gloriouscurse | If you are really thankful, what do you do? You share. [Thanksgiving Day in the City]

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regina mills

If you are really thankful, what do you do? You share. [Thanksgiving Day in the City]

Never had Regina had an abundance to be thankful for. Henry, of course, she was glad every day for him. Under the curse they'd had this holiday together, though it had always been just them, and after it broke the holidays had fallen to the wayside as event after event happened in Storybrooke. Then there was the year spent back in the forest, and though everyone knew what it was, there hadn't been much to celebrate. Or if anyone had, Regina certainly hadn't taken part in the festivities. She'd had nothing but newfound vengeance. In her life before, there was no such thing as 'Thanksgiving' and the last large meal she'd had, the last grand gathering, had been the king's birthday and she couldn't have cared less if she tried.

This year is different. This year there's family and friends of the family and things to celebrate. There's Henry getting to have a holiday with all three of his parents, there's Robin and Roland and a happiness that has managed to settle into Regina's belly and slowly allow her to relax. She hasn't had a terrible dream in weeks, and maybe she's started to let herself believe that this could be how her life is. She finds herself wanting it, the warmth Cora's home never allowed for, the laughter she's denied herself, and so she works hard at it, cooking and baking. Henry's with her in the kitchen in the morning after spending the day before hunting wild turkey with Robin. There are appetizers out by eleven: parmesan and cream cheese pumpkin puffs, deviled eggs and veggies with homemade dip. The wine and drinks are flowing by noon, and at three, dinner is served with traditional fare: turkey and stuffing, mashed and sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, real cranberry sauce and everything in between. She'd urged her guests to bring food they enjoyed too. Dessert is during mid-cleanup and includes Henry's no-bake pumpkin pie, an apple pie, pecan, and sweet potato.

The dull chatter in the room, the occasional laughter and the noise of whatever people watched on television during Thanksgiving all lended itself to make her step back and watch for a moment, eyes suspiciously damp. She's truly thankful, because she never thought she'd have this.

[ooc: Treat as gathering! Lots of mingling and tagging one another.]

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Henry hasn't spent that much time with his dad in the last few weeks; he's not deliberately avoiding him, he's just been trying to sort through his messy emotions and feelings about everything, not wanting to say anything that might accidentally hurt his dad in the process, either. But he's feeling better now, and seeing him here at Thanksgiving is the best.

He doesn't even hesitate to hug him back. "I'm glad you liked it," he smiles, not needing to really look up at him much anymore. "I kind of wanna try cooking more, it's fun."

"I never was that great of a cook, but Regina, she seems pretty good at it." Which was an understatement, considering all the food. "She'd probably love teaching you some stuff." What that woman had done to the rest of the people of Storybrooke didn't matter much to him. She raised his son, that's what he saw. A good kid now, smart and happy and kind.

"Hey, you have a minute? Though maybe we could go talk before I head out." He doesn't want to leave without getting to really talk to Henry first since they haven't been able to at all.

"We're gonna try cooking some more together," Henry nods. It was pretty fun, and if he messed up, she didn't freak out about it, they either fixed it or started over. So that makes him more eager to keep learning with her.

"Yeah, of course," he nods, leading his dad away to his room so they have some privacy. "We could play a game, too, if you want."

It might be easier, he thinks, to have a game as some kind of buffer and he nods. "Yeah, whatever you've got here." He's been a single guy a long time, left to his own devices. He has gaming down, at least as far as most things go, and he sits, waits for a controller to be in his hands, waits for a game to actually start up before he speaks again.

"You know, this is pretty cool, getting to spend holidays together like this? We never had big celebrations in the Enchanted Forest. At least, not where I grew up. There were solstice gatherings but for a while there, we didn't have a whole lot."

And he hasn't had any reason to celebrate in a long, long time of living in the modern world. Now he does, and it's all for Henry.

Henry shuts the door and gets Diablo loaded up; it's one of his favorite games, and he figures his dad will like it a lot, too. Then he sits with him on his bed, holding his controller as he looks at him thoughtfully.

"We didn't get to do this in Storybrooke, so...I'm really glad, too," he smiles softly, trying to just be grateful for what they have.

"Yeah, I never really got to the holidays. Or your birthday, which, hang on. Speaking of..."

For a second he puts his controller down again and reaches inside his jacket pocket, handing him wrapped box.

"I got you something. Actually, it was mine. Got it a long time ago."

It's a pocket watch, old style. "Mr. Darling gave it to me when I lived with Wendy and her brothers for a while. Said a young man should always be able to keep time." The year is engraved on the back, 1903.

Henry immediately stops what he's doing, not caring about the sounds on the screen, about his character getting obliterated. This - this - is everything right now. This watch is immediately precious to him, something tangible that he can keep when he loses his dad again. He knows he will, he knows none of them will be here forever. But he'll have this, and he'll have his memories of their time here together.

Cradling it in his hands like it's the most precious thing in the world, Henry smiles brightly. "Dad, this is amazing..."

"I think it goes, one day you give it to your kid," Neal says with a lopsided smile. He tries not to think about the future too much. There's too much he won't see.

"I really wish I had more to give you, Henry. But when you get back to Storybrooke, if you can, you and your mom should go back to my apartment in New York. Take whatever you want before the rent stops getting paid for too long and someone cleans it out."

"Oh. Yeah." For some reason, that just...makes this a little sadder, even though he's grateful to have this gift. But he doesn't want to think about losing his dad, and he's been trying, really trying, but every time he thinks too much about it, he gets hit with the reality that his dad won't always be there.

"I'll...I'll tell her," he nods when his dad mentions the apartment, but he wants to just focus on something happy now. He has to.

He's not good at this, he realizes, but Neal's trying to navigate what's happened and his own death the best he can. That doesn't always mean he says the right things.

"So, that's your birthday present. What do you want for Christmas? Please keep in mind your old man hasn't exactly found a job yet."

Fantastic example he's setting, he knows. He needs to figure this out if anything, for Henry.

He knows how hard this must be for his dad, so he's trying to give him a break in that regard. And he looks over and reaches out to hug him lightly. "Thanks, dad."

He releases him after a moment, pondering the question. "Well...I don't know, maybe we could do something together? Like a class or something, instead of a present?"

"Yeah? You'd wanna do that?" Neal smiles a little, because hanging out with his kid like that, it's good, sounds like something they'll both like.

"We can look into it. Have anything in mind you think you really want to do? I'm all for it."

"I wanna do everything with you, dad," Henry says so earnestly. It doesn't matter; they could sit around just watching movies all day and he'd be happy because he would have his dad with him.

"Maybe...a cooking class or art class, or...learning to play a guitar..."

"I think cooking's more of Regina's thing," he says as he lets his elbows rest on his knees.

"You thinkin' about picking up the guitar? I play, you know. Taught myself before I met Emma."

He imagines if things had gone differently, if they'd been together while she was pregnant, he would have played to Henry. But he pushes that to the back of his mind and smiles a little lopsided.

"We could save money on a class, I'll teach you. Everything I know."

There's so much joy and excitement on Henry's face now, and he's already looking forward to this so much.

"Seriously, dad? That would be amazing!"

"We'll get you a guitar you can learn on, then when you're ready, we'll find you a nice one. We can start whenever you're ready," Neal promises, bringing a hand to his son's shoulder and squeezing lightly.

Henry reaches out to hug him tightly now, pressing his head to his dad's shoulder and just clinging to him. "This is gonna be a lot of fun. Do you ever write your own songs, too?"

Neal holds onto him tightly, one hand on the back of his head. He's glad he didn't miss this stage of his life, when it's still acceptable to hold onto your old man for a while. A part of him hopes Henry doesn't grow out of it and graduate to handshakes or anything any time soon.

"Sometimes," he admits in answer to Henry's question. "But I was always a lot better at covering songs that meant a lot to me."

Henry may not want this kind of affection in front of his friends, but he's not likely to outgrow it in private for a long while; at all, most likely. He's affectionate, like his grandma.

"What songs do you like to cover?"

"All kinds of stuff. How about I figure out getting us a couple of guitars, and then we'll start going through some songs?" It's just a suggestion, based on not being able to think of a song right off the top of his head. Plus, he needs to listen to whatever's a little more current for Henry and learn some new things.

"That sounds great, dad. I already know a few songs I wanna try," he smiles softly. He thinks about keeping this a secret from his moms for now so that he can surprise them.

He'll have to come up with something quick, so, a job it is as soon as he can. "Why don't you make a list, we can see if we can make them work acoustically."

This was good, this was exactly what he wanted with Henry. A way to bond with him and get close.

"I'll think of something really good," Henry nods, smiling at his dad brightly. "I can't wait to surprise my moms."

"Yeah? Maybe put on a kind of concert for them?" Neal's already proud, and he nudges Henry's shoulder. "They'll like it a lot. I bet at least one of them cries."

"Yeah, exactly." He's actually never really thought about playing music seriously like this before, and now it just makes perfect sense. He's always liked music, so this will be a lot of fun.

"If I make both of them cry, it'll be a success," he grins.

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