In Emma's mind

A guest asked for a oneshot of Emma and her parents being trapped in Emma's memories of the foster system. Thanks for the praise, should I ever write a book and stop being an anonymous chicken I'll let you know :P. Mid-season finale spoilers.

"Where are we?" Charming asked, taking in the strange new surroundings. One second he had been with Emma, Hook and Henry in the diner, with the Evil Queen forcing Emma's wish. Now here he was in some unknown house.

"Charming?" Charming looked around, eyes wide.

"Snow!" He asked, running to her. He tried to embrace her, but they couldn't touch.

"Oh, such a shame." A voice echoed around them. The Evil Queen's voice. Charming and Snow immediately flanked Emma. "But I'm afraid none of you are really here. Snow is still dreaming. Where is here though? Why don't you tell them, Emma?" For the first time, Snow and Charming looked at Emma. They weren't sure exactly how she felt, but clearly it wasn't good.

"Get us out of here. Now." Emma hissed. "They don't need to see this."

"What?" Snow asked. "Where are we, Emma?" Emma sighed.

"We're in one of my old foster homes." She explained. "Not one of the good ones." The Evil Queen laughed.

"Well done dear, but not quite right. Like I said, none of you are really here. But never the less, here your subconscious' will remain trapped until you find a way back out." The Evil Queen's voice faded away as the door opened. A little girl was shoved through, falling flat on her face on the wooden floor. Snow and Charming gasped, Emma just looked away. She had already lived through this once.

"I cannot believe you had the nerve to tell them you didn't get dinner last night, you stupid little girl!" An angry man screamed in her face. Charming went to step forward. Nobody would be speaking to his daughter like that.

"There's no point." Emma said sadly. "We're not really here. This has already happened. You're just going to have to sit tight." Charming and Snow both hated this, but they couldn't even imagine what Emma was feeling, seeing it all again.

"Well-well- I didn't!" little Emma sobbed. "I don't lie!"

"Well now you do you little shit. Think I'm going to waste my money on your greedy little mouth? Fat chance! They give you food at school. What more do you want? You're lucky I give you a bed you little twerp. Now get up those damn stairs and don't let me see your ugly face down here until tomorrow morning. Otherwise I'm gonna tan your backside. You hear?" Emma didn't respond, she just scurried up the stairs, knowing better than to challenge. Snow, Charming and Emma all followed her as she scarpered into her scarce little bedroom and curled up on the threadbare sheet, bawling. "And cut out that damn racket! Or I'll give you something to cry about!" Emma used her baby blanket to muffle the sobs, but still the tears came. Snow and Charming looked between the adult Emma and the little one, feeling lost. Who could do this to their child?

"There's no point in watching this." Emma said awkwardly. She had worked so hard to avoid her loved ones finding out about any of this. They didn't need to know the Hell she'd been through. "You heard the Evil Queen, there's a way out of, well, my mind. We need to find it. Who knows what she's doing to Henry or little Neal while we're all here." Emma pointed out, keeping her back to her little, terrified, self. Snow and Charming knew that Emma was right, but still, they couldn't keep their eyes off the little girl. Their baby girl. She should never have been through anything like this. She should have been loved, cherished. Instead she'd been thrown around like a piece of meat. All because of the Evil Queen who had trapped them here now. Well, their baby girl had already been through this once. They weren't going to make her go through it again a second longer than they had to.