Family is Forever

Omg finally I'm back! I know I had promised not to keep you waiting so long and I am so sorry! They have been giving me extra hours at work the past few weeks and I have been so exhausted. Anyway just one more chapter after this and it isn't going to be very long, but long enough to wrap the story up. I know none of you want to see it end I'm sure, but my muse is nearly out for this story and I don't want to keep dragging it out to where it isn't even interesting anymore. I promise you all though that this story will be completed soon! Thank you all for not giving up on this story and continuing to review.

Chapter 14

My green eyes stared into her stunned ones, as the memory kept playing in my head. I could see her singing to my baby-self, and calling out to my name. I couldn't believe it, I refused to believe it! How and the hell was I able to even remember something so young anyhow, none of this made any damn sense.

"Emma?" she asked confused.

I pulled away from the actress and slowly stood up as I continued to stare at her in shock, fear, maybe even a little anger. If this woman really was my mom, she was the very reason why I had been through so much hell.

"You had a baby didn't you?" I asked. My voice was hard and empty, I didn't care what she was thinking right now; I wanted the truth.

Her eyes widen at my question and I knew I was right. Her eyes then became sad, they stared at me like she was reliving another time. "I did have a baby yes, but she was taken from me" her voice was shaky. I could see that she was now fighting back tears and then suddenly more memories from my childhood flashed through my mind.

I was probably about five or so. A man was taking pictures of me, making me dress up in little dresses, making me smile, having people come look at me like I was some lost puppy for sale.

"Josh and I had a little girl, she was so beautiful in every way, but she was also very sick. The doctors didn't think she was going to make it through the night. Then someone had just come in and took her, I had never felt so broken and helpless at the same time like that" The tears fell and I instantly began to feel bad, but my mind was flashing through memories that I had try to block out for so long.

Times of torture from all the different families I had been forced to live with, times of crying out to my parents, times of begging for death. I screamed as I grabbed my head trying to shake away the old memories.

"Emma!" Gin cried. She tried to approach me but I only backed away from her, I didn't want anyone to touch me right now.

"You can't be her!" I yelled angrily. "You can't be her!"

"Can't be who?" Gin begged.

I finally looked up into her eyes and she gasped at my cold empty stare. "My mother, you can't be her! Is that why you agreed to take me in? Tell me your daughter's name wasn't Emma!" I yelled.

She was taken back unable to say anything for a moment. "Emma it's not what you think…" she tried to explain.

"It doesn't matter anymore anyway I can't stay with you" I said.

Her eyes widen. "Emma please, just give me a chance to explain our story. Please don't shut me out" she begged. The tears fell freely, and as much as I wanted to stay angry so that running away could be easier, I just couldn't.

"Fine" I sighed and walked out of the restroom.

It didn't take long for the actress to follow me and I waited as she went to get Josh so that we could all go to our room and talk in private. Once Josh had made his way towards us I could see that he looked nervous. We were all quiet and unable to say anything as we finally made our way up to the room. When we got there we went to sit in the living room. Josh and Gin were sitting on the couch next to each other, while I sat on the chair across from them.

"Emma as you know, our baby girl was very sick and the doctors thought she was bound to die during the night. But I didn't believe them, I always knew you were a fighter deep down, I could see the spark in those green eyes as I held you for the first time in my arms" Gin started to explain.

"We don't know for sure that I'm yours" I said stubbornly.

I watched as the actress flinch at my harshness and as Joshua wrapped a comforting arm around him.

"The thing is our Emma had this blanket wrapped around her while we were staying at the hospital. It was something that Gin made for her once she found out she was having a girl" Josh explained.

"What does the blanket look like?" I asked.

I could hear my heart pounding heavily against my chest, this just couldn't be happening!

"It was pink and it had her name Emma on it" Gin described.

With a heavy sigh I stood up to walk over to my backpack that was sitting on the bed in the master bedroom and pulled out the most precious thing I had ever owned. I had it wrapped up safely in my arms as I walked back over to the actors.

"Would this be the blanket that you are talking about" I held it out so that they could both clearly see it. They gasped in union as their eyes stared at the blanket in utter shock. They looked like dears caught in headlights.

Once again tears were falling from Gin's eyes as she reached out a hand to touch the blanked. I easily handed it over to them so that they could really see it, and feel it.

After minutes seemed to pass by slowly the actress looks up at me. "Emma, it really is you" Her voice choked up as she said my name.

I shrugged uncertain what to say or think at this point. I know I should be angry, I mean these people abandon me, but it wasn't really their fault. I was kidnapped against their wishes that much is clear now. I was surprised when I suddenly felt Gin launch herself to me, with her arms securely wrapped around me.

"Oh Emma please forgive us for not being able to protect you, we've been searching for you all this time. I swear we never gave up on the hope that you were still out there somewhere, we never stopped searching for you" Gin was now crying out freely once again as her body shook in my arms. I was stunned and wasn't really good at the whole comforting thing, so I just did the only thing I could think of. I hugged her back.

I watched as Josh made his way to us and wrapped his arms around the both of us. "Welcome home Emma" he also choked up at saying my name.

"You found us" said Gin softly.

So this is what it is like to be loved by parents huh? Although it feels strange to be in a family hug like this, I can't deny how warm, and safe I feel right now. Finally letting go of my anger from the past I closed my eyes and enjoyed the safety of being in the arms of my family. Family, such a foreign word for me, but I think I could get used to it. Although I never could have imagined my parents to be celebrities, for some reason that just didn't seem to matter to me anymore.

All too soon they both pulled away but still stood near me. "There's something I need to tell you" I confessed.

Gin's POV

I couldn't believe that our daughter was back, I knew in that one moment I had held her in my arms for the very first time that she was strong and that she would survive. I knew that we would find each other again one day. My heart was pounding with joy but when she spoke, she sounded so small, so scared, I wanted to bring her back into my harms and shield her from this world.

I gently pulled her hands to come sit with me on the couch; Josh sat on the other side of her. She started explaining to me about the phone call she had received before I had come into the bathroom and I gasped in horror, how could anyone be so cruel to her? I wanted to find this bastard and make him pay for hurting my baby! I could feel my blood boiling as I tried to control my rage at imagining all the horrid things this man has done to my Emma.

"I think, I think he might be the man that kidnapped me" she said.

"What?" asked Josh furiously.

"The thing is that whenever a family would return me I was always brought back to him. I didn't start getting left at the orphanage until I was finally able to run away from that guy when I was eight. I hadn't seen or even heard from him until now. He was also why I started to hate celebrities. When…when I was little I was adopted by this actor, he was friends with the actor. At first the actor was actually really nice, but then at night things became bad….he would drink…then he would beat me hard, sometimes put me in little dresses to…take pictures….sometimes I would even…even be naked" Tears started to fall from her eyes as her voice became shaky while telling me her painful past. I couldn't stop as I brought her back into my arms. I could see that Josh was battling with the same anger that I was feeling, wishing nothing more than to kill these people that hurt our baby.

"The actor ended up drinking himself to death one night. I found all the pictures that he had ever taken of me and burned them before I was taken back to that man. He would also take pictures of me, but at least he had never forced me to be naked. To the public everyone thought the actor was so sweet and caring by adopting me, but the fans never knew what he was really like behind closed doors" She buried her head against my shoulder as she started to shake while she cried. I rocked her back in forth in order to try and sooth her.

"Its ok sweetheart I'm hear. Josh and I aren't going to let anyone hurt you ever again, this time we will protect you" I vowed. After a while Emma had eventually cried herself to seep. "So now what?" I asked Josh. I wasn't at all surprised that the poor girl had exhausted herself to sleep, speaking about a past as painful as her would drain any sane human.

"We nail this bastard!" Josh answered.

"Josh!" I gasped at his language.

"Come on Gin, I know you're thinking the same thing. And beside what if he is responsible for other kidnappings? We have to stop this now" he explained.

I nodded in agreement. "Question is how do we do it?"

"We could use the gang to help us" Josh suggested.

Suddenly a plan started to formulate inside my head as a sly grin graced my lips while I continued to rock my child. Josh looked at me and he knew instantly that I had an idea. Tomorrow night we would stop this bastard that has been the root of Emma's suffering.

"Josh dear would you put Emma to bed, I want to talk to our friends and we'll need to get ahold of the police to explain things" I asked.

Josh nodded as he slowly and carefully lifted the young girl into his arms. At first she stiffen in his arms and he stood frozen unsure of how she would react if she woke. But he soon smiled in relief as he watched her relax and even cuddled closer to him in his warm embrace. I couldn't help but smile back at the man I love as he carefully carried our baby to bed.

When Josh came back into the living he and I decided to see if any of our friends had return to their rooms. It had been well late into the evening already when Emma, Josh, and I had come up to our to talk, and nearly an hour or two has already passed since we left the party.

Deciding to check on Lana first I knocked on her door, and just seconds later the door opened to a Lana already dressed in her pajamas for the late evening. "Hey Gin, the rest of us were wondering where you all headed. Figured Emma might have had enough for the whole crowded celebrities thing, how she doing?" she asked.

I smiled and nodded. "She's fine, but we have a problem. Josh and I want to have a meeting with you, Jennifer, Emilie, Robert, and Meghan. It's about Emma" My tone was serious and almost dark as my eyes became nearly empty. I could see the surprised look on Lana's face but she quickly nodded and started texting the few who were on other floors to join us. I went to go and gather up Meghan and Emilie to join us. Just a few minutes later we were all sitting in Lana's living room. I told everyone Emma's story, about the man who had called her and threaten her, and how she believes that he is the very same man who had kidnapped her from us.

For a while everyone was dead with silence, all trying to imagine what Emma must be thinking, also probably wondering how she could have been so strong all on her own after all this time.

"So Emma…she really is yours?" asked Meghan carefully.

I nodded giving her a proud smile. "Yes she is our Emma she even still has that baby blanket I made for her all those years ago, she really is the one we have been searching for all this time" I explained.

"And now her kidnapper is back and has somehow tracked her down" Josh added. His voice was cold and dangerous, I could easily see how much he wanted to capture this guy.

"That's wonderful Gin, were all so happy that you found her. But poor though Emma, I can't even imagine growing up the way she did, and just when she finally starts to feel safe again this guy has to come back into her life" Emilie shuddered.

"No child deserves that kind of fate" Robert said. I could see that he was battling to keep his usual cool happy self, after hearing Emma's dark history.

"How do we go about catching this guy? Obviously well call the cops but we don't want to scare the man off at the one chance of being able to capture him" asked Jennifer.

I nodded. "I've already come up with a plan for that"

"Well Emma be involved?" Lana questioned.

I sighed as I leaned in to Josh with his arm wrapped around my waist. "I really don't want to but in order for this plan to work well need her help, if she simply just can't do it then we'll ask the police to come up with another way to capture the guy. Now as for my plan that is, if and only if she agrees to it Emma will meet with the guy at the school, but she won't be alone. We'll all be there to back her up and get her out as fast as possible. Since it'll be late Josh and I will pretend to be joggers running around the school with headphones on to make it appear as if were not even aware of Emma and the man. If he asks Emma about us she can simply explain that it isn't uncommon for people to use the school track since its open for the public to use at any hour. Well make sure she meets the guy near the tracks. We'll also make sure that Josh and I are not too close so he isn't too concerned about our presence. We'll be dressed in black hoodies so he can't see our faces. Meanwhile Lana and Robert I want you two to be hiding nearby. I'm sure the police won't mind us using some of their communication devices and get some kind of recorded evidence of him confessing to Emma. Jen I want you to be with the police and let them know right away if we need back up. Emilie, Meghan I'll need you to be here in order to explain to the rest of the crew to what's going on. I don't want to have everyone worrying about us so please don't say anything until later tomorrow night. Is everyone in agreement?" I asked.

"You know we always got your back Gin" said Lana instantly.

I smiled as I watched them all nodding in agreement. "Thanks you guys, thank you so much. I'm just so happy to have my baby girl back, and I'm not going to let this creep take her away from me again. This time Josh and I will be there to protect Emma like we should have been able to before" I vowed.

"Gin you know you can't go blaming yourself about the past. There was nothing you could have done" Meghan said carefully.

"I know what you're saying is true, but I can't help but feel responsible. If Emma had been allowed to grow up with us she would have known just how much we love her" I said sadly.

"I'm sure she knows Gin, you doing this for her will prove just how much you love her, and just how much the two of you want to keep her safe" said Emilie kindly.

"We'll get this creep, without a doubt. He just became the number one enemy of the OUAT cast, and that is something you do not want to do" said Robert determined.

"Couldn't agree with you more" Jennifer replied.

I smiled brightly. "Thank you guys, this all means a lot to us. We should probably get back to Emma though, she'll probably want us there when she wakes up" said Josh.

I nodded. "Oh what about Lilly?" I asked concerned.

"Don't worry Meghan here took her home hours ago, the girl was practically clinging to Meg all evening" Lana laughed.

Meghan shrugged. "She's not such a bad kid once she isn't squealing in your ears and talks calmly to ya" Meghan explained.

I giggled as I pictured poor Meghan being hassled by the young girl. "She is a sweet kid, just very energetic" I agreed. With another laugh Josh and I eventually said our good nights for the evening and everyone headed back to the rooms.

When Josh and I had made it back to our rooms I pulled out my cell in order to call the cops. I explained everything from the beginning about Emma and the situation with the possible kidnapper. At first they didn't entirely like my plan and would have rather used under covered cops to nab the guy, but after I told them that they weren't catching this guy without my help they finally caved and let me have my way so long as we used the communication devices so that way if things went south then they would be there to back us up in a matter of seconds. We all agreed to meet a few hours before the meeting along with Emma so that way if Emma just couldn't do it, then the cops could figure out a plan B. Once I was done speaking with them I hung up my phone and allowed Josh to wrap me up in a comforting embrace.

"How are you doing?" he asked concerned.

I sighed suddenly feeling my energy now completely gone. "Exhausted" I said honestly.

"We'll get through this Gin" Josh promised.

"She's just been through so much Josh, how can I ask her to do this?" I asked feeling guilty.

"We aren't going to make her do anything she doesn't want to honey. We'll give her the choice to choose. Although something tells me that if she realizes this is our best chance in capturing the guy without the risk of him running and getting away with everything, and possibly even preventing him from hurting anymore kids in the future I'm pretty sure that she'll more than likely want to help stop him"

I turned around in order to face my love, looking deep into his eyes. "How can you be so sure?"

He smiled. "Because she is our daughter and she has your fighting spirit. She isn't one to let someone get away with hurting her, our daughter is a survivor remember?" he said proudly.

I smiled back, and thinking just how proud I am to have Emma as my strong and beautiful daughter. "Josh I want to be with our baby now" I said lovingly. He nodded and the two of us headed into the master bedroom. After changing into our pajamas we settled into bed with Emma now sleeping in the middle. As I laid down to get comfortable I felt Emma cuddling up closer to me and I couldn't stop staring at her sleeping face, right now she looked so peaceful with no thoughts of her painful past to haunt her.

Josh had already dozed off almost instantly, also completely drained from this emotional evening. I gently kissed Emma on the forehead with a soft promise. "You'll always be safe now Emma, and you are loved by so many. I won't let a day pass without you knowing just how much we love you, not now that I have finally gotten you back my sweet baby girl"

With a smile on my face I allowed the darkness to take me.

TBC!