Chapter Six
Before leaving the loft with Emma that morning, Regina made sure to get permission from Mary Margaret to take her to get the haircut she so badly needed.
Emma scrunched up her nose as they headed out to the car. "What is a haircut?"
Regina looked down. "You've never had your hair cut?"
Emma shrugged. Judging by the look of Emma's hair, Regina decided it was a distinct possibility that she really never had, even though she found it hard to believe that the first family - the ones who had once planned to keep her - never took her for her first haircut as a toddler. She supposed perhaps that Emma just didn't remember.
"Well, a haircut, my darling, is a wonderful thing where I take you to a salon and they put you in a special chair and make you look like a princess," Regina explained, as she buckled Emma into the backseat of her Mercedes.
"Will I look beautiful?" Emma asked, hopefully.
"Baby, you already are beautiful," Regina replied with a smile. "You'll just be beautiful with much more manageable hair!"
Emma giggled, though Regina was sure she had no idea what manageable hair meant.
"They'll wash your hair for you, too," Regina continued as she started the car, "and I'll ask them to use the best smelling shampoo they have."
"I don't like my hair washed!" Emma protested, panic in her voice. "I'm scared of the bath!"
"It's not a bath, Emma. You sit in a chair and lean back, and only your hair gets wet. No water gets on your face, I promise," Regina reassured her. The child had had one bath in the last six days, Regina knew she was well overdue for a hair wash.
"You trust me, don't you Emma?" Regina asked, looking back at her in the rear view mirror. "You know I won't let anything bad happen to you."
Emma nodded, and turned to look out the window, putting her thumb in her mouth. Regina was starting to realize the thumb-sucking was more than just a habit, it seemed to be Emma's defense mechanism against anything that made her feel uncomfortable.
Regina pulled her car up in front of the salon, and got out, going around to Emma's door to let her out. Emma stared at her with wide, uncertain eyes as she climbed out of the car.
Emma looked around in awe when they got inside. It was very busy for a Monday morning, and Regina wasn't sure how Emma handled crowds of strangers, so she held on tight to her hand as she walked up to the reception desk.
"This is where I get my hair cut," Regina told her. Emma just nodded, and stayed close to Regina's legs. By this point, news had travelled around Storybrooke that this little girl was actually the pint-sized saviour, so Regina wasn't surprised that despite how busy the salon was, the receptionist told her she could get Emma in right away.
Regina was relieved when Carly, her regular stylist, was available to cut Emma's hair that morning. Despite the number of times now that Regina had had risked everything to save the people of Storybrooke, most of them still saw her as the Evil Queen. Carly – who had been Genevieve in the Enchanted Forest, one of Leopold's servants – was one of the very few people in the palace who had made Regina's time there slightly more bearable, and as such, was one of the few people who got a better life from the Dark Curse. She used to come to Regina's room after working hours, and brush and braid Regina's hair for her. Even though she was only a about a month older than Regina herself, somehow she always made her feel a little safe and comforted back then.
Carly introduced herself to Emma, and asked her to follow her back to the sink. Emma did just that, but maintained her death grip on Regina's hand, to ensure that Regina wouldn't leave her, not that she intended to.
Emma didn't release Regina's hand the entire time Carly washed and conditioned her hair, but Regina was impressed at how calm she was. She clearly didn't have a fear of water, just the bath. Regina was sure Carly's naturally bubbly personality helped, as she chattered on and on to Emma about nothing in particular.
Back at Carly's station, Regina helped Emma climb up onto the booster seat on the styling chair, and Carly draped Emma in a shiny pink cape, clearly designed for children. Emma giggled and watched herself in the mirror as Carly pumped her up higher in the hydraulic chair.
For the first time since they arrived, she actually let go of Regina's hand, and Regina was relieved that she was finally feeling comfortable with the whole situation.
Regina stayed close by, never leaving Emma's sight, while Carly cut, dried and styled Emma's hair into a pretty waterfall braid. When she was finished, Carly removed the cutting cape, and Emma scrunched up her nose when Carly held up the mirror to let her see the back.
"What's wrong, honey, don't you like it?" Carly asked.
"I don't look like a princess," Emma pouted.
"Oh! How silly of me," Carly replied. "I'll be right back." Carly headed over to the small box on the reception desk where the stylists kept a collection of small toys for kids after they finished their haircuts. She found a pink plastic tiara with purple, yellow and blue plastic rhinestones all over it.
She returned and placed the tiara on Emma's head. "Better?"
Emma grinned and nodded.
"Well, Princess Emma, shall we head home now?" Regina asked, lifting Emma down from the chair. Emma nodded, and after Regina paid for her haircut, she took Emma's hand and led her back outside.
"Let's hurry to the car, it looks like rain," Regina commented, noting how the sky had become overcast while they were inside. They made it just in time to get into the car before the downpour started.
"My pretty hair's gonna get wrecked in the rain," Emma pouted, as they pulled up in front of Regina's house.
"I think I have an extra umbrella," Regina said. She pretended to reach under the passenger seat, and magically conjured up a child-sized umbrella, out of Emma's sight.
"You're in luck, I do!" She said, holding up the yellow umbrella for Emma to see. Regina opened her own umbrella as she got out of the car, and opened the smaller one to hand to Emma as she opened her door.
Emma took the umbrella and hopped out of the car, landing with a splash in a puddle below. She looked up a Regina, nervously. "Sorry."
Regina smiled. "It's ok, sweetie, it's just a puddle."
"Really?" Emma's eyes lit up, and Regina realized that she had taken 'it's ok' as an open invitation to start jumping in all the puddles at the end of the laneway. Emma giggled uncontrollably as she jumped in the puddles, splashing water all over her jeans.
"Good thing your parents sent you extra clothes!" Regina commented. She thought back to all the times she had told Henry to stop jumping in puddles and getting his clothes all wet, but she couldn't bear to stop Emma when she saw that look of pure, innocent joy in the form of a great big toothy grin on her face.
Regina took a few steps back as Emma jumped harder, splashing muddy droplets of water on Regina's nylons and shoes.
"Don't leave without me!" Emma called out.
"I'm not," Regina replied, but Emma started to run to her anyway. She tripped over the curb and landed with a soft thud, face-down on muddy grass at the end of the yard.
"Oh, Emma," said Regina, helping her back to her feet. "Are you okay?"
"Mm-hmm," Emma nodded, pouting. Her bottom lip was shaking, and Regina couldn't tell if she was upset or embarrassed. Regina straightened out Emma's tiara, which hung a little crooked from the jumping, and falling.
"Well, now you're soaked and filthy. I think it's time to go inside," Regina said, reaching out her hand for Emma. Emma took it, a little more reluctantly than she usually did.
Regina looked back at her as they reached the door. "What's wrong, sweetie?" she asked, as she opened the door and led Emma inside.
Emma stared at the floor. "I got dirty. Do I hafta have a bath?"
Regina turned back and knelt down in front of Emma. "Well, you are very dirty. You really do need a bath."
"But I…"
"Don't like baths, I know. But you've never had a bath in my bathtub. I have bubbles that smell like apples," Regina offered.
Emma stuck out her bottom lip in a big pout. Regina decided to try a different approach. "Sweetheart, don't you think it will feel better to be nice and warm and clean?"
Emma shook her head and pouted harder, crossing her arms. There was that classic Emma stubbornness that Regina was used to.
"Baby, I know you're scared of the bath, but I promise you, I won't let anything bad happen to you. Have I ever lied to you before?"
"No," Emma said, looking at her feet.
"Do you think I would ever let something bad happen to you?"
Emma shook her head, and looked back into Regina's eyes. Regina could feel that she was on the verge of a breakthrough here, and she didn't want to screw this up.
"So how about this: you have a bath, it doesn't have to be long and you don't even need to get your hair wet. You can even leave your tiara on. And then, when you're all done, I'll make you anything you want for lunch. How does that sound?"
"Can I have grilled cheese again?"
"Absolutely," Regina agreed, standing up and taking Emma by the hand. She wanted to get her into the bath as quickly as possible, just in case she changed her mind.
Emma watched Regina with apprehension as she started to fill the tub with warm water and apple scented bubble bath. Regina badly wanted to tell her to take her thumb out of her mouth, since her hands were covered in mud, but she decided against it. If she was right that it was a security thing for Emma, she knew she needed it right now.
Regina turned the water off when the tub was filled about half-way. She didn't want to make it too deep, knowing that Emma was afraid of drowning. She wished there was a way to just reach into the child's memory bank, and know exactly what happened to her, but Regina feared that knowing might not be enough, if she didn't have a way to fix everything.
Regina knelt in front of Little Emma and helped her peel off her wet clothes. She knew Emma could undress herself, but she also knew she was less than eager to do so in this situation. When she pulled her striped shirt over her head – careful not to knock her tiara or ruin her pretty braid - Regina noticed small scars on her abdomen; five small circles, that looked like faded burn marks. They looked old, and Regina wondered how long Emma had been at the bad man's house…. Or if there had been other bad parents before him.
Emma stared at her with frightened eyes, and Regina tried to reassure her that everything would be alright as she lifted her tiny, trembling body up, and placed her in the bathtub. Emma grabbed on to the side of the tub with one hand, and held on tight to Regina's left hand with the other.
"Sweetheart, it's ok, I'm not going to let anything happen to you," Regina tried to reassure her. The water barely reached Emma's chest, but it was obvious that she was still terrified. She started shaking harder, and then the sobs started. Regina immediately hated herself for causing this sweet little girl such obvious distress, but at the same time, she knew she couldn't let her just continue to be afraid of baths forever.
She picked up the cloth with her free hand, letting Emma continue to squeeze onto her other hand, and began to sing as she washed Emma's back, shoulders and arms.
"Lavender's blue, dilly, dilly, Lavender's green,
When you are king, dilly, dilly, I'll be your queen,
Who told you so, dilly, dilly, who told you so?
'Twas my own heart dilly, dilly, that told me so."
Regina smiled when she noticed that Emma stopped crying, and was now listening intently to the song. She held out the cloth to Emma, to see if she would take it and continue to wash herself. When Henry was five, Regina would have scrubbed him clean herself without a second thought, but with Little Emma, she was still unsure what demons lurked in her past, and she didn't want to push any boundaries with her.
Emma released the side of the bathtub, but still held on tight to Regina's hand, while she took the cloth and continued to wash herself. Regina smiled. "Sing with me, Sweetheart, and we'll be done before you know it."
"I don't remember the words," Emma whispered.
"You remember the 'dilly dillies'. You sing that part, and I'll sing the rest." And so Regina continued on, with Emma chiming in on every 'dilly, dilly'.
"Call up your men, dilly, dilly, set them to work,
Some to the plough, dilly, dilly, some to the fork,
Some to make hay, dilly, dilly, some to cut corn
While you and I, dilly, dilly, keep ourselves warm,
Lavender's green, dilly, dilly, Lavender's blue,
If you love me…."
"Dilly, dilly, I will love you!" Emma finished the line on her own, with a big smile.
"Good girl, Emma, you'll know the whole song in no time," said Regina. "And look, we're all done. You can get out."
Regina lifted Emma out of the tub and wrapped her in a big white towel that seemed to engulf her almost completely. She then put her arms around her in a big hug, and whispered into her ear, "I'm so proud of you, baby girl."
"Princess," Emma corrected.
"You're right," Regina agreed, "I'm so proud of you, Princess."