Regina's Present
Emma was all over Regina’s Christmas presents. Her stocking was filled weeks in advance, her main gifts were wrapped, and she had even bought something with her adult money from her little self. It had arrived while she was under the effects of the potion, and she had sternly told Regina not to bother her while she wrapped it up. The gift was more tape than paper, and it looked abysmal under the tree, but nobody seemed to care.
All of this was Emma’s attempt to pre-empt her little-self’s desire to make Regina something after she had handmade her Mother’s Day card without supervision earlier that year. Adult Emma had even told Regina to be on the lookout for an impromptu craft project.
So really, Emma couldn’t be faulted for what happened. She had done her absolute best to avoid it.
And if Regina had been supervising, everything would have been fine.
As it happened, Regina had been called away on urgent business and Ruby happened to be in town for the holidays. Regina had been well prepared for what Emma might do. Ruby was not. All it had taken was Ruby announcing that she was going to make Granny’s famous cookies for the five-year-old to get a wonderful idea.
Emma scrambled to her feet, scattering the crayons she had been diligently colouring with. She was halfway up the stairs when Ruby poked her head back into the foyer and asked, “where are you going.”
“The bathroom.”
“Why not use the downstairs one?”
Without missing a beat, “don’t like that one.”
Not having much experience with kids, Ruby shrugged off the explanation and returned to her baking. Emma did actually go to the bathroom, but it was to collect every luxury bath product they had. She bundled the lot under both arms and trudged back down the stairs. With a dramatic sweep, she cleared the coffee table and carefully placed every item across it. It took her another trip upstairs to collect the basin, then a visit to the recycling for a bottle.
It was a perfect idea. Regina loved taking baths, and Emma was going to make her the most relaxing bubble bath on the planet.
First there was the lavender bath salts, which she poured into the basin. Like a chemist following a strict equation, she added in the ylang-ylang sparingly. She mixed it lovingly with a discarded crayon as she surveyed the other items at her disposal. The half-full bottle of shimmery purple bubble bath was next, and she tipped it upside down with little forethought, ignoring how it slopped over the sides and down the table. The crayon refused to mix the gooey substance, so she threw it in the direction of the fireplace and scrambled about the floor for a pencil instead. With the amount of salts included, it all began to clump together like playdough, and she came to the sensible conclusion that it required more liquid.
Liquid, like the new bottle of perfume Regina had sitting on the chest of drawers in their bedroom.
She dashed upstairs, putting soapy hands across the walls and the banister. A busy Ruby shouted, “all ok?”
“Yep!”
Later, the wolf would wish she had come out to check herself.
With the perfume bottle clasped tight between both hands – it wouldn’t do to drop it and be unable to finish Regina’s present – she returned downstairs. It took a good minute to pry off the top, and when she did, it was with enough force that it sloshed out and across the couch she was leaning on. Emma crinkled her nose. Usually, Emma would have claimed it to be the most enchanting smell she had ever come across, but she supposed that was when Regina only used a few sprays. She held it up to the light, looking between her concoction and the perfume.
It would dilute in the bath.
She emptied the bottle in and began to mix steadily. It was a much more acceptable texture now, but the colour was beginning to brown. She couldn’t remember ever seeing a brown bubble bath. That didn’t necessarily mean it didn’t exist, though she would rather it be brighter.
They had some paint in the cupboard. It was too high for her to reach without assistance, and she didn’t want Ruby to stop baking their cookies to supervise. They sounded tasty.
Maybe she could magic them down?
It was harder to access her magic when she was small, but she could usually do it with a little effort. She shuffled back from the table, squeezing her eyes tight. The box of paints was on the top shelf. She could see the blue box, the paint bottles lined neatly with the paintbrushes sticking out the top. She scrunched a nose, prying open an eye to find it hadn’t appeared.
She tried again, this time focusing on just the pink. Pink should brighten brown, right? That would make sense. The rose colour was clear in her mind when she opened her eyes again, the bottle perched proudly. She danced her legs as she pulled off the cap, emptying it into the basin with glee.
It did brighten up the colour, that much was for certain. It also brightened up the wooden coffee table. And the carpet. And Emma’s trousers, hands, and shirt.
To Emma, the concoction looked perfect.
Ruby had a different opinion when she came through to find Emma pouring a pink-brown liquid from a wide basin into a narrow bottle. One might have believed she shifted into a wolf due to the speed she crossed the room. The basin was snatched out of her hands, unfortunately leading to a dash of the liquid sloshing over the sides and over Emma’s head.
“Hey!”
“What are you doing?” Ruby stared at her incredulous, like she could never have imagined this situation in a million years.
Emma waved her hands at the obviousness of the situation. “Making Mama’s Christmas present?”
Ruby’s lips quirked up at the word ‘mama’, as it always did, but the mess schooled her features easily. “Yeah, well your ‘mama’ is gonna be back soon, and she’s gonna kill me. Then you. Then me again.”
“That’s silly.” Emma began to wave her off but as her eyes skimmed over everything she had brought out, they began to water. “Oh.” Her lower lip started to wobble before being snatched between her teeth. She stood up, staring intently at the huge pink stain on the pale carpet. “She’s gonna be so mad.”
“Yeah.” Ruby ran her hands through her hair. First things first, the paint soaked clothing was peeled off of Emma and tossed in the machine at a high temperature in the hopes it would clean well, then the heating turned up to keep Emma from freezing.
The next half-hour was a frantic mess of scrubbing and scouring, during which time Emma became more and more distraught. Ruby was right: Regina was going to kill her. The happy blinking tree in the corner of her eye felt taunting, a reminder of what she was going to have had she not been so foolish. Had she not learned her lesson? This was worse than when she’d picked her foster-mother’s carefully grown carnations as a birthday present, worse still than when she’d pocketed a $5 bill she’d seen someone drop to buy something for her foster-brother when he screwed up the SATs. Both mistakes had gotten her sent back.
Adults never understood when kids tried to do something nice. They went straight to malice, intentional disobedience.
She had been so happy this December.
“Right.” The rattling of the brush being thrown in the bucket startled a tiny yelp out of Emma, though Ruby either didn’t notice or didn’t care. “That’ll do it. Thank Gods, I don’t want to see the Evil Queen again.” Her barked laughter felt like it tore straight through Emma’s jugular. “I think we gotta wash your hair, pup. We can wait until Regina gets back but I’d rather have everything cleaned away before I explain what happened.”
Emma nodded numbly and permitted herself to be led upstairs. In a perfect world, she would far rather wait for Regina to help her, but Red was right. Everything had to be dealt with to give her the best chance of staying. The slightest thing could make the biggest difference.
Nobody wanted a dirty child.
Ruby fished out a towel on their way, draping it over Emma’s shoulders as she began to run the bath. Having given Henry a number of baths when he was small, she pulled open the cabinet under the sink in search of bath toys and deposited them into the filling tub. She smiled to herself, as though proud to still know these little details.
“Ruby?” Emma’s voice was so small it could barely be heard over the sound of the running water.
Ruby – not used to hearing such a waver from someone who was usually so certain – halted. “Yeah?”
“D’you think Gina’ll send Christmas ‘way?” Tears were blossoming in her eyes now. She couldn’t hold onto the emotion when she added in a half-wail, “or just me?”
Not knowing exactly what to say, all Ruby could do was scoop the sobbing girl in her arms and whisper assurances. They rocked together to the sound of the bath filling. Emma couldn’t quite make out the words Ruby was saying, but they sounded calm as one ear hovered over her racing heart. She took the comfort where she could get it, allowing herself to be nestled close to her friend, Ruby’s clothing scrunched between her fists.
-
After Ruby had worked out all of the soap from Emma’s hair – not an easy task – they settled in the spare room with a mountain of children’s books, one ear listening out for Regina’s car coming up the street. When she heard it, she settled Emma with a kiss and a quick assurance, trotting down to meet Regina as quickly as she could.
Her face was awash with anxiety as the other woman stepped through the door. Regina – who had been pulling off her scarf and unbuttoning her coat froze in place, staring at the interloper. “Ruby, my child better be in the same condition I left her.”
A nervous laugh, “oh, yeah, Emma’s fine.”
Slowly, Regina hung her items up under the stairs. “And my house?”
“Relatively fine.” Ruby swallowed down her apprehension. “Look – Emma tried to make you a Christmas present and – it was my fault; I should have been paying more attention – and you might have lost a bottle of expensive-looking perfume and some bath stuff.” Regina’s eyes alighted in a way Ruby hadn’t seen in years, but she jumped in first, “I need you to stay calm because Emma is really scared you’re gonna send her away. I think I made it worse too.” Added in a whisper to herself, “I never think when I open my mouth.”
The fire died. Regina’s whole body shifted from bristling anger to soft, then tense with purpose. There was a deep certainty in her voice when she asked, “where is she?”
“I’ve just given her a bath. She’s in the spare room.”
Regina pushed passed her, composing herself as best she could. She didn’t need to ask which perfume Emma had decimated, because the whole downstairs reeked of it. By the time she managed to rid the house of it, she was certain it would no longer be her favourite. It didn’t matter. Her true favourite was cowering away right now, frightened that whatever she had done meant that she no longer loved her. It was most important that she know that could never be the case.
She knocked on the door gently before letting herself in, where Emma had promptly hidden herself under the covers. Regina smiled at her even if she couldn’t see, and climbed onto the bed, wrapping her arms around the lump. She didn’t need the full story to know that Emma hadn’t tried to misbehave. She was a silly girl – and a silly adult – but her heart was pretty much always in the right place. At the end of the day, a bottle of perfume wasn’t that much to lose. Even if it had been extremely expensive.
A quivering voice said, “’m s-s-sorry.”
She rubbed circles into what she assumed to be Emma’s arm. “It’s ok, darling.”
“I was tryna make you a present.” Of course she had. Her sweet girl.
“You’re not in trouble, baby.” Regina squeezed the lump gently.
The lump shuffled about until two big eyes peered out from the top. “Still Christmas?”
She brushed blonde hair out of the way. “It’s still Christmas.”
“Not on Santa’s bad list?”
“Never.”
“An’ I get to stay?”
Regina’s heart broke as it always did, but she kept her face schooled. “Always. No matter what.”
Emma shuffled into Regina’s side, as close as their bodies would allow, and threw her arm over the top. It took some more whispered assurances – and a lot of cookies – for Emma to fully relax again, but by the time they were sending Ruby home, she had a happy – if slightly clingy – little girl again. Later, Regina would tell the story of Henry taking apart the brand-new radio to make a robot, and Emma’s faux paus wouldn’t seem so bad.