"Whoa, whoa, kid. Alright," I said as the girl began to squirm in my arms. I placed her onto the soft carpet in the living room after making sure any small items she could get a hold on were out of reach, then returned to the kitchen to clean up her breakfast.
Perfect. She was distracted. Without wasting a moment I crawled my way towards the box, which was sitting atop of a low shelf, then used the surface to stand myself up. The action proved difficult at first, but then I managed to regain my balance. I reached up as far as I could in attempts to knock the box down, and after the third attempt, I was successful.
All of the letter tiles from the board game were now spread out on the floor. Now all I had to do was assemble a word. You can do this, Regina. Footsteps could be heard approaching quickly, having been alerted by the noise. NO! I'm so close! I assemble the letters R-E-G in order and began scanning the letters for an I. Once I spot one and take it into my hand, I am lifted off the floor and the letter is snatched from me.
"NO," scolded the blonde, her harsh tone causing my infant form to burst out into tears. I WAS SO CLOSE! DAMN IT, SWAN! The blonde placed me to the side as she began reassembling the pieces into their proper locations and placed the box onto a higher shelf. "You could have seriously hurt yourself, you know that?"
I flashed the woman a hard glare and attempted to cross my arms as sign of defiance. I'm tired of playing by this woman's rules. This was my house, and I intend to get it back. Whether that means in adult form or toddler.
What was with this girl? In all my years I have never met such an expressive and intelligent child. Sure she was a bit of a troublemaker, but why would anyone want to give such a beautiful kid up?
I scooped the girl into my arms and I realized something. "You know, if you're going to be hanging around for a bit…I'm going to need something to call you besides 'the kid'." The baby seemed to scrunch her tiny nose in disgust at the title, causing me to let out a genuine chuckle.
Stop doing that, Swan! It makes it so hard to hate you when you're making cute sounds like that. I guess having a new name wouldn't be all that terrible, even though I don't plan on staying in this form much longer. Okay, Swan. You better not disappoint.
"How about…Charlotte?" Regina shook her head. Absolutely not. I had a kitchen maid named that and it would just make me confused. "Okay, then…what about Allison?" Both females contorted their faces at the name. It just didn't fit the child.
And then Emma said it, the name that would soon be hers for who knows how long. "Amelia?" Hmm…it's not entirely hateful. I kind of like it. Not bad, Swan. "Okay, I'll take your silence as an acceptance. Amelia it is." Emma's face broke out in a beaming smile, which I couldn't help but reciprocate. There was just something about her that–
A loud nose of the door crashing open sounded through out the halls, followed by the blonde's voice calling out, "Henry!"
"Mom," my son questioned in confusion. "What are you–" His eyes shifted towards me and for a brief moment I believed he knew the truth. But sadly I was mistaken. "Where's Mom?" I watched as Emma's face morphed into sadness once again, and she patted the boy's shoulder.
"Listen, kid," she began hesitantly. "Your mom hasn't been seen since last night. I know she usually does her own thing and all, but she hasn't even checked into work."
"That's not like her," he commented. Emma nodded in agreement. "Ma, I'm worried." He rushed forward and engulfed her in a hug, brushing my left leg lightly with his arm. It broke my heart to see him so sad, and I wanted nothing more than to poof into my old self and tell him everything's fine…but I couldn't. Instead, I began to wail…again.
Leaning back from the embrace, Henry flashed me a confused expression and asked, "What's with the baby?" In that moment I realized Amelia and Henry hadn't met. For some strange reason I felt that she'd already been part of the family. Shaking the thought from my head, I replied, "This is Amelia. I found her in the street and she's going to stay with us for a little while."
Putting on his brave face, he wiggled the girl's hand playfully while speaking in a light tone, "Hello, Amelia." The baby smiled in response, but I could tell it didn't meet her eyes. Something was bothering the child, and I needed to get to the bottom of this.
Henry retreated upstairs to unpack his travel bag, leaving Emma and I alone once again. "Look, I can tell something's bothering you," the blonde stated blatantly. I was momentarily surprised with her bluntness, and then reminded myself that this was the savior we were talking about.
I knew she wanted me to communicate with her somehow, but I simply didn't know how. It's not like I could speak. If I could, I wouldn't still be in this mess. Not to mention the fact that she took away my only other form of communication–the board game.
I guess she decided that trying to understand the mind of a two-year-old was too difficult of a task, because the next thing she did was call Henry down to watch me for a moment while she got something out of her car. Wait, are you sure this is a good idea? I love my son, I do, but he couldn't even keep a goldfish he won from last year's Miner's Day alive for a week. Oh well, looks like I have no choice in the matter.
Apparently, Henry was thinking the same thing. Although he was good with kids, he didn't actually know how to take care of them, so he just held and stared at me for the entire span of the blonde's absence. It was awkward to say the least. Thankfully, Emma returned quickly with her desired item in hand.
The blonde took me into her own arms, thanking Henry, then preceded to walk into the living room. When I caught sight of the bag she had retried, I mentally jumped for joy. It was a computer! Of course the blonde had to work a little, and if I was given an opportunity, I will not hesitate to make my presence known. This is genius!
"Geez, kid," I commented in amusement. "I've never seen anyone so happy to see a laptop before." I situated myself on the couch, the laptop sitting on the edge of the coffee table and baby Amelia in my lap. I typed in my password easily then waited for this week's budget report's files to appear on the screen.
When they did, Amelia surged forward and I almost lost my grip on the child. "You've got to be careful, Amelia. I don't want you getting hurt." The girl just squirmed more in my arms, and I found it difficult to work while she jolted around, so I put her down on the floor.
That seemed to be a good solution until she returned to my side, holding herself up in a standing position next to the computer and using the coffee table for support.
I will not let this opportunity pass me by! I will make her realize it is me, no matter what it takes! I push against her arm, which blocked my path to the keyboard and she finally gave up the fight and snapped her attention to me.
"Amelia, now is really not the time to play. I have work to do." I frowned in response. "How about…you and Henry do some drawing? Would that make you feel better?" My face lighted up at the idea. Maybe I could write my name! It could work! "Okay, then." She called Henry down and I waited patiently as he gathered the materials.
The two of us sat next to the coffee table on the floor and began working on our pictures. I took a crayon into my own hand, but it was too big to hold normally, so I struggled with getting a good grip on the item. Damn it! Get it together!
I attempted to draw an 'R', but it turned out to be more like an 'S' with a line through it. This is proving more challenging than I thought. After a few more tries, I gave up and tossed my crayon across the room in frustration.
"Hey," Emma scolded. She immediately shot up and went to assess the damage. The crayon had hit a wall across the room and left a faint trail of purple on the white surface. Emma's eyes went wide and she said, "Oh, god. Regina's going to kill me!" I internally smirked at the panic in her tone. Good. I won't, but a little fear can be a good thing.
Deciding to be a little naughty, I took another crayon into my hand and trailed it against the glass coffee table, leaving a long, blue smear. Emma shrieked again. I knew I could reverse the damage when my magic returned, but it was just so damned fun to mess with the blonde. After all, what was she going to do to a baby?
"Okay, that's it," the blonde took on an authoritative tone, causing my to feel a pang of guilt. Had I gone too far? "You're going in time out!"