SO SO SO Sorry for the wait everyone. I've been studying for my licensing exam and the test was this last Saturday. Damn thing is four hours long and you leave feeling totally drained. I slept the rest of the weekend and now I have finals so my life is a mess currently. I wanted to update this though cuz who doesn't like Christmas in April. It's snowing for some odd reason in Chicago today so here we have the reason for my Christmas in spring chapter.
The next morning Regina didn't want to open her eyes, but there was a smell wafting through her house and she wasn't sure if she liked it or not. More to the point, she wasn't sure where the smell was coming from as she could still feel Emma pressed firmly against her back and Henry stopped waking up early for Christmas years ago. Regina turned over on her back and pushed Emma's shoulder until her wife started to mumble something that sounded like English.
"Go get your mother out of my house. It's 6:30 and your children woke me up 6 times last night."
"Gina, she's making breakfast, not invading our boarders to sit on your throne." Emma rolled over and pulled a pillow over her head as she settled on her other side. Regina pulled the covers off Emma, the only sure fire way to get her up.
"You're damn right she isn't sitting on my throne. She tried that enough in her youth. Go remind her that the key we gave her is for emergencies. Or at least stop her from cooking anything else with apples." Now Emma was awake and a little pissed at her mother because, well, it was 6:30 and now Emma HAD to get up because the smell was making her wife nauseous. Emma turned toward Regina and brushed hair away from Regina's face.
"Still no apples for the fair princesses?" Regina shook her head and tried breathing through her mouth, anything to stop the feeling in her stomach.
"Go make her stop." This time Regina wasn't kidding and Emma felt terrible. She leaned in and kissed Regina's cheek before rolling out of bed and throwing her robe on. She staggered down the hallway and was met with the sight of her dog sitting patiently in the kitchen doorway, hoping to get a piece of whatever Snow was cooking. Emma walked over to the dog and he perked up as she nodded back toward the bedroom.
"If you go snuggle with her maybe she'll share the covers with you." Apollo barked and ran back down the hallway toward the make shift bedroom. Emma stepped into the kitchen to see her mother moving about the kitchen, prepping breakfast and humming to herself as she went.
"I see the Disney portrayal of yourself got some things correct." Snow jumped a little as she turned to face Emma.
"You're awake. Your father is unloading gifts from the car, he'll be in soon." Emma glared at her mother as best she could, given the time of day.
"I'm awake because Regina has a question for you. Is breakfast an emergency?" Snow frowned, "well, no."
"No, I didn't think so. So that brings me to my next question. Why then, did you use the emergency key to come into my house and begin cooking at 6 in the morning on Christmas day?"
"I know I should've waited, but we figured Regina can't do any of this and you sleep in on Christmas anyway. I thought I could help." Snow smiled and Emma pointed to the clock above her head. "At 6am, you thought you would help?"
"I got a bit carried away didn't I?" Emma shook her head and after sighing heavily she silently raised her hands and waved the three times around the room, effectively removing the smell of anything Snow was cooking with her magic.
"Until Regina says otherwise, no apples either. It seems to be the one thing my children simply will not let her eat. Stick with toast for her and there is bacon in there. Last I checked she can still eat that." Emma turned around and started to leave the kitchen when Snow called after her.
"Now where are you going?"
"Back to bed to cuddle with my wife. Breakfast can wait another 30 minutes." Emma shut the door behind her and looked to her bed to see Apollo curled up next to Regina with his head resting against her bump. Emma climbed back onto her side of the bed and the dog lifted his head for a moment before letting it fall back where it had been.
"I see she will share the covers with you. I think I'm still in trouble for this early wake up call. What do you think boy?" Apollo licked Emma's hand as though to affirm she was in trouble and soon the body behind him spoke up.
"You shouldn't have to ask the dog if you are in trouble. Although you get points for making the smell go away. The question is, did you make your mother go away?"
"Hey, be nice. She's just a little trigger happy with this Christmas because of the babies."
"Yes well, tell her to curb her enthusiasm because I have half the energy I usually do." Emma moved closer to Regina and whispered in her ear. "She's gonna make you bacon." Regina opened one eye and sighed dramatically.
"Fine. She is forgiven."
"And what about me?" Regina smiled a coy smile and responded. "I'm seriously considering forgiving you."
"I see. And what, pray tell, must I do to win her majesty's favor?" Regina reached over and trailed her hand down Emma's body paused at her chest. Emma hated to be teased and Regina knew that. "You can make it up to me tonight after your parents are gone and Henry has gone up to his room." With that Regina slowly got up from the bed and went about getting dressed, leaving Emma very worked up and practically frozen in place on her side of the bed.
"Damn it Regina, you can't say shit like that and then expect me to go have coffee with my parents."
"I can and I will. Now get dressed, I want my bacon and I suspect your mother wants me to open some gifts that contain things for the babies. Let's pray she listened when I said no pink." Regina left the room with Apollo on her heels and Emma begrudgingly got dressed before joining everyone in the kitchen a few minutes later.
Like his mother, Henry was also willing to get up early if it meant he smelled bacon. As they ate Emma was shocked at how many fights she had to break up between mother and son over bacon. Regina always won of course, she was pregnant after all and even at the tender age of 14, Henry knew that no good ever came from fighting a pregnant woman. David cleared the dishes and Henry helped him clean up the kitchen while Emma tried to make Regina comfortable in the living room so they could open gifts. Just as David and Henry were about to sit down the doorbell rang and David offered to go get it. When David opened the front door he was more than a little surprised to see Belle standing there with Gold standing beside her.
"I'd leave and take him with you before Emma comes to see what is taking me so long."
Belle raised her arms in an effort to calm David. "I know I'm overstepping my bounds by bringing him here, but he has something to say to Regina, to all of you. I don't want her to spend her holiday worrying about him bothering you again. Please David."
"If I let him in this house Regina will never trust me again." David wasn't dumb. An idealist, sure, but not dumb and Regina would have his head for this…if Emma didn't kill him first.
"David I promise, he is just here to apologize and then we'll be gone." David eyed the older man before sighing heavily and allowing both of them to follow as he walked into the living room.
"Who was it?" Emma asked as she stood up from her spot on the couch. She looked behind her father and saw Belle and in the second that followed she saw Gold, and then everything kind of fell apart after that.
"Why is he in my house? Why did you let him in my house?" Emma moved past Belle and before David could really say anything to calm her she had Gold by his shirt collar and pressed to the living room wall. Apollo was barking, but refused to leave Regina's side.
"Like mother like son I see." Emma pressed him into the wall harder and silenced him.
"My son punched you, you don't want to see what I'll do to you if you don't leave my family alone."
"Emma, please, I only brought him here to apologize for what happened yesterday." Emma clenched her jaw and moved toward where Regina was sitting, dragging Gold behind her as she went. She stopped abruptly and pushed Gold forward so that he was on his knees roughly three feet from the recliner that Regina was sitting in.
"You want to apologize? Fine. Let's hear it. But so help me, it better be Oscar worthy." Gold heeded Emma's warning and looked up at Regina who seemed to be remarkably calm, all things considered.
"You always said you don't kneel before anyone. It seems as though the mighty have truly fallen." Regina spoke with a tone no one could really read; it wasn't sad or angry, but it sure as shit wasn't anything any of them wanted to hear again.
"I also taught you that you should only kneel before those more powerful than you."
"Is this you trying to apologize to me? You appealing to my power, holding it above your own to make me feel sorry for you?" Regina raised her eyebrow in question.
"No, Regina. You've always been powerful. I wouldn't have trained you if I didn't see your raw ability to yield powerful magic."
"Your days of teaching anyone anything ends with me. I trust that we have made that much clear to you. My children will be taught the right way to use magic, by me, my wife and the people we trust. Your name appears no where on that list."
"So I've been told." Gold swallowed hard and pushed forward. "They are going to be powerful Regina"
"All the more reason to keep them as far from your influence as possible. I'm still waiting for a reason to not let my dog off his leash, or allow David to let Emma off her's." Gold could see the dog in front of him bearing his teeth and with a quick glance over his shoulder he could see Emma struggle against her father, more or less doing the same.
"I apologize for pursuing you like I did. My offer to teach them will always remain, but between you and Emma, I'm sure the children will be properly trained in magic." Regina seemed to be having a starring contest with Gold for a few moments before she spoke.
"Promise me something."
"Anything." Belle answered for Gold and Regina smirked.
"Promise me you'll stay away from my children. I mean it. I know you and if you get near my daughters you'll smell the magic they posses and you'll want to start this song and dance all over again. You promise me that you'll stay away from them until Emma and I feel you can be trusted, or until we feel they understand not to take advice from you."
"I will do as you ask." Regina leaned forward, as much as her belly would allow and all but barked at him. "Say the damn words, say you'll stay away from my daughters."
"I will stay away from your daughters." Regina nodded her head and pointed to the door. "Marvelous. You can leave now." Belle helped Gold up and they started toward the door only to have Henry block the path. He stood toe to toe with his grandfather before he heard his mother's voice.
"Henry, no more, let him leave." Henry listened to Regina's words and side stepped to the left, allowing his grandfather to move past him. He spoke quietly as the couple began to walk out the door, but he knew his grandfather heard him. "My offer is still good. You know, just in case you forget your promise to my mother." Gold nodded and he and Belle quickly slipped out of the house and back out into the winter cold. Everyone inside kind of waited for Regina to say anything, but they got nothing for a solid two minutes. Eventually, Regina broke the awkward silence by turning to Emma.
"I'd storm out of the room if I was capable of doing so." Emma nodded her head and understood: Regina needed some space to calm down and that meant an empty room. Emma turned to Henry and nodded upstairs.
"Hey kid, how about you go show your grandparents what you dad sent you for Christmas." Henry knew he was being asked to stay out of the room for a few minutes so he headed for the stairs confident that his grandparents would take the hint and follow him. They did and soon Regina was alone in the room with just Emma, and Apollo who was trying very hard to hop up on the chair and snuggle with Regina. Emma finally pulled the lever that made the recliner kick out the feet rest, making it just big enough for the dog to worm his way up on the chair and finally give him the chance to comfort Regina like he had been trying to do for the last ten minutes. With the dog snuggled close to her Regina let out a heavy sigh and looked at Emma.
"He always did like to catch me off guard." Regina rubbed her hands over Apollo's head and down his spine trying to calm herself down. Emma kneeled next to the chair and held onto Regina's free hand.
"Do you want to go lie down for a while? We can do gifts in a few hours." Regina shook her head and smiled at Emma.
"No, I'll be ok."
"Regina seriously, you staying calm and rested isn't just a mild concern right now. It's life or death for you and the girls. If you need to rest then we can wait for presents." Regina ran her hand through Emma's hair and rested it on her wife's cheek.
"We got him to promise to stay away from us and our children, that's reason enough to celebrate. I won't have him control anymore of my happiness and besides, I want whatever it is Henry and your father picked up yesterday." Emma stood up from her spot on the floor and told Apollo to get down. The dog looked at Regina and licked her face before doing as he was told.
"You sure you're ok?" Regina nodded and smiled. "I am sorely disappointed because my wife hasn't given me a kiss to make everything all better, but I imagine she can fix that fairly quickly and win me over." Emma shook her head and leaned over the recliner and kissed Regina, maybe a little bit harder than she needed to, but Regina kept her there for a while before they both needed to breathe.
"Better?" Emma questioned before stealing a few small kisses as she pulled away.
"Much better. You can go tell Henry and your parents they can stop listening at the top of the stairs and come open gifts." The rest of the family came down the stairs soon after that and they all settled back into their spots in the living room. Most of the gifts people had sent for Emma and Regina were in fact baby gifts. Clothes, toys, blankets and every other baby thing you can order online now littered the living room: a good portion of it purchased by Snow. Henry got comic books, some video games, a few things he actually needed from his mothers and a few gifts from his dad that Neal had mailed several weeks earlier. When Emma had put the baby gifts upstairs and clear some room in the living room, Regina looked over to Henry and David who had been eyeing the door to the garage for the last ten minutes.
"If you two don't go get that gift out of there I swear I'll go get it myself." Henry smiled and followed his grandfather into the garage and before they came back in he shouted for his mother to cover her eyes. Regina shut her eyes and waited, listening as David and Henry set her gift on the floor somewhere close by to her.
"Ready Mom?"
"Yes dear, can I open my eyes now?"
"Ok, open." Regina opened her eyes and looked in front of her to see a rocking chair. She leaned forward and gestured for Emma to help her up so that she could examine the gift more closely. As she ran her hand over the wood Henry spoke up.
"Marco helped me and grandpa make it." Regina stilled her hand and looked to Henry with tears in her eyes. "You made me this?"
Henry smiled and nodded. "Yeah. Grandpa and I did most of the work, but Marco showed us how to do everything and the detail work. We didn't have the tools for it otherwise. Grandma said we can make cushions for it, but we sanded it down and polished it so you don't have to if you don't want. We figured you could put it in the nursery or your room for when the girls are born. Do you like it?" Emma looked at Regina as she looked at the chair one more time before totally bursting into tears and turning into Emma's arms. Henry looked a little panicked and shot his mother a look.
"Did I do something wrong?" Emma laughed and shook her head as she rubbed Regina's back.
"No Henry, your mom's hormones are all over the place so crying comes naturally. Yesterday she cried because a pen fell off the bedside table and she couldn't bend over and get it. I promise you, these are happy tears." Regina pulled back and turned around to Henry and held her arms out for the teenager to come into and give his mother a hug.
"I'm sorry I cried before answering you. I love it Henry. It's beautiful and I am so touched that you and your grandfather worked this hard to give your sisters and me something this nice. It's perfect." Henry smiled and so did David for his part and Regina nodded in his direction to thank him. Regina took a seat in the rocking chair and was amazed at how comfortable it was even without any cushions. Everyone started to clean up when Emma stopped them.
"Hey guys, wait. There is one more gift I want to give Regina." David dropped the bag of discarded wrapping paper and joined Snow on the couch while Henry leaned against the armrest and waited, none of them knowing what Emma could have possibly held onto this long. Emma reached behind the tree, well behind the places they had placed the gifts and she retrieved a small package that looked to be about the size of a book. She kneeled next to the rocking chair and handed the gift to her wife.
"I've been holding on to this for years and I'm not even sure why. I could have given it to you during any birthday or Christmas we've had together, but it never felt right. Maybe it's because of the babies, I don't know, but I all of sudden felt like I didn't have the right to keep this gift to myself anymore. Merry Christmas Gina." Regina was both touched and overwhelmingly concerned as to what Emma could have been holding onto for the duration of their relationship. Emma's smile was reassuring and Regina assumed it was nothing bad, so she torn the wrapping paper back, revealing a small box and after opening it and sifting through a later of tissue paper Regina finally got to the gift itself…and nearly dropped it a split second later. With shaky hands Regina lifted a beautiful silver plated frame from the box and studied it carefully. Like with Henry's gift, her eyes glossed over with unshed tears, and for a solid minute no one said a word. As the tears started to roll down her face Regina asked in a broken whisper, "where did you get this? How did you get this?"
Emma smiled and held Regina's free hand as she explained. "When we had to go save Henry, a lot of intense stuff went down and that finally showdown was something I was certain you and I wouldn't come back from. We had spent so long fighting and it ending before I had the chance to tell you how I felt broke my heart. When you did what you did that day, you saved everyone Regina, not just Henry and me. You saved everyone and it was about to cost you everything, literally. I really thought I was going to watch you die on the jungle floor and I would've done anything to make it stop. So I pushed Gold for information, was there a way to bring you back before I lost you totally."
"I've been told this story before Emma, but how…" Emma held up her hand and stopped Regina. "Let me finish." Regina nodded and Emma continued.
"When he said the only thing any of us could do was to get you true love's kiss my heart sank because I knew Daniel had died when you were younger. I told Gold to find a way to find him, for us to get him there. We couldn't travel through time, but he suggested that we search your unconscious for the possibility that there was another answer. We left your body with Hook, Neal and Tink and we went inside your past basically. Even though it wasn't a memory the first thing we saw was you being born."
"So gross." Henry commented from his seat and his grandmother hit his knee as a warning not to push his luck.
"Anyway. There was this moment after you were born. Cora was passed out and you were all wrapped up in blankets and your dad was holding you and…Regina I've never seen a man more in love with his newborn than he was with you. You could see it in his eyes. He adored you. I watched him talk to you and rock you in his arms and I realized that there was never going to be another time when I could replicate that moment and show you how much he loved you, so I took the chance while I had it and you are holding the result." Regina looked at the frame again, paying extra close attention to the picture it held. That day, in an effort to save Regina's life Emma was allowed to see all of Regina's life up to that point in an effort to help the blonde woman save her son's other mother. The scene Emma described was beautiful and the picture the frame showcased was stunning. In it, a young and strikingly handsome Henry Sr. held a newborn Regina in his arms as he smiled at the precious baby sleeping soundly against his chest. All Regina had of her father was memories, her Henry and now this photo and the fact that Emma had the thought to take out her cell phone and capture the moment made it all the more beautiful.
"I know he couldn't be everything you needed him to be Regina, but you have to know that he loved you more than anything. Watching someone else love you like that, made me so happy because even though you couldn't see it, he loved you every second of your life. I wanted you to have one of those seconds back and give you a nice moment to hold onto." Regina looked at the picture and then back at Emma. She gently put the picture back in it's box before handing it to Henry to set it somewhere safe.
"Can you help me up please?" Regina held he hand out to Emma who lifted her to her feet. "Why did you want to stand up?"
Regina smiled as tears fell down her cheeks with renewed force, "so I can do this." She pulled Emma toward her b the back of her neck and crashed their lips together before Emma could really process what was going on. Both Henry and David found their shoes suddenly interesting and Snow couldn't help but stare. It really was a beautiful moment and when they pulled away from each other Regina rested her forehead against Emma's.
"When he died. When I started the curse, I told myself that the memories I had of his would be enough to sustain me. Then when Henry came into my life I knew that he would always be more than enough, but as years passed I would forget. I would forget what he looked like, the picture of him in my mind would be less clear. I would forget the sound of his voice or what it felt like when he held me. But seeing him like this. Seeing us both so young and happy, before mother did her worst, this is what I never got to experience, but it's the thing I'm going to remember the most about him. I don't have to forget him ever again and you gave him back to me and I cannot begin to tell what that means to me."
"You know I'd bring him back to you if I could." Regina brushed tears away from Emma's eyes and smile through her own. "No my love. Powerful as you are, the one thing you cannot undo is death. But this picture is perfect because it brings him back to me the only possible way. And now our children, all our children can see how handsome their grandfather was." With one more kiss Regina sat back down and after she calm down a bit Emma helped the rest of her family clean up. They had plans for dinner later and Emma hoped this would allow Regina to rest for a while. They started prepping dinner and Henry went to go call his dad, leaving Emma to go check on Regina.
Emma found Regina lying in their bed trying to find a comfortable position. Emma kicked off her shoes and climbed onto her side of the bed, quickly pulling Regina towards her.
"Can't get comfortable?" Regina sighed and shook her head.
"It's no use. They clearly don't want me to nap, so I guess I'll just try and relax, but I'm too worked up for that."
"Why are you worked up?" Regina held Emma's hands as they wrapped around her bump. "I'm worked up because my very beautiful wife gave me some wonderful gifts this year and I haven't had the chance to properly repay her." Emma now understood what Regina meant: she wasn't worked up, she was frustrated, sexually frustrated that is.
"I see. Well that is a problem. But you know, I have it on good authority that your wife can fix that problem right now." With speed that shocked Regina, Emma's hands were up her shirt and had already unhooked her bra.
"Your parents." Regina breathed out the warning not really caring at this point.
"Busy in the kitchen. Henry is talking with Neal and this room is sound proof. Now would you like me to test exactly how sound proof it is?" Regina would have answered her, but the second Emma's hand brushed against her breast Regina couldn't make real words. All she could do was moan.
"That's what I thought."
So hopefully the length makes up for the long time it took to upload this chapter. Let me know what you all thought. I'm thinking of letting them have their sexy times in next chapter and then I want to do a time jump. Thought? Comments? Wanting to make sure I'm still alive? Drop me a review and let me hear it.