"Fa la la la la la la la la."
Cora and Henry lifted their heads up at the oddity developing so early in the morning. Henry's wide eyes asked a question to Cora's narrowed ones as they heard the low hums before another outburst of-
"Fa la la la la la la la la."
"Well", Cora finally said, "your mother seems to be in a very good mood this morning."
Henry chuckled as he nodded distractedly, his attention still on his mother's singing.
"She has such a beautiful voice", Cora observed quietly. The surprise in her tone caught Henry off-guard.
"You haven't heard her sing before?" the boy said, not able to withhold his own surprise.
"Well", Cora's head bobbed between the table and the wall behind Henry, "We never, I mean..."
The young boy sucked his lower lip as he traced the now-empty plate along its outer edge. "She used to sing to me all the time when I was younger", he said in a small voice, "tried to get me interested in singing but I never bothered."
They both looked away then, their faces crumbling under the weight of their emotions. For Cora and Henry, talking about Regina was always a painful experience. One would learn to lament the loss of something they could have had and the other would learn to regret not cherishing something they'd easily overlooked.
Regina entered the dining room with a plate of extra helping of breakfast blissfully unaware, wearing a smile so beautiful that the other two couldn't help but return it.
Cora nudged her grandson under the table as she spoke to him, "It's such a horrid morning, right boy?"
Regina's eyes widened when she heard Henry's assent.
Her hands almost slammed the plate on the table, "Nonsense, it's a beautiful morning. So lovely that I think it would be a crime to waste it. We should make use of it."
Henry chuckled as he quickly transferred one pancake to his plate, "But what about your special dinner?"
"Well if I proceed as planned, we would be able to leave by lunch time." Regina grinned but tried to sedate it when Cora looked at her strangely. Thankfully, Henry caught a part of her enthusiasm as he piped up, "We can go ice-skating. Everyone keeps talking about it. Mom?"
Regina and Henry had never gone ice-skating before but she was too wired to say no to anything.
On receiving the nod from his mom, Henry tried to persuade his grandmother who found the idea of walking on ice for fun appalling.
"Come on nana, it will be fun. I can teach you." Cora still looked unsure but Henry coaxed her into it using his puppy dog eyes. Cora had no choice on seeing the twin expectant faces and finally agreed.
Regina clapped her hands into a clasp excitedly, "Done then. Henry, go call your mother. Tell her not to be late." She made way to the kitchen, humming, to get another plate for herself. Henry was about to punch in his mother's phone number when Cora asked, "Why?"
"Oops", Henry thought as he looked at his mother frozen to her spot outside the dining room.
Regina turned slowly, her mind still in thought, but as soon as her eyes met her son's concerned ones she blurted out, "Henry!"
Henry tried not to look confused as she stepped inside, "Henry wants to spend Christmas day with both his mothers."
Catching the drift he nodded, "Uh yeah, yes nana, even though we've never celebrated Christmas until today, I really do want to spend it with Ma too."
Regina glared at her son who was trying to hide his face behind the phone. But for Cora, this added another reason to not go gallivanting on top of a frozen lake, "Oh but your car is in the shop, you said so yourself. We will all just have to stay in. Oh pity."
Regina sighed as she crossed her arms, "The sheriff has a car too, mother."
"That yellow monstrosity", the older woman scoffed, "it's a, it looks like a-"
"Death trap", Henry laughed out and Cora's eyes twinkled.
"Exactly."
Regina bristled between the two, her hands straightening the apron she wore again and again, "It's not", Regina sucked in a huge breath, gulping it down with difficulty, "it's not that bad mother."
Henry, melodramatic son of hers, turned slowly, his eyes and mouth forming three perfect circles.
Cora looked physically ill on hearing Regina, "But it's so yellow."
"Some people might find it endearing." Regina said, trying to keep a straight face and trying to avoid Henry's eyes.
"If you say so darling. Thank you for breakfast, I'll be upstairs."
Regina waited for Cora to leave and her hand was instantly on Henry's mouth.
"Not a word. If you say anything about this conversation to your mother", she frowned thinking over it for a moment, "no pancakes young man. And I mean forever."
Henry scowled, removing her hand, "That's not fair."
Regina grinned as she spun around on her heel, waving her hand frivolously, "I know."
Henry grumbled as he reached for the receiver but it was hard to stay angry when he heard his mother's voice singing again.
"So she's been smiling like a maniac the whole morning?"
"She kissed Snow on the cheek before leaving."
Red gasped and she and David resumed what they'd been doing for the last five minutes: staring at the saviour. Emma's smile never faltered as her pen rolled over the paper, her head shaking to a secret tune known only to the sheriff. Switching jobs had created a mountain of formalities which Emma wanted to complete as soon as she could. There was also a matter of filling the vacancy she was creating, but there were already a couple of people in her mind regarding the same.
The station phone rang and two sets of mirth-filled eyes watched as Emma grinned at the phone before picking it up.
"Season's greetings from the police department of Storybrooke. This is Sheriff Emma Swan."
"Oh fuck me", Red scoffed, "Has she ever said good morning to you?"
"-we serve to protect-"
"Most days she lets it ring till I have to come over there and pick it up myself."
"-that sounds lovely kid -"
"I always have to ask first if I got the number right."
"-sounds awesome, I'll be there in an hour-"
"One time she picked up the phone and grunted. Just grunted."
A paper ball hit square on David's face breaking apart the small hurdle. They both sat upright trying to look candid as Emma glowered.
"So-orry if I have the Christmas spirit."
"What spirit?" David asked perturbed making Red elbow him, "Better call Henry, he knows how to handle spirits."
"Ha-ha, you know what", she got up from her seat, "fuck you, both of you. I'm still the sheriff and I'm taking the day off to spend it with my son."
David and Red burst into laughter as she exited grumbling.
The former prince wiped his face stifling his laugh, "So Red, how much do I owe you?"
"Chicken Wrap, that's 5.50."
David's eyebrows rose as he fished out his wallet, "Excuse me?"
"Yea, Regina pointed out the flaw of our 1980's business model yesterday so you know", she shrugged.
"Can't you ask granny to change the 1980's menu then, add a couple of new things?"
"Sure. And you'll have about three minutes to run before granny finds you with her crossbow."
David nodded solemnly as he handed over the money, "Thanks again, have a good day."
"And you sire", Red waved as she left the station.
David eyed his sandwich wearily before he pushed it aside to finish his paperwork.
"Mom, Emma is outside. Should I call her in?" Henry shouted as he sprinted to the kitchen.
"Please no shouting Henry", Regina chided as she looked over her shoulder, "No need to call her, you take nana out. I'll just fill the flasks and clean up."
Henry and Cora went up to the yellow car. Cora had many questions about this activity and Henry was eager to answer them all. Emma flashed a smile from inside gesturing him to get seated.
Henry frowned when he opened the door, "What's all this stuff Ma?"
"Oh shoot. Hold on kid."
She got out and took the files to keep them in the trunk. She dusted off her hands after closing the hood, "Sorry kid, I thought there would only be the three of us."
Cora arched an eyebrow as she eyed the sheriff warily, "So did I dear."
Ignoring the glare, she spoke to Henry, "Kid, I'll just see if your mom needs help."
As she turned, her mood brightened as she forgot about the older Mills and concentrated on the younger one. Emma skipped over the garden path, smiling as visions of last night flashed her mind. All the kisses, all the touches. She'd been in a relationship once, she'd had sex way more than once, but after her first time with Regina, she'd basically declared herself useless for anyone else. Ever.
Emma quietly opened the door and followed the low hums to the kitchen. Regina was gliding around, her hands dancing on the counter-top in sync with her voice. For a moment all she could do was stare at her, teetering on the door like a love-sick teenager. She finally cleared her throat as she stepped inside.
"Hey."
Regina jumped at the sound, turning back. She leaned forward but her fingers were curled around the counter ledge holding her back. Emma smiled bashfully as she walked towards her, "I wish I'd woken up next to you today."
Regina smiled as she looked down, her body leaning back to the counter, "Well you know, mother gets up really early now, and-" if there was a colour that Emma had come to love on Regina, it was the red on her cheeks, "- I'll just finish this and we can be on our way."
When Regina looked up, she noted how close Emma was. Grinning, she pecked her on the lips, just a touch that made Emma lean forward. Smirking, Regina turned slowly on her heel, getting back to her work.
"Ok", Emma breathed into her ear as she hovered behind, "But can you do me a favour?"
Regina's hands fastened the lid as she hummed, feeling Emma come closer still.
"Can you stop?"
Her hands stilled as she felt Emma's hands removing her hair from her left ear, fingers tracing her neck and slowly trailing over the entire arm.
"What?" her voice came out breathy.
"Taking over my mind", the husky answer came as she pressed into the brunette.
"I can still feel you Regina, around me", her lips pressed into her neck making Regina's eyes flutter shut.
"Inside me", her hands went down and wound themselves around her waist, holding her, pulling her closer and closer.
"I can't stop thinking about you."
Regina's body shuddered as Emma pulled her away from the counter, only to push them both back again, Regina's hands bracing themselves as she gasped, "Emma."
Emma suddenly felt herself being shoved away by Regina, who took the chance to turn and grab Emma by her coat. Lips crashed onto each other, fingers weaved through each other's hair. Yesterday a hunger had been awoken which was unlikely to be sated any time soon. Emma tried to lift her onto the counter-top but it was proving to be difficult since Regina was trying to climb over her body instead. Regina's one leg had just hooked itself over Emma's hip when a sharp sound of horn brought them out of their lust filled haze. Heaving with their foreheads pressed together, they remained tethered to each other till another series of short blasts of horn reached their ears. Regina chuckled as she unwrapped herself from Emma, her hands automatically combing the mess she had made of Emma's hair, "I think our son suspects foul play."
Emma squirmed away from Regina laughing, straightening her coat, "Yeah, shit. My bad I guess."
Regina smiled as she slowly playfully pushed Emma farther away from her and then turned to clean the table. Emma tried helping her, but her eyes slipped shut when her mind finally paid attention to the aroma that was ruling the kitchen.
She asked Regina who was wiping her hands on the towel, "What's all this, you're expecting people?"
"No I was thinking, I mean I was going to ask you, if", Regina smiled, "if you could come over and we could have a Christmas dinner tonight."
She carried two empty casseroles to store in the upper cupboard, "I know it's not the Christmas you wanted with the tree and decorations and every corner lit up. But I was searching online and this was something I knew I could pull off. I've made plum pudding and ginger bread and there's the Christmas ham resting in the ov-" Regina's hands were still on the overhead compartment when Emma tackled her into a sideways hug, her head tucked behind Regina's shoulder.
"Emma?"
"Just-" Emma said as she tightened her hands. Regina tried to turn Emma into a proper embrace but the blonde had a death grip on her. She ultimately just leaned with her cheek on Emma's head, her hand bent at an awkward angle above her own head as she tried to stroke the straight yellow hair cascading over her shoulder. Emma took in a shaky breath and with a loud cough broke away, rushing out of the kitchen with the two tall flasks before Regina could say anything. The woman just smiled hoping she could give Emma a good Christmas after a long string of lonely ones.
"Honey, I'm home."
Snow looked up from her book, startled at the musical greeting.
"Hello sweetheart. What are you doing home so soon?"
"Well Emma decided to take a rain check and I since my boss isn't there…" he trailed off wiggling his hips with his hands up in the air making his wife laugh.
"You're in a good mood. Where did your boss go?"
David walked over to the fridge, taking out a bottle of water for himself.
"Christmas voodoo-something with Henry", he shrugged.
"Oh, it's Christmas, right. Emma mentioned it weeks ago, but I guess with the Solstice fair and everything it just slipped my mind."
"Oh honey, it's alright."
"I don't know, nowadays I feel like I don't know what is happening with her."
"But you've stepped down from being the mayor. You'll get more time now for teaching and you can spend more time with Emma." Snow sighed as she massaged her temples. Her old council had expressed a strong disapproval of her decision because they maintained that Snow was the one who should be ruling over them. And Snow was just tired of the expectations. Royalty rarely got an opportunity to pass over the responsibilities of the crown and Emma had given her a golden one. And she desperately wanted to take it. Over a month ago, when she had handed over Cora's cursed heart to Regina, she had handed over her life as well. She still remembered the raw fury in Regina's eyes when she strode towards her; at that moment she had been already written herself off as dead. Emma didn't know the finer details of that day but David had witnessed them, and had helped her reach a point that now, now she wanted to live. She wanted to spend a normal life, teach kids, rejuvenate her relationship with David, strengthen her relationship with Emma and Henry, and maybe even mend a broken one. David plopped down beside her, rippling the brooding expression on Snow's face.
"So what do you want to do, now that you're playing hookey?"
"I don't know. We can go to Granny's. Or if you're daring enough, we can go to the new ice rink everyone keeps talking about it."
Snow's eyebrows rose as she thought about it, "Yes, that sounds good. Let me just bundle up and we can go out, in the cold, meet everyone. And if we fall and get wet-"
"Or we can just be brilliantly boring and stay here and watch a movie", he grinned as he placed a kiss behind her ear.
A chuckle left her lips as she relaxed into his side, "Oh, I do like your thinking my prince."
"Mom, are you feeling better now?"
Regina glared at her son who was looking at her earnestly, too earnestly.
"Yes Henry", she warned more than replied.
"I mean it was a very bad fall", Cora said in sympathy, before adding idly, "the fifth one atleast."
Regina chose to look out the window, watching the trees breeze by as they headed to Mifflin Street. The sun was setting and the view was certainly better than the mocking set of eyes in the backseat of Emma's bug. She did love Henry and his nana getting along, but not when they teamed up to tease her.
"Oh I think mom's hearing got messed up after the last one", Henry stage whispered making the other two women chuckle.
"Henry Mills", Regina gritted out making him hide behind his grandmother. Cora laughed and Emma tried her best not to as she coughed it off.
"We're almost there", Emma said hoping to distract Regina.
Today had been a near perfect day, if Emma could overlook the constant interruption of their family time on the rink. And to add to Emma's irritation, it was not only due to the mayoral announcement. One thing they hadn't counted on was how much older citizens hated the young man who had crossed Cora the day before. If the town wasn't always under some magical threat or other, rascal Fifer would definitely be the biggest dread in Storybrooke, their local Dennis the Menace. So, Emma had spent most of her time helping her uncoordinated girlfriend stay upright on ice rather than watch Cora preening at the showered attention.
As they pulled into a halt, Emma heard the older woman complaint, "Oh dear."
Emma rolled her eyes, "What? What now? Did I park it incorrectly again?"
"No one is talking to you", Cora snapped before brushing her hand on Regina's shoulder, "Dear, it's your friend, the nicer blonde."
"What?" Regina saw where her mother was pointing at and hurriedly unlocked the car.
"Is Aunt Kathryn crying?" Henry asked as the other three of them caught up with Regina at the porch.
"Kathryn", Regina asked carefully as she reached near.
The woman looked up, her phone on her ear and tears streaming down her cheeks.
"I just-you weren't here-" she stuttered before whispering into the phone, "She's here now."
Regina felt this strange surge of protectiveness take hold of her, "Oh Kathryn, Kathryn what happened?"
Kathryn got up from where she sat on the stairs and wiped her tears shaking her head, "Nothing-it's, that, I, Fredrick-" her breath hitched.
Regina's face darkened as her fists clenched, "What did that man do, if he laid a finger on you I'm going to make sure he spends the rest of his life in jail, that miserable miserable-"
Regina was shaking with anger when Kathryn let out a breathy laugh. Her hands were waving it off, trying to calm her down.
"What?" Regina spat out in anger when she continued to not understand what it was Kathryn was trying to say. Emma let out a sudden bark of laughter then. As soon as the noise left, she immediately slapped her hand on her mouth. When all eyes zeroed in on her, she let out a sheepish smile, pointing to Kathryn's right hand, "I think Fred proposed."
"Huh", Regina floundered but when she saw Kathryn nodding, she let out the breath she'd been painfully holding onto.
"You stupid stupid girl", she shook her head as she pulled the stupid girl into her arms, "don't scare everyone like that."
Kathryn laughed as she finally got her voice back, "I just-It's silly but you're the first person I thought of sharing the news with."
Regina grumbled stupid girl fondly and it made Emma's heart tighten. Throwing caution to the wind, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the two women. "That's awesome news, Kathryn." She said as her hands rubbed small circles on Regina's back.
Cora too stepped forward, her hand resting on Kathryn's shoulder, "Congratulations dear."
Kathryn pulled out of the double embrace to look at Cora, "Well it was you who sparked the discussion in our house."
She hesitated but then stepped forward and hugged Cora as well. The older woman looked positively out of her element, wetness accumulating at the corner of her eyes, "Why don't you call this Fred over? We should celebrate."
That night was one of the loudest nights in Mills Manor. Emma and Fred matched each other in volume. Cora and Regina's mild threats made it clear to Fredrick what would come to him if Kathryn ever got hurt. Henry declared that there was no way this holiday would be skipped the next year or any year in the future as he gorged down on his mother's food. Kathryn cried twice when Fred mentioned her parents.
With plates and bowls nearly polished clean, Regina let out a content sigh basking in the comfortable warmth of the evening. Her eyes swept around the dining table, trying to memorise the scene. She was sitting in the middle of Cora and Henry, both engaged in a barmy debate over mint chocolates against red vines. Kathryn and Fred were seated next to Cora and were too busy adoringly trying to get the other to have the last piece of desert pie. Her neck twisted towards Henry's side and there she found Emma with her chin resting on her palm, looking at Regina with rapt attention. When their eyes met, the whole room faded away against the shine of their dazzling smiles. Thanks to Emma, this was Regina's first proper Christmas dinner too. And she hoped this was the start of a long tradition with these five people.