"Ms. Swan? Ms. Swan?" a nurse asked, walking up to Emma's bedside.

She did not register the woman's voice or even that she was speaking. All she could think about was the pain she was in and the feeling that her unborn child was trying to kick his or her way out of her.

"Ms. Swan? Is there anyone I can call for you? Someone you might want to be here?"

It took what seemed like an eternity for Emma to answer, but she finally managed to utter the word "No".

She truly had no one who cared where she was or what she was doing. No one had cared about her in a long time. She had almost always been on her own and this baby wasn't going to change that. She couldn't keep him or her, she knew that for sure. The baby needed parents. It needed a family, not some 18 year old girl who had never taken care of anyone but herself. That did not mean it didn't hurt her. She wished she could know the baby, Emma wished she had what it took to be a mom, but she didn't. She was just a teenager and the baby's father wasn't even in the picture anymore. Part of Emma felt like Neal would have wanted to be a father, he would've wanted them to be a family. But there was also the part where he had left her, he did not show up when he was supposed to, which to Emma meant that, like everyone else, he didn't want her.

She tried not to focus on the bad stuff; how scared she was, the fact that her unborn baby's future was unknown. Emma's only focus at this point was having a healthy baby, a baby that could hopefully make some family really happy. Her biggest wish for her child was that he or she wouldn't grow up alone and abandoned like she had been. That was all she could hope for.

"Hello, Emma." The doctor said as he walked into her room, "Are you ready to have baby?"

She knew he meant give birth, but all she could feel was judgment. She felt like the world was staring at her and calling her a horrible person because she was a knocked up 18 year old girl serving jail time (for a crime that she did not commit).

Emma nodded, feeling pain shoot through her whole body. She felt like she was going to burst into tears at any moment. She couldn't do this. She couldn't have a baby. She couldn't give her baby to some strangers that she would probably never meet. How would she know if they loved her child? Would they make good parents? Or would they be like the countless families that took her in, got to know her, then turned her away? The only thing she knew for sure was that she could not raise a baby on her own.

"Let's get started then, shall we?" her doctor asked.

What seemed like an eternity long blur lasted only minutes. She was in so much pain and then she wasn't.

The doctor stood up holding a tiny baby and watched the tears streaming down Emma's face.

"It's a boy." he announced, attempting to hand the baby to Emma. She shook her head, sobbing. If she held him it would be that much harder to let him go.

She tried to hide her heartbreak while watching the nurses clean the baby up. He was strong, she observed, watching him fight the nurses. He reminded her of herself, already fending for himself. A few times she felt like he was watching her, his little eyes peering around the nurses and doctors.