Author's note: Going on vacation, so this is the last ch for the next two weeks.

Chapter 9

Regina opened her eyes to her dark bedroom. Huh. Was it time to get up already? Looking at the bright red numbers of her digital clock she was startled to find that it was only 3 am, a full 4 hours before she had to be up for work. So why was she awake?

A second later, she had her answer. A shrill scream sounded from down the hall, causing her hand to leap to her chest. Emma. There was something wrong, there had to be. Loud sobs and whimpers were filling the otherwise silent house. Without another thought she grabbed the first sharp, weapon-y object (which happened to be a stiletto) and ran out.

"Emma!" Regina cried as she burst into the girl's bedroom. "Is everything alright?" She looked around wildly, half expecting a burglar or something, not registering in her half asleep state that a thief would've set off the alarm.

But then she noticed that the room was empty, and that Emma was sitting up in bed, her chest heaving up and down, her body wracked with sobs as her hands clutched the blankets that were tangled in a heap around her. Her eyes were wide with fear.

"What's wrong?"

Emma was crying too hard to answer coherently. "I-Mr. Thompson-really angry...didn't mean to!"

Regina immediately scooped Emma up into her arms, rubbing soothing circles on her back. "Shh. It's alright, sweetheart. It was just a dream." She began murmuring comforting things into Emma's hair, things that her father used to whisper when she would jolt awake with nightmares as a child. Things that never really understood over her sobs, but things that would comfort her all the same.

And comfort her they did. Slowly, Emma's sobs quieted, calming down until they were reduced to hiccups.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" In the dark of the night, Regina knew that it was important that she kept her voice soft and calm, in order to not startle Emma even more.

Emma shook her head as she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

Regina nudged her playfully. "Come on, it'll help you feel better. When I was a child, I used to have nightmares too. They scared me pretty badly, but talking about them with my father always helped me. He would remind me that they weren't real and that I was safe."

"But Regina, they were real."

Of course. Regina should've known that the nightmares were actually memories of Emma's old, abusive foster parents.

"You're right. But it doesn't matter, because you're safe here. I won't let him, or anyone for that matter, get to you. You're safe with me, Emma."

Emma sniffled. "Really?"

"Really."

Emma attempted to smile but her expression fell short of a real grin. "Okay." She said uncertainly, looking tentatively around the room.

"Do you think you can go back to sleep now?"

Emma shrugged a shoulder. "I guess."

Regina could tell that Emma was still unconvinced. "Tell you what. Would it help if you came and slept with me in my room tonight?"

Emma nodded immediately.

"All right, come on." Regina reached her hand out, and Emma grabbed it, tucking her baby blanket under the other arm as she allowed her foster mother to lead her out of her room.

Regina settled Emma into the other side of the bed before snuggling down under the soft blankets. "All good?"

"Yup." Emma settled herself into Regina's arms, which the brunette had subconsciously wrapped around the little girl. "Good night."

Emma's eyes closed immediately, as she was clearly tired out from the day's activities and her nightmare, but Regina didn't allow herself to sleep, instead choosing to continue to comb through Emma's tangled hair and rub gentle circles on the girl's back until every last hiccup was gone and Emma was finally still.


The first thing Emma registered was how soft and silky the sheets beneath her bare feet were. She'd never felt anything so...princess-y. At least that's what she thought a princess would sleep on, since they were royals and all.

Where was she? Her bed was fitted with cotton sheets, soft but not quite the same as the ones she was currently laying on. Something lay across her waist, holding her tightly, and a larger hand encased her smaller one.

Oh yeah. Emma thought as she opened her eyes. Sunlight was streaming into the room, and as her eyes adjusted to the light she realized that she was in Regina's room. Everything came flooding back to her: the scary nightmare, Regina rushing in holding a big shoe, and then hugging her and comforting her before taking her hand and leading her into her big bed.

Even though it had began badly, Emma decided that last night had been one of the best nights she'd ever experienced. No one had ever comforted her like that. It was something that her mother would do if she had one.

Maybe Regina could be her mommy. Maybe if Emma was good enough Regina would let her stay and even adopt her someday. But that was wishful thinking; no one ever liked Emma enough to keep her for more than several months, let alone adopt her.

Emma decided not to think about that for now. Not when she was so comfy. Mmm. It was so warm and cozy in bed. Even though it was a nice day and surely Regina would agree to taking her to play in the park, all Emma wanted to do was stay in bed for a long, long time.

But it seemed like Regina had other ideas. Her brow began to crease as she stirred, and then her eyes popped open fully, brown meeting green as Emma stared back at her foster mother.

"Morning."

"Morning." Emma responded.

Regina sat up and stretched, taking the blankets with her. "Sleep well?"

"Yeah."

Regina smiled. "I'm glad."

There was a loud growl, and Emma looked down at her stomach. "Oops."

Regina poked her stomach playfully. "Sounds like someone's hungry. Let me guess, you want apple pancakes."

"With lots and lots of syrup!"

"Of course. How could I forget?" Regina shoved her feet into her slippers and pulled on her robe. "Go, run along and get dressed and meet me downstairs."

Moments later, Emma was sitting at the kitchen table, swinging her legs back and forth with anticipation at the delicious smell coming from the stove.

"Are they ready yet?"

"Almost." Regina replied. "Why don't you set the table?"

"Already did."

"Wow, someone's impatient." Regina commented as she flipped the last pancake onto the plate waiting by the stove.

"Well, duh. Cuz they're yummy."

"Thank you. And you said you didn't like apples."

"I don't. 'Cept when you put em in pancakes and pie. Oooh pie. Can we have some tonight?"

"We'll see." Regina joined Emma at the table and grabbed a pancake for herself. "So you know that Thanksgiving is next week right?"

Emma speed nodded. "Yeah Mrs. Smith said that we are going to decorate the classroom with hand turkeys and corna-cornu...copias and wear pilgrim outfits we started reading about the first Thanksgiving and how…"

"That sounds lovely." Regina interrupted, knowing full well that if she didn't stop Emma there the little girl could ramble on and on for hours. "I'm sure you'll have lots of fun. Since it's Saturday I was thinking that we could go shopping for Thanksgiving dinner."

"But I wanted to go to the park." Emma protested.

"Well maybe we can go after. Today is my only day available."

Emma pouted. "Okay."

"You know, as boring as it sounds, you need to come with me."

"Why?"

"Because it means you get to help me pick out the best groceries to make our big Thanksgiving dinner."

"Are we gonna have turkey and stuffing and pie and-"

"Yes, yes we are. So you see why you need to come with me?"

"Yup!" Hopping off her chair, Emma carried her plate to the sink. "I can't wait for Thanksgiving now. I've never had a real Thanksgiving dinner before. I mean they had one at the group homes an' stuff but it was lame."

"Well then, dear, since it's going to be your first I guess we'll just have to make it extra special now don't we?"


Looking back on it, when Regina had said that they had to make Emma's Thanksgiving special she hadn't meant this. Now, she would do anything to take back her words.

Their shopping trip had started out innocuously at first. Together, Emma and Regina picked out a nice, big turkey that had taken the two of them together to lift into the cart. Regina had thought that the turkey was a bit too big for just the two of them but Emma had wanted it, and so Regina decided that leftovers wouldn't be too big of a deal.

Selecting the ingredients for the stuffing, cranberry sauce, and green beans had been fairly easy. Of course, Emma had stuck out her tongue at the prospect of the green beans, but Regina had reminded her that they had to have some sort of vegetable. Either that, or no dessert.

It was when they were in the produce section, looking for the best potatoes to make mashed potatoes that things started to go wrong.

"Remember, Emma, not any of the potatoes with the green sprouts growing."

"I know, I know." Emma huffed. "I can do it."

"I hope so." Regina looked down to consult her shopping list. Just the potatoes and they were good to go.

"Hey, look!" Emma cried, causing Regina to look up. "There's Ms. Blanchard."

Before Regina could stop her, Emma started waving wildly. "Hi Ms. Blanchard!"

And predictably, the irritating little life-ruiner came trotting over, a shopping basket balanced on one arm. "Hello, Emma." She smiled. "Mayor Mills." She added politely.

Regina just nodded curtly and turned around, pretending to consult the oh so important contents of her list.

"What ya doin here?"

"Oh, just doing some shopping." Ms. Blanchard held up her basket, which was full of ordinary items like eggs, bread, and milk. "You?"

"Same."

"I can see that. That's a lot of food for two people." The teacher commented.

None of your business. Regina thought snarkily to herself.

"It's for Thanksgiving." Emma responded. "We're gonna have a big turkey and mashed potatoes and green beans which are yucky but Regina says we have to have veggies or else no dessert and how can there be no dessert with dinner that would just be awful dontcha think?"

"Yes, that would be quite awful." Mary Margaret replied with a laugh.

"What are you doin for Thanksgiving?"

"Oh, just the usual. Going to curl up with a good book and enjoy the four day weekend."

Regina had to bite her lip to stop from laughing out loud. Mary Margaret's words were as pathetic as her cursed persona. Thanks to Regina, Snow White had been reduced to a lonely little loser who spent all of her time with her precious books.

You were alone, just like her for a long time though. A little niggling voice inside reminded her. Well, not anymore. Now she had Emma.

"You're not gonna eat with anyone?"

"Nah, I like to take the time to myself and relax."

Also known as I don't have anyone.

"But doesn't it get lonely?" Emma asked dubiously.

"Not really."

Lies. Regina thought to herself. Poor loser.

"I know!" Emma said suddenly. "Why don't you come eat with us?"

"Uhh…" Mary Margaret's eyes flickered up to Regina. "I don't know, Emma." She stammered.

"Aww, come on. It'll be fun!"

"I wouldn't want to impose."

"You wouldn't be 'posin."

"Imposing." Mary Margaret corrected.

As Regina listened to their little exchange she gripped the cart's handle so tightly her knuckles grew white. No, please no. There was no way she could sit there and make polite small talk with her sworn enemy.

"Yeah, yeah. Please Ms. Blanchard. Please come eat with us. Don't you want to hang out with me?"

"Of course I do, Emma…"

"Then what are you waiting for? Say yes. You know you want to!"

"Well, it does sound fun."

"I told you."

"But what does Regina think? Is it ok with her?"

At the sound of her name, Regina snapped to attention. She opened her mouth to make up some excuse why the insipid little teacher couldn't harp in on her perfectly planned Thanksgiving when Emma cut in.

"Of course it's ok with her." Emma said sassily. She looked up at Regina. "Right?"

"I…" Regina stuttered. Part of her wanted to say no; there was no freaking way she was going to spend her Thanksgiving with the brat who'd singlehandedly ruined her life. But there was another part of her, the part that Emma and her adorable little puppy eyes had completely taken over that just couldn't say no to the little girl.

"Please." Emma stuck out her lower lip, her eyes wide. "Pretty please, Regina?" She was completely oblivious to Regina's inner turmoil. "You said you wanted to make my Thanksgiving special and if Ms. Blanchard comes it will be super super special."

"I don't know, Emma."

"But Regina it'll be super fun. And we can't let Ms. Blanchard eat all alone."

Actually, yes we can. Regina mentally answered. I have absolutely no problem with it.

Mary Margaret stood to the side, looking uncomfortable as she watched Emma stare up at Regina, her hands clasped beneath her chin.

"Pretty pretty please. I won't ask for anything ever again."

"Ever again, huh?"

"Yeah. I promise."

Screw her promises. No is no. Regina took a deep breath and prepared to say no, but suddenly she imagined Emma's face falling as her lips formed the words no, sorry. And she just couldn't stand the idea of Emma being disappointed.

"All right." She replied. "Ms. Blanchard can come."

"Yay!" Emma hugged Regina around the waist, and then turned around and hugged Mary Margaret. "This is gonna be so fun."

Oh yeah, fun. If fun meant: pretending that she didn't hate Mary Margaret so much she'd rather eat her toenails and burn her eyebrows off than spend time with her, this would be oh so fun.

As Regina and Emma exited the grocery store, Emma chattering happily about how excited she was for Thanksgiving, Regina thought that things couldn't get any worse than they already had. How wrong she'd been.

"Careful, Emma." Regina murmured. Emma had insisted on wheeling the cart to the car, something that Regina was quickly regretting (along with how she'd agreed to letting Snow White ruin her Thanksgiving), due to the fact that the cart was ridiculously overloaded. "You don't want to hit anyone's car."

"I know, I know." But the cart was piled so high with food that Emma could barely see in front of her. Suddenly, there was a thump, and the card bounced as it inevitably hit someone.

"Watch where you're going, dearie." Came the annoyed voice of Mr. Gold. He stepped around the cart, clearly ready to chew out whoever had ran over his foot but as he caught sight of Emma his disgruntled expression quickly disintegrated into a neutral one. "Oh, hello Emma."

"Hi. Sorry I ran over your foot."

"It's quite all right." He replied. "Hello Regina."

Just like with Mary Margaret, Regina nodded stiffly. "Hello."

Gold gestured to their overflowing cart. "Doing some grocery shopping, I see. That's quite an amount for two people."

"It's for Thanksgiving."

"Oh, I see."

And before Regina knew what was happening, Emma opened her big mouth. "Why don't you eat with us too Mr. Gold?"

"What a lovely request. I would love to."

Emma turned to Regina. "Is that ok? I mean we already invited Ms. Blanchard and we have all this food."

The corners of Gold's mouth turned up to form a wry smile. "You invited Ms. Blanchard."

"Yes we did." Regina snapped.

"How generous of you."

Regina squinted at him; it seemed as though the irritating man was trying to hold in laughter. But why? How could he possibly know...unless he had his memories. Before she could dwell on this, though, Emma interrupted her thoughts.

"So can he come Regina? I mean I know you're not exactly friends with him but he was nice to me when I was buying your birthday present."

"Emma!" Regina hissed. "That's not something you say."

"Sorry. But can he come?"

Regina sighed deeply; Emma's puppy dog eyes were appearing again. "Sure."

Gold smiled eerily. "I'll be over around 4 with a plate of rolls."

"Yeah, you do that." Regina muttered. "Come on, Emma."

Regina was in a severely bad mood by the time they stopped at Granny's for lunch. Of course, Emma didn't pick up on it as she trotted happily by her foster mother's side as they entered the diner. Regina wished she could be happy for Emma; giving the little girl the Thanksgiving she deserved was the most important thing, right? Even if that Thanksgiving included (gulp) Snow White and Rumplestilskin.

Emma pushed herself up onto her usual seat at the counter. "Hi Ruby."

"Hello there, Emma." Ruby responded. "Let me guess, both of you will have your usual."

"Yuppers!"

"Someone's in a good mood today." Granny commented as she came walking by to take a to go order at the cash register. "Excited for Thanksgiving?"

"Very. Ms. Blanchard and Mr. Gold are coming too."

Granny raised an eyebrow as she looked at Regina, who smiled tightly at her. "Really?" It was no secret that Regina had a particular dislike for Mary Margaret.

"Yup. It's gonna be so fun."

"Oh yeah? What does Regina think of this?"

"She's as excited as I am."

Clearly, Emma did not notice the stiff way Regina was holding herself.

"I'm sure she is."

Regina rolled her eyes at Granny's back as the old woman turned away. She was silently mocking her misfortune, Regina was sure of it.

"What're you doin for Thanksgiving, Ruby?" Emma asked as Ruby came by with their drink orders: hot chocolate with cinnamon for Emma and coffee for Regina.

"Oh, probably just going to hang out with Granny. Maybe keep the diner open if anyone wants to eat here."

"Or," Emma began. "you could come eat with us."

Ruby looked at Regina and then back at Emma. "Um…" She hesitated.

Good Lord. Was Emma hell bent on inviting the whole town? Spending Thanksgiving with a she-wolf and her old grandmother did not sound pleasant.

But then again...they would serve as a nice buffer between her, Mary Margaret, and Gold. And Regina didn't hate them quite as much as she hated the others.

"You know what?" Regina interrupted. "Why not?"

"A-are you sure?"

"Yes." She shot Ruby an arctic smile. "What's two more people? Emma already invited so many people that two more wouldn't make a difference. I mean," Regina gestured blithely in the other direction. "while you're at it we might as well invite Leroy."

Maybe he'd get drunk and serve as an excuse to end the inevitably horrible night early.

"I heard that, sister." Leroy responded from his spot towards the back of the diner. "And that sounds good to me."

"All right, then." Ruby spoke up. "I'll have to ask Granny but I'm sure she'd be fine with it."

"Great." Regina flopped back in her seat and took a long drink of her coffee. "You're all invited then. But no more people, Emma. Got it?"

Emma nodded, smiling widely as she did so. "Okay. I can't wait till Thanksgiving. See you all then!"

Regina echoed Emma's words, though her tone was dry and lifeless. What had she just gotten herself into?

Author's note: Mwahahaha, Thanksgiving with Gold, Mary Margaret, Ruby, Granny, and Leroy. That's going to be interesting. Thoughts on what's gonna happen?