Chapter 15
Hello Everyone! So this last episode was so cute but I highly doubt that David would have backed down that easily to the idea of Emma going out and getting drink with his wife without him able to be there. I miss seeing David, I feel like he hasn't been on the show much.
Enough of my banter. Another Chapter. As always I love to hear what you think :)
Enjoy!
Emma ended her phone call with her mom and immediately called Killian knowing that her father had probably already called him
"Hello Love, have your parents called you?"
"Yea, and from that greeting I can tell they called you too"
"Aye, Zoe and I are on our way back to the house"
"How is she taking it"
"She understands" Killian said smiling over at Zoe. He didn't want to say anything that would be upsetting
"So you haven't told her everything yet"
"…no"
"Killian…I feel awful. She has been through so much and now"
"It's all going to work out. Your parents are right, we have to protect everyone involved"
"I know…I know…So how long till you guys get back here?"
"We're about 30 minutes away. Do you want us to pick something up?" Killian asked, grateful for the change in topic.
"No, I'll go ahead and order some pizza so you and it should arrive about the same time"
"Alright love. I love you"
"I love you too. Stay Safe" and with that she ended the call
XXXX
Killian and Zoe rode in relative silence again as they headed back toward the house. He knew she was starting to put two and two together but he was really hoping they could give her all the details once they were home and he had Emma with him. He admired the way that she was able to deliver difficult news with such grace and poise that it put everyone in the room at ease.
"Killian?"
"Yes lass. I'm not going to get to see Heidi am I?" Zoe said ringing out her hands. She was starting to put two and two together but she had to have confirmation that her fears were legitimate.
"Not for right now. We know that someone saw her when she fount your place in Storybrooke ransacked and we can't guarantee that someone hasn't been following her since then trying to get to you"
"oh"
"I promise, if there is a way to get you both together, even if it's just for a short time, as long as it doesn't put anyone in harms way"
"Thank you"
"Of course love"
About twenty minutes later they pulled up to the house and Killian pulled into the garage. He didn't like having Zoe being out in front of the house or have people know if she was coming or going, especially with everything that just happened.
"Hey guys! Emma said coming over and giving Zoe a quick hug before letting her put her things down.
"I'm going to go put my things away in my room" Zoe said. Killian and Emma didn't mind, they wanted a moment to catch up.
"How did she take it? She knows that she won't be seeing Heidi for a while but I didn't go into detail. I don't think it's completely necessary, she's smart enough to figure it out. I think we just need to give her space and let her deal with it on her own. If she needs us, she'll come to us"
"Killian, we let her come to us last time and look what happened. I know you don't want to push her, but we can't have any more secrets"
"Alright, we also need to go over some new boundaries" Killian added thinking aback to her little stunt she pulled earlier that day.
"Agreed" Just then the doorbell rang. "Must be the pizza" She said giving him a quick peck and went to the front door.
Within 15 minutes they were all in the living room scarfing down pizza and bread sticks along with a couple of two liters but no one was really talking. Finally Emma knew they had to breach the topic they all wanted to avoid.
"So Zoe, we wanted to talk to you about everything that's happened today. We know it's been overwhelming….but we also want to let you know that we don't want anymore secrets between us"
"Okay" Zoe replied. She wasn't sure how to even respond
"Love, can you tell us how you found Heidi?"
Zoe took a deep breath. She knew that she was going to have to tell them that she wasn't spending as much time on her classes that she let on, even though she knew they probably had figured that out. "Well…after you took the phone I didn't have any way to reach her until I started my online classes"
"Zoe…we gave you that in trust"
"Love, why didn't you ask us to help you?"
"You guys said that Emma's parents would take care of it so I figured that was the end of the conversation. I hadn't heard anything and you guys didn't seem like you had so I thought I would figure it out on my own"
"How did you figure out where she was?" Emma asked. She was frustrated with Zoe but she also knew that she couldn't change what she did and it was more important to focus on the facts.
"I started reaching out to a few people that we knew. I would send them private messages under a fake name letting them know I was looking for Heidi and one of them had helped her out after our phone call. They told me that Heidi had crashed on their couch and had mentioned wanting to find me but that she was gone before they woke up the next morning"
"So then what happened after that love?"
"Another friend contact me after I reached out to them and they told me that they had found Heidi and she was staying with them. That's when Heidi and I were finally able to talk"
"Where was she at that point?" Killian asked trying to piece it all together
"She had just made it into Georgia. I hadn't found her until yesterday"
"Okay Zoe. Out of all the people that you've been talking to, how many of them know that you're here?" Emma asked. She was really scared of what the answer would be.
"Only Heidi. I swear. I had told her when we had our initial phone call and had sworn her to secrecy! Others have asked but I tell them that I can't tell them and I have cleared the history on the computer ever time so they can't track my internet activity. I know what I did was risky but I promise that I took every precaution possible!"
"Honey It's alright" Emma said coming over and putting her arm around her. Zoe leaned into her shoulder and began to sob. All of the emotions from the last 24 hours were starting to surface. After a few minutes Emma adjusted Zoe so that she could see her face "Sweetheart, Killian and I understand that you wanted to be able to help Heidi and we appreciate all of the steps you took to keep anyone from being able to figure out where we are. However, we wish that you would have asked us to help. We have the ability to find out a lot more without having to worry about your safety" She said moving a piece of hair behind her ear.
"Lass, our goal is to protect you, always. Like I said in the car, we don't see you as a person we have to protect for a paycheck. We see you as our daughter and threat or no threat, we want you to be safe" He said coming on her other side
"Zoe, we want to be your parents. We know it may take time for you, and that it totally okay, but whenever you're ready…we are too"
Zoe had soft tears running down her face as she looked between the two "I've never had a family before"
"We know lass, and that's why we want to take this at your own pace. Everything you're going through is not easy. It's going to take some time for you to be able to adjust"
"All we ask is that you allow us to help you and that you trust us to do what is in your best interest"
"I guess I can try…I've just never had anyone put me first before"
"Well get used to it" Emma said squeezing her shoulder
"Aye lass, we're not going anywhere"
"Now how about I get the ice cream out and we watch a movie"
"So I'm not in trouble?" Zoe asked looking between the pair. Emma and Killian shared a look for a moment. They had told her she was in trouble but they also had a better understanding of what happened. They knew they had to be careful with this as it was their first real chance to be parents.
"We understand that you were trying to help Heidi" Emma started
"But lass you really scared us. We aren't going to be able to trust you for a while"
"So I guess what we're trying to say is, we aren't letting you out of our sight for a while, but we also aren't going to give you a punishment per say"
"That seems fair" Zoe said "You guys are pretty good at this" This put a smile on everyone's face.
"Alright I'm getting the ice cream!" Emma said. Things were starting to finally fall into place.
