The Truth of the Matter

The Day I Found You

24 Weeks

I had an appointment at eleven. It was currently 10:15.

"Killian, come on. We're going to be late."

"Five more minutes," he mumbles into the pillow.

I roll my eyes and get up to find something to eat. I didn't have time to fix an actual breakfast so I rummage around through the cabinets to see what I can scrounge up. I can't say that I blame him for wanting to sleep in, he didn't get home until two this morning. Either way, he better get up or else I'll have to do something drastic to get him up.

I continue making breakfast as he sleeps. I sigh in frustration. I know he needs sleep, but for crying out loud. I hate pregnancy hormones. I march up the stairs, ignoring the pain in my legs, and into the bedroom, roughly pulling the covers off him.

"What was that for?" He grumbles.

"Get your ass out of bed. We have an appointment in half an hour. You can sleep later," I snap, stalking back out the door, slamming it roughly, and heading back to the kitchen and grumpily eat my breakfast.

He comes down the stairs a few minutes later and kisses my head before grabbing his food.

"Sorry, love. It'd been a long night," he says gently.

"I know. I'm sorry. I hate these freakin hormones," I say begrudgingly.

"It'll be over soon, love."

"I'm surprised you're still here," I admit. "You'd have to be stupid to stay with me. I'm nothing but a broken mess and not worth--"

He breaks my rambling with a kiss to my lips, causing me to jerk back a little, surprised.

"You are worth the world, Emma. Mood swings are not going to scare me off. I'm here to stay, for you. For our children. I'm not going to leave you."

The appointment went well and all of us were doing as we should. I wasn't going back in till next week and Killian had the rest of the day off, so he suggested we walk through the park. I agreed. It was a nice fall day, around 65 degrees. Perfect for relaxing.

As we walked through the park, we saw children playing, parents laughing, and listened to music. Even had hot dogs and ice cream. It was a perfect day.

It wasn't until we were getting ready to leave the park that things got interesting.

There were a group of children playing on one of the playgrounds. They were having fun, laughing and running around. All except for one.

He was sitting alone, a few children seeming to pick at him. The kid shrank in on himself, and I felt sorry for him. I knew what that was like and I couldn't stop myself from going over there.

"Hey, don't you have anything better to do?" I ask the children sternly.

"Why should we listen to you?" One of he older boys asks me.

I decide to scare them a little and show them my badge.
"Police."

They scattered then.

"Are you alright?" I ask the boy.

He doesn't answer, just keeps looking down at the ground.

"I won't hurt you."

He still doesn't respond, so I try I different approach. I look over to see Killian looking curiously in our direction.

"I know how it feels to be bullied and pushed around."

"No you don't. You're a police officer. You don't know anything about me," he responds sharply. He was tough for a kid, I'd give him that.

"I was an orphan. I was never wanted and I was always pushed around. Nobody wanted to be friends with me. I grew up way before I should have. No one should have to go through what I did. How old are you?"

"Eleven."

"You're tough for only being eleven."

"But I just let them bully me," he says.

"But you're not weak. It takes a lot of strength to deal with that kind of thing. Trust me, I know. I'm not going to tell you to fight back, as that would only cause problems. I want you to learn to stand up for yourself. Believe in yourself. You can be anything you want to be. Don't let them get to you. They're just scared. You are a strong kid and you deserve the world. What's your name?" I ask gently.

He looks up at me and I'm immediately taken aback.

"Henry."

His eyes are exactly like Neal's. He looks so similar, but he has my nose, my chin. It can't be. Please, don't let it be.

He seems to sense something is wrong.

"Are you alright?" He asks, his eyebrows furrowing in concern.

"I'm fine," I respond tightly.

"No, you're not."

And he's got the lie detector, too. This is just great.

"Come on kid, let's get you back to your group."

"Do I have to go back there? All the other kids hate me."

Those words tore through my heart. I never thought I would see my son and any picture I'd thought up was nothing like this.

"No. You're not going back there," I say adamantly.

I stand up and take his hand and walk over to the adults that are with them.

"What is the meaning of this?" I demand.

"Meaning of what?" One of them responds sarcastically.

"Why is he being bullied and it goes unfixed?"

"Oh, he was being bullied?" The same one smarts back.

"That's it. I'm taking my son home and the rest of these children will be put in proper shelters and I will see you arrested," I ground out.

"You can't do that," she threatens.

"Oh, I can," I say back, flashing my badge. My anger has taken over, and the hormones have only made it worse, but at this point I don't care.

I see her eyes widen and the other adults become fidgety. I'd cornered them.

"Killian, take the kids away," I tell him. He does as I say. He knows not to mess with me now.

I call the police and they take the women into custody and Robin calls his wife, knowing she could find a place for them to stay. I tell the other officers what all that had happened and they allow me to take Henry with me, but I still had to do testing to ensure he was my son.

I went over to Killian, who was talking and laughing with Henry and he hugged me. He knew I needed it.

"Hey, kid. You wanna go home with Killian and I?"

"Really?" He asks happily.

"Really, kid. You are going to stay with us now."

He hugs me fiercely and I hold him tightly.

I would never let him go again.