Emma lazily opened one eye and glanced at the sleeping beauty next to her. Emma was laying on her front, with her hands stuffed under the pillows, duvet not quite up to her shoulders. There was a nip in the air, but her body felt warm and cosy as she looked at her lover, curled on her side, facing her. She was sure that warmth was connected in some way, to the hand that was resting in the small of her back. Even in sleep, they constantly reached out for that contact with one another. Closing her eyes once more, Emma burrowed further into the bed, trying to capture more warmth and keep the chill out. A few minutes later, Emma couldn't shake the chill off, so she opened her eyes once more and slid very carefully out of Regina's hold. As she sat on the edge of the bed to get her bearings, the room seemed brighter than normal and Emma scrunched her eyes up, rubbing the sleep out of them, as she heaved herself off the bed and over to the chair to grab her robe. As she passed by the window she stopped and gasped. Snow! When they had gone to bed last night, it had been cold, but no sign of this thick, soft white blanket now covering the world outside. She had some vague recollection of Regina mentioning snow being forecast, but she never imagined anything like this!
Quietly, so as not to wake Regina, she moved out into the hallway and made her way to Henry's bedroom. She was sure he would share in his excitement about the snow. Opening the door a crack, she could see an empty bed. She grinned, imagining Henry was probably already downstairs getting breakfast so that he could be out playing in it. As she turned to leave, a slight movement caught her eye. Henry was sitting very quietly, almost perfectly still, on his windowsill. Emma moved over to the window and smoothed her hand down his back. He looked up and grinned at her. Dropping a kiss to the top of his head, she took a seat next to him and then pulled him over - when had he got so big - so that he was leaning into her as they took in the scene outside. "Does it really snow like this every year Henry?" Emma asked. She remembered snow last year, but she had been caught up in some serious police work at the time and hadn't given it a lot of thought. "Yup, every year we have at least a few weeks of snow. It gets pretty cold too." He looked up at Emma with a cheeky grin. "Guess you'll have lots of excuses to cuddle with Mom now. You'll be able to say it's cos you're cold." Emma laughed as she squeezed her arms around her son. "Ah hey kid. I hadn't thought of that. Thanks for the idea!" Henry smacked his forehead. "Oh no, I'm trying to stop you two being so mushy. I don't need to give you ideas!" "Give up kid, I'm never going to stop wanting to be mushy with your Mom. I love her too much." She kissed his head again. "And I love you too my boy" she murmured into his hair. They spent another few quiet moments just looking out into the snow, deep in their own thoughts. Emma spoke again. "So Henry, any reason why you're sat here looking at the snow, instead of running outside to play in it?" Henry looked at her with a sad smile. "I think I'm a bit old now to play in the snow on my own." Emma stared at him with wide eyes. "What are you talking about kid?! No one is ever too old to play in the snow! And besides, have you not met me? Do you really think I'm gonna let you play in it without me? I'll even bet we can get your Mom out there too." Henry was grinning once more. "Really? You'll come and play? I wanted to go sledding. Will you take me?" Emma nodded and stood up, reaching for his hand. "Let's go wake Mom up!"
Emma and Henry had joined Regina in bed and while she was still a little hazy with sleep, they had got her to agree to go out and play in the snow. It was only as Regina was cooking pancakes for her family and watching Emma tease Calon by hiding his giraffe under her top, that she had second thoughts. "You know, I think it would be best if Calon and I stayed here while you two go sledding." Emma and Henry started to protest, but Regina raised her hands to stop them. "No, listen. I would love to come. But Calon is still very little. He's too young to be out in that sort of temperature for so long. You two will get warm climbing up the hill, but he won't stay as warm. So, you two heroes go out into the freezing cold and do your worst and Calon and I will stay here. When you come home, we will expect photos of your daring deeds and if we're suitably impressed, we'll help you build a snowman in the garden. How does that sound?" Henry was on his feet immediately, throwing his arms around Regina. "So you'll still come out in the snow Mom? You'll really build a snowman with us?" Regina smiled down at her eldest son and rubbed his back. "I can't wait honey." She whispered as she rested her head on top of his.
Emma and Henry had left Regina and Calon back in their lovely warm house, watching cartoons in front of the fire. As they trudged along the snow covered pavement, dragging the sled behind them, Emma was starting to wonder if staying at home, cuddling up with Regina would have been a more fun option. They were bundled up really well. Regina had refused to let them step a foot outside until almost every inch of skin had been covered up, but Emma could still feel the cold getting in as they made their way to the hill. It had definitely been the right decision to keep the baby inside. As they got closer to the hill, Henry and Emma increased their speed. They could hear the screams of excitement as people took advantage of the snow covered hill. They very quickly joined in the screaming themselves. Once they had climbed that hill, Henry wanted the first slide to be with the two of them together. So Emma squeezed on behind him and then screamed in his ear the seconds it took to reach the bottom of the hill. As they crashed at the bottom, both fell about in the snow laughing, trying to catch their breath. "Okay Henry", Emma crawled over to his sprawled body as she spoke, "on your own this time. I'll stay here and record you coming down so that we can show Mom".
As Henry stood at the top of the hill and waved at his Ma, Emma felt her heart beat harder. There was her boy. Lost to her for ten years. Knowing how lucky she was to have him back in her life at all, let alone in a loving relationship with his mother and now with a new young son too. Her horrid childhood and her mess of a former life had led her to this, and in this moment, in this bliss, she wouldn't swap any of it, because it led her here. She waved back and readied her phone so that she could record his descent. The look on his face as he made the lone ride was a picture. Emma was so glad she was able to see his first go on his own and capture the moment. He looked both excited and petrified at the same time. As he hit a bump at the bottom and was thrown from the sled, Emma ran over to him and found him face down in the snow; laughing. He flopped over onto his back and looked up at Emma crouching over him. "Oh man! You have got to have a go on your own Ma! It's the best!" Henry puffed out, the excitement in his voice contagious. As Emma went to retrieve the sled, Henry jumped up and grabbed the phone in her hand. "Go on Ma, and I'll record it!" it turned out that Emma had exactly the same face as Henry as she flew down the hill.
An hour later they decided to make their way home. They had been up and down the hill so many times. They had ridden the sled together, on their own and at one point, someone had lent them a sled so that they could race each other down. Henry had won of course. Now they were making their way home, to what they hoped would be a lovely warm house and hot cocoa. Emma had text Regina to tell her they were on the way and had hinted at how cold they were. She was sure Regina would take pity on them - well, Henry anyway.
As they walked up the path to the house, they noticed Calon bundled up and strapped into his buggy. "Hey kid, Mom must be …" and the rest of the sentence was lost in the snowball that hit Emma straight in the chest. Henry started to laugh, until another snowball hit him on the side of the head. Both of them dropped quickly and scooped up snow in their gloved hands ready to defend themselves, but as they rose, the onslaught of snow being thrown their way had them ducking and trying to work out the direction to throw their own snow. Eventually Emma leaned over the hedge next to the path and saw Regina ducking down with a small pile of snowballs. Emma grinned and then threw one, just narrowly missing Regina. It was enough to get her attention though. She stood slowly, arms raised in a sign of surrender, with a guilty smile on her face. "Well, you gave me warning that you were on your way home, so what else was I supposed to do?" Regina laughed as she spoke. Emma sauntered over to her and pulled her in by her hips. Nose to nose, Emma kissed her. "I had hoped for a warmer welcome. A roaring fire. Mugs of cocoa. Blankets and cuddles. That sort of thing. Not an ambush of snowballs." Emma nuzzled her nose with Regina's as she spoke. Just as she was moving in for a kiss, Regina shrieked and stiffened. Henry had used the opportunity to stuff snow down his Mom's back! Regina's eyes widened and she spun around looking for the scamp. "Oh you're so going to pay for that young man. Come here!" She yelled after his retreating form as she took off after him.
Emma laughed and moved over to Calon, pulling him out of his buggy. He was clapping his hands, laughing at his mom and his brother running around the yard, throwing snow at each other. Emma couldn't decide whose side she was on, so she yelled support for both of them. Eventually, Regina caught up with Henry and pulled him down to the ground. He lay on his back, with Regina on all fours over him, holding his arms down. Both were laughing loudly, struggling to catch their breath from all the exercise. Emma and Calon walked over to them in time to hear Henry say, "you may have got me down Mom, but you have to let go of one of my arms to get me. And as soon as you let go, I'm gonna get you instead." Regina pretended to think it over for a moment. "Oh Henry, I've been a mom far too long to only have one trick up my sleeve!" and with that she dropped her head and began kissing him all over his face. Big wet, noisy kisses. "Ew Mom, no!" Henry complained. "Ma! Save me!" he turned his head trying to find Emma. She stood laughing and bouncing Calon. "No way Henry. Your mom was about to give me those kisses earlier. You should have just let her. Now you have to suffer the consequences." Regina stopped and looked up quickly. Still holding Henry down, she narrowed her eyes at Emma and then slowly got up. Stalking slowly over towards Emma, Regina lowered her voice menacingly "so you suffer when you kiss me, do you? It's a punishment is it?" Emma began to take steps backwards, holding Calon out in front of her. "Come on babe, you wouldn't hurt a woman holding a baby would you?" Emma laughed nervously, hiding behind a happy Calon. Her eyes not leaving Emma's as she got ever closer, Regina called to Henry, "come and get your brother please Henry". Henry laughed as he made his way over and took Calon. As soon as Emma was free of Calon, she made a run for it.
Regina easily caught her on the other lawn and just as she had with Henry, she sat over Emma, holding her down. Emma wasn't trying to fight her off though. Emma was enjoying every second of it. Looking up at Regina, her hair windswept and curling with the damp, her cheeks ruddy from the cold and her eyes twinkling with the fun of the moment, she looked incredible. Regina saw a change in the way Emma was looking at her and frowned at her. From her place, underneath her in the snow, Emma spoke softly. "You look stunning Regina. I feel like I just keep falling in love with you, again and again. You wont ever leave me will you?" Regina's face softened and she dropped down pressing her body against Emma's. "Never!" she whispered, before she leaned in and kissed her. Emma was freezing, lying pressed against the ground with Regina lying on her, but she couldn't have cared less at the moment. They lay holding each other, softly kissing and caressing for long moments, before Regina pulled back a little. "Do you hear that?" she whispered. Emma looked confused shaking her head. "Can't hear a thing, beautiful." "Exactly," Regina replied, "why can't we hear the boys? Henry's probably got a huge mound of snowballs made ready to ambush us with." Emma was smiling and looking off to the side, then pulling Regina's face around to follow where she was looking. There was Henry, kneeling on the ground, with Calon between his legs holding him up, showing how to pat snow onto the mound in front of them, presumably starting their snowman.
Regina looked from the perfect scene in front of her, to her love lying underneath her still. When Emma turned back to her, there was a small tear making its way from her eye towards her hairline. Regina smiled lovingly at her and kissed her sweetly. It was usually Regina that was tearful at this sort of thing, so it was unusual, but beautiful to see Emma showing this emotion towards their family. The kiss lasted a little while again, but now both women were aware of missing out on their sons playing. Emma pushed away from the kiss first. "Hey babe, just let me take some photos of them and then let's join them?" Regina nodded in agreement, and then added her own suggestion in. "Tell you what darling, how does this sound? We'll make a snowman with the boys, then we'll drag them back into the warm, where we'll sit next to the fire and drink warm cocoa. Once we're nice and warm, we'll find a nice movie to watch in the cushions and pillows on the floor, all cuddled in together. After that, I'll cook us something really special. And theeeennnn, once the boys are in bed, I'm gonna take you upstairs and we'll find a way of warming each other up. What do you think?" the next thing Regina knew she was sitting in the snow, watching Emma's retreating, sexy, form as she hurried over to the boys. "Come on you two, let's get this snowman built. We've got a lot planned to get through today" and she looked over at Regina and winked."