Well she and her mother obviously had very different interpretations of the word 'much.'
Emma gaped at the piles of boxes stacked down in the basement, as she descended the steps. Pulling down on a string that was swinging in front of her, she heard as the light switched on.
"Damn. What could he possibly have in all these boxes?"
The blonde walked around what areas had space, dragging her finger along the top of a box collecting dust. Stopping at a random stack, Emma pulled the flaps back on the top box coughing as dust flew into the air.
"Just junk. Junk and…more junk apparently." Emma muttered as she rummaged through the box finding nothing.
She tossed that box to the ground as she started on another box, figuring she'd just make a pile of what what deemed trash and what was good enough to be put up for donations. But 13 years, probably longer for some of this stuff, was a long time to just be sitting down in the basement unused.
After Daniel's murder, Leo's bail had been posted, and he was basically put on house arrest awaiting trial. Which took nearly two years. His lawyer had managed to convince the judge and court that he was mentally unstable. That he was "unaware" of what he had done, suffering from blackouts and should instead be admitted into an intensive psychiatric institution.
So for 13 years no one had really lived in this house. Mary-Margaret had been coming back at first, the property still belonged to her family but she couldn't help the pain she felt every time she did. So she simply hired some people to take care of the land.
There were a few summers they'd brought the kids back, but that was only after they'd all gone through major therapy sessions to work up the confidence to.
Emma had been done there for about two hours before hearing boots on the steps, Emma looked up from her position on the floor to see her mother walking down carrying a tray of lemonade, cheese, and crackers.
"How's it going down here princess?" Mary asked as she set the tray down on a nearby stool.
"Pretty good. But Leo was definitely a hoarder." Emma said looking down at the box she was currently digging through with nothing but old magazines in it.
"I agree. Actually, a lot of this stuff is actually your Uncle Daniel's. Some boxes are mine, some are your grandmother's."
Emma saw her mother moving around in her peripheral vision, moving over to the windows slightly above their heads.
"You should've opened a window baby. Can't be good breathing in all this dust." Mary grunted as she turned a handle to crank the windows open letting in the fresh air.
"Oh yeah. That completely slipped my mind." Emma sighed as she shielded her eyes from the light. "How're things looking up there?"
Mary handed her some wipes for her hands and moved boxes aside, beckoning her over to take a break.
"Well." Mary sighed handing Emma a cup. "Harp is just about done taking photos of all the furniture and posting them on the town's facebook page and a few other sites for selling. A couple of people have already started putting in bids. Shane and your father are hauling everything down to the living room for now. I haven't touched the attic yet I only just managed to get everything out of the cabinets."
Emma nodded along chewing on a block of cheese, smiling appreciatively as Mary reached out and tucked some of her curls behind her ear. She couldn't help herself if she tried. They both sighed and sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, Mary walking over to the large junk pile of boxes.
"Looks like you're making some progress down here." Mary smiled as she scanned the boxes.
"Yeah I am. I mean it's crazy a lot of it I didn't know what to do with, when did Leopold even have time to get all of this stuff? What did he do with it all? I thought he like never went further than the town line." Emma walked over popping a cracker in her mouth. "A lot of this stuff looks either expensive or exotic." We
Emma reached into one of the boxes on the donate side and pulled out a pendant looking thing. It looked ancient, like something you'd find on a Viking ship.
"Like I have no idea what this is." She twirled it around between her fingers before flipping it back into the box. "But maybe someone else will know what to do with it."
"Yeah I couldn't give you a certain answer, my love. My father spent his whole life on this farm…"Mary sighed picking up an old book from the box. "It wasn't until a few years after Daniel and I left the house did he start getting into his "hobbies" or, whatever this was."
"What did he do with it all?" Emma asked.
"I think he sold and traded it, started a little side business, made investments. I always wondered how he came into his fortune…it was very sudden." Mary reasoned.
"I guess you can say he got lucky?" Emma walked over to some more boxes.
"Till eventually that luck ran out." Mary mumbled.
"Some of this stuff does actually look cool though." The blonde admitted, going into a box and pulling out an old walkman. "Like come on this! This is a classic, talk about a blast from the past. Ooh there's still headphones and everything."
Mary looked up and grinned immediately recognizing the device. "I remember this old thing, it belonged to your Uncle Daniel. But I would swipe it whenever I could." She chuckled.
"This must be his box then." Emma grinned handing over the Walkman as she started to dig through it some more. "Oh woah."
Under a few old yearbooks and medals, Emma's fingers wrapped around the sleeve of a jacket. She moved everything aside ensure it wouldn't fall to the ground as she pulled out a purple varsity letterman jacket with patches sown onto the sleeves. The name 'White' spelled out in gold cursive letters at the very top on the back, along with 'Storybrooke Bison.' Daniel's name in small gold cursive and '#37' stitched in on the right side. The jacket looked like it was for basketball and baseball combined, a patch for the year 1988 stitched on the upper sleeve too.
"Now that…is definitely a blast from the past." Mary said adoringly as she watched Emma touch it carefully before handing it over to her mother. Mary ran her fingers over the
Emma smiled gently at her mother before looking into the box again to pull out his old baseball glove, ridged and folded in. She listened to the leather stretch after not being used in so long.
"Driver Dan, right?" Emma asked as she looked up to her mother.
Mary chuckled as her eyes started to water, "Yeah." She sniffed. "Yuup, that's what they called him every single time he went up to bat…"Send em' home Dan!"."
The brunette tried to imitate what everyone used to say at his games, the way his coach used to scream it. But her tears took the enthusiasm away from it.
"I guess my father must've put his things down here because I surely did not." Mary rummaged around the box. "How in the hell…"
Emma looked up from the ball and glove confused as to why her mother stopped. "What is it?"
Mary didn't answer her, just stood there gaping into the box for a minute before she quickly shut the flaps and picked the box up.
"Woah hey- Mom?" Emma watched her take the box over to the steps but quickly grabbed her arm. "Mom."
"This damned thing! I never wanted to see it again! I don't know how-!"
"Mom!"
"What?!" Mary snapped but quickly recovered as Emma stopped her. "I'm sorry! Emma, it's-it's nothing sweetie. I just…You don't have to worry about this box ok. I will take care of it."
"Wha-? But where are you going with it? Don't tell me you're just going to throw it out?" Emma looked at her incredulously.
Mary had a haunted look in her eye but kept a straight face. "That's exactly what I'm going to do."
The older woman stated as she shook Emma's hand off before ascending the stairs.
"Mom, I don't understand! Why? What did you see?!" Emma stopped her again.
"Don't question it Emma, just finish with the other boxes. Supper will be ready in a few."
Emma watched in a stupor at the bottom of the stairs as her mother disappeared through the door with the box. She scuffed as she threw her hands up.
"Unbelievable!" She huffed. "She just had to come down here."
Seriously she was about to be thirty years old, there was no way her mother was still trying to hide juicy adult secrets away from her. At her big age!
Emma walked over to the remaining blocks of cheese on the tray and plopped one in her mouth.
"What could she possibly have seen?" Speaking to herself, she plopped another block into her mouth aggressively.
The young blonde chewed determinedly as she thought of all the possibilities.
Playboys?
Nah.
Sex tapes? Ooh maybe DVDs?
No no. When would he have had the time?
Gay porno magazines?
"No! Emma, seriously!" She chastised herself before looking back towards the stairs. "Gah!"
This is without a doubt going to bother her all through dinner, hell even for the rest of the week! She was beginning to want to pull her hair out! Because what?! What could it possibly be?!
Some letters? Maybe a diary…Dirt on Leo? Maybe about why he wanted him dead so badly…
No…No right?
"Gah! I've gotta see what's in that box!