A routine had developed, consisting of going into work early then staying back a few hours every shift, so they had time for the strained workload, plus the commitment to the investigation into Goldcorp. After another long day all that was on Emma's mind was the custody case and as she walked back into the main office from the bathroom, she clutched her stomach the anxiety bringing on a sort of nausea, as she approached Graham, his expression was of pity.
"I had my colleague, look over these papers, he said they don't have much of a case but that doesn't mean this is going to be easy"
Emma gasped shaking her head, off course somehow Neal had the best lawyer's money could buy and she had some judgmental government assigned family lawyer to help her, who seemed more invested in her lunch then Emma's situation during their meeting earlier that day.
"I thought, I was on the way to happiness, new job, new place…"
"I'm sorry Emma, I know you've worked hard, you don't deserve this, you're an amazing mother"
"It just doesn't make sense, there are so many other ways Goldcorp could hit us, this just seems too personal" Emma said, as she recalled Killians warning to her wondering if he was right.
"If you want off the case, its fine there are more important things"
"I just have a feeling, that's not why there doing this, think about it, I only started the investigation that night, and that's when it happened" Emma said her voice trailing off, her mind wondering.
"That's true, you told me you visited the lost boys club, maybe it started from there"
"Could be, but why bring Neal into it, they must have contacted him, I just don't know why his doing this, I never kept Henry from him, he's the one that left!"
"You will tell the court that, I'm sure it will be fine"
"I can't just put my faith in that, I need a plan"
"Have you tried contacting Neal?"
"I have, the coward changed numbers, even went by the motel he was staying at, but he's checked out already"
"Does he have any connection to Goldcorp?"
"Not that I know of, but he has a lot of secrets, I guess, I never really knew him"
"That's no fault of your own, some people just never let you all the way in"
Emma nodded seeing something she never had before, that Neal always kept her at a distance, and she knew how horrible that felt, but there was a sense of guilt overcoming her not for Neal but for all the people she kept at an arms distance all her life.
"What's on your mind?"
"I'm just not sure, if I made the right choice"
"About taking this job?"
"No, the jobs great Graham, it's Killian I just…. I miss him"
"I noticed he's stopped dropping by with coffee, in the last week"
"Sorry, that's my fault"
Emma let out a sigh as she pictured his smile, handing her a cup of warm coffee and her heart ached for it to be real, Graham put his arm around her rubbing her back trying to bring her some comfort as his words were only bringing more pain.
"Come on you should go home be with your son, shifts over anyway"
"Yeah, you're right, Mary Margaret is watching him, which is just weird, probably shouldn't push my luck with that"
"Well, I'm glad to see you two are working things out"
"I don't know if were getting closer as much as her and Henry are, the truth is I don't have a choice, can't leave him home alone all the time, at least she's a better babysitter then his father ever was"
"Well, I better not keep you"
"I'll just get my things"
Emma walked off towards the staff room grabbing her belongings before realising she forgot to pass on some information regarding a call out earlier that day. The only problem was Graham had seemingly vanished, and she frowned frustrated her leaving had been delayed.
"Hello" Emma called out only to be met with silence, in the empty station.
Just as she was about to leave, thinking she could call him from her car, Graham rushed back across the office looking flustered. Emma frowned, waving her arm sarcastically, but Graham still failed to notice as he sat back in his chair, picking up his phone, the Sheriffs expression pained and stern and he gave orders to the person on the other end before hanging up his eyes distant, until he finally looked up at her.
"Emma, there you are?"
"I've been standing here the whole time"
"Right sorry" Graham paused letting out a deep breath "There's been an incident we have to go"
"Ok" Emma said, suddenly her exhaustion subsided as adrenaline started pumping.
The fact her shift had been over for an hour, had slipped her mind in this moment, noticing Graham's distress as the blood seemingly drained from his face. The Sheriff headed into the storage room with haste, and his deputy quickly followed, he raced about rather frantically, without saying much but a few mumbled syllables to himself, while he began grabbing various equipment such as torches, radios and traffic cones stuffing them into a large duffle bag, then handing it to Emma and grabbing a few more things, including a large rifle and bullets.
"We going to a raid?"
"This is just in case, there might be trouble" Graham instructed, before heading back out into the main office.
"What are we walking into here, Graham?"
"I'm not sure exactly, I spoke to the fire chief, but his not at the scene yet either"
"Fire!"
Emma could barely keep up with Graham who seemed to be falling apart, which caused Emma to feel anxious wondering what was causing his distress. Usually, Graham was able to keep a cool head, but most of their callouts were fairly easy small-town problems, drunks a few stoners, other than there ongoing case things have been rather mundane and they weren't even sure if that would lead to anything.
"Graham?" Emma said stern, standing front of him forcing him to stop and explain.
"It's the raiders they need our help!"
"What's happened?" Emma said, her heart pounding now.
"I don't know that many details"
Emma didn't speak for a moment frozen in place, the scene in front of her faded away as her mind raced.
"Killian his getting his patch today, officially a member, he's defiantly there"
"Emma, we don't know what happened yet, lets get down there help out, we can panic later"
"Right, your right, panic later"
Both stormed out of the station quickly making there way to the cruiser and as soon as they opened the doors, the air smelt of smoke. A tense silence in the cruiser, they both listened closely to the radio for any updates but there was only static, as Graham quickly raced through intersections sirens blaring, as cars stopped clearing a path for them. Just as they speed past Granny's dinner a large bellowing black smoke cloud came into view, fire engine just up ahead of them but all the noise faded as a voice came over the radio.
"Fire is contained, one casualty so far" A gruff out of breath fireman called out.
"What! drive faster" Emma begged.
"Who was it?" Graham yelled.
"Male, Black hair, leather jacket can't discern much else at the moment Sheriff" The voice replied.
"Thanks, ETA is two minutes" Graham said.
Graham slammed his foot on the gas harder and the cruiser obliged grunting with all the power it had left until they reached their destination, they couldn't see anything through the crowd of people lining the street and with the brick walls surrounding the club it was impossible to determine, what was happening. The cruiser couldn't get through the mass of people, coming to a halt, Emma looked over at Graham her eyes begging him to continue, he decided to mount the sidewalk, slowly creeping forward lights flashing, sirens on eventually people began to move out of their way.
Two painstakingly slow minutes later they arrived at the Rusty Raiders clubhouse, both Sheriff and his deputy bounding out of the car ready for action, Emma's heart was racing and her palms sweety desperately wanting to know what awaited her. The historic building was up in flames, the smell of smoke and burnt flesh filled the air, club members everywhere it was utter chaos, the fire fighters only just started hosing down the rubble that remained of the main clubroom and Emma's eyes frantically search for one face among the crowd.
"Emma, wait" Graham said grabbing her arm.
"What!" Emma replied frustrated.
"You're not a civilian now remember, I need you to secure the area, get these people to safety"
"No, I" Emma began to plead, but Graham looked stern, gesturing towards the orange traffic cones, in the trunk of the cruiser.
"Please this is key, ambulances need to get through"
"Ok, I've got my radio just let me know what's happening in there"
There was chaos behind her as cars continued to enter the already overcrowded street, only to find a dead end, with a line of cars behind them making it impossible to turn around. This was becoming an issue stopping other emergency workers from getting to the scene and causing confusion with the citizens of Storybroke desperate to know if one of their loved ones had been lost in the fire.
"Hey, deputy! What's going on? Why won't they let us through?" One of the raiders yelled out, coming over closer to Emma.
"Please sir, I need you to stay back, while the situation gets resolved"
"You don't even know what's happening, do you?"
"We will update you as soon as we can, please I need you all to back up"
"Were not going anywhere, you badge's, why don't you just go back to your desk act like there's nothing going on, that's what you usually do"
"We'll take care of ourselves as we've always done!" another yelled from behind him.
"Hey! your upset, I am too, but we need to work together"
The man chuckled through his tears holding up his hands in defeat before walking back to the large group of bikers. There was an obvious animosity amongst them, those who could stand had their arms folded while others coughed and swore as the pain from there burns took hold. The slightest hiccup could end in a riot, she could feel the angry eyes of every Raiders club member on her now, because they had lost one of their own, because those who were supposed to serve and protect, let them down again.