Summary: If there's one thing Regina Mills hates more than winter, it's Christmas. Everything about the insipid holiday drives her crazy, to the point of making her miserable for the entire month of December. And if it wasn't for Henry, she wouldn't celebrate the infuriating holiday at all.

That was, until she received a single red rose and a card, signed "Love always, Your Secret Admirer".

A/N: HI! Welcome to my fic! This was my submission to the SwanQueen Advent Calendar Collection IV last year, which means this is a completed story, so no need to worry about it being abandoned. I'll be posting it at scattered times between December 1st and Christmas Eve (and you'll understand why once you start reading). This one is a a bit lighter than my usual stories, and I'm a little surprised it came from my brain (heehee). Before we get started, as always, there's a little housekeeping to go over.

I'm pleased to report that there are no trigger warnings in this story, unless heartwarming fluff triggers you!

I would very much like to thank my incredible beta, Lytwriter for all of her hard work and amazing wisdom that she bestowed upon me. You made me a better writer with all your words of encouragement and knowledge. Thank you!

And as always, I do not own Once Upon a Time, nor any characters, locations or events associated with it. The story belongs to me, but the world belongs to them.

And now, without further ado, I present "Love Always, Your Secret Admirer"

Chapter 1

December 1st

Regina cursed under her breath as a cold gust of wind blew through her coat, causing her to shiver. She tugged at the thick material, pulling it closer to her body, as the cold air chilled her bones. She knew she would never be able to completely shake that cold feeling until she was submerged in a hot bath. She was already counting the hours until she could soak in her tub, melting the cold chill that would linger all day.

Regina Mills hated the winter. She always had and she always will. Ever since she was a young girl living in the Enchanted Forest, she hated winter. It was too cold. It was too damp. And even while she was the Queen, with all the means to heat herself at her disposal, she still hated the winter. It was always so dank and dark and bleak. And while most people thought the sight of new fallen snow was beautiful, Regina hated it (and it had nothing to do with the former rivalry with a young Snow White). But there was one thing Regina hated more than winter.

Christmas.

She loathed and despised everything about that ridiculous holiday, from the tacky decorations to the insipid Christmas carols. She hated every part of it. She had even contemplated banning Christmas celebrations in Storybrooke when she cast the Dark Curse, but she knew there was no feasible way to stop every celebration. Instead, she isolated herself as much as she could between December first and December thirty-first, to avoid the infuriating Christmas celebrations.

That was until Henry came along. She wanted to give her son the world, even if that world included Christmas. So for Henry's first Christmas, she went out and bought a very small Christmas tree and only two ornaments; one with Henry's name on it, and one with hers. Thus their one and only Christmas tradition was born. Each year they picked out a new ornament for their tree, and their collection began to grow with every passing year. And now, fifteen years later, their tree was completely covered with their ornaments. But even with fifteen years of wonderful Christmas memories, deep down inside, Regina still hated Christmas. And so, as she stood in the town square overseeing the annual Christmas decorating, she briefly pondered sending a giant fireball through all the old decorations and just be done with the entire procedure once and for all.

"Hey, Regina. You look cold," she heard a familiar voice call behind her. She rolled her eyes slightly before turning to her friend, who was quickly approaching with two paper cups held tightly in her gloved hands.

"Not at all, Miss Swan. It's a balmy seventy degrees out today. I'm simply wearing this coat as a fashion statement," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I brought you this…" Emma said, handing Regina one of the paper cups, completely ignoring her friend's sarcastic remark. "...thought you could use a break."

"Oh…" Regina said, taking the offered cup, her hands instantly warmer from the warm liquid inside. She took a quick sip, expecting to taste the sickly sweet hot chocolate Emma and Henry seemed to drink en masse. She would never admit it, but she had grown to enjoy the chocolate liquid, especially since it reminded her of her son and his birth mother.

"I had Granny water yours down, I know you don't like it when it's too sweet," Emma said, taking a sip of her own cup.

"Thank you. That was very kind of you," Regina said, trying to hold back a smile as she took another sip. She had always been taught to never show her vulnerability in front of other people, and she was certainly not going to allow Emma to see how much she appreciated that small, yet kind gesture.

"How's the annual decorating going? Does it look like Christmas threw up yet?" Emma asked, looking around as citizens moved quickly to spruce up the streets of Storybrooke.

"So far so good," Regina said, her good mood vanishing at the sheer mention of the tiresome holiday.

"I know Henry is already excited. He's been secretly measuring your living room, as well as mine, to plan out the perfect size Christmas trees for each space."

"I'm not surprised. He was always a planner. When he was younger he would plan out every single minute of our Christmases to ensure we were able to properly celebrate."

"He must have inherited that from you! Before I moved to Storybrooke, I hardly ever had a tree. Mostly because I would forget to buy one." Emma laughed so hard Regina was convinced hot chocolate was going to come flying out of her nose.

"Somehow, I'm not surprised."

"Me neither." Emma laughed as she shifted slightly, no doubt attempting to keep warm. "But now I have Henry to remind me to buy a tree, and my mother to make sure it gets decorated just right with the perfect amount of tacky ornaments."

"Don't insult the tacky ornaments. Our tree is filled to capacity with tacky ornaments."

"I know, I've seen." Emma smiled, nudging Regina with her arm. "Hey, you look miserable. Why don't you head inside? I can oversee the rest of the work," Emma offered.

"And let you turn this place into Santa's village, I don't think so. If I am to allow these decorations, I must insist they be tasteful," Regina snapped, taking a sip of hot chocolate, allowing the comforting liquid to temporarily warm her up. Emma was right, she was miserable, but she would never give her the satisfaction of knowing she was right.

"I promise not to change any of your plans. I'll just keep an eye on everything to make sure there are no major disasters."

"Why do I get the sense this is a trap? And the moment I go inside, you and Henry are going to switch my tasteful decorations with your cheap gaudy ones?"

"Henry's not here, he's in school," Emma said, gesturing around. "Plus, he's getting his Christmas fix after school with my mother. I think they are making their first batch of Christmas cookies. Something about testing out a new recipe. Fingers crossed they turn out good, or we'll be eating bland cookies for a month," Emma said, crossing the fingers of her left hand.

Regina thought for a second before another wave of icy cold air ran through her, instantly changing her mind. "Fine. But if I see even one decoration is out of place, I'll have your head."

"Wow. No pressure," Emma laughed. "Deal," she said, holding out her gloved hand for Regina to shake. Regina rolled her eyes and accepted Emma's hand, shaking it slightly. "Great. Now get inside. I'll text you when everything is done."

"And take pictures before everyone leaves, so I know you kept your word," Regina added.

"Of course, Your Majesty," Emma said, bowing slightly.

"Don't call me that," Regina snarled, clearly very insulted by that nickname.

"Oh hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything. I'll call you pumpkin from now on," Emma said, a goofy smirk spreading across her face.

Regina sighed heavily. She knew Emma meant no harm by the name, and she knew she overreacted. "Only if you want to find out what it feels like to take a fireball to the face," Regina responded, her own smirk forming on her face.

"Miss Mills it is!" Emma said, holding her hands up in surrender.

"That's better. Now get to work. The town doesn't pay your salary to stand around." Regina turned on her heels and took off toward her office, where she was already planning on using a very large fireball to light the fireplace.

"Good afternoon, Madam Mayor," her secretary said as she flew by, eager to warm up next to the fire.

"Yes, hello," she said sharply, only to stop in her tracks. It wasn't her secretary's fault she was in a crappy mood.

"Good afternoon, Aurora, how was your weekend?" Regina asked, her mood shifting quickly.

"It was delightful, thanks for asking," Aurora said, a bright smile on her face. Regina hardly ever took an interest in her employees' personal lives, so it must have been quite a shock when she asked.

"That's wonderful. I'll be in my office if you need me," she smiled, walking directly into her office and closing the door behind her. She quickly stripped off her coat and hung it up neatly before making her way toward the large fireplace, sending a fireball directly at the neatly stacked wood, watching as it caught fire immediately.

She stood in front of the fire for a few moments, allowing the warmth that radiated from the flames to defrost her frozen limbs before she begrudgingly sat down behind her desk, ready to tackle the mountain of paperwork that awaited her.

Just as she began to make her way through the mountain of paperwork piled neatly on her desk, something strange caught her attention. Buried deep between two piles of files and folders was something red. Pushing the piles aside she quickly discovered a long stem red rose, tucked carefully away. Her breath caught in her throat as she gently picked up the flower and raised it to her nose, inhaling the sweet scent. She searched for any evidence of who had left the delicate flower on her desk and quickly found a small envelope with a small feather printed on it. Eager to find out who left her the beautiful flower, she carefully ripped open the paper and pulled out a small card, which matched the envelope perfectly as if part of the same set. But all she found were five simple words, written in a strangely familiar handwriting.

Love Always, Your Secret Admirer.

"Well, clearly this was a mistake," she said out loud, a deep sadness in her voice. She took the flower and card and made her way out of her office, startling the young woman as she approached her desk.

"I apologize, Aurora. It appears someone left this on my desk, but I believe it was intended for you. I opened the card thinking it was for me, I apologize," Regina said, offering the card and flower to Aurora.

"No, I don't think so, Madam Mayor," Aurora said, handing the flower and card back to Regina.

"No, surely this is for you, Aurora. No one would send me a rose, even as a joke," Regina said, insisting the flower belonged to her secretary.

Aurora opened the card and read it, a sweet smile spreading across her face. "It appears that you have a secret admirer, Madam Mayor," Aurora said, handing the card back to Regina, causing a deep blush to form across the former Queen's face.

She couldn't remember the last time she blushed that hard, especially after Robin's untimely death. "Well…this certainly is unexpected," Regina said, taking the card and rose and walking back to her office without another word. She closed the door and moved directly to sit down on the white couch opposite the fireplace. A small smile spread across her face as she inhaled the sweet rose fragrance once again.

She'd never had a secret admirer before. Not even Daniel had kept his feelings for her secret. She stared at the card, trying to decipher the handwriting, but in the end, she couldn't quite recognize the familiar handwriting. She breezed through the rest of her day, floating on cloud nine at the idea that someone may be interested in her.

Her cell phone chimed around five-thirty, pulling her out of her thoughts. She opened the message to find a text from Emma and a picture of the town square, decorated perfectly to her liking, and suddenly her good mood was spoiled at the reminder that the infuriating holiday was quickly approaching.


December 2nd

Regina shivered as the water in her shower started to turn cold. Clearly, her son had used up all the hot water during his morning shower, leaving her just enough to shampoo and rinse her hair before the water ran out. She conditioned her hair and rushed through the rest of her routine, eager to get out and warm up. She would need to have a talk with Henry relatively soon about his lengthy showers. If he was going to continue taking extra time, he would need to start showering in the evenings before bed. She loved her son with everything she had, but she knew she wasn't going to make it through the long and frigid Maine winters if she had to take an ice-cold shower every morning. She got dressed quickly in an attempt to warm up as she dried and straightened her hair, but not even the hot air blowing out of the hair dryer could warm her cold bones. It's going to be a long day, she thought to herself as she zipped up the knee-length boots. At least the lower part of her legs would be warm today.

She made her way downstairs just in time to see Henry pull on his coat and scarf, getting ready to catch the school bus, which should be arriving any moment.

"Hey, I was just about to come check on you. You never take this long to get ready," Henry said, buttoning up his coat.

"It took me a little longer to wake up. Must be the cold weather," Regina answered. It was only partially a lie. The cold did have an impact on her slow movements that morning. Suddenly, a loud and deep horn blared outside, indicating Henry's bus had arrived. "Have a good day at school," she said, kissing him softly on the top of his head.

"Yeah, you too!" Henry said as he rushed out of the house towards the bus. She casually checked her watch as she watched Henry board the school bus from the front window and realized she was running late. Sighing deeply, she realized that, not only did she not have time to eat breakfast, she also wouldn't have time to stop and grab her favorite cup of coffee on her way into the office. She would have to make do with the sludge that Aurora makes in the morning. Beggars can't be choosers, she thought as she mentally prepared herself to endure the cold morning air. She liked the woman, both as a person as well as a secretary, but she made horrible coffee.

She grabbed her briefcase and purse, making sure to wear her extra thick coat, and ran out to the car, quickly locking the house before she left. She shivered again as she climbed out of her car and made her way into the Storybrooke Town Hall.

"Good morning, Madam Mayor," Aurora exclaimed cheerfully when Regina walked in.

"Good morning, Aurora," Regina mumbled, accepting the handful of messages Aurora handed her.

"It's a cold morning, isn't it?" Aurora asked.

Regina resisted the urge to roll her eyes at her secretary's cheery disposition so early in the morning. "It sure is," she grumbled.

"It's a good thing you have a fireplace in your office. It sure keeps the room nice and toasty."

"That is very true. I think I'll go and light it right now. Feel free to come in and warm yourself by the fire if you get too cold," Regina said, smiling at the woman. The first thing she did when she walked into her office, even before she took off her thick coat, was light the fire in the fireplace with a large fireball, allowing the warm air to thaw her frozen bones. It would have to do.

Before she could take off her coat and sit down, she noticed a large paper cup sitting on her desk, the logo of the new hipster coffee shop scrawled over the front. She grabbed the coffee and left her office, sighing as she went to deliver the coffee to its owner.

"I think you forgot something in my office this morning," Regina said, offering the cup to Aurora.

"I'm sorry, Madam Mayor, but this isn't mine. Coffee at Jolt is too fancy for me," Aurora said, handing the coffee back.

"Then where did it come from? I didn't order it," Regina asked.

"Maybe it's another gift from your Secret Admirer, " Aurora suggested, winking slightly. Regina rolled her eyes at Aurora's suggestion, but quickly turned on her heels and rushed back to her desk, in search of any clues as to who left her the coffee.

Sure enough, sitting next to the spot Regina found the coffee was a single red rose and another envelope. The cold skin on her cheeks stretched as a small smile formed on her face. She inhaled the sweet scent of the rose before carefully opening the small card accompanying it. Her smile widened when she read the words written on the same stationery, in the same oddly familiar handwriting.

I know sometimes you run late in the morning, probably because Henry took too long in the shower and used up all the hot water. And I know when that happens, you don't have time to stop and grab your favorite cup of coffee on your way to work. This one's on me today.

Love Always, Your Secret Admirer.

She read the card a few times before she took a sip. Sure enough, the cup contained a perfectly made raspberry latte with oat milk. Whoever her Secret Admirer was knew she had switched to oat milk from soy milk a few months ago. Maybe the day wasn't a total loss. At least she still had her coffee. She drank her latte slowly, using a small bit of magic every few minutes to warm it up, allowing her to savor its sweet flavors throughout most of the day.

The coffee had put her in such a good mood that she didn't lose her temper when she received an email from Emma, informing her that she would, once again, be late with her monthly paperwork. Instead of chastising the woman for not budgeting her time properly, she simply told her not to worry, and to hand in her paperwork the following day. Maybe it was the surprise coffee left for her, or maybe it was the fire that burned in the fireplace all day, but either way by the time lunch rolled around, Regina had warmed up significantly, to the point of being flushed. She ended up having such a good day that she completely forgot to scold Henry for using up all the hot water that morning, which caused her to start her day with an ice cold shower. Who knew such a small gesture could mean so much.


December 3rd

The good mood from the day before faded quickly as soon as Regina's alarm went off the next morning. She grumbled when she heard Henry was already in the shower, which meant she had another semi-freezing shower in store for her that morning. A blinding white light caught her half-open eyes when she walked past the window, causing her to investigate the source of the brightness. After pushing aside the curtains that covered her bedroom window, she discovered a thin layer of snow covering every surface outside; which meant one thing, she would need to clean off her car before she left for work. Sure, the task didn't seem so hard, and at the end of the day it wasn't. It was, however, a very annoying task, one that she didn't look forward to, especially after being forced to take another ice cold shower.

She rushed into her bathroom the moment she heard the water turn off in the other bathroom, hoping to have enough hot water to at least finish washing and conditioning her hair. She was wrong. The hot water disappeared just as she was working the conditioner into her long hair. She sighed as she quickly washed her skin and rinsed the conditioner out of her hair, feeling the cold water seep into her bones already. She was in a horrible mood by the time she made it out to her car, a mood that was made even worse when she started cleaning the snow off her car, only to have a large gust of wind blow half of it back into her face. It wasn't even nine o'clock yet, and she was already contemplating a stiff drink. It was clear that the single plow that Storybrooke employed did not come to plow and salt the streets after the previous night's small storm, resulting in every surface being covered with a thick layer of ice cold slush, which somehow found its way into Regina's boots.

Clearly it's time for a new pair of snow boots, she thought to herself as she felt the icy water slosh in her boots, turning her toes into ten tiny ice cubes. At least she could start a fire in the fireplace when she arrived. She ascended the stairs, secretly wishing that Aurora wasn't in such a cheerful mood. She didn't know if she could handle her sunny disposition after having such a crappy morning.

"Good morning, Madam Mayor. How are you on this Wonderful Wednesday?" Aurora asked as soon as Regina entered. She shivered at the sound of Aurora's voice, which suddenly resembled nails on a chalkboard. I'll show you a Wonderful Wednesday when I throw a fireball at your face, Regina thought as she approached her secretary's desk, resisting the urge to show the perky woman just how hot her fireballs could get.

"Good morning, Aurora," she said, using every bit of energy to not snap at the happy woman.

"It snowed last night," Aurora said, stating the obvious. "Doesn't the snow make everything look so beautiful? I love this time of year."

"Yes, it does look…nice…after a snowfall," Regina answered, trying not to get mad. She knew the woman meant well, even if Regina was in a horrible mood. She abruptly ended the small talk and walked into her office. As she hung up her coat, her eyes instinctively gravitated toward her desk to gauge the amount of work awaiting her attention. She was disappointed to see there wasn't a cup of coffee waiting for her, or a single red rose. Her desk looked exactly how it had when she left the day before, with added files that Aurora had left for her when she arrived that morning. She chastised herself for feeling disappointed, reminding herself who she was and who she had been. Whoever sent me those gifts has clearly changed their mind. And I don't blame them, she thought to herself as she settled in for the long day ahead of her.

She dove head first into her emails, trying to respond to each of them politely, even though she wanted to scream at everyone for complaining so much. Just as she finished the last email, Aurora awkwardly entered the room, using her foot to kick open the door, her hands clearly full.

"Madam Mayor, these just came for you," Aurora said, moving quickly towards Regina, a huge vase full of beautiful flowers held tightly in both hands.

"What?" Regina asked, her mind unable to comprehend the gift being handed to her.

"It looks like your Secret Admirer strikes again." Aurora smiled as she placed the flowers on Regina's desk in front of her.

"Thank…thank you…for bringing these in to me," Regina said, trying to hold back tears. The last person to give her flowers had been her father, but that had been a literal lifetime ago.

"Of course, Madam Mayor," Aurora said, quickly leaving Regina's office and closing the door behind her. Although she hadn't been working for Regina very long, it was clear the woman knew Regina very well, and she knew she needed a little alone time to process the gift.

Regina held back tears as she looked at the flowers on her desk. Each flower was a different shade of purple, and included ones that Regina had never seen before. Scattered through the arrangement were tiny white flowers that worked to accent the purple around it. The colors worked so well together that Regina could hardly believe its beauty. It took her a few moments before she saw it, the splash of dark red in the sea of purple, the single red rose. She now knew exactly who the flowers were from. She smiled so wide as she gently searched through the flowers, looking for the card that had previously accompanied her gifts, finding it buried deep in the middle of the sea of purple and white. She carefully opened the now familiar stationery, pulling the card out.

True beauty such as yours deserves to be surrounded by only the most beautiful things in the world. These flowers reminded me of you.

Love Always, Your Secret Admirer.

A single tear of happiness escaped her eye as she read the card a few more times, overwhelmed by the wonderful gesture this mysterious person had shown her. Suddenly, the horrible day she had been having was forgotten. The day was starting to look up after all.

"Hey, pretty flowers!" Emma exclaimed when she breezed into her office just after lunch. "Did you get them from Belle's father's place?"

"I…I'm not sure where they came from, to be honest," Regina said.

"Did someone send these to you?" Emma asked, prying into Regina's private life like it was the most normal thing in the world.

"Yes. Is that so hard to believe that someone would send me flowers?" Regina asked, defensively.

"No! Not at all. You deserve flowers! Lots of flowers actually," Emma answered without missing a beat, a sly smile on her face. "Who sent them to you?"

"That is none of your business," Regina snapped. Emma was ruining her good mood with her questions. Emma's smile instantly disappeared off her face, and Regina realized she had snapped at her friend, who was only trying to be nice. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped. I don't know who sent them to me, to be honest," Regina answered, instantly regretting divulging such information to Emma.

"There's no card?" Emma asked. Regina missed the slight worry in her voice.

"No, there was. It was just signed, " Your Secret Admirer."

"You have a Secret Admirer! That's adorable!" Emma exclaimed. If Regina didn't know better, she could have sworn she was just as excited as Regina was. "Do you know who this person is?"

"No idea," Regina said, growing tired of talking about herself. "Now, I know you didn't come here to discuss my love life. What was it I could do for you, Miss Swan?" Regina asked, changing the subject in the hope of getting rid of Emma.

Emma's expression changed drastically at the use of her formal name. "I…I came to drop off my end of month paperwork…like you told me to yesterday."

"Oh yes, of course. Thank you," Regina said, suddenly feeling bad for snapping at Emma again.

"I better get going. These streets aren't going to patrol themselves," Regina could hear the sadness in Emma's voice all of a sudden.

"Yes, I think that's a good idea." Regina caught a sudden whiff of the beautiful flowers sitting next to her, reminding her of her mysterious Secret Admirer, causing her mood to lift. "Oh and Emma…" she started to say, causing Emma to turn around. "...please be careful. Even quiet towns have dangers. Please steer clear of them."

A wide smile formed on Emma's face. "I'll do my best. Enjoy your flowers, Madam Mayor," she said, before turning around and letting herself out of Regina's office. Regina smiled as she paused to smell the flowers again, before diving into the paperwork Emma had delivered to her moments ago.

By the time she left for the day, the sweet smell of the flowers had filled every corner of her office, clinging to the fabric like a natural air freshener. Regina carefully carried them to her car, laughing when she decided to buckle them into the front seat to ensure they didn't fall over while she drove home. She would smile in the morning when she discovered that their sweet scent was stuck in her car as well.

"Hey Mom! What's with the flowers?" Henry asked, rushing towards Regina, ready to help her carry everything into the house as she struggled to maneuver without dropping the flowers.

"Someone sent them to me." Regina could hardly contain her smile as she led Henry into the kitchen, where she instructed him to place the flowers onto the center island.

"Who's sending you flowers, Mom?" Henry asked with a wink.

"That seems to be the question of the hour." She laughed slightly, causing a strange look on Henry's face. "It seems that I have a Secret Admirer." She could feel the blush spread slowly across her face.

"Wait, for real?" Henry asked, causing Regina to shyly nod in agreement. "Do you know who it is?"

"I don't. The cards are always written in the same handwriting, which looks familiar but I can't seem to place it."

" Cards? As in more than one? They've sent you other things as well?" Henry asked as a shocked expression spread across his face.

"Yes, this is the third gift so far in the past three days."

"You've been holding out on me for three days? What else did they send you?"

"The first was a single red rose, with a card that said, "Love Always, Your Secret Admirer." That was Monday. Yesterday they left a raspberry latte from Jolt along with another rose and another note signed "Love Always, Your Secret Admirer". And this makes three."

"Did they sign it as your Secret Admirer too?"

"Yes, and there's a single red rose in the middle of the arrangement," Regina said, pointing to the rose hidden in the middle.

"Mom! This is fantastic. We have to figure out who it is!" Henry said with excitement, rushing out of the room, only to return a moment later with a notebook. "We need an operation name!"

"What about Operation: Turtle Dove?" Regina asked.

"Perfect!" Henry exclaimed, scribbling the new operation name on the top of a blank page. "Now, let's start brainstorming. Who do we think this could be?"