Chapter Text
“You’re pregnant! Emma, you’re pregnant! Do you know what hell of a mess you’re in?”
Emma ignores August, continuing to walk away from him. Her foster brother –who she hasn’t even seen since she was nine- has just recently bailed out Emma. Why was Emma getting bailed out? Because Neal, her boyfriend (or rather, ex-boyfriend), decided to frame her for a job he did long ago. August had somehow founded her, and being the big brother that he was, saved her ass.
The pregnancy thing was really a slip up on her part. It started when August asked her who she was with for the last year or so. Emma mentioned she was with a boyfriend. August…didn’t seem to be as shock about it as she thought she would.
Then he explained why. August found Neal walking, and August decided it would be great to tackle and confront him.
Turns out that after August got out of the system, he traveled around the United States before settling down and finding a job (a writer, which if Emma remembers correctly, something he love to do when he was younger). When he came back to find Emma though, she was gone.
So August spend the last two years looking for her. And he found her with Neal. It was safe to say that August didn’t approve of their relationship. It was also safe to say that Emma didn’t approve of August not approving of their relationship.
“I’m grown-up August!” Emma shouted to him when he told he ‘black mailed’ him to end their relationship. “I could make my own damn choices!”
“And you choose to become a criminal! I didn’t make a promise to my old man to let the Savior become a petty thief!” August yelled back to her.
Emma groans with frustration. August’s love of writing also stems from the fact that he’s obsessed with fairy tales. Emma and August were both abandon by their parents on the same night, and according to some of the therapists that August was with when he was younger, used fairy tales to cope with the trauma. Unfortunately, what they failed to realize was that the coping turn into a full out delusion. August believed Emma was the Savior, and it was his job to help her find her family and save the Enchanted Forest from a curse created by an evil queen.
August more or less left Emma at nine when people thought it was time to get him help.
“Please don’t tell me your black mail involved the curse thing,” begged Emma, hoping that she was wrong. Emma got a few letters from August when she was still in the system, and it seemed as if he got over the delusion by himself. However, what he said to her just moments ago made her think otherwise.
“Of course I did! Once I explained to him what happened, he understood what you need to do and agreed to my terms,” said August, looking puzzled for some reason. “Actually, Neal seemed like he was preparing for my ambush, since he knew my real name when I confronted him.”
“That’s because I told him about you! He knew that I had a brother who thinks he’s Pinocchio and is from another world! Neal only agreed to your black mail because he wanted to get away from you!” shouted Emma. “I guess that meant he had to screw me over then! Worse, I’m going to be stuck raising his kid because of you!”
There’s the slip up.
As August ranted to her in the background about how she got pregnant (“Did you guys use protection at all?”), she got into the yellow bug Neal left for her (thanks Neal), driving off to whatever she can go (along with an envelope of cash she found on the dashboard). Just as long she can get away from her brother and the delusion that ruined his life.
Drinking hours were over, so Neal had to leave the bar. While the man misses Emma, Neal realized she had a job –a mission– to do, and Neal didn’t want to get in the way. It was the only way that it could help atone for his father’s mistake (how did August learn his father made the curse, Neal never asked. He was just shock that August knew his real name: Baelfire).
Neal, while not having a good time, honestly was having an okay moment of tranquility before August came up to him like a bolt from the blue, and punched him across the face. Hard.
“Jesus! Is this how we’re going to greet each other from now on?” asked Neal, rubbing his jaw trying to soothe the pain.
“Emma’s pregnant, asshole.”
Neal gave August him a wide eye look. Well, that explains the punch.
“Please tell me you used protection and didn’t know about it, or else I’ll do much worse.”
“We did! I swear!” Neal waves both of his hands in the air. “And I didn’t know about Emma!”
August eventually handed him a water bottle (thank God for convenient vending machines). The two sat down next to each other on the curb. Neal places the water bottle onto his face. The cold sensation felt good; it eases the pain big time.
“I’m sorry about the punch,” apologized August, avoiding eye contact with Neal. He must have been guilty about his action.
“It’s okay. I would have punched myself if it I was in your position,” said Neal, trying to lighten up the mood. “What’s Emma going to do with the kid?”
“I don’t know,” admitted August. “She drove off in the yellow punch after I confronted her. She only just found out herself a week before I got her out. That was almost eight months ago.”
“And you haven’t seen her since,” finished Neal. “Let’s hope that the kid doesn’t end up in this tangled up mess.”
(Of course, we all know that the kid does end up in this tangled up mess.)