Entering the bedroom, the Queen put a breakfast tray on the bedside table and, bending over to her husband, she carefully kissed him on the corner of his lips.
"Good morning.", she whispered.
Gold smiled, still not opening his eyes, and slightly turned his head, exposing his neck for a kiss. The Queen slowly walked her lips from top to bottom, from ear to collarbone, then returned upwards and kissed him behind the ear.
"More." he purred, turning his head and exposing the other side of his neck. "Now that's a good morning." After the Queen repeated the same treatment, he finally looked at his wife and gently pulled her to him.
"Happy birthday." The Queen smiled, settling on his shoulder.
"Is it today already?" Gold squinted at her, raising an eyebrow.
"Don't pretend you don't remember." Regina wrapped her arm around him, snuggling even closer.
"I remembered it was around this week." Her husband shrugged slightly. "But I don't remember such specific details."
"Stop it." She reached out and kissed his nose. "I know that you are not used to celebrating it, but this should change sometime. For the children, this is a celebration indeed, and for me as well. Someday you have to get over to our side."
"Yes, a wonderful celebration." Gold grinned, stroking her shoulder. "I become even older than I used to be."
"Well, we become older than we used to be every day.", the Queen remarked, "And if we were to grieve over this every day then there will be no time left for anything else. We are not celebrating this. We do the fact that we have you."
"You have me every day too.", he objected.
"That may be so." Regina agreed. "But today is the day that gave you to us and we are all happy about that. Aren't you?"
"Fox." Gold sighed, kissing her temple. "Speaking of celebrations, where is that sheet of paper with the seating of the guests?"
"I have to look for the sheet." the Queen thought for a second. "Yesterday I put it at a prominent place so it could be at hand. It remains only to recall where this prominent place is. But I have everything on my phone."
"Let me see." He reached for his glasses. "We need to change something there."
"Right now?" Regina asked in a mock complaint. "You know, we could have breakfast." She nodded at the tray on the nightstand. "And more. And engage ourselves with the seating of the guests afterwards. There's still a lot of time until evening."
"Now." Gold nodded. "Before the thought is gone."
"Okay." His wife sighed, taking a phone from her nightstand. "Here it is."
"Yeah." he went into reading. "The Trentons need to be re-placed. Howard should be left next to him", he jabbed a finger at the name on the list, "and we should place Jessica somewhere off to the side, she'll interfere there."
"Jessica won't really like it." the Queen grinned.
"But then she will really like her new Bentley." Gold nodded, not distracted from reading. "We'll place her next to Regina and she will be busy all evening talking about the dangers of slings and whatever else Regina is doing wrong with Tali."
"And what did Regina do that was so wrong?", she asked.
"As an assistant to the Mayor, Regina will also benefit if no one distracts the Mayor from pleasant and useful communication today."
After making a few more corrections, he put down the phone and took a cup of coffee from the tray.
"See?" He handed the cup to his wife. "Not long."
As soon as he managed to take a few sips of coffee, Charlotte ran into the bedroom.
"Daddy!" She climbed onto the bed and pressed herself against Gold. "Happy Birthday!" She reached out and kissed his cheek.
"Thank you, honey." Gold smiled, hugging his daughter.
"Here!" The girl handed him a piece of paper. "I drew it for you!"
"Very beautiful." He examined the drawing.
"These are balloons, this is a cake, this is you and mom." The little one pointed her finger at each.
"And why does mom have pink hair?" Gold got interested.
"Well, to be pretty." Charlotte explained patiently.
"I see." Her father nodded. "This is, by the way, a good idea, eh, mom?" He turned to the Queen. "Shouldn't we really dye your hair that color?"
"We can." The Queen laid her chin on his shoulder, also examining the drawing. "That's great, Charlotte." She smiled at her daughter. "Did you draw everything all by yourself? Did Gideon help you?"
"Of course, all by myself!", the girl exclaimed. "Gideon hasn't finished his drawing yet."
"And what is he drawing?" Gold inquired.
"Dinosaurs.", the baby girl answered.
"That's a witty gift." Her father laughed.
"Are we going to the rink today?" His daughter hugged his neck. "You promised me that we would go."
"Well, if I promised, then we'll go.", her dad assured her. "Have you had breakfast already?"
"Yes." She squinted at the Queen. "My mom made me eat a whole bowl of oatmeal."
"This is very useful." Gold pressed her to his side and kissed the top of her head. "You still want to be a ballerina, don't you? Ballerinas need to eat healthy food. Weren't you told this in your ballet class?"
"Maybe I don't want to be a ballerina." Charlotte frowned.
"Why not?" Gold was surprised.
"Because there is nothing easy about it at all." The girl sighed.
"Everything is always difficult at first." He stroked her hair. "But this isn't a reason to immediately abandon whatever you have started. Do you want me to buy you pink ballet shoes today?"
"No." Charlotte shook her head. "Miss Tencer doesn't allow anything but whites."
"We will agree with her." Her dad assured her. "So, do you agree?"
"Yeah." the girl nodded, thinking. "Only those I told you about though, with sparkles."
"Only those!", he confirmed. "Go find out how Gideon is doing and choose a dress for the evening. Mom and I will have breakfast too and together we will go to the rink and for your ballet shoes. Okay?"
"Okay." She jumped out of bed and headed for the door, facing her brother in the doorway. "I was the first to congratulate dad!"
"You could have waited for me." Gideon told her reproachfully. "You always have to be the first."
"Don't quarrel." the Queen smiled. "Who cares who was the first?"
"More so, your mother was the first anyway." Gold spread his hands.
"And what did mom give you?"Charlotte got interested.
"Yes mom, what did you give me? Did you draw me a picture?" Gold asked sternly.
"I did." Regina nodded. "I'll show you later."
"Come on mom, show it now! We also want to see!" The children pleaded excitedly.
"Let's take a look at your dinosaurs." She pointed at her son. "We haven't seen them yet."
"Here." The boy handed his dad a drawing. "I hope, you like it. Happy birthday dad!"
"Wow, there is a whole Jurassic park!", he admired. "Awesome drawing, thank you." He leaned over and kissed his son on the nose.
"Mom, show us your present now." Charlotte reminded her.
"It is a secret gift.", the Queen answered evasively.
"Come on, mom! It's not fair! You saw ours!" the children protested. "Dad! Tell us!"
"Once mom says it's a secret, then it's a secret." Gold shrugged. "Come on, I will get you an ice cream and turn on the cartoon that you didn't finish watching yesterday. After that, we'll go for a walk. Okay?"
"Chocolate ice cream?" Charlotte clarified.
"Whatever you want!"
The Queen was just finishing her coffee while sitting in bed when he returned to the bedroom.
"The ice cream was a deceitful move." She smiled at her husband.
"Yes, I'm generally terribly deceitful, like all the Dark ones." He crouched next to her. "And returning to the topic, is it time for us to move on to my secret gift?" He kissed his wife, sliding his hand over her thigh.
"This isn't your secret gift." Regina put her hands on his shoulders. "I have something else for you."
"So you really drew a picture for me?" Gold smiled.
"Yes." the Queen nodded. "Actually, I wanted to save it for the evening, but, you know, I can't wait to give you your present."
She took out from her bedside table a small velvet case that could hold a pen, a watch or a tie pin.
"It doesn't look a lot like a drawing." her husband remarked with irony.
"Well, it's not quite a drawing." Regina handed him the case. "But I hope you'll enjoy it."
Opening it, he saw a small sheet of glossy paper wrapped in a tube and tied with a thin satin ribbon.
"This is ..." He looked at his wife.
"Open it." The Queen smiled.
Gold untied the ribbon with a slightly trembling hand, unfolded the sheet and froze, looking at the ultrasound image.
"Regina!" He finally exhaled, clutching his wife to him and, closing his eyes, buried his nose in her neck. "When did you find out?", he asked after a pause.
"Last week.", she said a little embarrassed. "But I wanted to tell you today. Are you angry that I didn't tell you right away?"
"Are you mad?" Gold raised his head and looked at his wife. "What does Medisson say? How far along are you?"
"Six weeks. And she believes that it's a girl again." Regina smiled. "She can determine it somehow by the heartbeat."
"A girl ..." He looked at the picture again. "Another one of my girls. This is the best birthday gift I've ever received!" He kissed his wife. "I love you!"
"And I you." She kissed him back.
"You know, perhaps starting from this year my birthday will stop being such an unpleasant day." Her husband ran a hand over her cheek.
"I hope so." The Queen smiled. "Congratulations, Dad!" She kissed him again. "And by the way, while the rest of our children are busy, we still have time for that secret gift you were thinking about." She slipped her hand under his T-shirt, hugging him.