Forget You – Chapter Nine – It's Time to Meet the Family (3)
Disclaimer: If I owned Fuller House, I would, well, I don't know what I'd do.
Finally, the tears were stopped and Emma knew what she had to do now, "It's time you learnt about my past."
D.J. turned her full attention to the woman sat beside her. Of course she had been curious about Emma's past since whenever it was mentioned, it was always handled carefully and she would find a way to change the subject.
Emma, on the other hand, wasn't sure how she was going to explain the full story since it was somewhat complicated. "You'll have to bear with me for this first part, I don't fully remember it." She warned before launching into her story. "Well, it was September 1997, the twelfth to be exact. Uh, I woke up in this strange room covered in wires and couldn't really move because I was in so much pain."
"I guess I was hooked up to some sort of an alarm because a nurse came in a couple minutes later and was surprised to see me awake. She began to check me over and removing anything unnecessary before asking questions. But I couldn't remember any answer to them, even the basic, 'What's your name?' or 'How old are you?' ones. Thinking back, I remembering being frustrated because I would sit there and think, 'Name? Name? What is my name? Why can't I remember it?'."
"The nurse was expecting something like this to happen, and she seemed kind of glad that it did. When she was done doing her examination, I asked her what was wrong with me. She began to explain, I remembered none of it. She told me that I had been severely assaulted and left on the side of a deserted road to, well, die."
D.J. was staring at her intensely, but Emma blocked her out and continued to speak. "She had told me I had been in a coma for about a month. When I was brought in, I had a collapsed lung, several broken bones, a head injury and a lot of cuts and bruises. She said she was glad that I had only had amnesia because they thought that there would be more damage than that. Honestly, she was just glad I was alive."
"Once I had remembered how to talk again, I asked her what was going to happen to me then. She told me that while I had been unconscious, the police had sent out 'found' posters for a missing girl with my description." Emma looked down for a moment. "Nobody came forward." She admitted softly before recomposing herself and sitting up straighter. "That sucked, really."
"She said that I was going to be staying in the hospital until I got better and that they would go from there, I would probably end up in an orphanage or something, I don't really know. Just before I left, I asked her name – she hadn't told me it – and she told me her name was Casey Wright."
"About two months went by and I was given the all clear to return leave the hospital, something I was dreading. No kid wanted to be placed into an orphanage or the foster system, and that was exactly where I was heading. All I wanted was my real family, but nobody could find a trace of them, they just didn't exist."
"Over the time of my stay, I got to know Casey. I don't know why, we just had this special connection for some reason and she was easy to talk about. I learnt that she too had lost her memory at one point and had managed to regain it. That gave me a little hope for regaining my memory, too, that day hasn't come yet though. She was twenty-nine and her husband of four years had died about two years prior. She told me that since I couldn't remember my real name, I should choose one until I could remember it. She joked about it being better than referring to me as Jane doe. For some reason, I chose the name Emma Nicole. I still don't know the reasoning behind that, if there is any. We also sort of worked out how old I could possibly be at the time, which was around fifteen."
"Anyway, the day came where I had to leave and I was terrified. I remember Casey walking into my room that morning with a huge smile on her face and I had no idea why. I didn't want to be nosy but curiosity got the better of me and I asked. She told me that she had managed to get me into her care, she had fostered me. I don't know how she did it, but I am very grateful to her to this day and there is nothing I could ever do to repay her."
"I managed to get settled into her home and as time passed, I started to see her as a mother. The first time I called her 'mum' was probably around my sixteenth 'birthday', she got really emotional and started crying. I found out then that she couldn't have children herself and had fostered children instead, although she had only temporarily fostered one or two, I was the first one to be in her permanent care."
"The rest is history. I went to college, somehow, and then university in England, lived there for a few years, had a few relationships that never really seemed to work out too well, stayed quite close to my mum and then I moved out here to work a few months ago. And, here I am today, almost – maybe I am already – thirty-four and living in San Francisco."
"That was… Emma I don't know what to say." D.J. admitted. "I thought my life was tough, you seemed to have it worse."
Emma just shook her head, "Don't be silly. Your life has been just as hard as mine. Just in a different way, that's all."
The two lapsed into a silence for a moment before D.J. shot up, "Oh no."
"What?" She eyed her weirdly, wondering what was wrong.
"My family don't know where I am. My sister and I had an argument last night and I stormed out. I left my phone in the house and I stayed here. Oh gosh, what if they think something bad happened to me?" At this point, D.J. was nearly hyperventilating, pacing back and forth.
Emma jumped up and gripped her shoulders. "Your car is out front from last night. You can drive home now and hopefully it will all be alright."
"Right, okay. Come on." She gripped Emma's arm and began to pull her towards the door.
"Woah, why am I being dragged. And you need your keys." Emma stopped and pulled her arm away.
D.J. stopped too and grabbed the keys. "You're coming because a) I stayed here last night and b) I want you to meet my family. Now come on."
"Wait, wait, wait. Let me grab my stuff."
The whole ride to the Tanner-Fuller-Gibbler house was full of D.J. rambling about different things and Emma's nerves.
They finally pulled up in front of the tall house and both climbed out. D.J. rushed up the front steps of the house onto the porch while Emma was a lot slower. She ran through the front door and stood on the steps as Michelle took notice of her. "She just came in; I'll call you later."
Once she had hung up the phone, Michelle got up and hugged D.J., "Where the heck have you been? I've been worried sick about you, we all have. Do you know how hard it was to try and get Max and Jackson to school this morning?"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." D.J. apologised. "I was mad and I went out and then I stayed at Emma's house. Emma! She was right behind-" She had turned around to not find the blonde behind her, just as she appeared in the doorway. "Oh, there you are."
Emma was shuffling from foot to foot awkwardly once she had walked further into the house, avoiding the stare from D.J.'s sister. Michelle herself couldn't help but recognise the blonde, only slightly, but she did. "Emma, this is my sister, Michelle. Michelle, this is Emma Wright."
"Hi." Emma raised her hand a little in Michelle's direction.
Michelle, instead, replied coolly, "Hello." Emma was slightly taken back at the tone and D.J. glared at her. Before anyone could say anything, Emma felt something at her feet and glanced down. Standing there was D.J.'s one-year-old son, Tommy, gripping onto her leg for support with one arm as the other was raised as if motioning to be picked up. "Can I?" She asked D.J. who nodded.
Carefully she hoisted the baby up and placed him on her hip, holding him in place. The one-year-old found an interest in her hair and began playing with the messy braid she had done. For some reason, Emma easily bonded with Tommy.
"Do you mind if I talk with my sister for a moment about what happened yesterday?" D.J. asked and Emma nodded.
She moved over to D.J. to hand her the baby, "Go to Mommy then." But when she tried to hand him over, his face scrunched up as if he was about to cry and he gripped onto Emma tightly.
D.J. laughed, "He must really like you. He doesn't normally like strangers, let alone cling to them so tightly. Would you mind sitting with him?"
"No, it's alright. You two go and talk." She told them and then turned back to Tommy. "We could get to know each other in that time."
D.J. and Michelle slipped out of the room while Emma sat on the couch with facing the TV with Tommy standing on her lap. "Hello there, mister. I'm Emma. And you must be Tommy. It's nice to meet you."
'It's Time to Meet the Family (3)' complete! For some reason, chapter eight didn't seem to do as well, so make sure you don't let the same thing happen to this chapter please! Make sure you leave a review and let me know what you think! Ciao!