The Family Ticket
by Erin Griffin
Fandom: Once Upon A Time/The Polar Express crossover
Pairing: Regina/Emma (Swan Queen, Remma)
Summary: Regina leaves on the Polar Express, thinking it will take her from Storybrooke for good (and the good of the town), but two more passengers get more than they bargained for when they go after her.
Disclaimer: I don't know who owns The Polar Express, but ABC owns Emma, Regina, and Henry. I own nothing
Note: I had done this concept a couple of years ago in the Bering and Wells fandom and I liked it so much I thought I would try again. Also, I am sorry if they are a bit out of character.
Everything was different this Christmas Eve. Mary Margaret- Er, Snow wasn't leading the small group of carolers (which included Katherine, Ruby, Granny, Dr. Hopper and parents of the kids in her class), the tree in the main square of Storybrooke wasn't decorated and all alight, there was no delicious smells coming from the mansion, or Christmas music on the radio. There was no Christmas tree, no lights, and no visits from Graham to take Henry Christmas shopping for Regina's gift. And there was no little boy asking endless questions about Santa, no Christmas lists or stockings to fill. Regina was alone this year, the mansion ten times bigger, emptier, and lonelier than ever. Regina watched, as she had a lot this season, the thick clumps of snow as it fell outside her window and the empty streets as the snow filled in the footsteps on the sidewalk. The once evil queen took a step back when her breath began to fog up the window. She adjusted the large maroon blanket around her shoulders, but left the tears to fall as they had all evening. She'd long ago lost all hope of seeing her son during the holiday.
Regina sighed, her heart too heavy to ignore, and she shifted from one foot to the other. Her stomach told her that it was empty, just like the rest of her, but her mind told her that there wasn't any point to making a meal for one. Before she could debate further on perhaps allowing some packaged junk to enter her system, a sound filtered through the eerie night that was foreign to Storyrooke. Regina knew every scent and sound of the town she had created, and being a coastal town, horns were common. This wasn't the deep rumble of a sea bearing ship, though, not that any of the ships would be running on Christmas Eve. No, this horn was higher- more of a whistle, actually. Could it be? But the only train tracks in Storybrooke lead out of the town, and had only been put there for show. Up until a few weeks ago, Regina doubted anyone ever noticed that no trains came or went from the town. Even if this wasn't true, those tracks were on the other side of the town, near the woods where the three Bears and Goldilocks lived. Should Regina hear it at all, it would be a faraway sound, not loudly, as if-
A flash of light grabbed Regina's attention, and her eyes traveled back down to the street where the whistle was coming from. She realized it was a sound outside of Storybrooke; however, it was coming closer. Regina tightened her grip on the blanket on her shoulders again, and she squinted down at the light as the steamy blaring sounded again. Then, a grand black train came into view, bursting into Storybrooke. It kicked up a lot of snow and created fog into the snowy night, and then it began to slow to a stop right in front of the mayoral mansion. Tracks seemed to be underway, even as it was in the street, as if this train made the tracks as it went along. Regina couldn't believe her eyes, even after all she had seen and all she had done. She couldn't contain the small gasp that left her, either. Was this a new magical threat? With magic being so different in Storybrooke after what Gold had done, she wasn't sure if she could fight off anymore threats, or even if this train posed any sort of threat to her and the town. Still, with Gold as useless as he was, she was the only one who possibly could fight against a magical intruder. If nothing else, that was what this train was, and she had to go investigate it. If there was the smallest chance that it could get to Henry...
The grand locomotive finally completely stopped, creating a silence in the night, before a door to one of the compartments opened, and then someone stepped out...
Everything was different this Christmas Eve. Henry's room was different, with a different bed in a different house. He looked at the alarm clock on the table beside his bed. Though he had a later bed time due to the winter holiday from school, he wanted to be asleep for Santa Claus. He wasn't sure if he even should believe in the jolly man, but since he was the biological grandson of Snow White and the adopted son to the Evil Queen of fairy tales, he wasn't taking any chances. The radio was on to continuous Christmas play, and in an hour a DJ would play the Christmas Carol radio drama, which he was looking forward to falling asleep to. The sounds coming from downstairs were not his mother humming along to the radio or the clatter of dishes as she baked. Instead, there was the sound of voices, one male, one female, and every now and again the whine of his birth mother as they cleaned up after their dinner.
Then, there was the sound that cut through all of it, and Henry hurried to his window. The whistle of a train, Henry knew, but it was all wrong. He tried to see it, but it was too far out of his window's line of sight. He turned from the window and hurried out of his room. The sound came again from what he knew to be the town's border, near his own house. But how could that be? Henry thumped down the stairs, stopping only at the door long enough to step into his shoes.
"Henry?" Snow asked, wiping her hands on a small towel.
"I'll be right back," he called.
"You heard that, too?" Emma asked as she came into view, throwing her jacket on in mid-stride. She reached behind her at the closet and grabbed Henry's coat as well before she helped her son into it. "We'll be right back," Emma repeated.
"Where are you two going?" David asked as he heard the commotion at the door.
"To find the train," Henry explained.
"What train?" Snow asked.
"The one making the noise." The tone of Henry's voice suggested that there was something wrong with his grandmother, even though she was far too young for deafness and senility.
"We don't have trains here. I mean, we have tracks, but no one ever said anything about there being trains in Storybrooke. I could be wrong. I was asleep for most of it," Charming admitted with a shrug.
"No, you're right, Honey," Snow said.
"You didn't hear that?" Emma asked, looking at the two people she was still having a difficult time thinking of as her parents.
"Emma, I don't know what you are talking about Sweetie," Snow said gently.
The train's horn sounded once more, and Henry shared a look with Emma as they continued to dress for the weather. "Come on, let's go."
Regina hurried down the stairs and flew out the door. She slowed as soon as she got to the porch, where she saw the man up close. He looked familiar, but Regina couldn't quite place where she may have seen him before. He waited for the woman to descend the small amount of stairs before he stepped down from the train and took a few steps forward. He took out a pocket watch and stared down at it before he looked back up to her, locking eyes with the once evil queen. He straightened his hat and called, "AAAAAAAAAAAALLL ABOARD!" Regina began walking to him now, her head tilted slightly. Up close, she knew he was familiar now, but still, she wasn't sure from where. He was tall, fairly average compared to the men her land spun on a regular basis, and had a thick mustache and glasses. His wave was welcoming, which was the only reason why Regina's feet kept moving, but she looked around, wondering why no one had come out to see why there was a large train outside.
"Who are you?" Regina finally asked. "Why are you here?"
"You are my pick up. Regina Mills, correct?" the man asked with eyebrows raised.
Regina nodded absently, but her confusion was clear. "Your pick up? To where? How are you here? There are no tracks-"
"We're already running late. I'm just lucky that you're my last stop before our final destination. So... Are you coming or not?"
Regina could faintly hear the sound of children on the train and sighed. "You're here for me? Only me?"
"Well, why else would I be here?" the conductor asked.
Regina didn't know how to reply to this. The conductor waved her in again, and Regina nodded. "Okay." The once evil queen lifted the blanket over her shoulders a little more as she took a step closer to the train.
Emma and Henry huffed out steam as they nearly ran towards the sound of a train that shouldn't be there. "It's coming from near the Storybrooke border," Henry said mid-run. Their shuffled steps made fresh footprints in the snow.
"Yeah," Emma said, "that was my thought too." Part of the sheriff's mind was back at the Charming's house where it was warm, but she didn't like the fact that she and Henry could hear something that Snow and James couldn't. It made her even more suspicious than the fact that yet another unknown being was entering Storybrooke. The two rounded a corner past Granny's, and they found themselves in the main street. There, they saw the culprit: a large black train sat idly in front of the mansion, but it wasn't why Henry had picked up pace.
"MOOOOOOOM!" It was instinct to Henry to call out to Regina in this manner, but this didn't take the sting Emma felt away. She knew this was unfair, that Regina must have felt even more betrayed the first time Henry had called HER that. After all, Regina had raised him for the first ten years of his life, and the adoption was a closed one. They were still in Maine, and therefore still running on Earth laws. Emma didn't want to admit to the fact that she had gotten used to the title, having forgotten who it originally belonged to.
Emma began to trot after Henry, the cold ironically causing her lungs to burn for air faster. She, too, began an honest run when she saw in the distance Regina getting on the train. The brunette didn't seem to hear Henry calling for her. They were still too far away, and Regina was still little more than ant sized, but somehow they both knew it was her. Still, she called out as well, only to have her voice drowned out by the icy wind. "REGINA!" Her calls fell on deaf ears. Emma knew this. She watched in almost horror as the ex-mayor disappeared from sight.
Regina thought she may have heard her name, but she told herself it was the kids on the train, the howl of the wind, and her own wishful thinking. She convinced herself that she had somehow imagined it. Who would be calling for her now? She walked slowly through the compartments, watching as the children interacted with each other. She wondered if she was the only adult on the train and where it might be taking them. Knowing that this mysterious train wanted only her and that she had nowhere else to go that Christmas made it any kind of okay. At least this way she could see the holiday through a child's eyes, even if that child wasn't her own. After narrowly missing a run-in with a redheaded boy, Regina found a seat near the back and was soon joined by a set of black haired, green eyed twins. They wore matching pajamas (one in blue, the other in green), and they had black slippers on their feet. Both looked at her, and the twin in blue held out her hand to her. Regina saw that there was a small stack of cookies in her hand. "Don't you want those for yourself?" Regina asked.
"You look like you need them to feel better," she said. Her sister nodded.
"Besides, we can always get more. We can get you some cocoa or cider or some'm."
The woman slowly reached out and accepted the offering. "Thank you. I'd like that," she said.
"Cocoa or cider?"
"Cider- Please." This instant acceptance and kindness felt strange to her, but she took what she could.
The twin in blue, who had given her the cookies, smiled sympathetically as her sister got up for the cider. "Don't take this the wrong way or anything, but you're a bit older than the rest of us. Do you, like, have that aging disease? Is that why you are so sad?"
Regina smiled painfully. "No. I'm probably older than I look," she told the girl.
"Then- no offence- why are you here?"
"I wish I knew. Why is everyone else here?" Regina asked.
"The conductor told us that we're going to the North Pole. It makes sense, though."
"Why's that?" Regina asked even though she felt as though she might know the answer already.
"Well, it is Christmas Eve- Almost midnight, and the train is called the POLE-ar Express."
"That does makes sense," Regina agreed.
"So, what's your name?" the girl in blue asked as her sister handed Regina a steaming cup of cider.
"Thank you." She looked to the twin in blue to answer her question. "Regina. Regina Mills."
"I'm Stacy. This is Steph."
Regina made a short mantra of 'Stacy in blue, Steph in green' before she said, "It's nice to meet you- Both of you."
"Nice to meet you, too," Steph said, sitting down next to her sister. "So um... Are you like that kid in that Robin Williams movie- the one where he grows so fast?"
"I already asked her that. She said no," Stacy informed her sister.
"Oh. Sorry."
Regina let out a small laugh.
Yet another steamy blast filled the silent air and Emma realized that the grand locomotive was beginning to move again. She called out to Henry, who did not stop running for the train. The man Regina had stood next to was now out of sight as well. Emma called out again for Henry, fearing he would get pulled under the moving train, and with no tracks, there was no telling WHERE it was going. Henry didn't seem to hear her any better than Regina had. The blonde forced her lungs and body to cooperate as she continued on. The only plus side was that the train was going towards her, but as she saw that Henry was attempting to jump onto the train as well as the fact that it was picking up speed, she knew it wasn't much of a victory. She slowed her running as she watched Henry reach out his hands and grabbed ahold to a bar; his body seemed to yank from the ground. He used his upper body strength to pull his whole body closer to the train until his feet hit the rails, and he hoisted himself over on to a safer spot.
Emma sighed with relief as she saw his frame hold on. She moved closer to the train herself as the dark red of the front got nearer. She could now read it: The Polar Express. She began to run alongside it as one compartment, and then another passed her. "HEY DOWN THERE!"
The voice startled her so much that she almost stopped running completely. Emma looked up at the direction of the gruff voice that had shouted into the night. Halfway between two of the compartment kneeled a man who looked like any number of her foster brothers-turned friends who had been there for her until they were jailed or dead from overdosing after getting out of the system. The man frankly was homeless, but there was a fire behind his eyes that Emma had never seen before. It was almost as if she could trust him, but there was something… off about him as well. He wore a cape and run down suit, almost like a chimney sweep from Mary Poppins, but with a pair of fingerless red gloves. He reached out his hand to her, and she bound forward to it. She hesitated, and the man leaned even further out to her. Emma looked back to where Henry had jumped the train. "The boy'll be fine, but if you have any chance of gettin' on this train, you need to take m' hand now!"
Emma knew this was true, and so she did. The man's hand was ice cold, but it was the texture of it that bothered her more. As he was pulling her up, she switched her focus back to climbing onto the train. She breathed in. "Thank you," she said once her own feet hit the metal of the moving train.
"No problem. Oh!" The man reached into his sleeve and pulled out a glittery gold slip of paper, which he handed over to Emma with a serious look upon his face. "If you're gonna ride this train, you're gonna need yourself a ticket, won't you?"
Emma wanted to speak, but no words came to her when she saw him disappear right before her eyes in what looked to be a small flurry of snow, the golden paper the only sign she'd ever had company there. Emma reached out and grabbed the ticket from the air before it blew away, and stuffed it in her jacket pocket. Then she moved into the compartment next to her. It was dark, but she could see the many objects inside. She tried to focus on them and not on the phantom being she'd just encountered. She'd only just recently began to believe in the magic and the curse, not to mention her lineage and her home world, but this was just too much. Whatever it was, Emma refused to dwell on it. All she was going to do now is find Regina, for that was where she would find Henry, and find out more about this train, where it was taking them and why it wanted Regina. Then she planned to find a way to ditch this Polar Express and go home.
Emma's foot kicked against something that called out "Maaaaaaaammmaaaaaaaa..." in a desperate way that told the sheriff that it had long since given up hope of finding the one the doll longed for. Emma knew how that felt, but now she'd found her mother, and her mother was roughly the same age she was. Emma bent over to pick up the doll. Most of the doll's wooden face was scratched, as was her hands. "Geppetto could fix you," Emma told the doll, "and Ava Zimmerman would probably never let you go." The doll remained silent and should Emma have expected an answer, she'd admit herself to Dr. Hopper's office. She gently placed the doll on a seat and said to it, "If I can be fixed- and I'm hoping maybe I can, then there's hope for the rest of you." She looked around at the marionettes with broken strings, electric trains without tracks, remote control cars with bent antennas, ripped kites, headless, armless, and legless dolls and action figures, all broken and abandoned just as she had been. She was loved once, otherwise she could have been cursed as well, but would that really have been as bad as the life she'd lead? Even if Regina had killed her as a baby?
Emma shivered and hurried out into the next compartment, which had the opposite atmosphere of the one she'd been in. Children were everywhere, and the compartment was bright. Emma's eyes searched for Henry or Regina, but she didn't see them. She moved quickly through, going back further, and there she saw Regina. It was the first time since returning to Storybrooke three weeks ago that she saw the other woman. She had heard rumors from Ruby, who delivered groceries to her out of loyalty and gratitude for keeping her human and sane for twenty-eight years, but no one otherwise had seen the ex-mayor. Not that anyone had bothered to check up on her, and Emma was starting to feel guilty about that seeing the brunette now. Regina was thin and very pale. Her lips weren't as full, nor were her hair maintained in that flip that told the world that she was in charge. She sat clutching a steaming cup in both hands, a maroon blanket draped loosely over her shoulders. Emma could see that she was also chewing slowly on something. The sheriff watched as Regina brought the mug to her lips as she listened to the two children in front of her.
"Mom?" came a familiar voice. Regina's head snapped in the direction it had come from, her hands beginning to shake slightly around the cup.
"Henry, what-"
"MOM!" Henry flung himself at the seat where Regina was, practically crawling into Regina's lap. Emma couldn't help the small, sad smile when she saw this. "We saw you board the train," he said.
"Hey Steph let's go look at Timmy's game again," the twin in blue said, and her sister nodded. The two linked arms and left.
"We?" Regina asked, looking numb. Emma slowly stepped forward.
"Regina," Emma said softly.
"Emma." It was the first time she had ever heard the mayor say her first name, and it wasn't in contempt like she may have imagined.
"Snow and James couldn't hear the train, but we could," Emma said, gesturing between her and the boy. "And then... we saw you, and now we're all here." She shrugged.
"You weren't- They wanted me. I went because they wanted me." Regina said. She looked so scared, and Emma felt bad for the ex-mayor.
"That was the only reason?" Emma asked. Regina looked down.
"As long as I was the only one they wanted, Henry and the rest of Storybrooke could have been safe. I figured if they wanted me and took me to- wherever it was they were going to take me too, it would solve two problems at once. I'd be rid of this possible threat to the town... and the town would be rid of me."
"You wouldn't have said goodbye?" Henry asked, looking up at his mother. Regina couldn't meet his eye.
"I was on his passenger list," Regina said as if this would explain everything. Though unspoken, Emma could see on Regina's face what she couldn't say. The ex-mayor of Storybrooke seemed to wonder had Emma and Henry not heard the train how long it would have taken for anyone to notice she was gone.
"I'm sorry," Emma said softly. Regina only looked out the frosty window at the town as it got smaller the further from it they got.
"Sit down, Miss Swan. Your standing there is making me uncomfortable.
'Back to Miss Swan, are we?' Emma wondered as she did just that. After a moment of silence where she watched Henry snuggle into Regina and the brunette's fingers run over his arm in a partial embrace, Emma asked, "Do you know where we are going?" With all of the kids on the train, it couldn't have been somewhere bad, but why was Regina on the passenger list if she was the only adult beside herself there?
"Stacy said the North Pole," Regina said. She shrugged. "I have no reason to doubt her."
"Well," Henry spoke up, "it IS Christmas Eve, but I thought Santa would have been making his rounds by now.
Emma said nothing to this, and neither did Regina after she gave a thoughtful nod. Emma shifted in place and was saved further discomfort by the shout of "Tickets! Tickets, please!"
Regina looked up at the man, the conductor that waved her on board. "I don't have a ticket," she told him, "I thought I was on the passenger list."
"If you're on the passenger list, it means you were issued a ticket. Try your pocket."
"You look like Tom Hanks," Emma blurted out after looking him over.
"Yes, well…" the conductor said with annoyance before he looked back to Regina expectantly.
Regina frowned, but she did as told, patting over her body, which had forced the blanket to fall off of her shoulders and onto Henry. She didn't have any pockets. She swallowed. "I don't-"
"If you don't have a ticket, I'm afraid this is your last stop."
Emma's heart went out to Regina, who seemed so confused, and somewhat scared. Not that she blamed her. She reached into her own pocket. "Here, maybe this will due," she said. She handed the ticket to the man.
"It's only one ticket," Henry observed sadly after he spread the blanket back on his mother's shoulders. "You don't really wish to stay on this train, do you?"
"Things happen for a reason, Henry. I've got to see where this leaves me. Besides, where else am I to go?"
Henry looked away from his mother in shame, only to look up again at the conductor's next words. "What's this now? A family ticket? I've never seen one of these before..." The conductor looked at the three before him. "Emma Swan?" he asked eying the blonde suspiciously.
"Yes, that's me."
"Henry Mills?" The boy nodded solemnly. The conductor knew the third name, it being on his passenger list. "And Regina Mills," the conductor concluded. "Where did you get this?"
"It was given to me when a man helped me onto the train," Emma admitted with a wince.
The conductor's eyebrows rose into his hat, and he touched his glasses. It was still for almost a full minute as he inspected the ticket, and both Mills seemed to hold their breath in that time for two separate reasons. Then, the conductor sighed. "Alright." With that, he took a metallic hole puncher and began to punch into the ticket at a rapid speed. When he was done, he hesitated before giving the ticket back to Emma. The sheriff looked down at the shiny gold ticket. She could barely make out the words 'Polar Express Round Trip Family Ticket', followed by the three names almost in fine print. The holes, however, formed another word.
PROMISE
Henry squinted at the ticket and then looked up at the conductor. "The ticket is for all of us?" he asked hopefully.
"Your names are on the ticket," the man said with his confused expression never wavering. Then he said, "With you as my last pick up, we'll be nearing the North Pole soon, but in order to ride, you three need to stick together. This train is usually for children who need to see to believe, or need to be rewarded for their belief. In all my years on the Polar Express, I've never had an adult on board as a passenger or any family tickets, so you must be very special. Very special indeed… Just make sure you stick together."
"We will," Henry promised.
"I'm sorry we couldn't get you refreshments on the way in, but I'll be sure you get double on the way back." With that, the conductor tipped his hat and left them in silence for quite some time.
"Yeah okay," Emma said, "so we're really off to the North Pole."
"Yeah, to see Santa," Henry said sleepily. Another silence went over them as Henry drifted off to sleep. Emma found herself thinking about the possibility of seeing Santa Claus - the real guy, not the pedophile working at the mall. After the last year or so that she'd had, it wasn't like she could dispute it, but she didn't quite believe it either. It was like the phantom she had encountered earlier: She didn't want to dwell on it. Regina was just as quiet. This was fine with Emma, seeing as there wasn't much to say after 'Welcome back' and 'Thank you'. She wondered briefly if Regina knew that when she'd said those two words, she was thanking her for much more than the assist back into Storybrooke.
The other kids in the compartment with them began to quiet down as well. Emma followed Regina's example and buried her hands in her pockets as she stared out the window. She could heard the conductor telling a story to a scared looking child about a time long, long ago when the Polar Express almost hadn't made it to the North Pole. There was something about an emergency brake, no tracks on ice, and caribou, but Emma soon tuned him out when she caught sight of Regina's reflection in the window.
The sheriff's chest felt tight at the sight. It seemed that the longer Regina sat like this with Henry at her side, the more color returned to her, and the more the sharp lines on her face softened. And when, once they neared their ultimate destination, the Aurora Borealis shone upon her through the window, Emma had to force herself to look away at Regina's gasp and awed expression. Regina nudged Henry awake and the boy tightened the blanket around them both as he climbed over his mother to get a better look out the window. Faintly, the three Storybrooke residents heard the train's whistle blow, and watched as the other kids began to wake up. The dark haired twins twisted in their seats long enough to give Regina a huge grin.
"I can't believe we're really here!" one of them – Stacy, since she was in blue - said.
"Now approaching The North Pole. When exiting the train, please make sure you have your ticket with you. Line up two by two as we make our way through the central square."
"Look! Elves! Where do you think they're off to?" a little girl with long golden hair asked. Regina suspected Emma looked very much like her as a child.
"Maybe the same place we are," the redheaded boy Regina had almost run into said in response, "the central square."
Children began to speak at once, and excited voices overlapped after a while. The Polar Express came to a complete stop and the conductor opened the door to the main compartment. "Remember, two by two, shortest to tallest preferably. Except for you three," he said to Emma, Regina and Henry. "One ticket, one clump. Alright everybody moooove along! It's almost time!"
As everyone lined up two by two as instructed with the three Storybrooke residences following behind, Emma was reminded of the books Madeline. She smiled at this as she kept pace with the children. Regina's hand found the shoulder of her son, and Emma stood on the other side of him, but slightly behind in a position that showed slight possessiveness of the two in front of her. Not that any harm should come to Henry or Regina, but she took the 'stay together' warning very seriously. Though the almost miniature brick buildings around them were charming, this was not a place she wanted to get stuck at.
A group of elves joined the children as they moved towards the central square, and they were so small that even the youngest child of five or six was taller than them by at least a head. The elves all wore red, and Emma couldn't tell any two apart until she managed to look closely at their faces. Then they all reached the Central Square, where another group of elves flew overhead with a star, which topped the large tree above them. To their left was a large clock which read fifteen minutes to midnight. The conductor seemed tickled to see this. Apparently, they had managed to get there a little bit early. Early for what, no one truly knew. The children seemed enthralled with the well-oiled machine that was the elves as they showed off in an acrobatic show while they lit the tree and prepared Santa's Sleigh.
Then, couple of minutes later, Regina began to look around. "What's the matter?" Emma asked at the look of concern on the brunette's face.
"The twins. I can't see them," Regina replied. She continued to look over the large crowd. Emma wanted to tell Regina that the two of them couldn't have gone far in the crowd, but the fact that the sheriff didn't see their dark heads or blue and green above the short red crowd, she too got a little bit worried.
"They went that way," said a small voice of an elf girl, who pointed towards the brick buildings leading into the town proper.
"We should go get them. They'll miss Santa or something… Not to mention the train back," Emma suggested.
"I was going to-" Regina looked at Emma in slight surprise, almost as if she hadn't seen the blonde before. "You'd come with me?"
"We can't be separated or the ticket won't work. I'm guessing. I know you like them, and I would feel the same for any of these kids. You were right. It's apparent that we're all here for a reason, and they sure picked a weird time to wander off." She looked over to Henry, who was watching the show, and tapped him on the shoulder. "Sorry to tear you away Kid, but we have to go for a minute." The elves were now setting up a band, but other elves around him were chattering excitedly. Henry looked a little put out until Emma said, "We have to go get the twins. We'll be right back." When Henry realized that Regina was on the move, so was he. The boy trotted to her side, nudging his way almost rudely past the elves who had no choice but to move out of his way or get knocked down. His behavior made Emma wonder if Henry was afraid of Regina letting them leave the North Pole without her.
"Okay," he said to Regina as he took her arm. Emma caught up to them, being a little more polite as she made her way through the elves in the crowd. She expected for someone – the conductor perhaps – to call them back, but there was a full stadium of shouts. Elves were small, but together they made a lot of noise. The three of them made it to the small brikck tunnel that seemed to lead into the elven town. Then, Emma slowly heard the cackling of 'Santa Claus Is Coming to Town' over a loud speaker. It had been low at first before it came in clearer as Emma's head neared the speaker. It was then that she realized that she was almost at the roof of these buildings.
There was a short burst of a scream that came from somewhere nearby, and then, "STEPH!" Regina leapt into action, as did Emma and Henry. They followed the sound and rounded a corner. Henry slipped a little on the icy cobblestone street of the little town, and Regina was the first to lend a hand to keep the boy upright even as she kept moving towards the scream. The three of them came upon tracks, which veered off in five separate directions; however, the tracks were on very narrow bridge-like structures that made Emma wonder if the train could only be balanced on them by magic alone. One of the twins – Emma assumed Steph – had fallen from one of these narrow tracks and was now holding on. Her grip was loosening by the second.
"Stephanie!" Stacy shrieked again as the three newcomers got to her. When the girl saw them, she said, "Help her, please!"
"We will. Get back," Regina said. She waved Stacy in towards her, and watched as she did so, holding her hands out wide and slowly doing a trapeze type walk towards them. Regina traded places with the twin and did her own balancing act as she took a few steps out towards Stephanie, only her hands were out in front of her and glowing purple. The blanket was forgotten now as it hung loosely over the woman's shoulders.
"Mom-"
"Henry, stay back," Emma warned as she placed a hand on Stacy's shoulder and drew her behind her back where Henry stood. Then she walked forward slightly but not enough to be on the edge with them. She also didn't want her movement to distract Regina from what she was trying to do. She watched as Regina concentrated on the girl hanging on below her, and suddenly, Stephanie was floating in the air. She shrieked.
"WHA-?!" she called, her feet dangling as she lifted further up in the purple haze caused by Regina.
"If you struggle, it makes it harder on her. Try to relax so my mom can help you," Henry advised, but his words weren't heard.
Emma held out her hands as the girl floated closer to her, and eventually managed to snatch her from the air. She pulled Steph behind her with the girl's twin, and the two of them hugged. "I thought-"
"I know. I shouldn't have tried."
"But how did she-?"
"She's got some sort of magic," Steph said in awe. "Did you see me?"
"Girls, Henry, start making your way back to the central square. We'll be right behind you."
"But-"
"I know, the ticket, but we'll be right there," Emma said, her eyes never leaving Regina, who began to teeter to one side. Then, the blonde rushed forward to grab at Regina. She only got blanket, which ended up falling down the great chasm below.
"Stop. Go back!" Regina called.
"No I can't. Not without you, Regina."
"If you fall too, Henry…" Regina leaned in the other direction to balance herself better. She was still too far away for Emma to try to grab for her again. The blonde stepped a little further and tried not to look down. "You need to go back," Regina said a moment later when she righted herself again. There was the faintest glow of purple, but it was nowhere near as dark as it had been when lifting the girl.
"I'm your Savior too. I promise!" Emma said. She hadn't meant to say the second part of her words, but she didn't mean them any less. "Just don't give up and let me help you. Please." Regina looked up from her feet long enough to let her eyes flicker to Emma's. The Sheriff took one more step and reached out her hand. Regina reached out as well. Emma got Regina's arm and tried to pull her into her. Suddenly, just as their bodies got closer, Regina slipped, and began to fall. Emma did her best to stay upright, but the force of Regina's body pulled her over as well until the two were falling together.
"NO!" The shriek this time was Henry's. Emma let out a scream as her stomach moved about inside her. The hand in her tightened, and she opened her eyes just in time to see Regina's locked with hers. Then, purple illuminated the ex-mayor's hands before the purple completely engulfed them both. Emma no longer felt like she was falling. Instead, she was suddenly on her back on something cold and hard, and she couldn't get air into her lungs. Regina had landed on top of her. The two women were still for a moment.
"That… was close," Emma stated once she got some of her breath back.
"Closer than I like," Regina said dryly. Slowly, she got to her feet, which mean shaking her fingers out of Emma's grip. Emma looked away so that Regina couldn't see anything on her face. When the brunette's hand appeared in front of her face, she took it and pushed herself to her feet.
Emma's forehead hit against something scratchy and she crossed her eyes in order to get a better look at it. It was a sprig of mistletoe. She chuckled lightly at the awkwardness of it before she caught Regina's eye. The brunette took a small step forward, as if unsure she should dare for more. Emma allowed it. After all, the two of them were used to invading each other's space, but this time Emma wanted it very much. The blonde leaned in for a kiss before there was a shout in the distance. "Mom?! Emma?! They teleported, I know they did! Come on you two! We have to find them!"
"Henry," Regina breathed, and the trance that had been between them was broken. "Henry!" she called out, and the two women were on the move again. They found a street sign pointing out of where they were (Mistletoe Ally, go figure) and towards Central Square. Henry's shout was from a different direction, but Emma saved this sense of direction for the very near future. It was a slight game of Marco Polo before Henry crashed into Regina with tears in his eyes. Poor Kid, Emma thought. He'd been so afraid of losing his mother all night and was almost witness to it actually happening.
After a moment more of Regina holding on to the boy, Stacy shifted from one foot to the other. "Um… maybe we should… get back now?"
"Good idea," Emma said softly. She too felt a little fidgety, but she wanted to let the family have their moment. Henry reluctantly let go of his mother and the five of them hurried back towards the sounds of the crowd, aided by signs.
They were met with a stern conductor, but before he could rip into them, a grand door at the base of the Clock opened up, spilling a bright light into the crowd, which roared in appreciation. Out of the light came the man himself. Santa Clause took in the sight of his sleigh shimmering and brightly lit, all eight reindeer shifting in their readiness to take flight. His eyes then scanned the elves, landing on the adults who stood do tall above them. He paused in his movements, and all went still, the crowd, silent. "Oh, they've got a family ticket, sir," the conductor said somewhat sheepishly, as if all blame would fall to him for their presence.
"A Family Ticket?" Santa asked. "Well now, that is indeed special." He locked eyes with Henry before he waved the boy over. He didn't move until Regina untangled herself from her son and gave him a light shove forward. The crowd parted to let him through. Santa Claus held out his hand and leaned to whisper in Henry's ear. It was a small conversation between them, one that had Henry grinning by the end of it. He sauntered back to Regina and the brunette just knew that Henry was in no hurry to share what Santa had said to him. Then, the jolly man beckoned to Emma, but she didn't move. Instead, Santa moved through the crowd to stand before her. He said nothing- nor did she. They just stared into each other's eyes for about fifteen seconds before he nodded and Emma looked away. She took a step backwards, her golden curls falling over her eyes.
Lastly, Santa sidestepped so that he was standing before Regina now. There was only a moment where their eyes connected before he took her in with a sad sigh. Then he gathered her into his arms and held her to his chest. A bright white light rose out of him as purple flowed from Regina. The woman almost went slack in his arms. She certainly looked pale now, but one couldn't tell if it was due to the light or the purple that was slowly turning white. Then the light seemed to seep back into both of them equally. It was still before Santa said something into Regina's ear, which caused the woman to burst into tears. Santa only held onto her tighter, and Emma fought the jealousy of not being there in his place. Finally, he stepped back and Emma sidestepped behind Regina when she looked shaky in the knees. The blonde placed a hand in between her shoulders to help steady her. Santa then moved back towards his sleigh, and the three Storybrooke residents watched as he gave out the first gift of Christmas to the blonde girl who looked like Emma, and then the jolly man rode off into the night on his sleigh to make his great delivery.
"Alright everyone. Back on board. Who knows, by the time I get you home, he'll have already gotten to your house." The children obeyed, and Emma, Regina, and Henry watched as full words like 'Trust' 'Love' and, in the twins case 'Steady On' were punched into the tickets. Since the family ticket already had a word on it, Emma simply showed it to the conductor to prove to him that they were still together like he told them to be. She then made to go into the compartment. The conductor cleared his throat. "Ah-ah. I need that."
Confused, Emma handed the ticket to the man, who took his hole puncher back to it, adding three new letters to the word already there. C-O-M. "Compromise," Emma said softly. She stole a look at Regina before she stood to help Henry bard the train. Regina followed, and they shared a quick look. Then Emma herself got on to the Polar Express once again.
As promised before, three men came by – danced by more like – with trays of cider, hot chocolate, and various cookies. Once served, Henry cuddled into Regina once more, and he looked a lot younger than ten. "What did Santa say to you," Regina asked him softly with a kiss to the boy's forehead.
"Can't say yet," Henry replied. He sipped his cocoa while a smile tugged at his lips. His eyes glittered with his secret, and Regina was reminded of her short time spent in Wonderland. "What'd he say to you?" he asked a moment later.
"He said…" Regina's eyes flickered to Emma, and then down to her lap. "He said, 'Your name never should have been on my Naughty List, but it is fading'," she told the boy. Tears welled in the darker woman's eyes, right before she shivered.
"Did he take your magic?"
"No. I still have magic, but it's… different," Regina admitted.
"Good magic. He purified you. He's like a jolly Jesus," Henry said. Emma's lips turned up into a small smile. She felt that there should have been something somewhat ironic about that. Henry then looked up at Emma. "He didn't even speak to you," he said.
"He didn't have to," Emma said.
"Why's that?"
"He just-" Emma stopped with a shrug. "It felt like he was telling me that I'm already doing what I should be doing and that in the end I'll be okay. And really… that is all I needed." Emma, Henry and Regina went quiet to reflect on these unique gifts that Santa had given them, and soon Henry was asleep. Though it was pretty warm in the compartment, Emma could still see gooseflesh rise up on Regina without her blanket. Emma took off her jacket and handed it to the brunette. When Regina didn't move, not wanting to jostle Henry, Emma stood and draped it over the ex-mayor, ignoring the soft protests. She then turned and walked towards the compartment where the broken and abandoned toys were.
She wasn't sure why she was drawn back there. It was the saddest and creepiest part of the train, but her feet and another part of her seemed rooted there, and she couldn't just leave it. "It's a shame, isn't it?" the conductor asked behind her. Emma gasped in surprise. "Sorry," he said. Then he moved past her and into the compartment. "The sad thing is, most of these toys are not completely broken. Not as much as they may seem at first. A new string for a marionette, a little paint on an airplane, new tracks for a train, a little bit of glue…" He shook his head in disgust. "But who wants to waste their time on broken things when there is always something shiny and new?" The conductor stared into the room for a little longer, and Emma thought on this. He then turned to leave, throwing out the estimated time of arrival back to Storybrooke over his shoulder. When Emma also turned back, she spotted a bright red bag laying open next to the doll she'd held earlier. Surely he wasn't implying-? Emma took a few steps back until her back hit the wall.
"I'm sorry," she said again to the air. How could she be expected to fix anything when she herself was so messed up? Yes, she would be alright, and she knew this even before Santa had told her, but how long will it be before she knew this for sure? Emma turned and she too left the compartment. She caught Regina's eye in the reflection in the window.
Not surprisingly, the conductor's estimation was correct to the second, and Regina said a quick goodbye to the twins, who hugged her and thanked her for saving Stephanie. Emma exited the train first and waited for Henry, and then Regina as she finished talking to Stacy. Emma helped Henry and Regina. She let her fingers stay locked with the brunette's for a few seconds longer. The conductor smiled at the three before him and said, "It was a pleasure meeting all of you." There was a smile, then, "MERRRRRRRY CHRISTMAS!" He signaled for the train to move again, and soon the Polar Express was out of sight. Emma turned to Regina and Henry.
"I'll walk you to your door. I assume you'll be staying here tonight," Emma guessed, walking towards the mayoral home. She didn't remember the porch light being on when they all left. She didn't remember ANY light being on. Once she was under the porch light, though, Regina took off and handed back Emma's coat. There was a slight silence.
"I think I still have ingredients for apple pie. You're welcome to stop by for a slice," Regina said. Emma smiled warmly as she shrugged back into the jacket.
"I'll be there," she promised. "Goodnight, you two. Merry Christmas."
Henry hugged his birthmother and said, "Merry Christmas, 'Ma." It wasn't mom, and it wasn't quite her name, but something in the middle.
A compromise.
'I see what you've done, Kid,' Emma thought. She waved with another smile and walked back to her parents souse. She doubted she would get any sleep.
Regina woke up with a sigh. She had such a wonderful dream what it almost made up for the fact that she would be spending Christmas alone. She turned onto her side, where her son had slept in her dream, only to shoot into a sitting position. The right side of the bed was rumpled in a shape smaller than her own. She just barely registered what this meant when she heard a laugh downstairs. Emma's laugh. She slipped some slippers onto her feet and left the comfort of her bed. She was hit with the sight of her deep maroon blanket folded on the chair at her vanity, along with a small box sitting on top of it. Images of the blanket falling into the chasm at the North Pole entered her mind. She slowly opened the box, and saw it was the sprig of mistletoe from the night before. Somehow she knew it was the very same one she and Emma had stood under. Under the plant, Regina saw the gold of the family ticket. Regina's eyes welled to know that it had happened, but she fought her tears. She wrapped the blanket around her shoulders as she went down the stairs.
"Oops, we woke your mom," Emma said from the kitchen table, where bottles of glue, scissors, and paint littered its surface, along with many different types of toys in various stages of repair. Next to Emma's feet was a large bag of toys, one of which Emma was attempting to fix with crazy glue. "Henry called as soon as he woke up to see if I dreamed about the Polar Express," the blonde explained.
"You're welcome here," Regina said in response to the blonde's slight defensive tone.
" 'Ma got all these cool toys and now she is Santa's tallest elf," Henry supplied. He was helping by measuring the strings on a marionette and cutting fishing wire to replace the ones missing.
"Here. This one is for you," Emma said, picking up a porcelain doll that had gotten her face repainted at four that morning, along with a washed dress and combed hair. She looked brand new - and almost exactly like Regina. "Sorry I couldn't wrap it. My crappy decorative skills would have taken away from her beauty anyway," Emma said nervously.
Regina walked to the work station and gently took the doll from Emma. Positioned on the table away from the glues and the paints sat another doll with a scratched wooden face. She seemed to be supervising the work that had been done. "Thank you," Regina said after inspecting the doll and bringing it to her chest. Emma smiled somewhat shyly. "I wish I had something for you…"
Emma looked down at the box in Regina's other hand. The woman looked almost like a child with a doll in one hand, a Christmas box in the other, slippers and a blanket around her shoulders, but Emma found it endearing. She looked at the ticket that stuck out of the box before she picked up the mistletoe. The blonde's smile didn't leave as she leaned in about halfway and held the mistletoe over her head. Regina leaned in as well and the two women shared a kiss.
A click, a flash of light, and a whirring noise reminded Emma and Regina that they were not alone, and looking over at Henry, they saw that him shaking out a Polaroid picture. Later, after Red drops off a froze lasagna and Snow comes by with Emma and Henry's gifts, after Jiminy calls to wish Regina a merry Christmas and Emma drops off toys to kids in town, Regina opened her final gift from Santa, a scrap book. It made her heart jump into her chest at first, since at first glance it is an exact replica of Henry's fairytale book, but when she opened it, she saw it was blank. On the front, like Henry's book, it said Once Upon A Time, but on the back, there was also And They Lived Happily Ever After', something Henry's original didn't have. Henry right away took his growing stack of pictures and began to fill the first couple of pages with the pictures he had taken and many more to come. On the front inside cover he had placed the picture of the kiss, the mistletoe itself, and of course the golden family ticket that granted the three of them their happily ever after.
The End