Dad?

Thirteen

"Miss Blanchard?" Emma asked softly, tugging on her teachers cardigan to get her attention at the start of recess.
"Hi Emma." She smiled, kneeing down next to the little girl.
"Can I ask you a question?"
"Of course. You can ask me anything, you know that. What is it?"
"Are you my new mommy?"
Mary Margaret seemed taken back by the question. "No Emma. No, I'm not your mommy." She said softly.
"But the book. The book says you are. Because you're Snow White. So you're my mommy. And you and David love each other. So you're my mommy."
"Emma." Mary Margaret began softly, putting a soft hand on her shoulder. "I'm not your mommy. Emma, I can't be your mommy. You have a mommy, you just don't know her. But I can't be your mommy. I'm your teacher."
"But you're my David's true love!"
"No, I'm your daddies friend. Emma, I'm not your mommy. Do you understand that?"
"No!" Emma shouted upset, running out of the classroom. She ran out into the street, and started running home.
"Which way?" She asked to herself. "I don't know the way." She said softly, beginning to cry.
"Excuse me. Excuse me." She said quietly to passers by. "Excuse me I'm lost." She whispered crying, so quiet that no one heard her.
"Hey. Hey, you're the Nolan girl, aren't you." A soft voice asked. Emma turned around, looking up to a tall man. He crouched down in front of her. She looked at him with wide eyes, scared and panicky and worried eyes, petrified of the new and unusual person. "Hey. Hey, it's okay. You're safe with me. I'm the Sheriff. I'm Graham. And you're Emma, aren't you? That's right, isn't it?"
Emma nodded slightly. "Where's your daddy Emma? Is he at home?"
Emma shook her head panicking.
"Okay. Okay. Emma, can you come with me? Can you do that?" He asked softly with kind eyes and a slight smile. "Emma you need to talk to me." He said softly. "Just a little bit? Please? I have cookies back at the sheriff station." He bargained.
Emma didn't respond, just looked at him with tears running down her cheeks. "Okay. Here's what we're going to do. You're going to come with me, okay? Just for a little bit, yeah?"
Emma nodded and took his out stretched hand. He walked her to the sheriffs station, only taking a few minutes.
"Right. Come on. Let's try and find your daddy. Is he daddy or dad or David?"
"David." Emma whispered, he thumb in her mouth.
"That's a start. That's a start." Graham nodded in approval. Emma looked at him, still scared. "You thirsty? Would you like a drink? What do you like to drink? I don't get many kids. Just Leroy."
"He's Grumpy." Emma said quietly.
Graham chuckled. "He is, isn't he."
"No, he's Grumpy the dwarf. From the story."
"Oh, really? That's cool." Graham nodded along, uninterested, figuring she was on about the Disney film. He wandered into the kitchen, Emma following him, clinging onto his hand, scared to let go. "You like juice?" He asked her. She nodded softly. He one-handedly poured some into a glass, and passed it to her.
"Careful. It's full." He warned as she drank from the large glass. Emma looked at him with big eyes as she drank some juice.
"Right kiddo. You need to talk to me. Okay?" Emma nodded. "Right. Okay. You sit up here." He said, picking her up and sitting her onto the table. He sat on his tall chair, looking the little girl in the eyes.
"Do you know David's phone number?"
Emma shook her head.
"Why aren't you in school? Who's your teacher?" Graham asked softly.
"Miss Blanchard." She whispered.
"Why aren't you with Miss Blanchard? Why aren't you in school?"
"I got sad so I ran away."
"Do you understand that that was wrong Emma? That you can't run away?"
Emma nodded sadly. "Okay kid. I'm gonna phone your school and tell them you're safe. Then I'll get your daddy's... David's phone number. And we can call him to get him to pick you up."
"Can I walk home with you? Now?"
"No. Your... David has to pick you up. Okay. You stay here. Okay?"
Emma nodded, and Graham walked over to the phone, dialling the school. He came back ten minutes later. "Okay, David will be here very soon. You've worried a lot of people, Young Emma Nolan."
"I'm Emma Swan, not Emma Nolan." Emma whispered quietly.
"Oh yeah. Sorry about that. Sorry sweetheart."
Emma sat in silence for a few minutes. "What are these for?" She asked quietly, picking up an ink pad.
"That's for taking people's fingerprints. These, look. At the end of your finger." He explained kindly, carefully taking Emma's hand and pointing at one of her fingertips. "Here." He said, pressing her finger down into the ink pad and pressing it onto a piece of paper.
"Woah. I didn't know six year olds got their run away crimes documented." David chuckled slightly from the doorway, joking. Emma scrambled down from the table and ran to David, hugging his waist.
"I'm sorry." She cried softly. "I'm so sorry. I was bad. I was naughty. Are you sending me away?" She sobbed.
"Oh no no no. No Emma. I'm not sending you away. I'll never send you away. Miss Blanchard told me what happened. And you just got upset."
"Will I see her tonight?"
"No Emma. Me and Miss Blanchard aren't going to see each other very much any more."
"Because of me?"
"It's not good for me and your teacher to see each other all the time. Miss Blanchard is your teacher and your friend, but she can't be my friend too. And Emma, she can't be your mommy."
"Is that because I've been bad?"
"No. You've not been bad. You've never been bad. Its not your fault. It's just... She's your teacher, not your mommy. Do you understand that?"
"I think so."
"Okay. Okay. Sheriff Graham just needs to talk to me, okay?"
"Okay." Emma whispered in a small voice. David kissed the top of her head and walked into the office with Graham.
"What happened?" David asked worried.
"I was walking out on patrol, and I saw her really distressed on the street, crying, looking lost. So I went across and talked to her. She wouldn't talk back, until she told me that she calls you David. She was so scared of me."
"She doesn't like new people. I guess that comes from six years of foster homes. She gets really scared and really shy."
"Poor kid. She was going on about some book. Saying Leroy was Grumpy the dwarf."
"Yeah. Yeah, she's going through some strange phase where she thinks everyone is a character in her book."
"It's probably a coping mechanism. From the sounds of it she's had a pretty shit life so far. Don't worry about it."
"Yeah. That's what Mary Margaret said."
"Mary Margaret?" Graham asked with raised eyebrows. "Her teacher?"
"Yeah. We were dating."
"Okay. None of my business. Go on, take your kid home."
They both left the office, and before David and Emma left the Sherif station Emma left go of David's hand and ran over to Graham.
She gave him a tight hug, then whispered, "thank you for the juice. And thank you for letting me play with the thumb prints."
"That's absolutely fine. Now remember, if you ever need anything, then you can come to me. You can come here, yeah?"
"Yeah." Emma whispered, before running back to David, where he picked her up and cuddled her.
"Let's go home. Yeah? No more running away." David said softly.
"Yeah."
David wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tighter. Holding her in his arms, refusing to let go.

Next update unless I get ten votes and five comments: Monday