A/N - Thank you to those that have shared your thoughts about this story with me. I am amazed at the many different things this means to people and what each of you gets out of it. :-) Enjoy!
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Previously...
"What?" Emma shrugged innocently as she dared. "I'm a sponge."
"A naughty one with an early bedtime tonight." Teasing as she opened her purse.
"Awwwww, come on. It was funny!"
They slid out of the booth as money was left on the table when the check dropped. Emma took her Keeper's hand as they walked home, thoughts of the fun summer ahead dancing through her mind.
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The next morning the child Emma was awoke to beeping coming from her swan clock. She'd finally figured out how to set the alarm on it and wanted to be up extra early in order to have the surprise she was planning ready by the time her Mama woke up. Little feet darted to the closet and got dressed in her favorite red shorts and flower t-shirt, red socks followed. After brushing her hair and putting on her yellow headband with matching magnetic earrings she hurried downstairs with the card and drawing she'd made at school.
Emma made quick work of propping up the card and gift in her Mama's spot. The paper from the front mail slot followed. She used her stool to retrieve the mug Regina fancied for coffee and set in under the Keurig, but didn't dare press the heat button to brew. Little hands pulled out a bowl from the fridge and spoon, scooping fruit salad onto a plate with a croissant from the bread box. It was as close as she could come to 'cooking' breakfast. As she cleaned up her mess she realized that something was missing.
"Flowers! I gots to get flowers!" She grinned mischievously as an idea came, ignoring her big half's words of warning.
Dragging her stool over to the back porch door, she undid the lock and ran across the grass to the hedge that separated their lawn from cranky Nurse Ratched next door. The woman always shouted at her to stay off the front lawn when she played with her ball too close, and had the yappy dog that never shut up when Emma rode past on her bike.
There across the way were the Nurse's prized lilacs and daffodils. She liked the idea of purple and yellow flowers and ducked under the hedge to pluck a few, more than a few actually. With full arms she scampered back home and worked to arrange the flowers in a vase with water, which she hid in the bottom of the pantry for a surprise later. Just as she was closing the cabinet door she heard a gasp behind her.
Regina covered her mouth at the display of her favorite breakfast and the card with a scrawled 'Hapy Mamas dae!' on it. At the arms wrapping around her legs she looked down with a smile.
"Happy Mama's day Mama! I made you breakfast, but I didn't cook it hot and your mug is ready for coffee and can I press the button now?" Emma hopped with hope.
"Good morning baby, you certainly have been busy." Regina scooped up the child and walked over to the Keurig and allowed Emma to press the brew button.
The girl wiggled and leaned over to point at the gift. "Looky at what I made." As her bottom met the counter top she pulled the drawing over. "That's you and me Mama, and watch this."
Little fingers traced the faces side by side and went to open the envelope that had been glued under the colorful depictions. Inside were many different hats that attached to the top of each head through a little slot like a paper doll would wear. Emma made a show of putting hat after hat on the drawing of Regina's head and there was a story for each one.
"The nurse hat is for when you putted a band-aid on my knee when I fell from my bike, and the fire fighter hat is from when you saved Jasper from the disposal and the police hate is for when I get in trouble sometimes and you help me be better and…" On it went until there were no hats left. "I like it this way the best though."
Regina's struggled for words, emotions stuck in her throat as she stared at the empty heads side by side. "Oh?"
"Yeah, you don't need a special hat to be our Mama."
"Thank you, baby."
"Mama we eat now? I'm starving!" Emma used her stool to slide off the counter. Together they ate the croissant and fruit and shared the parts of the paper they each liked.
After several minutes once her emotions settled the Queen noticed a smudge of dirt on the girl's cheek and went to wipe it with a napkin.
"Mama!"
"Hold still Emma. How did you manage to get dirt on your cheek at eight o'clock on a Sunday morning?"
"Oh yeah! I have a surprise for you!" Emma pulled away and went to the cabinet, returning with a large vase full of yellow and purple flowers. "Do you like them?"
Shocked that the arrangement was nearly bigger than Emma with the tall branches sticking out of her largest vase Regina quickly moved to take it from the struggling girl, placing the arrangement on top of the counter. Chunks of dirt floated in the bottom of the crystal and the Queen had an inkling her Emma had been into some mischief that morning. She turned with a question on her lips just as a knock thundered through the house.
"Uh oh." Emma squeaked and hid behind that grey robe.
"Uh oh?" Regina moved towards the door as little anxious feet followed. "Emma?"
"You like them right Mama?"
"They are beautiful baby, but where did you—"
The knocking came harder.
Emma stalled in the middle of the foyer, twisting the collar of her shirt as the door opened and a pink faced Nurse Ratched immediately lit into the Mayor.
"Your little rascal—"
"My rascal has a name, Ms. Ratched." A hand on her hip, the Queen squared off.
The nurse pointed a knobby finger at the child. "She stole from me."
"Emma knows better than to steal."
"Mama…"
At that affection Regina looked over her shoulder and saw guilty green eyes. With a sigh and turning back to the Nurse, one damning grass stained red sock was held up. The Queen put the puzzle together; the dirt smudge, the sock, and the flowers. She crooked a finger, a silent signal for Emma to come forward.
One little bare foot toed the tile as the Queen knelt down to be eye level. The heat poured off the Nurse and flooded the foyer around them.
"I have a pretty good idea where those beautiful flowers came from, but I want to hear it from you, sweet one."
Emma gave a side glance at the Nurse and sucked a lower lip. "I needed to give you flowers for Mama's day and I liked that they were purple and yellow. Those are our colors."
"As thoughtful as your gift was, those flowers were not yours to give." The last thing Regina wanted to do was scold or discipline, not after their sweet morning, but she would if her child needed direction.
"I just borrowed them." Emma whined as she pulled back and her chin was caught.
"Taking something that doesn't belong to you without the owner's permission is stealing Emma. You know that and you owe Ms. Ratched an apology." Standing, Regina turned the child towards their neighbor.
Emma struggled to spit the words out, unable to get the images of the yelling cranky Nurse out of her mind. Hands gently squeezed her shoulders, another silent reminder. "Sorry about your dumb flowers."
"Emma Swan Mills."
A foot stomp earned Emma a sharp look. "But Mama she's MEAN all the time!" Eyes stubbornly looked straight up and ignored the warning pat to the seat of her shorts.
"My study, find your corner please."
"But—"
"Now Emma."
Tight jawed, the girl stalked heavily away.
Regina turned back to their neighbor and assured that the situation would never happen again. The Nurse left less than happy. Closing the door, the brunette ran hands briskly over her face to ease the tension and sighed when she heard a steady banging coming from across the way in the depths of her office. She found Emma sitting in her desk chair spinning side to side, thumping the head rest into the wall with the movement.
"I gave you an instruction Emma. You are to be time out, not in my chair." Patient despite the glare she was getting.
More defiant thumping.
Slipper covered feet moved to the desk and pulled the child up who decided then and there to become dead weight. The Queen put Emma to the face corner, but the girl immediately stepped out when she walked back across the room.
"No." Arms crossing, Emma huffed.
"I see that you are upset with me and you need a few minutes to calm down. I will start your timer when you are standing where I put you."
"No!" A challenge covered by anger over her actions that spoiled the morning.
"Do you want to talk before your time out?" Offering a chance to speak if that's what the child needed first.
"Noooooo!"
A sigh. "Enough. You do not tell me no. That is not how we work."
Regina calmly went and escorted the girl back to the corner, staying close in case those little feet moved again, which they did. They played the back and forth game three times with an added 'no' from little lips each time.
"Emma you may serve your time out before we speak with or without a little reminder to accompany it. That choice is yours. Step out of this corner again and I will put you right across my lap."
Regina refused to allow the pattern to continue knowing this was sometimes how Emma tested her. As close as the little half and her had grown there were still hints of uncertainty on just how committed the Queen was to her role.
The child heeded the warning for all of thirty seconds before turning to look with narrowed eyes at her Keeper who sat on the chaise. One socked foot took a daring step out, then two.
"Come here then."
Emma froze and hopped back quickly, hesitant to move again when a regal finger pointed to the floor by grey slippers.
"I don't want to."
But the look Emma was getting made her feet obey. Tears threatened as the reality of her mistake took hold and she tried to still the hands that went to her waist as she was pulled across those familiar knees.
"No Mama!"
"You know the rules in our home Emma and you know me well enough that I will always follow through with what I say I will do. I do not appreciate your attitude or disrespect when I tell you to do something."
Emma's tummy tightened when a hand came down in a firm pat across her shorts. She gave a kick and stilled when that same hand simply rested on her behind for a moment.
Regina shook her head seeing her girl was deciding to be stubborn.
One more pat finally coaxed a brain to start working. "I'm sorry! I'll do my time out."
Regina paused, glad two were sufficient to make her point and break Emma out of whatever near sighted head space the child had been in. She righted the sniffling girl and offered a hug before standing with a compliant hand in hers.
"Let's go."
The girl was walked back to the corner and stood facing the wall. Her body buzzed with warmth both from the swats and from her actions. She'd been a brat and on day when she shouldn't of been. Cries started small then became noisy ones. As soon as she heard the chime of release from the cell timer she ran into open arms, grateful they were there to hold her.
"Are you ready to speak nicely and listen to Mama?"
Sniffling Emma rubbed her eyes with a fist. "Yeah, I'm sorry I said no."
"Thank you for your apology, I think you also owe one to Ms. Ratched and we will take care of that when we are finished here." Regina ran a hand through blonde curls and straightened the headband. "Tell me about this morning and the flowers."
"I wanted to get you something nice and 'membered that there were flowers next door. They are our colors, too. So I borrowed…took some." She corrected when she caught an expectant brow. "I didn't think about it like you said. I didn't mean to steal them." Looking up through wet lashes at her Keeper.
"I appreciate your thoughtfulness this morning and I was very surprised by your sweet gifts. That aside, we've talked about Ms. Ratched's yard a few times and her flowers which you have taken once before."
Recalling the incident last month where Emma had 'borrowed' the little white flowers that grew along the front fence of the Nurse's yard for a mud cake she'd wanted to decorate. They had talked at length about personal property and Emma had been warned to stay out of the Nurse's yard repeatedly.
"And you went outside of the house without my knowing, which you know better than to do."
"I havta ask."
"Yes, you do. I know you feel Ms. Ratched is stern, but she is really rather lonely Emma and her garden brings her a lot of joy." Regina knew from the sometimes friendly conversations she'd had with the woman over the hedge as they traded gardening tips as Emma played nearby. "I think her feelings may have been hurt a few times today; when her flowers disappeared from her yard and when you called her mean."
"She is sometimes though." A pout.
"You may have your feelings, but your actions are mine to right and no matter how well your intentions were, you know better than to leave the house without asking, go into our neighbor's yard and to take something that doesn't belong to you."
Summarizing and hugging the girl close when tears ran down little cheeks. She truly hated the idea of punishing today, but knew both sides of the blonde needed her to follow through.
"I'm sorry though."
"You can show me that over the next few afternoons when you are helping me in our backyard by weeding the flower beds. It seems you need an appreciation for the time and work that goes into nurturing growing things. That will help you not to be quick about plucking flowers other hands have tended."
Emma wrinkled her nose at the thought. She liked watering and even planting, but weeding was boring and took forever. As her actions sunk in and she was kissed, both sides of her finally knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that her Keeper would follow through every single time with intensity and heart that only Regina possessed. Hints about the value of her own self worth seeped in from her big half and little Emma struggled to push them back.
"I didn't mean to be bad."
Regina cupped a cheek. "You are not bad, never ever. You did not make some good choices today and I know you will make better ones next time. You are a very loving girl and you have a big heart. How do you think we can make this better with Ms. Ratched?"
"I need to say sorry and maybe do something nice for her. I can draw a good picture and take the flowers back, too."
"That sounds like a wonderful plan, baby. You may work on that in the living room while I change and then we will walk over so you may apologize."
Emma squeezed one more hug out of the Queen and went to make her picture. Regina followed after a few minutes of quiet reflection she always took after Emma spent any time over her lap and headed upstairs. A half hour later they both stood hand in hand on Nurse Ratched's porch. The tall knobby woman answered and Emma tried to keep her ground as she offered up the vase of flowers she'd taken.
"I'm sorry I took these from you. I thought I was doing something nice for my Mama, but she taught me it was something that hurt your feelings. I'm sorry too for calling you mean and here is a picture I made. It's you and your dog in your pretty garden." Offering up her drawing to well worked hands.
The old Nurse softened at the picture and with a small wink to the Mayor she leaned down to better look at the child. "You know, my dog's name is Wilber and he sometimes needs a friend to play with. Maybe you two can play while your Mama and I talk about gardening sometime."
"I know a Wilber too, but he's a pig and a spider saved him and they are best friends. Mama? Can I please?"
"Yes, baby." To the Nurse. "That is very kind of you and I would actually love to pick your brain about Hyacinths."
A smile offered. "We'll do that. Until then here you go Emma." The woman took a single daffodil and lilac, handing both stems to the little girl.
"Wow, really? Thank you!" Emma beamed at the unexpected gift.
The Mayor also gave her thanks and they both turned to leave.
"Oh, and Emma? If you ever need flowers again for your Mama, just ask." A grin cracked across that weathered face.
"I will!" She waved and skipped happily home with the flowers clutched gently in her fist.
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Hope you liked it. Three longer chapters left... then the epilogue before the sequel begins!
Next Time - July 4th beach day, -angst-not telling- & closure with this version of the Charmings. :-)