December 23rd, 2012

"I'm worried."

Ruby tilted her head to one side as she regarded Emma Swan, the Sheriff of Storybrooke, Maine. "You're generally worried. You need to have fun more often Sheriff. Now Graham, he knew how to..." She cleared her throat.

Emma winced, "Did Graham sleep with every woman in Storybrooke?"

Ruby shrugged, "We couldn't leave the town. That cuts down on the... partnerships. So, why are you worried?"

Emma shook her head, "There's something... off... about Regina."

"Evil Queen?"

Emma shook her head, "No. I mean, yeah, sure, but the evil queen thing comes across as lashing out and grand plans, and never shutting up, and there's this... pain... in her eyes when she does even the bad things. But I saw her at the Post Office just now, and it's like her eyes are dead."

Ruby went back to arranging glasses. "Yeah, well, took her long enough. Our entire lives would be better if she would have just given up twenty eight years ago, ya know." Ruby shook her head and went over to another customer who had just sat down.

Emma still had a frown on her face though, and muttered to herself, "Yeah, 'cept that those who have nothing to lose are more dangerous." Emma looked up, "Hey, Ruby, you had any contact with her in the last few days? Since we got back?" Emma glanced at the few other Storybrooke citizens in the diner, "Any of you?"

Ruby shook her head, as did the rest of the customers. "Nah. She seems to have finally gotten the message. Hey..." Ruby watched as Emma left a perfectly good cup of coffee on the counter, "You forgot your coffee."

Regina regarded Kerry, who had moved from her chair to the much more comfortable easy chair in the corner. "You did... all that... just so that you could move seats? Bloodied your hands, possibly hurt your children, for comfort? You never tried to escape?"

Kerry met Regina's gaze without blinking, "I did it because I didn't want to be tied up anymore. So, what's next, you cut into me? Threaten me some more? My wife will come for me, and then... you don't want to be here."

Regina had been about to leave the room, but instead she froze and slowly turned back towards Kerry. "Repeat what you just said."

Kerry pointed at Regina, "You need to keep up on your Legendary Figures gossip you know. Now, at the North Pole we have the Tooth Fairy. He's our connection to the grape vine, and he's good, really, really good at getting us the latest gossip too. Of course... you're not really a Legendary Figure, are you, at least not one from this- let's go with world. See, that's the other thing that the North Pole has, quite the library. Elves live a long, long, long time, and when you're barely a teen at 900, well, you get bored, and some of them kept really good journals." Kerry's eyes twinkled although she didn't smile, "I too have gotten bored these past three years, and well. Read some of the journals. Twenty Eight years ago Bernard wrote that suddenly there was more magic in the world. He waited and waited to see if the wielder or wielders would show themselves, but, they never did. And yet, here you are. Trying to get... more... magic." Kerry squinted at Regina, "Yep, big, ugly, purple monster."

Regina did a double take, "Did you just call me Parasite?"

"Did you like how they re-imagined him in the New DC Universe?"

Regina nodded, "I did actually." She shook her head, "So, you think know who I am. You haven't given me a name. And I want to know what you meant by-"

Kerry cut Regina off again, stalling. "In the stories I read as a child she never had a name. Was just the Stepmother. Snow White's Stepmother. The Evil Queen. Not green enough to be Elphie, not... dragon-y enough to be Maleficent."

"You said your wife."

"My wife, Santa Claus."

It looked to Kerry as though Regina was going to say something else, but the doorbell rang, three, then four times in rapid succession. Regina frowned and whirled, practically charging towards the door. It was only when she got to it that she slowed down and glanced in the mirror that was next to the door. Kerry halfway expected her to ask it who the fairest of them all was. Instead she took a deep breath and fixed a bit of her hair, then pulled open the door. "What do you want?"

Kerry couldn't hear the person on the other side of the door, just Regina's part of the conversation, "No... Sheriff, I've been here all day, yes, yesterday as well. Isn't that what you and your... family... want?"

Regina stepped out onto her front porch and Kerry couldn't hear the conversation any longer. She sat back and closed her eyes. Curtis was freaking out, she knew that. He was a great guy, just a little uptight. Bernard was talking him down because Judy had talked him down first. Carol would take off after her, Kerry knew that. Probably take one of the sick reindeer too. Kerry sighed and opened her eyes again, watching the half opened front door. She couldn't figure out what this woman's play was. What was it that she wanted to win?

"We have incoming... again."

Sheriff Jack Carter looked up into the Oregon sky as if he could see whatever it was with his naked eyes already. "What, no SWAT Team Jo? We only get you?"

Jo Lupo, head of GD Security shook her head, "It's... Fargo said it was just a reindeer with a passenger."

Jack gave Jo an incredulous look, "A- flying reindeer?" Jack blew out a breath, "Taggart."

Before Jo could respond the reindeer and its rider landed with a big poof of snow that covered Jack nearly from head to toe

Allison Blake, CMO of GD, joined the duo and brushed the snow off of Jack's head and shoulders, "Keepin' cool?"

"Hilarious..." He shook himself, scattering the snow all over, but mostly on Allison and Jo. "Shall we go say hello?"

Before any of them could move though, Jenna burst past them running towards the reindeer and its rider and nearly ran into the blonde's legs as she dismounted the reindeer. "Santa, Santa, Santa... I've been good, I promise. I promise."

Carol smiled and got down on one knee. She couldn't stand it when her elves, or her relatives called her Santa, but kids like Jenna who did it from their hearts, she didn't mind them. None of them even seemed to wonder why she was a female or didn't have a beard or ask too many other questions. Just one of the many mysteries of being Santa that Carol ran into every day. "You've been good to your brother and sister?"

Jenna nodded, "Yes, yes."

"Do you want something for Christmas?"

Jenna was silent for a moment as Jack, Jo and Allison caught up with her. Then she shrugged, "No, Mommy, Dad, Kevin, and Zoe, and Jo, and Taggart, and... no. I'll get good stuff." She paused, "Can I pet him?"

"Of course. His name is Vixen, and he's a little tired, so, be gentle." Carol picked Jenna up and placed her on Vixen. Jack took a step towards them, but Carol put a hand up, "She'll be fine. He knows better to fly with someone other than me on him. Do you have any..."

Vincent came jogging out from Café Diem. Carrots in one hand, and a steaming mug of something in the other. "Hello, hello. Rasberry Herbal Tea for you, and..."

Jenna's eyes got large, "Ooh, ooh, can I feed him." She had the sense to look at her mom. "Please Mommy?"

Allison was silent for a moment, pondering it, then helped Jenna off of Vixen and together they fed the reindeer a couple of the carrots.

Jo spoke up, "What are you doing here?"

"Trying to get to Maine. But, Vixen, he's not in tip top shape."

Jack still wasn't convinced, "Can't you just... beam... yourself there?"

Carol raised an eyebrow, "That's Star Trek."

Jenna spoke up, "Mommy, I wanna be Santa when I grow up."

Carol's eyes twinkled as she gave Jenna a wink, "I'm going to keep that in mind you know." A bus came to a stop near Carol and Vixen, and Carol climbed back up on the Reindeer. "That's my cue... I think..." She glanced over her shoulder at the bus, "You'll want to see the people on the bus a whole lot more than me..."

She and Vixen took off, and it was only Jenna who watched her go up and up and up. Zoe was the first off the bus, followed by Lexi Carter with her husband and two kids in tow, and then, three young men who were dressed in fatigues and who when she saw them, Jo's mouth dropped open.

On Vixen Carol smiled, then the smile turned into a frown. It was good that the citizens of Eureka were getting to spend Christmas with their families. Carol hoped that she would be able to too.

Down on the ground Jenna pulled at her mother's sleeve, "Mommy, can we name my new baby brother Nicholas?"

"Your last interaction with Regina?"

Mary Margaret put a hand on her daughter's shoulder, "Leave it alone. She's planning something. We'll stop it eventually, but, it's Christmas..."

Emma took a step back, "There's something wrong. Something more than usual. Please. Do you remember you last interaction with Regina?"

Mary Margaret shook her head, "It wasn't any different than usual. I was in Granny's talking to Granny- she came in and got coffee or something. No one spoke past that."

Emma nodded, "This morning?"

"No. Yesterday."

"Thank you."

Emma started to leave, but Mary Margaret stopped her with a hand to her shoulder again. "Please leave this alone Emma."

"I ca-" She paused, "I'll think about it."

"Thank you."

"You've done this before."

Regina had been leaning against the closed front door, staring at something that Kerry couldn't see. She seemed to suddenly realize she'd left the door open. "This?"

"Your voice was steady as you lied-"

"I didn-"

"When you spun your tales."

Regina asked a question of her own, "You could have escaped. Why didn't you?"

"Because I'm a healer and you're very obviously in pain. Oh, and if you hadn't noticed, I'm very pregnant with twins and very much in labor." Kerry groaned.

Regina seemed to hover at the door, as if trying to decide something, and then closed it and Kerry heard the lock click again. Kerry blew out a breath. "Damn-" She put her hand on her belly, "Sorry about the language guys."

"What are they doing here- Lucy, her parents, Charlie, I'm surprised he didn't bring Danielle, and it's almost the twenty fourth and we're still so behind and,.."

Bernard put an arm around Curtis' shoulders, "Take a breath Curtis. Maybe take a music break or a Cocoa break. Hey, at least Carol's parents aren't here-"

Curtis looked one way, then the other as if they were going to materialize from thin air. Then gave Bernard a push, "I need you at QC Bernard."

"Curtis, I'm retir-"

Curtis seemed to have come out of his funk a bit, "No elf is ever retired. It says in the handbook, section seven-"

Bernard quickly cut Curtis off, "QC... I'm going, I'm going."

Another elf came up to Curtis with a clipboard, but Curtis did look up after a moment and shouted, "Thank you."

A dark curly haired woman leaned against a one of the supports of a giant Warehouse looking structure. She had needed to get away from the Warehouse for a moment, get away from helpful Pete, concerned Artie, trying to help Claudia. When she was in there she could even feel Mrs. Fredric hovering somewhere just out of sight.

Christmas always seemed to be complicated at the Warehouse and she wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or a bad one. It definitely kept them busy though, and anything that kept her mind off the fact that HG was who knows where, was a good thing. She missed the former Agent. A lot.

There was a sound that seemed to come from the sky. The football didn't make that sound. It almost sounded like an animal.

Then there was a voice that was seemingly coming from nowhere and everywhere. "Get down, get down."

The curly haired woman hit the ground and just in time as something hit the back of her head, causing her to see stars.

There was a crash, followed by the start of a swear. After a moment she rolled to one side and blinked in surprise. A reindeer had kicked her in the head and... apparently a blonde woman in a winter coat had been riding it, "Ah-" The dark haired woman put a hand to her head, "Are you okay?"

The blonde woman groaned, "Yeah, yes-" She crawled over to the animal and seemed to be speaking to him in a low voice.

When the dark haired woman approached the two, the blonde stood. "Do you happen to have a first aid kit Myka?"

Myka stood perfectly still for a moment, questions chasing each other through her mind. How did the woman know her name? Who was the woman? Why was she on a reindeer? How was the reindeer flying? Why wasn't she astounded by the Warehouse? But Myka asked none of them. "Sure, I'll be right back... ah?"

"Carol. My name's Carol."

As Myka headed towards the Warehouse Carol finally gazed up towards the Warehouse. "I can feel the power in there." She shivered, then tilted her head to one side, "And I smell fudge."

She shook her head as Myka got back to her with the white kit with a red plus on it. Carol carefully cleaned and patched up Vixen, then stood and helped Vixen stand as well. "Thank you."

Myka, not usually one to be stunned into silence realized that she hadn't said anything since she'd gotten the first aid kit. "You're welcome. Is there-"

Myka had her phone halfway out, though she realized she wasn't sure who she'd call. Carol simply put a hand over the phone. "Just- call her."

Myka frowned as Carol climbed back onto the reindeer and they took off. Into the air. Myka shouldn't have been surprised, and her rational brain was trying to reassure the rest of her brain that it was probably some artifact, that right at that moment Artie was getting a ping inside the Warehouse for right in front of the Warehouse. But, the not so logical part of her brain, it was just repeating the word, 'wow' over and over.

Still, she got a bigger surprise when she looked down at her phone's screen. No one was supposed to know how to get in contact with Helena. Maybe Mrs. Fredric knew, but, everyone else was in the dark about what mission she had gone on, and where she had travelled to. But, there it was, a new number on Myka's phone. And right above the number, the name Helena G. Wells. Her eyes went up to the sky, but the reindeer and its rider seemed to be gone.

She looked back down at the phone and before she could think too much she hit the call button. A surprised voice answered, "Myka?"

"Helena- hi- I just." Myka trailed off, "No, that's a lie, there was nothing just about my worry, about my missing you. How are you doing?"

Willow smiled. She was cold. Hovering around freezing, but, she was happy and that had been a rare event recently. It always seemed as though she was fighting, either her internal demons or external ones.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when from almost out of nowhere a deer with someone on it appeared in her backyard. She sat up straighter and frowned, "Hello?"

The woman who was on the deer nearly stumbled as she got off the reindeer and Willow got to her side just in time to catch her. "You don't look so hot. Come inside."

"Vixen..."

"She'll..."

"He..."

Willow frowned at that. "Really, you shouldn't name a male animal Vixen. It's just wrong unless you're... oh..." Willow shook her head, "We need to get you inside. Did you have a fight or something?"

Carol put her hand to her forehead and came away with blood, "Ah... bad cloud. Maybe lightning."

Willow glanced towards Vixen, "I'll come check on him later, first, you're going to get a nice scooby band-aid."

Carol frowned, "Scooby Doo?"

Willow sighed as they crossed the threshold into her house, "Yeah, my friend Xander's idea of a funny Solistice gift. For just in case we didn't make it through the Apocolypse."

To Willow's surprise Carol laughed just a bit. "Thank you."

"Yeah, I may be formerly Jewish and now Wiccan, but... I'm also a pretty darn powerful witch, and I know Santa when I see her. By the by, very awesomely cool, Santa's a woman."