Less than a week. BOOM! I'm back at it. Addicted1 is awesome, proven time and time again! Thank you guys sooo much for being so supportive of this story, it makes it easier to be a writer! Hope you enjoy, and maybe you'll see me again in a few. ;)

Holiday Spirit

Chapter 33

Regina leaned back into the cushioned booth seat at Granny's. The woman had predictably insisted on feeding them after the ceremony, and with how insatiably hungry Regina had been all day, she wasn't about to complain.

The mid-morning ceremony had been exactly what she'd wanted – well almost. Emma showing up with a shotgun as a joke hadn't been a part of what she'd had in mind. The irony was, the blonde still had no idea Regina was pregnant.

The weather report had also been correct in its prediction and it had poured, but it hadn't mattered to them. They'd married in the backyard under a tent – safe from the rain and the prying eyes of Storybrooke citizens. (Though David had needed to reassure several of the neighbors after receiving phone calls about the sheriff appearing at the mayor's mansion with a firearm.)

Now Regina sat happily in the corner of the booth, her new husband beside her, Henry across from her, and Emma grinning like an idiot across from her father.

"Are you okay, Emma? I've never seen you smile this much before." Henry examined his biological mother for signs of head injury.

"Hey! It's not every day you get to watch your dad a.k.a. Prince Charming marry your son's mother a.k.a. step great grandmother a.k.a. former actual Evil Queen and think it's a good idea! I'm smiley and I own it."

David chuckled and Regina opened her mouth to say something, but was promptly distracted by the food arriving.

Granny smartly placed Regina's meal on the table first before bringing everyone else's orders. "Be right back," she said. "Have to make sure that grand-daughter of mine doesn't make a mess of things while we celebrate."

"She managed alright this morning," Regina pointed out, to which she received a rise of the eyebrow.

Granny disappeared just as Grumpy stopped by the booth on his way to the exit.

"Couldn't help but overhear – what are we celebrating?"

The table of people looked up at him, but before any of them could think of how to answer, he noticed the rings glinting on both David and Regina's fingers.

"You two got hitched?" he asked loudly.

The few occupants in the diner looked over with interest, but when met with Emma's glare, quickly pretended not to notice the conversation.

"I know we had our differences in the past," Grumpy told David, "but I thought the two of us were friends now. I was invited to you first wedding, how come I didn't get to come to this one?"

David was surprised to hear the man sound offended at not being invited to the ceremony. He looked over at Regina, but she didn't appear to even have noticed Grumpy's arrival. She was too busy eating everything on her plate, and he smiled lightly at the thought that their child had increased her appetite exponentially. Turning back to Grumpy, he explained, "We wanted something small and quick – no fuss."

"And deny the rest of us the joy of watching the ceremony?"

"You just wanted to be there so you could dish to your gossip buddies afterward," Emma teased, "which I'm guessing you're going to do anyway. Now…this is a family party," she lifted the shotgun and planted it barrel up next to her on the seat, "so I suggest you scram."

Grumpy's eyes widened. "Fine. I know when I'm not wanted. You don't have to get all sheriffy about it." He left without further complaint, already planning how he was going to spread the news of the newly wedded couple.

"I knew this thing would come in handy," Emma smiled, patting her shotgun.

David shook his head in amusement and Granny chose that moment to reappear.

"Put that away, girl!" she snapped. "You'll scare the customers."

"Please," Emma scoffed. "You have more weapons in this place than the whole Sheriff's office."

"I don't keep them out front though, do I?"

"Fine," Emma conceded, rolling her eyes, but setting the gun back down.

"It would have been kind of fun having Grumpy at the wedding," Henry chirped, brow furrowed in thought. "But then I guess you would have had to invite all of the dwarfs, and no one would have been able to hear the ceremony over Sleepy's snoring."

"Good point, kid." Emma swirled an onion ring through her thousand island dressing. "Every time I walk past the security office at the hospital, I'm tempted to smother him. He swears he doesn't have a deviated septum, but he's lying."

"You used your super-power?" Henry asked.

Emma scoffed. "No, kid, I used my ears. No one impersonates a freight train that convincingly without something being deviated."

Emma noticed Regina's lips quirk upward, and she gave herself a mental pat on the back for amusing such a tough customer, however briefly. She supposed she'd always known that Regina wasn't the cheeriest person in the world, but it wasn't until she'd seen her run ragged by a gaggle of adorable, spell-induced offspring—and loving every moment of it—that she realized that she'd never seen Regina happy.

"It was a beautiful ceremony, Regina," Emma said, catching the queen's eye.

"Thank you," Regina replied with a slight, but genuine, smile.

"Thank you for inviting me."

"Of course," Regina said. "You're family. David couldn't get married without you there any more than I could without Henry."

"Ohmygoodness." Emma's eyes widened and her jaw dropped.

"Emma, are you okay?" David asked, mildly concerned at his daughter's abrupt shift in manner.

"I just realized," Emma's eyebrows were frozen in their raised position at her hairline, "that my mother and I have the same step-mother. How screwed up is that? Man, Disney got a lot wrong."

"What do you expect from a company that reveres a cartoon mouse?" Henry asked.

"Wow, kid. Your Regina impression has gotten good."

"I know words," Henry replied cheekily.

Emma gave him a playful shrug and took in the less-than-stunned attitudes of her dining companions. "Why am I the only one scarred by this?"

"As usual, Miss Swan, what is earth-shattering to you is old news to the rest of us, so forgive my lack of shock." Regina's jibe lacked its former bite, and Emma just rolled her eyes and smacked Henry's hand away from where he had been trying to pilfer her last onion ring.

As the two "children" squabbled, Regina squeezed David's hand underneath the table.

"It was a beautiful ceremony," she told him quietly.

David's smile crinkled the corners of his eyes. "It was."

The two shared a private smile, their fingers laced together below the table, until Henry snatched the last fry off Regina's plate.

"I raised you better than that." Regina pointed accusingly at her son. "You never steal a woman's celebratory fries."

David laughed and said, "I'll go get you more." He kissed her temple and started to get up.

"Uh-uh, that's my job," Granny told him, rising from her chair. "You stay put."

"Wow," Emma commented, looking at Regina's food. "You put that away. I thought you didn't like french fries."

"It's not that she doesn't like them," Henry told her. "It's that she doesn't get them very often. Usually she just steals some off my plate."

Regina smirked and made no comment. It was true she didn't usually indulge in such frivolous food items as fries, but she'd had a near constant craving for the damn things lately. Luckily, Granny – being the supplier of said fries – knew about the pregnancy and had a talent for discretion. Though Regina supposed a knocked-up evil sorceress-turned-politician was much less difficult to conceal than a ginormous, mass-murdering, shedding apex predator in the family.

She leaned into David's side as she munched happily on the remainder of her food. With Henry grinning and talking excitedly about the wedding, Emma laughing at his re-enactment, and Granny winking as she carried a new plate over, Regina let the peace of the moment sink in. It had been too long since she'd allowed all of her fears and insecurities melt away, so she took advantage of the happiness running through her and allowed herself to let go – just for a little while.

When Regina came out of the bathroom that night freshly showered, teeth brushed and clad in her usual silk pajama set, David grinned at her. "Hello my beautiful wife."

Her soft smile grew quickly and she stepped into the room further. "Hello, Mr. Mills."

He laughed. "You can try to needle me with that one all you like, I'm not going to regret taking your name for a second."

She picked her lotion up off the nightstand, applying a small amount and rubbing it into her hands as she sat on the edge of the bed. "I think it's time," she said after a pause. "I should talk to Henry tomorrow about the baby."

"If you're not ready—" he started supportively, but she shook her head.

"I am now. We're through the first trimester now, and I'll be showing soon. I want to tell him before he figures it out for himself."

"You don't have to tell him yourself. I don't mind being with you for the news."

"It's okay," she told him. "This is actually something I'd like to do alone if it's okay with you."

"Of course." His gaze landed somewhere far off when he said, "I need to talk to Emma, as well." At Regina's questioning look, he shook his head. "Not about the baby. I just…I feel horrible about how things have played out for her in all of this. We finally find each other and then I leave Snow. She seems to be doing okay with it, but I need to tell her how much I love her and how important she is to me. This doesn't change the fact that she's my daughter and always will be, and I still want that relationship with her."

Regina's hand rose to rest on the pendant hanging around her neck. "This should have been hers."

He nodded. "I have something else for her. I hope she sees that she's not a second choice or that I'm replacing her. I never want her to feel that way."

Regina raised a hand to cup David's face and leaned in to kiss his cheek. "You are a wonderful father." She rested her forehead against his for a moment, trying to be supportive the best way she knew how, and then leaned back. "And you can tell her about the baby. Maybe not right now, when you're trying to convince her she's not being replaced, but she's your daughter, and now that I'm telling Henry, I want you to be able to tell her whenever you'd like. I can tell Henry to keep it quiet for now if you'd prefer."

"Thank you," he told her. He scooted down a bit and let the pillows he'd had propped behind him fall back to the bed. "Now that we've made all of these decisions," he said, tone changing to a more playful one, "I think I'd like to enjoy some alone time with Mrs. Mills."

She laughed as his hands snaked around her waist and he suddenly pulled her back, further onto the bed and down on top of him as he leaned back. "David!" she shrieked when all of the sudden he was tickling her sides. She squirmed in his grasp, laughing as he continued for another few seconds before letting go. "Not funny," she said breathlessly, rolling over to wrap an arm around his stomach and pressing her face into the side of his chest. "You do not tickle a queen," she informed him once she could breathe normally again.

"Apologies, your majesty. I'll make sure to keep my hands to myself."

She leaned up to give him a slow, deep kiss. "I never said that."