Glass

Comeback

Casey had woken up during the night feeling sick so she had decided to go outside for a bit and get some air, on her way back to her room though she heard the sound of glass being shattered coming from Emma's room followed by a yell afterwards.  

Casey was really worried about Emma, she had been distant but very erratic the past few days which had been putting her on edge, Dennis had talked to her she knew that but he hadn't shared any details on what had been discussed, Dennis told her that he had needed time to process everything that had been said first so it must have been something big.

Another loud bang coming from her room shook her out of her thoughts as she walked closer to her room, something was obviously bothering her but as to what it was Casey was completely in the dark about it. She knocked on the door, hoping that Emma would answer.

"What!" Emma yelled in an aggressive tone she'd never used before, it startled Casey how different she sounded.

"Emma it's Casey, what's going on?" Casey asked trying to keep the growing fear out of her voice.

"Nothing I'm fine" Emma replied in a more reserved but strained voice

"Can I come in?"

"No, no don't do that" Emma said frantically

"Why not?" she asked

"I don't want you to see me like this" Emma responded dejectedly before Casey heard another thud before she heard her starting to sob uncontrollably.

Casey took a step closer to the door trying to decide what to do, she had no idea what was going on on the other side of the door but as she carried on listening to her friends desperate cries her heart started to break, Emma didn't deserve this, she was good, kind and caring, someone that good shouldn't have to deal with so much on their own.

"Emma I'm coming in" Casey said assertively as she ignored Emma's weak protests and opened the door to step inside.

The smell of whiskey hit her straight away and it took everything she had not to urge at the smell, she looked at Emma and understood why she didn't want Casey to see her. She was sitting with her back against the wall furthest from the door, her eyes were puffy and bloodshot , either from crying or drinking, probably both in this circumstance, and she had a cut on her left cheek and her usually neat shirt was crumpled and part of the collar was sticking up slightly on one side. Casey's attention though was drawn to one of Emma's hands which was swollen and red.  

"What happened?" Casey asked not impressed with the persistent antics Emma was pulling a the moment, Emma hid her hand away and huffed.

"Nothing I just hit a wall, wasn't my best decision" she scoffed "I did warn you not to come in" 

"Honestly did you really think I was going to walk away after hearing that?" Casey asked, edging a bit closer towards Emma "What's going on Emma?" she asked sitting opposite her as Emma took a shaky breath, wiping away her tears with her uninjured hand.

"Patricia visited me earlier" Emma whispered, the name made Casey's skin crawl and she felt a shiver go up her spine.

"And?" she asked patiently

"She wants me to convince Dennis to swear loyalty to The Beast" she chuckled hollowly before saying "Apparently we're making him soft and The Beast doesn't like that"  Casey leaned back not sure what to say to this.

"What happens if you don't?" 

"Then Dennis loses the light, you'll never see him again, I don't want that to happen but at the same time Dennis doesn't deserve to be forced into helping them with their evil plan" Emma mumbled "I feel like I'm fighting two battles...and neither of them can be won" she groaned defeated.

"Have you told Dennis yet?" 

Emma shook her head "I wouldn't know where to start, that and he'd be pissed if he found out I had a hidden bottle of alcohol" she said sheepishly.

"Where is it now?" Casey asked exasperated 

"The bottle is smashed on the floor, the whiskey itself....I drank it" Emma mumbled.

"I need you to sober up and then freshen yourself up a bit Emma, we need you" Casey pleaded with her, Emma looked at her with confusion

"look at me Casey, I'm a total mess and I can't control this, Why the hell would you need me?" Emma asked.

"Because we can't do this alone, do you really think Dennis can fight Patricia and The Beast alone?, he needs our help" Casey begged looking into Emma's light blue eyes which held so much pain and grief "We can get through this together" Casey whispered defiantly.

"I'm sorry...I just can't" Emma said shaking her head, Casey grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her to look at me.

"Yes you can, I need the detective I first met, the one that wasn't afraid to go up against my Uncle even if it meant getting hurt, the one that stood up to The Beast alone even after seeing what he could do, I know how guilty you feel about losing your family once, but right now you have a chance to save this one, don't let it happen again" Casey pleaded.

Emma nodded a small smile appearing on her face as she sniffled and wiped her eyes again, before pulling Casey into an unexpected hug, which she gladly returned.

"Do you really mean that?" Emma mumbled

"Of course I do" Casey confirmed

"Thank you Casey, that means a lot" Emma whispered.

"No problem, you would have done the same for us, so what's the plan?" Casey asked hopeful that Emma would be back to her usual self soon enough.

Emma took a deep breath before saying "Well first I'm gonna freshen up, then I will talk to Dennis about this but I will not stop until he is free of The Beast's control no matter how long that will take" she said a bit of her old confidence seeping back into her voice as she spoke, before jumping up and heading to the shower. 

Casey smiled as she watched her friends usual energy start to come back, she may not be there yet but Emma Price was definitely making a comeback.