Chapter 12 –
Who will they see at the town meeting? How is grumpy Emma going to handle the meeting? I would love to hear any suggestions that you guys have of where this story should go!
Once they were all set to go, Charming helped Emma down the stairs and into the truck. Thankfully there had been no snow yet in storybrook because trying to maneuver crutches on ice would have only made it worse for Emma.
Once the arrived at the town hall the pair helped set Emma up in the front by where they would be sitting with her foot elevated.
"Do I have to sit right up front?" Emma wined, she hated being the center of attention and having to sit in the front row with her foot up was definitely going to draw attention.
"Emma, no one is going to be looking at you. This just makes it so we can keep an eye on you and keep Regina from sneaking in the back to try and harm you." Snow explained to her daughter as she handed her a book.
"This sucks" Emma pouted.
As the meeting got started August snuck up the side of the seats and sat behind Emma.
"Hey Emma, sorry about last night," He whispered so as not to be heard.
"It's okay, I think my dad got over it, but it was pretty funny to see him so flustered" Emma giggled.
"So you're calling David Dad now?" August inquired
"I'm trying it out. I've never called anyone dad before that I really remember" Emma explained
"So what happened to you?" August asked, not knowing what had happened after his father picked him up.
"Well, after your dad picked you up I got mad and stormed off to my room and used the sheet I used to pull you up to sneak out and when I was in the woods my foot caught a root and sprained my ankle." Emma said regretting that decision.
"That sucks" August replied.
"Yea, so I got grounded for the next two weeks which is so not fair. I think that my ankle would be punishment enough. I have to uses crutches for a week!" Emma complained to her friend.
Just as she finished her sentence Emma noticed her father looking over at her and August and glaring at the young man.
"You might wanna leave, my dad doesn't look like he's too happy that you're talking to me" Emma nodded toward her dad which caused August stomach to drop.
"Yea that's probably a good idea," August agreed as he saw charming still staring at him.
"I'll talk to you later August," Emma said as the young man snuck to the back of the room.
_OUAT_
"Did you see August talking to Emma during the meeting?" Charming asked snow as they went through and picked up trash trying to be quiet enough so Emma couldn't hear them.
"Yes, what's wrong with that?" Snow asked slightly amused at how protective her husband was.
"I don't like that kid. He snuck into her room and now he comes and talks to her after we had told him to leave her alone. He is trouble that's all I'm saying." Charming concluded feeling very justified in what he said.
"I can hear you guys" said Emma from the front of the room sounding annoyed that her parents were talking about her and August basically right in front of her.
"Sorry Em," David said as he shrugged at his wife.
"Can we go now?" Emma asked coming up to them on her crutches.
"Emma you need to be sitting" Snow said concerned for the swelling in Emma's ankle.
"I've been sitting this whole time, I'm bored and I'm hungry" Emma wined. She was ready to eat something and then pass out on the couch.
"I think that's everything. I'll grab our coats and then we can stop by grannies and get some food before we head home sound good?" David asked.
"Sounds great honey! I'll go with Emma and start getting her in the truck while you lock up here" Snow said ushering their crippled daughter toward the door.
"Alright I'll be right out" Charming said turning back to the soundboard to turn off the main power to the system.
Just as charming was walking out of the town hall he heard yelling coming from outside the building. He immediately took off running
When Charming got outside he saw Snow standing in front of Emma to guard her from Regina. He immediately joined her.
"What do you want Regina?" David asked through gritted teeth
"I just want to talk to our little resident savior is all" Regina said with a grin.
"That's NOT going to happen" Snow said stepping up next to her husband.
Emma stood behind her parents confused at what exactly was going on. Emma had heard about Regina and knew that she wasn't exactly the nicest person but she could tell by her parents reaction there was a lot more that they weren't telling her.
"Regina you need to leave, now." David demanded. "You will never be allowed to talk to our daughter so you can stop wasting your time."
"I will talk to her whither you like it or not David. You can't protect her forever" Regina said making eye contact with a very confused Emma.
With that Regina turned and walk off.
"Are you guys okay?" David asked making sure Regina did not hurt is wife or his daughter.
"I'm fine" Snow answered immediately turning to her daughter.
Emma stood there looking completely baffled at what just happened.
"Emma?" Charming asked knowing that his daughter was not okay
"Yea…sorry, I'm fine." Emma said coming back to reality
"Emma lets get you in the truck, you're leg needs to be elevated" Snow said as she started opening the passenger door.
Once the two had Emma in the truck they walked to the back of it to talk where Emma couldn't hear them.
"Snow what happened?" David asked
"I was about to open the door and help Emma in when Regina came up and started asking Emma questions." Snow explained. "I saw Emma begin to get upset and suddenly she had magic shoot out from her hands and it almost caused her to fall to the ground if I hadn't caught her. Regina saw it and began to pressure Emma more."
"I'm guessing that is when the yelling I heard started?" David asked trying to piece together what had happened.
"Yes, I stepped in front of Emma and began to do all the talking for her and that's when you came out" Snow finished her story all the while hoping that the magic that Emma had experienced wasn't going to harm her.
"Alright, I think we need to go talk to blue and find out if there is some sort of protection spell that we can place on Emma so that Regina can't touch her." David said hating that he had not walked them out to the truck.
"I agree, but right now we need to get Emma home and try to explain to her what is going on" Snow said, knowing the conversation would not be easy.
"Speaking of Emma we should probably get into the truck before she tries to come out here and find out what we're talking about" David said grabbing snow's head and kissing the top of it.
Once the two got into the truck Emma eyed both of them knowing that they were talking about her but she was still trying to process what had happened and did not want to ask any questions.
_OUAT_
Knowing that her parents were going to want to talk about what had happened Emma did her best to make a break for the stairs once David opened the front door but with no luck.
"Hey Em, we need to talk to you before you go up to your room" David said seeing her crutch toward the stairs.
"I also need to ice your ankle" Snow added walking over to the freezer to grab the bag of frozen Peas.
"Guys, I'm really tired. Can we do this later?" Emma begged
"Sorry Em, we really need to do this now" David said knowing that this conversation would not be an easy one.
"Fine" Emma said rolling her eyes. She crutched over the couch and flopped down on it just so her parents knew how annoyed she was with them.
Snow and David ignored their daughters small tantrum and headed over to the couch where snow propped up Emma's leg and placed the frozen peas on it to bring down the swelling.
"Emma, we know that you probably have a lot of questions about what happened today with Regina and well…the magic that came out of you." David said wanting to cut right to the chase.
"Magic?" Emma questioned. She had heard about magic in storybook's and August and mentioned It once or twice but her actually using magic? This was something she would have thought they were making up if she hadn't experienced it herself.
"Yes Emma. You were born with magic inside of you." David said
"Regina knows that and she knew that if she got you upset that you would react and I'm sure she was hoping that you would react with magic." Snow added
"Unfortunately you did so now she is positive you have magic and she is most likely going to try and get you alone to try and exploit that." David explained as she watched Emma's face begin to get more and more confused.
"So I have some sort of magic inside of me that causes me to shoot sparklers out of my hands?" Emma questions. She really didn't understand what was going on.
"Honestly, we aren't sure. But we are going to go and talk to Blue," Snow started
"She means mother superior, she was a fairy in our land and she knows about magic" David explained knowing that Emma would not know who blue is.
"And until then Em, we need you to work with us and help us keep you safe." David said pleading with his daughter to work with them and stop fighting them.
Emma's head was swimming. Magic? Fairies? This was only day two and she was feeling that same overwhelming feeling she did last night. Unfortunately for Emma there was no way she was going to be sneaking out with her ankle the way it was.
"Emma?" David asked again.
"Yea, sure, whatever. Can I go to my room now?" Emma asked needing time to process without her parents staring at her.
"Of course" Snow said "Do you need us to help you get up there?"
"No I'm fine." Emma replied desperately wanting to get out of there.
_OUAT_
"Well that couldn't have gone any worse" Snow commented as soon as she heard Emma's door shut.
"I mean she didn't yell so we have that going for us" David commented trying to lighten the mood.
"David, our daughter now has magic that she has no idea how to control!" Snow said trying to keep her voice down so Emma didn't hear them yelling.
"Snow, she is going to be fine. I'm sure blue has a remedy for all this and can help Emma learn how to use her magic." David said still trying to always find the positive.
"David, I understand you are trying to be positive but I think at this time we need to also be realistic" Snow said sitting down next to him
"Snow, I understand. I am just as scared for our daughter as you are. But there is nothing we can do right at this moment." David tried to explain
"I'm going to call Blue and see if she can come over" Snow said standing up and walking into the kitchen.
David just put his face in his hands. He loved his wife and her determinedness to help their daughter but David was secretly worried about how Emma would react but did not want to let his wife worry about one more thing.
"She will be over here in a few minutes" Snow said coming back.
"I'm going to go check on Emma" David said getting up. He knew that he was going to need to explain to Emma why blue was there and prepare her that blue was going to do so that she had an understanding.
Snow watched her husband go up to their daughters room feeling the tension between them. But Snow knew in her heart that she was doing the right thing wither David agreed or not.
