A/N: Okay, so I decided to flesh this story out a bit. I know I have a tendency to write short chapters, and I'm working on lengthening them. I've combined the early chapters, so the 25 short chapters are now 8 longer chapters, but none of the content has changed. I had to this or otherwise we'd end up with 100 short chapters lol.

It may be longer between updates now, but I'm working on focusing more on QUALITY than QUANTITY now. My goal in all of this - writing, I mean - is to improve my skills and storytelling, so, as always, I appreciate all your feedback.

That being said, this has always been and always will be a story about Emma and Regina NOT the Charmings so if the Charmings interacting with and parenting Little Emma is what you're looking for, again I recommend "Magical Mishap" by amwalsh5. It's an awesome story and very well written and you can get all your Mama Snow and Daddy David feels there! :)

And now, without further ado, the new and improved Lost & Found! This chapter is from Emma's perspective. Enjoy :)

Chapter Nine

Emma awoke with a start, and scrambled to fish Spiderman out from under her new sheets. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that he still had two legs intact. It had been a dream. Well, not a dream - a memory - but either way, she was safe in her bed in Regina's home and far, far away from that farmhouse and the bad memories made there.

She knew she was far away, but the father's words lingered with her as she hopped out if bed and set off to find out where Regina had gone. She gripped Spiderman tight in one hand as she stepped out into the hallway. She hoped Regina was in the kitchen making delicious food for the party. She wondered if Regina might take her to McDonald's one day, if she was really, really good.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a discarded red crayon between the baseboard and the leg of a small decorative table. She guessed she must have dropped it there when she had been creating her masterpiece on Regina's wall. She grinned to herself, thinking back at how beautiful it had been and how Regina hadn't spanked her or even yelled at her for it.

She remembered a home she had been in where the kids used to write their names on the walls behind the furniture and count their days with marker tick marks inside the closet. She hadn't been able to join in, at that point, because she didn't know how to write her name or count. She was bigger and smarter now, so she pushed the table away from the wall and wrote her name in large red crayon letters.

She grinned at Spiderman as she pushed the table back, covering up her little graffiti. "Watch this," she whispered to the plastic action figure, as she waved her hand and magically disappeared the crayon into oblivion somewhere. "I hided the evidence."

She continued her way down the hall, and to the stairs, hoping down them two at a time. She almost fell near the bottom, but she caught herself. She then stepped into the foyer and looked around with a big grin. Regina had put up streamers and balloons. This was an actual, real birthday party.

"Gina!" Emma called out, looking around. She didn't see her, but she saw the next best thing. "Kitty Soft Paws!" she exclaimed as the cat made a leisurely stroll toward her. Emma scooped her up under one arm, and continued her search around the mansion.

She liked it here. It was bigger and nicer than any home she had ever been in, including the fairy's house in the Enchanted Forest. There were still so many rooms left to explore, and it was a rare occasion that Emma was actually left alone long enough to do so. She could smell food cooking in the kitchen, so she guessed Regina really was in there. Regina thought she was asleep, so she figured now would be a good time to explore.

She ducked around the corner and headed down a hallway she hadn't seen before. There were lots of rooms with closed doors. She pushed one open, quietly, and found a room with a couch and a fireplace and lots of books on the shelves. This room looked boring.

She continued down the hall and found a better room. This one was bigger and had a couch as well, and a TV set up with some sort of video game system. There were more doors inside this room, and Emma was increasingly curious as to what might be in them. She put Kitty Soft Paws and Spiderman down on the couch and told them both to 'stay!'. Spiderman listened. Kitty Soft Paws did not, but Emma didn't really care. She didn't like listening, either.

She opened one of the doors and found that it was a closet, with shelves stacked up with board games. Emma grinned wildly as she surveyed the boxes. She couldn't really read, but she recognized some of the pictures, and up near the top of the closet was Candyland. She wanted to play that for her birthday.

It didn't occur to her to use magic this time, as she decided to get the game down in a way she'd seen older kids do countless times: by climbing the shelves. They were close enough together that she could scale them fairly easily, and before long, she was near the top, and Candyland was within reach.

She had two feet on one shelf and one hand on the Candyland shelf, as she reached forward for the game. No sooner did she have it in her hand, did she hear a distinct crack and the shelf under her feet suddenly gave way, and she was toppling to the ground.

She landed flat on her back with a hard thud as boxes of games crashed down on top of her. For a moment, she couldn't think or react, she just laid there, perfectly still, remembering how little girls get in big trouble for breaking things and making messes. She didn't want Regina to be mad and spank her or yell at her or worse, cancel her party.

She knew she should just get up and pick up all the games and shove them back in the closet and shut the door and hope that Regina never opened it again. Or that if she did, she would think Henry did it and Henry would get in trouble. She didn't want Henry to get in trouble, but he was bigger and Regina probably wouldn't spank him because she had seen big boys hit back or just run away and Henry was a big boy.

But she didn't want Henry to run away either.

Emma tried to move, but her whole little body hurt and before she knew it, she was crying. Not even crying – wailing – partially from the pain, but mostly from the fear of what was about to happen, since Regina was going to find her now and see what she had done.

Emma tried to remember that Regina had promised she could stay here, in Storybrooke, but she knew this house wasn't her home, and she was terrified of making Regina so angry that she sent her back to her parents' apartment and told her she could never come back here again. Other mothers had promised her she could stay, only to ship her back to the group home weeks later. Promises didn't mean anything when they came from adults, that much Emma knew for sure.

And Emma didn't want to get sent back to her parents' place. She liked it here, with Regina, where she was the only child and she had Regina's full attention. Mommy and Daddy both worked and had another child who needed them more and Emma didn't like being there. And even though Mommy smiled at her, she always looked a little sad and it made Emma sad, even though she wasn't sure why.

And the Daddy at the farm house with no animals said her real Mommy and Daddy left her on the side of the road.

What if they did that again?

Emma's worrying was cut short as she felt hands on her. Regina was there now, and picking her up. Emma tried to fight back, and she screamed louder, trying to squirm out of Regina's arms. Maybe it wasn't too late to run.

But Regina didn't let go. She just held her tight and kissed her forehead and asked if she was okay.

"I'm so-so-orry!" Emma choked out, between tears, as Regina put her hand on the back of her head and started rocking her. "I ju-just wanted Ca-C-andy-l-l-land!"

"It's okay, it's okay," Regina repeated over and over, though her voice didn't sound like it normally did. She sounded scared. "Are you hurt?"

Emma shook her head, no, even though she thought she might actually be hurt. Regina always seemed to know when she was lying though, and she crossed the room to sit with her on the couch. She checked Emma's head as Emma continued to bawl, and found a goose egg starting to grow on the back of her head.

Emma felt the warm tingling of Regina's magic on her head, and the pain where was suddenly gone. The surprise was enough to make her stop crying, and she just looked up at Regina.

"Better?" Regina asked.

Emma nodded, as Regina wiped the tears from her cheeks and hugged her close. Emma let her head fall onto Regina's chest and closed her eyes for a moment. Maybe she wasn't in trouble, after all.

"You tried to climb the shelves?" Regina asked.

Emma nodded again. Here it comes, she thought, as she tried to calm her ragged double-breaths. Whatever punishment Regina had in mind was surely about to be doled out. Maybe she would break one of her new toys, since Emma had broken something of hers. She thought about when she broke a glass at the farm house, and the Mommy had broken off Spiderman's leg.

"You ruin everything, Emma! How does it feel when I break something of yours?"

The Mommy's voice rang in Emma's head, clear as day. Why hadn't she learned her lesson, then? Her new Spiderman was right there, right within Regina's reach. She should have left him upstairs. She didn't want him to lose a leg, too.

"I ruin everything," Emma said, quietly.

"You didn't ruin anything, Emma," Regina said, as she stroked Emma's hair. "It's just a shelf, it can be replaced. You, however, can't be replaced. You could have been very badly hurt Emma. I might not have been able to fix it. You can't climb shelves, it's dangerous. If you want something you can't reach, you come and ask me. Understand?"

Emma nodded again, feeling her bottom lip start to quiver. She couldn't tell if Regina was mad or not, but her voice sounded very serious.

"I'm sorry," Emma repeated, hoping that it would take the edge off whatever was about to happen.

"I know you are, Little One," Regina said, softer this time. Emma liked when she called her 'Little One'. It made her feel special, because she hadn't heard her call anyone else that. It wasn't like in some homes where the Mommy would call her 'honey' or 'sweetheart' and she would think it was a special name, until she heard the Mommy call everyone else that, too. But she was sure she was Regina's only 'Little One'.

"What are you gonna do?" Emma asked. The anticipation was killing her. Not knowing what the punishment would be was the worst part. At least a spanking was fast and then over.

"What do you mean?" Regina asked.

"Am I not in trouble?" Emma asked, looking up at Regina with solemn eyes.

"For breaking the shelf?" Regina asked. "I think the fall was likely punishment enough, don't you? Are you ever going to climb shelves again?"

Emma shook her head, fervently. "No. I promise."

"Good. Then you're not in trouble," Regina said. Then she paused, thinking for a moment, before speaking again. "Emma, do you know why children get in trouble?"

"Because they're bad," Emma said, quickly.

Regina shook her head. "The point of a punishment is for you to learn a lesson. If you make a bad choice, there are consequences. You drew on my wall, and I made you clean it. That was the consequence for drawing on the wall. You climbed the shelves, and you fell and got hurt. That's the consequence for climbing on the shelves. Do you understand?"

"Not really," Emma admitted.

Regina sighed and looked at the clock. "It's almost time for your birthday party. We'll talk about this more, later, okay?"

Emma nodded, and grabbed Spiderman as Regina picked her up again. She watched as Regina waved a hand in the direction of the closet, and magically, the shelf was repaired and all the games were back where they belonged. Emma noted, sadly, that Candyland was back on its shelf, but she decided not to test her luck right now as Regina carried her out of the room.

Everything that had just happened was all but forgotten as they reached the foyer just in time to see Henry letting himself in, followed by Emma's parents and baby Neal. Emma squirmed herself free from Regina and bounded over to Henry, Spiderman in hand.

"Look Henry, Spiderman!" Emma beamed, holding him up for Henry to see.

"You didn't call me 'Henny'," Henry noted, a little sadly. Emma scrunched up her nose, in confusion, and held Spiderman up higher. Henry just laughed. "He's pretty cool, Emma," he finally acknowledged.

"Emma," Snow called her attention away from Henry, "how was your day, today?"

"Great!" Emma declared, as she headed over to her mother. "We had to get blankets and curtains, and that was boring, but then Regina bought me a million toys and a cake!"

Snow shot a look over to Regina, and Emma wondered what she had said to make her Mommy stop smiling. Wasn't she happy that she had a good day?

"A million toys?" Snow asked.

Regina shrugged. "Hardly. Emma exaggerates."

"Well, baby, Daddy and I brought you some presents, too," Snow said, turning back to Emma, and holding out some pretty gift bags.

"Can I open them right now?" Emma asked, dropping Spiderman to the floor as she reached for the presents.

"How about after dinner?" Regina offered.

"No, I think now's fine," Snow countered. Emma looked back and forth between Mommy and Regina, who were staring at each other now.

"Guys, stop," Henry said. Emma looked at him, confused. She wasn't sure exactly what was happening right now, but this was supposed to be her party, and those were her presents and she just wanted to open them.

Regina sighed. "Now's fine, Little One," she agreed, finally, and Emma grinned as she followed her mother eagerly into the living room.

She sat down on the floor, as Snow put the gift bags in front of her, and sat down with her. David took pictures as Emma smiled as she pulled some pretty dolls and books out of the bags.

"Why are you sad, Mommy?" Emma asked, as she watched Snow wipe a tear from her eye.

"I'm not, sweetheart, I'm happy," Snow insisted. Emma was beyond confused at this point, but she didn't object when Snow pulled her into a tight hug.

"Cake now?" Emma asked, turning to Regina the moment Snow released her from the hug.

"After dinner," Regina said, and Emma recognized that same tone from earlier in the day when Emma had wanted to get the cake first. She didn't win then, and she figured she probably wouldn't win now.

"Where's Spiderman?" Emma asked, suddenly remembering she had dropped him in the hall, and Regina smiled as Emma ran off to retrieve her favourite toy.

Regina had made lasagna for dinner, since it was Emma's favourite, and no one told her to put Spiderman away when she sat him down on the table next to her plate.

"You're almost too big for that booster," Henry pointed out, from his seat next to Emma.

Emma grinned and nodded. "Soon I'll be as big as you!"

"Yeah, you will be," Henry agreed.

When dinner was done, Emma could barely sit still as Regina went to get the cake from the fridge. Emma beamed as David dimmed the lights, and everyone started to sing to her as Regina brought in the frog cake, with five candles burning on top.

"Make a wish!" Henry urged, and Emma leaned forward to blow out the candles. She couldn't remember ever having a birthday party before, but she had seen them in TV shows and as far as she could tell, this was the best one ever, because it was hers.

Regina let Emma have the first piece of cake, and Emma barely tasted it as she wolfed it down, so excited to have a cake at all.

"Slow down, Little One," Snow said, and Emma's eyes snapped up, confused. That was Regina's name for her, not Mommy's. That was supposed to be special, like their magic or their necklaces or the picture in the pretty red and gold frame or Emma's name written in red crayon on the wall, marking her claim on this home – that last one was so special, that even Regina didn't know about it.

But Emma didn't say anything, she just slowed down. She didn't want to get in trouble at her own birthday. She wondered what the consequence of eating cake too fast might be? She didn't want to find out.

For the rest of the evening, Emma played with her new toys on the floor in the living room with Henry, while Regina spent some time cleaning up and having a conversation with Snow and David that Emma couldn't hear but none of them looked very happy.

"Why are they always mad at each other?" Emma asked Henry.

Henry sighed. "It's a long story," he shrugged.

"Does your Mommy ever spank you?" Emma asked, looking at Henry with solemn eyes.

"No. Why? Did she spank you?"

"No!" Emma shook her head quickly. "I just wanted to know. Some mommies spank their kids, you know."

"I know. But my mom never spanked me and I'm pretty sure she'd never spank you. Neither would your Mom or Dad, Emma. You don't have to worry about that."

"I'm not worried," Emma lied. Henry was a kid, but he was a big kid, and Emma knew you couldn't trust what big kids said, either. Big kids will lie to get the little ones in trouble.

Emma turned back to the group of adults, as their voices got louder. "Until recently, you have had my child more nights a week than I do, what's the difference?" she heard Regina say.

"The difference is, Henry makes that choice," David replied.

"He made that choice when Emma was there," Regina retorted.

"And Emma would still be there if it weren't for your interference," Snow pointed out.

"I can't help it if Emma wants to be here."

"She's five, Regina. And you turned this into a competition that we can't win, by buying her everything she wants and giving in to her every whim," David said, shaking his head.

"If you think that's what I'm doing, then you're more of an idiot than I thought," Regina snapped.

"Mom!" Henry called out, Regina cringed when she looked over and saw Emma watching them intently.

"Emma, I think it's time to go," Snow said curtly, as she walked across the foyer to the living room.

Emma felt panicked. She didn't want to leave all her new toys and her new room and Kitty Soft Paws and Regina was supposed to explain to her what consequences meant because she still didn't understand. She couldn't leave now.

"No! I don't wanna!" Emma cried, jumping up to run and hide behind Henry.

"Emma, it's time to leave," Snow said again, firmly.

Emma looked over at Regina, pleadingly, and wondered why she wasn't telling them 'no, you can't take her'. Suddenly Emma wondered if Regina wanted her to leave. Was that why she wasn't stepping in? She should have known she was actually mad about the shelf.

Emma whimpered and held on tighter to Henry. Maybe he would say something. He brought her here in the first place, after all.

Snow shook her head and turned back to Regina. "This is what you've done to her. She doesn't listen because you let her do whatever she wants."

"Yes, blame me, again," Regina said, finally crossing the room closer to Snow. "I did all this to her in a matter of weeks. It had nothing to do with the five years of inadequate parenting she received in the foster care system."

Emma looked back at forth between her mother and Regina and started to cry. Snow turned and started to walk to her, but Emma – who was sure her mother was about to grab her and drag her out of the house - ducked around the other side of Henry and grabbed onto Regina's legs. Regina picked her up, quickly, and hugged her tight.

Snow sighed and crossed her arms. "And you win, again," she said, shaking her head.

"This isn't a competition," Regina stated.

"This is supposed to be our second chance, not yours," David said, as he walked up beside his wife.

"No, it's Emma's," Regina replied. Emma wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean, but she maintained her death grip around Regina's neck, her face buried into Regina's shoulder. "And she's not going with you tonight."

"Not your call, Regina," David reminded her.

"No, it's hers," Regina said, flatly. "And what do you think is going to happen if you take her right now?"

Snow rolled her eyes and looked at David. "She's just going to poof back, and we both know it."

David nodded, and looked back at Regina. "Do not mistake this as us giving up on our daughter. Don't think we will give her up without a fight."

"Good. It's about time you did fight for her. Lord knows she needs it," Regina said, as she stroked Emma's hair.

Emma kept her face buried into Regina the whole time her parents got ready to leave, even as they tried to kiss her good bye. She didn't want to look at them. She didn't want to look at anyone. She just wanted to stay safely hidden in Regina's arms where she felt secure.

She stayed so still, she was sure she had convinced Regina she was asleep. She was really good at fake sleeping, and it seemed to work as Regina sat down on the couch with Henry, holding Emma tightly in her arms, still.

"Is she asleep?" Henry asked.

"I think so," Regina sighed. "It's been a long, long day."

"You guys have to be more careful," Henry pointed out, "Emma's not as little anymore. She's picking up on things. She asked you why you three are always mad at each other."

Regina didn't answer for a moment, and her hand stopped moving on Emma's hair. Emma thought perhaps she was busted, but then Regina finally spoke again. "Do you think I let her do whatever she wants?"

Henry laughed. "You're definitely easy on her. Way easier than you ever were on me."

"It's hard not to be," Regina admitted. "It's just… it's so different. Knowing how she grows up and the sacrifice she made… it's hard not to want to coddle her and protect her from everything and just give her everything she wants."

"Yeah, I get it," Henry agreed.

Emma wondered what Regina meant by 'how she grows up'? She hadn't grown up yet, how could Regina know that? She fought the urge to ask, because then she would definitely be busted.

Henry and Regina went on talking about other things, like how Henry was doing in school. Emma grew bored, quickly, and before long, she actually was asleep.

Emma was curled up on the couch with the Mommy watching a movie. There was another kid – a girl,a few years older than Emma, this Mommy's actual daughter – on the other side, and their spotted Great Dane, Max, was on the floor by the Mommy's feet.

Emma had been there three days, and she called the dog Maxie-Paxie, which the Mommy thought was hilarious. And she told Emma she was sweet, and beautiful, and smart, and this Mommy looked so sincere, that Emma believed her.

But her social worker had told her, when she dropped her off, that this was just a relief home, until there was a permanent place for her. Emma tried hard not to love it there, but it was impossible, and two days later, when the social worker came, back, Emma was inconsolable.

The Mommy and the daughter said good bye, and the Mommy cried too, when Emma hugged Maxie-Paxie, and within minutes, Emma was in the back of that familiar car, while her social worker told her about the next family, and how she had a really good feeling about this one.

Emma nodded, absently, and clutched the pendant around her neck. It didn't matter where she went next, because soon enough she'd be back with Regina.

It wasn't fair that she only got one day at a time with Regina, while she had to go spend weeks with strangers every time she fell asleep. She didn't want her parents to come take her away, because that meant even less time with Regina. She just wanted to be there, now.

She held the pendant tighter, and thought about where she had written her name in red crayon.

Home.

What did you think about having a chapter from Emma's perspective? I thought it was kind of important to show what's going on in her little head.

Should I do more, down the line? I don't want to write a lot from her perspective, when she's this young, but maybe more here or there, if you would be interested in Emma's take on things :)