I don't own these characters; Disney/ABC does.

12: In Your Corner

Emma squirmed on the couch. She could not believe everything Regina told her. Wait, no, she could believe it. Every single person in her life, save Henry and Snow, had betrayed and hurt her, tried to destroy her, even her own wife. Difference being Regina held herself accountable, apologized, and took steps to fix things. No one else ever did that and she doubted it would start with Leopold, who was intent on making it impossible for Emma to ever leave her house again. Now, Lily jumped in with her usual bullshit.

Well, no, not her usual. Lily had gone above and beyond because she took this to the media. She told the world something she had once only hissed at Emma. But, maybe it was because Lily had said to her before, fully believing the words, that it did not hit Emma like it did now. Maybe it was because she was in a good headspace. Whatever the case maybe, she did not care that Lily lied about her to the entire world, even if it was such a vile lie. The people who knew her would know it for what it was and that was what mattered to her.

"So, what do we do? Do we have to do anything?" Emma asked, curled up close to Regina's body, but very careful of the little baby bump. She had never been a target of a full on hate campaign involving the media. Of course, to her knowledge, neither had Regina, but it might be something that happened in the world Regina had been ejected from.

Regina blinked. "What do you mean 'do we have to do anything?'" She sounded like she did not understand the question, like it was a given they had to do something.

Emma shrugged. "Is Graham firing me?" If this did not really stop her from living her day to day life, whatever. It was just crazy that Leopold would go through this sort of effort due to her. Like he felt true hatred for her.

"I doubt it."

"Are you divorcing me?" Emma arched an eyebrow.

Regina frowned. "Over these lies, of course not. Over this strange line of questioning, it's a possibility."

Emma laughed and adjusted her body against Regina, tucking in a little closer. "I just mean my life isn't really changing. I still have you, my family, my job, and my friends, right?"

"Well, more than likely. Graham feels very strongly that Storybrooke will stand with you."

Emma shrugged. "Then, I'm fine. Let them talk." She waved the whole thing away. It was not a big deal. She would not let Leopold get to her. She definitely would not let Lily get to her. Those were possibly the two saddest and most miserable people on the planet, save Regina's mother anyway.

"We can't just let them say such awful lies about you!" Regina scowled, sitting up a little straighter, body tense with righteous indignation. "We might not be able to crush them like they deserve, but we should at least fight. You're a fighter!"

That much was true. "I am, but I've also learned a lot from my time with you and here. I gotta pick my battles. I don't need to waste the energy. Sometimes, I can just walk away and never look back." She had to do what was right for her and not fall into toxic situations.

Regina nodded. "But, we don't want Henry to have to deal with possibly seeing his mother is a criminal."

"That's true. It's easier to pop shit to a kid about their parent than to say something to the parents" She did not want Henry to have to deal with people ruining his mood or his day by lying about her. She did not want him to have to deal with being teased or taunted about her either.

"Yes."

Emma nodded. Battle picked. "So, what's the plan?"

"Just tell the truth. All of your truths are verifiable. Whenever you get a chance, tell the truth. Tell it loud and often."

"Sounds easy enough." Too easy, in fact. Emma's life was not known for being easy. "It's bad, though, huh?"

Regina sighed, holding Emma tight. "Really bad."

"Okay, should I look?"

Regina grabbed Emma's hand, played with her fingers for a moment, and then squeezed her hand. "I really don't want you to. I don't want you to ever see someone saying these things about you, even if you know they're lies and even if most people won't believe them. I don't want you to know people would say such venom about you."

Emma swallowed as a stone sat in her stomach. What did these people say about her? At least Regina did not believe them. But, she still wanted to see exactly what they were dealing with.

"Do you want me to sit with you?" Regina asked.

"Yes, please." Emma pulled out her phone and cuddled up close to Regina. "Just search my name?"

"Yes." Regina ran her fingers through Emma's hair.

Emma took a deep breath and typed in her name into the search bar. Her eyes burned just at the top articles accusing her of being a lying con artist and a rapist. Regina had sugarcoated it so much when she told Emma, and while Emma expected to see stuff like this, it actually still hurt. Somehow, seeing Lily's accusations in print were so much worse.

Lily would always be one of the worst people Emma had ever met and had to be a punishment for something she had done that was very wrong in life. Even Killian had not gone to the media like this, at least not yet. Surely that would change if he realized he could make a quick buck out of it. But, he would never tell the world she had done something like this, knowing full well she had not. Why the hell does Lily hate me so much?

Furthermore, why did her own father hate her so much? The fact that he would go ahead with this story, continuing to tell the world she lied about being his daughter, even after she and Snow proved he was the one lying, showed nothing but intense hatred. He was willing to risk his relationship with Snow just to watch Emma burn. Burn for daring to be his fucking love child. What a nasty old bastard.

"I'm never gonna be like this to you…" Emma whispered and rubbed the baby bump. She would never in a million years do this to the baby or to Henry.

Regina kissed the side of her head. "They know. Henry knows. You'll always protect them, never hurt them."

"I swear." Emma groaned. "Fuck, Henry's gonna hafta see this mess, huh?" That was really the scary thing. She would have to sit Henry down and explain what all of this meant, how she had never in her life sexually assaulted someone, and that she would never touch someone without their consent. How the hell do you even start having that conversation with an eight-year-old?

"It's possible."

Emma frowned. "I just had a mini-panic over having to explain this shit to him, explain consent to him, and you know what? My mother actually prepared me for this moment. When I was, like, sever or eight and she had people just coming through our house, she lectured me on making sure they didn't touch me in ways I didn't like, made sure I knew who could know about my dick and who couldn't know, and junk like that. I don't want Henry's life to be anything like mine. I never want to have to talk to him about something my mother had to talk to me about."

Regina kissed the side of her head. "His childhood is fine. He'll be fine."

Emma's frown deepened. "Kids are going to pick on him. Hell, adults might pick on him." This was also something she had to live with as a child, added to her mistrust of the human race in general. She did not want Henry to end up jaded like her. The world was magical to him and needed to stay that way.

"Unfortunately, yes. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it and work out how we'll navigate the situation. For all we know, Henry might be able to handle himself. He surprises us sometimes," Regina pointed out.

"Book-smart stuff. I'm not so sure about street-smart." Not that Henry had ever had to use street smarts. Maybe he had some and she just never saw them. Well, no, he's pretty good at getting around the rules and stuff. He might be all right.

Regina hummed. "What do you want to do about this? Kathryn's suggesting we sue Leopold for slander, but until then, the plan is to tell the truth because it's verifiable."

With a sigh, Emma nodded. "Understood, but Kathryn doesn't need to sue Leopold."

"I think she wants to. Bad parents really seem to be her pet peeve. I'm starting to think that's why she helped me so much when Cora disowned me. She just can't stand to see parents doing their children wrong."

"Why do you think that is? She said her dad's great."

Regina nodded. "He is great, to her. But, he does some shady things and she had to grow up hearing that he was shady. She hates that he gets a bad reputation when he's great to the people he loves, but other people don't get the same reputation and are awful to everyone in general."

"That's kind of unfair."

"Yes, but such is life, especially in the world of nobility."

Emma curled her lip. "Zero stars. Would not recommend."

Regina chuckled and caressed Emma's head. It kept her relaxed and she had faith that things would work out, just because they were together. Or maybe I have to keep saying that to myself to make sure I do believe it."Are you onboard with this plan?"

Emma nodded. "Yeah, it's ingenious in its own simplicity. Foolproof you might say."

Regina kissed the side of her head once more. "And you're just the fool to prove it."

Emma chuckled and stayed curled up next to Regina. Regina stroked her hair while Emma scrolled through her phone. Leopold and Lily sucked so damn much.

-8-8-8-8-

Emma fell asleep against Regina. Regina did not want to risk waking her, as this had to be a huge shock for her, even if it was not really a betrayal. Emma always expected the worse from Leopold and Lily. Still, to lie to the whole world was a bit much, even though Emma tried to act like it did not bother her. She had been doing that often with Leopold, trying to just keep going through his crap. Regina was all too aware how draining that could be, as she used to do the same with Cora. Now, Emma gave her the strength to stand up to Cora, so she would be there to help Emma muster the energy to fight Leopold. But, first, Regina needed to arrange for someone to pick up Henry, though, if she was going to be on the couch a little longer.

She called Tinker Bell first, but was disappointed to discover Tink was working and out of town. The next best person would be Ruby. Ruby was working, but should be able to get out of it for the time it would take to get Henry and bring him home. She made the call.

"Oh, my god, Regina! I wanted to go see Emma, but I don't know if she knows and I didn't want to have to break it to her!" Ruby sounded one bad word away from sobbing.

"It's all right, Ruby. She knows and she's sort of worn herself out over it," Regina replied.

"Please, tell me you'll do something about this! Is there something I can do about this? This is awful." Ruby took deep breaths, but did not seem any calmer for it.

"Yes, the plan is to tell the truth. These are all lies about Emma."

"I assumed as much."

"Has anyone approached you about this yet?" Regina asked. The stories were still young, so maybe they had not gotten a chance to dig too deep into Emma's life yet.

Ruby blew out a breath. "Not yet. You think they will?"

"You see they're trying to drag her through the mud. They'll want other stories and people to confirm their lies."

Ruby sucked her teeth. "Well, to hell with that! I'm gonna get everybody we know ready for that crap. They're not just going to lie about Emma and get away with it. We didn't take her into this community for them to drive her out."

Regina smiled. "You're a good friend, Ruby."

"Hey, Emma's been really good to me. We haven't known each other that long, but it feels like I've known her forever and she treats me that way."

"I'm glad you feel that way because I need a favor from you. Can you pick up Henry from school? Emma's asleep against me and I don't want to wake her up. I also don't want to leave her alone should she wake up. She's been trying to put on a brave face, but this wiped her out."

"Sure. I got the kid. And if you don't mind him having a burger and milkshake, I could keep him for a couple of hours. Ashley'll make sure he does his homework."

Regina chuckled. "Ashley didn't agree to any of this."

"Oh, she'll agree. She'll also agree to help mobilize the town with me. Good luck with Emma. Do you want me to bring Henry home or will you pick him up?"

"We'll pick him up. I don't want you to go too out of your way, dear."

"You're a ten minute walk from the diner. I'd survive." Ruby laughed.

Regina let out a little laugh. "Yes, but it's fine, really. We can't spend all day locked behind closed doors. It'll also be a good temperature check to see if the town is reporter-free and also not ready to ride Emma out of town."

Ruby scoffed. "I know plenty in town who would like to ride her, but not that way."

Regina groaned. This is why they're friends. "No matter what, people will be curious about that, but I think she'll be fine with that. No one will question if the baby is actually hers." But, she might still want to prepare for that line of idiotic questioning.

"That's true. All right, so I guess I'll see you later. I'll call when I have Henry settled in."

"Thank you so much."

They disconnected the call. Regina wanted to make some tea, but that would have to wait for Emma to wake up. Instead, she called around to gauge if other people knew what was happening and to make sure they understood everything being said about Emma was a lie. Snow was the last one she reached out to because if Snow knew, this would be a long conversation.

"Regina, is Emma okay?" Snow asked with a sniffle. Okay, she knew. Time to settle in for the long haul.

"As okay as one can be after your father lies to the entire world to get out of responsibility for you," Regina replied.

Snow sighed. "What the hell is that even about? I haven't spoken to him since the day of the test, but I think I'm actually going to go scream in his face personally the second I'm sure I won't be sick at the sight of him. I don't even know who he is anymore. How does he think he's the only person this affected? He turned Emma's damn life upside down! Turned my life upside down! And now he's just going to piss it all away with lie on top of lie? For fucking what!"

Regina was not sure what to make of this. She had never heard Snow say anything close to a swear word. She apologized for bad language if she said "darn," and even then she would be referring to socks. Leopold had crossed the line so hard, he broke Snow's vocabulary. And, then the sobs came.

"Regina, what if… what if he's always been this horrible? What if my entire life was a lie?" Snow cried.

Regina did not have the right words for this. "Regardless of how he is as a person, the things you experienced were what you made of them. That's the best you can do. My father is long gone and sometimes I question my life with him, but then I make the choice to remember him fondly and it strengthens me. You can make the choice and use it to better yourself."

Snow sniffled heavily into the phone. "How did this get to this point?"

"I wish I had answers for you, Snow. I really wish I did." Because she would also have answers for Emma. Emma deserved so much better than this. Hell, Snow deserved better than this and Regina barely liked Snow.

"What do we do?"

"We've decided to just tell the truth if asked. That's really all we can do. Or not answer questions at all, which might make Emma look worse."

"I don't want Emma to look any worse. Gods, she's already so fragile and we've been trying to keep her together. She hurts so much, Regina."

Regina gave a sorrowful smile as she rubbed the top of Emma's head. "I think she's healed some, Snow. She's loved and she knows it. That's very important to her."

Snow sniffed again. "How could he not love her? I've loved her since she showed up, even when she was just an idea. Even when I was confused about her, I still loved her. And I look at Nolan and couldn't imagine not loving him or doing something like this to him. Hell, I can't imagine doing this to someone I don't like!"

"To be fair, there aren't many — if any — people you don't like."

"Yeah, but I can't understand this."

"And I can't explain it because just like you can't imagine doing this to Nolan, I couldn't imagine doing to Henry. I can't imagine not loving your child and just wanting to bask in their happiness. I like to think that makes us normal."

"I just don't…" Snow cried, unable to finish her thought.

"Look, why don't you, David, and Nolan come over tomorrow? It'll be nice to see you." They would all enjoy that. Emma and Snow probably needed each other. Regina would just be happy to enjoy the baby.

"Yeah, but I'm going to curse out my father before we come."

Regina doubted Snow would do such a thing, but whatever helped Snow deal with this. She listened as Snow cried, recounted memories of times with her father, and then times with Emma. Despite Snow's faults, she very clearly loved Emma with all of her heart. Every memory was spoken on with the deepest fondness. It actually touched Regina. They ended the call just as Emma began to stir. Regina wrapped her arms around Emma as Emma looked up at her.

"Not a nightmare, right?" Emma asked.

"Unfortunately, no. Want some comfort food?"

"Yes, please."

Regina kissed the top of her head and then stood up. She made Emma two grilled cheese sandwiches and let her have a beer, even though she would have preferred Emma have tea with her. But, they used different things to relax. Not to mention, the tea Regina was allowed to have while pregnant was not that great, anyway.

"Should we go pick up Henry?" Emma asked after taking a long pull from her beer bottle.

"I asked Ruby to do it and she's going to hold onto him for a while. I just want to give you time to get yourself together." Regina replied.

Emma nodded. "Thank you. This is so crazy. I just… I just want to be happy with this simple life, you know?"

"I do."

"And it shouldn't bother me, but I hate this so much. Like why are they doing this to me? I've never done anything to them, so why come at me so hard? And I know it's just because sometimes people suck, but do they have to suck so much in our direction?"

Regina chuckled and patted Emma's knee. "I know what you mean, but we're together and we have people with us. We'll make it through this." She truly believed that. She had seen the power of having people when she got disowned.

"Oh, I know we will. Still, I just hate this."

"Well, you're not alone in that."

They were quiet for a while, finishing up their snacks. They left to pick up Henry and thankfully were not bombarded by any reporters. None of the townspeople approached them to talk about what was going on either. This would probably be short-lived, but it was still nice. To keep things calm, Regina made Emma's favorite dinner. Emma seemed to appreciate it, but also knew it was there to fortify her for when things got really rough.

-8-8-8-8-

Emma went into work, body heavier than she expected. She felt pressed, crunched, but did not understand why. She did not care about this beyond how it could hurt Henry. It was just her body that seemed to think otherwise.

She was not surprised by the mob of reporters there. Graham called her and warned her. Regina offered to go in with her, but she did not want that. She could handle this bullshit on her own. But, I'm not really on my own. I've got people, people who know me and love me and they've got my back. I'm stronger than any of these lies because of them. So, she took a deep breath and made her way to the crowd, needing to get through them to go into the station.

"Emma! Emma! Emma!" They all called her name as if trying to get her attention, but she was literally in the center of their stupidity storm.

"Trying to go to work here." Emma motioned to the door.

"Is it true that you raped someone?"

Emma sucked her teeth. "Of course that's not true. Do you honestly think I could work as a deputy if I was a rapist? How do you sound right now?" She curled her lip at them.

"Are you a man?"

"Ask my doctor," she replied. Hopefully, someone would.

"Are you a criminal?"

Emma paused. "I'm sure you know about my time in prison. I did one stupid thing at seventeen, paid for it, and learned from it." Well, one stupid thing that she got caught for. "I served my time. I'm trying to rebuild my life, like you'd want a former felon to do. Seems to me you guys just want me to be this awful monster two people told you about. I'm just a person trying to do better."

"So, you did con Leopold White?"

A flare erupted in Emma's stomach. "I don't give a fuck about Leopold White! I wish he'd go away forever, but no matter how far I run, he always manages to catch up to me and fuck up my life. If Leopold White never talked to me again, I'd die a happy fucking human being. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do." She stomped into the station. Screw them.

"Well, that was brutal, but I'm glad it's you now and not me," Graham said from his office door.

"They're such bastards. You think I want to con that bastard? I've never NOT wanted a bio dad more in my life!" Emma snarled. Graham's face wrinkled. She did not care that her statement did not make sense. She hated Leopold White at this point.

Graham nodded. "You wanna take some time off to deal with this?" He nodded to the reporters, who dared not step into the station.

Emma scowled. "Are you firing me?"

Graham winced. "No! I'd never. It's just… this is a lot." He pointed outside. "And it might just be the beginning."

Emma went to her desk and dropped down. "Fuck them." Then she glanced at Mulan. "Sorry about the language."

Mulan chuckled and looked at her like she was an idiot. "I used to be in the army, Emma. Just because I don't swear all the time doesn't mean I'm against it."

"Did you get caught in that mess, too?" Emma tilted her head to the door.

A scary smirk settled on Mulan's face. "I'm the reason they won't come in."

Emma chuckled. "I knew you had it in you."

"I won't let them defame your character to my face. I know you well enough at this point to know you're not what they say you are. I've seen you in action doing this job. You've got a big heart and you're trying to do the right thing most of the time," Mulan replied.

That warmed Emma's heart. "Thanks."

Mulan waved her off. "No need to thank me. You've been good to me, Emma. I'm not going to be turned by people who haven't even met you."

Graham nodded. "That makes two of us. Well, no, actually more than that. Most of the people I've talked to who are starting to hear about this, think Leopold is full of shit. I mean, if you did con him, where's the money?"

"Exactly!"

Mulan scoffed. "We all know Emma spent all her money on donuts the second she conned him out of it."

Okay, that got laughs. Mulan turned her attention to her computer, getting to work. Emma was about to get started on the same, but then her phone went off. She arched an eyebrow. Neal.

"What's up, Neal?" Emma asked.

"I'm so sorry for all this bullshit, Emma," he replied.

"Why? You didn't do anything."

He blew out a breath, sounding as stressed as she was. "No, but this is my father's handiwork. He's working for Leopold and just mudslinging at you to see what sticks. It's bullshit and I asked him not to do it and he's acting like this is just a job for him, ignoring me as usual. But, anyway, it's about to bite him in the ass, though."

"Why?" What did Neal know?

"You remember he saved my ass with the watches thing. Well, I've never talked about my part in it. I just went home with him like a dutiful asshole and let him take care of it like he said he would. And, damn, Em, I'm so sorry about that."

"It's the past, Neal." She had bigger things to worry about.

"So, anyway, he's got your record being paraded around on all forms of media and your worst arrest is my fault. Time for the world to know. If nothing else, it'll keep him busy as people start to question me and his motives on leaking information about you. Take some of the heat off of you and shed some light on how he's not a good person and never will be."

"Are you sure you want to do that?" She never would have thought someone from her "before Storybrooke" life would stand up for her like this.

"Emma, the truth is the least of what I owe you. I'm not going to be one of those people who just hurts you and act like nothing happens anymore. I can't stand by and watch this happen to you. You deserve to be happy. I'm just sorry I didn't do this sooner."

"Now might be the best time."

He chuckled, but it sounded heavy, hurt. He was about to betray his father for her. "You're right about that. Again, I'm so sorry about all of this."

"It's okay, Neal. You're no more responsible for your father's actions than I am for mine. We just drew shit cards when it came to parents."

"Yeah. My dad thinks I need him to keep living the life I have, but he forgets, I've lived the life of a homeless nomad before. I ran from him and did everything I could do to avoid him. I've been sticking around these past few years thinking I could change him. I now see it's impossible. Don't let that be you, Emma. You don't have to put up with your father just because he's there."

"Oh, I know." She was not under any grand delusion that Leopold would wake up one day and love her like the daughter she was.

"Good. Don't let him have any power over you. I'm gonna be like that again. Anyway, so first, I'm going to do it on social media and then see if reporters and stuff contact me. If no one does, I'll start contacting them. I'm not gonna let you down, Emma. I'm not gonna let them do this to you."

"Thanks, Neal." She ended the call. She did not think Neal was physically capable of doing the brave thing, so she would wait and see with this one. It was not just about the watches. There would be questions about why Emma would do such a thing for him, if they had dated, and what that would imply. Neal had made it perfectly clear when they were together, he could not be with someone with a penis and did not want people to think he was with someone with a penis.

"You good over there?" Mulan asked.

Emma rubbed her face, wiping away a sting in her eyes. "Yeah, old boyfriend claiming he's going to stand up for me against the guy who started all of this. I'm not going to hold my breath for it."

Mulan nodded. "Well, at least your wife is standing by you."

"Yeah, talk about marrying up." Emma chuckled as she put her phone down. "I don't think anything would scare Regina off at this point." The very thought made Emma feel light, like she might float off into space. "Despite all of this bullshit, I still feel lucky as hell to have her."

"That's great. Well, just so you know, I got your back, too."

Emma scoffed. "I never doubted. I mean, come on." She pointed to the door. "I'm so happy I know you." This town had been so good to her. It gave her Mulan, Ruby, Graham, and Ashley. She was certain they would stand in front of bullets for her. She would do the same for them.

"Feeling is mutual."

Before Emma could respond, her phone went off again. Killian. "Yeah, Killian?"

"Okay, Swan, I know this is bad. I didn't know the guy was a reporter when I talked to him. I was at the bar, drunk. I mean, yeah, I was pissed you threw me out the party, but not enough to try to ruin your life." He would never do something he thought he could not walk back from, not when she had money… well, he thought she had money.

Emma scoffed. "So, you didn't get paid to say anything?"

"Okay, but everything I said there was true."

Emma sucked her teeth. "Fuck you, Hook. I don't have to hang out with you anymore or take your bullshit, you know? I have people who actually care about me, who wouldn't sell information about me for a few drinks or probably some soft words from a female reporter."

"Hey, it's not my fault you have that thing and aren't totally a woman!"

"Eat my ass, Hook." She ended the call, blocked his number, and tried to focus.

"That sounded brutal," Graham commented as he stepped over.

Emma shook her head. "Yet another jackass ex. He sold information about me and then thinks it's okay because what he said was true, but it's not even true. He thinks I'm only partially a woman or something. But, he does stuff like this and doesn't think about how it hurts me."

"Then he doesn't need to be in your life," Graham said.

"I tried to cut him out and then he and Lily found me here and are now out for revenge or whatever," Emma replied.

Graham nodded. "Yeah, well, if you ever see him again, gimme a call and I'll find a reason to arrest him. Didn't like the looks of him for the minute I saw him at the housewarming."

Emma smiled. "Thanks, boss."

"Hey, look at this, the first ex might actually not be a sleaze." Mulan turned her monitor to face Emma and Graham. Neal was there. He was in what looked like a living room, in a white t-shirt and tan sweats.

"…There's a lot of bullshit going on about my friend, Emma Swan. I especially want to address her criminal record, the thing people are using to try to hold up that she's a lying con artist or that she would assault someone when her criminal record actually proves the opposite. She ended up going to prison for something I did and she never once ratted me out. The cops knew they were looking for a man, but took her anyway because she had possession of the watches. Why did she have possession? Because she was grabbing the stolen watches for me. My dad ended up getting me out cleanly. My dad, Rumpelstiltskin Gold, has enough money and power to make the cops forget they knew exactly who they were looking for, an adult male and not a seventeen-year-old girl. And she is a girl, ask the people at the women's prison she was sent to, where, let it be known, she never committed any assaults. The assault thing is something made up by a person she's actually very nice to, but who hates her and talks about her behind her back constantly.

"Now, back to my dad, Rumpelstiltskin Gold, who is actually behind this smear campaign against Emma, including encouraging people who hate her to lie about her. He's working for Emma's biological dad, Leopold White, who just doesn't want to accept responsibility for his actions… sorta like me. He's willing to let Emma take the fall, just like I did, just like my dad did. Everything being said about Emma right now is a lie and is just Leopold White trying to manipulate the situation, manipulate your emotions, and put Emma into a different type of prison and she doesn't deserve it now, just like she did not deserve it back when she was with me," Neal announced.

Emma could hardly believe her eyes. "That bastard actually came through…" She never thought she would live to see the day.

-8-8-8-8-

Next time: the tide begins to turn.