Thanks again to the lovely Addicted1, and to all of you guys! We're getting closer to the end. Enjoy!

Holiday Spirit

Chapter 34

Emma was waiting on one of the benches out by the water when he pulled into the parking lot. It was raining, but she was sitting criss-cross under a giant umbrella.

"Hey," he greeted when he was close enough for her to hear him.

"Hey." She put her legs down and patted the bench next to her. "I kept a seat dry for you." She grinned and he chuckled.

"Thanks for meeting me."

"Yeah, you sounded kind of serious on the phone."

He sat down next to her and she adjusted the umbrella so that it was propped against the back of the bench between them.

"How's married life?" she asked after a moment of awkward silence.

"It's good. It's great," he amended.

"Yeah, it's weird, but you guys are actually kind of perfect for each other."

He smiled and waited a beat. "Regina's pregnant."

"That's wonderful," Emma said with a wide smile.

David returned her smile, glad to see that his daughter was truly happy for him, and then realized something.

"Wait," he said. "You're not surprised?"

"I assumed." Emma shrugged. "A while back Henry mentioned that Regina was off coffee, and I know how serious Regina is about her coffee. She also looked miserably ill for a solid six weeks, still avoids strong odors, and I haven't seen her have a sip of alcohol since before Christmas."

David chuckled and shook his head. "I always forget how observant you are."

"Bounty hunter." Emma reminded him. "I've also been pregnant, so the symptoms are more obvious to me. I think I threw up every day at three in the afternoon for my entire first trimester with Henry."

"Regina keeps threatening to curse whoever coined the term 'morning sickness,'" David replied, ignoring the pang he felt at the reminder that he had missed so much of Emma's life. "She says that it's 'a gross misrepresentation that leads one to believe that there will be, not just a single moment, but an entire portion of the day in which her stomach might stay in her body' and that 'whoever perpetrated such a falsehood should have to carry a litter of elephants for the gestation period of twenty months.' "

"HA!" Emma laughed. "Regina has a flair for the dramatic, but I have to agree with her on this one. Twenty months may even be too short."

David flinched and hoped that the person responsible for the term was long dead and buried. Regina had a strict no-cursing-descendants-for-the-crimes-of-their-ancestors policy, but, some days, he was certain that only death could save Mr. (for Regina was sure it had to be a man) You'll Only Be Sick in the Morning from finding himself with a womb full of baby elephants.

"How's Regina doing with it?" Emma asked.

"It's tough. But so is she."

Emma nodded. She and Regina didn't have the simplest history, but even when she'd wanted to punch her—even when she did punch her—Emma had always respected her.

Emma respected people that took hits to the face and then punched back.

"Wait!" David exclaimed. "You thought Regina was pregnant and you still brought a shotgun to our wedding?"

"I wanted to see what she would do." Emma shrugged and offered the explanation sheepishly and yet unapologetically.

David snorted a laugh. "She almost killed me. She thought I told you!"

Emma laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. "Sorry, Dad. Didn't mean to nearly get you killed on your wedding day."

"Well, it's really only fair, now that I think about it," David said, still laughing. "After all, I tried to kill her during my first wedding. At least now we're even. Sort of."

Emma shook her head in disbelief. "That's sick. This family is really sick."

"We're former fairytale royalty. We come with baggage."

"And bizarre, homicidal mating traditions."

"Yes. And bizarre, homicidal mating traditions," David deadpanned. Then, unable to resist teasing his daughter, he asked, "Speaking of which, how are things with Neal?"

Emma groaned dramatically. It seemed she wasn't too old to be embarrassed by talking about this stuff with her parents.

"Very funny," Emma answered and then continued more seriously, "There's a lot of history to work through. We got through a lot of it during the spell, but . . . it'll take a little time, but I think we're gonna be okay," she said with a confidence that surprised even herself.

David smiled and nodded. "Good."

"So Regina's about three months along?" Emma asked.

"Yes."

"Is it Isabella?"

"I think so." David sighed. "Regina is too scared to hope, and we don't even know the sex of the baby, so there's no evidence either way. But I believe it's her. I believe we will get back to that life. Regina and I will have a house so full of kids we won't know what to do with ourselves. You and Neal will figure things out and Olivia will find her way back to you, and Snow will build her new life with Derek and they will have their baby."

Emma gave a subtle nod of her head in response but looked out over the horizon rather than meeting David's eyes. For the second time in the conversation, she found herself agreeing with Regina. Hoping was the best way to break your own heart.

David looked at Emma and then followed her gaze out to the water.

He could see why Emma had chosen this particular spot when he'd asked to meet her. It was a good place for thinking, even when the weather was cold and wet. And that's exactly what he was doing – thinking about the fact that he'd contributed partly to Emma's fear of trust and hope. "You know that necklace that Gold brought by the first morning we were back?" he asked.

"The one you were gonna give to Regina? Yeah, why?"

"It should have been yours."

"Oh, no, David," she shook her head. "You said your mom told you to give it to the woman you were going to marry. You married Regina. She's supposed to have it."

"Yes, but she also wanted it to be passed on to my daughter. You are my daughter."

"Isabella is your daughter, too," Emma told him. "It's okay, David, I understand. You were supposed to give it to Regina, and then the two of you can give it to your daughter. I'm not upset." And he could see that she really wasn't.

"No, but I am," he told her honestly. "You are my first child, always. I love you, and you will always be my daughter. I hope you know that."

Her eyes watered a bit and she bit her lip, nodding. "Yeah, I know."

"Snow and I talked, and we agreed that you should have this." He held his hand out to her, and when she looked down, she saw her mother's wedding ring sitting in his palm, green stone glinting.

"No, I mean, that's hers. I…I can't take that."

"She's with Derek now, and while I gave this ring to her for marriage, we both wanted you to have it. My mother gave me this ring."

"She did?"

"Yes. When we thought we might never see each other again, she gave this to me. She told me that it had helped her find true love and that it would do the same for me. And Emma, she was right. I had it with Snow for a time, but more importantly, it led me to you. I can't think of a truer love. This ring belongs with you." He reached for her hand, and relaxed slightly when she didn't pull away as he placed the ring carefully into it.

She looked up, one tear spilling over as she sniffled a bit, clearing her throat to speak. "Are you sure?"

He smiled. "Yes. Your grandmother would have loved you," he told her firmly. "And she would have wanted for you to have it, too."

Emma nodded, caressing the ring between her fingers. "Will you tell me about her sometime?"

He laughed tearily and leaned in to kiss her forehead. "I'd love to."

Regina was in her home office when she heard the front door open and close. "Henry, honey, is that you?" she called out, stepping into the hall.

"Yeah, it's me."

She swallowed nervously, running her hands down the front of her blouse to smooth the invisible wrinkles and then moved down the hall to greet him. "How was school?" she asked as he hung up his coat.

"Pretty good. People kept asking me a lot of questions, though. Grumpy must have managed to spread the news really fast because everybody was already talking about you and David getting married."

Regina rolled her eyes. "If nothing else, the man's a reliable gossip," she mumbled. "I hope it didn't cause too many problems for you?"

He shrugged. "Nah. It was fine. Besides, I'm really happy you guys got married." He smiled warmly at her. "I'm gonna go start my homework," he told her, picking his bag up again and slinging it over his shoulder.

"Actually…could we talk for a minute first?"

Henry was surprised to hear the shakiness in his mother's voice. He was used to her confidence. "Umm, yeah, sure. Is everything okay, mom?"

She nodded and gestured toward the living room. "Why don't we go sit down?" she suggested.

He followed her quietly, sitting next to her when she patted the sofa cushion and watching her worriedly as she fidgeted a bit in her spot before turning her gaze to him. "I wanted to tell you before anyone else found out, and David and I have known for a while, but we wanted to wait on telling more people for as long as possible. I just didn't want to tell you until I was more confident everything would be okay." At Henry's confused expression, she took a deep breath. "I'm pregnant," she told him.

"Wait…like…you're going to have a baby?"

"Yes," she said cautiously, darting her eyes across his face looking for any hint of his reaction.

"You mean…you and David are going to have a baby?" he asked again.

"Yes," she told him.

"That's awesome!" he suddenly cheered. He threw himself forward, wrapping his arms around her and catching her off guard with the hug. When he leaned back, he grinned at her. "How long will it be before the baby's born? Is it a girl or a boy? Which room is gonna be the nursery?"

She blinked at his rapid fire questions, and tried to gather herself. She was beyond happy and relieved that he was excited, but afraid that he'd be too attached if something went wrong, and she knew it was still very possible that something could go wrong. "We still have about six months," she began answering his questions. "And we haven't been able to tell yet whether it's a boy or a girl. David and I were going to wait a little longer before we started making decisions about which room and how to start preparing."

She didn't want to tell him outright her fears about losing the baby, didn't want to scare him, but Henry was a smart boy, and he seemed to figure it out for himself. "Don't worry, mom, I'm sure the baby is going to be okay, and so will you," he smiled. "And I'll have a little brother or sister!"

Regina answered Henry's smile with one of her own, but she could feel that hers was tighter and more brittle than her son's. She could feel the Charming Hope rolling off him in waves. Henry was certain that she was pregnant with Isabella and that this was the beginning of their family's happily ever after.

She appreciated the restraint he showed in keeping that belief to himself.

She didn't have the luxury of such belief. If she allowed herself to believe and then something went wrong…it would be like losing Isabella, Oliver, Ellie, and Benjamin all over again.

She couldn't do that twice.

She wouldn't.