May muses 21: Custody
Day 21 of May Muses! My idea for today: What if Emma came to Storybrooke a little early? What if she gained custody of the orphaned little girl, knowing exactly who she was? What if she managed to wake her parents up earlier than everyone else and they had to fight for custody of their own daughter?
Sending Emma back to Regina had been the hardest thing Snow and Charming had ever done, but they had to do it. They weren't playing by their own realm's rules here. They had to play by the laws of the Land without magic. In this land, Regina had legal rights to their daughter, no matter how hard they wished otherwise. So to get Emma back, they were going to have to fight for her in a court of law. They weren't sure at first how they felt about Rumplestiltskin offering to act as their legal representation, but they warmed to the idea eventually. He only did things for his own gain, true, but that meant Rumplestiltskin clearly wanted Emma living with her parents, and Rumplestiltskin always got what he wanted. Regina of course had her own team of fancy lawyers who were going to make things difficult, but Rumplestiltskin was confident they had them. They had several copies of official DNA evidence that proved they were the parents of Emma Swan. Due to the lack of aging of all the residents of Storybrooke, David Nolan and Mary Margaret Blanchard would have just been teenaged lovebirds when they had the now ten-year-old. Rumplestiltskin drew up an elaborate story of the teens being lied to, being told that their infant daughter was stillborn due to corrupt medical officials and large sums of money from Mary Margaret's wealthy father who had since passed. Regina, of course, had no evidence to refute the claims. Rumplestiltskin drilled the pair on every angle of the story, making sure they stuck to it. There was no room for any margin of error. Neither were exactly comfortable with lying about the story of their daughter's birth, but they were willing to do anything to get her back.
"Of course, I do have a plan B." Rumplestiltskin told them both the morning of the trial. Out of his breast pocket, he pulled a wad of paper and handed it to Charming. He flipped through them. Passports, birth certificates, even driving licenses for him and Snow under yet another alias for each of them. "Miss Swan cannot remain in the custody of the Evil Queen. It would not be good for any of us." He explained. "If we fail today, and I do not believe that we will, you must take the child and flee. There is enough money in there to get you started somewhere far away." He explained. Charming nodded gravely, slipping the envelope filled with the documents inside his own suit jacket. He took Snow's hand and squeezed it. They hoped that envelope would never be needed, but it was good to have it as a backup. Either way, Regina wasn't keeping their daughter one night longer. By hook or by crook, Emma was coming home with them.
