The Christmas Present

It was Christmas and Henry was excited that he could finally open all of his presents. He had gotten pretty much. Regina was impressed how many people had come over the last few days to drop off presents for Henry, or in some few cases for her too.

She glanced to the blond woman who sat next to the Christmas tree, watching Henry with a smile while he unwrapped one of his presents.

Emma had stayed over. Henry had been eager to stay up and wait for Santa Claus to drop off his presents. Regina had told him years ago that Santa wasn't real, but he insisted on it. If fairytales were true, than Santa could be real too.

Since Regina didn't want to stay up all night, Henry had asked Emma to help him 'catch Santa'. But of course he felt asleep at some point and didn't realize that Regina hat put all the presents under the tree.

Nearly all presents were unwrapped by now and Regina was wondering, not for the first time, what Emma would give her. She and Emma were secretly dating each other since a few weeks and she really expected to get a gift from the blonde.

Henry had successfully unwrapped a few more gifts until only two more presents were under the tree. Emma had already opened the gift that Regina had bought her, so one of these two presents should be the gift Emma bought for her.

Regina's heartbeat quickened and she stopped breathing for a moment. She was excited. Regina had been sitting comfortable on the sofa so far, but now she leaned forward, expecting Henry to hand her one of the presents.

Henry grabbed one of the presents and read the name of the person who would receive it, just like he had done with all the other presents till now.

"Emma"

Confusion spread over Regina's face. This was weird. Why would Emma get another present? She already had received presents from all the people she could possibly get a present from. Regina fixated the other present while Emma was busy with her gift.

"Oh" a surprised but proud sound came from Emma, forcing Regina's attention towards her. Emma held a comic book and some sweets in her hand.

"This is another gift from me" Henry shouted.

Emma smiled. "Really? I wouldn't have guessed" she said in a laughter. It was bright and cheerful and Regina felt that it reached her heart and lightened it.

"So I got two presents from you this year. I'm really lucky to have a kid like you. Thank you." Emma said and hugged a brightly smiling Henry. "Let's see who gets the last present" she said and grabbed the last one.

Regina's heartbeat was racing and her palms were a little sweaty. Her eyes never left the package in Emma's hand.

"It's for you."

Emma smiled and handed the gift to Henry.

"What? Are you sure?" Regina blurted out without thinking.

"Yes" Henry says "see". He sat next to her and showed her the name which was written on the present. Regina looked confused to Emma, to see something, anything, realization, regret, something, but she just smiled at Henry. As Emma noticed that Regina was looking at her, her smile widened a bit, but Regina was to angry, to hurt, to sad to smile back.

The rest of the day Regina was in a bad mood. The circumstance that Emma didn't seem to bother about the fact that she didn't get her a present made her angry. She gave Emma the cold shoulder the whole day, avoided eye contact and barely spoke with her.

"Everything alright?" Emma asked while entering the kitchen.

Regina didn't bother to turn around. "Everything's fine" she said, while putting the dishes in the dishwasher.

"You're sure? It does seem like you are avoiding me."

"No" Regina said in short manner.

"Is it because Henry got me two presents? And only one for yo…"

"Guess two are better than none" Regina said angry while closing the dishwasher louder than necessary.

"What?" Emma seemed confused "What are you talking about?"

"Just forget it." Regina turned around and walked to exit the kitchen "Shouldn't be a problem for you, you seem to be good in forgetting stuff."

"Wait."

Regina stopped at the threshold but didn't look at Emma.

"You think I forgot your Christmas present?"

Regina turned around and Emma could see the hurt look on Regina's face. Regina didn't had to answer, Emma could tell what Regina was about to say. She closed the space between them, putting her hands on Regina's waist.

"You really thought…" Emma paused for a moment "I didn't get you something?" she asked disbelieved.

"I didn't think it, I saw it. There was no present under the tree."

Emma smiled.

"You think its funny not giving me a Christmas present?" Regina was getting annoyed by this and tried to get away from the blonde, but Emma wouldn't let her out of her embrace.

"It is right in front of you" Emma said in a low and husky voice while she was placing kisses over Regina's neck. "You just have to wait a little longer to unwrap it."