A/N – Thank you for your favorites, follows, reviews and PMs. They keep me going. As you read keep in the back of your mind that there is a reason Emma behaves like she does (a reveal in another chapter). Here we get some background on Regina and her thoughts. Emma's too.

(Chapter 3) - The Hypothesis

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Emma was asleep, curled up under quilts near the foot of the bed. Always in a tangled ball right there as if hiding from something under that crown of blonde hair. Though like this, so small and still in the early moments before waking, Emma had never looked anything but at peace to Regina. Little arms clasped around a worn teddy bear with a faded indigo bow tie around its neck that had seen better days. It was one of the only things, aside from the baby blanket; kept from the few possessions the child had shown up with on her doorstep.

Regina stood above Emma with wistful wonder framing her mouth as she watched the girl's chest rise and fall with each slow breath enjoying this small treasure for a quiet moment before the day had to begin. She tucked it away in her memory before gently stroking her knuckle against a soft cheek.

"Emma sweetheart, it's time to get up." Regina said by way of greeting the ten year old who pulled a purple pillow overhead and whined into matching sheets. A pair of legs kicked once under the covers. "Now none of that, let's go." She urged clapping her hands twice before going over to the window and opening the gauzy drapes. Warm sunlight settled on the cream carpet and the girls curled up body. Regina went over to her niece's side and eased away the quilts.

Emma hugged her pillow and narrowed her eyes against the brightness, "Aunt Reginnnaaa!"

"Time to get up my dear girl. Hurry, breakfast is nearly ready." She said and waited for the child to sit up at least before she would leave the room. "I made your favorite." A bribe that got a little ears interested and a nose working.

Emma turned over on her stomach, thinking about the tease of food, still half asleep.

Regina regarded her niece with a knowing smirk and reached to tickle a pair of ribs. Laughter and shrieks filled the room. First Emma's, then both of theirs as Emma tickled right back, but Regina scooped the child up in a bundle of blankets and began to tickle the bottom of a small bare foot.

"Okay! You win!" Emma gave in pushing her hair out of her face with a toothy grin up at her aunt from around the folds of the blanket. Once set down on the bed, she began to wiggle out of the wad her sheets and quilt had become.

"Now that you're wide awake, please get dressed and come down for breakfast." Regina smiled and kissed Emma's tangled bed head before leaving the room.

Emma worked to make her bed and then sat down on the edge of it. Wiping the sleep from her eyes, her thoughts woke up and began to linger on the last several weeks, as they always seemed to upon waking lately. They always had to hurry it seemed to go somewhere. The days began to all blur together. Her Aunt Regina had been spending a lot of time at the office, on the phone, or in meetings at the Free Children's Clinic. With winter in full motion and the holidays approaching people always seemed to be sick more, especially children and that meant more patients and more of her aunt's time taken up.

Sometimes her aunt would take her with to the office or the clinic and Emma normally liked when that happened. She was content most times to simply be nearby and read or draw while her aunt worked. But then, it started to happen too much and too often it was work, work, work and Emma would want to go home when in fact she wanted something else.

Regina had then employed the services of the neighbor girl named Ashley, who was 17 to look after her in absence. Her best friend Ruby lived a few houses down and had said Ashley was a fun babysitter. Ruby's Granny owned a diner and sometimes Granny had to run there to 'put out a fire.' Emma was not sure why Granny would go and not the fire department, but Ruby seemed to know and expected her to know as well so no explanation had come after.

Emma needed those.

Relied on words to help explain why people did what they did, or why their faces looked a certain way. Especially at school. While she liked her 4th grade teacher—who always explained things—and liked to learn, Emma had a hard time with anything nonacademic. Things like show and tell when she had been young, or group projects or playing pretend with other kids she struggled with.

She much preferred real things she could touch and manipulate like her marvel action figures she liked to put them in poses so she could draw them like in her comic books. Ruby liked Barbies and playing house, but Emma wondered why someone would play house when you lived in one to begin with and had said as much. The other kids had just stared at her. Ruby told them to 'take a picture because it would last longer' and had pulled Emma away from them. That statement too Emma had not quite understood but that time she had not said so. The other kids thought Emma was weird and so she tended to keep to herself.

Her aunt seemed to prefer to be alone like she did too. These thoughts began to return whole circle in her mind. Emma liked Ashley well enough though, but missed the time more with her aunt.

Emma had begun to resent the herbs, which she once had an interest in and the other children who took up most of her aunt's time. What she hated most was the free time Regina once had was now wrapped up in the work of something called a thesis, due out for publication this spring. They had stopped going to the art store, to the museum, and horseback riding.

There simply wasn't time.

Today was Saturday and her aunt had to spend it working. Again. Emma groaned and looked at her toes flexing; chipped yellow nail polish met her gaze. She remembered when she had picked the color weeks ago in the store and her aunt that painted them for her. The color called 'Happy Feet'. Such a happy color in a pretty glass bottle she had thought, now it did not seem to be as much in its current state on her feet. She got out of bed, dressing in purple overalls and socks with a green Hulk T-shirt across the front before finger combing her long curly hair. She liked days she could wear exactly what she wanted.

Heading downstairs, the wonderful aroma of cinnamon toast and eggs greeted her when entering the kitchen. Her aunt was busy dishing up plates of hot food all the while talking on a wireless earpiece. She thought it made it look like people were talking to themselves. Emma sometimes did that and used to a lot when she was younger. It used to make people stare at her so she learned to stop doing it. She wondered why people would want to do something that made people look at them. Regina smiled at her and gave a small wave before pointing to her spot at the table in the corner; a small breakfast nook that overlooked the front yard they used for most meals. Emma shuffled when her aunt turned away and moved to sit down.

"I need those files and that case study scanned and e-mailed to my office this afternoon, and don't forget the cover page… Thanks… Bye now." Regina ended the call and removed the earpiece before taking the plates of food to the table with a huge smile.

That was the missing piece she needed to finalize her research for her thesis. Another few months of focused attention and this particular work would finally pay off. It was the last major goal on the list she had made well over a decade ago when she had moved out of the house. Regina still had the original notebook paper she had drafted her dreams on while sitting on a bus out of town when she had been eighteen. Every year she took it out to look at it and mark the next check. This was the last thing she had been working too check off for four years. The list was faded and worn, but each time Regina looked at it felt new. A fresh reminder of why she did what she did and why checking that last item off mattered so much.

Reflective as she often found herself lately, Regina took her seat across from Emma, asking, "How's my girl today?"

Emma shrugged and looked at her plate. There was something wrong with it. Not wrong to anyone else, but to her it was. "Yes to apple butter and no syrup on cinnamon toast. I can't eat it." Pushing the plate aside. She really didn't mind syrup on some things, but on cinnamon toast she did. It mattered and she tried to say so, but inside she felt the beginnings of a small coal sparking; making her stomach roll with irritation.

Regina eyed the child then the plates, realizing lost in her prior thoughts she had put her own down in Emma's place instead. Emma's eating habits were meticulous on a good day and while she was happy to accommodate she did not always understand the extremities that sometimes came out if a mistake was made. She wordlessly switched plates. "Here, this plain one is yours and I'll get you the apple butter for you." She said and stood.

Emma eyed that plate. It still was not right. "But it has your germs on it. You always tell me not to eat after other people." She used to do that when she was younger, a habit picked up from not knowing when she would have access to food. Her aunt had worked with her to get new habits and Emma much preferred those now. So much so, she relied on them being the same all the time. Emma could not read the whole look coming her way, but she recognized the raised brow as one that meant she needed to check how she was saying something. "What? You do." She finished with less of the frustration in her voice.

Regina's eyes flashed reminding herself to redirect when her first instinct was something else. "I haven't eaten a thing on that plate, so I hardly warrant that having my germs on it sweetheart. If you don't want something that is offered you say no thank you." Reminding of the proper response to such things she often found herself coaching Emma in.

So Emma said exactly that. "No thank you to syrup and no thank you to germs and…" A throat worked as Emma lost her words. She wants what is offered very much. Especially by the woman who was offering it, but she did not want other things she was having a hard time saying. Her face must have said something else though, Emma figured when her aunt tapped the table with nails. Of the few cues she could read, she knew that gesture and watched as her aunt stood to go across the kitchen to the fridge.

"I spent the better part of this morning preparing this breakfast, your favorite, as a treat to be enjoyed, not argued over Emma. I do not appreciate your tone nor your attitude. Are we clear on both matters?" Regina finished rather firmly returning to the table with the apple butter, setting it near Emma.

"Crystal." Emma mumbled, opening the jar and beginning to spread the gooey sweetness across her toast and then decided against it. In her frustration she had lost her appetite. Not knowing how to explain her feelings she dropped her head into her arms resting on the tabletop, her hair fanned out covering her face. A pose her aunt well knew to leave her alone.

Regina reached to rest a hand on Emma's forearm, but the child shrugged her off. She softened her mouth to say something as her cell rang. Sighing she let her words go and go of Emma to answer the bothersome ring.

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After breakfast was cleared away, Emma curled up on the living room couch to read her new comic. Ten minutes into her fantasy the doorbell jarred her back to the reality of the morning she had been avoiding. Still it was here and she had to deal with it now, but she did not have to like it.

"Aunt Regina!" Emma called upstairs much too loudly as she hopped off the couch. "The door, can I get it?"

"Go ahead; it's probably Ashley." Regina replied from the top of the staircase not bothering to comment on the volume, making her way down while fastening her earrings. With Emma in a tender headspace this morning, she would pick her battles. Regina smoothed a pair of black slacks as she stepped on the landing. She matched it with cream blouse and black waistcoat and heels. Hints of gold jewelry accessorized her look. Her hair stylishly pulled up into a French twist. Today, was the initial review of her research for her thesis by the board. She had quite the presentation laid out to give and her nerves were beginning to creep up.

Emma unlocked the door and despite her sour mood from earlier, she smiled a bit to see her favorite sitter.

"Hi kid, I brought that puzzle for us to do today." Ashley greeted and came into the bright foyer. The lithe teen girl had dark blonde hair, blue eyes, and dimples that showed whenever she smiled.

Regina reminded Ashley of some last minute instructions. "Emma has some homework, a math sheet that needs to be done today and she may watch some television, but no more than an hour. Any questions or concerns, please call me." Regina said while putting on her leather jacket that tied around the waist.

"Alright Ms. Mills, I'll remember." Ashley confirmed, hanging up her things by the door.

Regina knelt in front of Emma who had suddenly found interest in toeing the tile in the foyer and smoothed the bangs off that sad face. After thinking some more about her niece's response over breakfast she thought she might know what the underlying upset might be. "I know I have been working a lot baby, but it's just for a bit longer. Help me and be a good girl for Ashley, today. Perhaps we can go to a movie later, or out to dinner when I get home, alright?" Regina asked, kissing her niece's cheek goodbye and straightening up.

Emma nodded, knowing that something might come up, but still, maybe things were changing. "Okay, but I get to pick the movie." She smiled, happy at least her aunt realized she needed time and hugged the woman about the waist. Regina held her for a long moment before breaking the embrace. Emma waved and watched though the screen door as heels clicked down the walk. Ashley suggested they start the puzzle, but Emma waited until she couldn't see or hear her aunt any longer before she was ready to move from the last bit of comfort that drove away.

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The morning passed quickly. Emma had beaten Ashley at Monopoly and Checkers and by 2:00 they both called a tie on their final game. Ashley then prepared a lunch of tomato soup and grilled cheese, the winner's choice. After which, Emma offered to help clean up.

"No, that's okay. I'll get it." Ashley said and began to load the dirty dishes into the dishwasher. "Go ahead and get started on that math homework you have. Let me know if you need any help."

"But if we are home on Saturday I watch TV after lunch. Can't I watch first?" Emma asked.

"Alright, but as soon as one show is over you need to get to work okay?"

"Kay." Emma agreed, making her way into the living room.

Mean time Ashley made a call to her boyfriend and before she knew it, an hour had passed. A little stressed for time she hung up and went to check on the girl. Emma was sitting on the carpet still watching TV, oblivious that Ashley was right behind her. "Hey kid, it's time to do that homework now, and besides you've reached your TV limit for today."

"But a new show already started. I'll do it after it's over." Emma said, not moving her eyes from the screen. Once she started something she always liked to finish it. It felt wrong not to. Her aunt knew that and so did Dr. Hopper and her teacher, so she thought Ashley might too.

"No it's time to do it now." Ashley countered and flipped off the set.

"Hey! Turn it back on." Emma jumped up reaching for the remote but Ashley held it up high out of reach. "Give it to me!"

"Emma I said no, come on… I'll help you with the assignment and it won't take so long." The teen calmly offered and was met with troubled green eyes she was not sure she liked being on the other end of.

"You're not being fair. I need to finish it!" Emma whined, her face growing pink. She wanted more than to finish the show. The fact that she did not handle instruction well from others, plus her bad mood from the morning already predisposed her to shoot off and vent her anger at someone. The coal inside of her was becoming a smoldering ember, ready to ignite.

"You can't throw a fit every time you don't get your way. I'm being fair. It's time for homework."

"NO! This first, then that." Came a wail followed by one foot stomping. Emma bit her lip then as she bawled her small hands into hard fists, pounding them against her thighs. She tried to take a deep breath but her lungs didn't seem to be working right.

"Emma. It's okay—" Trying again, but Ashley realized she was only making it worse. Emma had gotten upset with her before, but nothing like this and she was not sure what to do.

"No! It's not okay. It's not going to be okay!" Yelling again what she could finally say, Emma felt tears pushing and she held them back. She couldn't cry now. Not when the one who knew how to make it better was not here to help this type of tears to stop when she was ready for them to.

"I'm calling your aunt." Frustrated and with a lack of knowing the right answer to pacify the girl in front of her the teen gave up and went into the kitchen to make the call.

Emma meanwhile sniffled and went to turn back on the TV for a distraction. She turned the volume up loud even though the loud noises tended to bother her. But right now the loud one in her head bothered her more. She needed to drown out the voice in her head telling her things were not okay. That she was not okay at all. It made her feel out of control and so she tried to control what she could by pressing the volume button up once more.

A few minutes later Ashley came out of the kitchen and with the TV blaring and remote still in hand she shut it off. Emma whirled around and was about to protest when the teen thrust a cell phone out to her. The child paled, not actually believing that Ashley would follow through with that threat.

Emma took the phone and winced as she put it to her ear, "Hi?"

"Hi baby, what's this I hear about you throwing a fit and refusing to do your homework?"

The firm question into her ear made the spinning feeling in her stomach begin to slow down. "I want TV first…" Emma tried, but the rest of the why failed her, eyes grew teary again knowing she was in trouble.

"All I asked you to do today was your homework and you gave me your word that you would listen to Ashley. I don't ask much of you, but when I do I expect to be obeyed." In her frustration over being interrupted at such a critical point in her speech, Regina closed her eyes and rested her head briefly against the cool marble wall outside of the door she had come from. Not believing how much she had just sounded like her own mother and hating the fact.

"I didn't mean to!" Emma shouted in her upset.

Regina turned around to lean against the wall and looked up at the ceiling. "Emma you do not get to shout at me or anyone else for that matter. Take a deep breath and try again."

"But I didn't!" Another hot outburst.

"Alright you didn't." Relenting and trying to coach with choices as Archie had taught her. Sometimes that worked and sometimes it did not. Regina was still learning how to tame these kinds of fits. The man insisted it would get easier with time, but after a near year of it, Regina was not so sure. "We will discuss it later. For now, you need to start calming down. Would you like to try your breathing or use your stress ball?"

Blonde curls shook as Emma crossed her free arm over her stomach. It wasn't like that. She didn't need that right now. Accusing. "You're not listening to me! And you're nev—"

"I am trying to listen to you Emma. Please stop shouting at me. That is not how we talk to each other." Another prompt when suddenly the door opened and her colleague was waving her back inside. Regina held up a finger, her patience thinning. "This is your last warning baby." Adding the affection she hoped would give Emma pause. The last thing she wanted to do was to set her foot down over the phone when she was not there to read Emma's body language, but child up in arms and Ashley unsure of what to do she thought she just might have to. When nothing but quick breaths filled her ear, she tried again with a line the therapist told her to use. "What strategy would you like to use?"

Emma breathed through her nose, her nostrils flaring. She wanted her aunt to come home. Those arms to hold the mess she was dissolving into. Maybe if she kept pushing that would happen. "Stop asking that!" And, that last word made her crack, giving way to the tear now falling down her cheek. More were coming she knew it and she couldn't stop them, but Emma needed to stop them before they took over and turned into something more. While there were some kinds of tears that were hard for her to let go of, there were some that once released did not let go of her. Those were the scary kind.

"That's enough." Regina spoke in a low undertone she knew Emma well understood to heed. Her colleague pointed to his watch and Regina held up her finger again. "Now I want you to apologize to Ashley and then go to your room."

Emma squirmed and cradled the phone tighter in her hand. "But—"

At what she thought was another outburst coming Regina quickly added to make her point that she was done with the display of behavior. "You are grounded for rest of the day." Regina confirmed her voice low to not allow others around her to hear her conversation. She had been right in the middle of explaining the rationale behind her current research in the conference room for board consideration when Ashley's phone call had interrupted her. Worry for Emma and the teen never having done so before, she requested a short break to step out into the hall under the questioning eyes of the board. Regina rubbed her temple with her free hand fighting a pending headache.

"What about the movie?" Emma asked, her cheeks now thoroughly wet and severely disappointed that she would miss their date for the evening. Maybe too that meant she would not get to spend time with her aunt either. That idea made her tummy hurt more.

"I'm sorry Emma, but you lost that privilege." Regina said more gently, noting the child's discontent. Maybe that had not been the best decision in the heat of the moment, but it had certainly calmed Emma's tone right down. To be consistent she couldn't take it back, but she could do something."We'll have our outing next weekend and that doesn't mean we won't spend time together when I get home later… Emma… Sweetheart, are you there?" Regina asked, not hearing a response.

"Ms. Mills, its Ashley. She dropped the phone and ran upstairs. Do you want me to get her?"

Migraine was in full swing now and Regina sighed heavily knowing she would need to reschedule this meeting for another day. "No, that's fine." But it wasn't fine for many reasons. "Just take her homework sheet up to her room, so she has it if she decides to do it. I'll see you in fifteen minutes."

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Upon entrance, Regina's ears were met with shrill yelling coming from upstairs, the very distinctive yelling of Emma in a full blown fit. They didn't happen nearly as much as they once had when Emma used to loss full control, but for anyone that had never seen one before they were jarring to say the least. She dropped her briefcase and purse by the door and hurried up the stairs.

The flicker of flame she had seen hints of that morning had begun to burn, like Emma's rage coming from down the hall did right through her skin.

"I don't have to fucking listen to you! You aren't my MOM!"

Regina cringed as she heard the unmistakable sound of things being thrown. When she entered the doorway, Ashley stood backed up in a corner watching in horror as Emma, who was standing in the middle, hurled anything hands could grab from pillows to action figures. The woman hesitated a moment, struck by the sheer mess of it all, knowing by the state of the room and Emma's thunderous wailing that the fit had been in effect for quite a while now. Regina found her resolve and deftly came up behind her niece to take up the girl around the middle in a bear hug with the girls arms crossed at the middle, making sure Emma was secure against her chest and couldn't get arms out. A move learned long ago in order to safely restrain when this happened.

Emma struggled and kicked as she flailed in those arms, trying to fight her way out of her aunt's hold. But Regina held on, murmuring things against her ear she couldn't hear at first over her own cries, but slowly she started to make out the calm in the husk telling her she was safe. That it was going to be okay. That she, Emma was okay…

Ashley stood there, with tears in her eyes, mouth wide open and unable to move.

Finally, after a few minutes, Regina felt the fight go out of Emma's body and she loosened her grip. "That's it baby, calm down. Take some deep breaths for me." Regina soothed trying to help the distressed child regain some composure.

But in the uncertainty of the new calm Emma began to fight against it once more. "Stop telling me what to do. I don't have to listen to you!" Emma said loudly as she started to get worked up again, but they were just words. She had let go of the physical fight from sheer exhaustion as sweat poured down her face, stinging her eyes. Hate for someone not in the room burned in those green pools, boiling the surface ready to scald anyone who dare try to tame her. Emma struggled only briefly once more against her aunt's authority, but stopped, her muscles relaxing from such a strenuous fight. A bit of anxiety pricked her, damping her inner flame as she had forgotten just whom she was talking too. Regina quickly reminded her.

The woman turned the girl around by her shoulders, their mismatched eyes inches apart. Calm laced with something else spoke. "I want you to stay right here and continue to calm down. I don't know what happened, but your behavior is absolutely unacceptable." Regina cupped Emma's chin when the girl's heat began to die down and green storms had started to look away. "And if I ever hear you using that kind of language again..." A breath and then, she took two. Again hating where her words went upon first reaction. Regina swallowed down the ones that were not her own and added more of herself. "You are not to talk like that to anyone. Do you understand?" Emma scowled and jerked away. Regina took another deep breath. "I mean it Emma. You and I are going to have a lengthy discussion about your behavior today and you need to answer me so I know you understand what I have said to you."

Emma huffed a "Yesss," as she flopped down on her bed, burying her pink face into her pillow.

Regina chose not to remark on that tone and gestured for Ashley to go ahead of her out of the room. Emma more than needed a few minutes of quiet to further calm down. They both did before they could talk anymore.

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"Why did she do that?" Ashley asked, taking a sip of cold water, still shaken from the incident upstairs some minutes ago.

Regina poured herself a cup of hot tea she just brewed and stirred in a touch of milk as she contemplated the teen's loaded question. "When she was younger someone she loved very much hurt her deeply. She has a lot of anger and hate inside of her for this person and sometimes her emotions are too big for her to handle, so she acts out. Though, she hasn't acted out quite like this in a very long time." Then more for herself than the teenager in the room. "Something must have triggered her." Regina murmured as she began to sip her tea.

Ashley's brows shot up and blue eyes became glassy as she looked down at her hands, which twisted the hem of her shirt into a wrinkled mess, "Was it something I did?"

"Goodness no and I wasn't suggesting it." Regina answered, feeling somewhat guilty. "I have a feeling I know what set her off and it involves me, not you."

"Still, I hope she feels better. I had better get going Ms. Mills. I have soccer practice tonight. Our first game is tomorrow." Ashley said welcoming the feeling of relief and wiped at her eyes as she stood from her perch on the kitchen stool by the island.

"Let me pay you and see you out." Regina said and followed the teen to the door where she took three twenties from her purse and handed them to the girl, thanking her for her time.

Once the door shut, Regina leaned against it taking a deep breath and letting it go slowly, wondering how she was going to broach the little storm upstairs. She knew where it came from. Understood the roots of pain her niece was struggling to let out. Emma had grown up in a nightmare they were just now starting to get a handle on between therapy and the gift of time, but it was still hard. Hard for them both in so many ways. Especially on days like today.

Yes, she well understood that pain.

Regina knew what hell was. She had been raised in it. Trained to wear the mask of a perfect child while they all played house wrapped in the perfect bow of a white picket fence behind forced smiles and propriety her mother and stepfather had insisted upon. Her whole life she had fought for something different. To be something more that what she had come from. She was smart. Book smart and relied on that to be her ticket out. From an early age Regina threw herself into her studies and school quickly became her safe haven. Away from her Mother. Away from her step father's hands.

She had worked on herself—not to be like them.

Her mother had told her to wait. Just wait until she had a 'little shit' of a kid running around that was just like her. Then and only then Cora had said would Regina understand just how good she had it. Regina had never wanted children for a few reasons, but the one that mattered being she did not want to repeat the cycle of abuse. Terrified that in some way some how she would be never be entirely free of their claim on her. Scared to death of being just like them if she did not win the battle of her past.

And she had battled something fierce there.

For years, she had fought. With her stepfather's voice in her head, too. One statement in particular he said when she had been crying at his feet that had never faded the way the scars on her body had. 'You're worthless. Broken and no one has any use for something that is broken.'

Regina began to wonder; if good could come from broken? She hoped so. Needed that hope to be true with everything that she was. That night, the night of her high school graduation, she had left that house for good to begin to find the answer to that question. While other teenagers were celebrating with their families or partying it up, she walked down the street with just enough money in her pocket for a bus ticket to somewhere. Left with a bleeding lip, the clothes on her back, a few well-loved trinkets in a bag, and her ID. All she had to rely on was her brain, the promise of a choice between a few hard-earned scholarships in the fall, and hope.

And that had been enough to see Regina through her goals. To go all the way in school; to be the best, the brightest, the most. To grow as far and as fast as she could into the sky away from everything the dirty roots of past were holding her too. She knew how to take care of herself and longed to do so for others for the way she had failed her sister she had left behind. Taking care of others outside of her professional field was not something Regina did well. With the children she treated and worked with it was different. At the end of the appointment or treatment they went back to their parents well again and Regina went back to her work. Anything more than that lens of professional care was too personal.

Regina thought she had found her answer to the question years ago when she had become a success in her chosen field. She had her health, her practice, some close acquaintances she could call friends. She was well traveled and financially secure. She was something more. Like she has always wanted to be.

But she was lonely.

More than that, Regina wanted someone to share her life with. She wanted a family. Always and always, she wanted the normalcy and warmth that word promised. That steady reliability of knowing someone had her back. Like she would have theirs. That there was someone she could give her heart to, but letting people in had never been her strength. Mal had been one that had gotten close, but that relationship had never progressed to more than a warm friendship. They had tried and Regina had pulled away. She had thrown herself back into her work.

Then Emma appeared on her doorstep and she had to question her heart in ways she never had before. To question the very code she lived by to protect herself by protecting Emma… A loud crash from upstairs followed by several smaller thuds broke her reflective train of thought.

"Not again." Regina said as she hurried upstairs. Once on the landing, she followed the noise right to her home office door and froze; her face ashen. "What did—you do?" She half asked around the breaking as she gazed in wide eyed shock as her current thesis lay thrown across the room, ripped, and trampled upon. Nearly two hundred pages, all of which had once been painstakingly organized, typed, and edited strewn from one end of the room to the other along with broken thumb drives holding the backup research.

All destroyed.

Four years of her time, sweat and study gone all in the whirlwind of an enraged child's irate fit. Regina brought her hands to her face covering her mouth, her eyes blinking rapidly against the tears forming in her eyes now taking in the whole scene. Her heels near tripped over wads of paper as she stepped into the room.

Emma backed up a step, her chest heaving from intensity. "You never listen to me. This is the only way you listen! Only when I do something bad!" She yelled opening her arms indicating the mess she had made and stomping her foot, her small face contorted. "You're always working, you're never here. It's the same all the time. I hate it!" She let go of her feelings and that heat diminished somewhat when she finally took in her aunt's pained expression.

Then it changed into something else.

Regina's face went from pale shock to suppressed upset very quickly. It snuck up on her and where it was coming from she could not place and that scared her. "Go to your room." Regina broke the silence with a sharp tone and covered her mouth again to keep from doing so once more when Emma did not move.

The little girl paused. Her aunt never raised her voice. Emma backed up another step. The momentary feeling of bravery left, as the adrenaline drained from her system. She raised her green eyes to meet her aunt's gaze with one stubborn yet wilting defiance left. "No."

Regina turned away from the girl and crossed to the far side of the room, distancing herself physically, her body trembling with emotion. She swallowed hard, the power struggle between them drenching the air, slowly putting out the flames which had began to smoke. The day, her years work, the outburst, the too much of it all billowed in invisible clouds choking the room.

"Emma…" Regina worked to find her voice and found someone else's instead. Low, distant and completely not herself. "You need to do as I tell you right now."

Emma suddenly felt her blood chill at her aunt's words. It reminded her of her mother's inflection and tone. The girl's feet became rooted to the spot, her bare toes grasping into the carpet searching for some kind of reassuring stability when normally it came from that mouth.

Hearing no movement from the child Regina turned around. "I need you to listen to me. I am upset and we each need some time to calm down. Go to your room." Regina said, her voice shook, her manner sharp. The room was quiet for a long moment, the silence deafening.

"But you're not listening to me." Emma said, her voice faltering at the end and giving way to an ache in her tummy realizing she was in deep trouble.

Regina had had enough and her last string of patience had broken with Emma's words. She crossed the large room.

Emma remained still, but at the last moment she regretted not listening. Her hand was taken and then up under her arm when she tried to sit on the floor when she was led toward the office door. One swat landed on her behind for her efforts and she squirmed. It hadn't hurt, but it got her attention. Moreover, as the weighted silence of it after fully registered she stopped digging her heels into the carpet and completely lost her composure to tears as she sunk once again the floor.

Without a word, Regina easily lifted Emma up by the middle under her left arm and carried her down the hallway. Emma was petite and the weight was no match for Regina's slim, but strong build. Once at the child's bedroom door, Regina set her niece down and eased her through the open doorway.

"I want you to stand there." She instructed her eyes wet with tears that had yet to fall and pointed to a bare corner at the far end of Emma's room.

"But…"

Regina shook her head and quietly gestured again. Finally, Emma listened and moved across the room. "Stay there until I come for you." Regina said, watching as Emma placed herself in the corner. She needed Emma safe and still she could return to herself.

She left the door open as she crossed the hall to her room where she could still see Emma as she paced back and forth trying to calm down. Never in a very long time had she been so upset or felt so hurt by something someone had done.

And the worst part for Regina was that she could not deny anything Emma had claimed back in that office.

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Regina sat on her bed, her knees brought up to her chest and her head resting atop them. She had let down her hair, which fell in loose waves over her face, like a lustrous silk curtain to shield her from the reality before her. She had cried quietly, her feelings still raw from a situation she had realized had been a trigger for them both. Though she was somewhat pacified now by allowing herself a quiet moment and some release.

Now that she was calmer she drew herself up to stand and check on Emma. Her bare feet padded softly down the carpeted hallway to her niece's doorway. Emma was still standing exactly where Regina had left her. Regina crossed her arms under her breasts and leaned against the doorway, feeling the need for the wood grain's strong, stable support.

"Emma..." She started, voice somewhat hoarse and stopped when the child jumped at her word as if startled from deep thought. Emma turned around, back now pressed against the corner. Like her own, the child's eyes were red and slightly swollen from crying. "Emma, you may come out of the corner now."

The girl shook her head no.

"Are you afraid?" Regina asked, suddenly sick with herself. She kept her voice steady and tranquil. Her normal tone finally returned to her. Emma's head shook no, but gave no other indication that was an answer to her question. A fresh tear found its way down the now worn path of Regina's cheek and she left it there as she spoke. "I'm sorry I yelled. I was shocked at the mess and…" A sigh. "You and I need to talk about what happened, but right now I just want to hold you. Would that be alright?" Regina asked and with Emma's small nod she moved to sit on the girl's twin canopy bed, made up with quilts and stuffed animals.

Emma quickly made her way over and allowed Regina to lift her up to sit on a lap. The woman held her close and rocked. Emma's limbs were stiff from standing still, and she welcomed the relaxing movement and warmth from her aunt's body so much that in her guilt of exhaustion she fell asleep…

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A/N – Next chapter will pick up where this one leaves off. I will be posting consistently on Saturdays. I'm curious how Emma's thoughts/actions are coming across. Any guesses on what her underlying issue is?