Title: Family Snow Battle Madness (What, I'm bad with titles.)
Rating: PG
Summary: Fluff. And when I say fluff, I do mean FLUFF. Full of happy family feelings and loving Swan Queen and christmas snow ball shenanigans.
Warnings: May cause diabetes and happy feels.
A/N: Finally got around to writing my first SQ fanfic. I blame my early christmas mood.
The sound of laughter waving in through the window mingled with the soft melody emanating from the radio on the kitchen counter. The radio was an old thing, barely holding together and sounding tinny, but Emma loved it. And Regina hadn't been able to say no to the hopeful little smile on Emma's face when she had brought it home, even though it completly messed up Regina's meticiously planned out interior design. She'd never admit it, but she had grown to love the thing.
Bing Crosby's dream of a white christmas was apruptly cut off when Regina flicked the on/off switch and carefully picked up the tray with three steaming hot mugs of punch (two with apple cider, one with apple juice).
The freezing cold air on the porch made her shiver, even beneath her fur-lined winter coat and scarf. It was a horrible snowflake and reindeer covered monstrosity (a gag gift from Red), but it kept her warm and never failed to amuse Emma.
Regina set down the tray on the small table and the corners of her mouth twitched upwards. The garden was a mess of half-finished snow figures (was that supposed to be a reindeer or an ogre?), snow angels and footprints.
Henry and Emma simultaneously looked up from the snow bunny (?) they'd been trying to construct and Regina's heart clenched. They looked so alike in that moment, all dimpled grins, red cheeks and shining eyes.
Henry came running, face alight with childish glee. His nose and ears were a shiny red, his hair covered with little flecks of snow.
"Hey, mum. Wanna play with us?"
Regina bent down to zip his jacket the rest of the way up and brush some hair from his forehead, chuckling at his annoyed fidgeting. He could barely contain his excitement.
"I don't think the garden could take another person wreaking havoc on it, sweetie."
Emma, who had been following Henry at a slower pace, grinned at them both. She wasn't much better off than Henry, snow clinging to her blonde locks and favourite pair of jeans.
"Oh come on, Gina. The garden doesn't look that bad."
Handing Henry a warm mug, Regina raised an eyebrow and glared good-naturedly at her.
"Says the woman who's been trampling over my flowers with her god-awful boots for the last hour. And anyway, I need to rest."
Regina demonstratively sank onto the comfortable garden chair and and took a sip from her punch, shivering at the comforting heat sliding down her throat and warming her limbs.
Emma rolled her eyes with a smile, humming happily at the hot mug in her freezing hands.
"Gina, you're only three months along. You're not pregnant enough to claim invalidity."
Regina pursed her lips.
"Tell that to your daughter. She already takes such pleasure in being difficult, she can only take after you."
Emma laughed, sitting down in Regina's lap to place a cold kiss on her cheek.
"Yep, definitely sounds like my kid."
Regina opened her mouth to reply, but Henry was already tugging at Emma's arm, eager to go back to creating weird snow shapes.
She huffed, leaning back and watching her family. She scolded Henry when he wrapped his scarf around the neck of a disfigured snow unicorn and laughed at Emma's startled flinch when the unicorn moved it's head and neighed softly at a wave of Regina's hand.
After receiving an embarrassed glare and an annoyed "Gina!", she wisely stuck to using her magic for good. If Emma or Henry noticed that their snow figures improved dramatically, they didn't mention it.
Watching them like this always filled Regina with a feeling she couldn't quite describe. It was a warm and full feeling. It was like lounging on a rug in front of the fire with a glass of good wine and the pitter-patter of rain drumming against the window in the background. It was contenment and happiness and something else that made her ache in the best way possible. It was family.
She leaned her head back, closing her eyes and just listening. Emma's laughter. A shriek of pure happiness from Henry. The crunching sound of boots on snow. Chattering. Another shriek of laught...- Wump.
Regina's eyes snapped open, snow melting on her face and dripping down her nose.
Emma and Henry were staring at her with wide eyes, watching the cold mass soak her ugly scarf. The cold wind whistling around their ears was the only sound in the garden.
Regina stood up, murderous glare in place, and Emma only managed to whisper a quiet 'Oh, shit' before she grabbed Henry around the waist and hauled him out of the way of the onslaught of magical snow balls aimed at them.
"Come on, Gina, that was an accident!"
Her only answer was a particularly big snow ball hitting the apple tree behind her. She only shared a quick glance with Henry before they took off in different directions, screaming bloody murder.
"Down with the Evil Queen!"
Henry's heroic shout lost some of its impressiveness when he ran right into a snow man that had suddenly (and with quite the gleeful grin on its face) stepped in front of him. He managed to dive behind a snow wall (that actually hadn't been there before) while Regina was busy finding the right angle to hit Emma who was now cowering behind a tree.
But if he thought that Regina couldn't aim at two targets at the same time, he was dead wrong. None of them got a breather when the various snow figures started attacking them as well. Regina's magic was almost exhausted when all of a sudden, everything went quiet. Henry and Emma where nowhere to be seen. Regina narrowed her eyes. Silence in this houshold was never a good sign.
Her suspicions were proven correct a moment later when an impressive battle cry warned her of the red and blonde blur charging at her. With a sound that was half surprise and half laughter, they went down, the snow unicorn thankfully breaking their fall.
"Got you."
Grinning, Emma shook her head, snow falling from her hair on Regina's face. Regina barely had time to catch her breath when Henry pounced on them both.
"The Queen is down! The land is free! All hail the brave knights!"
Emma chuckled breathlessly, sliding off of Regina and allowing Henry to lie half between, half on top of them. Regina's face was grim when she looked at their son.
"Well, Ser Henry, I'm sure a brave knight like you has no need for cookies then..."
His eyes widened comically and he looked imploringly at Emma.
"Emma, she's not serious, is she?"
Emma slapped Regina's arm gently.
"Don't frighten the kid, Gina. You know he can't do without them."
Regina raised an eyebrow.
"It seems to me, Miss Swan, you are intent on loosing your cookie rights as well."
The look on Emma's face changed to one of mischief. She smirked.
"Would a kiss get me out of trouble?"
Henry made a disgusted face and sprang up.
"Eww. You guys are being lovey-dovey again. I don't need to see that. Grace is coming over later anyway and I still need to clean my room. I want to show her the new book I got."
His face lit up at the thought of his friend as he skipped inside. They could just so see him snatching a cookie from the plate on the table.
"Don't look now, but I think our son has a crush." Emma whispered, snuggling closer to Regina.
"Our son? Oh no, he's completly yours in that respect. I was never that cheesy or obvious."
"Says the woman who proposed during a picnic under an apple tree. With glowing lanterns all over the garden. In a moonlit summer night."
"Oh, be quiet."
Emma laughed, kissing Regina deeply until the cold had been chased from their lips.
Family.