The next couple nights Neal appears again in the back yard. She doesn’t open the window again, but that doesn’t stop him from telling her he loves her. Emma ignores him. Whenever he comes by after that first night she tells her parents. Everytime David grabs his shotgun and when he gets to the backyard Neal is gone.
One night, Emma pads downstairs in her purple, fuzzy slippers for a glass of water. She enters the kitchen and flicks the light on. Emma gasps and stops in her tracks. Neal is sitting at her kitchen table like he owns the damn place. Emma slowly backs into the wall. How did he get in here? The house is locked tight every night.
“Wondering how I got in here? The lock on our back door is easy to pick.”
“You need to leave,” Emma says through her teeth.
“We need to talk,” he says calmly. Emma wants to run away, but she doesn’t know what he will do. She just shakes her head. He pulls out a knife. Her heart beat quickens.
“Sit. Now.” He demands. She sits in the farthest seat from him.
“You scream and I will hurt you with this,” He threatens as he waves the knife. He keeps the knife in his right hand.
“What I did to you was inexcusable. I know, but after I left I realized how lost I am without you. I need you. I will do anything to make it up to you. I’ll do whatever you need me to do,” he pleads.
“Anything?” She asks with a raised eyebrow.
“Anything your heart desires,” He smiles. What a cheesy line. like that would work on her. She examines his face. He really believes that she will forgive him. Boy, is he in for a rude awakening.
“Leave,” Emma states. He drops the knife and looks shocked. Did he really think this begging bullshit would work on her? What an idiot.
“What?” his tone unbelieving. She stands.
“You heard me. Leave and never come back. That’s what you can do for me. It’s what I need.” He stands and moves toward her. She tenses. He had left the knife on the table, but she knows he doesn’t need that to hurt her. All her defense training has gone out the window now that Neal is in front of her.
“Please, don’t tell me to leave,” he moves his hand up to her face. Before it can even reach its mark Emma slaps his hand away.
“You lost the right to touch me,” she growls. All the blood rushes to his face and he starts breathing heavy. In return he slaps her. She stumbles back into the wall.
“I do what I want. You should know that by now.” He grabs her shirt and punches her in the eye. She needs to alert her parents. She lets out a blood curdling scream. He punches her again and this causes her to fall to the floor. He gets on top of her and continually punches her. All her efforts against him are useless. Nothing she seems to do affects him. Emma can taste the blood in her mouth. Finally David arrives and pulls Neal off Emma. David punches Neal. Neal stumbles into the kitchen table. David ensures he is between Neal and Emma. Neal sees this and picks up the knife. He fends off David with the knife.
“You can’t protect her and fight me, old man. I’m going to leave, but I’ll be back,” Neal says as he backs out of kitchen. He sprints out of the house and into the night.
David rushes to Emma’s side. Her lip and eyebrow is cut. She has bruises forming on her left eye and jaw. Tears are streaming down her face.
“Is he gone?” She groans.
“He is gone. We need to get you to a hospital.” David says and she nods. Mary Margaret runs in she gasps when she sees her daughter.
“Oh my god. That monster. I’ll go start the car,” She says as she runs out. David slowly helps Emma up. They walk out to the car. David drives like a bat out of hell. Emma wipes away the tears. No more tears over Neal. He simply isn’t worth it.
“Emma, what happened?” Mary Margaret asks frantically. Emma sighs and tells her parents everything that happened. When she is finished telling them what happened Emma can see the tears pool in her mom’s eyes. Before she can comment on it they pull up to the emergency room. Emma and Mary Margaret hop out, and David parks the car. They are attended to by a nurse. She cleans Emma up, and puts a butterfly stitch on her eyebrow. Now they are waiting for the doctor to come and release Emma. Her mother was silent, giving Emma time to think.
Killian was right. She couldn’t do this on her own. She proved that tonight when she froze in front of Neal. Why didn’t she hit him? She just stood there like a deer in headlights. She wanted Killian by her side telling her that it will be okay and he will beat the shit out of Neal. She shouldn’t have pushed him away. Why was she so stupid? Finally, a guy comes along, who is nice and cares about her, and she just shoved him to the side. A guy who wanted to protect her.
Since she broke it off with him they had only exchanged a few glances in the hallway and lunch room. He never looked angry with her. Just worried. It broke her heart in a million pieces. Only if he knew how much she needed him.
Emma begins to cry again in the hospital. It shocks her parents a little bit. They hug her and try to comfort her. They think this is about Neal, but it isn’t. She finally stops the tears and wipes them away once again.
Shortly after the doctor comes in and declares that Emma doesn’t have a concussion, they go home. The car ride home is silent. When they get home, they all go to bed.
A day later there is quite the argument on whether or not Emma has to go to school. Mary Margaret and Emma are in Emma’s room.
“Emma you have to go to school. Its the law,” Mary Margaret says wearily.
“Not when I’m sick. I don’t have to!” Emma says exasperated. She can’t believe her mother is trying to make her go.
“You’re not sick and you have pain killers. You didn’t go to school yesterday. You have to go today.”
“You want everyone to see me like this? The bruises are worse. I can’t hide them with make up.”
“You are going to school and that’s final. If you really don’t feel well you can come home at lunch. Deal?” She asks. Emma reluctantly nods.
“Good. Now get ready.” Her mother orders then slams the door. Emma flinches. She plops down on the bed. Killian is going to see her like this and know he is right. He will lose it when he sees her. Hopefully she can avoid him. She goes to the mirror and sighs. There is just absolutely no way she can hide the bruises. She grabs jeans, tank top, and a cardigan. She pulls them on and heads to the bathroom. She applies mascara and eyeliner. She brushes out her hair and heads down stairs.
When she arrives at school no one tries to hide that they are talking about her. She hears gasps up and down the hallway when she walks by. This is way worse than she thought. She already wants to go back home. She gets close to her locker and sees Killian. He is pacing in front of her locker. His back is faced to her at the moment. She stops. What does he want to talk about? She wasn’t very nice to him. He turns and sees her. He looks taken aback. She walks toward him.
“I just heard the news, love,” this causes her to smile. She missed being called that. She missed him.
“If I had found out I would have come by yesterday. It was him, wasn’t it?” He asks. Emma nods. He snaps and gets so angry.
“I can’t believe he would do such an awful thing.To you of all people,” he says as he clenches his fists. What the hell was that supposed to mean?
“To me of all people?” Emma asks. He looks a little shocked by her question.
“Just that I could never imagine hurting anyone I loved the way he hurts you. Do you know how badly I want to go teach him a lesson? He doesn’t deserve you,” he says softly as he looks at his feet.
“Of course he doesn’t. Not like he has me anyway,” His head snaps up.
“But I thought…” he trails off. Emma cocks her head to one side. She looks like a confused puppy. He looks down at his hands.
“You thought what?” Emma asks severely confused. He messes with his hands. She stills his hands with hers. He looks her in the eye.
“I thought that you told me off because you were going to get back with him.” Her jaw drops to the ground. What?
“No, never. Killian, never in a million years would I get back together with him. No. That was never any option,” She states.
“Then why did you push me away? Emma I was trying to help you. Maybe if I had been there this wouldn’t have happened,” he raises his voice. Then the bell rings. They look at each other this so isn’t over. She grabs his hand.
“Come on. Lets go hide in the library. No way in hell I could go to math right now.” He chuckles and nods. They head off to the library still holding hands. They head to the corner of the library and pretend to be looking at books.
“I pushed you away because I didn’t want you getting hurt. Look at my face. If something actually started with us Neal would kill you. He is a crazy, jealous bastard,” Emma whispers.
“I don’t care. I was worried about you these last few days. I wanted to protect you. When someone told me you went to the hospital last night I lost it. I knew he was the one to do this to you and the thought of anyone hurting you killed me,” he whispers back. She stands there in awe for a few seconds. No one had ever cared about her like that. With the exception of her parents. They continue to stare at one another. Emma pulls Killian towards her and kisses him. He surprised at first, then he wraps his arms around her waist and lifts her off the ground. He deepens the kiss and sets her back on the ground. She opens her mouth and allows his tongue to slide in.
“NO KISSING,” the librarian shrieks. Emma and Killian jump apart. He grabs her hand and they walk briskly out of the library. They burst into laughter as soon as the door to the library shuts.
“I should probably get to class,” Emma mumbles. Killian nods.
“I’ll take you to class,” They walk in silence. When they reach her math class he kisses her forehead.
“Lunch?” He asks Emma. She smiles and nods. He smiles and she walks into class.