Merry Christmas ale_nena! You said you liked fics where OQ have a daughter, so here's some Christmas fluff (with just a little angst) about the Hood-Mills family to get you in the holiday spirit! Canon AU where Robin didn't die.
"Are you ready for the tree lighting ceremony?" Regina asked as she helped Leia zip up her jacket.
"Yeah!" the little girl said happily, starting to jump up and down, making Regina's job more difficult. "And see Henry and Ro!"
"Okay, okay, let Mama zip your coat so we can go," Regina chuckled. She was grateful beyond words (and not for the first time, or the last) that Henry had his driver's license now. Getting Leiia ready for anything was already a hassle. Not having to worry about Henry (and, by extension, Roland, due to the brothers' instant and deep affection for each other) was a relief.
Once the jacket was zipped and her daughter's hat and gloves on, Regina stood and held out her hand. "Are you ready to go, sweetheart?"
"Yeah!" her daughter cried.
Regina put her finger under her chin, pretending to ponder. "Don't you think we're forgetting someone?"
"Who?" Leia asked, her brows furrowed. Then her eyes widened in realization.
"Daddy, come on!" she yelled up the steps. "We'll miss everything!"
"I'm coming, I'm coming," Robin said as he walked down the staircase.
"We need to be patient, princess," Regina said, tucking Leia's scarf in a bit more snugly. "Your papa will come when he's ready."
Robin snorted, and Regina glared at him. "If you, milady, are patient, then my name is Tinkerbell."
Leia giggled. "Silly Papa! Tink is a girl and you're a boy! Besides, she's my fairy godmother and you're my daddy."
"You're right, princess," Robin acknowledged, picking her up when she held out her arms. "But we both do some of the same things, yeah? Both of us- and your mama too- love you and want to take care of you. All I was trying to say was that you're just like your mama. Both of you like to get what you want right away and don't like to be kept waiting."
Regina was sure her kid's frown matched her own in that moment. They both crossed their arms. "I can be patient when I want to be," Regina protested.
Her husband smirked. "When you want to be. Just how often is that, milady?"
Regina pouted. "Let's just stop wasting time and get in the car." She turned to Leia, knowing she'd be on her side. "What do you say, princess? Are you ready to go?"
She nodded eagerly and the three of them were out the door.
Once they were close enough to the town square that they could start looking for a parking space, Regina noticed the crowds. "Good thing I shot down Mary Margaret's proposal to watch the ceremony together. We'd never be able to find her and David in this mess."
"True," Robin agreed."But I'm sure Leia would have liked to watch with her cousin, right, princess?"
Leia nodded. "I wanna watch with Neal!"
Regina sighed. "All right. I suppose we can look for Neal, Mary Margaret and David in this mess." The things she would do for those eyes that were a mirror image of her father's... it was unbelievable.
She crouched down so she was looking Leia in the eye. "But if we can't find them by the time the music starts, we're finding a spot up front so we can watch Roland perform whether we've found your Aunt Mary, Uncle David, and Neal or not, got it?"
Julia nodded eagerly. "I wanna see Ro play!"
"Come along then," Robin said, ushering Regina with an arm around her shoulder and holding Leia by the hand. "Let's make sure we get a good seat."
They crossed the street and headed toward the center of town, Robin gripping Leia's hand tightly so they didn't lose her. When they arrived at the raised platform Regina had helped set up (all right, she had supervised the idiots who had put it up) where the bands would be playing, they made their way through the crowd and found a spot right in front. As they had passed, it was as if people had stepped aside for them, and it both made Regina pleased and made her stomach start to churn in equal measure. The fear of the Evil Queen was something she had eventually learned to wield like a weapon, one that she apparently still held even now, when she hadn't shown noticeable traces of the Queen in years. However, did that mean that all of her hard work had been in vain? Did people still see her as the Queen, a menace to society rather than the hero she had become?
Her worries must have shown on her face, because she suddenly felt Robin's arm around her start tracing soothing circles. She knew he wouldn't ask what was troubling her until they were alone, knowing that Regina was only comfortable enough to be at her most vulnerable around him.
They finally found the perfect spot to watch Roland and Henry perform in the ceremony, and Robin pushed their daughter forward so she had a front row seat, resting his hands on her shoulders. The crowd babbled animatedly around them, just as excited as they were for the festivities to begin.
Just as the first notes of the woodwind section began to play, a shout of, "Stop, thief!" rang out.
Regina couldn't help letting out a frustrated groan. It seemed that even on Christmas, a mayor's job was never done.
(********)
When he heard the cry for help, Robin's head immediately turned toward the sound. Some inexperienced thief was trying to steal during one of Storybrooke's biggest events? Were they mad?
Without thinking, he let go of his wife and daughter and ran after the man who was now running off into the night. He had a head start, so Robin wasn't sure if he could catch him, but he would certainly try. No one deserved to be robbed, especially not this time of year.
The thief ran through the crowded streets, and Robin followed him, past booths selling all manner of wares, from peppermint hot chocolate to ornaments for customers' Christmas trees. Robin didn't understand the custom himself, was appalled at the uprooting of a perfectly good tree from its home, but the decorated trees made the rest of his family happy, so he had learned to tolerate it, making sure they created a home away from home for the tree that was chosen.
He was starting to think that he wouldn't be able to catch the culprit, but then out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash, and the man was knocked over, falling to the ground with a grunt.
Robin was surprised that the person who had finally caught him appeared to be a kid and appalled when she got up, dusted off her pants, and turned to face him.
He recognized her instantly. "Leia, how did you do that? Why didn't you stay with Mama like I told you to?"
She shrugged. "You needed help, Papa."
Robin crouched so he was face to face with her, putting his hands on her shoulders. "That I did, but I needed you to stay with your mama, where I knew you were safe."
She frowned. "I wanted to be a hero like you and Mama."
"Oh darling," Robin crooned, enveloping her in a hug. "You're a hero to your mama, me and your brothers every day. You can save this kind of being a hero for when you're a little older."
She frowned. "How?"
"You make everyone around you smile every day just by being you," Robin explained, enveloping her in his embrace, no small amount of pride diminishing the last of the concern he had felt when he saw her tackle the thief. "Sometimes being a hero is about the little things we do. You don't need to do things like run after a thief to be a heroine."
She smiled hesitantly and nodded.
Passing off the perpetrator, who turned out to be Aladdin, to Emma, who had apparently caught on to what was happening and run after then, Robin turned to Leia and asked, "Are you ready to go back and enjoy the ceremony?"
She nodded, and they walked hand in hand back to their family. They stood with Regina as they watched first Roland's school band, and then Henry's, play. Regina's eyes shone with tears when Henry surprised them with a story he had written about the magic of Christmas, the heroine of the tale a once-Evil Queen who had changed her ways.
When cookies had been left out for Santa and carrots for his reindeer, they all went to bed, all of them thankful for the magic of the Christmas season.
