Another chapter. I hope you're all still liking this.

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Chapter 7

The next morning, Olivia turned her alarm off and continued cuddling with Emma. There were no solid plans for the day, so she didn't feel guilty at all. The woman watched as Emma took deep, even breaths. She was so peaceful in her sleep and Olivia couldn't help but gaze at the girl who stole her heart. After a few moments, Olivia's eyes shut as she fell back to sleep.

An hour or so later, the woman felt little fingers on her arm and tried her best to still act like she was sleeping as she listened to Emma.

"We gots to be really quiet on this path. We don't wanna wake up the monster!" Her voice then went lower. "Don't worry, Princess. I'll protect you." The girl giggled as her finger people continued their hike up Olivia's arm.

Olivia let out a fake, soft snore and Emma's fingers froze. After a bit, Emma started again. "We gotta go in the cave, Princess. Follow me!" Emma's fingers moved up Olivia's shoulder and to her cheek, stopping by her mouth. It was all Olivia could do to not laugh. "What kind of monster lives in there?" Voice change. "I don't know, Princess, but we gotta do it to save the kingdom."

Before Emma's finger people could move, Olivia opened her eyes and made a growling noise. Emma giggled, but didn't yet move her fingers. "The monster is awake! Run!" Emma moved her fingers back down Olivia's arms.

"Not so fast!" Olivia gently wrapped her hand around Emma's wrist. "You didn't pay the toll."

Emma giggled more. "What's the toll? I don't got no money."

Olivia grinned and looked at Emma. "Good thing I don't want money then. Just kisses." Olivia kissed Emma's fingers before pulling the girl to her and peppering her face with kisses.

Emma's shrill scream and then giggles filled the room as she was kissed and tickled. Both smiles lit the room up and when the attack was over, they gazed at each other.

"I love you, Oliv...Mommy."

Olivia stroked Emma's cheek lovingly. "I love you too, Emma. My beautiful Princess."

Emma couldn't stop smiling; she had never been so happy before. "Mommy? I'm so happy. I really am glad you love me...but when you say that, I feel like I'm gonna cry. But I'm happy. I don't get it."

Olivia noticed the tears in Emma's eyes and the way her voice sounded as if it were constricted. "Those are the best tears, Emma. It means your heart is so happy it needs to release. I'm so glad I can make you that happy. It makes me want to cry happy tears as well."

Emma gazed into Olivia's eyes as she brought her little thumb up and wiped an escaped tear off the woman's cheek. "I've only ever cried sad tears. I hope we only have happy tears from now on."

Olivia smiled softly. "My baby girl, I hope the same thing."

The two then spent the morning making breakfast and talking. Olivia didn't bring up the night before as Emma was in a wonderful mood and she didn't want to change that. "How about we watch Snow White and then get dressed before we go next door to meet Ms. Tracy?"

"Okay mommy." Emma's little feet padded to the living room and Olivia put the movie in. "Oh wait!" Emma ran to the bedroom as Olivia sat on the couch. The girl came running back out with her blanket and jumped on the couch, cuddling with Olivia.

The little blonde had never seen a movie before and she was entranced as she watched it. She'd giggle at the funny parts and cuddle closer at the scary parts. At the end, she smiled and sighed. "A happy ending. I like that."

Olivia got up and stretched. "The dwarfs are my favorite. I like Doc. He's the smart one."

Emma got up and started marching around. "Hi ho, hi ho, off to work we go."

Olivia smiled. "Hi ho, hi ho, let's go get dressed and go."

Emma giggled and went to her room to change while Olivia did the same. The woman waited a while before going to check on Emma. She found the girl in jeans as she struggled to button up her shirt. She was obviously frustrated as Olivia could see tears in her eyes. The woman was torn between wanting to help and wanting Emma to figure it out on her own.

Emma stomped her foot as she realized she put the wrong buttons in the holes. "Stupid Emma! Why are you so dumb? Just as stupid as everyone says!"

"No, Emma. You are not stupid." Olivia stepped in as Emma wiped her eyes. The girl sniffed as Olivia sat on the bed and undid the buttons. "Now, take a deep breath my love."

Emma did as she was told and as Olivia pointed out which holes the buttons went to, Emma buttoned them. She bit her lip as she finished the buttons. "Thank you, Mommy." Emma kept her eyes down and Olivia lifted her chin.

"I want to hear you say it, Emma. You're not stupid."

Emma looked at her, her voice quiet. "I'm not stupid."

"Louder."

Emma took a breath. "I'm not stupid."

Olivia kissed Emma's forehead. "That's my girl. Honey, you are five years old. Not every five year old can even put their own jeans on. No one expects you to be able to do everything, especially on the first try, so you shouldn't push yourself either."

"I'm sorry." The girl was still quiet.

"For what, honey?"

The blonde sighed. "I don't know. I just feel like I did something wrong, so I'm saying I'm sorry."

Olivia pulled Emma into her lap. "You have nothing to be sorry for. We're both adjusting and I know it's a lot to learn. It will take time." She kissed the girls cheek. "Just please, please don't think you're stupid. You are so bright and smart and sweet and kind."

Emma looked at Olivia. "You really think that?"

Olivia shook her head. "I don't think it, I know it."

"No one ever said those things about me before."

"Then no one actually took the time to get to know you, love. Come on. Let's go meet Ms. Tracy. When I start going back to work, you'll stay with her. She's super nice and has a girl your age and two twin boys who are a year older than you, so there's lots of games and toys and art things."

Emma smiled softly. "Will they like me?"

"I'm sure of it."

Olivia tapped Emma's nose and the little girl smiled. "Can you do my hair first?"

"Of course I can. What do you want in today? Braids?"

Emma shook her head and got her hair brush and rubber bands. "Piggy tales please."

Olivia grinned. "With your curls, piggy tales will look adorable." Olivia carefully brushed through the blonde locks and put her hair up into the two rubber bands. She was right, Emma's little blonde curls looked adorable this way.

The two left the apartment and Olivia let Emma knock on the door next door. The door opened and Emma saw a little girl who was just a bit taller than her with long brown hair put in two braids and big brown eyes.

"Hi Olivia! Oh you must be Emma. I'm Ruby and you're gonna be my new bestest friend. I love your hair and your shirt! What's your favorite color, Emma? Mine is red. Come in side and see my room!"

Emma smiled as the girl talked and she looked up at Olivia. "Can I, Mom?"

Olivia nodded. "That's what we're here for."

"Olivia you made it. Oh my goodness, you were right. Emma here is a doll! Hi Emma. My name is Tracy." The kind woman knelt down to the girls level. She also had long brown hair and the biggest brown eyes. Kind eyes. Eyes that told Emma she could trust her.

Emma kept her hands folded in front of her, standing with her shoulders back. "It's a pleasure to meet you Ms. Tracy and Ruby. I am Emma Swan Benson...well soon..and well I'm not a doll. I'm a real kid."

Tracy chuckled and tapped Emma's nose. "I only meant you're as cute as a doll. And what great manors you have. Ruby could learn something from you."

Ruby rolled her eyes and took Emma's hand again. "Come see my room, Em!"

Tracy nodded and stood up as the girls went off to Ruby's room. Olivia smiled and came in, closing the door. "She is adorable, Olivia, and she seems happy."

Olivia nodded. "She is...for the most part. The nights are rough and when she doesn't get something right the first time, she gets mad at herself."

"I think that's normal though. Ruby can be like that."

"Yeah. I was going to ask you about that actually." The two walked into the kitchen and Tracy offered Olivia a cup of coffee. "When Ruby gets frustrated, does she ever call herself stupid or dumb?"

Tracy frowned and shook her head. "No. She stomps her feet or yells, but never says things like that. But then, she's never been called anything like that either. I don't allow my kids to talk to anyone like that."

"That's what I figured. It breaks my heart, Tracy. It seriously is so sad to hear the things she says sometimes."

Tracy put a kind hand on Olivia's arm. "You're going to make that better for her. You're going to show her what it's like to be loved and one day, one day she's going to stop thinking so bad about herself, about the world. Olivia one day, she's going to be truly happy and that's because of you."

Olivia smiled a little. "All I want is for that little girl to be a little girl. Unfortunately, she's got some mountains to climb first."

"Is she going to have to testify or anything against her old foster parents?"

"The Monterelli's, her most recent, broke down and confessed to everything so she won't have to. The woman a few homes before them who pretty much tortured her won't cooperate. So she may have to at least tell the DA or ADA about that. I really hope she doesn't have to sit in court and tell everyone what happened to her."

The women went into the living room and Tracy had the girls come out as well so she could get to know Emma. "Emma? Do you like to do art?"

"I love to paint! I'm not very good, but it's fun."

"I bet you're great. I love to paint too. I'll make sure that when Olivia goes back to work, we have lots of paints."

Emma nodded and took a breath.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I just...I don't really want Mommy to go back to work."

Before Olivia could say anything, her phone rang and Tracy told her to go answer it. Tracy then sat on the floor and took Emma's hands. "It's scary. Your mommy is so nice and good to you and it's scary to think of her going to work. But Emma, I promise you that I'm going to be nice and good to you too. So is Ruby and her brothers."

Emma nodded, smiling softly. "I'll be nice to you all too."

"I believe you and I'm glad you believe me."

Olivia cleared her throat and smiled softly. "Emma honey? That was work. They want to see us for a little bit."

"Is Amanda gonna be there?" Emma smiled brightly as she got up.

"Probably. But my friend Alex wants to meet you and talk to you."

Emma stopped. "Why?"

"We'll talk about that on the way there. But don't worry. Alex is really nice and she has heard about you from Nick and Amanda."

Emma helped Ruby pick up the toys and then took Olivia's hand. She felt like something bad was going to happen, but tried not to think about it too much. "Thank you for sharing your toys, Ruby. It was really nice to meet you."

"You're welcome. Next time you come, my brothers August and Neal will be here. They're a lot of fun."

"Emma, I'm really glad to have met you and I can't wait until I see you again."

Emma smiled. "Thank you, Ms. Tracy. I'll see you soon!"

Olivia went back to the apartment to grab her keys and the two headed out. As they drove, she could tell Emma was nervous as she watched her in the rear-view mirror.

"Emma? When we get there, Alex will have to ask you some questions."

Emma sighed. "I knew it. About Mr. and Mrs. M?"

"No, baby girl. No. They are in jail and will not be out for a long time. It's about Jane Davis."

"Oh." She swallowed.

"Honey, she's just going to talk to you about her. There's nothing to be scared of."

"Is she gonna be there? Ms. Davis?'

"No, baby girl. No. You won't see her."

"Okay."

The rest of the ride was quiet and part of Olivia didn't want to do this. How could Emma ever move past the nightmares if she was going to have to keep facing the causes of them. However, she couldn't let this woman get away with what she did to Emma either, or risk her doing this to other kids.

Olivia got Emma out of the car and headed up to the precinct. The girl was clutching her hand, but wasn't trying to stop what they were doing.

"Emma!"

The girl smiled and ran up to Amanda, giving her a giant hug. Amanda picked up the girl and swung her around before putting her back down. "I heard you're going to meet our friend Alex."

Emma looked up at her and nodded. "I gotsta talk to her about Ms. Davis."

Amanda knelt down and ran her thumb along Emma's cheek. "Alex is really nice, Emma. She wants you to help her make sure that Ms. Davis doesn't hurt any other kids. Can you do that?"

Emma swallowed and took a breath. "I will. I don't want other kids to get hurt like I did."

"Then come on, Emma. I see Alex over there." Olivia took Emma's hand and they walked into one of th interview rooms. "Alex, this is Emma."

Assistant defense attorney Alexandra Cabot smiled at Olivia and then the little blonde girl. She was as cute as everyone had told her she was. That made things for her even harder. "Hello Emma. I'm Alex."

Emma smiled softly. "I know. I was told you wanted to talk to me." The little girl sat down next to Olivia and put her hands on the table. "I'm ready to tell you what ever you need to know."

Alex rose a brow and got her notebook and pen out. "Well, I guess you're all ready then. Emma, please know that I know this is hard to talk about."

"I know. But we gotta do it so she don't hurt no one else."

"Exactly." Alex pointed to the recorder she had in front of them. "I wish to record this so that you hopefully don't have to talk about it again. Okay?"

Emma nodded, but the realized that wouldn't be heard on the recorder. "Okay."

"Emma, can you remember what happened when you were with Ms. Davis?"

Emma closed her eyes and nodded. "Lots of things happened."

"How long were you there?"

"I think for two weeks. When I first gotted there, she was nice. But then she wasn't. Mostly when she drank or when her husband was away all day and all night. Then she'd get mean. She said she had to let her anger out and that's why she got me, so I can take her anger." Emma took a shaky breath, her eyes still closed.

"Emma honey. When she would get mean, what did she do?"

"At first, she'd just hit me. My face or spank me. But then she said I wasn't taking enough of her anger, so she would hit me with a belt or when she couldn't find the belt, she'd use one of those cords. Sometimes she'd hit me so hard I couldn't breathe. It stung and I remember seeing my blood on the belt and the floor and it scared me so much."

Alex reached out and put a hand over one of Emma's. "It's okay, Emma. She's not going to hurt you any more."

Emma opened her eyes, tears falling from them as she nodded. "I know. Mommy protects me now."

Olivia hated this, she hated seeing Emma cry so much. She knew though, she had to stay quiet so no one could say Emma was being coached.

"Did Jane Davis do anything else to you, Emma?"

Emma took a breath and nodded. "One night she said she was bored. She said she was angry and bored and wanted to draw. But then she said she didn't have anything to draw with. Then she pulled me so I was laying over her lap and she pulled my shirt up and ran her hands on my back. I didn't know what was gonna happen, but I couldn't go no where. Then I heard her light her lighter and I wiggled even more. She said she wasn't going to light me with it, but she wanted her paperclip to be hot 'cuz it would draw better. Then I..."

Emma stopped a moment as her throat felt so tight. "Can I have some water?"

Olivia nodded and filled a cup for her while Alex looked at Emma. "Emma, I know this hard and I'm already so proud of you. Please continue."

Emma took a drink and then some deep breaths. "Then I felt the hot metal on my back. I screamed because it hurt so so bad. She took her sock off and put it in my mouth and held me down as she kept drawing. It was so painful, but she wouldn't stop. Then I must have fallen asleep or something because I woke up the next day. I was on the floor and my shirt was still pulled up and my back hurt so bad."

"Did she do anything that morning?"

"She came out and saw me still laying down, still crying and she laughed at me. Then she came over and said she had to make sure I didn't get an infection. She poured alcohol from her bottle on it and I screamed again from the pain. Then she threw the bottle at me and said I made her waste it. I gotted mad, Alex. I gotted so mad. I got up and I ran at her and pushed her and then I ran out the door. I didn't know my social worker was coming, and neither did Ms. Davis, but when I ran out the door, she was there and she caught me. I showed her my back and we left. But when she called her boss, they said they couldn't do anything about it. I didn't know what that meant, or anything, I just knew I was gone. I was gone and never going back. But...I'd have stayed there if I knew I'd be going to the Monterelli's."

Alex turned the recorder off and came around the table and sat next to Emma. She wiped her tears and smiled softly. "Emma, you're so brave. Thank you so much for talking to me today. Next time we talk, it won't be so hard. It won't be about bad things."

"Okay, and you're welcome." Emma looked at Olivia who seemed to read her mind and opened her arms. Emma climbed up into her lap and rest her head on the woman's shoulder as silent tears still fell from her eyes. Olivia rubbed Emma's back as she looked at Alex.

"Is that going to be enough? Is that going to help?"

"Yes. Very much so. I'll go tell Amanda and Nick to go arrest her. Olivia I...I'm going to do all I can to make sure Emma doesn't have to testify. I can't promise though."

"I know." Olivia sighed. "I know."