Chapter Three- Caterpillar

Emma had woken up on the couch from her nap to a dim room. Not being able to recognize her surroundings, she whimpered slightly before biting down harshly on her pacifier. Her Momma didn't like it when she cried. She quickly glanced around the room and noticed the drawn shades that had peaks of light peaking out. When she moved slightly she realized she had accidentally soiled herself in her sleep. What if the lady got mad and hit her just like the other man? Quickly she slid off the couch and walked slowly towards the door. Maybe if she could go outside the lady wouldn't find her. She could hear various background noises and she felt the ground vibrate slightly when she had finally reached for the knob. A pair of hands quickly scooped her up, but the little girl fought against her.

"Nnnnnoooo!" Emma said one of the few words that she knew and Regina was surprised at how nasally the child sounded.

"Emma stop it right now! You can't go outside." Regina told the flailing child as Henry skipped in.

"Mama she can't hear you." Henry reminded her before walking around the face Emma. When Emma shifted in her arms to get a better look at Henry, she could feel the girl's soiled underpants and winced at the thought of her couch. Turning the girl to look at her, she was surprised to see fearful green eyes looking back at her until Ruby's words came back to her. Walking Emma over to the couch she sat on the opposite side or the wet spot and had the little girl stand on her legs. The little girl eyed her mouth intently, hoping to pick up on Regina's mood.

"Can you understand me?" Regina asked slowly, watching Emma's lips quirk slightly. The blonde's pudgy hands patted her on the mouth before she looked towards the couch.

"Pwootttyyy!" Emma's voice sounded weird to Regina's ears, and she briefly wondered if the child knew how she sounded.

"Yes, you went potty on the couch." Regina said when the girl looked back at her mouth.

"bwad Mema?" Emma's bottom lip pouted as her hands came down to protect her butt.

"I'm not gonna hit you Emma. We're going to change and get some food in your belly." Regina tickled the little girl but Emma still flinched slightly causing a pang in Regina's chest.

"Come sweet girl." Regina tickled her once more, earning the giggle she wanted from the first time. She walked to the upstairs bathroom by Henry's bedroom before drawing the water. She decided against adding bubbles, not wanting to irritate the girls sensitive skin or her bruises. Henry came clambering in the bathroom with several toys suited for water playing before Regina told him to go watch a movie in her room. Turning off the tap, she looked at Emma who was leaning against the edge of the tub trying to touch the water with her hand. She was surprised when Emma turned to her with a huge grin. The little girl placed her three fingers in front of her face and tapped her chin several time before her nasally voice broke Regina's confused train of thoughts.

"Wa-ta! Wa-ta!" She kept hitting her chin with the three fingers as Regina slipped her dress off her head.

"Yes Emma, the tub has water." Regina nodded but was uncertain about how she was going to take off Emma's bandages.

"WA-TA!" Emma screamed causing Regina to flinch. Slowly she began unravel the gauze, gasping when she saw the thick scabs that were healing on Emma's legs and the deep purple, yellow, green and red stained skin. She could tell just by looking at them wounds that it didn't all happen at once, her skin was in various stages of healing.

"Bwad Mema!" Emma's hands went to protect her bottom once more as Regina pushed several loose curls out of her face. Making sure the little girl was looking at her she shook her head.

"No Emma, your not bad. The man who did it was bad." Regina couldn't tell if the young girl could understand her or not so she opted for just lifting the girl into the tub after removing the soiled underpants. She quickly filled a cup up with water an carefully dumped it on the little girl's head, trying her hardest not to get the girl's hearing aids wet. She wondered if she should just take them out, surely water wasn't good for them but when she went to grab them Emma screeched like a banshee and even tried to bite her.

"Emma that was not nice." Regina gently scolded the pouting girl when she heard the door bell ring. She was torn between ignoring it or taking Emma out of the tub to go answer it but the child wasn't cleaned yet.

"I gots it!" Henry called out and she could hear him running to go answer it.

"Stop running! Ask who it is before you open the door!" Regina called out after him, hearing him say 'Yes Mama' before he asked loudly 'Who is it?'

"Mama its Roobee!" Henry's completely butchered the girls name.

"You can let her in!" Regina called back. She could hear the two converse before she heard their footsteps coming up the stairs and into the bathroom. Regina was just watching Emma splash about, trying to make sure the little girl didn't drown when she heard Ruby click her teeth before rapidly approaching Emma in the tub. Quickly she plucked out the two hearing aids, ignoring Emma's protest before she deposited the two purple objects in Regina's hands before turning on Emma. Her hands did several blunt thrust as she spoke firmly to the little girl, silencing the tantrum.

"Stop it Emma! You know better!" Ruby frowned when the girl poked out her lip and began to sniffle. Ruby sighed before turning to Regina.

"They aren't water proof and they are expensive as hell." Ruby informed her, before wincing when Henry repeated the word.

"Hell hell hell!" Henry grinned but stopped when his mother glared at both of them. He had been standing outside the door, not wanting to invade Emma's privacy as his mother would call it.

"I'm not going to remind you child are sponges and they soak up every little thing you do." Regina told the brunette in front of her who grinned sheepishly.

"I heard she had an accident. Is she clean yet?" Ruby asked rocking on her heels.

"No, I wanted to let her play for a bit." Regina frowned as Emma sulked in the tub, no longer playing with the toys.

"She feels weird without them in. If there is one thing Mary-Margret did right by the little girl, it was making sure she wore them and got used to them early on. Some kids hate wearing them." Ruby shrugged before grabbing a clean rag and dipping it into the water. Finding some watermelon scented soap, she carefully cleaned the girl trying hard to ignore her whimpers when she cleaned the back of her legs.

"How well can she hear? She seemed to understand some of what I said earlier but I'm not sure how much." Regina asked.

"The aids help amplify her hearing. She can hear fairly well if you are around 15 feet in front of her, and she is good at following peoples lips if she knows the words. She likes feeling vibrations, so your foot steps. It's a different kind of hearing for her. Without them, she is very hard of hearing almost completely deaf." Ruby said rinsing the girls hair and body of suds as Regina passed her a towel. Wrapping the three year old up, she chuckled when Emma placed a slobbery kiss on her cheek.

"She is good at picking up emotions. That is her version of an apology, since her hands aren't free" Ruby explained as Emma snugged deep into her chest.

"What does this mean?" Regina mimicked the sign Emma had done earlier causing a grin to break out on Ruby's face.

"Water, its her favorite sign. She is like a little fish but she doesn't swim so good yet." The taller woman replied.

"So she does sign language? Is that something me and Henry will have to learn?" Regina asked.

"That depends on you, I'm mean you don't plan on keeping her but it might make your time easier if you learn a few basic ones." Ruby shrugged before going to the bags she had brought upstairs. There were at least six large bags filled t the brim with clothes, toys, blankets and it looked like snacks for the little girl and a couple of things for Henry.

"You bought all of this? Do you do this for all the kids on your case load?" Regina asked raising an eyebrow.

"Not all of them are like Emma. I only have four kids on my load right now, we live in a small town. Two of the kid's age out in a couple of months and have been with same families for years, the other is in the process of getting adopted and then there's Emma. She was alone for so long, trapped with an addicted mother and the first thing I do is put her in an abusive home." Ruby shook her head in disgust. She had slipped on a nighttime diaper on the toddler before sliding on a pair of Disney princess panties.

"A diaper and underwear?" Regina frowned when she thought about how ridiculous it seemed.

"She may be small and a little behind but she is just like every other three year old who wants big girl undies." Ruby grinned at the little girl before putting a plain white t-shirt over her head, and tearing the tag's off a lavender footie pajama set.

"We need to put her bandages back on. They help to stop from opening the scabs." Ruby said when Regina didn't respond. She showed her how to wrap Emma's legs before putting the girl in the size 2t pajama set, frowning at how baggy it was still. Emma began tapping on her ears, demanding she be given her aids back as Regina passed them to the other woman.

"And there! You've got a happy and clean kid on your hands!" Ruby kissed Emma's cheeks causing the girl to laugh loudly. Regina was caught in between staring at how beautiful the brunette was and how adorable Emma looked when she was so happy.

"Well it seems I do." Regina's lips quirked as Emma toddled over to her, holding her hands up to be held. Regina obliged and instant Emma wrapped her arms around her neck before laying her head on her shoulder.

"She likes you." Ruby noted causing Regina to smirk.

"Well what's not to like?" Regina flirted causing Ruby to flush a light pink before she coughed.

"Mema eat?" Emma asked her fingers pressed tightly together at the fingertips before she touched them to her mouth three times. Ruby mimicked the sign for Regina.

"That means to eat. She saying she's hungry" Ruby told her as Regina nodded on. When Ruby went to take the young girl from Regina, both of the held on tighter as Emma protested.

"Nooooo! Mine!" Emma batted Ruby's hands away causing Ruby to chuckle.

"Well it looks like she has already laid claim on you." Ruby smirked and for the first time since she found out about the little girl, she felt her heart warm just a bit for her.