Regina smoothed her hands over the red silk shirt she had selected for Christmas with her family, erasing the imaginary creases in the fabric. She couldn't help but stroke her still flat stomach and think of the precious gift she carried inside of her. Strong arms slipped around her waist and large hands covered hers.
"I can't wait to see you with a baby bump. I don't think I'll be able to keep my hands off of you." She chuckled as she leaned back against Ember's strong body.
"How would that be any different than usual, Darling?" His deep laugh rumbled in his chest.
"Touche, my Queen." He nipped gently at the mark she bore on the side of her neck that branded her as Ember's mate, before pulling away and continuing to get ready.
"I don't think we should tell anyone until after the first trimester." She said out of the blue. "Do you think you can keep it a secret that long?" Regina turned and looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Of course! Who do you take me for, Snow White?" She pursed her lips. "Too soon?"
"No, but I would prefer to not have that name spoken in our home during Christmas." Ember nodded. Regina returned her gaze to the mirror and fluffed her hair. Ember's eyes raked over her curves and he tried to imagine what she would look like heavy with his child. A goofy grin spread across his lips. "If you walk around looking like that they'll all know something is up. Especially our son." Regina said with an exasperated tone. Ember shook his head and made his face blank of emotions. Regina put her hands on her hips and tsked. "That's even worse. They'll think we are fighting." He tried to configure his face into a composed look, but it came off as a half grin half grimace.
She laughed and rolled her eyes as she stepped closer to him. When she was directly in front of him she bent down and pecked his lips. "You really are hopeless, my love."
"Mmm..." Ember slid his hands up the outside of her thighs and around her hips until he was cupping her ass in his large hands. "Hopelessly in love with you." With one firm shove, Ember found himself pushed onto his back with his mate straddling his hips.
"That was very cheesy, Mister Swan." She leaned down and capture his lips with hers. He hummed in the back of his throat, but made no move to take control of the situation. Instead he trailed his fingers up her sides and rested them there until he felt her rock against him. The scent of her arousal reached his nose and his eyes flared florescent green. Just as his fingers were about to reach for Regina's belt, the sound of the doorbell ringing reached their ears. Regina pressed her forehead against his shoulder and brought her breathing under control. With one last deep sigh she began to slide off of his long lean body. "We will continue this conversation later." She said with a husky tone.
"Easy for you to say." He murmured. Regina noticed her love's arousal clearly apparent.
"I'm sorry, Love, you're just so tempting." She leaned in close to the mirror and touched her lipstick up. "Do you want me to give you a hand with that?" She asked with a raised eyebrow and a sexy smirk sent his way. He flung his arm over his eyes and groaned.
"Not helping!" He whined. Regina gave an amused chuckle.
"I'll let you have a quiet moment to yourself, while I go greet our family." She blew him a kiss as she exited the room.
"That woman is going to be the death of me." Ember moaned to the empty room. The evil laugh from the hall left no doubt that Regina had heard his statement.
~~E+R~~
By the time Ember joined his family downstairs, they were all gathered in the living room preparing to exchange gifts.
"It's about time, Dad!" Henry exclaimed from the floor where he had neatly stacked everyone's gifts in small piles.
"Blame your Mother, Kid." Ruby burst out laughing where she was cuddling next to Lily. Lily smacked her on the shoulder.
"It's Christmas, leave them alone."
"Yeah, before you end up in the dog house." Ember sassed his best friend, as he lowered himself next to Regina. She leaned into his side. Brown eyes met the bright blue of Maleficent who was looking at her curiously, until a knowing grin spread across her lips. Regina's shoulders sagged. She should have know the dragon would figure their secret out before everyone else. She discreetly held her finger to her lips and Mal gave her a brief nod of understanding before turning her attention to Henry.
"I believe everyone is here now, Henry, how do we begin?" Mal asked her grandson with barely concealed excitement. This was her first Christmas with her family and she didn't want to miss a thing. Henry got a sly smiles on his face as he selected one of the packages off of Maleficent's pile and handed it to her.
"Here you go, Grandma, why don't you start us off?" She accepted the package and held it up to her ear to give it a shake. Unable to hear anything rattle inside she quickly ripped the wrapping off and scanned the plastic case.
"YES! We are so watching this tonight!" She held the box up for the room to see. Regina narrowed her eyes when she read the title.
"Okay, which one of you little instigators thought it was a good idea to give Maleficent, Snow White and The Seven Dwarves." After no one volunteered as the culprit, she waved her hand and the discarded wrapping paper appeared in her grasp.
"To: Grandma, From: Your favorite Grandson." She looked at her son, who found the stacks of presents very interesting. "Betrayed by my own son, on Christmas no less." Regina wadded the paper up and threw it at the boy on the floor.
"Oh look, Dad, here is one for you." Henry tossed a soft medium sized package at him. Regina rolled her eyes at her son's deflection, but was quickly distracted by the flash of the package wrapped in shiny red paper that Ember held in his hands. She quickly waved her hand and caused the gift to disappear in a puff of purple smoke.
"That wasn't suppose to get into the pile of gifts for now." Regina said with a blush. Ruby's ears perked up and she nudged Lily who nodded.
An hour later all of the gifts were opened and the room was a mess of used wrapping paper, with ribbon and bows mixed in. Henry was occupied setting up his new video games and Maleficent was looking through a photo album that her children had made for her. It wasn't easy but both Lily and Ember had found pictures of themselves throughout their childhood to place inside the gift. It was especially hard for Ember to look back on all the years he had to hide his true self, but the smile on his Mother's face was more than worth it. Regina had even provided a good array of pictures of Henry at various points in his childhood. Ember couldn't wait until they could add a brand new ultrasound to the book. His hand absentmindedly strayed to stroke Regina's side as they cuddled on the couch, surrounded by their family. There was only one person missing, and his gifts were still under the tree.
"I wish Neal could have been here." Regina patted his thigh.
"Me too, Darling, but he'll be here this weekend. He will be so excited to have two Christmases that he probably won't know what to do with himself." Ember chuckled.
"That's true." It was then he noticed the absence of his sister and best friend. "Where did those two get off to?" Regina glanced at the empty space at the end of the couch and shrugged.
It was at that moment when the giggles filtered in from the stairs.
"Well that's never a good sign." He murmured before kissing Regina on the head then rising from his seat next to her. "I should probably see what my sister and her wolf are doing."
When he stepped from the room and looked up the stairs the sight that greeted him caused him to stop in his tracks. He wasn't sure if he should laugh or strangle the woman coming down the stairs.
"Ruby Lucas! What the hell do you think you're doing?" Green eyes looked down at him before she put her hands on her hips and turned to the side to show off her new piece of clothing.
"I thought we would all like to a fashion show of next years Swan line." She said with a mirthful gaze. Ember's eyes traveled down to the jockey shorts the wolf was wearing over her jeans. On the front emblazoned in bright purple script read the words:
Contents Protected...
He spun his finger indicating Ruby should turn around. With a smile she did as he asked. On the back in the same script the statement finished.
...By Royal Decree!
A large smile spread across his face. Regina had truly out done herself.
"Show yourself, Sis!" He waited as she stepped down the stairs to come to a stop next to Ruby. She repeated the same process that Ruby had done. The pair of boxers she wore were bright red and emblazoned with Regina's Royal crest on the front. On the back in bright white letters announced:
Property of the Queen
It made him extremely happy that Regina allowed her more mischievous side out to play.
"You two better go put them back where you got them before Regina sees you."
"What is going on here?"
"Too late." Regina looked between the three as she came to stand next to Ember.
"Well?" Ruby stood up tall and met the Queen's gaze.
"We were just admiring the very thoughtful presents you gave Ember this Christmas." Brown eyes trailed down to the underwear being put on display.
"Why is everyone out here?" Mal asked as she joined the group.
"Oh good, you're just in time to watch me skin a wolf." Regina began to step toward the stairs, but was stopped by Ember gently pulling her back against his body and wrapping his arms around her.
"It's Christmas, my love." He whispered in her ear. She hated to admit that she melted against him.
"Fine, but you owe me."
"You name it, it's yours." Regina turned her head to look up at him. Her eyes lit up.
"You may regret those words."
"Never." He nipped at the flesh just below her ear. Regina chuckled.
"We'll see about that." Just then the doorbell rang and interupted their banter. "That will be Katherine and Fred. I suggest you two go change out of Ember's underwear while I let them in." The two women scampered up the stair while Regina made her way to greet the rest of their guests.
When she opened the door Katherine's smiling face came into view. The blonde was still caught off guard when Regina pulled her into a warm hug.
"Merry Christmas, Katherine." She wrapped her arms around the brunette.
"Merry Christmas, Regina." When Regina's gaze tracked to Fred, she discovered he was hidden behind a large stack of gifts.
"I told you, you didn't have to bring anything."
"Try telling her that. As soon as she got your invite she went on a shopping spree." Katherine's cheeks flushed as Fred tattled on her.
"It's the first time we've really gotten to buy gifts for people other than ourselves. I may have went a little overboard." The blonde shrugged. Regina bit her lip.
"I'm sorry about that, we should have done this much sooner."
"Hey, none of that. You've more than made up for our rocky start. I would have never realized my dream of becoming a lawyer if it weren't for you. Now I'm proud to call you my best friend." Katherine smiled softly at her. Regina returned the smile before stepping back.
"Come in, come in." She motioned for the pair to enter the mansion.
"Freddy, let me help you out there, buddy." Ember stepped across the foyer to relieve the man of half the boxes he was buried under.
"Thanks."
"No problem. Follow me, we can deposit these in the living room. Henry should make quick work of sorting them out." Together the two men left the foyer.
"Would you like to join me in the kitchen while I get dinner preparations underway?" Katherine slipped her hand through Regina's arm and grinned.
"I would love nothing more."
~~E+R~~
A few hours later they were all seated around the table. Regina looked at all of the faces that made up their family. Never in a million years would she have guessed that this group of people would become such an integral part of her own happy ending. Her mind wandered to the little one growing in her belly and was thankful that she would be surrounded with the love that overflowed their home. The sound of chair legs scraping on the floor pulled her from her thoughts and brought her attention to her mate, rising from his chair. Ember cleared his throat.
"Before we all dig in to this wonderful meal I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of you. The past few months have been quite a whirlwind for me. One that I'm not sure I would have made it through if it weren't for all of the people here today." He swallowed as his emotions constricted his throat. "Thank you for accepting me, the real me, and...well...just thank you." He sat back down. Regina placed her hand on his thigh in a show of support and sent as much love down their connection as she could. He gave her a grateful smile.
Mal leaned over and kissed her son on the cheek, then repeated the action with her daughter who sat on the other side of her.
"I'm so happy that I get to have both my children with me for our first Christmas together as a family." Mal had tears forming in her eyes. Ember covered her hand with his on top of the table.
"Love you, Mama." He smiled.
"Love you, Mom." Lily added. Mal wiped her eyes, she really had turned in to a sentimental dragon over the last few month.
"Love you, Grandma!" Henry added with a laugh. The rest of the table joined him as Mal waved the attention off. Katherine cleared her throat next.
"I'm glad to have my friend back, as well as, a new group of people to call family." Being a man of few words Fred raised his glass and seconded the thought.
"I wasn't aware that we were going to make speeches, but I guess I'll go next." Ruby spoke up from beside Lily. "I'm happy that Em was zapped by magic all those months ago and was finally able to be his true self..."
"Aww...Rubes...I'm..."
"...because he brought this beautiful woman into my life." Ruby finished with a smirk to Ember who scrunched his face at her, then turned a more sincere smile to Lily.
"Wow, nice to know I was good for something." Ember shot playfully at his friend. Ruby rolled her eyes.
"You're good for lots of things." She grinned at him. "Getting things from the top shelf for instance or lifting heavy objects." Even her quick wolf reflexes weren't enough to stop the roll from hitting her in the face. Ruby snarled and was about to return fire, until Lily held her hand up.
"I'm happy that I've finally found a home where I feel like I belong." Ruby's focus immediately turned to her girlfriend, who she wrapped her arm around.
"I'm happy." Regina said. The table waited expectantly, but when nothing else came after, Ember laced his fingers with hers.
"Anything else to go with that, Regina?"
"I'm just happy. Something that always alluded me is now surrounding me in every way possible. My family and friends are safe and flourishing. Old friends and new have gathered around this table, I never thought I would see the day. And I've found my one true mate. I am happier than I can ever remember being." Ember's eyes traced Regina's face. To him she looked radiant. A new light was apparent in her eyes and a relaxed quality had seeped into her being over the last few months that he could only remember seeing in unguarded moments with Henry. There wasn't anything he wouldn't do to ensure the woman's happiness.
"I love you." He whispered and leaned in for a sweet kiss, that Regina happily returned.
"I'm happy that my parents are together at last. Can we please eat now?" Henry asked with a bit of a whine in his voice. Ember laughed.
"No guessing where he gets his love of food from." He winked at Regina. "Okay everyone dig in." Together the group began to eat the meal that Regina and Katherine had made for them. There was light banter tossed around and conversations flowed with ease between everyone at the table.
When they were all finished, Ember and Fred began to clear the table. Regina tried to help, but was quickly waved away.
"You two slaved over the meal, the least we can do is clean up. Go relax, my dear, we'll be done in no time. Granny should be here by then, just in time for dessert." He wiggled his eyebrows at her. She could not imagine how he would get anymore food into him after the two heaping plates he had just finished. After a quick kiss she wandered to the living room and leaned against the doorway to watch Henry and Lily make quick work of picking up all the discarded wrapping paper and packaging that littered the room. Once that was finished they settled in front of the tv to play one of Henry's new video games. Mal was sandwiched between Fred and Katherine as she showed them the photo album that Lily and Ember had created for her. The dragon was positively beaming with pride, as she enjoyed the opportunity to show someone pictures of her children for the first time. Regina knew that she would have to have a talk about the pregnancy with Maleficent soon, not wanting the woman to share their news prematurely, but that could wait. For now, she was content to stand and watch her family enjoy their time together.
~~E+R~~
Ember and Fred began to methodically wash and dry the dishes. Fred looked at the stack of pans and utensils ahead of them then tilted his head toward Ember.
"Don't you have magic?"
"Yeah, but Regina and Katherine didn't use magic to create this meal, so it's only fair that we clean up the old fashioned way. Don't you think?" He answered as he began to scrub the plates already in the sink. Fred thought for a moment before nodding.
"You're a good man, Ember. Better than me, I have to say. If I could wave my hand and have the dishes done, I'd probably use magic every night." Ember chuckled.
Together they made quick work of the mess and had the kitchen sparkling in no time. Ember dried his hands on the dish towel before he clapped Fred on the back.
"Thanks for the help, Freddy."
"No problem. Now what was this dessert that I heard mention of earlier."
"Regina made homemade apple pie and homemade vanilla ice cream to go with." At that moment the two looked like a pair of little boys who were weighing the consequences of sneaking the sweet treats for themselves. Ember shook his head. "She'd kill us both."
"Right." Fred agreed. "Don't want that, do we?" Ember shook his head. It was then that he heard the door bell ring.
"I've got it." Lily called from the living room. Ember exited the kitchen just as Ruby was coming down the stairs. Her green eyes lit up when they noticed something just across the space. Ember followed her gaze, his eye went wide when he saw what she did. Regina was standing in the threshold of the living room with a sprig of mistletoe hanging above her head. His eyes spun toward Ruby, there was a brief second of silence before the wolf's feet were in motion and she was rushing toward Regina in a supernatural blur.
Ember pushed himself into action and tried to grab a hold of any part of Ruby he could, but came up just shy. Ruby reached his unsuspecting mate and before he could stop her she dipped the Queen and kissed her lips.
Ember growled deep in his chest. His dragon rumbled to the surface. Ruby was lucky that his beast recognized her as part of their pack or she would have been torn to shreds right now. As it were, Ember wanted to flounce the wolf for kissing his pregnant mate in such a way.
"Miss Lucas, what do you think your doing?" Regina exclaim after she was once again on her feet. She was flustered at being caught off guard. Ruby had a smug, satisfied look on her face as she pointed above them to the mistletoe. Another growl sounded from just a few feet away. Regina's gaze locked on florescent greens.
"Woah...I didn't know you could do that, Regina." The brunette's face scrunched in confusion.
"What on Earth are you talking about?" Ruby stepped closer to look at the Queen's eyes.
"You've got this really cool purplely glow going on in your eyes." Regina spun toward the nearby mirror, and sure enough there was a distinct florescent glow to her eyes. It wasn't the first time she had experienced that, but never in such a circumstance as this. Ember was immediately by her side.
"Are you okay?" His concern was palpable. When she turned her gaze toward his, the purple he saw there ignited something inside him. He pulled her close and inhaled her scent. She smelled so much sweeter than normal, he wondered how he didn't sense it before. Regina hummed into his chest and relaxed in his embrace.
"I'm fine, Darling." Ruby stood next to them wringing her hands. Her demeanor was contrite.
"I'm sorry." Regina turned her head to face Ruby, her eyes once more a steady chocolate brown.
"It's okay, pup, you just caught me off guard and it was my own fault for standing under the mistletoe." She pulled back and held her arm out for the wolf to come closer. Ember rolled his eyes at his friend before reaching over and pulling her into a three way embrace.
"Since I can't kiss your girlfriend, I will have to figure out something else to get back at you." He wrapped his long arms around both of them. Ruby sighed, it was only to be expected.
"I deserve that." The wolf began to poke a finger at the chest under her head. "Seriously Regina, how do you cuddle with him? He's like marble." Regina smirked.
"Wouldn't you like to know." She answered in her best smokey voice.
"I think I should go find my girlfriend." The wolf wiggled out of their group hug, just in time to greet Granny who had finally showed up.
Ember released Regina who crossed the landing to greet the older woman with a hug.
"I'm so glad you could make it."
"Are you kidding? My first Christmas with the in-laws, I would have been here sooner, but the meal for the orphans took longer than I expected."
"Well you're here now and that's all that matters." Ember's smile looked strained to Regina, she made a note to talk to him about it later. She lead Granny into the living room, where she was greeted by the rest of the gang, while Regina made her way into the kitchen to get their dessert ready. Her mind wandered to the events of moments ago. She didn't quite understand what happened, one moment she was about to berate the wolf for kissing her in such a fashion, then Ember growled and she felt something stir inside her that was new, but not entirely unfamiliar.
"It was your dragon." Regina's head spun toward the doorway of the kitchen.
"What?" She asked Mal in confusion. The blonde crossed the room and placed her hand on her friends stomach.
"We will need to have a talk about the coming months Regina, and don't worry, I will keep your secret. I don't think the young ones realize that the new scent around you is that of a woman carrying a child. Your secret safe with me." Warm blue eyes met concerned browns. "I'm bursting at the scales with happiness for you and my son. We do, however, need to talk about some of the differences between a normal human pregnancy and that of a human woman carrying a baby dragon." Regina's face filled with worry. Mal immediately stroked her thumb across the fabric covering her stomach. "Nothing bad, I promise. Merely different, but potentially alarming if one is not prepared." Mal winked. "For now lets get dessert out to the masses before Fred marches in here and liberates that pie himself." Regina nodded, still a bit shell shocked at the previous conversation.
"Mal?"
"Yes, dear."
"I..." Regina faltered for a moment and pulled her lip between her teeth. Mal was struck at just how much the woman before her looked like the young woman she had first met. It filled her heart with joy that Regina was finding that part of herself again. "I can do this right?" Maleficent sat the plates down on the counter and stepped close to her friend. She cupped her face in her hands and gave her a wide smile.
"You are one of the strongest people I know. There is nothing that you cannot do. This is no different. It's okay to be scared, dear. The wonderful thing is that you're not alone. In the other room is your family, your pack and your mate. We will all be here every step of the way."