Take me back home

Petrobella asked for a oneshot of 12 year old Emma knocking on the door of David and Mary Margaret Nolan's apartment in New York telling them they're her parents. They take her back to Boston where she lives with her uncle James. As usual, there's a memory problem.

Neither David or Mary Margaret reacted much when they heard the knock on their apartment door. It was New York City, someone was always getting a delivery. Often, that meant confused and busy deliverers arriving at the wrong door of an apartment building. It just meant directing them to the right place. So when David opened the door to find a little girl he was more than a little surprised.

"Eh, can I help you?" He asked the kid. Maybe she was lost?

"Are you David Nolan?" She asked. David nodded, a bit confused. She wasn't a delivery person too, was she? Surely not! "Your wife is Mary Margaret Nolan?" The girl asked. David nodded.

"Yeah, that's us kid. Can we help you with something?" He asked. His wife taught kids around this girls age, but David had a feeling this wasn't one of his wife's pupils.

"You sure can. My name is Emma. I'm your daughter." The little girl announced. Charming went into shock. Their daughter? Surely they'd remember a little something like that? Emma took advantage of his momentary shock to slip under his arm and inside the apartment. David snapped out of it.

"Woh, kid!" David called after her as Mary Margaret came out into the hallway. She looked confused at the little girl.

"Hey Mary Margaret. My name is Emma. I'm your daughter. Do you have some food? I'm starving!" Emma told her. Mary Margaret was just baffled.

"Our daughter?" She asked. Emma nodded like this was no big deal. David and Mary Margaret looked above her at each other. This poor kid.

"Uh, sweetheart, you must be a little confused. We don't have any children. We can't have kids." Mary Margaret answered her, her voice tinged with sadness. It was the hardest part of their lives, not being able to have children of their own.

"That's where you're wrong. You just don't remember me. A-ha, pretzels!" Emma called from the kitchen. The couple peered through and saw the kid digging into their snacks. Neither said anything, she was clearly hungry. When was the last time she had a good meal?

"And I can prove it, no fancy DNA test required. All you've got to do is take me back home to Boston where I live with my Uncle." Emma told them. David leaned against the wall.

"How does us taking you to Boston prove we're your parents?" He asked.

"It doesn't. Meeting my Uncle James does. Once you meet him, trust me, there'll be no denying we're related. So, get a bag packed. If we leave now we'll be there before midnight." Emma commented. David and Mary Margaret didn't like this one bit. What was going on in this poor girl's head.

"Listen honey, we're really sorry to disappoint you, but we're really not your parents." David tried to reason with her. "Why don't we call your Uncle for you?"

"You could try that, but I bet before he got here I could call the police and tell them you kidnapped me." Emma threatened them. David and Mary Margaret pressed their lives together. The police might very well believe her. Poor couple who couldn't have kids of their own, vulnerable little girl, it was possible. Even if they were found not guilty, there lives as they knew it would be over. This kid fought dirty, but her tactics were paying off.

"Guess we'd better grab our stuff." Mary Margaret sighed. "It's a long drive to Boston." Emma grinned. She knew that would work.

It was a relatively quiet drive. Mary Margaret and David didn't really know what to say. Where was Emma's head at if she was so convinced these two random strangers were her parents. Every so often, Emma would throw in a random comment. A while back, she told them they'd actually all lived together in Maine for the first ten years of her life, but then something separated them. That just concerned them more. Emma seemed to sense this and shut up for a while after that.

After about four hours of driving, they pulled up outside Emma's apartment block. Looking at it made David and Mary Margaret understand why Emma would want a different life. It wasn't exactly in the best neighbourhood. Emma punched in a code and insisted the couple walked her to the door. After all, what if her Uncle was out? David and Mary Margaret didn't feel that they were in a position to refuse, so took Emma up to the front door and waited as she knocked. She knew her Uncle would be in, he never left the apartment. She heard his footsteps thumping to the front door and heard the flap of the peephole. He sighed.

"One of these days I'm gonna not let you back in. You'll be the social's problem." He said gruffly, unlocking the door. He clearly hadn't noticed the two people with Emma. He opened the door and finally spotted the extra two people. All three adults felt like they'd just been plunged into icy cold water. Emma grinned, looking between them. It was hard to deny there was a relation when you were confronted with your identical twin.