Bobby put two fingers under Emma's chin, forcing her to look at him.

"Don't worry, kiddo," he said softly. "We'll stay in touch. I promise." Emma angrily wiped her eyes. She didn't like crying. Mercers didn't cry.

"But you won't pick me up after school anymore," she whined.

"You don't know that. I can visit you at your aunt's. We all can," Bobby tried. But they both knew that was a lie. Her aunt hated the Mercers.

"I don't want to go with her," Emma said.

"We can kidnap you and take you back home," Jack suggested.

"Yeah, if anything happens, we'll come get you," Angel promised. Emma bit her lip. She was going to miss her brothers terribly, yet she knew she had no choice.

"I'll call you every day!" she said.

Four years later, London:

"Emma! Stop daydreaming!" Emma's aunt said. "We still have five presents to buy!"

"Christmas is like a week away, Eva," Emma sighed. "Why can't we leave those for later?"

"I like doing things in time, you know that!" Eva replied. Yes, Emma knew. She, on the other hand, did everything the last minute, which often got her in trouble with her aunt.

"Now, I'll go look for a nice jumper to give to your father, and you go get that circle-thing your cousin asked for."

"You mean the hula-hoop?" Emma asked innocently, knowing that her aunt hated being corrected.

"Don't be so cheeky, Emma," Eva warned. Emma turned around without a word, her back still hurting from yesterday's punishment. Not that Eva was so bad. She tried to be nice but Emma knew she wasn't the easiest person to get along with. Though Evelyn had always been nice. Emma swallowed. She wasn't supposed to think about the Mercer's. It had been four years already, they had surely forgotten about her. When she was little, she used to think of them as her protectors, but ever since her aunt had gotten her back, they hadn't been there to protect her. She waited months for them to come and take her back home, but they never did. Emma sighed. They were selling hockey gear in the store where she was and she instantly thought of Bobby as she ran her fingers over one of the sticks.

"Where are you, Bobby?" she asked softly.

Boston:

Bobby lighted up a cigarette as he listened to his friend. He didn't smoke, but he hadn't seen his family for almost a year now and the smell reminded him of his brother Jack. Curtis waved his hands around as he explained his idea to Bobby. It was a damn fine idea, if it worked. They could make some money, good money. If it didn't work, on the other hand, they would be even more broke than they were now.

"So where is the place?" Bobby asked. He was only a bit worried. Curtis friend was selling an old building and was offering it to Bobby and Curtis at a good price. If things went as they were hoping, they could open up a club. The only downside to it was, in Bobby's mind, that Curtis' friend usually made things sound a whole lot better than they were.

"Oh, well you see… what's important is if we can draw people to it, the location isn't…"

"Jesus, man," Bobby sighed. "Just tell me where the damn thing is, alright?" Curtis opened his mouth but was interrupted again, this time by Bobby's phone ringing.

"What?" Bobby said into the phone.

"Hey man, it's your brother. Remember me?"

"Jackie-boy," Bobby smiled, "What you want?" Bobby was happy to hear his brother's voice, and surprised that Jack had actually found his current number, but tough-talk had always been his way.

"I'm going away with the band," Jack said, "we're going on tour. I need someone to look out for my cat, and Ma can't."

"Hell no," Bobby exclaimed, "No way, Jackie, leave it with someone else." Jack sighed.

"There is no one else. I would have called Angel, but he's proven to be even harder to track down than you." If Bobby's pride was in any way hurt by the last sentence, he sure didn't show it.

"Call Jerry."

"Camille's allergic."

"Well give her a couple of pills, shave the damn thing, I don't know! But you damn well ain't bringing it here! Why don't you just take it with you?"

"I can't, Bobby. We're going to Europe." Bobby rolled his eyes. Oh, so that's why he called. Boy just wanted to show off.

"You even got a damn cat, you little fairy?"

"Nope," Jack chuckled, "Sorry, I just couldn't resist."

"Where in Europe?" Bobby asked.

"Paris."

"Cracker Jack, I'm proud of you. Guess that good-for-nothing guitar you got actually is good for something."

"Yeah, I guess. Look, we're leaving tomorrow, just wanted you to know." Bobby smiled.

"Little sister growing up so fast!" he teased.

"Shut up, Bobby."

"Don't forget your toothbrush. Bring extra tampons!" Jack had hung up and Bobby put the phone aside.

"So, where is it?" he continued his conversation with Curtis, as if they had not been interrupted.