The first thing Emma heard was the thump of something falling. She groaned as she rolled over, until she felt warmth against her chilled body. Then she heard the patter of feet on the stairs and she snuggled more into the women beside her. As she heard the steps pause at her door, she heard Regina whisper "pretend to be asleep and maybe he'll go away", so she snuggled into Regina's neck just as a crack of light seeped into their room from their son opening the door. Emma braced herself, and within seconds she felt her son jump on her, lean down and poke her cheek.
"Mommy, you 'wake?" Henry asked, and Emma ignored him. He poked her again, and lifted one of her eyelids. "Moooooooommy! Wake up!" he whined. She stayed still and soon felt him crawl off of her and heard the patter of his feet. She felt Regina smirk as they thought that their son had gone away. Then suddenly their covers were ripped from their warm bed, and as the cold of the room assaulted their skin, Henry ran to the light and turned it on, the light taking assault to their eyes. Both women let out a groan of "Henry!" Regina in a scolding way and Emma in an amused "he is so my son" way before the boy jumped back into their bed and excitedly said "time to wake up! Mommy! Mam! It's Christmas! Get up!"
Emma struggled up onto her elbows and opened one eye to check the clock, before flopping back down beside Regina. 5:15. Emma let out a sigh, she couldn't blame her 4 year old, Christmas morning is exciting. "Henry go open your stalking, mam and I will come down soon" Emma told the boy.
"Mommy, I already did, then everything fell" the boy told her, explaining the thump Emma had woken up to.
"Henry, go play with the items in your stalking and give me and mommy a few minutes" Regina said, and the boy gave her a disappointed look, that she did not see, and then scurried off. When the boy was gone Regina pulled the covers back up and said to Emma "how bad is it?" referring to the time.
"Half hour more than last year", Emma said with false excitement "5:15". Regina groaned and rolled into her wife. "Go put the coffee on, I'll be down soon" Regina said nudging Emma with a cold toe. "Why me?!" Emma whined not wanting to move. "Because you, dear, are the one who insisted we wait until 2 am to put the items under the tree, to ensure Henry was asleep, therefor it is your fault we got 3 hours of sleep, and therefore, you make the coffee." Emma groaned before sitting up, rubbing her eye, pulling her hair into a messy bun and swinging her legs out of bed. Pulling on pajama pants and a discarded hoodie, she leaned over and kissed Regina's forehead before heading down the stairs.
Emma handed Regina her steaming cup of coffee once she finally made it down the stairs and joined her on the couch.
They both took a sip and as Regina half choked on the liquid she let out a "what did you do to this?!"
"Baileys" Emma said simply and Regina took another sip now appreciating the unexpected surprise now.
They sat in silence for a few moments watching their son enjoy the toys under the tree. A contented smile grace Regina's lips, and in that moment Emma thought about just how lucky she was. She leaned into her wife and rested her head on the other women's shoulder, sipping at her coffee, Regina snaking her arm around Emma's waist.
"Henry," Regina called to her son, drawing his attention away from a new story book "see that present wrapped in the blue snowmen? Bring that one over here for mommy".
"Okay Mam" Henry responded, struggling to carry the awkwardly shaped gift, almost as big as he was.
"Mommy, is for you, from mam" the young boy told her, revealing the obvious information.
As Emma unwrapped the gift, a smile grew into a beam as she realised what the gift was. The younger women had a secret, when at home, her tough exterior gave way to a young women, who still liked to revert back to a way she found comfort when she was alone in foster homes. She loved blankets of all kinds. She loved being cozy and being wrapped up and warm. Regina knew this and had found a hand knitted lilac coloured afghan style blanket.
"Regina, I absolutely love it" she smiled up at her wife holding the gift close.
"Henry helped me pick the colour, I saw it and thought of you dear".
Emma leaned over and gave her wife a heated kiss, pulling away and resting her forehead on the other women's fore head "it's perfect".
As they continued to unwrap gifts the joy and love Emma felt for her family only grew. When the last gifts were unwrapped, novels and pajamas, toys and new sweaters littering the living room, Emma snuggled into Regina, and pulled Henry into her lap. She kissed the top of the boys head before he squeezed out of her embrace to go play with some new Lego.
Regina sighed contentedly and Emma looked up. "I love you" Regina said, half looking at Emma and half observing their son.
"I've had a tone of shitty Christmas Regina, and 3 amazing Christmas' with you makes up for those. Merry Christmas my love"
Emma sighed, the painful memories of the past mixing with the love she felt for the two brunets now in her life. She leaned up and kissed Regina, savoring the moments of tranquility before Regina jumped up and muttered something about "Snow" and "turkey" and "only a short time to prepare". Emma smiled to herself, anticipating the big Christmas dinner that they would host later, but also in happiness for having found a family.