Chapter Eleven

Little Emma's face lit up when she saw the interior of the house decorated for her party.

"Mommy!" she cried, running over to Mary Margaret and wrapping her arms around her, which clearly took her by surprise.

"Happy birthday, Emma," Mary Margaret beamed, picking Emma up and holding her tight. Regina watched with a smile, but she still couldn't help that twinge of jealousy every time Emma was affectionate with her mother, as much as she hated that she felt it.

Emma seemed so carefree, and Regina wasn't sure if it was the party, or the giant burden that had surely lifted from the little girl when she finally told her secret. Either way, Regina loved watching her smile.

Henry grabbed his camera as they took Emma into the other room to give her her presents. "She's gonna want to see this, when she's back," Henry commented, as he started taking pictures. It had never occurred to Regina to take a picture of Little Emma, and she was glad Henry thought of it.

Emma sat between her parents on the couch, and didn't even seem to mind that she was only inches away from her father at this point. David took it upon himself to be the one to hand Emma her presents, which Regina thought was probably helping.

Regina had conjured up pretty princess Barbies, books and soft plushies; anything she thought would make Emma smile. She knew she would only have them for the rest of the day, but Regina didn't care. Emma's smile made it all worth it.

After gifts, Henry made a point of getting more pictures of Emma. He got David and Mary Margaret to pose with Emma alone, and then with Emma and Neal. Regina thought about what a cute family they made, and felt it was too bad they would never have a picture of all three of their children, together as children, when the baby was born.

Regina took the camera and got pictures of Henry and Emma together. "She's going to love this," Regina smiled, as she handed the camera back to Henry.

"Your turn," he said. Regina scooped Emma up without hesitation, and Henry took pictures of them smiling and laughing together.

"You get in there," Mary Margaret said to Henry, taking the camera. Henry laughed as he got into a picture with both his mothers. It occurred to Regina that this was the only picture of Henry with both his mothers that existed, and one of them just happened to be five-years-old in it.

They took one last picture before it was time for dinner. Henry set the camera up with the auto-timer, and all of them gathered on the couch together for their first ever family portrait. When it was done, Emma jumped up to start playing with her toys, and Henry and David headed in to the dining room to start setting the table.

"Thank you for this," Mary Margaret said, turning to Regina.

Regina just smiled, and squeezed Mary Margaret's hand, before standing. She still hadn't quite gotten used to accepting gratitude from the woman she spent several years actively trying to murder, but at least she was now feeling glad that she was never actually successful.

After dinner, Regina put six candles on the cake, and Emma made a silent wish before she blew them out. Regina gave Emma a bigger piece of cake than she probably should have, because afterwards, Emma was spun on a sugar high running around and playing with her new toys. Henry got some great shots of her with chocolate cake bits and white frosting all over her face before Regina could catch her with the cloth and clean her off.

Regina went in to start cleaning up the mess in the dining room, while David and Mary Margaret sat down to play with Emma on the floor. She caught Henry's eye, and motioned for him to come and join her.

"What's up?" Henry asked, coming into the room.

"This is the last time they get to spend with Emma, as a child. Let's give them some time alone together," Regina said.

Henry agreed, and helped Regina clean up the dishes, and the cake disaster from where Emma had been sitting.

"I think I'll go home with Grandma and Grandpa tonight, if that's okay with you," Henry said, when they were finished cleaning up.

"Why?"

"Tonight's the last time you get to spend with her, too. I know she's become really special to you, and you should get some time alone with her, too. I'll come back tomorrow, when she's my mom again."

Regina smiled and pulled Henry into a tight hug. Sometimes she just loved how perceptive he was.

Regina and Henry rejoined the Charmings in the living room after everything in the kitchen and dining room was done, and they all took turns playing with Emma throughout the evening. She set up her dolls to get ready for the ball.

"Is it the princess's coronation?" Mary Margaret asked.

"What's that?" Emma asked, scrunching up her nose.

"Well, it's where they give her her crown in front of all the kingdom, and everyone has a big party afterward," Mary Margaret explained.

Emma thought for a moment. "Yes, it is. The Queen has to give her the crown." Emma handed a doll to Regina, "You be the Queen."

Henry stifled a giggle, and Mary Margaret shot Regina a smile.

"I would be honoured," Regina replied, in her most refined Queen voice.

Emma handed David one of the male dolls. "Daddy, you're the King."

"Oh, I see," David smiled, taking the doll.

"It's just pretend," Emma whispered, "you don't have to really be Regina's husband, just the doll does."

"Henry's the prince," Emma continued, giving Henry a doll. "But you're not getting a crown, because it's only my coronation."

"That's alright," Henry laughed, "I'm sure the prince already got coronated before, since he's older."

Emma looked like she was about to protest that, but decided against it.

"Who can I be?" Mary Margaret asked.

"You're the fairy godmother," she said, handing her final doll to Mary Margaret, "because the princess is also Cinderella."

Henry smirked, but Regina shot him a look to tell him to keep his mouth shut. They had made it this far without any major slip-ups, they could surely make it the last couple hours without revealing the truth about fairy tales and magic.

"The princess is also Cinderella," Mary Margaret repeated, "because she had a bad life, but then she got a new life surrounded by people who love her."

Emma nodded, "and now it's time for the Queen to give her the crown."

They continued to play until Neal started to fuss. It was past his regular bedtime, and the Charmings had to leave. David and Mary Margaret gave Emma extra hugs, and to Regina's surprise, Emma didn't squirm out of her hug from David.

After Henry and the Charmings had left, Regina started to really dread what was coming tonight. She could see Emma was starting to yawn, and she knew she couldn't delay the inevitable. Emma was exhausted, and though it was earlier than she usually went to bed, Regina knew she couldn't risk her falling asleep before she drank the potion. She went to the kitchen and poured a cup of juice, and felt a lump forming in her throat as she added the clear potion to it. Her hands were shaking a bit as she re-entered the living room.

"Are you getting sleepy, baby?" Regina asked.

Emma looked up from her toys and nodded.

Regina handed her the cup. "Have some juice, and we'll get ready for bed."

"Can I leave these dolls here?" Emma asked. "I'm getting them ready for another ball, and I want to play with them again tomorrow."

The sick feeling in Regina's stomach got stronger, knowing that Little Emma's dolls would never make it to the next ball, but she forced a smile anyway. "Of course."

Emma smiled and drank her juice. When it was gone, Regina scooped her up and hugged her extra tight as she carried her up the stairs, knowing it would be the last time.

When they got upstairs, Regina pulled a T-shirt out of her dresser. She turned to Emma. "Princess, you don't have any clean jammies left, so you can sleep in this ok?" It was a lie, but Regina was fairly certain that Emma's little pajamas wouldn't grow with her. Emma didn't seem to mind, as she took the shirt from Regina and changed. It hung down almost to the floor on Little Emma, which made her giggle.

Emma placed her new tiara safely on the night stand, and snuggled under the covers, next to Regina. Regina brushed her blond curls away from her face, and looked at her with a sad smile.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Emma scrunched up her nose.

"I'm just trying to remember everything about you. You grow and change so much every day, I don't want to forget anything," said Regina.

Emma grinned. "One day I'll be as big as you!"

Sooner than you know, Regina thought to herself.

"Emma, before you go to sleep, I want to tell you something. I'm so glad you came into my life, and I love every minute I get to spend with you. You're more precious to me than you'll ever know," Regina paused, and wiped a tear from her eye. "And I want you to know, that no matter what happens, no matter how old you get, if you ever need me, I'll be here. Even if you're as big as me, and you just need someone to hold you, I'll be there."

"'Cause you'll never leave me," Emma said.

"Never," Regina agreed.

Emma closed her eyes, and Regina stroked her hair and sang to her until she fell asleep. When Emma's breathing became slow and rhythmic, Regina pulled away, and sat up in bed, no longer able to find the onslaught of tears. She was so glad Henry had gone home with the Charmings, so he wouldn't hear her sobbing now.

When she got the tears under control, Regina turned back to look at Emma again. Her face looked the same, but she was getting bigger, and Regina knew the spell was working. Regina just sat, and watched, feeling numb, as Emma continued to rapidly age before her eyes. She watched her face show signs of distress off and on, and Regina wasn't sure if she was having bad dreams or if it was just the bad memories coming back at her, rapid-fire.

Part of her wanted to wake Emma up and hold her, and tell her everything was alright. However, she knew if she woke up this Emma, who looked to be about nine or ten, she wouldn't have a clue where she was or what was happening, and it would cause way more harm than good. So she just continued to watch her.

After about three hours, Emma started to stir more, and her eyes fluttered a bit. Regina watched her in silent panic. She looked like she was about 13 or 14 now, and Regina was terrified she was about to wake up. Regina breathed a sigh of relief when Emma finally stopped moving again, but moments later, green eyes flashed open.

"Regina?" Emma asked.

She remembers me, Regina thought, momentarily elated. But she knew she couldn't let Emma stay awake.

"Shh, baby, go back to sleep," Regina said, softly.

"Why am I here?" Emma asked, blinking a couple times, panic evident in her voice.

"You're just dreaming. Close your eyes and go back to sleep," Regina cooed. Emma sleepily closed her eyes again, and drifted back off to sleep.

Regina watched as Emma progressed through her teenage years, and started to look more like the full grown Emma she knew. She pulled her knees up to her chest, hugging them close, and putting her head down, as reality struck her that her time with Little Emma was really, truly over. She couldn't watch anymore, so she kept her head down, praying for morning to come quick. She didn't sleep, she just stayed right there like that for the remaining hours of the night.

"Regina?"

Regina lifted her head at that familiar voice, and blinked her eyes a few times. She hadn't even realized morning had arrived, but now the sun was streaming in the window. She turned to look at Emma, who sat up and looked at her, confused, and perhaps a little terrified.

"Regina, what happened? Why am I here?"

"What do you remember?" Regina asked. Emma looked like a fully grown Miss Swan, but Regina wanted to make sure she had completely caught up to the moment before the spell struck her, and was not currently stuck at some random moment during the curse, or anywhere else in between.

"I remember Maleficent pointing her staff at me, and then I woke up here. What did she do? Some sort of sleeping curse?"

Regina breathed a sigh of relief. The spell worked. Emma was back to where she was supposed to be. "You don't remember anything else?"

Emma shook her head.

Regina felt her heart drop to her stomach. She took a deep breath before speaking again, so her emotions wouldn't betray her. She couldn't exactly break down crying now, when Emma wouldn't have a clue why. "Maleficent didn't put you to sleep," she started, "sleeping curses are kind of a one-time thing. Once you've been under one, you're immune. The spell she used was..."

Regina let her voice trail off as she realized Emma wasn't really listening, she was staring across the room with a distant look in her eyes. "Emma, what is it?"

Emma turned back to Regina. "Did I spend time here once? When I was little?"

Regina couldn't help the smile that was spreading across her face. "You do remember."

"I never remembered it before," Emma shook her head in confusion, "things just suddenly started coming back to me right now. I remember sleeping in this bed."

"You didn't remember before, because it didn't happen before. It happened last week," Regina replied.

"What?" Emma asked, furrowing her brow.

"That was the spell Maleficent used on you. It turned you back into a child."

Emma nodded slowly. "I remember Henry being there. I was little, but he was there. This is so strange... it feels like a memory from my childhood, but it can't be… Why did I stay with you?"

"Because you needed me," Regina replied.

Emma suddenly smiled like she had just remembered something, and turned to the night stand, picking up her silver tiara. "You keep extra tiaras around? Just in case?"

Regina smiled. "No, but I have magic. And it made you happy."

"Yes, it did," Emma replied, but her smile was fading quickly. She put the tiara down and turned to look at Regina again, with a much more somber look in her eyes. "I told you what happened to me, when I was five. I've never told anyone about that, ever."

"Sweetheart," Regina said before she could catch herself. It had become second nature to use pet-names with Emma. For her part, Emma didn't seem to react to it, and Regina wondered if it had been second nature to Emma to hear them from her. "I hope you don't regret telling me," Regina continued.

"I don't," Emma replied, but her face was still clearly distressed. "I never told anyone when I was little, not because I didn't want to, but because no one cared enough to notice how screwed up I was. No one ever asked me what was wrong. Then, the more time that passed, the less I even wanted to tell someone."

"I wasn't sure if you even remembered it, as an adult."

"I never forgot. It's haunted me my whole life. Regina..." she paused.

"What is it?"

"I remember you telling me that no matter how old I got, you would still hold me anytime I needed you. Did you mean that?"

"Of course I did."

"I need you now," Emma's voice cracked a little.

Without a moment of hesitation, Regina pulled Emma into her arms, and Emma let her head rest on Regina's chest, as she wrapped her arms around her waist. Regina had never held the Adult Emma before, but after her time with Little Emma, somehow this felt natural to her now.

"I thought I dreamed you once, when I was fourteen," Emma said. "I thought I woke up, and I was here, and you were here."

"That wasn't a dream. That was last night. You woke up, but I had to tell you it was a dream."

Emma nodded, and remained silent for a few moments. Regina figured she was probably trying to process everything, and she knew it was a lot to take in.

"Are my parents really having another baby, or am I imagining that?" Emma asked, finally.

"They are," Regina smiled, rubbing Emma's back like she did when she was little.

Emma sat silent for a few more minutes, before speaking up again. "I never actually got lost in Boston, when I was little. Can I tell you what actually happened, after Lindy almost drowned me in the bathtub?" Emma asked, softly.

"Yes," Regina replied, drawing in a deep breath. She wasn't sure if she was ready for this, but Emma clearly needed to get it all out in the open.

"Lindy called an ambulance after I threw up, and she told me to tell them I slipped and went under the water. The hospital called Children's Services, but they didn't send the social worker I usually had. They sent this other woman who I had never met, and she wasn't nice. I cried for my regular worker, but she was pregnant, and the one they sent told me she was having her baby that night, so she wasn't coming." Emma wiped a tear from her eye before continuing.

"If my regular worker had been there, I think I would have told her everything. I trusted her. But instead, I was alone in a room full of strangers. They sent Lindy out, and I was there with this social worker, two cops and a doctor, and they were asking me so many questions. I was so terrified of Lindy and Paul, and I was scared that even if I told the truth, they would still send me back to them, and they would know I told. So I lied. I told them that I slipped and that Lindy pulled me out and saved me. I made her look like a goddamn hero, and they sent me back home with her that night."

"How long were you there, after that?" Regina asked.

"I don't know, a couple months, maybe? I cried all the time, and that's when I started having nightmares and sucking my thumb and… wetting the bed. All of that. They ended up sending me back, because I was too much trouble."

"Your regular worker was having a baby," Regina said, processing that in her mind. "She wasn't there when you needed her. That was the real reason you were upset over your mother's pregnancy, wasn't it? Not because you thought they'd send you back, but because you thought she wouldn't be there when you needed her."

Emma nodded. "I don't think I even understood that at the time, but yeah, you're right."

"You had scars on you, Emma," Regina commented, suddenly remembering the marks on her abdomen.

"I know. They were burns, but they weren't from Paul and Lindy. They were from the people before."

"What happened?" Regina asked, stroking Emma's hair.

"That home, I actually don't really remember. I just know I had the scars before Lindy got me. They asked her about them at the hospital, I remember, but I don't remember what she told them. The hospital brushes off old injuries on foster kids though. I guess because they just assume kids are in foster care for a reason, and they don't ask," Emma shrugged.

"I'm so sorry, Emma," Regina said, hugging her tighter.

Emma breathed a heavy sigh, and her lip started to quiver. Regina could tell she was fighting back the tears. "What are you thinking about?"

"I'm thinking… how different my life could have been, if someone like you had really come along when I was five. I know it wasn't real, but somehow, everything you did and everything you said, it just kind of… I don't know… kind of healed me a little?"

"I know it's hard to process right now, but it was real, Emma," Regina assured her. "And I meant every word I said to you, when you were little."

Even though a few tears fell, a small smile crept onto Emma's lips. "So does that mean I'll still always be your princess?"

Regina felt her face flush. "I did say that, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did," Emma smiled. "Don't be embarrassed. It was sweet. And I needed to hear it. I like this side of you, Regina. I'm not sure I would have gotten to experience it if it weren't for this spell, but I'm glad I did. Now I know why Henry turned out so great, he has a wonderful mother."

"He has two wonderful mothers," Regina corrected her. She could feel the tears burning in the corners of her eyes, and she knew it was only going to be a matter of time before her emotions got the better of her.

Emma took a deep breath. "You smell the same."

"Don't be weird," Regina replied, not sure what to make of that comment.

"I'm not trying to be weird. Scents trigger memory. Your perfume, or body lotion, or whatever it is, it's making me remember more," Emma explained. "Regina, I don't want to get all sappy, or anything, but I want you to know… it might sound strange, but I feel like you filled a hole in my heart, that I thought was going to be there forever. I spent my whole childhood thinking that there was something wrong with me, that I was somehow unlovable. But you changed that."

Regina couldn't hold it back anymore, and she started to sob. Emma shifted so that Regina's head could rest on her chest, and she stroked her dark hair. Regina cried for the little girl who suffered so much, and for the memories of the little princess she wished she could have held onto longer. But in the midst of all of that, she also felt a small glimmer of hope, for the new-found bond that she and Emma would share, moving forward, and for that, she was grateful.