A/N: This fic has reached 700 followers and I am in total disbelief. You all are so amazing and I seriously cannot thank you enough! And, as always, I have to thank Thequeenandherswan for telling me I need to write another Little Emma story, since I hadn't originally planned on writing this… it's now my most popular story all thanks to her!
Chapter Fourteen
When Regina woke up the next morning, she was greeting by a still-spotty Emma, sitting up in bed, with a distraught look on her face.
"Emma,what's wrong?" Regina asked, immediately reaching her hand out to feel Emma's forehead, guessing that perhaps her fever was back and she wasn't feeling well. To her surprise - and relief - Emma's skin was its normal temperature. Which meant something else was the matter.
Emma held up a closed fist, opening it slowly to reveal a tiny white baby tooth in her palm. "I dunno what happened!" she cried. "It just falled out!"
Regina let out a small laugh of relief, and shook her head. "Let me see," she said, pulling Emma's bottom lip down with her thumb, and revealing a little hole where one of her bottom teeth had been. "You're falling apart baby girl!" she joked, immediately realizing it was not well-received, as Emma looked back at her, horrified. "It's just a baby tooth, Emma. They're supposed to fall out. We'll put it under your pillow tonight and the tooth fairy will come and leave you money."
The moment the words left Regina's mouth, she realized what a huge mistake she had made.
"No fairy!" Emma screamed, throwing her tooth across the room. Regina heard it hit the edge of her dresser with a tiny clink before Emma erupted into full-blown hysterics.
"Oh, Emma," Regina sighed, as she pulled the shaking child into her lap. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you, Little One. I wasn't thinking."
"Tell the fairy not to come!" Emma cried, her face as serious as Regina had ever seen it.
"I will," Regina promised. "I'll tell them to send the tooth kitty instead."
Emma paused for a moment, her expression turning quizzical as the tears halted. "What's a tooth kitty?"
"She's a special kitty who comes to special little girls to bring them money when they lose teeth. Do you want the tooth kitty to come instead?" Regina asked. She wondered if the tooth fairy was something Emma had ever gotten to experience as a child. She guessed probably not, and she wanted to be able to give her that memory… even if it was a cat and not a fairy who left money for Emma.
Emma seemed to ponder that for a moment, before deciding. "She can come as long as she is nice to Kitty Softpaws. I don't want money if it means Kitty is sad."
"That's very thoughtful of you, Emma. And I will make sure she knows to be nice to Kitty Softpaws," Regina assured her. "How are your itchies today?"
"Scratchy," Emma replied, scratching at her arm.
"Don't scratch, honey," Regina insisted, putting a hand on top of Emma's to stop her. "Let's take a picture of your smile to show Mommy, shall we?"
Emma nodded and Regina grabbed her phone. She took her head at the sight of poor Emma, face covered in spots and dried calamine lotion, and a missing tooth grin. At least she looked happier than she had yesterday, and Regina guessed she was feeling better, aside from the itches.
She texted the picture to Snow, along with a short message that Emma seemed to be feeling better, and got up to retrieve the discarded tooth from its resting spot on the carpet. She supposed she should save it for Snow, since things like Emma's first lost tooth were things the woman hadn't gotten to experience the first time around. It occurred to her that they might even be able to make a little scrapbook of Emma's milestones for her.
"Can I go play in my room now?" Emma asked, excitedly. She had been telling Regina all week how anxious she was to play with her toys in her pink bedroom, and Regina supposed now was a good a time as any, since she still had some paperwork in her home office to get done.
"Yes, baby. I'll be downstairs in my office if you need me, okay?"
Emma nodded, and jumped up to scoop up the still sleeping cat beside her, before running off to her bedroom. She opened the door and grinned as she looked around. It had been less than a week since she'd been there, but a week was a long time, and combined with months of returned memories from her first childhood, it felt like an eternity since she'd seen this room or any of these toys.
Emma quickly shut the door, to prevent Kitty Softpaws from being able to escape. She didn't seem to want to anyway, as she rubbed up against Emma's legs as she walked.
"I'm going to get dressed," Emma informed the cat. "Do you want to dress up?"
Emma took the cats lack of response as a 'yes', and after she'd put on a pair of purple plaid pants with a pink and yellow striped shirt, she dove into her doll wardrobe to find something appropriate for the cat to wear.
"I think we will have a tea party," she said, as she pulled a pink frilly dress out of the little doll wardrobe. The cat attempted to run away, but one firm "Stay!" from Emma, combined with a wave of her hand, and the cat was frozen in place.
"You're getting so fat!" Emma exclaimed, as she fastened the buttons of the dress around the cat's middle. "I'm going to tell Gina to feed you less!"
Once the cat was dressed, Emma set off to find more guests for her tea party. Spiderman and Barbie were still on her bed where she'd left them last, and soon they both donned pretty dresses as well.
"Now I need a dress!" Emma said, realizing she was far under dressed for her guests. She went back to her dresser, pulling out item after item until she found a red skirt, which she put on over her pants.
She grabbed her tea set off of one of her shelves, knocking down several toys in the process, and set up the dishes and cups on the floor, putting Barbie and Spiderman in their spots.
"Kitty Softpaws, you sit here," Emma instructed, pointing to the empty place. A little touch of magic, and the cat was drawn to her spot, sitting down like a little lady. "Now what to drink?"
Emma waved her hands and instantly all the cups were filled with apple juice, and the plates held an array of cookies. Emma giggled at her magical handiwork, thinking of how proud Regina would be to see how good she was getting.
Emma chattered on and on to herself, growing bored quickly, since none of her toys or the cat could actually talk back. She sat and peered at Kitty Softpaws, wondering if there was a way to give her a voice with magic. She was about to try, when the door opened.
"Oh my goodness," Regina gasped, looking around at the disaster that Emma's bedroom had become. "How did you make such a big mess in such a short time?"
Emma shrugged. "Kitty helped," she said.
"Oh, did she now?" Regina asked, raising an eyebrow. She didn't really want to let Emma get away with lying - especially since the Charmings still blamed her for Emma's behaviour - but she couldn't bring herself to scold Emma when she was sick. That was something Cora would have done, and Regina was not about to go down that road.
"You're making Kitty get fat," Emma accused. "You feed her too much!"
Regina frowned. "I do not feed her too much. She's just gotten lazy since she doesn't have to hunt her food anymore. She spends all her time laying around sleeping, no wonder she's getting fat."
Emma glanced at the cat and then back at Regina. "You called her fat. That hurts her feelings. Say sorry."
"You called her fat first!" Regina cried, momentarily forgetting she was speaking to a five-year-old.
"You hurt her feelings," Emma insisted.
Regina sighed and rolled her eyes. "Sorry, Kitty Softpaws. You're not fat, you're just fluffy."
Emma grinned. "That's better! When does Henry come home from school? I want him to have a tea party because my guests can't talk!"
"In a few hours. Maybe when Henry gets home, all of us can have a tea party together," Regina offered. Emma grinned and nodded, and Regina got an idea. "Emma, you want to get Henry back today?"
Emma's grin widened, and she nodded again.
"Okay, we're going to call it Operation Mrs. Nesbitt," Regina laughed. "Let me explain…"
After lunch, and a fresh coating of calamine lotion for the itchy girl, Regina and Emma snuggled up on the couch to watch Toy Story, since Regina's 'Mrs. Nesbitt' reference had been totally lost on the child.
Emma fell asleep before the movie was over, and Regina let her nap curled up against her. Moments like this were what she missed most when Emma was at the Charmings. She stroked Emma's hair and watched the cat - who had somehow managed to free herself from her party dress - saunter across the room.
Emma was right. The cat was getting fat. Only around her middle. Regina cringed, having a feeling it had nothing to do with too much food or not enough exercise, and everything to do with an unfixed female cat that roamed around outside at her leisure.
"Wonderful," she muttered to herself, already anticipation the battle it would be to convince Emma they needed to give the kittens away. Knowing her, she'd want to keep each and every one of them. And she'd probably invite them all to sleep in Regina's bed.
Or, perhaps Regina could ship them all off to the Charmings' loft? Having their child should mean having their child's animal sanctuary, shouldn't it?
She supposed now was not the time to think about that. She'd have to call the vet tomorrow and have her suspicions confirmed before she took any drastic measures.
As if on cue, the cat jumped up and curled up the couch beside Regina. "You're a nuisance, you know that?" Regina said, rolling her eyes at the cat. "I never wanted you, and I will not be keeping your babies, either."
The cat responded by rubbing up against Regina's thigh, and she couldn't resist giving her a little scratch behind her ear.
Like clockwork, Emma woke up the moment Henry returned from school.
"Guess what?" Henry called, as he entered the house and quickly found Regina and Emma in the living room, "I asked Grandma and she said Emma can sleep over here again tonight, since last night didn't count, if that's okay with you, mom?"
"Please, Gina?" Emma grinned, scrambling up quickly. "Pretty pretty please with a cherry on top?"
Regina laughed. "Of course it's okay. I'll call Snow. Henry, why don't you go with Emma up to her room? She wants to play with you."
"Yeah, Henry! I missed you!" Emma nodded in agreement. "And look!" she grinned widely, pointing at her missing tooth. "The tooth kitty is coming tonight!"
"Tooth kitty?" Henry repeated, shooting Regina a questioning look.
"Yes, Henry, the tooth kitty is coming tonight," she confirmed, giving him a cautioning look back. It only took a moment for Henry to remember that Emma was terrified of fairies. Tooth Kitty made sense.
"Come on, Henry! Let's play!" Emma cried, as she jumped up and grabbed his hand, dragging him toward the stairs.
Regina called Snow to confirm that Emma would stay the night again, and waited about twenty minutes before going upstairs to check on Emma and Henry and Operation Mrs. Nesbitt.
She tiptoed toward Emma's door, and pushed it open quietly, her phone in hand, and before Henry could even register what was happening, she snapped a picture.
Henry gaped at her for a moment, dressed in a frilly pink apron with heart shaped pockets, and a blue sunhat with a daisy. Regina had used her magic to reproduce Mrs. Nesbitt's outfit perfectly, and Emma had added her own magical touch with the addition of a purple feather boa around Henry's neck.
"I like the boa," Regina commented with a grin.
"He needed to look 'ophisticated," Emma replied, matter-of-factly.
"Mom! You did not just take a picture!" Henry whined, realizing just what was happening.
"I think I might have… and I might have already texted it to your grandparents. Oops!"
"Mo-om!"
Emma giggled just as the doorbell rang downstairs.
"Oh!" Emma cried, "those must be our guests!"
Henry's face went white. "Who did you invite?"
"Oh, just Nick and Ava. That's not a problem, is it?" Regina asked, innocently.
Emma laughed hysterically as Henry jumped up and ripped off his tea party attire in record time. Regina headed downstairs to let Nick and Ava in.
"Sorry, guys, I think you missed the show," she said, winking at the kids. She'd called their father to tell him the plan, and he'd gladly agreed to send his twins over to have a little fun with Henry. "But don't worry, I got photo evidence for blackmail purposes."
Regina led the kids upstairs to where Emma still sat in her tea party dress, and Henry stood, red-faced and mortified.
"What's wrong, Henry?" Nick grinned. "You're not dressed for the party!"
Emma's eyes lit up as she watched Nick reach for the apron and put it on.
"Mind if I be Mrs. Nesbitt, Emma?" Nick asked
"You can have Henry's spot because Henry is being a rude guest!" Emma declared.
"You're not seriously doing this, are you?" Henry asked, looking at his friend in disbelief.
Nick shrugged. "What? I have a sister too, you know. Plus, it's fun."
Ava turned to Regina, excitedly. "Do you have more dress up clothes, Mrs. Mills?"
Regina smiled and waved her hand, producing a pile of dress up clothes, that Ava ran to, excitedly. She watched, and thought back to the time in the Enchanted Forest when she'd tried to steal Hansel and Gretel away from their father. Who would have thought there'd come a day when the twins would be in her home, willingly?
She supposed a lot had changed since then, but still, when it had occurred to her to invite Henry's friends over, she hadn't expected it to be this emotional for her. Lucky for her, none of the kids seemed to notice.
"Gina, are you gonna dress up?"
Emma's voice pulled Regina out of her thoughts, and back to the present. She looked at the kids, all dress up now. Even Henry had caved and put on a purple hat and some costume jewellery.
"Of course," Regina smiled, and stepped over to the pile of clothes, quickly donning a large floppy yellow hat and a red shawl. "Does this meet the hostess's approval?" she asked Emma with a wink. Emma grinned and nodded emphatically.
And so, the former Evil Queen sat and played tea party with her son, Hansel and Gretel, and the re-incarnated Savior, marvelling at the fact that - as always - it was Emma who brought them all together.
After an evening of playing, another oatmeal bath, and another coating of calamine lotion, it was finally bedtime for Emma. Regina sat on the edge of her bed in her pretty pink bedroom, tucking Emma, the cat, Spiderman and Barbie under the duvet, and giving each of them - including the damn cat - a kiss on the forehead, at Emma's insistence.
Regina held up a little pink satchel. "I put your tooth in here," she informed Emma, handing her the little pouch, "tuck it under your pillow, and the tooth kitty will come get it tonight, and leave you money."
Emma smiled and tucked it away safely, before laying her head back down on her pillow, and looking up at Regina with wide, serious eyes. "Thank you for taking care of me when I'm sick, Gina."
"Of course, baby. I'll always take care of you, you know that," Regina reminded her, as she stroked her blond curls.
"I'm gonna be six soon. Will you still love me when I'm six?" Emma asked.
"Of course I will."
"What about when I'm seven?" Emma asked, her voice full of worry.
"Emma, why are you worried about this?" Regina asked.
"Because the boy in the home I went to in my dream said no one wants older kids. He said when I turn six I'm 'shit outta luck' and I'll never have a family," Emma explained, her lip quivering.
"That boy is wrong, Emma. You already have a family: Mommy, Daddy, Henry, Neal and me, and none of us are going anywhere. And we will all love you, no matter how old you are," Regina assured her.
"Even when I'm eight?"
"Yes, Emma. I will love you when you're eight, when you're eighteen and even when you're eighty," Regina vowed, making Emma giggle.
"When I'm eighty you'll be dead," Emma informed her.
"Well, that's morbid," Regina said, rolling her eyes. "The point is, no one's going to stop loving you, no matter what anyone tells you. I promise you that."
"I'll love you till you're a hundred!" Emma grinned.
"What about when I'm one hundred and one?"
"Yep! Even still then! I will love you forever!" Emma vowed.
"I will love you forever, too," Regina said, kissing Emma on the forehead again. "Now, sleep Little One. We have a whole day to play tomorrow."
As Regina left the room, it sank in that she had just promised Emma to love her forever, knowing that within two years, Emma would be back to her fully grown adult self.
And yet, the promise didn't seem strange. After everything that had happened in the past two months, Regina really couldn't imagine a time that she wouldn't love Emma now.
And she was okay with that.
This chapter was a little shorter than I had hoped, but it's been a busy week and I ran out of time, so I will try for an extra long chapter next week... I hope I'm not making a promise I can't keep... but hey, at least I'm keeping to the weekly updates on this one, right?
For all those who have asked if the second childhood will change Emma's personality when she's back to normal, the answer is… yes and no. Emma will still retain all her memories from the first time around, which shape her personality, combined with a handful of new memories as well… so she will grow up feeling loved and safe, this time. So Emma will be Emma, but without the trust issues and insecurity.
I love Emma and I wouldn't want to change her too much, overall :)