A/N - This is a request from frenchgirl1981 :) Set on the ship to Neverland. Be warned, there is a flashback of a rape scene in this, so please don't read if you are not comfortable with it. Will continue if anyone wants me to. I probably will.

Please review 3

Emma has a nightmare of her childhood and Regina is the one to comfort her.

Trigger warning for rape of a minor. WILL RATE AN M IF ANYONE THINKS IT SHOULD BE.

Regina stared up at the wooden beams, unable to sleep. One, her son had been sucked through a portal to Neverland and since she'd never been there, she had no idea what horrors resided there. Two, while on this ship, she was forced to share a bed with Emma Swan - and a very small bed at that. It amazed her why, when there were so many empty cabins available, that they were forced to share. She thought it had something to do with Hook's vendetta against her for knocking him out after finding out the dagger's location and against Emma for leaving him locked up in Manhattan. Normally, she would have incinerated anyone who dared suggest such a thing but in her position, there wasn't much she could do to protest against it. The only way to Neverland was Hook's ship and as he so charmingly put it 'My ship, my rules. If you don't like it, then you can take a swim back to Storybrooke'. Hence, she was lying as wide awake as ever in this ridiculously poor excuse for a bed with Henry's birth mother snoring softly beside her. Fantastic.

Over the course of the next half an hour, she managed to drift into a reverie, namely about Neverland and the stories she'd collected over the years. It seemed like a dreadful place. Who would want to be stuck as a child forever? Children were exploited far too easily.

The former mayor was startled back to full alertness by sudden whimpering, getting louder and louder. As she turned to look at the woman beside her, she began to thrash around, crying out frantically. No! No! No! Please! Stop! No! No! No! Get off me! No! She let out a piercing scream and then the blonde shot up, panting heavily and drenched in sweat.

"Emma?" asked the brunette, hesitantly, surprisingly herself that she even cared about her nightmare.

Said woman was still whimpering, clenching her fists until they turned white. All of a sudden, the clear film of tears over her emerald eyes was blinked away and Emma turned to face her with a mixture of shock and dismay.

"Regina… Uh – I'm sorry I woke you… I… I'll just…" she tried to come up with an excuse, still trying to rid herself of the tears threatening to fall "…Sorry…"

"Miss Swan, what happened?" Regina asked with a tenderness reserved only for Henry up until now.

"N-nothing. Nothing!" protested Emma.

"I've known you for a long time, Miss Swan. It wasn't nothing to cause you to react like that. What was it?" prompted Regina.

"It's just a nightmare… I dreamt that Henry was being drowned by mermaids. It's nothing, honestly, just a dream…" continued Emma, gaining confidence with the lie "I just watched too much of Peter Pan, I suppose."

"Emma, you may be good at hiding your emotions, of covering up the truth, but believe me, I am better. I've had a lot of practice..."

"Just… Just go back to sleep, Regina. It's nothing."

"Miss Swan, I would prefer not to wake up to you having a panic attack. Now, please, tell me what it was. Believe it or not, I am actually capable of dealing with nightmares."

"Not mine…" mumbled Emma.

"Try me," offered Regina, softly.

In her nightmarish state, Emma didn't offer much resistance nor did she question why Regina was offering her ear and advice on private matters. She needed to get it off her chest and although her newfound parents would be more than willing to help her with her childhood demons, she didn't want to make them feel worse for leaving her. Even if she resented them every day for it, they were good people and she wouldn't let them suffer the anguish that came from knowing what their only child's childhood was really like.

"Who were you saying no to?" asked Regina, genuinely wanting to help.

While Emma was not her favourite person, close to the bottom of her list really, it took a hell of a lot to unnerve the blonde and well… if she was looking after Henry, she didn't want him to face her flipping her shit in the middle of the night. And she didn't particularly want to face her own sleep demons. Of them she had plenty.

"Was it a past boyfriend?"

"No, no, nothing like that…" Emma answered, reluctantly, hesitantly "It was my foster brother."

"What did he do to you?"

"Everything. Everything and nothing. When I was thirteen, he used to sneak in when… when I was in the shower. He… he t…touched me. There. He… He… r-r-raped me."

Despite her better judgement, Emma leaned into Regina's shoulder, a silent tear trailing down her cheek. God, it hurt. Even now. All those years later. Sexual assault never became any less of a challenge to deal with.

"Oh god, Emma, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry…" said Regina, haunted by her own past at this confession "Did he do it again, Emma? Did he?"

"No… I ran away. Social services didn't find me for over a week. I was put back into a care home. Anywhere… anywhere was better than there."

His cool fingers trailed her bare arms as she shifted uncomfortably under his heated gaze, trying to hold the small towel up against her body. He gazed at her with lust, a smirk on his face. She panicked instantly and wanted to scream for help. But in this house, there was no-one to help her. There never had been. There never would be. He yanked the towel from her, exposing her fully. She cried out and tried to cover her small breasts with her hands. His hand trailed down her ribcage, down down down. Tears welled in her eyes. Lower. Lower. Lower. She felt him reach her most intimate area and she cried. Cried for the family she'd never had. Cried for her stolen innocence. Cried and cried and cried. Then she felt him. In her. No. No. No. She repeated it over and over. He silenced her protests with a sickeningly possessive kiss. Mine. Mine. Mine. He whispered to her. Her hand connected with his cheek but he laughed at her and pushed her down to the freezing tiles. He took her then, tainted her forever. No. No. No. STOP. PLEASE. GET OFF ME. Another thrust and she screamed in pain as blood trickled down her open thighs. He clambered off her with a sick smile of victory. Mine. Mine. Mine.

Emma let out a broken string of sobs again but this time Regina's arms were around her, holding her close and rocking her back and forth, telling her that it was all in the past and that she was safe here. She allowed herself to be comforted, forgetting that they were enemies. None of it mattered. Because here she felt safe and loved and protected. Regina Mills made her feel those things.