Happy Once Day! I wanted to give you a bit of fluff before the next couple of chapters. Also, my heart breaks every time I see Regina in the promos!

Our drive to her parents vacation home was spent in virtual silence until we were about five minutes away. I heard her sigh and tell me Daniel was going to be bringing Henry back tomorrow evening and staying for the dinner party. We always tiptoed around the subject of the douschebag and that was absolutely fine with me. I did know he was going to have Henry for a few days around Christmas but that Regina would get him back before New Year's Eve.

Even though Regina and Daniel were engaged, they acted more like a divorced couple who shared custody of Henry. Daniel was always on the road and never managed to be around for special occasions so it kindof suprised me that he would be around for this one. I mean, I know Christmas is a big holiday for kids but this guy never seemed to care the other 364 days of the year.

As she filled the last few minutes of our drive with info about Henry and Daniel, I learned Henry had asked to spend a couple of days with his dad so Regina had agreed. Once she got to her parent's vacation home and started the holiday celebrations, she second-guessed her decision. For the first time, she and Henry were not together for all the family traditions.

At the vacation home, they waited until the morning of the 25th to put the tree up and everyone just milled around in their pj's sipping hot cocoa and taking their time decorating the tree. They always built a fire and had Christmas songs playing and since Henry was the only kid in the family, he could usually be found taking lots of breaks to slide across the freshly polished floors in his favorite fuzzy socks.

I was starting to get the impression Regina had been calling and texting all day because she was lonely and was using the dinner party invitation as an excuse to reach out. Either way, I was glad we were finally together.

As we pulled up to the Mills vacation home, I saw it was more of a cabin but there were two parts to it. Regina pointed out that the main house was to the left and the large, glass structure next to it was the club house which had a banquet room, dance floor, and swimming pool that could be covered to give more dance floor if needed. Well, lemme take that back then. This wasn't no cabin!

I went around to help Regina out of the car and then closed my eyes just for a moment. The temperature was perfect. If you wanted to, you could see your breath when you exhaled, smell the wood burning from the fireplace inside, feel the small snow flurries cling to your eyelashes, and hear the slightest hum of music through the walls. It was hard to describe what I felt in that moment but I got this rush of excitement and I'm not even sure why.

I looked over to see Regina grinning at me and I returned her smile. I started to tell her thank you for inviting me here and immediately hit my forehead with my hand. "Awwww, man, I'm such a screw up."

"Ms Swan?"

"No, look, I forgot to bring your gifts. Well, two for you and one for Henry but now I don't have anything to give you. Can we just go back? It'll only take a sec."

She gestured around her at the snow which was starting to fall heavily. "Did I not come pick you up? You had no way of knowing you would be standing here right now. The packages can wait. As impatient as Henry is when it comes to gifts, knowing he has one from his favorite Bob the Builder will merely give him something to look forward to when we go back home. I refuse to risk your safety so you should calm down."

"Our safety." I growled.

"Mmmm. Let's go say hi to Mother, shall we?" With that, she looped her hand through my arm and we walked up the steps into the warmth welcoming us inside.

As soon as we stepped through the wide heavy oak doors, I instantly felt at home. It was like being whisked back to some ancient kingdom. Directly across from me was this massive fireplace that about 20 people could have stood inside. Minus the flames, of course. One entire wall was a huge window looking out to the forest which showed the trees with a heavy dusting of snow on them. To my left was the tallest Christmas tree I had ever seen that was flanked on either side by these huge, comfy looking chairs that looked more like thrones but on closer examination, they were just really pretty recliners.

At first glance, you think this house is inhabited by millionaires but once you pay a bit more attention, you could tell it was built over time by blue-collar people who were hard workers but knew how to spend money wisely. As Regina gave me a tour of the house, she told me about how her dad had worked two and three jobs her entire life trying to provide for their family but also to squirrel away a retirement fund for him and Momma Cora. They both worked as a team making sure all the girls had the proper education and learned the value of a dollar.

She also told me her dad was getting ready to retire in the next year and this place had been his pet project for a long time. When he did take that leap, they would be selling their other home and moving into this one full-time. Henry Sr liked to hunt and fish so retiring near the mountains was the icing on his retirement cake.

Speaking of cake, as we walked into the best smelling room of the house, Momma Cora caught sight of me and Regina and came running over to smother us with kisses that smelled of chocolate and carrot cake. I chuckled as she grabbed me and shook me from side to side in one of her anaconda hugs.

"Merry Christmas, Ma'am!" I said while hugging her back.

She pulled away from me and looked at me in horror before taking my chin in her hand and telling me that I was never to call her anything but Momma Cora like the rest of her children. I just nodded to let her know I understood before she glared at me before releasing my chin with a "Hmmmrmpf."

"Come on into the kitchen, Ems. I need you to put that Kracken stomach of yours to good use!"

I looked back at Regina and whispered, "You told her about the Kracken?"

"Well, of course she did, child. Apparently it's a bottomless pit which is gonna come in purty handy because I got a mess of stuff that's gotta be taste-tested. Get a move on! We don't have all night."

Regina just grinned and took a seat at the island in the middle of the kitchen where she could face the stove. The one spot she could see her mom torment me with tiny tastes of all of this delicious food that we couldn't dive into until the next night.

"Now, Ems, hey, get your finger out of that bowl. I've still gotta wash it. Now, here, taste this. What does that taste like to you?"

I took the outstretched spoon and put it in my mouth and my eyes rolled back in my head. I couldn't even speak. It was soooooo good. I finally swallowed. "Ok, what the heck WAS that because there's no way I'm waiting until tomorrow night to eat more of that!"

You could see this big ol' grin break out on Cora's face as she told me it was her own recipe for homemade chocolate truffles. "The question is: Do you think I should dip them in white chocolate, milk chocolate, or dark chocolate?"

I looked around to see three other voices drowning mine out as Tanya, Carla, and Regina disagreed about which coating would be the best. When did the other two show up?

That's when fierce Momma Cora came out. She stood with one hand on her hip while the other one waved around a wooden spoon. "I don't recall asking none of you to come into MY kitchen and tell me how I should cook MY desserts? Now go off and find something else to do besides bother a poor old woman."

We all moved towards the living room when she sighed. "Not you, Ems. Lordy be, get back here and tell me the truth and not what I want to hear."

I laughed and turned around to head back but Regina grabbed my arm and quickly leaned in to whisper, "Milk."

Well, I guess that solved the mystery on what I was going to tell her mom.

The rest of the night was spent tasting all sorts of delicious cakes, pies, and chocolate goodies. By the time everyone was ready to hit the hay, I knew I was ready to crash from a sugar high. Regina had spent the better part of the evening hanging out in Carla's room talking about the pregnancy and what color to paint the baby's room. Stuff like that. I was following Momma Cora up to the guest bedroom when Regina caught sight of me and offered to show me to my room.

Cora gave me another big hug goodnight and just stood and looked at Regina and I as we stood beside each other. She rested one hand on my right cheek and the other on Regina's left and just smiled softly as she whispered a private "Merry Christmas" to us before heading back down to her room.

I followed Regina up one more flight of steps before we came to the guest room. Leave it to Momma Cora to always have brand new sets of pj's on hand for visitors. While I went to use the bathroom and strip out of the clothes I had been wearing since early that morning, Regina went to find the pj's and a few toiletries for me.

I came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around me expecting to find all of my new things laying on my bed. Instead, I found them being held in the arms of one very suprised brown-eyed girl.

"Oh. Sorry. I thought...I thought you would just leave everything on the bed and I would change out here." I tightened my grip on the white towel around my body.

"The...I wasn't sure...there were different sizes..." Regina being flustered was one of the cutest things I had ever seen.

I pointed to one of the ones in her hands, "I'll take the blue medium ones. How's that?" I was trying to keep a straight face.

"Mmmm."

"Uh...Regina?"

"Yes?"

"My eyes are up here."

Her eyes snapped up once she realized where exactly she had been looking. She thumbed through the packages of pj's in her hands and quickly handed me the blue medium ones while trying to avoid my eyes.

"Breakfast is at 9am and Mother appreciates promptness. Would you like me to set your alarm or should I wake you?"

I rocked back and forth on my heels a few times and saw her nervously looking at the hem of the towel. "Ohhhhh, I think I'd much rather you come and wake me up. Maybe even go all Snow White since we're out here in the forest."

"If that's supposed to be some sort of dirty come on, you need to try harder. I have no idea what that even means. Now if you'll excuse me, I shall retire for the evening. Goodnight, Ms Swan."

"Night, Reggie." I called after her.

She never looked back as she replied, "We're still not doing that."

A/N: The issue with Daniel will be resolved shortly. I do have quite a bit planned with them just here at the cabin. I wanted a bit of fluff before getting into some more emotional parts. Thank you to everyone who is sending me messages of encouragement and taking the time to write reviews. You guys are the reason the creative juices are still flowing! Two chapters over the weekend! Shocker!

Also, for the M rating: A few people have expressed concern that the story will be rushed now. I assure you, it will not. The M rating will be in the future but I cannot promise it will get here quickly. There will be some things leading up to that part. I merely wanted to know if everyone would be on board should I take the story UP to an M. Stay for the ride. I promise it'll be worth it ;)

Thanks again for weighing in on that issue. It got settled quickly.