Rock and dirt crunching under tire growled in the otherwise quiet air. A large truck pulled up along the road, and Emma rolled her eyes to see Spencer step out from the passenger side. A small flurry of troops departed from the bed of the vehicle, bringing flood lights and provisions with them as they silently worked on unspoken orders.

"Swan." She was the first Spencer made eye contact with as the rest of her team approached from their various locations. She stood hastily, pocketing her pictures, but the one of her, Regina, and Henry fluttered the to ground. Despite his approaching figure, Emma rushed to pick it up, but a big, heavy boot came over the photograph. "What's this?"

Emma had no choice but to straighten back up and stare straight ahead as Spencer bent down, removed his boot, and lifted the already wrinkled picture now covered in dirt and grime. She didn't realize she was holding her breath until the swirls of dizziness and nausea set in, but still, Spencer continued to gaze studiously at the picture, his eyes amused by the upward curl of Emma's lips as she beamed into the camera and the brightness of her eyes, far different than the shifty, dullness that now currently stood before him.

With a simple glare to the men around him, Spencer dismissed them giving him and Emma the space for privacy. Her pulse quickened under her uniform, but she otherwise appeared impassive.

"This is yours, soldier," Spencer pointed out the obvious, extending the picture to Emma but clearly not giving it up.

"Yes, sir," Emma said flatly.

Spencer raised an eyebrow as the corner of his lips curled in amusement, like a predator stalking its prey, but Emma continued to hold his gaze and kept her back straight offering no other explanation.

"Attractive little thing," he said quietly, the pad of his finger stroking over Regina's face.

Emma's eyes darted to the picture, but she kept her breathing even before addressing him again. "Yes, sir."

He smirked at the picture and licked his lips. His voice was quiet, a thought spoken out loud, but it was clearly meant for Emma's ears as he commented. "I wouldn't mind breaking that in."

Emma blinked.

Spencer squinted, waiting for the reaction that didn't come.

"And the boy–"

"My godson, sir," she interrupted, prepared for whatever consequence at that blatant disrespect, but Spencer simply looked at Emma, hearing past the lie, to back down at the picture and scoffed with undisguised disgust.

He leaned in closer, his breath beating down the front of her face as he snarled. "Straighten up, soldier." Tossing the picture at her chest before it sank to the ground, he turned and addressed Cabrera. "Sergeant, you and your men are ordered to stay here until further notice. Aerial sightings suggest this to be a stop point of some kind. . ."

Emma didn't hear the rest of his commands as she stooped down to pick up the picture, stuffing it back into her pocket. Her face showed to be taking in every word of the General, but her mind kept swimming with a fear she hadn't felt since she was a teen. What did Spencer know? What did he think he knew? Regardless, all she knew was that she wanted to go home.


December 27, 2004 – Storybrooke, Maine

"You'll come back for this?" Regina asked hopefully.

Emma chuckled and let the necklace go, shaking her head as wayward wisps of blonde hair rubbed against Regina's own locks. "I'll come back for you."

Regina grinned and tugged Emma to her by the back of the neck, connecting their lips more passionately and less timidly than they had ventured mere seconds ago. The blonde's firm weight pressed rightly against her own, and as Emma's hand found Regina's lower back, Emma guided Regina down onto the bed. Bare legs tangled amidst the sheets, hands wandered over the contours of their bodies, and hot breath mingled so fluidly between the women as they broke their kiss just to start all over again.

Regina couldn't suppress the giggle as Emma pulled away, tugging a plump lip along with her then releasing it to excavate the expanse of neck as Regina tilted her head back on the bed, her throat quivering under Emma's lips.

"I wanted to do this for so long," Emma whispered against heated flesh before nipping at the juncture between Regina's shoulder and neck.

The brunette's breath hitched before she buried her hands in yellow locks and tugged Emma up until their foreheads were pressed together. The air between them was thick with tension, and Emma's eyes dilated with a desire that Regina hadn't felt in ages.

"Really?" The wonderment in chocolate eyes made Emma crawl up to her knees until she was straddling the older woman and cupped her face between both palms.

"Regina, you're my best friend." She smiled so brightly, the bedside light appeared dim in comparison. Regina wanted to look away and hide her pleased embarrassment, but Emma's beaming face was much too pleasant to miss. "You're more than that. There's not much else I thought about when I realized that."

Regina searched Emma's intense stare as if detecting one last time for any lie, but all she saw was sincerity. With her last resolve she tilted her head up and kissed Emma hard. Her leg came up, nestling in between Emma's parted ones, and with a well-placed hand on the soldier's toned back, their bodies collided firmly again.

Emma moaned as Regina's repositioned leg came in contact with a part of her body that was just as aching as Regina's. It was an accident really, but one neither woman could complain about. Emma returned to letting her lips trail down an olive neck and subtly shifted so that her position mimicked Regina's from the top, and soon, a chorus of moans and throaty gasps filled the air.

With a strength Regina rarely showed, she locked a leg around Emma's and flipped the blonde onto her back, Emma yelping in surprise. Regina simply smirked, her hands trailing up Emma's stomach and pushing the fabric of her tank top up as she went. Toned muscles rippled under her touch, and Emma gasped when Regina stopped just shy of unveiling her breasts.

"Regina." Her name on Emma's lips was quiet plea, a whisper, a prayer, a promise.

And as Regina woke slowly from her sleep, an ache in her heart more intense than the throbbing in her core, not for the first time she cursed herself that she and Emma hadn't done more that night, or that week for that matter. Carnal desire wasn't what she craved whenever Regina wondered about what could occur between herself and Emma. On more than one occasion had she had a similar dream, but in the end, she just wanted to feel Emma pressed against her, know that she's there.

When Regina adopted Henry, she knew she would never again have another lonely Christmas with a little too much eggnog and way too much time on her hands to mull over the fact that another year was passing, and she was alone. This past Christmas held a hollowness to it where a certain blonde haired soldier no doubt would have filled the void, and Henry had felt it too.

The days leading up to Christmas kept the pair busy as they spent a full day putting up their Christmas tree. Regina had learned that although real trees smelled delightful, after their first year where eight-month old Henry tended to play a little too closely to the tree to see the sparkly lights and wound up getting poked and prodded by the sharp pine needles, or worse putting them in his mouth, that they needed a real Christmas tree simply wasn't practical. Putting together the artificial tree was much more pleasant to do as Henry had helped to pull apart the branches, though the ball of artificial snow had him rolling around in the cotton like a cat around string.

Then they had the annual Christmas party where Regina had suffered through numerous photo ops and Henry kept pilfering gingerbreads from the sweets table. Regina had even apologized to Tina Bell who was one of Santa's elves that year. The younger blonde smiled sincerely, and later that night Regina had overhead her speaking with Ruby that Christmas miracles do happen. Any other time Regina would have reprimanded her for such a statement, but the brunette just rolled her eyes affectionately and let it slide.

Within the blink of an eye, it was Christmas Eve, and Regina was chasing an overexcited Henry around the house, his reindeer house slippers sliding on the polished hardwood as he turned corners to avoid his mother before darting up the stairs and tucking himself into her bed where he cuddled under the covers with a pleased and innocent smirk on his face.

"Santa's coming tonight," Henry whispered excitedly when Regina finally appeared at her bedroom door slightly out of breath.

"Santa will only come if you go to sleep," Regina said gently as she sidled into bed, knowing that attempting to move Henry into his would be a futile decision. Besides, who knew how quickly he would tire of being Mommy's bestest friend, so she soaked it up when she could.

Henry grinned and promptly shut his eyes before curling an arm around his mother's neck. "Was I good, Mommy?"

Regina pressed a kiss to his forehead as her hand rubbed soothing circles on his back. "You're the best."


Henry hadn't felt like the best that Christmas Day, and it broke Regina's heart to find out why.

Like any toddler on Christmas morning, Henry woke at the crack of dawn and it took much persuasion on Regina's part to get him to sleep for at least another hour. He hadn't visited dreamland as his mother would have liked, but at least he was laying still and quiet, if not a bit fidgety, for the forty-five minutes, so Regina showed him some mercy and helped him down the stairs where he raced to the Christmas tree, finding the presents Santa had placed under there in the middle of the night.