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"Hello Storybrooke. Are you all in the Christmas spirit? Christmas is three days away and what does that mean? It's the most wonderful time of the year. According to the weather forecast, it might even start snowing at Christmas! The Christmas market has opened some weeks ago and now is the last opportunity to get some last minute presents! You can do that while shopping with the smell of cinnamon and Christmas cookies everywhere" It echoed from the radio. Normally, these sentences would have made Regina sad. It would have reminded her of the time when she would have been alone, just like last year. But this year, unexpectedly, everything was different. She was reminded of this fact again when Emma changed the radio channel next to her to listen to more Christmas music. This year she, Henry and Emma were celebrating together! Regina didn't know exactly how luck could be on her side for once and fate wouldn’t twist things so that she was alone again, but she wouldn't question it.
"So Regina, how do you always decorate the tree?" Emma asked as she stood next to Regina and looked at the Christmas tree, which was still pretty naked. All kinds of decorations lay in boxes in front of it. Lots of fairy lights, tinsel, pendants and Christmas ornaments.
"Emma. There's only one right way to decorate a Christmas tree. Always with the fairy lights first."
"Good that we agree on that. Let's get started then.
Maybe we'll be finished before Henry gets back and we can surprise him."
The two of them started decorating the tree. It was a beautiful Nordmann fir, a little taller than Emma herself. Regina had insisted on a large tree this year. It wasn't so easy to attach all the lights to the individual branches so that every part of the Christmas tree was lit, but there weren't too many candles anywhere. Regina's perfectionism didn't really help either. But Emma couldn't appeal to it either. She had rarely seen Regina in such a good mood in the last months. Her heart swelled a little as she briefly watched Regina put the candle on another branch, which was apparently more suitable.
"I think it looks beautiful," Emma said contentedly, looking at their handiwork so far.
"The tree isn't even properly decorated yet?" Regina turned to Emma and looked at her questioningly.
"Yes, but still. All the lights somehow still make it more cozy in here."
"That's right. Do you want to get on with the ornaments? Then I'll quickly see how the first batch of cookies are doing in the oven," Regina asked.
Emma's mouth watered at the thought of the cookies they had baked together before decorating the tree. She simply loved Christmas cookies. Regina would no doubt point out to her that she had a sweet tooth, but that no longer bothered Emma. When she thought that she had just baked cookies with the woman who had once tried to poison her with an apple turnover, Emma couldn't stop grinning like an idiot. So much had changed in the last year. She had finally settled her argument with Regina for Henry and they had tried, bit by bit, to be the family her son wanted so much. And somewhere along the way, they had also become good friends. Otherwise, Regina would probably have immediately magically transported her somewhere else (most likely to Emma’s displeasure) when she had carefully brushed some flour out of her hair while baking earlier. Regina's look had been priceless. At first she hadn't understood what Emma was doing. It was only when she saw that both Emma's hair and hers had a slight white sheen from the flour powder that she understood what the gesture was about. "Yes, of course. Do that, we don't want to let the good cookies burn. It would be a shame." Emma couldn't help but grin. Especially not after Regina rolled her eyes in amusement and disappeared towards the kitchen.
So which ornaments should she start with? Red, black, patterned or something a little more daring this year? As Emma rummaged through the boxes, she discovered a box of beautiful Christmas ornaments in all different colors. Almost all of them were decorated with gold, but some were also red, yellow, blue or a mixture of several colors. However, when Emma took the first ornament out of its box, something strange happened. Suddenly the color of the ornament began to change. A small frame formed and Emma saw a picture of Regina and Henry. Henry was still a baby and was wearing a blue onesie. He was smiling at Regina from his baby seat, who was smiling back just as much. The picture suddenly turned into a video showing the exact moment that Emma had seen. She had never seen Regina smile as much as she did at that moment. Regina was practically beaming with happiness. In a fancy font under the frame was written. "Hold on to the memories"
Emma found it hard to tear herself away from this sweet mother-son moment, but curiosity got the best of her so she wanted to check what else she could see on the other ornaments. She put the red one back in its right place and as soon as she had put it away, the video disappeared. Emma picked up another red ornament. She was curious to see what she would get to see now. Emma had no idea why these pictures and videos were in the ornaments. But she was just too curious to stop. The same frame formed again, but this time she saw an older Henry. He must have been about 7 or 8 at this point? Henry was wearing his significant scarf as he came running towards Regina outside the school and hugged her. Emma saw Henry carefully taking something out of his pocket to give it to Regina. It was a clay imprint of his hand with "for mommy" written on it. Tears welled up in Regina's eyes when she saw the gift and she hugged Henry tightly. This time the font said "they will hold on to you" underneath the frame.
Tears welled up in her eyes at this beautiful moments. She could see how much they loved each other. It was so heartfelt and beautiful. Driven by curiosity, she picked up a yellow ornament. When Emma saw herself in it, she was confused. She looked at the ornament critically and saw the image turning into a video of their first encounter. She saw Henry brushing past Regina, nothing left of the love with which he had looked at Regina in the last two Christmas ornaments. Emma stood in front of Regina at that time, looking at her uncertainly as Regina eyed her and finally said "you are Henry's birthmother?" The video stopped at this point and Emma could read the signature "Please don't ever become a stranger". Now that Emma looked at Regina more closely, she noticed that Regina's eyes were slightly red and she had tears in her eyes. She had never noticed that back then.
With a heavy heart, Emma reached for the next ornament, which was dark blue. As she touched it, another image began to form and Emma's heart stopped as she recognized the moment. It was the moment when they had clashed after Archie's “death” and things had been said that Emma should have never said. She saw her and her parents talking to Regina until it escalated and Emma shouted "He's not, he's mine! And after that you will get nowhere near him. You can pretend all you want but we know who you are, and who you will always be." Emma knew that, after thinking about it later, she had hurt Regina, but only now did she see the extent of it. It almost broke her heart the way Regina bowed her head and then disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke. Right before Regina disappeared she saw her shivering a bit, not much as Regina probably tried to suppress it, but ut was there nevertheless. Emma hadn't even noticed that before. She had been so angry.... She blinded by the furry inside of her that she lashed out without thinking twice about what she was saying. The video suddenly changed and showed the living room of Mifflin Street. Everything was festively decorated, a Christmas tree stood opposite to the couch. Emma could see Regina sitting lonely on the couch, wrapped in a blanket and looking at the Christmas tree. She looked so lonely and abandoned that Emma's heart sank. Indirectly, she had caused Regina to celebrate Christmas alone, without Henry and the warmth and sparkle in his eyes... It felt like a knife thrust as the guilt hit Emma and she realized that her arrival in Storybrooke had caused this. She wasn't responsible for everything, but Regina and Henry's relationship only really broke down when Henry brought Emma to town. The caption didn’t really help. "Whose laugh I could recognize anywhere".
"Emma? What are you doing? You haven't gotten very far with the decorating."
Regina's question snapped her out of her thoughts. Emma quickly wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand before turning to Regina and revealing what she was holding in her hands. She heard Regina gasp as she recognized the ornament.
"Where did you get these?" Regina asked, snatching the ornament from Emma's hand. Her heart started racing. This couldn’t be…
"Regina, please calm down. They were in the box with the other Christmas decorations. Why did you put a spell on them? Every time you touch them, you can see a memory in the ornaments." Emma tried to take a few steps towards Regina to calm her down, but this only resulted in Regina taking the same number of steps back.
"How dare you look at these memories. Do you have no respect of my privacy. Those were private moments. You shouldn't have just looked at them." Regina clenched her fists, nails pounding into her skin in one hand and in the Christmas ornament in the other.
"Sorry. I didn't know the ornaments were enchanted. They looked particularly beautiful and that's why I wanted to hang them up. When I touched them, I couldn't stop looking at the individual memories. I'm sorry."
"You saw them all?" Regina asked. Even though she didn't want to, her voice trembled a little. This Christmas was supposed to be perfect, why couldn't she have a bit of luck! She looked at Emma, who was looking at her shoes in shame. "Of course you did!" When the radio speaker made an announcement on the radio, Regina's ears perked up. "And now, in spirit of Christmas and the end of the year, Taylor Swift's 'New Years Day' Regina's heartbeat quickened as the song began to play. Why!? Why did they play this songs out of all songs out there? She tried to breathe in and out to control her anger and despair but as she heard the chorus it became increasingly difficult. 'Hold on to the memories they will hold on to you. Please don't ever become a stranger whose laugh I could recognize anywhere. Please don't -' "That's enough!" Regina shouted. With a quick wave of her hand, the radio flew through the air against the nearest wall and fell silent as it hit the floor. "Why can't I just celebrate Christmas in peace? Why can’t I just be happy for once, without remembering all the things from the past?" The Christmas ornament, she was still holding in her hand, broke under Regina's grip and she cried out in pain and surprise.
"Regina!"
Emma ran to her to look at her hand, but Regina pulled her away. She held it tightly against her body. All the anger was gone, leaving only the emptiness and sadness that felt far too familiar. "Please go. I'm sure you'd much rather celebrate Christmas with your parents and Henry than with me anyway. It was a mistake to even think it could work..." She was about to turn away from Emma when she felt a hand on her shoulder, stopping her.
"That's not true. Regina, please listen to me. I'm not going to leave. No matter what happens, no matter if you get angry with me, throw things around or just leave. I'm staying here. I'm sorry. I should have put the ornaments away when I realized they stored memories. I was too curious and didn't think about how it would make you feel…" Emma stopped to bend down a little and catch Regina's gaze, as the brunette was looking at the floor. When Regina finally looked at her, she continued. “I'm sorry... Since I came into your life, your relationship with Henry hasn't exactly changed for the better. It really wasn't my intention to take him away from you. Even though that's exactly what I did. At the latest after Archie's “death”, I more or less succeeded." Emma saw Regina flinch and slapped herself mentally for never noticing her reaction before. "I said things I shouldn't have said. Of course you're Henry's mother. I was just so angry and desperate that I didn't question the facts I saw. I'm really glad you adopted Henry. It couldn't have been better for him."
"Do you honestly mean that?" Regina asked cautiously. She didn't know what to believe or what not to believe. It seemed so surreal to her that she could be the best chance Henry had gotten.
"Yes. You gave him a warm, loving home. You raised him. Played with him, taught him everything. You are the reason why he's such a good person now. You comforted him when he was sad. You were also strict with him when he was being silly or drank hot chocolate with him to cheer him up. I couldn't have wished for a better home for him. And it's my fault that you had to celebrate Christmas alone last year. Without Henry and the love and warmth in his eyes. But that will never happen again, I promise you that." Emma had to take a deep breath to get her emotions under control. When she looked at Regina, she saw the tears running down her cheeks and it was the most beautiful thing she had seen in a long time. Not the tears, but the look on Regina's face and the smile that spread across it.
"That's about the nicest and most beautiful thing you or anyone has ever said to me." Regina's voice was trembling from all the emotion. She tried to wipe the tears away quickly before looking at Emma again. "Thank you."
"Not for that. This was long overdue. Are we starting a second attempt?" Emma asked, holding out her hand to Regina.
"For what?"
"Decorating the tree, how we treat each other, everything? Take your pick." Emma couldn't help but smile.
When Regina nodded, Emma said: "Let me see it, please." Regina showed Emma her hand, albeit reluctantly, and Emma inspected it carefully. She carefully removed the splinters that were stuck in Regina's skin. When all the splinters had been removed, Regina held her other hand over the wounds. The magic helped healing the wounds and after it was finished, there was no sign of the little incident.
"That's much better," Emma said and looked at Reginas hand again.
Regina blushed a little at the touch. She only now realized how close Emma was.
Emma seemed to notice and looked up from her hand into Regina's eyes. Then she moved even closer to Regina and wrapped her arms around her. They had never hugged before, so now was the time to change that. Regina immediately froze at the physical closeness. It was only when she realized what Emma was doing that she relaxed and hugged Emma even tighter. They stayed like this for a while until Emma stepped back a little bit. But t heir hands remained together. Grounding them both.
"Merry Christmas, Regina."
"Merry Christmas, Emma."