This chapter is for Guest with the prompt: "Can you do one where Emma accidentally turns herself into a 5 year old that has a crush on Regina."
An argument had just begun. Henry knew what to do, and was hiding in his room, far away from both of his mothers.
Neither Emma or Regina could even remember what they were arguing about, but it had died down to just casually throwing sarcastic insults at one another.
"Stop acting like a 5 year old," Regina said.
Emma froze and glared at her. "If you knew anything about what I was like as a 5 year old, you wouldn't have said that."
Regina turned to face her. Had she just crossed a line? "Emma-"
"Don't," Emma said, turning away. She walked to the front door and left the house, slamming the door behind her.
Regina winced at the loud noise. Their arguments almost always ended with apologies on both ends, and then they moved on. But clearly this time was different. Regina had struck a nerve.
"Where'd ma go?" Henry asked, walking hesitantly into the room.
"No idea," Regina said, rubbing her temples. "That slam was her leaving the house."
"You might want to go after her before something bad happens", Henry suggested. "Her magic always gets crazy when she's upset, and that never ends well."
Regina nodded before walking to the front door, but stopped when she heard her phone ring. She pulled it out and glared at the screen at seeing the name there. "Yes?"
"There's a tiny problem," Snow said, looking at the little girl sitting in front of her. "You should come to the station."
Regina groaned. "I have to find Emma first."
"No need to," Snow said. "We found her for you."
"Where is she?" Regina asked, walking quickly into the station. Henry was right behind her.
"Now you can't freak out," Snow said. "She's kind of jumpy at the moment."
"Jumpy?" Regina asked. Snow nodded before stepping to the side, revealing the little girl sitting behind her in David's chair. She was giggling as David kept spinning her around in circles, but stopped at seeing Regina staring at her.
Emma tugged at David's sleeve until he crouched down to her level. "Who's she?"
"She's our friend," David said gently. "Her name's Regina."
Emma looked at Regina before blushing slightly. "She's really pretty."
David bit his lip to keep from laughing. Even a 5-year-old Emma had a crush on Regina. "She is."
"But she's staring at me funny," Emma said skeptically.
Regina shook her head to clear her thoughts before smiling gently at the little girl. "Sorry. You just remind me of someone."
Emma nodded in satisfaction before turning to David. "Can I spin some more please?" David smiled and nodded before beginning to gently spin her again.
Snow turned to Regina. "Did you hear how polite that was? No child is ever that polite. Especially with how little she is."
Regina looked at Emma sadly. "You're that polite if you're trained to be."
"What do you mean?" Snow asked.
"I was that polite," Regina explained.
"But you were a lady. And raised by Cora," Snow argued.
"Exactly," Regina said. She saw as realization hit Snow like a bus, and her eyes filled with tears.
"What has she been through?" Snow asked.
"I don't know," Regina said. "But clearly it was a lot, and she's still very young."
"So what do we do?" Snow asked. "We can't just keep her in the station. She has to go home with someone until this is fixed."
"She should come with us," Henry said. Snow and Regina jumped. They had forgotten that he was there.
"Why us?" Regina asked. "Snow and David are her parents."
"You're married to her," Henry argued. "You probably know her better than they do."
"He's got a point," Snow agreed. "You may not be married to this version of her, but you do know her better than we do. And if she's gone through a lot, who better to understand her than you?"
Regina looked at Emma, still happily spinning in David's chair. "Okay. We can take her with us."
"Your house is really big," Emma said in complete awe.
Regina chuckled. "I'm guessing that you like it then?" Emma nodded, her eyes still taking everything in.
"I'll stay with her while you go get a guest room ready," Henry said. He took Emma's hand and led her to the living room.
Regina smiled before going upstairs. As she was making the bed, she thought about how to change Emma back. Then again, if Emma had done this to herself, only she could turn herself back.
Thinking back to their argument, Regina remembered that Emma's breaking point had been when Regina had called her a 5 year old. "That's it. I have to get to know her 5 year old self and she'll change back."
"Are you talking to yourself?" Henry asked.
Regina spun to face him. "No. Of course not."
"Liar," Henry said, smirking at her. "I totally heard you."
Regina rolled her eyes. "Where's Emma?"
"Watching an old version of Sesame Street," Henry said. "She told me she's not allowed to watch TV for more than half an hour though, so you might want to hurry up."
"She's only allowed a half hour of TV?" Regina asked. "That seems a little strict."
"A little?" Henry asked. "Did you not see how polite she was? It's like it was drilled into her."
"I know," Regina said. She finished making the bed before turning again to Henry. "Why don't you go get ready for bed? I'll take care of her."
"Okay," Henry said. "Night mom."
Regina walked out of the room and was about to walk into the living room when she noticed Emma sitting at the bottom of the stairs. "What are you doing there?" Regina asked.
Emma jumped before standing up quickly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to block your path."
"It's alright," Regina said gently. "Henry just told me that you were watching TV, so I expected to find you in the living room."
Emma nodded. "I was watching it, but I got bored, so I decided to wait for you. Is that okay?"
Regina's heart broke a little at Emma's response. "Of course that's okay. Come on, let's go upstairs. I prepared a guest room for you to sleep in."
"I get my own room?" Emma asked.
"Of course," Regina said. She reached down and grabbed Emma's little hand, pulling her gently up the stairs. They walked together to the guest room, and Regina tucked Emma in gently.
"Can I ask you a question?" Emma asked softly.
"You just did," Regina teased.
Emma giggled. "No silly. Another question."
Regina smiled before nodding. "Of course you can."
"Are you my new foster mommy?" Emma asked. "Cause I like you a lot better than the other ones that I've had."
"What were your other ones like?" Regina asked.
"Mean," Emma said, looking down at her hands. "They're all so mean to me. I never do anything right. And I can't ask for anything or they call me greedy or needy. I always have to look my best and act like a lady. But they never pay any attention to me. I know that they don't love me."
Regina bit her lip to keep from crying. "I don't know how long that you're going to be here. But while you are, I'm going to take the best care of you that I can."
Emma nodded in satisfaction before snuggling underneath the covers. "One more question."
"Sure," Regina said. "One more, and then you have to go to sleep."
"Okay," Emma agreed. "Who are you married to?"
Regina looked at her in surprise before remembering that she was technically married to the little girl in front of her. "Um. Well, I'm married to a very nice woman. But she's not home right now."
"You're married to another woman?" Emma asked with wide eyes. "My foster mommy wouldn't like that. She says that marriage is just for a woman and man. Like Adam and Eve."
Regina winced. So that was why Emma had such a hard time when their relationship had first started. "Some people think that. But we don't listen to them."
"Okay," Emma said, pulling the covers tighter around her. "Goodnight Regina."
Regina was making pancakes the next morning as Emma came downstairs. "Morning."
"Hey there," Regina said. "You're back to your normal age."
"What do you mean?" Emma asked. "I haven't changed ages. Although it is weird that I woke up in the house. The last thing that I remember is leaving the house after our argument."
"You don't remember anything else?" Regina asked.
"No," Emma said. "Why? What happened?"
"You turned yourself into a 5 year old by accident," Regina said. "Snow and David found you, but gave you to me to take care of."
Emma's eyes widened. "I didn't do that. Please tell me I didn't actually do that."
Regina put down her spatula before walking over to Emma. "It wasn't that big of a deal. You were actually a really cute 5 year old."
"Thanks," Emma mumbled. "That makes me feel so much better."
"Relax," Regina said soothingly. "You didn't say anything embarrassing. Although you did act really jumpy."
Emma sighed before running her fingers through her hair. "That's why I turned into a 5 year old. I told you that you had no idea what I was like back then. Stupid magic."
Regina smiled at her. "Stupid magic that just showed me something new about you. Why didn't you tell me that you had such terrible foster families?"
Emma shrugged. "It didn't seem important. It's all in the past."
"If you had told me I wouldn't have thrown it at you like that," Regina said. "I didn't realize-"
"Stop," Emma interrupted. "This is why I didn't tell you. We argued, and we both said things that we didn't mean. But I don't want you to treat me differently. Everything that happened to me happened for a reason. I wouldn't change a thing."
Regina nodded before pulling Emma to her and kissing her. "I love you."
"I love you too," Emma said. "Now get back to making your pancakes. Those things are amazing."
"Yes ma'am," Regina said. "By the way, you totally had a crush on me."
"I did not!" Emma said.
"How would you know?" Regina asked. "You can't remember anything."
"What did I say?" Emma asked.
"You told me that I was very pretty," Regina said, smirking. "And then you asked who I was married to."
Emma groaned before hitting her head with the palm of her hand. "Great."
Regina laughed. "I thought it was cute. And it made me love you even more."
"Doesn't make it any less embarrassing," Emma mumbled. "By the way, please tell me that Henry didn't see me when I was little."
"Morning!" Henry said, walking into the room. "Hey ma, you're back to your normal age."
Emma groaned again before plopping into a nearby chair. "I'm never going to live this down."
This chapter was sooo long. I liked it though!