A/N: I want to say THANK YOU to everyone who has taken the time to read this story, review, favorite, and follow it. I hope that this chapter is to your liking. :-) Also HUGE THANK YOU to everyone for their contributions to Swan Queen Week and for the lovely leader of this wonderful week for their hard work. Hopefully this will become a lovely tradition that gains even more popularity as it continues.

Kid!Swan Queen

"How?" Henry asked as he stared up at his mother, hopeful she had some clue.

Regina's jaw was open and her eyes wide, uncertain. She couldn't take away the worry in Henry's blue-green eyes anymore then she could her own.

"I, I don't know." She had never seen something like this happen so quickly, so painlessly. Emma didn't have the training to transform on her own. It was a learned ability that took practice to master and often hurt the first few times. This was no ordinary transformation spell though. There was no recognition in the eyes staring at her. None, at all.

It also didn't appear to be painless, as there were tears in the big wide blue-green eyes.

The blonde was fiddling with her fingers as she stared at Regina. It was as she started to chew on the inside of her lip that Regina had to keep mum. The woma…girl was adorable. Precious. So very precious. She looked completely lost and unaware of what was going on around her, which endeared her to Regina even more.

Emma's head tilted to the side as she stared at the people around the room. Why were they looking at her like that? She sniffed in through her nose and used the back of her hand to wipe at her nose.

"Can you fix this?" The man asked as he stared at the tall lady in front of her next to the boy. The boy looked scared. She wondered if he was lost too.

Regina looked to Charming baffled. "I don't know. It seems each symptom wears itself out. Rather quickly too. We shouldn't have long to wait before it rights itself again."

Emma sniffled again as she stared up at all the people around her. She rocked back and forth on her feet. The last thing she remembered was that nice lady from Social something coming to get her. She was going to a new home. Maybe she had fallen asleep and this was her new home. The tall brunette looked like she was in charge. Maybe she was her new person from Social something or other. The boy seemed to stick close to her.

"Is she sick?" Emma asked as she pointed to the woman on the floor.

"No, she just fainted." Henry answered his mom, and cringed. He was really going to need therapy after all of this was over. Maybe he could call and make an appointment a head of time with Archie.

"Oh." Emma saw cartoons faint all the time. She was sure the woman would get up soon. Just like in the cartoons.

"Where am I?"

"You're home." Henry supplied since Emma was looking right at him at the question.

"Oh." Emma whispered, biting at her thumb nervously as she shifted forward and backwards.

David looked at the little girl standing in front of him. His little girl. She couldn't be more than six years old with long blonde hair done up in pig tails and a yellow sundress with orange spots. She was adorable. And she bit her fingers, like he used to as a kid.

This is what Emma had looked like when she was six, or younger. The little angel in front of him was his baby girl, as a little girl. The little girl he didn't get to raise and watch grow up because of the woman standing beside his grandson. He gritted his teeth.

"How long?" David asked as he settled Snow's head on his lap and glared at Regina. Placing blame.

"I…" Regina shrugged her shoulders helplessly.

"How long, Regina!?" David hissed angrily.

Regina's shocked silence grated on his nerves. This was his daughter they were talking about and he had no way of helping her. He was her father and he had to rely on the one person he hated most to help him, help Emma.

It infuriated him. Because, because a part of him didn't want Emma to get older again. A part of him wanted Emma to stay the precious little girl in front of him so he and Snow could raise her themselves, like they were supposed to. And that made him feel awful and guilty and angry at himself more than anything. Because Emma wasn't a little girl anymore. She was a grown women who had already grown up—without them—and had a child of her own that she needed to be here to raise.

Regina was just an easy target. She always had been.

"Leave her alone!" Emma stomped her feet as she moved to stand in front of Regina. Her feet were in Disney Princess sneakers, with velcro fastenings.

David tried to calm Emma down, sure that he could. He was her father. He could handle this. "Emma, sweetie I wasn't…"

"I'm not your sweetie!" Emma scrunched up her face and glared at David. Her face became bright red and blotchy like a child's could be as they got angry. Her tiny hands were fisted at her sides as she held David's eyes. "You, you big meanie!"

Regina clapped a hand over her mouth and bit into her bottom lip as hard as she could, nearly drawing blood, to keep herself from cackling at the sight of David. The brave Prince Charming being called a big meanie by his daughter.

"Oh my head…" Snow took that moment to begin to wake up. She clutched at her head and looked up at Charming confused. "What happened?" No one answered the woman, better to allow her to see what had happened with her own eyes.

Emma smiled as she watched the woman sit up. See, she so knew she'd wake up, just like in the cartoons.

They all knew when Snow caught up, Snow gasped as her eyes landed on the tiny blonde child standing in front of Regina protectively.

Henry was standing to Regina's right, staring at the little girl who was a few inches shorter than him. His eyes seemed permanently enlarged as he watched his mother-turned-six year old glare at her father, not knowing it was her father.

Snow sat up slowly and wondered what had happened to make Emma seem so angry. Her cheeks, they were so pudgy and Snow just…she just…tears sprang to her eyes. She covered her mouth with both hands as she stared at her little girl. She was so beautiful.

"She's so beautiful." Snow's voice was about three octaves too high as her tears began to fall down her cheeks in earnest.

Snow crawled over so she was kneeling in front of Emma. The girl only an inch taller than her mother in that position. Snow dropped her hands to her lap and stared into Emma's eyes, nibbling on her bottom lip like Emma had moments before. Without asking or warning Snow wrapped Emma in a tight hug, pulling the younger version of her daughter into her arms.

"Can't…breathe…." Emma croaked out as Snow squeezed her really tight.

"Oh, I'm sorry…" Snow apologized as she released Emma. Wrapping her arms tightly around herself instead as she watched Emma retreat behind Regina's legs.

Emma was quick to take three big steps away from Snow so she couldn't get her, and hid behind Regina. Peeking around the Mayor's leg to look at the crazy lady who'd hugged the air right out of her chest.

"Don't mind them dear, they're just overwhelmed to see you." Regina, the only one of the adults in the room with any experience raising a child, was quick to placate Emma's fear of her own parents.

"Who are they?" Emma asked as she took a hold of Regina's pant leg and stared up at her. She jutted her chin towards Snow and David, watching as the adults stood up to their feet slowly.

"They are…" Regina cringed, if only minutely, "Your parents."

Emma's eyes widened as she looked away from Regina to stare at the man and woman. "The meanie is my dad?" Emma whined, looking back to Regina for confirmation. Regina nodded once. "My real dad? Not just my foster dad?" Emma's voice was small as she asked the question, as if feeling silly for asking, because of course these weren't her real…

"Yes."

Emma twisted her head to look back at Regina so fast everyone else in the room was a little worried she might have pulled something.

"You're lying." Emma accused, though the accusation was weak as tears formed in the little girls blue eyes.

Regina didn't correct Emma's misinterpretation. She simply stared down into the little girl's eyes and tilted her head to the side, asking Emma silently: do you really think that?

"They can't be. They left me." Emma sniffled back her tears and she wiped at her nose with the back of her hand again. She came out from behind Regina's legs, but only to stand next to Regina. One of her hands still held fast to Regina's pants. The fabric clutched tightly in her small fist.

"It wasn't like that Emma."

"Oh yeah!? Well, what was it like?" Emma asked cause, she really didn't know what it would be like. She had wanted her parents to come and get her since she was old enough to realize that they weren't there. But she was old enough to know they left her. They left her and now they were back and that just made things so confusing because she was happy. So very happy that they came for her, but she was sad and angry too because they'd left her. And she didn't understand why.

"They were, in a very hard position, Ms. Swan." Emma looked to Regina with tear filled eyes. "It was impossible for them to keep you. But they are here now. And they love you."

"Yes, yes, we do, we love you so much." Snow picked up where Regina left off, reaching out and stepping towards Emma, only to shrink back when Emma sided up tighter against Regina.

Snow and David both looked like they were meeting Emma for the first time. Again. It made Regina's heart ache for the two of them. She was a parent. She knew what it was like to meet a child that didn't know you. What it was like to be taken away from them. She knew now that it was a curse far worse than she could have ever imagined.

However, they had chosen to send Emma away so she could break the curse. Regina had no intentions of killing Emma as an infant. She had thought about making Snow and Charming watch as someone else raised their daughter. At that point in her life Regina wouldn't have been able to raise a child. She wasn't in the right frame of mind then. She hadn't the love in her heart needed to raise a child properly, but she wouldn't have killed Emma. Even if the girl was destined to destroy her curse. How could she when she would remain an infant for 28 years?

"You're my ma and pop?" Emma asked sniffling again as a few tears fell from her eyes.

"Yes…we are." Snow breathed out the response so softly it felt like a caress. David had an arm around the back of Snow's waist, looking like the perfect couple. Like in the movie Annie. Except they weren't fakes.

"Yeah, well…well what color is my blanket?" Emma asked turning so her body was facing Regina's right side and she could hold onto Regina's leg while she stared challengingly at Snow and David.

"Purple and white." Snow answered the question with a small smile, immediately. "I made the blanket myself. Your name is embroided on it, in purple."

Emma's eyes widened, because, well Snow was right. They knew. Maybe they really were her parents. Maybe she could be happy that they came to get her, because, well they finally came to get her.

Regina stood awkwardly in the midst of the conversation. Her leg held captive by the young girl. Emma was currently hiding her face against Regina's leg using her pants as a tissue. Regina tried not to think about that.

She was doing her best to try and block out this whole experience really. She couldn't understand why Emma was clinging to her, and not to Snow. No one ever thought of her as maternal. Even after raising Henry. She got along well with children, if a bit awkwardly, but they didn't run from her. Or they hadn't before the curse broke.

"They are your parents, Emma." Henry insisted as he looked at his mom.

"They are huh?" Emma asked as she pulled her face away from Regina's leg to look at Henry. "Are you my browther?"

Henry's eyes, if it were possible, got larger. He looked lost. How did he answer that question?

"He's my son, Henry." Regina saved Henry from his dilemma, making him sigh with relief.

"Ohw, Henry…" Emma tested the name and nodded her head twice, approving.

"I'm Sn…" Snow stopped. "Mary Margaret and this is David." Snow gestured to her husband who smile and waved at Emma anxiously.

Emma peered up at Regina, waiting for her to introduce herself as well.

"Regina."

Emma nodded, "Rehgeenaaah." Emma sounded out Regina's name slowly before smiling up at the woman whom she already liked for some strange reason. She normally didn't like people. Or strangers. But she liked Regina. And Henry. She wasn't too sure about the big meanie or Mary Margaret.

Emma pulled her hand up to her mouth and started to chew on her thumb while the rest of her fingers remained tight around Regina's pants.

"None of that." Regina reached down and tugged on Emma's hand to keep her from chewing on her thumb. Boogers were one thing. Drool was another. Saliva was…Regina had issues with saliva. Always had. It had been a rather adventures first few years as a mother when she constantly had to fight back her gag reflex when Henry began to drool excessively on her. It was fine when it was not on her person. She only had issues when there was too much of it and it touched her.

"Sowwy." Emma dropped her hand away from Regina's nice pants and wiped it on her dress.

"It's fine." Regina assured the nervous child at her feet. God, this was…she should leave.

The sound of Emma's stomach grumbling made Regina stare at the little girl's stomach. "You don't happen to have a lion in there, do you?" Regina asked on instinct, she used to tease Henry about the lion and tiger in his stomach as young boy as well.

Emma and Henry giggled. He obviously recalled her asking him the very same question.

"No, silly." Emma blushed, holding her tummy as she looked down at her shoes.

"No?" Regina seemed unbelieving. "Perhaps a tiger then?"

Emma shook her head excitedly from side to side as she laughed, "Noooo…I'm just hungry."

Snow cleared her throat, breaking the pleasant moment as she drew attention back to her and Charming who were still standing awkwardly in the doorway.

"We have breakfast downstairs." David offered.

"We have French toast and pancakes and eggs. I could, I could make anything you want." Snow seemed desperate, and maybe she was.

But Regina wondered what would happen when Emma returned to her adult self. Would she recall this, any of it? Would she appreciate knowing her parents got a small taste of what raising her would have been like? Or would she despise it as it was just a reminder of something they all didn't have?

Would this come back to haunt Regina? She didn't know, and as she watched Emma awkwardly move towards Snow, who held her hand out to the girl, she couldn't help but worry about it.

"Are you coming?" Emma asked when she and Snow reached the doorway. She stared at Regina and then Henry.

"I am. I'm hungry." Henry was quick to follow Snow and Emma downstairs.

"How long is she going to be like this?" David asked as he and Regina remained in the room.

"A few minutes more, hours, another day…I truly haven't any clue." Regina wished he could believe her.

"I think it would be best if you left then."

Regina regarded David defiantly, suddenly interested in staying just to piss him off. Then again, she didn't want to be here much herself, but she didn't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he 'made her leave'.

"Very well. Enjoy the time while it lasts. But do be careful. It would be a shame if Emma returned to herself and recalled all the horribly embarrassing things said and done."

David cringed, thinking about what exactly Emma might remember and how much of it. He left the room and joined his family downstairs, leaving Regina to see herself out.

Regina stood at the bottom of the while Henry and David set the table.

Snow was showing Emma where everything was and sitting her in her seat at the table that was apparently 'her' seat.

"Henry!" Regina called out, pulling Henry's attention away from his mission to grab the silverware from the drawer.

He rushed over to stand in front of his mom a big smile on his face. "This side effect is kind of creepy. But cool. You think she'll play video games with me?" Henry asked, peering over his shoulder to see Emma looking at them even while Snow talked to her.

Regina rolled her eyes, "She has always played video games with you." Why should she stop now when she actually had a valid excuse for playing them?

"Yeah, but this time I might be able to win!" He seemed very pleased about that, so Regina did not bother to tell him to go easy on Emma as she was 'younger' then him. The mere idea of it made Regina shiver uncomfortably. Besides, Emma had never gone easy on Henry in all the times Regina had seen them play or heard Henry's retellings of their 'game time'.

Regina cupped Henry's cheek and kissed the top of his forehead. "I am going to go back to the office, darling."

"You're not staying?" Henry frowned; he'd expected his mom to stay.

"No, I have some things to get done at the office. Now that Snow and Charming are here to take care of Emma, I need to get back." She didn't want to leave Henry here as well, but she feared she wouldn't be able to make him go with her.

"Oh, uh, okay." Henry nodded; ready to walk away when he stopped and hugged Regina tightly. "Love you mom."

Regina felt her heart stop beating for a moment. It still pleasantly surprised her when Henry expressed his love for her so openly. She wrapped her arms around him and closed her eyes against her tears. "I love you, Henry."

"Course you do." Henry grinned as he looked up at her, "I'm a lovable guy." The grin he sported was a replica of Neal's. Regina didn't appreciate it, but she couldn't hate it. It was her son's grin even if it did take after his biological father's.

Regina rolled her eyes, "Who has been influenced by Neal's insufferable charm it seems."

Henry laughed a little, "Maybe."

"If you need anything, call me."

"I will," He promised before he hugged Regina again, "Thanks for coming mom."

"Anytime Henry." Regina watched as he slipped back to get the silverware for breakfast.

Regina didn't say goodbye to Snow or David. She made her way to the front door. With one last glance at the group she smiled and made her way out of the apartment, content to know that Henry had wanted her to join them.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

It was hours later, while Regina was sitting at her home office that her phone rang. She stared down at the device with a grin. It was Emma's cell. It seemed this particular side effect must have worn off. Regina had to admit that she was curious to see what Emma remembered, if she remembered anything at all from her time as a child.

"Ms. Swan, how are you this afternoon?"

"Reh-Regina?"

Regina pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at it for a moment before bringing it back. "Emma?"

"Yeah…" There was sniffling coming from the other end of the line and what sounded like someone pounding on a door.

"Emma, sweetie." That was Snow.

"Emma open this door!" And Charming, being anything but charming.

"No! Go away you big meanie! Go away!"

"David, calm down."

"She needs to open this door. She's been in there for an hour."

"Yes, I know that David but yelling isn't going to help anything."

"I, I just don't understand." David sounded defeated, and so very lost.

It would appear that this particular side effect had not worn off.

Regina wondered where Ms. Swan was that she was able to lock herself in for an hour. Regina thought David would have broken down the door already, no matter what room Emma locked herself in.

"Regina?" Emma whispered into the phone. The sound was a bit distorted.

"Yes, Ms. Swan?"

Emma giggled, "No one calls me Ms. Anything."

Regina pinched the bridge of her nose, trying her best to refrain from finding this younger version of Ms. Swan as adorable as she truly was.

"Where are you, Mmm…Emma?"

"Hiding."

"Where are you hiding?"

"In the closet."

Regina pinched her nose tighter and bit into her tongue for a moment to bring her mind out of the inappropriate place it had just gone. "Why are you hiding in the closet?" And how did she know how to operate a cellphone?

"To hide from my parents."

"Emma? Emma who are you talking to?" Snow asked, not unkindly.

"Go away!" Emma yelled, supposedly at the closet door she was hiding behind. No wonder why Charming hadn't broken it down. He'd run the risk of hurting Emma if he did.

"Why are you hiding from your parents?"

"Because…"

Regina ran her hand up into her hair and tussled it a bit. She needed to remain calm. Emma was only six years old, maybe even younger. It wasn't as if the girl was deliberately giving her one word answers. Still, Regina was going to need more than that.

"Because why?"

"They're mean. And I don't like them." Emma sniffled. Helplessly Regina listened as Emma's sniffles turned into sobs. "I don't like it here."

"Regina, lover, you in here?" Tink walked into the office but stopped when Regina held up a single finger to hold the fairy at bay for a moment.

"Who's that?" Emma asked, obviously hearing Tinkerbell's voice through the phone.

"No one."

"Someone's there though, I heard them."

"Emma, sweeit, who are you talking to?"

"Maybe she's talking to herself." Regina grinned at the sound of Henry's voice coming through the line.

"Okay, Emma you need to open this door. Right this instant." Snow's voice was demanding and took upon a tone Regina often heard from the younger woman.

"I thought you said we needed to be calm." David pointed out, and Regina imagined Snow sparing him an evil glare.

Amusing as this all was, she still didn't know what Emma wanted or what Emma expected her to do. Come and get her? Snow would kill her and Regina wouldn't even hold it against her.

"What do you want, Emma?"

Tink's ears perked up at Emma's name, her eyes glowering at the phone in Regina's hand. She crossed her arms tightly across her chest and tapped her foot impatiently. Tink was so sick and tired of Regina's life revolving around Emma Swan.

"Can you…can you come back?"

Well, at least Emma didn't want her to take her away.

"Please?" Emma pleaded, the sniffling began again and Regina's heart broke as she imagined the tears falling down pudgy cheeks.

"Emma, please honey, open the door." Snow sounded desperate, probably more heartbroken at the sound of Emma's sobs and sniffles than Regina.

"I shall be there soon. Will you consider letting your parents in?"

"No. Not until you get here."

Regina sighed, "Very well."

Regina hung up, promising Emma three times that she would be there, but she had to hang up the phone first.

"So, off to save the Savoir again, huh?" Tink asked as Regina stood from her desk.

"Tink, please don't be like that I…"

Tinkerbell held up her palm, she didn't want to hear anymore of Regina's excuses. Maybe she was being petty, but she could feel the pull that existed between Regina and the White Princess. It frightened Tinkerbell. The thrall between the two women was a threat to the relationship—her first relationship in a very long time.

Regina walked over to Tinkerbell and tried to kiss her lips, but at the last moment Tink turned her head, offering Regina her cheek.

"I won't wait up." Tink promised as she spun on her heel and marched away.

Regina sighed as she watched her lover leave. A small part of her wanted to go after Tinkerbell and talk to her to assure her that this was only temporary. But a larger part of her recognized that this wasn't temporary.

They would need to talk after this was all finished. Regina just wasn't sure how to go about that talk. She'd never had a lover she could reveal the true nature of her feelings to before. And telling Tink that she was in love with Emma was only fair.

It would then be Tink's decision on whether or not to continue in their relationship. A relationship that Regina would promise to put her all into, because her love was unrequited, and sooner or later she would learn to accept that and move on.

With a heavy sigh Regina disappeared from her home and materialized inside Emma's apartment.

"Oh, you're here!' Henry hung up his phone and ran over to Regina, almost exactly as he had this morning, except this time his hair was combed and he was dressed for the day. "I was just going to call you. Emma's locked herself in the closet and won't come out."

"So I heard."

"You did?" Henry asked as he led Regina into his bedroom. It was a mess. Just as Regina expected. If she'd had the time she'd pick up a bit, or tell Henry to, she would have.

As it was, Snow was rushing over to her with a pleading expression upon her face. "You have to help us get her out of there. She's been in there for over an hour."

David glared at Regina as she made her way over to Henry's closet. Wondering what had happened that caused Emma to run and hide in the closet and dislike her parents so much she'd refuse to come out.

"What do you expect me to do?"

"I don't know, anything. Please, she says she'll only talk to you." Which hurt Snow, but she couldn't think about that pain right now. She had to focus on getting Emma out of that closet.

"I thought these side effects weren't long lasting. That's what you said, isn't it?" David asked, obviously looking to point blame on her. He was frustrated, so Regina let it slide. Like she always did.

"I also said I had no idea what could or would happen." Regina wiggled her fingers as if to remind the Prince what had happened to her that very morning.

Snow glared at David before turning pleading eyes back on Regina.

Regina sighed as she squeezed between the two idiots and knocked on the closet door. "Emma? I've arrived. Just like I promised. Can you open the door now?"

"Are the others gone?"

"No, they are still here." Regina looked at David and then Snow.

"Make them go away. Then I'll let you in."

Regina squinted at the door. "The deal, if I remember correctly, was that you would come out."

"Not yet. I needs to talk to you."

Regina looked over her shoulder at Snow and David and then pointedly looked at the exit.

"I'm not going any—"

"We'll go. We'll go." Snow promised, already tugging on David's arm to take him from the room. Henry followed after them and gave his mom a thumbs-up before closing his bedroom door.

"They're gone, Mmz…Emma. You can let me in now."

"You promise?"

"I swear."

A few moments later the closet door unlocked and opened the tiniest bit. Regina opened it completely and saw Emma was cramped in between piles of Henry's toys and clothes that he merely piled up, probably when he was supposed to clean. It looked cramped and as Regina stepped inside and Emma closed the door behind her, she realized just how cramped it was. Emma fit nicely inside but Regina had to bend awkwardly not to hit her head on the shelf above the clothes rack.

At least the light in the closet was working.

"Sit. Sit." Emma insisted, pointing to the cleared spot on the floor. Regina sat down, but to accomplish the feat she had to pull her knees up tightly to her chest and wrap her arms around her legs.

"Now, what is it that you wished to discuss with me, Ms. Swan?" And why oh why did it have to be here, in this small space?

Regina closed her eyes for a moment, breathed deeply, and tried to control her racing heart. She did not do well in cramped spaces. The only reason she was holding herself together was because of the light hanging above them, lighting the closet. Regina still had nightmares about the hours even days her mother would make her spend in the 'pit'. A dark crawl space with only enough room to stand hunched over and not even enough room to lie down. It was dark and damp down there and ever since Regina had panic attacks when in cramped dark spaces.

Emma was the only one who knew about her object horror and fear. They had been trapped in a cave in while running from the Shadow, in Neverland. The space they had to occupy together was larger than the 'pit' but not by much. They had been trapped inside that cave for two days. The only reason Regina left that cave alive was because of Emma. Emma kept her calm and used her magic to create light for as long as she could, for as long as Regina needed her to.

It was in that cave that Regina realized just how deep her feelings had become for Emma. Sadly, it was only nine short days later that they escaped Neverland and found Neal traveling with old friends of Emma's and Snow's in the Enchanted Forest.

"You're pretty."

Regina was snapped out of her thoughts by Emma's sudden and unexplained compliment. "Thank you…?"

Emma blushed as she kicked the tip of her shoe into the floor, scuffing it.

"Why am I here, Emma?"

"Because I was lonely." Emma whispered, staring at the floor.

"There are three people outside this door that would be more than happy to keep you company." And the two adults of the three were probably furious that Emma seemed to prefer her company to theirs. Internally Regina sighed; it would just be another reason why the love birds despised her. But after such a long list of faults what was one more?

"Yeah, I guess…but they're not." Emma sighed.

"Not what?"

Emma bit her bottom lip before being brave enough to look into Regina's brown eyes. "You."

Regina gasped, she couldn't help herself. Why was it that Emma's double and now her younger self were so interested in her? Why did they want to spend time with her, see her as something desirable and now pretty, but the 'real' Emma didn't?

Why couldn't this have happened months ago before they'd found Neal? Why couldn't Emma be brave like her double was and kiss her if she wanted to, or tell her she's pretty and she wanted to spend time with her like her younger self? Why was that so hard for Emma?

Then again…why was that so hard for Regina to admit as well? She had admitted her feelings to herself, sure. But she'd never said anything to Emma. She may have implied…once, but that was before Neal, before she realized that it was hopeless to have any type of feelings for Emma.

"It is time for you to come out of the closet, Ms. Swan." Regina cringed at the command but was firm in her resolve. She would physically drag Ms. Swan out of the closet—child or not—if she did not leave with her.

Regina stood up as much as she could, and prepared to leave, with or without Emma.

"Wait! Don't leave me." Emma begged as she grabbed a hold of Regina's hand and as Regina stared at the small appendage, it started to morph, and change, and grow.

Regina watched as before her the young child that had been there matured into an awkward pre-teen, then into a teenager braces and all, until finally she was staring at the tall, muscular blonde Sherriff she lo—liked.

"Owtch!" Emma grasped at her head as she bent low to keep from hitting her head against the shelf—again. "Head rush…" Emma muttered as she fell back against the wall of the closet and leaned heavily against it. "Uh…Regina?"

"Hmm?"

"Where are we?" Emma asked as she stared at their surroundings.

Regina smiled, she couldn't help it. "In the closet."

Emma sputtered, "What?"

Regina chuckled softly, "I'll explain, just as soon as we get out of here."

There was an urgency in Regina's voice that Emma understood immediately. Emma's eyes widened in understanding surprised that Regina was in this closet at all to begin with. As Emma looked around she realized it was Henry's closet. She really had to talk to the kid about how he cleaned his room, because this certainly wouldn't do. Not that she could talk about messy rooms. Though, her room had been almost presentable this morning.

"Right, yeah, let's talk after we come out of the clozz…" Emma stopped talking and cringed. "I didn't mean it like that." She practically begged Regina not to comment on her slip up, but by the twinkle she saw in Regina's eyes she knew it was only a matter of time before it'd come up, at just the right moment.

"Of course not, dear." Regina smirked evilly, "Of course not."

TBC…

What did you think of Emma as a kid? Let me know. :-) Thanks for reading. Till tomorrow.