Dreaming Out Loud

Heathens

Chapter 75: Heathens

David punched Kevin Swan repeatedly, completely blinded by his rage. The moment this man had revealed his identity, all David could see was his precious three-year-old daughter marred with bruises and welts from this man's abuse. Rational thinking had gone out the window and all he could think about was making this man hurt the way he had made Emma hurt.

Jefferson and Neal finally managed to pry him off the other man and pulled him back, as Jessica helped him up.

"How dare you?!" she cried.

"How dare I? He's lucky he's still breathing after what he did to Emma!" David screamed, as Snow got in his line of vision.

"David...please..." she pleaded.

"That's him, Snow..." he growled and she cupped his face in her hands with a sorrowful look.

"I know," she said tearfully.

"I want him arrested!" a bleeding Kevin Swan cried.

"You abused our daughter!" David shouted, as Emma got in his line of vision.

"Dad...I'm okay," she promised, as he still struggled to get free.

"Daddy please...he can't hurt me anymore and the last thing I want is for him to take you away from me and Mom," she reasoned, as he started to calm down.

"You're the best Daddy any little girl could have and Mom and the new baby need you too," she pleaded, as his rage finally deflated and he relaxed somewhat, as Snow put her arms around him.

"You're the ones that dumped her into this world! I tried to be her father...but all she could talk about was her Daddy...Prince Charming," Kevin shot back.

"We did not dump her in this world. We sent her so she wouldn't be cursed...or worse killed! We would have given anything to be with her all the time," Snow argued.

"Oh yes...we know all about the curse. Madam Keres told us everything about the curse, yet the person responsible for that is walking free," Jessica said, eying Regina.

"I don't give a damn what she told you. You abused our little girl..." David retorted hotly.

"Don't lecture us! You weren't there and we were saddled with your precious little girl, who was as troubled as they come. She was unruly and threw tantrums when she didn't get her way. We tried to be her parents, but she would just keep going on and on about Snow White and Prince Charming. She was severally disturbed," Kevin hissed.

"She would make the lights flicker on and off all day and light bulbs explode around her. We didn't know what to make of it until later when we met Madam Keres and she told us the evils that possessed her," Jessica added.

"Emma is not evil...because the only evil standing here is you two," Snow argued, as she stood in front of her daughter.

"Emma is special, but you two were too evil to realize the gift she was," David added.

"Gift? She cost us a chance at a real family!" Jessica growled.

"I was three...how the hell did I do that?" Emma questioned. The two grew quiet and Persephone instantly had a theory.

"Social services barred you from adopting or fostering after you abused Emma, didn't they?" she asked. Snow's mouth opened in disbelief when she saw the answers on their faces.

"You abused my daughter and then have the nerve to blame her for anything?!" Snow growled.

"It was a mistake! I lost my temper, but she just wouldn't give up this ludicrous notion that she was seeing her real parents in her dreams! We gave her everything and she refused to call us Mom and Dad!" Kevin shouted back.