Chapter 53

Sorry it's been a while since I've updated. I have had so much going on but right now I don't want to be doing homework so you get a new chapter J

Lily's head was swimming on their way to the station. She did not want to be sent back to her parents in Boston. She never understood why but she never could get along with them no matter how hard either side tried. She knew that they wanted to love her and she wanted to be loved but she just couldn't bring herself to accept their love or do things to deserve it.

She had been so envious of Emma's relationship with her parents and how she desired to have them see the best in her. She knew that was how a family was supposed to be and why she ran away from her family when it wasn't that.

Lily hadn't even realized that they had pulled up to the station until David opened the door. She reluctantly got out of the squad car and allowed David to gently guide her inside.

"Lily you can sit here, I just need to talk to Gram a minute" and with that David was motioning for Gram to follow him into his office where they could have a private conversation but still keep an eye on her.

"Any luck with Regina?" David said looking past Gram. He knew Lily was still just a child but he could tell that she would take an opportunity to run if she could. It reminded him a lot of how Emma was when she first came to live with him.

"Yea she said she could do it so I called Boston and they will be ready in two hours to meet Regina"

Just then Regina walked in looking down at the small girl who was sitting with her arms crossed.

"You must be Lily" She said not thrilled to have to drive the girl out of town but also knowing that it was better to not have outsiders in storybrooke if at all possible

"Who are you?"

"You can call me Mayor Mills. I will be escorting you to Boston" she said not impressed with the teenagers attitude.

"Regina, can we speak with you for a moment" David said poking this head out from his office and eyeing the pair

Regina came into the office still eyeing the young woman. "Well…you didn't bother to mention that she had an attitude a mile long" Regina said snidely. She wasn't looking forward to having to drive for an hour with the girl in the car in her current state.

"I know she can be a handful but she is still just a teenager" David replied hoping to keep the peace long enough to get Lily back to her parents.

"I don't care how old she is, she needs to suck it up and realize life is tuff" Regina said crossing her arms not liking the prince defending the girls bad attitude.

"Regina I need you to put aside your personal feelings about her and simply get her to the Boston authorities and then she is no longer our problem" David said giving her a pointed look

"Fine, we better get going. The faster I can get this over with the better" She said opening the door to the station.

All three adults exited and David was thankful that Lily was still sitting where he had left her as he couldn't see her from where Regina had been standing.

"Okay Lily this is Regina and she will be escorting you to Boston. I'm sorry that things had to come to this but it is best that you be with your family right now. But you are always welcome to visit as long as you have your parents permission" He said giving the girl a pointed look to let her know he did not want to see her showing up on their door step running away again

"I understand" Lily replied looking at the floor

"Well let's get going" Regina said looking from David to Gram and then to Lily signaling for her to follow

David and Gram walked the two women out and made sure Lily got into Regina's car and that they were off safe. David hated to admit it but he felt a sense of relief that Lily was finally gone. He hated how upset Emma had been and now he could breath a bit of relief in knowing that everyone who was supposed to be in Storybrooke was there and outsiders were no longer making everyone worry.

David and Gram turned and walked back into the station and began to go back to work as usual

OUAT

Emma crutched into the lunch room and saw Neal waving at her from a table just a few feet away. She crutched over and was relieved to finally be sitting. It was wearing her out having to crutch everywhere that she went.

"Hey how's your day so far?" Neal said pulling out another chair for Emma to put her leg up on.

"I'm just waiting for that final bell to ring. I'm ready to go home" Emma said laying her head back and groaning

"That bad uh?" Neal said trying not to laugh at his friend

"You try crutching around everywhere with a backpack on. It gets exhausting!" Emma complained.

"Well I have some news that will cheer you up, Lily's out of the picture now!" Neal said it a bit more upbeat then he meant to, he just wasn't sure exactly how to break it to her

"What are you talking about?" Emma said unwrapping her sandwich

"I ran into her after I walked you to class and she said she was leaving and to tell you" Neal said as innocently as he could hoping to move on to the next subject as he found this one a bit uncomfortable

"Well good riddance to her then" Emma said taking a bite of her PB and J

"What is up between you two?" Neal couldn't take not knowing what was going on anymore

"Let's just say we have a past and it wasn't pretty" Emma said not wanting to go into details. Although, she didn't really care if Neal knew because she had known him during her time in foster care

"Come on Emma, you and I have a past. What's the big deal with her?" Neal said leaning in a bit more to Emma

"Fine! You want the truth? She got me to fall for one of her crazy plans and got me sent to Juve. Happy?" Emma was getting annoyed with Neal's 'Need to know' persistence

"Sorry Emma….I didn't know" Neal was feeling bad for pushing her

"Yea. So then I don't see her until she shows up here and wants to be friends again. Sorry but I wasn't interested so I really don't give a crap if she leaves Storybrooke. I'll see you after school" And with that Emma got up and started crutching away from the lunch table

OUAT

Charming looked at the clocked and realized he had to pick Emma up in 20 minutes from school. He decided to finish up the report he was working on and then give himself enough time to stop by grannies before he went to the school. He figured having a hot chocolate for Emma would be a good way to buffer the conversation they were going to have to have about Lily.

He felt horrible knowing that Lily had gotten Emma in trouble not only with her foster family but with the authorities and had someone how been able to keep herself from every having to take the blame. In reality he couldn't really blame Emma for being upset with her former friend.

He signed the paperwork and put the folder away before grabbing his jacket and heading out to the school. When he arrived he parked as close as he could to the cross walk. He figured that Emma would be tired after a full day crutching around the school and wouldn't want to have to crutch out into the parking lot.

This was only Emma's first of four weeks having the cast on and David knew it was going to take a lot out of her and she was probably going to be a bit much to deal with until she was finally able to be up and moving on her own. It took her a bit longer than usual to come out of the school. David wanted so badly to go in and help her but he knew she would hate that so he waited as patiently as he could.

Once he saw her coming he got out and came around the passenger side to help her get in.

"Hey Em how was your day?" He said kissing the side of her head and helping get her backpack off

"Ddddaaaadddd" Emma whined. She would never let him know how much his little signs of affections warmed her heart, at least not when he did them in public.

"Okay, okay. Let's get you in the car. There is a hot chocolate in the cup holder for you" He said before closing the door and throwing her backpack over his shoulder. After putting the bag in the truck he returned to the drivers seat

"How was your day?"

"It was fine. Nothing to report."

"How is your leg feeling?"

"It's sore"

"Well we will get it elevated and get you some pain meds once we get to the station. Anything else happen today?" He didn't know if she had known about Lily leaving the school early

"Nope…is there something that was supposed to happen?" She said looking at her father with a questioning look. He always tried to get her to talk after school but today held a bit more desperation then usual

"Emma I need to tell you something…"

"I know…Lily's gone" Emma finished his sentence for him with no emotion taking a sip of her hot cocoa

"Are you okay with that?" David said a bit taken a back by his daughters lack of emotions towards her supposed friend being gone

"Yea, it's whatever. I knew she wouldn't stick around for long" Emma commented still not really acknowledging David.

"So did you know that she wasn't emancipated" Emma did her best to not react to this question. She knew she was caught in her own lie but she wasn't quite ready to admit it.

"Oh really?" She said. She figured that an answer like that would get her enough information so that she could cover her lie.

"Emma" David said realizing his daughter had known

"what?"

"Did you or did you not know that Lily wasn't emancipated?" David said a bit more stern

"Fine" Emma rolled her eyes "I knew. I just didn't want her at the house anymore and I knew that if you found out she was a run away you would make her stay and I just wasn't up for company" Emma knew she was busted

"Emma! We could have figured out a place for her to stay! You didn't have to lie to us and send her off alone" David said a bit shocked by Emma's response. It wasn't like her to be so heartless

"Dad she's fine. She has done this her whole life. She likes being on her own" Emma had pulled out her phone and was hoping her dad would drop the topic.

"Well did you know that she was adopted?"

"Yes" Emma said in a way that could not hide the sadness in her voice

"Well her parents have been looking for her, so we sent her back to Boston so she could be with them." David said still eyeing his daughter after her last response realizing that the punishment she had received for her and Lily's stunt was not the root of the problem, but that Lily had been adopted and she hadn't

"Well good for her" Emma responded wanting more than anything to be invisible in that moment. She could feel her dad staring at her with that look of guilt that she had never been adopted. She knew she couldn't go there right now or else she would never regain her composure.

They rode the remainder of the way to the station in silence. Charming was worried that maybe he had touched something that was too much for Emma and had caused her to close up but he wasn't going to let that happen. He was going to show her that he was there for her, no matter what.