Chapter 6

After lunch, they decided to head outside to the backyard. Emma refused the shoes Regina offered her, eyeing them with an adorably crinkled nose.

"Okay, you don't have to wear them," Regina just shrugged and ushered Emma outside behind Mal and Lily who were already heading out the door to the backyard.

Regina watched Emma carefully as the child padded across their back deck and hopped down onto the grass. The way she smiled contently, presumably at the feeling of the grass under her feet, made Regina smile too. Regina watched as Lily tapped Emma's shoulder and declared "tag", taking off. Regina wasn't sure Emma would know what to do but before she could take the three steps forward to explain the game to the child, Emma was already taking off after Lily, clearly understanding the rules. Regina tilted her head curiously, Mal coming up beside her and voicing the same thought she was having out loud.

"Do you think she learnt how to play tag before she got lost in that forest?" Mal asked.

"I don't know," Regina shrugged, looking over at her girlfriend, "Maybe. How long do you think she's been out there?"

Mal shrugged back, moving over to sit on the edge of deck, her feet resting on the lawn, "Clearly a while. You heard what she told Lily, she thinks she's five. She's got to be what? Nine? Ten? I just don't understand how she could survive out there by herself for that long."

Regina moved over to sit beside Mal, silent a long moment, "She says she wasn't...alone, I mean."

Mal quirked a confused eyebrow.

"Elliot, she said his name is Elliot," Regina clarified, "I'm not sure if he's a someone or a something. All she said was that he was her friend and that he got scared when he couldn't find her."

Mal frowned as she processed this information, "You don't think that maybe this Elliot is someone who took her do you? Kept her in the forest all this time?"

Regina's eyes widened in horror at that possibility, her eyes drifting to where Lily and Emma were still chasing each other, both girls giggling. She tilted her head back towards Mal, "I suppose it's possible...she didn't seem scared of this Elliot though, quite the opposite. And look at her. She looks pretty happy. Not like a kid who's been kept prisoner for years on end. And there weren't any bruises when I gave her that bath earlier..." Regina realized that she was rambling now but something about the possibility that something so horrible could have happened to the child who was already worming her way into Regina's heart was so beyond horrifying that she needed to convince, not Mal, but herself, that it couldn't be true. Otherwise she was going to storm the forest and find this Elliot and kill him herself.

Sensing Regina's distress, Mal reached over and patted her knee, "Hey, take a breath. You're right." Just like Regina previously, she turned her head to watch the girls, "It's probably not that."

Regina's gaze followed Mal's. It was almost stunning to watch Emma scramble barefoot up one of the few trees in their back yard with an effortless grace that made it seem like the easiest thing in the world, climbing higher and higher and higher. She glanced over at Mal a moment, smirking at how comically wide the other woman's eyes were as she watched the child's climb with surprise.

Lily stood at the bottom of the tree, hands on her hips, clearly not willing to venture into any more trees today. "Hey, no fair," Lily called loudly up to Emma, who was nearly at the top of the tree now, "You have to come down."

Emma stopped climbing instantly, letting go with one hand so that she could twist around to look at Lily. As she dangled with only one arm holding onto the tree, Regina's heart jumped into her throat, suddenly terrified Emma was going to fall, but she needn't be worried. Emma just shrugged and scrambled back down the tree as quickly as she'd climbed up, jumping down when she was a few feet from the ground with the same effortless grace she climbed with.

As soon as Emma's feet were on the ground, Lily reached forward and smacked her arm with a loud, "Tag, you're it!" and took off again.

Emma grinned and started to chase after her but then suddenly veered away, heading for Regina and Mal instead. She slowed to a halt in front of the two woman.

Regina and Mal shared a quick look and then Regina looked up at Emma, "Do you need something sweetheart?"

Emma shook her head, grinning impishly as she reached forward and bopped Regina's shoulder, "Tag," she giggled and took off like lighting.

Mal laughed loudly at the daring move. She liked this child. A lot.

Regina shook her head but she laughed too, hoisting herself up from her seat on the edge of the porch, preparing to chase after the girl. She spun to look back at Mal, "You know, if I can be tagged, so can you," she smirked, reaching down to shove Mal's shoulder before the other woman could wiggle away and then immediately taking off in the same direction that Emma had headed.

Regina's move was met by a roar of laughter from Lily and Emma, who had both stopped near the back fence and were just watching now.

"Come and get us mom!" Lily heckled, "Or are you too old and too slow to catch a couple of kids?"

Regina snorted, nearly choking on her laughter at Lily's words, as she too stopped near the back fence.

"Lillian Jane. Did you just call me old?" Mal pretended to be angry, stopping in the middle of the yard to put her hands on her hips, "And what exactly are you laughing at Regina?"

"Uh-oh," Regina waggled her eyes at Lily, "I think we're in trouble now."

Lily giggled louder, the giggle quickly turning into a screech as Mal started moving closer again. She darted away, just narrowly missing being tagged.

Mal spun away from Lily, her sights set on Regina, chasing her girlfriend around the yard but not managing to actually catch her, as Lily and Emma darted around them, also out of reach. After several minutes, both Mal and Regina stopped, facing each other, both panting from the exertion of full on sprinting.

"You aren't giving up are you?" Regina couldn't help but smirk teasingly.

Mal narrowed her eyes, but there was a twinkle in them, "You'd like that. Wouldn't you?"

Regina chuckled, "Maybe. This is pretty tiring."

Mal chuckled too.

Lily got closer, frowning at them, "What are you guys doing? Why'd you stop?"

Mal and Regina shared a look, all quirked eyebrows and head tilts as they communicated silently.

Before Lily could even realize what was happening two sets of arms were reaching for her, Regina holding her in place, and Mal tickling at her sides as she screeched and tried to get away.

"No fair, no fair, no fair," Lily flailed but couldn't figure out how to get away, "Emma! Help!" She screeched between giggles.

Emma watched from a few feet away, curious and confused about what was happening. Everyone was laughing, so she decided that this must be some game she didn't know. She hesitated when Lily called for help but when the same screeched plea came again, she darted forward, getting closer to the trio. Her forehead scrunched up as she tried to figure out how she could help, trying to sort out the rules of this new game. She thought that maybe jumping on Regina's back would work but before she could try it out, Regina was releasing Lily of her own volition. Emma wondered if maybe that meant this game was over but then suddenly Regina was reaching for her, spinning her around in a circle by the waist, and Lily was shouting loudly, "Tickle fight!", and then somehow all four of them ended up in a heap on the ground, and Emma was laughing so hard her tummy hurt.

It took four attempts for them to make it back up off the ground. Each time the tickle fight was declared over and they moved to get up, someone would reinitiate, and the giggling would start all over again. When they finally did get up, they went back inside to watch a movie.

Lily picked out the Lion King, thinking Emma would like that, and they all snuggled together on the couch, Lily and Emma in the middle, Mal beside Lily, and Emma beside Regina. Emma watched the TV with complete and utter fascination from the moment the movie started playing. Regina spent more of the movie watching Emma's reaction than she did watching the actually movie, the child shuffling closer and closer to the edge of the couch, literally sitting on the edge of her seat, as the film progressed.

When the movie was over, they sent Emma and Lily to play in Lily's room while they worked on dinner.

Regina was shredding cheese for the lasagna they were making when the phone rang. Mal picked it up but after a moment of silence while she listened to the speaker on the other end, and a, "One moment," spoken into the receiver, she held the phone out for Regina to take, mouthing, 'It's the sheriff'.

Regina's eyes widened in surprise, quickly wiping her hands and moving over to take the phone, holding it up to her ear, "Hello, Graham?"

"Hi Regina," the voice came back through the phone.

"What's going on?" She asked.

There was a brief pause before he spoke again, "We figured out where the girl came from. Had to go back quite a few years."

"Oh," Regina gnawed on her lip as she waited for Graham to continue.

"Yeah, uh, it was an accident, six years ago. They found the car off the side of the road. It had rolled down a hill into the forest. Her social worker died in the crash but the girl, Emma Swan, age four, was nowhere to be found. It's got to be her."

"Social worker?" Regina picked up on that detail as she tried to process what Graham was saying. Six years? Emma had been alone for six whole years? Since she was four. It seemed impossible. Not for the first time today she wondered how on earth the child had survived.

"Yeah. Poor kid has had a rough life. Abandoned on the side of the road when she was a newborn. Shuffled from foster home to foster home her whole life. Based on this report, her social worker was moving her to a new home the day of the accident."

Regina's heart clenched, her stomach knotting at this new information. That poor little girl. "Okay...well, thanks for calling."

"Yeah, of course. You'll bring her to the station in the morning, right? Social services says they should be here around ten to collect her."

Regina sighed. The thought of handing Emma over, especially now knowing that there was no family out there waiting for her to come home, made her feel vaguely nauseous. "Yes. We'll bring her." With another sigh, she hung up the phone, resting her head against the wall and closing her eyes. Within moments she sensed Mal's presence beside her, a warm hand slipping into her own, fingers lacing together and squeezing tight. Slowly she opened her eyes and looked over at the concerned blue eyes studying her.

"What did he say?" Mal asked quietly.

"Six years. She's been living in that forest for six years," Regina shook her head in disbelief.

Mal squeezed Regina's hand again, "What else?" She knew there was more, the look of sorrow on Regina's face couldn't be simply because of the duration of Emma's stay in the forest, not when they'd already suspected that she'd been there quite a while.

"She has no family, Mal. She's never had a family. She was abandoned as a baby and shuffled through the foster care system. How could life be so unfair to a child? She's such a sweet child. It's just not fair," Regina bit hard on her lip.

Mal said nothing, just squeezed Regina's hand tighter. Regina was right, it wasn't fair.

In Lily's room, Emma sat at Lily's desk, colouring with the crayons Lily had set out for her.

"What are you drawing?" Lily asked from her seat on her bed where she was reading a chapter book.

"Elliot," Emma looked up from her drawing and over at Lily, grinning.

Curious, Lily set her book aside, getting up from her bed and moving over to lean on the edge of the desk. She studied the nearly finished drawing, it was a large green thing with four legs and wings, "Is that a dragon?"

"What's a dragon?" Emma tilted her head curiously.

Lily pointed at the picture, "That's a dragon."

"Oh," Emma's forehead scrunched up as she considered that a moment and then with a shrug, she picked the green crayon back up and finished colouring in Elliot's legs.

"Emma…" Lily started carefully, a hint of hesitation in her voice. When Emma looked back over at her though, she continued, "Is Elliot your imaginary friend?"

The same curious but confused expression filtered over Emma's face, "What's an imaginary friend?"

"You know," Lily shrugged, "Someone you make up so that you don't have to be all alone."

Emma gnawed on her lip a moment, thinking hard. "Are they funny?" she finally asked.

"They can be."

"Can they fly?" Emma asked next.

Lily shrugged once more, "Sure. They can. They can do anything you want."

Emma thought a long moment before she asked her next question, "Are you imaginary?"

Lily was startled by the question, "No," she shook her head rapidly.

"Elliot isn't imaginary either," Emma offered surely in response.

Regina left Mal to finish the lasagna and headed up the stairs, having agreed that Emma needed to be spoken to, and that Regina should be the one to do it. She hesitated outside of the door of Lily's room, taking a deep breath before knocking on the door frame and poking her head into the room. Both girls looked over at her and she smiled at them, "Hey, Lil? Do you think I could have a moment alone with Emma?"

Lily looked between Emma and Regina and then she shrugged, snagging her book off the bed and heading out of the room.

Regina moved over and took a seat on the edge of the bed and patted the spot beside her, "Why don't you come sit here kiddo."

Sensing that something serious was going on, Emma hesitated a moment, but slowly she moved over and perched beside Regina on the edge of the bed.

Regina studied Emma carefully, trying to decide where to start. She reached over and tucked a piece of blonde hair that had fallen out of the braids she'd made earlier behind the child's ear. "Emma," she spoke carefully, her words quiet, "Do you remember how you got lost in the forest?"

Emma suddenly looked uncomfortable, her forehead scrunching but not in the usual adorably confused way, this was an unhappy frown. The truth was she'd forgotten things because she'd wanted to forget things. But being here today, in this place with so many new but not actually new things, had forced memories forward from her subconscious without her consent. They were memories that she didn't like. Not at all.

"Emma?" Regina prompted gently.

"I was bad," Emma whispered, her eyes dipping to the floor.

It was Regina's turn to frown but she quickly smoothed her features out, not wanting to discourage the child from continuing. "How so?" the question was delivered in the same gentle tone.

"I was too much trouble, I was always too much trouble," Emma looked up but she wasn't looking at Regina, she was looking past her, her words tumbling out in montone, "I had to go to another family...but then…" she swallowed, wide green eyes suddenly darting to look directly at Regina, pleading to be allowed to stop this retelling.

The sad pleading green eyes boring into hers made Regina's stomach clench. She reached forward and cupped Emma's face, rubbing the child's cheek gently with the pad of her thumb in a comforting motion, "You weren't bad sweetheart, I don't believe that. Those people. They just didn't deserve you. They didn't understand how special you are." How could someone make a child believe that they were bad? No child was inherently bad. Sometimes they made bad choices, sure, but that wasn't the same thing. And, sure, Regina had only known Emma one day but this blonde haired, green eyed, child had been nothing but sweet, and Regina could already feel herself starting to love the girl. How could anyone have ever given her back? Let alone multiple someones. "You know something, Emma?" Her hand moved from Emma's cheek to her shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze as wide green eyes eyed her earnestly, "I think you are the bravest girl I've ever known."

Emma gave her a shy smile at the compliment.

Regina returned the smile with a tender one of her own, wrapping her arms around Emma and pulling her into a hug, small hands clutching tightly at her back. Regina wondered how often in her life Emma had experienced someone holding her like this. The possibility that the answer was not often made the familiar ache return to Regina's chest. She kissed the top of Emma's head, "You won't be alone anymore, okay? I promise." It wasn't a promise she had any right to make but Regina couldn't stop the words from tumbling out of her mouth. She'd talk to Mal tonight. She couldn't hand Emma over to social services, she just couldn't. Surely they'd let them keep the child here, right?

Emma squirmed her way carefully out of the hug, eyeing Regina with confusion, "I wasn't alone."

"Elliot," Regina breathed out in understanding, studying those green eyes for a long moment before she asked curiously, "Emma? Who is Elliot?"

Regina watched confused as Emma hopped off the bed. The girl bounded over to the desk, snagged a piece of paper and then bounded back to Regina. She handed over the paper as she climbed back up onto the bed. "That's Elliot," she pointed to the green figure on the paper.

"A dragon?" Regina's brow furrowed. That couldn't be right, could it?

Emma shrugged. Lily had said the drawing was of a dragon but she didn't really know what a dragon was. "You'll see tomorrow…" she smiled but a sudden wave of worry made the smile fall, "You are coming with me to the forest tomorrow, right?"

For a split second Regina was confused but then she recalled the promise she'd made earlier that day - what felt like a lifetime ago. Slowly she nodded, "Yes, I'm coming with you."

Emma grinned brightly at the confirmation, clearly pleased. She said nothing for a moment and then, still smiling, she told Regina, "Elliot doesn't really like people but he's going to like you, I know it."

Regina smiled too. How could she not? Her heart fluttered and she reached over and pulled Emma into another hug, squeezing the child tight.

Deep in the forest, Robin groaned, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand as he glanced over at Zelena, "Can we go home? We've been looking for hours. Whatever knocked over that tree is long gone." The other men were quick to nod their agreement.

Zelena narrowed her eyes in Robin's direction. She was not a quitter. Why did she have nothing but a bunch of whiners working for her? She knew she was losing their interest though and it would be difficult to convince them to stay with dinner time rapidly approaching. She sighed, trying to decide how to concede without making it seem like she was giving up, when she heard a loud snap, the sound coming from nearby. Her head whipped in the direction of the noise, her eyes searching the forest. At first she thought maybe she'd imagined it but it was followed moments later by another loud snap. Her head whipped back to look at Robin, eyeing him and the other men fiercely, "Still think we aren't going to find it?"

Robin didn't respond, just lead the way in the direction the noise had come from, his hands clutched tightly to his riffle.