Esme and Granny were the first two to enter the cafe, and it truly was a sight to behold. There was glass everywhere; no windows were left in tact, the glass display case Henry's cakes were always in were either shattered or cracked, tables were overturned and the speed of the glass flying everywhere had tore the fabric on some of the chairs. Granny stared in disbelief at the damage one woman had done with one flick of her wrist.
"I'll clean it up," Esme chimed in, hoping to ease the worry that had now etched itself into the battle-axes face. Granny turned to her and gave her a dubious expression - apparently, she didn't have an immense amount of faith in Esme's cleaning ability - to which Esme replied "Hey! I'm a witch too you know?!' And with that, Granny's face shifted slightly, and the burden of cleaning everything up was lessened. Esme was growing in confidence everyday here, she was flourishing, and Granny took great delight in watching her do so; her magic was getting stronger, her relationship with her brothers was admired and envied in equal measure by many who had years on her and her personality shone threw more than ever. She was warm, caring and, above all, protective. Fiercely protective; it was in that regard that she was like her mother.
"Well okay then miss witch, but after we sort out this leg of yours," Granny demanded. She knew Esme was not one to admit defeat, but the girl trusted her and so didn't need much persuasion when Granny told her to sit down on one of the seats. She winced in pain slightly but tried to hide it; she didn't want Granny, or anyone else for that matter, to worry. They were struggling enough with it being Emma who had inflicted all this damage, they didn't need her dramatising her injuries.
"Okay now, where hurts?" Granny asked as she rolled up her sleeves. She carefully inspected Esme but found several gashes across her body; a small one to the head, a bust lip, and a severely beaten up leg. As she left to go to the kitchen so get some boiling water, the cafe filled with everyone that had been on the town square. When she emerged with a basin of steaming hot water, she seemed amazed that they now had such a large audience.
"Everywhere, to answer your question," Esme said in delayed reply, to which everyone politely laughed as the circled around her, even though she didn't actually mean it as a joke. Roland came bounding through the door and jumped onto Esme's knee, an action which was both endearing and excruciatingly painful.
"OH! Ho.. ho… how are you then my brave little knight?" Esme said, desperately (and pathetically) attempting to mask her yelp of pain by, for some reason, being Santa Clause. She gently pushed away the gorgeous brown curls that had fallen around Roland's deep brown eyes and began checking for any damage to his perfect porcelain face when Granny put a scalding hot cloth on a wound Esme didn't even know she had.
"Ouch!" Esme screamed, jumping so much in surprise that Roland jumped off her knee. Esme immediately looked to see what the source of the pain was and was surprised to see a huge, deep gash on her leg that was surrounded by black, dried blood and was still oozing more. Around 7cm in diameter, the cut felt like it was branding her as the hot water seeped into it, and Esme could do nothing but squirm in pain. She looked away from Roland, who was right beside her looking terribly worried, but her knuckles were white from clinging to the chair she was sitting on, and so within seconds, Henry emerged from the crowd and took one her hands. Esme looked at him and was astounded; it looked like he had the world on his small shoulders, she could see it in his eyes.
"I'm fine. It honestly looks worse than it is-" Esme began, hoping to reassure him, at least a little.
"She did this to you. My mom,"
"The Dark One did this to me. Your mom? She saved me," Esme explained, trying to give Henry some hope that Emma was still in there, somewhere.
"She's still in there Henry, and i promise we will get her back," David said, in his usual heroic speech style way. Henry looked at Esme and she nodded reassuringly before slapping away Granny's hand as she placed another steaming hot cloth on the wound.
"Ouch! I think that's enough Granny, thank you," Esme said, trying to be as polite as possible. Granny looked at her before gently wiping away the rest of the blood around the wound.
"Stay here, i'll get a bandage," Granny said before she left. Blue then came to the front of the circle that was now surrounding Esme and began to inspect the wound.
"You're lucky, Esmerelda. You could easily have broken something with that fall," Blue explained, and Esme knew that she was right. The last time she was flung that hard, she ended up in hospital and a heart to heart with the parents she had already upset was not what she had in mind tonight.
"Thank you," she said to Blue.
"Thank you all actually," Esme continued, now addressing everyone. "that could have been a lot worse if it weren't for you, so thank you. I know Emma means a lot to y-"
"That wasn't Emma. That was The Dark One, and we've had enough of that hurting innocent people," the grumpy little man Esme had learned was actually called Grumpy stated, to which many members of the crowd nodded or hmmd in agreement. Esme felt slightly uncomfortable because they were technically talking about Emma, who's parents and son were right there, but she appreciated the sentiment.
"Well thank you," Esme said. The thank you, however, was followed by an awkward silence, as people either stared at her or chatted awkwardly amongst themselves without moving, so Esme was actually glad when Granny came through the door, this time with a handful of white bandages. She handed them to Blue who correctly took this gesture as Granny's way of asking her to bandage Esme's wound, which she did. Now, with a big white bandage wrapped around her lower leg, an ache in her back that worsened when she breathed, a terrified seven year old brother and a traumatised teenage brother, Esme could think of nothing she wanted to do less than what Granny suggested.
"Well Miss Esmerelda, thats your leg all fixed up. Now go in that kitchen and get the water boiled. We have people that need fed and a good, stiff drink," Granny ordered and before Esme had the opportunity to argue, she left to help the people who had began cleaning up and returning the tables to their original positions. Esme limped into the kitchen, doing as she was told, and as she did so she looked out the window. This side window showed the forrest off in the distance and, for just one moment Esme closed her eyes and revelled in the stillness. Ever since she came here, every single day had been filled with something and she had always loved it. Whether it was something serious like practising her magic with Regina or something silly like running around after the boys, she enjoyed the hustle and bustle of this busy life because she had never really had that before. She had had drama throughout her life, of course, but not a great deal of social interaction, which unfortunately was fairy limited when one was trying to escape an evil Empress and her nasty brother. But after everything that had gone on recently, Esme began to miss some elements to her old life; primarily the simplicity of it. A few months ago all Esme had to worry about was where she was going to go next, but now she had all of these other problems to deal with and people to protect and she slowly felt like she was being beaten down. She had closed her eyes to enjoy the peace and quiet, and so didn't notice when Granny came into the kitchen until her hands were placed on Esme's shoulders.
"I thought you'd went to the river to get that water," Granny joked.
Esme jumped slightly at the touch but ensured to laugh at the joke, for Granny was a serious woman, and didn't make them very often.
"Oh! Ha, yeah sorry i must have been day dreaming," Esme explained. She patted Granny's hand that was on her right should and noticed it was all scratched and bloody.
"Granny! Look at your hand!" Esme said, as she immediately placed it under the tap to rinse away the dust and dirt that had collected around the several scratches on both of Granny's hands.
"Oh, don't be silly its just a few scratches. Nothing that's going to kill me," Granny said dismissively as she pulled her hands out from Esme's grip and boiled the kettle Esme had forgotten about.
"Now missy. Are you going to tell me what's running through that head of yours, or are am i gonna have to beat it out of you," Granny said. Esme laughed politely at the joke, but she and Granny both knew that Esme wasn't the spill her guts out kind of girl; from Esme's perspective, vulnerability made her weak, and even though she genuinely trusted Granny, she didn't want to share too much. Or so she thought. Esme was a particularly private person - she kept herself to herself, she didn't burden other people with her worries nor did she ever ask for help - so Granny knew that it would take a lot more than just asking her to get her to open up about the reason she had such a tortured look in her eyes. She took Esme's hand, which was as bloody and scratched as hers, in the hope of comforting her. Esme looked at Granny, well aware that she wasn't a hand holding, touchy feely kind of person, and was suddenly overcome by tears, which stung her eyes before they flowed down her cheeks. Before she knew it, Esme was sobbing in Granny's arms, so much so that she couldn't get the words out.
"Shhhhhh, it's okay. It's gonna be okay, shhhhhh," Granny soothed, stroking Esme's hair, strands of which were now entangled with debris from various buildings in the town centre.
"It's…it's just a lot, you know? I can't protect my little brothers and i…i… i can't even talk to my own parents…" Esme began and once she began to to talk, the words were spilling out of her mouth; before she knew it, she was telling Granny about how she was a little overwhelmed, how just months ago she was all alone but now she had a whole family. She felt cheated; she had missed out on doing chores, being tucked into bed at night, family dinners and everything that was involved with actually being raised by someone. But she couldn't blame Robin and Regina so she was really just angry in general. And she wasn't sure what to do with Robin and Regina; did she call them mom and dad now, did she stay in the house, how was she supposed to talk to them or what about? She didn't know anything.
"Well honey, that's gonna take some time," Granny soothed. Esme sat up, removing her head from Granny's shoulder, and began to wipe away the tears. She wasn't sure why, but she actually felt better about the situation after the cry; somehow it seemed to make things less muddled.
"Now you listen here, Okay? Look at me," Granny said, holding Esme's face to ensure she looked at her. "You have been doing a great job looking after those brothers of yours. And you protected all of us tonight, little missy, not just them so you can, and do, protect them just fine. Now the thing with Regina and Robin may take a little extra time, but if they have any issues, you send them my way," Granny joked, and playfully tapped Esme's chin with her knuckle, mocking a punch.
Esme laughed, and wrapped her arms around Granny, an action Granny was slightly uncomfortable with and so she simply patted Esme on the back.
"Thank you, i'm sorry for offloading everything on you but really, i'll be fine," Esme said.
"Don't apologise, honey. Not to me. Now you take those brothers of yours and get some rest okay? I'll expect you here after you drop them to school tomorrow morning," Granny ordered. When Esme responded to the last part with a confused expression, Granny explained "you said you'd help me clean up. A sore leg doesn't stop your hands moving now does it?" And with that, she brewed the tea and coffee and left the kitchen as Esme stood there and laughed to herself. She quickly wiped her tears, made sure she looked as presentable as possible in her reflection in the window and walked out to the boys who were sitting in a booth with a piece of pie each.
"Ha, you hungry kiddos?" Esme joked, but neither one responded, they just stared blankly at the pie with expressionless faces and in that moment, Esme knew it was going to take a lot to get them through this.
"You guys wanna go home?" Esme asked and received two little nods. Henry walked to her side and hugged her. His head was on her shoulder, his arms were around her neck and he squeezed her tight for a moment or two before walking towards the door, silent. Roland simply stood on the leather cushions in the booth and put his arms up, a clear signal for Esme to carry him.
"I'm sorry kiddo, my leg is too sore to carry you-"
"I'll do it. Jump on little guy," Henry said, and Roland happily jumped onto his back. Esme smiled at him, and they left arm in arm after Esme mouthed 'thank you' to Granny.
The journey home was eventless and as they entered the door to the house, Esme was struggling to keep her eyes open.
"Okay guys, go up and put on your pyjamas and i'll be up to say goodnight in a little minute," Esme explained.
Henry immediately did as he was told and traipsed up the stairs like a zombie,but Roland only got to the bottom of the stairs before he turned around and ran to Esme. He quickly wrapped his arms around her waist and squeezed her tight.
"Hey, hey, little man. You okay?" Esme said and crouched down till her face was level with him. He looked at her for a moment and then wrapped his arms around her neck and buried his face in her neck, without saying one word at all Esme could do was hold him close.
"Hey i'll tell you what. Why don't you and i have a little slumber party tonight?" Esme suggested, and was relieved when Roland nodded in response. She carried him upstairs, put his pyjamas on, tucked him into bed, where he almost instantly fell asleep, and left to put her pyjamas on. As she was brushing her teeth in the bathroom, she heard Roland squealing and she dropped everything and ran immediately to his room, only to find him thrashing and tossing in his bed.
"Roland! Roland!" Esme said shaking him, but was horrified when he woke up with a horrible, terrified look in his eyes.
"Shhhh, it's okay honey. It's okay, its just a bad dream that's all," Esme explained as she held him close. He was clinging to her like a baby monkey when Henry joined them both on the bed. Roland simply turned his head, not wanting to let go of Esme, and so Henry took his little hand in his.
"Hey Roland, look at me," Henry said, to which Roland obeyed.
"Where you dreaming about my m- The Dark One?" Henry asked, and Roland nodded.
"Do you remember who saved you?" Henry asked, and Roland nodded again.
"Sissy," he replied.
"Exactly. So, so long as Esme is here, she won't get us," Henry said, rubbing little Roland's arm comfortingly.
"Is that true, sissy?" Roland asked, with his big brown eyes looking a lot less sad.
"Ummm yeah. I will do everything i can to make sure she won't get you, either of you," Esme explained.
"Can you stay here with me?" Roland said, clearly more appeased thinking he was completely safe.
"Of course I can," Esme said and tucked herself up into the double bed, with Roland's head on her chest. Henry made his way to the door and then stopped.
"Hey Ez," Henry said.
"Yeah squirt?"
"Thanks."
Esme smiled and said, "Don't mention it. Now get some rest."
And so as she lay there, with little Roland in her arms and Henry safely in bed, the world became a lot clearer; yeah, this whole family thing was new, but with it came a whole lot of happiness Esme had never experienced before. And that was something Esme would fight for, not run from.