Chapter Text
Regina Mills sighed and slammed the book that she had been reading closed as she got up from the sofa to answer the insistent knocking of her front door, slightly wishing she was still the Evil Queen so that she could fireball the imbecile who dared to disturb her quiet relaxation.
“What could you possibly want?” she snarled as she practically ripped open the door to find none other than Snow White and David on her front porch.
“Um hi Regina” the pixie haired woman shuffled her feet awkwardly “I’m sure you heard about what happened to Emma yesterday” referring to the insufferable saviour, who had managed to get herself turned into her teenaged self by her own wayward magic “well..uh can we come in?”
Regina let out another sigh, contemplating her options, before she rolled her eyes and stepped aside to let the Charming clan into her home and closed the door behind them. Observing Emma, she noticed that the teenager avoided being in anyone’s space as much as she possibly could, standing with her arms crossed defensively against her body.
Following the Queen’s gaze, Snow murmured to the blonde “Emma can you go and sit in the living room for a minute please”, and it looked like she was about to protest when she raised her head, until she caught sight of David which caused her body to tense and she abruptly did as she was told. Well that was certainly interesting Regina thought before she turned her attention back to the not so Charmings.
“So what is it you wish to discuss? And you had better be quick about it since you so nicely invited yourselves into my home” the Latina woman snarked, to which David at least had the sense to look sheepish, whereas his wife seemed to take no issue with her own blatant lack of manners.
“We’re having some issues with Emma. We had to tell her we were her new foster parents since she doesn’t seem to remember anything past being the age she is now, and it’s just really not working” the princess whined “she either shouts at us or locks herself in her room and we can’t deal with that as well as Neal.”
“I’m still having trouble seeing how it’s my problem that your teenager is acting like um..” she pretended to think with her index finder tapping her chin “I don’t know, a teenager.”
“Look Regina” the prince chimed in “I know this situation really isn’t ideal for you since you haven’t really got along with Emma in the past, but I really want to do what’s best for her and I feel like we’re not able to give her the attention she needs” his insight caused Regina to be reminded of why he was the one who she tolerated more out of the two idiots.
“So you came to me for parenting advice?” She inquired, still puzzled as to what her involvement in this was.
“We were actually wondering if you would take her in until the magic wears off. You did such a great job with Henry, I mean look how great he turned out” the brunette internally beamed at his surprising compliment but kept a neutral facial expression on the outside.
“I hate to admit it” the pixie haired woman stated with a conflicted look on her face “but I trust you to look after her, and Blue said she should hopefully be back to normal in a week or two if she can figure out what happened to cause this”.
“Okay I suppose I can take her” she conceded with a sigh “but what about Henry? I’m not sure how he will feel about this” she admitted, and she wondered if she would even be able to manage both him and his mother who was now only a couple of years older than him. Her son’s happiness would always come first, no matter what happened.
“He could come and stay with us if he wanted to, just until the spell wears off” the shepherd offered.
“Can I please, Mom?” a voice from behind them asked which caused all three of them to turn around to spot Henry sat near the top of the stairs.
“Henry Daniel Mills what have I told you about eavesdropping?” his mother scolded “it is unbecoming and quite frankly rude, and you know this”.
The boy’s face turned crimson in shame as he bowed his head slightly “sorry Mom. I heard you talking about Emma and I just wanted to know if she was okay”.
The brunettes face softened at the admission and answered his question “yes, you may stay with your grandparents for a little while if you wish to” she agreed as she knew how much Henry adored having a male influence in his life with his grandfather.
“Cool!” he replied as he stood up eagerly “I’ll go pack a bag” and made his way back to his bedroom.
*****
Regina sighed as she closed her front door after watching her son get into the car with his grandparents, and prepared herself to go and speak to the saviour. If Snow’s depiction of Emma’s attitude was anything to go by, she was in for a wild ride in taking care of her.
She entered the living room which immediately caught the attention of the teenager who straightened her posture from her previous slouched position.
“Let me guess, they dumped me here with you so you can be my new foster mom” she bitterly stated.
“They didn’t dump you with me. They were just struggling to look after both you and their baby at the same time and they wanted to do what they though was best for you” the brunette explained and sat down on the sofa next to the blonde, but made sure not to crowd her as she had already observed from her new charge a dislike for close proximity with other people.
“Figures” the girl scoffed rolling her eyes.
“Why don’t I show you to your room so you can put your bag down and get yourself settled” she offered and changed the subject, having already decided that she was going to get nowhere with the current line of conversation.
“Fine, I guess” she reluctantly agreed and stood up to follow the older woman upstairs.
Regina opened the door to what would be Emma’s room and entered with her. “This is where you will be staying. My room is just across the hall which you can knock on the door to come to me if you need to at any point during the night” she stated as she didn’t want the girl the think that just because her door was closed, it meant that she couldn’t rely on her since she was now the authority figure in her life for the time being.
She watched as the blonde took in the tasteful lavender walls before dumping her backpack and herself onto the queen sized bed, both bouncing slightly. Looking at the young girl, the woman noticed that she looked a little on the thin side and was most likely underweight, however she didn’t think it was anything to be too alarmed about just yet so she told herself that she would keep a watchful eye on her to make sure that there was nothing amiss there.
“Okay, since it’s just after three o’clock I’m assuming you had lunch with Mary Margaret and David?” continuing after the girl’s nod “good, well is there anything that you want to do or something I can get you to keep you occupied until dinner?”
“No thanks” Emma hesitated, picking at her jeans “well actually would it be okay if I had some paper? I have some pencils that the other woman gave me and I want to draw” the teenager blushed and looked down, seemingly embarrassed about asking for something she wanted.
“Yes of course dear, I have some blank paper in my study that I’ll fetch for you” Regina said, giving her a soft smile and turning to leave the room.
When she returned, Emma was taking a small pencil case out her bag to place onto the bed, still sat in the same spot she had been in when she left. She looked up, clearly startled when she noticed that Regina had come back in, and gave her a tense smile as she was handed the paper.
“I’ll just be reading in the living room if you need me for anything or you can come and sit with me if you like” the brunette smiled and pivoted, making her way to the door.
“Regina?” a hesitant voice called out, making her look back at the blonde “thank you” she said just above a whisper.
“Of course” the woman nodded and left the room. I don’t know what those two idiots were talking about when they said Emma is a handful at this age as she has been very quiet, even shy, Regina thought to herself on her way downstairs. In fact, she has been the polar opposite of what she was expecting Miss Swan to be like as a teenager, considering her usual annoying habit of getting in the way wherever she goes and her general loudness.
*****
An hour later lounging on the sofa, Regina looked up from her book to find Emma entering the room almost timidly with her paper and pencils in her hands, sitting down on the armchair slightly further away from the woman.
The girl put her feet up on the couch and set her paper on her thighs, beginning to sketch without saying a word to the brunette. Her long blonde tresses fell forward around her face, forming a curtain of gold, shielding whatever she was drawing from the woman.
Regina furrowed her brow having just noticed that Emma’s hair seemed to be quite a bit thinner than she was used to seeing on the blonde. This was a bit concerning to her in combination with her small frame.
She remembered hearing Emma mention a long time ago that she was a foster child all her life and she felt her heart clench slightly at the thought that someone had denied this girl necessary food at one point or another, which she knew to be far more common in the system than people thought. Well that won’t be happening under my roof she said to herself and turned her concentration back to her book.
After enjoying some quiet time together, Regina closed her book and got up off the sofa, drawing Emma’s attention.
“I’m going to begin making dinner now dear, I hope you like lasagna” she walked to the doorway leading to the kitchen.
“Oh” she spun around “I almost forgot, but how are you with spicy food? I like to add red pepper flakes to give it some kick.”
“That’s okay, I like spicy food” the blonde assured her, shyly peeking up through her hair, then turning back to the paper in front of her.
“Okay good” the brunette went into the kitchen.
As she prepared the food, she considered the behaviour she had seen from Emma in the short time she had been with the teenaged version of the saviour, and started to think that she may have experienced some type of abuse or mistreatment.
What was slightly more worrying was the way she had acted around David earlier when she was dropped off. She remembered how the girl had inched as far away from him as possible when they were all stood in the foyer and almost tripped over her own feet in her haste to get away from him and into the living room.
Knowing the prince was about as threatening as a bag of marshmallows, Regina was clueless as to what could have caused this reaction. Deciding that she wasn’t going to get any answers by brooding in her kitchen, she let those thoughts go for now and immersed herself in her cooking.
The kitchen was her happy place and she absolutely adored cooking and baking, watching all the ingredients come together to create something wonderful. She had many fond memories of Henry baking with her when he was much younger, giggling in his little apron, insisting that he was her “shoe chief”.
She had corrected him repeatedly, telling him it was actually ‘sous chef’, but the stubborn child he was never was interested in changing what he was saying.
He was no longer really that interested in joining her in the kitchen as his interests had shifted more towards comic books and video games as he got older, but he still would occasionally enjoy baking her famous apple pie with her, as long as he got to taste test throughout the process of course.
She knew that some distance was bound to happen as he grew up, what with him wanting independence and whatnot, but she couldn’t help but miss the years that he was completely enamoured with everything she did.
“Dinner’s ready” Regina called from the dining room, placing the appropriate cutlery in their places and setting down the plates of lasagne. Emma came in and sat down, with Regina sitting next to her at the head of the table.
“It looks really good” the blonde complimented, beginning to dig into her food.
“Thank you” she smiled softly “it’s one of my favourite things to make.” They ate quietly for a few minutes before Regina decided to break the silence.
“So how old are you Emma?” she asked.
“I’m thirteen” she mumbled around a mouth of food, swallowing it afterwards.
“Have you been into art for a while?”
“Yeah I’ve kinda been drawing whenever I can for about a year now. I just really like it” she answered, giving the Queen a brief glimpse of green, seeming to perk up slightly with this line of conversation.
“Oh really? What type of things do you like to draw?” she inquired, glad to have found a way to communicate with the girl.
“Oh um… I do a lot of portraits. I like doing those the most” the blonde scraped the last of the sauce off her plate, having wolfed down her food in true Emma Swan fashion.
“I would love to see some of them someday” she said and meant it as she honestly had no idea the adult Emma had ever been remotely interested in art.
“Yeah… maybe” the teenager replied uncertainly, beginning to squirm slightly in her seat, shooting anxious glances to the doorway.
“You may be excused if you wish” Regina told her, noticing her desire to leave the table “you can always ask if you want to go.”
“Okay, thank you” she replied as she shot up and basically ran out of the room.
*****
Emma raced up the stairs with a purpose and quickly closed the bathroom door behind her, her heart racing.
She turned around and dropped to her knees in front of the toilet, lifting the lid and removing the hair tie from her wrist to put her long hair into a ponytail before she shoved her index and middle fingers down her throat. She retched as she expelled the contents of her stomach, clinging to the bowl with her left hand as her eyes watered, keeping it up until her throat burned and all she brought up was clear bile.
The blonde sat back on her heels and sighed as her anxiety was replaced with feelings of euphoria, waiting for the shaking in her body to calm down, allowing her to flush the toilet and stand back up once she had caught her breath.
She avoided looking at herself in the mirror whilst she washed her hands and thought about the situation that she had found herself in.
The other people she had stayed with clearly didn’t want to deal with her, since she only lasted a day, which was honestly a new record of hers for the shortest time spent with foster parents.
It was fine by her though because she didn’t like that stuck up bitch Mary Margaret anyway, and felt uncomfortable around David and just wanted some space from him, which they both had an issue with.
They didn’t want to listen to her, invading her personal space and trying to touch her when she expressed clearly that she didn’t like that.
This new woman Regina that they had left her with seemed like she might actually be okay though since she had been nothing but kind and patient with her since she had arrived, and made sure to give her space and leave her alone when she needed it, without shutting her away to be forgotten which had happened to her at numerous other homes.
Emma left the bathroom to lie on her bed as her temporary high began to dissipate. She remained still, staring at the ceiling for ten minutes, then sat up and picked up a pencil and the drawing she had brought back up into her room just as Regina called her for dinner, and continued what she was working on.
It was a simple portrait of the brunette woman downstairs as she often liked to use various people she crossed paths with as inspiration.
The young girl liked to sketch those that she met, believing that you could truly know someone by getting their image down on paper. It was a way to get a glimpse into their soul, who they are inside behind the mask that they put up.
She had got the basic shape of her features down and was beginning to add depth the the eyes with a bit of shading, peacefully working for a while, the only sound in the room being the pencil gliding across the paper.
*****
After giving Emma a few hours of space to help her adjust, Regina knocked her bedroom door.
“Come in” a soft voice called, to which the brunette let herself in and sat on the end of the bed, the girl having moved the paper with the drawing at the bottom of the new pile.
“I just wanted to let you know that it’s time for you to be getting ready for bed since I want you to be going to sleep at nine thirty, okay?”
“Okay” Emma agreed, looking at Regina.
“Do you have everything you need? Something to sleep in and a toothbrush?”
“Yeah I’ve got everything, thanks” the teenager assured, getting up to take out her toothbrush, a pair of sleep shorts and a tank top.
“Alright dear” the Queen put her hands on her knees and stood “I’ll leave you to it. If you need anything from me at all, remember I’m just across the hall from you.”
She padded across the cream coloured carpet and pulled the door mostly closed, ensuring there was a small gap so she would be able to hear if she was needed.
The woman made her way across the hallway to her room, stepping in and leaving her door slightly ajar before she began to get comfortable for the night.
Shedding her black slacks and purple blouse and slipping on a pair of grey silk pyjama pants and shirt, she pondered over the curious manner in which the newly pint sized saviour had behaved today. She seems to have become the polar opposite of her usual loud and obnoxious self.
It was honestly quite jarring to see the the blonde this way. Even more so, with the fact that she had prepared herself for extreme teenage angst and defiance based on her parents’ description of her behaviour and them literally dropping their spawn off on her doorstep and running away.
Regina couldn’t help but wonder if David’s presence in the loft had anything to do with Emma’s standoffish attitude, thinking back to their interaction in the foyer earlier today. I wonder if she lashes out when she’s scared the brunette wondered as she slipped underneath her sheets and grabbed the book off of her bedside table, resigning herself to read until she went to sleep a little bit later.
She wouldn’t stay asleep though, as a terrified scream jolted her awake just hours later.