Most of the group sits in the station cafeteria, drinking coffee or hot chocolate with cinnamon on top. They are waiting to get any results from Emma's recovered phone, like fingerprints, some form of DNA and the location of the last cell phone tower her phone pinged from.
"Whenever I smell cinnamon, I always think of you and your hot chocolate," Neal muses to his son. Henry gives a small smile.
He's the only one as Mary Margret, Regina, David, Killian, Elsa, Anna and Lacey are pretty much boring holes through Neal with anger and discomfort. Ruby couldn't handle breathing the same air as Neal and left for home awhile back. Zelena went to deal with some paperwork, Robin went home to deal with Marian and his son, Graham had a gig to go to, Violet was picked up by her sister, MeyLing went to go skating to relax and Aurora took the rest of her family home.
Neal can feel the tension in the room, it was like a match in a fireworks factory. He knew that everyone hated him for what he did to Emma and Henry and he didn't blame them. His decision had been rather impulsive. The one thing that no one else knew was why he took off so suddenly instead of leaving gradually. His father had told him that he was getting divorced, after less than two years of marriage from his younger wife. He had been having an affair with an even younger woman and actually had the guts to ask his son to deliver the divorce papers to his unwanted step-mother. Neal knew it would fall apart, but for some strange reason, he saw himself in his father's situation, ruining his son's and fiancée's life if he kept up his lifestyle. He had been having one night stands behind Emma's back and avoiding both of them more and more, his fear of becoming his father grew greater and greater with each passing day. His father's phone call was what set him off that night and he packed everything he wanted, left a note and took the first bus out of Boston, never looking back. It was his greatest shame and he'd live with the guilt of leaving the woman he loved and his son behind.
Neal had to start completely from scratch, getting a new job at an auto dealership, renting an apartment and basically starting over. He'd done this when he was much younger and on the run from the police for petty crimes, but he kept his path straight, never breaking the promise both he and Emma had made after Henry was born, to live a better life because of him.
The one thing he dreaded telling anyone was that there was a new woman in his life and he was in fact engaged to her now. Her name was Tamara and she was so lively and happy, everything Neal wanted in a woman. He honestly thought that he would never date again as the anxiety of becoming his father still loomed in the back of his mind, but he accidentally bumped into her one day, spilling coffee all over her scarf. To apologize, Neal bought her a new scarf and they ended up spending the day together. They started dating and they had just recently become engaged. He had not actually proposed marriage, she had and he thought that since it had been three years since he left, he should try and be happy. He was not looking forward to telling his son, or anyone else for that matter.
"Where are you living now Neal?" Regina asks, breaking the long, awkward silence.
"In Phoenix Arizona, I own my own car dealership."
"Really?" Henry says.
The teen had his own whirlwind of emotions. His dad had restarted his life without him or his mom and it made him sick. His dad was actually more successful now than he had ever been. When Neal was with them, he worked two jobs, one as a janitor and another as a cashier. He claimed that he could never get a better job because of his criminal history, but he never brought that up with his son. Henry started to wonder if his dad was married now or had kids, he, checked his father's hands and the only thing there was his high school ring.
"Yes, it's a good job," Neal says. "It pays the bills and keeps me sane."
Killian eyes Neal with special distaste. This man had hurt Emma beyond belief, almost ruined her life, leaving her broken, and he could never forgive someone for that. Emma was an amazing person, with a passionate and loving soul, she was rough around the edges, but she was sweet and nice to everyone she met (except for those she arrested). Killian couldn't imagine what Emma had been put through, this bastard let with nothing more than a note, abandoning his family and breaking Emma's heart. Then again, he'd never have met and had the chance to be with Emma if he hadn't left. However, the thought of Neal abandoning his only son is even more sickening and hardly forgivable either and now he shows up to find his ex-fiancée and probably expects everyone to accept him.
"So, Henry… what grade are you in now?"
"I'm in tenth grade," his son answers a little coldly.
"Is it fun?"
Henry shakes his head.
The conversation ends there and they go into uncomfortable silence again.
"So David, I heard you're the Lieutenant of the police force now."
"Yes, I am," David says quietly. "I'm actually in charge of this investigation."
"And Mary Margret, how far along are you?"
"Eight months, almost nine," the teacher answers quietly.
"Congratulations," Neal says, trying to be positive, except he's still getting death glares from other people around the table. They go into uncomfortable silence again.
"Is it okay if I ask what happened?" Neal asks. "The news channel in Phoenix was a little spotty on the details."
The others look at one another, but none of them want to speak about it. Bravely, Anna begins to talk.
"Well it was Lacey's 24th birthday and we were having a girls' night out. We ended up getting hammered pretty quickly and went to a bar with karaoke. We spent the rest of the night there. At some point, Emma went outside to get some fresh air or something and we haven't heard from her since."
Neal swallows hard. "Do you have any leads or witnesses?"
"We have security camera footage showing a man switching drinks with Emma and we assume it was to drug her," Regina says. "The problem is, the camera quality is bad and we can't see his face and she was abducted just out of the frame of the outdoor camera."
"The only witnesses are us and maybe a few bar patrons," Elsa finishes before taking a drink from her Styrofoam cup.
"But finding the phone will hopefully give us something to work with," David finishes.
Lacey's phone suddenly buzzes.
"I have to take this it's my father," she excuses herself from the room.
Lacey stands outside the cafeteria, actually very relieved to get out of the awkward situation. She begins explaining to her father where she had been all day while finishing off the rest of her coffee. Her father was very overprotective of her, ever since he mother had died when she was little. Her mother actually died saving her daughter, as Lacey had wandered out into the street and a car didn't see her coming. Her mother managed to push her daughter out of the way, sacrificing her life in the process. Her father had become a helicopter parent from then on, always wanting to know where his little "princess" was.
"Dad I told you already, I'll be home soon," Lacey sighs. She begins pacing up and down the hall as her father droned on. She was tempted to just hang up on him.
Suddenly, someone comes from behind one of the corners and neither see each other in time. Lacey feels hot coffee go all over her shirt. She lets out a shriek into her phone and her father freaks out. It takes other several minutes to calm him down before hanging up completely. Lacey begins to shift around in discomfort of her soaking wet and hot shirt. She looks up to see who spilled it on her.
A man with long graying hair, dark eyes and many wrinkles on his face looks at her with little concern as he attempts to wipe some stains from his own, neatly pressed uniform. He looks rather strict and very uptight Lacey guesses from his posture.
She waits for him to apologize, but he merely tries to scrub the stains off his own uniform. Her t-shirt took the worst of it and no doubt her skin was scalding underneath.
"Please watch where you're going," the man says in a thick Irish accent.
Lacey's mouth hangs open in surprise and disgust.
"Excuse me?!" she snaps. "You ran into me and it was your coffee that has now burnt my skin."
"Let's not point fingers, but I do expect you to pay for my dry cleaning."
Lacey's face turns red in anger. She wants to slap this man across the face for his rudeness, but obviously, that would just get her into trouble. This man was an officer and judging from his badges and medals, he was a high ranking one too, and wasn't afraid to show it.
"I will do no such thing, in any case, you should be paying for my dry cleaning and my medical bills for my burns."
"I hardly think hot coffee requires medical attention," the man says firmly.
"Well maybe then they can fix your eyes if they can't tell you where you're going!" Lacey growls.
"Did your mother ever teach you manners?" the man says bluntly.
It takes everything in her not to slap him then and there.
"Why you…!"
"Break it up Lacey," David says coolly, coming up behind her and grabbing her arm. Several of her friends had come to see what she was so upset about.
"Yeah, he's not worth your strength," Leroy says, coming around the corner. He had heard the impact and was watching with glee at the confrontation. He is so very pleased that Gold had his uniform soiled, it served him right.
Gold's brown eyes laser in on the woman's blue ones until he looks past her and David and his eyes widen. He swallows a large lump in his throat as his eyes meet someone he has not seen in years.
"B-Bae?"
Here's some background on Neal and Lacey. It's clear that no one is happy to see him, even his own son. Sorry to the reviewer who wanted a chapter before 10:00, I have two assignments due and was spending time working on them. Please Review and Follow.