Title: "Morning Routine"

Summary: Peter and Emma get ready for work in her apartment. References to "Jump, Push, Fall" and "Ink" and general reference to a later episode's spoiler.

Peter opened his eyes, waking, as he usually did, before the alarm went off. He rubbed a hand over his face, deciding that it was light enough outside for him to get up.

He pushed back Emma's floral comforter and rose quietly and carefully, not wanting to disturb the blonde woman, who lay asleep beside him. As he changed into black cargo pants and a gray long-sleeved shirt, he looked over at her and smiled.

It had taken them time to adjust to each other's morning routines. Peter was an early riser, still dedicated to saving lives as a paramedic. Emma liked to sleep, and he often had to shake her awake after she had turned off her alarm clock.

He went into the bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth, then went into the kitchen to feed Emma's cat. He was making coffee when he heard the buzzing and vibrating of Emma's alarm going off. He checked that she was getting up on her own this morning, before returning to the kitchen to make breakfast.

Breakfast. That was another new adjustment for him. He had usually skipped the morning meal to have more time to spend saving others. He thought of the refrigerator in his own apartment, how it had once been stocked with nothing but bottled water and a jar of mustard.

He chuckled at the memory and shook his head. Noah had been right. Having no connections to anybody had not been the way to live his life. He was grateful he had found Emma when he did.

As if on cue, she appeared in the entryway to the kitchen, still dressed in the green camisole and navy blue cotton pajama pants she had worn to bed last night. "What's so funny?" she asked him.

"I was just thinking of how my life was before I met you," he replied.

She crossed over to him, and he placed a kiss on her temple in a greeting as she encircled her arms around his waist.

"What's for breakfast?" she asked.

"Scrambled eggs and coffee," he said, signing his answer at the same time.

They sat across from each other at her kitchen table and ate in companionable silence.

When they were finished, Peter glanced outside the window over the kitchen sink, seeing that it was sunny outside.

You want to walk to work? he signed.

She nodded, smiling, and signed back. Let me go get changed.

He put their dishes in the sink while he waited for her to get ready.

Knowing Peter liked to be fast, Emma returned to the kitchen within minutes. Giving her cat a final pet goodbye, she accompanied Peter out of her apartment and onto the streets of New York City. Her headphones, which she used to wear every time she went out, remained in a dresser drawer, where they had stayed for months now.

She thought of Peter's earlier comment about what his life had been like prior to meeting her. She knew her own life had not been much compared to what it was now. Emma glanced at the paramedic as he walked beside her, thankful that he had made the effort to break through the wall that she had erected around herself.

Peter had saved her life—literally and figuratively, she thought with a smile. And now, here they were, going to work together.

She had to laugh at how ordinary their current circumstances seemed.

Peter heard her chuckling and smiled. Now it was his turn to ask her what was so funny.

"I was just thinking of how my life was before I met you," Emma repeated back to him. She gave him a peck on the lips. "And of how much I like our morning routine."

He nodded in agreement, relishing in the happiness he saw on her face. "Me too."