Hello everybody. If you are one of the few interested in my other stories (from a different fandom) I apologize for not updating those. I spent sometime lately trying to do that and this is what happened instead. But I haven't abandoned them, so if someone out there is still interested in those please let me know.

About this story. It's short because I wanted to make sure it had some kind of ending before I started uploading. Having said that, and maybe for that same reason it is a little short. I might add to it if I see people/someone likes it.

Emma was tired. Lucy, her daughter, was sick the same day that Regina had late night at work scheduled.

While with Regina their little girl would become a very calm cuddler (so much so that it always reminded her of a baby koala), with her that same girl turned moody and demanding. Her wife somehow transmitted a sense of peace and calm into Lucy that she was unable to replicate. Even if a small part of her was envious of their connection she could still empathize with her daughter, Regina had that effect on her as well. She was their safe haven. She brought with her a sense of security and protection that she have never had the privilege of having before. All of that was missing now, and that created the monster that was "Winy Lucy" (yes they had a name for this type of situations)

"Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" The little girl called.

"One second sweetie" Said Emma from the kitchen where she was re-heating some chicken soup.

"Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" Apparently her daughter was having non of that. The little monster refused to wait for whatever it is she wanted this time.

Emma decided to take the soup as it was, hoping that even if it wasn't at the right temperature that it was at least warm enough to eat.

"Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" Lucy called once again, while Emma was already on her way to the bedroom.

The blonde was exhausted and, with a headache threatening to make an appearance, her first instinct was to reprimand her daughter. But once she got to the bedroom door and saw her, all the anger and frustration went away to be replaced with concern. She looked so small, granted the fact that she was in the large bed that Emma shared with Regina didn't help to avoid this, but she suddenly looked very fragile in Emma's eyes and this ignited in her a fierce need to protect her. She looked even younger than her four years of age.

Emma left the tray where she was carrying the meal on top of of her nightstand and went to touch her daughters forehead. She was a little warm but nothing too serious.

"What's wrong sweety? Is there something you need? Are you feeling worse?" Although she was pretty sure Lucy was getting better, self-doubts grew within her when she had to face one of these situations on her own. She usually trusted Regina and the experience her wife had gained while raising Henry for this. That's not to say she always left everything in the other woman's hands, but one look at those brown eyes and she knew that she wasn't alone in all of this. Those eyes and that look were her security blanket every time guilt (for the reason that took her to this lack of experience) and self-doubt started to creep on her.

Hearing the concern in her mother's tone, Lucy made a pause. She looked like someone that's trying to decide if what they are about to say is out of place or not.

"A s..." She finally said. But it was barely a whisper and Emma was not able to understand.

"What honey?" Emma asked and that's when she saw it, the guilt in her daughter's eyes. If there's one thing that Regina and her agreed on is that they didn't want Lucy to ever feel guilty to ask for something. They didn't want her to have to live through that like they did so many times while growing up. "It's ok, you can tell me"

"A... a story" Said Lucy in a still frightful tone.

"A story ah?" Asked her mother while showing the most encouraging smile that she could produce. "I'll tell you what, I'll tell you a story if you have some of this soup. Do we have a deal, tiny monster?" Said Emma tickling her lightly.

Lucy could only nod while a big smile started to show on her tiny face.

After having some of the soup, Lucy was more than ready for her story.

"Ok Luce. What book do you want tonight? "Oh, The places you'll go"?"

"No" She said firmly.

The blonde was really surprised as that was Lucy's favorite, so much so that Emma could probably recite it word by word by now with out the need to open a single page. "No? What will it be then?"

"You"

"Me?" This was getting weirder by the minute.

"You tell me a story"

"Oh I see. Are you sure you want that? I'm not sure I'll be very good telling a story"

"Yes" Said the little girl and Emma could see the winy monster about to make an appearance. She couldn't allow that to happen.

"Ok. Here we go... Story... Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere we go..." Yes, she was stalling while looking for something to talk about after this unexpected development.

"So... Mmm... Once upon a time... there was this... this... mmm... robot".

"A robot?" Lucy didn't look happy about this first revelation.

In those precious few seconds Emma realized she needed a protagonist. Who was she supposed to choose? A princess? She had met some of them and she was sure she wanted a better role model for her child. She wanted her daughter to become someone that could defend herself if needed, she wanted her daughter to be a hero not a damsel in distress. Of course, someone could argue Snow was different but she didn't want to tell a romantic story involving her parents. Yuck.

Granted, when trying to involve robot-cars and a hero saving earth from robot aliens in the story she took it too far. Lucy wasn't Henry. Time to change the tune then.

"Yes. A robot. Once upon a time there was a tiny robot called... Ma" It was not very inventive, she could accept that. But after having a little voice calling for her like that all day long, it was stuck in her brain.

Lucy raised her little eyebrow at this. What Lucy couldn't master yet was the evil glare that went with it. So while Regina made it look scary and imposing, Lucy made it look cute. Even taking that into account, It was incredible how much like her other mother the kid looked when doing this and Emma couldn't help but love them both even more for it. A simple eyebrow raise and Emma's heart was a goner.

"Ma? That's the robot's name?" Asked Lucy disapprovingly.

"Who's telling the story, little monster?"

"You"

"Exactly, so have a little patience and it will all reveal itself" She answered with a move of hands close to what a magician would do, while internally trying to find a way to fix this mess of a story. 'Stick with what you know' she told herself. But what did she know?. Well, she knew herself.

"Once upon a time there was a tiny robot called MA, E-MA."

Her daughter seemed to get the meaning of this change and a smile showed on her face as a sign of approval.

"E-MA was created in a ship by humans. You see the earth was really dirty, so dirty and full of trash that people couldn't live there anymore. So they created E-MA to clean the earth, to save the world. She was suppose to save them all"