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justanoutlawfic · 6 years

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Our Girl: Chapt. 9

Story Summary: The Lost Get Found remix. Mary Margaret and David Nolan have been fostering 6-year-old Emma for a year now. They love her and have been working on adopting her. Things get messy, however, when Emma’s aunt re-enters the picture. Will they be able to keep the little girl they love more than life itself? Or lose her forever?

Chapter Summary: Both parties get news about the case that shake them to their core. Mary Margaret and David face the reality that they could lose Emma. Ingrid takes a look back on her life with Helga.

Also on AO3

Ingrid shifted from one foot to the other, trying to not be nervous. She knew that David and Mary Margaret had reported the Kelly incident, not so much to hurt her, but to protect themselves. If it came out that Emma had come to them and they didn’t say anything, it could look bad on their end. Yet, she was the one being called into the judge’s chambers just a few days later. What did he possibly want from her? Was he going to say that he changed his mind? That he was going to give full custody to them after all?

Why did that bring her such comfort?

“Ms. Fischer.” Ingrid looked up at the secretary’s beckon. “Sidney Glass will see you now.”

Ingrid got up, straightening her skirt before walking into the office. Sidney Glass was a tall man with piercing brown eyes that could make anyone feel intimidated. He shook Ingrid’s hand before sitting back down behind his desk.

“Hello, Ms. Fischer.”

“Your honor.” Ingrid swallowed. “I’m assuming that Helen reported what the Nolans told her.”

“That they did.” Sidney rubbed his eyes. “This case is very trying. I’m trying to decide what’s best for Emma’s benefit, but it seems she regresses every time she sees her former foster parents.”

Ingrid nodded. “I think this whole thing has just been very hard on her.”

“It’s why I’m going to be revoking the final visitation from the Nolans.”

Ingrid sat up straight in her seat. “Excuse me?”

“They only seem to upset Emma.”

“She…she loves them. Your honor, this visit is what she has been looking forward to.”

“I need a time period where she hasn’t been with them to make my choice. Right now, it’s a lot of back and forth.”

“If you take them from her, she’s going to lose it.”

“In all fairness, Ms. Fischer, is that not what you’re trying to do?” She fell silent. “I’m not here to cast judgement on you. You, by law, have every right to sue for custody.”

“Right. Right.”

“I’ll be contacting the Nolans after we finish speaking.”

“I’m assuming it’s up to me tell Emma?”

“You want to be her guardian, it’s in your court.”

Ingrid cringed before standing up and walking out of the office. This was the last outcome that she wanted. Emma already hated her, this wasn’t going to help anything. How was she supposed to break this to her?

Mary Margaret let the phone hit the receiver and turned to look at her husband. She could remember the day that they were never going to have a baby. It was before the miscarriage that they would find out that was their one in a millionth shot. David had been so strong, stoic. He held Mary Margaret in his arms and let her cry. He barely showed any emotion himself, to the point that it worried her.

Then that night, he had broken down in tears. He had gone in the bathroom so she wouldn’t hear, but she could anyway. She went in and wrapped her arms around him, letting him lean on her for a change. She worried for weeks that he’d leave her and yet, he never once left her side. He told her that it wasn’t her fault and that he loved her. He never blamed her, yet he found a way to mourn.

Emma had been their miracle, one that she had vowed to him they wouldn’t lose and after this call from the judge, she was pretty sure that they were going to.

They hadn’t allowed their minds to go there, to really commit to that they could lose her, but she could read it in the judge’s tone.

“Emma is just far too attached to the two of you. I can’t make my decision as long as she sees you.”

God, it was enough to make her want to break down.

She walked over to David, who was having his breakfast and wrapped her arms around his torso, resting her chin on his shoulder. “Do you remember that cabin we went to? Our pre-honeymoon before we could go on our real one?”

David nodded. “Yeah.”

“Let’s go there this weekend.”

“We have to see Emma.”

She didn’t say anything and he craned his head to look at her, she could see the happiness leave his eyes.

“Unless we can’t.”

“That was the judge,” she whispered. “Until he makes his decision, we cannot see Emma.”

David shut his eyes. “God.”

“He says we’re factoring her emotions too much, that maybe some time apart will do us all good.”

“We’re already spending time apart.”

“I know.”

“What’s going to happen if we lose her?”

Mary Margaret pulled away from him and sat beside him, taking his hand. She rand her thumb over his ring finger, feeling the cool silver band beneath her grip.

Before she could respond, David kept talking. “Mare…if we lose…we’ll fight. You know? We’ll run appeal, after appeal.”

“Of course we will.”

“But I don’t think I can ever do this again. The miscarriage, it hurt. But this…I don’t think I could ever be a father again if we lost her for good.”

Mary Margaret nodded. “I know,” she whispered.

“Is that going to be enough for you? Just me?”

“You’ve always been enough.”

“I’m sorry, Mare.”

“Don’t be. I get it. If we lose Emma…there’s no way I’d ever be able to look at another child the same way.”

For once, neither of them added “But we won’t lose her.”

They were starting to accept the fact that it was their reality. They’d fight like hell for Emma, until their dying breaths. However, at the end of the day, there wasn’t a whole lot they could do about it.

They could lose their little girl forever.

Ingrid watched as Emma played with her toys in the living room. She had tried to talk to her about the other night, but Emma was pretty quiet. She apologized for running away, but deep down, Ingrid knew that she wasn’t really sorry and she couldn’t blame her.

“Emma.” The little girl looked up at her. “I wanna show you something.” She patted the empty spot on the couch next to her. Emma tilted her head but then walked over, climbing on up.

“What’s that?” Emma asked, pointing at a box in her aunt’s lap.

“These are the few things I have left from when I was your age,” she explained, softly. “From when your mom and I were little.”

“You didn’t know Mary Margaret.”

Ingrid sighed. “I mean your birth mom, Helga.” She reached into the box and pulled out a doll made from yarn. “We used to make these.”

“It’s weird looking.”

She chuckled. “I suppose so. It was something fun for us to do. Your mom’s were much better. See?” She pulled out one that Helga had made.

Emma looked through the box before pulling out a swan keychain. “What’s that?”

“That was Helga’s. She stole it from a store we visited when we went on vacation once. Our dad found out and boy was he mad…he…” Ingrid trailed off, clenching her teeth at the memory. “He wasn’t the best guy.”

“Like Ed?”

“Yeah. He was a lot like Ed.”

Emma was quiet for a moment, looking around in the box. She found a polaroid picture of her aunt and biological mother, standing side by side. Helga had a tear stained face and Ingrid was barely smiling. Ingrid could remember her mother insisting they took a picture, even though the girls didn’t want to. They were screamed at and posed a million different ways before Helga was crying and Ingrid wanted the earth to swallow them whole.

“You guys were a lot like me,” Emma said, sagely.

Ingrid nodded. “We were. I always tried to protect Helga, but I never could. Even when she met Ed, I tried, but she didn’t listen and well…” She trailed off before smiling and touching Emma’s chin. “You came.”

“Did my mommy love me?”

It was the first time Emma had referred to Helga as her mother since Ingrid had gotten reconnected with her. “Oh, Emma. Of course she did. She tried so hard, she really did, to be a good mom.”

“But she wasn’t, not really.”

“No.”

“I didn’t have a mommy until Mary Margaret.”

Ingrid bit her lip. “You miss her, huh?”

“Yeah. David too, they’re my family.”

“Do you think we could ever be a family?”

Emma was quiet for a minute. This was the most serious Ingrid had seen her and she didn’t want to rock the boat. For the first time since she started living with her, she wasn’t screaming or crying. She was talking to Ingrid like they used to.

“When I lived with Ed and Helga, you’d come around sometimes,” Emma said, slowly. “You were my auntie and we had fun.”

“We did, didn’t we?”

“So, if I lived with Mary Margaret and David, then we could still be a family, right? They’d be my mommy and daddy, you’d be my auntie. All of us could be a family, Nana too. She’d like you lots.”

Ingrid felt her breath catch. The way Emma put it made it seem so simple, could it really be that simple? Could she really give Emma back and honor her sister’s memory?

“Is that what you’d want? For me to just be your aunt?”

“I like you better as an auntie then a mommy.”

Ingrid felt the tears gather in her eyes. She remembered something Emma had told her once, back before Helga had died. Helga packed their bags and they went on “vacation”. They stayed in a motel 5 minutes away from the house and apparently, Helga had said that they were leaving Boston, they’d go someplace where it was warm and sunny. She hadn’t been drinking her “grown up juice” or taking funny looking vitamins, in Emma’s words.

Then Ed showed up. Helga told Emma to hide in the bathroom. There was lots of screaming and then crying (from Helga). A half hour later, the door opened and Ed scooped her up. Helga looked different, she had a handprint on her face. The drinking started up again and she was taking the “vitamins”.

Two weeks later, Emma came home from pre-school. Helga was laying on the floor, a needle in her arm. Her eyes were rolled into the back of her head and she didn’t wake up, no matter how many times Emma shook her. Ingrid came by and told her to go to her room.

Her sister had almost gotten away and the guilt that she was so close, yet so far would never leave Ingrid.

Still, she was starting to wonder if she was doing to Emma what Ed had to Helga. Sure, she wasn’t abusive. She’d never dream of touching a hair on Emma’s head. Yet, Emma didn’t want to be there and Ingrid wasn’t entirely sure if she wanted her there. Emma was right, things were so much different when she was just Emma’s aunt.

Emma had found a place, warm and sunny. She was with people that didn’t take funny vitamins and probably only drank their “grown up juice” on special occasions. They’d never hit her or mistreat her. They’d give her all the love in the world.

Ultimately, that was what Helga always wanted.

And who was Ingrid to deprive her sister of her dying wish?

Mary Margaret and David were curled up on the couch together, watching a movie. Nana sat by their feet, not moving or saying a word. Another quiet night in a household meant for noise and laughter. They would fight to bring it back, they would put up all they had and not give up until they couldn’t stand anymore.

There was a knock at their door and Mary Margaret gave her husband an odd look. They paused the movie and got up from the couch, heading to the entry way. When they opened the door, they found Emma on the other side. She was beaming up at them.

“Mommy! Daddy!”

She threw her arms around Mary Margaret’s legs and she picked her up, kissing the top of her head. David put his hand on the back of his daughter’s head, checking her for injuries.

“Emma, what are you doing here? I thought we told you…”

“It’s okay, I’m with her.”

They looked up to find Ingrid standing there, holding two duffel bags and a backpack. This only further confused them.

“What’s going on?” Mary Margaret asked. “I thought the judge said we couldn’t see her until he made his choice.”

“The judge isn’t the only one who can decide this for Emma, I can.” Tears were filling up in her eyes. “And I’ve decided…” Her voice started to break, but she cleared her throat. “I’ve decided Emma’s best chance is to be adopted by you two.”

David and Mary Margaret’s eyes widened. This had to be some kind of trick. Nana ran into the room and Emma wiggled out of her mother’s arms, racing over to her dog to play. Mary Margaret and David stepped forward, Ingrid handing the bags over to the latter.

“I don’t…I don’t understand,” Mary Margaret tilted her head. “I thought you said your sister…”

“My sister wanted Emma to be happy and well taken care of. Which I know she is here.” She looked back at her niece, who was happily playing with her dog, before looking back at Mary Margaret and David. “She needs parents and I’m better off as her aunt…if you’ll let me.”

“Of course. It’s just…” She looked over at her husband.

“If you do this,” David said “There’s no going back.”

“Oh, I know.” Ingrid smiled at them. “It’s why I’m doing this. I already told Helen and tomorrow, my case will be dropped. I’ve agreed to sign whatever papers I need to, so you two can adopt her.”

She turned on her heel and started walking to her car. Mary Margaret stood in shock for a moment, before chasing out after her.

“Ingrid!”

Ingrid turned around. “What?”

“I just…thank you.”

She threw her arms around her and for a moment, Ingrid stood in place, before finally wrapping her arms around her.

“We’re going to take good care of her,” Mary Margaret mumbled. “I promise.”

“I know, I know.”

“And you’re always going to be in her life.”

Ingrid nodded. “Good, because she’s a pretty special little girl.”

Mary Margaret wiped the tears that fell from her eyes. “She is.”

Ingrid got in her car and drove off. Mary Margaret turned back to the house and found her husband playing with Emma and Nana. She raced up the steps and dropped down next to her daughter, running her hands through her curls.

“So, baby,” she whispered. “What should we do tonight? Anything you want, sky’s the limit.”

Emma was quiet for a minute before grinning from ear to ear. “Movie night, with lots of popcorn and chocolate.”

David chuckled, lifting Emma into his arms and kissing her cheek. “I knew you’d say that. Come on, Princess. Let’s go get the snacks ready.”

The two walked into the kitchen and Nana laid her head on Mary Margaret’s lap. Mary Margaret stroked the dog’s thick fur.

“Hey girl,” she whispered. “We’re a family again.”

#our girl verse #snowing #snowing au #charming family #charming family au #mama snow #mama snow au #daddy charming #daddy charming au #tw: domestic violence #tw: past abuse

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