The past can hurt
I've had a couple of requests for Emma discussing past abuse with her parents so here it is. Trigger warning of physical abuse being mentioned.
"Julien Adams has been found guilty of child abuse. The former foster carer was taken into custody in March and has now been sentenced to a minimum of twenty years…" The news reporter read out. Snow tutted angrily from where she was sitting.
"Outrageous!" She shouted. "Why are people like that monster even allowed to look after children?"
"Agreed." David snarled, curling Neal closer to his chest. Out of the corner of her eye, Snow saw Emma. She turned to get a better look at her. She was pale, her knuckles white with how tightly she was gripping the arms of the chair.
"Sweetheart?" Snow said softly. "Are you ok?" Emma obviously hadn't heard her, she was concentrating too hard on the TV. Snow and David exchanged a concerned glance before Snow got up and walked over to Emma. "Honey?" Snow asked, putting her hand gently on Emma's shoulder. Emma jumped and whipped around, her eyes filled with fear. This concerned Snow even more. "Are you ok? You seem…distressed." Emma just nodded.
"I'm fine." She said quietly. "I just was daydreaming, that's all…" She said, looking away. Neither Snow nor David believed for a second that was what was bothering Emma. Snow moved to the other side of the chair and crouched down, so Emma was looking at her again.
"Emma, what is it that's really bothering you?" Snow asked gently. A small staring match began, soon Emma gave in and realised Snow wasn't going to back down. She sighed and ran her hand through her hair. She mumbled something under her breath.
"Emma, you need to speak up." David said gently, as he came closer with Neal. Emma sighed again.
"Julien was one of my foster parents, ok?" She said defensively. Snow brought her hands to her mouth in horror. No. That couldn't be right. She knew Emma hadn't had an easy childhood, but was she really with someone so cruel?
"How long did you have to live with him?" Snow croaked. Emma brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She knew these sort of conversations were going to happen eventually, but that didn't mean it was going to be easy.
"Nineteen long months." She told them. "From just before I turned eight, till I was about nine and a half. There were four of us when I was there. The state could tell he didn't have enough money coming in to support four of us so I got lucky for once and was the one to leave." Emma explained.
"Did…did he…" David asked, unable to finish his sentence. Emma kept her gaze firmly on her knees.
"Yeah, he would knock us all around." She said quietly. "He knew basic first aid, so any time he went a little too far he could patch us up without us having to go to the hospital and ringing alarm bells."
"A little too far?!" David bellowed. He got up and placed Neal in his Moses basket before pacing the room a few times, trying to calm down. He came back over and placed his hand over Emma's.
"The second he laid a finger on you was the second it went too far." David said sadly. "And I'm sorry you had to go through that." Emma just shrugged.
"I had worse. As long as you stayed out of his way, he was pretty easy to avoid. Others sought you out to beat you. Those were the worst." Snow couldn't take it anymore. She reached out and pulled Emma to her.
"Never again." She mumbled into Emma's hair. "Will somebody treat you like that." Emma didn't respond, she just sat there, numb.
It was Snow who looked up when she heard David moving away. "Where are you going?" She asked him.
"To get my sword and find that guy." He snarled.
"David." Snow said firmly. "Stop." David stopped where he was and turned to face Snow, a pained expression on his face. "I know you want to hurt him, I do too. But this world is different from our own. We're not the rulers, we can't go swinging swords and shooting arrows. We have to let their law system deal with the situation." David sighed, sitting down.
"Fine. But as soon as he gets out I hunt him down and I kill him."
"No David." Snow told him. "You'd have to beat me to him."