Chapter 17
Happy Once Day! I promise I'm not going to give any spoilers but that episode was SO intense! But the sneak peak for next week has me so excited! Warning of mentions of Abuse in this chapter but I took the suggestion of Emma and Zoe going shopping from multiple reviewers so I hope you all like it! Let me know what you want to see next and as always let me know what you think!
Zoe was a little taken aback by Killian. She had never had someone who cared enough about her to be mad when she put herself in danger. Sure, she had had foster parents who got mad at her all the time but only if her actions made it so they got called to the school or the police showed up because a teacher saw bruising on her, never because they actually cared about her wellbeing.
They remained in a somewhat comfortable silence on their ride back to the house. Once Killian pulled into the garage they both got out and started unloading the car.
"There you guys are" Emma said coming into the garage "How was your shopping trip?" She said picking up a few bags.
"It was fine" Zoe replied
"I see you went off list" She said pulling out a box of pop tarts and giving Killian a look.
"What? You know you love pop tarts" She said with a wink
"And I told you that I wanted us to start eating healthy" She quipped back looking through the other bags to find the other junk food she knew he bought.
"A little treat here and there never hurt anyone right Zo?" Killian said trying to get some help
"Oh yea…everything in moderation Emma!" She said as she slid past her and headed into the house.
"She has you wrapped around her finger" Emma said coming up to him and placing a gentle hand on his chest.
"That she does" He said covering her hand with his.
"Well I'm glad. I always knew if we had a daughter she would be a daddy's girl" She said before giving him a kiss.
"What can I say? I'm just too charming for my own good" He said pulling away for a moment before going right back to kissing her. This all just felt so right. They had always planned on having a family and, as unconventional as it was, it was theirs.
"So what are you and Zoe doing from here?" He said pulling back to catch his breath
"I figured we would go shopping. She still doesn't have a lot of clothes. Besides, it's a good mother daughter bonding experience."
"I agree. Good call Swan" he said pulling her closer to him "Although…I do wish we had some mommy daddy time" He said before starting to kiss her neck.
"Okay there pirate. We have a teenage girl inside who is not going to want to walk in on this" She said as he continued kissing her
"It'll just be another traumatic childhood memory" He replied without stopping
"GUYS!" They heard Zoe yell.
"Told you" Killian said pulling away from Emma to look at their now traumatized daughter
"Sorry Zoe" Emma said straitening herself out. Her face was slowly turning 10 different shades of red.
"I came out here to see if you guys needed help…apparently you need a weekend away" She said rolling her eyes and going back inside
"See…perfect parenting right there!" Killian said with a smirk
"That was terrible!" Emma said slapping his chest "Now let's get these groceries inside!"
"Hey Zoe…" Emma said coming in and trying to approach the situation
"No…don't want to talk about it" Zoe said taking the bags from her and busying herself putting the groceries away.
"Sorry…but to make it up to you I'm taking you shopping!" Zoe stopping for a moment and just stared at Emma. She had never had a parent who wanted to take her shopping for fun. "Unless you don't want to?" Emma said trying to back petal
"No….I mean…I'd love to" Zoe said trying to come up with the words.
"Good! Why don't we finish putting these groceries away and then we'll head out okay?" She said picking up the closest bag.
"Okay!" Zoe said following suit.
"Well you lasses enjoy your shopping. I'll be home once I'm done at the station" He said coming over and giving Emma a quick kissing before going over to Zoe and kissing her on the top of her head before heading out.
It wasn't long before Emma and Zoe were in the car on their way to the local mall. Part of Emma was getting more and more anxious as they approached the mall. It was such a wide open area that it would be heard to keep Zoe safe if someone were to try and come after them. Then again, they had done a good job of covering her tracks, she was sure they would be fine, she was just over thinking it.
"Emma…" Zoe said breaking her out of her own head "Are you okay?"
"Yea…I'm fine! Why?"
"You just passed what I can only assume is the mall" Zoe said pointing in the rear view mirror. Emma looked back and realized she was right.
"Woops! I guess I just got lost in my own thoughts. Not a big deal, we'll just turn around" She said trying to cover her mistake.
"Emma…"
"No, really. I'm fine." She said looking over and placing a gentle hand on her leg. Zoe wasn't quite sure what was going on but she knew that Emma was not okay. She figured it probably had to do with her worrying that someone was still going to come after her. She knew Emma wouldn't talk about it so she simply responded "Okay"
They eventually found a parking spot in the ramp and headed inside. Emma was doing her best to relax and just enjoy her time with Zoe. "So, what kind of stores did you used to shop at?"
"Well…probably none of these…I never really got new clothes" Zoe said hesitantly. She was kind of embarrassed that she had to tell that to Emma, but she didn't really have a choice.
"Well we're going to change that!" Emma said putting her arm around her. Let's start at one of my favorites, Maurices" From there they were off. Emma made Zoe promise not to look at the price tags and just pick up the things that she liked.
"What about this?" Emma said holding up a pineapple printed shirt with lace around the bottom.
"Um…."
"Yea…not a great pick"
"But I did find this" Zoe said holding up a floral flowing cardigan
"Love it! You could pair it with this lacy tank top!" Emma said holding up a simple white shirt.
"Okay!"
"Alright let's go try these on" Emma said ushering Zoe to the fitting rooms. By the end of the day their arms were filled with bags from a few different stores and Zoe had found plenty of age appropriate outfits along with a few dressier items for special occasions.
They finally made it to the car and were beginning to load their bags when they heard someone calling out from behind them "Elizabeth!"
Both Zoe and Emma turned around with Emma immediately pushing Zoe behind her as a young man approached them running up and looking out of breath.
"Excuse me? What do you think you're doing?" Emma said putting her hand out to put more space between the young man and her daughter
"Elizabeth is that you?" The young man said trying to see around the woman. Zoe then stepped to the side to see who he was and her jaw dropped to the ground
"I don't know who Elizabeth is but this is my daughter Zoe. You need to walk away now" Emma said harshly trying to make the young man leave.
"Mom…"
"Zoe, not now. Young man my husband is the police Sargent and I won't hesitate to have you arrested for harassment. Now I suggest you walk away right now" Emma said in a threatening voice that actually made Zoe nervous.
"I'm sorry mam…I'll…I'll go" and with that the young man quickly took off.
"Zoe get in the car now!" Emma said grabbing all the bags and shoving them in the trunk before escorting Zoe to the passenger seat. Emma then got into the drivers seat and took off.
"Mom, he wasn't trying to hurt me!" Zoe exclaimed feeling frustrated that Emma wouldn't listen to her
"Zoe who in the heck was that?"
"He was one of my former foster brothers! He always protected me and took care of me! I wanted to talk to him!"
"Zoe you know you can't do that! We can't let anyone know that you're here, especially someone from your past! I'm sorry, but I have to take care of you first" She said as she started to slow down after she realized she was speeding. Her heart had been racing a million miles a minute.
"Emma, he wouldn't have told anyone! We could have brought him back to the house…"
"Absolutely Not!"
"HE WOULD HAVE UNDERSTOOD!"
"ZOE! Stop it!" She then pulled over and took a deep breath. Them yelling at each other was not going to help either of them. After a minute Emma turned sideways so she could face her daughter and she took her hands into hers. "Zoe…I know that seeing someone who is important to you, you would want to catch and find out how they are. That is totally understandable. But in your situation, it just isn't safe, for you or them. If someone finds out that he knows who you are or where you are, someone may try and come after him. You wouldn't want that would you?"
Zoe just shook her head as she did all she could to hold back her tears "Zoe I love you so much. I wish I could let you talk to him. But my priority is your safety. Having someone over to our home who knows who you really are is putting your life in danger and I won't do that" Emma said wiping away the single tear that treaded down Zoe's cheek.
"I'm sorry" Zoe managed to squeak out. Emma immediately leaned across the middle console and took Zoe into her arms. "I forgive you honey. I Do. I know you didn't mean anything by it. I'm sorry I yelled" They stayed like that for a few minutes until Zoe had stopped crying.
"Alright. How about we go and grab dinner for all of us?"
"Sounds good"
"Alright, why don't you call your dad and ask what he wants" Emma said throwing the car back into gear and merging back into traffic. They had just crossed their first hurdle…they were going to be okay.
