Disclaimer: I don't own DH. Everything except Emma and maybe three quarters of the plot belongs to the wonderful Marc Cherry and those "nice" executives at ABC who REFUSE TO PLAY THE COMMERCIAL FOR THE FINALE! takes a deep breath and blushes at readers
Chapter 4:
"Already?" Emma questioned. "They want to meet me already! Its only been two days!"
Mike had no idea what to say. "I know, I know."
"What am I supposed to say to them? What do they want from me? What if I'm not what they're expecting?" Emma ranted, turning away form Mike so he couldn't see the nervous tears welling up in her eyes.
Mike came up behind her and touched her shoulder. "Hey, it'll be fine. I promise."
"Yeah, okay." Emma said sarcastically.
"They don't want to murder you, they just want to meet you." Mike consoled.
"And see if I'm really who I say I am. I'm not stupid, Mike."
"Just be polite. I'll take care of the rest, alright?" Mike replied, stroking her hair. Emma nodded and let Mike pull her into a hug.
"When do we leave?" she mumbled into his shoulder.
"About two hours."
"So I guess I'll see you then?"
"Yeah." Mike said softly, pulling Emma out of his arms reluctantly and leaving the room.
A few hours later, Emma was waiting outside on the Mayer's driveway for Mike, shivering from the wind and nervousness about meeting her family. Mike pulled up to the driveway and honked the horn, pulling Emma out of her thoughts. She plastered on a fake smile and got into the truck. Any wrong word could give these people a million reasons to say she wasn't really Deirdre's daughter, and the thought scared her immensely.
"You're going to be fine, I promise." Mike reassured her. "Kendra really isn't all that bad and Noah,...well, he's Noah."
The comment made Emma smile. "What's that mean?" she joked, grinning at Mike. He smiled back as they pulled up to a huge house. Emma stared out the window in shock. "They live here?" she asked, taken aback by the size of the house.
Mike nodded. "I forgot to tell you, your mom's family is pretty rich."
"That's a little obvious now, considering how huge that house is." Emma replied, still staring at the house. A security guard quickly came down the hill and stopped in front of them. "ID?" he questioned, his face hard and unrelenting.
"Mike Delfino." Mike said immediately.
"Who's the girl?" the security guard replied.
"Emma Taylor. She's expected." Mike said before Emma could respond.
The security guard nodded and moved out of the way to give them access to the house. Noah was waiting for them on the veranda. "Stay here for a second." Mike said to Emma, heading up to the house. She shrugged off his order and walked down to the footbridge near the water, staring out at it broodingly.
"Where is she?" Noah asked.
"Right over-" Mike started. He turned around and realized that Emma was no longer standing in the driveway. "There. At least she was." Mike looked around again, still seeing no sign of Emma.
Noah stared over the railing of the veranda and toward the footbridge. "I'll be right back."
Mike followed Noah with his eyes as he limped onto the path to the footbridge. Confused, he looked out at the bridge itself and saw a blonde figure staring over the railing. "Just like Deirdre." he thought, shaking his head and following Noah's path to the footbridge.
"You must be Emma."
Emma turned sharply, dragged abruptly out of her train of thought for the second time that day. "Um, yeah." she replied, surveying the man in front of her. "You must be Noah, because you're not Mike, and I assumed Kendra was a woman."
"You assume correctly." Noah said, reaching a hand out for Emma to shake.
She took it and shook it cautiously. "Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you as well."
"You're limping." Emma said, staring suspiciously at Noah's cane.
"You sound surprised. Mike didn't tell you I have cancer?"
Emma shook her head. "Is it terminal?"
He nodded. "Apparently its pressing on my brain."
"Oh." she said quietly. "I'm sorry."
Mike walked in between them. "I thought I told you to stay on the driveway." he told Emma scoldingly.
"Its quite alright. She just wanted a look around." Noah interrupted.
Emma smiled. "I really like you house."
Footsteps clattered onto the bridge and the three of them instinctively turned to face the newcomer. "What's going on here?" Kendra asked.
"That's becoming your routine greeting, isn't it?" Mike sighed, staring out at the water.
Kendra rolled her eyes and looked at Emma. "So you're Deirdre's daughter?"
The skepticism in her voice made Emma want to slap her. "I am." she said, staring up at Kendra confidently.
The tension wasn't lost on Mike and Noah and they quickly attempted to change the subject. "Are you hungry? Lunch should be ready soon." Mike asked, giving Emma a worried glance.
"Lunch sounds great." she replied flatly, not looking at Kendra.
Kendra looked guilty, but had too much pride to apologize to her; instead just following her father inside. The second Emma entered the house, she gasped. She couldn't help it. She hadn't been inside a house this big in her life, and couldn't imagine living in one. Noah had to smile at her shock as he showed her to the family room. "Oh, crap." Emma thought, noticing the bright, fluorescent light hanging from the ceiling. Kendra flipped the switch to turn on the light and Emma's apprehension grew. "Okay, you can get through this. Just breathe." she told herself silently, trying to ignore the nervousness gnawing at her.
Minutes later, Emma was too dizzy to even eat. Mike was glancing at her every few seconds, trying to figure out what was wrong with her. Emma knew she had to leave the room before any of them picked up on her secret. "Is there a bathroom here?"
"Down the hall, and to the left." Mike replied, looking over at Noah; who nodded.
Emma smiled weakly and left the room, trying her hardest not to stumble. The second she reached the bathroom, she fell forward and had to grab the sink to keep standing. She breathed heavily. That was close.
When fifteen minutes had passed and Emma still hadn't returned, Mike stood up. "I'm going to go check on her."
Kendra stood up as well. "No, I'll go. You barely know your way around this house, and if some kind of emergency happened in the bathroom, I doubt she'll want you walking in on her." she said with a grin.
Mike nodded and sat back down, still looking worried. Kendra left the room and headed for the bathroom. Once she reached the door, Kendra knocked softly. "Emma, you in there?" When there was no reply, Kendra knocked again. "I'm serious, you in there?"
When noone answered again, Kendra reached for the doorknob. It was unlocked, and she stepped through the door to find Emma on the floor, clutching her head with her eyes closed. Her position looked vaguely familiar, and in seconds Kendra had remembered when this happened before. She headed over to Emma and propped her up. "Kendra?" Emma questioned woozily.
"Shh, don't say anything." Kendra ordered, wetting a cloth and placing it across Emma's forehead.
"I-I'm fine." she said faintly.
Kendra ignored her claim. "Lay back."
Emma rolled her eyes, but followed the direction.
"Emma, this used to happen to my sister all the time. She was a heroin addict." Kendra said quietly, brushing her hair away form her eyes.
"I'm not on drugs. My mom was in rehab when I was born. At least that's what the people taking care of me said." Emma said indignantly.
"You must have just gotten the symptoms, then." Kendra said, sounding sorry for her. "Feel any better?"
Emma nodded. "Thanks."
Kendra smiled at her. "No problem. I'm guessing Mike doesn't know about this."
"Correct."
"Are you going to tell him?"
"I don't know."
"Why wouldn't you tell him?"
"Because I don't want to be treated like a head case!" Emma said loudly, sitting up.
"Lay back down." Kendra said softly, gently pulling Emma back down towards the floor. "You don't have to yell. I get it. It's the exact same reason Deirdre resisted going to rehab for so long. I just don't want you to end up like her."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Kendra sighed. "My sister swore off anyone who ever cared about her. My father, me, Mike. I don't want you to be like that."
"I'll tell him eventually.' Emma said, glancing over at her.
"Its your life. We should go back out there, Mike's worried sick."
Emma nodded and let Kendra help her to her feet. "Thanks." she said gratefully.
"Don't mention it."
When Emma and Kendra reentered the family room and began eating, there was an obvious closeness between the two. When Noah glanced at them in confusion, they both pretended they didn't notice; leaving Mike and Noah just to guess at what had happened.
A/n: Whew...that was long. I don't really know if people pass on the effects of drugs to their children, it was an idea I had when I found out that...oh you'll find out later:). So until I finish writing chapter five, click that attractive-looking little blue button and leave me a review!