Oops. Well, this chapter was begging me to be longer, so I obliged. I managed to finish right before work, but didn't have time to edit. Late night (or morning, really), so sorry about the wait, but this one is more than double the length of the previous two chapters. A few differences from the show you might notice - and I'll attempt to avoid show spoilers for those of you who haven't seen the last few episodes - things in Neverland happened slightly differently (you'll get the gist of it), the twist on Pan's character doesn't exist (at least, I don't think I'll be touching on it), and the thing in the last episode never happened. There. Hopefully appropriately spoiler-avoidy. Thanks for the continued reading, reviewing, following and favoriting! I love you all! :)

Holiday Spirit

Chapter 3

For a minute, all they could do was stare at Henry and his new appearance. He was several inches taller – not quite David's height, but taller than Regina. His features were strikingly mature, but the eyes and mouth were still his – there was no mistaking that this was a grown Henry. If waking up next to each other and finding three children claiming to be theirs hadn't been complicated enough, this certainly did the trick.

Regina was the first to regain her faculties. She cleared her throat and swiveled on the bed, putting her feet on the floor. "What do you mean, Henry?"

"You are—" he started hesitantly, "…you are my mom, right? I mean…you remember how things are supposed to be?"

Regina nodded slowly. "So you realize that this is different, too?" she asked, trying to fit all the pieces together.

As Henry nodded, David asked, "And you think this is somehow your fault?" He furrowed his brow in confusion. Henry didn't have magic, did he? And anyway, it wouldn't make any sense. There was no reason for it, and creating a family for him and Regina was about as far from Henry as it could get. Henry had always been firmly in camp Snowing – as some of the townspeople had fondly titled them.

"I…I think so." He bit his lip, and for a moment, the confusion and fear in his expression made him appear younger again.

"Why don't you come and sit?" Regina suggested, patting the space next to her. "Tell us what you think happened." She, too, was thoroughly unconvinced that Henry had played any part in it.

Taking her up on the offer, Henry awkwardly crossed the room and sat down. "This is weird," he told her when he had to look down slightly to meet her eyes. "Really, really weird."

His voice was so much deeper, and he looked so grown up. She smiled and put a hand on his cheek. "It certainly is strange," she agreed. "But you're still my little boy."

He blushed, looking down shyly. When the bed dipped again, he looked over to where David had taken a seat on his other side.

"I really did it this time, didn't I?" Henry asked, looking at his grandfather. "I didn't mean to, I swear!"

David put a hand on his arm. "It's alright, Henry. I know you didn't do anything."

"But I did," he said miserably.

"Why don't you tell us what it is you think you did," Regina encouraged, putting a comforting hand on his back.

"Yeah, okay. Well, I guess the story kinda starts a while ago."

"You can start wherever you want," David said, smiling. He could see how upset Henry still looked. "We're going to fix this – don't worry."

Henry nodded. "It was after we all got back from Neverland. I guess, really, it started before – while I was still there – but when we were back is when it got worse."

Regina instantly grew concerned, wondering if there was something that had happened to Henry that they didn't know about; some kind of injury or trauma he had suffered at the hands of Pan beyond what he'd described. "What did he do to you?" she asked hurriedly, running her eyes over him as if she'd be able to see what had been done to her son – other than that he was now about seven years older than he'd been the day before. Was that it? She wondered suddenly. "Is it Pan? Did he have something to do with this? If only we'd have killed him sooner, I—"

"No – mom, that's not it," he told her, trying to soothe her. "He didn't do this. And I'm okay, I promise. He didn't hurt me any more than what I told you about."

Her expression relaxed a bit, so Henry continued.

"It's what I was thinking about while I was in Neverland. Peter Pan kept telling me that everyone had abandoned me – how Emma never wanted me, and she gave me away, and about how Neal had never cared, either. He was trying to convince me that I couldn't trust adults because they would all end up leaving me. He said that I'd be better off with him and the Lost Boys, but he forgot that Emma and Neal weren't my real parents."

Regina blinked at him in surprise. She'd never heard Henry refer to Emma as anything other than his 'real mom', so the statement was completely unexpected and caught her off guard. David also sat up a bit, curious to hear what Henry had to say.

"You were." Henry finished simply. "It wasn't Emma and Neal that raised me, it was you. You're my mom, and you never abandoned me. Not once. Not even after I left you." He looked down at her sadly, and she could see the tears welling up in his eyes.

"No, Henry, it wasn't like that. You needed space – and I understood. I'm your mother, and I lied to you. You figured out the truth, and in an attempt to stall the inevitable, I hurt you. I'm so sorry. It was wrong, and I will never forgive myself for it, but there is one thing I want you to know, no matter what: I will never stop loving you, and I promise…I will always be here if you need me."

Henry nodded, leaning over to wrap his arms around her. "I know, mom. That's why I knew Pan was lying. I knew that you and Emma would come find me. I'm sorry, too. I wish I hadn't said all of those things to you before."

She returned the hug fiercely, ignoring how odd it was that her son could now completely engulf her in his arms rather than the other way around. "What do you think this all has to do with what happened?"

"I was already missing you in Neverland - when I was with the Lost Boys, I kept thinking about home. Not the apartment with Emma and Grandpa and Grandma," he said quietly, glancing guiltily at David. "Here – the house with you."

Regina smiled tearfully at him as he allowed her to pull out of his embrace. "You still think of this as home?"

"Of course!" Henry told her. "I know I didn't really show it, but I missed my room and this house, and you. I missed you more every day, and then when I woke up on the ship and you were there, I was so happy! You'd come just like I knew you would. You tucked me in like you used to. But when we got back you went back home without me."

"Oh, Henry," Regina whispered, her voice cracking even at the low volume. She could feel her heart breaking all over again. "I didn't want to. I wanted nothing more than for you to come back home with me, just like it was before everything happened, but everyone agreed that you staying with Emma and your grandparents was best."

"No," he said a bit angrily, looking over at David with his eyes narrowed in accusation. "It was what you and Snow wanted." He swiveled his head back to look at his mom again. "You didn't think it was best."

Regina sighed, reaching out and clasping Henry's hand with hers. "Yes, your grandparents wanted their family back together, but that wasn't the only reason. You're safer when—"

"Mom!" Henry stopped her angrily. "I'm safe with you! I know that you did a lot of bad things before, but you've changed, and I know you'd never hurt me!"

She smiled gently at him. "I'm glad you know that, but that's not what I was going to say. You're safer when you're not a target for hurting me," she finished. "I love you more than anything else in the whole world, and people know that. I was afraid of what some of them might do to you in an effort to hurt me. With Emma, Snow and David, it's not as much of a concern. It reminds people that you're related to them. You'd be in far less danger." She still wondered how this was coming around to explain the world they'd awoken to this morning, but Henry seemed to think it was all relevant, so she allowed him to continue at his own pace.

"Yeah, well I just wanted to come home," he told them both. "And you would be able to protect me, mom. I know you would."

"I'm sorry," David spoke up. "I knew that you missed Regina, but I didn't think you were that unhappy living with us. Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because I didn't want to hurt your feelings, and I was afraid that you wouldn't let me see mom anymore. Everybody was so worried about everything. You guys avoided talking about mom, and Emma was weird around you guys and she kept talking to me like I was going to freak out. You guys kept treating me differently, too, and I just wanted things to go back to normal. That's why this is all my fault. Because I talked to that woman, and now everything is different."

Regina and David both leaned forward slightly, eyes on Henry.

"What woman?" Regina asked him.

"I don't know," Henry told them both, looking between them. "Emma took me out for ice cream, and then we went to the bookstore, and when Emma went to the bathroom, this woman came by. She was really nice. She asked me why I looked so sad, and I told her about missing my mom and wanting things to be different. She smiled and said it was almost Christmas, and magical things could happen at Christmas, and then she asked me what my greatest Christmas wish would be."

"And…" David pressed, at the edge of his seat. "What did you tell her?" Normally, something as simple as telling someone a wish wouldn't do anything, but in the town of Storybrooke – especially after the return of magic – the outcome was unpredictable. He wondered if the mysterious woman was, in fact, the source of the magical changes. And he was dying to know what wish of Henry's could possibly lead to him sharing children with Regina 'the Evil Queen' Mills.

"Well..." Henry twisted awkwardly in his place. "I told her I wanted for everyone to find a way to be happy and to get along. I wanted people to move on from everything that had happened. I wanted everyone to see that they could all have what they wanted if they'd just talk to each other. Mom was gonna be alone for Christmas, and you and Snow are always fighting about you getting poisoned, and Emma's avoiding everyone, and I just wanted everything to be better. I didn't think anything would happen if I told her. I didn't know she had magic or anything like that. "

Both David and Regina remained in a puzzled silence, wondering how the admission could lead to the two of them together…with children and a grown Henry.

"Mom! Dad! Henry! Where arrre you?!" came a distant whine. "Hurry up!"

They all jumped and Henry grimaced. "Coming, Izzy!" he hollered back, startling the two adults.

"Her name's Izzy?" David asked, to which Henry shrugged.

"I guess so. That's what the two little kids were calling her. Maybe I should go down there. Hey," he said, starting toward the door, but stopping again only part way. "Did you…did you wake up here, too?" he asked David, and when his grandfather nodded, Henry paled. "So does that mean…like – you're married now and those are your kids?"

Both of them suddenly glanced down, and sure enough, there was a diamond glittering on Regina's ring finger, having gone completely unnoticed until that moment. Similarly, a gold band wrapped around David's and the pair glanced at each other, fumbling for words.

"Weird," Henry said before either of them could form a sentence. "Oh this is weird, weird, weird!" He was grimacing again, shaking his head, but just before he disappeared out the door, he turned back one last time. "Hey, I almost forgot…they said something about you guys bringing Benji. Do you think that means we have a dog?" Despite how utterly bizarre everything was, his expression brightened at the idea, and a smile replaced the slightly horrified expression he'd been wearing. He nearly bounced out of the room after that.

"I guess we'd better find this dog and get down there, too," David said in a daze, beginning to look around the room. He turned to find Regina peeking under the bed. She shook her head at him when she stood straight again.

"Maybe in the bathroom?" she suggested.

They both froze when a cry rang out in the room. Regina turned slowly and walked to the source of the sound, picking it up and staring at it as if she didn't believe it was real. The rings hadn't been the only items to go unnoticed in the chaos of the morning. Both of them had failed to spot the blatant evidence of another presence in the household sitting right in the center of the nightstand – a baby monitor.