That Holiday Magic

Chapter 1

With a large smile and her long, wispy blonde hair pulled back into a lazy ponytail, Emma Swan happily bounced home. She looked down for the umpteenth time at the paper in her hands and beamed. She'd smiled for so long already, her usually pale cheeks were rosy and her hands had crumpled the sides of the paper with her excited grip.

The paper had a smiley face sticker in the right hand corner with a circled "A+" next to it. Underneath the grade and sticker was a short comment from the teacher: "Perfect!"

That word meant more to Emma than anyone would ever know. Eight years old and she'd been in and out of twelve foster homes, three within the last month, before she'd been given to the Johnson's. No one had ever told her she was good at anything. No one had ever encouraged her to try. No one had ever cared. With the Johnson's, she had started to feel welcome. She felt like she had a chance. The Johnson's had been nice enough to give her a canopy bed like she was some kind of princess. As long as she got good grades, practiced good manners, and remembered to smile, she would always have a place in their home. That's what they had told her when they first took her in and since then, she'd made sure to be smart, polite, and happy.

When she opened the door to the house, she immediately called out for her foster parents only to find them hugging and smiling in the living room. It looked like such a private, intimate moment, but Emma didn't realize how important the moment was until she spoke up.

"Look!"

Emma held up the paper and waved it in front of the couple as she entered the room.

"I got an A! I did perfect!"

The couple slowly broke away from their loving embrace and looked down at the little girl. Their smiles faded and a thick tension invaded the room. Emma remained unaware.

"That's...great, Emma," her foster mother struggled to say. "Um, listen, we...we have some news of our own."

"What is it," Emma asked and widened her eyes in her ever present excitement.

"Sit down, Emma," her foster father ushered her to the couch behind his wife.

His voice was stern, which left no room for argument, but also gentle as though he didn't want to hurt her feelings.

"Wh-What's going on," Emma nervously asked as she sunk into the couch.

"Well, we...uh," her foster mother started. "We found out we're having twins."

Emma lit up again.

"Really?"

The couple looked at each other and frowned. Their eyes communicated their discomfort. After a moment, they looked back at Emma and sighed.

"We...we thought we could handle a new baby and you, but...for the last couple months it's been...difficult," her foster mother explained. "And now with another one on the way..."

Emma visibly deflated.

"But..." Emma shyly started. "But I do good in school."

"You do well," her foster mother couldn't help herself from correcting the girl.

"I- I'm nice too. You said if I did good-"

"Well," she corrected again.

"If I did well," Emma continued. "And if I was nice, that I could stay."

"And you've done all that we asked from you," her foster father said. "But...it's too much. In more ways than one."

Emma furrowed her brow and curiously tilted her head to the side.

"How is it too much?"

"We can't support you and our two children. Do you know what that means," her foster mother asked.

Emma shook her head.

"We would have two people, plus ourselves, to feed and buy clothes and shoes. We both have jobs so we're not always home, which means we would have to get someone to watch the three of you. That costs money too. We don't have enough time," her foster mother answered.

"Or energy. And definitely not money," her foster father finished.

"So...you're sending me back?"

"We're sorry, Emma," her foster mother said with some sincerity in her voice.

Emma would have believed her by her tone alone, but when her foster mother looked at her foster father she no longer thought they were sorry enough to pick the hard way.

Because she knew all too well that sending her back to the orphanage was the easy way out. The hard thing to do would be to make it work with her and the new babies, which they'd already decided wouldn't be too difficult since they let Emma live with them for the last two months.

Emma hadn't come to live with the Johnson's when it was just the two of them. They'd been looking to adopt for nearly a year before they looked into foster care options. By the time someone passed Emma along to them, they were one month away from having a newborn on their hands. They had thought about giving her back before a social worker had even dropped her off, but after a few days of deliberation they decided to give it a try.

So it made sense when Emma looked at the Johnson's and realized they loved their own children more than they'd ever even care about her. She scowled and pouted and her attitude quickly changed from sweet little girl to angry little girl.

Within five minutes, a social worker arrived at the house and took Emma with her back to the orphanage while the Johnson's prepared to welcome both of their real kids into the world.

She spent the next several weeks in the orphanage before someone else claimed to want her, but it hadn't mattered. No one really wanted her. They thought they did until it all became real for them that there was a girl, a mere child, with needs they hadn't wanted to fill. It was too late anyway. Her nice girl act had been crushed along with her hope of finding a family. She hadn't been broken yet, but she had been damaged.

Angry and lost. That's all she'd ever be from that point on.

When she had been stuck in Neverland, Emma had spent her days and nights not only worried about getting Henry back, but reliving every childhood trauma. She hadn't necessarily pictured each moment in detail like recalling scenes from a movie, but she remembered how it felt. She'd remembered things she hadn't thought about in years and her emotions had gotten the better of her.

Still, she'd worked twice as hard to bury those issues like she had years ago and focused on saving her son. She had been successful and the misfit group that had joined her, had helped her, to get Henry home safely, had all returned to Storybrooke almost eight months ago.

In that near eight months, Henry lived between Emma's apartment and Regina's house and had weekend visits with Neal. Emma and Regina thought the best way for them to share custody would be to each have Henry for a month. Every other weekend, either Regina or Emma would leave him with Neal depending on whose month it was to have him in their guardianship.

It wasn't perfect, but Henry hadn't complained when they came up with the arrangement and after the first two months – one with each mother – he had shared his true feelings about the situation.

On the first night Regina turned Henry over to Emma for the start of the third month, the three of them decided to share dinner per their son's request. He used that dinner to tell them he liked how things were. He said that even if it didn't make things interesting, which it did, that he would still appreciate spending equal time with both of them.

The fact that Emma and Regina had managed to actually get along at that point also made things that much easier to enjoy. Henry had no idea what had happened between them while they were all in Neverland, but he was glad it had happened, whatever it was that had occurred between them. He'd even said as much before the meal had ended.

It was in the back and forth of shared responsibility of raising Henry that Regina and Emma had reached the certain friendship that they had. They had each other's phone numbers, but they didn't talk much unless it had something to do with Henry, although, they sent texts every so often. But of course it usually had to do with their almost twelve year old son. Some conversations, however, started with Henry and ended with familiar banter unrelated to him. They joked about past events like taking a chainsaw to an apple tree, breaking into the Mayor's office with a lame excuse, using magic together, one or more jealous parties when Tinkerbell or Hook were involved, and Regina sleeping in a bed that Emma caught Snow and Charming having sex in.

Those texts had become more common – more frequent – than not, which was why it hadn't surprised Emma when her phone vibrated with a new text from Regina.

"Why did your mother just invite me to dinner?"

Emma groaned and rolled her eyes after she read the message. She only took a few seconds to process what she'd read before she typed out a response.

"Thanksgiving dinner. She wants everyone together. I think she even used the word 'family' to describe everyone."

The reply was almost instantaneous.

"Like hell I'm that woman is family. And I will not subject myself to her cooking."

"Actually, she wants YOU to cook."

"Of course she does. Well, you can tell her I won't do it. I'm not even going!"

"Is that what you told her?"

"I told her if she wanted to know how I really felt about joining her for dinner, she should consult our long and painful history."

"You realize she'll probably just guilt you into coming because you owe her for all your attempts to kill her, right?"

"She can try, but I'm not going to a family dinner, especially if SHE'S the one hosting it."

Emma's response was a little slower that time when the front door to the apartment opened then loudly shut, though it hadn't been slammed out of anger.

"Then don't come for her. Come for Henry."

"He and I have always had Thanksgiving dinner at my place."

"Hey, Ma," Henry said as he walked into the kitchen and dropped his backpack next to the stool beside Emma. "Who are you texting?"

"None of your business," Emma said as she tried to type out a response to Regina.

"Is it Neal?"

"No. Why would you think that?"

"Because you always get a little cranky when you're talking to him."

"It's not Neal. And I'm not cranky."

"Then who is it," he slowly asked as he leaned in close and tried to read a name or at least some of the previous messages.

"Henry, stop it," Emma shooed him away.

"Emma? I will not let you keep my son from me. We have a tradition!"

Henry didn't relent. He tried over and over to get a closer to look. He even resorted to sticking his hand in Emma's face to prevent her from reading the new text.

"Henry!"

"I want to see," Henry exclaimed as he kept one hand in her face and used the other to swipe the phone from Emma.

"Give it back," Emma yelled.

Henry ran from the kitchen toward the stairs that led to Emma's room and looked over the texts between his blonde mother and...

His eyes widened when he realized Emma had been texting his brunette mother, but the shock wore off once he caught himself up on their conversation. Before Emma reached him at the stairs and tried to take back her phone, Henry sent Regina a response.

"Mom, it's Henry. I want to have dinner with everyone."

"Henry?"

"Just took Emma's phone. She's angry. Yes or no?"

"Yes or no to what?"

"Are you coming to dinner?"

Regina took more than a few minutes to mull over her answer before she typed it. Her thumb hovered over the 'send' button when a new text came in.

"I reall y eszxdvyp9 "

Regina questioningly stared at the text over and over again. Each time she read it, it seemed to make less and less sense.

Emma yanked her phone out of Henry's hand and shoved him away from the stairs with her hand on his back after a short wrestle with him.

Henry reluctantly lurched toward the living room due to Emma's force, but didn't fall over. He slowed himself to a normal walking pace and went back to the kitchen for a snack.

Emma growled out of frustration when she saw what wrestling with Henry caused the boy to type and then send to Regina.

"Sorry. Tried to get my phone back. Henry accidentally sent that during our little fight. It's Emma, by the way."

Regina didn't save the message she was about to send before she received the strange text from Emma's phone. Instead, she deleted it without a second thought and read Emma's apologetic explanation for the previous text then typed out a completely different response.

"Fight? I hope it wasn't physical."

"Only slightly. Kid's fine."

Before Regina could scold Emma for her behavior, her phone alerted her with another text.

"Apparently, he was trying to say 'I really want you come'. He wanted me to tell you that."

Regina relaxed and faintly smiled. She re-typed out her answer to Henry's question when he'd still been in possession of Emma's phone. Though the words were a little different, the message was still the same.

"Tell him I'll be there. What time is the dinner?"

Emma's responses came quicker from that point on, as quick as they first had when the two of them began texting.

"Didn't Mary Margaret tell you when she asked you over?"

"I may not have been paying attention. I have to tune her out most times to control my anger."

"Dinner starts at 7"

"And she wants me to cook?"

"Not the whole meal. Let me check what she wants..."

Ten minutes later, Emma finally had an answer for Regina and sent a response.

"She wants you to make sweet potatoes and the gravy."

"Fine. Just tell her I will destroy her if that turkey is dry."

Emma laughed at the text even as she sent a reply.

"Will do :)"

Brown, red, and yellow-green colored leaves rustled in front of the white house with royal blue shudders. Chilly Maine air slapped Emma in the face and whipped around her long, blonde hair.

Emma stood at the end of the narrow pathway that led from the street to the grand house – though not as grand as Regina's mansion, which the recently re-elected Mayor mentioned every chance she got.

Emma puffed out a sigh and noted how chapped her lips had become from the late fall weather. She figured if her lips hurt with even the slightest of movements, her cheeks were probably partially rosy from the cold.

"Come on, Mom," Henry said as he sprang from the yellow Bug parked in the driveway, something Emma could never do if they were having dinner at Regina's.

Henry patted Emma's back as he jogged toward the front door, a smile on his face that displayed his happiness as well as his eagerness.

With her hands still stuffed in her coat pockets, Emma hesitantly walked up to the front door. She reached out and rang the doorbell.

Within a minute, the door opened and a surprised but happy Snow White smiled at her daughter then down at her grandson.

"Emma, Henry, come in! You didn't have to ring the bell," Snow said as she grabbed Emma's arm and gently pulled the blonde into the house while Henry already hurried inside in front of them.

"Sorry, I just...didn't know the protocol. Things are still a little confusing between the Storybrooke personalities and Enchanted Forest ones."

"Even after Neverland," Snow asked as she frowned at Emma and closed the door behind them.

Snow forced a smile anyway, however, and linked her arm in Emma's as she led the blonde to the dining room.

"Well, maybe this will clear some things up. You are always welcome here and you don't need to ring the doorbell or knock when you stop by."

"Yeah, okay," Emma said as she shrugged out of her mother's lazy embrace.

Snow and Emma entered the dining room and Emma looked around at the table. It was extended for the holiday dinner, though it usually only seated four on a normal day, and everything but the turkey had been set out. Cranberry sauce, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, and cornbread adorned the elegant, creamy white tablecloth. They surrounded the two unlit, red tapers that were evenly placed on each end of the table.

The chandelier over the center of the table dimly, lit the room and cast soft shadows on the four off-white, almost beige colored, walls. Though it wasn't big, it was much more than Emma ever got to experience as a kid. Everything seemed so precious and warm and inviting. It seemed...conventional. Though Emma felt she was never one for the big family dinners anyway. But when she saw Snow and Charming's dining room like that it made her tame her wild, mostly unconventional side, and enjoy what that particular dinner appeared to offer.

"Wow. This looks great, Grandma," Henry smiled at the set up as he stood behind one of the chairs at the table.

He wasn't shocked or in awe of the display like Emma was, but when she had started to question why that was, she remembered he'd spent the last ten Thanksgiving dinners with Regina. She inwardly smiled with the knowledge that her son had been taken care of. All she could have given him if she had decided to keep him didn't come close to everything he did get without her.

"Where can I sit," Henry asked Snow.

Snow beamed at Henry's joy and placed her hands on his shoulders as she stood behind him.

"Wherever you want."

"I want to sit next to you," he said.

"I would love that," Snow exclaimed. "I'm sitting here."

Snow pointed to the chair one seat over from the seat Henry stood behind. He didn't hesitate to move to the chair to his right and sit down. Within seconds, he'd made himself comfortable in the seat to Snow's left.

Emma looked around at the empty table, save for the side dishes, fancy red napkins, and fine china, and noticed the vacant seats.

"Are we early," Emma asked.

"Just barely," Charming said as he came in from the kitchen with the turkey. "We're actually running a little behind schedule."

Charming set the turkey down in front of Snow's place setting at what Emma assumed was the head of the table.

"Why's that," Henry asked.

"I wasn't feeling well," Snow replied as she rubbed Henry's back just below his neck.

"Are you sick," Henry persisted.

"I was," Snow casually nodded. "But I'm feeling much better now. Especially now that you're here, sitting next to me."

Henry smiled up at her.

"So, Emma hasn't fed me since lunch and I'm getting hungry. When's dinner starting? My mom usually starts at about 5. It's six-thirty."

"Henry," Emma warned.

Henry turned to Emma and sighed.

"Sorry, that was kind of rude, wasn't it," Henry stated.

It wasn't a question because he already knew the answer.

"It's okay," Charming chuckled, amused. "I'm kind of hungry myself. Your grandmother made sure I didn't ruin my dinner so I haven't eaten since lunch either."

"We'll eat as soon as everyone else arrives."

"Everyone? I thought it was just going to be all of us and Regina," Emma nervously spoke.

Charming ruffled Henry's hair with a smile on his way over to Emma and wordlessly took her black pea coat, something she had started wearing after she'd returned from the Enchanted Forest in place of her worn and currently discolored red leather jacket.

"Well, we also invited Neal," Snow explained, a little too perky for Emma's liking.

"Why," Emma practically growled her question.

"Because he's family," Snow innocently shrugged.

Charming took Emma's coat to the foyer and hung it up on the coat rack next to the front door.

As if on cue, when Charming had finished adjusting Emma's coat on the rack, the doorbell rang. He opened the door and on the other side stood a nervous looking Neal.

Neal, in his defense, looked slightly uncomfortable but held up a wine bottle with one hand as though he was displaying it for a couple at a high-class restaurant.

"Are your ears burning," Charming asked as he looked Neal over, his smile still present but much less jovial.

"What?"

Neal looked completely lost and the unexpected question caused him to shift from one foot to the other in the doorway.

Charming gave a small laugh.

"Never mind. Come in," Charming said as he stepped aside and motioned for Neal to enter.

"Thanks," Neal said as he passed through the threshold.

Neal nervously rubbed the back of his neck and turned to Charming as the man closed the door behind him.

"I, uh, figured you already had some wine, but I didn't want to show up empty handed."

Neal handed the bottle of wine over to Charming.

Charming calmly accepted the wine and inspected the label when it passed from Neal's hands to his.

"Good year," Charming noted.

"Yeah, I, uh, had some extra cash. Thought made it would help my case if I didn't look cheap."

Charming questioningly looked up at Neal as the two stood in the foyer, Charming looking right at home – which he was – and Neal looking like a nervous wreck.

"I get the feeling you're expecting me to hit you or something."

Neal shrugged.

"Guess I'm still waiting for a punch in the face from the infamous Charming. I heard you clocked Hook for double crossing you and I'm sure you already know what happened between me and Emma so..." Neal trailed off, unable to finish his sentence – not that he needed to. Both he and Charming understood the sentence, incomplete or not.

"Well, I probably should do something about you sending her to jail for your mistake, but...I'm not going to do that tonight. It's Thanksgiving and we're finally all together so, for now, the past is irrelevant."

"Thanks...again," Neal awkwardly smiled, though he and Charming knew he was sincerely appreciative.

Charming nodded and gave a single pat to Neal's back. He gripped the man's shoulder and led Neal into the dining room to join his family. Once in the dining room, he slid his hand off Neal's shoulder and walked back toward the head of the table to stand beside Snow with the wine.

"Guess that just leaves Regina," he said.

"Wait, Regina's coming," Neal asked on his way over to Henry then turned his full attention to the boy. "Hey, bud."

"Hey," Henry kindly greeted, though he wasn't as happy to see Neal as he had been to see his grandmother.

Neal ruffled Henry's hair then wrapped his arm around the kid's shoulder and gently squeezed him into a half-hug, which was returned with a loose arm wrapped around Neal's waist. When they separated, he turned to Emma and flashed a nervous smile that disappeared as quickly as it had been formed.

"Hi," he quietly said.

"Neal," Emma curtly greeted.

Neal cleared his throat and looked down at the ground as he turned and made his way to the other side of the table. He motioned to the seat across from the empty one on Henry's side of the table as he approached it and looked up at Snow and Charming.

"Is this seat taken," he asked.

Snow smiled at Neal's shy behavior. She didn't necessarily like the man that had broken her daughter's heart, but she could tell he was trying to be there for both Henry and Emma.

"No," Snow answered.

Just when all eyes were about to fall on Emma because the blonde remained standing, and tensely so, her phone vibrated in the back pocket of her tight jeans.

Emma grabbed the phone and looked down to see the display alert her with a new text message from Regina. She opened the message and frowned at what she read.

"I don't think I'm going."

"You don't THINK you're coming? What about Henry?"

"Emma, why don't you sit down," Charming asked and motioned to the table.

Emma only looked up from her phone to see Charming pull a Vanna White and showcase the dining table. Her phone vibrated in her hands during the start of what Emma predicted to be an awkward silence so she redirected her attention back to her phone.

"I don't want to sit through dinner with your mother."

"Well, dinner's starting soon and Henry's hungry."

"Emma?"

Snow curiously called out to the blonde and started to approach her.

"What is it," Snow asked once she was a step away from being able to touch her daughter.

"Uh, just... I don't know," Emma admitted as she shook her head and backed away from Snow before the woman could put her motherly hands on her.

Emma avoided eye contact and stared at her phone as if willing it to light up with another text from Regina.

Sure enough, it did. Thankfully before things got any more awkward.

"Come outside."

Emma glanced up at Snow then quickly acknowledged Charming's presence.

"Hang on. I've to check on something," Emma said before she flew to the front door and stepped onto the small porch.

Emma immediately felt the chill of the fall weather and decided it was much colder without a coat. She looked down at her phone for another text from Regina, something that maybe explained the brunette's vague demand. No new messages had come through in her short jog out to the porch so Emma wrapped her arms around herself to fight the cold and looked around the front yard.

Emma curiously narrowed her eyes on the unlit section of curb in front of the house and saw a shadow. A shadow shaped like the hood of a car.

The Benz.

Emma cautiously stepped off the porch and headed down the narrow walkway she'd hesitantly come up not more than ten minutes ago. She stopped at the curb and knocked on the passenger's side window.

Emma opened her mouth, but before she could call out to the other woman she suspected remained inside, she heard the door unlock.

Emma pulled the handle and opened the door.

"Get in," Regina quickly said, again cutting off Emma before the blonde could even manage a single syllable.

Emma sighed and grabbed the plastic wrapped bowl of sweet potatoes and set them on the dashboard before she slid into the passenger's seat then closed the door.

"How long have you been here," Emma asked as she turned in the seat to face Regina.

"I was just behind your boyfriend when we turned down this street," Regina bitterly said.

"He's not my boyfriend," Emma quickly and tiredly insisted before something struck her as odd. "He didn't see you?"

"Of course not," Regina said as though the answer were obvious. "He turned down the street before I did and I'd recognize Gold's unsightly Cadillac anywhere so I waited a minute or two at the stop sign then turned down the street. I pulled up just as Charming shut the door after letting Neal in."

"Okay," Emma slowly said, a little confused by Regina's actions and yet, she didn't push the subject any further. "So are you just going to sit in here like some stalker all night or are you gonna come in?"

"Did you get a look at the turkey?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"Was it dry?"

"Oh my god," Emma resisted the urge to wipe her hands over her face out of frustration. "Are you asking so that if you know it's dry you'll just up and leave? You'd really promise Henry you'd be here just to leave him because Mary Margaret doesn't cook to your standards?"

Regina closed her eyes as she sighed and sat back in her chair. She looked absolutely defeated and so unlike her usually regal, put together self.

"You really don't want to have dinner with them, do you."

"Why would I," Regina almost snapped. "It's not like I'm really wanted. Except for Henry, no one else wants me in that house. A house that I got them, by the way!"

"I know."

"Maybe if I finally told them that then they'd accept my presence more. That house was just out of their price range. If I hadn't paid half the down payment and a quarter of the first mortgage payment, they wouldn't be living here."

"I know."

"How you manged to convince me to help them out is beyondme," Regina added.

Emma smiled.

"It's in the family genes," Emma teased. "I'm charming, remember?"

Regina rolled her eyes then turned her head to look at Emma.

"Come on, Regina. It's warm inside, there's a bunch of food, the place looks really nice, and Henry's not the only one that could benefit from you being here."

They sat in silence for a few more seconds before Emma appealed to another side of Regina, the more material side, to sell the woman on the idea of joining them all for dinner.

"And the longer you sit here," Emma started. "The more likely that gravy is going to stink up your car."

Emma pointed to the gravy Regina had carefully concealed in two separate on-the-go coffee thermos' that sat in the cup holders between them.

Regina almost rolled her eyes again, but stopped herself as she looked down at the gravy and silently sighed.

"I guess you're right."

"You know I'm right," Emma smirked. "Are you ready?"

Regina's eyes flicked up to met Emma's gaze. She looked timid and unsure as she looked at the blonde.

"Not even a little bit," Regina confessed.

"Well, neither am I," Emma said as she reached over the center console and took Regina's hand in hers. "But just like in Neverland, our chances are better when we're together."

"That almost rhymed. And honestly, it's unsettling to have you sound like a pathetic romanticist poet."

Emma squeezed Regina's hand as her smile spread from hearing Regina's words then let go and grabbed a gravy filled thermos and the bowl of sweet potatoes she'd set on the dashboard.

"Then let's get inside so I can shut up," Emma said as she opened the passenger's door.

"Are you sure that's all it will take," Regina teased with a grin as she opened her own door, grabbed the other gravy thermos and exited her Mercedes.

Emma smirked in silent laughter and shut her door just before Regina did the same.

"Only one way to find out."

Regina and Emma made their way up the walkway together, but Regina frowned down at the thermos in her hand when they were halfway to the front door.

"I really wished I had a better way of transporting the gravy. This is just tacky," Regina sniffed at her own mistake.

Emma chuckled.

"It's fine. I wouldn't expect you to try and bring the gravy in this really expensive gravy boat knowing you have to drive across town with it with the gravy sloshing around in it. Even with plastic wrap, it's still an accident waiting to happen."

"I should have done it anyway."

"Then you'd be crazy," Emma laughed then lifted the thermos to her nose as she opened it. "This smells really good. Can I have a little taste?"

"No," Regina firmly said.

"Why not? It's not like I'm gonna get my germs on the rest of it. Just a little on the lid of the thermos."

"You can have some when we eat."

"Geez. Now you're just confusing me."

"What's so confusing about me refusing your juvenile requests? That happens almost daily."

"Well, with all the parenting going on, I'm not sure who my mom really is. You or Mary Margaret. Is there something you forgot to tell me," Emma joked with a lopsided smirk.

Regina rolled her eyes.

"I am not your mother."

Emma laughed at the displeased expression on Regina's face.

"Thank god for that," Emma said once her laughter subsided.

Regina looked at Emma with a raised eyebrow, not sure how to interpret Emma's response, but she didn't get the chance to question the younger woman. Instead, she was subjected to join Emma inside when Snow opened the front door and let them in.

"Regina. I'm glad you decided to come," Snow greeted her former stepmother.

Regina only hummed in response and looked around. Her gaze swept across the first floor from left to right and she noticed the study on her right at the front of the house, behind the coat rack. Then she took in the staircase before her that didn't twist and turn like her own staircase at home. As she continued to scan the first floor, she saw the archway that led straight into kitchen from the foyer and archway to the dining room on her left.

Everything seemed pristine and well-furnished. She couldn't complain about the appearance or lay out of the house, though she of course preferred hers over the Charming household.

Someone grabbed the thermos out of her hand and when she turned to see who had dared take something from her, especially when the action had uncomfortably jarred her from her thoughts, she realized it had been Emma.

"I'll take these into the kitchen," Emma offered with a small smile meant to calm Regina.

Emma could see how on edge the brunette was and for some reason, she felt compelled to ease the other woman's mind. When she first realized her sudden need to help Regina in certain ways she'd never wanted or needed to do before, she blamed it on their time in Neverland. She still blamed it on Neverland even as she took the thermos from Regina.

"Thank you," Regina warily said as she shrugged out of her coat.

As Emma made her way toward the kitchen, Regina placed her coat on the rack and reluctantly walked into the dining room, several steps behind Snow.

Emma set both thermos' on the counter and rummaged through a few different cupboards before she found a gravy boat, the one and only that her parents owned apparently. She figured she could blame Regina's curse for that since she assumed a Prince and Princess would certainly have more than just one gravy boat.

But information like that didn't matter.

Emma shook her head free of small questions like, "How many gravy boats do royals have in their possession" and just poured the gravy into the boat. She emptied a complete thermos and most of the second one since the gravy boat limited how much gravy it could actually take. When finished, she slid her finger over the lip of each thermos to keep them clean then peeked into the kitchen in case Regina could see her.

Fortunately, she had no one's attention –something she was all too used to – so she licked her finger and had that little taste of the gravy Regina had earlier denied her.

The gravy had still been plenty warm and it went smoothly down Emma's throat. It was just thick enough to satisfy, but not too thick to the point of overcompensating for, oh say: dry turkey?

Emma smiled, her finger still in her mouth, when Charming called for her from the dining room.

"Coming!"

Emma removed her finger from her mouth and quickly but carefully grabbed the gravy boat as she moved toward the other room.

When she rejoined the group, she saw Regina in the seat beside Henry, which only left one other seat available unless she forced Charming out of his chair at one end of the table.

Emma frowned and set down the gravy boat down on the table in the space between Snow and Henry. She then walked behind Snow and Charming as Charming stood beside Snow, who had already sat down at the head of the table, and took the place setting next to Neal. She tried to keep her expression neutral, indifferent. In that moment, she hoped that if she'd learned anything from Regina that it was the trick to hiding emotions. She didn't realize it wouldn't be the only time that night she'd hope for that.

"Oh, Emma," Snow apologetically started. "Would you light the candles, please?"

Emma resisted the urge to sigh as she wordlessly stood from her seat and took the proffered lighter from Snow. She held the end over the lighter over the taper closest to her and clicked the trigger.

A flame flickered out of the end of the lighter and burned the unused white wick. She waited until a flame ignited the wick, separate from the one that came from the lighter. She let go of the trigger and lighter's flame vanished in an instant. She backed away from the table and walked around Neal's chair and partially reached over him to light the other taper.

The hem of her long sleeve green shirt slid up enough to expose a strip of skin between her belly button and the waistband of her jeans. She felt a minute draft hit her in that spot, but didn't pay much attention to it, though both Neal and Regina paid very close attention. Emma, however, remained oblivious to that fact.

With both tapers lit, Emma moved back toward the head of the table and held out the lighter for Snow to take.

"Thank you," Snow said as Charming accepted the lighter instead.

Emma sat down again while Charming quickly set it aside on the side table against the wall that separated the dining room from the foyer. Once the lighter was out of the way, Charming sidled up to Snow yet again and rested a hand on her shoulder. The two of them smiled and lovingly gazed at each other.

As Emma looked at them, the couple so lost in their own world at the time, she recognized an ethereal glow to Snow. For the first time that night, she saw that it wasn't just Snow's beaming expression that seemed different about the woman. It was that glow. Emma couldn't put a name on what it was that caused Snow to appear peaceful and carefree, but she didn't think too much about it.

"Um, Grandma?"

Henry snapped both Snow and Charming out of their little moment and the couple turned their attention to the boy.

Henry opened his mouth as if to say something, but his stomach beat him to the punch and growled. Loudly.

"Oh," Snow said as she came to a realization then chuckled. "Sorry, Henry. We're just about to feed you. I promise."

"When was the last time you ate," Regina asked like a concerned mother.

"At one," Henry answered before he glared at Emma.

Regina followed his gaze and looked at Emma across the table, opposite Henry.

"What did you feed him? One cracker? It sounds like he hasn't eaten all day!"

"Relax. He had a turkey sandwich. Tomatoes, lettuce, light mayo. It's your stupid diet for him that's making him so hungry."

"Well, you could have given him a snack at four."

"What kind of snack? You hate it when he eats burgers or fries or heaven forbid he enjoys a chocolate shake every once in a while," Emma argued.

Regina scoffed.

"Guys," Henry whined. "I'm really hungry. Can you two fight about this later?"

Emma and Regina regarded their son before they looked at each other.

"Fine," Regina huffed.

Emma rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back in her chair.

Snow cleared her throat and rose from her seat.

Charming slid his arm off her shoulder only to wrap his arm around her waist and keep her close.

"Before we keep Henry any longer from his food, Charming and I have a few things to say," Snow started with an excited smile.

The couple had everyone's attention.

"In honor of Thanksgiving," Snow continued. "We'd like to say how thankful we are that Henry is here and he's safe."

Henry smiled at that.

Emma, Regina, and Neal all warmly smiled at him like three loving and appreciative parents. Because that's what they were. All of them couldn't have been happier that Henry was back home and out of harms way.

"We're also thankful to have all of you here with us tonight," Snow went on after a moment of pause. "Because we consider all of you family."

Snow and Charming looked at Regina specifically when Snow said, "all."

Regina gulped, but otherwise remained stoic.

"And, with that in mind," Snow beamed as she continued, seemingly unable to contain her enthusiasm for what else she had to say. "We'd like to announce that..."

Snow paused in her speech to gleefully look up at Charming. She was even more joyous to see his large smile when he looked back at her. After a moment, Snow turned back to the four other people in the room and placed her hand on her stomach before she finished.

"We're having a baby."

Regina and Neal stared at Snow and Charming, their mouths agape and both utterly speechless. Henry responded the same way until a few seconds later, he slowly started to smile.

"Awesome," Henry said. "This means I'm gonna have an aunt or uncle now, right?"

Charming and Snow laughed.

"Yeah, it does," Charming confirmed.

"Yes," Henry victoriously hissed his approval then jumped out of his chair and hugged Charming.

"I mean, it'll be a little weird since they'll be younger than me," Henry added when he pulled away from Charming. "But I can teach them all about the world and fairy tales. 'Cause, let's face it. I'm probably not gonna get a brother or sister from any of my parents."

"Henry," Regina and Neal simultaneously scolded him.

When they each heard the echo, Regina and Neal looked at each other for a few seconds.

Then it dawned on Regina that there was one voice missing from the joint scolding. She looked across the table at Emma and noticed the blonde only stared blankly ahead, her eyes cast down as if she was looking at the table. But Emma's unfocused gaze told Regina she was lost in her thoughts and the younger woman's drained expression let Regina know just how Emma felt.

Emma sat completely still for once in her life. She felt like she'd been punched in the stomach when Snow had announced her pregnancy. She wanted to be happy for them, like she knew she should have been, but all she could do was retreat into her own mind.

Her arms were still crossed over her chest and she still casually leaned back in her chair. She hadn't moved since the end of her argument with Regina about Henry's eating provisions. Even though she wanted to run as far away as she could in that moment, she couldn't even find the strength to sit up straight.

"So...are you already pregnant," Neal asked, clearly inept at what else to say.

"Yes," Snow lightly laughed at his expense.

"Right. Uh, cool," Neal said. "I mean, uh, congratulations."

"Thank you," Charming said with smile.

Just as Snow and Charming looked at Emma, Regina cleared her throat and dragged their attention away from the other woman, who was obviously in shock.

"How far along are you," Regina asked.

Snow smiled, grateful that Regina seemed genuinely interested.

Neal looked to his left and noticed Emma's reaction. It took him several seconds before it hit him that he knew exactly why Emma looked the way she did.

"Twelve weeks," Snow answered Regina.

"Em-" Neal quietly tried to get Emma's attention and reached for her hand.

Emma jerked away from his touch and finally sat up.

"You hardly look twelve weeks," Regina feigned surprise and even a hint of envy.

Snow blushed and averted her gaze. Though Regina's diversion tactic worked on the pixie-haired brunette, Charming was evidently immune.

Charming looked over at his daughter and frowned when he saw Emma pout.

"Emma? Is everything okay," Charming calmly asked, though concern coated his words.

At the sound of her husband's voice and her daughter's name, Snow abandoned her conversation with Regina and looked at Emma. She too frowned when she saw the blonde's less than thrilled expression.

"Emma?"

Emma snapped out of her sad thoughts and looked up at Snow and Charming, her parents. She blinked and licked her lips and suddenly, she appeared normal again. It was as if her actions had rebooted her like a struggling computer.

"That's great," Emma said with a well-faked happiness.

The only two people that caught on to her real mood were Regina and Neal, but neither said anything.

Snow and Charming smiled at Emma, though they still seemed a little worried that something wasn't right with their daughter's odd behavior. And yet, they gave her the benefit of the doubt and bought her lies.

"Right. Well," Charming broke the moment with a more princely smile. "I say we eat."

"Yeah," Henry exclaimed.

"If you five wouldn't mind, you can start filling up your plates with the sides," Charming said as he picked up the carving utensils.

Snow sat down and started them off by serving herself two large spoonfuls of stuffing while Charming got to work on the turkey.

To keep herself busy, Emma grabbed Regina's sweet potatoes and uncovered them then dropped a good portion of them on her plate. When Snow tried to pass her the stuffing, she figured they were passing everything to right and handed the sweet potatoes to Neal.

"Thank you for making the sweet potatoes, Regina. And the gravy. I'm sure it's as amazing as I remember," Snow said as Regina grabbed the cornbread that had already been cut into mostly even squares and placed a single piece on her place then gave the pan to Henry.

"More like orgasmi-" Emma started to say, but cut herself off a little too late and immediately looked up at Henry before her eyes fell on Regina.

Just before she could finish her compliment, she realized she not only just outed herself for tasting the gravy even after Regina told her she couldn't, but she almost said the word "orgasmic" in front of her eleven year old son.

Fortunately when she looked at Henry, he only seemed mildly disturbed by her choice of words. He hardly seemed to know what the word meant, especially since Emma hadn't even finished saying it.

Unfortunately, Regina stared at Emma with a raised eyebrow that silently dared her to confess her disobedience and face the consequences. She had been in the process of buttering her cornbread when, mid-spread, Emma had decided to speak. She immediately stopped to glare at the woman, especially once she heard Emma compare the gravy to a sexual experience.

Emma cleared her throat and shoveled some stuffing on her plate before she passed it to Neal. She kept her eyes down except for when she took food from Snow, careful not to clumsily spill it or drop the plates handed to her.

When Emma decided to stay quiet, Regina resumed buttering her cornbread with a small amount of the fatty substance.

"Apparently, you'll probably be pleased with the gravy," Regina finally replied to Snow's comment. "If your daughter's recommendation is anything to go by."

Snow nervously laughed under her breath.

The awkwardness of that particular dinner hadn't ended there. It appeared that Snow and Charming's announcement led to further uncomfortableness and Emma's reaction to it had been the catalyst. Thirty minutes into the dinner, the family had run out of things to say. When everyone had stopped talking and the tension in the room could have been carved like the turkey they'd been enjoying, all anyone heard for the next few minutes was silverware clanking and scraping against plates.

Then, as if it were the best thing to do in such a situation, Snow revisited the topic she hadn't quite realized had started the dinner's downfall.

"So, Regina," Snow hesitantly started as everyone seemed to finish with their first servings. "I've already talked to Red and she's offering to throw me a baby shower."

Regina suddenly dropped her fork and it clattered against her plate then looked up at Snow.

At the same time, Emma froze before she could lift her own fork to her mouth and continue to enjoy Regina's homemade gravy. She slowly lowered her fork, but didn't drop it onto her plate like Regina had done. Instead, she zoned out again. Though it wasn't exactly zoning out because she still heard the rest of the conversation.

"It seems strange to ask, but...I don't know. I...I'd like it if you came to the shower," Snow said.

"You want me to attend your baby shower," Regina flatly, though incredulously, stated.

"Yes," Snow smiled in an attempt for her request to be more well-received.

"Ruby already knew you were pregnant," Emma asked, unable to resist knowing the answer.

"Well, yes. She sensed something was different about me and she's my best friend so I just...told her," Snow shrugged with a small smile.

The woman hadn't caught on to Emma's discomfort with the subject. Of course, neither had Charming. But not even Regina could deny him credit because he at least narrowed his eyes at Emma and seemed to question her reaction. It was more than Snow could have said in that moment.

"Oh," was all Emma could say.

She nodded like she understood and started to move her food around her plate instead of eating it.

"Um, how long has she known," Emma timidly asked, almost afraid to know the answer and yet still curious to find out.

"I think I told her sometime last week? Or maybe it was at the end of the week before last. I'm not sure."

Emma stopped playing with her food and just sat still for another moment.

Neal worriedly looked at her, as did Regina.

Henry kept his attention on his food and grabbed seconds of certain things like Regina's sweet potatoes and the stuffing.

Charming focused on Emma and struggled to decipher her mood. It started to frustrate him that he hadn't yet been able to understand his own daughter, but any time he thought like that he made the excuse that she hardly talked about how she felt. In a way, he'd placed the blame of their lack of communication on Emma, but he also knew that was wrong. So he kept trying, and failing, to figure Emma out.

"I'm kind of tired," Emma slowly said as she gently set her fork down on her plate.

Snow frowned.

"I think I'm gonna go," Emma added as she stood up.

"What," Snow sadly questioned the blonde's decision.

Henry set down his silverware and looked down, disappointed. After a second, he also stood with a frown that immediately crushed Regina to see.

Emma chose the lesser of two evils and chose to walk behind Neal's chair instead of her mother's. When she started to cross behind Charming, she saw Henry walk past Regina and toward her.

"Bye, Grandma. Grandpa," Henry quietly and morosely said.

When Henry went to hug Regina, Emma shook her and turned Henry to face herself. He was the only thing between her and Regina.

"No, you're staying," Emma softly told him.

"But I'm staying with you for another two weeks," Henry said, confused.

"You can stay with Regina tonight."

Emma looked to Regina and silently asked if that was okay.

Regina nodded when she saw a glimmer of desperation in the younger woman's eyes.

"Are you okay," Henry asked.

"Yeah," Emma forced a smile. "I'll be fine. See ya later."

Emma bent down and kissed Henry's temple then hugged him against her chest with one hand on the back of his head and the other placed between his shoulder blades on his back. When she let him go, she swiftly turned and grabbed her coat on the way out.

By the time she shut the front door behind herself and threw her coat on as she hurried down the walkway, tears spilled down her cheeks while she choked back soft sobs.

A/N: First of all, huge thanks to sea-ess-eye for giving me the green light for this story considering how close it comes to her story Double Trouble, which you should read if you haven't yet! Also, on Tumblr, I credited two other stories for giving me the idea for this story because there are some elements that are very similar and I didn't want to be rude by not acknowledging that fact.

I know I included Neal checking Emma out just like Regina, but this IS a Swan Queen story so don't worry about his wandering eyes. He will be a rare occurance in this story, but will be around here and there for various parts of this story. This should revolve mostly around Emma, but I tend to write more of Regina so if it veers more into her POV, sorry. I'm still working on writing Emma as close to her character as possible and I'm not sure I've managed that yet.

Anyway, leave a review and let me know what you think so far. I'm already working and tweaking chapters 2 and 3 so I'm hoping updates for this won't be too delayed like my other fics, which I write one chapter at a time.