So sorry for the delay everyone. I got caught up on other stories and I'm studying for my licensing exam next month and it's got me crazy. Hope you enjoy this Christmas in March chapter.
Christmas Eve was always a bit chaotic in the Swan-Mills mansion as the preparation for the next day usually took over. This year however was different; it had to be. Regina couldn't run around the house cleaning, cooking, fussing over details or anything that she was used to and it wasn't sitting well with her. Or at least that was the impression Emma was getting as she stood as the stove while Regina glared at her from the living room.
"Didn't your mother ever tell you your face would freeze if you keep that up?" Emma regretted it the second she said it. Bringing up Cora was NEVER smart, but the holidays we supposed to be totally of limits to mentions of the late matriarch. Regina's expression softened, or rather it saddened and Emma knew she had to do damage control. Normally she could get away with the joke, but not with Regina pregnant and frustrated. She lowered the burners on the stove and went into the living room, taking a seat next to Regina and being careful not to step on Apollo, who was faithfully at his post, lying on Regina's feet.
"Honey I didn't mean to bring her up. I'm sorry. You know my jokes are terrible on a good day and I really didn't mean to upset you." To Emma surprise Regina let her take her hand and offer her a kiss to try and apologize for bringing up her mother. Regina rubbed her free hand over her belly and sighed, though the sigh likely covered up a sob that would have gone unnoticed had Emma not been sitting right there. She brushed Regina's hair away from her face and let her lean against her shoulder.
"Talk to me Gina, what is it?"
"I can't do anything." Emma was lost already, but she let Regina talk because she figured, eventually Regina would say something that makes sense. "Christmas in court was one of the biggest celebrations we ever did, the only things bigger were weddings, funerals and coronations. And it was also the one time of the year the queen was expected to be in charge of absolutely everything. For other celebrations there was protocol to follow. Christmas though, it was supposed to have a human feel, warmth. I was always in charge or what happened and so help me gods if it wasn't perfect. It was always perfect." The distance in Regina voice scared Emma.
"Regina. Look at me." Regina didn't turn her head; instead her eyes remained shut, stuck in a bad memory. That is until Apollo barked sharply and forced her to open her eyes. The puppy, who seemed to be growing by the day, was too big to join Regina and Emma on the couch. He instead sat up and rested his head in Regina lap and huffed. He could feel Regina's stress level rise and he didn't like it. Regina rubbed his head and tearfully smiled and she scratched his ears before looking back to Emma.
"What does any of this have to do with Cora?"
"Nobody gets anything perfect the first time. It takes practice. It takes discipline." The way Regina said the word discipline told Emma that she meant something much darker.
"Your mom trained you in the ways of court life I'm sure." Regina nodded, happy to let Emma put the puzzle together, because she didn't want to talk about it anymore.
"And when you didn't plan something right, when things didn't go exactly as they were supposed to, what happened?"
"Insolence is rewarded with discipline." Regina repeated the phrase that Cora had no doubt said every time she ever raised her hand against her daughter in the name of teaching her a lesson.
"That's why you always like to do things your way for Christmas." Emma wasn't sure why this hadn't come up in the years prior to this one, but there it was. Regina wasn't mad because she couldn't move around and help Emma; she was scared of what would happen to her because of it.
"Gina, baby, you know I'd never hurt you right. I don't mind doing the last minute prep for Christmas and Henry likes to help. It'll get done and it'll be beautiful I promise." Regina wanted to say something about how it wouldn't be perfect, but she knew that wasn't her voice it was her mother's. This conversation coupled with Regina's hormones kept her from saying anything. She promptly broke into fits of sobs and she was grabbing at Emma with more desperation than Emma had ever seen. Emma finally got Regina into a position where she was resting against pillows that were stacked on Emma's lap. She was just high enough for Emma to have her arms wrapped around her and she continued to cry off and on. This was the scene Henry came downstairs to and it worried him greatly.
"Mom?" Emma waved behind her, trying to signal him not to come in. Regina would shut down totally if she thought someone other than Emma was seeing her current state. Emma took out her phone and texted Henry's phone.
'Call grandpa and ask him to come get you. This is gonna take a while.'
'He's coming over anyway so we can go pick up Mom's gift. Is she ok?'
'She'll be fine, she's just sad and a little tired I think. Turn off the stove for me, I'm not moving anytime soon.'
Henry wanted to help his mother, but he knew that when Emma said to leave it to her it was way over his head. He turned everything off in the kitchen and called Apollo to him. The pup slowly came to him, not likely to leave Regina, but if Emma was with her he was more receptive to leaving his owner's side. Henry got him ready to go outside.
"You wanna go with us to get mom's present boy? You can play in the snow more. Show off your new snow boots." Henry laughed as he slipped the covers over the puppy's paws just as the doorbell rang. Henry grabbed his own coat and with Apollo's leash in hand he opened the door and shut it immediately behind him, preventing his grandfather from entering.
"Everything ok?"
"Nope. Mom's crying." Henry walked to the car and after Apollo jumped up into the truck Henry followed. David got in the car and started the engine.
"You sure they're ok?"
"Mom said she had it under control. It's better if there isn't an audience." David had to agree with Henry and with that they drove away from the mansion and towards the center of town. Back inside the house, Emma had gotten Regina to calm down, but they still remained in their positions on the couch.
"Feeling better?" Emma asked as she ran her fingers through Regina hair. Regina nodded her head and looked up at her wife.
"I didn't mean to start crying like that for no reason."
"It wasn't for no reason. I should've known better than to bring up your mom."
"Emma I can't fall to pieces every time her name is mentioned. That's hardly healthy."
"Regina you cried yesterday when I took too long in the shower, your emotions aren't in check right now and that's ok. No one cares if you cry."
"Normal people don't cry at Christmas."
"Honey, normal people also don't make babies even though they are both women. Our family isn't normal at all and that's what makes it wonderful, that's what makes it ours. And Cora, or rather her memory doesn't have to be part of this family if you don't want it to be."
"We can't just pretend that she never existed Emma." Regina rubbed her fingers over the scar on her lip and Emma pulled her hands away.
"If you want to pretend that she never existed then that is exactly what we will do. We'll tell the girls that you appeared out of thin air." Emma smiled and Regina huffed a laugh.
"Emily that's insane, eventually they would find out I didn't just appear out of thin air like some kind of miracle." Emma rubbed Regina's belly and smiled. "You're my miracle, so it would hardly be a lie." Regina rolled her eyes and laughed.
"You are a sap, have I told you that?" Emma pulled Regina up into a sitting position and kissed her. "Once or twice. Now let me finish in the kitchen and clean up in there, then you and I can finish putting gifts under the tree." Regina let Emma go and do what she needed to in the kitchen and once that was down the two of them went about putting the gifts around the already crowded tree base.
"Funny to think that next year we are going to have to start pretending the Santa exists again."
"Emma, the girls will barely be 9 months old, they will too excited over shinny lights and paper to care about who Santa is or what he does. We have a while before we have to do that."
"But we can still do it right?" Regina had to remember that Emma never got to pretend Santa was real with Henry so for the sake of her wife's joy Regina relented. "Of course we can dear." Emma seemed happy with that and after they arranged the last few gifts around they tree both women retreated into the kitchen to get dinner set up.
Across town David and Henry were finishing loading Regina's gift into the truck when Apollo started to bark and growl like mad. Henry looked up to see Belle walking down the street with Mr. Gold right next to her. When they got closer Apollo stopped barking when Belle bent down to pet him. He had never met her before, but he liked this woman and from his perspective she posed no threat to his family. Her companion, however, was a different story. Belle backed away and Apollo resumed his growling.
"I see the mutt has retained the personality of it's master." Henry abandoned helping David and went around to the side of the car where Apollo was tied to the truck.
"I wouldn't say that at all. Dogs a very intuitive, they know a dark soul when they see one."
"If that were true my boy then he wouldn't have such a blind loyalty to your mother." Henry didn't know why his reaction was so fast, but before he could stop himself he pulled back and punch his paternal grandfather directly in his nose. This of course caused Apollo to go nuts, trying desperately to pull away from his leash in an effort to protect Henry. David tried to pull Henry back, but deep down he wanted to let the teenager defend his mother's honor. So he watched with slight amusement as Henry grabbed Gold by the collar and pressed him against the hood of the truck, ignoring the blood streaming from his nose, he got in the older man's face and in a tone of voice that rivaled Regina's he delivered a very pointed warning.
"If you ever, EVER talk about my mother again I will kick your limping ass from one corner of this town to the other and don't think that I can't or that I won't. Any darkness in her is there because of you, you and her mother put it there and thank God my mother came around when she did because ever since they found each other that darkness has been leaving her little by little."
"I see your birthmother's optimism has rubbed off on you. Let's hope that your sisters are as lucky. It'd be a shame if the young princesses grew up to follow in their mother's darkened footsteps." That did it. Henry knew his mother had darkness in her past, but it was something they all made peace with a long time ago, but bringing up the babies was not a smart thing to do. Henry reached for his throat and held it tightly enough to make it hard to breath but not impossible.
"Mention my sisters again. Go ahead. If you do, trust me I will let that dog of his leash and if there is anything left of after he's done I'll bury you in my backyard just so I can spit on your grave. If you come ANYWHERE near my sisters it will be the last thing you do in this world or any other. Nod if you understand me." Gold nodded his head with some effort and Henry grabbed him by the collar and threw him to the ground behind him. Henry grabbed Apollo's leash and put the dog in the car before turning to Belle.
"I know you love him. I'm not sure why, but I know you do. Some darkness can be fixed, it can be made into some form of goodness, so maybe you can convince him that my family is off fucking limits to him." Henry got in the car and waited for David to join him. As they drove back to the house Henry found Apollo sitting in his lap licking at his face every now and then. Henry didn't know if it was to make him feel better or if it was the dog way of telling him he did the right thing, but it was appreciated. Once back at the mansion, they moved Regina's gift into the garage and eventually made there way inside to find Emma and Regina sitting at the kitchen table ready to start dinner.
"You guys were gone for a while. Everything ok?" Emma stood up from the table and noticed that there was blood on Henry's shirt and his hand was busted from where he hit Gold.
"Jesus Christ what happened?"
"Nothing. Just a little accident loading mom's present into the car." Emma looked at her son as he tried very hard to lie to her face.
"Nice try. Get over here and let me see that hand." Henry let his mother examine his hand and he winced as she pressed down on it.
"Well, congratulations you broke a few bones. Eat something and I'll take you to the hospital." Henry sat down at the table and Regina eyed him carefully before holding her hand out to him.
"Let me see it." Regina held Henry hand in her own and concentrated her magic to heal the damage Henry had done to his hand. Henry winced as the bones refused, but when it was over, he was as good a new.
"Next time you punch someone in the face don't go for the nose and don't tuck your thumb in your fist." Henry didn't understand why Regina wasn't freaking out and neither could Emma.
"Why aren't you mad at me for punching someone in the face in the first place?"
"Because you, like your mother only attack when provoked. And I would bet my magic that if I asked David that he would say whoever you hit deserved it." Regina looked over to David who nodded that she was right.
"Go wash up before dinner please." Henry did as he was told, leaving the adults in the room.
"So just out of curiosity, who did he hit?" Emma questioned. David rubbed his neck and glanced at Regina, weighing his options of telling truth or not. The last thing he wanted was to stress Regina out.
"He hit Gold." Emma looked shocked and Regina looked a little unsettled, but ultimately a bit proud.
"What did Gold do?" Emma asked concerned that she would have to go tell Gold to back off her family once again.
"He wasn't in the position to do anything. Henry broke his nose and then had him by the throat, making him promise to stay away from Regina and the girls. I don't think I've ever seen Gold actually scared of anyone." Emma looked at Regina who's expression she couldn't quite read.
"Thanks for bringing him home. We'll see you guys when you come over tomorrow ok." David got the hint that this was no longer something that involved him so he grabbed his coat and headed home. Emma sat back down and waited for Regina to say something, but Regina seemed to not want to say anything at all. The silence ended when Henry walked in.
"Sit." Henry knew that Regina wasn't asking him to sit; that was a command. He sat down and waited for whatever was about to come, not knowing what to expect.
"I know that after what happened at the tree lot that you and your mother have been on high alert when Gold is concerned, but Henry, please understand me. He is not to be toyed with."
"But mom…"
"No. Henry. I know you aren't a baby anymore, but you are still my son and I don't care what he said you don't get to go fighting battles for me. He's dangerous and powerful and I don't want him to have any reason to come after this family. It isn't your job to protect me, or your sisters."
"So you want me to let him continue to think that he has his hooks in this family? He thinks you're still dark, he thinks he can bring you back into his fold, he thinks you'll let him teach the girls magic. I just told him what every one else seemed to afraid to say. He comes near my family and it's lights out for him." Regina shook her head and grabbed Henry's hands.
"Henry. Vengeance and revenge are dangerous games that no one ever really wins. Killing him would do nothing, at least nothing good. Take it from someone who has been down that road. It doesn't lead anywhere positive."
"He won't stop coming after you until he gets another chance to train someone like he trained you."
"Then he will waste his time on this earth chasing his tail, because he won't ever get that. Your mother and I will teach the girls magic if they have it, which they likely will. No one is going to hurt them and he certainly isn't going to get the chance to create any more mayhem in my family's life."
"He still deserved me hitting him." Henry pouted like a child and Regina beamed at him. "I'm certain he did dear, but no more of it ok?" The teenager nodded and that seemed to be the end of the conversation. The rest of the evening was wonderfully tame compared to the rest of the day and everyone went to bed that night ready to spend Christmas day with the family that truly mattered surrounding them.