"I'm still not sure about this, Uncle Leon."
"We'll be fine, I promise you, Emmeline," Bronev insisted. "We can trust Bloom. Apart from when he got caught by Layton, we have no other reason to distrust him."
"No other reason to distrust him? Are you serious? After what he did to me?" Emmy exclaimed.
"That was years ago. He was only a child, as you were. This is different," Bronev said simply.
Emmy sighed deeply.
"Besides, it's too late to ask anyone else. Dimitri Allen gets out on compassionate leave in a few days, and I don't know a single person who would risk doing a kidnapping for me on such short notice, do you?"
Emmy sighed again. "I suppose not."
Bronev sighed too and took her hand. "I know that you resent Bloom after what happened between you, but the past is the past, and I'm sorry if you don't like it, but you really need to let that go, for Layton's sake, and the baby as much as your own. Do you understand?"
Emmy nodded; a look of disgust on her face. "Got it."
"Besides, it'll be Bloom taking the fall if he blows it, not us. We won't even be traced back to the crime. That'll make for a very satisfying revenge, don't you think?"
Emmy smiled at her uncle.
"That's the spirit, Emmeline. Now, I need to go over and see Bloom to make sure that he knows what's what. Will you be alright until Layton get's back from work?"
Emmy nodded.
"Well then I'll see you later." Bronev kissed Emmy on the cheek and left.
Emmy sighed heavily and lay back on the bed. She trusted Bloom as far as she could throw him, and what with his fat head and self importance, that wasn't very far. She hated the thought of her uncle doing dealings with him. She thought that, when Targent fell, she was finally done with him. But no. Her uncle had to drag things back up again.
Though, Emmy had the horrific feeling that everything would be dragged back up anyway, what with her having a younger self and a younger version of her uncle right downstairs in her living room. She knew that if her younger self and Luke got talking, a lot of things would be brought back up again, like school, and boyfriends and her family... that is, if she didn't break down in tears first. Emmy had almost forgotten how delicate she was at that age.
Emmy sighed deeply. She didn't know what to do. She was so stressed about the baby, and growing more and more distant with her uncle and the professor, and about the kidnapping plan her uncle had come up with. She wondered if this was bad for the baby.
She placed a hand on her stomach. Her small stomach, which would be getting a lot bigger. She sighed again. "What if Hershel isn't attracted to me after I have the baby?" she thought. "Great. Yet another thing for me to worry about." Emmy picked up a picture of the professor and herself that she kept on her bedside table and looked at it. It had been taken about nine months ago on her birthday. The professor had just put a gold necklace which he had bought for her as a present around her neck and had wrapped his arms around her waist. She was beaming at him and had taken his hands. Emmy remembered how happy she was on that day. And yet, even then she had felt that the Professor still didn't understand her. Emmy held the picture close to her chest and closed her eyes.
"We really need to talk, Hershel..."
"Emmy?"
Emmy sat up, looking to see who was at the door. Emmeline peered at her cautiously.
"Is it okay if I come in?"
Emmy nodded. "It's your house too, technically." She patted a space on the bed beside her.
Emmeline smiled and sat beside her younger self. "You know, as hard as it may be to imagine, I know exactly how you feel, Emmy."
"Oh, yeah?"
"Yeah." Emmeline took Emmy's hand. Emmy opened her eyes, surprised. Emmeline continued.
"I know exactly how you feel, Emmy. I know what it's like to be trapped in a world of pain and not know how to find a way out. I know what it's like to have so many people around you who love you and care about you, and yet not be able to open up to any of them. I know what it's like to feel alone in a crowd."
Emmy felt tears start up in her eyes, but blinked them back as hard as she could.
"I know that you and Hershel have been growing distant recently. I know that it's been all about work and everything's been piling up inside."
Emmy nodded silently.
"I know about the nightmares, Emmy."
A tear fell down Emmy's cheek. She let it fall; she really didn't care about keeping it in anymore.
"And the baby is just adding to all that stress and making everything worse, isn't it?" Emmeline squeezed Emmy's hand.
Emmy took deep breaths and nodded.
Emmeline smiled. "I know that you feel that you can't talk to anyone about this, but you're wrong. You can talk to me. Because I've been through all of this before. And if you can't talk to yourself about it, then who can you talk to?"
Emmy sniffed. "I know... but... it's just that there's so... so much..."
"So much going on in that pretty little head of yours that you just wouldn't know where to start," Emmeline finished. "I know. I remember." Emmeline laid back and placed an arm around Emmy. "Let's start from the start."
"What start?" Emmy asked, wiping her eyes. "It's always been this way."
"True," Emmeline agreed. "But I think we should start with Dad."
"What about him?"
"You're still scared that he'll come and get you. You're afraid that he'll hurt you all over again, like he did when you were a kid, and in Canada. But, believe me; he'll never look at you without a guard being present. Even in my time, he's still in prison. Sure, his sentence is nearly up, he had three years left, but he'll change a lot, you'll see. He'll never hurt you again. And the nightmares, well, they'll stop in time. The more you see him, then the more your mind will become tolerant to him and before you know it, the nightmares will soon be gone. Trust me."
"But... I don't know if I can face him again... I really don't want to..."
"The next visit will be just as difficult as the last one was, I won't lie to you there. But it'll make things a lot easier, trust me. And you won't be alone either." Emmeline tightened her grip on Emmy. "Hershel will be there for you through everything. Just so long as you talk to him first."
"But... how? How can I tell him that I can't talk to him about my problems...?"
"Well, if you tell him that you're unhappy, than that's a decent enough start," Emmeline replied. "You know he just wants you to be happy. And he thinks you are, that's why he's not talking as much. What you both need is a good heart-to-heart about all this. About you, the nightmares, dad, the baby..."
"Uncle Leon," Emmy added.
"Yeah. And you need to tell him that he's overworking himself and to cut his hours. You need time together, you know, to bond."
Emmy frowned. "Bond?"
"Well, you have been distant recently." Emmeline smiled. "You need to find that spark. Both of you do. You need a bit of that little something that brought you together in the first place. And you will. You'll fall in love with him all over again. You'll look at him and feel that warmth, like you did that first time he held your hand in hospital over in Ireland, you remember."
"Yeah." Emmy smiled. "That's what we need."
"You need that," Emmeline smiled. "You need to have that feeling with you, because that's what's going to get you through this ordeal. Having the love of your life by your side, and his baby inside you." Emmeline squeezed Emmy's shoulders. "You will get through this, you know. But it'll just take time."
"Emmy?" They heard the professor calling their name from downstairs.
Emmeline smiled. "Go and give him a cuddle. You'll feel better."
Emmy smiled back at her. "Thank you. I feel better after talking about it all."
"Just do as I say, and you'll be fine," Emmeline smiled.
"Always listen to number one," Emmy laughed, giving Emmeline a hug and leaving the room.
Emmeline smiled and listened as she heard Emmy approach the professor and give him a hug. She heard the professor speaking.
"Are you alright, my dear?"
"We really need to talk, Hershel. I need to talk to you. About me."
Emmeline smiled. She remembered that moment. She remembered how it felt to be that person. She also remembered the day, almost fifteen years ago to the day, when her older self had left to go back to her own time, and that she felt that she would miss her, and all her great advice. And now she was that person.
For the first time in her entire life, she was glad to be the person she was. She was glad to be Emmeline Layton.