I know I promised this to you a few days ago, but I haven't had much of a chance to work on this. But anyway, it's up now. It's pretty much just fluff, but it does help to move the plot along.
Also, if you want to see Regina's dress, you can check it out on my tumblr (candyapple75)
post/44990577396/reginas-pink-dress-from-all-magic-comes-with-a
Enjoy!
"It's her what?" Emma asked in disbelief.
"It's her birthday," Henry repeated. "Are we going to do anything?"
"I…I don't know," Snow said. "I suppose we have to do something, but we don't have enough time to plan anything."
"Call me crazy here," Emma started. "But I don't think Regina was much of the party type before all this happened and I highly doubt that she's going to want one now."
"We could just get a cake and a few presents," David said. "You know, just have a nice dinner here."
"We could make breakfast and cards and cake!" Henry exclaimed. "And we can sing Happy Birthday."
"Sounds good to me," Emma said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I am exhausted. I'm going to bed. G'night."
"Good night, Emma," Snow said.
"You should go up too," David said looking at Henry.
"But I'm not even tired," Henry complained.
"Even future kings need sleep."
"Fine." Henry stood up and trudged up the stairs with Snow and David not far behind.
~*oO0Oo*~
"Henry, you'll know better than I do," Snow said. "What kind of cake should we get for Regina?"
"Granny's triple chocolate chunk cake. It's her favorite. And get vanilla ice cream and root beer and hamburgers."
"Are you sure you're not thinking of yourself here, kid?" Emma asked without looking up from her bowl of Cheerios.
"I'm sure. Mom always used to have chocolate cake and root beer floats and hamburgers on her birthday. If it was my birthday, we'd have ice cream cake and milkshakes and ice cream sundaes."
"Of course," Emma said. "How could I have missed that?"
"You two are on breakfast duty," David said. "Snow and I are going to go raid the pawn shop."
"What?" Emma asked. Her head shot up and she whipped around to look at her parents. "You're raiding the pawn shop?"
"Everything that came over with the curse is still there. We'll try and find something to give her."
"And what if Gina is the one to walk downstairs?"
"I'm going to check out the toy shop and get something for Gina too," Snow said. "Now make her some breakfast before she wakes up. We're not going to deprive her of her birthday just because none of us really like her."
"Whatever," Emma said. "We'll make something."
"Thanks. Have fun!" Snow called as she walked out the door.
"So, Emma. What should we make?" Henry asked.
"The extent of my culinary skill is microwaving soup, making cereal, cooking bacon and toasting frozen waffles," Emma said.
"How about scrambled eggs, bacon, toast and apple cider?"
"Kid, I think you have officially gone off the deep end." Then she shrugged. "Let's go for it. Do you have any idea how to make any of that?"
"I can make eggs and toast and apple cider is just juiced apples, right?"
"Sure. I'll make the bacon. Go grab me a pan please."
"Okay," Henry said. He ran over to the cabinet, pulled out a pan and handed it to Emma who was turning on the radio.
"You ready?" she asked. Henry nodded quickly. "Well then let's get this show on the road."
~*oO0Oo*~
About half an hour later, Henry headed up the stairs with a plate in his hands. It was eight thirty and Regina was still asleep. The previous day's events had obviously terrified her. Plus it was her birthday. What was the point of making her get up early?
"Mom?" Henry asked. He shifted the plate to his other hand and reached down to touch Regina's arm. The little girl's eyes popped open.
"Henry? What are you doing up here?" Regina asked, her voice still hoarse from sleep.
"Happy Birthday! Emma helped me make you breakfast," Henry said proudly.
"Thank you, sweetheart," Regina said. She sat up and Henry handed her the plate. She surveyed the breakfast and then looked back up at Henry. "What is it?"
"Scrambled eggs, toast, bacon and apple cider."
All Regina saw on the plate was a charred piece of toast and a few blackened strips of bacon. "Sweetheart, where are the eggs and the cider?"
"Emma kind of told me not to tell you about those."
Regina closed her eyes for a second and then remembered that it wasn't her kitchen and she reminded herself that she didn't care.
"I made you a card, too," Henry said. He smiled as he handed her a simple card made of folded paper. The front read Happy Birthday Mom. Regina opened the card and felt a smile creeping across her lips as she read the message:
Dear Mom,
Happy Birthday! I'm really proud of you for not using magic and for saving Emma and Gramma. I love you!
Love, Henry
It was just a simple note, but Regina reached up and wrapped her small arms around her son's neck. "I love you, Henry."
"I love you too," Henry said returning the hug.
"Hey kid, I got the eggs unstuck from the pan!" Emma called from the bottom of the stairs. "Do you want to come down and get them?"
"I'll be down in a second!" Henry called back.
"Go ahead," Regina said. "I'll be down in a few minutes."
Henry nodded and raced downstairs. As soon as he was gone, Regina grabbed the plate and stood up on Emma's bed so that she could reach the window. She pushed it open and scraped the burned breakfast into the bushes below. Not even Henry could get her to eat that.
She got down off the bed and headed downstairs still in her Hello Kitty pajamas.
"Happy Birthday," Emma said when she saw Regina. She set down the frying pan that she was attempting to scrape something-most likely the eggs-out of and walked over to the little girl. "Snow and David should be back soon."
"Do I want to know where they are?" Regina asked.
"Yes, but you probably don't think you want to," Emma teased as she walked back into the kitchen.
Regina rolled her eyes and climbed up onto the couch. She grabbed the remote and turned on the TV. Henry didn't take any notice of the show, but Emma came in when she heard a southern drawl fill the room.
"Are you watching Here Comes Honey Boo Boo?" she asked.
"So what if I am?" Regina countered.
"I just…I didn't think you'd be into something like that."
"And what did you think I would watch?"
Emma thought for a moment, choosing her next words carefully. "I always thought you were one of those people that just never really watched TV except for horror movies and soap operas." At the raised eyebrow from Regina, she said, "What? I got you to go to bed the other night by promising to let you watch JAWS and don't all grandmothers watch soap operas?"
"You know what?" Regina started.
Luckily she didn't get to finish as Snow and David came in. David was balancing a cake box in one arm and had grocery bags hanging off of the other. Snow had plain plastic bags in her hands.
"We're back," Snow declared. "How's everyone?"
"We're fine," Henry said shooting a look that made him look more like Regina than was biologically possible at both his mothers. Then he smiled at his grandparents. "What'd you get?"
~*oO0Oo*~
"Okay, before we have cake, I have one question," Emma said. She turned to look at Regina. "How old are you?"
"I'm…I don't know," Regina said.
"You're turning four, thirty-five and sixty-three all at the same time," Emma said. "How old are you?"
"I'm thirty-five," Regina finally declared.
"You look amazing for your age," David said. Snow, Emma and Henry giggled and even Regina cracked a smile.
"Can we have cake now?" Henry asked. His mouth was practically watering as Snow set the triple chocolate chunk cake on the table and lit the blue star-shaped candle."
"Make a wish," Emma said.
Regina closed her eyes for a moment and then blew out the candle.
"Let's eat!" Henry declared. Snow cut pieces of the cake and passed them around the table.
"So what'd you wish for?" Emma asked as she stabbed her fork into her cake.
"I can't tell you or it won't come true," Regina retorted taking a bite of her own cake.
"I just hope you made a good one. After all, for all we know, it might actually come true. Which would suck if you had been Gina and you wished for a giant pony or something."
Regina froze at Emma's words and she dropped her fork.
"Regina?" Snow asked. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Regina said. "Everything's fine."
"Oh no," Emma said, her eyes widening. "What did you wish for?"
Of course, that was the exact moment that Gina decided to make an appearance. "Mm, cake!" she exclaimed. She grabbed a handful of cake and shoved it into her mouth.
"Wonderful," Emma said. "She probably wished for some type magical creature to come eat us all."
"Oh, hush," Snow said. "Charming, can you go get the presents out of our room? And get the other thing too."
"Sure. I'll be right back." He got up and headed into the bedroom. A moment later he emerged with a small pile of wrapped boxes in one hand. The other arm was holding something behind his back.
"Gina, baby," Snow said. "Are you ready to open presents?"
Gina nodded vigorously and Snow smiled. "Why don't we clean you up a little bit first, okay? Come on into the bathroom and we'll wash off the cake."
Snow took Gina's chocolate-covered hand and led the way into the bathroom stopping to grab whatever it was that David was holding behind his back. A few minutes later, the pair returned and Emma nearly choked on her root beer.
"She's so cute!" Henry exclaimed.
"She looks like she got eaten by a cupcake, Emma said.
"She looks like I need to start taking pictures before she changes back," David said pulling the camera out of his pocket and training it on the little girl.
Emma took in the site of Gina in the horrendous pink dress covered in frills, ruffles and bows. "Do I look like a pwincess?" she asked twirling around.
"Sure, Gina. You look like just like a princess," Emma said. Then she turned to Snow. "Why?"
"I just took advantage of the situation," Snow replied. "It's not like I forced her into it." Emma glared at her mother and then turned to watch Gina twirl in front of David's camera. Henry was watching with a look of mixed shock and happiness on his face.
"Do you ever wonder how much therapy Henry's going to need when he gets older?" Emma asked Snow softly.
"Well, I think it all started when my grandmother dressed my adopted mother, who was in toddler form at the time, in a frilly, pink dress and my grandfather started taking pictures," Snow said with a smile. Emma couldn't help the laughter that bubbled out of her.
"Can I open pwesents now?" Gina asked running over to the table.
"Of course, sweetheart," Snow said. She helped the little girl back up into her chair and handed her a wrapped box. Gina tore off the wrapping paper and her face broke into a pearly grin at the sight of a shining tiara sitting on a bed of tissue paper.
Snow lifted the tiara out of the box and placed it on Gina's head only to have it slip down around her neck like a necklace. "I guess it's a little big," Snow said.
"No it isn't!" Gina insisted. She grabbed the tiara and set it on her head, sliding it back a little so that it stayed put. "See?"
"It looks beautiful," Emma said. She noticed David snapping pictures. "Smile for David."
The little girl turned and smiled for the camera as it flashed. Henry was handing her another present wrapped in plan white paper.
"Here," he said. "Open this one."
Gina ripped at the paper and pulled open the box revealing a necklace that consisted of a handcrafted red clay heart on a black leather cord. "Fank you, Henny," Gina said.
She pulled the necklace over her head. It hung down to the middle of her belly. Emma looked at him and Henry shrugged. "I made it for Mom. I didn't know she was going to be a toddler when I gave it to her."
Gina spent the next few minutes tearing open boxes that contained various stuffed animals and toys while Snow and Emma made a silent agreement to give Regina her presents tomorrow.
It was nearing nine o'clock when Gina finally finished.
"I think it's time for a certain little princess to get to bed," David said when he caught a yawn on camera.
"But I'm not…" Gina trailed off and blinked a few times. Snow and Emma both exchanged Oh crap looks and then turned back to the little girl.
"What's going on?" Regina asked. "How long was I…" she looked down at her dress and then back up to glare at Snow and Emma. Her eyes were narrowed and her arms were crossed. She would have actually looked threatening had the tiara not slipped down around her neck at that moment.
Emma fought back the urge to giggle as she said, "Gina wanted it."
"Well I don't. Take it off. Now."
"You look kind of cute, Mom," Henry said.
"She looks like a pink nightmare," David whispered.
"I heard that," Regina snapped. "And I'm not cute."
"Whatever," Emma said. "It's bedtime anyway."
"Wait," Regina said. "When do I get to finish opening my presents?"
"Tomorrow. Now come on." Emma picked the little girl up and was a bit shocked when Regina didn't even try to protest. "Hey. What did you wish for anyway?"
"Don't worry about it," Regina said. "It wasn't a big deal."
"Well just as long as I don't get eaten in my sleep by a jabberwocky or something, I'm good."
"What on earth are you talking about?" Regina asked. She was now standing on the bedroom floor tugging at one of the ruffles on her dress.
"Nothing," Emma said pulling the tiara over the soft black curls and setting it on the dresser. "Happy Birthday."
Aw, birthday cuteness. Next chapter should be up soon, but I'm not making any promises for exact days. Please review and I'll write to you all soon! :)