It's early o'clock and most of you sanes are probably asleep, but I finally finished and figured I'd upload. Two story updates in one day! Been a while since that's happened. Gotta go to bed now so I can wake up in a few hours and pay for the procrastination on my homework. Mmmehhh. Worth it. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Holiday Spirit
Chapter 11
Regina flung herself down onto the couch with an unusual lack of grace. She was emotionally and physically exhausted; completely drained. Leave it to one of the Charmings to make an already bad situation even worse. David had abandoned her at the diner, left to the mercy of Granny's endless questions, and while David's presence wasn't a comfort, it was a buffer. It was no secret that the people of Storybrooke had no fondness for her. Luckily, Granny had taken some of the edge out of her questioning so as not to frighten the baby she still held in her lap, but she'd still been ruthless in her grilling. The breakfast had not been a peaceful one between the interrogation and her children constantly asking where David had gone and why he hadn't come back.
Getting the children back into the car had been even more difficult on the return trip because this time they weren't going to see David; they were driving away from him. Even her promises that they'd see him later didn't soothe them, and she'd barely made it back to the mansion with her sanity. It had been years since she'd had to put up with a proper temper tantrum from Henry, and now there were four of them all at once.
She'd managed to find distractions for all of them once they'd arrived home; Henry was upstairs reading a story to the twins, Isabella was putting together a puzzle in the kitchen and Benjamin was chewing on one of his toys in the playpen nearby. Lying back against the cushions, Regina closed her eyes and pushed her hands against them, willing herself not to cry. She was so tired. It had been just over five hours since they'd woken to this mess, but it felt like twenty-five. Four young children were proving to be too much, even with Henry's help. He was still a child himself, and though he was doing his best to help her out, there was only so much he could do.
On top of everything else, it seemed that the task of figuring everything out had fallen to her. While David may have come around, it was obvious that the majority of the town still blamed her for their current circumstances.
She felt herself drifting off, but just as she'd allowed herself to relax, Benjamin let out a shrill cry. She jumped and opened her eyes to find him sitting up, looking at her, tears already streaming down his cheeks.
"No, don't cry," she begged, standing up and reaching over to pick him up. "You're okay, you're fine." She'd fed him a bit more and changed his diaper just before setting him down to play, so she knew it was something else. Most likely, he'd picked up on her distress.
When he continued to cry, she couldn't help the few tears that escaped her own eyes. "Please?" she cried softly, lifting him to kiss his forehead. "Please?" She bounced him lightly on her hip, but because she couldn't seem to stop herself from crying, she wasn't able to help Benjamin in the slightest. She hugged him to her chest, sitting back on the couch. "I know," she told him sadly. "But we're going to get through it. We have to." Talking more to herself now than the baby, she allowed herself to cry harder. There was no hope of calming Benjamin down if she wasn't calm herself, and in order to achieve that, she needed to get it off her chest. She felt him rub his head against her shoulder as he cried with her and she rubbed his back.
In the doorway, Isabella moved to go comfort her mother, but jumped when a hand landed on her shoulder. When she looked back, Henry stood, shaking his head with a sad expression on his face. He placed a finger to his lips in a motion for her to stay quiet and then held his hand out to her. She allowed him to lead her up the stairs before she finally broke the silence.
"Why can't we help Mommy?" she asked sadly.
"You know how sometimes grownups are sad and they don't want us to see them until they feel better?"
She nodded, still frowning.
"This is like that. We have to leave her alone for a little while, and then we can help make her feel better."
"But how long?"
Henry knew his mother hated when he saw her cry, and he knew that she was really tired. He'd noticed the dark circles that had started to form under her eyes when they'd come home and he got the impression that interfering right now would only make it worse. "How about you and me keep reading with Ellie and Oliver for a little while? We can check on her in an hour if she hasn't come upstairs yet."
"Okay," Isabella agreed quietly. "And then can we cheer her up?"
Henry smiled. "Yeah. We'll do something extra special for her."
Isabella's face brightened immediately. "Can we make something for her right now? We could draw her a picture and Ellie and Oliver can help!"
"That sounds perfect," Henry told her. "I'll get some paper from my room."
-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-
David paused outside the front door, his finger hovering over the doorbell. The kids would wonder why he was asking permission to enter like a stranger, but at the same time, it would feel just as odd for him to walk in unannounced. Regina would most likely find it intrusive. Still…
With a few more seconds of deliberation, David finally sighed, moving his hand to the door handle instead. He was surprised to find it unlocked and when he stepped inside he stopped, waiting to hear the click of high heels and Regina's sharp voice, telling him off for coming in without at least knocking. But it never came. In fact, the silence of the house unsettled him. The car had been in the driveway, and the lights were on, but there was no sound of children running around or playing.
"Hello?" he called out. "Anyone home?" He made his way further into the house, but there was still nothing. Nobody answered him. "Where is everyone?" he asked under his breath. He'd only been gone for a few hours. He looked in the kitchen first, but when there was no sign of them there, he made his way to the living room.
"Regina?" He saw her sitting on the couch, but she still didn't answer him; didn't even move. That's when he rounded the couch and saw that she was fast asleep. Benjamin was curled against her chest, head tucked under her chin, and David frowned when he saw the dried tear tracks on both their faces. It was obvious that both had been crying when they'd fallen asleep.
He moved to lift Benjamin, but a cold voice stopped him.
"Don't."
Looking up, he found himself being stared down by an extremely angry Henry.
"Where have you been?!"
"I was…I was talking to Snow," David stuttered, surprised by the harshness of his grandson's tone.
"Izzy and the twins kept asking about you. They threw a fit when mom told them we were leaving without you."
David winced, only able to imagine how difficult it would be to look after an upset group of children. He hadn't meant to be the cause of it, but he'd really needed to talk to Snow.
"She's exhausted, you know," Henry went on. "She cried herself to sleep not too long after we got back. Even the kids didn't wake her up when we came down for snacks."
David looked down at Regina, noticing how even in sleep, she looked tired. There was a frown set on her face and she looked uncomfortable in the position she was in. He reached out again.
"Don't wake her up," Henry said anxiously, moving forward, but David only paused for a second, holding out a hand to stop Henry.
Wordlessly, he lifted Benjamin from Regina's chest. The boy squirmed slightly and lifted a hand to rub at his face, but the second David had laid him in his playpen, he went right back to sleep. Turning back to Regina he carefully slid her down, turning her and bringing her legs up in one movement so that she was lying sideways on the couch. He adjusted a pillow under her head and she mumbled something, but didn't wake. Grabbing the blanket from the other end, he spread it over her sleeping form. Satisfied now that she looked more comfortable, David once again scooped Benjamin up, holding him to his chest as he gestured for Henry to follow him up the stairs.
"We'll let her sleep for a while," he said when they were halfway up.
"Thank you," Henry told him. "I didn't mean to get so mad at you."
"You have no reason to be sorry. I shouldn't have left without talking to her first."
Henry didn't say anything as they entered the nursery and David put Ben in his crib. He followed his grandfather into the twin's room where the three children were all huddled around pieces of paper that had been taped together, crayons and markers in hand.
Isabella was the first to look up. "Daddy!" she cried, jumping up and rushing over to him.
"Shh," he told her. "Mommy's sleeping." He bent down to give her a hug as the twins hurried over to him. "I missed you guys."
"We missed you, too, Daddy," Ellie whispered.
"What are you guys making?" David asked as they pulled back from the hug.
Oliver leaned against his side. "It's a happy card for Mommy."
"Because she's sad," Ellie added.
"It's beautiful," David told them, smiling down at the rough drawings, scribbles and lettering that made up the giant card. "She'll love it."
"Do you think it'll help?" Isabella asked earnestly.
David nodded. "Definitely."
"Wanna help, Daddy?" Ellie asked, holding out a crayon to him.
"No, I think Mommy will like it better if it's just from you guys." He smiled at them. "But how about I make some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? I bet being artists has made you hungry."
"Staaarving!" Oliver whined dramatically, and David laughed when Ellie shushed him, reminding him to be quiet.
"Okay. You guys keep at it and I'll be back in a few minutes."
"Daddy?" Isabella called out softly, and he turned in the doorway. "Don't forget to cut them into three pieces like Mommy does, okay?"
David looked at the twins who'd thrown all their attention back into their drawing, both with tongues pressed between their lips in concentration. He smiled as he looked back at Isabella. "Just like Mommy. I promise."