Chapter Five

Regina awoke to the sound of Emma whimpering in her sleep. It took her a minute to figure out where she was; she hadn't intended to stay the night, but she realized she must have fallen asleep.

"Emma," Regina said softly, gently shaking her shoulders. Emma's eyes shot open and she immediately started to cry.

"Shh, baby, it's ok," Regina cooed, she sat up and pulled Emma onto her lap, wrapping her arms around her and rocking her.

"You didn't leave?" Emma choked out between sobs.

"No, I'm right here. I didn't leave."

"I saw the bad man," Emma said, grabbing on to Regina tighter.

"In your dream?"

Emma nodded.

"Who is the bad man, Emma?" Regina asked, rubbing her back as she rocked her.

"The daddy at the house I was at, before I got lost. He came in my room when you were gone and he took me." Emma started to cry harder, burying her face into Regina's neck.

"I never left you, baby girl. It was only a dream. Nobody's ever going to take you away, I promise." Regina wished there was some way to explain to her that it had actually been twenty-five years since she had been in that man's house, and that even if he was looking for her, Storybrooke was invisible to outsiders. But this Emma didn't know magic was real.

After a few minutes of rocking, Emma's tears stopped, and she turned her head to rest it on Regina's shoulder, staring off to the side of the room. "I was drowning," she whispered.

"In your dream?" Regina asked, again.

Emma hesitated for a moment. "In the bathtub."

"In real life?" Regina asked, feeling that lump growing in her throat again.

"In the bad man's house," Emma replied, still staring off in the distance.

"Emma, this is important. I need to know if that happened in your dream or in real life."

Emma turned to look at Regina for a moment, and then turned away again. "I don't remember."

Regina closed her eyes for a second. "Yes, you do. It's ok, you can tell me, sweetheart. You can tell me anything." She felt like she was on the verge of a mini-breakthrough, but she could tell Emma was already starting to shut down.

"I can't tell you. It's a secret."

Regina sighed. "Emma…" her voice trailed off as she tried to find the right words to get her to keep talking.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore," Emma said, before Regina could continue. Emma stuck her thumb in her mouth and closed her eyes, apparently to indicate the conversation was really over.

Regina continued to rock Emma, and tried to work through this new information in her head. Considering Emma's aversion to the bathtub, Regina figured it was a pretty safe assumption that the near-drowning was real life event, and not just a dream. But she wondered why on earth someone would have told Emma that was a secret.

Regina figured that a five-year-old nearly drowning had to be negligence on the part of the guardian, and she wondered if that's perhaps why they told Emma not to tell. She tried to imagine a scenario wherein it was just an accident. Maybe Little Emma just slipped and fell under the water. Maybe the mother scooped her up right away, and it was childlike fear that convinced Emma that she was drowning. Maybe the mother was afraid of the repercussions if Children's Services found out about the incident, and stupidly told Emma not to tell. In any event, it had to be the mother, right? There was no way it was the father in the room, bathing Little Emma.

Regina's thoughts then turned to the father. The bad man. Regina knew the scenario she was concocting in her head was nothing more than wishful thinking. She couldn't imagine anyone harming the little angel in her arms intentionally, but deep down she feared that the real truth was much more sinister than anything she could allow herself to imagine.

Regina heard a floorboard creak, and looked up to see Henry standing in the doorway, in his pajamas. She was glad that she brought him with her. She wondered if subconsciously she knew she wouldn't make it back home that night, even though she didn't have the intention to stay. She was also glad that Henry had a wardrobe of clothes here as well.

"Is she asleep?" Henry asked, softly.

Regina looked down. Emma's thumb hung half out of her mouth now, and her breathing had become rhythmic. She looked back at Henry and nodded.

Henry walked over and sat on the edge of the bed.

"How long have you been standing there?" Regina asked in a low voice, as to not wake Emma up again. What she really meant was, 'how much did you hear?'

For his part, Henry knew exactly what Regina was asking. "I heard her talk about drowning, and the bad man."

Regina breathed a heavy sigh. She really didn't want Little Emma's issues to become Henry's problem. She wanted to shield him from as much of it as he could. She knew Adult Emma would never want him to take on that burden.

"Henry," Regina said, looking him in the eyes, "I don't want you to worry about Emma."

"I can't really help it. What do you think happened to her?"

"Listen to me: whatever happened to her in her childhood, she survived it, just keep that in mind. She grew up and she's fine. Just remember that."

"But what if she's not really fine?"

"Then let me and your grandparents worry about that, okay? Because you and I both know, she would never put any of this on you. Even though she's little now - and Henry I commend you for worrying about her and wanting to protect her, I really do – we have to remember to respect what the Adult Emma would want, for her sake, because we will get her back. She's a parent to you Henry, not the other way around."

"You're right, I know," Henry nodded. "I heard you sing her my lullaby."

Regina raised an eyebrow. "Were you jealous?" she teased.

Henry smiled. "No. I'm glad you did. You gave me a good childhood, Mom. I don't thank you for that enough, but seeing how you are with Emma… it just reminds me of that."

Regina smiled as she felt her heart swell. She was sure that Henry would never truly understand just how much it meant to her when he told her things like that. "I love you, Henry."

"I love you too, Mom."

"It's late, you should get back to bed. Tomorrow's a school day. I'll see you in the morning."

Henry smiled, and gave Regina a kiss on the cheek before heading back to his room.

Regina sighed again as she moved Emma back to her own spot on the bed, before sliding back down beside her. Emma stirred and little, and sleepily crawled closer so she could lay her head on Regina's chest, but she didn't fully wake up. Regina lightly stroked Emma's hair until she herself drifted back into a dreamless sleep.

It felt like no time has passed when Regina woke again; this time it was to the sound of Henry, David and Mary Margaret's voices from downstairs, as they got ready for their day. Regina had no idea when David had come home, but she was sure he was less than pleased when he discovered she had stayed the night.

Emma was still asleep, so Regina gently moved her back onto her pillow, before getting up. She straightened out her dress, and was grateful that Little Emma didn't have an accident in the night, since she didn't have a change of clothes at the Charmings' loft.

She tiptoed out of the room and made her way quietly down the stairs, wanting to talk to Mary Margaret before Emma woke up.

Downstairs, Regina found Henry just finishing up his cereal at the table, still in his pajamas. Froot Loops, she thought to herself, go figure. Mary Margaret and David were in the sitting room, having a deliberately hushed conversation.

Regina patted Henry on the shoulder as she made her way past the table. "Go upstairs and get ready for school, okay?" Henry nodded and got up, knowing full well what she really meant was 'go upstairs so I can talk to your grandparents without worrying you anymore about the welfare of your traumatized, preschool-aged other mother.'

Regina sat down on the couch beside Mary Margaret, as David glared at her from the chair.

"Regina," David started, before she could even begin to mention what Emma had revealed last night. "You really overstepped last night. I called you for advice, not so that you could run over here and cuddle her to sleep like an infant. How are we ever supposed to help her learn to soothe herself, if she knows that if she cries long enough, you'll just run over here and give in to exactly what she wants?"

Regina drew in a deep breath to calm herself before speaking, and tried to remind herself that snapping at David wasn't going to help diffuse this situation. "David, I understand where you're coming from, but you need to understand that Emma is not your typical child. She is very damaged."

"My daughter is not damaged," David shot back, defensively.

"Yes, she is. Take it from someone who knows. I am living proof of what terrible parenting can do to a child."

"So now you're saying we're bad parents?" asked David.

Regina closed her eyes for a moment. It's like talking to a brick wall. "No, David, that's not what I'm saying. Obviously, I don't mean to imply that in the six days you have had her, you inflicted the kind of damage that gives a child chronic nightmares and causes a five-year-old to suck her thumb and wet the bed. I'm talking about what she went through before you got her."

"And you're enlightened enough to pick up on all this after one day?" David scoffed.

Regina tried to remind herself that David was frustrated and overwhelmed, but he was making it difficult for her. "Like I said, I grew up with Cora as a mother. I know damage when I see it," she replied, as calmly as she could manage.

"But Regina," Mary Margaret chimed in, "you weren't… evil until…"

"Until my mother killed Daniel and forced me to marry your father? Yes, thank you, I know. But I'm not talking about evil, I'm talking about damaged. There's a difference." Regina watched Mary Margaret's face as she processed that. She knew the younger woman loved any piece of insight into her mind or her life, and normally Regina hated to give her any, but at this point it was unavoidable.

"She mentioned last night that she almost drowned in the bathtub at her last foster home,"

Regina continued. "She said she lived with a bad man."

"They didn't say anything about that at the group home when we picked her up," David replied, his tone was softer now.

"Of course they didn't. It was actually twenty-five years ago, the group home wouldn't have any record of it that home, or any other place she'd been. But to Emma, right now, it might as well have been last week."

"She never mentioned that to us," Mary Margaret said, looking almost hurt, "as an adult, I mean. I thought she was starting to trust us with things like that."

"She was five, and it was traumatic… there is a possibility she doesn't even remember it as an adult," Regina tried to reassure her.

Mary Margaret went to speak again, but Regina shushed her, and motioned towards the stairs, where Emma was making a slow descent. Emma had gotten herself dressed in a pair of jeans and a red and purple striped shirt. She had taken out her braid, and her golden curls bounced around her tiny shoulders with every step.

When Emma reached the bottom of the stairs and realized Regina was watching her, she wasted no time running across the room and jumping onto her lap. Regina caught her in her arms.

"You said you weren't going to leave me!" she said, hugging on to Regina.

"I didn't leave, I'm right here."

Emma looked up and pouted when she realized Henry was on his way down the stairs. She turned to Mary Margaret. "When is Henry going to school?"

"Soon, honey," Mary Margaret replied with a smile. She reached out to stroke Emma's cheek, and Emma didn't flinch away, though Regina felt her tense up in her arms. "And you remember what we talked about yesterday? How Daddy and I have to go back to work today, too?"

"Who's watching Emma?" Regina asked. She knew David and Mary Margaret had taken time off work, but she hadn't realized they were both going back so soon.

"Granny. She usually watches Neal, anyway. I didn't plan on going back already, but substitute teachers are in short supply here, so I didn't really have a choice," Mary Margaret explained.

"I don't like her," Emma pouted. "I want Regina to watch me."

"Emma, why don't you go over to the kitchen and Henry can pour you a bowl of cereal for breakfast, ok?" Regina suggested. Emma was about to protest, but seemed to decide against it, and got up to join Henry in the kitchen. Regina shot Henry a small smile, knowing that helping Emma, even with something simple like cereal, would be good for him.

She turned back to David and Mary Margaret and spoke low so that Emma wouldn't hear. "Why don't you let me take her for the day?"

David sighed. "For the same reason you shouldn't have come here last night, because we can't just keep giving in to everything she asks for."

"So you think leaving her with a woman she barely knows, and she just told you she doesn't like, is a better idea? If you want to build trust with her, this is not the way."

"Regina's right," Mary Margaret said, turning to David. "What if we leave her with Granny and she screams and cries the whole time we're gone? That's fair to Granny or Emma."

"Okay, yes, you're right," David finally agreed, but Regina could tell in pained him to admit it.

"You should tell her," Regina told him. "She's having the hardest time bonding with you; go tell her something she wants to hear."

David surprised Regina with a small smile, before he stood up to walk over to the table where Emma now sat with her cereal. She watched as Emma cowered at little as David approached the table, but then her face lit up when he informed her he was going to pack her a bag with extra clothes, so she could go spend the day with Regina.

"Can Neal stay here?" Emma asked.

"Yes, Neal will stay with Granny. You get Regina all to yourself," David replied.

Emma turned to Regina and shot her a big grin, and Regina couldn't help but smile back at her precious face.