms around him and nuzzling into his embrace.

"7, I think." She looked him dead in the eye then.

"Well, I'd better get to work then." She kissed him again, then went to her side of the bed and pulled out two bulging bags of party decorations.

"Don't you think that's a bit much?" She glared at him.

"No it's not. Only the best for my little boy's surprise party." She smiled again when the door opened again. She threw the bags back under the bed just as Henry poked his head around the door frame.

"Mom?"

"Yeah, kid."

"Can we get ice cream on the way home from school?"

"I'm sure your Dad won't mind a pit stop at Granny's." She looked at Neal and he beamed.

"You mean, Dad's coming home early?" Neal nodded and Henry ran to him and gave him a hug.

"This is going to be the best birthday ever!" They all laughed as Emma joined in the hug and they all squeezed until none of them could breathe.

They were a family.