May we meet again

MERRY CHRISTMAS JEN!!!

Her first year in Storybrooke she had received an invitation for ‘Granny’s Dinner Special Christmas Celebration’ by post. She remembered signing a consent to let them celebrate at the dinner -even knowing that she would get complaints from grumpy neighbors if the celebration carried on for too long- but by no means did she expect to get invited.

She knew what Christmas was, the same way she knew how to drive and how to cook (even if it took time for her lasagna to become her speciality) as soon as she woke up in Storybrooke. Yet still, she wasn’t sure how the festivity could make such an impact on people’s attitudes, that not only would they greet her with a smile, but they had even invited her to celebrate with them. Curiosity won over her and she decided to spend the cold night, drinking eggnog and eating a persimmon pudding among the citizens.

She remembers having a good night, enjoying Granny’s specials, and even making small talk with Dr. Hopper. But it was when she saw Mr. Gold walk in that she realized she had been invited out of fear, something Gold was quick to see as he walked out immediately after locking eyes with her. She had felt humiliated, not for being invited because they feared her, but for believing that anyone would actually want to celebrate with her.

Since that night, and for the next seventeen years, she would always give her approval to the celebration at Granny’s, but would spend the night doing paperwork as she would have any other night. She wouldn’t give the date more importance than any other day.

Her first Christmas with Henry would always be a memory she’d cherish for the rest of her life. She had spent the night singing every Christmas song she could remember from the radio to a smiling Henry as he would make cooing noises every time his mother reached a higher note. Henry had seemed to love his new reindeers onesie, and she would have made him wear it even if his chubby little hands wouldn’t have hold onto it as strongly as they had. She made sure to take a picture of Henry when he fell asleep while sitting on his highchair, with the onesie still clutched to his hands.

When Henry got older and the idea of a fat man bringing him presents during the night became a reason for his hyperactivity in Christmas Eve, so she decided to buy him a special gift that he could open before going to sleep just so he would calm his excitement and would be able to sleep through the night. It never worked, for he would always stay up for another hour until his mother would tell him that Santa doesn’t bring presents to little boys who stay up all night to wait for him; but she kept buying one extra present for him to open at night, just to see him happy. She always reserved the best present for Christmas morning, both presents would always somehow be connected to each other -if she gave him new pencil colours at night, then he would receive that colouring book he had been asking for months come the morning - yet Henry never seemed to realise, or he did but decided to humor her. Her little prince had always been too clever for his age.

When her son’s whole focus became his biological mother, Regina figured that if she didn’t want her son to leave in the middle of the night to wish Miss Swan a Merry Christmas, accepting Granny’s invitation would be a wise idea. To humor Henry, Regina let him spend most of the night with Emma, because she knew he would go back home with her, he would open his present, and then in the morning he would open his other one while eating pancakes with her.

When she had to ground her son in Christmas Day, after Emma brought him from her apartment after he just appeared at her door, Regina decided that it was a priority to get Emma Swan out of her town as soon as possible - not that it hadn’t been a priority before, but now drastic measures would be taken. She needed to keep her son with her.

But a year later she wasn’t celebrating Christmas in Storybrooke, her home, her son, everything she held close to her heart was gone. Snow and Charming had insisted on her going to the Christmas Eve ball, but not even the thief’s dimpled smiled son had been able to convince her. She spent the night locked in her chamber trying not to think about the bittersweet memory of their last Christmas together. There was no reason to celebrate. She had nothing left. ———— When she woke up she decided to stay in bed and sleep well past the morning, knowing that the dining hall would be full of the cheerfulness that Christmas mornings tended to have, and that her sour mood would be appreciated by no one. Not even herself. It was occasions like this one that made her wish she had found a reason not to curse herself.

Regina didn’t bother joining the crowd for lunch either. She knew she was pushing it and that her ever-worried stepdaughter was bound to make an appearance in her bedchamber soon; yet she couldn’t find it in herself to move from her bed. Seeing the Christmas decorations and the children playing with their new toys would only make her long for her son’s presence even more. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to think of Henry – her memories of him were the real reason why she was still standing – but on a day as significant as Christmas she didn’t think she was strong enough to get through it with only her memories of him; she needed her son with her.

She could imagine that he would be eating Christmas turkey by this time – if days and nights and time itself worked the same way in both lands – eager to try out the new video game he probably would have received as a present. She could only hope that Emma didn’t get him a violent game, hopefully the fake memories she gave her would lead Emma to buy an educational video game.

When a knock on the door was heard, Regina had to admit she was surprised that Snow hadn’t just barged in. She slipped into her silk robe before preparing herself to open the door and order her to leave her alone. However, she had to bite her tongue to stop herself from shouting at anyone.

She looked from side to side in the hallway, but no one was there, perhaps she had imagined the knock on the door? It wouldn’t be the first time – or the last – that her mind had played tricks on her. She was about to close the door when she saw it: a box-shaped object, wrapped in what seemed to be colored white paper, with a note next to it that read 'Your Majesty’ in child-like handwriting.

She grabbed the box and the note before looking around from her chamber door for the deliverer of the present. Since there was no sign of a small child anywhere nearby, she decided to go back into her room. Her guess – and she knew it was the correct one – was that an enthusiastic Roland had prepared a present for her and had waited to give it to her this morning when she hadn’t showed up. Maybe he had even put it underneath the Christmas tree, hoping that she would find it on her own. She hated to disappoint, yet again, another child. She could even imagine Roland’s hopeful eyes saddening from the realization that she wouldn’t be joining the festivity.

She would blame it on the roller-coaster of emotions she was feeling that her impulsive reaction was to leave the still wrapped present on the bed and run from her bedroom, having only the silk robe to cover her nightgown, in order to find a curly haired, dimple smiled, four year old.

She ran and ran, ignoring the shocked stares people gave her, and was about to come to an abrupt stop at the closed entrance of the dining hall. She took a deep breath and was about to open the door when she heard a voice calling for her. “Regina?” She turned around to face her stepdaughter.

“Snow. Have you seen Roland? The thief’s son?” Snow’s face showed confusion, but to Regina’s delight, she decided not to voice it.

“I know who Roland is, Regina. I saw Robin taking him to bed on my way here, they shouldn’t be too far.”

Regina left Snow and started running towards the thief’s bedchambers as soon as she heard that was their destination. She was out of breath by the time she made it to the closed door and had to lean on it to catch her breath.

“Your majesty?” Apparently, in her desperation to get to the bedroom, she had run right past Roland and his father without realizing.

Regina ignored Robin’s questioning glance and knelt down to Roland’s height.

“Roland, thank you so much for your present.” A smile spread across the child’s face and she couldn’t bring herself to tell him that she hadn’t opened it yet when he asked her if she had liked it.

“It was lovely, sweetheart. Thank you so much.”

“Papa helped me make it but it was all my idea, Your Majesty.”

Regina was starting to regret not opening the present before rushing to find the child, so she decided that changing the focus of the conversation would be a wise idea.

“You can call me Regina, Roland. After receiving such an amazing gift it would only be fair that I let my new friend address me by my name.” Roland seemed amazed at the idea of being friends with the Queen.

“We are friends?” His hopeful question made Regina smile, while – even if the two participants of the conversation were oblivious to this – Robin smiled at the interaction happening in front of him.

“Well, friends give each other gifts on Christmas Day, and since you gave me yours already, I came to find you to give you mine.” Robin was about to tell her how it wasn’t necessary for her to give his son anything, but stopped himself when he saw her subtly nod at him to let him know that she wanted to do this. She extended her arm to wave her hand and they saw a wrapped box appear from a purple cloud of magic. “This one is for you.”

After receiving a nod of approval from his father, Roland grabbed the present from Regina’s hand to start unwrapping it.

“What do we say to Her Majesty, Roland?”

“Thank you, Majesty.”

“Regina.” She corrected him with a smile. “And it was my pleasure. I hope you like it, Roland.” Regina nodded at Robin as a goodbye and walked away before Roland finished unwrapping his present. She knew he would like his colored pencils as much as Henry had when he was his age.

She was ready to lie down on her bed when she realized that her wrapped present was still lying on it. Tears filled her eyes when she carefully unwrapped it to reveal a wooden angel-shaped ornament. She would make sure to put it on the tree come morning. ———— Regina was sitting on the floor in between Robin’s legs to rest against his chest while cradling little Rose in her arms. Henry was sitting on one side of the couch reading 'Twas the Night before Christmas’ out loud for their family to hear, while Roland, sitting on the opposite side of the couch, was eating what she thought to be the last gingerbread man.

She was listening to Henry’s voice and thinking about how deep it was now compared to when she was the one reading the book to him, when she felt a kiss on her neck. Looking over her shoulder she found the promise of more kisses in Robin’s eyes, but she signaled at the couch with her head, pointing at the children. Roland had started to show his disgust over people – and especially his parents – kissing; and even if he wasn’t as obvious as Roland, she knew that after being witness to some of their passionate kisses, Henry would be uncomfortable if she decided to indulge the former thief and kiss him.

Understanding what she meant, Robin only winked at her and gave her a quick peck on the lips, before encircling her waist with his arms and continuing to listen to the end of the story.

“It’s almost time.” Henry informed them as soon as he finished the story. Regina checked the clock: 23:53. She would have waited two more minutes if it hadn’t been for Roland’s pleading eyes.

“Alright, let’s swap presents before Santa comes to bring his.”

The next twenty minutes were spent between running to get their presents from their secret hideouts and exchanging them. Roland had made drawings for everyone and she felt herself tearing up when she realized she was labelled as 'mama’ whenever she appeared in one of his drawings. Robin held her by his side with one arm and kissed her temple while holding Rose in the other. Henry had decided to buy what he called a 'grown up’ type of present and, with Snow’s help, he got them a video baby monitor to replace the old audio one they were using. Roland had received the collection of Narnia books, which he considered to be 'big boy’s books’; and Henry had gotten a set of Marvel comics he had been asking for for months.

They waited for the kids to go to bed before exchanging their presents. Sitting on the couch, facing each other, she decided to give him her present first.

“Merry Christmas, Robin.” She said and extended the gift to him. She watched his face light up with happiness when he unwrapped it. His present was a framed picture of the five of them that had been taken by Mary Margaret some weeks before.

“I love it.” He said, and put the fame next to him on the coach, to cradle her face in his hands. Regina started to part her lips, expecting to feel his lips on hers soon, but he only kissed the tip of her nose and retreated to his place to grab her present.

“Merry Christmas, my love.” She grabbed the present from his hands and unwrapped it to see Page 23 in a golden picture frame. “I once told you this page represents the hope of a future together, so I saw fit for it to be the way to start it. Turn the frame around.” She stared at him in amused confusion for a few seconds, but did what he asked after receiving an encouraging nod from him.

She turned the frame around to reveal a note that read ‘Will you marry me?’

Fin