Chapter 51
Will Charming and Snow figure out the complicated relationship between Emma and Lily or will Emma be able to keep them in the dark?
Three Years Ago...
"Hurry up Emma!" Lily said as she was half way up the fire escape. Emma knew she had to follow her but she still didn't like the idea.
"Lily what if we just go back? The punishment for running away is going to be less than trespassing" Emma said trying to keep her friend out of more trouble
"Emma I do this all the time! No one will find us but you have to hurry up! We're running out of time!" Lily said trying to get her friend to hurry as the sound of sirens was coming closer.
Against her better judgement Emma started to climb the fire escape to the vacant apartment. Once they were inside Emma felt a strange sense of comfort. Her foster parents couldn't get to her and her foster brother couldn't beat her up. At the same time she knew that she and Lily couldn't survive here long without food and heat.
"Lily, this is great for now but how are we going to survive living here alone?"
"Don't worry I already though of that" Lily said pulling a credit card out of her back pocket "I lifted this off my old man before I went to your house to get you"
"Lily stealing is wrong! We can't use that!"
"Why not? My old man doesn't care about me! I may have been adopted Emma but I told you, I'm just like you!" Lily said pleading for her friend to accept her answer
"Fine, but we have got to get our of here soon or else someone's going to find us"
Just then there was a knock on the door and two cops came in to the small apartment taking the two girls into custody
Present Day
Charming and Snow were in the kitchen starting to make breakfast before Emma and Snow started getting ready for the day. He still couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right between Emma and Lily. The way Emma had been acting toward her so called friend was very unlike her but then again she was in a lot of pain and the pain med's were known to make her grumpy but still, something just wasn't adding up.
Snow had gotten up and started getting ready so when breakfast was finished David went over to the couch to wake up his sleeping daughter.
"Hey Em. Time to get up sweetheart" David said shaking Emma's shoulder
"Five more minutes" Emma grumbled trying to turn away from her dad with very little room on the couch to do so
"No, you have to go back to school today" Charming said shaking her shoulder again
"I don't want to" Emma groaned
"I made pancakes" Charming said with a smile knowing that would get Emma up
Emma opened her eyes and stared up at her dad "You're evil you know that?"
"Come on, let me help you get to the table" David said as he put one arm under Emma's arm and the other under her legs to carry her to the table
"I could use my crutches you know" Emma said not wanting to let her dad know that she actually liked him carrying her.
"Yes but you'll be using them all day and I don't want you to get tired out too quickly" David said loving being able to hold Emma in his arms even if just for a moment.
Emma just rolled here eyes as her father pulled out the kitchen chair and sat her down in it. "Eat up, then I'll go upstairs and get you some clothes okay?"
"Okay" Emma replied still not happy to be awake
Charming sat down next to his daughter and began to eat his own food and they were both joined by Snow a few moments later
"So Emma", Snow said starting off the conversation at the other wise silent table "Did you have fun having Lily over last night?" She was really hoping that Emma would open up to them so they could know why she seemed to be so upset with her so called friend last night.
"I guess" Emma said taking another bite of her pancakes
"I thought you wanted friends over last night..." Charming pushed a bit hoping to get more of an answer
"It was fine" Emma said still not making eye contact. She really didn't want to explain to her parents the history that she and Lily had
"Emma I can't help but think that you don't necessarily like Lily. If that is the case, than...than why did you ask for her to come over?" Snow said finally just cutting to the chase
"I like her enough...I was just in a lot of pain. Speaking of can I get a pain pill?" Emma said taking a pancake and effectively ending the conversation
Snow and Charming shared a silent conversation as neither of them were buying anything that Emma was saying before Charming got up and headed to the bathroom to retrieve Emma's pain pills.
Emma hated when her parents would have those silent conversations in front of her. She also knew that this conversation was not over.
"Here you go Em" David said setting the pain pill next to her cup of water "What do you want to wear today, I'll go up and get it"
"Just Jeans and a T-shirt. Thanks" Emma said before popping the pill in her mouth and swallowing it
"Emma..." Snow said hoping she could get an answer out of her
"Mom, it's fine. Lily and I are fine. Having her over last night was fine. Can we please drop it?" Emma said taking a final bite of her pancakes. She would have walked off but her parents had put her crutches out of reach. However Emma was saved by her father coming down the stairs
"Here you go Em, Jeans and a T-shirt like you asked" He said heading toward the bathroom to put her clothes in there so she could change. "Here are your crutches" he said walking back over to the table "Do you need help?"
"Dad...no...I don't need help" Emma said as her cheeks turned a bit red
"Okay, just call if you change your mind" David said swallowing a laugh as he watched his daughters face react And with that Emma crutched her way to the bathroom.
Snow walked up to charming who then wrapped his arms around her "I'm worried about her David. WHen you went up stairs I tried to talk to her again and she cut me off and just kept saying everything was fine"
"of course she did, everything is always fine in her world" David said in his own concerned tone
"I don't like sending her off to school to have to spend time with that girl if something is bothering her" Snow said looking at David hoping he would have a solution
"I know...but if we don't send her off to school then she'll know we are on to her. No we let her go to school and then I'll go into the station and pull up any records I can on Lily. Once we have the information we need then we can confront Emma"
Just then Emma came crutching out of the bathroom.
"Hey Kid! You ready to go?" Charming said flashing her his biggest smile hoping she wouldn't catch on to the fact that they were talking about her.
"Yep, let's get it over with" Emma said crutching toward the door.
Charming kissed Snow and then headed toward the door where Emma was waiting
OUAT
On their way to school Charming decided to try one last time to see if Emma would talk.
"So the notebook was...well it was something!" He said with a small chuckle "I can see why you and your mom like it though" David said trying to see if coming from it with a different approach would work better
"Yea, I like it...it kind of reminds me of you and mom" Emma said shyly
"Aww! That's sweet Emma!" Charming said reaching over and pulling Emma in for a side hug "I like that idea of your mom and I growing old together"
"Yea, it's a nice thought isn't it?" Emma said with a small smile thinking about her parents getting old some day and being that cute old couple
"Did Lily like the movie?" David said hoping that it slipped in well enough that Emma would just keep talking
"Yea I guess" Emma said looking down at her phone
"Are you two okay?" Charming said hoping that he wasn't pushing too hard
"Yea we're fine" Emma said still not looking up from her phone
"So what do you determine as 'Fine' with your friend because you two looked pretty upset when you were talking to each other last night" David said really hoping for a more detailed answer as they were getting closer and closer to the school.
"Dad I'm going to tell you what I told mom. Lily and I are fine, there is nothing for either of you to be worried about okay?" Emma said giving her dad an annoyed look
"Alright, just want to make sure everything is okay Em" David said knowing that she wasn't going to give them any more information. "Well looks like we're here, have a good day honey! I love you!" David yelled out the door as Emma got out. Something was just not setting right with him but he wasn't going to let this whole thing go until he got to the bottom of it. He pulled out of the school and headed for the station.
