Ok, here is the next chapter! I hope you are all still enjoying this story, we do have lots of things to come. How will the meeting with jackie go? How will Tia react to meeting her grandparents? Will Regina and Emma be able to help her feel less anxious and be able to go outside the house? Stay tuned xx

Love Rouge xx

Chapter 8

The next morning Regina awoke early as usual, as she moved to stretch she felt a small weight on her chest. As she opened her eyes she couldn't help but smile, lay with her head on her chest, was Tia; awake and sucking her thumb calmly as she listened to Regina's heartbeat.

"Good morning princess" Regina whispered. The small blonde looked up at her and managed a smile while keeping her thumb in her mouth, she reached up and tapped Regina's chest twice. Regina stroked through Tia's hair with permission and gave her a gentle cuddle. "Did you sleep well in our bed?" She asked quietly. Tia nodded her head messing up her hair even more "Do you think you could try to use your words to talk to me sweetheart?" She asked as she gently guided Tia's thumb from her mouth.

"Sweep good" Tia whispered copying Regina's tone.

"Very good, and how are you feeling this morning?" She asked in a whisper

Tia thought for a moment "good...no bad" she replied shaking her head against Regina's chest.

"That's right, no more bad dreams last night and no bad people coming to hurt you remember? Never again" Regina explained as she stroked her daughters hair. "All gone away and me and mama are here to keep you safe now, always and always". She hoped that Tia understood and believed what they had been telling her since she arrived in the mansion.

Tia pointed over at Emma who was still fast asleep, her hair also messy like their daughters.

"You can go over to her sweetheart, it's ok" Regina encouraged.

Tia shuffled up off of Regina and crawled over the short gap to Emma, she clambered up onto her and started tapping her chest.

"Mmmm..." Emma mumbled and wriggled a little.

"Emma dear, Tia wants to say good morning" Regina said as she nudged her wife's hip and squeezed it gently.

Emma yawned and wriggled a little more as she opened her eyes and saw Tia. "Oh, good morning kid" she smiled "are you ok?"

Tia nodded gently "good" she whispered

"Mama's awake now Tia, you don't have to whisper anymore sweetheart" Regina smiled

Emma stretched and Tia smiled as she tried to keep her balance, she held onto Emma's top. "Oh hold on!" She said playfully as Emma held onto Tia and turned over onto her side, facing Regina and propped herself up onto her elbow. Tia squeaked as Emma rolled over with her and smiled when she fell against the mattress again. She was now lay down again between the two women but she snuggled into Emma. She giggled and reached for Emma's hair that was cascading down over the woman's shoulder.

Emma smiled down at her "was that fun?"she asked with a giggle before stretching over and kissing Regina good morning.

"We were just having a little chat about last night" Regina smiled "and how we all had a good sleep once we were all in here"

"That's right, you are a very good snuggler Tia!" She smiled

"You are certainly both good wrigglers!" Regina quipped

"Course we are! We're the best right Tia?" She smiled and wriggled making the mattress move gently. Tia smiled brightly and copied wriggling on the bed too. "Just like wriggly worms!" Emma giggled

"Wiggy worms!" Tia repeated cutely.

"Ok ok stop, i'm going to be wriggled right off the bed" Regina played along

Emma giggled and stopped just as Regina's phone started to ring and Tia jumped getting a fright and she clung onto Emma's top making little whining sounds. Regina quickly grabbed the phone and answered it before holding it to her shoulder "it's ok, it's ok, just my phone" Regina tried to explain as Emma cuddled Tia to her chest.

"All gone, it's ok" the blonde said as she kissed Tia's cheek gently "we're here" she encouraged.

When Tia started to relax again after she realised that the sound had stopped, Emma motioned for Regina to take the call "go on baby, we're ok" she said blowing her wife a kiss.

"I'll be right back" the brunette said as she took the phone to the hall to take the work call.

"Remember when we were talking to you in the children's home about loud noises and how its ok to be loud?" She looked down and asked Tia as she cuddled her.

Tia nodded as she put her thumb back into her mouth.

"Well, the phone made a noise so that mommy knew that someone wanted to talk to her, that's good because if the phone didn't make a noise then mommy would miss an important call wouldn't she?" Emma explained. "And last night you were scared, so you were making lots of noise, and that was good because if you were quiet then mommy and i wouldn't have known that you were having bad dreams would we?" She explained "so that was a really good loud noise" she smiled "and nothing hurt you, see?"

"Good lowd noise" Tia repeated "like tinkle tinkle"

"You're right, the tinkle on the triangle! And the music from the stereo" Emma replied "all good loud noises." She stroked the small child's cheek and got an idea "shall we play a game until mommy comes back?"

Tia nodded but looked a little unsure

"Ok, i know you are so clever, so you will find this game easy peasy! And I get to hear one of my favourite loud noises….so show me, where is Tia's nose?" She asked playfully

Tia took her thumb out of her mouth and touched her own nose with her fingers.

Emma gasped "that's right! See i knew you would get this game, where is Tia's mouth?" She asked smiling seeing Tia forget about the little fright and start to enjoy herself as she patted her own mouth.

"Good girl! Ok here's a hard one, where are Tia's...ears?" She asked and Tia quickly raised both her hands and pulled her ears gently.

"Wow you are so good at this game!" She smiled as a few giggles escaped from Tia's mouth from receiving the praise and her eyes got wide as she was watching and listening for the next instruction.

"See there's one of my favourite noises! You giggling!" She smiled "Ok, bet you can't get this one, where is Mama's nose?" She asked as Regina came back into the room and saw the game they were playing and started to record them on her phone.

As Tia tapped Emma's nose, Emma stuck her tongue out. Tia jumped very slightly and then laughed thinking that it was really funny and silly. Regina giggled too.

"You made me pull tongues!" Emma smiled loving watching her daughters reactions to this game as she giggled at the silliness "ok, where is Tia's tummy?" She asked.

Tia pulled up her nightdress and patted her little tummy

Emma gasped playfully again "I think that tummy needs kisses!" She said before kissing all over Tia's tummy quickly causing her to squeal and laugh as it tickled. Her little hands went to Emma's face as a reaction and she squirmed.

Emma lifted her head and noticed Regina with the camera, she smiled "Looks like somebody else is ticklish in this family baby!"

Regina didn't have time to answer as Tia suddenly exclaimed "gen!" getting Emma's attention.

"Again?! More kisses? Ok!" the blonde laughed as she started planting quick kisses over Tia's tummy again making her squeal and laugh once more.

...

"Ok princess which playsuit do you want to wear for exploring the garden?" Regina asked. She had given Tia a choice of 3 pattered outfits. Tia crawled over and patted the middle one "and what colour is that one Tia?" Regina asked

"Lellow" Tia replied

"Very good! That's right, are you going to let me change you?" She asked as she knelt on the floor holding the clothes.

Tia crawled over to her and nodded patting her arm. Regina got her dressed and gently brushed through her curls putting them into two little ponytails, when she was finished Tia toddled over to the mirror to look. "See how pretty you are Tia? Just like a little princess" she smiled as she went to her wardrobe and picked out two pairs of shoes. "Ok which pair do you want to wear?"

Tia frowned as she turned around and looked at the shoes "no" she shook her head

"Sweetheart you have to wear shoes to go outside, otherwise you might hurt your feet"

Tia gave a little whine and stomped her foot "No!". Regina was taken aback, she hadn't seen Tia act this way before, she didn't want to force her into anything she didn't want to do and she didn't want to upset her. She figured that this was another test from Tia, seeing if regina would hurt her if she said no to her or she thought that maybe Tia was feeling comfortable enough to let some of her feelings and frustrations out.

"Tia, can you tell me why you don't want to wear these shoes?" She asked going to her level again as she returned to kneel down on the floor "use your words and not your feet please so I can understand".

Tia frowned and whined again as she bobbed up and down on the spot as if she was having an internal struggle, trying to decide either to talk or to have a full blown tantrum. Regina tried to stay calm and quiet waiting for Tia to decide.

"Hurt" she said as she pointed at the shoes

"You think the shoes will hurt you?" She asked gently

Tia nodded "shoes hurt...to ickle" as she pointed at her feet.

"You might have had shoes before that hurt, but mommy and mama bought these, we wouldn't get you shoes that hurt you" she tried to explain gently "I promise we got the right size". Tia shook her head again at the two choices. "Ok if you don't want to wear these, but you do need to have shoes on if you want to play in the garden, so you choose a pair you like from your wardrobe ok?" Regina explained.

Tia went into her wardrobe and pulled out the scruffy shoes that she was wearing when she had came from the children's home.

Regina sighed gently, Tia had done what was asked of her and had chosen shoes, so Regina decided they were good enough for today. "Ok, you can wear those today" she explained as she helped Tia into them. "But I want you to have a think about what I told you about the others ok? And think about maybe trying on some of your new shoes another time. Because me and Mama wouldn't buy you shoes that hurt you, I know its hard to understand right now, but just have a little think ok?"

Tia cuddled into Regina when she had her shoes on as she was now calmer and gave a gentle nod. Regina decided not to push any more than that and returned the cuddle. "Thank you for using your words, good job" she lifted her daughter onto her hip as she stood up, she kissed her head and took her downstairs.

Tia had never seen a garden before, she wasn't taken outside of the house with her father and the children's home didn't have a garden, even if it had, it would have been too risky to take her outside of her room. When Regina unlocked the back door her eyes grew wide and she cupped her hands over her mouth as she looked around. Regina loved her garden, green grass as far as the eye could see with flowers right along each side of the garden by the fence. There was a wooden patio with a table and chairs for eating meals outside during summer, the garden was so secluded and private. She could see Emma setting down a picnic blanket under her big apple tree with some of Tia's toys on. Regina walked down the garden with Tia and Henry waved to them as he was kicking his ball around.

"How are my girls?" Emma smiled as they came over to join her. Regina sat Tia on the blanket before taking a seat too next to Emma. Tia quickly picked up her panda bear teddy as she continued to look around the garden wide eyed. Tia toddled around a little but didn't stray too far from the blanket and from her mothers. Regina took this time to fill Emma in on Tia's behaviour upstairs quietly.

"Well yeah it's a little strange but kids are like that sometimes, something must have made her feel that way before" Emma said "we have to respect her choices right now, like you said she did choose and not just refuse any".

"I just wish we knew that what we are doing is right for her, if she had had a tantrum should i have ignored it, should i have gave her a time out, should i have held her? I don't want to undo the work we have done" Regina explained

"We treat her like any other kid having a tantrum, we explain that she wont get what she wants by acting that way and eventually she will calm down herself, in time she will understand and hopefully have less tantrums. We can explain to her that all she needs to do is ask or talk to us but she also needs to listen to us" Emma replied. "We are doing everything we can, and maybe it would be good for her to let some of her feelings out, so we can help her with them and teach her"

"I suppose you're right" regina said "I think because i was up there with her alone and it was the first time she has behaved that way it was just a bit of a shock but it didn't last long. I'm glad jackie is coming tomorrow though, so we can talk about all of this with her too"

Emma smiled "Just remember that you did a great job with Henry, you can do it with Tia too, and we're a team now" the blonde kissed her wife on the lips, Regina returned the kiss instantly as she cupped Emma's cheek. "You're not alone" she whispered against Regina's lips and smiled when she felt the brunette kiss her again lovingly.

Henry gently walked up to Tia and sat on the grass a little distance away from her, putting his ball down next to him "hey Tia" he smiled "you like the garden? It's big right?"

Tia blushed shyly and cuddled her panda bear tighter, she looked down at the grass and nodded.

"I'm sure your panda likes it too, panda's love being around trees, some panda's can even climb trees, really high up!" He exclaimed

Tia looked up at him wide eyed at his story and pointed to Regina's apple tree that was the tallest in the garden "really high?" She asked

"Even higher than moms tree" he smiled and nodded when her little mouth opened in amazement. "oh and your horsey, i bet she can run really fast on this grass, she looks like the fastest horsey i have ever seen!" he said kindly as he noticed the toy on the blanket.

Tia nodded again "fas...fastest" she copied with a smile.

Regina nudged Emma as she broke the kiss seeing the children together. "Hey" Emma whined playfully as she snuggled into Regina's neck "I was enjoying that" she smirked before looking over to the children as well. Henry had been so patient these past few weeks, waiting for his mothers to finally bring her home and he had been so understanding about not going to close to Tia. They watched as Tia pointed to Henry's ball.

"You want to play with the ball?" Henry asked as he gently kicked it over to her.

She leant over and patted it "red"

"Yeah, red ball" he smiled "want to kick it?" He asked. When he saw her look unsure he encouraged her "its ok, its easy, just lift your foot and kick" he motioned his leg showing her "just like this"

Tia copied slowly and watched as the ball moved, she smiled and did it again.

"Yeah like that, look you kicked it" henry smiled "try again but harder this time"

Tia stuck her tongue out in concentration and took a few awkward steps, because of her shoes being too big, before kicking out her leg and sending the ball rolling across the grass.

"Yay well done! That was a great kick! H..high five" Henry said holding up his hand "I mean, if you want to, see a high five is when two people hold their hands like this and they clap them together...gently...its a celebration thing, when someone does something well"

Tia looked down at her hand and then up at his hand, she took a step forward and slowly put her hand up

"Ok ready?" Henry asked, he waited until she nodded her head before he very gently high fived her "good kicking" he smiled.

Regina and Emma gripped each others arms watching it all unfold in front of their eyes "Oh my god" Emma whispered "did you see?!" She smiled excitedly

"I did dear!" Regina replied smiling happily "i'm so proud of her"

...

The family spent all day in the garden. Regina showed Tia the flowers and the trees as well as how to water them. Henry was allowed to hold Tia's hand as he showed her caterpillars, bees and ladybirds that he found amongst the plants. Afterwards Emma read her a story before she fell asleep on the picnic blanket in the shade for her nap. It was a perfect family day. That night Tia went to sleep in her own bed without any fuss. She did have a nightmare a few hours later but managed to calm herself down a little bit quicker than the night before with the help of cuddles and lots of praise from Emma and Regina. They took her to sleep in their bed again at her request, they were willing to do whatever it took for their daughter to feel safe.