The Hotel

Merry Christmas, Regina Mills

There were many things about the curse Regina had no control over—like holidays.

When her assistant Goldie first mentioned Miner's Day the first summer after casting the curse, Regina had been confused. Thankfully, the curse had created excellent records, so she had been able to catch up easily. She then learned that the curse had not just created its own holiday but allowed ones from the Land Without Magic to creep into Storybrooke as well, starting with New Year's. They then came in succession: Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Memorial Day, Halloween and the like. Regina wasn't fond of them as they brought a little happiness to the people she wanted to keep miserable, like Snow.

(Not to mention the destruction wrought on St. Patrick's Day and Halloween. The people of Storybrooke were destructive drunks).

Then came Christmas.

And Regina fell in love.

Everything about Christmas should've made her hate the holiday. It was about family, friends, love and hope--all things that were short in supply in her life. Anyone who knew her would've expected her to want to hide under the covers until the New Year.

Regina was certainly ready to grouse her way through the holiday season herself. She had barely tolerated Halloween and all the noise as children went trick or treating around the neighborhood. She had even considered a ban on all witch outfits and decorations. And she had planned to ignore Thanksgiving while gritting her teeth through Christmas. She was determined to follow that course of action until she turned on her radio one day for a little music while she worked. Christmas music was playing and Regina found herself bopping along to the beat of the first song. By the tenth, she was humming along and an hour later, she was smitten.

After work, she discovered there were Christmas movies. She settled herself on the couch with a glass of wine in her hand and watched them until she fell asleep. Regina did that several nights in a row. Between the movies and songs, she was infected with the holiday spirit.

For almost two months, Regina believed she could have everything the songs and music promised. She could have a family, she could have friends, and she could have hope. And she did her best to spread Christmas cheer throughout the town, perhaps in an attempt to make amends for her past sins and fill the hole in her heart created when she casted the curse.

Even though she crashed from the high once January came around and she realized nothing about her life changed, she still found herself growing excited when Halloween ended and the weather grew cold again. She was addicted to Christmas.

When Henry came into her life, her love for Christmas went into overdrive. She danced around her kitchen with him to Christmas songs and sang him the softer ones when he was fussy at night. Instead of wine, she now watched movies with a mug of hot chocolate. They baked cookies together and built gingerbread houses (even if those reminded her of a certain blind witch). Henry and she would then eat them as they decorated the Christmas tree, handmade ornaments joining her polished baubles year after year. And they would hang stockings before heading to bed. He would dream of the large pile of presents that would greet him in the morning while she moved them from the attic to under the tree.

Bobby Locke and his son Roland then completed her growing family and she realized she finally had the promise of Christmas--family, friends, love and hope.

It was perfect.

*****

"Regina? Darling, are you up here?" Robin climbed the stairs to the second floor of Regina's spacious mansion, clutching a mug of coffee. It was the one she had gotten him to use whenever he and Roland spent the night, green with a white arrow going across it. Usually after putting the boys on the bus, they would cuddle on the couch as they finished their coffees before heading to work. However this morning, she had disappeared and he was concerned.