Advent-

It was the day after Thanksgiving and Killian and Henry were on the sofa watching TV at the apartment. Emma and David were off at work, and Mary Margaret had taken Neal out to run errands. Mary Margaret was sure that the two boys (she always thought of Killian as a boy when he was around Henry) wouldn't move from in front of the TV for the entire time she was gone.

An advertisement came on extolling the wonders of the holiday season, and Killian asked Henry what was so special about Christmas. Henry's face lit up as he explained the tree, lights, reindeer, Santa, presents, and the big dinner they would have with the family. The boy's holiday cheer immediately started to rub off on Killian, and his mind was racing for what gifts he'd get for Emma and the boy. He also thought that it might be nice to get something for her parents, and if he found something just right, the baby as well.

When Emma got home, and Henry had gone off to bed Killian started going through his gift ideas for Henry and her parents. "I was thinking Henry might like a compass of his own. I want to get him something really special. For your parents, I was thinking I could use the camera thingy and take a photo of you and Henry to give to them."

Emma, while really touched by the obvious thought Killian was putting in to the gifts, was not all that excited by the idea of Christmas. He noted her lack of enthusiasm, and questioned her.

"It's just, I never really had Christmas in the foster system. Families tended not to pick up extra kids for the holidays, and group homes didn't really have the money to buy us presents. I guess I just don't look forward to it the way other people do. I have too many years of memories of Christmas being sad to get excited about it."

Killian decided right then and there that he was going to make this Christmas something Emma would never forget. He enlisted Henry's help the next day. Operation Rudolph they called it. Henry wanted to name it Operation Elf, but Killian stated he'd known too many elves, and they were far from helpful.

Henry suggested they start with an Advent Calendar that they could use to count down the days until Christmas. Emma came home on the night of the first to have Henry run up to her at the door and hand her a calendar with chocolate inside.

"Killian got one for each of us. I said we could share and take turns eating the chocolate, but he said if he knew anyone who wasn't good at sharing chocolate it's you."

Emma laughed. It was hard to turn down Christmas when your son was this excited, and you got to eat chocolate every day.

She had no idea what her boys had in store for her.