Here we are! The new chapter, a bit on the short side but delivered in two weeks, as promised - no more cyclones thank goodness!. Your wonderful reviews kept me working on it even though real life is very hectic at the moment. Thank you to everyone still reading, and especially to those of you who left a review :)

The distraction had worked – sort of.

They'd managed to get Reece's attention, draw him out of the house, and keep him talking for a few minutes. David had been trying to convince him to let Henry go without any trouble, even though they all knew that trouble was inevitable at this point.

The problem came when Reece, who was fortunately unarmed, charged at Nicko, and David had pushed his way between them, taking the blow meant for the youngest of the three.

Reece's fist collided with his head and David dropped like a ninepin. It looked pretty bad – Nicko was fairly certain he'd been knocked unconscious – but Reece wasted no time in launching himself at his former foster son.

Nicko dodged a punch and stumbled back a few steps, accidently dropping his gun in the process. Reece immediately snatched it up. He looked just about ready to pull the trigger when something seemed to occur to him and he suddenly stopped, his eyes narrowing.

Nicko could almost see the gears turning in his head.

"Where is she?" He asked in a hiss, and Nicko knew he'd finally figured out that Emma wouldn't have let the two boys come alone.

He didn't answer but that was all Reece needed to piece it together. Without another word, the older man turned on his heel and strode back into the cabin, gun in hand.

Nicko was frozen. He knew he should do something. He couldn't stop Reece, the guy was too big, but he couldn't let him reach Emma.

He bent down to check that David was still breathing. He was, but the man looked a mess. He must have cut his head on a rock when he fell, because there was blood gushing from a gash in his forehead. Nicko hesitated, torn between helping the unconscious deputy and leaving to protect Emma. In the end he decided that it was Emma who was in the most danger and he left David where he was, even though it made him feel more than a little guilty to abandon the guy.

As soon as he was inside the cabin he could voices: a female voice (possibly Mary Margaret's but probably Emma's) and a gruff male voice that definitely belonged to Reece.

Nicko could hardly believe that the same voice had seemed so comforting to him as a child. Back then, listening to his foster father tell a joke, or read his kids a bedtime story, Nicko had thought that there was nothing on earth that made him feel safer than the sound of Reece's voice.

How times change.

He found them in an empty room. Emma was by the window with the gun pointed at her head. Reece had his back against the wall so that he could see both Emma and the doorway, which Nicko slowly stepped through.

"Not another step!" Reece warned, gripping the shotgun in his hands. Emma's handgun was strapped to her belt, which was not much use when her hands were in the air in a reluctant surrender.

There was a tense silence as the three of them surveyed each other.

"You gonna shoot me or what?" Emma eventually said, which managed to break the silence but only increased the tension.

"I should," Reece spat out. "It's what I came here for."

"Then do it," Emma dared him, folding her arms defiantly. Nicko gritted his teeth. What did she think she was playing at? Reece was going to kill her! "It's not like you haven't done it before."

Their former foster father scowled. "It was different then. I was drunk."

Nicko couldn't believe his ears. It almost sounded as though Reece was… defending himself?

"Oh well, that's alright then," Emma snapped sarcastically. "Here I was, thinking you'd done it because you're a monster, but I guess if you were drunk – while you were meant to be taking care of a six-year-old, by the way – that makes everything okay."

Reece swallowed and the gun wavered a fraction in his hands. He didn't make any move to point it away from Emma, though.

"I'm not a monster," he replied, sounding very much as though he was forcing himself to keep calm.

"Oh yeah?" Nicko interjected, trying to control the wave of anger threatening to engulf him. "And what would mom say if she could see you now?"

"DON'T CALL HER THAT!" Reece roared immediately, face contorted in fury as he glared at Nicko. He kept the gun pointed at Emma.

"WHY SHOULDN'T I?" Nicko screamed back, finally letting himself feel the emotions he'd so far kept at bay. "She was my mom as much as she was your wife. And you! You were my dad. You were meant to protect me, to look after Emma. Instead you turned your back on us right when we needed you!"

"I – " Reece began to respond, but Emma seized the chance to disarm him while he was distracted. She cut him off midsentence by swiftly grabbing the barrel of his gun in one hand and pushing it to the side while simultaneously slamming her other hand into Reece's outstretched arm, causing him to drop the weapon. Emma jumped back and the gun hit the ground, skidding across the room and hitting the wall only a few feet away from Nicko.

Without hesitation he lunged for the thing, picked it up and pointed it at Reece before the older man had the chance to react.

Without warning, Nicko was hit with the overwhelming sense of déjà vu and transported back to a night 26 years ago, when he'd stood as a ten year old and pointed a gun at the same man who'd caused him so much pain.

Just like that night, all it would take was one good shot. Just like that night, he had the eyes of his little sister watching his every move.

And just like that night, he couldn't bring himself to pull the trigger.

For a heartbeat Emma thought that Nicko would actually do it. His eyes were glinting in the dim light and his chest was heaving, and Emma was sure he would pull the trigger any second. The scariest part was that she wasn't sure whether she wanted him to or not.

Emma knew exactly when the moment passed. The gun in her brother's hands was lowered fractionally, and his eyes had lost their manic gleam.

She had her own gun trained on Reece, whose hands were raised in defeat.

"What happens now?" He asked the pair of them, but he seemed to have deflated. His voice lacked any of the fire it had held earlier.

"You're going to be locked away for a very long time," Emma replied, sounding cool and collected even to her own ears. It was a tone she'd mastered as a bail bonds person, one that refused to betray any personal feelings.

"While you go back to your lives," Reece said bitterly. "And get away with everything."

Emma eyes instantly narrowed. "Get away with everything?!" She repeated incredulously. "Get away with what? With sending a guilty man to prison for kidnapping my son and abusing two innocent kids?"

Reece scoffed. "You weren't innocent. It was your fault!" He getting angry again, and the more he spoke the louder he became. "If it wasn't for you, I'd still have a family! If it wasn't for you she'd still be alive!"

"No!" Emma replied furiously. "It was your fault the family fell to pieces. Eliza's death didn't have to mean the end of us, but you went ahead and ripped us apart." She remembered Mary Margaret's comforting words from the night before, and knew that her mother was right. "I was a child, and what happened to Eliza was an accident." Emma held her chin up as she looked Reece in the eye and said firmly, "I am not to blame."

For the first time in her life, she actually believed it.

Emma starting to believe in herself makes me ridiculously proud for some reason!

There's only one chapter left (although there's maybe a very, very slight chance of two). I'm not sure when I'm posting so I made sure this wasn't a cliffhanger :) All I can say is that it should be up in the next month or two.

Please leave a review (seriously even if you hate it let me know, I appreciate all feedback and knowing what you guys think). Thanks!