The Beauty of the Beast
Chapter 38
The next three weeks had been more or less uneventful.
Regina still had her moments of weakness, but Emma had become better in calming the brunette down, in taking away the mayor's fears.
They had found a way back to their routine and had spent a lot of time together with Henry, had spent a lot of time as a real family.
The only thing that was weighing heavily on their shoulders was the fact that Gold's dagger was still missing. A lot of harm could be done if it would find its way into the wrong hands and everybody in Storybrooke knew that.
Emma was aware that they had to find that dagger, the sooner the better, but for now she had to solve another problem – Christmas.
Regina had told her that she could celebrate at the Charmings, together with Henry, because the brunette did not care about that time of the year and that had left Emma wondering why the mayor seemed to be so uncomfortable with the whole Christmas thing.
But all Regina had said had been that she had only celebrated for Henry's sake in the past, which had gotten the Sheriff only more suspicious.
Emma was sure that it must have to do something with Regina's mother, but she had not dared to ask, because the mayor was struggling with enough without bringing that topic back up.
And so Henry and her had left the mansion in the afternoon of the 23rd of December, both of them worried about Regina, but the brunette had told them that everything was fine.
Of course Emma had known right away that it was a lie, because Regina's eyes had given her away, but the blonde had not wanted to scare Henry.
Now that they were sitting in Emma's apartment, the blonde started to wonder if it had been a mistake to leave Regina on her own though and Henry obviously thought about the same, "It's not too late to go back to the mansion, Emma."
"I know, kid. But Regina wanted it that way", Emma commented, aware that it was a lame excuse.
"Yeah, and you know that it's mom we're talking about", the boy countered quickly, "She has never been big on Christmas, but nobody should be alone during the holidays."
"Henry, I know you are right, but we both also know that there is no point in pushing your mom if she is not ready."
The boy nodded, "We could give her tonight and could go back to the mansion early in the morning. And we need to buy a tree."
"I've thought about that too. Maybe we can do that." Emma gave her son a small smile, not sure if it was a smart plan. What if it would upset Regina once again?
"Emma, we have to. We are a family now. Mom can't be alone on Christmas. She can't."
When the blonde locked eyes with her son, she realized that Henry was right. There was no other option than going back, because they were a family after all and so Emma nodded in agreement, "Well, I'd say we go to bed early tonight then. What do you think?"
Regina was sitting in her study, drinking cider as if it would be water.
Oh, how much she hated Christmas.
Everyone seemed to be so full of joy and happiness during the holidays. Everyone was big on love and family.
But she had never been able to relate to that.
She had heard about Christmas and its traditions for the first time back then in the Enchanted Forest and Regina could remember how excited she had been.
That was until she had asked her mother if they could celebrate Christmas too, but Cora had slapped her right in the face, "Now why would we celebrate love? It's the greatest weakness of all!"
Regina had never forgotten about that day and once she had been in Storybrooke she had seen Christmas in its full glory for the first time, knowing full-well that she would never have that.
Sure, she had celebrated for Henry later, but it always had been the biggest torture for her.
And now that she finally had a family she had sent them away. How ironic was that?
Regina had regretted it the minute Emma and Henry had left the mansion, but she was too proud and too stubborn to call the blonde and ask her to come back.
So, she would spend the holidays by herself after all.
Emma and Henry had managed to carry the tree into the living room without making much noise and once they had placed it in its spot, Henry had stormed off to the kitchen to make breakfast.
When Emma smelled coffee she headed for the kitchen too, because she sure needed one – it was way too early for her taste. And she was freezing like hell, because it had started to snow heavily during the night.
Henry had already poured her a cup and Emma felt proud once again. Her son simply was the greatest kid and she knew that he would have never become who he was today if it had not been for Regina.
"Go, wake mom. We have a lot to do today", he handed her another mug.
"Yes, sir."
Emma grabbed it and headed upstairs, her heart pounding, because somehow she was afraid of the mayor's reaction.
She had managed to put the cup onto the nightstand without dropping something, which had been quite difficult since it was still dark outside and that meant that it was dark in Regina's bedroom as well.
But Emma knew it was just a matter of time till the brunette would wake up, the smell of coffee would have Regina out of her dreams within a heartbeat.
And Emma should be right about that, because the light on the nightstand got switched on only a minute later and a completely startled Regina Mills looked at her in disbelief.
To Emma's big surprise the mayor was wearing a tank top instead of her silk pajamas. Regina really was in the possession of a tank top? Well, probably it was one of the blonde's.
"Emma, what are you doing here? It's…" the mayor took a look at the alarm clock on the nightstand, "It's not even seven…"
The blonde stood up to turn on the big lights and stopped dead in her tracks once she caught sight of Regina, because she realized right then that she had never seen the brunette like this before.
Without make-up.
Somehow Regina had always managed to look perfectly styled, even in the mornings and Emma had suspected that the brunette had used magic for that, but today was different.
Clearly because Regina had not expected someone to see her.
But Emma was sure that Regina had never looked more beautiful than in this particular moment.
Regina sat in her bed, wondering why Emma was watching her that closely until it hit her.
She must look pretty horrible without her make-up. And she was wearing one of Emma's tank tops too. Wearing it had helped her to fall asleep last night, had made her feel less alone, but the blonde was not supposed to see her like that.
She jumped up quickly, realizing that the fact, that she was wearing sweatpants as well, was not helping at all. She needed to go to the bathroom, needed to change clothes, needed to…but that was when Emma took her hand and made her sit down again, "Just in case you are worrying…you look beautiful."
Regina had wanted to argue, but there was something in Emma's eyes that made her see that the blonde was deadly serious.
And all Regina could do was to pull Emma into a hug, happy that Henry and the blonde had not listened to her and had returned to the mansion. And to her.
They had enjoyed a very nice breakfast with Henry's delicious sandwiches and Regina had thought that she would burst out of happiness any second.
This was what Christmas was about after all, wasn't it? To be with your beloved ones and have a great time together.
Emma had called Mary Margaret to let her mother know that Henry and her would not make it over for dinner, because they wanted to stay with Regina and the brunette had been truly overwhelmed that Emma had chosen her over her family once again.
Afterwards they had driven to the stables and Regina had almost gotten a heart attack when Melech had not been in his paddock, but Emma simply had led her into the stables, where the stallion was standing in his own box now.
"He deserves a Christmas gift too, doesn't he?" Emma had said and Henry had agreed immediately.
And Regina had realized once more how lucky she was to have the blonde in her life.
Henry had talked them into stopping by at Granny's after their visit at the stables and Ruby had told them that she would spend Christmas with Ashley and baby Alexandra, because the young mother and her fiancé had gotten into a huge fight a few days ago. Sean seemed to be spending a lot of time with Belle, because she was having a hard time dealing with the loss of Mister Gold, but at some point Ashley had enough.
She understood that Belle was in pain, but what she did not understand was that the father of her child cared more for Belle than for his own family.
Emma had been happy, because Ruby had seemed to be overjoyed, but she was worried at the same time, because Ashley and Sean would make up eventually and then her friend would be suffering even more.
But that was a conversation, which could wait till after Christmas.
By the time they made it back to the mansion it was already afternoon and they had yet to decorate the living room including the tree, but then it hit Regina that she needed to cook Christmas dinner. The only problem was that she had not bought anything, because she not planned on having company.
"We'll eat pasta then. Or whatever you have in your freezer. It doesn't matter…as long as we are together", Emma announced quickly, sounding absolutely serious.
"Emma is right, mom. It doesn't matter. And I love pasta. But now we really have to decorate the tree", Henry commented and gave Regina a bright smile and so the mayor gave in and not only an hour later the living room looked like Winter Wonderland.
And then there was this unexpected knock on the door.
The moment Regina opened the door she was sure that she had to be hallucinating.
On her porch stood Mary Margaret and David, who was holding a huge plate in hands and the teacher held two bags as well.
"We really don't want to disturb, but we have way too much food…and we thought we could have dinner together, because it's Christmas after all. Right, David?"
"Right", he growled through gritted teeth and Regina couldn't stop herself from chuckling, because David obviously was not very fond of the idea. Well, neither was she, but she stepped aside anyway to let the Charmings in.
Now that would be interesting.
"Grandpa…Grandma!" Henry came running as soon as he heard Mary Margaret's voice and Emma appeared only a second later, "What's going on?"
"Your mother thought we should have dinner together. Obviously she has cooked a little bit too much", Regina stated simply and Emma stood there, dumbfounded.
"This is so cool! Our first Christmas as a real family!" Henry beamed with joy and Mary Margaret smiled at him, happy that at least someone appreciated her idea.
Regina and Mary Margaret were in the kitchen, together with Henry and Emma and David were setting the dining table, "So, how did she get you to come over here, David?"
"Well, let's say if I wouldn't have joined Mary Margaret…I would be starving right now and my only company would be dogs and cats."
Emma could not stop herself from laughing out loud, but then she got all serious again, "I'm glad you're here though. And Henry is over the moon as well. It means a lot to him…to all of us. Thank you."
David looked at his daughter and nodded, "I guess I can handle this…for a day. It's Christmas after all."
Dinner had went surprisingly well and even David and Regina had found a way to get along without killing each other, much to Emma's and Mary Margaret's relief.
And so they had managed to spend an evening as a family although the situation had been beyond bizarre.
Henry had not even wanted to go to bed, because he had been so utterly happy and so he had fallen asleep on the living room floor at some point.
Regina had offered that David and Mary Margaret could bring him upstairs and tuck him in, much to the Charmings surprise, but they had taken the chance eventually and Emma had been so proud of the brunette that she had started to kiss Regina the second her parents had disappeared in Henry's room.
Once the Charmings had left Emma and Regina had cleaned the table and had put some gifts under the tree, because they would not have time to do it in the morning. Henry clearly would wake up before them, because kids simply were more excited about unwrapping presents than grown ups.
Now that they were lying in Regina's bed, the brunette resting in Emma's arms, reflecting on the events of the days, Regina could not hold the tears back any longer.
Emma stroked over the mayor's head carefully, "It's okay. Whatever it is that is bothering you…you can talk to me…"
Regina moved her head up a little to lock eyes with the blonde, "These are happy tears for once…because I realized that I have a family after all…a damaged one and that's partially my fault…but I do have a family. And it's hard to believe that."
"David won't hate you forever. He just needs time to adjust. Maybe Mary Margaret should let him sleep at the shelter for real one day", Emma answered and smiled at Regina.
The thought made the brunette curl her lips into a smile as well, "Only if I'm there to witness it."
It did not take long after that and both women were sound asleep, both thankful for their little Christmas wonder, because now the holidays truly were about love and being a family.