A/N: This story is made for sassgina-and-awesomehood (over at Tumblr) for the OQ Secret Santa '14. Hope you enjoy! (Oh, and yes...this is only part one. More to come!)

Four Christmases they never had (and the one they did)

Chapter One

"What do you mean you've never had a Christmas tree?" eleven-year old Robin asked his friend, Regina, as they walked home from school.

"I mean," she said, adjusting the straps of her backpack, "Well, my mother doesn't care much for celebrations…so, we just don't do the holidays."

"No over-eating on Christmas dinner? No stocking? No milk and cookies for Santa? No presents?" Robin continued, looking more and more incredulous at each question, "What are you going to do with the ornaments we made in class this year?"

"Dad gets me a gift on my birthday," Regina replies easily, keeping her gaze on the sidewalk. "And I can just put the ornaments in a drawer or something. It doesn't really matter."

"Of course it matters!"

She shakes her head, stopping right beside the gate to their house. "It doesn't," she repeats (and Robin thinks, it should), then tilting her head towards her home, she continues, "Well, this is me."

Robin glances at Regina's home – well, mansion is a more accurate description – and at the obvious lack of any lights or twinkling decorations.

When they'd first moved in to this town, he thought this house was a palace and when he saw Regina, he was even more convinced of that fact – for where else do princesses lived? But as they had become friends, Robin realized that Regina wasn't really treated like a princess; her mother was less like a Queen (more like an Evil Queen) – and apparently, she's a Grinch, too.

Robin sighs then, and just nods his head due to her resigned expression. "Fine. I'll see you at school tomorrow, then," he says to her, giving her a smile.

"Yup," she nods, opening their gate quickly and stepping inside, "See you then." And with one last wave, she jogged up their walk and into the front door.

Robin continued on down the sidewalk, mind still reeling, to his own home about four houses down. Now, his house looked like a bonafide Christmas card, bright and twinkling.

Walking in through the side door leading to the kitchen, he was immediately greeted by his mother, "Hey honey, how was school?"

"It was fine, Mum," Robin replies automatically, dropping his backpack on a dining room chair and opening the fridge.

"Just fine?" she presses.

And Robin nods vehemently, surveying the contents of their refrigerator finally decided on grabbing an apple for a snack.

"Alright, then," his mother says tentatively, seeing her so so deep in thought. Then she adds, "Oh, your Uncle John is waiting for you at the park…he said something about…"

Robin's eyes light up then, suddenly remembering his uncle promising him that he'd finish the toboggan today, so that it'll be ready for use during the holidays. "Thanks, Mom," he replies, already grabbing his coat again, and began to dash out the door.

"Wear your hat," his mother reminds him, "And be on time for dinner."

"Yeah, Mum," Robin replied, tugging on his toque before finally leaving out the door.

Robin runs the rest of the way to the nearby park, he spies his uncle's car in the parking lot and walks quickly to their usual meeting spot by a large oak tree. Sure enough, just as he rounded a bend, he sees his uncle – all tall and burly – brandishing a brand-new toboggan lying there on the snow.

"Robin, my boy," Uncle John cried out. "There you are!"

"Oh wow," Robin says, giving his uncle a high five, as he checked out his new sled. "Uncle John, this is awesome."

"Yeah, it is," the big man replies, "But it'll be even more awesome if you'd actually give it a test run." He points to the large hill in the middle of the park, "Come on, and let's give it a go."

The two make their way to the hill, trudging up the snowy path to their destination. Once there, Robin takes in his surroundings as his uncle places the toboggan at the ready.

The boy stared in wonder at the sight before him, he felt like he could see the whole town from this spot – sure enough, there was his house and of course, Regina's mansion of a home.

Regina. Suddenly, Robin's mind went back to their earlier conversation – he still couldn't fathom what not celebrating Christmas would be like (not to mention, not having a Christmas tree or presents!). His mind was reeling, and then he's squinting – now, Robin was quite sure that Regina's bedroom window faced the park; in fact, she could probably see him atop this hill if she'd been watching.

Then he's smiling, and looking back at the rows of evergreen trees that lined this top of the hill. Oh boy, did he have an idea!

"Earth to Robin," Uncle John said, waving his hand in front of his nephew's face – who was currently just staring off into the distance, "Robin!"

Robin snapped out of his thoughts and looked at his uncle. "Uncle John, I need your help!"

"I thought we were tobogganing," the man said to his nephew.

"We will," Robin says, "but first…well, you see I have this friend. Her –"

"Her?" Uncle John repeats, his voice teasing and his eyes holding a mischievous glint.

"Uncle John," Robin cries out. "I'm being serious. She told me today that she's never once had a Christmas tree…I mean, there's got to be some law against that or something."

"So," his uncle replies, "what do you propose we do? Cut down a tree and decorate it in her front yard?"

Robin shakes his head, "I don't think her mother would allow that. I was thinking of something else – "

The next day, Robin jogs towards Regina during recess.

"Hey!" she greets, "Where have you been all morning?"

"I had a thing to do, so my Mum just wrote a note to Ms. Nolan about why I couldn't be here," he replies, smiling at her.

"What did you have to do?" she asks, grabbing a carrot from her lunchbox and munching on it as they sat on a bench.

"Just something," Robin replies back.

"Okay," Regina nods her head slowly, her eyes suspicious and curious. Then she shrugs, "Fine, don't tell me." And then she's reaching into her backpack and revealing a small box – adorned by a red ribbon on top. "Here," she says, handing it to Robin. "Merry Christmas!"

"I thought you didn't do the holidays," Robin says, tentatively holding his present.

"I said my Mother didn't do the holidays," Regina clarifies, "Plus, it's nothing, really. I just thought you'd like it." She smiles, "Go on, and open it!"

"Shouldn't I wait till Christmas day?"

"Don't you want to open it?"

Robin beams then, and nods his head eagerly. He rips the box open and gasps, "Is it real?"

"Yeah," Regina says, watching as he examines the arrow head. "My dad brought it back from one of his hunting trips."

"This is so cool," Robin tells her, and then reaches into his own backpack and pulls out his own present for her. "I got you something, too."

Regina smiles, taking the box. "My first Christmas present," she whispers quietly, biting her lower lip.

Robin practically glows at her reaction. "Don't open it here," he says then, watching as she almost tore the wrapper.

"Why not?"

"Later, when you get home," he says, "Say at around eight o'clock?"

"There's a specific time?"

"Yes, Regina," Robin replies, "Trust me, sometimes it's all about the timing."

Before she could reply, the school bell rings, and they both hurry back to class.

Regina excused herself politely after dinner, making her way to her room just a little before eight o'clock. To say she was curious about Robin's present would be an understatement.

Glancing at her closed door first, Regina finally retrieves said present from where she'd hidden it under her bed. Very curious, she shakes it a little – well, it wasn't empty. Looking at the clock, she sighs determinedly – yes, she was opening it now.

Ripping the festive green wrapper off the box, Regina opens it quickly – frowning at what she saw inside. "Binoculars?" she questions out loud. "Why would Robin give me this?"

As she lifts the item from the box, she sees it's engraved: PROPERTY OF JOHN LITTLE. He'd given her his uncle's binoculars, Regina thought, why?

Suddenly, she spies a piece of paper lying at the bottom of the box; it was a note, reading:

Dear Regina,

Yes, they are binoculars…and yes, they are my uncle's (so it's kind of a loan).

Don't worry, they're not your actual present – it's just a tool you'd need to see your Christmas gift.

Look out the window, towards the big hill at the park.

Happy Christmas!

Robin

"Look out the window?" she mumbles to herself. Standing from her perch on her bed, she makes her way to the giant bay window facing the direction of the park.

She frowns slightly, squinting at the hill at first. Sighing, she finally brings the binoculars up to her eyes and she gasps.

There, atop the hill, she could see the once mundane evergreen trees now wrapped in glowing tinsel, ornaments and twinkling lights. Christmas trees! Not even just one – but a whole row of them! The view was filled with so much happiness and joy – it just, it all looked magical! That must be what he was doing all morning; and probably all of last night. Although she's never decorated one, Regina could assume decorating a Christmas tree probably took some time.

Still on the binoculars, Regina tries desperately to see if she could spot Robin (she was almost sure he would be there, jumping up and down or something) – she spies movement on the hill but all she could make out was Robin's uncle's truck, Robin's uncle, and a bunch of electrical extension cords coming from the vehicle.

Suddenly, she hears a loud thwack. Lowering the binoculars, Regina spies the offending sound to be from a snowball being thrown lightly at her window. Opening the window now, she shivers slightly at the cold breeze before looking down to see Robin – standing there and smiling up at her.

She smiles back, and says, "A Christmas tree?"

"Not just a Christmas tree," he replies, "A dozen of them, for each year you should've had one and well, one for next year, too!" He rubs his mitted hands together, smile still on his face, "Well, I can't really take all the credit, my Uncle John did help a lot."

"Tell him thank you for me, then," Regina says. "And I'll give back his binoculars…eventually."

He nods, "Do you like it?"

"Are you kidding?" she says, "It's…it's perfect. The best Christmas present I've ever gotten."

"It's the only Christmas present you've ever gotten," he replies back, teasingly.

"Well, that certainly helped put it at the top of the list," she retorts back, wittily.

He beams, his dimples deep on his cheeks.

Regina sighs then, "Thank you, Robin! This…you…it's amazing!"

"Happy Christmas, Regina!" he says to her.

"Merry Christmas, Robin!" she says back.