Chapter Five

True to her word, three days later, Emma did call Regina again. However, instead of Regina's relieved voice - she always seemed relieved to hear from Emma lately - Emma got the all-too-familiar voicemail greeting instead.

Emma debated, while waiting for the beep, whether she should leave a message or just try again later. For a split second, she thought about leaving a prank message, for old time's sake, but in the end she went for the standard: "Hi, it's Emma. Just wanted to say 'hi'," before hanging up.

She figured she'd try again tomorrow, so she was surprised when, two hours later, the phone rang, and she heard Ingrid call up the stairs for her.

Emma headed down, slightly confused since no one ever called her, but Ingrid was standing there holding the cordless phone, her hand over the speaker.

"Emma, there's a woman on the phone for you. She says her name is Regina," Ingrid said, looking slightly hesitant to hand the phone over, but Emma's face lit up as she reached for the phone. Ingrid sighed and handed it over, and Emma grinned, taking the phone with her as she dashed back up the stairs.

"Hi!" Emma said, excitedly into the phone, once she was back in her room with the door closed. "I didn't expect you to call back!"

"Of course I would call back," came Regina's reply. "Was that your foster mother on the phone?"

"Ingrid, yeah."

"She sounds nice."

"She is. This place is pretty good, actually. I even have my own room 'cause all the other kids here right now are boys. I've never had that before," Emma explained. "So… it's nice."

"I bet. How have you been?"

"Good. I started a new school here, and I think I might try out for the track team. I think… well, it's good," Emma said, deciding to leave out that she thought, for once, this felt like someplace she might actually be able to stay at for longer than a few months.

Never in her life had she been in a place where the foster mother took this much interest in her, or treated her like she was part of her family and not just a house guest overstaying her welcome. She didn't quite know how to explain that to Regina, however, as she could only assume the woman had never known what it felt like to be an outsider in her own life.

"I'm glad to hear that, Emma."

"Yeah. So how have you been? Anything new and exciting?" Emma asked. As much as she liked Regina taking an interest in her as well, she didn't have much experience talking about herself, especially not to someone who was actually listening.

"Oh, well, nothing much ever really happens around my town," Regina said, with a sigh. "It gets boring."

"It must get boring," Emma agreed. "That's why you spend your free time talking to a kid."

Regina let out a small laugh. "Yes. Actually, boring is an understatement, really."

"So, um…" Emma said, hesitating before bringing up what she really wanted to talk about. "There was something I wanted to tell you, last time."

"About Lily's father and why he upset you?" Regina suggested.

"You remembered that?"

"Emma, of course I remembered."

"Oh. I'm not really used to people listening when I talk," Emma admitted. "That wasn't what I wanted to tell you. I just wanted to tell you thanks, you know, for worrying about me and stuff."

"You're welcome, dear. I would still like to talk about Lily's father, though, if you would?"

Emma bit her lip and fiddled nervously with the buttons on her shirt with her free hand. She let out a long sigh, and then figured she might as well just tell Regina. It wasn't like she knew her anyway, not in person, so it was okay to talk about things like that, she supposed. It wasn't like she had anyone else to tell.

"Well," Emma started, finally, "what upset me was… he acted just like a dad."

"Okay," Regina said, tentatively, clearly not understanding where Emma was getting at. "How did you expect him to act?"

"Just like that… but… I don't know, it was like me and Lily had this connection, because she was like me, you know? But it wasn't real, not really, because she has everything I ever wanted, and she ran away from it anyway."

"Emma, having parents doesn't ensure that she has an ideal life," Regina pointed out.

"Right but… it's even more than that. He was so worried about her, and he blamed me and he didn't even care what would happen to me. I mean, he doesn't know me so why should he care, right? But I just thought… I don't know, what would you do if you had a kid, and your kid had a friend who was in trouble?"

"I suppose I would try to help her," Regina replied. "But perhaps he thought calling CPS was the way to help you?"

"I guess," Emma said, with a shrug.

"And you ended up in a better situation, correct?"

"Yeah," Emma admitted. "But I could have ended up in a worse situation, you know?"

"I know," Regina said, with a small sigh. "But if that had been the case, you could have called me."

"What could you do? You don't even live here."

"Emma. Please promise me something: if you ever end up in a bad situation again, call me, alright?"

"Okaaay," Emma said, a little whinier than necessary.

"Emma."

"Okay. I will. Promise."

"Who was that on the phone?" Ingrid asked, coming into Emma's room after she'd gotten off the phone with Regina.

"Just a friend," Emma said, with a shrug.

"A friend? That was a grown woman, Emma. Who is she?" Ingrid asked, crossing the room quickly and sitting down on Emma's bed with her. Something about her eyes was a little more intense than Emma was used to, and suddenly she worried that perhaps the other shoe was about to drop with Ingrid.

It always did, eventually, didn't it?

"She's just… someone I know," Emma insisted.

"Emma, it's my job to be responsible for you, and part of that includes knowing who you talk to," Ingrid said, with a small, forced smile.

"She's… she's someone I used to know when I was younger," Emma said, deciding on the spot that lying was her best option right now. "She was a neighbour, at an old foster home I was in, and she was really nice to me but she moved away to Maine and sometimes she checks in on me to make sure I'm okay."

"How did she get this number?"

"I called her from here, once, just to say 'hi'. I left a message and she must have call display or something," Emma said, with a shrug. "She just wanted to make sure everything was fine."

Ingrid nodded slowly, studying Emma's face before finally smiling a genuine smile. "Well, if she calls again I'll tell her she has nothing to worry about. You're more than fine, here, Emma. I'm going to make sure that you're safe and happy."

Emma nodded, and made a mental note to tell Regina not to call again, the next time she called her. Ingrid could intercept incoming calls, but she couldn't stop Emma from calling Regina.

It had been nearly a week since their last conversation, and to Regina's surprise, she found herself fighting the urge to call Emma again. It wasn't out of worry this time, it was out of pure boredom. Nothing ever changed in Storybrooke, and Regina was quickly learning that she'd cursed herself just as much as she'd cursed everyone else. Maybe even more so, because the rest of the denizens weren't even aware of the endless loop they were trapped in.

Though she wished, perhaps, she could have a friend in the outside world a little closer to her own age, chatting with Emma still brightened her day and made her forget everything else, if only for a short time.

She decided to call.

It was a Thursday night, around eight p.m., so she knew Emma would still be awake.

"Hello?"

Regina recognized Ingrid's voice immediately, and for a moment she wondered if she should greet the woman by name, but she decided against it.

"Hello. I was wondering if I might speak to Emma?" Regina asked, politely.

"Regina, right?" Ingrid asked, sounding more than a little apprehensive.

"Yes, that's right. Is Emma home?"

"Yes, but… I think you and I need to have a quick chat."

"Really? About what?"

"Emma told me that you call to check in on her, and, while she appreciates the gesture and so do I, I don't think it's really necessary anymore," Ingrid explained.

"I see. Is that how Emma feels?" Regina asked, feeling her own defenses going up.

"Emma is a thirteen year old girl and you're a grown woman. She should have friends her own age. I can assure you that she is safe and happy here, you don't need to worry about her," Ingrid replied, her voice sounding a little bit too sickly sweet to be genuine, in Regina's opinion.

"I see. Well, with all due respect… Ingrid, is it?"

"Yes."

"With all due respect, Ingrid, I've known Emma longer than you have and I don't think it's fair to just push me out of her life. You've only had her a couple of weeks. Is it really the best idea to cut her off from someone who's been a constant in her life?"

"Everything I do, I do with Emma's best interests in mind. She's fine. Just let it go."

Regina opened her mouth to speak again, but was instantly cut off by the dial tone. She slammed her phone back down and picked it right back up, redialing Ingrid's number, only to reach the busy signal. She tried twice more before giving up, deciding perhaps instead of calling back and laying into this woman who was Emma's new guardian, she should just wait until Emma called her back herself.

Because she would call again, wouldn't she?

"Who was on the phone?" Emma asked, as she came into the kitchen where Ingrid was busy working on dishes from dinner. When she'd heard the phone ring, she had hoped perhaps it was Regina, until she realized that if it was, that meant Ingrid was likely telling her not to call anymore.

She should have called Regina first.

"Oh, no one, honey. Just a telemarketer. I just called the phone company to have the number blocked, so they won't be bothering us anymore," Ingrid explained, with a warm smile. "Here, why don't you grab a towel and help me with the dishes? Then maybe we can watch a movie?"

Emma smiled and nodded. Tomorrow, she decided, she would call Regina. Tonight, she could spend time with Ingrid, feeling like she was actually part of a family, for once.