So I'm thinking probably only one more chapter in this one and then a little epilogue to wrap it all up :) once this one is over I've got another little story to put up, it was a request on Instagram from storybrookeoutlawqueen for an "Enchanted Forest story with lots of feels" lol! So that will be coming soon!

Please leave a review! Happy reading!

She was already smiling as she worked but that smile spread even wider when she felt his warm body press up against her back as his arms wound around her shoulders and the side of his head rested against hers. She was giddy and she was warm and as she leaned back in to him she felt his cheek lift in a smile against hers, "what will Emma think of this?"

"Us?"

If she only had words to describe the way her heart flipped and jolted at the word, "yes. Us," she couldn't help but grin as the term left her lips.

"She said it will be weird watching us make out but that she would get used to it," he smirked and she laughed softly as he pressed a kiss to the edge of her jaw and swayed her back and forth every so gently.

"She knows then."

"She pointed it out to me in the first place."

With a slight furrow of her brow, Regina turned her head toward him as best she could and questioned, "really?"

"Mhm."

"That is surprising."

"As it turns out, your majesty, we are completely blind when it comes to love," he teased and she laughed softly, "how about Zelena?"

"She knew too..."

"Well this just gets worse and worse by the second," he chuckled and nuzzled his nose in to her neck, "and Henry?"

"He confronted me regarding this not a half hour ago. And then promptly sent me downstairs so you could kiss me before you went to bed," she smirked and David laughed an adoring laugh against her skin, "he's taking it much better than I imagined."

"Good," he whispered and happily nuzzled his nose in to her neck and took a deep breath, filling his nose with her scent on his inhale and then sinking heavier in to her on his exhale. He didn't realize how tired he was until then as he relaxed with her in his arms and no secrets between them. He never wanted to let her go.

"Are you going to help me eat these or not?" She smirked and he hummed against her neck, only looking up when his breath had run out. She didn't mind the delay. She loved the fact he was leaning in to her with his warm arms hugged around her shoulders. It was warm and comforting and she didn't want him to go. As it turned out, he had no plans of letting go of her and a rich laugh left her mouth when he opened his mouth expectantly. He didn't stop until she lifted one of Santa's cookies to his mouth and let him take a bite, "you're an idiot," she commented quietly and more affectionately than she ever had before.

"So I've been told," he smirked and then smiled in complete adoration when she tipped her head in to the side of his. "How pissed do you think the jolly old man is going to be when he discovers his cookies half eaten?" He teased and she laughed.

"He'll have to leave me a strongly worded letter," she retorted with a wide smile as she lolled her head back and lifted her hands to settle on his forearms over her chest, a ginger molasses cookie still held between her fingers.

David simply laughed in amusement and turned his head so he could look at her. His dearest friend. Her smile was one that had to be kissed and she laughed happily when he dipped his head and kissed those soft lips. It was just a single lingering kiss but it was more than enough to make his heart happy and when he pulled away her smile was even brighter than before. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt so happy.

And then he turned his head straight and dropped it down so he could take another bite of the cookie still in her fingers. It resulted in a burst of beautiful laughter for his ears and that laughter of hers continued as he hummed in delight and pressed his nose to her cheek as he chewed. "Delicious," he complimented through a mouthful of cookie and she let him bend them to the side just a little.

"Idiot."

"Your idiot," he smiled and she grinned.

"An idiot nonetheless," she retorted quietly with a wide smile that had him laughing. When she turned in his arms, he let her and his arms unwound from her shoulders so his hands could rest on her hips and she watched his face change. It grew softer and softer with each passing moment and those kind blue eyes paired with that tender smile of his was more than enough to make her heart flutter in her chest. She hadn't been looked at like that in a very long time.

She was helpless against the smile that pulled at her lips and with a slight lift of her chin she asked him, "what are you thinking about?"

The question made him smile even more just because he loved the answer to it. It lifted his heart and made him inexplicably happy. So he shared without hesitation, "you were once the Evil Queen. And now you are my dearest friend. You saw me in darkest time and rather than laughing and standing by, you cried and you put me back together. I don't know where I would be without your kindness and your strength. I have fallen in love with you and I truly could not be happier," he shook his head with a light laugh and then his brow furrowed in utter adoration and his laughter disappeared, "and you love my son."

Those words were quick to put her near tears and she only got closer with every word he spoke, "you had every reason to turn us away. You had every reason to gnash your teeth and let us suffer. But you didn't. You helped me put myself back together but more importantly you gave my son a mother. You took him in to your heart when you had no reason to. You have given him everything and the way he smiles at you whenever you walk in to the room knocks my breath away. He loves you and he doesn't even know what that word is," he laughed softly and her dark eyes were glossy but she never looked away from him. Not once.

"You love him as though he was your own and not as though he was the product of the woman you once hated so passionately. I cannot tell you how much that means to me or how truly impressive and selfless you have proved yourself to be. I had no idea you had such a big heart and you continue to astound me everyday. You have even taken Emma under your care and I know she will never admit it to you but she is so grateful for the effort you have put in to making her a part of this family again.

You singlehandedly ruined the lives of every one of us. And now you have singlehandedly put us all back together. Even Zelena. I don't think you realize how important you are. I don't think you realize how much we love you either. For the longest time I believed Snow to be a fool for believing you could be redeemed but here we are. The Evil Queen exceeding all odds and all expectations, working away to mend broken hearts and unintentionally winning a few with her efforts. I have never had a closer friend, I have never held a friend so dear, and now I am allowed to kiss you whenever I please and I am allowed to love you in the deepest and truest way," he shook his head with a tender smile as he lifted his hands to cradle her head and her hands were quick to lift and hang off his wrists.

"You are beautiful. Inside and out. I could not ask for something more precious than your love and you are willing to give it to me. So I stare at you in awe because you don't need me and yet you have chosen to have me. Awe because I know how much we hurt you in the past and yet you are still standing here and have found it in you to love me despite it. Because you are beautiful and strong and clever and kind. So incredibly kind," he shook his head and rubbed his thumb over her cheek, "and I never expected it of you. I know now why Snow fought so hard for you, I understand now why she never let you die. I see it. I haven fallen for it. And I never want to let you go."

The tears glossing those gorgeous eyes of hers made his heart lurch in his chest. He wanted them to go away just as much as he wanted them to stay so he could study the beautiful expression that came with them.

"I didn't realize how much I needed to hear that," she replied on a stressed exhale and felt a tear finally break free and roll down her cheek. It was wiped away a moment later by the pad of his thumb with a tender hum low in his throat.

"You will have to hear plenty more for I will never stop," he smiled and she gave a teary and shaky laugh in return as her hands squeezed his wrists. "But first I need another bite of that delicious cookie," he teased and she laughed even more as one hand fell from his wrist and retrieved his cookie from the plate on the counter beside her. When she brought it within the reach of his mouth he moved to take a bite but was denied and it was pulled it away so that it was back above her shoulder and her lips were pursed in a playful smirk.

Her tears were drying from her eyes but there was still evidence of their presence despite the smirk on her mouth and in her eyes. It made him laugh good and deep in his throat as he inched his body even closer to hers so they were pressed together. And then he kissed her. His heart and his stomach jumped at the contact she allowed and as her jaw softened and opened for him, he felt whole once again.

Christmas Morning

Henry bounced in to his aunt's room with a wild grin and Emma right on his heels. Without warning, he jumped on the empty half of Zelena's bed and promptly startled the witch awake with a simultaneous holler of, "wake up, it's Christmas!"

"Wha-! Who?! What is-! ...Henry," she groaned once she woke up enough to make sense of what had just happened, "it's too early."

"It's never too early on Christmas Day!" Henry laughed and she groaned once more and buried her head back in to her pillow.

"We're waiting on you, witch," Emma chuckled as she gathered the edge of the woman's green duvet in her hands, "Regina and David are already downstairs with Neal and Christmas can't start until the whole family's down there. If I'm out of bed, you can get your sorry ass out too," she teased and when the witch merely waved a hand at her, Emma yanked the blanket from her and the woman was immediately lunging back at her.

It had Emma jumping back with a surprised burst of laughter as Henry guffawed from his place on the bed, "you're pretty spry for your age," Emma commented with a daring tone she knew Zelena couldn't help but resist a fight with.

"My age?" Zelena enunciated with a threat and Henry laughed slowly with his hands over his mouth. Emma merely smirked and raised an eyebrow. "You're going to pay for that," she nodded and Emma smirked even wider as she slowly started backing up and gathering up the green duvet in her arms.

"You're gonna have to catch me first," she grinned and Zelena scowled with a threat in the cock of her head. And then Henry jumped at the witch and tackled her with a wild laugh that had Zelena snapping at him as she tried to wrestle free. The witch couldn't help but laugh though and Emma was quick to run out of the room with a laugh of her own. She had never really had a proper Christmas.

"Give me back my blanket!" Zelena shouted after Emma and then laughed as she threw Henry off her and he landed on the bed with a bounce and a rich laugh as she started her pursuit of the laughing blonde, "Emma!"

...

David had believed he was the first awake until he went in to the Neal's room and found his crib to be empty. If he had been in any other house with any other assortment of company than the Evil Queen and the Wicked Witch, he would have felt his blood run cold at the sight of an empty crib. But instead he simply smiled for he knew his queen was an early riser. So now he was downstairs in the kitchen and listening to Henry's muffled voice upstairs waking Emma for Christmas morning.

He was presented with the most heartwarming sight the moment he peeked in to the kitchen. Neal was sitting in his portable foam seat on the counter with an array of chopped bright red strawberries on the tray in front of him while Regina's quiet voice and pleasant smile warmed the room. She was bent at the waist with her elbows on the counter and a mug of coffee between her hands, her hair was soft and tousled with sleep, her pyjamas soft and loose, her face clean of make up, her smile bright as she spoke to his son too softly for himself to hear but loud enough for Neal to grin at her.

It was beautiful to him. It made him feel like he was home. That what he was looking at in front of him then was what he wanted to look at for the rest of his life. And when she noticed his presence and looked his way his heart jolted in delight at the warmth in those chocolate irises and the excitement in her smile knowing that he was finally awake. "Good morning," he greeted with a nod and she smiled as she brought to rim of her mug to her soft lips.

"Merry Christmas," she replied and then took a sip of her coffee, her skin shivering as the heat slid down her throat and warmed her belly. He simply stood in the doorway with that lopsided grin of his and watched her and his son in front of her as he happily tried to chew on his strawberries. He was admiring them and it made her smile but she didn't want him to admire them from all the way over there, "I would hate to learn you've grown timid overnight."

In an instant there was a bright smile on his face and a laugh bubbling in his throat as he pushed his shoulder from the doorframe so he could walk to her. "Absolutely not," he smiled and she smirked as he encouraged her to turn and stand up straight. What he loved most was when he brushed his fingers over hers so she would put her coffee down and once she had, she was quick to catch his fingers in hers and carefully intertwine them and hold on.

So with his fingers intertwined with hers and hanging at their thighs, he lifted his other so his fingers skimmed her jaw and threaded in to her hair. She was smiling the whole time and that only made his heart feel even lighter in his chest as he looked over her features once more, "you are even more beautiful in the morning light," he complimented and gave a soft laugh through his nose when her smile lifted even higher and the corners of her eyes creased even more.

When he kissed her, her mouth was even softer than he remembered it being and the purr that rumbled in her throat caused his spine to shiver. His life had always been so complicated and so busy. As had hers. And now it was as simple as her belonging with him and him belonging with her and it was such a relief to have finally figured everything out. There was no one trying to kill them, no one trying to tear them apart, they wanted to be with one another. There was no stress of potential disapproval from those closest to them and they knew the rest of the town would get over the news. It was peaceful and so wonderfully easy.

"That's better," she whispered against his lips and grinned with him when he dipped his head for another kiss and Neal shrieked in delight behind her. He was very likely shrieking at the strawberries on his tray but the joyous sound had her and David laughing as they parted their kiss and both looked in the child's direction. He was grinning back at them with a slobbery fistful of cut strawberries and the sight had Regina laughing even more while David nuzzled his nose in to her temple with his light laugh. She had never felt so happy. She wanted everyone downstairs. It was going to be an amazing day, she just knew it.

When David withdrew from her, their entwined fingers were the last to part and once they had, he didn't go far. He merely stepped around her with his hand trailing along her lower back before he put all his attention on his grinning son. A son that wouldn't have learned to smile like that nearly as quickly as he had had Regina not been there to teach him. He may have had Snow's eyes and Snow's hair but he could see hints of Regina in the smile he had learned to mimic. "Good morning, little man," he greeted with a bright smile as he pressed a kiss to the side of his son's head. He kicked his feet in excitement as he bounced in his seat and David couldn't help but laugh and kiss him again before he took Regina's place at the counter. Bent at the waist and elbows on the counter as he smiled at his grinning son in his bright red pyjamas with white snowmen and brown reindeer. Regina had gotten them for him. He absolutely adored how much she enjoyed clothes shopping for Neal. Every time she brought in a new outfit she was grinning from ear to ear and insisted he wear it right away.

The pyjamas were no exception.

Their peaceful morning was interrupted by shouting and laughing as the remaining family came thundering down the stairs in a hurry. David turned from his son and Regina from the coffee pot to see what was going on and a handful of seconds later a wildly laughing Emma came racing in to the kitchen with an emerald green duvet wrapped around her shoulders. Not a moment later a furious Zelena flung herself in to the kitchen but Emma had already made it behind her father and was using him as a shield.

"Give it back!" Zelena demanded furiously and Emma peeked over David's shoulder as the man laughed at what he had been roped in to.

"You have to promise not to hurt me first!"

"I have little problem with giving you a painless death. However, I cannot guarantee it will be quick," she snarled and stepped closer as Henry bounced in to the kitchen.

"What is happening?" Regina questioned with a laugh as she poured David's coffee.

"Auntie's still not a morning person," Henry supplied with a laugh from across the island so he was not caught between Emma and Zelena.

"You can't kill me either!" Emma laughed as she peeked over David's shoulder again.

"Regina," Zelena whined and her sister sputtered her coffee when she tried to take a sip but instead found herself laughing at the whine of her name, "Emma stole my blanket!"

"And you can have it back once you promise not to harm or kill me! Maybe...I mean it is super cozy," Emma grinned and Zelena scowled while the rest of their company laughed.

"Sounds like a fair trade to me," Regina shrugged with a reined in smirk and then she shrugged when Zelena looked her way, "it is Christmas after all."

With a cross of her jaw and a huffed sigh, Zelena turned her head back to Emma and David and grumbled, "fine."

"Awesome!" Emma laughed as she quickly came out of hiding and David rolled his eyes in amusement. "Oh! Here, I'll be right back! Henry, come here," she instructed as she swung the duvet from around her shoulders and gave it back to Zelena before she ran out of the kitchen with a curious and laughing Henry on her heels.

"Good morning, Zelena," Regina smirked as she passed and handed David his coffee and he took it with a smile and a quiet thank you.

"I will never understand you morning people," she grumbled as she wrapped herself in her heavy duvet and took a deep breath to recenter herself. She was interrupted by something being tugged on to her head and immediately there was a scowl on her mouth as she looked to the laughing blonde beside her.

"Cheer up, Zee!" Emma laughed and batted at the fluffy white pompom on the end of Zelena's new Santa hat that matched her own, "it's Christmas!" She was merely scowled at while Henry distributed the rest of the hats.

"You all keep saying that," Zelena grumbled and listened to Regina and Henry laugh when Henry stood on his toes to tug a red and white hat on his mother's head. It suited her sister. "But the only thing that would make this early morning worth getting up for is if those two have finally gotten themselves sorted," she noted with a tilt of her head and a hard stare at Regina and David. Henry was quick to giggle quietly to himself at the thought and Emma mimicked her and looked at the pair with a quiet smirk and her ridiculous Santa hat.

"What?" Regina laughed with a smirk and David adjusted his hat.

"Oh, pffft!" Emma blew off and Regina seemed to only smirk more, "you know exactly what. Both of you do. And if you don't, well then we are about to spell it out for you."

"Are they expecting a kiss, love?" David asked with a slight furrow of his brow and Regina bit back the full extent of the grin pulling at her pursed and smirking lips. Meanwhile Henry laughed more and both Emma and Zelena perked up significantly at the direction of the conversation.

"That is what it sounds like, dear," Regina agreed and David hummed thoughtfully while Emma and Zelena slowly started grinning from ear to ear while Henry pulled his bottom lip between his grinning teeth in anticipation.

"Well...if it is the only thing that will keep your sister from retreating upstairs to find more sleep..." He reasoned and Regina bobbed her head from side to side in mock thought. And then he was stepping up to her and pulling her in to him by her hips as she broke in to laughter and then let him kiss her. With his hands on her hips and her arms lazily and happily slung over his shoulders, he kissed her and their audience erupted in to laughter and cheering.

"Oh praise the gods!" Zelena exclaimed with a slight spread of her arms and backwards tip of her head while Emma clapped and laughed beside her, "I was beginning to think it would never happen!"

"Oh my god, right?!" Emma agreed quietly with a laugh and Zelena rewrapped herself in her duvet and laughed quietly beside her, "I thought we were going to have to smack sticky notes on their foreheads saying 'I'm an idiot and I love you'."

"Do shut up," Regina commented with a smile she couldn't help as she dipped her forehead in to the bridge of David's nose and he laughed against her skin. It seemed it only made the laughter worse from Emma and Zelena but Regina couldn't find it in herself to be bothered. She was far too happy. And their six matching Santa hats were ridiculous. But she wouldn't change a thing.