Chapter 2

I hope you guys liked the first chapter. Here is the next. I'll try and post chapter 3 in a few days. Also, check out my one shot story Once Upon a One Shot and let me know what you think. I will be tying to update that before the end of the week as I'm going on vacation next week!

Let me know what you think!

Mary Margret, along with officer Bishop escorted Emma to a local hotel making sure that they left via the back door of the station and entered through the side door of the hotel as to do their best to avoid anyone realizing that Elizabeth was on the move.

Once they got up to the room Mary Margret asked officer Bishop to stand watch outside while she had a moment with Elizabeth. She guided the young woman inside and had her sit on one of the queen beds while Mary sat across from her on the other

"Officer Nolan…"

"Please, call me Mary"

"Okay…Mary…what did your husband mean when he said that I was being taken into custody?"

"Well, that's part of why I brought you here. I figured, not only is it quieter, but it's also safe than the station because no one knows you're here."

"So I just have to stay here at this hotel then till I testify?"

"Not exactly" Mary took a deep breath. She hated having to be the one to have to tell this poor girl that she was going to, once again, have her freedom taken from her. "Because the man you identified will most likely send his people after you, we have to take some extreme precautions to make sure that they don't hurt you. Does that make sense?"

"So far…" Elizabeth gave the woman a skeptical look, she could tell that the woman was beating around the bush.

"So in order to do that we take you into what we call protective custody where, you're not in trouble, but you are going to be kept in a safe place under police protection"

"So I'm basically a prisoner who hasn't done anything wrong who, instead of being kept in a cell I get a hotel room, and I have a guaranteed release date after the trial?"

"I guess if you want to look at it that way. But you are in no way a prisoner, you are able to go about and live your life, just with a few more restrictions than you would normally have"

"He also mentioned the witness protection program? I thought that was something you only saw on TV"

"This is the hard part…Elizabeth…Even after you testify…the mob will still come after you, especially if your testimony puts their leader in prison which it's almost guaranteed to do…We are going to send you to live with a special agent who is trained to protect you…for the rest of your life"

"The rest…of….my life?...what?!" Elizabeth burst out standing up from the bed

"Please, calm down" Mary said standing up and placing her hands gently on Elizabeth's shoulders "I understand that this is a lot to take in"

"That's the understatement of the year!" Elizabeth yelled as the tears began to fall and wouldn't stop.

"Elizabeth I am so, so sorry that this is happening to you. If there was any way that I could change this, I would. I promise you that the couple we are sending you to live with are the most amazing people and they are going to take very good care of you"

"You sound like every stupid social worker I ever met growing up! They always said that and then the mom would smack me for accidently waking her baby or the dad would get drunk and decided he wanted to go on a rampage and then I end up with a broken arm and bruised face. Forgive me if I don't trust people" Elizabeth spat

Seeing this poor girl broken down in front of her was breaking her heart. The system had failed this poor girl and now she just assumed it would again. "Elizabeth, please look at me" Mary said placing a gentle hand on her knee. Elizabeth looked at the woman across from her wanting desperately to trust her. To trust that she wasn't lying. To trust that this placement wouldn't be like the others. "Elizabeth, I promise you that these people that we are sending you to be with will never hurt you"

"How can you say that?"

"Because they are my daughter and son in law, Emma and Killian Jones. They live in Tallahassee Florida"

David arrived at the hotel in he and Mary's personal car about an hour later. He didn't want any reason to tip off those who may be looking for Elizabeth. He had called Emma and Killian once he was able to get to his car and they had readily agreed to take the girl in. Killian was the local police Sargent while Emma worked as a bail bonds person, it actually worked out very well and gave Emma a hand up in going after her targets. Being that Emma was contracted she was able to take time off whenever she felt like it and Killian said that he would be more than happy to help out as well. It really was a bonus for the family that they were all in law enforcement in some way.

He then texted Mary to get the room number and made his way up. Officer Bishop let David in and he found Mary sitting next to Elizabeth with her arm around her shoulder as the girl sobbed. It warmed David's heart to see her being a motherly figure to this poor girl. They had always wanted more children but never could conceive after Emma. Now with her and Killian living so far away, they didn't get a chance to be parental figures very often.

"Hey Elizabeth, I'm so sorry about all of this, I know it is really hard" David said coming in and sitting across from the women.

"Thank you Sargent Nolan"

"You can call me David"

"David…so…I heard that I'm going to live with your daughter?"

"I just got off the phone with her and her husband and they are very excited to have you come and live with them. They understand what has happened here and promised to try and make things as normal as possible okay?" Elizabeth nodded.

"So did you and Mary pick out your new name?"

Elizabeth was wiping her tears away when David said that, causing her to immediately freeze in place "What do you mean? Pick a name?"

David shot a panicked look at Mary. He hadn't meant to spring that news on the poor girl. He figured after an hour that Mary would have mentioned it. Mary was shooting him the same look but quickly recovered and pull the girl in close. "I was about to start talking about that when you arrived honey."

"What does David mean?" Elizabeth sobbed

"Hey, it's okay" Mary said helping calm the girl down. She knew her husband didn't mean any harm but she was ready to kill him in this moment. "Just breath. Take a minute." She soothed. After a couple of minutes Elizabeth caught her breath and sat up on her own looking between the couple.

"What David means is, because this man knows what you look like, it won't be long before he knows your name and your age. As part of the witness protection program we talked about, we have you change your name and your age so that way, it makes it even harder for them to fine you"

"So what? I'm going to now be 25 year old Mary Smith from Hoboken?"

Mary couldn't help the small laugh that escaped from her "No sweetie…well, I mean if you wanted! We could totally do that!" The sarcasm brought a small smile to Elizabeth's face which warmed the couples hearts. "What we were actually thinking was, because you look younger than you are, having you be a 14 year old and, if it was okay with you, having my daughter and son in law be your parents" Mary said the last part a bit hesitant. She knew Elizabeth had never had real parents before and she wasn't sure how she would react.

"Do you mean…?"

"On paper, and legally, Emma and Killian would be your parents and your last name would be jones"

"But I'm 18, you can't just redo someone's birth certificate" Elizabeth said a bit confused

"Well, you and I and Mary and Emma and Killian would know that. But, as part of this whole process, you're going to get all new paperwork. Elizabeth Bennett will no longer exist" David said cautiously. He didn't want to screw this conversation up any further than he already had.

Elizabeth took a minute. The idea of her never having existed was a bit too much for her to take in. She had gone from being alone in this world to possibly turning back the clock and getting to be a part of a real family. But then again, this all may be too good to be true. "So what would this mean?"

"This would mean that we would get you a new birth certificate and your back story would be that you are the newly adopted daughter of Emma and Killian. You get to choose your first name and you would take their last name. After that, you guys would work on being a family"

"Just until I get done testifying?"

"Well, like we talked about, because these people will try and come after you even after the trial, this would be forever. You would get to have a forever family" Mary said as upbeat as she could

"I've never had a real family before" Elizabeth said under her breath