Emma's first instinct is to keep walking. She's a seventeen year-old girl on the run and the man inside is a wanted criminal.

But then, she starts thinking.

For the past five days, she's been taking whatever means of transport available, and she's barely one-third of the way to her sister's town. Having a car would mean reaching Eva's foster home within a couple of days, and would make a getaway much easier.

And it's not like Cassidy could just walk into a police station and report it missing.

She knows that there are a thousand things that could go wrong with this plan, but she doesn't care. She's getting desperate. Every day she delays is another day her sister has to spend with those monsters, and also gives another opportunity for her foster parents to report her missing. A car would fix all of that.

She searches for a possible weapon in the alleyway and picks up a brick lying a few meters from the car. It's a solid weight in her hand- perfect for knocking someone out. Then she crouches behind the bug and waits for the thief inside to come out.

Twenty minutes later, she's starting to have doubts. What if Cassidy doesn't get out of the car, but simply clambers to the front and drives away? Worse, what if he reverses? He'll bang right into her, and she'll end up with a broken leg for all her trouble.

Right then, she hears something shift inside the bug.

Immediately, her senses are on high alert. He's definitely getting up- she can hear him moving about in the car. Now comes the crucial part. The thief kicks the door open and steps out, stretching. At the same time, she rises as quietly as she can.

Then she swings the brick towards his head with all her might.

At the last possible second, he grabs her hand and twists away. The brick falls from her fingers, but her leg comes up and strikes his knees right where he's balancing all his weight. He crumples to the ground, and within seconds she's on top of him, her knee on his chest, and her hand rising, ready to knock him out.

She can still save this situation. To him, she'll be some faceless, nameless girl who stole his car. He has no way of tracking her down, no way of reporting her to the police, no way of preventing her from reaching Eva. She just has to hit him hard enough.

He's looking up at her, shocked. Perhaps it's because of the fact that's he's been bested, and is about to be knocked out, by a girl five years younger than him. But there's also something else on his face. Something like recognition.

And just as her hand is about to strike his face, he blurts out something that ruins it all.

"You're Emma Swan."

Well, she thinks, there goes her whole plan.

Her hand still hits his head, but the shock of the statement has taken away most of its force so that he's still conscious, though he'll have a nasty bruise come morning. She decides to go for ignorance.

"What?" she spits out, digging her knee further into his chest as a warning for him to talk less.

He doesn't seem to get it.

"Emma Swan," he says. "Reported missing a day ago from a foster home a few towns away." He switches topics. "You're seventeen?"

Yes, she thinks, I'm seventeen. Get over it. She doesn't like where things have gone. Cassidy knows her name, and worse, knows that she's run away from a foster home. There's no way she can escape with the bug now.

She decides to play for time.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she hisses.

He looks up at her, smirking slightly. "Don't give me that stuff. I saw the poster just yesterday, and it had a great photo." He shifts a little, trying to get out from where she's got him trapped, but she just presses down harder.

After a few seconds, he starts talking again. "Look, I'm a thief too, alright? Maybe we can help each other- come to some sort of an agreement?"

Emma can't believe this. Here she is, pinning a professional criminal down in a side alley, and he's trying to make deals with her? She's not a thief, and she won't stoop to his level.

"No," she says, forcefully. "I'm not making any deals with you."

Something about her answer catches him, because his expression twists, and the next thing she knows is that he's twisting out from under her faster than she could have thought possible, and then he's on his feet; but she's jumped up too, and it's evenly matched again.

And it's only then that she sees that he's somehow got the brick clenched in his fist.

Now Cassidy has the upper hand.

He starts backing away, and once he's a safe distance from her, he throws the brick down onto the road. Their scuffle has taken them a few feet away from where she tried to hit him, and so he's now next to the car.

She is frozen, unable to make out why he isn't going after her. No one has ever done that before. She keeps waiting for him to suddenly lunge towards her when she least expects it, but instead he merely opens the car door and gets inside while watching her closely.

Then he seems to change his mind, and he steps out again. She tenses, ready for the fight, but he merely asks her something: "What was all that about anyway? You come up behind me and try to knock me out, and then even after you've seen that I've recognised you, you continue fighting. But you could've taken my offer. Maybe, we could have come to a truce. So why did you fight? What were you fighting for?"

Maybe it's the shock at being asked the question or maybe it's the adrenaline that's still pumping through her veins, but an answer slips out from between her clenched teeth.

"For my family."

Cassidy's expression changes, becoming softer, but that doesn't stop him from finally getting into the bug and starting its engine. Right as he's driving past her, he rolls down his window and says six words.

Then he drives away, leaving her to stand there, alone, in the alleyway as his answer echoes in her ears.

Sometimes your family isn't worth it.

For the first time in two years, she lets herself cry.

Sorry for the delay, but I hope you liked my twist on Emma and Neal's meeting.

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