"Henry, where did you get that bedding and pillows?" Emma grimaced, already knowing the answer when she saw the fine silky blue comforter that Henry was dragging across the carpet.

"Mom's bed. I snagged her sheets too; they'll make nice curtains for the front," Henry said blithely as he busily ran around the massive blanket fort formerly known as Regina's living room.

Emma stopped dragging the coffee table toward the center of the room, and stared at her son with an open mouth.

Henry blinked and shrugged with indifference, "What?"

"Regina is going to be furious. She didn't even want us to make this fort, and I'm positive she didn't give either of us permission to take the sheets right off of her bed."

"We'll put everything back before she gets home," Henry reasoned in an attempt to calm his paranoid mom and get back to the fort building. "Emma, just throw the big blanket over the coat rack in the middle."

Emma doubted that even if they were meticulous about moving the furniture back to the same spot and returning all the blankets, pillows and sheets to where they came from, Regina would still find things out of place.

Nonetheless, she lugged the heavy blanket up and threw it over the coatrack, which acted as a tee-pee pole. "Aren't you going to help?

"I'm going to get the Christmas lights from the garage," Henry rolled his eyes as if this information was a given.

"Okay, boss," Emma sighed in faux annoyance, as she continued on. She had only ever once before built a blanket fort with her foster siblings. Even though the whole thing kept collapsing and most of her time was spent holding a pile of pillows in place, she looked back on the little secret hideout as one of her fonder memories of foster care.

It took two hours to build the fort to perfection: the Christmas lights were a nice touch that added a certain ambience to the creation, and Regina's 1000 thread counts did make very nice curtains, indeed. If Henry was uncertain about a career path, he might have a future in interior design. They even pulled the air mattress out of the camping gear, and make themselves a comfortable, functional and epic blanket fort.

It was great fun until Emma got an emergency call from the Sheriff's department. Storybrooke's newest immigrant, a lumberjack, who went by the name of Paul, was doing some illegal logging in the woods. His permit was still processing; meaning it was sitting untouched on Emma's desk at the Sheriff's station.

The fairies called it in and threw a fit, chanting "Fern Gully!" over and over in Emma's ear until she agreed to drive over and sort it out.

Which meant that the blanket fort did not get dismantled before Regina returned from her spa day, and resulted in a string of inquisitive texts to Emma, wondering exactly when she'd be back to clean up her frightful mess.

Emma found herself back at her desk several hours later, putting a rush on Mr. Bunyan's permit, with the capitulation that he would leave a wide berth of intact trees around the fairies' rings and roseys.

Emma's phone beeped and she read the latest text of displeasure from Regina: "It appears that my sheets have vacated my bed and are hanging from the ceiling fan."

"ASK HENRY" Emma typed back, and was promptly informed that their son had also vacated the premises and was hiding out at the library to read up on environmental law regarding lumberjacking and the use of oxen.

"I'll be back in a few hours to get it straightened up," Emma spoke into her talk to text and sent the message. It must have satisfied her because she didn't hear any more nagging, but Emma rushed through the paperwork and got the permit back to Paul within the hour.

Readying herself for another lecture, Emma raced over to Regina's and knocked on the door. No one answered. A niggling paranoia crossed the back of her mind. What if Regina had tried to take apart the fort by herself and the bookshelf fell over on top of her? Emma didn't hesitate to use her emergency key and turned the handle to let herself in.

"Regina?" She called out and was greeted by silence. Her heart started pounding in fear and she ran down the hall to the living room. The room was dim, except for the Christmas lights, and the fort was just how she and Henry had left it.

She took a deep breath glad that Regina wasn't lying crushed and cursing under any heavy furniture. Emma lifted back one of the curtains and the sight inside the fort made her grin like a fool.

Regina was curled up and cozy on the air mattress, sound asleep. She was even wearing pajamas and furry slippers. An open book and her reading glasses were laying next to her.

Emma tiptoed out, as not to disturb the woman's nap. She was quite pleased that Regina was actually using the fort she'd been bitching about earlier. She had only crept out a few steps when she heard a sleep gruffed voice call out.

"Emma?"

"Hey," Emma winced and pulled back the curtain again. She stooped over in the low ceilinged fort so she could talk to Regina. "You like our fort, admit it."

Regina brushed her fingers through her hair and sat up with a stretch that pulled the silky fabric of her pajama top tight across her breasts. Emma blushed at the intimate display and looked up at the lights.

"No….I couldn't take a nap in my bed as all of my bedding is otherwise occupied here," Regina tried to sound accusatory, but she only succeeded in sounding adorably annoyed.

"Sorry," Emma apologized half-heartedly. It was totally worth it to steal Regina's sheets to find her napping inside their little fort. "Go ahead and rest and I'll come back later to take this down with Henry."

Regina nodded groggily, and Emma turned to leave. Then a voice stopped her, "Emma, you don't have to go…."

That was all the invitation she needed. Emma crawled into the haven and plopped onto the air mattress next to Regina.

"Try not to snore. It's disruptive and I need my REM."

"Only if you try not to cuddle me like last time I stayed over."

Regina licked her lips suggestively as she turned onto her side to face Emma.

"No promises."