Chapter 54
Sorry it has taken so long for me to get a new chapter out. I hope you enjoy this. Time to move the story along a bit.
Please leave comments! They make my day and help me know where you would like to see this story go as well as keep me writing.
Emma crutched into the station and found the empty desk next to Gram's and plopped down in the chair. Crutching around all day had been difficult and she was officially worn out.
"Emma put your leg, up I'm going to grab the ice pack and your pain meds" Charming said coming in behind Emma and heading to his office.
Emma rolled her eyes but found the chair that was near by and put her leg up on it which finally released some of the pressure and the swelling in her leg.
"Here you go sweetheart" David said walking over with a glass of water, an ice pack, and some pain pills.
"Thank dad" Emma said with a small smile as she popped the pills in her mouth and chased them down with the water. David picked up the ice pack and placed it at the top of her cast so that the cold would work it's way down her leg.
"How does that feel?" He said looking at his daughter to try and read her face knowing that she wouldn't tell him the truth
"It's fine" Emma said giving him a shy smile. She hated when her dad or anyone really worried about her or tried to take care of her. Not because she didn't appreciate it, but because she felt like she was being a burden and she had learned the hard way that when you are in the way it won't end well for you. She always knew that in order to survive in her foster homes, she needed to make herself as invisible as possible, which means she never let her foster parents know if anything was wrong with her or if she didn't like something they did. Although she knew things were different with her parents, she still couldn't shake the feeling that is she became too much of a burden that they would change their mind and send her away.
"Emma" the voice of her father brought her back to the moment. "yea?" She responded quickly, shaking her head slightly to try and clear her head. "You okay? Is your leg still in pain?" David said as the worry crept into his voice.
"Yea, Sorry dad. I was just thinking about something" Emma said giving him a slight smile to try and calm his fears
"Emma, you forget where you inherited your superpower from. Now do you want to try that again?" David said giving Emma a look that let her know he wasn't going to take no for an answer.
"Dad…"
"No Emma. I know that you are upset. I know that in the past you have had to deal with everything alone but now you have your mother and I and we aren't going to let you go through life alone anymore." He said placing his hand on her knee. "Now why don't you tell me what's going on and let me help okay?" He said giving Emma a smile that basically begged his daughter to open up to him.
"Alright...My past with Lily is...let's just say it's complicated" Emma said not making eye contact with her father. She really didn't want to have to explain.
"I know"
"You do?" Emma looked at her dad in complete shock.
"Yea. I knew something was wrong so I used my position as sheriff to pull Lily's file and I found out about how you ended up in Juvenile detention after you two broke into an abandoned apartment. Emma I just wish you would have told me."
"I'm sorry. I promise I don't do that kind of thing anymore and that I'll stay out of trouble" Emma said with a desperation and pleading tone.
"Emma…"
"Please don't send me back" Emma said in a defeated tone as a single tear slid down her face
David was shocked by his daughters sudden outburst of emotion. He kneeled down in front of her and placed a reassuring hand on her knee and took a deep breath before speaking. He knew he had to handle this situation very delicately. "Emma we are never going to send you away"
"But what about everything you know?"
"Just because I know about a mistake you made a long time ago does not mean I feel any differently about you. Emma I love you no matter what. There is nothing you could ever do or say that would change that. Your mother and I already missed out on 15 years with you and we aren't going to miss out on any more"
Emma sat still staring at her hands. David felt like he was fighting a loosing battle. He knew that his words were not getting through to his daughter and he had to find a way to break open just a small part of her walls so that his words would reach her.
"Emma, we all make mistakes. Your mother once took a potion so that she would forget me in order for her to go after Regina. It hurt me so much when she did that, to look into her eyes and not see love but it only made me fight for her all the harder. Emma I am never going to stop fighting for you no matter how much you push your mother and I away"
"So you're not mad that I ended up in Juvi?" Emma said barely looking up to get a look at her father's face. She didn't want to make eye contact but she also knew that it was the only way she could tell if he was lying to her or not.
"No Emma!" David said moving in to hug Emma, cradling the back of her head with his hand. He just needed to hold her if not for her for himself. He hated to think about his daughter having to go through that alone. "Emma I love you so much. I'm just sorry that I wasn't there to fight for you so that you didn't have to go to that awful place"
"I wish you were there to" Emma said with a sad smile
"But I'm here now and nothing like that is going to happen to you. But in order for me to fight for you, you have to let me know what's going on" He said placing his hand on her cheek and using his thumb to wipe away a stray tear
"I know" Emma said looking back down. She felt awful that her father wanted so desperately to be apart of her life but she had done nothing but push him away and cause him pain. She didn't want to push them away but it was the only way she knew how to protect herself.
"Okay Kiddo. Why don't you work on your homework for a little bit and I'll finish up here so we can go home okay?" He gave her a small smile wanting to let her know he understood where she was at. He didn't want to push her any further for fear that she would put her walls back up.
"Okay" Emma said returning the smile
David got up and headed to his office but couldn't help stealing a look at Emma every few minutes to make sure she was okay. He was determined to protect her at all costs, even if she didn't want him to.
OUAT
David carried Emma up to the loft. She was completely exhausted from crutching around school all day and had fallen asleep in the short car ride from the station to their home. When he got to the door he lightly used his foot to tap on the door. Snow opened it and gave him a warm smile seeing their daughter curled up in his arms. She had unconsciously grabbed his shirt and turned into his chest. David was simply beaming with pride.
"Well hello there daddy" Snow said stepping aside so that David could bring her in. He walked in and laid her on the couch before walking back over to his wife and wrapping his arms around her waist and bringing her in close
"Hello Mommy" He said before passionately kissing his wife.
"Seeing you being a daddy is really hot" She said pulling away and giving him a teasing smile
"I've always heard woman couldn't resist a man holding a baby" He smiled back before giving her another long kiss
"Especially if that baby is one that they made together" Snow smiled
"Wanna make another one?" Charming said with a devious smile
"Charming!" Snow said hitting his peck "Our daughter is asleep on the couch just 5 feet away! Besides I think you were already pretty successful" She said pointing to her stomach
"The key word is she's asleep!" He said kissing her neck
"Stop it!" She said holding back her laughter and pulling away from him.
"Oh come on. We didn't get to provide her with any traumatic childhood memories for 15 years so we have some catching up to do!" He said reaching forward and placing his hands on her hips
"Maybe later. But first I need to finish dinner" she said standing on her tip toes to give him a quick peck on the lips
"Fine…" He said rolling his eyes in jest. "How was your day?"
"It was good! Nothing crazy to report. How about you?"
"Well we found out that Lily is actually from Boston and her parents have been searching for her. I had Gram look into her past to see if she was actually emancipated and that's when we found the APB out for her. I went to the school to bring her in and found her on her way to grannies"
"Where is she now?" Snow said in a concerned voice
"Regina took her to Boston"
"Oh poor Emma! She can't be taking it well that she lost another friend, especially someone who knew her before she came here"
"Well…" Charming wasn't sure if he should tell his wife about what he found out about Emma's past.
Snow caught the hesitation in his voice and turned completely around from the pot of sauce she was stirring to look him square in the eye. "Charming. Do not keep information about our daughter from me."
"Snow…"
"David"
He began to rub the back of his neck nervously
"David I have the right to know something that obviously effects our daughter in a big way, even if it hurts me."
"I know" David said walking over to his wife and wrapping his arms around her waist "I found out that neither of the girls had ever applied for emancipation. Lily was an orphan but had been adopted when she was a baby. Lily has a rap sheet a mile long of petty crime and at some point when she came into Emma's life she convinced Emma to break into an abandoned apartment. They got caught and Lily got off but Emma was sent to Juvenile detention. They hadn't seen each other until Lily showed up here in Storybrook"
Snow's eyes said it all. She felt anger, hurt, sadness. She hated to think that no one was there to fight for Emma and that she had to go to such an awful place like Juvenile detention where who knows what happened. "That explains her attitude toward Lily then when she was over here the other night"
"Exactly. I feel awful that we forced her to go through that. I never would have…"
"She knows that" Snow said placing her hand on her husbands face
"I talked to her at the station and told her that we want to help her but she has to let us know that. I'm not sure if it got through to her…"
"It did. Everything we say gets to her, but she is the one who has to choose wither or not to accept it. We can't blame ourselves Charming"
"How can we not?" He said with sorrow in his voice
"Because we didn't know what sending her though that wardrobe would mean. But now that she's here we can make sure that nothing like that ever happens again"
"You're right. You always are" Charming said giving her a slightly sad smile
"I Know" She said giving him a sly smile "Now why don't you go wake up our little princess and I'll dish up some spaghetti for all of us"
"As you wish" he said placing a kiss on her lips before heading to the couch
Snow knew he was beating himself up about all of this and she was as well but it only reaffirmed her desire to make sure that Emma had only good memories from this point forward.
OUAT
Things went on at a pretty normal pace for the next few weeks. The Charming's had gotten into a good routine with Snow taking Emma to school and Charming picking her up and bringing her to the station and having dinner together each night.
Snow was almost full term and had began to babyproof the entire loft in preparation making for some interesting outbursts from her husband and daughter as the fought to get the drawers in the kitchen open.
Snow was beyond excited to add a new little member to their family but she was also secretly scared that it would cause Emma to push them away and that she would feel like they were trying to have what they never had with her. She and Charming had probably drove Emma insane with the amount of time they spent talking to her and trying to get her to open up but they knew that once the baby came things would change and they wanted to make sure that Emma knew just how much they truly loved her before that happened.
Things were getting ready to change and everyone felt it…and each of them was dealing with it in their own way.
