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Chapter 9

"No! Don't touch that! It's not yours!" Emma screamed. She jumped up to try to grab her baby blanket from her drunk foster dad. He held it high above her head.

"You live in my house, so I can do whatever I want!" He slurred.

Emma was only twelve years old. She huffed and brought her foot up, and kicked the man in the crotch. He fell to his knees and groaned in pain. She ripped the blanket from his hands and ran up to her room, and grabbed the duffel bag and backpack she had already packed and kept in case something like this happened. She opened the window and climbed out. Her bedroom was on the first floor of the house, making it easy for an escape. She had only been with the Millers for a month, each day getting worse and worse because her foster father drank himself into oblivion while her foster mother worked her ass off to make sure that there was food on the table every night.

Emma ran to the nearest bus station and sat down. She had been stealing loose change and money from the foster father every night since she had arrived. She didn't feel good about it, but she needed to survive until Social Services found her.

Emma tossed and turned. Her dream had woken her up and she couldn't fall back asleep. She kicked the blanket off and went downstairs, trying to be as quiet as she could be so she could make some hot chocolate with cinnamon to try to ease her nerves.

She put the mug in the microwave and heated up the milk, and then poured the chocolate powder in. She topped it with whipped cream and sprinkled cinnamon on top, and then tiptoed into the living room. She was surprised to see Elsa already there, sipping at something in a mug of her own.

"Can't sleep?" Elsa asked. Emma shook her head and sat down at the opposite end of the couch. "Yeah, me either. Liam snores loudly." Emma laughed quietly. "Do you want to talk about what had you so upset earlier today?"

She sighed, "I was just thinking about my parents. I want to know why they gave me up."

"Emma, that may be an answer you don't want to hear."

"I know, but just having an answer would be nice."

"Believe me, I know it's hard. My parents died in a car crash when I was very little, leaving me and my sister orphans. We had family members to take care of us, but it was still hard. Liam and Killian lost their mother, and their father abandoned them. Mary Margaret's parents died of illness. Ruby's were killed in an animal attack. Victor's father was shot. And Will is just like you."

"But most of you have some memory. I don't. I don't know who I get my blonde hair from, or my green eyes. I don't know what my mother looks like, or my father."

"Liam and I will care for you like you were our own child. I promise you that you don't get by unnoticed. We see it all because that's how much we care about you. Killian loves you too. I can see it in his eyes."

Emma scoffed but blushed. "He doesn't love me."

"He does too! He smiles that different kind of smile when you walk into the room. He spends twenty extra minutes on his hair in the morning ever since you arrived. I do also happen to know that he ordered something special for you a few days ago, and is now sitting under his bed in swan wrapping paper."

"How do you know all of this?"

"He needed help picking out the perfect gift for you. Then, he said that he needed wrapping paper that was as special as the gift, so I had to help him with that too," Elsa said with a huge grin on her face.

"Any idea when he plans to give it to me?"

"On your birthday." They both glanced at the clock at the same time. "We better head to bed."

Emma nodded and finished her hot chocolate. Elsa held out her hand for the mug and she gave it to her. "Thank you for the talk," Emma said.

Elsa smiled. "I'll be here anytime, snowflake." Emma stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Elsa's waist. She let go a moment later and quickly but quietly ran up the stairs and snuck into her room.

It was as dark as before. The lights on the alarm clock read 3:38 a.m. She laid down and hoped for a better dream. She didn't dream of anything else, but she figured, 'at least it wasn't a nightmare.' She woke up, and looked at the clock to see that it was 11:45. She jumped out of bed and ran downstairs, to see Ruby and Mary Margaret playing a card game and Killian, Victor, and Will playing a video game.

"Morning, Emma. Breakfast?" Mary asked as she placed a card onto the deck.

"What about school?" Emma asked confused, and completely ignoring Mary's question.

"A teacher found a stamp bag filled with heroin in one of the desks. Drug dogs were brought in and everything. The teachers were evacuated while the police did a full search of the school. We don't have to go for the rest of the week," Ruby explained.

"Wait, why the whole week?"

"The drug enforcement investigation people can't get there until Friday, and the principal isn't letting anyone except for adults into the building. My guess is that she doesn't want to get sued by letting kids into a school where drugs were found, and a proper investigation was performed."

Emma shrugged. "At least we don't have school," she said and dished out some eggs and placed a few pieces of bacon onto her plate. "Any idea who's desk they found the bag in?"

"None, but they are going to find out, and they said that whoever did it is going to get expelled," Mary Margaret said.

"Smart money's on Zelena," Ruby said.

Emma laughed because she believed it too.