Flashbacks
Amy asked for a oneshot of Emma having nightmares that only stop when Snow's in the room. She sneaks into her room to sleep on the floor and Snow finds out.
Emma couldn't see any other way around it. In order to sleep she needed her mom's presence, but now that the weekend was over she couldn't rely on catnaps to get her through when she could sleep knowing her mom was there. But she refused to allow herself to sleep alone at night. The nightmares were too much. She was brought back to being a little girl in that group home again, and she could not go back there. But she couldn't let her parents know she wasn't sleeping because of nightmares- she wasn't a child anymore. But she could sleep on the floor of their bedroom and leave before they got up in the morning.
Emma crept into their room as quietly as possible. She held her breath, her heart in her mouth, frightened of waking one of them up. But no, she seemed to have got away with it. Breathing a small sigh of relief, Emma curled up on a small spot on the floor under the cover she brought with her and fell into a contented sleep.
What Emma wasn't banking on was her mother waking up a couple of hours later, simply because of a feeling in the pit of her stomach that something was wrong. Upon sitting up she caught sight of Emma on the floor. Confused, Snow walked over to her.
"Emma?" She whispered, gently shaking her. Emma woke with a start, not knowing where she was for a moment. When she did realise, she was mortified. "Emma, what are you doing here honey?"
"I don't know." Emma whispered, getting up quickly. "I must have been sleepwalking. I'll go back through to my room now." Snow caught hold of Emma's hand.
"I know you're lying." Snow told her. "So come through to the living room, I'll make us some cocoa and we can chat." Emma could see she wasn't getting a choice in this, so went and slumped down on the couch with her cover round her. Snow came through a few minutes later and passed a mug to Emma. "So," Emma said, sitting down with her own mug "why were you really in our room?"
"It's nothing big." Emma grumbled. "It's just some nightmares that ease when I'm not alone." Emma didn't mention it had to be her mom.
"And what are these nightmares about?" Snow prompted her, knowing to get Emma back to a place where she could sleep peacefully again she'd have to confront this head on. Emma shrugged.
"Just an old group home I was in." Emma told her. "It was run by nuns. The head Sister- Sister Gonzales- was particularly strict. She wasn't afraid of some…physical punishment. I've been having a few flashbacks recently.
"Emma, nobody's coming back to hurt you, ever again." Snow promised her. "What that woman did to you was unforgivable, and certainly not very Christian. You are safe here, you don't need to sleep on the floor to be safe. But if you need help tonight, I'm awake now. I'll sit in your room and you can sleep.
"You don't have to do that." Emma said, feeling embarrassed. Snow took Emma's hand.
"No, but I want to." Emma looked down but nodded, needing the comfort. Snow squeezed Emma's hand before they headed up the stairs together. Snow settled herself in the chair besides Emma's bed as Emma got under the covers.
"Sleep well honey." Snow whispered gently. "And remember, you are safe." Emma gave a small noise of acknowledgment before drifting off into a dreamless sleep.