"Do my back, would you?" Henry asked Regina as he handed over the bottle of sunscreen towards her. With the five children all suited and sunscreened up, only the two of them were left.
Regina squirted a generous amount of the white paste into her hands and rubbed it between them. Tentatively at first, she rubbed the sunscreen into his skin. Henry forced himself not to tremble as he freezing hands came into contact with his warm skin. He felt her soothing her hands gently over his skin. He tried to think of the unsexiest things possible to will down his erection that was starting to take notice of Regina's completely platonic ministrations.
When the sunscreen did not rub into his skin right away, Regina applied more pressure. It was only sunscreen, she thought as she rubbed the paste more firmly into his shoulders and back. Nothing wrong with it. Normal. She'd rubbed sunscreen onto his back ever since he was a little boy and they went to the pool. There was nothing weird about the action. In fact, had they not been suddenly thrust into this new reality, she would not have thought twice about applying sunscreen to Henry's back, but given the situation, she could not help but think about the more sensual aspects of the motions.
Once she finished, she turned her back to henry and pulled her hair off of her neck. "Do me?" she asked. She did not even want to ask him, really, but it was either him or ask Isabel, and Isabel, for all she might be her daughter biologically, was a complete stranger. Henry, at least, had put sunscreen on her back before, so it was sure to be less weird.
"Sure," Henry said, trying to to become to excited. She must only be doing it to set an example for the kids. She always made a point not to be hypocritical.
Regina flinched at the first touch of Henry's hands on her skin. His hands were warm, not cold as hers had been, but she was regretting her choice in the bikini. She should have chosen the much less attractive one piece that revealed way less skin than the two straps of thin fabric of the bikini.
Henry moved his hands more slowly over her back than he needed to, making sure to savor the sensation where he could deny any charges of desire and instead claim he was simply being thorough. He rubbed his hands all over his skin while wishing there was not the greasy white layer between them. Her back was smooth and soft, just as he remembered. He made sure to work his fingertips under the thin bikini straps so that even as her top moved her skin would not be burned.
Working his way downwards, Henry slipped just his fingertips under the top of her bikini bottoms. Regina tensed at the contact. Henry had done it before, but that was before she learned that her future self married him. It put a whole new perspective on the contact.
Henry, feeling her tension, made a hasty retreat, working his hands up her back and side. He worked hard to consciously keep his hands far away from her breasts, sure than even coming close to them would cause her to immediately pull away, and he did not want to loose contact with her milky skin any sooner than he had to.
Hands back up at her shoulders, Henry rubbed in the remaining bit of sunscreen. As he did, he leaned in closer so his nose was near the nape of her neck. He inhaled and was greeted by the scent of sunscreen and summer as well as her. It was absolutely intoxicating. He immediately recoiled. Too fast. He was going too fast. He'd scare her off if he kept that up, he scolded himself.
The trip to the pool was rather uneventful, though stressful for the two new parents. Isabel and Jessica were strong swimmers who did not need to be watched too closely. Charlie was decent, though Regina held her breath whenever he neared the deep end, but never once did Henry and Regina see him struggle.
Ally, of course, did not go anywhere without one of her parents, so she was safe as well. Sam was the worrisome one. She could swim, but it was little more than a laborious doggy paddle. It would not be so bad if she stuck to the wall or the shallows, but Sam was determined to keep up with her brother, and no amount of persuasion or inducement from her parents would convince her otherwise. Sam could not keep up with Charlie, and multiple times she emerged from the water coughing and choking, yet despite that her face, alit with determination, revealed her inability to be deterred. Thus, Henry and Regina alternatively followed Sam around the pool and held Ally, making sure they each were near one of the two younger children at any given time and occasionally switching off.
After an hour and a half, the three younger children all whined of being cold. Regina got out of the pool with them, taking the girls first to shower off and get warm. She was thankful she'd decided to hunt down a change of clothes for the younger children before leaving.
Still watching the two older girls in the pool, who by that point were playing with the diving rings and seeing how many of the pool noodles they could clamber onto before falling off, Henry led Charlie to the hot tub. The boy was shivering uncontrollably by that point.
"But daddy, I'm not old enough to go in there," Charlie protested after reading the sign saying children had to be at least fourteen to go in there.
Henry grinned at Charlie conspirationally, "Well, no one's in there to complain and I say you need to get warmed up."
At the thought of feeling warm again, Charlie eagerly stepped into the hot tub.
"Just sit on the first step," Henry said as he relaxed down on one of the seats, letting the warm water engulf him up to the neck. He watched as after a minute Charlie stopped shivering, even though the boy was only immersed into the water below the waist.
Wanting to make sure nothing happened to the young boy while in the hot tub, Henry made Charlie get out for a minute. It did not take long for goosebumps to cover the young boy's skin as he stood dripping wet on the pool deck as a light breeze gusted by.
Once a minute was up, Henry let the boy back into the hot tub. He alternated his gaze between Charlie and the two older girls who did not appear to be tiring of pool games in the least. He'd also noticed that just as he'd gotten out with the younger children, four other children came running and joined Isabel and Jessica. They all appeared to be friends, and he wondered who their parents were and if he knew them.
Regina emerged from the bathrooms with the two youngest girls showered and looking nice and warm in their dry clothes despite their dripping hair. "Your turn?" she half asked, half commanded as she led the younger girls to lounge on the pool chairs while she slipped into the hot tub, nearly groaning in relief as the warm water caressed her skin. It was not until she felt the soothing effects that she realized how much her body was aching.
Charlie's shower took much less time, and by the time he returned with the little boy, Ally and Sam were begging to go home. They were starving and wanted to watch a move.
"Isabel, Jessica," Regina called out to the two older children.
They swam over to the side of the pool when she beckoned them. "Get out. It's time to go."
She should have expected in immediate chorus of protests. "But mom," Jessica complained.
"Our friends just got here," Isabel added, "Please let us stay. Please please please."
At that point, Sam hugged Regina's leg and said, "Mommy, want to go now."
Regina was torn, no matter what choice she mad, someone would be unhappy. There was no way she would win.
"You go ahead and take the younger ones home."
Regina startled at the voice suddenly beside her ear, not realizing Henry was beside her. With water dripping from his hair down his skin and his swim trunks still wet and clinging to his skin, she first noticed that he really was handsome. However, as that line of thought was most certainly not appropriate, she quickly dismissed it.
He noticed the way her eyes traveled briefly down his body before abruptly returning to his face. Her face, he noticed, was slightly red, and he was certain it was not sunburn. So she desired him at some level too. That might make his task a bit easier, though it was by no means easy. He had no such delusions. "I'll stay here with them."
Regina wanted to protest that they all leave together. However, she saw the logic in his idea; it would spare her listening to the children complain. Besides, she could use the opportunity to set the young children up with a movie and spend the rest of the summer morning searching the house for clues about what brought them to the future. The sooner she figured out what happened, the sooner she could get them back to their own time and return Henry to the life he deserved to have.
"Call and I'll come pick you up when you're done," she finally acquiesced.
Henry felt relieved at the ease of her agreement. He could have sworn she was about to argue with him; instead she simply agreed.
"No need. It's only a mile. We can walk back to the house." He fondly remembered the summer days when he would walk to and from the pool. He'd met his three best friends at the pool the summer of his fourteenth year and they'd been inseparable after that.
"If you're sure. Don't be afraid to call, though." Regina did not like stranding Henry and the two girls without a car to get home, but as Henry pointed out, it was a nice summer day and the walk was not overly long. They would be fine, but she wanted to leave her option open to them.
Henry nodded his head and smiled at her. It was his goofy, happy smile. She was surprised to see it. Under the circumstances, she expected him to be upset and uncooperative, though he was Henry. His heart was big and full of love, so at some level she was not surprised at his seemingly happy acceptance of their situation. In fact, had it not been for their conversation earlier in the morning and his fears about how he could possibly be a father to a preteen when he still felt like a teenager himself, she would have thought him perfectly content and at-ease with their predicament.
"Okay," Regina agreed rather than argue. Calling the three younger children to her and taking hold of Ally's hand, she left, a million thoughts swirling through her head. First and foremost, how was she going to get them back? And secondly, why was it so easy treating Henry as her equal and father of her children, which, she supposed, he was?
AN: Hey everyone. I've noticed reviews have been down the last few chapters. Are people still reading? I'd really appreciate feedback of any kind—love it or hate it, please tell me. As always, reviews motivate me to write, so the more I hear from people the faster I update.