"I think that's everything we need from you, Your Majesty."

Emma suppressed her sigh of relief as she watched a rather nervous-looking intern scamper forward to begin the process of removing the small microphone clipped to her chest.

"Thank you. When can I expect to see the edited footage?" she asked.

"I'll have it to you by tomorrow afternoon, Your Majesty."

Leroy made a quick note of when to expect the email as Emma filed that piece of information away in her brain. She knew it was unlikely to need any tweaks. After she'd written the speech, four other individuals on her team had been through it to make any necessary revisions needed for it to meet public approval, and she'd rehearsed giving it to both empty rooms and a small audience of her closest employees. But the bright red jumpsuit she'd picked for the event had a deep V-neck, and while she knew it was unlikely to have shifted enough to become revealing while she'd been speaking, Emma also knew that she wouldn't be able to sleep easy until she'd seen the footage for herself. The last thing she needed was for the holiday press machine to shoot into overdrive thanks to an errant piece of fabric.

"It was lovely to see you again, Your Majesty," the producer declared, holding out a hand for Emma to shake. "And thank you for giving us access to your wonderful home. I promise we'll make ourselves scarce as soon as we have everything we need."

"There's no rush," Emma assured him.

It was the first time she'd recorded her annual Christmas speech at Sandringham House. Thanks to her impromptu trip to Cyprus, she'd run out of time to record it while she'd been in London. When her team had called to reschedule, the producers had jumped at the chance to see inside Sandringham House for the first time since Emma had ascended the throne, and had asked to shoot some extra footage to add to the year's broadcast. Emma's team had encouraged her to agree.

"It was good to see you too, Martin. Have a wonderful Christmas," she instructed, making her way towards the door.

"And you, Your Majesty." The man offered her a stiff bow and Emma used that as her excuse to leave. One of her staff members would be sure to follow the crew wherever they went, leaving Emma free to greet her guests.

Leroy fell into step just behind his Queen as she exited the Long Library and began heading towards the private areas of the residence. "Your family has already started arriving, Ma'am," he said, when the noise from the library had faded into silence. "They're waiting for you in the Drawing Room."

"Thank you, Leroy."

The older man nodded his head stiffly and then turned left at the next doorway, leaving Emma to make her way to the Drawing Room alone. This was always the part of Christmas she hated the most. For many people, being surrounded by family was the ideal way to celebrate the holidays, but for Emma, it only served as a reminder of just how alone she was. Most of the people waiting in that room weren't close to her at all. Aside from public celebrations, such as Trooping the Colours and Royal Ascot, Emma barely saw most of them. The rare few people who she actually enjoyed spending time with often alternated where they celebrated the holidays, so as not to neglect the family members they had that were not part of the royal family. It was ironic, really; their desire not to exclude anyone often left Emma feeling more alone than ever before – not that she would dream of telling them that.

After pausing for a moment to check over her appearance in the nearest mirror, Emma straightened her shoulders and held her head high as she reached for the doorknob and pushed her way into the Drawing Room. As she'd come to expect, everyone in the space fell silent the moment the door had opened, but it didn't take them long to arrange their smiles and send them her way.

"Emma, darling, you look wonderful," her aunt greeted, thrusting a half-empty glass at the nearest server to make her way forward and press a formal kiss to her niece's cheek. "They tell me you were just recording your Christmas speech. You really shouldn't leave it so late, darling. Your grandmother would always finish hers before the middle of the month. That way, there was plenty of time to edit and reshoot, if necessary."

"Well… technology has advanced a lot in recent years, Aunt Cora. I'm sure that the BBC will have plenty of time to edit the message if they need to. And I won't be going anywhere for the foreseeable future so if we need to reshoot, we can."

Cora offered her niece a tight smile before nodding her head in agreement. It was the kind of smile that told Emma her aunt didn't agree with her at all, but she had conceded the point because she wasn't just addressing her niece, she was talking to her Queen.

"Zelena, come and say hello to your cousin," Cora called over her shoulder, towards the group of people that sat huddled together in the corner of the room.

Emma suppressed another sigh as she fixed on a smile for her cousin. There had once been a time where the two women had been quite close. When they were younger, Emma had always enjoyed sleepovers at her aunt's house and family gatherings that involved her closest friend.

But everything had changed after her coronation.

Her aunt had been livid that the crown had passed to someone she deemed too young and too inexperienced to handle such responsibilities, and she'd been even more furious when Emma's advisors had voted against giving her daughter a Royal Highness title. Cora's rage appeared to have been inherited by Zelena as Emma had gone from seeing her cousin at least once every month, to only seeing her three or four times a year.

"You look well," Zelena offered, leaning in to press a kiss to her cousin's cheek. "Your impromptu holiday in Cyprus must have helped."

"It wasn't a holiday," Emma countered, although she was certain her cousin already knew that. "I was fulfilling my role as Commander and Chief of our armed forces and spreading a little Christmas cheer amongst the ranks."

"Of course," was all Zelena said, before she stepped aside to re-join her mother.

Emma tried not to take it personally. It wasn't the first time Zelena had behaved in such a way and she was sure it wouldn't be the last. However, as much as she expected it, her cousin's actions never failed to sting.

Thankfully, this year, Emma knew she wouldn't have to face the judgement of the Mills women alone, because this year was her year to host the entire extended family.

"Hey, Ems. How've you been?"

For the first time that day, Emma wore a genuine smile as she turned on her heels to throw her arms around the man approaching from behind. The pair clung tightly to each other for a moment before he finally pulled back to get a good look at her, and Emma's eyes slid over to the woman standing close beside him wearing a bright and beautiful smile.

"David, Mary-Margaret," she greeted, reaching for the other woman's hand, "It's so good to see you both again."

Emma's look here is based on Jen's look for an appearance on Good Morning America on 8th May, 2015

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