Part of it was because Emma Swan actually still had the first dollar she ever earned. She also had the first dollar she ever stole. The first dollar she ever earned as a tip being a waitress, a parking valet, and a stripper. Emma Swan was not rich, by any means, but she saved and invested. It was her nest egg for early retirement. It had now become part of an nest egg for retirement with Regina Mills as her wife, and their son in the college of his choice (of course, Emma said his choice will be Harvard, while Regina said his choice will be Yale, but that's another story...

Anyway, the Mayor made sure that her Sheriff was well-paid. And that was before they stopped hating each other. She also made sure the best teacher in the town was equally well-paid. Of course that same teacher was the same woman who she tried to kill multiple times. But at the time, the person formerly known as Mary-Margaret Blanchard truly was the best teacher Regina had ever known. They also hated being queen. So, at least for this, Regina reward Miss Blanchard handsomely.

This is mentioned only to explain how Emma Swan and the woman now known as Emma's Mother, Snow White, current Queen of the Winterlands manage to pull the biggest surprise on the former Queen of the Winterlands.

You see the 1982 Mercedes-Benz that Regina loved was state of the art. For 1982. Regina would do heavy sighs of longing every time she went to the website...which was often. But she never got obnoxious about her longing. She did truly love her '82 SL...however...

Fast forward to February 14th, 2015. It was not only Valentine's Day, but Regina's birthday and she was pretty happy. Her relationship with Snow White had done a 180 in the last years, from mutual hate, to the two being best friends again. This was in no small part to the fact the Regina had married her oldest daughter, Emma (Snow had just given birth to an a second daughter, Eva Margene a year before this), and Emma almost forcing the two to mend had gone better than Emma expected, with bothe Regina and Snow trying to top each other in terms of Christmas presents each year.

So it came to pass that the three women were walking down main street, chatting about this and that (Henry's grades, Evie's first words, etc.) when the group noticed a 2016 Mercedes S parked in front of the Gold & French Gift Shop. It was all Regina could do not to drool over it. Emma and Snow smiled as Regina got closer. It was new, gift wrapped with a bow, probably something that Rumple gave Belle for whatever reason. Regina did some impromptu window shopping, peeking in the interior and wishing that she could have the car in her driveway.

Then the Evil Queen heard that sound.

A jingle.

Regina turned around and saw her wife holding a set of keys and her step daughter holding her HTC One capturing the moment for posterity.

Regina's eyes grew wide as saucers as Emma mouthed the words "Happy Birthday, baby!" The Mayor the ran towards the Sheriff and almost tacked the blonde. The brunette peppered her wife with kisses, then realizing that was a joint venture, hugged and kissed Snow as well.

But as ecstatic as Regina was, there was one question that, in her excitement she realized that there was no way this could happen...$140 grand would wipe the women out financially. A partially orgasmic/partially stunned Regina asked the question...

"How...?

Well...they did had help...

Emma and Snow sat in their usual booth at Granny's inn, mentally adding up their nickels and dimes. Snow remarked that maybe a Mercedes was not a practical gift. Emma responded that she didn't just want to give the love of her life a blender and a SodaStream...though the latter would definitely get used more by the giver.

Ruby listened to the conversation and wanted to help. After all, the curse saved her from dealing with her "wolf" for 28 years...helping out would be the least she could do.

And when Ruby's grandma heard that, Granny Lucas decided to a few bucks.

After that, everyone suddenly wanted to give to the "Benz Fund, as it was called. Snow's seven dwarf compadres each threw in a grand, Kathryn Nolan threw in a substantial amount for her old friend. Since Kathryn Nolan's dad was also King Midas in another life, the Midas family threw in more.

Archie and Tink, Hook and Neal, almost everyone in town chipped in. There was even a donation from Oz, which had Emma and Snow wondering who was Elphaba's ISP.

But when it was all done, Snow White and her daughter were just $20,000 short of the money needed for Regina's surprise. And the frustration was evident in Emma. Regina knew that there was something wrong, but Emma would not tell, because she did not want to tell about the surprise or raise false hopes.

It got so bad that one night Regina went to her sanctuary to cry it out, speaking aloud about what had to be hurting her true love.

It was on the morning after Regina left that upon getting to the office, Emma found a briefcase, with a envelope attached. The note read "This is for you. In essence it is for Regina. Spend it in good health, dear."

It was that "dear" that got Emma startled a bit. Could it have been Gold? Maybe, but he already gave...and he would have ended it with "dearie."

Did Regina find out? Probably not, and besides, this was not her style. The only other person who could have written it that way was...nah...she's probably roasting downstairs, anyway, pun intended.

So back to the bank to deposit all the money in a separate account, only to be used for automatic payments. A trip to Boston with Snow in the bug, purchase the SL, drive it with mom driving the bug to a secluded place, then a magic transport of daughter, mother, and two fine examples of German engineering parked perfectly in downtown Storybrooke.

Regina's face was marked with tear streaks. It wasn't the just the car, it was the thought. That the woman who loved her thought enough to think of it in the first place, her former arch-enemy threw in to get it, and practically all the town she "cursed"...and it was more of a curse than it was a blessing...helping to fill the coffers. It was not only a Valentine's gift, but a gift of love from the town who once hated her, and she it.

They all piled into the new Benz to pick up Henry, and the four of the would take a first ride in the new SL. And as they turned the corner on Mifflin, two figures...and rugged looking man and a very attractive old woman...observed.

"She's happy." said the older woman. "It's all I ever wanted, really, for her to be happy."

"Same here. I just wish..." the younger man was interrupted by the older woman...

"I know. I, too, wished that some things were different," she said with a sigh, "but I realize that everything that happened, even to us, led to Regina's happiness. I just wanted to make sure that her...true love...could make it so."

"Maybe they should know."

"No...besides, I have a reputation to maintain...even now."

And as Henry bounced in the new SL (Emma: "By the way, how long did Gold sat that potion would last?" Snow: "4 days...long enough to pick up Charming so we can spend all his money on shopping!" Emma and Snow laughed, while up front, Regina and Henry smiled and rolled their eyes), and the car sped off in the distance, the spirits of Graham Humbert and Cora Mills dissolved into nothingness.

ANd they all existed happily...well, you know.

The End.

This is part of The Gift series. I got this idea from what really happened when Ellen DeGeneres surprised her wife Portia di Rossi with a Land Rover Portia had the hots for.

I hope you liked it, and of course, the usual disclaimers.