Chapter Eight- Caterpillar

They had gone to Regina's after leaving the diner, Ruby tagging along after the children begged her to stay. Dinner was a quiet affair, just plain spaghetti with asparagus on the side.

"Emma how's the pasta?" Ruby chuckled looking at the toddler covered in spaghetti sauce.

"More?" Emma tilted her head looking from Ruby to Regina. What she did next horrified them both, she took her small plate and leaned forward and licked it from top to bottom. Henry chuckled lightly before copying her.

"Is it good?" Regina asked taking the plate from the now pouting girl and refilling it with some noodles and sauce. Cutting the pasta in to manageable sized pieces she passed the plate back. Emma had caught the question and she nodded her head eagerly.

"Good Good Good!" Emma patted her stomach, getting small hand print sized spaghetti prints all over her white shirt.

"Somebody's gonna need a bath. Maybe two somebody's." Ruby laughed when she caught sight of Henry.

"Ruby are you having a sleep over?" Henry looked at her intently

"No Henry, I have to go to my own home to sleep." Ruby replied

"Why?" Henry asked

"Because that's where I live." She answered

"Why?" He asked again

"Because I pay rent to have my own home and my own place to stay." Ruby grinned

"Why?" Henry's expression was bored and it took Ruby a while to realize this wasn't going to end any time soon.

"Because that's what grown ups do." Ruby counter

"Why?" He leaned forward now, elbows pressed firmly to the table.

"Sometimes grown ups have to be alone. So they have their own space to go to." Ruby exhaled knowing that she was going around in circles with him.

"Why?" He continued to badger her.

"It's just something that we do." Ruby shrugged

"Why?" Henry asked.

"I don't know kid." Ruby gave up.

"Don't you like us?" Henry pouted, his bottom lip quivering

"Of course I like you guys!" Ruby said quickly

"You like me?" Henry pointed to himself

"Yes Henry, I like you." Ruby nodded

"You love Emma, she your baby?" Henry asked looking over to where Regina was wrestling Emma away from her plate while also trying to get sauce covered hearing aid's out of her ears. Regina sighed taking a deep breath only to realize Ruby and Henry were staring at them.

"What?" She sighed looking between them.

"Yes I love Emma." Ruby answered Henry's question.

"She's your baby?" Henry repeated the second part of the question.

"...I love her like she's my baby." Ruby replied carefully.

"You like my Mama?" Henry pointed his fork in Ruby's direction, watching the brunette blush.

"Henry that's enough, why don't you go brush your teeth and I'll start on your bath water." Regina took pity on the younger woman as she ushered her son out of the room.

"Can you give Emma a bath? Unless you have somewhere to be, I don't want to take up any more of your time." Regina ran a hand through her short hair.

"It's no problem." Ruby tried to wave her off.

"No seriously, if you have something more important to do then you can go do it. I don't want you to feel obligated to do things like this with us, just because you're worried I'll change my mind or something. I'm with both of these kids for the long haul but you, you're young. You should go out and have fun or something." Regina rambled

"I'm not here out of obligation. I'm here because I want to be. However if you want me to leave I can go." Ruby replied nervously shifting from foot to foot.

"I want you here." Regina admitted before she blushed deeply. Ruby took a step forward and she could hear Regina's sharp intake of breath before a thud and a shriek had them spring away. The shriek was followed by three seconds of silence before nearly the whole downstairs was filled with howling.

"MOMMY!" Emma screamed at the top of her lungs, and Ruby and Regina went rushing to see what had happened. Henry was awkwardly patting the girls shoulder while shushing her.

"Henry what happened?" Regina asked while Ruby went to scoop up the wailing toddler.

"It was an accident Mama, I swear!" Henry had his own tears streaming down.

"I just need you to tell me what happen baby boy, so I can fix it." Regina assured her son.

"I dropped her." He looked down at his feet, blushing.

"How did you drop her?" Regina asked, while Ruby tried to comfort the crying girl to no avail.

"It's a game. She jumps and I catch her. But she jumped before I was ready." Henry pointed to the third stair.

"She isn't hurt, I think she's just shaken up." Ruby assured her.

"Henry that was very dangerous, you aren't to do that anymore." Regina chastised the boy.

"Okay Mama." Henry wiped his eyes, looking over to a still blubbering Emma.

"Mommy, I want my mommy." Emma cried trying to wiggle out of Ruby's arms. She was looking at Regina, who cooed to her that everything was going to be alright. The older woman was rubbing her arm while Ruby kept a tight grip on her. Emma gripped onto the front part and the collar of Regina's button up.

"Mommy." Emma whined and then it clicked for the two adults. Ruby gladly passed over Emma and went to grab some tissues for Henry.

"It's okay baby." Regina rubbed her back, knowing Emma couldn't hear her without the aids. Still the little girl clung to her until her sobs turned to sniffles . Ruby returned with a dry faced Henry as they prepared to switch off kids for their baths. Emma went willingly to Ruby, and the woman took her to the upstairs guest bathroom.

"Does anything hurt baby?" Ruby signed

"No Mama." Emma shook her head causing Ruby to sigh.

"Honey my name is Ruby. You can't call me Mama." Ruby reminded her for like the third time since Emma had been assigned to her

"Why not?" Emma pouted as Ruby ran the water

"Because I'm not your Mama. I'm your friend." Ruby replied gently watching Emma pout.

"No want you to be my frwend !" Emma spoke out loud while stamping her foot.

"Emma that isn't very nice." Ruby said

"RooRoo not nice, her no love me." Emma crossed her arms and looked down at her feet. Anything Ruby was going to say died on the tip of her tongue at Emma's response to her. She tried to get the girl to look at her, so she could assure her she did love her but Emma didn't budge. Sighing she picked up the girl and put her into the water. Washing her up and washing her hair, Ruby wrapped her in a fluffy towel before taking her down to the room she had been sleeping in. She dressed Emma quickly, setting the dozing off little girl into the pack and play before leaving the room in a hurry.

"Is something wrong?" Regina asked after Ruby nearly ran her over.

" I have to go." Ruby said blankly. Regina grabbed her hand, not expecting it when Ruby yanked herself away, she flinched causing Ruby to cringe.

"Maybe you were right. I shouldn't be doing this with you. It's confusing everyone involved." Ruby ran a hand through her hair

"Doing what with me?" Regina asked crossing her arms over her chest.

"Playing family with you!" Ruby hissed.

"Was it something that I did or say? One of the kids?" Regina questioned feeling taken aback.

"I need to go." Ruby repeated walking around Regina before the older woman could object. She quickly left the house and climbed into her car and pulled off.

"She has to be a Gemini cause she has so many different personalities." Regina muttered shaking her head.


It had been nearly a week and a half and Ruby only stopped by to see if Emma needed anything or to compensate Regina for gas. She had taken to avoiding the kids at all cost and only dealing with Regina on a professional level because it was required. Adoption papers were in the process of being drawn up for the brunette mother who was juggling two kids. Since Ruby had been avoiding Emma, Regina had taken it upon herself to enroll her and Henry into sign language classes. Henry had picked it up right away with Regina closely behind. The toddler had seemed down, she hardly smiled anymore and she stopped eating as much as she used to. Everyday she would look at her new mommy with a hopefully expression asking if RooRoo was coming and every night she was disappointed when the brunette never showed.

The little girl's room was in the process of being put together, sage green walls with trees and owls on the accent wall had been the first thing done. Next came the furniture and a dark brown carpet with forest green tips that made it look like grass and dirt. The furniture was hand crafted, designed to grow with Emma as she did. It was a gift from her parents to the little girl, her mother would stop by occasionally to see the kids and that's how she figured out what Emma wanted. Henry and Cora had even begun taking some classes so they could communicate with the shy tot. She was just waiting on a light fixture and trying to find the perfect baby mattress before she allowed Emma into her big girl room.

Regina had avoided talking about Ruby in front of the kids, her irritation for the woman slowly growing the more she saw how Emma and even Henry was put down by her disappearing act. She called over her best friend, who told her he was coming over.

"Mommy RooRoo come?" Emma asked as Regina dressed in a yellow and green sun dress and brushed her hair.

"I don't know honey, maybe." Regina tried to stay hopeful for the sake of the kids, but she knew Ruby was most likely not going to come over.

"Okay you're all finished, why don't you go play with Roland and Henry." Regina patted her on the butt, watching Emma chuckle. The scabs on her legs had peeled, leaving some dark pink lines on her legs and it reminded her of why she was so happy she now could say Emma was her daughter. Nobody was ever going to treat either of her children that way, especially not over a bed wetting accident.

"No like Rowend." Emma scrunched up her nose. She had said it loud enough for Robin to hear and to chuckle.

"Sorry about that, she doesn't have much of a filter." Regina apologized, watching Emma go off to lay by herself in the corner of the play room.

"It's okay, Roland is the same way." Robin admitted.

"How have you been? I feel like I don't see you much anymore." Regina asked.

"I've been good, glad that I've gotten full custody. His mother is a trip." Robin shook his head watching his son and god-son play around on the floor.

"I haven't seen her since he was like two. Is she even around much? What's her name again Marge or something?" Regina racked her brain for information.

"Marian, and she only comes around once in a blue moon. The last time she tried to see him was to bring her girlfriend by but somehow the plans fell through." Robin shrugged.

"Where have I heard that name before?" Regina frowned before it clicked.

"Marian...she has a girlfriend named Ruby?" Regina questioned

"Yeah, how'd you know that?" Robin raised an eyebrow.

"RooRoo?" Emma had come over when she heard Ruby's name.

"She isn't here Emma bear. Why don't you go play with Henry?" Regina pointed over towards the boys that were playing with some toy or the next. It seemed to pique Emma's interest because she ran over there.

"She's Emma's social worker. You know the girl I was telling you about." Regina whispered.

"So you're crushing on my ex's girlfriend, how weird." Robin laughed

"And you're still sleeping with your ex." Regina shot back.

"It's only occasionally, and it's always protected." Robin argued.

"Still you should be careful. Plus I don't see how you can stand her when she does nothing for your son." Regina shook her head.

"Chill Gina, its just sex. It would be like sleeping with a stranger." Robin scoffed.

"Mama!" Henry called out, and it was the worry in his voice that had both of them shooting up from their chairs. They quickly walked into the other room, and she didn't see anything out of the ordinary besides Emma coughing every couple of seconds.

"What's wrong Henry?" Regina had kneel to look at him.

"Emma's choking." Henry pointed to her, and that's when they both noticed the bluish purplish tint to the little girls lips.

"On what?!" Regina pulled Emma to her but she didn't think the little girl was choking. She was still getting in air and she made no gesture that seemed like something was blocking her airway.

"M&M's." Roland was the one to supply an answer, holding out the yellow package of candy. Peanuts

AN: My computer had crashed so this isn't the chapter you were originally going to get. All mistakes are mine. Also I won't respond to comments under TokuBasileia, because I normally do it from my phone which is signed in under my other account. So if you get a reply from NastyNikolo, don't be startled lol