AN: I am not okay. I'm crying while writing this. Warning: Extreme fluffiness ahead.
Christmas is a time for giving and for celebrating.
To show those who have done you good your appreciation by showing them with presents.
Christmas is a time to be with family, to help others and rip apart neatly wrapped boxes sitting under a tree, no matter how old you are.
It is not supposed to be spent with a man who has tried to kill you before while also having to deal with his weird family problems and then actually spending time with him and his family like his son wasn't the reason that you got separated from your parents.
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Regina Mills was extremely stressed.
If it wasn't the bacon, then it was the blueberry pancakes. If it wasn't the lights, it was the wreath that was surely too big for the hook. If it wasn't the boys getting under the tree, it was the bulbs falling off. If it wasn't Robin's confusion, then it was her own.
The bacon wouldn't stop burning. The blueberries in the pancakes tasted rotten. The lights weren't turning on. The wreath kept falling off the door. The boys refused to wait until dinner was over. The hooks for the bulbs didn't fit right and fell off. Robin didn't understand how a fat man in a red suit fit down the chimney. Regina didn't understand how she was going to have time to cook three meals for twelve people.
"If this wasn't a request from Henry, I would've burned this kitchen by now." Regina snarled, looking over at Robin who was still staring at the pictures of Santa on the advert calendars that Belle bought for the boys. She shook her head, not understanding why Snow insisted that they all tell Robin, Tink and Hook that the jolly old fat man was real. Even Henry knew he wasn't real, hell, even Roland was catching on to the obscurity that is Saint Nicholas. "Honestly, Robin, let it go."
"I will solve this mystery, even if it's the last thing I do." Robin replied stubbornly, going into the living room to see up the chimney for the twentieth time this week—yes, she had been counting. He had been doing this about five times each day since he found out on Thanksgiving—don't even get Regina started on how much of a disaster that holiday had been—and on Cyber Monday while Regina was glued to her computer, he had actually tried sliding down the chimney. There had been a trip to the hospital and there had been stitches—twenty-three all together: six on the head, seven on the arm, and ten down the leg.
She had been calling him her Hooded Idiot ever since.
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Mary-Margaret Blanchard was refusing to show up without anything to give to Regina.
It couldn't be jewels, she's has enough of that to last her a life time, she's a queen. It couldn't be books, that's what Belle was giving everyone: their perfect story. It couldn't be anything from Gold's shop, all of that belonged to someone else, something in there probably belongs to her as well.
Clothes were much too simple. Food made her seem cheap. Technology was still confusing with their memories coming back. Mirrors were completely out of the question. Regina would kill her if she got the woman a pet. Snow was having a tough time with the whole gifting-thing, although shopping for Henry was very easy, she didn't think that anyone else would like a Tron-themed gift basket.
She was determined to make this the best Christmas ever, no matter what it took. She had already greeted everyone with holiday drinks—even if Henry drank his hot chocolate with cinnamon year-round—and was now trying to see if she could make everyone wear festive hats.
Killian didn't like the elf ears, but Tinkerbell and the everyone else couldn't stop laughing at the site, especially with his unamused expression. Rumple looked quite dashing in the Frosty-The-Snowman top hat look-a-like. Belle had even talked him into carrying a broom around. And Charming... Let's say he makes an amazing Santa, except with muscles instead of a fat, pot-belly stomach.
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When opening the door, one is not supposed to expect four people all carrying more presents then the next.
"Snow went overboard on buying presents." David explained as he saw Regina's confusion. He himself was the third person in the line, carrying about fifteen gifts. Went overboard was actually more of an understatement, if David had been honest, but at least she wasn't as bad as someone else.
Snow wailed, "There were so many choices! I've never had that many choices!" She was the second, holding twelve little stockings that looked stuffed to the brim.
Emma sighed, ashamed of her mother's new shopping addiction, "You shopped all day. All weekend, actually." Emma was thankfully the first person in line, only having five gifts. It seems like Neal was holding all of them.
Speaking of the man who was holding, what looked like to Regina, about thirty presents, all horribly wrapped. "And you didn't, Miss. I-bought-my-son-everything-in-the-mall?"
Emma looked back at her boyfriend, shooting him a nasty glare that made Charming smirk. "Hey! You weren't there! You don't know that I-"
She was interrupted with, "Emma, you bought everything." Neal hadn't meant to blurt it out, but as soon as he saw the yellow bug when Emma and Henry got back from going out of town, it had been on his mind. Emma had gone crazy with shopping, mostly because Charming had given her his credit card and Emma had always secretly dreamed of going on a massive shopping spree with her father's card. It was really vain and stupid, but Emma had only wished for it once. When she found out it could actually happen and Charming was more than willing, Emma just went for it. She didn't care about what anyone else thought about it.
Emma paused before storming inside and saying, "Shut up, Neal."
"You wanna go get the other fourteen gifts you got for everyone?" Neal asked, snorting as he knew he was going to have to go get the rest from the car himself. There was a lot more than fourteen presents in the back of the car, since Snow's extra gifts were also in there, but he didn't want to get Emma too angry with him. Neal already knew he was in the doghouse from all the blurting he had already done.
"It's not my fault that everything was screaming 'buy me, buy me!'" Emma whined, setting down the gifts she was holding near the tree in the living room.
"Mom, you really did buy everything." Henry would know, he had actually been there with Emma on her shopping spree. Being able to cross the town line was amazing for him, since he actually didn't feel trapped. Henry didn't want to admit it, but he was most of the reason Emma had gone so crazy with her shopping. He had insisted on going into every store in the mall, and Emma was okay with that because of her get-daddy's-card-cut fantasy.
Emma turned from the tree. Showing off her pout, seemingly depressed about who her son chose to defend, she sobbed, "Henry! You're supposed to support your mother!" The blonde wasn't actually that upset about it, she was glad that Henry loved Neal and the two got along so well, but it scared her that he seemed to start liking Neal more than her. She knew that she couldn't replace Regina, but she wanted to at least tie with the woman instead of being two people below her on Henry's favorite people list. Emma couldn't help but worry about what Henry thought of her.
"Dad's right, though." Henry shrugged, smiling as if he were completely innocent at his blonde mother. He shot pointed a look at his father, begging him in his mind to just drop the whole thing so Emma didn't get too angry with them.
"Ha! See?" Neal smirked, happy with his son's support. He hadn't taken his eyes off Emma, so his son's pleas went unseen. Neal was quite happy with himself, since Henry was still helping him instead of going back to his mother's side of things. He didn't like that Henry might still be angry with Emma for lying and/or giving him up at birth, but he didn't think about that too hard. It was the holidays, there should be no unhappy thoughts at this time.
"I'm not the only one!" Snow grinned, pointing to her daughter who was still in the living room. The blonde was actually staring at the tree, ignoring everyone in the doorway.
Finally recovering from the shock she felt when she first saw all the gifts, Regina put in her own, thoughts before sauntering back to the kitchen. "You two are completely related."
"You love us anyways!" Henry yelled after her with a large smile before going into the living room to talk to his other mother.
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"Did you really just steal Mr. Gold's broom and shove it up the chimney?" Regina asked, in shock of Robin's actions. She was praying that she had just hallucinated what she saw the archer do. And I mean praying hard. She really didn't want to know that he was acting like such a child.
Robin looked from the chimney to the Dark One, then finally at Regina before screaming at the top of his lungs, "You saw nothing!", and running upstairs.
"Nothing!" Henry and Roland yelled, quickly running after Robin Hood.
The only response Rumpelstiltskin could even think of was, "The broom was too much anyways, I'm not actually the singing snowman." He looked at Belle with a smile, actually very glad that he no longer had to carry around the broom. He had only done it for her, and now he had a perfectly good reason not to have it with him.
"No, you'd fit the evil magician's role, though." Killian put in with a smirk. He still didn't like the Dark One, no matter what happened in Neverland. Milah was his love, and he wouldn't just be okay with her murder, especially when he had watched it in front of him and hadn't been able to save her.
"You're a horrible person." Belle snapped, crossing her arms and giving a glare to the pirate. She wasn't over him leaving her in Regina's prison. That just wasn't okay.
"So is he, though." Tinkerbell shot back, shooting a pointed look towards Mr. Gold, who just looked like he wanted this argument to stop immediately.
"Touche." Rumple commented quickly, leading Belle away from this group to go talk to Charming and Snow White. Anything to get away from Hook. He knew that Belle was slowly loosing her temper, and he didn't want that to happy today. It was supposed to be a day of happiness.
"Did he just say tushie?" Robin asked as he came up behind Regina, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder.
"Why are you two talking about butts?" Neal asked as he passed by while going towards his father, giving the two an odd look.
"It's Christmas, that's why!" Robin called to Neal, although he wasn't exactly sure what Christmas had to do with butts. Regina could only look up Robin with a happy smile.
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"What have you done? My kitchen! It's a disaster zone!" Regina shrieked, terrified from the mere sight.
"We made gingerbread houses!" Roland yelled, smiling like only little kids do. Regina's anger faded, meaning that one of Roland's superpowers showed itself again.
"You all are insane." Regina pointed to the adults in the room who were making the houses with the boys.
"Hey! I am not insane!" Neal shot back, sending a bag of gumdrops to the floor from his horrific mess. Emma looked down at the candy and laughed a little, shaking her head, he might not be insane but he was a total klutz. Emma gave Neal a look that clearly stated: I'm not picking that up.
"How long have you been alive, Neal? You're how old and you're making a gingerbread house!?" Regina made a good point. He should not have been doing this.
"Yeah, well... So is Robin and Emma!" Neal knew that it wasn't going to be a good enough excuse, but he would try to get off the hook anyways.
Emma glared at Neal, crossing her arms after she set down the icing, "You and Henry forced me into this. I was dragged to this table." Emma's arm still hurt from the boy's very rough tugs. If Emma hadn't started walking, she was sure that she would've been pulled into the kitchen by the two.
Robin Hood looked up from his house and smiled at Regina before explaining, "As was I! Roland wanted me to make one as well." He didn't want Regina mad at him.
Tink and Hook barely glanced up from their house, smiling like fools, "We just wanted to make one." Belle nodded in agreement, although she still hadn't looked up from her gingerbread house. She had mad focus. Rumple was sitting next to her, watching.
"I'm having flashbacks of Hansel and Gretel, I have to get out of this room." Regina turned on her heel and walked out quickly, although she was actually happy that she now didn't have to cook lunch. She could just blame it on the mess in the kitchen. Not having to cook lunch just made every worry lift from Regina's mind, and everyone could tell that Regina had suddenly completely relaxed, even though she was walking away from them.
"Who?" Robin questioned, confused. He hadn't heard of a Hansel or a Gretel, and was uselessly wondering if Regina had any friends besides Maleficent. He had already crossed paths with that one, and she wasn't good at all. Although, Will Scarlet hadn't mad anything better.
"You don't want to know," Henry answered simply, because what his mother did to two children was terribly cruel. He was glad that Emma fixed it.
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Mr. Gold was about to rip this woman's heart out himself. He would not stand for this to happen. "Mary-Margaret, no, we're not watching Frosty the Snowman." He didn't care how comical that anyone, not even Belle, thought it would be. This would not happen as long as he was standing strong.
"Yes we are!" Snow White demanded, standing up for what Henry wanted to show Roland. Besides which, it would he hilarious to watch Rumple be so uncomfortable and everyone in the living room knew this, which was probably the biggest reason that no one was trying to defend Rumple, not even Neal or Belle.
"No we aren't." The Dark One protested, because he knew why she suggested the movie to the boys, even though she insisted that it was the boys' idea. He wanted to destroy the hat on his head, but Belle had given it to him so he couldn't.
They ended up watching the movie, thanks to Belle's magical pull on Rumple and Emma starting to sing "Silver and Gold" while Snow threatened to play Rudolph. Emma's voice wasn't that amazing, and Belle's promises were. Rumple was okay with the deal he made.
Gold ended up loving the movie, although he refused to admit it while Roland ended up crying into Regina's shoulder because he was sure that Frosty would stay melted.
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"Why do I feel like this movie will bring up past memories?" Regina whispered, a tad afraid of what would happen when the movie actually started. Emma's explanation of it didn't help either. Regina honestly wanted to replace the blonde's memories of watching these movies alone, but this one she wasn't so hot on.
"Because it's a green monster being hated and then getting redemption because of a child?" Emma could only laugh at Regina's worries, because she was completely sure that everything would be okay and that everyone would be in the Christmas mood after watching this.
"Why do you always have to be right?" Regina inquired with a weak glare at the blonde. She hated it that Emma was right, and she hated that she felt that way.
"Because I'm the savior!" Emma yelled with a bright grin. She hated the word, yes, but she just wanted to get under Regina's skin.
"That doesn't make sense," Henry pointed out, which he was getting really good at. He liked calling out his parents. It was fun, and it annoyed them.
"Don't you hate that word?" Regina questioned, since there had been the whole I'm-not-the-savior thing when she first found out about the curse. Although, Regina could see how much Emma had grown from their trip to Neverland. The blonde actually seemed okay with who she was now, and that made Regina smile.
"Shush! No one's supposed to know that!"
"Everyone knows that, Emma." Neal looked over at everyone for confirmation, to which they all nodded a 'yes' to. Neal smirked, glad that he was right.
"Shut up, Neal!"
"Dad's right, though." Henry shrugged, giving his mother the exact same smile he had earlier. Once again, he shot pointed a look at his father, begging him in his mind to just to listen to Emma and shut up before things got worse. He had to admit, though, it was funny.
"Stop ganging up on me!" Emma yelled at her boys, glaring.
They could only laugh.
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"Why do I feel like Regina would search the mirrors for a good, entertaining dramatic scene going on in someone's life but when she doesn't like the person, she'd just scroll through it and yell: Hate you, hate you, hate you even more!?" Emma asked after the movie.
Regina, barely able to hold in the fit of giggles threatening to come out, gave Emma one of her best fake-glares, "You're horrible."
"I'm also right, though." Emma smirked, looking at everyone in the room for conformation. Her smirk only grew when they all nodded in agreement, even Robin.
Mr. Gold gave his former student a grand smirk, "She does have a point, dearie." His gripped tightened on his cane for a second, but it was quick and went unnoticed.
"You're all horrible." Regina suddenly yelled as she realized everyone was against her. This is not in Holiday spirit, Regina thought as she gave Robin a glare. She was angry with him for agreeing with them, but she didn't blame him for doing so. No matter how much she didn't want to admit it, Regina herself knew that it was true.
Coming out of her thought process, Snow laughed slightly before inform everyone in the room, "Regina, you did do that." She couldn't help but smile at the memory, a time that Regina actually helped them while actually wanting to watch her destroy herself.
"What?" Regina was trying to assure everyone that she had absolutely no idea what Snow was talking about, even though she had a pretty good idea what the woman might have been speaking of. Regina just didn't want to admit that Snow was right about something for once.
"Medusa."
"Point taken."
"Medusa? Seriously?" Emma was sick of all the legends coming to life. Next thing she knew, the Wicked Witch of the West would make an appearance and start trying to kill her for her red leather jacket, which of course, Emma would never let the witch get her hands on it. Rumple could be the Cowardly Lion, Archie could be the Tin Man and Neal could be her very own Scarecrow.
"She's dead, don't worry." Charming smiled at his daughter before leaning over to give a kiss to his wife. He loved how badass Snow was. The woman wasn't just some damsel in distress like all the rest. Snow could actually survive on her own, and she knew how to take out monsters and she could even defend herself against him.
"Yeah she is!" Snow boasted, although she actually wanted that sentence to end with 'mom', but since that would never happen, she just continued with her completely modest rambles, "I'm super wife! Nobody should mess with me!"
Regina coughed awkwardly, "You do seem to win out in the end." She thought of what happened with Medusa and cringed.
Mary-Margaret smiled brightly as she looked at Regina, "So did you, it seems." She glanced over at Robin and then snuggled back into Charming's chest.
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When opening the door, one is not supposed to expect someone who should be six feet under over in a different realm.
"Knock knock!" The young man shouted joyously with a mischievous smile. He threw up his hands, letting go of the massive stash of candy canes that he had been carrying. One of the canes hit Neal in the eye, which made the man yelp in man and ended up with Emma freaking out because his eye did not look good.
"You've got to be kidding me." Regina was completely done with Peter Pan. It was not okay that people kept coming back from the dead. Dead is dead, people. We need to keep it that way, even if it happens to be your mother. No, Regina did not search through hundreds of spellbooks to try to find something to bring her mother back. Of course she didn't. Pffffffffft.
"Sorry, lassie. I'm not." Pan was very happy with his entrance, actually glad that Neal got hit in the eye. Then again, he would've preferred it to be his son instead of his grandson. Ugh. That was still weird for Peter to think about. He was a great-grandfather. He really had been on Neverland too long.
"We shot you. Twice. With poison arrows. Twice!" Snow cut in, not believing what she saw in front of her. She had watched that arrow fly into just below his knee.
"Do you not get the concept of magic?" Pan wondered since Mary-Margaret didn't seem to understand how one could just wave their hand and be healed, especially in Neverland where the lost boys got injured all the time.
"How did you even get here?" Neal cut in, because it had been a challenge for him to leave the island, let alone leave to a different realm. Especially this realm.
"Magic." Pan's voice was monotone. What did they not get by the word?
"Can you stop being so damn cryptic?" Emma hissed, since only she could pick on Neal. It wasn't okay when someone else did. He was hers to tease and it wasn't okay for anyone else to do so. Besides Regina and Hook, because they were just sassy and funny and Emma actually liked them, unlike her feelings towards Pan.
"Why? You all love it when my son does it." Pan looked at Rumpelstiltskin pointedly, even though people weren't paying attention to the glance.
"Wait what have I been missing?" Henry asked, looking around. "Please tell me that I'm not-"
"Oh, you are." Pan interrupted happily, glancing at his son once again. Belle caught on this time and looped her fingers in with Rumple's.
"It was not my mother." Charming shouted, pulling Snow towards him as he got flashbacks of Ruth. Her death still hurt, especially because she sacrificed herself so that they could be a family when it ended up being twenty-eight years without each other.
"No, dearie, it was mine."
"Why is it always your side of the family with the crazy oh-my-god-my-father's-a-horrible-villain-who-tries-to-kill-everybody thing?" Emma asked Neal with a groan.
"I have no idea." Neal replied, staring at his grandfather. This was news. The psychopath actually came to him and tried taking him away from his father. Neal realized how desperately his entire family needed a therapist, yes, even Robin, Killian and Tink were counted in that.
"Why are you here, papa?" The Dark One's instinct to kill suddenly flared up and Rumple had to basically cling to Belle to avoid attacking his father.
"Redemption." Pan replied, the sarcasm deeply hidden in his voice.
Yet again, all Regina could say was, "You've got to be kidding me." Regina was still completely done with this kid, especially now that he was related to Henry. People needed to stop appearing and suddenly trying to be apart of her son's life. It was getting old, actually, it had already gotten old once Mr. Gold turned out to be his biological Grandfather.
"This is not happening." Emma stated, pulling her son back towards her and away from Peter. That boy would never take her son from her again. Emma refused to allow it. She would do whatever she could to keep that from happening. She looked over at Regina as the woman moved closer to them, grabbing Henry's free shoulder.
"Maybe we should give him a-"
"Henry, if you were about to say chance, go to your room right now." Regina could hardly contain her anger as the young boy went upstairs. He's young, she reminded herself, looking at Emma in worry over him. The blonde was watching Henry, shaking her head in disappointment.
"See? Henry trusts me! Even still!" Pan yelled, pointing in towards Henry. He was grateful for his great-grandson's stupidity, even though he was slightly worried about that fact as well. Wait, what? No. Peter Pan was no worried about Henry Mills. The only person Pan worried about was himself—and Felix, of course.
There was suddenly a mass of people inside the house talking, "You're a terrible person." "Leave." "Go back to Neverland." "Don't come near Rumple!" "Or my son!"
Pan simply listened to their statements before replying with, "No."
"Guys, it's Christmas." Snow muttered, looking at Pan and seeing a wonderful redemption story in the making.
"Snow White! I will send you upstairs with Henry!" Regina was about to throw a fireball at the back of Mary-Margaret's head when the woman started up the stairs. She's just overly optimistic, Regina reminded herself, giving Charming a disappointed glare. The blonde was shocked, staring after his wife.
Finally, the man asked, "Did she really just walk up those stairs?"
"David, go get your wife," Emma sighed, shaking her head yet again. She couldn't handle her mother right now, so her father would have to. Maybe her could get through to Henry as well. It's his fault that Henry wanted to be the hero anyways.
Pan had taken this distraction to walk inside and shut the door, "Seriously, though, I'm hiding out here? My Shadow kind of wants to kill me."
"What about Neverland and the Lost Boys?" Captain Hook wondered, since the Pan he knew wouldn't have just left his domain like this.
"I might have brought them with me...?" Pan smiled, "Felix is taking care of the boys over at the fairy's place. I couldn't stand to be there. Ugh, disgusting people, if you ask me. Someone needs to slap the happiness out of them."
"He's officially insane. Get out of my house." Regina shrieked, lighting a fireball that was suddenly extinguished by Peter before she could do anything with it.
"No." Pan's smile only grew as he said, "So what are you going to do about that, because you can't force me to go and I'm intent on staying."
"Don't worry, I can handle him later." Rumple sighed, because right now he wasn't going to ruin Christmas for the boys with a fight to the death with his father.
"Good luck with that." Pan highly doubted his son's capabilities, especially when it came to getting rid of him. "Peter Pan never fails, my son."
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"Are we really going to watch this incessant movie?" Peter asked as he watched the scene play out, a very fat elf sitting in an all white room talking about adopting a child. What an idiot. Raising children was a horrible task. Whiny, crying pink larvae, they are.
"Yes, yes we are and you have to deal with it."
"Peter Pan, you already ruined one of my favorite Disney films, just stop now before you ruin my favorite Christmas movie," Emma snarled at the younger but also older boy. Remembering the past for her was hard, especially when the memories were filled with loneliness. "Don't even start on this one."
They ended up watching the movie, thankfully, because Emma had looked like she was going to tackle Pan to the ground so she could cut him.
"Cotton-Headed-Ninny-Muggin'!" Roland shrieked, pointing at Peter Pan before hiding under the quilt that Regina had left on the couch.
...Maybe watching this movie wasn't a good idea...
Peter Pan looked at the television, then at Gold as an idea formed in his head. He grinned wickedly and snapped his fingers. Suddenly, Rumpelstiltskin looked like a pimp, in the exact same clothes that Leon, the snowman in the movie, with white pants as well. He even had the can and the hat. Once someone noticed, everyone looked and they had to pause the movie because they couldn't pay attention while laughing so hard. Peter was proud of himself.
Watching the movie was a good idea.
Henry looked at his father, all stern-like while Roland did the same to his own father. In unison, they informed their fathers, "Gum on the street is not free candy!"
At some point, Emma had stolen her father's hat and put in on Neal.
Neal, with a Santa hat on, looked at his own father and said, "Papa, you know... Your father... He's on the naughty list." Rumple held back both a smile and a glare that he felt the need to give his son, but none the less, he refrained.
Henry, oblivious to what was going on with his family members, "I want a snow globe of Storybrooke."
Emma had spaced out for what she thought was a second, but Belle had suddenly pointed to the TV and screamed, "Granny's has the best coffee! Elf is lying to me!"
...Okay, so this was turning into a bad idea again.
"Regina, will you take me there so I can run in that door thing?" Roland asked, peering out of the quilt to see the woman.
"And to an elevator so you can push all the buttons, I suppose?" Regina questioned back with a small, joyous smile.
"Yes." Roland admitted with a large grin before ducking back under the blanket.
Finally, about thirty minutes in, Regina heard a buzzer and paused the movie. "Dinner time, we can continue this afterwards. Depending if we want to finish the movie or open presents first."
"What? No! You can't do that! It was going to be the turning point in the story! I just know it! He was going to look at the picture in his yearbook and remember how much he loved the girl and then he'd take Buddy in! He finally started believe Buddy! And then Santa is coming!" Peter Pan yelled in irritation as he shot death glares to Regina. "You can't just stop the story like that!"
"Yes I can, and I did. Now get your butt into my dining room so we can all have a meal like normal families do!" Regina shrieked.
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"Now, say grace." Tinkerbell demanded, since she was trying to be more like the fairies at the convent.
"What?" Killian turned and stared at the fairy like she had just told him to stop drinking rum.
"Who's Grace?" Robin asked curiously. Regina groaned, since this was just going to end up being one of his weird I-Need-To-Know-This-Information-Now thing.
"Jefferson's Grace?" Emma wondered, then started regretting her choice not to believe the man. He was insane, and the thought of him like he was now actually raising his daughter scared her but being separated from your child was a horrible fate.
"Why are you talking about that crazy Hatter?" Regina asked, "He's the reason Rumple got all prissy with me when the curse broke."
"He's the one who let me out?" Belle's eyes widened, only now realizing that the only reason why she escaped—much like the time she almost escaped Regina's Castle—was because someone's hate for another. Ugh, people were horrible sometimes. "How... Nice of him."
Henry looked around the table, wondering, "Why are we talking about Grace?" He knew the girl from school, and she had started demanding that everyone call her Grace so that her father could find her. Since Henry already guessed who Paige was, he was fine with it.
Tink was horrified by all the confusion that she just created. So, in defeat, she gave up with a simple, "Okay, never mind," and dug into the food on her plate.
"Food!" Henry yelled, grabbing basically everything on the table. Roland did the exact same thing, with a large smile on his face. Henry suddenly froze, looked up at Regina and stated, "Thank you so much for cooking dinner. Thank you for tonight. Really, mom, this is perfect." Even if Pan came in and ruined the fun.
Speaking of Pan, he wasn't even eating. He was just pouting in his chair, watching everyone eat as if it were going to make them all eat faster. He wanted to get back to the movie. It honestly struck a cord within him and he wanted to figure out why he was so into the moving screen's plot.
"Yes, thank you, Regina. This all looks amazing," Snow gave the woman a large smile, in which Robin was thankful for considering that Regina had been horrified when Snow came through the door this morning. Regina gave her stepdaughter a polite smile before continuing to eat her food.
"Even though this isn't your apples, this food is incredible, Regina. I mean it." Emma was having to hold back foodgasms, and she wasn't ashamed one bit since when she looked around the table, she noticed that Robin wasn't even trying to hide his. Although, thinking about it, he's lived off nasty fire-cooked forest animals and stew all his life.
Peter Pan groaned and banged his head on the table, because this was going to take forever. "Manners, Pan!" Regina snarled as she gave him her best death glare while making everyone else at the table—besides Snow who was used to this kind of thing—jump from her sudden outburst.
All Peter Pan said after that was, "Can someone pass the maple syrup?"
"Yeah! I want a whole bottle of soda!" Roland yelled, glancing over at his father before frowning at the shaking of his father's head but then Henry burped loudly and Roland stared at him before blurting out, "You're so weird."
Henry pushed his plate away from him, "Mooooooooms, I need to stick to the four main food groups. Candy, Candy Canes, Candy Corn and syrup."
"Son, just remember that gum on the street is not free candy." Emma said in all seriousness before shooting Neal a knowing smirk.
"Hey, why didn't we invite the dwarfs?" Snow asked, looking over at Regina. She missed her friends, especially Grumpy.
"Snow, I think they're Jewish." David whispered into his wife's ear. After twenty-eight years, what you've done in Storybrooke is what you're used to.
- - - - - - -Happy Holidays- - - -Christmas Time- - - - - -Happy Holidays- - - - - - -Christmas Time- - - -Happy Holidays- - - - - - -
There was a fight. Pan, Rumple, Neal, Killian and Tink wanted to watch the movie. Henry, Roland, Robin, Emma and Regina wanted to unwrap gifts. Charming, Snow and Belle refused to take sides, although the girls were cracking because of Rumple, Henry and Emma's pleas. However, Belle knew that if she took a side, so would Snow and Charming which would mean that Rumple wouldn't win because Charming would follow Snow's lead for this decision.
So they flipped a coin. Pan was accused of cheating.
So they flipped the coin again. Regina was accused of cheating.
David smirked and said, "Third time's a charm." But then Rumpelstiltskin was accused of cheating.
Once Emma was accused of cheating by Killian, Neal and Robin shared a look before going into another room and flipping the coin themselves. "Regina, start the movie."
"PAN NEVER FAILS!" Peter yelled before hopping on the couch happily, with a grand smile on his face.
Killian sat next to him and just muttered, "You're horrible."
- - - - - - -Happy Holidays- - - -Christmas Time- - - - - -Happy Holidays- - - - - - -Christmas Time- - - -Happy Holidays- - - - - - -
The boys ran to the tree as soon as the credits rolled. "PAN'S THE SON OF A NUTCRACKER!"
"Actually, I think that would be the Dark One," Tinkerbell put in, glaring at Pan.
"I would've said Neal, but that's okay." Hook stated with a slight look towards Emma before kissing Tink's cheek in thanks for her support.
"Milah wasn't a Nutcracker. Unless there's something that I don't know," Rumpelstiltskin was definitely insinuating something there.
"I wasn't talking about Milah," Hook shot back, since he refuse to be beaten by this man again.
Roland cut off the fight of wits with, "The tree isn't big enough! This isn't right! We need to go cut one down from the park!"
"No, Roland." Robin sighed, shaking his head since that idea was horrible, even in Robin's holiday-obsessed mind.
Henry held up a present, looking directly at his grandmother before shouting, "These aren't six inch curls! They need to be six inch curls!"
- - - - - - -Happy Holidays- - - -Christmas Time- - - - - -Happy Holidays- - - - - - -Christmas Time- - - -Happy Holidays- - - - - - -
After unwrapping all the gifts they had a fight on who could make the most Elf references.
Roland named the stuffed fox that Snow bought him Mr. Narwhal.
Henry looked like he was about to faint, saying, "I just need a glass of water..." and then falling on top of Roland, basically crushing the little boy.
Peter looked around him and said, "It smells like mushrooms and everyone looks like they want to hurt me."
Which to Regina replied with, "That's because we do want to hurt you, laddie."
Killian joined in the battle with, "At least I'm not insecure about how my pee smells." He stared pointedly at Neal.
Neal turned to Emma and said, "You have such a pretty face, you should be on a Christmas card." Emma laughed, leaning in and kissing him.
Henry needed to put an end to this kissing thing right now, it was disgusting to watch. Both his moms did it all the time, but he didn't need to see it. The boy jumped up, stealing his father's hat and yelled, "He's a fake! He's a fake!" Henry started waving the hat around wildly, "He's not Santa! He's not Santa Claus!"
Pan, not wanting to be out-done, walked up to Regina, poked her stomach and said, "It's a boy." Before sitting back down triumphantly.
Regina simply responded with, "You sit on a throne of lies, Peter Pan."
"Peter Pan's a south pole elf!" Roland pointed at the older boy, grinning. He wasn't exactly sure why everyone hated Pan so much, he seemed like a cool guy for the most part, but then again, Roland knew that anyone that Papa didn't like was bad news.
Once he realized it, Henry blurted out, "Peter Pan's Buddy's father!" Instantly, he regretted it, because he knew how it would make his grandfather feel bad.
"Yeah, Pan! All you care about is yourself!" Killian was not going to be outdone by three boys, even if one of them was Peter Pan.
"Yeah! Up yours!"
Considering that Roland was the person who said that, and Robin suddenly completely regretted letting the young child watch the movie, the game ended there.
Roland was absolutely ecstatic that he won the game, and continued pointing this fact out for the rest of the night.
- - - - - - -Happy Holidays- - - -Christmas Time- - - - - -Happy Holidays- - - - - - -Christmas Time- - - -Happy Holidays- - - - - - -
Getting everyone to leave was a challenge, but they knew that Roland needed his sleep and the little boy refused to go to sleep without Henry. So, once that actual fight had started, they slowly panned out. Emma, Neal and the Charmings were the only ones left and while Regina and Emma put the boys to bed, the rest were cleaning up downstairs with Robin.
"Mom, can I make breakfast tomorrow?" Henry asked, trying to get one last reference in there.
"Will it be candy pasta?" She raised an eyebrow Henry, having to hold back her smirk because she knew what was coming next. Regina knew her son well.
"Okay, so no breakfast in bed for you." Henry responded, turning away and snuggling into his comfortable bed.
"Gina! Giiina!" Roland wailed from his room, soundly like he was terrified, "Giiiiiiina!"
"What's wrong?" Regina asked, not even recognizing what was going on while Henry, even though he was in a different room, gritted his teeth as he started wondering when the five year old got so clever. Maybe the two had been spending too much time together. Henry was a bad influence.
"I can't go to sleep unless you tuck me in!" Roland demanded, pouting for extra effect. He, much let Henry, snuggled into his extremely comfortable bed.
"Watch out for a tickle attack, Regina." Emma said as she passed the door into Roland's room after kissing Henry goodnight.
Even after hearing Emma's warning to Regina, Roland still tried the tickle attack.
AN: So yes, I made a horribly long Christmas chapter. We all needed it and you all know it.
I know that it's more of a one-shot Christmas day thing, but it's in this my universe and I just needed to write this. I'm sorry if it's too long and you hated it ;-;
But if you liked it, yay! Pass it on, since I didn't right too many ships in there besides Snowing and Rumpbelle but then again, I guess there was Tink and Hook and SwanTheif, even though I seriously tried to put some awesome Outlaw Queen/SwanQueen in there since I've officially become a multi-shipper for both Emma and Regina. Youdon'tknowhowmadIamthatnoonecomfortedBelle. Annnnnyways. No one guessed, so... No one gets a special one-shot of your choice. Sooooorrrrrrry, guys.