Henry hadn't heard a word as the obstacle course bounced under his weight, the poles just after the tunnel swinging back and forth and knocking him down happily.


"Emma would have gotten a load of this," Kathryn commented as she sipped a fruit punch while both women sat by the patio table. Regina had taken a break from mingling with the parents to sit and survey the children on the bounce course, trying to differentiate between happy screams from ones of trouble.

She smirked when her friend mentioned the blonde soldier. "She'd be just as difficult to remove from there as Henry will be."

"How is she?" Kathryn asked.

"Well, I presume. I haven't heard back from her since I last saw her," Regina admitted but reassured nonetheless, "but Henry and I send weekly letters. Even if she can't get to them, I know how much she loves to read them."

"She'll be home soon?"

"We hope so."

Kathryn chuckled knowingly which made Regina avert her gaze from the bounce house to her friend. "What?"

The blonde shrugged. "I remember when we were younger and picturing our lives and our jobs and our weddings."

"Yes," Regina recalled with a wry drawl. "Were you not the one wanting a horse-drawn carriage?"

"It's romantic," Kathryn insisted.

"As romantic as the limo bus you actually rode in?"

"It was practical."

The women laughed, reminiscing of the times of their youth.

"Did you ever think we'd be here?" Kathryn asked. "You dating a soldier and me on the verge of a divorce."

"You're not—" Regina paused when Kathryn threw her a pointed look and conceded. "No, I never once thought we would end up like this. Reality has forced us to grow up since our youth."

"It's brought about some good things, I'd say." Kathryn patted Regina's arm, and it was then the brunette noticed she had subconsciously been playing with her necklace, the one Emma had told her to wear for safekeeping.

"Great things," Regina agreed quietly.


For the next hour, Regina switched between making sure the adults had their refreshments and picks of the appetizer and snack table and watching over the children carefully. The only incident that occurred was when all ten kids tried climbing up the wall rope at once, all crying that it was their turn, but August and Graham had monitored the situation and convinced them to take turns. Apparently being the Mayor had little influence over ten four-year-olds since local law enforcement and a former soldier were the only ones equipped to deal with the little troop.

When Ruby had notified her that their pizza was ready, Regina went about calling the children in with no success. Emma would probably have accomplished it. The soldier would be involved in the thick of their playing, being Corporal to Henry's Commander, and as soon as Regina peaked over the edge of the course to notify them of lunch, Emma would turn it into some secret mission where she had the kids crawl through the pipe maze, helping the smaller ones up the rope wall, and bounce for a few minutes before sneaking away to the mini picnic tables, set up with army table clothes, napkins, and cups, to sit the kids down to actually eat. Kathryn was right. Emma would have loved this.

By some miracle, Regina had managed to wrangle the children off the bounce course due to some persuasion whispered in Henry's ears that a good Commander always made sure his troops were well fed. Leading his friends to the picnic tables, Regina and Ruby served slices of homemade pizza to the little army, and of course, Regina enticed that if they ate all the side veggies on their plate they could bring the cake out sooner. With the plates empty, the parents fed, and the children still wired on the bounce house, the cake, a simple marble cake with white frosting and tiny soldier figures lined around the edges, came out. If it wasn't his birthday, Regina would have been worried that Henry was having far too much sugar, but he turned pleading eyes up to her, begging for it to be present time, and Regina added another thing to her list of things she couldn't say no to.

So Regina sat, snapping pictures of the birthday boy as he tore through gift wrap and discarded tissue paper. A small collection of army tanks and soldiers piled up beside him, along with stuffed animal toys, books, and clothes. By the time he finished ripping through his last present, walkie talkies courtesy of the Nolans, Henry was already standing ready to play with his new toys.

"Dear, what do you say to everybody?" Regina prompted from behind the camera.

"Thank you everybody!" He grinned to the crowd, stuffing his helmet back on his head and holding the walkie talkie package up to Sheriff Graham for him to open with a practised, "pleeaase."

"Hold on." The room turned to see August easing his way through. His cane discarded and a bulky laptop flipped open in his grasp as he shakily stepped over and around the kids gathered there. He sat on the coffee table, wincing more often than he would have liked, and announced, "There's one more."

Regina furrowed her brow and sat with Henry in front of the fireplace, silently telling Graham to wait to open the walkie talkies before August set the laptop in front of them on the coffee table.

"Is this mine?" Henry asked already trying to tap on the keyboard.

"And you say I spoil him," Regina scolded to the man.

August smirked. "No, it's even better than this." He fiddled with the mousepad, and soon a pop-up emerged with a bald eagle set against the backdrop of the American flag. Big bold letters claimed: "You have received a message from a loved one overseas."

Regina looked up shocked to August from the top of Henry's head. "What is this?"

His answer came in the form of him pressing 'Enter' and soon the screen filled with Emma sitting in front of an American flag in what looked to be a tent.

"It's Emma!" Henry clapped.

The video started, and Emma smiled into the camera, brushing off her cap and fiddling with it before looking back at the camera. "Hey! Happy birthday, Henry. I'm sorry I couldn't be there, but I bet your mom made it super awesome. Tell Uncle August not to eat all the cake. He's letting himself go there."

She shared a laugh with the camera man while August shook his head and rolled his eyes at her statement. "I'm fine," he reassured Ruby who sat beside Tina on the couch. The waitress threw him an understanding wink.

"I really miss you guys. You, and Uncle August, and your mom. Regina." Emma whispered her name, and Regina didn't even realize she had been grinning so widely it surely must have hurt.

"When I get back, kid, we've got a date, okay? Chuck-E-Cheese, laser tag, bowling, you name it. We're gonna eat so much junk your mom is gonna ground both of us, but don't tell her, okay?"

Henry tried hard not to smile and glanced up at his mother where she cocked a knowing eyebrow at him. He simply kissed her cheek and kept watching.

"Okay, you can tell her. She'll probably find out anyway. Regina, you come too. When I get back, we'll make a day out of it. Just us three." Emma tilted her head in thought. "And probably August."

A murmuring sounded off camera, and Emma nodded, running fingers through her scalp hard enough to free a few strands of blonde hair from her bun. "I gotta go soon. But I just want to say, I love you all. And I think about you guys all the time. Take care of each other."

The message ended with Emma's smile frozen on screen. The living room was quiet as if he party collectively decided to give the Mills the privacy they wanted to view the video. Then suddenly Henry shot up from Regina's lap and began pressing at the keyboard, staring expectantly at his mother. "Again?"


Though it was Henry's birthday, Regina found herself with a gift as she inhaled the single red rose and played with the lip of a card as she stood in the front foyer, her back pressed against the closed door.

The house was blessedly quiet by mid-afternoon when the knock came, interrupting Regina and Henry's time as they watched Emma's video message for what felt like the twentieth time once the party goers had departed. Though they had the bounce house until the following evening, all Henry wanted to do once the party was over was to crawl into his mother's lap with Rexy in tow and replay Emma's video.

An hour into re-watching with Regina answering every and all questions Henry had asked before: where was Emma? When is she coming home? Does she miss us? August interrupted to say there was someone at the door.

She left Henry and August in her office and briskly walked to the front door. Perhaps a child had left their loot bag or Tina had lost her cell phone in the bounce house and only just realized. It wouldn't have been the first time all afternoon since she and Ruby made a mad dash for it once the kids began their lunch. Henry's friends loved watching Ms. Tina race Ruby through the obstacle course. Ruby had the speed, but Tina flew up the rope wall and down the slide like it was nobody's business. But when Regina opened the door, the visitor was someone she would have never expected.

Felix, hair cut and out of his usual baggy sweaters and jeans was dressed in khakis and a deep green polo. The strangest part about his presence was the single red rose he held in his grasp. "Good evening Mayor Mills."

"Felix," she said surprised.

"This is for you." He handed the rose to her and nodded happily.

Her eyebrows shot up even further than before as she inspected the flower curiously. "Not that I don't appreciate the gesture, dear, but what's all this about?"