This chapter is for Post13writer with the prompt: "Absorbing"

Emma jolted awake as she felt Regina bolt up, panting. Another nightmare. Sitting up, Emma wrapped her arms around Regina before pulling her close.

"Sorry for waking you up," Regina mumbled.

"No need to apologize," Emma said. "I'm always here for when you need me."

Regina sighed. "I still feel bad about it. It's like you never sleep anymore because of me."

"So let's stop the nightmares," Emma suggested. "There has to be some kind of spell that would connect us so that I could see whatever it is you're dreaming about. Maybe sharing it will take some of the weight off of you."

Regina looked at her with wide eyes. "Are you crazy?"

Emma smiled at her. "I thought we had already determined that I am. But I'm serious. You helped me with my magic once, now let me help you with your nightmares."

"Absorbing some of your magic is different than sharing my nightmares," Regina argued. "Trust me, you don't want to see what I dream about."

"But I do," Emma countered. "You don't have to do this alone. Let me help."

Regina bit her lip before nodding. This normally wouldn't be possible, but your True Love could connect to you in a way no one else could. She had read about the spell one day when she had stolen her mother's spell book, hoping to memorize everything in it before she was found out. This was one of the spells that she had memorized.

Pulling out of Emma's embrace, Regina took Emma's hand and pressed it gently to her forehead. Emma looked at her in confusion until she felt the magic and love rippling through her.

"What was that?" Emma asked as Regina finished the spell.

"That would be the spell to allow you to see my dreams," Regina said. "True Love is a powerful thing."

Emma smiled. She loved hearing Regina talking about True Love. "So let's get back to sleep."

Regina sighed before lying back down. "I warned you about what you're about to see. But just as another warning, what you're about to see is not your typical nightmare."

"What is it then?" Emma asked, already half-asleep. She almost didn't hear Regina's response.

"A memory."

Regina ran into her room, quickly hiding under her bed. This was where she used to hide when she was younger, but she still fit and had decided to hide there again.

She hadn't meant to spill the tea onto her dress. The teapot had just been hotter than she was expecting, and she had dropped it, spilling tea everywhere. Her mother had been furious, so Regina had fled from the table before Cora could do anything.

The door to Regina's room flew open with a bang, and Regina had to cover her mouth to keep from whimpering. Her mother was scary, and not in a normal way.

Cora walked around the room, searching for her daughter. There weren't very many places that Regina could hide in her room, but lately she had been getting more creative. She had almost gotten away once before she had made the floorboard creak.

Hiding under her bed, Regina watched Cora's feet as they began to leave the room. Would she actually get away with spilling the tea? If Cora didn't find her, she could climb out her window and run for it. She would be free.

Suddenly, Regina felt herself being pulled out from under her bed by magic. She screamed in surprise before looking up at her mother, who was glaring at her with hate.

"You thought that you would get away this time, didn't you?" Cora taunted, looking down at her daughter.

Regina shook her head, but she knew that the answer would be evident in her eyes. She really had to work on her poker face.

Cora reached out and Regina felt magic close around her throat, cutting off her air. She reached for her throat, as if trying to fight off the invisible hand that was there. Black spots started to dance across her vision, before the darkness overcame her.

Emma bolted upright, gasping for air. Regina sat up next to her, also breathing heavily. "Told you that you didn't want to know what my nightmares were about," she teased.

"How can you even joke about that?" Emma asked. "She was choking you!"

"I wasn't joking," Regina said. "I was trying to lighten the mood. And trust me, that's only a piece of what she did. That's just what she did the most."

"What else did she do?" Emma asked.

Regina shrugged. "Everything she did, she did with magic. That way it never left scars that others would see, but it would still hurt."

"How often did she do that?" Emma asked.

Regina didn't even hesitate with her answer. "Everyday."

Emma's jaw dropped. "What?"

"Everyday," Regina repeated. "Some days it was only once and she would leave me alone. Other days, it would be several times."

"How could she do that to her own daughter?" Emma asked.

Regina grabbed her hand and intertwined their fingers. "Because I wasn't her daughter. Not really anyway. She didn't have her heart, so she couldn't feel love. It's easier to hurt someone when you don't love them at all."

"That's awful," Emma said.

Regina smiled at her sympathetically before gently squeezing her hand. "The spell wears off after one use, so you won't have to go through it anymore."

Emma bit her lip before looking at Regina hesitantly. "Is there any way to make it permanent?"

Regina's jaw dropped. "What?"

"Is there any way to make the spell permanent?" Emma repeated. "So that I see your dreams every night."

"No," Regina said. "Absolutely not."

"There isn't one, or you don't want to?" Emma challenged.

"Both," Regina said. "The spell is only temporary, and I definitely don't want you in my dreams every night."

"Why not?" Emma asked.

Regina sighed. "Because the nightmare that you witnessed tonight was one of her good days. And then there are the nightmares about Leopold. I stand by my views of absolutely not."

Emma sighed before flopping dramatically onto the bed. Regina chuckled and rolled her eyes before lying down next to her.

"I'm not showing you for your protection," Regina whispered. "I don't want you to see all that I went through."

"But that's the funny thing," Emma whispered back. "When you love someone, you want to help them. Even if it is absorbing some of their pain from nightmares."

Regina looked at her in shock. "Okay."

Emma smiled. "So the spell can be permanent?"

"No," Regina said. "But I can choose how long that temporary is."

Emma smiled before kissing her. "Let's battle some nightmares."