Chapter 8

Happy Once Day! Here is another chapter. I'm sorry for those of you following my one shots that I haven't updated. I haven't been feeling well and haven't had much motivation to do anything.

As always I love when you guys leave reviews or comments. I'm also looking for suggestions of things you would like to see happen in this story as I'm almost caught up. Enjoy!


"Mom!"

"Emma? What's wrong? Didn't something happen to Eliz…I mean Zoe?"

"Not exactly…"

"Hold on Emma I'm putting you on speaker"

"Hey Kiddo, what's going on?"

"Hey dad, so…I don't know where to start…"

"Are you okay?" David asked. He was starting to get concerned

"Yes I'm fine, just…okay so Killian and I caught Zoe trying to sneak out again, while Killian was talking to her I went through her things and found a cell phone"

"Emma who did she call?" David persisted. If she told someone where she is then she and Killian were also in danger

"No, someone called her, a foster sister. Long story short, apparently this foster sister has been living with her. The sister went back to the apartment and found it completely ransacked and called Zoe freaking out and then Zoe said she heard a scream and the line went dead"

"Oh no, how is Zoe?" Mary asked

"She's pretty shaken up but Killian is with her"

"Okay Emma. What is this foster sisters name?" David asked wanting to get as much information as he could

"Her name is Heidi Potter"

"Okay and what number did she call from?"

Emma quickly flipped up the phone and hit a few buttons before the number showed on the screen "555-0100"

"Okay. Turn that phone off and destroy it. If someone got a hold of the sisters phone they could track it back to Zoe's phone and put you all in danger"

"I will…but dad, there's one other thing"

"Shoot"

"Zoe almost didn't give us the name because she is afraid that she will end up back in the system"

"Emma, we have to obey the law…"

"I know. But please promise me you will do everything you can to find that girl a forever family. Zoe will never trust me again in you don't"

"Emma I promise your father and I will do everything we can. Thank you for this information. We are still on the road but we will forward this information and have someone on it right away"

"Thank you guys. I'm sorry, I feel like I'm failing you"

"Emma, honey, you are not failing in the slightest" Mary reassured her "You are doing everything you can. There is no way you could have known about that phone, we didn't even know and we brought her to you"

"I know"

"Emma, please be careful" David chimed in

"We will. Love you guys"

"we love you too!" with that Emma ended the call. She was walking back toward the kitchen when she glanced into Zoe's room and stopped. She almost started crying as she saw Killian sitting on the bed next to a sleeping Zoe and gently stroking her hair and humming a calming toon. She just stood and watched the sight. Killian had been so excited when they had found out she was pregnant. He had always wanted to be a father. It devastated him when he found out about the miscarriage. This was their second chance. Sure it was unconventional, but it was the way it happened. Emma was amazed how easily being a dad was for him. He was kind yet firm with Zoe and Emma could tell she truly respected and trusted him. She just hoped that she could do as good as he was.

"Hey daddy" She whispered "How long have you been in here?"

Killian gave her a big grin. He liked being called that by his wife, even if he may never hear it from Zoe "About 10 minutes" he whispered back. "She asked me to stay" That broke Emma's heart even further. This poor girl had been through so much and had had to go through much of it alone. She determined in that moment that they would be there for her for everything from now on.

"I think she's asleep now" Killian whispered before kissing her head and tucking the blankets around her and gently lifting himself off the bed. He came over and took Emma into his arms and the two of them stood in the doorway and simply watched her sleep.

"She's going to be okay right? We're going to be okay…right?"

"Of course love. We are going to take this one day at a time…that's all we can do" He replied placing a kiss on the top of her head. "Now, we should follow our daughters example. The security company will be here around 8am". With that he gently led her toward their bedroom. He loved being able to take care of both of his girls

The next morning Zoe could hear voices and movement in the house. She looked over at the small alarm clock that Emma and Killian had gotten for her and it said 8:20am. She groaned and rolled back over. It was way too early for her. She never liked mornings, much less getting awoken prematurely.

About five minutes later there was a small knock on the door and then Emma came in. "Good morning" She said sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"Morning" Zoe mumbled out

"So, the security company is here installing the new system and they need to come in here in about 15 minutes. I just wanted to give you a heads up…They said it's fine if you stay in bed" She added not wanting Zoe to feel like she had to get up right that minute.

"Why do they need to come in here?" Zoe asked confused. She figured it was just a general security system on the doors. She had seen them before at a few of her foster homes growing up.

"Well we asked them to put alarms on the windows…" Emma felt guilty. She knew Zoe was a good kid but she also knew that they had to do everything that they could to ensure her safety, even if it did seem a bit extreme.

"Really?" Zoe said giving her an annoyed look. She had only snuck out once but she didn't like the idea of her only emergency exit being alarmed.

"It's only a precaution" Emma said placing a gentle hand on her leg over the covers. "You want some breakfast? I can make you something or we have cereal…"

"I'll be fine. I'll come out in a minute" Zoe said cutting her off quickly. Last night she felt close to them and had wanted them to be close to her. It wasn't until this morning that it hit her that she may have let down her walls too quickly and that her emotions may have gotten the better of her.

"Okay…" Emma said not really sure how to respond. She then left and went back into the kitchen.

"Emma? You alright?" Killian asked as he took the last pancake out of the pan

"Yea…I'm fine" She said shaking her head and shooting him a smile before taking the plate of pancakes he was holding out to her

"Love, I know when you're lying…what did Zoe say?" Just then the main installer came over

"Hello folks, just wanted to run you through a few details while my partner here finishes up the final touches" Emma was relieved to have the pressure taken off her and was more than happy to let the man interrupt

"Of course! Thank you again for coming out on such short notice"

"Oh it's our pleasure. So you folks wanted the daily code set up right?"

"Aye, we don't want to chance someone memorizing the code and taking advantage"

"I can understand that sir, so all we have to do is…" Emma zoned out for a moment while the gentleman explained everything. Last night seemed to be so…well okay it wasn't perfect but Emma had felt that they had made some breakthrough. Maybe it was her. Maybe Zoe didn't like her. Killian had really done most of the emotional things last night. He was the one who confronted her and helped calm her down. He had been the one who she had asked to stay in her room till she fell asleep. She felt like such a failure.

"Did you get all that love?" Killian asked breaking her train of thought.

"Um…yea…I think so."

"Well if you folks have any problems or questions feel free to give us a call. I'm going to help my partner wrap up the bedroom window alarms and we'll be out of your hair"

"Thank you so much!" Emma said shaking his hand

"Emma…what is going on?" Killian said placing a gentle hand on the small of her back and bringing her closer to him

"I told you, I'm fine." She said placing a gentle hand on his face.

"Morning" Zoe said coming in and starting to rummage through the cupboards

"Morning Sweetie. Want some pancakes? I have some batter I still need to use" Killian said smiling at the teen

"Sure…" Zoe said looking around before finally taking a seat at the table

"This isn't over" he whispered to Emma before kissing the side of her head. She then moved to join Zoe at the table.

"How did you sleep last night?" Emma said trying to break the ice

"Fine"

Emma just picked at her pancakes and let the silence be until Killian finally brought over a huge plate of pancakes along with two empty plates and silverware "Alright my loves, here is the rest of them and Zoe, here is your plate and utensils" he said placing them on the table

"Thanks"

"You alright love?" Killian said placing a hand on Zoe's shoulder only to have her jerk away

"I'm fine…I'm just not a morning person" She tried to say that to explain her coldness toward them but knew by the look on Killian's face that she was epically failing

"alright love I can understand that. Do you want some coffee or orange juice…?"

"Coffee is fine, with cream and sugar"

"Coming right up" Killian said before crossing over the coffee pot

"So…." Emma said trying to break the silence

"You can stop with this whole act" Zoe finally blurted out

Emma about spit her food out she was so taken aback by Zoe's comment. "Zoe…I think…"

"Come on Emma!" Immediately Killian moved in and placed a firm hand on Zoe's shoulder and leaned down next to her ear "If you're upset about something love we will talk about it, but for your own safety, we need to play the game of you being our daughter until these men leave okay?" Zoe grunted and started angrily putting pancakes on her plate. Killian and Emma shared a scared look, they had no idea how they had gone from a sweet teenager who was starting to feel like their daughter to someone who was ready to rip their heads off.

Emma wanted to immediately call her parents and get them to come get her. What were they thinking that they could be the fake parents of this girl? They had never been parents before and to get thrown into the situation with someone who had no desire to be here and had been forced into the situation no less. This was all a bit too much for Emma to handle and, had the alarm installers not been there, she would have ran off and hid in her room and let Killian deal with her. He was obviously much better than she ever would be.