A/N: Thank you McDag for your prompt (can you write a story teenage Emma living on the streets of storybrooke where she digs through trash to find food and then teenage regina one day catches doing so and sneaks her to her house and has emma living in her room?)
Sixteen-year-old Emma Swan was an orphan that was being send from one foster home to another. One day she was tired of being treated the way she was and ran away. She got her stuff together, hopped on a bus and changed a few times until she found herself in Maine. Here she walked around a little bit, going from town to town until she found herself in a little town called Storybrooke. As it wasn't on any map, the teen was sure nobody would come looking for her here, not that she thought anyone would even notice she was missing.
She had been living on the streets of Storybrooke for the last few days, when she discovered the diner. Restaurants and diners were the easiest places to find food in the trash. As she sat down next to the trash, to eat the little food she had found, she was too distracted to notice someone watching her. A brunette about the same age as Emma, but wearing much fancier clothes, was looking at her with a disgusted look on her face. "Did you just eat something you found in the trash?" The brunette asked. Emma looked up startled and dropped the burned toast she had been eating. "Crap. I didn't see you there. Please, don't tell anyone I'm here?"
"I won't, I promise. But why are you eating out of the trash? Do they not feed you at home?" Emma sighed. "Not everyone has the luxury of having a home, Princess." Regina's eyes saddened at the revelation of this stranger. "I'm sorry." She said. Emma shrugged. "It's not your fault. I'm an orphan. They keep sending me to new homes; I got tired of the bad treatments so I ran away. If anyone finds me they'll send me back." The brunette nodded understandingly. She pulled a chocolate bar out of her pocket and handed it to Emma. "I'm Regina." She said. Emma looked at the chocolate bar and shook her head. "I can't take that." She said. "I'll share it with you, if you'll tell me your name." Regina suggested. Emma smiled at the brunette. "I'm Emma Swan. It's very nice to meet you, Regina." The brunette teen gave Emma half the chocolate bar, while taking a bit of the other half. "Well, it's very nice to meet you too, Emma."
Regina and Emma walked around town for a little while, getting to know each other. Only a few hours after they had met, they had already become friends. "I hope you'll stay in Storybrooke, Emma. It's very nice to finally have a friend." As Emma frowned Regina explained: "having the scariest mother in town isn't an easy way to make friends."
As they walked past the clock tower, Regina noticed the time. "I'm sorry, Emma, but I have to go. Mother will be home in a few minutes and if she discovers I wasn't at home, I'm going to be in big trouble." Emma nodded understandingly. "We can see each other tomorrow, if you'd like?" Emma smiled. "I'd love to." Regina smiled back at her. "Great, then I'll see you tomorrow at 10AM at the docks?" Emma nodded and Regina ran of smiling.
Later that evening, at the Mills residence
As the maid served their dinner, Regina thought back to Emma, who she had found eating out of the trash at Grannie's. She then looked at the table to the rich and much too large meal and her heart sunk. She knew that almost half the food that was on the table before her would be thrown away. She felt horrible, knowing that they were wasting so much good food, when people like Emma hardly had any at all. She decided that tonight, she would slip into the kitchen and take as much as she could get to give to the blonde tomorrow.
After dinner, Regina went upstairs to read a book. As it was a school holiday, she didn't have any homework. Eventually when she felt tired she went to bed. Once she had tucked herself into her big comfortable bed, she once again thought about Emma. Where was the blonde sleeping? She suddenly asked herself. Hearing the rain outside and knowing that it must be cold outside, made the brunette hope that the blonde had found a place to stay warm and dry. Regina sighed to herself. She couldn't stop thinking about Emma. She realized that she even started to have feelings for the other girl.
All of a sudden, Regina sat up in bed. She realized that everyone was asleep in the house and snuck to the kitchen to pack some food for the blonde. While packing the food she could find Regina thought about something. Nobody, except her, ever came into her room. It would be the perfect place for Emma; nobody would ever find her there and Regina would be able to feed her properly and take care of her. She knew that if anyone ever found Emma there, both of them would be in great trouble, but the idea of being able to watch over the girl was much too important for the brunette.
With those thoughts in mind and a backpack full of food, hidden under her bed, Regina was finally able to fall asleep and dream about the blonde girl, she was slowly starting to fall for.
The next morning, at the docks
Regina arrived at the docks a little before the time they had arranged to meet. She frowned as she saw the blonde laying on one of the benches. Coming closer, the brunette noticed that Emma was soaking wet and shivering, but asleep nonetheless. "Emma?" Regina kneeled next to the bench and gently woke the blonde, as she tucked blonde hair behind the other teen's ear.
"Good morning." Emma said as she slowly woke up, trying to make everything look as normal as possible. "Good morning? Emma, you're soaking wet and shivering like crazy." Regina said worried. "Don't worry about it. It'll dry in a little while and then I'll go change in the woods." Regina shook her head. "You need to get out of these wet clothes right now and put on something warm. Come on, we're going to my house and you're going to change there." Emma's eyes widened and she shook her head. "No way! And then have your parents send me back? Never!" Emma snapped. "Relax Emma, my mother is at work and won't be back for hours, it's our maid's day off and my dad died a few years ago, so we'll have the house all to ourselves." She said winking flirtatiously at Emma. "Besides, nobody ever comes into my room, so you could live there and nobody would ever know."
"I could never impose on you like that. Besides, how would I get to food if I can't leave your room." Regina smiled; she knew that Emma's resistance would soon be broken. "We always have too much food, so it would be easy for me to bring you and you could never impose Emma. I'd love having you close by all the time." Regina smiled and took Emma's hand, "but first we really need to get you out of these wet clothes." Emma quickly stopped Regina from dragging her to her house and quickly kissed her lips. "Thank you." She said, slightly blushing. Regina bit her lip, smiling and leaned in for another quick kiss.
As they broke apart, Regina laced their fingers together and dragged Emma to her house, where she would make Emma change and then give her some food. She supposed Emma must be really hungry, as eating trash could not have given Emma the proper meal she needed and deserved.
After Emma changed, she and Regina had gotten themselves in an argument about whether or not Emma would live in Regina's room, while eating lunch. "Please, Emma? At least stay tonight? It would make me feel so much better, knowing that you're safe and warm and close to me." Emma gave up on her resistance. "Fine, but only for tonight and I really hope we won't get caught, 'cause I could get in a lot of trouble." Regina smiled happily and kissed Emma passionately. It was going to be so great, having Emma close.
That night, after everyone had gone to bed already Regina entered her room with plate full of food. Emma shook her head in disbelieve but had a smile on her face. "You're incredible, you know that?" Emma whispered as to not wake Regina's mother. Regina shrugged happily. After Emma had finished eating, Regina quietly slipped out of her room again to put the now empty plate in the dishwasher. When she came back, she and Emma quietly got ready for bed. Regina locked her bedroom door as she had done every night for the past few years, before laying down in her comfy double bed. Seeing Emma hesitating, she held up the covers for Emma to get in. The blonde smiled and snuggled close to Regina. She kissed her lips passionately and whispered "thank you". Regina turned her back to Emma and pulled the blonde's arm around her waist, so she was Emma's little spoon. And just like that both teens fell asleep with a smile on their faces.