Finally found a little time to finish the majority of my editing! Blech. People might seem a little out of character in this one, but it's all going to level out next chapter and make sense (I hope). I'm going to be spending this evening writing, so you may see one or two more updates (on other stories). Thanks for the reviews! You guys are the best!

Holiday Spirit

Chapter 8

"Thank god! David!" Snow hurried awkwardly across the diner the moment her eyes laid on him, not having adjusted to being so pregnant.

David stood up, but found himself completely at a loss for words at her appearance. Out of all the things he'd been expecting, finding her in this condition had not been one of them. When she barreled into him, he nearly lost his balance, but managed to catch himself at the last second and wrap his arms around his shaking wife. Or...whatever it was she was supposed to be to him now. Snow was already crying, so he wrapped his arms around her more firmly.

"I'm so glad I found you," she choked out.

Regina rolled her eyes behind them, but she, too, was curious at the sight of the younger woman. "Well, Snow," she greeted. "You're positively glowing."

David pulled his head back and looked over at her, scowling. "Regina..."

"Yes, yes, fine. It was only a compliment." She smiled mischievously, but didn't say anything more.

"I don't know what happened," Snow told him. "I swear, David - I didn't mean to do anything."

"What are you talking about?" He looked at her in confusion as her face twisted in guilt. She couldn't possibly think that she'd had anything to do with what was going on?

"This!" she cried, pointing down at her large stomach. "The fact that I woke up next to a strange man in a different house with a different wedding ring." She lifted her left hand to show that in place of his mother's ring, there was now just a plain gold band. "I don't remember any of it, and I've never heard of any kind of magic that can cause anything like this to happen so suddenly, but I don't remember any of it! I swear I don't!" She was hysterical, hiccupping the words through her sobs as she continued on until David put a hand on her arm.

"I know," he said, trying to stay calm. "I know, Snow. You're not alone in this."

"Definitely not," Emma agreed, stepping forward. "You need to breathe. In fact, you should probably sit down," she told her. "You're practically hyperventilating. That can't be good for the baby." She scrunched her nose up at the odd sentence as it came out of her mouth, but the words were true, so she nodded to underline her point.

Snow didn't say anything, but pulled out the nearest chair and lowered herself into it, trying to take deep breaths. After a few moments, she recovered enough to ask, "I'm not alone? What do you mean? People have been waking up in strange places? Other people are pregnant, too?"

"Not…exactly..."Emma trailed off, and as if she'd timed it, Olivia carefully approached the table.

"Are you okay, Grandma?"

Snow blinked at the girl in wonder. "Emma, she looks just like you..." She spoke the words slowly and didn't look up from the young girl once. "Who might you be?"

Olivia scrunched her face up exactly as her mother had only moments before. Then she laughed. "I'm Olivia. You're silly."

"Yes, I suppose I am," Snow breathed. She finally managed to drag her eyes up from the mini-Emma to look at the adult version. "Is she your-"

"Yeah." Emma shifted uncomfortably on her feet. "From what we've seen so far this morning, it looks like everyone in Storybrooke has been affected. The whole town has gone through some kind of time warp or something. Everyone's aged, and there are some new faces running around." She glanced down at Olivia.

"So maybe..." Snow looked up hopefully at David. "Maybe this is our child?" She put her arms around her stomach before she frowned down at her hands. "But that still doesn't explain why I woke up next to a stranger." She looked up to see David looking at her sadly, and immediately she thought it was because of what she'd said. "David, I'm so sorry—" she started, but he put his hand up.

"No, Snow," he said gently. "No, it's not you. I just...I don't think that your child is mine."

Snow looked like she'd been slapped in the face. "You don't believe me?" she whispered, tears shining in her eyes once more.

"It's not about believing you." He took a deep breath. "You weren't the only one to wake up next to someone else this morning."

She paused, tilting her head in thought. She hadn't even considered that. Not that she'd really had time, but she hadn't thought about David waking up anywhere but at their apartment…unless he was now sharing their apartment with someone else. She couldn't bear to think of that, and quickly put the thought out of her mind. "So you woke up next to someone else, too," she said flatly. Her voice brightened as she said, "But that doesn't mean that you're not the father."

"Except that in whatever weird kind of reality we're in, I have...other children." The words pained him and the pain twisted in his gut when the words registered with Snow.

"Other children?" She swallowed. "More than one?" At his nod, she asked, "But how can you be sure they're yours?"

"Snow," he started gently. "They look like me; they call me Daddy."

"But...maybe...maybe they're our children," she tried. She knew she was reaching - grabbing desperately at last straws, but this was a lot to take in all at once, and it felt like her world was falling apart; especially when David gave her a grim look that confirmed her fears. The children were definitely not hers.

"Well...how...how many?"

David looked up to see that the remaining occupants of the diner had moved to the other side to give them a little privacy for their conversation. They still glanced up periodically, however, unwilling to miss the drama of the huge blow-up all of them knew was coming at any moment.

"Four." Snow blanched and David swallowed heavily. "Actually...well, Henry makes five, I suppose."

"Henry?" Snow asked, shaking her head. "Why would..." She trailed off and David watched as things started to click into place in her thoughts. She looked up, eyes going immediately to Regina, truly noticing her for the first time since entering the diner. Then they traveled over the baby carrier next to her, the young girl who was a miniature version of her mother, and then the twins who looked so painfully like a perfect blend of Regina and David. "Regina?" she whispered in harsh realization, eyes returning to the woman who was now watching her in return. Snow turned once more to face David. "Regina?!" she yelled, and David flinched.

"Hey, Mom, can I...ohhh." Henry appeared from the back hallway, pausing his movement and his question when he caught sight of the scene before him.

"You and Regina?!" Snow asked again. Her face was beginning to turn an alarming shade of red, and she struggled to pull herself to her feet. "You have children with her?" Her voice strained as it turned into a forced whisper. She was livid. "You woke up next to her? You're married to her." The last one was a statement, not a question, and even though David knew that he was in no way at fault, he still felt guilty. He took a subtle step back from his furious wife. "How could this happen? How is...is this some sort of sick revenge?" She turned her fury on Regina, stepping up closer to her. "Steal my husband, conjure up fake children?!" She gestured wildly at the four children around the table, the three older ones now starting to tear up.

"Snow?" Ellie asked quietly; timidly. "Aw you mad?"

She let out a hysterical laugh. "Am I mad? Mad?! I'm furious!" Ellie shrunk back and the first tear slipped out, but Snow didn't notice, and she didn't stop there. "None of you are real! You're just something she created to manipulate everyone." She pointed over to Regina who looked incredulously at her. "None of this is real. You shouldn't even exist!" She exploded. She looked over to David. "And you shouldn't be falling for this. You should hate it!"

Upon the last statement, the room went completely silent, until all at once, the three children burst into tears. Regina, fury now outmatching Snow White's, curled her fists and opened her mouth to start in on her, but a booming voice cut her off.

"Enough!" David's face was red, and everyone was surprised to see the anger there – anger which, in that moment was directed at none other than Snow.

Snow's mouth opened a few times, but no words came out. She looked around at what she'd done and horror and guilt completely replaced the anger that had been there. Ben chose that moment to let out a wail, upset by the cries of his siblings and the loud shout from his father.

"What on earth is going on out here?" Granny reappeared from the kitchen, having heard all of the yelling, and she took in the sight of the crying children and an angry David staring at a pregnant Snow, who still seemed unable to move or speak. Granny had heard most of the argument and shook her head in disbelief as she watched the couple. She'd seen the couple fight before, but this was on a whole new level and she could tell that this time, Snow had taken it too far. No matter how ludicrous the situation seemed, Granny realized that if they wanted to get the situation under control, they needed to get Snow out of there. Everyone could feel the tension in the room as the children all continued to cry and Regina and David glared at the still-frozen Snow. "Ruby," Granny called over her shoulder, not taking her eyes off the people in front of her.

"Yeah?" Ruby rounded the corner cautiously, also having heard the shouting. It had been impossible to miss with their superior hearing.

"Take Snow for some air."

"Yeah." She moved to her friend's side, eyes widening at the sight of her. "Snow," she said gently, but the brunette didn't look up. "Hey," she called, attempting to grab her attention. "Let's go get some air out back, hmm?"

Snow finally turned her head to look at Ruby and blinked, nodding slowly. She allowed her to pull her away from the others, wordlessly leading her from the surreal scene.

Once she was gone, Isabella stood up, wiping some of the tears from her face in a futile effort; they were immediately replaced by new ones. "Daddy?" she asked. "What did she mean we shouldn't exist? Do you hate us?"

David looked down at the distraught girl and his anger instantly melted. "Of course not, baby," he said. "Come here." He bent down and opened his arms to her and when she stepped into them, he hoisted her up, her legs wrapping around his waist as he stood up. He had one arm around her back and the other up around her shoulders as his hand brushed through her hair. She buried her head into his neck as she continued to cry, and he murmured comforting and reassuring words into her ear.

Regina looked helplessly between the crying twins and a still wailing Benjamin, torn between who to soothe. Only because his cries were the loudest, she decided to start with Benjamin. She reached for him, lifting him from his carrier just as Ellie and Oliver slid down from their seats.

"Mommy?" Ellie sniffled, looking up at her.

Regina bounced Benjamin on her hip, looking helplessly down at her two young children. She looked around at the paralyzed townspeople who were still gawking at them and felt exposed and vulnerable. Turning toward Henry, she looked for any kind of help, but he appeared just as frozen. Emma next to him seemed to want to do something, but was completely out of her element, and was already attached by the hand to her own young child, who - though not crying yet - looked on the verge of tears. David met Regina's eyes over Isabella's head, and she saw her own hurt and panic reflected back at her, mixed in with a bit of disbelief. She almost felt like crying herself, both from the anger at what Snow had done, and her own current inability to comfort all of her children.

"I'll take him."

Regina spun around to see Granny now standing only a few feet from her. She studied her for a moment, but when she heard Ellie and Oliver's cries pick up in volume, she nodded, carefully passing Ben to the older woman. Once she was free, she immediately bent to the twins' level and pulled them to her, kissing both their foreheads in turn. "It's alright - everything's fine."

"Why's she mad?" Oliver sniffled.

"Did we do something bad?" Ellie's words were barely intelligible through her tears.

"No, my darlings," she told them, holding them closer. "You're perfect."

"Alright, folks," Granny called, making her way across the diner with Ben on her hip. "Show's over; we're closing up for now. All of you out. Food's on the house this time, so just leave everything."

Everyone stood from their tables, shifting around awkwardly and still sneaking looks at the bizarre family in the back, but eventually they all filtered out.

"I'm sorry for causing a scene," David said once the door was shut. "I understand if you want us to go, too."

Granny gave them a hard look, accompanied by a few seconds of silence. Finally, she shook her head. "I just cooked your breakfasts – I'm not going to let perfectly good food go to waste. The others had their chance. But," she held up her finger, "I want an explanation. When I come back out, I want to know everything you know. No dodging, no funny business." She glared at Regina, who stood, taking the hands of the two toddlers.

"Very well," Regina agreed.

Granny gave her a rough nod and then made her way to the back. No one missed the way her voice softened as she started talking to Ben, moving a hand up to play with one of his as she did so. He immediately quieted, a smile starting to show through his tears.

Regina moved to sit down, pulling the twins up around her in the booth and cuddling them into her sides, calming them both down.

"Well, that was..." Emma started. "Yeah. I'm gonna go help Granny. Olivia, stay with David, okay? Henry, you should come with me."

Olivia moved to her grandfather's side as Emma let go of her hand, nodding up at her mother.

"Umm." Henry took a few awkward steps forward, glancing back and forth between Regina and David. "Sure." He decided helping in the back would be better than watching whatever was about to happen between his mom and his grandpa.

Emma took one last glance over her shoulder as they headed after Granny. "Weird," she mumbled to herself. "Weird, weird, weird."