Miles To Go

Chapter Thirty

Regina hadn't looked forward to Christmas morning in as long as she could remember, not since her childhood at least. Yet, the excitement she felt when she woke up just before four in the morning was overwhelming and she woke Emma up with peppered kisses all over her lips and cheeks.

"Come on, darling, we have to make sure Santa comes for Henry," she whispered as Emma groaned and struggled to open her eyes.

"What time is it?"

"Just before four," Regina replied and Emma groaned again. "Would you rather I put the presents around the tree while you sleep?"

"No, I just need like five minutes."

Regina nodded, laying there and watching Emma as she kept her eyes closed and inhaled deeply as she stretched out and her eyes fluttered open again. A week ago, Emma had the presents she'd bough for Henry from "Santa" FedEx'd to the house and they were safely hidden in the spare room that was the only one without a bed in it. Regina had made sure to lock the door so Henry, as curious as he was, wouldn't happen to accidentally discover all of his presents early.

She had also taken it upon herself to buy a few gifts for Henry that she knew he wanted and that she knew Emma couldn't quite afford to get for him. She hadn't told Emma and as she watched her struggle to wake up, she wondered if maybe she should mention that she bought him an Xbox and almost a dozen age appropriate games to go along with it. That wasn't all, she'd also bought him a remote control helicopter, one that was made out of fibreglass and not plastic and it had been quite expensive, but Regina knew it was one of the many things he'd asked for for Christmas that year.

She'd gone a little overboard, she knew that, but she wanted to do that for him, but she also didn't want to upstage Emma in any way or form and she furrowed her brow, sighing heavily as Emma reached out to trace her fingers over the lines in her forehead that had formed.

"What's wrong?"

"I bought Henry a few gifts."

"I know, you told me."

"Not just those, ones to add to the ones Santa Claus is going to bring for him."

"Oh?" Emma was more awake now as she stared into Regina's eyes. "What did you get him?" She asked and her eyes went wide as she laughed quietly. "You totally got him an Xbox, didn't you?"

"I did along with some games."

"I'm sensing there's more..." Emma trailed off and upon the guilty look she knew she had on her face, Emma blinked in surprise. "Regina, don't you think he's a little young to have a remote control helicopter? I mean, where is he going to fly it? Our apartment is too small and there are kids in the neighbourhood that would probably beat him up and steal if it he takes it to the park and—"

"He can keep it here."

"Oh. Okay. Please tell me that's all you got for him."

"That's all. Is that okay?" Regina asked, unable to read Emma right now, especially now that Emma had thrown up a wall right in front of her. "If it's not okay, I can always return them, Emma."

Emma was silent as she rolled over and slipped out of bed. Regina swallowed heavily as she followed suit and found the key to the spare room right where she had left it in her bedside table drawer. Emma was standing by the door, waiting for her and Regina walked up to her, wondering just what was going through her mind. Did she go too far buying Henry those things when she knew that Emma couldn't quite afford to get them for him in the first place? Was that what was bothering her?

"Emma?"

"Hmm?"

"I just wanted Henry to get everything he asked for this year."