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Emma blinked her eyes open as noises from downstairs drifted up into her and Killian’s bedroom. She sat up, and when she realized the bed was empty next to her, reached over to grab her phone from the bedside table. 7:30 am. Emma groaned, wondering what on earth her husband could be doing so early in the morning, and on a Saturday no less. Rising from the bed, she grabbed her robe and headed downstairs.
When Emma stepped off the stairs she found the reason for all the noise. Killian, Henry, and her father were in the living room struggling to keep a huge tree upright. “What are you three doing?!” she exclaimed.
Jumping at the sound of her voice, all three lost their grip on the tree and it went toppling to the floor. The room was silent as everyone stared at one another, until finally Killian broke the silence. “Emma! Darling! What are you doing up so early?
“I could ask you all the same thing. What exactly are you guys doing? And why is there a tree on my living room floor?” she asked in confusion while pointing at the floor.
“It’s a Christmas tree!” Henry said excitedly.
Both Killian and David closed their eyes and let out deep sighs. “Henry,” Killian said in exasperation.
Henry winced as he looked over at his step-father and grandfather. “Sorry,” he said sheepishly.
Emma looked at them in bewilderment. “A Christmas tree. But we’ve never celebrated Christmas, we’ve never celebrated any holidays,” she said, then looking over at her father. “Do you even know about Christmas?”
“Of course I know about Christmas,” David said as he reached down with Killian’s help to lift the tree back up, and the two were able to set it against the side of the fireplace. “The whole town does.”
Emma blinked in shock, she wasn’t expecting that answer. “Then how come nobody has ever celebrated it or even mentioned it, for that matter?” she asked.
“Well during the first curse, Regina did put the knowledge of all the holidays in our heads but she never gave us the will to celebrate it, and then after the curse was broken there was crisis after crisis, curse after curse we never had time to relax let alone celebrate any holiday,” David explained.
“Okay I get that, but why the sudden interest in it?” Emma inquired.
“It was my idea!” Henry chimed in, “A couple of weeks ago I realized what time of the year it was and went to talk to Mom, Grandpa, and Grandma about maybe celebrating. I thought that since the Black Fairy was defeated and the town has been quiet for once now it might be possible to,” he said hurriedly.
Emma opened her mouth to speak, but Killian spoke first. “Aye. Then the lad included me in the discussion and I must say love, when Henry explained to me what this ‘Christmas’ is all about. I was fascinated. I’m very much looking forward to celebrating.”
Emma regarded the three of them, taking in all that they had said. Christmas. She’d be lying if she said she’d ever had a memorable one. While some of the foster homes she lived in during the holiday tried to include her in the family's festivities, most didn’t even bother. And when she got older she never had a reason to celebrate the occasion because she was always alone. She begins to think how wonderful it would be to finally have a real Christmas with the people that she loved.
"Mom." Henry's voice broke her from her musings. "Are you alright?" he asked, slightly concerned about her silence.
"Of course I'm alright. I was just a little bit taken aback. I think it's a wonderful idea," Emma said, flashing him a bright smile.
"Really?" Killian said, delightfully surprised.
“Yeah. I think it’s great. Only I do have a few questions,” Emma said.
“Sure, love. What do you want to know?” Killian said, making his way over to her side.
“Okay. First of all, why did you three keep this from me for weeks?” Emma asked
“We wanted it to be a surprise, Emma,” David answered.
Emma laughed. “Well, it was. I’m surprised you were able to, especially since Mom knew about it,” she said good-naturally.
“Oh, believe me there were a lot of distractions going on behind the scenes,” David admitted with a laugh.
Emma chuckled at that. “I bet. But if this was going to be a surprise, what were you guys doing with the tree?”
“Well today is the day that Mom is going to tell the town about the plans, and we wanted to find the best tree before everyone else,” Henry explained.
So, that’s what the town hall meeting is about , Emma thought. When she saw the notice in the paper last week, she had asked her mom if she knew what the meeting was going to be about, but Snow had been vague and actually jumpy about the subject. Looking back that should have been a clue that something was up.
“So, was I just not supposed to question why there was a tree in our living room?” she said teasingly while looking up at Killian.
Killian reached up to nervously scratch behind his ear. “Henry and I were going to tell you after breakfast, we were just seeing where it might look the best then put it away until after the announcement, but we didn’t expect…” he trailed off.
“You didn’t expect me to wake up so soon,” she finished softly for him. She was still amazed, even after all these years, married to her true love and for the first time truly content in her life, that this was all real. That she had a family who would do things like this for her. She felt an overwhelming surge of love wash over her and without thinking, leaned up and pressed a fierce kiss to Killian’s lips.
Killian let out a surprised grunt but recovered quickly, wrapped his arms around her, and pulled her closer as they got lost in one another. It wasn’t until the sound of a loud cough that they remembered who else was in the room with them. Breaking apart they saw Henry and David standing there awkwardly trying not to look at the display of affection happening in front of them.
“Sorry, mate. Henry,” he said to his father-in-law and step-son.
Henry just shrugged. “It’s okay. It’s nothing I haven't walked in on before.” He turned to David. “Be glad you don’t live with them, Grandpa.”
David looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but here at the moment. “Well I should really be going,” he said as he made his way toward the front door.
“Dad. Come on, you don’t have to leave. Why don’t you stay for breakfast,” Emma suggested, trying to salvage the situation.
David shook his head. “No. Thank you. I’m sure your mother is wondering what’s taken me so long, and Neal will be waking up soon. I’ll see you all at the meeting later,” he said, then made a hasty exit.
Emma let out a deep sigh. Well that wasn’t how she foresaw the morning going. Turning back to Killian and Henry she said. “Breakfast?”
XX
After breakfast the three of them headed upstairs to get ready and then they were off to town hall. The air was cold on the walk there, and despite her heavy coat, scarf, and gloves Emma shivered against it. Noticing his wife's discomfort, Killian put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her tight against his side. Emma smiled up at him lovingly while wrapping her own arms around his middle. Neither noticed Henry rolling his eyes behind them.
When they reached town hall the place was starting to fill up fast. It seemed like everyone was interested in what the big announcement was about. Emma spotted her parents near the front of the room and headed over to them. They both greeted her with hugs, although she noticed that her father wouldn’t quite meet her eyes. Snow frowned at her husband’s and daughter’s interaction and was about to ask what was wrong, but at that moment Regina came out of a side door and walked up to the podium that was on the stage.
She greeted everyone and then went into a lengthy speech about how we’ve all been through so much these past few years and how now it was time to celebrate the good times. When she told everyone the news the room broke out into excited chatter. The meeting ended a short time later, with details about everything from which stores would be selling what, and where trees would be available.
When everyone made it outside, Snow couldn’t contain her enthusiasm. “Oh! I am so excited! Our first Christmas as a family. I’ve been making a list of all the things that we can do together, like making cookies, decorating our trees and houses, and going shopping, it’s going to be so magical,” she exclaimed.
Emma smiled at her mother’s exuberance. There was a time she would have balked at the idea of doing those things, but she was actually excited to do them with her family. “That sounds great Mom. I can’t wait,” she told her.
Snow sent her a beaming smile. “Me too! Don’t you think all of this is wonderful, David? She asked, turning to her husband.
“Huh? Oh, yeah. Sounds great,” David said distractedly.
Snow frowned up at him. “What on earth is wrong with you? You’ve been really quiet all morning.” She then remembered the strange encounter between him and Emma before the meeting started. “Did something happen while you were at Emma and Killian’s?” she asked him, then looked over at her daughter and son-in-law.
The three adults in question stared at one another silently. Not sure how to explain the awkward situation from this morning.
Henry, who had been quietly watching from the side, rolled his eyes at them. “Mom and Killian made out in front of him this morning,” he said nonchalantly.
Snow scoffed. “Really, David? That’s why you’ve been moping around? They're married. Get over it. Now it's freezing, let us give you all a ride home and we can talk about some plans for tomorrow." With that she turned and walked away, leaving a bewildered group behind.
The rest of the day was spent making plans about what stores they were going to go to first. Later that evening, Emma and Killian were in the living room curled on the couch in front of the fire.
“Penny for your thoughts, love,” Killian said softly,” You’ve been awfully quiet.”
Emma made a soft noise of content from her place with her head on his chest. “It’s nothing. I’m just thinking about how happy I am, and how much I’m looking forward to finally having a real Christmas.”
Killian smiled. “Aye. Me, too, love. I’m honored that I get to experience this occasion with you,” he said, placing a kiss to the top of her head.
Emma lifted her head up to look at him. “I wouldn’t want to celebrate it with anyone else,” she whispered happily, rising up to kiss him passionately. The pair stayed there for a little while longer before heading up to bed, both excited for what’s to come.
The next day was another busy one. They woke up early hoping to beat the rush at the stores. While they were having breakfast Henry got a call from Regina, wanting him to come over and decorate the tree with her, so with the promises of pictures and updates he was off. When Emma and Killian arrived at Main Street, the town was already abuzz with activity. As they walked along the sidewalk it seemed like every store had switched from selling their usual fare to the more festive variety. They reached their destination and entered the shop, and it was like they had been transported into another magical world. The shelves were full of every single Christmas ornament, garland, and bauble you could think of, and boxes of lights of every color were stacked on the tables in the middle of the room.
“Wow! This is amazing!” Emma exclaimed.
“That it is, Swan. Where do we begin? Should we wait for your parents before we get started?” Killian asked, since before they left the house Snow called and said that she and David might be a little bit late and that they would meet them there.
“I don’t think they would mind if we get started. Why don’t we browse around and see what jumps out at us and go from there,” Emma suggested.
They spent the next little while going from shelf to shelf and table to table picking out the decorations that they like best. They stuck to the classic red, green, silver, and gold colored ornaments, and white colored lights for the tree, with garland and stocking for the fireplace. As they were picking out a few more knick knacks, Snow and David finally joined them, apologizing for being late, stating that baby Neal had been extra fussy this morning when they dropped him off with Granny. With assurances that it was alright the four of them spent the rest of the afternoon shopping for everything they might need. They parted with plans to come over to the farm tonight for dinner and then to decorate the tree as a family.
As soon as they made it home Emma received a text from Henry saying that he was done helping Regina decorate and would be there soon. In the meantime, they started to unpack all of their purchases and get ready. “Okay, so first things first, putting the tree in the stand,” Emma said.
Together (after some trial and error), they finally got the tree in the stand and that’s when Henry came home. “Awesome! I didn’t miss anything,” he said joyfully.
"No, you're right on time. How did decorating with Regina go?" Emma asked, going over to greet her son with a hug.
"Great! Mom had a lot of stuff! I think she had first dibs on all the decorations," Henry said with a laugh.
"Why doesn't that surprise me," Emma said jokingly, pulling him toward where Killian was pulling the lights from the box. "Come on. Let's get to it."
"Aye, lad. Come help me with these blasted things," Killian said as he started to struggle with the string of lights.
It took no time at all for the three of them to decorate the inside of the house. The fireplace was draped with garland, bows, and lights with stockings, each with their initials on them, hanging down from it. The front foyer had some wreath and bow wall decorations, but the tree was the highlight of everything. It was beautiful with the colored ornaments and white lights they had bought.
Emma stepped back to look at the tree. “It’s beautiful,” she said in awe.
“It really is, but it’s missing one more thing,” Killian said, walking over to a bag that was sitting on the floor and pulling out a beautiful golden star. “”You want to do the honors, love?” he asked, holding it out to her.
Emma nodded eagerly as she walked over to him and gently took the star from his hand. With a little boost from Killian she placed the star in its place and the tree was complete.
“There. Now it’s perfect,” Killian said, wrapping his arms around Emma from behind and pulling her against his chest.
“It looks awesome,” Henry said, coming to stand beside his mother and step-father.
They stood there for a few minutes just enjoying the moment together before they began cleaning up all the bags and trash from the living room and then started getting ready for dinner at the Nolan farm. When they arrived, Snow greeted them before they even made it to the door. She gave them each a hug and started to immediately go into detail about everything she wanted to do and how exciting all of this was.
“Snow. Let them at least get into the house first before bombarding them,” David chuckled at his wife's antics from the doorway.
"Oh, hush you!" Snow responded good-naturedly to her husband as she walked by him and into the house followed by Killian and Henry.
"Hey, Dad," Emma said, greeting her father with a hug. "Are you ready for this?" she asked, gesturing toward the house where they could still hear Snow talking animatedly with Killian and Henry.
David smiled. "You bet. This is all I've ever wanted since we found each other after the curse, my family together and celebrating the times. Now come on, let's go save those two."
They entered the house to see Killian and Henry sitting on the couch with Snow sitting across from them on the love seat with baby Neal in her lap, still going over in detail about the evening ahead. The look on the two of their faces screamed 'help.'
"Everyone ready to eat?" David asked.
As they all sat down for dinner the conversation flew easily from subject to subject, Emma showed her mother pictures of the tree and the decorations at their house, David asked Henry how he was doing in school and before they knew it, dinner was over and everyone found their way back to the living room. While Emma and Killian went the classic route, David and Snow went rustic. Red and white colored ornaments, red bells, and fake pine cones adorned the tree, and a red ribbon was draped around it from top to bottom. As a final touch, instead of a star, a huge red bow sat atop the tree. After finishing the rest of the decorating it was getting late, and since tomorrow was Monday, Emma, Killian, and Henry decided it was time to head home.
XXX
The next few weeks were filled with every Christmas activity Emma could think of. Everything from building snowmen in the front yard, decorating the outside of the their house (where Killian was adamant he could do on his own, except after a few scares with hanging the lights Emma put her foot down and finished them with her magic), to going to a tree lighting ceremony at the town plaza where there was hayrides and hot chocolate. It was also where she introduced Killian to mistletoe, and let’s just say, he was a fan.
There were also some stressful moments, too. Like trying to find the right presents for everyone. She knew that Christmas wasn’t necessarily just about presents, but she wanted to do this right. She had already got Henry and her parents their gifts, but she was having a hard time with finding Killian one. Nothing she had seen had jumped out at her, she knew that he'd love anything she got him, but Emma wanted it to be perfect.
It was three days before Christmas, and Emma was still searching for Killian’s gift. She had been into every store in town and still couldn’t find anything, and she was beginning to panic a little. Just when she was about to call it quits, something in the shop window that she was passing by caught her attention. She peered into the window, and what she saw made her eyes widen and she immediately knew that was Killian’s gift.
XXX
Christmas morning finally came, and Emma awoke with so much excitement. She rolled over in the bed of her parents' guest room with a contented sigh. Everyone had decided to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas morning at the farm, then Henry would go to Regina's for the rest of the day and Emma and Killian would go home to enjoy some quiet time together.
“Merry Christmas, love,” Killian whispered as he wrapped an arm around her stomach, pulling her close.
“Merry Christmas, babe,” she whispered back, turning her head to place a gentle kiss to his lips.
They stayed in bed a little while longer, until they heard noises coming from downstairs. Rising from the bed they both donned their robes and headed down the stairs, where they found Snow, David, and Henry already in the living room waiting for them.
“Well, it's about time you two finally decided to join us,” Snow said teasingly as they sat down on the couch.
“So what does everyone want to do first, breakfast or presents?” David asked.
They all decided to exchange gifts first. Everyone loved their gifts from one another, Emma loved her new boots Henry got her, a pair of earrings she had been eyeing from her mother, and from her father, a brand new coffee machine that makes everything from coffee to hot chocolate. When it was Killian’s turn to give her his gift he was visibly nervous. He handed her a rectangle sized box and she knew immediately that it was some type of jewelry. She looked over at him with a smile and unwrapped it, then lifted the lid of the box. What she saw took her breath away.
Sitting inside the box was a compass pendant necklace made of gold on a delicate chain. “Oh, Killian. It’s beautiful,” Emma said in awe.
“Look on the back,” Killian whispered.
Emma took the necklace out of the box and turned it over. Tears immediately filled her eyes, there on the back was an inscription, it read: “You are my compass, I’ll always come back to you,”
“I take it you like it?” Killian asked with a smile.
“Like it? I absolutely love it,” Emma exclaimed before capturing her husband's lips in a fierce kiss. “Help me put it on,” she said when they pulled away from each other. Emma held onto one end of the necklace and Killian the other, and together they placed it around her neck.
“Oh, Emma. It’s perfect,” Snow said.
Emma lifted her hand to touch the newly placed piece of jewelry. “I know,” she said, still gazing at Killian lovingly. Suddenly, she remembered her gift to him. “Oh!” she called out, then rose from the couch and picked up a medium sized wrapped box from the pile. “My turn,’ she said, handing him the box.
Killian smiled at her then immediately tore into the wrapping paper and lifted the lid of the box. Inside was an antique leather case with a buckle in the front. He took the case out of the box and carefully unbuckled it then slid it’s contents out. “Swan,” he said in disbelief. Sitting in his hand was a beautiful, golden, antique compass. “This is magnificent.”
“Look on the back,” Emma said, repeating his words back to him.
Killian froze when he saw what was on the back of the compass. There, in an elegant script, was an engraving that said: “I’ll always be your compass. Forever Yours, Emma.”
“Great minds think alike, huh?” Emma whispered.
“It's…” Killian laughed, completely at a loss for words.
Emma reached over and covered his hand with hers. “I know,” with that no other words were necessary.
When all the gifts were exchanged and breakfast was eaten, it was time for the Swan-Jones clan to head out to take Henry to Regina’s. After dropping their son off, Emma and Killian made it home and spent the rest of the afternoon together. That night, cuddling on the couch with only the lights from the Christmas tree, they revelled in the amazing day they had.
“Did you enjoy the day, love,” Killian asked as he sipped on the spiked hot chocolate his Swan had made for him.
“I did. It was an absolutely perfect day,” Emma said happily, sipping on her own hot chocolate. ”but…”
“But what, love?” Killian asked curiously.
“As much as I loved today and everything that went with it, it doesn’t hold a candle to this right here,” she said, gesturing to surroundings.
“I know what you mean, love. Everything I could ever want is right here in this room. I could never have asked for a more precious gift than having you for my wife, and spending my life with you,” Killian confessed.
“I love you,” Emma said passionately.
“And I love you, forever and always,” Killian said just as passionately, sealing their love with a kiss.