Chapter 4

Alright, yes, I know I said that I would update this weekend, but I have today off from school because it is Martin Luther King Day, so technically, it's still the weekend, at least for me. But I am sorry, though. Like I said in the last chapter, i will probably only be able to update on the weekends so stay tuned! Big thanks to paupaupi, , and Doodlelolly0910 for your reviews, they made me so happy! And now, here is Chapter 4 of Reclaimed Love!

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Adam Horowitz and Eddie Kitsis.

Quote: Putting off an easy thing makes it hard. Putting off a hard thing makes it impossible." ~ George Claude Lorimer

Emma Swan officially hated her boss. She knew that she was the highest-ranking bail bondsperson of the whole corporation, yet her boss never, and she means never, gives her a single case. Unfortunately for her, your salary as a bail bondsperson is solely based on the income you make from each of your individual cases. Since her boss had never given her one before, Emma was completely broke.

She used to have her own apartment, but she could never pay rent on time, so the landlord had kicked her out. Luckily, Emma's best friend, Mary Margaret Blanchard, was kind enough to take her in and they've been roommates for ten months now.

Emma never went to college. She just knew that it would not work out for her. Instead, she went to the police academy to be a cop. She graduated the top in her class, but because of her ex-boyfriend Neal Cassidy, she was not able to enter the police force. So, she chose to go into a new line of work: finding people. She completed the required courses, took the examination, and when she was twenty-six, became a fully-licensed bail bondsperson. Her boss, Leroy (no one knew what his last name was), was a total grump who had a specific grudge against Emma for some reason. He disliked her more than he did most people, and was very persistent in never giving her a case to work on. Nevertheless, Emma still called him every morning and asked for a case to work on. His answer was the same that it had been the last two years. No.

So, when Leroy said no this morning, it had been the last straw. Emma hung up, and decided that she was going to head to Leroy's office in the company's small building (almost all of their employees worked from home, just not Leroy, 'cause he was the head of the company) and demand that he give her a case.

"Emma, where are you going?" came Mary Margaret's voice from the kitchen.

Mary Margaret was Emma's best friend. They had met at a diner called Granny's, which was basically the only restaurant in their section of Boston, and they had clicked instantly, even though they were extremely different. Mary Margaret was a cute brunette with a pixie cut who was a fourth-grade teacher at the local elementary school. She was currently engaged to Emma's other best friend, David Nolan. Emma had met David through Mary Margaret when their relationship had started to become serious, and ever since then, David had been completely like a brother to her. David and Mary Margaret were Emma's only friends, but she couldn't ask for better ones.

"I'm going to go down to Leroy's office and stick it to him for being a jerk," Emma replied, throwing on her red leather jacket, which she'd had ever since the fiasco with Neal.

"Emma," Mary Margaret chastised her, "be serious."

"Okay, fine, I'm not going to do that, I'm just going to ask Leroy for a case in person, and hopefully make it harder for him to say no. I'm just sick of waiting around for a case every day for two years even though I know one's never going to come."

"Good," Mary Margaret said simply.

"What?" she asked in shock.

"You need to stick up for yourself. Stop letting Leroy get in your way. I'm proud of you."

At this, Emma's heart swelled, and she realized just how truly lucky she was to have Mary Margaret in her life. "Thanks, M, I mean it," Emma said tenderly.

Mary Margaret just gave a soft smile, "Off you go, now, Emma."

/PAGE BREAK/

Emma opened the door to her boss's office and charged in. "Leroy, I've had enough of-"

He wasn't in there. So much for making an entrance, Emma thought.

She decided to just stay in Leroy's office and wait for him to get back, and then she would demand a case. She was in there for all of three minutes when the phone rang. Emma debated on whether or not to answer it. She decided that it could be something important and that she didn't know when Leroy would get back so she picked up the receiver and held it to her ear.

"Hello?" she asked tentatively.

"Hello, is this the head of Boston Bail Bonds Inc.?" asked a man with an English accent.

Emma froze on the spot. Leroy would fire her if she said she was him, but he would probably never give her a case anyways, so it's not like she makes any money now. And, she knew that she was one of the best bail bonds people in the whole company, and if she could do what this man was going to ask her to do, she could prove to Leroy that she deserved a case. So, hoping against hope that her boss wouldn't walk in in the next ten minutes, Emma answered the man with a soft, "Yes."

"Wonderful," came the man's response. "I need you to find someone for me."

"Who?"

"Her name is Milah Gold. She lives with me and a few weeks ago I woke up and she was gone without a trace. She hasn't come back."

"With all due respect, the purpose of this company is to find criminals who are avoiding arrest and turn them in to law enforcement. This just sounds like your girlfriend walked out and you're not ready to let her go."

"Aye, there is some truth to what you're saying, lass, but I'm afraid there's a tad more to my story. You see, Milah lived with me, but she was married to another man, his name being Robert Gold. Now, Robert Gold is a man that is involved in … not necessarily legal activities, and I would like to know if he had anything to do with Milah's disappearance."

"You say Milah was married to this man?"

"Aye."

"So, if I find this 'Milah', can she tell me what all not necessarily legal activities Robert Gold has been involved in?"

"She can. And, I'll pay you six thousand American dollars."

"Well, then, I think you've got yourself a deal," Emma mumbled into the phone, wondering what exactly she was getting herself into. "However, I'm going to need to search the place where she resided, to see if there is any evidence that could lead me to her."

"I don't really think that's necessary," said the English man.

"I think it is," Emma said, her assertion growing with each second she stood in her boss's office. "And I'll need to know your address."

"Johnson Apartment Building, Room 815. I'll see you there tomorrow at 11:00. Don't be late. Good day to you, lass."

"Wait," Emma stopped the man from hanging up.

"What is it?"

"What's your name?"

"Actually, I'd like to remain anonymous. I assume you do as well?"

"Aye," she said, mimicking the man's accent, he had been starting to get on her nerves.

With that, the British man hung up the phone.

Deciding that it was too risky to stay in Leroy's office, Emma darted out of the room and made her way back to her apartment.

/PAGE BREAK/

Killian Jones was not in a good place right now. A woman was coming over in approximately an hour to search his apartment for traces to Milah. He was almost scared about what would be found.

Milah was the best thing that ever happened to him. He had met her two years ago, when he was twenty-six. He had just moved back to Boston and gotten a job as a marine biologist (he had always loved the ocean) and had spent his first night out at a bar. A very drunk man had been bothering her and Killian had stepped in and told the man to get lost. He started a conversation with Milah and they had begun a relationship soon after. When she moved in with him six months ago, she told him that she was actually married to another man, but she assured him that he was the one she wanted to be with, and that she only stayed with her husband for the money he made doing whatever he did. They were happy until he woke up this morning and she was gone. He had known by now that Mr. Gold had been involved in many illegal actions, and he was wondering if he had threatened or blackmailed Milah into leaving him, for surely he must have known about them by now.

A knock on the door broke him out of his thoughts. He glanced at the clock in his kitchen. It read 10:15 AM. He slowly made his way over to the door and opened it.

A blonde woman stood in front of him. She had green eyes and wore a red leather jacket and seemed vaguely familiar to Killian, but he couldn't place where he had seen her before.

"Alright, let's get started," she said, and walked right on into his apartment. He recognized her voice as the head of the bail bonds company he had spoken to the previous day.

"You're early," he told the woman.

"You said not to be late," she replied matter-of-factly.

"I said 11:00," Killian snapped back at her.

"Listen, pal, do you want this done or not?" she looked him right in the eye, her gaze fierce and unrelenting. There was something unsettlingly familiar about her eyes, he noticed. Nevertheless, he stared right back at her, not willing to succumb to her ferocity, but needing her to do what he asked. Eventually, he gave in to her.

"Step right in, lass, although I see you've already done that."

She took another step toward him and this time he matched the fiery glare her green eyes made with a cold, icy glower coming from his blue ones. The woman narrowed her eyes as her brow furrowed and she stared at him a bit longer before she broke away and asked, "Where would you like me to start?"

/PAGE BREAK/

The blonde woman searched his apartment for about two hours while Killian worked on things for the lab that employed him. Occasionally she would call him into wherever she was and ask him questions about Milah or certain items in the room. The time went by mostly smoothly, but the two of them still bickered quite a bit, and Killian still couldn't figure out what was familiar about her. He noticed, however, that every so often he would catch the woman looking at him with a curious expression, like he was a puzzle, an enigma that she was trying to solve.

She walked back into his living room and stated, "Well, Mr. Anonymous, after looking through your whole apartment, I've found nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing. No leads on where Milah could be, and nothing to show that Robert Gold was involved, and that she didn't just leave of her accord. However, if you still want me to find her, I can search the Internet for any information that could be out there," the woman said, her tone expressing her obvious exasperation.

"Yes, I'd like that very much, thank you. And since you clearly don't want anything to do with this case anymore, just remember what I'm offering you if you succeed."

She stared at him with that contemplating expression again, before saying, "Alright, then, I'll get to work as soon as possible. But, I'll need your phone number so that I can contact you if I find anything of importance."

"If I already called the phone in your office, don't you already have it on record?" Killian asked skeptically, sensing that there was more going on with this woman than he knew.

"I said, I'll need your phone number so that I can contact you if I find anything of importance," she replied, her glare coming back again.

Killian raised his hands in mock surrender. "As you wish," he said with a smirk. He proceeded to write his phone number down on a spare piece of paper lying around and handed it to the woman. "Pleasure doing business with you, lass."

"I'll contact you if I find anything of importance," she said as she put the paper inside her jacket pocket and fished out her keys. Something caught his eye. His hand shot out and grabbed the woman's wrist. He brought her hand up to his eye level and peered at the jingling keys, ignoring the woman's apprehensive expression.

There.

He saw it.

Hanging on a keychain was a silver swan. Everything finally clicked. Killian knew exactly how he knew this woman. It was his childhood best friend. The friend who was just as lost and broken as him. The friend who had been ripped away from him. The friend who he had loved with all his heart.

It was Emma. It was Emma Swan. It was his Swan. He stared into her eyes. They were beautiful, as they always had been. She was beautiful. His breath was running short, everything was coming back to him. How they met. How her parents never loved her. How he held her in his arms while she cried in his shoulder. How her apartment building burned down. How the police officers took her away. How he loved her. How he kissed her.

He didn't know what to say. He didn't know if he could say anything. He was just able to make out a faint, barely-above-a-whisper noise. One word.

"Swan?"

There you have it! Leave reviews, and I am open to constructive criticism!