Flashpoint 1. Chapter 1

Standing beside the last car in the parking lot of Toronto's SRU Police headquarters, a nervous looking girl of about thirteen shifted from foot to foot looking at her bouncy friend just ahead of her.

"Are you sure this is a good idea Jackie? I mean, what if he gets mad or something?"

Jackie swung round with a small groan and looked at the other with a mix of impatience and empathy.

She responded with "Oh come on Emma! We've planned this so well, and been going over this for at least two months. You go in, give your step dad's last name instead of your real one. He hasn't seen you in eight years and you look a lot different, the chances of him recognizing you are slim at best! Anyhow, this way you can see what he's like before officially introducing yourself...you know, the whole reason we are here?"

"But what if you get in trouble for bringing me? Your cousin only invited you." said Emma, fumbling with her hands in anxiety. Jackie rolled her eyes before walking back and putting an arm around her friends' shoulders.

"I called Spike and asked if I could bring a friend, to which he responded that as long as a guardian signed the permission form, it would be fine...mum is technically your guardian for right now so it works! Now can we go?"

Emma gave a shaky sigh and then a deep breath before nodding. Jackie's cousin, Spike was part of an SRU police team, which Jackie found fascinating and was overjoyed to be allowed to see him at work. Emma had other reasons to be there, although she was just as interested to see what went on at the SRU. Her father worked there.

Her mom never had anything good to say about her dad, and Emma hadn't seen him in years. In fact, she hardly remembered him or knew anything about him other than the negative things she heard from her mom. She knew he had a history of drinking, one which had driven their family apart when she was six. She knew he had been trying hard for several years now to be allowed back into their lives. A few months ago he even came to Dallas to see her and her older brother Dean, but their mom never let him in the door.

Then came the revelation that her mother had been returning letters addressed to Dean and herself without giving Emma the choice of reading them.

Emma found that to be a rather unfair thing to do. However, the whole affair brought to light a few considerations within Emma's mind. The first being the question of why did her dad keep trying and fighting so hard? And what was his motivation? What kind of man was he? Maybe he was a crazy jerk with control issues, maybe he was kind and changed from who he was. Whatever the case, his persistence caught Emma's attention, and her interest was fuelled by the strained relationship with her mother and lack of connection with her step-dad.

She did her research, found out where her dad worked, and told it all to Jackie, who shared that she had a cousin who worked at the same place. Together they hatched a crazy plan and here they were.

The pair walked into the building together. A desk attendant directed them up a few floors where they met up with Spike. He was waiting for them near the elevator talking to a pretty, curly hair girl sitting behind a desk.

"Hey! Jack-Jack!" exclaimed the tall, rather skinny man with messy brown hair and sharp features. "Spike!" Jackie ran and gave him a big hug. Parting, Spike turned to Emma and said, "So this must be the friend you were telling me about!"

"Yup, Spike this is Emma Olson, she's here visiting for like, half the summer!"

Spike held out his hand, which Emma shook with a slightly nervous smile.

"Welcome to the SRU Emma! So, lets get started. This here is where our lovely dispatcher Winnie who handles all communications, and over here..." they followed him through the hall to kind of meeting room where a few other people dressed in the same uniform as him where sitting doing paper work. "...this is our briefing room- in here we discuss events of our cases, figure out what could have been done different, or what couldn't have been done...and we do paper work, which is what these gentlemen are doing." The two men at the table looked up and smiled welcomingly. They both had very little hair, one being completely bald, the other having only slightly more hair. The bald man had blue eyes, and was rather tall, even while sitting down. The other had brown scrutinizing eyes, with a round, kind face.

"Ladies, may I introduce you to Mr. Ed Lane, our leader for tactics, and Srgt. Greg Parker our boss and chief negotiator."

"Hi! I'm Jackie, Spikes cousin, and this is my friend Emma!" piped Jackie with a bright smile. Emma, who had been standing slightly behind Jackie and trying not to stare at Greg Parker, managed to fake a smile and gave a small wave. Inside she felt numb, this man, Greg Parker...her dad. What if he figured out who she was? The whole plan would be blown out of the water. Their eyes met for a moment, and for an awful second Emma thought she saw a look of recognition and shocked realization pass over Greg Parker's face. She looked away quickly and focused her attention on the screens hung on the wall. By the time she looked back the expression was gone, he seemed calm and collected.

"Good to meet you ladies, Spike has been pretty excited to show you around the place." Ed Lane said shaking their hands firmly, shortly followed by Srgt. Parker who added, "Yes, he practically begged me to OK your visit, you must be a pretty special cousin Jackie."

Jackie smile happily at Spike who laughed and said she was just like his little sister, not a cousin. They bantered back an forth for a short time before quieting down, allowing Greg to ask, "So, what do you girls think so far?"

"Well, we haven't seen very much, just that hall and in here," responded Jackie, looking pointedly at Spike with puppy dog eyes before continuing, "I really want to see the tech! Like 'baby cakes!' and the night vision goggles and the other cool stuff!"

The three men laughed before Ed suggested they go to the tech room and see 'the cool stuff'. Jackie was all over how things worked, asking all kinds of questions, which Ed and Spike answered with amusement. The three of them got so absorbed that Emma began to feel rather out of place and uncomfortable. She wondered if she had made a mistake in coming.

"So Emma, did you have something in particular you wanted to see or know about? Or are you just along for the ride?"

The question was gentle and came quietly from beside her, causing Emma to look up suddenly to met her dad's eyes again. She stumble in her mind to find an answer, and speak with a casual tone.

"I..I think the tech is cool, although I don't understand how it works like Jackie does." was her reply. Parker chuckled before saying, "If she is anything like Spike, we could be here a while."

"Yea, she really is. Last month she spent an hour on the phone telling me about how they built a miniature helicopter thing in three hours. Apparently the three hours part was significant...cuz she kept emphasizing it." The words came easily, out of nowhere that time, Emma was surprised at herself. When Greg laughed again over this, she relaxed even more and began to ask a few questions about how things worked around the SRU.

She found out that they dealt with special situations that usually involved a gun or hostages, bombs, kidnappings and other out of the ordinary police circumstances. They worked off a negotiation and psychological profiling system in order to try and talk the person, or persons out of whatever they where trying to do.

"It seems a lot different from the cop shows where bad guys are bad guys and they just get shot." remarked Emma with respect, feeling a certain satisfaction in knowing that man, her dad, wasn't like the cops from the shows CSI or NCIS.

Greg gave a small sad smile and said, "No, they are subjects who are often just like you or me, but life has just taken them down some difficult roads and they make some choices that are not the best."

They stood in silence for a few minutes watching Spike demonstrate with the heat sensor. Emma found herself really enjoying her father's company. He was quiet, funny, genuinely wanted to listen to what she had to say and seemed to understand her. She wanted to know all about him, and tell him all about herself. An odd ach rose in her chest as she caught a glimpse of what could be if they had stayed a family.

For a moment, Emma almost wanted to tell him the truth and began to argue with herself about whether or not she should. Shifting from foot to foot again, she played with her finger nails, thinking about where she was in life.

Her step-dad wasn't a bad guy. He honestly did try to spend time with her and be a father for her, but they just didn't seem to have anything in common. He had more in common with Dean, which meant they spent a considerable amount of time together without her. And then there was her mom. Her mother who had all these grand plans for her daughter's life, none of which related to what Emma actually wanted.

For most of her childhood, Emma had gone to various modern dance lessons, been on soccer, figure skating and gymnastics teams. At first she didn't question it, but as she grew older, Emma found that she really didn't enjoy doing any of these things. In fact, she was not anything more than average at all of them.

It was particularly unpleasant because her mother wanted her to become a champion at all of them. Emma was pushed to be the best, even when she really couldn't be. She was scolded for not placing, and when she did place, it was never good enough.

'Go for gold Emma' said her mother. But Emma didn't want to live life on a stage, in a gym, on a soccer field or on an ice rink. So she convinced her step-dad to talk her mother into letting her alone to do what she wanted for a while. There had been a huge argument, her mother's temper flared darkly and she was all but unreasonable. In the end, Emma was aloud to quit and a rift between mother and daughter was formed. It widened as Emma further sought independence by choosing her own clothing style, her own friends, and hobbies. Before, her mom decided all these for her. There was no choice.

But now, she had a choice. She preferred to be unpopular (or at least stop feeling she had to try and be popular). She had few friends, but all of them were solid and loyal. She didn't wear designer clothing, but still looked nice. It was a comfortable balance of not caring what people thought of her, and still fitting in with a good group of girls. Dean said she was years above her maturity level, not that Emma knew why.

Abruptly Greg Parker asked, "So does your mom know you came here Emma?"

Emma froze, and then looked up at Greg feeling panicked. _Had he guessed? _she wondered. His eyes never left her face, even when she turn away, and he continued, "I'm going to guess that the answer is no. And I think maybe you might have lied about your last name to..." he waited again, watching Emma's face drain of colour before finishing his sentence quietly.

"But I think I know why Emma, and its ok. I'm not mad, you're not in trouble...from me anyway, although your mom might not like it."

Emma took a shaky breath and looked up again to see her dad looking at her with eyes so full of emotion she thought he might cry. She felt shocked, and for a moment they just looked at each other, then she quickly stammered out, "I'm sorry, I just...I wanted to see you...but I didn't want you to know until...until... I mean just in case..."

"Just in case I didn't pass inspection?" he finished gently with a sad smile. "That's what I figured..."

"But you do pass!" Emma found herself blurting out, then turning red and mumbling, "I mean, from what I can tell anyway."

"Really?! Are you sure?" said her dad in the same calm gentle tone, but there was a note of hopefulness to it. "Cause it's ok if you need to take more time to decide, you maybe haven't really spent enough time with me to know for sure. Or you might want to think on it a bit more."

This surprised Emma, but also convinced her even more that she wanted to get to know her dad more. Here he had the chance here to insist they spend time together, to try and make her choose to know him, and yet he cautioned her against making a hasty decision. That seemed more noble and respectful to Emma than anything. The choice was hers.

"I want to know who my dad is, no matter the past." Emma said softly, "If that's ok with you. I think second chances are beautiful, and I've had so many, why shouldn't you? Besides, I really have thought a lot about this, and there are so many reasons why. I mean, Jackie never got that chance with her dad, and she wishes she had..."


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Hello lovely readers! Merry Christmas to you and Happy News Years etc! I haven't posted for this story in a while, so I hope there is still at least a few people following it :) Also, I'm actually unaware of how beta readers work, but if there is anyone who would be interested in either acting as a beta reader for me, or pointing me in the right direction for finding one, that would be lovely! I struggle greatly with editing and therefore, as most of you have undoubtedly noticed, there are several errors in my stories that I have missed. Anyhow, enjoy! **

Chapter 2

_"I want to know who my dad is, no matter the past." Emma said softly, "If that's ok with you. I think second chances are beautiful, and I've had so many, why shouldn't you? Besides, I really have thought a lot about this, and there are so many reasons why. I mean, Jackie never got that chance with her dad, and she wishes she had..." _

_"Ok. If you're sure that's what you want Emma, I'd be thrilled to get to know my little girl again." Greg said with great emotion, wrapping his daughter into a warm hug and silently thanking the heavens that she was back in his life. _

Emma flopped on her bed and made a noise that sounded like a horse sighing. Staring at the white ceiling she suppressed an inward groan at the thought of school starting in less that a week, not to mention she was home and not with Jackie anymore and she wouldn't be able to spend time with her dad or even talk to him without being sneaky.

It had been a great couple of weeks. Her dad had been humbly overjoyed that she wanted to reconnect with him, unfortunately their reunion and tour had been interrupted when the team got a 'hot call' and they had to leave. Emma had been very disappointed that her time had been cut short. She and Jackie were to be headed to a camp near Huntsville within the next few days and then she was headed back to Dallas after that. Jackie's mom had picked them up and taken them shopping for the rest of the afternoon for things they needed for camp, and Emma had felt incredibly gloomy the entire time. Jackie tried her best to keep her happy, and Emma herself tried to find the highlights of the situation, but it didn't change the fact that she would have liked to stayed with her dad longer. However, Greg Parker wasn't about to let his daughter slip away so easily and that evening just after dinner the phone rang. Jackie's mother talked for a long time with the person on the other end before handing the phone to Emma saying it was her dad.

Smiling at the memory, Emma remembered thinking it was her step-dad, not Greg so that when she spoke into the phone she had been less than enthusiastic. Greg had found this to be rather amusing, especially when Emma realized her mistake and quickly tried to make him understand why she had sounded the way she did. They spent a long time talking over the phone. They talked about the basics, like favorite food, color, music, movies, all the things that he would have known if he had never been separated from her life. Much to Emma's frustration, Greg told her that there were legal problems in the way of her being allowed to directly spend time with him with out her mothers' consent (until she was sixteen). After hearing her discouraged and upset reaction, Greg had then promised to bend the rules ever so slightly and see her one more time before she went back to Dallas. And true to his word, she had seen him again when he and Spike gave the girls a ride home from camp. She had been so surprised and excited, finding it so amazing that he had kept his word.

Emma scowled. It wasn't fair. She wanted to spend time with her dad, but yet again, her mother was controlling her life in some way. And asking her mum's permission to see her dad was out of the question. She was lucky that Jackie's mother was cool enough to keep the part about Emma seeing her dad out of the list of things that had been going on when she spoke to Emma's mum just before Emma headed home. There would have been major fireworks otherwise.

Rolling dramatically off the bed with an odd groaning noise and making a loud thud on the ground, Emma dragged herself up and began to unpack her bags.

"What are you doing in here? You sound like a wounded cow!" said Dean from the doorway. Emma looked over her shoulder and grinned at him. He returned the smile and then wandered aimlessly into her room. "I mean really, it was way quieter without you here. I was kinda hoping you might get carried off by a pack of wolves at that camp of yours."

Emma threw her bag of dirty laundry at him. "Well, I think they would have been better company than a lame brother who bugs me all the time. So there!" She stuck her tongue out at him and the yelped and giggled when he smacked her in the head good naturedly with a pillow.

"So, you didn't write much in your letters home...oh that's right, you didn't write any at all!" he said, sitting on the edge of her bed. "How was camp, is Jackie still a mad scientist in the making, did you meet any polar bears?"

"Ugh! Dean! There are no polar bears at camp!" said Emma rolling her eyes, "And yes, I'm sorry for not writing, but it isn't like you sent any mail either! Camp was fun. I took archery and rock climbing, discovered I have a fear of heights, but stuck it out anyways and managed to climb most of the walls. Ooh, and it wasn't like an indoor wall or anything, a real rock face out in the woods! Cool right? But yea, I got braver towards then end. Couldn't do the zip-line though, I had to climb back down the ladder."

"Oooo, archery. So are you like a crazy awesome Elf now like from Lord of the Rings?" Dean proceeded to act out being Legolas from the movies making Emma laugh.

"No, but I did get pretty good at hitting the target near the bull's-eye. We had a shoot off at the end of the week and my team won though!"

"Nice! So what else did you do?"

"Well, we played this awesome game of capture the flag in the dark at one point, and one girl who was really really not impressed with the whole, being at camp and getting dirty thing fell right on her front in the mud! I feel bad now, but we laughed so hard. She actually was a pretty good sport about it by the end there though. The theme this week was pretty cool, it was pirates and we had a big battle against all the cabin leaders at the end with water balloons...yea, just another average summer. How were things here?"

Dean stood up and started pacing the room, indicating to Emma that things hadn't been totally fine.

"They weren't bad. But they aren't great either." Dean paused and fidgeted slightly before sighing continuing. "Look, I should have told you sooner about this, but a couple of months ago, just after he came to Dallas our dad filed a law-suit that'll make it so we have to see him. I didn't want to tell you cause I thought it might upset you."

Emma looked at her brother in a strange sort of calm trance. So Greg had been fighting harder for them even before she went to see him. Then annoyance pricked in her mind at the fact that Dean was trying to make decisions for her now by not giving her all the information about a situation that affected her as well as him. Shaking the feeling aside, Emma said, "Oh, I see. So I'm guessing that has been making mum pretty stressed and wild these days then?"

"Yeah, you could say that. I mean, she isn't losing it or anything, but I can really tell it's bothering her. I don't like it either! I mean really, why should we have to see this guy we hardly know, who mum took us away from for good reason, just because he's biologically our father? Matt has been more of a dad to us than this guy has!" Dean said passionately, picking up a small stress ball from Emma's desk and bouncing it against the wall. Emma remained silent for a while. She could understand why Dean felt the way he did about their dad, but she didn't realise how much he really didn't feel any desire to know the man. Part of her really wanted to tell Dean about her encounter at the SRU, but then the other part told her to keep it quiet, that he wouldn't understand.

"I don't know, maybe he isn't so bad?" was all she would think of to say.

"Seriously?" said Dean, "I just wish he could leave us alone. I like my life here."

"Really? Because right before I left to go to Jackie's you said you wanted something new to happen and that life was boring, and that there where certain areas that you felt Matt doesn't understand where you are coming from." challenged Emma. Dean frowned at her and was about to say something when they heard Matt calling them from downstairs for dinner.

The meal was fairly pleasant, Emma was allowed to recount various tales and adventures that she had with Jackie without her mother interrupting too often or anyone becoming disinterested. Unfortunately, Emma found that the more she talked about camp and her summer adventures, the more she really hated the idea of returning to school. More than that, she hated to idea of going back to school cloths shopping the next day with her mother. That never went well. They always ended up grumpy with each other because they could never agreed on anything. Lapsing into silence and pretending to listen to her step dad talk about some interesting business trip he took, Emma's mind wandered back to what Dean had mentioned about the law-suit. In truth it actually made Emily happy and hopeful that her dad would win and then she could see him again without her mom getting super angry with her. It sucked that she wasn't even really supposed to call him, but Emma was determined to stay in contact no matter what. She would find a way.

The next few days passed to quickly for Emma's liking, and before she knew it, she was sitting at a desk in a stuffy classroom listening to her teacher drone on and on about the rules and expectations for that year. By the end of the first day, she knew it was going to be a difficult year.

Her teacher didn't seem to like her at all and even humiliated her openly in front of the class for not knowing some irrelevant fact, there was a new group of girls in her grade that reminded her of the movie _Mean Girls, _and she was stuck sitting with the most annoying boy even. To top it off three out of her four friends had transferred to different schools suddenly, and the last friend, who was in a different class, was moving to New York in the next month. Emma understood the politics of primary school well enough to know that getting into a new group of friends while in the eighth grade would be next to impossible. Everyone had their clique's already and were unwilling to upset the balance of their small domains to break in a new member. The next days did not improve anything. The 'Mean Girls', Cleo, Trish and Taylor, had swiftly took it upon themselves to make Emma's life wretched. The worst part was, they were so sly and subtle about it that Emma could never make a proper case against them to get them in trouble if she wanted. It was all in the snide comments, the whispering and mocking looks. The most unpleasant was during gym class when the nasty girls managed to make Emma look even worse at everything than she already was, 'accidentally' tripping her up, earning her more humiliation from her teacher. By the end of the week, Emma was quickly deciding she hated school and half-seriously contemplated running away to Canada.

She kept quiet about everything though, knowing that the issues of bullying were seldom solved by involving ones parents, or a teacher who already disliked you. Ordinarily, if it had been any other year when all her school friends were still there, Emma wouldn't have had a problem dealing with the three. However, without the assurance of having friends backing you up against the dragons, Emma felt her courage and self confidence wavering quickly. Each time she managed to over come one of their attacks, holding her head high and confident, Taylor, Trish and Cleo would find a new way to torment her. Over the long weeks, school became an exhausting battleground, and despite being a more mature teen, Emma was still only thirteen, and the sting of cruel words and actions cut her deeply, even when she knew in her heart they don't matter.

The only thing that truly keep her from becoming too overcome with frustration over these happenings were frequent phone calls with Jackie, and hours spent helping out at the riding stables. She went almost four times a week, Monday, Wednesday, Friday and most every Saturday. The owner of the stables, Susan, was a friend of Matt's family. She was a wonderfully kind woman who let Emma come as often as she wanted to ride, clean out stalls, clean tack, and groom and fed the horses. She even essentially gave Emma one of her old retired ponies to care for as her own and arranged for transportation so she could come more often to the barn.

Helen (Emma's mother), had been terribly opposed to the idea of Emma learning to ride and very nearly refused to let her go anywhere near the barn, but Matt once again had a hand in gaining Emma's freedom. They would not pay for lessons, but Emma was allow to ride if she wanted to work at the barn in exchange for lessons. It was the best arrangement ever in the young girls' mind. She loved the work dearly. She loved learning how to hold her ground, standing up to the more pushy horses and getting them to respect her. She loved the smell of the hay, the shavings and dust. And she learn many valuable lessons that did not only include instruction on how to ride and care for horses.

It was within those walls, in that riding ring that Emma learned how to quiet her frustrations when things didn't go well and calmly train her mind to the task at hand rather than blowing up. It was in those stalls that she learned how to be both gentle and firm with the beasts. In those years of learning, Emma learned to fall and get up, fail and try again and again. Finally, the most important thing she learned there was how to be brave in the face of danger, even if you are terrified. This was were she flourished, happy and free. She could forget about the torments of school and dream away her evening peacefully doing her homework around creatures that were much less complicated and more honest than people.

On day, arriving home after a particularly unpleasant day at school, Emma was greeted by her mother as she came in the door, informing her they would be headed to Toronto that weekend to visit Aunt Shelby. Emma was overjoyed and immediately wanted to know if she could visit Jackie too.

"I suppose so," Helen sighed reluctantly then added sincerely, "I am glad that you have such a good friend. It's not easy to maintain a friendship like yours over long-distance, especially at your age..."

Emma was surprised at that. Helen seemed to criticise Jackie at every opportunity and very seldom encouraged her friendship with the girl. But perhaps her mother had finally changed her mind and saw how much Emma needed Jackie. The woman was always busy these days and rarely had a chance to properly talk to her daughter about the events of her life, but Helen, like any good mother, had noticed the heavy weight that seem to sit upon her child's shoulders. Although she had difficulty expressing it in such a way that Emma would understand, Helen did worry about her girl and desperately wished they could understand each other. However both were stubborn and proud, refusing to mend the rift that was growing over time with each disagreement.

Emma blazed through the rest of the week happily, coasting on the knowledge that she would be seeing her best friend in only a few days. She also had a growing hope that she would be able to see her dad too some how. They hadn't spoken since the car ride home from camp and Emma was growing anxious to do so. Not daring to make a phone call to him since her parents would notice it on the phone bill, she bounced around with the idea of trying email instead...but she didn't have an address for him and Jackie hadn't asked Spike yet to give her one. Facebook was out of the question since Dean was be able to see who she was 'friends' with. It frustrated her to not end since she felt sure that if she could just talk to Greg about everything happening at school, he would somehow understand why she didn't want to involve her mom and have some way to make everything better. She hoped that Jackie had some ideas of how to get her back to see her dad, since Emma herself had run through various ideas and was at a loss.

At long last, the trip to Toronto was underway and they arrived at their Aunt's house. Emma couldn't help but notice that Dean was unusually quiet and moody the entire trip over, even snapping at her a few times. She couldn't help be feel relieved that she would be rid of him while she went to visit Jackie.

Her visit was a little disappointing however, since Jackie was getting over a bad cold and not allowed to leave the house. Thus the plans they had made to go to the SRU were foiled and they reluctantly sat together at Jackie's house eating pizza, talking and watching movies. The one good thing that came of the visit (other than being able to spend time with her best friend that is) was the bag of tricks that Jackie sent home with Emma.

"Just in case you decide to take your revenge against someone from school...or Dean for whatever reason." she had said, grinning mischievously.

Emma was unenthusiastic to go back to her aunts, knowing it would be boring and that Dean was in a bad mood. Upon entering the house, she could hear the sounds of an argument in the dinning room.

"I cannot believe that Dean would do such a thing!" exclaimed her mother angrily, "What was he thinking going there, and then deciding to wait around!"

"Helen, he's a big boy, old enough to make his own decisions." said Matt patiently, "I'm sure there is a good explanation for why he lied to us about going to see the movie and went to the SRU instead!"

"If that...that man so much as causes an ounce of disappointment-" said Helen furiously, unable to finish her sentence and choking on her words.

"Calm down Helen, for pete's sake women! I doubt Greg Parker would be the chief sergeant of the best team in the SRU if he was still the man he used to be. And it's Dean's decision anyway, he's a smart boy Helen, give him some credit. He wouldn't want anything to do with Greg if he didn't think the man was worth getting to know."

"Is that so?" she snapped, "Then you can deal with it when he comes back disappointed!"

"You've been unreasonable about this man ever since I met you Helen, granted it's understandable, but how can you not see that the man deserves a second chance with his kids? He has done everything he can to prove it!" asked Matt sharply.

"Since when did you decide to side with _him!_ I thought we were in this together Mathew!" Helen snarled. "I've fought tooth and nail to protect my kids from the same hurt I experienced in my marriage with Greg Parker. And heaven help me it I stop now!"

"Helen..." Matt sighed deeply. "Look, I made some enquires even before I told you were Dean was. They all say the same thing: That Greg is not longer drinking, he's honoured police officer and good at what he does. Not only that, I think we should trust Dean to make his own choices. If he wants to know who is biological father is, then let him. We will always be there for him, no matter how this plays out."

"And if he suddenly decides to leave us and traipse after his father? What then?" asked Helen, tears evident in her voice. "Do I let my baby go, just like that?" Her voice muffled at the end as Matt drew her into his arms.

"Lets cross that bridge when we get to it ok?" said Matt gently, "We aren't there yet, but we'll deal with it, if and when the need arises."

Emma stood frozen in the hallway listening to their conversation, mind reeling. _Dean went to the SRU? Why?_ She could hardly believe her ears. Quietly she slipped off her shoes and hurried to sneak past her parents up the stairs. Helen heard her however, as was the usual when Emma tried to get past undetected. The girl was certain it had to be a mother's six sense, because she was usually pretty good at slipping past Dean and Matt undetected.

"Emma, baby? Is that you?" asked her mother, quickly drying her eyes and moving into the hall towards her daughter. Emma nodded and smiled weakly, then was shocked when Helen rushed forwards and wrapped her in a tight hug, kissing the top of her head. "I love you baby girl, you know that don't you?" she asked tightly, as if she was about to cry again.

"Yes, of course I do mummy!" replied Emma, slightly bemused as she returned the hug.

"Good!" Helen sounded relieved, "Did you have a good time with Jackie? Have you eaten enough, do you want any food? Aunt Shelby made cookies!"

Still slighty weird-out by her mothers less than restrained behaviour, Emma just answered the questions, ate some cookies and made a hasty retreat to her room as soon as it was possible without offending her already distraught parent. There she waited, thinking furiously over the next information she had just overheard. A few hours later, Dean came back. Emma listened intently for the explosion of voices what was sure to come. But all was silent, only a gentle murmur of conversation for a long while before Emma heard Dean come up the stairs to go to bed. Unable to contain her curiosity, Emma stole over to her door to go and bug her brother for information, but to her surprise he knocked and came in before she had the chance to even touch the door handle.

"Well that went better than I expected." he said, grinning foolishly as he sat down on the end of the bed.

"What? What happened!? Why did you go see daddy?" Emma demanded with annoyance. Dean frown a bit in surprise at her use of the word 'daddy' for Greg Parker. They usually referred to him as 'our dad'. She didn't call anyone 'daddy'. Dean dismissed the thought for the time being however, too wrapped up in his own day's discoveries.

"Well, I went to the SRU to see him so I could ask him to drop the lawsuit." began Dean, only to be interrupted by his little sisters' strangled cry of indignation.

"Why would you do that! That was the only way he would get to see us!" she whispered angrily when Dean shushed her.

"I didn't think we wanted to have to see him!?" Dean whispered back in confusion. "I didn't think you wanted anything to do with him! And I sure didn't want to have to see him, or listen to mum and Matt fight over the lawsuit anymore. So I went to ask him to drop it."

"NO!" Emma exclaimed, deeply distressed that all hope for spending more time with her father might be gone. "But Dean I do want to see him! I like him, I want to spend time with him! He understands me on a level that Matt and I never connected on! Please, tell me he said no."

Dean gave her a funny looked, truly mystified by his sisters reaction. Then after he considered what she had just said, he narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"What do you mean you like him?" he asked with a scrutinizing look, "How would you know anything about what he's really like?"

Emma opened her mouth and then closed it firmly again, face going pink with guilt.

"Emma, come on. We keep each others secrets, just tell me already!" Dean said impatiently. Emma sighed, knowing she would tell him. They did, after all, keep each others secrets and told each other almost everything...up until the past few months it seemed.

"Ok fine. I went with Jackie to the SRU this summer and met daddy. The original plan had been to keep my identity a secret so I could decide if I liked him or not before letting him know who I was, but he wasn't fooled and knew it was me right away. We hang out and stuff, before I came home." explained Emma. Dean's eyes widened with understanding. Suddenly multiple things fell into place. The way Emma had been acting all strange, as though she was hiding something ever since returning from camp, and the reaction that Greg Parker had when Dean claimed to be there for both himself and Emma. Greg had been surprised at the claim, but then calmly drawn the truth gently out of him just before he was called away. Dean had not consulted Emma before coming to speak on her behave. Dean wondered why Greg hadn't told him about Emma's visit, and then supposed it was because their dad had a cool way of letting them sort out some things on their own.

"Wow, I didn't expect that one. Although it makes sense now that you say it." he said, "I knew you were hiding something, I just couldn't pin point what. I thought it was something to do with school..."

"Yea, well. There you have it. I visited dad before you did. I liked him and I want to give him a second chance." relied Emma challengingly, expecting a fight of some sorts. Dean just smiled at her and then said, "Me too."

Emma deflated and the looked bewildered. "You do?"

"Yup. I've already talked to mum about it and everything. That's what I meant when I came in saying things went better than I expected."

"No way! And she didn't blow!?" Emma couldn't believe her ears. "Serious? You should have heard her when I got home on the subject of you seeing dad! Why was she so calm now?!"

"I don't know. Maybe Matt talked some sense into her? Maybe it's just the way I presented my arguments?" Dean shrugged. He had this annoying ability of presenting things to their mother in such a way that caused Helen to rarely deny Dean anything. He was just to darn charismatic and logical. It irritated Emma to no end.

"She's not thrilled," He added, "but she's not stopping me either. I asked if you could be allowed to see him too if you wanted and she agreed. I hope that's ok."

"Really!?" Emma began to bounce on the spot with joy. "Yay!"

"Really truly!" grinned her brother, "Seriously though, it was so incredible today! Dad and his team were helping to find a little girl that had killers after her. He does this thing called profiling where he puts together facts about a person to get to know them, their personality and stuff so he can help them better! It's way cooler than any cop show I've ever watched!"

Emma grinned and nodded, "Yea, he told me all about it when I was at the SRU! I thought it was great!"

Dean told her a bit more about what happened that day, and she was glad to hear the little girl got safely home to her parents thanks to her dad's (and the rest of the team's) quick thinking. They talked until Matt came in scolding and chased Dean into his own room. As Emma drifted off that night, she couldn't help but feel very happy over the results of the day.


	3. Chapter 3

-SLAM-

The door shut loudly behind Emma as she stormed into the house, angry tears running down her face. Her week had just gone from bad to worse, and the events of the day were the last thing she wanted to deal with.

Those pernicious witches at school had managed to finally get to her enough that she reacted to their game and fell right not the trap they had set for her. With no friends left at school to have her back, Emma was now completely alone against what felt like the rest of her grade. Somehow, Cleo, Trish and Taylor had turned the entire class against her. The day's now consisted of dumb comments and snickering from everyone around her, not to mention her teacher's vendetta against her.

Today the girls had made a picture of her teacher that was less than flattering and then pinned the blame on Emma. Mrs. Price hated her enough without thinking she was mocking her behind her back. Now Emma was subject to extra work at school and a phone call home in punishment for her 'crime'. But that wasn't all for that day, a new rumour was being spread that she was sleeping with a college boy for money and she found out she was failing English, a class that usually came so natural to her. In short, Emma was extremely frustrated and wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and shut the world out.

"Emma!" the sharp sound of her mother's voice stopped her on the stairs. "I just got off the phone with your teacher. What on earth has gotten into you! You're failing English? And you drew a nasty picture of your teacher!?"

Facing her mother Emma fought back tears unsuccessfully. "I didn't."

"Well if you didn't who did?" asked Helen, not entirely believing that her daughter would do something so foolish and get caught. Emma didn't answer, fearing that revealing the truth would make it worse for her. Helen tapped her foot impatiently and then crossed her arms. "I'm waiting for an explanation here. You've not been acting yourself for weeks now! You've been irritable and cross, and now you're failing your best subject! What's going on?"

"Oh now you care enough to ask!" bit out Emma without even thinking. Helen's eyes flashed dangerously, anger masking the look of hurt that mixed into her face.

"What's that supposed to mean!?" snapped her mother. "Because you haven't been miss communicative yourself lately! I ask questions, but you shrug and mumble some unintelligible answer and then run off to play at the stables! It's not as though you've really been around!" Then she threw up her hands and said, "You know what, forget it! I don't know why I even bother. Matt can deal with you when he gets home."

Emma watched as her mother disappeared into the living room again and then she fled up the stairs and threw her self on her bed with a sob. Not for the first time that week was Emma sobbing into her pillow. Earlier that week she had been in a similar position when Susan had called to tell her that her favorite horse, Fidel, had died that morning. She had wanted to stay home from school to grieve, but her mother didn't understand the need and sent her to school anyway. It had been an awful day. When she got home she had called Greg.

**Flashback:**

Emma took a deep breath and hit the dial button on the phone. It rang, and rang. _Please pick up daddy, I need you. _She hoped she wasn't interrupting something important or that he was asleep.

"Emma! How you doin sweetheart?" the sound of her dad's gentle and cheerful voice brought a sob into her throat.

"Hi daddy," she said wetly in a shaky voice, "I just wanted to talk to you."

"Uh oh," Greg's voice shifted into a softer tone, "Sounds like you're having a rough day. What's going on?"

Emma choked out a sob, trying hard to keep them in. "Fidel died today. Sue went to let him out this morning and he was just dead."

There was long silence on the other end, then she heard Greg let out a slow breath, "Oh honey, I'm so sorry. I know how special he to you. He sounded like a pretty amazing horse."

"Yea, he really was." she said tearfully. "I don't know what I'm going to do without him daddy, he's was like the only friend I have right now."

**End of Flashback:**

Greg had been a life saver that day for her. Sympathetically listening and offering the comfort she craved.

It had been several weeks since Dean had convinced Helen to let them stay in contact with their dad. In that space of time, Emma and Dean called Greg a few times a week to talk to him, taking turns and trying hard not to fight over who's turn it was. She had confided in her father about what was happening at school and wasn't disappointed when he calmly listened and gave her helpful advice on how she could respond to some of the incidences. But at same time, he did also encourage her to tell Helen what was happening, if for no other reason than to let her know and then have the support at home. Emma resisted that idea, but she did agree to tell Dean.

Her brother's reaction was less reserved than Greg's. He wanted to go and 'pound the little snots into the ground'. She had found it rather touching. At the time, she calmly deterred him from the desire to hunt down her tormentors, but today, Emma was tempted to let him. Unfortunately, for all her brother was fairly devoted to her as his sibling, he also was very busy and therefore seldom at home when she truly needed him.

So there she was, crying alone on her bed and wishing she could be in Toronto with Greg and Jackie. Grabbing the phone, Emma tried to call her dad, but there was no answer and she decided not to leave a voice message.

Dropping the phone on the floor and wrapping up in a blanket, Emma felt small and broken. School was being to be a source of anxiety for her. She wanted so badly to just get through the year, to prove she was stronger than her fears, but inside she was young and sensitive. Comments about her looks and weight got to her despite her relative security over such things. Gradually as each comment took root, Emma became more and more self conscious about her looks, even skipping meals sometimes when she felt particularly bad. That was what scared her the most. Her growing obsession with looks and appearance. Never before had it affected her so badly. Shuddering and trying not to think about going to school the next day, Emma curled into herself and cried again.

A knock at her door silenced her sobbing.

"Emma, can I come in?" Helen asked almost gently. Emma didn't reply and after a while Helen sighed and went away.

Blinking, Emma sat up. Her mother hadn't ever sought her out before after an argument. Nor had Helen ever asked to come in her room. Suddenly a feeling washed over Emma that she couldn't even explain. All she knew was that she wanted to run down stairs and be cuddled by her mother. She wanted things to be different. She wanted her mother to understand.

Without really knowing what she was doing, Emma climbed out of bed and padded down the stairs to where her mother was working.

"Mummy?" Emma said her voice wavering. Helen looked up sharply from the her desk. The initial hard expression faded the moment she saw her daughters white face and shaking form. Pushing her chair back from the desk she opened her arms and said, "Oh sweetheart! Come here, whatever is the matter!"

Emma rushed to her with a sob and was gathered into her mothers lap as though she was a small child again. Helen soothed the girl for a long while before Emma was calm enough to respond to her questions. She listen in silence as Emma poured out what was happening at school, each event and cruel deed, everything it made her feel and all her deep hurts. The moment she mentioned wanting to go live with Greg so she could be at school with Jackie, Helen's face hardened, but it softened as Emma began to cry harder once more as she explained how much she didn't want Helen to be angry with her and she didn't want her to hate her.

"Oh baby girl, I could never hate you." Helen whispered as she kissed the top of her daughters head and blinked back gathering tears. "I know, I know things have been really hard between us. I've been...well...wrong about a lot of things, and you and I are so similar, yet so different. It's no wonder you like talking with Greg, you are so much like him, when I first met him. And I may not like it, but whatever you want to do, its your choice. If you want to go live in Toronto, you can. Ok? But please, can we try and work out what's happening at school first? Just try for me baby? If even just until the Christmas holidays, you can't change schools now until then anyway and it's only a few weeks away."

Emma tightened her grip in response. Helen sighed and said, "I love you, I always have, I always will. Because you're my baby girl."

"I was worried you won't understand if I told you about it." confessed Emma, not really sure why it was important to tell her mother that. Helen laughed gently surprising her daughter.

"Believe it or not my dear, but I was once thirteen, and I know what its like to be so miserable at school that you don't even want to get up in the morning." smiling sadly, Helen smoothed back Emma's hair as she looked at her. "I always swore to myself that if one of my children ever asked to be transferred to a different school so they could be with friends again or to escape bullying, I would say yes. It doesn't matter how involved you get the staff and parents, it's still miserable isn't it?"

Emma nodded seriously.

"Well," said Helen, "Let's try and make the best of it. Before long you will be at school with Jackie. She does wonders for you Emma. I've watched the light in your eyes diminish over the weeks, but that visit with her brought it back for a while. I'll call Greg myself tonight and talk to him about you coming to live with him."

"Really?" Emma got a little tense. Helen placidly smirked and then said drily, "I may have awful things to say about the man in the privacy of our home, but I do know how to be civil Emma when the need arises. I will do this for you. And if you change your mind, for whatever reason, you can come home again instantly. Do you understand Emma?"

"Thank-you mummy."

**AN: I had a lot of trouble with this exchange, and it's still not 100% right, but I think it conveys what I wanted it to. Helen making an effort to understand her daughter, and Emma making peace with her mother. However, I will say that this isn't a magical fix to their conflicts. Helen and Emma are still very different/and similar therefore they are bound to butt heads again. Anyhow, next chapter should be coming...I don't know when, but Greg and team one will hopefully be involved in Emma's new life in Toronto :) My question is...how will Dean feel about his little sister leaving?**


End file.
