Emma continues to work at the piece on the bed frame. It's extremely hard to do this without making too much noise and with her hands restrained so tightly. She ends up cutting her fingers a few times while trying to get this spring loose and she must rest once and awhile so she doesn't strain herself. She's doing the best she can and every time the piece is loosened just a bit, it feels like a small victory. Her heart beats in anticipation, the thought of escaping from this monster and being rescued fills her with relief. The thought of seeing her son and holding him again fills her with joy. Once she had Henry in her arms, she would never let him go again. She also anticipates seeing Killian again, with his bright blue eyes and odd half-smile, it makes her blush to think about it.

The man is visiting three times a day now, bringing her food all three times. He does not rape as often anymore, but he still asks if she feels any different, to which Emma does not respond at all. The thought of carrying this man's child makes her skin crawl. She never wanted to have a child against her will. She already had Henry and if… one day along the line she and Killian decided to have a baby, she would be very happy to oblige, but not here and not now. She had heard stories of women and girls who had had children for their captors and though they would love their children unconditionally, despite the circumstances in which they were conceived, the child would still be as much a captive as the mother and no one would want to raise their child in horrible conditions. Emma knew that she had to escape soon before the chance of having this monster's child came to fruition. If she did have the baby, then she would likely never be able to escape.

Time is still lost on Emma, the only way she keeps track of anything is with the man bringing her food. He does give her a bit of a variety in terms of the meal and Emma wonders if this is because he thinks that she's trusting him more and more and becoming compliant with his sexual needs with her. He lets her shower more frequently and even gives her a toothbrush to use. He still keeps her in chains and has his way with her when the mood strikes him. She doesn't know how much time has passed since he abducted her, but it was too long.

One day, after the man had allowed her to shower, he was chaining her to the bed again when he says something different.

"You better not make any noise today, my wife is at home today and if she hears anything from you…"

His breath becomes heavy as if he's becoming angry.

"I might have to do something to both of you…"

Emma's heart beats frantically. The man was threatening her life as well as his wife's. Obviously, he had no reservations to hurt both of them, showing how dark and violent this man could be. She does her best not to cry. This threat scared her but it also lit a fire inside Emma. She had to escape now, or something worse could happen to her as well as someone else.

Once the man is done and has taken the tray upstairs, she begins to work even harder on the piece of metal. She needed to get out as soon as possible.

She twists at the piece of metal a little harder than ever before and she almost screams out from behind the tape when it finally comes off. Emma's heart pounds in excitement as she squeezes the piece of metal tightly in her hands. In the darkness, she feels for the key hole of the handcuffs and bends the metal enough to start picking at it. She'd picked locks before in her teen years to break into houses and such and yet again she was doing this for survival.

…

Meanwhile, upstairs, Gwen was washing some of the dishes, happy to have a day off.

Arthur comes up from the basement, puts the lock back on the door and shuffles around in the back room.

Gwen is becoming more and more suspicious with each passing day. Arthur kept going down to the basement more frequently, bringing food down on a tray. At first, she assumed that he was bringing food down for himself as he worked on the scaffolding projects, but sometimes he came up too quickly to have done any work. She also didn't hear the sounds of working downstairs. Metal on metal, hammering, welding, the sounds of pipes being cut in half. It was usually dead quiet and often Arthur came up with not a spot of grease on him.

Gwendolyn was usually someone who minded her own business, she trusted her husband, for the most part, with exception of his gambling, his short temper, and rough sex problems, but now he seemed even shadier than ever before. He didn't talk to her much anymore, he didn't play with the children as often as he used to and he came up to bed very late from the basement most nights now.

It's all because of that stupid basement. What the hell is he hiding? She thought to herself.

She knew she shouldn't be prying into her husband's life, but the two of them were married, they shouldn't be keeping secrets from one another. She was also worried that he might be doing something illegal down there.

Arthur comes into the kitchen that snaps Gwen out of her thoughts. He goes into the fridge and grabs a few cans of beer. He then comes over and kisses Gwen on the cheek.

"I'm going out for awhile," he says, tucking the beer cans under his arm. "Gerry and I are discussing some of the problems I'm having with the scaffolding."

"Don't you think that could wait?" Gwen says, taking a deep breath. "I was hoping you and I could just spend some time together, maybe see a movie while the kids are in school?"

Arthur looks at her thoughtfully, tempted by the idea. Every since he had grabbed Emma Swan, he was much more distant from her and the kids, which he hated, but he was doing this for them. At least, that's what he kept telling himself.

"I'm…"

Gwen washes her hands and then leans in closely to Arthur, grabbing his thick bicep. She knows that she has a problem with Arthur's performance in bed, but it had been so long since they had been intimate, she was willing to do anything. She leans in closely and whispers in his ear.

"Or maybe we should just go upstairs and…"

"Make a baby?" Arthur says in a hot voice.

"Well we don't have to worry about that anymore," Gwen says quietly. "But if you want to think that…I'm fine."

"That's what you think," Arthur mutters.

"What was that?" Gwen asks, wrapping her arms around his neck.

Arthur's heart is racing. He does want to have sex with his wife, but he had this weird feeling as if he was betraying Emma in some way. She was going to be the one providing the baby, and he felt having sex with his wife, might cause complications with getting Emma pregnant. His wife could have a disease that he might pass on to Emma and this could put the baby at risk.

"Nothing," he says. "I'd love to honey, but I've already canceled on Gerry twice, if you want me to get paid, I have to go. Maybe later we can kick it."

Gwen's heart broke a little bit, being brushed off by her husband like this. He'd never said no to her tempting him with sex before, that was usually her job to say no, but Arthur gives her a long kiss before heading out the door. She is left there standing in the kitchen, alone and very embarrassed. Her heart broke a little bit as the sound of the car roared to life in the driveway and faded into the distance.

Gwen flushes a shade of red and turns toward the basement. Whatever was down there had changed her husband for the worst. It was like something had forced him to change for the worst. She looks at the padlock on the door and then heads for the garage.

…

*Click*

Emma's heart nearly explodes in relief and excitement as she hears the handcuffs fall to the ground, still dangling by the chain. It takes all her strength not to yell out in joy. Emma rubs her wrists and stretches out fully. Her joints crack and give her more relief. She feels so happy to be free. She hadn't been out of the handcuffs at all since she was brought here.

She rips the tape from her mouth and then goes to work on cuffs around her feet. This takes a bit longer since she's in the dark, but after much patience, she no longer feels metal around her ankles.

Emma stands up and stretches a little bit more. She really wants to run around the room, overjoyed at being free, but she knows better. She feels a few tears leak from her face until she snaps back to reality. She wasn't out of the woods yet. Not even close.

She fumbles around in the dark until she finds the light and plugs it in. She shines the light near the man's work bench and the surrounding area, looking for any place of escape. She can't find one, except the door to the bathroom area. She then focuses in on the work bench, deciding she'll have to likely break down the upstairs door in order to escape.

Emma looks at all the different tools on this wooden work bench. Her stomach turns several times when she sees the needles and the drugs he'd been using to knock her out. She also sees an assortment of weapons such as blades and a few guns. This was no ordinary workbench, it was torture bench, with chains, clothes, weapons, drugs, the taser and whips to keep his prisoners under control. It was if she was looking into his disgusting and twisted mind. What made it even more disturbing is she found a photograph of the man with his family, taped to the wall next to his weapons. Emma began wondering if this man had done something like this to other women before. She didn't want to stick around and find out. He had to be stopped and she had to escape. Emma finds an ax hanging on a nearby wall and also grabs one of the guns. She finds ammunition in one of the drawers of the bench and loads it expertly. She rushes for the concrete stairs, which are cold against her bare feet, but she had to escape. She puts the gun the waistband of the pants and prepares to break down the door with the ax.

…

Gwen finds the perfect screwdriver out in the garage and begins to pick the lock to the basement. She fumbles around with it several times as she's never done anything like this before, but soon she begins to get at the inner workings of the lock.

While she picks at the lock, she pictures whatever could be down in that basement. A dead body, piles of drugs, illegal merchandise, a pornography studio, a sex dungeon… or maybe just metal scaffolding, but Gwen couldn't rest until she knew what was behind that door.

There is a faint click, the lock is in her hands. Gwen's heart begins to beat rapidly as she slowly opens the basement door, just as Emma was about to swing the ax.

…

Emma is blinded by the sudden light and she drops the ax down the stairs in surprise. Staring at her is a woman, probably in her thirties with dirty blonde hair and gray eyes. She was wearing very loose clothing and had a look of utter shock and surprise on her face.

…

Gwendolyn nearly passes out from shock, in front of her is a thin young woman, most likely in her twenties, with blonde hair and green eyes that show a look of pure shock. She looked dirty and was wearing some of her old clothing. Her skin was pale and there were dark bruises around her neck, indicating some form of abuse. Her mind races, thinking to use the screwdriver as a weapon as the woman has an ax with her until she drops it down the stairs with a loud crash.

Neither woman can speak by the sheer shock of seeing one another, so many confused thoughts running through their heads. Gwen's are angry while Emma's are a bit scared.

"Who…Who are you?" Emma finally manages to ask.

Just then the sound of a car door slams in the driveway.

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