Author's Note: Thanks for reading and reviewing! This chapter's a little bit longer and there's a lot going on in it.

Chapter 6

Emma had just barely woken up and started breakfast when Mia padded out of the master bedroom. The girl was still wearing Emma's Yankees sweatshirt and black yoga pants…the clothes Emma had given her to sleep in the night before. The sweatshirt came down to mid-thigh on the little girl and the yoga pants dragged on the wood floor as she trudged into the kitchen.

There were dark circles under the girl's eyes that told Emma it had been a restless night. With how quickly she had appeared after the first sign of life came from the common area, Emma wondered if Mia had already been awake and was just waiting for her to wake up so she could come out. She wondered how long the girl had been awake…and if a nightmare – a nightmare about Trey - had woken her up.

"Morning. How'd you sleep?" Emma tried to sound casual.

"Fine," Mia mumbled tiredly. She was lying…Emma didn't even need her superpower to know she was lying, but before she could call her on it, Mia moved to the stove. "Can I help?"

Emma winced. "Careful, that's-"

"Hot?" Mia sounded amused. "I know…I'm almost thirteen, not three. I know how to cook."

"Really? Because Henry almost burned the apartment down trying to bake a cake for my birthday..."

Mia shrugged. "I made breakfast for everyone in one of my foster homes."

Emma watched carefully as the girl expertly tended the bacon in the frying pan and nodded sadly. She wondered if it had been one of the foster homes where the parents only became foster parents to use a foster kid as their personal slave. She'd had a few foster homes like that when she was in the system.

"You don't have to do that," Emma told her quietly.

"I want to," Mia insisted.

"Any reason why?"

Mia looked away. "You've been nice to me. I just want to…I don't know…do something…"

It was the first time - the only time – the girl had acted like she really appreciated anything Emma was doing. But that wasn't why Emma was doing it…she was doing it because it was the right thing to do…and because she wanted to help the orphan that reminded her a little – okay, maybe a lot - of herself at that age. She didn't want Mia to feel like she owed her…that was the last thing she wanted.

"To pay me back? That's really not necessary. And besides I haven't done anything yet."

"You've done more than anyone else would have." The girl was staring at the frying pan like it was the most interesting thing in the world so she wouldn't have to look at Emma.

Emma gave up on trying to catch Mia's eye. "I haven't found your parents yet."

"Do you guys always have a big breakfast like this?" Mia changed the subject as she took the frying pan off the stove and turned away.

"You don't?" Emma turned the question around.

Mia scoffed. "No."

"It smells good. Is that bacon?" Henry asked as he emerged from his room.

"It sure is. Eggs and bacon," Emma replied as she fixed a plate for her son.

As Emma poured three mugs of hot cocoa, Henry got the cinnamon out of the cupboard and set it in the middle of the table.

"So I have to follow a lead for a case today," Emma said as they all sat down.

Henry looked up from his plate. "On a Sunday?"

"Yeah. I'll only be a few hours. Just do your homework before you try to beat level twenty-four of Diablo, okay?"

Henry nodded and went back to his breakfast.

Emma eyed her son suspiciously. He had agreed too easily. Ordinarily he would've begged off his homework until Sunday night. It was only Sunday morning. He was smart, but he wasn't exactly the most studious kid.

Henry must have felt her eyes on him. "Homework before Diablo," he mumbled dutifully.

"And Mortal Kombat," Emma added with a glance at Mia. It was the game the two of them had been playing together on-and-off again.

Henry rolled his eyes. "Homework before video games. Happy now?"

"I am actually," Emma said with a thin smile.

Henry slammed his textbook shut the second Emma left. "She's gone!"

Mia glanced up from The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. She was on the last chapter of the borrowed book.

Henry put his pea coat and scarf on and then got Mia's jacket for her. "Come on, we're going out."

Mia blinked. "We are?"

Henry nodded. "Mmm-hmm."

Mia shrugged her jacket on even though she was almost positive Emma did not want them to go anywhere. "Where are we going?"

"To see Walsh," Henry replied matter-of-factly.

Mia froze. "Why are we going to see your mom's boyfriend?"

"He needs our help."

"He doesn't even know me."

"Okay, he needs my help. My mom's not the easiest person to propose to, you know."

Mia hesitated. "I don't know…I mean, it's your mom's boyfriend…if he says anything to your mom…"

"He won't. I'm going to give him intel on my mom. He'll owe me…us."

Mia bit her lower lip uncertainly. "Look, no one understands wanting a dad more than me-"

"It's not that," Henry interjected. "I mean, I do…want a dad, but Walsh isn't my dad…I know that. I don't want him to marry my mom so he'll be my stepdad. I want him to marry my mom because he makes her happy."

Mia sighed. "What's the plan?"

Henry didn't actually have a plan. He was just worried Walsh might have changed his mind about proposing when Emma blew him off. He wanted Walsh to know why Emma cancelled…and that it wasn't him. He had pulled up the address for Walsh's furniture shop on the computer. It was too far to walk to so they headed to the subway station.

Mia would have hopped the turnstile, but Henry insisted on buying a MetroCard for each of them. When he handed her one of the MetroCards, their hands brushed against each other and Mia felt a weird sensation…almost like an electric current. Whatever it was, it made her freeze for a second.

Henry must have felt it, too, because he stared at his hand and then looked at her. "What was that?"

"I don't know…static electricity?" Mia said uncertainly.

Henry seemed to accept that explanation as logical because he moved on – or more accurately back to their previous topic. "Would you really have hopped the turnstile?"

Mia shrugged. "I've done it before."

Henry scrunched his face up. "Isn't that like stealing?"

"Are you going to turn me in?" Mia said casually.

Henry seemed startled by the question. "No!"

It turned out to be a good thing Mia was with Henry because he had no clue they needed to change lines. With a little help from Mia, they got off at the right stop and Henry took over navigating by plugging the address for Walsh's furniture shop into the map app on his phone.

Mia stared at the high-end storefront. "This is his store…as in he owns it?"

Henry merely nodded.

"How old is he?" Mia didn't know how old Emma was, but the woman didn't look that old. She had a hard time picturing Emma with a crusty old businessman.

"I don't know…I think he's my mom's age so early thirties?"

Mia did the math. "So your mom had you when she was, what, eighteen or nineteen?"

"Eighteen," Henry said.

Mia swallowed back jealousy that Emma was a teenage mother and kept Henry when her own mom had given her away like she was nothing. Okay, maybe Mia didn't actually know if her mom was young when she had her, but a teenage mother seemed like the most likely suspect for giving a baby away. Mia had always imagined her mom as Juno after she saw the movie on cable…except Juno actually made sure her baby had good home…and her mom hadn't even bothered to do that. It was so unfair.

Emma's first stop was the Gilberts' house in Bushwick. She drove through the part of town that was starting to gentrify and had attracted an influx of young hipsters and into the part that…well, wasn't gentrified yet. It was the part of town the Gilberts' house was located in. There were bars on the windows of convenience stores and industrial buildings were tagged with gang graffiti. She couldn't help but imagine Mia walking the streets alone at night in a neighborhood she wouldn't have wanted her son anywhere near…not even in broad daylight.

Blinds were shut tight on the neighbors' houses and the street was quiet. Emma got the feeling most of the inhabitants of the neighborhood had yet to do anything productive that day. It wasn't quite 10:30 am on Sunday morning. She walked up to the Gilberts' front door and let herself in.

The inside of the house looked exactly the same as it had on Friday. Nothing had been moved. No one had been there since she and Mia left.

Emma revisited the spare room that had been Mia's bedroom for nearly a year. She looked in the closet to see if the girl had left anything behind that she might want. There were a few shirts hanging in the closet that Emma folded to take with her. The color had faded over the years and one t-shirt had a hole in it, but they were Mia's and the girl would want her stuff. Kids in the system didn't have much to begin with…and what they did have, they were fiercely protective of.

Emma would have to figure out clothes for the girl if she didn't find Mia's birth parents soon. The thin black bomber jacket Mia was always wearing didn't look very warm, and they were having an unusually cold March. But with how Mia had acted whenever she tried to pay for anything for her, Emma did not think the girl would accept new clothes without a fight. Mia did not want to feel like she owed Emma anything…that was obviously the reason for the sudden interest in helping with breakfast…it was her way of paying Emma back.

Once Mia's closet was cleaned out, Emma moved on to the hall closet. Just as Mia had said, there were bins and unopened cardboard boxes in it. One of the plastic bins had several file folders in it. None of them were labeled so Emma had to look through all of them. There were some things in there that might have been more interesting if she hadn't already found Trey using social media. Still, she would take them in case her lead didn't pan out.

The only thing Emma was really looking for now was Mia's medical records. She found what she was looking for in a thick folder that was a slightly different shade of manila than the other folders. Since it wasn't the same type of folder as the others, Emma thought it had probably come from Social Services.

There was a copy of the girl's vaccination record at the front of the folder. Emma recognized the same shot Henry had received before starting the seventh grade at the top…the meningitis vaccine that was required for that age group in New York. She flipped through to the very back of the folder to see how far back the records went. There wasn't a record of birth – or if there was, the records weren't in order - but there were records from the Newborn Intensive Care Unit at Phoenix Children's Hospital so the records went back far enough… Wait, Phoenix? Emma blinked and double-checked that she hadn't read that wrong…it was there in black-and-white - Phoenix Children's Hospital. But that didn't make sense. Mia said she was born in Boston, and she wasn't lying. Emma would have known if she had been…wouldn't she have?

Emma's superpower had been wrong before…usually with men. She was the first to admit she'd been wrong about Neal. She didn't think Mia would have lied though…not about this. The girl had given her last name without her even having to ask because she wanted to find her parents…all orphans did. A fake birthplace would only make it harder for Emma to find them. She'd talk to Mia again, but she truly believed Mia had been telling the truth…or at least what the girl believed was the truth.

Was it possible Mia didn't know where she was born? If the girl had changed hands across state lines – hell, all the way across the country – and no one had told her, then yeah…it was possible. To this day, Emma only knew where she was found, not where she was actually born - and that was because she'd been abandoned on the side of the road and it made the local newspaper. She had checked all of the hospitals in the surrounding area and not one of them had a record of her birth.

Emma left the Gilberts' house with more questions than answers. She had what she came there for…Mia's medical records, but instead of narrowing her search down to just one hospital in Boston, now she had to expand her search to Phoenix. She didn't know where Mia was really born, and she didn't think Mia did either.

"Henry! What brings you here? And who's your friend?"

Mia eyed Emma's boyfriend warily and wondered how Henry would explain her.

"This is Mia. She's…a family friend." Mia smirked slightly…he didn't know how to explain her. She couldn't really blame him…she was the foster daughter of the guy Henry's mom was trying to find.

"She's staying with us for a little while. That's why my mom cancelled on you on Friday." Henry tried to explain.

"Sorry," Mia muttered, feeling uncomfortable.

Walsh smiled. "It wasn't the first time she cancelled on me, and it won't be the last."

"Did you reschedule?" Henry asked anxiously.

"Not yet. She's been busy with a case." It came out as more of a question than an answer…like Walsh was wondering if Emma was really busy with a case or if that was just an excuse.

Henry nodded. "She's working today, and she never works on Sundays."

"If she were at home, you wouldn't be here…at least not without her," Walsh said with a knowing expression.

Henry flushed. "Don't tell my mom. Please. She thinks I'm at home doing homework."

"I won't," Walsh decided after a second. "But I'll take you home. Your mom would kill me if she found out I let you ride the subway home alone."

"I won't be alone. I'll be with Mia," Henry said cheekily.

"Your mom would still kill me," Walsh said.

"No, she wouldn't. She likes you too much. You're the first guy she's dated that I've met," Henry said earnestly.

"I love her. And you...you know that, right?" Walsh seemed perfect…almost too perfect…or maybe Mia was just so screwed up from Trey that she didn't think any guy could actually be nice.

"I know. That's why you have to reschedule your special night out…next weekend. I'll even arrange to sleep over at Avery's so the two of you can be alone," Henry offered with a grin.

Mia stared at the floor. Emma and her boyfriend would be alone because she would be gone by then. Emma was nice, but this wasn't permanent…it was just temporary…until Emma found her parents, however long that would take.

Mia wondered where she would be next weekend…a new foster home or somewhere else. She wouldn't let herself think she would be with her birth parents. She wouldn't get her hopes up, only to be let down by the same people who had given her away almost thirteen years ago. Emma had said a lot could change in thirteen years…but maybe Mia was the only thing that had changed. She wasn't a sweet and innocent baby anymore. She was definitely not innocent. Why would they want her now if they hadn't wanted her then?

Trey's younger brother's apartment wasn't too far from Trey's house. It was in the gentrified part of town. There were hipster bars and restaurants mixed in with apartments and townhomes. Ryan Gilbert was in his mid-thirties and still enjoyed an active nightlife if his social media was any indication. It was actually a picture he posted on social media of him and his brother out at a bar that brought Emma there. It was still early enough that she was able to find a parking spot on the normally crowded street.

Emma had her handcuffs, mace and gun. She almost never used the gun, but she always carried it when she was going after a violent criminal. Despite the old bounty hunter saying "bring them back dead or alive," it wasn't actually legal to bring a fugitive back dead. And she didn't get paid on delivery of a corpse…only a fugitive that was alive - and often kicking. Fugitives weren't generally excited about going back to jail.

The handcuffs were in the back pocket of her jeans and the mace and Glock were tucked in the waistband. The V-neck shirt she was wearing was long enough to hide her arsenal, but showed enough cleavage that she didn't anticipate difficulty getting invited into the apartment.

Emma tailed someone who lived in the building and was heading in with a takeaway cup of coffee. She made her way up the stairs to Ryan Gilbert's apartment number and rapped on the door lightly.

A younger, slightly better looking version of Trey opened the door. Ryan Gilbert was wearing a t-shirt and boxer shorts. He looked like he'd had an eventful night and was paying for it this morning. Tired, bloodshot eyes went straight to Emma's chest. She forced herself to keep her expression friendly enough.

"Is Trey here?" Emma asked.

Ryan didn't appear too surprised that a strange woman who wasn't Trey's wife was asking for him. He opened the door wider to let her in and looked over his shoulder to where Trey was camped out on the couch. "Trey!"

Emma could see the confusion on Trey's face as he tried to place her and drew a blank. She decided to play with him a little and pretended to be offended. "You don't remember me?"

"How could I forget you?"

Emma wanted to laugh at that line, but didn't. "Can we talk…alone?" She kept her voice soft and darted a not-so-subtle glance at Ryan.

That was all she had to say. Ryan excused himself, clearly not wanting to cock-block his brother. There would be none of that, but she didn't want to be outnumbered if it got physical…and it would get physical. It would be worth the extra paperwork to punch Trey in the face. He deserved it.

Emma strode over to Trey. She managed to slap the cuffs on him before he had processed what was happening. He was hung over and that made him slow.

Trey stared at the metal on his wrists. "I didn't know you were into S&M."

Oh, gross… "I'm not. I'm a bail bondsperson."

Trey was wide-awake now. "What the hell?"

"You hit your wife, got arrested, and skipped bail. It's my job to bring you back to jail."

Trey's face turned red. "I'm not going anywhere!"

"If you don't want to walk out of here like a man, I'm more than happy to drag your ass out of here."

"I'd love to see you try," Trey challenged. The laughter in his voice only pissed her off.

Emma managed to maneuver him into an upright position even though he was bigger than her, but only because he let her. As soon as he was standing up, he lunged at her with his head down. She sidestepped him and he ended up in a crumpled heap on the floor.

Trey Gilbert was furious. He was swearing and screaming as he struggled to stand up with limited use of his cuffed hands and no help whatsoever from Emma. He eventually got up off the floor and staggered toward her in a blind rage.

Emma sprayed mace directly in his face and then backed away quickly. He blinked rapidly and tears streamed down his red face. "You bitch!"

"I'm the bitch? You're the one who's going to be someone's bitch in prison. Are you ready for that…for someone to do what you did to Mia to you?"

Trey froze at Mia's name. "She talked?"

Emma didn't bother to correct him. With any luck, the idiot would confess because he thought the cops already knew exactly what he did. If he opened his big mouth, they'd be able to charge him for what he did to Mia without the girl having to tell the cops or testify. She assumed they would still want to talk to Mia, but their case against Trey wouldn't hinge on that if Mia still didn't want to talk. Emma hoped Mia's file wouldn't be an issue for her anymore, not after she found the girl's birth parents, but there was no guarantee there.

Trey renewed his struggle with a newfound strength. He had more reason than ever before to not go back to jail if Mia had talked. She hadn't, but he didn't know that.

They did a little dance around the cramped living room. Suddenly Trey shot all the way across the cluttered coffee table and head-butted her. His thick skull rammed straight into her jaw before she could move away. Shit, that hurt…she was sure it would leave a bruise…a big one.

They were both on the floor now, along with empty beer bottles that had been on the coffee table before Trey went crashing over it. The force of the head-butt knocked her over, and he went down with her. They rolled around on the floor, kicking and scratching.

Trey somehow managed to grab an empty beer bottle from the floor and break it. The handcuffs somewhat limited his range of motion, but apparently not enough. The broken glass bottle made a good weapon, but not as good as her gun.

Emma drew her Glock and aimed it at him.

"Don't shoot, you crazy bitch!"

With a gun pointed at his head, Trey suddenly became a lot more cooperative. He dropped his makeshift weapon. She kept her gun out and held it against his back as she frog-marched him out of there.

The cops were surprised when Emma pressed charges against Trey for assault. They knew her and knew she could take care of herself. She gave as good as she got.

Emma just wanted to make sure the bastard went away for as long as possible. She filed the report and let them photograph the bluish purple bruise that was already forming on the right side of her face.

Before she left the police station, Emma collected the body receipt that would prove she returned Trey Gilbert to police custody and entitle her to a check for fifteen percent of his bond.

"Are you any good at algebra?" Henry asked. He was trying to finish his homework before Emma got home.

"No…sorry." Mia offered him a sympathetic smile from over her book. She had finished The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and started the second book in the Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian, which was also borrowed from Henry's extensive bookshelf.

"I hate math," Henry said with frustration in his voice.

"Me, too."

They stopped talking abruptly when they heard Emma's key in the door. Henry went back to his homework and was scrambling to answer one last question before his mom saw how little he'd done. Since his head was bowed down over his spiral notebook, Mia was the first to see Emma. She gasped.

Henry's head shot up. His eyes narrowed on Emma's bruise and he got up from his chair. "Mom! What- what happened?"

"What, this? It's nothing. You should see the other guy." Emma was trying a little too hard to sound casual. Neither kid bought it.

"Are you okay?" Henry asked in a worried tone.

"I'm fine, kid," Emma assured him. She gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze and studied the homework spread out on the table. "Probably better than you if you're doing math. Do you need help?"

"Actually, yeah," Henry admitted.

"Okay, I'm just going to clean up a little and then I'll help you."

Mia hesitated for a second and then followed the woman into the master bedroom. Emma must have heard her footsteps because she turned to her. Mia stood awkwardly just inside the doorway. It was the room she'd been sleeping in, but it wasn't her room…it was Emma's room.

"Did Trey do that?" Mia blurted out.

Emma nodded slowly, eyeing her carefully.

"Shit, I'm sorry!"

"For what? You didn't head-butt me." Emma's tone was surprisingly light.

"But you wouldn't have even gone after him today if it weren't for me. Henry said you never work on Sundays."

"I went after Trey because it's my job. I was going after him before I met you. He didn't want to go back to jail…he wouldn't have wanted to go back to jail whether it was today or tomorrow."

"Oh...I'm still sorry he hurt you," Mia said softly. And she still felt like it was her fault. They both had bruises from her foster father - a man she had been stupid enough to actually like - now.

"I'm not. Now he has two charges against him…domestic violence and assault." Emma really didn't seem upset. She actually seemed satisfied in a weird, grim sort of way that Mia didn't understand at all.

The word assault seemed extreme to Mia. It looked bad, but it was just a bruise…wasn't it? She stared at Emma in growing horror. "Assault? He didn't…do anything else to you, did he?"

Realization of what she was really asking dawned in Emma's eyes. "No. Really…his hands were cuffed so he couldn't do much of anything."

Mia studied the woman carefully. She didn't think Emma was lying. Eventually she nodded.

"You were right. Your medical records were in the hall closet at the Gilberts' house. I found a record from when you were a baby. You were in a hospital in Phoenix. But I thought you were born in Boston?"

Mia scrunched up her face in confusion. "I was. I never lived in Phoenix. My first foster family was in Boston. I was with them for, like, two years. They even filed for adoption, but the mom got sick…I think it was cancer. I don't really remember though. I just remember she was in the hospital and I was back in foster care."

Emma nodded. "I'll look into it. When's your birthday?"

"August 15th…2011."