Senior Year (SwanQueen)

Emma's Story

Regina woke up to Emma staring at her. "Hey sleepy." Emma said in a soft voice. "Hey em." Regina replied groggily. They stared into each others eyes before they both got up to get dressed. That's when Regina noticed the tear stains on Emma's face. "What's wrong Emma." She asked looking concerned. "Oh nothing." Emma answered quickly. Regina kissed Emma. "You know you can tell me anything dear." Regina whispered. Emma sighed. "I know. It's just... When you asked about my life, I didn't want to tell you because it's too painful for me to remember."Emma said sadly. "Emma, you don't have to tell me anything. I know it hurts, but that was the past, this is now." Regina said sitting down on the bed and tapping the side of the bed next to her signaling for Emma to join her. "It's okay Regina I have to tell someone. Not even Kathryn really knows my story. It's just been a subject I've tried to avoid, but the pain has hurt me for too long and I have to let it out." Emma said with a bit of confidence as she sat down next to Regina. Regina smiled and grabbed Emma's hand. "When I was born, my parents put me up for adoption because they already had one kid and didn't have the money for another. They couldn't care for me so I was put in a foster home where I stayed for a month before I was finally adopted. Life was great, from the little bit I could remember. But when I was three, they had their own kid and sent me back. I had 18 different foster homes in the next 11 years. I'm not religious, but one family I stayed with when I was four was. They prayed at every meal and went to church every Sunday and for my birthday they gave me a bible. I never thought much of it, but one verse was always in my head and that was Jeremiah 29:11 "for I know the plans I have for you, says the lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future." I never thought anything of it, until later. After that, Each home I was in was just as bad or worse then the last, so I started running away. One day, I was in the process of stealing a box of pop tarts from a convenient store in Minnesota when I met Lilly. She took me to a huge abandoned home on the late, where we stayed for a while. It was the best months of my life. We did everything together and eventually our friendship grew into a relationship. We loved and cared for each other so much. Then one night, her dad found her. She had told me that she was in foster care and ran away too, but it was all a lie. I pushed her away. She went home to her family, and I went back to a group home. After a few months I began living with a foster family and they changed my life. They were everything I wanted in a family. They treated me like I was one of their own. We were just about to go on a camping trip when Lilly showed up. She was the last person I wanted to see. A piece of my life I wanted to forget. She sent me to get a necklace from her boyfriends house and when I got back all the money for our camping trip was gone. My foster parents blamed me for it so I ran away again, only to be thrown back into another foster home, where I was almost adopted, but the lady was crazy, so of course I ran away again. I lived on my own for a while until a nice couple and their daughter took me in. They adopted me and when they did, I found out that they were my real parents. They said it was fate. For two years, my mom, dad, sister and I moved from town to town to different military bases and was deployed to Iraq a few times. As much as I loved my mother, she wasn't there for 15 years of my life and For some reason, I could never trust her. I tended to stay to myself and didn't have very many friends.  But I didn't need any. Kathryn was the only person I could really trust. She was always there for me. I sometimes told her about my past, but I only told her pieces of it. I didn't want to make her or my mom feel bad for ever having to give me up. I know they did it to give me my best chance, but my life was hell for those 15 years. I never knew what family or love was like. But somehow, I managed to forgive them the second they brought me into their home. On my dads last deployment, three days before my 17th birthday and one day before my dad was supposed to be home, he was killed trying to save a little girl from a bomb. His friends told our family that she tried to save her because she reminded him of me. Lost, scared and alone in the world. After a month, my mom, Kathryn and I decided to move one last time. She found a job here in Storybrooke as an elementary school teacher and we moved here. The rest is history." Emma said forcing a smile even though she had tears streaming down her face. "Oh my god! I'm so sorry Emma!" Regina said also crying from the story. She hugged Emma and held her tight. Emma continued to cry on Regina's shoulder for several moments before Regina pulled away. "And now you have a family that loves you, friends who care about you, and a girlfriend who trusts you. See Emma things are getting better and they will continue to get better. You just have to believe." Regina smiled and kissed Emma. "You really trust me?" Emma asked surprised. Regina nodded. "How couldn't I?" Regina asked. "I don't know." Emma shrugged. They had a few minutes of silence. "What about you? What about your story?" Emma asked. Regina's smile dropped from her face and she looked like she was about to cry.