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Chapter 3 – J.C.
"Well, looks like our guy has arrived," I followed my father's gaze over to the bench that sat at the edge of the pier. I felt him squeeze my hand, but I couldn't pull my eyes away from the man sitting on the bench. "Are you ready?" he asked.
I slowly nodded my head while trying to contemplate the upcoming conversation with this stranger. "Yeah, I've got this." I answered as I reached for the door handle to let myself out of the truck, "Time to get some answers."
I held up the radio to my dad's view, "I'll call if I need you." He gave me a reassuring smile and I tucked the radio into the pocket of my coat. I slowly made my way over to the bench surveying my surroundings as I went. Although there were a lot of places for someone to hide, it was important to take notice of anyone who many have been around and in view of our meeting.
The guy stared out over the harbor watching the fishing boats just off of the shoreline. His back was toward me, so it seemed that I had the advantage. Or so I would like to think. I stopped just short of ten feet from him. A short enough distance that I could talk and he could hear me, but far enough distance that he couldn't immediately grab at me.
"I'm here," I yelled. "You want to tell me what this is all about?"
"I wasn't sure that you would come," he yelled back as he stood up and slowly turned around. I watched him as he looked me up and down. I could tell that he was trying to take in every inch of my 5'7" stature. Once his eyes caught my face, he cocked his head to the side and small knowing smile crossed his lips. He blinked his eyes slowly and nodded. It was the kind of look that a person would give to another person whom they hadn't seen in years and was amazed to have seen how they have grown. But actually, it was kind of creepy.
"Well, I did." Oh yeah, the annoyance was high gear. "So, you want to tell me who you are, J.C.?" I dragged out the letters JC for emphasis.
"I knew that was you this morning," he said shaking his index finger in my direction."Has it been that long?" he asked.
Damn it, this guy woke me up at 5 AM and dragged me out into the cold just to be cryptic? I did not have the patience for this today. We needed to speed this along.
"Ok. Buddy, that's it…" I pulled my gun out and aimed straight for his chest. "Start talking, who the hell are you and what do you want with me?"
His hands quickly went up in the air. A look of panic spread across his face. "Super Swan, come on, you really don't remember me?"
I kept my gun on him. But then the realization of who he was hit me like a ton of bricks. "Super Swan," I repeated. "Nobody has call me that since…since"
"Since you we're sixteen?" he finished the sentence for me. I took a couple of steps closer, it couldn't have been him. But it was him. Standing in front of me was the man who put it all in motion for me. The man who made it easy for me to run and never look back, the man that put me on the path that eventually led to Neal and to my family.
I lowered my gun and tucked it back into the waistline of my jeans. Tears were pricking the back of my eyelids as I tried so hard to hold them back. I ran to him and engulfed him in a long tight hug. I went at him so hard that I practically jumped into his arms. "Justin," I cried as I held onto him as tight as I could. I just couldn't will my arms to let him go. "I never thought that I would see you again."
"You, Emma Swan, are a hard person to find," he let out a little chuckle as he held me just as tight. I felt him kiss the side of my head as the hot tears steadily streamed down my face.
Justin Cooper, JC for short, was my foster brother from the last house that I lived in before I ran away from the system. That house was one of the worst places that I ever lived during my tenure in foster care. If it weren't for JC I probably would have died at that house. JC was Mr. Cooper's biological son and, like many foster homes before his, I was just the meal ticket. All foster families receive a stipend for taking in kids. And quite honestly I never understood the how some of the family's qualified to take in a foster child.
"Emma," I heard my father's voice crackle over the radio. "What's going on?" I pulled away from JC to answer his call. I had completely forgotten that my father was sitting in the truck watching everything that was happening.
"Everything is fine. I'll explain it all in a couple of minutes. In the meantime, you can call off the perimeter watch." I called back to him.
"Ok," my dad seemed unsure, I heard it in his voice, but he didn't question. "I'll make my rounds to the guys then swing back to you."
"So, who was that?" I heard JC ask from behind. "Was that the guy that you're living with? The one that you called 'dad'?" Yeah, he put the emphasis on the word dad.
Knowing that I knew the truth about this town and that an outsider would never believe it, I could only imagine the look that was on my face when I spun around to look at him. "Yeah, about that…" I started.
JC threw his arms up in defense, "Hey, I'm not judging. What you do in your personal life…"
"Eeew, NO!" Now that time, I'm sure my face showed nothing but a look of disgust. I shoved him out of my way and went to sit down on the bench. And like any good big brother, he added a little drama to his backward stumble.
"JC, my life…" Oh God, I did not know how to have this conversation with him. JC was a guy that I could tell anything without judgments. He would just listen and accept what I had to say at face value. But in this world, how do you go about telling someone, even someone like JC, that you are actually the biological child of fairytale characters, Snow White and Prince Charming to be exact. Surprise! They're real. "…my life has changed a lot since the last time that you saw me."
"Oh yeah, tell me! You sure look like it has treated you well. Well, after our house, of course."
"Ok. A lot of this is going to be very hard to explain so for right now I'm just going to give you the basics and I need to you to just believe me. Please do not push me to answer questions that I know you are going to have, just be patient. Around here, seeing is believing, and there are things that you need to see before you will ever believe. So in time you will get the full story, but in the meantime please just trust that what I say is true, and leave it at that. Can you do that for me?" I knew it was a lot to ask. But I didn't know of any other way.
"Yeah, yeah. I promise. " He answered as he sat down beside me. "I got it, patience. You know, I never questioned you before," he gave me a wink and nudged my shoulder, "why would I start now." I smiled at him. I couldn't believe how much I actually missed him. I guess it was one of those times that you don't realized you missed somebody until they're suddenly back in your life.
"Yeah, patience," I repeated with a sigh. "So here it goes, that guy David. He is my biological father and his wife, Mary Margaret, is my biological mother." He didn't say anything, but I knew that he was having a little trouble processing such a young looking guy being my father. "Yeah, they have aged really well. I have a son that is 13 and a little brother who is about eight months old." I stopped there, I could see him trying to do the calculations in his head and trying to figure it all out. Again, he didn't say anything. He just listened. I looked down at my hands and started to pick at my fingers. It was a nervous habit that I had.
"So what are you doing here, how did you find me? How did you even find Storybrooke? This place usually doesn't find its way onto maps." Yes, a change of subject was definitely in order. Plus we still had to get to the root of the matter. "Or better yet, why the hell were you knocking on my door at 5:00 in the damn morning?"
"Yeah, sorry about that; I probably could have planned that better, but in all fairness I wasn't expecting your dad to answer the door. And, believe me when I say that it took forever to find you. When I finally did find where you were, I learned that it was just as hard to find this town and actually get to you. Once I figured it out, I drove here a couple of times from Boston with my girlfriend. But I thought that if I showed up at 5 AM on February 2, then you would put it all together. That you would remember. "
"February 2 at 5 am. You expected me to be coherent enough at 5AM to remember you and a plan that we concocted 15 years ago? What the hell?" At that early of a time, I was lucky if I could remember what I had for dinner the night before and he wanted me to put together clues from something that happened when I was sixteen years old. I twisted my head to crack my neck hoping to relieve some of the tension that was quickly causing me to have a headache.
"A bit of a long shot, I guess?" he shrugged.
"Yeah, just a little. But that still doesn't answer my question. What are you doing here?"
He looked around. I didn't know if he was just trying to stall or if he expected someone to be watching us, but suddenly I felt a bit of nervousness radiating off of him. "This isn't really the place that we should be talking about this. Is there somewhere we can go that is a little more private, and warmer?"
"Wait a minute; you're the one who requested to meet on the docks!"
"That was only because I knew that you wouldn't meet someone that you thought to be a stranger in any place that wasn't public."
"Touché." I had to hand it to him. He had always been a very perceptive person and at times, I think he knew me better than I knew myself.
"Emma," I heard my father call from behind. We both turned to see him walking at a fast pace toward us. I stood and walked toward my father, quickly shortening the distance between us. David instinctively put a protective right arm around my waist pulling me close to him. His eyes never strayed from JC; the most they did was suspiciously look him up and down.
"Dad, I want you to meet someone." I held my hand out to JC inviting him closer. "This is Justin Cooper, JC. He was my foster brother in the last house that I was placed." I felt David tighten his grip around my waist, pulling me even closer. "I think that it is safe to say, that if it weren't for JC, I wouldn't be here right now."
The look of fear and sorrow cascaded my father's face. I could tell that he was holding back tears. He let go of me and reached his right hand out to JC. "I guess, then, I should be thanking you for taking care of her at a time when I could not."
I shot David a faux look of being offended. "Hey. You never thanked Neal for taking care of me."
"You're lucky that I didn't punch Neal in the face." I saw JC take a step back. I had to stifle a laugh. But that was Prince Charming for you, putting the fear of God in anyone who came near his daughter, intentional or not. "Besides, I wouldn't exactly call what he did, 'taking care of you.'"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." I rolled my eyes. I knew that my father was being honest and Neal was lucky that he didn't punch him in the face. I also knew that my father didn't hold a grudge against him either. Neal gave his life for me and this town, and my parents respected him for that act of heroism.
"Hey, we named your brother after him, is that enough for you?"
JC stood there and just watched the playful banter that occurred between me and my father. I could tell what he was thinking, he was happy for me. This time I put my left arm around my dad's waist and as I laid my head on his shoulder I reached my right hand up to his heart. I had never showed this type of affection toward either of my parents in public before, and although I knew that it took David by surprise, he didn't let it show. But the gesture wasn't meant for David, it was meant for JC. JC had known the horrible truth and he needed to know that I was ok. But I also knew that JC needed more than just the words to come out of my mouth. JC knew that it was always hard for me to express my emotions. So, this was my way of silently showing him that my life now was what I had wanted, that I was safe, and loved. "Dad, we were just about to move this conversation to the station, would you like to join us?"
He smiled down at me and put his arm around my shoulders, "What do you say to moving it to the apartment? I'm sure your mother would like to meet JC."