A/N: Sorry for the delay with this one, but I've been a little busy with job searches and dealing with moving back home for the time being. Hopefully I'll be able to get back into the swing of things when it comes to updates while I have the time to write. Thank you for being patient and for all the support for this story. Enjoy the latest chapter. :)

Chapter 8

Everything was wet. Regina's outfit, at least half of Henry's clothes, all the things Emma brought back from the store and even Emma herself since she'd finally been able to leave the warmth of the fire for a shower. While the blonde cleaned off upstairs, Regina had Henry change and hand over his damp clothes so she could wash them with every other rain-soaked, washable material. She wouldn't have had to wash his clothes with hers and Emma's if it wasn't for their group hug on the floor by the fire. Not that she minded. Their little moment, though spurred on by Emma's emotional turmoil, was worth the extra laundry and then some.

Regina had changed into her usual blue silk pajamas and went into the family room to join Henry, who wore blue and green plaid flannel pajama pants with a loose, dark blue T-shirt. When she entered the room, she saw Henry on his knees in front of the coffee table twiddling with the tiny action figures.

Though he didn't look at her, Henry noticed Regina. His words were the only thing that made Regina aware of that.

"Emma got me these," he said, his eyes solely on the toy figures.

"How much of what Emma said did you hear," she asked as she slowly sat on the couch, positioned across from Henry.

"Um…enough?"

"Henry."

"I know she wouldn't trade me for anything," Henry answered.

It didn't seem to take much that night to get Henry to admit the truth to Regina.

"And she got me these," Henry repeated his first statement, but that time he lifted two of the three figures to show his brunette mother and raised his head to meet her eyes. "She only needed hot chocolate and she got me other stuff too just because she thought I'd like them."

Regina smiled. It might not have been the right moment to smile, but Henry's reaction was too cute for her not to. Thankfully, Henry didn't see and the smile faded before he looked at her again once she started to speak.

"Now do you see how much she loves you?"

Henry stayed silent. After a few seconds, he nodded and set the action figures down on the table.

"The box might still be wet, but the coca mix should be fine. How about I make all of us some and if Emma's up to it, we can decorate the tree when she comes down?"

"Yeah."

Regina smiled at Henry and got up from the couch. On the way to the kitchen, she stepped around the coffee table and gently patted his shoulder as a small show of comfort.

It wasn't until the hot chocolate was finished and poured into three mugs that Emma descended the stairs and attempted to rejoin Henry and Regina. She padded through the house in only the white towel provided for her shower. She didn't move throughout the first floor with purpose, but she found herself in the kitchen just as Regina was about to collect and move the three mugs of hot chocolate.

"Oh! Emma," Regina blinked at the teen.

Regina, oddly, always looked at the blonde as though her presence caught the older woman off guard. Perhaps it did, but to Emma it always felt like there was more to it than Regina not used to having people around the house, aside from when Henry lived with her full time before the curse broke.

"Need help with that," Emma asked and pointed at the mugs.

Regina looked down at the mugs in front of her.

"One of them is yours."

"Does it mater which one?"

Regina shook her head.

Emma reached out and slid a mug over to herself. She lifted it to her lips and blew on it a few times before she took a sip. She closed her eyes and softly moaned.

"That is good," Emma purred before she opened her eyes.

"You bought it, dear."

"I stole it," Emma corrected with a frown.

"You didn't mean to steal it."

Emma shrugged.

"Regardless," Regina said, "how are you feeling?"

Emma sighed and set down the mug. She plucked her fingernails against the edges and underside of the ceramic handle like it was a guitar string.

"Okay…I guess," she answered with raised, tense shoulders.

"Well, we don't have to decorate the tree if you'd rather just sit and watch a movie."

"No," Emma quickly protested. "Henry's here to decorate the tree so we're gonna decorate the tree. It doesn't matter what I feel and what I'd rather be doing because of it, Henry shouldn't have to put up with this, with my problems."

Regina shook her head. "It amazes me how you ever thought you couldn't be a mother.'

Emma kept her eyes on her mug and didn't respond.

"For a teenager, you're surprisingly not selfish when it comes to Henry," Regina added.

"I just… it's not fair to the kid. That's all. That doesn't make me a good mother or even someone ready to be a mother. You know it takes more than what I'm saying to take care of him."

"Yes, but the attitude you have of putting him first is an important priority of being a mother."

"Sure. Fine. Whatever," Emma dismissed the subject. "I don't want to watch a movie, at least not instead of decorating the tree. We can watch one after."

Regina looked straight into those determined green eyes.

"Then you might want to put on some clothes because Henry will be happy to start on that tree as soon as possible. And I doubt he'd want to be scarred by seeing more of you than he ever should."

Emma laughed.

"I'm not showing anything too scarring. So he sees a little skin above my knee. I'm not flashing my goods."

"Shift a certain way in that towel and you just might."

Emma raised an eyebrow, amused.

"Sounds like someone's curious to see what's underneath," Emma grinned as she teased the roll in the towel used to hold the material against her body.

Regina walked ground the counter and stepped up to Emma, the two mugs she was responsible for left behind in their places. She grabbed Emma's hands and halted the girl's movements.

"Even if I was curious that doesn't mean you should take fun out of the mystery."

Emma smiled. It started small and spread into a warm and amazed expression that seemed to make her glow.

"I'll keep the towel on until I go upstairs and change if you tell me something about yourself, something I ask you about."

"If it'll make you feel better and get you to put on clothes faster."

Emma smirked and cocked her head to the side as a way to provoke an entertaining response.

"Are you ticklish or have that one spot that drives you crazy when it's touched?"

"And here I thought you might not flirt with me given the way today turned out."

"It's a nice distraction. Now answer my question."

Regina let go of Emma's hands and brought hers back to her sides.

"I'm not particularly ticklish, but there are a few places that make me…squirm."

Emma's previous smirk returned with a much more predatory appeal that time.

Regina rolled her eyes, but smiled in place of a laugh.

"And I do have that one spot," Regina finished.

Emma's smirk disappeared and her eyes darkened.

"You're not going to tell me where?"

"That wasn't the question," Regina grinned as she slowly backed away from the teen and went back to her place on the other side of the counter.

Emma bit her lip and softly chuckled as she looked down at her mug then back up at Regina as the brunette lifted the other two mugs, ready to leave the kitchen.

"Thank you," Emma said.

Regina blinked at the blonde then furrowed her brows.

"For what?"

"Knowing how to deal with me," Emma breathed out a laugh. "I know I'm a handful and you've done all these things for me without a single complaint."

"We have Henry to think about."

"Right," Emma said, defeated.

"Plus, I know how it feels…to not be good enough for someone," Regina hesitantly, almost nervously, explained.

Emma's defeated look vanished.

"You're more than good enough," Emma blurted out.

Regina flashed a quickly disappearing smile.

"So are you."

With that, Regina walked into the foyer and made her way into the family room while Emma remained rooted in her spot at the kitchen counter, another glowing smile, and even a blush across her cheeks, caused by Regina Mills.

Ten minutes later, a Christmas CD played softly in the background while Henry rooted around in the ornament box for his favorite things to hang on the tree. Regina daintily sipped at her second cup of hot chocolate on the couch and Emma sat with her legs tucked under herself on the floor. She leaned back against the bottom of the couch with her arm close enough to Regina's legs to feel the brunette's body heat mingle with her own.

Since Henry and Regina were already in their pajamas, though it wasn't even eight o'clock yet, Emma had changed into some too. She wore a white tank top and red, cotton pajama pants. It wasn't her normal sleeping attire, but there was a twelve year old boy, her son, in the house and she couldn't just walk around in her panties.

There was a small, clear container filled with disorganized and twisted together hooks for the ornaments that Emma took upon herself to fix before passing them off to Henry for the ornaments he was ready to hang on the tree. Regina smiled as she watched the two of them work silently together, the cheery holiday music making the moment seem more real and feel like home. Although, home was a strange concept for the brunette considering the fact that she was from a different world and had virtually no family in her current one. That was, until Henry and Emma had come into her life.

"So, Emma, are you gonna decorate your tree tonight too," Henry asked as pinched one of the hooks around an ornament.

Emma shrugged.

"I don't know. We'll see what decorations are left for the tree and go from there."

"Oh, Emma," Regina started, "you can pick out a few ornaments for your tree. You don't have to wait to get the leftovers."

"It's okay," Emma smiled at Regina. "These are your family ornaments. Let the kid put all the sentimental ones on the family tree and then I'll know which ones can be put on mine."

Regina leaned forward and ran a hand through blonde curls.

Emma's eyes fluttered closed as she relaxed into the other woman's touch.

"Henry and I don't mind sharing," Regina said. "Right, Henry?"

"Right," Henry brightly smiled at both of his mothers with his hand outstretched to place an ornament on the full-bodied, family tree. "You're family, Emma. Just because you weren't a part of those memories doesn't make you less part of us. And you said we'd make new memories."

"There's no reason those new memories can't also involve some of our old ones," Regina added.

Emma looked from Henry to Regina and gave a watery smile. She withheld her tears and settled for bumping her shoulder against Regina's leg as a returned, affectionate gesture.

"Thank you," she said to both of them.

"Now go help Henry hang ornaments and hang a few on your tree as well," Regina told her as she moved her hand lower in Emma's hair then rubbed the teen's shoulder.

Emma breathed out a short laugh before she pushed herself onto her feet then joined Henry on the other side of the coffee table.

For the next ten minutes, Emma and Henry picked through ornaments and hung them on the family tree. Emma had refrained from putting any on her small, browning tree. Regina had noticed of course, but she bit her tongue and allowed Emma to do what she wanted. She'd given the blonde permission to put any of the ornaments on her own tree and as long as Emma knew she had that option, Regina trusted the teen would be fine.

With Christmas soon approaching, Regina filed away tiny things about Emma. The more she understood about the younger version of the woman she'd started to get to know in the last year and a half, the more ways she knew how to comfort and help her. The more she understood, the more she found herself wanting to do nice things for Emma just to make her feel better. There was no way it was just for Henry's sake anymore either. If she was honest with herself though, it was never just for Henry's sake.

Emma pulled out one particular ornament and paused. Hr face fell a little and when Regina caught sight of it, she didn't understand what exactly Emma felt.

"Are you alright, dear?"

"Hmm?"

Emma turned her head to look at Regina and blinked out of her thoughts.

"Oh, sorry. Yeah, I'm okay. Just…thinking. What's…this from?"

Emma held out the ornament in her hand as if to put it on display. It was a red paper heart with a few scribbled out sentences on one side with a five letter name signed to it at the bottom. On the other side, there was a picture of Regina and Henry glued to it. Mother and son were curled up and cozy in Henry's bed with a book opened up and laid flat on Regina's stomach as the two of them slept. Regina's lips were gently pressed to the top of Henry's head, their eyes closed as they fit snuggly on the little bed together. Henry looked no older than four or five.

Regina slowly smiled at the memory the picture evoked every time she saw it.

It was Henry's Christmas present to me the first year we celebrated it. He said it was a thank you for getting him a tree."

Henry's cheeks reddened and Emma turned to look at him just then to see him blush.

"The picture was one of my favorites and I told him that when he saw me adding it to the photo album," Regina continued. "Mary Margaret and…Graham…helped him make the heart out of colored construction paper. Then he told them what he wanted to say on the back and Graham wrote it for him."

Henry stepped closer to Emma and Regina and added to the story.

"I didn't know how to write my name then, I really wanted to write it. Grandma…Mary Margaret put the marker in my hand and held it while she helped me spell out my name."

Emma smiled at Henry then turned to Regina and smiled even more at the heartwarming expression on the woman's face.

"That's cute," Emma said. "Why don't you put it on the tree?"

Emma held out the hand crafted ornament to Regina.

Regina shook her head.

"Henry can do it. I'll just watch you two decorate the tree."

"Oh, no, you don't, "Emma said as she walked back over to Regina and tugged on her hand. "Come on, Regina."

"No, no, dear," Regina shook her head as she fought against Emma's pull. "This is for you two."

"Then that means you should do what makes up happy as we do this, right? I'm not gonna be happy until you help with the tree."

"I put the lights on the tree. Isn't that enough?"

Emma stopped tugging on Regina's hand.

"Nope."

Emma sighed with a smile and plopped down in Regina's lap. She wrapped an arm around Regina's neck and held out the ornament in her other hand, away from them.

"You need to be a part of these new memories Henry and I are making," Emma added.

"I'm here. My presence in the memories should suffice."

"Oh, come on, Mom," Henry deadpanned as he scrunched up his face. "You've got to be involved. What's holding you back?"

"Yeah, Regina," Emma smirked. "Get involved."

Emma suggestively raised her eyebrows and leaned a little closer to Regina.

Regina lowered her voice to make sure only Emma heard what she had to say in response.

"And how would you like me to get involved," Regina teasingly purred.

Emma bit her bottom lip and failed to suppress another smirk. Her cheeks turned red and Regina figured the blonde's face must have felt as hot as it looked.

"Um, we can start with you hanging some ornaments," Emma said with a growing smile as she brought the ornament in her hand closer to Regina. "The rest is something I don't think we should talk about in front of the kid."

"I see," Regina replied.

"Moms," Henry called out. "Are you two hanging ornaments or not? You look weird sitting like that."

Emma tensed a little and slowly removed herself from Regina's lap while Regina followed the teen's lead and got to her feet.

Regina took the ornament from Emma and the two of them walked to the tree. She lifted the ornament and hung it by the red ribbon tied to the top of the heart close to where the star would go. Regina looked over at Emma as the blonde took another ornament out of the box and hung it on the other side of tree.

Emma looked over at Regina as if she had felt the woman's eyes on her and when their gazes locked, Emma winked at her.

The two shared a grin as the festive holiday music played on and Henry focused more on the task at hand than his mothers.

Though her day had been rough, Emma slept better than she had in a while – aside from all the nights she'd spent at Regina's since her magical transformation. She would have slept longer too, but the temperature in the house had dropped since she fell asleep the previous night. Even bundled up under the guest bed's covers, she felt the chill on her nose and feet. If she didn't kick at the comforter all night every night, Emma's feet would have been under the covers, but she was a bit of a wild sleeper.

It wasn't terribly cold, but it was just unpleasant enough for the teen to open her eyes and find the reason for the room's chill. Emma sat up in bed and blinked away the sleep from her eyes as she tried to pull the covers with her to keep herself warm. After the haze left her vision and she could see as clearly as possible without her glasses, she threw the covers aside and grabbed her glasses on the way to the window.

Everything was gray in the room, lit by a bluish white hue that came from the natural light from the hidden sun that streamed through the window. Emma stopped in front of the window in her borrowed pajamas and opened thin, elegant and partially transparent white drapes. What she saw in the backyard happily surprised her as much as seeing her beloved Bug at the end of the pathway had earlier in the week.

Bursting with excitement, Emma ran out of the guest room and straight into Regina's without so much as a knock. But once she was inside she didn't hesitate to make her presence known.

"Regina!"

The brunette only had a few seconds to stir at the loud exclamation from the blonde before she felt Emma jump on top of her, the teen's thighs wrapped around Regina's hips as she straddled the other woman.

Regna groaned when she saw the time displayed on her alarm clock.

"It's early. Go back to bed," Regina grumpily ordered.

"You have to look outside," Emma easily ignored the woman's complaint.

"I don't have to go to work for another two hours today. I'd like a little more time to myself before I have to be the mayor again. Even Henry isn't up."

"But, Regina," Emma whined and drew out the brunette's name as she bounced up and down on top of the woman, which caused Regina to shake in the bed.

Regina released an exasperated sigh as she finally allowed her eyes to remain open longer for more than a few seconds. She looked up at Emma and batted her hair out of her face to glare better at the teen.

"What," Regina mimicked Emma's whiny, childish tone as she dragged out the single syllable.

Emma beamed down at Regina while her long, blonde hair cascaded around her face like the curtains on every window in the house.

"It snowed!"

"Why are you telling me?"

"Because I want you to come play in it with me," Emma continued to smile her big and contagious smile.

"I'm not the type of person to roll around in snow."

"Are you the type of person to roll around with me," Emma asked with a smirk.

Before Emma could process what was happening, Regina smacked the teen's thigh.

"Hey," Emma protested with a hint of a laugh.

Regina smiled up at Emma but did nothing to push the blonde off of her. She enjoyed the moment for a second longer before realization sank in.

"This is the first time it's snowed all season," Regina said.

"Uh, yeah," Emma responded like Regina should have understood that a while ago. "That's why I want you to come outside with me. There's plenty of snow to work with and I'm not going out there alone."

"Take Henry with you. He has this thing about the first snowfall," Regina started to explain, but didn't finish due to a brown haired and excited interruption in the form of their son.

"Mom! Mom," Henry exclaimed as he ran into the room, much like Emma, without knocking. "It snowed! First snow of winter this year."

Henry's eyes slid over from Regina to Emma and he suspiciously eyed their compromising position.

"Emma? What are you doing?"

"Annoying me in an attempt to get me to come outside with her," Regina answered.

Emma turned her head and mischievously grinned at Henry.

"Yeah, I'm trying to get her to play in the snow," Emma said before she conspiratorially motioned with her head toward Regina.

Henry grinned in a way that scarily matched his birthmother's and Regina narrowed her eyes at both of them.

Suddenly, Henry dashed over to the side of the bed and jumped onto it a split second before he bounced in tandem with Emma.

"Please, please, please, please, please," Emma started to beg, but with a large smile on her face.

Henry begged with her after the second time she said "please".

Regina bounced on the bed as an effect of the aftershocks caused by Emma and Henry jumping up and down on their knees on the mattress springs.

"Enough, children," Regina only half-heartedly scolded, her eyes focused on Emma when she used the demeaning title.

"Not until you agree to play in the snow with us," Emma said.

"Yeah, Mom. Come on," Henry said before both he and Emma stopped bouncing.

Henry threw himself over top of his brunette mother. He sprawled out horizontally across her chest and Emma laughed while Regina let out a shocked exclamation.

Emma then carefully lowered herself vertically over both of them, which sandwiched Henry between his two mothers.

Henry giggled and Emma stared straight into Regina's eyes. She smiled at the other woman while their noses brushed against each other in their closeness.

"What do you say, Regina," Emma asked as the two of them refused to look anywhere else but at each other.

There was a light in Emma's eyes and a softness on her face that didn't, or at least rarely did, exist before she reverted to her teenaged self. She looked so youthful and happy in that moment and that light in her eyes brightened at Regina's answer.

"I'll join you outside–"

"Yes," Henry victoriously hissed.

"But I will not," Regina continued, "play or roll in the snow."

Several minutes later after the family of three got dressed for a day out in the cold, Emma and Henry were picking up and packing snow into balls with their gloved hands. Regina stood on the patio and leaned against one of the wooden posts that held up the roof over it in. She pulled her coat tighter against herself when the occasional breeze blew it open a little too much. She smiled at Emma and Henry as she watched them throw snowballs at each other for a few minutes and even chuckled when Henry latched onto Emma's arm and smashed the snowball against the front side of her shoulder.

Emma retaliated with a snowball to Henry's chest then, in one swift move, turned to face Regina as she packed another snowball before she pitched it at the brunette who refused to participate.

The snowball hit Regina in the stomach though it only really landed against her gray coat just below her crossed arms.

"Emma," Regina warned, but any other words she wanted to share with the blonde were lost to her when a second snowball hit her in the chest.

The older woman blinked then directed her attention to the boy not far behind and off to the side of Emma.

Henry smiled at her like a child who wanted to turn on their cuteness to avoid consequences for the trouble they knew they were in. It was really more of a proud grin.

Emma laughed then held up a hand for Henry to make contact with.

"Nice," Emma complimented him when he high-fived her.

"You two think this is funny," Regina asked with an arched brow as she stepped off the patio and into the snow covered yard.

Emma and Henry just smiled at her.

"Well, not as funny as what I'm about to do to both of you," Regina grinned one devious glint away from her infamous Evil Queen grin.

The other two continued to smile though they backed away from the intimidating brunette that approached.

"Run, kid," Emma said as the gently swatted his arm with the back of her hand.

Within the next second, Henry ran in one direction and Emma ran in the other.

Regina's grin widened and became crooked in the process as one corner of her mouth twitched further upward than the other.

She stood still in the spot she'd been in when Emma and Henry had bolted from her, but in a cloud of purple she disappeared and then reappeared. She didn't stay in place long enough for the smoke to clear and reveal her identity before she snatched Henry up into her magic cloud then disappeared again.

Before the snowball flingers knew anything, another purple cloud appeared behind Emma and Regina, with Henry secured in one arm, lunged out of the smoke and tackled the blonde into the snow. Regina pinned both Henry and Emma to the ground and sprawled out on top of them as she grabbed fistfuls of snow in each hand. She sat up with her knees pressed into the cold snow in the small space between Emma and Henry and threw the snow down into their faces. Both of her victims groaned and laughed and tried to spit the snow out of their mouths. Regina laughed.

Emma and Henry brushed the remaining snow off of their faces and when Emma saw Regina clearly – without any snow obstructing her vision – she reached up and grabbed Regina by the wrist. She pulled the other woman face down into the snow between herself and Henry, but before Regina could choke on the snow Emma rolled the other woman toward her and swung a leg over the brunette's waist. Emma straddled Regina's stomach and laughed as she grabbed a bunch of snow then mashed it up in Regina's hair.

Henry laughed as he rolled onto his side to watch Emma assault Regina's hair then lazily tossed snow at Regina's face in his own retaliation.

"Has the Queen suffered enough," Emma asked with a smile, her amusement evident in her tone.

Regina sputtered snow and wiped away the snow that still remained on her face.

"If I say no will you continue to make unbearable knots in my hair while you persist to tangle it with snow?"

"Among a few other things," Emma teasingly smirked down at her.

Regina huffed.

"I'll never surrender to you, Princess."

Emma loudly laughed.

"Just what I was hoping to hear," Emma replied. "Henry, hold her down."

Henry slid over, on his knees, to the place above Regina's head and grabbed both of her wrists.

"Surrender to your knights in shining armor," Henry brightly smiled as he loosely, gently, held down Regina's hands.

Regina faintly smiled as she jokingly narrowed her eyes into a glare directed at her son while the boy's face hovered above hers.

Suddenly, Regina felt Emma shift over her stomach before her coat and shirt were lifted away from her skin and a chill crept over her bared stomach. An even bigger chill hit her flat on when she tried to look down her body at Emma, which was when the blonde patted a handful of snow against her stomach.

Regina gasped and instinctively started to writhe beneath the teen in an attempt to somehow gain freedom.

"How about now," Emma asked. "Way I see it is that what Henry and I are doing to you is much funnier than what you did to us."

"Yeah. Plus, you cheated," Henry chimed in.

Regina looked from Emma to Henry and back to Emma again.

"You can't convince me to surrender," she said.

"Oh, come on, Regina. You know you want to give in to our every whim," Emma said.

Regina flashed a grin. When it started to fade away, she bucked her hips and turned her body at an awkward angle as she rolled on top of Emma. As she did, she managed to slip her hands out of Henry's poor grasp and momentarily struggled to push the upper half of her body off of Emma's, the two of them flush against each other from chest to hips at that moment. It only took a couple of seconds for Regina to press her gloved hands into the snow on either side of Emma's head. She leaned back on her knees and tilted her head with a proud grin on her face.

"See? I'll never surrender," Regina said.

Emma sighed and relaxed her entire body in defeat as she seemed to accept what she was told.

Regina stood and brushed off the snow from her knees and her stomach without showing an inch of skin. When she saw movement below her, her eyes immediately found Emma and watched as the teen fanned out her arms and legs over and over, back and forth.

"Making snow angles now, are we," Regina asked with a raised brow and entertained upward lilt of her lips.

"Yep."

Henry allowed himself to fall onto his back then mirrored Emma's actions.

In all the time they'd spent outside, Regina noticed that Henry had never stopped smiling. She shook her head and quietly laughed, softly enough that it could barely be heard, as she admired the two people on the ground in front of her.

"You should make one too, Mom," Henry said as he continued to wiggle around in the snow.

Regina smiled at him.

"You always made one with me when I was younger," Henry added.

"You did," Emma asked as she stopped all movement and looked up at Regina.

"I did, yes," Regina confirmed as she kept her eyes on Emma then looked at Henry before she continued, "but I usually finished mine first or waited for Henry to make his. I always helped him out of the snow so he wouldn't ruin his precious creation."

"What if I don't want to ruin mine," Emma asked.

Regina held back a laugh before she moved closer to the teen and extended a hand.

Emma beamed as she took Regina's hand and allowed the brunette to pull her into a sitting position before she carefully readjusted her position and dug her heels into the ground. With her hand still in Regina's, Emma lifted herself onto her feet while she used Regina as an anchor of sorts, a way to ground herself as she tried her hardest not to step on her snow angel, or even the edges of her snow angel, as she stood.

"Thank you, Your Majesty," Emma humbly said as she bowed once she was free and clear from potentially destroying her work of art.

"What about me," Henry asked before Regina even had time to blush.

Emma and Regina looked at Henry with a soft, maternal expression then went to help him up.

Together, they helped Henry up and away from his snow angel without disturbing the design. All of them smiled throughout the process and it was another family moment. Everything was whole and happy and it fit. They fit.

"I should get to work," Regina said as they let go of each other.

"What? No," Emma whined and pouted. "Stay a little longer. Like…all day."

Regina smiled and Emma stepped closer to her.

"I can't. Things may be chaos-free around town, but some people still see me as the Evil Queen. Not showing up to work would only make them think I'm plotting against them or don't care enough about them. And then they'll retaliate."

Emma took Regina by the wrists and moved even closer.

"Then stay home with people that don't see you that way."

Emma brightly smiled at Regina and stopped all too close in front of the brunette.

"Such a charmer," Regina stifled a giggle and smiled back at the blonde. "It's amusing watching the esteemed Savior, daughter of Snow White try to convince me to spend the day with her and my son."

"Well, apparently the charmer in me comes from my dad," Emma shrugged and gently squeezed Regina's hands when her own drifted downward to clasp the other woman's. Their fingers brushed before Emma squeezed.

"Regardless of your 'skill' to charm, dear, I still have to go."

Emma pouted and gave a groaning whine then threw her arms around Regina and pressed her nose to the bare crook of Regina's neck, nuzzled beneath the collar of the brunette's coat.

"What about breakfast," Emma mumbled into the other woman's skin.

"I can make some for you and Henry, but I'll have to take mine on the way into the office."

For a moment, a brief moment, Regina inhaled the faint mixtures of scents of the shampoo Emma borrowed every day and the smell of the guest room bed sheets. She relaxed into the hug and then a whoosh of air and something cold and compact hit their shoulders and hair.

Emma and Regina parted and turned to see Henry display a toothy and partially lopsided smirk.

"Breakfast time," Henry practically sing-songed before he pushed both mothers back into the house.

After Regina made breakfast, she said goodbye to the children, took her breakfast to-go, and instructed that one of them call her if they needed anything. Once she was gone, Henry and Emma sat down to eat together. It hadn't been planned, but it had happened and apparently, Henry wanted to make the most of their impromptu eating arrangement.

"So," he drew out the word a little. "Do you like Mom?"

Emma's eyes widened and she choked on her food. She coughed a few times before her breakfast dislodged from her throat and she could breathe again.

"What," Emma asked when she settled down, her eyes still a little wide.

"Do you like her," Henry repeated, that time more as a statement. "Romantically?"

"Wow, kid," Emma said before she thickly swallowed. "That's a…big word. How old are you again?"

Henry rolled his eyes and Emma was reminded how much he was in fact her kid.

"Come on, Emma. I see the way you rely on her and that hug this morning? I've never seen you hug anyone like that. There was that one time with Grandma and Gramps, but we all thought we were going to die…so it was different."

"I don't know what to tell you," she shrugged.

"It's okay if you like her, you know."

"Is it? Because she makes it seem like it's wrong."

Henry smiled.

"Yeah, she does that sometimes," Henry said. "It isn't because it's you. Well, it isn't entirely because it's you."

Emma sighed and took a bite of her breakfast.

"It really is okay if you like her," Henry said. "I think she likes you too, but doesn't want to admit it."

Emma shook her head.

"She might like me, but I think she wants to be friends. For your sake."

"Maybe you two need to talk," he suggested with raised eyebrows and a slightly knowing expression, like a kid trying to keep a secret but still wanting others to know they knew more than they were letting on.

Emma furrowed her brows and chewed her food a little slower as she watched him get up and take his plate to the sink.

"Why is everything so complicated with you Mills'," she grumbled as she finished chewing and picked at her food.