CHAPTER 2
Henry walked over to his wailing mother. He put his arm around her and patted her back while she leaned into him. When Emma made eye contact with her she turned her face away and clutched tighter onto Henry.
"I was looking at some of Grandma Cora's spell books. I just wanted to see what they were. I opened the page and started reading and then Mom walked in. She was really mad. She grabbed the book and some glittery stuff came off the page. She started coughing and her body started shaking. And then there was purple smoke. And then she was little. After that, she started crying."
"She said the lights were wicked. And then she screamed and all the light bulbs broke. That's when I called you."
"First, you stay there and tell me where the brooms are. Then, tell me where the light bulbs are." Emma didn't have to ask if they had any. She knew with Regina's anal tendencies that she probably had backups to her backups.
Henry gave her the directions and Emma went about cleaning things up. Once she cleaned up the glass, she put fresh bulbs in the broken lamps. Before she turned it on, she walked over to Regina and squatted down next to her and Henry.
"Hey kid. You don't have to be scared. No one here will hurt you." When she got no response she turned to the lamps. "This is called a lamp. It's a candle that doesn't have flames. But, it's not wicked." She turned the lamp on. "See? Now I get to look at your beautiful face." Regina's eyes blinked adjusting to the change in lighting. Then they widened once they had adjusted and she let out a slight whimper but she seemed okay with it this time.
And it was quite a beautiful face. Regina at 5 was just as gorgeous as Regina at 34. All except for a scar above her lip. On adult Regina it was faded but on this little Regina it looked fresh. It was still pink and raw around the edges. Emma didn't know the backstory behind the scar but right now they had bigger problems.
Emma smiled warmly at the girl whose wails had died down and tears had almost completely dried up. Now she was just dry sobbing. The heartache in her eyes made Emma's chest tighten. She knew that look. It was the same look she had in her first few foster homes before she stopped caring. "Would you like to come out and talk with me? Henry can come along too, if you want."
"It's okay," Henry encouraged. "It's just Emma. She's here to help, Mom."
"Mother?" Regina seized up and started shaking her head, "I want Father."
"Your Father's not here right now kid. He and your Mother went – um they um… to that place," Emma had no idea what she was talking about but hoped it sounded reassuring to a kid. She had only just started being a part time Mom to Henry since she and Regina had formed a truce. She knew she wasn't Mother of the year material but hoped she could at least handle this until they found a way to fix it. If she could just get the kid up and stop her from crying, she figured they'd be on the right track.
Regina's face became solemn and she lowered her voice to a whisper, "To see him?"
"Yeah kid. To see him. So, you're um…going to be staying with us for a while in this new land here and um… umm… we're going to have a lot of fun until they get back."
At this, Regina stood in all her 3 feet of glory and looked down her nose at Emma, "I'm not a child. I do not play. I am a lady and one day I shall be your Queen." The choice of words were all adult Regina but hearing them from the mouth of a 5 year old was hilarious. Emma wanted to take a video. She was too adorable.
Emma couldn't suppress her chuckle, "Yeah, kid. Sure." Emma turned to Henry. "Show me this book you were talking about and what page you were on."
Henry picked the book up off the floor where it had fallen after Regina had her fit. He flipped through but couldn't tell what page he had been reading. "Um, they all look the same."
"What? There's gotta be something there, kid." Emma took the book from him and began flipping the pages. Henry was right over her shoulder trying to see anything that looked familiar. It was all written in some weird never before seen language. None of it made sense.
The sound of a stomach growling pierced the air. Emma and Henry looked over at Regina. Her little face was red and she was looking at the ground. They looked at one another.
"You hungry kid? After no response Emma sighed, "I know you ate. Isn't your Mom like a gourmet chef and all?"
"Yeah but she wasn't feeling well so she let me eat in the kitchen with the TV. She made me dinner early and then she went to lie down for a while."
Regina's stomach let out another grumble.
"Well, come on kid, let's get you something to eat." When Regina made no move to follow her, Emma picked the little girl up and started carrying her. Regina kept her body stiff as a board the entire way to the kitchen. Emma put her down on the kitchen island.
"So, what do you want to eat kid?" Emma said looking into the refrigerator.
Regina gasped as the cold air from the fridge hit her. She tried jumping down off the table and ended up falling flat on her face. She looked around at all the appliances and secured herself a spot underneath the island between the stools.
Emma looked back over at Henry. This was going to be a long night.
