InsaneJournal

Who: Graham and Emma
What: Being flirty with some mistletoe until they're rather awesomely interrupted
When: About 6pm on Christmas Day
Where: The Rumbelle House
Warnings: An abundance of cuteness and a holiday surprise
Still in progress but here, have a read if you want?



It was a little strange, Emma Swan being this happy. While she appreciated the spirit of Christmas, it had never been her thing. But that had a great deal to do with growing up as a child of the foster care system. Gifts, when they were received, were socks and sweaters, things she needed and were mostly required for her care rather than any actual presents little kids or teenaged girls wanted to receive. Decorations rarely happened and when they did, they were minimal. And for a woman who fought off the feelings she could've developed for others, general Christmas cheer was typically at a minimum.

But now? Now things were different. So, so different. She had a family. A solid support system of her mother, her son, her godmother, a man she was not-so-secretly crazy about, and a few truly good friends she wouldn't trade for anything. And her baby, a little girl she was going to give every possible chance in life to, just weeks from being in her arms. If that wasn't a good enough reason to get into the Christmas spirit, nothing was. She had her little boy to go all out for, even if this was the last year she could potentially get away with the Santa thing. He claimed not to believe but why did that mean she had to stop?

So the house where she'd basically stored almost all of the people important to her had been done up with as much Christmas crap as she could find. And she and Belle had planned an all out feast, really. And, despite the rather odd grouping around the dinner table, the drama had been kept to a minimum. Frankly, Christmas couldn't be going better and it was almost scary.

She'd offered to clear the table since Belle had done so much of the cooking (whatever, Emma was still learning) and had shooed everyone out, refusing to be coddled just because she was pregnant. Very pregnant, of course, they did have a point. But she had taken much better care of herself since the attacks a few weeks ago. Besides, she had to stay busy or she'd go mad. And washing a few dishes wasn't exactly taxing work. It helped keep her mind from that panicky state that said life was going too well and it was all about to come crumbling down around her. It was how it always worked for Emma, and it was incredibly hard to convince herself it wasn't going to again.

It was safe to say that Graham had never actually done Christmas. As the Huntsman his family had been the wolves, and wolves as a whole did not really care for holidays. Winter had just been a season to survive through. And in Storybrooke, while he had been relatively popular as the Sheriff of the town, and had things like cakes brought round by Ruby and Granny, the whole big holiday celebration thing just hadn’t been for him. He hadn’t, well, the heart for it.

This year was different. This year he knew who he truly was, he was free from being caged, and he was able to be with a true family. Seeing Henry’s face lighting up with festive cheer had been amazing. Having people he wanted to buy presents for. And Emma. Of course, Emma. Who was looking exceptionally beautiful this close to giving birth and with a huge smile on her face. It had been her who had first shaken his world upside down, and it was again now with her that his world felt stable again, really for the first time. And now, thanks to a shiny Christmas bauble (and who, even a fairytale character, could imagine saying a line like that?) Graham once again had his heart. It hadn’t turned him into some crying mess of a man, even as the Huntsman he had been relatively stoic, but the emptiness he had always felt in Storybrooke was lifted from him. He felt whole, he felt free, and above all he felt content. Able to take real joy in watching happiness around him.

When Emma declared she was going to clear the table and wash up, Graham knew better than to try to argue with her. Very pregnant she might be, but Emma Swan was still one of the strongest people he had ever met and really, carrying plates was not going to do any harm. But that didn’t stop him from following her to the kitchen and picking up a towel with a smirk. “Okay, if you’re washing, then I’m drying.” Because fair was fair, and he was not the sort of man who thought being in a kitchen was woman’s work. Though with that in mind, his smirk took on a mischievous edge. “It would be wrong to make Cinderella do all of this, right?”

When Graham showed up in the kitchen, she couldn't stop the smile that crossed her face. And she didn't really try, which was a bit new and different and wonderful in itself. Emma didn't wear her heart on her sleeve and never had. But the attraction she felt towards him was undeniable. More so, she felt safe with him and cared for. Not in the way Jim had tried to guarantee her safety. Graham didn't stalk her or pay people to do so. He stood by her, fought with her, but always allowed her to be herself. The man who had put his own life and his own freedom on the line for her mother had now extended that not only to her ten year-old, but her baby daughter as well. And her. Of course to her.

Not only that, but he'd become an incredible friend, too. One she'd grown to trust, as she did few others. And she had to admit, she liked it. Emma was used to leaping into relationships and getting burned in the process. So as hard as it had been at times, she'd started by keeping Graham at arm's length and then gentle flirtation and finally to the point where they were now. Where she half wanted to run and half wanted to pull him into her arms and never let him go.

"That's mean," she scolded, but she was smiling despite herself. She gave him a gentle smack in the arm and turned back to the sink. "Besides, it's her baby's first Christmas, I wouldn't make her spend the whole thing in the kitchen." Granted it was also her first Christmas with Henry, but her incredibly social little boy would be fine without her for a while. He had new books to read, after all.

There was the smile that always prompted one from him in return. From the first moment Graham had met Emma, seeing her smile, even that little smirky smile that came so often from her, had made him happy. But it was these more genuine smiles, relaxed ones, that he liked the best. And he couldn’t help but feel a little proud when he had been the one to cause it.

He rubbed his arm where she smacked him, pretending to pout for a moment, before he grinned anyway. “Okay, maybe a little bit mean. But funny.” Still, it was good to see Ashley happy. He hadn’t known her well in Storybrooke, she’d been so quiet around most people, with only Ruby being that close to her. Well, that was Ruby for you. Graham suspected it was a wolf thing that made her so fiercely loyal to people. Ashley did deserve to be happy though. She’d made some foolish choices before, dealing with Rumplestiltskin being a big one, but she was at heart a good person. “You do realize by that logic, next year you get to avoid the kitchen and make someone else do all the cleaning. I see what you’re doing, Miss Swan, very sneaky.” And he did approve.

“I think Henry’s having a good day,” Graham commented idly, as he picked up a dish to dry. And that was an understatement. The kid’s face had been lit up all day. It was possibly the most normal Christmas he had ever had, well, aside from the presence of a few fairytale princesses, the infamous Rumplestiltskin and a Huntsman, with a newly returned heart. It was a Christmas with his mother, with his family who all loved him. “Though I do think he might go around correcting Disneyland on their facts. Or maybe that will be me.” He put on an innocent face. “What?! I am portrayed very negatively in that movie.”

She rolled her eyes at his very feigned expression of pain. She knew what her Huntsman looked like in pain and she didn't really ever want to see that again, thanks. Besides, the pretend expression just made him look all cute and pouty and wasn't that infuriating? "Busted," she agreed with a shrug. "Next year I'm staying curled up on the couch with my kids. Everyone else can pamper me." For all of her joking, it was rare that Emma let anyone do anything for her, so it would be amazing to see if it actually happened. But it was something.

Even thinking about Henry's sweet face enjoying his Christmas day made her light up just as much. The bauble had certainly helped make the gifts easier, but her son wasn't one to dwell on presents anyway. Besides, Regina could afford to give him anything he wanted. What Emma wanted for him was love and family. Being surrounded by people who cared about him. Even Gold, for as little as Emma personally liked him, seemed to have a soft spot where Henry was concerned. And though she'd deny it if anyone confronted her on it, she couldn't help the little thrill that ran through her watching him interact with Graham. It was getting too close and it was scary but she was so tired of fighting it.

"Disney World, Graham. We're going to Florida not California. And I've been to both, trust me on this one." Her life as a wanderer after all. But Florida had a special place in her heart and always would. Even when she'd been so bitter and angry with Neal, it had meant something to her. Maybe while they were down there, she'd take a drive back up to Tallahassee. Maybe take Henry if he wanted to go, and finally tell him the truth about his father. "It isn't the one that shows you in the best light," she admitted. "But the movie that is would be the one with my not-mom Kristen Stewart and no, I refuse."

Well, fine, she wasn’t going to buy his pouty pained look, so really, he just gave that up. Much easier that way! “Hey, next year, for Christmas you can drink glasses of wine that the rest of us can bring you, while you just lie back and let us do everything. Though I draw the line at fanning you while you eat grapes or something. You’re not that much of a princess.” No, she was the more impressive kind of princess, the one who stood up for her people. And apparently even used a sword in the future, and that was just a sexy image.

Regina may have been able to offer the material comforts, but Henry was his mother’s son really, and what mattered to him was love. Sappy as that might be, it was true. And Graham questioned if Regina was even capable of that emotion. Maybe once, maybe long ago, but certainly not in all the years he had known her. She had once tried to bribe him with titles and wealth when what mattered to him was freedom. Really, that summed her up completely. She couldn’t understand the love of the forest he had had with the wolves. Thinking of wolves, and other canines, something else occurred to him. “Do you think Henry and Cygnet would like a puppy?” He glanced at Emma with a half smile. “I would say a wolf, but I don’t think we can get one of those. But a puppy might be nice. Dogs make damn loyal pets.”

Disney World, Disneyland, it was all just confusing, and that showed on his face. “There’s a difference? How come Florida got promoted to World and California stayed Land? This all seems very complicated.” Well, he hadn’t ever left Maine before. Maine and Lawrence, his entire experience of this world. “Hey, I’m not a big fan of that movie either. One, Kristen Stewart is just wrong as Snow, and two, well....” And the pretend pout was back, though the smirk was still threatening to push through. “I’m better looking than that Hemsworth guy, right? I mean he may be a bit more muscled than I am, but I bet I look better in tight pants.”

She handed him a dish, giving him an almost impossibly happy smile. Who was this woman who kept smiling? Not Emma. Couldn't be. She didn't smile, not this much. "Never cared much for grapes anyway."

While he might have been thinking about the wolves, she wasn't in on the mental conversation and the question took her by surprise. Pausing in her cleaning, she leaned back against the sink, thinking it over. "I don't know," she admitted. "I've never had a pet before, I wouldn't know how to take care of one. But if you're volunteering to help out, then I don't see why not. Ask Henry. To be honest, I'm not even sure he likes dogs. He always seemed to like Pongo, though."

Oh, and then he was fishing for compliments and wasn't that just cheating? But Emma had promised herself when he'd arrived alive and well and as gorgeous as ever in Lawrence that she'd make him happy. If that meant stroking his nearly non-existent ego once in a while, then fine. "First of all, Chris Hemsworth shares a face with one of my closest friend's brother. Pretty sure it's illegal to check out your best friend's brother. And secondly..." Her voice lowered, almost all of the teasing drained from it. Almost. "You know I'll always choose you."

He was going to have to start keeping an inner scorecard for how often he managed to prompt that smile. Because it really was gorgeous and he loved seeing it. And watching her consider the whole pet idea was fun for him. “First rule of animals is you don’t have them, they have you,” he pointed out with a smirk, though his eyes were lit up with talking about dogs and wolves. “Maybe ask him, see what he thinks of the idea. And Ruby and the others in the house too. Dogs are actually pretty easy to look after if you pay attention to them. They let you know when they’re hungry, when they need exercise.” Well, they did if you knew how to listen to them, which apparently being raised by wolves let you do. Who knew?

Yes, he had been fishing for compliments, but really, it was fun. Graham liked getting compliments from Emma. And he attempted to keep a straight face as she talked, though he clearly failed miserably. “Oh yes, definitely illegal to check out your best friend’s brother, really, there’s a law on it and everything, you know, it’s amazing how often I have to arrest people for breaking it, I’m so glad you’re not one of them.”

Then his gaze softened as he looked at her, really looked as her voice lowered, and almost without him even realizing it, he’d stepped in closer to her with a small smile. “Well that is good to know.” His own voice was lower too, the Irish accent almost husky as he looked down at her. He could actually feel the way his heart was thumping in his chest, not just in the literal sense, but in the figurative sense, the emotions and his control over them being truly back now. Graham reached forward to tuck a lock of Emma’s hair behind her ear before he flicked his gaze up to the ceiling for a moment, just a quick one, before looking back at her. “You know, I think just about every bit of this house is covered in mistletoe.” His fingers trailed down the side of her cheek to just gently tilt her chin up to look at him. “Want to honor the tradition?”

Frankly, all thoughts of wolves and Disney and Thor flew out of her head when he got that close to her. She could fight it all she wanted to. She was falling and hard and there was nothing she could do to stop it. This wasn't Jim, where everything she did or said was on the line. Where she was in danger more often than not, where friends turned their backs due to the choices she'd made. This was Graham. She cared more for him than she should have, and had for quite a while. They'd been heading towards something more for some time. Even in Storybrooke, they'd always been on the edge of something so real and so genuine that it had scared her. She'd pushed and fought until it was too late for them. The Seal had given her a second chance and she would be a fool not to take it.

Oh, sure, as she looked up into that handsome face, her mind ran through the sea of reasons why the smart thing to do would be to walk away. She didn't deserve him, she had two little kids she'd be saddling him with, they had a far too complicated history. She was, after all, the reason he was dead. And the newest reason. That heart, beating deep in his chest, more genuinely than it had in about thirty years. For the first time in a long time, he could feel. He could feel someone that wasn't her. What if the reason he was so attached was because she was the only one who could give him that? Was it fair to tie him down that way when he could finally be out exploring those emotions with whoever he wanted, however he wanted?

This was Graham though. It wasn't like he didn't know her or what he was getting into. ...right? She hesitated for a moment, exhaling long and slow. But with his fingers touching her so sweetly, so reminiscent of the previous kisses they’d shared, she didn’t think she had the ability to walk away. Besides. It was tradition after all. She glanced up at the little green plant and sighed. But the sigh was accompanied with a smile. “Belle,” she declared with a little laugh. And she reached up, threading her hands through those thick curls, and pulled his face down to meet hers. Finally.

Only this time, when kissing him, he wasn’t the one pulling away gasping. Either from a rush of Fairytale Land memories or from Regina’s horrible acts. This time it was Emma who broke the kiss, just not quite so dramatically. A troubled look crossed her face and she bit her lip anxiously.

He had, admittedly, been worried that maybe she would back out, make some joke about it, or some other form of avoidance, and while Graham was giving her the space for that if she wanted, he couldn’t deny that he really really wanted to kiss her. Again. Because their kisses had been, well, earth shattering before, and everything he had been feeling for Emma before had just been amplified by having his heart back. And it helped him just know, know that it wasn’t some savior thing that had made him feel for her before, wasn’t some trick or curse loophole, it was just Emma. And really, wasn’t that why he had been the only one drawn to her in quite that way back in Storybrooke? Because it would have been a more effective curse loophole if she simply could have freed everyone by kissing them.

No, it was just her and just him and it all meant that when she pulled his face down, Graham was more than happy to let her, a quick smile forming on his lips before they finally touched hers. Just as soft as he remembered, and this time the feeling of his head spinning was entirely for good reasons, the normal reaction to finally getting to kiss the woman he was crazy about.

At least until she pulled away. With that look, the one that made Graham frown with concern. “Are you okay?” His hand drifted down to her shoulder, not sure if she needed steadying in some way. “I know we don’t always have the safest track record with kissing each other, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything and seriously, are you alright?” His gaze moved over her, trying to work out if she was in pain, or ready to bolt from the room, or what?

"Yeah," she replied, though her voice was hesitant. She felt...well, uncomfortable really. As long as she'd been dealing with Braxton Hicks (and who WAS that asshole, anyway?), she wasn't really surprised. But it felt different. A much stronger pressure than she remembered. Bordering on pain but not quite. Ugh. Typical body, trying not to let her enjoy kissing Graham. But she refused to stand for it. She'd waited too long. "I'm fine." The words were murmured and she looked back up into those pretty blue eyes. "She's just making herself known I think."

Maybe it was Aislinn voicing her approval. It was a nice thought, really. She wanted her mom to be happy. Her dad hadn’t done that, not in the end. He had chosen his own greed for power and the challenge of his beloved Sherlock over her. But did Emma have to suffer forever for it? For the mistakes she’d made while turning a blind eye to Jim’s actions? In the end, she’d fought back. She hadn’t let herself become that woman she’d been so in danger of being. And this baby, the tiny little girl preparing to make her entrance into the world, would not be Aurora Moriarty. That girl had two parents who’d loved each other and her, and no one else. A father with all the power in the world and a mother more than proud to stand by his side. This girl had her mother and no father, but Emma had no regrets. She had plenty of love, people who cared for both Emma and her unborn baby. Aurora Moriarty had been a dangerous time bomb in the making. Aislinn Swan wouldn’t be. Emma would make sure of it.

So she took a deep, calming breath and looked back up at Graham. Her beautiful, stoic, compassionate, brave Huntsman. The man who would put his life on the line for the people she loved. “Just fine. She’s been like this all day. Now, can we get back to the important things, please?” And with that, she kissed him again, supporting herself with her hands on his shoulders and her mouth tenderly exploring his.

And it all should’ve been wonderful and perfect and magical...except this time it really was a pain and she couldn’t deny it if she wanted to. She gasped, bending over and touching her hand to her abdomen. Her now rock hard abdomen. “I... No. It’s too soon.” Her voice was full of worry and she kept running over everything from all of her birthing classes, the hundreds of books Henry had picked up, and the online sites she’d used. She’d be fine. It was only a few weeks. The baby was just about fully developed, only putting on weight now, really, it would be okay.

It had to be.