7

~ Memories of Christmases Past and Baby Mania ~

The day Belle and Marie invited the rest of their friends over to tell them the good news they tried to convince them they needed to schedule their own appointments with Doctor Jo in case Operation: Let's Make a Baby was a complete success. The other women were not as confident since they hadn't been given a fertility blessing by one of the most powerful faes in all the realms. Belle believed there was still a possibility all five women were pregnant just hadn't conceived on 'date night' as she and her sister did.

The three women finally scheduled their appointments with the others attending to show moral support and thankfully Doctor Jo was able to see all of them on the same day. Word spread quickly throughout the town that there was probably going to be another baby boom in Storybrooke, this time some of the mothers would have multiple babies. Regina's appointment was the first of the day and she was trying to brace herself for the news that she would have to keep trying.

"Just relax dear," Doctor Jo said softly to the former queen.

"I can't help it. I do want to have another baby but I had such difficulty conceiving before Ellie…I know part of it was due to the curse but….I think the other part was me…maybe I wasn't ready to have another child when Henry was my whole life for so long…"

"You don't have to worry about that now, honey. It was part of the second curse but now that it's broken your little miracles should occur when they're ready to."

"I'm ready now," Regina admitted.

Dr. Jo finished her exam and smiled at her patient. "Well Regina, it looks like you'll have some happy news for Robin. Congratulations!"

The former queen was ecstatic when she joined her friends in the hallway. They took one look at her bright, smiling face and knew her part in Operation: Let's Make a Baby had been successful as well.

"I'm not as far along as you two are but I am pregnant….and I'm probably only going to have one but I don't care. Robin's been waiting to hear this since I first told him I wanted to have another baby. You're next, Snow!"

"I should make a practice exclusively for you five," Dr. Jo joked when she finished examining Snow White. "You're expecting too, dear and you're only a month later than Marie and Belle."

The former princess embraced her. "Thank you! Thank you so much!" she sobbed joyfully.

"You should thank yourself dear…and your husband."

Snow giggled mischievously. "Is he going to have Couvade Syndrome again?"

Jo smirked. "He might. My husband's had it with my kids and we already know Rumple and Archie are going through it again."

Snow scowled. "Well I hope David's is a bit…easier this time. He acted like HE was doing all the work when I had Neal and I was so tempted to smack him with Belle's broom. And my daughter did smack her husband because he passed out during the birth."

The doctor laughed. "Oh I have no doubt something amusing will occur if all five men have Couvade Syndrome again…but it's not the same every time."

Snow hugged her again and left the examination room to rejoin her friends.

"Well?" Regina demanded.

"Tell your son he's going to have another uncle…or aunt…and you Emma, are having another brother or sister."

"That's great, Mom!" Emma cried, throwing her arms around her mother.

"Now you get in there and find out if you're giving me another grandchild!" Snow ordered.

Emma mock saluted her mother and followed the nurse back to the examination room, her nerves on edge while she waited for the doctor to conclude her examination. She wanted another baby and so did Jeff but she wasn't going to tolerate his gambling again…or pranks that sometimes got out of hand. He finally learned his lesson after having his backside blistered by bears wielding Bordreaux brooms and Emma locking him out of their bedroom for a week. Regina had given Robin the same punishment for his part.

"Emma? Are you all right, honey?" Dr. Jo asked worriedly.

"Hmm…what?"

"You drifted off there for a moment."

"Sorry about that. A lot on my mind."

"Hopefully this news will brighten your day. You're pregnant too…a few weeks."

"I am?"

"You are, honey."

"Hopefully having another kid on the way will bring my husband kicking and screaming back into reality," Emma mumbled.

"Is everything all right?" Jo inquired.

"Yeah….I was just thinking about that decorating crapfest. When Jeff and Robin get it in their heads to cause mischief, they really go all out and don't think much about the consequences."

"Oh I heard about that….and how they were punished for it."

"There was something else that made me mad...been an issue with us for a while and I really don't wanna have to drag his butt to Archie over it but he told me a dozen times he wasn't going to do that anymore and then I find out he lied to me and did it...again!"

"Whatever it is, Emma, I hope you work it out because you don't need the stress while you're pregnant."

"I know...it's not like I'm going to kick him to the curb...don't want to do that...we've already been there and done that...miserable the whole time."

"I know that dear but he needs to understand that he's upsetting you with whatever he's doing wrong...maybe you should talk to Doctor Hopper."

Emma laughed. "As mad as Archie was over the little stunt he pulled at his house, Jeff is likely to get his ass whacked with the umbrella."

"It's something to think about, Emma."

She nodded. "Thanks Doc."

"Anytime, honey."

"...Well?" Snow demanded when her daughter returned to the waiting room. "Am I going to have another grandchild to spoil or not?"

"You are, Mom."

"Well, ladies, it looks like we're going to be doing some more celebrating. Where would you like to go?" Belle asked.

"I don't care as long as there's food!" cried Emma.

"But first, we have to tell our husbands." Regina reminded them.

"All right…then we'll all meet up at Ratatouille for dinner tonight. I'll see if Bae can watch the kids again."

"Hopefully he does a better job than last time!" Snow giggled.

"Oh, I think he will."

The five women split up, three of them going to locate their husbands to share their good news. Regina found her husband with Little John at Granny's Diner trying to fix a sewer backup. Both men were ready to vomit from the disgusting mess they found themselves in.

"We go from robbin' the rich to feed the poor to our knees deep in shit!" Little John moaned.

"You gonna stand there and gripe all day or are you gonna help me clear this line out?" Robin demanded.

"Robin, you have a visitor!" Ruby called out.

"Hey, you're not leavin' me down here by myself, you jackass!"

Robin was grateful for the reprieve from the stench for a while. He could see his wife waiting for him in the dining room and ran next door to wash up and change. Regina ordered lunch for both of them while she waited and Ruby was bringing their drinks when Robin walked in.

"Having a rough day?" Regina inquired softly.

"Going to need to have a talk with Granny about what people flush down the toilets in this place," he muttered.

"I have some news that might cheer you up," she murmured.

"You're going to perform a little magic and fix that sewer line so we can go home early?"

"I'd like to honey…but you're trying to build up your reputation as a plumber and me doing magic won't help you. No…my news is a bit more….personal…"

"Oh?"

She reached across the table and took his hand in hers. Remember a while back….we went back to the forest…went on a little moonlight ride….swam in the lake….and made a promise to do something special…?"

"Regina! Are we going to…?!" Robin exclaimed.

She nodded. "We didn't succeed on that date night….but we did on that one we had two weeks ago," Regina smiled.

He wanted to jump out of his seat, sweep his wife off her feet and give her a dozen kisses for making his dream of having another child come true. He wanted another daughter this time but he wouldn't mind if there was another boy in the house. They already had three. The only downside was the possibility that he would have Couvade Syndrome again but like all five fathers who suffered through it, it was worth it when they held their new baby for the first time.

He jumped out of his seat, not caring how foolish he looked and picked his wife up out of her seat and spun her around. "I'm going to be a father again!" he shouted.

"Congratulations! Lunch is on the house today!" Granny called out from the counter.

"And we're going to celebrate…properly…when we get home…" he whispered in her ear.

She was looking forward to it. Later on they wouldn't have many moments like those.

Snow and Emma called their husbands before lunch and asked them to meet at the Nolan house. Both men were tired of eating takeout that week and were looking forward to having something home cooked. Emma was still trying to learn how to cook simple meals but most of the time she bought something she could heat up in the microwave or the oven. Snow decided to make tacos using the recipe Rumple had given her along with chili cheese fries. She couldn't tolerate spicy food when she was pregnant with Neal or even with Emma but this new child it appeared would have an iron stomach.

Emma opened the refrigerator and scowled. "Mom, you don't have any sauerkraut!" she complained.

"I only get that for New Years and when we eat pork. Don't tell me you're having cravings for it!"

"You don't eat it on your hot dogs?"

"No."

"The blasphemy!" Emma exclaimed.

"You eat your hot dogs your way and I'll eat mine my way," Snow joked.

As soon as Jeff saw the tacos he started laughing. "Now this is really making tacos and not a euphemism for something my kid should neither see nor hear," he teased his in-laws.

Snow threw a piece of lettuce at him.

"Keep it up, Hatter and you get nothing!" Emma said with a smirk.

"Cruel honey, cruel…starving a man to death."

"Oh, just sit down, will ya!"

The two women decided to let their husbands eat their lunch first before they delivered their news. Snow was a bit surprised when David didn't acknowledge the fact that she was eating extremely spicy food when she could barely tolerate it any other time. Finally he lowered his fork after he finished his chili cheese fries and smiled at her.

"You have something to tell me?" he asked hopefully.

"I'm pregnant again David," she said softly.

He got out of his chair and rushed over to hers and hugged her. "You don't know how glad I am to finally hear you say that!" he cried.

"As glad as I am," she murmured.

"Say that now….but you'll be cursing up a storm when you puke your guts out for the next nine months among other things," Jeff said smugly.

"Wipe that smirk off your face 'cause you'll be puking right along with him," Emma announced.

"Huh?" the deputy gasped.

"You heard me or do you need a hearing aid, Hatter? We're having another kid too," Emma said. "That was the purpose of that date night we had a while back. You…You're not happy, are you?" she asked worriedly. Her parents glared at their son-in-law.

"Well…say something!" David snapped.

"I'm glad we're having another kid, Em! It was what we wanted but we've been trying since then and it's been a false alarm every time. Are you sure?"

"Dr. Jo told me it's certain, Jeff."

Jeff got out of his own chair and embraced his wife. "I'm gonna straighten out before this kid's born, Em. No more sneaking off and gambling."

"I want you to set up an appointment with Archie to talk about it, Jeff. You've told me you'd quit before and you still keep doing it, even lying to me about it and I don't like that. You know I don't."

"Hopper's gonna whack my ass with his umbrella!" Jeff cried.

"You're lucky I don't whack your ass!" David barked. "I warned you before what would happen if you made my daughter unhappy didn't I?"

"Yeah, you did."

"So before our latest grandchild is born I strongly suggest you get your act together or else," Snow threatened.

"I will," Jeff vowed. He'd forgotten the harsh lessons he learned the first time his gambling addiction had gotten out of control. He still looked over his shoulder at times expecting someone from one of the bookies he used to owe money to pay him a visit and put him in the hospital a week as they did to others who couldn't pay up. While he was working vice in Miami, he almost wrecked a six month undercover operation because one of his former associates from Portland showed up in town. Had the man gone to the group he was investigating his cover would have been blown and he would have faced a hearing with Internal Affairs or been killed. Two other officers in the operation were in prison because they'd given in to temptation and became narcotics dealers.

He was grateful he was now a small town sheriff's deputy that no longer had to run undercover operations or he would have no time for his family at all and being undercover sometimes changed a person….not for the better. He'd seen several of his fellow detectives crack under the pressure.

"I don't want to kick you to the curb again. I mean it, Hatter. It was hell the first time!" Emma cried. She hugged him tighter.

"I know honey….and I don't want to put you, the kids or myself through that."

"For now, we have a lot to celebrate and we're all invited to Ratatouille tonight for dinner." Snow beamed.

"Who's going to watch the kids?" David inquired.

Snow checked her phone. There was a message from Belle saying that Bae agreed to watch all the kids for the night but his friends would be helping him out this time. "Bae," she answered.

"Ummm…Snow….remember the last time he watched the kids? It was pandemonium!" David exclaimed.

"Belle assured me there'll be no problems this time."

"That's impossible with our kids!" Jeff muttered.

"Because they're chips off the old block, right?" Emma asked.

Later that evening everyone met up at the Golds' Victorian. All of the children were excited about having new siblings. Ellie and Maggie both wanted sisters. Neal wanted another brother. Adriana didn't mind if she got all brothers, all sisters or a mix of both as did Henry and Grace. Jonny and Gisella wanted one of each or Jonny was going to stake out the stork's place until they got one of each.

Bae wasn't as nervous about babysitting the toddlers this time as he was before because his friends decided to come over and give him a hand. He also wanted to do a better job so that he wouldn't be put on cleaning detail again.

Rumple pulled several twenties out of his wallet and handed them to his son. He waved them away. "Bae, the kids need to eat!"

"Yeah well the only other person you'd allow in your kitchen besides Archie wants to cook tonight," Bae said with a smile. Kat stepped out into the hallway waving her cooking spoon that she now considered her good luck charm.

"I promise I'll leave your kitchen as spic an span as you do Mr. Gold," the teen promised.

"Oh I'm sure you will, dearie. What are you planning on making for these little imps and the rest of you scamps?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out. I'll save ya some," Kat smirked.

Rumple was impressed with the girl's culinary skills and the two of them would cook together when the former Scorpions were invited over to the house to stay and do homework together or just have dinner. Being with his friends was important to Bae and Rumple made sure he had as much time with them as possible though he always had to wonder what kind of mischief they got up to. Their pranks were now the stuff of legends around town especially the Halloween pranks they pulled on Miss Blue and Miss Harridan, exposing both for the hypocritical frauds they were.

Belle chuckled. "At least he's confident you won't make the stove fly away or nearly burn the house down when you burn a tray of cookies."

Storybrooke, 2011

It was their first Christmas together in Storybrooke and Belle wanted to surprise her husband by trying her hand at cooking, or rather baking. Even her cursed self couldn't cook; she got all her meals at Granny's. It was expensive but after burning a pan trying to boil water, she didn't dare risk cooking again and Ruby sometimes brought over free food.

She bought a package of Toll House chocolate chip cookies and put them in the oven to bake while she was reading Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII. She was so engrossed in the chapter about Katherine of Aragon that she'd forgotten to set the timer for the oven and soon smoke filled the kitchen.

"Oh no!" she cried. The smoke reached the sensor for the smoke detector and it started buzzing loudly while she raced around trying to remember where Rumple kept his oven mitts.

She finally found them and put them on, the smoke emitting from the oven so thick she could barely see and started coughing as it filled her lungs.

"Belle! My gods! The house is on fire!" Rumple exclaimed from the hallway.

"Rumple...I'm...in...here!" she coughed.

Rumple stepped into the kitchen, his brown eyes wide with shock when he spotted his wife near the oven. He gestured and the smoke cleared leaving Belle standing in front of the stove with a tray of burned cookies in her hands.

"Belle...what...what have you done...?" he sputtered.

"I...ahhhh...was trying to make you some cookies..." she said sheepishly.

"How did ye manage t' almost burn our house down?" he asked.

"Umm...I was sitting here reading and..."

Rumple walked over to the oven. "Dearie, ye had the oven set to 500 degrees!"

"And I ahh...forgot to set the timer..."

He sighed. "Sweetheart, it says on the package how long they should bake, at what temperature and ye shoulda been watchin em not have yer nose stuck in a book!"

"I know Rumple..."

"Why did ye try t'bake when it didn't work out well the last time?"

"Ummm...I wanted to do something special for you for Christmas."

He grinned. "Well I can think of a dozen things that don't involve you being near a kitchen."

"You're never going to let me live this down, are you?"

He chuckled. "I could be persuaded to forget it. If..."

"Oh? So you want to make a deal, Rumplestiltskin?"

"No more cooking or baking for you."

"In exchange for what...?"

He summoned the package he wrapped earlier from the living room and floated it over to her.

She tore off the blue foil wrapping and inside the box was her restored golden gown.

"Rumple! I thought this was back in our world!" she cried.

"So did I but I found it when I was doing inventory this afternoon."

"You want me to wear this and you'll forget I almost wrecked your kitchen again?"

"That...and...a dance...out on the patio...tonight."

"It'll be cold, Rumple," she reminded him.

"Not for us," he assured her.

She held out her hand. "The deal is struck, Mr. Gold."

Later on that night after their son went to sleep the couple went out onto the patio for a dance under the stars, their bodies protected from the cold by a shield he'd conjured. She could barely take her eyes off her husband, looking so elegant in his blue satin coat, silver vest and white silk shirt with black leather pants and boots.

"You will always wear leather when we dance if possible," she commanded softly.

"And if it isn't?"

"Then you'd better find a way to make it possible."

He giggled. "Twouldn't be wise to disappoint ye then, would it, mo chori?"

"You never do so I won't need to worry about it."

She would still do something special for her husband but she was staying out of the kitchen! For now she was content to dance with him under the stars.

"….Well you got a dance out of it at least," Kat reminded her. "So what did you do for him for Christmas that year?"

"Well….I made him a scarf….knitting is one thing I do know how to do well but his little surprises for me weren't over. On Christmas Eve I got the best one…"

They'd just finished wrapping all the gifts when Rumple pulled a silk scarf out of his coat pocket and tied it around her eyes.

"Rumple…what?"

"No peeking!" he singsonged and helped to her feet. She was so familiar with the Victorian now that she could walk it blindfolded. He led her down the hall to door of one of the empty rooms. They'd had several discussions about what to do with it; she thought he should move his home workshop from the basement to the first floor and he couldn't wait to see her reaction to what it would now be. He waved his hand over her face to be certain she wasn't peeking and opened the door. "All right, sweetheart, now you can look!"

"Rumple!" she gasped. The entire room had been converted into a library. Thousands of books lined the shelves on the walls and the only items of furniture in the room were a cerulean velvet chaise, a love seat and a desk with a lamp and a chair.

The marble floor was an exact replica of the mosaic in his spa room, the image of their final dance in what had once been the Dark Castle while their beloved son and enchanted objects watched. The Beauty and her Beast were living the tale as old as time every day for the rest of their lives and beyond.

"It…it's beautiful…" she sobbed and threw herself into his arms.

"You like it?" he asked nervously.

"How can you doubt it? No one else would ever think of such a perfect gift for me! No one else knows me like you do!"

And no one knew HIM like she did...or their son. Every time his ocean of insecurities threatened to drown him, they were his lifelines...his ships, bringing him safely back to shore again.

"Merry Christmas, mo chroi."

She raised her head and kissed him softly. "Since it is Christmas...will you read to me?"

He smiled. "As you wish."

He sat down on the love seat and she lay with her head in his lap while he read the first chapter of a Christmas Carol in his soft voice. "Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it. And Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail..."

"I love how your voice changes when you read..." she murmured.

That Christmas they began a tradition. Every Christmas Eve they would end the night in her library with him reading A Christmas Carol to her until they were both too tired to keep their eyes open.

"….Thank God sleeping is all I caught you doing when I came downstairs in the morning. Otherwise I would've been scarred for life!" Bae cried.

"Smartass!" Rumple coughed. "Well, sweetheart, shall we get going?"

"Yes."

They joined the other couples in the living room while they were saying goodbye to their children and making them promise to behave for Bae and his friends.

"You guys gonna be home late?" Henry asked Emma.

"Maybe but you can conk out here till we get back," Jeff said.

Rumple had plenty of air mattresses on hand for that very purpose and made sure Bae inflated all of them before the little ones came over.

After all the adults left Kat excused herself to go into the kitchen to start dinner. She was making macaroni and cheese with garlic bread for dinner and peanut Butter and chocolate brownies with Reeses ice cream for dessert. As soon as the scent of garlic reached her nose, Adriana jumped off the sofa and ran into the kitchen.

"Can I help cook, Kat?"

"Your papa doesn't want you near the stove Adriana," the young chef reminded her.

"Won't go near the stove. I can do other stuff. Please?" the toddler begged.

"Okay. You can help me make the garlic bread and the brownies. Do you know how?"

"Is my nickname Rumplette, dearie?" Adriana asked, imitating her father.

Kat burst into laughter. "You'd think I would know better!"

She opened the closet door and found several aprons, one of them that said Daddy's Little Chef and handed it Adriana. The little girl put it on over her sweatshirt and Kat helped her up onto a chair so that she could reach the counter to work. Kat smiled wistfully, remembering all the years she spent cooking at the warehouse with her helpers, Ace and Swifty. Both of her friends had been killed in the final war between the Scorpions and their rivals the Black Dogs and she, Bobby, Ewan, Fury and Andi had been lucky to escape the carnage alive.

Bae and Andi came into the kitchen to get drinks for the kids.

"Kinda reminds you of the old hideout, eh Fire?" Andi asked softly. He put his arm around her shoulders.

"Yeah….you guys used to make us a big feast over Christmas, didn't ya Kat?"

"Our best one was the Christmas before the curse broke…"

Storybrooke, 2010

The gang always did their Christmas 'shopping' two days before Christmas after the stores were closed and everyone went home. They split up into teams and each team was given a list of stores to 'shop' in at the mall while Dickie and Swifty waited at the rear entrance with the vans they'd stolen to haul their loot back to the warehouse. What they didn't use they would fence through Louie for cash. The upside to living in a small, sleepy town like Storybrooke was that they could pull a heist that large without getting caught because Sheriff Humbert was occupied in the mayor's bed and his two night shift deputies were too busy trying to chase the skirts at Granny's Diner.

They broke into the security office first and Fury and Ewan overrode the camera security system, replacing the footage with old Three Stooges episodes while Bae and Bobby hacked the Muzak system to make it play Christmas parodies, laughing hysterically when they turned it on and heard their favorite songs from Bob Rivers' Christmas albums and other songs they found on the internet, and clips from the Bob and Tom Show.

"…Please just say no to crack

When you spot butt crack, attack

You can see a trucker change a tire

Or a cable worker fix a wire

Let him know his bottom line is looking out

Somehow you don't admire it…"

"People are gonna pee themselves laughing when they hear this stuff!" Bae chuckled.

"I'm tryin not to pee myself Fire!" Bobby exclaimed. "C'mon, let's get goin!"

The girls met them outside the security office with empty shopping carts and they raced from store to store, tossing everything they wanted into the carts and when those were filled up, they grabbed more.

Bae grabbed one of the empty carts. "Hey guys, wanna race?" he asked Bobby and Ewan.

Andi glared at him. "Fire! We don't have time for you to be screwin around!"

"Just one race, Wraith!"

"All right. One race. One!"

"Whooo hoooo…..eat my dust!" he sang to the other boys.

The girls shook their heads. "Boys will be boys."

Dickie pulled up to the rear entrance two hours later to find a line of at least forty shopping carts ready to be unloaded.

"Holy shit! We're probably gonna have to make two trips!"

"We'd never get this lucky in the city, eh, Dickie?"

"Oh hell no but this is gonna be the best Christmas ever. Good job guys! We'll unload this stuff then you can go with Kat for the groceries."

As they had at the mall, the gang members formed an assembly line with the shopping carts, going down each aisle and throwing in what they needed along with plenty of junk food.

"Hey Bobby, get those carts over here...Kat...we got the turkey jackpot here!" Bae announced.

"Load em up," she instructed.

"Jesus these frickin things are heavy!" Ewan complained.

"Awww shuddup! We're gonna be eatin' turkey once a week now!"

They loaded the food into the vans and raced back to the hideout. The other Scorpions already had the warehouse decorated and Mikey was playing Christmas parodies and regular music from his new state of the art stereo system they'd stolen.

The gang sat on the floor in front of their Christmas tree, stolen from Mr. Frost's Winter Wonderland Emporium, a store that sold live Christmas trees and decorations. They managed to clean the man known as Jack Frost out of half of his Christmas stock. What they didn't use that year, they would the following year.

Back in the present the former Scorpions laughed.

"What's so funny?" Kat asked.

"Oh, the turkey jackpot."

She laughed. "Yeah but you guys got sick of it after a while though."

At Ratatouille the five couple raised their glasses of grape juice and toasted each other. "Here's to many more babies…and our happily ever after. We fought long and we fought hard but we won….together!" Rumple announced.

As he glanced over at his wife, he remembered one Christmas years before where she wasn't his 'least favorite pain in the ass' but a voice on the line that made the holiday less painful until Cora's curse fogged their memories and made them forget they were adversaries….

Storybrooke, 2004

His depression over the loss of his beloved Lacey and Neal always returned with a vengeance over Christmas and he found no reason to enjoy the holiday any longer. He refused to decorate his shop, responded with a snort when people wished him a Merry Christmas and became irritated when people used the holiday to try to get out paying their rent on time.

He lay awake at 5:45 AM on Christmas Eve, having neither the desire nor the energy to get out of bed and go about his business. He thought about trying to go back to sleep but it was pointless when the phone would ring at precisely 6AM and his least favorite pain the ass would be on the other line with another of her laundry list of complaints about her apartment and him in general.

Fifteen minutes later the phone rang. "Well if it isn't my least favorite pain in the ass," Rumple greeted as he always did. "What can I do for you Miss French?"

"Merry Christmas, Mr. Scrooge!" Belle replied cheerfully.

He snorted. "What? No complaints about your heat, air conditioning….the shower door….?"

"It's Christmas."

"So? Just another day, dearie."

"You don't enjoy Christmas, do you?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"Why? It's a wonderful time. Spending time with family, opening gifts, having big dinners…"

"That may be true for you but not me, Miss French. If you don't mind I have a very busy schedule…"

"Oh I'm so sorry! You lost someone over the holidays…didn't you? That's why you don't enjoy Christmas." Belle said softly.

"That's none of your business!" he snapped.

"Maybe you wouldn't be so lonely…or grouchy if you had someone to talk to."

"Miss French, I know where Doctor Hopper's office is if I need to talk to someone but I don't!"

"All I'm asking is that you give me an hour of your time…you'll feel better. I promise," she vowed.

"I doubt that, dearie but very well. Do your best," he challenged.

"Whom did you spend the holidays with?"

"My son….Neal and my fiancée…Lacey."

"You were engaged and you had a son?"

"It was a long time ago….but I lost them…in a car accident." He lowered the phone and brushed tears from his eyes, not knowing why he shared something so private with a complete stranger, especially one who irritated him.

"I'm so sorry," she was saying when he raised the receiver to his ear again. "Instead of making you feel better, I've just made you feel worse."

"Lacey and Neal loved Christmastime. I did all of the holiday baking and cooking. Lacey…..let's just say she did not do well in a kitchen."

Belle laughed. "Oh, neither do I. I burn water. Water!"

"So could Lacey and Neal…I couldn't get him anywhere near Christmas lights…got tangled up in them but for the most part, we decorated the house together. What about your family, Miss French?"

"My mother passed away when I was very young….and my father…we're estranged," Belle confessed sadly. "He's not Moe French. We have the same last name but not related. He thinks of me as a daughter."

"I see and did you do anything special for Christmas with your family?"

"Not that I can remember," Belle confessed.

"Lacey used to love to read A Christmas Carol with me and Twas The Night Before Christmas to Neal."

"It sounds like a wonderful tradition."

"It was."

"What do you like to bake for the holidays, Mr. Gold?"

"Cookies, mostly. I make the dough early, freeze it then unthaw it before Christmas so that I can bake it. I leave some of them sitting out in my shop in case anyone wants to try them."

"I think I would like to try them."

Rumple was stunned. "You aren't afraid I'd poison them, dearie?"

"No and I think there's more to you than you allow people to see. We all have layers Mr. Gold, some of them we only show to people we trust completely. I know it isn't easy for you to confide in me about your personal life but I'm glad you did so. Everyone needs someone to listen to, especially over the holidays."

"Do you miss your parents, Miss French?"

"My mum more than my papa. I know I should try to get in touch with him but...I'm afraid."

"Afraid he'll reject you?"

"Yes."

"Then it would be his loss. I'd give anything to have my son back."

He set the phone down again. Belle waited on the other line for the pawnbroker to regain his composure. She was no therapist like Doctor Hopper but her friends Ruby and Marie told her often enough that she always helped them feel better when they talked their issues out with her.

"I'm sorry Miss French."

"Belle," she corrected. "You can call me Belle. After telling me so much about your personal life, I feel we're at the point where we can use first names."

"All right...Belle. If you'll call me Robert."

He took the phone with him into the kitchen and put her on speaker while he got everything ready to cook his breakfast. He decided he was going to keep the pawnshop closed for the day and stay at home. He wasn't in the mood to deal with idiots anyway.

An hour passed and he realized he was feeling much better thanks to his 'least favorite pain in the ass' only he didn't think of her that way at the moment. They spent most of the morning talking about their favorite Christmas traditions and Christmas movies, discovering that they had a lot in common much to their surprise.

"I'll tell you what….I don't have any plans for Christmas. Would you mind if I came over to see you, Robert?" she inquired boldly.

"Why would you want to do that?"

"Before you start saying I'm only doing this out of pity, I'm not. I'm doing this because I want to…and I think it could be the start of a friendship."

Rumple giggled. "Don't think it'll get me to lower your rent, dearie."

"Oh I know you won't and I doubt you'll have those things I want fixed done right away but I'll let it slide for a while," Belle teased.

Just friends….nothing more, he told himself. He didn't want to love again, he could never love anyone as much as he loved Lacey.

"When should I expect you?"

"Is noon too early?"

"No, that'll be fine."

"I'll see you then….Robert. Merry Christmas."

"Until tomorrow Belle….and Merry Christmas."

For the first time in years, Robert Gold was looking forward to not spending Christmas alone.

When they both awoke on Christmas morning, the memory of the previous day's conversation was gone and they were back to being adversaries….until Emma Swan came to town years later but for one day they acted the way they used to when they did remember who they were to each other.

Archie turned to his goddess, remembering how one of his Christmases had been less lonely due to a voice on the phone but as with Rumple, his memory of her would be erased before they had the chance to reunite.

Storybrooke, 2005

It was Christmas Eve and there were only two people working the overnight shift at Duchess Messaging, Marie and Arista. Marie had been called to fill in for someone who called off though she wanted to be at home with her daughter and working two jobs kept her away from Gisella more than she cared to be. Her only consolation was that she was working with her best friend.

"Doctor Doolittle's Office, this is Arista speaking. How may I help you?" Arista greeted through her headset.

"Merry Christmas, Arista." Archie said softly.

The former mermaid pounded on the cubical beside her. "You're up late, Doctor Hopper. Is something wrong with Pongo?"

"Oh, no. I always call in to wish everyone a Merry Christmas but you're not who I usually speak to overnight. Did they make you stay late?"

"No, both girls who were supposed to be in tonight called off and since we're considered an emergency service we don't shut down."

"You're not there alone, I hope."

Arista muted her headset. "Marie! You awake over there or what? Doctor Sexy Voice is on the line!"

Marie sat at her own cubicle reading Sherrilyn Kenyon's Seize the Night to pass the time between calls but she could barely concentrate on it when she wanted to be at home with Sella.

"What did you say?"

"I said Doctor Sexy Voice is on the line!" Arista giggled. "I'll tell him you're here and park him over since I know you're dying to talk to him!"

"Knock it off!" Marie cried, blushing. Doctor Hopper wasn't the type she would go for but she enjoyed talking to him on Doctor Doolittle's line when he called in to schedule appointments or talk to the vet about his dog Pongo. All the women at the answering service loved listening to his voice but he wasn't the type they went for either.

Arista giggled and released the mute button. "Marie's here with me," she said.

"She is?"

Archie was smiling on the other end of the line. Marie was Doctor Doolittle's scheduler and dispatched his messages after hours. He enjoyed talking with her ever since that night he called in when Pongo accidently got into some chocolate. The therapist was near hysteria knowing the candy was toxic to his Dalmatian but she managed to calm him down while she paged Doctor Doolittle.

"Hang on…I'll park you over to her."

Arista tapped several keys on her keyboard and sent the call to Marie's terminal.

"Merry Christmas, Marie."

"Merry Christmas, Doctor Hopper."

"Arista told me you're covering the overnight shift because of call offs. Didn't you tell me you have a little girl at home?"

"Sella. My other friend is watching her."

And if I didn't need the holiday pay I wouldn't be here at all, she thought.

"Oh. Will you get to spend tomorrow with her or do you have to work?"

"No, because I'm covering tonight."

He usually stopped by the answering service to deliver his gift basket later in the morning but there was going to be a slight change in plans. He glanced down at the box of chocolates he brought that day, telling himself he was out of his mind. He only knew her from the telephone but when he spoke to Marco about it his friend suggested he take a chance and try to ask her out. He was terrified. His dates with women never went well and he knew she was probably as beautiful as her voice, not one to look at a man as plain as he thought himself to be.

"That's good."

"How is Pongo, Doctor? Is he staying out of the chocolate?"

"Yes, thank God. I still don't know how he managed to get into that bowl of Hershey kisses I set out for my patients when I keep them up high enough that he shouldn't be able to reach them."

"Hopefully he won't do it again."

"No. He scared ten years off me the last time!"

Arista stood up in her cubical smirking at her friend. Marie waved her away and continued to talk to him. She could hear his television in the background and asked him what he was watching.

"Oh…ummm…Robin Hood with Errol Flynn," he said.

"I've seen that one. It's good, actually."

Several messages came across Marie's terminal from other accounts to be dispatched. Arista sent them to her own terminal and made the necessary calls and pages and held the non-important messages for faxing the following morning. They knew the general manager would probably throw a fit because they were spending too much time on one account's line but they didn't care and neither did Doctor Doolittle.

"I'd better get going…I'm holding you up from your work. Goodnight, Marie…and Merry Christmas again."

"Merry Christmas Doctor Hopper." Marie said softly.

"Merry Christmas Doc!" Arista yelled.

Marie muted her headset again and picked up her book to try to keep reading until the next calls and messages came in.

The next day when Archie awoke, he delivered the gift basket to the answering service….while a box of chocolates that he had no idea who he bought them for stayed on his desk until he threw them out a week later. Marie walked out the door of the answering service earlier that morning glad she would at least have part of her night free to spend with her daughter again since that night had been her last at Duchess Messaging. She never imagined that years later that they'd both missed the opportunity of a lifetime, one that wasn't missed the second time around.

Regina's thoughts were on her mother and how she'd destroyed one of her chances at happiness but found the other where she least expected it though it would take years to achieve it. A simple act of kindness done years before but forgotten had been the start.

Storybrooke, 2010

A loud crash woke Regina out of a deep sleep. She threw on her robe and raced downstairs to see a man rifling through her purse. She grabbed the fire poker.

"Stay right where you are!" she commanded coldly, holding the poker like a baseball bat. The thief turned around.

"Mayor Mills?"

"Well well…Robin Lockwood! I knew you'd show up here sooner or later!"

Robin wasn't one to grovel but the prospect of leaving his son without a father, especially over Christmas terrified him. He went to the mayor's house to steal a few items to sell so that he could give his son a better Christmas than he'd had before thinking she wouldn't be home. Her Mercedes was parked in the back of the house instead of the front. She did that because the car never got stuck in the rear driveway.

"Put whatever you took from my purse and anything else back where you found it…and then you're going to spending the rest of the holiday in a jail cell!" she threatened.

"I can't….my son! I'm all he has," Robin cried, not caring if he sounded pathetic to the Ice Queen as he called her or not. He was a proud man but any good father would set his pride aside for his child as he did many times.

"You should have thought of that before you tried to rob me!"

"Madam Mayor, were I able to find a decent job in this town, robbing you would be the LAST thing I would do but I have to support my son the only way I can right now. You would do the same if you were in my position!"

Regina lowered the fire poker, letting his words sink in, unable to deny the truth in them. She was willing to do anything for her son, including make others miserable so that they never learned the truth about who they were…who SHE was. She was a thief herself…she'd stolen all their happy endings to get her own but she still felt she hadn't found it yet and doubted she ever would.

She also understood how difficult it could be to raise a child alone. She grabbed her purse and took out her wallet, handing him the stack of bills inside it. "Go. Get whatever you need for your son," she said.

"You're not going to…?"

"No. Go before I change my mind." she insisted.

Robin concealed the bills inside his coat pocket and fled the house before the mayor made good on her threat to call the police. Christmas Eve Robin took the thousand dollars the mayor had given him to buy groceries for the apartment and several gifts to put under the small tree for Roland. They were shocked when a package was delivered to their apartment with more gifts for Roland and five hundred more dollars in cash in an envelope. On Christmas Day the only thing Robin knew was that someone had been kind enough to think of a struggling single father over the holidays while Regina had no idea why she was suddenly missing two thousand dollars from her checking account and neither did anyone at the bank.

Robin's luck suddenly began to change for the better. A plumber by trade, he and several of his friends decided to try their hand at opening a plumbing and heating business together and Merry Plumbing and Heating was born. From that year on, Robin never had to worry about not having food on the table or presents under the tree again for his son.

At the other end of the table Snow and David thought back to their final Christmas in the Enchanted Forest and their final attempt to spread some cheer even though everything they knew, everyone they loved would be taken away from them soon enough.

The Enchanted Forest

Years ago….

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Snow?" David asked.

"We all need to be happy again, just for a little while longer."

She also wanted to send a message to Regina and the Queen Mother that they had not broken her with their threats. They could cast however many curses they wanted to, but she still believed with all her heart that good would win in the end.

David was apprehensive but he rode out to spread the news of the party to their friends and they all agreed with Snow, they couldn't let the queen see them broken.

Later on that evening the couple waited in the grand ballroom for their guests to arrive. Blue hovered over them, shaking her head in disapproval.

"There is nothing to celebrate here, Snow."

"Yes there is!" Snow protested. "There's friendship…there's love…and there's family! I am not going to let those Miller harpies make whatever time we have left here miserable for us! They can gloat all they want but their curses will be broken and we'll be together again because LOVE is stronger than their dark magic!"

"Love!" they heard a slurred voice snort from one of the tables. Snow was stunned to see Jiminy sitting on one of the plates. "Nothin….but pain…."

"Jiminy….what happened to you?" Snow asked worriedly. "We haven't heard from you for weeks…"

He tried to fly over to her and crashed to the table. "Infinite Forest….shoulda stayed there….better'n sittin here thinkin 'bout her! Not gonna be anything to her but a cricket…NO THANKS TO YOU!" he yelled at Blue and passed out.

"Drunken fool! Go wallow in your self-pity somewhere else!" She waved her wand and banished the cricket back to the Infinite Forest.

"Bring him back now, Blue!" David demanded. The fairy rolled her eyes and waved her wand again. Jiminy appeared on the table again sleeping. Snow scooped him up and carried him back to his old quarters and when she returned everyone else arrived.

Snow wasn't going to allow Blue to ruin her party with her pessimism and she was grateful her advisor was passed out though she understood well the reasons for his demeanor as of late.

Part of her did wonder what was going to happen to all of them in the new land and if it would be the same as theirs. She also couldn't shake the feeling that she should've just kept her mouth shut about Daniel all those years ago.

"Hey Snow? Want to dance?" Grumpy asked.

"Of course but not long…."

"Okay boys! You heard the princess. Let's dance!"

On this night the miners traded their pickaxes for musical instruments, singing and playing silly songs as each one danced with their princess while David danced with Red, all of them imagining the fury of the Miller women when they spied on them through mirrors. It was nothing less than what they deserved.

Snow patted her belly. Their only hope now was in the child she carried, their precious Emma. They would go to the new land together and there was nothing Regina or Cora could do to prevent that. As if little Emma sensed her mother was talking about her, the baby delivered a sharp kick to Snow's abdomen.

"Now Emma, easy sweetheart. You don't want to hurt Mama, do you?"

"How are my two favorite girls?" David inquired softly when he sat down on the loveseat beside them with a plate in his hands while their friends continued to dance and enjoy themselves. Snow placed his hand on her belly and Emma greeted her father with another sharp kick.

"She's going to be as wild as her mama," he joked.

"Good. That means any smartass shepherd princes won't have an easy time catching her." Snow retorted.

"We always find each other Snow," he reminded her seriously.

She placed her hand over his. "She's going to be the one to bring us back to each other."

The party went on until early morning and Snow, not having the heart to toss people out in a storm let everyone sleep in the castle though the staff was shocked to see some of them making the floors their beds, never imagining it was what they were used to. She had so many friends across the social classes and for one day, all of them came together to have a few hours of peace and happiness. It was the grandest Winter Solstice celebration ever held in her kingdom. Her father would've been proud.

Emma and Jeff were grinning at each other as they recalled their 'crazy Christmas'.

Maryland, 2002

Though they usually broke into hotel rooms, once in a while Emma and Jeff would find an all year round campground to hide out in but someone always caught onto them and they had to get back on the road again. Late one night they drove into a campground called the Crow's Nest. They went up and down the lanes, checking mobile home and RV lots for any signs of occupation and found one of the mobile homes deserted.

Emma waited beside the car, wrapping her scarf around her face and tucking her hands in her coat pockets to protect them from the cold while Jeff picked the lock on the front door.

"Coast's clear hon!" he whispered to her and the two of them went inside. Not wanting to draw attention to themselves, they used candles for light and the only heat they had were the two kerosene heaters at the front and rear of the mobile home. The only cash they had on hand was what they'd gotten from fencing some jewelry they'd stolen from a motel in Atlantic City. Their only consolation was that the stove was gas powered so that they could at least try to cook themselves some decent meals though neither of them was very good at.

Emma was relieved they were spending Christmas far enough away from the casinos that Jeff wouldn't try to spend all of their money in the hopes of getting that 'big win' he always talked about and she tried to avoid them going to stores that sold instant lottery tickets as well. He'd just started playing them and as he did with the slot machines, he kept playing, thinking the next one he bought would be the one to end all their financial worries.

They stayed out of the mobile home during the day, driving around town stocking up on supplies either by stealing them or using the money they had left. While they were at the mall, they each used a small portion of their money to buy each other Christmas gifts.

Jeff was enjoying every day he spent with her but he knew being on the run wasn't the kind of life the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming deserved and she had a destiny to fulfill. He also didn't know that one of the bookies he owed money to was from a very powerful Milwaukee crime family and they sent some of their top soldiers out to bring him in to pay back what he owed them….dead or alive.

When they returned to the mobile home that night they had a small plastic Christmas tree that they bought at a Dollar Store along with some ornaments that they decorated together. While Emma was baking a frozen Mrs. Fields pie, Jeff grabbed some of his empty beer cans, a few pieces of Christmas ribbon and tied them together.

"Wanna put this on the tree?" he asked her.

"Beer can tinsel? Really Jeff?" she laughed. "Okay, I'm game."

They took down the ornaments they bought and redecorated the Christmas tree with beer and soda cans they had in the back of the car to trade in for cash at a transfer station and Jeff also made a makeshift wind chime out of the rest. They used Jeff's hat for the star since it no longer worked. Emma often asked him where he got the curious looking top hat and he told her it was a leftover prop from his time in the theatre. He didn't dare claim he'd been on Broadway, she would have known that was a boldfaced lie.

"This is about as close to a redneck Christmas as you can get," Emma giggled. "No electricity, little heat, holes in our socks and a Coors Light Christmas tree!" She pulled the blanket she was draped in more tightly around her.

Jeff reached under his blanket and handed her small package. "I got you a little something."

"I got you something too!" she said excitedly and handed him her gift.

They shredded the wrapping paper to pieces, delighted when they saw each other's gift. Jeff bought Emma a pendant with a swan in the center and she bought him a pair of gloves to replace the old pair that now had holes in them from overuse.

"Merry Christmas, Em."

"Merry Christmas Jeff."

They spent the rest of Christmas Day huddled under blankets in front of the Christmas tree listening to their battery operated radio eating cans of Dinty Moore stew, a bag of Doritos and Lays chips as their Christmas dinner.

To Emma, it was the best Christmas she'd ever had.

Two days later they were on the run again and a month later they were separated.

"A penny for all your thoughts?" Regina teased, bringing them all back to the present.

"Oh, I'm sure we were all doing the same thing dearie, revisiting Christmases past," Rumple said.

"And missed opportunities for some of us…" Archie said.

"I think I want to have a redneck Christmas again," Emma chuckled.

"And a party…this time where we don't have to worry about something bad happening later on," Snow added. "A redneck Christmas, Emma?"

"Yep with a beer can tree and everything."

Snow facepalmed herself. "Jeff, what have you done to my daughter!?"

"We had a good time, Snow."

"Sounds like something we would have done, honey," David reminded his wife.

"Probably," Snow agreed.

"We will have a Winter Solstice celebration at Belle Reve," Rumple promised.

The couples decided to go back to the house to pick up their children hoping a royal mess didn't await them like the last time.

The children were getting sleepy and crawled onto the air mattresses holding their Happy Army bears.

"Tell us a story, Bae 'bout you n'Papa," Adriana pleaded.

"Rumplette, I suck at them."

"C'mon!"

"I can tell you one," Henry offered.

"Bout what, Henry?" demanded Maggie.

"Well….it involves Rumple. Adriana said she wanted a Christmas story about her papa…"

"Oooh I wanna hear it!" Adriana cried.

"Well…I always liked spending time with your dad even when he was cursed and felt bad because he was always alone over the holidays so the Christmas before my mom Emma came to Storybrooke I decided I was going to go over to his house…."

"Did my mama go with ya?" asked Ellie.

"Nah. I went after I was supposed to be asleep."

Bae and his friends laughed. "That's something we'd do!" Bae exclaimed.

"Tell us Henry. Papa said he usta have frownies over Christmas," Adriana pleaded.

"He didn't that year."

Storybrooke, 2011

There were only a few adults in town that Henry enjoyed being around; his teachers Mary Margaret and Belle French who in truth were Snow White and Belle from Beauty and the Beast, Doctor Hopper, who was Jiminy Cricket and Mr. Gold, the famed Rumplestiltskin himself. He knew Mr. Gold was alone over the holidays having to cope with cursed memories that made him believe Belle and his son were dead. Henry decided this was going to be one Christmas he wouldn't spend alone.

After Regina went upstairs to her room, Henry packed what was left over of their Christmas dinner into containers and walked down to Gold's Victorian. The pawnbroker was shocked when he saw the mayor's son on his doorstep.

"Henry! What are you doing here, lad?"

"Merry Christmas, Mr. Gold. I brought you some of our dinner."

"You….you didn't have to do that!" Rumple cried, touched by the boy's generosity.

"I wanted to. Here." He handed the pawnbroker the set of containers holding turkey, gray, mashed potatoes, corn, peas, stuffing, cranberries and gravy. Rumple smiled and started heating them up in the microwave. He rarely used it, preferring to cook everything on his state of the art stove unless he had a difficult day.

"Your mum's not going to be happy with you for sneaking out, lad."

"I know but I just didn't want you to be alone on Christmas," Henry insisted.

"I'm all right, lad but I do appreciate your concern." He gestured to the food. "Now that you're here, perhaps you could help me eat some of this dinner," Rumple suggested with a smile.

Henry reminded him so much of his Neal; clever and imaginative and spending an hour or two with him in the shop several days a week helped ease some of his loneliness. He poured Henry a glass of milk and gave him a plate of his gingerbread cookies to dunk while they ate their dinner.

"You should be getting home, lad. Your mother will be worried."

"Can we watch a movie, first?"

"What would you like to watch?"

"A Christmas Carol."

Rumple made himself some tea and Henry some hot cocoa with cinnamon, knowing it was his favorite drink on cold days and the two of them sat down to watch the movie together. He wondered if the boy considered him a "Mr. Scrooge" as Miss French did or looked past the cold exterior and saw the lonely, broken man beneath. He didn't like to think of himself as broken but he lost so much in his life that he doubted there would ever be light in it again.

Seeing Mr. Gold so lonely on Christmas made Henry more determined than ever to locate the savior and break the curse. The site that allowed him to find an adoptive parent required a credit card to use and Regina never left her purse or her wallet out of her sight. He didn't dare ask to borrow Mr. Gold's card. Mr. Gold would be able to see through any lie he came up with and Doctor Hopper would never give him his credit card. The only option left was Miss Blanchard.

Transportation would not be a problem. He was certain some of his comic books would pay for it. Mr. Gold always gave him the fairest prices when he brought them in to trade. The only other worry he had was being able to get out of the house without Regina catching him or catching on to his plan.

"Mr. Scrooge wasn't all bad…just lonely," Henry said after the movie was over. "I know some people call you that but you're not, Mr. Gold."

"You may be in the minority, Henry."

"They don't see you all the time and most of them only come to you when they want something and probably don't even thank you."

That was an understatement. Also when things didn't go their way they screamed his ears off, threatened to sue him ect...

"You're right about that," Rumple confessed. "Still…I've gotten used to it…used to this." He glanced up at the clock. "You'd better get going lad before your mum sends the sheriff out looking for you but I do thank you for coming over."

Rumple followed him out to the sidewalk. Henry turned around and smiled. "You're not gonna be alone next Christmas Mr. Gold," he said determinedly.

"I can count on you visiting then?"

"I'll still visit but it's not going to be me you'll be spending all your Christmas with."

"What do you mean, lad?"

"You'll see." Henry winked at him and started walking down the street.

Rumple wished he was as optimistic as young Henry Mills. He was….once.

"….And I was right, Adriana. The following Christmas your mama and Bae were back with Mr. Gold….everyone was back together," Henry told the toddler.

All the children cheered and clapped.

"Kay Bae, your turn now. You gotta tell us how you made Papa get stuck in the snow an the bird pooped on him," Adriana informed her brother.

"Gross!" Grace groaned.

"When a bird poops on your head it's supposed to be good luck," Jonny spoke up.

"Eww, it is not!" Ellie exclaimed.

"Yuck! I don't want bird poop in my head!" Maggie made a face.

"A bird pooped on Daddy once. He was so mad," said Neal.

"One tried ta peck Daddy's eye out when he got stuck in that tree by his undies," Roland giggled.

"I wish a bird woulda pooped bad luck on my bad mommy," Jason grumbled.

"Jonny's right. Daddy said some people do believe a bird pooping on you is goold luck," Giselle told the others.

"That's nasty!" Adriana stuck out her tongue and several of the Happy bears looked ill.

Bae sat down. "Okay, I'm gonna try to tell the story like Papa does."

"You better do voices, Bae."

"I said I'm gonna try, Rumplette."

She beamed.

The Enchanted Forest

Many years ago…

"Papa, I wanna go outside n'play!" Bae whined from his pallet.

Rumple paused in his spinning. "Bae, it's too cold out there."

"Please, Papa!" he begged. "M'not gonna be out long…"

Rumple sighed heavily. "All right, but you are not going out there alone and you need to be dressed properly. Come on." He dressed the boy in his warmest clothing and wrapped a thick wool scarf around him then dressed himself in his own warm clothing. "We're going to stay close to the shack…all right, lad?"

"I will, Papa." He unwrapped some of his scarf as he trekked through the snow.

"Bae! Ye keep that scarf wrapped up!" Rumple cried.

"Papa! M'warm!" Bae ran through the yard but the snow was getting deeper the further out he went. Rumple hobbled after him hoping the boy would want to go inside soon.

"Ye feel t'chill in the air, son? S'enough to freeze ye to yer bones. Now come over here an let me wrap ye back up!" Rumple cried.

"Aww!" Bae groaned and sulked back to his father. Rumple wound the scarf around him, hoping he would stay near the front of the shack where the snow wasn't so deep but he'd forgotten his boy was the adventurous type. "Papa! I see a bird!"

"What? Don't be silly lad. This cold is not fit for man nor beast an…Lad, stop doing that! Ye wanna catch yer death o'cold an leave yer papa all alone!?" Rumple demanded when he saw the scarf unraveled once again and trailing after his son while he frolicked in the yard. Bae ran into the shack for a few minutes then came out with some breadcrumbs.

"Now what're ye doing?"

"M'gonna leave these for the birds."

"Birds don't…what in the seven hells…?" Rumple was now in a large snowdrift, the cold making his leg throb with pain. "I'm stuck! Stuck, dammit all!"

He put all of his weight on his walking stick, praying to every god he knew that it would get him out of the snowdrift but it was no use. His lame leg was not cooperating.

"C'mon birdies….food for ya!" Bae announced.

"Baelfire! Ye come over here!" Rumple shouted through his chattering teeth. He wrapped his own scarf tighter around him to try to chase out the chill from his upper body and cold, melting snow was seeping into his boots and pants.

"Papa…look! There's the bird!" Bae pointed to the sky above his father's head. Rumple was too cold to even try to move though he did feel something land on his head…followed by something wet!

His son started laughing.

"What's so funny ye scamp?" Rumple demanded.

"T…The..bird…he….he…put dung on your head an it's making your hair…white!" the little boy giggled.

"What? Stupid bird!" Rumple waved his hand above his head. "Shoo, ye cretin! Dung on someone else and Bae…ye've been out her long 'nough. Now help yer papa outta this damned snowdrift 'fore I freeze!"

"How'd ya get stuck?"

His father scowled. "Ye know tis not easy for me t'be walkin in snow with my leg. Next time lad you're staying close t' the shack. Understood?"

"Yes Papa." Bae started digging in the snow with his father's walking stick to clear a path for him to walk out of and handed it back. Rumple leaned heavily on his cane during the short walk back to the shack. Once they were inside they changed out of their wet clothing and he washed the dung out of his hair.

"Stupid bird," he grumbled, wondering what bird in its right mind would be flying about in weather as cold as this. Later father and son sat in front of the fire wrapped in heavy wool blankets Rumple made eating porridge.

"Papa, they said Saint Nick's not gonna come here now."

"They're wrong, Bae. The only children St. Nick doesn't go to see are the ones on his Naughty List. Ye may be a scamp sometimes but ye're not on the Naughty List."

"M'not?"

"No, ye're not…and ye'll see on Christmas Day, lad."

"Hope so. Don't wanna be on the Naughty List."

Rumple hugged him. "Ye'll never be on the Naughty List, Bae. I won't let you be so when those children tell you those lies, you just show them what St. Nick brings you."

"I will, Papa." Bae hugged him back. "I love you Papa…more n'anything in the world."

"You know you're my whole world, Bae," Rumple said softly.

They didn't have much, but they had each other and that was worth far more than diamonds or gold.

"Wish me n'mama coulda been there…then you woulda been really happy," Adriana said sleepily.

"Well, we have you now Rumplette and that's all that matters." Bae said and picked up his small sister, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "You drive me nuts sometimes and make me wanna sell ya on Ebay, but I still love ya."

"Love you too Bae even when I wanna sell you on Ebay too…" she said and drifted off to sleep with her head on his shoulder.

The couples returned home two hours later to find all their children fast asleep. Rumple and Belle smiled softly and quietly snapped a picture of their son and daughter on the couch asleep, Adriana resting her head on her brother's shoulder.

"We didn't have the heart to wake them. They look so cute," whispered Andi.

"The house is in one piece so I'm assuming all went well," Rumple joked.

"Yep. We had it under control, Mr. Gold," Kat assured him.

The other parents woke their children up and took them home. Belle was about to wake Bae up when Rumple put a hand on her arm. "They'll be fine down here, dearie." He waved his hand and a heavy wool blanket draped itself over them and a fluffy pillow appeared under Bae's head. He leaned down and kissed first his son's forehead then his daughter's and Belle did the same. He knew Bae would have a fit if he was awake but he didn't care. Seeing the two of them that way reminded him of the many nights he would fall asleep holding Bae when he was Adriana's age. It was a prelude to how his son would be with his own children; he had no doubt of that. They turned off the light and walked arm in arm up the stairs to their own room.

Some of you were asking what was going to happen with Operation Let's Make a Baby for the others and now you know. We hope you liked the trips down memory lane for our Storybrooke families and it made you think of Christmases past with your own families and there'll be more in later chapters. Please drop us a line and let us know how you liked this latest installment.

Snapegirlkmf and CJ Moliere