"Nova, it's David," David radios in. he's still in Gwen's hospital room and in order to get her to talk, he's putting out a search for her children.
"What's up?"
"We might have more kidnap victims,"
"You mean the kids?"
"How did you know?"
"There are toys all over the house so I assumed that they have children."
"A girl and a boy," Gwen says. "Megan and Ben."
"Megan and Ben," David parrots to Nova.
"They're eight and four years old and my husband Arthur Julius King has them. He also has Emma."
Gwen gives them a description of the car and its license plate, she cries through some of it.
"I'll get an AMBER Alert out for them immediately," Nova says.
"Thank you," Gwen says.
Dr. Whale comes in to check all of Gwen's vitals before he allows David and Jack, who drove over once Gwen was awake to help David with the interview.
"So Mrs. King,"
"Please call me Gwen," she insists.
"Alright Gwen, please tell me everything that you can remember," David says. Jack has set up a tape recorder instead of a video to give Gwen a little bit of privacy as she recovers.
"What's the date today?' Gwen asks.
"The 1st of October."
"Oh god, I was out for so long, he likely got far away with the kids," she whimpers.
"Gwen, do you remember when Emma Swan was kidnapped?"
"Yes, there was a segment on the news about it and how her friends and son were interviewed. I was… watching it with him… not knowing she was right in our basement the whole time."
Gwen begins to cry even harder. "I'm so sorry. Please forgive me, I didn't know my husband was such a monster and he would do this to a mother," she says between sobs.
"It's alright," David says gently. He hands her a box of tissues. "You are not a suspect Gwen."
"But you are a key witness if we're going to find Emma and your children. We need you to give us everything that you know," Jack says.
Gwen wipes her eyes and blows her nose, composing herself as best she can. She re-adjusts her arm with the IV in it and then faces David again, looking into his blue eyes.
"Did you notice something was off about your husband the night of the September 15th?"
"No, I was away all weekend with my children at my parents' house. What day was it that she was abducted?"
"A Friday night, September 15th."
"Okay," Gwen says recalling the date more than two weeks ago. "We had left him at about 6:00 that night and so he must've gone to a bar and found her,"
"Okay," David prompts.
"We only called him once on the Saturday night when the kids wanted to say good night."
"Did he sound any different?"
"No, he was the same as he always was. So we came back on Sunday afternoon and I noticed that the basement door had a padlock. I asked him about it and he said that he was doing a new scaffolding project with his friend, Gerry…"
"Sorry to interrupt but would Gerry have known about this?" Jack asks.
Gwen shakes her head. "I doubt it, Arthur doesn't have many friends and he doesn't really talk to them that much anyways."
"Keep going," David says.
"So he told me that the furnace was making noises and he was going to fix them. He told me he locked the basement to keep the kids away from the construction…" Gwen tears up again. "I realize now that he was just covering up the noises Emma was making… calling for help and it was his excuse to g-go down there and…"
Gwen winces and swallows hard. "Just tell me the truth, D-did he rape her?"
Jack swallows himself, not really sure if he should answer. "There has been some evidence suggesting it yes,"
Gwen puts her hand over her mouth and sobs into it for a few more minutes. David and Jack wait patiently, allowing the poor woman to come to grips with this horrible reality. Imagine being married to someone that you don't even know anymore. Someone you thought was kind and sweet and turned out to be a monster and a rapist.
"O-Over the next few days, I did hear noises once and a while… but I believed what Arthur told me…"
Gwen feels mortified, so embarrassed about how easily she was fooled into believing her husband. She should've broken into the basement sooner and maybe she could've helped the poor woman and freed her from being in the dark and cold prison.
"I-I did notice a change in his behaviour, at least a little bit. He was quieter than usual and he did go to the basement more often, but they were short trips, not enough to do any serious work and he brought food down there… b-but I assumed it was for him."
David feels a little relief hearing that at least Arthur had some humanity to feed Emma.
"He was coming up late every night…" Gwen weeps. If I had only been more suspicious…
"Don't blame yourself, Gwen, you trusted him because he was your husband…" Jack says sympathetically.
"He played me for a fool!" Gwen mutters loudly, her face red with embarrassment.
"What happened on September 29th," David asks.
"I had the day off," Gwen says. "I was washing dishes and Arthur said he was going to meet Gerry. I asked him if he wanted to… have intercourse and he turned me down, which was very unusual…"
"How so?" Jack asks.
Gwen swallows. "Arthur has…unusual habits in the bedroom and with his bad temper, he liked rough intercourse. I was usually the one to turn him down for my own safety…" Gwen pauses before continuing. "I kept thinking about whatever was in the basement had changed him and ruined the man I used to know… So I waited until her left, I went to the garage, got a screwdriver and picked the lock."
"Then what happened?"
"I saw a thin, pale, young, blonde woman on the stairs holding an ax up like she was about to break the door down."
"Emma," David breathes.
"Yes, I think she managed to escape somehow and was planning to break the door down when I opened it."
"What happened?"
"She asked who I was and then Arthur came back, why I'm not sure, but she and I were so shocked that we let precious time pass… It was a few minutes before I realized who she was. Emma dropped the ax down the stairs. She also had a gun with her. I think she was planning to get out any way she could."
David feels a swell of pride knowing that Emma would never let herself be the victim for long. She is a fighter; she always has been and she wouldn't let some monster take advantage of her for too long.
"Arthur came in and Emma warned him off with the gun. He was so angry that it paralyzed me. Emma was trying to get by to be free. She told Arthur that I unintentionally helped her, but she was going to leave. I tried to make him let her go but… his face was terrifying. I asked him why he did this, he came toward me and I couldn't move. Emma then stepped in to protect me, telling us she was a bail bonds person and she'd protect me if she had to. She then told me the reason he had kidnapped her, he wanted to get her pregnant."
David's heart drops to stomach at this phrase. The thought of a man raping Emma was revolting, but to get her pregnant. He had to stand up for a few minutes and walk around to calm himself before he broke something. Jack takes David's place to continue.
"Then what?"
"Then Emma called him insane and he attacked her. He started to strangle her!" Gwen begins to tear up again. David sucks in a sharp breath of anger from across the room.
"I-I was so afraid of him and the monster that he'd become. Somehow, I found the strength within me. I grabbed the screwdriver and I stabbed him. He let go of Emma, she looked so still. I confronted him and then he attacked me. He pinned me against a wall, then he bashed my head against it and everything went black."
"Is that everything?" Jack asks.
Gwen nods and cries a little bit more. "I-I'm so sorry if I'd intervened sooner…"
"It's alright Gwen," Jack says gently. He puts a hand on her shaking shoulders as she continued to cry.
Clearly, this woman is a battered wife, scared of the man she'd fallen in love with and had become entangled in the web of lies he'd woven. She had found the strength to stop Arthur from killing Emma, at least, they hoped so…
"I was a coward, I'm so sorry,"
Gwen felt overwhelming guilt. Had she just been a little more suspicious and little less trusting, she could've prevented all of this. Arthur would be in jail, Emma with her family and her children with her. She cries even harder for her children.
Jack reassures her that they would find her children and then ends the interview there to give her some space. He signals for David to leave and allows Gwen can lie back, to have Dr. Whale look at her, rest a little bit and cry as much as she needed.
As soon as Jack closes the door to Gwen's hospital room, he sees that David is also crying. His face is bright red, most likely in anger and he looks as if he's going to put his fist through the wall.
"That monster…" David growls. "That f****** monster. When I get my hands on him…!"
"We'll find her David," Jack says as confidently as he can. "Before he can do anything to her and the children."
David continues to grimace and just takes in aggressive breaths.
"Go take a walk, take your wife with you, you need to cool off. Just don't say anything to her or anyone else. We don't need to make this worse than it already is."
"Alright," David says, composing himself enough to continue down the hospital hallway.
Little did either of them know, that a certain waitress with dyed red hair had been listening in to the entire interview and ducked down a back hallway when the officers came out.
Ruby walks from her hiding spot and goes towards Gwendolyn's hospital room. She stops at the door. She'd heard the woman's entire confession and… Ruby had to believe her. At least the woman didn't just stand by and let the man kill Emma. She was strong enough to fight. She didn't help kidnap her friend, she was just as much a victim as Emma was.
Ruby wants to go in and thank the woman for trying to help Emma and giving them key evidence, but she decides against it. The poor woman had been through enough right now. The thank you could wait.
She shoves her hands in her pockets as she goes down the hall. With all the information, she has, she knows everyone will want to know what happened. It was the whole reason she'd snuck away in the first place, but… Killian and Henry keep crossing her mind. How would Killian react to the idea that this bastard was raping Emma to knock her up? And Henry? He shouldn't be exposed to the idea of his mother being held hostage, raped, and strangled. The kid might never be the same.
Ruby stops at the door to the waiting room, unsure what she was going to do, She felt at a crossroads of what she should tell everyone.
What do you guys think Ruby should do?