The Perfect Emma

Chapter Thirty-Five

Emma Mabel

When Emma and Grayson walked in it wasn't too hard to tell that Hannah and Zachary weren't very happy with them - especially Hannah. Zach stepped over to the pair and waved to Emma. "Hey Emma. Can you come with me?" He asked. Glancing over towards Grayson nervously, Emma eventually followed. She glanced over behind her shoulder before stepping into Zach's office to see Hannah, obviously angry, while talking to Zach.

Stupid Internal Affairs.

Zach shut the door and stepped over to his desk. He picked up a cellphone off of the table, the phone that he had given Emma earlier, and handed it to her. "I really need you to keep this with you at all times, Emma." He said, leaning back against his desk.

Emma stepped over and sat herself down in a chair. She took the phone and glanced down at it. "Okay." She said while grasping the phone with her fingers. She flipped it open and closed a few times before placing it onto her lap.

Zachary merely stared down at her with an expression full of thought, debating as if how to approach this. "Emma. Why did you sneak out of your apartment last night?"

Here we go again.

Emma frowned as she glanced up towards him. "The officers outside of my door scared me, so I left." She said simply, continuing to flip open and close the flip phone in her hand.

The door opened to reveal Hannah stepping inside, maintaining her frustrated expression. She let out a slow breath before shutting the door after herself. "You can't just... sneak out of your apartment without telling the officers at least. They're there to keep you safe, Miss Mabel."

Hannah stepped over and stood next to Zach. She peered down at Emma as well while he spoke. Emma felt much more uncomfortable now that Hannah was in the room. "...But I did?" Emma said slowly. She clearly could sneak out.

"But you shouldn't," Zach added with a frown. "They are there to protect you, Emma."

Emma frowned and glanced down, letting out a slow sigh. She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. Her mind and body argued for a few moments before she spoke, letting her pre-Aaron self speak. "And an officer kidnapped me - so you'll have to forgive me for not being so very trusting." She remarked with a frown. Zach and Hannah merely remained quiet while Emma exhaled. Raising the flip phone up slightly, she continued. "Just... can I get Grayson's phone number in this at least."

Hannah decided to speak. She frowned and shook her head. "Grayson isn't involved in your case, Emma. In fact, he can be a threat to the case against Aaron - especially since he's under investigation himself. Until he's been cleared, Detective Todd has been strictly ordered to stay away from you. Until his investigation is over and the case against Aaron is done, things can't change otherwise. Leave us with the job of keeping you safe and you focus on healing and maintaining your cooperation with the investigation against Aaron."

"...What?" Emma said, her eyebrows furrowing together in annoyance. Hannah, someone who worked for Internal Affairs - something Emma had already determined as bad, was now revoking Emma's ability to be around the one man she actually trusted in the police department. In fact, the one person she felt comfortable around after being taken from Aaron's grasp. Hell, Emma couldn't even see her husband Arthur after Aaron had gotten to her. She hasn't even tried to see her family or Lily yet - she was too scared on how she would react around them let alone how they would react around her.

Emma would be damned if she let Internal Affairs revoke her rights. Aaron already did that enough. Despite her chest pounding, for fear of speaking out and talking back, Emma began to speak. "I've spent fifteen months being beaten and attacked. Being told what to do, how to act, and what to say." Emma dropped the cellphone given to her in the adjacent chair from what she was sitting in. She avoided eye contact like the plague and practically felt like throwing up from talking back - but she pushed through. She had to.

Pushing herself up onto her feet and crossed her arms slightly. She glanced towards the door of the office. "I've already been restricted once and I'm not going to sit here and let myself be restricted by people that are supposedly keeping me safe from the person who worked for you to begin with." Emma stepped over to the door of the office and glanced back over her shoulder. Her stomach twisted into knots and she opted to stare at Zach's shoulder since she couldn't meet his eyes. "Since my ability to be around Grayson seems to be tied to my cooperation in the case against Aaron, I'll no longer be cooperating in the investigation." Emma muttered while opening up the door and stepping out.

The door shut behind Emma as she began to walk towards the exit of the station. Not entirely surprising, the door opened up soon after. "Miss Mabel," Zach called out after her, beginning to walk towards her.

"Emma," Hannah said, though she seemed to remain where she was standing while letting Zach approach Emma.

Emma frowned softly as she kept her head down and continued to walk towards the entrance. Zach reached out his hand and grabbed her wrist. However, the grab alone made Emma not think of the current situation but one with Aaron - one that involved various injuries afterward.

Emma cried out a scream as she stumbled backwards, away from Zach. Zach immediately recoiled his hand from Emma as she cowered against a wall. All of the chatter that had been in the room immediately fell silent. Without looking up, Emma knew that majority of the eyes were likely on her and Zach.

However, at the moment, she couldn't care. All she was thinking about - all she could think about was Aaron with his hands on her. Emma wrapped her arms around herself and leaned against the wall for support. Her breathing began to grow faster, despite her trying to gain control back. At the moment, her mind seemed to be against her.

"Uh," Zach started to speak, though Emma could barely process his words. "Everything is fine here. Get back to work," Zach called out as he stepped over to Emma hesitantly. He avoided touching her, since touching her in the first place was what set her into this place. "Emma?" He spoke hesitantly, obviously not having a clue what to do. "Why don't you just, uh... come back with me to my office?"

Emma remained still. She heard footsteps approaching but didn't move, merely keeping her eyes glued to her feet with her arms around her torso.

Faintly, Emma heard some murmuring though she couldn't quite process what was being said. Either way, she didn't try to process it. When a hand was placed against her, Emma immediately snapped her head up in fear with wide eyes. Seeing Grayson, she relaxed slightly - though she was still on edge.

Seeing that his touch was accepted, Grayson slowly wrapped his arm around Emma and began to steer her out of the main room. Emma found herself getting steered back to Zach's office, though that was the last place she wanted to be at the moment. Despite not wanting to be in that particular room she was glad it was out of the curious eyes from the abundance of officers in the middle room.

Gray steered Emma over to a chair and sat her down. Emma merely wrapped her arms around herself and listened as the door was shut. She heard murmuring from the far wall, likely from between Hannah and Zach, as Grayson knelt down infront of Emma.

"Emma, everything's okay." Gray said - likely not entirely sure what to do himself to help Emma out of this situation. He wasn't exactly a professional therapist. However, he was much better than Zach. "You're safe. Do you need to slap me again to remember?"

In the background, Emma could faintly hear Hannah snort and Zach chuckle from the wall. Emma took a deep breath and glanced up slightly to see Grayson watching her with concern and Zach and Hannah merely watching from the wall. "I'm okay," Emma murmured, glancing towards the door. She wanted to leave - again.