In honor of school starting for me, I'm making Ava and Henry start school as well. Swan-Mills fam is featured :) This is set shortly after they adopt Ava.
Ava had refused to pack her backpack. Emma and Regina had ended up packing it for her, hoping that they had put whatever she was going to need in there. They didn't want the day to be more traumatic than it already would be.
Henry had promised to stay by Ava for as long as he could, but they were in different grades. He couldn't stay by her the whole time. He had tried to reassure Ava that she would make friends quickly, and that everyone was very nice.
Regardless, Ava was still hesitant to go. Not really hesitant, more like refusing. She had sworn the night before that they wouldn't make her leave her room, no matter what they said or did.
"What do we do?" Regina asked, playing with one of the zippers on Ava's backpack. "I don't want to force her to go."
"But you know that she has to," Emma said. "She's just hesitant to leave us right now. She finally has a family."
"It's not like we're going to disappear while she's at school," Regina said.
Emma looked at her sadly. "She doesn't think that."
Regina's eyes widened. "She really thinks that we're going to leave her? Why would we do that?"
"I'm not saying that we would," Emma said. "I'm just saying that that's what she thinks. She's been abandoned so many times, that she's scared to leave."
"That's awful," Regina breathed.
Emma grabbed her hand, squeezing gently. "Believe me, I know. But we just have to show her that we're not going anywhere."
Regina opened Ava's door, wincing as it creaked. Ava shifted before waking up. Both she and Emma were extremely light sleepers. Must have something to do with always being around people that you didn't trust.
"Morning," Regina said gently, pulling the covers down until she could see Ava's face. "It's time for school."
Ava shook her head. "I'm not going."
"And I'm telling you that you are," Regina said. "I promise that it'll be fine. Like Henry said, I'm sure that you'll make friends in no time."
"I'm not going," Ava repeated.
"We're not going anywhere," Emma chimed in, coming to stand next to Regina. "We'll still be here when you get home."
"How can you be sure?" Ava asked. "That's what a lot of people have said before."
"I know," Emma said. "But we're not like other people, now are we?"
Ava laughed. "No, you're definitely not. That's for sure."
Regina chuckled. "See? You have nothing to be worried about."
"Okay," Ava said. "I guess that I'll go to school."
Regina and Emma shared a glance before smiling at each other. They both turned back to Ava. "That's our girl," Regina said.
Henry came walking into the room. He took in Ava still in her bed before sighing dramatically. "You're not even out of bed yet?"
Guys I hit 100,000 words! Woot!