Calendar

Operation Christmas Tea

Regina stood in front of the shelves in the supermarket, looking for something Emma would like. She wanted to make her a nice self-made advent calendar like the ones she always made for Henry. But it was somehow so much easier to make one for Henry. There, she could simply put comics, socks and underwear in it. But for Emma? She definitely couldn't buy her panties. How awkward would that be?! So she still stood there, quizzing whether Emma would prefer Christmas tea with oranges, carnations and cinnamon or the one with apples and cinnamon. Damn it. If one of those wouldn't have cinnamon in it, it would be so much easier to decide. In the end, Regina took the apple flavored one. This would add at least a little bit of a personal touch to it. She would have to be more creative. Until now, she only had the tea, shower gel and some moisturizer.
And she wasn't even sure if Emma had sensible skin and could use them. She would have to talk to Henry about this. Maybe he had some other ideas what Emma would like. She walked to the checkout, paid the tea and drove back to the mansion. Maybe this was a bad idea after all? No, she wanted to show Emma how much she appreciated her being a part of the family, so she would also have to include her in this family tradition. She opened the door and threw the tea on the counter.

"Henry? I'm home!"

"Hey, Mom!"

After getting rid of her shoes and coat, she walked up to Henry's room and knocked on the door. She waited till Henry called "Come in!" and opened the door. He sat on his bed, his blanket over his legs, reading a comic. No matter how old he got, he would always be her little prince. She smiled at him and took a seat on the bed.

"Well, Henry, I think I need your help. It's almost Christmas and I thought that it would be nice if I would make Emma a calendar this year."

"Cool, that's a great idea! She will be so happy about this!" Henry sounded genuinely excited as he always did when Emma and Regina did something together. And Regina was glad about this. It was so strange that they were enemies once, trying to get rid of each other. Now, they did not only get along well, but they really enjoyed the time they spend together. Emma has become a really good friend, if not her best friend. She never thought she would have a best friend who she could honestly talk to and trust. But there she was, even raising their son together and making an advent calendar for her.

"Yes, I thought so too. But the problem is, I do not really know what to put inside. I thought that maybe you have some ideas? Until now, I have only bought some cosmetics and Christmas tea."

"She'll probably be as happy about comics as I am. I don't know...You could secretly interview her and ask her about little stuff she likes? We could make a new operation out of it. Operation Christmas tea!"

Hesitating, Regina looked at Henry with a raised eyebrow.
"Operation Christmas tea? I'm not planning on buying only tea."

Henry rolled his eyes and looked accusingly towards Regina.
"Well, of course not. You still don't get the function of a codeword, right?"

Regina shrugged. "Then Operation Christmas tea it is. But how do you think should I 'interview' her? I obviously can't just walk straight up to her and ask her what items she would like to have in her calendar."

"Of course not." Henry's voice carried a hint of annoyance. "But you can talk to her and find out what she likes in general. I thought you guys are, like, best friends, just have some coffee at Granny's together or a movie marathon, I don't know."

Regina nodded. "Yes, I think I could give this a try. But remember I'm pretty new at this having-a-friend-thing. So if I don't find anything out, you need to promise to help me.

With an overly enthusiastic grin on his face, Henry nodded. "Sure, I'm your partner in crime in this operation!"

Already planning her next step, Regina left Henrys room and walked towards the living room. Doing something together... Maybe Emma had some ideas what exactly they could do. She grabbed her phone and dialed Emma's number.

"Emma Swan?"

"Emma, it's me, Regina."

"Hi, what's up?"

"Well, I thought we could meet up sometime. Maybe have lunch together?"

"Sure... Did something happen to Henry?" Emma's voice sounded slightly irrtatated.

"Well, no... I just thought it would be nice to do something together. But if you already have other plans, that's fine."

"No, I'd really like to have lunch with you. It's just that you've never asked before without having a solid reason. How about tomorrow at 12?"

"Yes, 12 sounds fine. Will we meet at Granny's?"

"Yepp, where else? Ok, gotta go now, David's calling. See you tomorrow!"

Before Regina had a chance to say goodbye, Emma has already hung up.
Why did this has to be so awkward? Was it true that they never met up just like that? But no, there has always been a particular reason..
But to be fair, it's not that easy to do something just for the fun of it when one's the mayor of a town that is constantly attacked by magical creatures.

Still in thoughts, Regina climbed the stairs and entered her bedroom. What would she wear tomorrow? The red dress or rather the blue one? If Emma would wear her leather jacket, it might look strange if they would both wear red. So it would have to be the blue one. Regina shook her head about herself. Why did she care about that anyway? It's not like they would go on a date... They would just have lunch like normal friends.

A/N: It's almost Christmas so I thought why not write a Swan Queen inspired Christmas fanfic?
I hope you guys like it! :)
(If you've read my other story, it would be nice if you could comment which writing style you prefer :))