A/N Sorry for the delay in updating I've been on holiday :) I had hoped to post this chapter before I left but unfortunately I ran into a bit of a block and it just wasn't ready, I actually finished it whilst I was on holiday but had no wifi access to post it, but here it is now, this is a lighter more fluffier chapter but I will add a,
CW/TW for a brief mention of suicide watch.
On another note I think this story is coming to its end now and that there will likely be one more chapter after this one followed by an epilogue, thank-you for reading and for you kind comments they are truly appreciated and I hope everyone who is reading is enjoying this story.
Festive Fun
Two weeks later.
The Swan-Mills family stepped into the quaint picturesque village with its cobbled streets lined with cute little stalls adorned with festive garlands, fake snow, and twinkling lights.
A delightful array of enticing aroma's wafted around them carried by a gentle but chilly breeze that bit at their already reddening cheeks and noses, the sounds of Christmas music and festive cheer seemed to reach them from everywhere, not in a way that overwhelmed but rather drew them further into the irresistible village their excitement rising, like two children in a fairy tale being drawn to a house made of iced gingerbread and candy.
Bright blue eyes peered up at Regina from under the warm red hat with its glittery pom poms that had been gifted to Poppy by the salesclerk on their way home from the hospital several weeks prior.
As Regina's face moved out of view, the baby lay in the comfort of her pram, wrapped in warm blankets that kept her snug and cosy, protecting her from the chill in the air, staring contently up at the sky instead, thick with the promise of snow to come which would soon replace the snow that was fake and turn this village into a true winter wonderland.
Regina pushed her along happily talking to Emma who walked beside her watching their excited boys running ahead to look at the nearest stall.
For once Regina didn't argue when they wanted hot chocolate with a cookie and giant marshmallow straight off the bat.
"Let them have it" she chuckled to Emma who hastily made the purchase returning to where Regina had settled onto a nearby bench with a hot chocolate in each hand for both of them and a paper bag dangling from her fist that contained two ginger and cinnamon cookies, one each for her and Regina to enjoy with their hot drinks.
The boys settled on the opposite end of the bench from where Regina sat and immediately tucked into their goodies with Roland getting rapidly stickier with each eager bite that he took from his marshmallow, Emma chuckled as she caught sight of him then settled into the space that the boys had left for her between them and their brunette mother, handing a grateful Regina her refreshments, figuring that they could clean Roland up when he was finished, either just before they moved off or when he got fed up with being a giant ball of stick, which ever moment arrived first.
"We'll fuel up then see what goodies we can find in this beautiful market" Regina smiled glancing down the street, her eyes lighting up when she spotted a nearby stall selling crystal ornaments, Emma followed her line of sight with a sparkle in her own green eyes.
"It's just how I remember it from when my daddy used to bring me here as a child you know" Regina smiled and sighed contentedly, taking a satisfying sip from her cup before she continued.
"Every-year he brought here and I'd choose a present for mother and he'd pick something for me" she said her eyes wandering back to the crystal ornaments "and then we'd consume far too much sugar and mother would always end up telling daddy off when we got home, threatening never to let him take me again if all he was going to do was let me gorge myself silly and get far to over excited, she was always joking of course" Regina chuckled and glanced at her boys still quietly feasting on their own sweet treats with a warm happy glow spreading through her.
"Your parents sound awesome" Emma sighed wistfully taking a deep swig from her own cup using the hot liquid to try and sooth the cold ache that had just reared its ugly head deep inside of her chest.
"Well, your parents don't know what they missed out on when they gave you up" Regina replied placing a comforting hand on Emma's thigh and giving it a squeeze before she leaned in to give her a quick kiss.
"Thanks" Emma smiled shyly enjoying the warm feeling of Regina's hand which remained resting on her leg until the family finally moved from the bench.
They sat in silence after that enjoying the atmosphere and Roland's giggles while they finished their drinks then Emma cleaned up Roland's sticky fingers and cheeks while Regina disposed of all their rubbish and then they were finally ready to move on.
Regina headed straight for the stall with the crystal ornaments next, her eyes shining as she tried to look up at them all at once, Emma silently watched her for a moment taking in the reverie in her eyes as she continued to look at the vaguely familiar ornaments until her twitching fingers reached out to pick one up, turning it round so the red apple with its green stem caught the light from different angles.
"The ones you had were from your father, weren't they?" Emma suddenly remembering why they were so familiar to her whispered into Regina's ears so that nobody except for possibly Poppy who was still staring up at the parts of the world that she could see outside of her pram intently.
Regina nodded in response her face suddenly flashing with pain and her hands beginning to shake so vigorously that she had to put the crystal apple back down before she dropped it.
"I had twenty-three of them" she said mournfully "one for every year from when I was born until daddy died." She sighed.
"And then Robin got rid of them all" Emma spoke bitterly remembering all too well the little collection of crystal ornaments that Regina had owned and had proudly had on display when she had first moved in with the Locksley's heavily pregnant with Henry.
She hadn't known the story behind them until now, but she heard and seen enough at the time to decipher that they had belonged to Regina and that they had held a lot of sentimental value to her for reasons unknown to Emma at the time, and that she had been very upset when she had returned home from work one night just before Henry was born to discover them missing.
Robin had understood their value of course, he had gotten rid of the out of pure spite when Regina had repeatedly refused to agree to his suggestion that Emma would no longer be their problem once she had delivered their baby and that kicking her out onto the streets the day after Henry was born would be an appropriate thing to do.
Once more Regina had gone out of her way to made it clear to Emma and everyone else that she spoke to about the baby's immanent arrival that Emma would be staying with them after at least until she had, had a chance to recover from the birth and find her feet again, preventing Robin from finding an underhanded way to kick her out himself without looking like a total asshole to all of their friends and colleagues for doing so, which of course he couldn't have happening so he'd been backed into a corner and effectively forced into giving in to his clever wife's wishes and Robin hated losing control of any situation.
So, getting rid of the crystals had been his form of revenge, she took control from him, so he took something precious from her and all under the guise of doing something nice.
On that day he had made a huge deal out of surprising Regina with the new changing unit that he had, had made for Henry, meeting her at the front door and guiding her through the house with his hands over her eyes so that she wouldn't know where they were going until he had finally uncovered them while yelling.
"Surprise!"
It had taken a moment for Regina to blink away her disorientation at the sudden onslaught of bright light after the darkness of effectively being blindfolded by Robins hands and for a second she had looked at the intricately designed unit built into the alcove, blending seamlessly with its surroundings thinking nothing except for how lovely it looked and then it had hit her, she realised exactly where they were and what was in that alcove before, displayed in a beautiful glass cabinet with an ornate wooden base that had been hand carved by her father had been her precious crystals, it had filled Regina with mixed emotions to look at it since her parents passing a few short months earlier.
It made her feel happy to remember all of their wonderful times together, every crystal had a wonderful memory of a trip to the very market that they were standing in now, but sadness laced her joy when she had looked at the space that Henry snr had allowed for in the units design, space for more crystals that would never be filled and now they were all gone.
"Where are they?" she had hissed turning on Robin, eyes flashing dangerously, her fists clenched at her sides.
"Who's they?" Robin had asked scratching his head in mock confusion because he knew exactly what 'they' Regina was referring to and the malicious glint that she could see shining in his eyes had told Regina as much.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about" a furious Regina had retorted through gritted teeth, "My crystals" she had clarified before Robin could have the satisfaction of dragging this dance out any longer and she was pleased to see a little flash of disappointment cross his features before they rapidly rearranged themselves into something more neutral.
"Where are my Crystals" she had demanded again when he still hadn't answered her.
"I donated them" Robin had shrugged nonchalantly 'I didn't think that you would want such childish things anymore, and this" he indicated towards the new unit "is so much more useful than your little display, don't you think?" he had smiled viciously then, and Regina had continued to quietly seethe as she fought to keep control over her mounting fury.
"And my unit?" she asked through gritted teeth, already certain that she knew the answer.
"Donated that too" Robin had shrugged again, and Regina had to fight the urge to throw a solid right hook straight into his smarmy face.
"What" Robin had said when she hadn't replied but merely continued to throw a murderous glare in his direction, "It's not like I had anywhere to put it" he had reasoned which had been a total lie and he, Regina and Emma had all known it.
The house was huge and there had been plenty of space for Regina's unit and indeed little Henrys new changing unit.
"You should be more grateful after all the effort I put into this surprise for you" Robin scowled pretending to be hurt by the reaction that he had purposely provoked out of her.
"Grateful, Grateful!" Regina had screeched at him losing her grip on her anger for a moment before she reigned it back in again and deciding that Robin just wasn't worth it, she had turned on her heel and stalked away from the unit silently vowing never to use it or any of the things that Robin had stocked it with and much to Robins annoyance she hadn't.
"Come on Regina, what's the problem" Robin hadn't been able to resist calling after her, "It's not like you needed them anymore, isn't that why you're giving our son his name, so you can hold onto your father for longer, what will you need silly crystals for when you'll have him."
"I asked to name our child after my father to honour his memory not replace it" Regina had said with her back still facing him and a strange sort of calm taking over her.
"As well you know Robin and you paying someone to build a changing station where something that you knew was precious to me used to be is not something that I should or will ever be grateful for, now I'm done with this conversation."
She had walked out of the room then leaving a surprised Robin gawking after her, he had managed to provoke reactions out of her as hoped but it hadn't all gone totally to plan and oh how he had hated how unpredictable Regina could be and how she had the ability to keep surprising him right up until he had met his sticky end.
"That complete and utter bastard" Emma murmured immediately moving to wrap her arms around Regina's waist in a comforting embrace, her chin resting next to Regina's head on the brunette's shoulder so that she too could still see the numerous crystals on display.
"He might have taken them from me, but I realised something that day that helped me push through my sorrow at losing them" she said snuggling into Emma's embrace.
"Oh, and what was that?" Emma asked genuinely intrigued.
"He could take as many of my precious things as he liked but he could never touch the happy memories behind them, I was the only person with the power to let him taint them and I wouldn't allow that to happen, so they stayed safe and untouched by his viciousness and anyway as hard as the loss was to stomach at the time, it was worth it in the end" she added glancing pointedly at Emma who just squeezed her a little tighter and smiled.
"I'm glad you feel that way" Emma murmured "Hey do you know what we should do?" she asked, suddenly having an idea.
"What?" Regina, her turn to be intrigued now asked.
"We should start a new tradition for Poppy, starting today, go ahead, pick her one" Emma urged and Regina suddenly excited by the idea returned her attention to the pretty ornaments her eyes momentarily lingering on the apple before they pulled away to look at the rest.
"This one" she finally declared reaching for a little yellow bear that was sitting down with its arms out in front of it as it stared unblinkingly through unseeing black crystal eyes.
"It's perfect" Emma smiled, and Regina reached for her purse just as a noisy ruckus started up behind them, the boys were growing restless and apparently this had led to some kind of disagreement between them.
Regina immediately looked around torn between paying and going straight to them.
"You go see to the boys while I pay" Emma suddenly spoke up effectively making the decision for Regina who nodded her agreement and hurried to separate her quarrelling children, leaving Emma to make the payment.
"This one too" Emma said taking full advantage of Regina's temporary distraction to buy the apple too, "Oh and can I have it a separate bag please?" she asked glancing pointedly over her shoulder at Regina who was successfully breaking up the boy's argument and back again.
Immediately getting the message the little stalls proprietor nodded, put the ornaments in little boxes and discreetly bagged the apple separately so that Emma could quickly hide it away in one of the deep pockets in her winter coat, then she paid and turned to face the now much calmer scene behind her with a single paper bag in hand which she handed straight over to an extremely satisfied Regina.
The rest of the shopping trip was spent in calm enjoyment, strolling between stalls, each of them finding more things to buy before they had stopped for more festive snacks.
Regina had spent a long time at a stall selling all flavours of chocolate and other sweet treats, selecting all of her childhood favourites but neither Emma nor the boys had minded one bit as they too had found just as much enjoyment in choosing their own selection, the end result had been that they had spent way too much money on sweets and chocolate but not a single one of them had given a damn about it as they had left the stall with a bulging bag containing all of their chosen goodies sitting in the basket under Poppy's pram with huge matching smiles on all four of their faces and Roland's grinning lips still sporting the evidence of his having been far too keen to try one smeared across them.
Next an awe-struck Roland had spotted a queue of children lining up for Santa's grotto, which took the term winter village to a whole new level.
"It's like the north pole" Roland gasped his eyes taking in the snowy paths lined with giant red and white candy canes, live decorated trees in pots and snow people were dotted about each sporting brightly coloured woolly hats and scarfs, that had been lovingly knitted by some of the people who lived in the village, sets of them were available for purchase on various different stalls and cheerful elves with their pointy ears, rosy cheeks and noses, danced around directing children to what looked like Santa's house and…
"Santa's reindeer" Roland suddenly squealed with excitement, breaking away from his family to run to a nearby pen which did indeed contain several live reindeer who were happily grazing on the hay that had been provided for them.
As Regina and Emma drew nearer they were able to read the sign attached to their pen informing them that the deer in the pen were rescues and that the rescue was a charity that relied on donations, from there Regina quickly located the Reindeers keeper who was carrying a collection bucket for donations and thanked Regina profusely when she shoved a wad of notes into the slot in the top of the bucket.
"It's really not a problem" Regina smiled "It's a great cause and my boy obviously loves them" she added nodding over at Roland who was so enthralled by them that he had apparently completely forgotten about the jolly red man in red who had originally attracted his attention to this place.
"Can we buy one to take home mommy?" Roland asked, big imploring eyes looking up at Regina as she approached him "Please" he added sticking his lip out in a cute pout for good measure, making Regina chuckle lightly.
"Which one were you thinking of choosing?" she asked humouring him for a second.
"That one" an eager Roland pointed at the biggest deer in the pen and that made Regina chuckle a little louder before she calmed herself and rearranged her features to reflect a much more serious look.
"You know I'd love to buy that him for you, but I think that we might have a bit of a problem if I did" she sighed woefully, and Roland frowned a little in concern.
"What is it mommy, what's wrong?" he asked.
"Well, I think he might be a bit sad if we were to take him away from his family" Regina replied looking pointedly at the other deer who were still quietly grazing nearby.
Roland gasped his eyes growing wide with concern for his chosen deer.
"Then we'll just have to buy them all" the little boy announced decidedly, and Regina's jaw just dropped open.
She should have been prepared for that but instead she had walked straight into it and now her brain was having difficulty working out the best thing to say that didn't include agreeing to purchase a small herd of reindeer that weren't even for sale or upsetting her son, fortunately Emma who had been listening intently from nearby came up with the solution and much quicker than Regina could have in that moment.
"And then how would Santa get back to the north pole to pick up your presents and deliver them on Christmas eve?" Emma laughed and Roland gasped again before turning to face Regina with a very serious look on his little face.
"I'm really sorry mommy" he said sounding and looking every bit as though it had been her heart set on owning the deer and not his own and now he was having to break the bad news to her, "but we aren't going to be able to buy any of the reindeer because Santa needs them" he declared,
"That's okay Roly" Regina smiled trying not to release her internal laughter as the boy patted her comfortingly before finally turning away from the deer pen and running to join the back of the line for Santa.
"Thank-you" Regina mouthed at Emma and the blonde nodded her acknowledgement before they both finally gave in and fell into silent fits of laughter.
Henry decided under no uncertain terms that he was far too old to sit on Santa's knee and tell him what he wanted for Christmas anymore, but he did agree to be in the photo with the rest of them.
So a smiling Santa held Poppy in one arm while Roland fidgeted a little on his opposite knee, while Regina and Emma stood either side of the big man himself and Henry posed in front of his brunette mother reaching over to Poppy who had a tight grip on his finger when the camera shutter came down.
Then a thought had struck Regina that had her moving everybody except for the baby in Santa's arms out of the picture before the camera's shutter closed a second time.
They all loved the photos and Regina had wasted no time searching for the perfect frames for them on the remaining little stalls, finding one not long later, the frames she chose were actually plastic blocks that were filled with water and something white to look like snow when they were shaken giving them a snow globe effect.
There wasn't a lot else to see by the time they had purchased the frames and it was getting dark so they all made their way to the centre of the village where the music swelled from through strategically placed speakers and watched as the lights on the huge Christmas tree that had been put there were switched on flaring it to life, along with some other lights that had been left off until now.
"You'd have thought that there would be more people out here for this" Emma murmured as she glanced around at the somewhat sparse gathering around them.
"I'm sure there was the first night they did this" Regina shrugged.
"First night" Emma gasped "you mean…"
"It's not a special event Emma" Regina giggled "They turn the lights on like this every night from the first of December until Christmas day" she explained.
"Why?" was all Emma could think to say.
"Why not" Regina shrugged again, then at Emma's continued perplexed look she added.
"Well, they have to turn them on at some point each day, don't they? They just wait until its already dark to turn the main lights on because they look more effective then and its more cost effective in the long run". She smiled after that and leaned in to kiss Emma, a soft lingering kiss on the lips, not caring if anybody was watching.
"Not that I'm complaining or anything because I'm not, but what was that for?" Emma asked returning the smile when they finally pulled apart.
"Not that I need a reason or anything" Regina countered brow quirked and humour twinkling in her eyes "but I love you and.." she glanced upwards, Emma followed her line of sight to the mistletoe hanging a little way above their heads.
"Oh" she giggled pulling Regina into another sweet kiss "I love you to" she smiled when they pulled apart for the second time.
Gagging noises sounded from behind them that had them both turning to face Henry in concern.
"Get a room will you" he grumbled starting up a new round of fake gagging that had Regina and Emma in fits of giggles.
"You just wait kid you'll start dating soon enough and you will think that they are the most wonderful person on the entire planet" Emma said glancing back at Regina for a second "and when that happens have a guess who'll be right there gagging at you" Emma teased pointed at herself and laughed as she bopped her mortified son on the nose before she slipped her fingers through Regina's giving her hand a gentle squeeze, then taking hold of the prams handle with her spare hand she began to push it back towards the car, still hand in hand with the love of her life, watching as their boys ran ahead bathed in the light of the hundreds of twinkling fairy lights that decorated the little village square.
With a little over a week to go until Christmas day the excitement within the Swan-Mills residence was tangible, the pile of presents around the tree had grown substantially, the cupboards were laden with ingredients and treats to last over the Christmas period and there was pop in the fridge and more in the garage for the boys, all that remained was to buy the food for dinner which they would shop for a couple of days before Christmas so that it would still be as fresh as possible on the day.
But there was still one more thing that they had to tend to before the festivities could get into full swing.
Regina sat and read over the details of the visiting order that Zelena had sent, double checking the details one last time, Zelena hadn't left any indication as to why she wanted this visit but Regina had a pretty good idea what it was about none the less, because she knew that Mal had paid her first visit to the red head just a few days prior to her receiving the visiting order.
At first Regina had been surprised that there was to be a visitation so close to Christmas day but a quick glance over the letter that had accompanied the visiting order had informed her that this was a special family visitation set up to allow the children of the women to visit their moms just before Christmas, and as Regina was caring for her daughter, Zelena had managed to secure them a slot in the visitation which was set to take place exactly a week before Christmas, without that Zelena would have had to have waited until the new year to see Regina.
This time Regina arrived first and settled at her chosen table in the much quieter than usual visiting room, with Poppy in her arms and Emma beside her to wait for Zelena's arrival to the visiting room.
"Bit bleak in here isn't" Emma commented as she settled next to Regina placing a large brown envelope on the table in front of them.
"It's prison Emma, what did you expect?" Regina replied.
"Oh I dunno" Emma shrugged "I just thought that maybe they might have some decorations up in here, you know for the kids visiting." She shrugged again Regina followed her line of vision to a young man sitting with two small children who were already talking excitedly to their mother across the table.
"I see your point" Regina concurred rocking a restless Poppy.
"Here let me take her" Emma said reaching for the baby when she wouldn't settle, Regina smiled and handed her over to Emma who carried her over to the nearby window and looked out of it watching the first fluttering snowflakes beginning to fall over the facility.
Zelena paid Emma no attention when she walked into the room moments later, her full attention instantly zeroing in on Regina instead, who now sat at her table alone, she shuffled across the room taking the seat opposite the brunette and waited for the guard to move away before she finally addressed Regina.
"What made you change your mind about helping me?" she asked breaking the silence that had quickly settled between them.
"Several things really, to start with I believe that you're innocent, if I didn't I wouldn't have put myself out to help you in the first place, your lawyer was shockingly bad and had he done his job properly I doubt you'd even be in here now" Regina stated agitated by the mere thought of the weedy little man who had so thoroughly failed Zelena and she was sure countless others of his clients besides, making a total joke of her profession.
"Yes, Mal mentioned that you'd said that when she visited me" Zelena replied.
"Yes, well it's true" Regina bristled "but my biggest influencer was probably your daughter" she added.
"How is she" Zelena asked her tone instantly softening.
"Why don't you see for yourself" Regina replied nodding towards the window behind Zelena where Emma still stood with Poppy in her arms having decided to give the two women a moment together before making hers and the baby's presence known, hearing Regina drawing attention to them now though had her taking that as her cue to return to the table.
Zelena's head snapped around so fast that Regina wouldn't have been surprised if she had given herself whiplash, she looked at Emma and the baby that she was carrying in amazement blinking twice as though expecting them to have disappeared when she opened her eyes again.
Then seemingly satisfied that they really were there and unable to suppress the urge any longer her hands came up of their own accord to take the baby, pulling back at the last minute as she suddenly became uncertain of her next move, would Emma and Regina want her to hold the baby?
Emma answered that unspoken question for her seconds later when she finished her approach to Zelena and held out the infant for her take, Zelena instantly embraced her daughter with a grateful smile at Emma then turned back to face Regina again.
"Thank-you" she whispered nuzzling in and inhaling deeply to smell her daughter's hair.
"Hey there beautiful" she said looking down at the baby's delicate features "you've grown so much already."
A click of a camera caught Zelena's attention, she glanced up to see Emma sitting in the seat beside Regina with a camera in her hand, looking a little sheepish.
"Sorry" she murmured awkwardly "I just wanted to capture the moment."
"You brought a camera with you?" Zelena asked in response.
"We just wanted to make sure that you had some photos of the two of you together" Regina explained.
"Why are you being so nice to me" Zelena sniffed.
"Because it's what Poppy deserves" Regina replied, and Zelena's jaw momentarily slackened in her surprise as she glanced first down at her child's face then back up to meet Regina's eyes.
"You called her Poppy" she uttered barely above a whisper, Regina and Emma nodded.
"What made you think of that name?" Zelena asked, amazed that they would have chosen the name that she herself had picked.
"I found this in your things" Regina replied taking a familiar picture out of the envelope and sliding across the table for Zelena to see.
"It's not the original" she explained "We thought that would be too precious to you to risk keeping it here, this way we can make as many copies as you need and the original stays safe, as long as that's what you want of course" she added.
Zelena just nodded, tears welling in her eyes as they fell onto the image of her younger self smiling next to her former teacher and foster carer.
The fingers on the hand that wasn't currently cradling her baby coming up to trace the face of the older woman.
"And I read your diary" Regina admitted shifting a little uncomfortably in her chair, Zelena just nodded again her welling tears beginning to fall as her eyes shifted from the photo to the little baby in her arms whose eyes were so like her own.
The silence stretching between them for a little while longer Zelena had wiped her tears away and sat cooing softly at little Poppy who was beginning to chew on her fist, Emma continued to take more photos of the visit, she'd pick the best ones to print off for Zelena later and Regina seeing the first signs of hunger took a bottle out and passed it over to Zelena so that she could feed her daughter.
"We've got some more things for you" Regina spoke gently not wanting to interrupt Zelena's time with Poppy but also acutely aware of the time limit that they were on.
She took several more photos from the padded envelope on the table and pushed them across to the curious woman, each photo showed some part of Poppy's time with them so far.
"These are for me to keep?" Zelena asked and Regina nodded.
"And this is a Christmas gift for you from Poppy" Emma added taking the final thing from the envelope, a loosely wrapped gift.
"Umm it was wrapped better than that, but the guards had to open it before we could bring it in" Emma explained sounding almost a little apologetic.
"It's fine" Zelena assured Emma, her fingers easily pulling the loose paper away to reveal the second snow globe picture frame that Regina had purchased at the Christmas market which now contained the picture of Poppy by herself cradled in a smiling Santa's arms.
"You took her to see Santa" Zelena exclaimed fresh tears welling in her eyes all over again this was turning out to be a very emotional visit for the red head.
Regina just nodded and smiled and then the guard was there telling them that it was time to wrap things up because visiting time was over.
It was way too soon for Zelena who held her daughter closer than ever for those last few seconds.
"Will you bring her back for more visits?" she asked her heart racing anxiously as the waited for an answer without daring to hope.
Regina nodded and Zelena's relief and happiness shone through immediately.
"But I need to make one thing very clear to you Zelena" Regina said suddenly sounding serious "these visits are for Poppy first and foremost, so that she can know you, and as long as they prove to be beneficial to her we will continue to bring her but if that were to ever change in the future or if she herself were to decide that she no longer wanted to come then the visits will end without notice, I would however be sure to continue to give you regular updates on her well-being and bring you photos with her consent, are these terms that you can live with?" she asked,
"Yes, they are" Zelena replied readily, "I agree the priority should be about what's best for her, thank-you for looking out for her well-being," She added.
Regina nodded once in response then said,
"Good, and if you change your mind and find you can't continue visitation under those terms, we'll understand but you need to make that decision sooner rather than later, not tomorrow or next week but by the end of her first year at the latest. We'll have this conversation and I'll ask this question again when we visit around her first birthday and if at that time, I have any doubt in my mind that you might flake on her then make no mistake Zelena I'll end the visits then, I won't let you break her heart."
"I won't let you down Regina" Zelena said, and Regina almost laughed at that, Zelena must have noticed the twitch in the corner of her mouth because she hastily added.
"I know I did wrong by you Regina and you didn't deserve it; I might be innocent of the crime I've been convicted of but that doesn't mean that I'm not deserving of being punished this way" she glanced around the room and plucked at the front of her orange jumpsuit dismally as she spoke.
"Well that at least is something that we can agree on" Regina said her brow quirking.
"I wouldn't have gone through with it you know" Zelena mumbled "I would never have been able to take back what I had already done but I wouldn't have gone through with the rest of the plan, not after she was born" Zelena glanced down at the now sleeping baby in her arms, then back up to Regina's disbelieving face and chuckled sadly.
"You may not believe it and I don't really blame you if you don't" she sighed "But having Poppy changed me, I couldn't have been part of separating you from your children after that and if you need any proof, I gave her to you didn't I" Zelena stated as she smiled down at Poppy and gently placed one of her own fingers under the baby's palm watching as she reflexively wrapped her tiny fingers around it and gripped it surprisingly tightly.
"It's time to say goodbye to your guests now" the same guard that Regina had seen at the hospital when she had collected Poppy a couple of weeks earlier approached their table speaking to Zelena in a gentle voice looking genuinely sorry at having to separate the mother and daughter so soon.
Zelena nodded, sniffed and reluctantly handed the baby over to Regina.
"They'll be a next time" Regina promised "and in the meantime you have your photo's." she added as she turned to leave, the guard following behind her and Emma.
"You did a good thing here today" the guard said once they were out of Zelena's earshot, "maybe even saved her life."
"Well, I don't know that I would go that far" Regina smiled feeling a little uncomfortable by this conversation.
"Well, I would" the guard insisted "Zelena's been on suicide watch ever since you left the hospital with Poppy, she lost all hope until you restored it again first by putting Mal in touch with her and now with these visits."
Regina till unsure of how to answer or how to feel about this new revelation just nodded and continued on her way.
They sat in quiet contemplation as they travelled home, thinking about the visit and what the guard had said, had Zelena really been that low? They didn't discuss it during the journey but as mothers neither Regina nor Emma found it that hard to believe that she had, and it wasn't something that sat well with either woman.
Neither of them particularly liked or trusted Zelena but that didn't mean that they wanted her mental health to suffer so severely that she would seriously consider harming herself and as they sat together on that silent journey home with Poppy slumbering peacefully in the back, they were both glad that they had reached out before the unimaginable had happened and it had been too late.
Thankfully the sombre mood soon lifted once they had gotten back to the house and relieved the babysitter that they had hired for that day.
Regina successfully distracted herself by cranking up the Christmas tunes and baking a fresh batch of gingerbread while Emma charged around playing games with their two excitable sons, each of them stealing bits of Regina's dough as they ran past her trying to avoid the hands that were intent on batting them away which were followed by Regina's rich laughter at their playful banter.
The next few days went by with a flurry of joyous laughter, baking, Christmas songs and twinkling lights, before they knew it Christmas was mere days away and the five members of the Swan-Mills household were hurrying in through the supermarket doors to get out of the cold.
"Ham or Turkey?" Regina asked Emma as they neared the meat section.
"Turkey" Emma replied decisively, Regina nodded and reached for a bird, checking it over before she put it into the shopping cart then they moved on wrestling their way through the rest of the last-minute shoppers so that Regina could select what she needed to create her various side dishes.
They knew it would be busy this close to Christmas day but Regina had insisted that it would be worth it to be able to make fresher selections of food for Christmas, and Emma, well Emma wasn't one to argue especially with all of the wonderful creations than Regina had been feeding them of late, it was as if she was lacing her cooking with her new found happiness, the happier she was the better her food tasted and something about that was beautiful to Emma.
Regina chose some potatoes along with a few other bits and the boys added some last-minute treats to the cart, then they headed to join one of the queues at the checkouts.
Back home Regina unpacked the shopping placing the turkey onto the bottom shelf of the fridge and Emma changed Poppy and prepped her a bottle while the boys raced through to the lounge to choose a Christmas movie for the family to watch.
Regina entered the room with a tray loaded with snacks just as Henry was loading their chosen disc into the DVD drive, he hurried to settle next to Roland on the couch with the remote in hand and Regina handed both boys a bucket of freshly popped popcorn, placing drinks in lidded cups with straws sticking out of the tops onto the coffee table in front of them.
Emma came in behind her, baby settled in the crook of one arm and bottle grasped in her other hand just as Regina was settling next to the boys leaving an empty space on the end of the couch for Emma so that she would be able to use the arm rest to make herself comfortable whilst feeding the baby.
Emma settled into the space and Regina wedged a large bucket of popcorn between them as the start-up screen for The Grinch loaded up and Henry after a quick check that everybody was ready hit the play button his hand diving into his bucket of corn before the movie had even begun to play.
The length of the movie passed in relative silence, the odd gasp, groan and sleepy sigh aside, Poppy fell asleep halfway through her bottle and Roland followed just over halfway through the movie with his hand resting in his now empty bucket, not waking until Regina was gently nudging him after the movies credits had started to roll.
Regina only had one job left before Christmas which she set out to complete the next day leaving Emma and the boys at home while she left with Poppy to complete the chore.
Poppy coming to them so close to Christmas had meant that she would of course need a stocking to hang on Christmas eve with the rest of the family's and Regina hadn't wanted to short change her so she had called the lady who had embroiled stockings with each of the rest of their names more than a month earlier, explained about her latest family member and offered double to have one made on time for Poppy, but the kindly woman had instantly brushed her off insisting that she would have one ready on time for the regular price, the lady had called while they had been out shopping and left a message on the answering machine to say that it was ready for collection and Regina had given her a call back while she was waiting for the corn to pop on the hob before the movie to arrange a time to pick it up the following day.
Now it was the twenty third of December, she stepped out of the car, collected a bag from the passenger seat and Poppy from her seat in back then approached the now familiar big blue door adorned with its festive wreath that had been woven with twinkling lights throughout and pressed the bell, listening to the satisfying sound that briefly jangled throughout the rooms within.
The door opened a few minutes later and the warm smiley face of the extremely talented Molly Wilts poked around it.
"Regina Mills" she said opening the door a little wider and beckoning her in "And this must be the new little lady" she added her smile broadening as her eyes fell onto the alert infant who was wide awake in Regina's arms and taking in her surroundings.
"Yes, this is Poppy" Regina confirmed stepping across the threshold and following Molly through the house and into the warm cosy kitchen which despite being situated within such a large house reminded Regina in all the best ways possible of a kitchen that one would find in old country cottages.
Here Molly rooted through the row of small gift bags that she had still waiting for collection, glancing at each tag in turn until she found the one that she was looking for and slipped it out from between the others.
Taking it to where Regina stood, she freed the stocking from its confines and showed the final product to Regina who nodded and smiled as she looked over the large red sock with its cute baby polar bear and sparkly silver snow flake pattern, a thick white band wrapped around its opening had Poppy lovingly sewn across It in intricate red stitching, it matched the rest of the families stockings which Regina already had hanging from the fireplace at home perfectly.
"I really can't thank you enough for doing this" Regina said as she watched Molly pop the stocking back into the bag,
"Would you mind holding her for a second" she added offering Poppy to Molly once the older woman had finished carefully packing the stocking away.
"It was really no trouble at all" Molly smiled reaching out to receive the baby.
"She really is a beautiful wee thing isn't she" she cooed.
"Yes, she looks just like her mother fortunately for her" Regina chuckled as Molly gently bounced the baby while Regina took the remainder of her payment from her purse.
While Molly wasn't clued in on every detail of the circumstances surrounding Poppy's adoption mainly because she was relative stranger and didn't need to know, she knew enough through passing conversation with Regina when she had called to place the order not to question Regina's last comment and to also understand why the pretty brunette hadn't wanted to place this particular order any sooner than she did and she had been more than happy to fulfil it.
This was after all the time of the year to pass on cheer as her late husband Bill used to say and since he had passed, she had more than enough free time on her hands to whip up a few extra stockings in time for Christmas eve.
Regina placed the money onto the solid wood kitchen unit next to the gift bag containing her stocking and returned her purse to the depths of her bag.
Next Regina placed the bag that she had carried in with her onto the counter and slid a perfectly wrapped gift out from within it then proceeded to put her gift bag into the bag instead.
Molly had watched her without comment until Regina looked up at her and smiled.
"A small gift from our family to you" she said hooking her hand through the bags handles and holding her arms out to take Poppy back.
"Oh, you didn't have to do that" the portly woman smiled, her cheeks turning a little pinker as she passed Poppy over and picked up her gift turning it over in her hands looking pleased as punch.
"I know, but we wanted to" Regina smiled "You've helped make our Christmas perfect and now hopefully we've bought a little bit of joy to yours" she said.
"You certainly have my dear" Molly's smile grew and then she said, "Let me just pop this under my tree and then I'll see you out."
Regina nodded and watched her hurry off back into the hall that she had recently followed her through, but for now she waited in place for her return.
Moments later Molly was back in the kitchen doorway her hands empty now beckoning for Regina to follow her, which she of course did, wishing the sweet woman a happy Christmas as she hurried off to the car to get the baby sheltered from the cold as quickly as she could, fresh snowflakes had begun to fall when they were inside the house and some of them were now landing on Poppy's pinkening nose as Regina hurried onwards.
She drove home extra carefully; she had precious cargo on board after all and the roads were extra icy now.
As soon as she was through the front door Emma was swooping in to relieve her of Poppy freeing Regina up take the stocking through to the lounge and add to the row already hanging along the top of the fireplace.
Each sock was red with a white top, two on each end, the one on the far left had Emma's name written across it and the red sock contained a pattern of white swans wearing tiny golden crowns, the one next to it read Henry, and was covered in a pattern of snow people each wearing a different coloured hat and scarf and the snow was made using the same silvery thread as the snowflakes on Poppy's.
On the far right was Regina's stocking hers had a pattern of angels stitched in the same white thread as Emma's swans with a golden halo atop each of their heads and golden wings spanning out from their backs.
Finally next to hers was Roland's with a pattern of cute baby reindeer prancing under tiny silver snowflakes just like the polar bears did on the one in Regina's hand, she felt her heart swell as she hung it on the hook that she had already put in place in the centre of the fireplace and stepped back to admire the affect.
"Complete at last" Emma murmured from where she stood beside Regina knowing just how important it had been for Regina to add that final stocking.
She moved closer and wrapped her free arm around Regina's waist and pulled her in close resting her blonde head on Regina's shoulder, she had really mastered securing the baby in one arm now and the three remained there just looking at the perfect scene of empty stockings hanging from the mantle of the merrily burning fire whose flames were nowhere close enough to reach them with it destructive lick, until Poppy became restless in Emma's arms forcing her and Regina to temporarily part ways so that Emma could change the baby's soggy diaper while Regina prepped her a bottle.