Captain America: Professional Best Friend

Happy Birthday!

The next day Emma and Steve wake up and make their way back to the lodge to stake it out once more. Emma drives the truck down a small road, almost invisible to the untrained eye, that leads to the back of the property. After she parks the truck a mile from the lodge, she and Steve make the trek through the muddy terrain.

On multiple occasions, Emma almost slips and falls, so Steve decides to take her hand in his. He laces his fingers with hers and squeezes her hand with a small smile as he looks over at her to make sure it was okay. Seeing Emma's smile at the gesture fills Steve's heart with happiness, so grateful that he can finally hold her hand and comfort her as more than a friend.

After staking out the place and having SAM run multiple scans on the property, Emma and Steve decide that it would be safe to finally make the move into the lodge that day. The pair make their way to the motel to gather their few possessions before going back to the lodge to figure out their next steps.

When the pair arrive at the lodge, Emma gets out of the truck and slowly runs her hand along the sanded railing that lines the front stairs. Every other time Emma had been over since her grandparents' passing was just for the occasional checkup on the property and for Grammie's funeral, she had never really had time to be with her thoughts about the place, but now they were all bombarding her.

Emma stops her walk around the wrap-around porch to look out at the lake. Her mind is taken back to the day that she first moved in with her grandparents quite abruptly...

Thirteen-year-old Emma runs down the hall and into the linen closet in her grandparents' lodge. With shaking hands, she opens the secret door her grandfather had installed for her to escape from her father. She climbs down the ladder and runs through the hall to the attached storm shelter. Tears run down her face as she sits in the corner with her knees pulled to her chest.

Even though the shelter is a distance from the house, Emma can hear her father's shouting voice carrying on the wind outside. "Tell me where my daughter went, old man!"

Gramps raises his voice right back, asking, "Why? So you can take her back to that shack you're living in and just abandon her like you always do?"

"The little bitch stole Teresa's car to get here! She needs to learn her place!"

"You are not laying a finger on her, Derrick!"

"Tell me where she is!"

Emma doesn't hear the rest of the conversation over her crying, but what she misses is her grandfather saying in a low voice to her mother and father, "You two need to leave. Right now. Before I call the authorities to remove you."

All Emma hears next is the slamming of a car door and the screeching of tires. About ten minutes pass, and Emma waits to make sure the coast is clear before she comes back out of the shelter.

Meanwhile outside, Derrick and Teresa speed away from the lodge, not paying attention to their surroundings as they drive. As they make the turn out of the driveway of the property, they fail to see a semi-truck speeding down the road and get hit. When they hear the noise, Gail and Dave make their way to the site of the crash to see what the source was.

When they see the truck stopped and the mangled car in front of it, Gail covers her mouth in shock. As much as she hated how the two treated Emma, that was still her daughter in that car and now she was gone... "Gail, get back to Emma. Make sure she's okay. I'll deal with this," Gramps tells Grammie, turning her away from the crash.

Back at the lodge, the door to the shelter opens and reveals to Emma her grandmother's tear-covered face. She climbs down the stairs and sits beside Emma, holding her in her arms. Gramps enters a little while later and sighs, shaking his head. He takes a seat beside Emma and Gail and puts his arm around them both.