Hiii! So so sorry. Please don't kill me. Or be angry. *Killian puppy dog eyes*

Chapter 3

Emma was very thankful that Henry was still at his friend's house when she woke up the following morning. There was no way that she'd let him see her in this state, dark rings under her eyes and posture stiff, as if she was waiting for someone to jump up from behind her at any second – and in her own damn kitchen.

Emma frowned at the opened fridge, egg package in hand, the thought of her usual morning pancakes suddenly making her nauseous. With and absent minded nod she closed the fridge and downed the remaining of her cocoa before pulling on her coat to head out the door.

When she stepped outside the front door to her building she couldn't help to glance quick around her shoulder, just to make sure and not wanting to be caught off guard again. He wasn't there. Emma pressed her lips together in a thin line, not at all comfortable with the nagging feeling in her stomach. She'd rather just deal with him now and be done with it than having to look over shoulder every now and then throughout the day.

Yeah, she was done postponing this now. Biting her bottom lip she reached into her coat pocket where the address was still safely stuffed.

She raised her eyebrows at the carefully scribbled out text, seriously it looked like some medieval handwriting or something, pulling out her phone and then finding the address on google maps.

Huh. Only a few blocks from where she was. Emma didn't know if she should feel relieved that the cab ride wouldn't be too long so she'd still have time to pick up Henry at his friend's house at the promised time or if she should be nervous at how close her current leather stalker was living from her.

She decided not to dwell any longer on the topic.

A man got out from a cab just a few meters away from where she was standing so she hurried to get in it before the driver pulled away.

"West 12th Street, 207, please." Her voice came out slightly breathy.

She closed the door.

.

.

.

The house to which the driver pulled up at looked dreary. Emma thanked and paid him before shutting the door to the car and taking a few unsure steps toward the building. The neighborhood looked friendly enough. No mysterious men clad in black walking around but rather small children playing and dragging their parents along the street. Emma smiled softly as she spotted a boy who looked similar to which Henry had in that age.

It was for Henry Emma took a last reassuring breath, before stepping into the house.

The apartment she was supposed to visit looked vacant. There was no name tag next to the apartment number and Emma smirked. This was obviously someone in hiding. Any other would probably look past this, but after having hunted down numerous of shady people through the years Emma was not as easily tricked.

Deciding to not scare away whoever it could be that was inhabiting the apartment Emma buzzed all the buttons except the one she wanted to reach.

It was not long before the door buzzed open with a soft click and she hurriedly left the lobby as a female voice was heard "Hello? Who is it?"

Emma hurried up the stairs, grateful that the apartment in question was on one of the lower floors.

She rang the doorbell three times before looking around the corridor to make sure that no neighbor was watching. She hadn't come all this way to just go home just because there was no one home.

Actually, if she was being honest she preferred entering this way and not having too awkwardly having to talk with whoever could be living her. If anyone was living here, that is. From what she could tell it was vacant.

Which was probably the idea.

This looked to be the perfect place for a stalker-in-disguise to be living.

Emma removed one of her bobby pins from her hair, quietly thanking herself for thinking of wearing them that day, and then set to work. It was under less than a minute that the door swung up.

Emma stepped inside without bothering to close the door behind her, she wouldn't be staying here for long anyway.

The first thing she spotted with a quick glance around was the dream catcher in the window right across the room.

Emma's eyes widened. What the hell? She frowned as she reached the familiar item, narrowing her eyes to find some clue that it was not the one she once had.

It looked just as remembered it.

Against her will she could feel her eyes watering and she quickly blinked and turned away from the window decor. At a side table was an enormous stack of unopened letters causing Emma to frown. She staggered over there, taking the top letter and feeling a lump form in her throat as she read the name it was addressed to.

"Neal."

Emma's first instinct was to get the hell out of there, pick Henry early up at his friend and then leave town. How had he found her? Did he know about Henry? Was her stalker some sort of spy sent out to watch her and then grab Henry when he was by himself?

If so, why would said stalker tell her about this apartment, letting her know that he was working for the father of her child?

None of it made sense.

Emma put down the letter just in time to her approaching footsteps, immediately freezing in place and cursing her stupidity to leave the door open. When the steps came closer, she sprung into action quickly sneaking into the nearby room.

Emma's breath caught in her throat as she heard someone step inside the apartment and then closing the door.

She closed her eyes and pressed herself tighter against the wall now fully hidden behind a door and prayed that the advancing person would not notice her.

"Love?"

Emma's eyes flew open. Oh no. No, no, no. This was not happening.

She bit her lip in attempt to stop herself from breathing when she could hear him coming closer.

A moment later he entered the room and Emma had to concentrate very hard at standing completely still, not a sound escaping her. Apparently it was not enough because it was only seconds before he turned in her direction, sticking his head behind the door and blue eyes peering at her in amusement.

"What are you-"

Emma didn't hesitate for a second, her left foot coming up to kick him in the groin but unlike last time he seemed more ready for her attack and caught her foot in midair.

"Bad form, lass." She wriggled her foot in a desperate attempt to get free.

His hold of her was unsurprisingly strong and Emma's heart thumped hard against her chest. This was so very bad. She was alone in a vacant apartment, an apartment her stalker had told her to go to, and now the stalker and probably pervert had showed up and had her stranded against a corner.

For a moment Emma thought of screaming for the neighbors.

She didn't.

"What do you want? Why did you take me here? Are you working for him?" She asked when the man in front of her seemed to have no intention of speaking, just standing there watching her intently.

She shivered under his gaze.

To her surprise he released his holding of her leg and gently let it fall back to the ground, his right hand came up to close the door to stop her from fleeing (dammit) and then he backed away a step as if he wanted to keep a safe distance between them. Emma smirked.

"I need you to remember." The second he opened his mouth to speak Emma couldn't help but roll her eyes. His piercing blue gaze searched her eyes as he went on, searching for something. For a moment Emma could swear she remembered seeing those eyes before. She quickly discarded the thought.

"Disregarding what you might believe we have met before, you just don't remember. We parted almost a year ago when you had to take your leave with the boy."

"What do you want with Henry?"

His eyes softened at the mention of her son, understanding of her protectiveness crossing his features.

"I mean none of you harm, but I, your parents, everyone, needs you to come back."

Emma's heart clenched at the words. Truth was radiating from him, not a single lie escaping his lips – and yet she refused to believe any of it. This guy was clearly crazy.

"I'm not going anywhere with you, if that's what you're expecting." She crossed her arms over her chest to appear more intimidating. "Anything you want to say to me you have to say now, because I am not letting you near me or my son for that matter again."

She squinted her eyes at him expectedly, observing as he with an exasperated sigh pulled his hand through his hair.

"I told you everything you need to know, your parents are in grave danger and they need you to –" Emma opened her mouth to protest and say that she didn't have any parents (not that it was any of his business, but this was getting ridiculous) but the man quickly went on before she could cut him off again. "-I know none of this makes sense right now, but it will." He fumbled after something in that ridiculous big cloak of his and pulled out a weird looking bottle. "It will, if you drink this, it'll help you remember."

Emma gaped at him, he didn't seriously expect her to actually –

"Drink the thing the crazy guy just offered me? No thank you."

He sighed again. "Please, lass, try a new thing it's called trust." He appraised her closely as if he was expecting the reaction the words gave her.

Try something new darling, it's called trust.

There it was again. Emma stared wide eyed at him. Encouraged by her speechless reaction he took a slow step forwards his face coming to rest mere inches from her. She could feel his warm breaths coming against her lips. God, he was so close. Inside she was screaming to get away from him and yet she did not dare to move or look away, challengingly meeting his eyes.

She knew those eyes. No human being could possibly possess a pair of eyes as brightly blue as his.

She swallowed, looking away, feeling vulnerable under his intense gaze.

"Take a leap of faith." His soothing voice was reassuring, his eyes shining hopefully as he offered her the purple vial again.

"I-" She was abruptly cut of as approaching voices was heard in the corridor and the man in front of her stiffened noticeably. He wasn't supposed to be here either, was he?

Unlike her, however he started acting in such a fast fashion she was momentarily impressed. He put a hand over her mouth to keep her from saying anything (which she didn't at all plan to do) Annoyed she glared at him. He spared her no glance, but kept looking at the door holding his breath as the voices was drawing nearer.

Looking back at her he motioned with his unoccupied hand in the direction of a wardrobe. She hesitated for a short second, giving him an unsure look.

"Trust me." He mouthed and she quickly got in and softly closed the door behind her. The space inside was...limited to say the least and Emma had curl up to fit.

The wooden doors were thick, but not enough to block out the noises in the room outside. She held her breath and listened intently as the door to the room opened and heavy footsteps entered.

"What are you doing here, sir?"

"Hello sirs, is there a problem?"

"Neighbours called in for noise from this supposedly empty apartment, according to an anonymous source, the owner has been gone for over a year."

"Uh, yes. You see my friend is living elsewhere at the moment and kindly offered to lend me his place when I told him I was going to this city for a couple of days."

Emma took a sharp intake of breath, there was hardly any oxygen left inside her hiding place. The police officer must have paused for a second because it was quiet for a while.

"There's no one else here, sir." Another cop entered the room.

"You certain?"

"Yes."

"Are you here alone?"

"Yes, it's just me."

"Very well, sir, you'll be coming with us and we'll sort this out at the station."

They left the room but Emma didn't dare move until she was certain that they had since long left the apartment. She slumped against the wardrobe wall.

What the hell just happened?

It was another ten minutes before Emma moved to open the wardrobe door and the peer out whilst holding her breath, feeling a bit like the kid that played hide and seek from her adoptive parents all those years ago.

When she was certain there was no one else around, Emma started moving about the relatively small flat, picking things up and inspecting them as she went.

It wasn't particularly homey, not that Neal ever had been one to decorate much, but Emma got the feeling that it had been a while since he had lived there full-time.

She frowned, remembering the outdated stack of letters from earlier.

"What are you up to Neal?"

When she had ventured through the apartment a couple more times, still finding nothing of interest, she decided it was probably time to leave before some neighbor felt like calling the cops again.

It was on her way out, just about to open the door and sneak out, that she spotted the camera. It wasn't the item itself that caught her attention and made her stop in mid-step, but the name tag branded on it. Henry.

No.

Emma grabbed the camera and stared at it.

No, no.

He knew.