Chapter Twenty Two
In celebration of nearly 1000 followers on this story, here's another chapter from Emma's POV ;)
Christmas
Emma had tried really hard to not wake Regina and her parents up to early on Christmas morning, but by the time 3:30am came, she just couldn't wait anymore. She slid out of the bed silently, carefully trying not to wake Henry, and crept toward the door.
"Don't do it, Emma."
Emma spun around in surprise at Henry's whispered warning.
"I was… just gonna get some water," Emma lied.
Henry shook his head as he sat up. "No, you just want to wake up all the adults and see if you can open presents yet. I promise you the answer will be 'no'."
"Well that's not fair!" Emma protested, with a soft stomp of her foot. She wanted Henry to see her frustration in the dim light of the nightlight streaming in from the hallway, but she also didn't want to wake up any adult in the house with a stomping foot, knowing that wouldn't likely get her anywhere.
"Emma, you just have to wait a few more hours, and then it will be morning and you can open all your presents."
"But I never had Christmas before!" Emma whined, pouting as she headed back to the bed and grudgingly got back in on her side.
"You never had Christmas?" Henry repeated, bewildered. "I knew you said Santa could never find you, but you never had Christmas at all?"
Emma shrugged. "Maybe at the first house, but I don't remember."
Henry sighed. "Okay, I'll make you a deal. You and me, we'll be extra quiet and we'll sneak downstairs and you can open one present early, okay? Then you have to promise to stay in bed until it's actually morning, got it?"
Emma grinned and nodded.
"Quiet as a mouse," Henry reminded her as they got up and started tiptoeing across the room. "My mom's got ears like a hawk and we don't wanna get caught."
Emma nodded her agreement as they slipped silently down the hallway. The door to Regina's room where her parents were sleeping with Neal was closed, but her bedroom door where Regina was sleeping was half open, so they were extra quiet sneaking past there. For a moment, Emma thought she heard Regina move, but she never came out and Emma guessed they were in the clear as they reached the stairs.
Once they reached the living room, Emma's eyes grew wide as she took in the piles of gifts under the tree.
"There's so many!" She whispered, her face lighting up as she turned to Henry. "Santa did come!"
"Of course he came," Henry replied, grinning as he headed over to the presents, looking for a specific gift. It took him a moment to find it, but soon he was fishing it out from the pile and handing it to Emma. "Here. This one's from me."
Emma smiled as she started ripping the paper off, until she was left holding a hardcover book entitled 'The Adventures of Regina Mills and Kitty Softpaws'.
"You made it a real book?" Emma gasped, looking at Henry in disbelief.
"Yep," Henry nodded. "I figured since you can read now, you deserved a real book and not just something I wrote on paper. I hope you like it."
"I love it," Emma insisted, hugging the book close to her, before putting it down and stepping over to hug Henry instead.
"Well, I'm glad, but we better head back to bed before we get caught."
Emma nodded and picked up her book again, following quietly behind Henry until he stopped abruptly at the bottom of the stairs and she bumped right into him.
"Henry, what are-" Emma started to ask, until she looked around Henry and saw Regina standing on the bottom stair, her arms crossed and one eyebrow raised. "Oh. Hi Gina."
"Hello, Emma. Henry. Might I ask what you two are doing up?"
"Uh… we wanted… a glass of water?" Henry stammered, and Emma tried to hide her giggle.
"Yeah. We were really thirsty," Emma agreed with an emphatic nod.
"I see. Bed. Now. Both of you," Regina replied, stepping out of the way so Henry and Emma could dash past her up the stairs and back into Henry's room.
"That was close," Emma said, breathlessly as they reach Henry's bedroom.
"It's Christmas. We wouldn't have gotten in trouble. But now we gotta stay here until morning, got it?"
Emma smiled again and nodded as she set her book down on Henry's nightstand and climbed into bed.
"Henry?" Emma whispered, after a few minutes, hoping he wasn't asleep just yet.
"What, Emma?"
"Don't be sad 'cause I never had Christmas before, okay? 'Cause I'm happy I get to have my first one here with people who love me."
"I'm happy for that, too, Emma. And that's how we're gonna spend all the rest of our Christmases, too. Together."
New Years
Emma spent the week between Christmas and New Years bouncing back and forth between her parents' loft and Regina's house. A break from school, the book Henry had given her, and memories of turning eight had the girl in overdrive.
When it came time for New Years though, Emma was extra-excited because everyone was going to celebrate at Granny's and she would be allowed to stay up til midnight to watch the fireworks. She was nearly bouncing off the wall by the time it was time to go.
The Charmings and Emma met up with Regina and Henry outside the diner, and headed in to find the party already well underway. Emma giggled as Ruby greeted them at the door, handing out colourful strings of beads and glittery sunglasses with '2016' for eye-holes.
"2016?" Emma asked, bewildered, as she looked at the glasses.
"It's going to be 2016 at midnight, Emma," David explained. It had never occurred to Emma to ask what year it was, but she distinctly remembered turning eight in 1991, and here she was , eight years old, twenty five years later.
"Emma, are you okay?" David asked, looking at his confused daughter with concern.
"Yeah, I'm okay," Emma nodded, forcing a smile as she finally took the glasses. Regina had explained to her that she had already been a child once before, and even though she was constantly remembering things from what felt like a whole other life, it never felt as real as it did right that second, and Emma felt overwhelmed.
"Emma!"
Emma turned to the sound of a familiar voice, and saw Maleficent making her way through the crowded diner toward them. Emma smiled and decided to worry about the year later, since she was at a party and was supposed to be having fun.
"Hi," Emma said, as Mal finally reached them.
"Hi Sweetie," Mal replied, leaning over to give Emma a quick hug. "I want to borrow you for a moment, alright? Lily's outside getting some air and she wants to talk to you about something very important."
"Lily does?" Emma asked, confused. She remembered meeting Lily at her birthday party at Regina's house, and she had seen her a few times since then, but she couldn't guess what in the world this woman could want to talk to her about. She turned back to her parents. "Can I go with Mal?"
"Of course, Emma," Snow said, nodding. "But stay with her and Lily, alright? There's a lot of people here and I don't want you to get lost."
Emma nodded and took Mal's hand, as she led her back outside, and over to a table where Lily was sitting.
"Hey, Emma," Lily greeted, as Emma reach the table. "Come sit down with me. I want to talk to you about something."
Emma looked back up at Mal for a moment, hoping the blonde was planning to stay as well. It wasn't that Emma didn't like Lily, it was more so that she didn't know her. She didn't know Mal all that well either, but she had spent a fair bit of time fawning over her at her Maleficent-themed birthday party, and still felt a little more comfortable with the former villain.
"It's alright, Emma. Lily doesn't bite," Mal insisted, as she pulled out a chair for her, and to Emma's relief, sat down in the one next to it.
"I know," Emma said, a little defensively, as she set her 2016 glasses down on the table and sat down between Mal and Lily.
"It's weird, isn't it?" Lily said, nodding towards the glasses. "It feels like it should be turning 1992 right now, doesn't it?"
"Yeah. How'd you know?" Emma asked, narrowing her eyes at Lily.
"Because you and I are - well, were - the same age. You don't remember because you hadn't met me yet at eight years old, but you and me used to be best friends," Lily explained.
"Really?" Emma asked, perking up a little. She hadn't really expected that anyone from her old life would also be in her new life.
"Yep. We met when we were thirteen. You'll see in a few months, I guess. And you'll remember that things end a little rocky between us, but it works out when we're grown up, I promise."
Emma scrunched up her nose. "Why are you telling me all this?"
"Because I want to ask you something very important, but it's going to feel like it's coming way out of left field right now. The thing is, I'm going to have a baby, in about six months, and I want you to be its godmother."
"Me?" Emma gasped. "But I'm just a kid!"
"Right, I know, but you'll be a teenager by the time it's born, and you'll be caught up in age to me by the time it's a toddler," Lily reasoned.
"But why me?"
"Because you're my best friend. Actually, you're the only friend I ever had."
Emma nodded slowly, taking it all in, and then smiled. "Okay. I'll do it. And if I ever have a baby you can be its godmother, kay?"
Lily let out a small laugh. "Can I hold you to that?"
Emma nodded again, still grinning. She couldn't remember a time in her previous life where she'd had a friend, and even though Lily was an adult, it made Emma forget the stress of being in the wrong year to know that she would have a friend when she grew up.
"Come on, let's go back in before we miss all the fun, shall we?" Mal suggested, getting up from her chair and holding out a hand to Emma who took it immediately.
"Are you coming?" Emma asked, when Lily made no attempt to get up.
"In a minute. I'm going to enjoy a few more moments of quiet," Lily said, grinning.
Mal shook her head and led Emma back inside, scanning the room until she found the booth that the Charmings and Regina had somehow managed to snag.
"Every booth was full when I got here," Mal commented, as they made their way across. "I wonder who Regina kicked out to get a spot?"
Emma shrugged. "You snooze you lose."
"My, my, aren't you a saucy one? You've been spending far too much time with Regina. She's rubbing off on you," Mal observed, as she locked eyes with the Mayor for a moment, before Regina turned her gaze to Emma and her face lit up in a big smile. "Or maybe you're rubbing off on her."
Emma smiled and gave Mal a quick hug around the waist before diving into the open spot next to Regina at the booth, forcing Mal to pull up a chair to the end of the table.
"Welcome back, Little One. What did Lily want to talk to you about?" Regina asked, once everyone was settled.
Emma glanced at Mal, unsure as to whether it was supposed to be a secret, but Mal just nodded her permission to tell. "Lily's gonna have a baby!" Emma announced. "And I'm gonna be its godmother!"
"Well, that's lovely," Snow commented, with a smile. "And what exactly does a godmother do?"
Emma shrugged. "Probably, like, grant wishes or something. I dunno. All I know is Lily said I'm her friend so I'm gonna have a real friend when I grow back up."
"I thought I was your friend?" Regina said, with a mock offense.
Emma rolled her eyes. "You're not my friend. You're my Gina."
"There's a difference?" Regina asked, to clarify.
"Uh huh," Emma nodded, grinning. "Because I could have a thousand friends, but I can only have one Gina."
Regina smiled and shook her head, but Emma could tell her words affected her. As she got a little older, she was quickly discovering that should could read Regina like a book. She was a little more shy with her affection when other people were around, but Emma could wait because she knew the second they were alone, Regina would give her a big hug and tell her how much she loved her.
In reality, however, confirmation came much quicker, as David and Henry got lost in conversation and Snow began feeding Neal, and Mal set off to convince Lily to come inside, Regina nudged Emma and leaned in close to her ear. "I could have a thousand friends too, but you're right, I could only have one Emma."
To be continued...