Emma followed Regina out the door of Granny's, laughing at the funny face Regina had made when she realized that Emma had put salt in her tea.
"You shouldn't be drinking tea this late, anyways," Regina reminded her."You'll be up all night."
Emma raised her eyebrow suggestively.
"Oh, be quiet." Regina laughed and grabbed a handful of snow in her hands, patting it into a snowball. She raised it up so Emma could see it.
"Don't you dare." Emma ran backwards, almost tripping on the edge of a sidewalk
"There's no way you can catch me" and turning back around. Emma ran fast, laughing, the cold air stinging in her lungs. Regina ran after her, trying to get close enough to get the perfect shot.
The snowball arced towards Emma, landing squarely between her shoulder blades. Emma scooped up a handful of powder off the ground.
"Did I ever tell you about that season I pitched for my school's softball team?"
Regina turned and ran, kicking up snow in her wake. Regina realized that she stood no chance against Regina in a foot race, so she turned and shielded her face from the snowball. Emma stopped just a few feet short of Regina and looked at Regina's scrunchy face, eyes closed, nose crinkled. The snowball hit the ground with a 'plish' and Emma pressed her cold lips against Regina's. Regina smiled and let her arms fall, relaxing into the kiss.
"I love you" Regina said.
"I love you too. And how about enough fighting? We can curl up... drink cocoa... snuggle by the fire..."
"That sounds amazing."
"Come on. Let's get going."
On the walk home, they talked about Henry and the winter and what they wanted to have for Christmas dinner.
Regina was telling Emma the story about Henry's first Christmas. She sang Silent Night and he fell asleep in Regina's arms.
"Regina," Emma grabbed Regina's hand. "Wow, your hand is cold." Emma pulled Regina over to sit together a bench and wrapped her fingers around Regina's. They sat together on a bench just outside Regina's house. Emma pulled the sleeves of her old ratty sweater down over their hands.
Emma bit her lip nervously. "I love how you love Henry. And how you care so much. We're the perfect family. I have a question for you. And I wasn't going to do this tonight, I was going to wait until New Years, but I realized I couldn't wait. And that I didn't want to because every time I look at your stupid toothbrush in the mug on my bathroom counter I smile because it means you're a part of my life. It makes me realize that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. That's my question, Regina. Will you marry me?"
Regina nodded, "Yes. Yes. I will. Of course I will. I want to spend the rest of my life with you."
"The family that we have together is the best thing that's ever happened to me. I just couldn't wait any longer. And I don't have the ring with me because I wasn't planning to do this now. I know that's not how it's supposed to work. You deserve dancing and candlelight dinners and roses."
"I don't care about any of that, Emma. I care about you. I fell in love with you. This is the way you decided to propose. You decided to do it this way and that makes it better than any candlelight dinner could ever be." Emma sniffled. The cold bit painfully at her nose, but her eyes stung with tears of joy. "Your nose is turning red. We should probably go inside."
With that, they rose and began to walk the last stretch of sidewalk to Regina's house.
"I'll start a fire and make us some hot cocoa."
Regina nodded.
Regina was curled up in a blanket, watching the flames in the fireplace flicker and glow. The kitchen door swung open and Emma stepped out carrying two steaming hot mugs of cocoa.
"Hey"
"Hey" Emma handed Regina her cocoa before curling up on the couch with her fiancé. Regina snuggled a little bit closer.
They sat in silence for several minutes, enjoying each others warmth and company. The silence was finally broken by a knocking and the shuffling and stomping of boots outside.
"Come in." Emma yelled. Regina glared at her almost imperceptibly. "What? We know who it is anyways."
The door opened, letting in a rush of cold air from outside. Charming, Snow, and Henry walked inside, stripping themselves of winter gear. Henry knelt down in front of the fire.
"Hey moms. We got a really good tree, a really tall Douglas Fir. We almost couldn't get it on top of the car, it was so big."
"It was almost too tall to fit in the living room," Charming added.
"I smell hot cocoa. Do you have any left?" Henry asked.
Before Emma could say anything, Regina was up and headed to the kitchen. "Nope, but I'll make you some. Snow, James, would you like some as well?"
They both nodded.
While Regina was making cocoa, Henry regaled Emma with the story of picking up and decorating the tree. Regina came back several minutes later, careful not to spill any. She had decided to make some more for her and Emma as well. (If Emma didn't want hers, Regina was sure that she could persuade someone to take it.) She passes out the hot cocoa with extra marshmallows for Snow and Henry and whipped cream for Charming and Emma.
As she sipped on her own cocoa, she conferred, whispering with Emma about something very quietly so nobody else could hear or notice. (Or they had though that nobody else could hear. Henry had a smile growing across his face as he watched the fire.)
"Do you want to wait to tell Henry and my parents about the engagement? Until Christmas or New Years?"
"I don't see why we should wait." Regina paused. "I think you should tell them and you should do it right now."
"I think so too."
Regina raised her voice from a whisper,"I believe Emma has an announcement."
"Yep. I do." Emma shared a quick and knowing look with Regina. "Regina and I are getting married."
Charming was thrilled. But then he realized that he would probably need to find somewhere to hide out during the wedding planning. Then he went right back to being thrilled. Because his daughter had found the person that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.
Snow considered it for a moment, then smiled. "Congratulations to you both. It will be good for Henry to. He won't have to shuffle back and forth between your houses."
Henry hadn't considered this and was suddenly elated at the thought of it. "This'll be great! We can all live together and eat together and I can hang out with both of you all the time! 24/7!"
"Whoa, Henry. You still have to go to school, remember?" Emma reminded.
"I know, but I'm just so EXCITED! MY MOMS ARE GETTING MARRIED!"
Charming was laughing at Henry, who had by now burrowed under the blanket on the couch and was sitting between his moms. "I'm very happy for the both of you." Charming added, "But I don't think anyone could be happier than Henry."