I needed a little bit of time to write for myself without the pressures of editing and publishing hanging over my head, so I apologize for the gap in updates. Believe me when I say that your guys' reviews are what keep me going, so thank you! I have a few more chapters stashed up, so I'll be working on editing over the next couple of days. Anyone for a chapter 7 soon? :)

Holiday Spirit

Chapter 6

"How is this possible?" Regina thought aloud, closing another cupboard.

"What's wrong, mom?" Henry asked.

"There's no food; nothing suitable for breakfast, at least. Everything else in this crazy morning has magically appeared – their rooms, the nursery, David's clothes, David..." She rolled her eyes and gave a frustrated growl. "So how is it possible that there's no food?"

Ben giggled from his place in the high chair nearby, and Regina looked at him. "Oh, you think this is funny, do you?" she cooed. "You're the only one with breakfast; of course you think it's funny."

He smiled before putting his bottle back up to his face and sucking hungrily on it.

"Mommy," Isabella called, entering the kitchen. "When are we going to Granny's?"

"Isn't Daddy coming?" Oliver asked sadly as he and Ellie trailed in behind their sister.

"Granny's?" Regina repeated, looking at the three of them.

"It's Sunday," Isabella told her plainly, as if that explained everything.

Regina was eternally grateful for her son's quick thinking when Henry stepped forward and said, "I'm not feeling the best today, Izzy. Mom's been taking care of me, so we're pretty tired and I forgot today was Sunday. What did you want to do?"

Isabella frowned. "Sunday's family day. Mommy and Daddy always take us to Granny's for breakfast and then we play games at home and we color together. You and Daddy and Henry all read stories to us."

Ellie clapped her hands and giggled and Oliver shouted, "Stories!" in an excited little voice.

"Movie, too!" Ellie added and Isabella nodded her head.

"Yeah, we always watch a movie before bedtime. It's Henry's turn to pick this time." She smiled up at him. "Maybe it will help you feel better."

Henry gave her a small smile and nodded slightly. "Yeah, maybe…"

"And we're going shopping today, too!" Isabella added as an afterthought. "You said yesterday was too busy, so today was a family shopping today. And you put flour and chocolate chips on the list for pancakes tomorrow," she told Regina, smiling widely. "Because it's Christmas break and there's no school and you said we could have something extra special."

Regina blinked at the children looking at her with happy expectation.

"Alright, then," she finally said. "Granny's it is, I suppose." She held back the tired grimace that was fighting its way to the surface. She'd woken up to a dream; five beautiful children, a daughter that was her mirror image, adorable twins, and a happy, bouncing baby boy, all of whom seemed to love her unconditionally. And yet…

She understood that none of it was real. And she hated David for two reasons right in that moment. First, because he'd left her with these children who had such high expectations of a perfect happy family – one that had never truly existed and that she'd be unable to give them – and second, because if it had been someone else, someone just as fresh and new as these children, she might have been able to sink into it just like she would a dream. It was David and the sheer ludicrousness of the two of them together that reminded her so fully that none of it was real. It was the one thing that kept her from being able to enjoy the love she was feeling as much as she wanted to.

The children cheered at her decision and Isabella grinned. "I'm going to go change!" she yelled, already running out of the room.

Regina glanced down at her own pajamas and then down to those of Ellie, Oliver and Benjamin. She sighed. It was going to be a very long morning.

She wasn't wrong. A full hour had passed before Regina was pulling up in front of the diner. She had to park quite a ways down the street as Granny's seemed to be the morning's destination for all the residents of Storybrooke. It was tricky maneuvering the van into a spot when she was used to driving her more compact Mercedes. It had been a shock to see the shiny black van in the driveway, but she'd been relieved to see her beloved car sitting safely in the garage.

Getting everyone dressed and into the car had been quite the production. Ellie had spent an absurd amount of time picking her outfit, each piece of it chosen very deliberately. The end result was an adorable mix of bright patterns; a flouncy skirt over starred leggings and a furry hooded vest over a pink striped thermal shirt. While she needed help putting the items on, she'd been quite insistent on choosing them herself.

It seemed to have taken just as long to dress Oliver, though for an entirely different reason. The toddler couldn't have cared less what he was wearing, but letting it be put on him was another matter. He squirmed and giggled as if it were a game. Finally, Regina managed to tickle him into submission – much to his delight – just long enough for her to slip a shirt over his head.

"At this rate, we'll all starve before we get to Granny's," she'd said, to which Oliver had only collapsed into another fit of giggles, Ellie joining him.

Benjamin had lain blessedly still as Regina put him into a fuzzy blue onesie that she'd found with a matching hat. She'd grabbed an extra blanket to wrap around him and finally they were all wrapped up in winter coats, leaving the house and heading to the diner.

Now, sitting in the warm minivan, Regina found herself unable to move. She felt completely out of her element. Looking down, she frowned at the black slacks and dark green silk blouse she'd thrown on. There hadn't been many familiar clothes in her closet; sure, her favorites were still there, and she still had some of the staples of her mayoral clothing, but not all of them. There had been many shirts that she didn't recognize. They still had a more fashionable look, but they were t-shirts and jackets she'd never seen before and were far more casual than anything she'd normally wear. She was almost horrified when she'd found the drawer of dark skinny jeans. Her closet was foreign to her and somehow that had put her as on edge as everything else that morning. In fact, it had almost been her tipping point. She'd dealt with everything else that had cropped up so unexpectedly, but her clothing was supposed to be the one thing that stayed the same. After a few minutes of standing in the middle of the closet, much as David had earlier that morning, she finally had managed to pick out her outfit for this most bizarre family outing. And now she was regretting her decision. She'd chosen the pieces as a desperate attempt for something routine and normal, but already she'd had a near miss with a very sticky-handed Oliver, and on the way out to the car, Benjamin had attempted to suck on her shirt. The more washable fabrics were sounding better and better and she wished she hadn't been so stubborn.

"Is Daddy still inside?"

Isabella's voice snapped Regina out of her wandering thoughts and she looked up from where she'd been staring at her shirt. "Hmm?" she asked as she met her daughter's eyes in the rearview mirror.

"Daddy," Isabella clarified, smiling. "Is he waiting for us?"

"Oh. I don't know, sweetheart." In the flurry of activity that had been getting ready that morning, Regina had almost managed to forget that Granny's had been David's morning destination as well and had prayed that he'd be gone by the time they arrived. "Maybe."

"Are we gonna go inside?" Henry asked quietly after a few more minutes of awkward silence.

"Yes," She said decidedly. Without any more hesitation, she unbuckled her seatbelt and climbed out of the driver's seat. She could easily see why a van like this was so convenient with a large family as she helped the twins out of their car seats through one of the side doors. "Stay by me," she said as she set them on the ground. She turned back and, with some difficulty, managed to unhook Benjamin's carrier from the seat. Isabella slipped out the other side as Regina carefully lifted the whole carrier from the car.

"Mommy, it's cold," Ellie said, hopping around on her feet.

Regina glanced down to see that, indeed, the snow on the ground was just deep enough to reach the tops of the toddler's shoes. While Isabella had snow boots, Oliver had the same problem as his twin, though he seemed oblivious to it. "Henry?" she asked as she set Benjamin momentarily on the floor of the car, readjusting his blankets around him.

"Yeah?"

"Can you carry Oliver inside please? And Benjamin's diaper bag?"

"Sure." He picked the small boy up easily as he swung the bag over his shoulder. "It's kind of cool being this big," he said. "I'm a lot stronger."

"Yay, Henry!" Oliver cried, clapping his hands together.

Regina gave them a small smile and then turned to Ellie. "Come on, darling," she said, reaching toward her.

Ellie reached up and giggled as her mother swung her up into her arms, not hesitating to wrap her legs around her waist.

"Alright," Regina said, reaching for the handle of Benjamin's carrier once more. "Let's get this over with. Isabella, could you—"

"Got it," Isabella said, closing the door and reaching into her mother's pocket for the keys. She locked the car and headed up the sidewalk toward Granny's.

Regina grimaced slightly at the distance of their walk. It wouldn't have been so bad, but it had been years since she'd carried a child in her arms, and how that she was balancing Ellie on her hip and carrying Benjamin's carrier with her free hand, her arms were already beginning to ache and her legs felt heavy. It was because of this that she set a brisk pace to Granny's, her eyes set determinedly on the diner, and she completely missed the two important and telling vehicles they passed on the way; David's truck and Emma's yellow bug. She also didn't notice as Snow's jeep drove by, the woman looking desperately for a parking spot and nearly hitting a few of the already parked cars at the sight of Regina carrying the two children. She noticed none of it, and let out a grateful sigh as they finally reached the stairs leading into Granny's and Isabella hopped in front of her to pull the door open. Because of how focused she'd been, Regina hadn't given any thought to what reaction they'd receive when they went through the door, so she wasn't prepared for what she should have been expecting.

Absolute silence. The loud chatter and distressed noise disappeared instantly as Regina stepped inside. Everyone turned to watch Regina maneuver herself through the door, making just enough room for Isabella and Henry to step in behind her before she set Benjamin's carrier down carefully and put Ellie on her feet. Only then, stretching her arms, did she look up to see everyone staring. The tense silence became crushing awkwardness the moment Ellie looked up to see the person she'd been looking for sitting in the back of the diner. Oblivious to all the wide-eyed stares trained on them, she called out, "Daddy!" before racing toward David.