I may or may not have stayed up until 5:30 in the morning writing. As a result, BEL is going to have a new chapter as well, but probably not until tomorrow night. Thank you for the overwhelming amount of reviews! This chapter is mostly fluff, but hey...what is fanfiction for?

Holiday Spirit

Chapter 9

Regina looked up at David from her spot in the booth. She fought a small smile at the sight of him swaying gently, Isabella still in his arms. He hadn't looked up at her yet; instead, he was focused on the girl in his arms, still whispering to her. For a man who'd fought so hard against it just that morning, he seemed to have embraced his role as father extremely well. Regina shook her head at the thought, trying to clear away the warm feelings that were suddenly sweeping over her as she watched her daughter in his arms. David was still David; Snow White's charming prince – that much hadn't changed.

The twins, being young enough to not truly understand what had happened, stopped crying before their older sister. All it took was a few comforting words from their mother and being pressed up against her sides and they were right as rain, back to being the happy, bouncy children they were. Regina chuckled as Oliver climbed down, carefully putting his feet back on the floor.

"Livvie!" He said, hurrying to Olivia's side.

Ellie smiled up at Regina as she climbed over her lap and joined her brother, the three young children talking animatedly, gesturing wildly with their little arms.

It was then that David looked over and met Regina's eye. Regina stilled, not sure what she was supposed to do. Then Isabella pulled her head back, looking over to her with tear-stained cheeks. "Mommy?" she called, and it was enough to get Regina to her feet.

She was at David's side in an instant. "Yes, baby?"

"Why did Snow say all of those mean things?" she asked. "Daddy says she was mad."

"Well she was, sweetheart." Regina was temporarily lost for words, trying to think of the right thing to say. She could feel David's eyes on her, waiting to see what she would do. Ready to tear into her if she said anything bad against his wife, no doubt. "She's just had a bad morning, and she was scared," she said finally.

"But why was she scared?" Isabella asked. "She was acting like she hated you. You and Daddy told me that all of you used to fight and that you didn't like each other very much. Is it going to be like that again?" she asked in a small frightened voice.

Regina glanced up at David guiltily, and he looked back at her with a similar expression. They both knew they couldn't promise anything. Their feelings about each other hadn't changed, and while neither of them wanted to do anything that would hurt the children, the years of fighting and hatred could not be so easily tucked away.

"Things are going to be a little different," Regina told her, reaching out and tucking a loose strand of hair behind her daughter's ear. "But we're going to try our very best to fix it."

Isabella rubbed the back of her hand across her face, wiping most of her tears away, and nodded. Then she leaned toward Regina, holding out her arms.

Regina stepped forward as David awkwardly passed the young girl into her arms. Isabella was still relatively small, but Regina was petite, and she huffed out an uncomfortable breath as Isabella's legs wrapped around her waist.

"You okay?" David asked, his arms still on Isabella's sides in case he needed to take her back.

"I'm fine," Regina told him quickly. Her child needed her, and it wasn't like she hadn't carried a sleeping Henry back to his bed a few times late at night after he'd fallen asleep on the couch. It wore her out, but she could take it. "I'm just going to sit down."

"Food!" Henry called happily, appearing around the corner holding two plates.

"Yay!" The little kids clapped, running back to the booth.

Emma followed not far behind. Both her and Henry set the plates down on the table before turning back to help bring out the rest.

Regina awkwardly slid into the booth beside the twins, Isabella still clinging to her. She pulled a plate in front of herself, separated everything into two portions and then pushed the plate in front of Ellie and Oliver. "You two are sharing this one," she told them, handing them forks. "Eat slowly," she added, not wanting them to choke from their excitement.

David hurried over to Granny who was balancing a plate in one hand and a now bouncing Benjamin in the other. "I can take him, Granny," he said, reaching for the baby.

"You can take the food," she said, pushing the plate into his hands instead. "He's staying with me awhile," she informed him, nodding at Ben, who giggled at her in response.

"Attached to him already, hmm?" David asked, laughing.

"He's a very happy child," Granny said, not really answering the question before disappearing once more to help bring out the drinks.

David shook his head in amusement before suddenly stopping. How odd. He now felt as if these children completely belonged to him. Looking around at them, he felt the pang of heartache at the thought of losing all of them.

"You okay, David?" Emma asked, brushing past him with two glasses of juice in her hands.

Shaking himself out of it, he nodded. "Yeah, fine," he told her, but the words came out rather flat, and he felt the pain still churning in the pit of his stomach.

"Are you gonna come eat, Daddy?" Isabella asked. She'd turned herself around so she was sitting in Regina's lap, and was eating eagerly from the plate in front of her. "Mommy ordered a plate for you," she told him, sliding one toward the other side of the table.

David glanced at Regina in surprise. "You did?"

She swallowed the bite she'd been chewing and looked rather surprised herself. "I suppose I did. I wasn't really thinking about it."

"Umm, thanks." He took a seat, pulling the plate toward him, suddenly ravenously hungry. "This looks delicious, Granny," he said as she reappeared. "Thank you."

"Just doing my job. Though I'm glad somebody is enjoying my cooking this morning. Seems most people lost their appetites before they'd even ordered."

"Oh my god," Emma said happily, smelling the plate of pancakes she was now holding. "I needed this." She sat Olivia at one of the small tables, having ordered their own breakfasts shortly before Regina had arrived and complete chaos had broken out.

"Scoot over," Henry complained, nudging David's shoulder.

"Give me a second, buddy," David told him. He reached next to him, lifting the car seat and twisting awkwardly to set it in the booth behind him. "There." He slid over and Henry unceremoniously plopped down beside him.

"I'm sooo hungry!" Henry said, digging into his eggs immediately. "I don't think I've ever been this hungry in my life!" he added dramatically through his large mouthful.

"You're a teenager now," David laughed. "That'll happen."

"It shouldn't change your manners, however, young man," Regina said, raising an eyebrow.

"Sorry, mom," he said, already with more food in his mouth.

She simply shook her head, a small smile ghosting her lips.

"So," Granny said, pulling a chair to sit at the end of the table and holding Benjamin on her lap. "I can wait until after you all finish eating, and I don't expect a full explanation in front of the children, but I am curious how it is that you two have adjusted to all of this so quickly." She gave a hard look to both Regina and David.

Isabella glanced at her oddly before taking another bite of her eggs.

"We haven't," Regina said darkly, causing David to wince slightly.

"We've been doing our best for them," David amended, gesturing around at the kids when they were all focused on their food.

Granny hummed. "Interesting."

"Snow, wait!" Ruby called, chasing after her friend as she moved quickly down the sidewalk. "God you're fast for a pregnant woman," she added under her breath.

"Why should I wait?!" Snow asked, spinning suddenly. "So you can tell me that it's all going to be okay?" She choked a little as she thought about everything that had just happened. "Unless you're going to tell me that I imagined all of that; that my husband isn't with her; that they don't have children together. Oh god," she wailed, starting to cry all over again. "And what I said to those innocent children," she added. "They did nothing, and I yelled at them, Ruby! I said awful things." She leaned forward slightly, burying her face in her hands as she cried even harder.

Not knowing quite what to say, Ruby did the only thing she could think of; she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her trembling best friend. She let her cry herself out and just stood there, offering all of the comfort she could through the silence. When Snow finally seemed to have worn herself out, Ruby spoke. "It's kinda cold out here. Wanna go inside and talk?" She pointed at the inn behind the diner. "Besides..." She smiled, stepping away from her friend. "It looks like you have your own story to tell, and I want to hear all about it." She put her hands around Snow's large belly and they both let out a small chuckle.