When They Met

Chapter 4

Trigger warning: Abuse

When Emma walked in through the door to her house and tried to slip up the stairs undetected, but of course, both of her foster parents were waiting for her. She swallowed nervously, but tried not to let it show. They both were glaring at her.

"Were you at that retarded kid's house again?" Her foster father, Shawn asked. He was a slightly overweight man with thinning hair and a beard. He had a beer in his hand like he always did. Her foster mother, Brynn, always had her hair in a tight bun while her lips were always covered with bright pink lipstick.

"He isn't retarded!" Emma snapped, but instantly regretted it when she was shoved against the door.

"Any kid who has a stutter is. They're dumb because they can't even fucking talk." Shawn hissed.

"No, you're wrong. He's smart and talented! You are just jealous because you can't even count to ten!"

"You will not talk to me like that!" He hissed.

"Shawn! No! Let her go! You know what will happen if we hurt her too much! She will be taken away from us! We need her money." Brynn said from behind him, putting her hands on her husband's shoulders. Shawn growled in anger and let Emma go. She fell to the ground and winced in pain. "You're supper is on the table. Eat and get out of our sights." The older woman said sternly and walked away with her husband into the living room.

Emma picked herself up off the floor and went into the kitchen and ate the porkchop and salad on the plate and put her plate in the sink and went up to her room. She took off her makeup and looked at her eye. She thought that she had covered up the bruise well enough this morning before school, but Killian still noticed it. She raised her shirt and looked at the red marks on her waist. They hurt to touch, and she thought that those would result in bruises too. She had been living with the Traile's for only a week, but she already hated it. She wanted to run away, but she couldn't leave Killian. Not now that he finally had some hope in his life. He meant too much to her already.

She couldn't let him find out that her foster family was abusing her. They only kept her for the money that the government paid them anyway. She only had a few more months, then she would be free from all of this. Of all of the shit she has had to put up with. Her phone chirping caught her attention. She looked over to see Killian's name on the screen. She smiled and grabbed it.

'I'm bored.'

Emma quickly typed out a response. 'Hi, bored. I'm Emma.'

'Ha ha, very funny, Swan.' Emma laughed to herself and looked down as another text came through from him. 'Come over. I know you left an hour or so ago, but you keep me not bored.'

'I'd love too, but I can't.'

'Parents won't let you?'

'Something like that.'

Emma sighed. She'd seen how good of a brother Liam was to Killian. 'I'd give anything for someone who loves me like that.' She thought to herself.

'Let me come over.'

'No! I don't want you to get in trouble.'

'Liam won't mind. He'll be glad I'm getting out of the house. He likes you, love.'

'It's alright. Just watch tv or something.'

'I want you here though.'

'Can't. Sorry.'

'Ugh. I'll see you at school tomorrow, yeah?'

'Yeah. Talk to you tomorrow.'

She put down her phone and didn't get another text. Killian was adorable in his own dorky way. It made her smile.

After working on her homework for two hours, Emma got ready for bed. When she laid down and shut off the lights, her phone buzzed on the nightstand. She looked over to see a text from Killian.

'Goodnight, love. Don't let the bed bugs bite.'

It brought a smile to her face as she typed out her response. 'Night, handsome. Sweet dreams.' When she read over it, she paused on the word 'handsome.' She didn't want to come off to strong, so she went back and deleted the word so the message read, 'Night. Sweet dreams.' She sent it without another thought and drifted off to sleep.

In the morning, Emma got up to the sound of her alarm and got ready for school. She caught sight of the bruises left by Shawn yesterday. They were a sickening shade of a purple. Her eye was a little better, but it would still need plenty of makeup to cover the bruise entirely. Emma shoved her shirt over her head and discarded the rest of her clothes. She jumped in the shower.

Once she got to school, Emma was there before Killian was. It made her wonder why, because he was always earlier than she was. He rode the bus, so naturally he would be there before her. David walked in with Mary Margaret. They were holding hands as they walked together, but Emma paid no attention to the couple. She was looking for Killian. So many thoughts ran through her head. What if he wasn't going to show up today? What if he had tried to hurt himself again and was staying home to recover from it? When David and Mary Margaret sat down, Emma turned around and looked at them. They didn't seem to be upset, so that was a good sign, right?

"Where's Killian?" Emma asked.

David turned to her and smirked. "You're gonna love his new look."

"What?" Emma and Mary Margaret asked in unison. Then, next came Regina and Robin. They both sat down at the table, but didn't pay much attention to anything around them. They were too busy making out. "Where is he?" Emma asked.

"Where is who?" Robin asked, finally pulling away from Regina.

"Never mind." There was a sudden chatter throughout the room, and Robin and David both had smirks on their faces. Emma turned to the door and gasped. Her eyes almost popped out of her head. "Killian?"