Once Upon A Time Fic - "So This is Christmas"
Title: So this is Christmas
Characters/Pairings: Emma/Regina, Neal, Henry, Snow, Ruby, Elsa, Granny, Leroy
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1964
Summary: 5(+1) Holiday Traditions in Storybrooke
Warnings/Spoilers: Totally AU, Neal is alive, Elsa is around but no mentions of anything that happens in S4 with her (I haven't watched S4 yet so I don't know what happens!)
Author's Notes: This was a Secret Santa fic for mizz_destiny over at lands_of_magic
Hey there little baby Uncle,
I can't believe how fast time has gone. It's Christmas already which means it's time for my review of the year for you. I really hope you'll appreciate these letters when you grow up and learn to read. If there's one thing I've learned it's that our stories are important, especially when your family are fairytale characters!
So what happened this year? Well, you'll be pleased to know that it was a very quiet year, we only had one villain threaten to curse all of Storybrooke for a change. His name was Hades, apparently he's the Greek god of the underworld or something. He had fire for hair and it was so cool. I still don't really understand why he wanted to curse us all, but whatever, the important thing is that Elsa came back and she froze him and that was that. Apparently she couldn't get back home after all. At first she was really sad about it, but then Mister Gold brought her sister and Kristoff here and now they're all going to stay, which is awesome! Elsa's really cool, and not just because she has ice powers! She's really helped my Ma a lot (that's your sister, by the way), which leads nicely on to the most important piece of news from this year… Drum roll please… My Moms FINALLY realised that they love each other and started dating! It's so great. They're both going to be each others happy ending and live happily ever after! I mean, it was pretty difficult at first, don't get me wrong, Gram and Gramps (that's your parents - our family is so complicated!) they didn't like it at first, but I think now that they've got used to the idea everything's okay again. I thought that my dad would find it hard, I know he still loves my Ma, and I think she still loves him too, but just maybe not in a 'true love, happily ever after' kind of a way anymore. Anyway, he was fine with it, so now we're just one big (and I mean really big) happy, but really weird, family!
The rest of the year has been pretty boring I guess. Oh! Except for the time you threw up on the top of Hook's head when he was bouncing you on his shoulders. That was the best. I wish I had been able to film it.
I think that's it from me. Happy Christmas little Uncle. I can't wait for you to learn to talk. I bet your first word is going to be 'Henry'. Gram would kill me though, so maybe on second thoughts you should stick to Mama or Dada for your first word!
Okay, I'm done, Henry out!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The full moon shone brightly through the trees and Ruby padded silently through the forest. Her sensitive hearing picked up the slightest movement, and her nose told her every single animal, bird and person who had been through here in the past few days.
It means so much to her that they chose her to do this. Not just once, but every year. Any one of them could have done it, they all know how to hunt. Well, except Emma. But they chose her, and she appreciates what they're trying to say through the gesture.
She picks up the scent of the pheasant again and she's off, bounding through the forest with ease. The bird is big, when she catches up to it, perfect for the Christmas roast. She's clean and efficient in her kill, barely leaving a mark. The bird will look perfect once Granny has finished roasting it.
She runs back in to town, happiness coursing through her. She feels free. Free to run, and free to be herself in any form. Her friends don't ignore the wolf, they don't fear it, they accept it, and even more than that they celebrate it because they know that she wouldn't be her without it, and that means more to Ruby than she could ever express in words.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was actually Regina's idea, even though she insisted that Snow take the credit for it. At the time, Regina and Emma weren't together and it had puzzled Snow why Regina would not only care enough, but also understand enough, to suggest it but then not want Emma to know that it had been her idea. Looking back on it now, Snow understood that it had all been part of Regina struggling to understand and accept her feelings for Emma, and although Snow had struggled with the idea a bit at first, now that she could see how happy they both were together, she wished it hadn't taken them both so many years to figure it out.
But as far as Emma was concerned, the now traditional Christmas Eve gathering at Granny's for roast dinner followed by a lot of alcohol was Snow's idea. Snow was okay with that. She loved the tradition, and more than that she loved how happy it made Emma. Regina had been right, Emma's past experiences of Christmases before Storybrooke had been incredibly lonely and painful, so filling Emma's holiday with the people who loved and cared for her, not just her family but friends as well, had worked wonders for Emma's mood, and always helped to bring her out of herself when her thoughts turned to the ghosts of Christmases past.
Snow smiled as she checked the room one last time for anything breakable. Dwarves and alcohol was sure to result in something getting broken, so best to minimize the risk as much as possible. Snow was looking forward to Christmas this year more than ever. Now that Emma and Regina were together somehow their family just felt complete, and Snow was sure that this would be their best Christmas yet.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Are you ready?"
Elsa's shouted question was met with loud cheers and claps. This was her favourite part of her powers. She had done this every year in Arendelle after learning to control them and her citizens learning of them.
Elsa lifted the hem of her skirt from the floor and stamped her foot down dramatically. Immediately, spirals of ice spread out from her foot, making beautiful fractal patterns across the ground. The crowd gasped in delight and Elsa smiled.
It amazed her how far she had come, from locking herself away in her room all the time to make sure no one ever found out about or was hurt by her powers, to making an outdoor ice-rink for the citizens of Arendelle every Christmas.
This year though she wasn't in Arendelle. When she'd realised that she couldn't leave Storybrooke last year she had been devastated. But once Anna and Kristoff were brought to Storybrooke too it got easier, and now she was perfectly happy here. Of course she missed Arendelle, but the people would be fine without her, they would find someone else to rule, and Elsa would always be happy wherever she was as long as she was with Anna.
Anna glided up to her on the ice, she'd gotten much better at skating recently, but was still nowhere near as good as Elsa, obviously.
"Come on Elsa, catch me if you can!" Anna giggled as she wobbled slightly before skating away.
Elsa grinned and skated after her sister, although not quite as fast as she was truly capable of.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Neal groaned as he was rudely shaken awake. His mouth felt like sandpaper and his head was pounding. He never should have tried to out-drink Leroy at the Christmas eve party last night. He might be short, but that guy could hold his drink.
"Come on, Neal, wake uuuuuup!"
He felt the bed dip and suddenly his tormentor was jumping on top of him, in time with the pounding in his head.
"Alright, alright, I'm awake Emma, jeez, you're worse than the kid, you know that?"
Emma sighed dramatically. "Come on you know we can't open any presents until we're all together. I want my presents! Now get. Out. Of. Bed." She punctuated each word with a violent shake, "and brush your teeth, you smell like a brewery."
A 30 minute shower later and Neal felt a little bit more human. He could have been ready much quicker but he liked to torment Emma. Judging by the look she threw him as he entered the kitchen she knew it too.
"Merry Christmas!" he said, with as much enthusiasm as he could muster through his hangover.
Emma tutted before running into the living room yelling "Presents now!"
Even from the other room the sound made him wince.
"Here," Regina said, handing him a glass of water and some asprin, "and there's coffee and breakfast if you want them."
"You're a life saver," he replied gratefully as Regina smirked and followed after Emma.
Neal was glad Christmas day was quieter than Christmas eve, and not just because he was hung over. There was something so nice about the four of them spending Christmas day together. Just Henry, his two moms, and his dad. Not your average family, true, but it worked for them. The first year they had spent Christmas together like this had been awkward as hell, but looking back Neal could see that that probably had more to do with the extremely unresolved sexual tension going on between Emma and Regina, and now that that was sorted out their little family was surprisingly relaxed and comfortable and, well, just, easy.
After an asprin, a cup of coffee, and a cold turkey sandwich, Neal finally felt ready to join the others in the living room.
"Hey, you started opening presents without me!" Neal said indignantly as he took in the scene in the living room, which already had wrapping paper strewn around the floor.
"You snooze you lose, dude!" Emma gloated, "but at least we didn't open your presents, here."
Emma handed him a present that had obviously been wrapped by Regina, not her, and he smiled as he sat on the floor next to Henry.
"Merry Christmas kid," he said, nudging Henry with his shoulder.
"Merry Christmas Dad," Henry replied with a smile which made Neal's heart clench with fondness.
Just like Emma he'd spent a lot of his life running, never expecting to have a real family, and now they had found one and Neal knew neither of them would be running away ever again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Emma stared and stared. She was pretty sure her jaw was somewhere on the floor.
When Regina had said she had one last Christmas present for Emma to unwrap up in their room, Emma had expected something sexy, but not this.
There was Regina, lying suggestively on the bed, wearing what could only be described as a naughty Mrs Claus outfit. Regina was usually the queen of elegance of sophistication, so seeing her in something so, well, tacky, was short circuiting Emma's brain completely. In the red lingerie with fluffy white trim she somehow looked both completely adorable and smoulderingly sexy all at the same time and Emma was drinking in the sight of her.
Regina smirked as she stood and sauntered over to Emma.
"Well? Aren’t you going to unwrap your Christmas present?"
When Regina was stood right in front of her Emma finally snapped out of her trance and kissed her girlfriend deeply.
"I think we need to make this a new Christmas tradition from now on," Emma breathed against Regina's lips as she guided them back towards the bed.
"Next year you're dressing up," Regina said with her trademark smirk, as Emma started to remove the costume, and Emma was pretty sure in that moment she would agree to anything Regina said.
Characters/Pairings: Emma/Regina, Neal, Henry, Snow, Ruby, Elsa, Granny, Leroy
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1964
Summary: 5(+1) Holiday Traditions in Storybrooke
Warnings/Spoilers: Totally AU, Neal is alive, Elsa is around but no mentions of anything that happens in S4 with her (I haven't watched S4 yet so I don't know what happens!)
Author's Notes: This was a Secret Santa fic for mizz_destiny over at lands_of_magic
Hey there little baby Uncle,
I can't believe how fast time has gone. It's Christmas already which means it's time for my review of the year for you. I really hope you'll appreciate these letters when you grow up and learn to read. If there's one thing I've learned it's that our stories are important, especially when your family are fairytale characters!
So what happened this year? Well, you'll be pleased to know that it was a very quiet year, we only had one villain threaten to curse all of Storybrooke for a change. His name was Hades, apparently he's the Greek god of the underworld or something. He had fire for hair and it was so cool. I still don't really understand why he wanted to curse us all, but whatever, the important thing is that Elsa came back and she froze him and that was that. Apparently she couldn't get back home after all. At first she was really sad about it, but then Mister Gold brought her sister and Kristoff here and now they're all going to stay, which is awesome! Elsa's really cool, and not just because she has ice powers! She's really helped my Ma a lot (that's your sister, by the way), which leads nicely on to the most important piece of news from this year… Drum roll please… My Moms FINALLY realised that they love each other and started dating! It's so great. They're both going to be each others happy ending and live happily ever after! I mean, it was pretty difficult at first, don't get me wrong, Gram and Gramps (that's your parents - our family is so complicated!) they didn't like it at first, but I think now that they've got used to the idea everything's okay again. I thought that my dad would find it hard, I know he still loves my Ma, and I think she still loves him too, but just maybe not in a 'true love, happily ever after' kind of a way anymore. Anyway, he was fine with it, so now we're just one big (and I mean really big) happy, but really weird, family!
The rest of the year has been pretty boring I guess. Oh! Except for the time you threw up on the top of Hook's head when he was bouncing you on his shoulders. That was the best. I wish I had been able to film it.
I think that's it from me. Happy Christmas little Uncle. I can't wait for you to learn to talk. I bet your first word is going to be 'Henry'. Gram would kill me though, so maybe on second thoughts you should stick to Mama or Dada for your first word!
Okay, I'm done, Henry out!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The full moon shone brightly through the trees and Ruby padded silently through the forest. Her sensitive hearing picked up the slightest movement, and her nose told her every single animal, bird and person who had been through here in the past few days.
It means so much to her that they chose her to do this. Not just once, but every year. Any one of them could have done it, they all know how to hunt. Well, except Emma. But they chose her, and she appreciates what they're trying to say through the gesture.
She picks up the scent of the pheasant again and she's off, bounding through the forest with ease. The bird is big, when she catches up to it, perfect for the Christmas roast. She's clean and efficient in her kill, barely leaving a mark. The bird will look perfect once Granny has finished roasting it.
She runs back in to town, happiness coursing through her. She feels free. Free to run, and free to be herself in any form. Her friends don't ignore the wolf, they don't fear it, they accept it, and even more than that they celebrate it because they know that she wouldn't be her without it, and that means more to Ruby than she could ever express in words.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was actually Regina's idea, even though she insisted that Snow take the credit for it. At the time, Regina and Emma weren't together and it had puzzled Snow why Regina would not only care enough, but also understand enough, to suggest it but then not want Emma to know that it had been her idea. Looking back on it now, Snow understood that it had all been part of Regina struggling to understand and accept her feelings for Emma, and although Snow had struggled with the idea a bit at first, now that she could see how happy they both were together, she wished it hadn't taken them both so many years to figure it out.
But as far as Emma was concerned, the now traditional Christmas Eve gathering at Granny's for roast dinner followed by a lot of alcohol was Snow's idea. Snow was okay with that. She loved the tradition, and more than that she loved how happy it made Emma. Regina had been right, Emma's past experiences of Christmases before Storybrooke had been incredibly lonely and painful, so filling Emma's holiday with the people who loved and cared for her, not just her family but friends as well, had worked wonders for Emma's mood, and always helped to bring her out of herself when her thoughts turned to the ghosts of Christmases past.
Snow smiled as she checked the room one last time for anything breakable. Dwarves and alcohol was sure to result in something getting broken, so best to minimize the risk as much as possible. Snow was looking forward to Christmas this year more than ever. Now that Emma and Regina were together somehow their family just felt complete, and Snow was sure that this would be their best Christmas yet.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Are you ready?"
Elsa's shouted question was met with loud cheers and claps. This was her favourite part of her powers. She had done this every year in Arendelle after learning to control them and her citizens learning of them.
Elsa lifted the hem of her skirt from the floor and stamped her foot down dramatically. Immediately, spirals of ice spread out from her foot, making beautiful fractal patterns across the ground. The crowd gasped in delight and Elsa smiled.
It amazed her how far she had come, from locking herself away in her room all the time to make sure no one ever found out about or was hurt by her powers, to making an outdoor ice-rink for the citizens of Arendelle every Christmas.
This year though she wasn't in Arendelle. When she'd realised that she couldn't leave Storybrooke last year she had been devastated. But once Anna and Kristoff were brought to Storybrooke too it got easier, and now she was perfectly happy here. Of course she missed Arendelle, but the people would be fine without her, they would find someone else to rule, and Elsa would always be happy wherever she was as long as she was with Anna.
Anna glided up to her on the ice, she'd gotten much better at skating recently, but was still nowhere near as good as Elsa, obviously.
"Come on Elsa, catch me if you can!" Anna giggled as she wobbled slightly before skating away.
Elsa grinned and skated after her sister, although not quite as fast as she was truly capable of.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Neal groaned as he was rudely shaken awake. His mouth felt like sandpaper and his head was pounding. He never should have tried to out-drink Leroy at the Christmas eve party last night. He might be short, but that guy could hold his drink.
"Come on, Neal, wake uuuuuup!"
He felt the bed dip and suddenly his tormentor was jumping on top of him, in time with the pounding in his head.
"Alright, alright, I'm awake Emma, jeez, you're worse than the kid, you know that?"
Emma sighed dramatically. "Come on you know we can't open any presents until we're all together. I want my presents! Now get. Out. Of. Bed." She punctuated each word with a violent shake, "and brush your teeth, you smell like a brewery."
A 30 minute shower later and Neal felt a little bit more human. He could have been ready much quicker but he liked to torment Emma. Judging by the look she threw him as he entered the kitchen she knew it too.
"Merry Christmas!" he said, with as much enthusiasm as he could muster through his hangover.
Emma tutted before running into the living room yelling "Presents now!"
Even from the other room the sound made him wince.
"Here," Regina said, handing him a glass of water and some asprin, "and there's coffee and breakfast if you want them."
"You're a life saver," he replied gratefully as Regina smirked and followed after Emma.
Neal was glad Christmas day was quieter than Christmas eve, and not just because he was hung over. There was something so nice about the four of them spending Christmas day together. Just Henry, his two moms, and his dad. Not your average family, true, but it worked for them. The first year they had spent Christmas together like this had been awkward as hell, but looking back Neal could see that that probably had more to do with the extremely unresolved sexual tension going on between Emma and Regina, and now that that was sorted out their little family was surprisingly relaxed and comfortable and, well, just, easy.
After an asprin, a cup of coffee, and a cold turkey sandwich, Neal finally felt ready to join the others in the living room.
"Hey, you started opening presents without me!" Neal said indignantly as he took in the scene in the living room, which already had wrapping paper strewn around the floor.
"You snooze you lose, dude!" Emma gloated, "but at least we didn't open your presents, here."
Emma handed him a present that had obviously been wrapped by Regina, not her, and he smiled as he sat on the floor next to Henry.
"Merry Christmas kid," he said, nudging Henry with his shoulder.
"Merry Christmas Dad," Henry replied with a smile which made Neal's heart clench with fondness.
Just like Emma he'd spent a lot of his life running, never expecting to have a real family, and now they had found one and Neal knew neither of them would be running away ever again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Emma stared and stared. She was pretty sure her jaw was somewhere on the floor.
When Regina had said she had one last Christmas present for Emma to unwrap up in their room, Emma had expected something sexy, but not this.
There was Regina, lying suggestively on the bed, wearing what could only be described as a naughty Mrs Claus outfit. Regina was usually the queen of elegance of sophistication, so seeing her in something so, well, tacky, was short circuiting Emma's brain completely. In the red lingerie with fluffy white trim she somehow looked both completely adorable and smoulderingly sexy all at the same time and Emma was drinking in the sight of her.
Regina smirked as she stood and sauntered over to Emma.
"Well? Aren’t you going to unwrap your Christmas present?"
When Regina was stood right in front of her Emma finally snapped out of her trance and kissed her girlfriend deeply.
"I think we need to make this a new Christmas tradition from now on," Emma breathed against Regina's lips as she guided them back towards the bed.
"Next year you're dressing up," Regina said with her trademark smirk, as Emma started to remove the costume, and Emma was pretty sure in that moment she would agree to anything Regina said.