Chapter Two
Regina glanced back at Emma in the rearview mirror as she pulled up to her house. Emma was staring out the window, her eyes wide, her thumb still firmly planted in her mouth. At this point, Regina was more concerned with the reason for the thumb-sucking, than the actual thumb-sucking itself. She knew it could damage a child's teeth, but she figured that if Little Emma was doing this now, then Emma surely must have done it when she was actually five, and her teeth turned out fine, as far as Regina could tell at least.
Regina stopped the car and got out, walking around to Emma's door. Emma made no attempt to get out on her own, so Regina opened her door and took off her seatbelt. It occurred to her then that Emma should probably be in a booster seat, but if the Charmings had one for her, they didn't offer it to Regina. She grabbed Emma's backpack, and took her by her tiny hand, leading her up to the door.
"Come on, honey, I'll give you the grand tour," said Regina. Emma didn't respond, but seemed to hang on Regina's every word as she showed her around the main floor. When they finished with the main level, Regina led her upstairs and took her down the hall to the guest bedroom.
"This is where you're going to sleep tonight," Regina said, leading her inside and putting her backpack down on the bed. "And my room is right across the hall if you need anything." Regina pointed out her door, and Emma just nodded.
"Now, how about we get our jammies on and we can watch a movie?"
Emma smiled a little this time, and nodded.
"Do you need help getting changed?"
"No, I can do it myself," Emma said, proudly, finally taking her thumb out of her mouth.
"Good girl. Then I'm going to go get my jammies on, and I'll be right back." If there was one thing she had learned from popcorn and movie nights with Henry when he was little, it was that they didn't count if she didn't put her pajamas on, too.
Regina went into her own bedroom, and let out a long sigh once she had closed the door. What have I gotten myself into? She asked herself, as she poofed herself into a pair of charcoal coloured silk pajamas.
When Henry had called her and asked her to come help diffuse the situation at the Charmings' loft, part of her wanted to say no, and just pick up her son and let them sort it out themselves. She figured it was about time they learned to handle their own problems without running to her for help. On the other hand, she and Emma had grown closer over the past few months, and while Regina thought 'friends' might still be a bit of a stretch, she conceded that Emma had helped her a lot, and she herself had become more concerned with Emma's welfare as well.
She also knew that, in light of the fact that Blue thought there might be a chance the spell may be irreversible, she needed to step in before the Charmings inadvertently caused any more damage to their already damaged daughter.
Regina went to her closet and pulled out an empty make-up bag, which she filled with a few colours of nail polish, a hair brush and some hair ties, before heading back into the hall to see if Emma was changed yet. She found Emma standing in the doorway of the guest bedroom, thumb in mouth, clutching her white knitted blanket with her name embroidered on it. She had changed herself into a faded flannel nightgown that she had clearly outgrown, as it hung to her knees, and the sleeves ended a couple inches above her tiny wrists.
Regina couldn't help but think Emma looked like an overgrown toddler standing before her. Henry had never sucked his thumb, but he had given up his pacifier without protest at a year and a half, and his own blankie didn't leave his room after his second birthday. Regina supposed it wasn't really fair to compare Little Emma with Henry, given how different of a start in life she had, but she still couldn't help thinking that Emma was either delayed, or had regressed, and she didn't know which was worse.
"That's a very nice blanket, Emma," Regina commented.
Emma glanced down at the blanket for a second, and squeezed it tighter. "I thought it was lost, when I got lost. The police got me and they didn't have my stuff. But when my… um… Mommy and Daddy found me, they had it at their house," Emma shrugged, as if that didn't seem strange to her at all.
Regina just nodded, and noticed Emma staring intently at the make-up bag in her hand. She knelt down and opened it so Emma could see inside. "Nail polish and hair things," Regina said, "for our girls night."
"I never had my nails painted before," Emma said softly.
"Well, then this will be an extra special night! Come on, let's go down to the kitchen and make our popcorn." Regina headed towards the stairs and Little Emma eagerly followed; she didn't want to miss a thing.
In the kitchen, Emma watched as Regina pulled an air popper out of a cupboard, and scrunched her face in confusion.
"What's wrong?" Regina asked.
"What's that?" Emma pointed at the machine on the counter.
"It's an air popper. It makes popcorn. Much better popcorn than you can get from a microwave bag, I might add," Regina explained, as she poured oil and popcorn kernels into the top. She turned it on, and then pulled up a chair for Emma to stand on and watch the popcorn pop, just like Henry had liked to do at her age. Regina stood back and watched Emma's face light up as the popcorn started jumping out of the machine into the bowl below.
She couldn't help but notice how much Emma's smile looked like Henry's. She didn't see the familial resemblance as much in the adult Emma, and she wondered now if it was actually Emma's hardened expressions that didn't compare with Henry's innocence, more so than their actual features.
When the popcorn was finished, Regina carried the bowl into the family room, with Emma tagging close behind. She put the bowl and the make-up bag down on the coffee table, and Emma scrambled up onto the couch before reaching for a big handful of popcorn. Regina smiled to herself as she found one of Henry's old movies from when he was little, and put it on. She sat down on the couch next to Emma.
"How about I do your hair up pretty while we watch this movie?" Regina suggested. The little girl's wild rat's nest was driving Regina crazy.
Emma didn't take her eyes off the movie as she shook her head. "Don't like my hair brushed."
"What if I promise to be very gentle?"
Emma shook her head again.
"How about this: if you let me brush your hair, then when I'm done you can pick any colour of nail polish you want and I'll paint your nails?"
Emma glanced at Regina out of the corner of her eye. "Will you not make it hurt?"
"Of course. I'll be gentle, sweetheart," Regina assured her, and then she patted her knees. "You can sit on my lap and keep watching the movie, you won't even notice."
Emma crawled onto Regina's lap and sat up straight while Regina started working the brush through her hair. She could tell there was no way Mary Margaret had even attempted to take a brush to her hair in the past five days; these kinds of tangles did not develop overnight.
It took Regina much longer than expected to finally work all the tangles out.
To her credit, Emma didn't make a peep the entire time, even the few times that Regina accidentally got the brush caught and had to pull a little. She just sat, perfectly still, and watched the movie. Regina then braided Emma's hair into a French braid that ended just past her shoulder blades.
"All done," Regina said, and Emma reached back to feel what Regina had done to her hair.
"You know, my mother used to brush and braid my hair every night when I was little."
"Really?" Emma asked, crawling off Regina's lap back to her spot on the couch. "Did she paint your nails, too?"
"No, she didn't. That's just special for us," Regina said, laying the colours out so Emma could pick. Regina smiled when Emma went straight for the bright red. "So this is the one?"
Emma nodded, grinning.
"Alright, then, shall we start with fingers or toes?" Regina asked. Emma stuck her hands out in front of Regina. "Fingernails it is, then."
Emma watched intently as Regina painted her nails, as if she was trying to memorize every moment. When her fingers and toes were all painted and had dried, Emma curled up on the couch under her blanket. There was only twenty minutes left of the movie, and Emma was fast asleep before it was done.
Regina sighed. Emma looked like a little angel sleeping. She stood up and scooped the child up in her arms, to carry her upstairs. Emma's slight weight felt like nothing in Regina's arms. She figured she couldn't be much more than thirty pounds, if that.
Regina tucked the tiny sleeping Emma into the large bed in the guest bedroom. The girl seemed to be lost in a sea of blankets, but she looked peaceful. She is not nearly as difficult to handle as the Charmings led me to believe, she thought to herself as she headed back downstairs to tidy up in the family room.
A little over an hour later, once Regina had finished her remaining housework and was getting ready to retire for the evening, she heard a scream from Emma's room. Regina rushed across the hall and flicked on the light, to see Emma sitting up in bed, sobbing, her face white as a ghost.
"Emma, baby, what's wrong?" Regina asked, sitting down on the bed across from her. She reached out to touch Emma's face, but Emma flinched away.
"I'm sorry!" Emma choked out, between sobs.
"Sorry for what, baby?"
"Please don't be mad! I'm sorry!" Emma said again, terrified eyes locked on Regina as she scooted further away. When Emma moved, she revealed a wet spot on the bed where she had been sitting.
"Did you have an accident?" Regina asked, softly.
Emma nodded, and started crying harder.
"It's ok, I'm not mad. It's alright," Regina reassured her, as she moved closer. Emma didn't back away.
"Did you have a bad dream?" Regina asked, lightly stroking Emma's hair. Emma didn't flinch away from her touch this time.
Emma nodded.
"Do you want to tell me what it was about?"
Emma shook her head.
"Okay, that's alright, you don't have to. Let's just go get you cleaned up, ok?" Emma didn't respond, so Regina reached down to pick her up. Emma wrapped her little arms around Regina's neck, and wrapped her legs around her waist, resting her head in the crook of Regina's neck. She wasn't crying anymore, just lightly sniffling as Regina walked down the hall to the upstairs bathroom.
Emma turned her head as Regina flicked on the light, and began to panic as soon as she realized where she was. "No bath! No bath!" Emma screamed, grabbing on tighter to Regina's neck – so tight she was almost choking her.
Regina put her hand on Emma's head; her hair was still soaked with sweat from crying. "Okay, okay, shhh, no bath," she said, stroking Emma's hair as she walked out of the bathroom. She walked down the hall, carrying the sobbing child, pacing and rocking her in her arms until she calmed down.
"I'm sorry," Emma choked out, in a small, pathetic voice that made Regina want to cry herself.
"It's okay, baby. It's alright," Regina cooed, still rocking her.
"Please don't be mad," Emma whispered.
"I'm not mad. Everything's okay." Regina wondered what in the hell could have possibly happened to this child in her short life to damage her like this. One part of her wanted to get the truth out of Little Emma, but another part of her wondered if that was really fair to Adult Emma in the long run. There was a chance that Adult Emma didn't even still carry the memories of whatever trauma she experienced before the age of five. Regina weighed the odds in her head, and considered the possibility that they may never find a way to turn Little Emma back into Adult Emma, and if that was the case, she needed to do whatever she could to help this child now.
She carried Emma back to the guest bedroom, where her old wooden rocking chair sat in the corner. She had rocked Henry in that when he was little, and when she converted his nursery into his big boy room, she couldn't bear to part with it, so it had taken up residence in the guest bedroom for years.
Regina sat down in the rocking chair, and sat Emma on her lap, facing her. Emma's head still rested against Regina's shoulder, so she moved to cup Emma's little face in her hands, so she could look her in the eyes. Emma's face was red and wet with tears, and her big green eyes were bloodshot. For a split-second Regina considered using her magic to wipe it all away, but she knew she needed to keep up a normal front to prevent terrifying the girl even more.
"Emma," she said, softly, looking for any trace of the Emma she knew in those big green eyes, but all she found was childlike innocence and fear. "I want you to listen to me, because I'm going to tell you something very important, okay?"
Emma nodded, but didn't say a word.
"Emma, I need you to understand, that I will never get mad at you for an accident, or for having a bad dream, or for being scared or crying."
"But those things are bad," Emma replied.
"They're not bad. They're normal, and they're not your fault. I would never get mad at you for something that wasn't your fault." Regina paused for a moment, remembering all the times she had done just that to the Adult Emma. She sighed and pushed that thought from her mind before continuing. "I know the world can be a scary place when you're so small. I will never get mad at you for being scared, but it would help me to know what you're scared of, so I can protect you from those things."
Emma just stared back at Regina, not willing to offer up any information on her own.
"You're afraid of having a bath?"
Emma nodded.
"Did something bad once happen to you in the bathtub?"
Emma nodded again.
"Can you tell me what it was?"
Emma shook her head. "It's a secret."
"Is it a secret because you don't want to tell, or because someone told you not to tell?"
"Someone told me," Emma whispered, looking down.
Regina could tell the little girl was getting upset again, and she decided not to push her too hard. "Okay. I'm not going to ask you to tell me your secret, but I want you to know, that if someone did something bad to you, and then they told you not to tell, you don't have to do what they say."
Emma looked up again, but didn't say a word.
"You know I would never hurt you, right Emma?"
Emma nodded slowly, as if she wasn't quite sure.
"Do you think I would do something bad to you in the bath?"
"No."
"Do you think it would be okay to have a bath tonight?"
Emma shook her head violently.
"Okay, I won't make you. But we need to get you changed out of these wet jammies. Did your parents send you with another nightgown?"
Emma nodded and climbed off Regina's lap, to go pick up her backpack. Regina stepped out of the room to give the child some privacy while she changed. When Regina returned, she found Emma standing in the middle of the room, with a nightgown that fit her worse than the last one. Regina guessed that since they had found Emma wandering the streets with nothing, the group home must have just thrown whatever they had on hand that remotely fit in a bag for her. Still, she couldn't believe that in the five days the Charmings had had her, it didn't occur to them to buy her new clothes.
"Now, I have to change these sheets for you, ok?" Regina said as she walked over to the bed. Emma didn't respond, she just stared at the wall, pouting. Regina sighed. "What is it, Emma?"
Emma turned to look at her. "I don't like this room."
Regina walked over and knelt in front of her, meeting her at eye level. "You don't like this room. What don't you like about it?"
"It's too big and too dark and it scares me and gives me bad dreams. It's too lonely."
"I see," Regina said, nodding. "Do you think you might sleep better if you slept in my room with me?"
Emma nodded. "Can my blankie come?"
"Of course," Regina said, standing. She thought about what David had said about not giving in to Emma's every whim, but it was evident to Regina that Emma craved comfort, and had likely been denied a lot of appropriate attention from adults in her life. Besides, it was only one night.
Emma grabbed her blanket from the bed, and followed Regina back to her bedroom. Regina lifted her up and tucked her in. "I'll be right back, Sweetie," she said, as she headed into her en suite bathroom and shut the door. She waved her hands and poofed herself into a new pair of dry pajamas, and then leaned against the wall for a moment and closed her eyes, trying to take in everything that had just happened.
She sucks her thumb, she has nightmares, she wets the bed and something bad happened to her in the bathtub. Regina felt sick to her stomach. Even though Emma had not explicitly expressed what had happened in the bathtub, it wasn't much of a stretch for Regina to put two and two together.
Regina sighed and headed back out into her bedroom. She didn't want to leave Emma out there alone for too long. Big green eyes followed her as she walked around to her side of the bed and crawled under the covers.
"I left the light on in the bathroom so it won't be too dark for you," she said, as she flicked off the light on her night stand.
Emma smiled as she slid a little closer to Regina, holding her blanket tight to her. "Good night, Regina," she said, closing her eyes.
"Good night, baby girl."
