Emma's secret box

A guest asked for a oneshot of Henry finding a folder filled with his art projects and essays somewhere in Emma's house. When he asks her about it she tells him "of course I kept that stuff. It's from you and it's special to me."

The further Henry got into the attic in his mom's house, the less sure he was that thirty dollars was a fair price for clearing it out. He may have to see if he could get time and a half. It was as he was cleaning out he found a box that contained a bunch of folders. They were labelled "elementary" "middle" and "high". The middle folder seemed the fullest of the three. Henry peaked inside out of nosiness, and found that the folders were filled with his school work. Art projects, essays, certificates of achievement, even pictures from assemblies and school shows. Right from when he'd first given Emma the birdhouse he had been working on when they'd met when he was in the fourth grade. Henry decided to stop for a little break and took the box downstairs to his mom.

"What you got there kid?" Emma asked him. Henry took out the individual files and placed them in front of his mom.

"I found these up in the attic. "I didn't know you kept all this kind of stuff. Didn't think you were the sentimental type. You don't even keep a lot of your own stuff." Emma looked up at him. Her expression a mixture of hurt and confusion.

"Of course I kept that stuff. It's from you and it's special to me. All of it." She told him. "If I'm having a bad day I go and get that box and just look through all the stuff you've given to me or I got a copy of. It reminds me how awesome my kid is. And if my kid is that awesome, life can't really be that bad." Henry felt his ears heating up. He didn't really know how to respond to that.

"Well…thanks. You're pretty awesome yourself." He mumbled, embarrassed. Emma grinned up at him.

"Can I get that in writing?" She teased him. Henry rolled his eyes.

"I'm going back up to the attic." Was his only response.

"Oh come on! You're the one who admitted I'm awesome!" She called after him, but he didn't respond. Emma chuckled to herself. No matter. She would just get him to repeat it whilst she was secretly recording.