"We should go to the pool," Regina suggested. "It's a nice day out, and it would be a great way to kick off the summer."
"Storybrooke has a pool?" Emma asked. She hadn't seen one before on the town map.
Regina smirked and snapped her fingers. "We do now."
Emma smiled. "I keep forgetting that you're the one that created this town."
"What's this about a pool visit?" Henry asked. He walked into the room already in his swim trunks and holding a towel.
Regina and Emma laughed. "Ready to go then?" Regina asked. Henry smiled and headed towards the garage.
"I already packed the car!" he called back to them.
Emma watched happily from the side as Regina and Henry played in the water. Henry had splashed Regina, leading to a full-fledge water fight. Emma laughed as Henry got a mouth full of chlorinated water.
Finally worn out, Regina joined Emma while Henry stayed out in the water to play Marco-Polo with some of the other kids his age.
"Why don't you go join him?" Regina asked. "We could tag-team it."
Emma laughed. "He looks happy enough already."
Regina studied her carefully. Over the years, she had learned how to read Emma as easily as Emma could read the rest of the town. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"Who said anything was wrong?" Emma countered. She leaned back into her chair and closed her eyes. "I'm more than happy."
"You never pass up the opportunity to do something with Henry," Regina pointed out. Emma's face twitched, and Regina knew that she had caught Emma red-handed. "What's wrong?" she repeated.
"IcantjoinHenrybecauseIdontknowhowtoswim," Emma mumbled.
Regina sighed. "Can you repeat that in English maybe?"
"That was English," Emma argued. "Your fault for not listening."
"Emma," Regina said. She knew that Emma was trying to push her buttons in order to get her to drop the subject.
Emma sighed. "I can't join Henry because I don't know how to swim," she said. She avoided Regina's gaze, as she suddenly looked very interested in her nails.
"You don't know how to swim?" Regina asked. She had just assumed that everyone knew how to based on natural instincts. Then again, she had learned by being tossed into a lake.
"I didn't exactly have a parent to teach me," Emma said.
"So I'll teach you," Regina said. She held out her hand and smiled kindly as Emma's eyes widened.
"I'll-I'll um, pass," she said. Regina looked at her in confusion.
"Why?" she asked. Then she looked closer. Emma was sitting in the chair the farthest away from the pool, and had refused to even go near the edge.
"You know how to swim," Regina accused. "You just don't want to."
"No, no, I really can't," Emma said.
Regina glared at her. "Keep lying to me and you'll be sleeping on the couch."
Emma's eyes widened. "I'm not lying," she said weakly. She watched as Regina's eyes hardened and knew that she was in trouble.
"Last chance," Regina warned.
"Okay, okay," Emma said. She held up her hands in surrender. "I can swim."
Regina nodded in satisfaction. "So why won't you go out there? Are there too many people in the pool?"
Emma shook her head. "Can we just drop it?" she pleaded. "It's not something that I really want to talk about."
Regina stared at her before nodding. She couldn't make Emma talk. At the moment.
The water was entering her lungs, burning like she had breathed in fire. She knew that she needed to get up to the surface, but something was holding her down.
She struggled to free her body from the turmoil holding her down, but it was too strong. She tried screaming for help, but that did nothing except let more water enter her lungs. Her vision started getting blurry, and black spots started to pop up in front of her eyes.
The darkness started to overwhelm her, and she felt herself give up. There was no way that she would live.
Emma sat up with a gasp, breathing in as much air as she could. The room was dark, and she was brought back to the dream of the water.
"Emma?" Regina said softly. "Are you okay?" The only response that she got was heavy breathing. Emma was close to hyperventilating.
Regina sat up and grabbed Emma's arm. Emma gasped and went to pull away, but Regina held on tighter. "Deep breaths," Regina said soothingly.
Emma calmed down her breathing, grounded by the feeling of Regina's hand on her arm. "Better?" Regina asked. Emma nodded.
"I almost drowned," Emma whispered. Regina looked at her with wide eyes. "That's why I wouldn't go swimming today."
"What happened?" Regina asked.
"I was at the pool with one of my foster families," Emma said. "I was wearing this inflatable duck as a floatie around my waist, but when a bunch of kids came through, the water pushed me under. There were too many of them, and the turmoil kept me under."
"How long were you under there?" Regina asked.
Emma winced. "Two minutes."
Regina's eyes widened even more. If Emma had stayed under for even one more minute, she would have suffered brain damage. She could have lost her.
Regina reached out and pulled Emma in for a hug. "You're afraid of going in water again," she said. Emma nodded. "Then I guess we'll have to fix that."
"Keep your eyes closed," Regina scolded as Emma tried to peek. Emma laughed. Regina had showed up at the station and demanded that Emma come with her.
Regina stopped Emma from walking any farther. "Open," she said. She held her breath as Emma looked at their surroundings.
"I don't get it," Emma said. "Why are we at the pool? It's closed right now."
"To the public," Regina said. She smirked as Emma laughed.
"So what are we doing here?" Emma asked. Regina snapped her fingers and they were suddenly wearing swimsuits.
"No," Emma said. She held up her hands as Regina walked towards her. "No way, Regina. I am not stepping a foot into that pool."
Regina grabbed one of her hands. "I'll be right there with you," she said. "You can do it."
Emma looked out towards the water and clung tighter to Regina's hand. "Would my pleading change your mind?" she asked.
Regina shook her head. "I'll be right by you. Come on."
She tugged a reluctant Emma to the steps leading down to the pool, humming "Just Keep Swimming" from Finding Nemo. They reached the steps, and Regina's arm was practically pulled from her socket as Emma stopped.
"Emma," Regina said. "All you need to do is walk down the steps. Just the steps."
Emma took a deep breath before stepping onto the first step. The water felt cool on her feet, and she released the breath that she had been holding.
"See?" Regina said. "You have to just keep swimming."