Hello! Here's another chapter. Thank you for following, your favs, and reviews. I appreciate them all. Enjoy this nice, long one!

"Can you believe that when we wake up it's going to be Christmas Eve?" Regina laughed at the bright-eyed expression Emma was giving her, which she could make out through the dim light of the window.

"We'd need to actually go to sleep in order to wake up on Christmas Eve, would we not?" Regina asked. She loved these moments in the dark. The scent of Emma filled her senses and changed the scent of her bed. She could feel the other woman's legs entangled with her own as they lay in the dark. Emma's arm was wrapped lightly but protectively around her waist and had been dipping under the silk of her pajamas to stroke the warm skin beneath. Regina's hand sat on Emma's neck and she slowly stroked the blonde curls away from her face.

"Very true, but when I feel how I feel I can't sleep."

Regina smiled, "And how is it that you feel?"

Emma paused, searching for the right words. "I was never one to look forward to Christmas, Regina. It was just a day where I saw happy families being happy, and I received a gift labeled, 'Girl' for whatever age I was. I don't mean to sound ungrateful because some of the gifts were great and I know it's not supposed to even be about the gifts…but when you don't have a home, Christmas is just really damn lonely. For the first time, I feel excited about it. Not because I'm trying to say this is my home or anything, but I can see that it's Henry's. Knowing he's here with you and that you've given him a home makes up for so much."

Regina felt a tear rolling down her cheek and was unsurprised when she heard a muffled sniffle from Emma into her pillow. Despite the tears, Regina leaned in and pulled Emma as close as she could and kissed her with all of the emotion she could. "Emma Swan, you are amazing, and I'm so thankful that you brought Henry to me. This Christmas is as much yours as it is his. Ugh, look at us. We're a mess." Regina released a watery laugh, and wiped the tears from Emma's face as well as her own. "To be honest, Emma, this is the first Christmas I've looked forward to in a long time. Since my father was alive. This is the first time I've had a tree since then, or even company I enjoy in this house. Christmases in Boston were fine, but you're right. I realize now how alone I felt, because I feel so very not alone when I'm here with you."

Emma smiled and responded as Regina had by kissing her again.

Regina, feeling light as ever, pulled away and laughed at Emma's groan of annoyance and attempt to keep their lips together.

"Did you always want to be a social worker?" Regina asked. Emma returned to stroking Regina's back and ignored the impulse to stop talking and use her mouth to make Regina breathless. Something told her Regina wanted to talk tonight.

"It was sort of something that I felt pulled to. I figured I could do more from within, if that makes sense. I can read people pretty well, I think a lot of that comes from my past. I don't know that I'm doing it right, or if there's even a right way…I've wondered lately if it's the right path for me. I don't want to wind up thinking of kids as files."

"Certainly that idiot Brooks was doing it the wrong way. You must know you're really great at your job, Emma. Somehow you found Henry and you found me and I mean, it seems like for you it's instinctual. I can only imagine the other people you could help, if you wanted to. But you shouldn't feel forced to do anything. You're pretty great and you're probably good at everything you try." Regina wondered if Emma could hear the insinuation in her voice and laughed when she could see the unmistakable smirk grace the woman's features.

"What about you? Did you always want to work in the mayor's office?" Emma asked.

"To be honest, lately, I've been thinking about making some changes." Emma could hear hesitation in Regina's voice.

"Oh?" Regina thought about what had been on her mind, one of her dreams, and contemplated telling Emma. As this point, Emma was probably the only person she truly trusted. And she knew she would be honest about it.

"I've been contemplating running for mayor of Storybrooke in the upcoming election…" It hung in the air for what felt like an eternity to Regina, but Emma processed it and responded.

"Regina, I think you'd be an amazing mayor of Storybrooke."

"Seriously? I'm not so sure. I think I'd be good at it, but then again, so many people would be relying on me, emotionally, socially…"

"God Regina, you have to do it. You practically do that dinosaur's job already, don't you? You've been here for so long, people respect you. You love this town. And I think it would give people a chance to get to know you a bit better too. I think it's a great idea."

"I was a bit worried, what if Henry doesn't approve? I mean my hours would certainly change. What if I couldn't be a good mother to him?"

"If I've seen anything from Henry it's that he wants you to be happy. And Regina no matter what, I know you are a great mother to him. Plus you don't know that you're going to be elected, but you have to try. If you do get elected, you'll cross that bridge when you get to it. If it matters to you, do it."

Regina marveled at the butterflies that had made their way into her stomach at the concept of her being Mayor Regina Mills. I really could do it, couldn't I?

"I'd have some incredibly interesting meetings in this busy metropolitan, don't you think?" Regina smiled.

"Madame Mayor, someone has called a noise disturbance…from your office…" Emma mocked, laughing as her hands found a sensitive spot on Regina's abdomen causing her to twitch and start to wriggle, attempting and failing to muffle the laughter that was escaping. Enjoying the power, Emma climbed on top of her so she couldn't move from her grasp and continued the onslaught, but moved her mouth to Regina's neck, loving how the laughter became a sharp intake of breath. "We wanted to make sure everything was okay…we saw Emma go in there, and we thought we heard moaning, and even screaming."

Regina had a strange laughing and moaning response to the suggestion that Emma could make her lose herself so much she screamed. She would have been surprised at how quickly the mood had changed, but then again she knew the woman above her and how talented she was with her hands. Before she knew it, her skin held a familiar heat and the ache between her legs pulsed, a constant reminder. She watched as Emma's mouth descended her body, following the buttons she undid with her mouth and hooking her hands on the waistband of the matching silk pants.

"I thought of a new way to help us fall asleep…which is much more enjoyable with company." Emma mischievously smiled as she pulled Regina's pants all the way down and Regina felt her center pulse even more with the thought of Emma staying low on her body. What would her mouth feel like…there? When Emma returned to her level Regina crushed the minor disappointment she felt by the new intensity in Emma's kiss. The blonde pulled away just enough to tease, and Regina pulled her back down. When they were breathless, Emma moved up again, and said the words that were on her mind.

"Regina, I want to…I want to taste you." Emma could hardly believe the words that came out of her mouth, and Regina was equally as surprised. She felt her mouth go dry at the thought of it.

"I trust you, Emma." Regina's eyes met Emma's and the pounding of her heart reminded her that she was alive and in the moment and didn't need to think beyond the fact that she did trust Emma. She trusted her with her body, with her secrets, and maybe even with her heart.

Mustering her courage and using her nerves as fuel, Emma moved back down Regina's body and disposed of her underwear. She attached her lips to her calf, the side of her knee, and the inside of her thigh lightly brushing her teeth, and repeated it on the other leg, but sucked to leave a slight mark on the inside of her upper thigh. Emma enjoyed knowing that Regina would see it and think of her. Regina felt her hips jerk unconsciously and couldn't stand Emma being so close without contact.

Emma felt Regina's hand slide through her hair and was slightly surprised when she felt it stop and urge her towards the long-evaded area. The fact that Regina was getting impatient turned her on more than it should have, but then she couldn't think of anything but what was in front of her. The smell of Regina's sex aroused her, and she hesitantly touched her tongue along the line and watched the shiver run through Regina's body, moaning at the woman's taste on her tongue.

With slightly more force, she trailed her tongue again and felt the response when she hit Regina's bud, so she focused her attention there, sucking and breathing and involuntarily moaning at the response she could feel beneath her. She moved a hand from around Regina's thigh and entered her with one finger slowly, continuously, while never letting up with her tongue. Feeling Regina's building orgasm from here was entirely different from seeing it on her face, and Emma desperately continued when she felt Regina's hands, one still in her hair pushing her onwards, and the other, tightly laced with Emma's own hand and squeezing tighter.

She moved her mouth and her hand with Regina's now thrusting hips and raised her eyes to see her in the moonlit room. Emma marveled at the peaks of her nipples hard against the cold air and her arching back, and saw that she had grabbed one of her pillows to muffle the now incontrollable moans coming from her mouth. Emma closed her eyes and persisted as she felt Regina's walls closing in on her hand and the sudden stop of movement leading to Regina coming apart beneath her. Emma brought all she could from her and knew when the hand that had been squeezing hers was attempting to pat hers, she wiped her glistening face on her old t-shirt and crawled back up Regina's stunned body.

"Oh…I d..mm." Regina managed. That had been a lot clearer in her head.

"I'm going to take that response as a job well done." Emma smiled at the relaxed look on Regina's face. Regina sighed in contentment and eyes shut, reached to Emma's vicinity to pull her mouth in. Emma laughed at the motion and gently pressed her mouth to Regina's, but was quickly involved in another deep kiss.

"God, I can taste myself on your lips…" Regina breathed when they stopped. Emma thought she might come just from those words in the tone that killed her. Regina, filled with newfound energy rolled herself on top of Emma.

"You need to feel as good as I just felt." Regina was already pulling Emma's shirt off and attaching her mouth to any skin she could find.

"Regina, you don't have to if you're not ready. What we've done until now is more than enough."

Regina smiled down at the blonde beneath her. Have I ever seen her do something selfish? She wondered. "What just occurred between us, Miss Swan, was something we did together. And I want you to feel the same way. I'm ready for this. You on the other hand, may not be." Emma groaned at Regina's words. There was something ridiculously attractive about a determined Regina.

With far less preamble then Emma, Regina ridded Emma of her clothing and brought her mouth straight to the woman's throbbing center. The lack of hesitation struck Emma hard and she was already climbing when she felt Regina stop.

"Not so fast, Miss Swan." She brought her mouth back down, she didn't want to tease too badly, but continued her exploration much more slowly. Emma's uneven breathing and thrusting hips told her to continue. Emma was so wet, and was only becoming more so, and Regina marveled at the response, barely believing that she was causing this strong, independent, woman to become putty. Emma's taste was different from her own, and certainly not unpleasant. Regina felt her start to break when she swept her pointed tongue over her unloved bud and held herself there for Emma to ride out the long wave. Regina smiled satisfactorily and kissed the thigh that had just been tightly against her ear and was now lying uselessly on the bed.

"I'm not ready to think thoughts yet," Emma murmured into Regina's neck. "Come lay with me."

Regina managed to settle beside the deadweight woman and felt the beginning aftermath in her own limbs. She pulled her in and they slept dreamlessly until the morning.

Regina stretched, loving how it felt to wake up with Emma with her limbs feeling gloriously heavy.

"Morning." Regina said.

"Mm." Emma muttered. Regina watched as recognition came over Emma's half-asleep face. "It's Christmas Eve morning. Which makes it Christmas tomorrow! Let's get up we have so much to do!"

"0-60 pretty quickly there Emma," Regina laughed. She would be content to take just 5 more minutes in this quiet bliss before going out and braving the town where the grocery store would be permanently busy and the store shelves would be cleared out. She was happy that she had already purchased and wrapped all of her presents in advance, save one.

"Come on, let's go!" Emma practically jumped out of the bed and ran to the ensuite. Regina heard her start the shower and decided if she couldn't lay in bed for a bit longer, she could wake up properly in the shower with her girlfriend.

"So what's the plan for today?" Henry asked avidly as the three of them ate their breakfast. Emma watched as Regina cradled her coffee in her hands and sipped, her brain drifting as she remembered where that mouth had been just a few hours ago, and where those hands had been less than an hour ago.

"Emma? What do you think we should do today?" Emma looked up at Regina to see that she had been caught fantasizing…remembering, but did her best to recover and stay on track for Henry's sake, despite his mother's serious skills in the bedroom…and shower.

"Um, well I actually thought maybe we could go skating in the square before we get the rest of those groceries you need, Regina. Maybe we can stop in and see the progress on my apartment?"

"That sounds good, Emma. Henry why don't you finish up and get your scarf so when we go skating you don't catch a chill?" Emma enjoyed watching Regina delegate. As Henry stood, he hesitated in the doorway.

"Um… I've never gone skating before. There were never any skates my size and most of the time we just didn't go… Do you think you could teach me?"

Regina looked to Emma and said, "Emma would love to teach you, I'm sure. I wasn't allowed to skate growing up and due to a few falls when I attempted it in college, I will gladly watch from a rink-side bench and cheer you on." She smiled.

Emma decided that she would one day teach Regina how to skate, it was a necessary life skill in her opinion, but that she'd let it slide today. Henry accepted her answer and went to find his scarf. Emma brought some of the dishes to the sink where Regina was rinsing.

"Was someone daydreaming this morning?" Regina asked knowingly.

"Only about my wonderful girlfriend. She does this amazing thing with her tongue… you should meet her." Emma laughed as Regina whirled around and smacked her with the towel that had been over her shoulder.

"Very funny, Miss Swan. I hope you fall on your ass while skating today." She laughed as Emma kissed her cheek and left the kitchen to prepare for their day.

As the tired trio entered the mansion, post-excursions, Emma and Henry slumped on the couch identically.

"That was so much fun, Emma. Thanks for teaching me." Henry said. Emma had been impressed with how quickly he had caught the hang of skating, even in the shitty rental skates.

She and Regina had particularly enjoyed watching him assist the Johnson's youngest who was barely managing to stay up more than a few seconds and falling on her very padded snow-suit-covered bottom. As he guided her around the ice and held her hands, celebrating when she succeeded, Regina had allowed a tiny thought cross her mind. I bet he would be a wonderful big brother. I wonder if I could do that for him. She had come back to earth when Emma had sat beside her holding out hot chocolate with a slight hint of peppermint. Or Christmas in a cup as Emma had called it.

The duo looked up curiously at Regina who had yet to sit down.

"You know, you two, I actually have one more thing I need to check on…pick up. But I know you're tired so I'll let you two stay here okay. I wont be long." She went to them, stroked Henry's hair and waved, and quickly was out of the house once again.

"Best 2/3 Mario Kart? Winner has to get food." Emma said.

"You're on!" Henry exclaimed as they shook on it.

As they played, Emma slowed down just enough to let Henry win, not that she would admit that. It had all been a clever ploy to get him to go to the kitchen. Midway through race one, he started talking, and she realized that it was another one of those moments where he felt safe and everything sort of just tumbled out.

"I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. Life here with Regina is so great, and having you around so much has been pretty awesome too. I can't wait to give you guys your gifts. I'm kind of nervous but I think you'll like them. I've only ever looked forward to one other Christmas: at the third house. They actually called me their son and everything. It was a nice Christmas, but when they found out they could adopt a baby, and they only wanted one kid they sent me away. But that year I had a huge turkey dinner and even though I slept on their couch bed, I thought that was better because maybe I'd see Santa. That was back when I believed in him. But tomorrow's gonna be great. And even if Regina decides that she wants a baby, I'm never going to forget what she's done for me. Can you tell her that?"

Emma processed all of what she had just heard, and responded to him as he was waiting for a response, "I think you should tell her that. She'd love to hear it. And also, you just won."

"Ha! Look at that, that means you're getting the food!" Henry clearly hadn't realized the trick in her wording.

"Actually, Hen, I said winner gets the food. Which means you."

"You tricked me!" He said, shocked. "Well next time...next time those aren't the stakes!" He said as he walked into the kitchen.

Emma was watching the pictures flashing across the screen with the repetitive music only just starting to get annoying and she looked over at the tree, sparkling in the darkened room. It really was pretty ugly, but it was them, which made it beautiful. Her relaxed mood changed immediately when she heard the sound of shattering glass in the kitchen.

"Henry? Henry!" Emma sprinted to the kitchen to see blood dripping from him arm and a look of guilt and fear on his face with glass shattered all around him. Focused on not stepping on glass, Emma made her way to him and brought him to the sink, soothing and calming him with her words.

"it's alright Henry, see look its just a tiny gash. It won't even scar. Here, keep pressure on it okay? You need to breathe, Hen."

"I broke one of her wine glasses…I don't want to leave here Emma, please don't make me leave."

Neither of them had noticed Regina enter the home and stand in the doorway of the kitchen, stunned. She watched the scene before her, and stroked the scar along her palm. The glass and droplets of blood sitting loudly on the white floor were all too familiar. When she looked up, she was brought back to the present. This was Henry, and Emma, and he was her son. She was not her mother. Because she still had shoes on, she walked across the floor straight through the glass and brought Henry into a tight embrace which he returned with intensity.

"Henry, what I care about is if you're alright. I see that Emma has helped you clean that scar."

"Regina I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to break your glass, I was just trying to reach behind it and I didn't see it and I couldn't catch it."

"Henry," Regina said firmly, holding the boy and forcing him to look at her. "You could break every glass in this kitchen and I would still make sure you were going to be here. You will be here as long as I can have you." She pulled him back into a tight embrace and Emma suddenly felt very out of place. Until she saw Regina extend a hand to her, to pull her into their embrace. She carefully and awkwardly made her way to them and nodded as she watched Regina mouth the words "thank you."

"What did you go out to get Regina?" Emma asked as they set up the gifts under the tree. Regina had put on some classic Christmas music, though Emma had no idea where the speakers were around the room, and Henry had been calmed and bandaged. Ultimately, his cut really wasn't that bad and when he had gone to bed, they had gotten to work.

"Emma, I need to maintain some mystery. Would you just let it be a surprise?" Regina pulled the arm of the blonde who had been focused on something else and turned her around, pulling her into an embrace. "God, you're beautiful Emma. If I died right now, I couldn't be happier than I am. My son is sleeping upstairs, after a minor scare, and you took such good care of him. Now I get to stand here with you, beside our ugly tree, and kiss you on the stroke of midnight. This is really the best Christmas ever." She smiled. She was feeling so much more sentimental than she was used to.

"You think that telling me such pretty words is going to distract me from wondering what that gift is?" Emma leaned in and kissed Regina, loving how it felt to smile against her mouth.

"Maybe these ones will. I was hesitating before but…it's Christmas. I'm falling for you, Emma, hard." Regina looked at her, suddenly immensely more nervous than she had been a moment ago.

"…This really is the best Christmas ever," Emma smiled. "And I'm falling for you too, Regina. It's been a pretty fast few months, but I can't wait to see what happens next. I know that I want to know everything about you, and share everything with you." She intertwined their hands and stroked her thumbs over Regina's palms. Feeling a slight bump, Emma took her hand and studied what she could now see was once a very deep scar across her palm. She stayed quiet so to not break the mood that they had created and barely above a whisper asked, "how did you get this?"

"I cut it on glass in my kitchen when I was a young girl." Regina thought that was probably the easiest way to sum it up, but knew that Emma could read her more deeply than she gave away.

"This has to do with your mother, doesn't it? A cut that big should have been stitched…is this why you went so white today when Henry got cut?"

Regina shook her head and smiled, "How do you see all of this Emma?"

"Because I see you," she said simply. "What happened?"

Regina relayed the story that she so often relived in her nightmares and loved the way that Emma listened, responded, and moved forward so easily. She just understood.

Emma, having heard the story behind the scar had a sadness in her for Regina and for that young girl. She stroked the scar with her thumb and looked to her as they sat closely on the couch. "This scar should be a constant reminder of how strong you are, and how hard you fight for what you deserve. It is what I will always think of when I see it."

Like some kind of movie, Regina's clock chimed 12 and they looked at each other.

"Merry Christmas, Regina."

"Merry Christmas, Emma."

Their lips came together naturally, and they rang in Christmas in the best way either of them could think of.