Just A Twist In Fate | K.J

sixteen.

✧.* CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

༄ "EMMA, What do you mean? What's- what's going on? What are you talking about, 'Regina's missing'? She's the mayor!" Georgia asked, rushing around her little room in a hurry. Her phone was up to her ear, her shoulder holding it against it as she shoved on her knee high brown boots. Emma and Georgia had exchanged numbers after the Tamara business the day before. "Okay, okay, calm down! Where do you want me to meet you?"

Georgia paused as the answer echoed in her ear. "Oh. Why am I in a rush then? Okay! Yeah, I'll meet you there. See you."

The red head closed her phone, shoving it in the back pocket of her dark blue flared jeans. As she walked into the little closet room, taking her dark-brown leather jacket off the peg, Georgia left her room and walked straight toward Neal and Tamara's room. Emma was still suspicious of Tamara and from what Emma explained to Georgia the day before, Georgia's suspicions grew stronger.

"Good, you're here." Emma's voice echoed as she rounded the corner, finding Georgia leaning against the wall. The blonde's knuckle tapped against the door. It wasn't long before Neal opened the door. "I— we need to search your room for real this time."

"You want to tell what this is about, Sheriff?" Neal questioned as the two women walked in the room.

"Where's Tamara?" Georgia asked as she glanced around, expecting to see the woman.

"She's on a run." Neal told her before turning to Emma. "What do you think she did this time?"

"Regina's gone missing."

"And you think she..." The man raised an eyebrow at the blonde. "Yo-you're still on Tamara? You've got to be kidding me. She came to town to support me, her fiancée. She's not a kidnapper. Do you think this as well, Georgia? I thought you liked her!"

"I-" The red head stuttered, rubbing her arm as she glanced up at him. "I... don't know. But-but I didn't want to, you know, disappoint you. You literally adored her. Uh, Sorry, Emma." The blonde dismissed her statement as she stopped crouching in the coat room.

"Where'd she go running?" Emma asked.

"The same place she goes every morning. The woods."

"How long has she been gone?"

"A couple of hours. Does it matter? She's training for a marathon."

Georgia watched as Emma leaned forward, moving her hand through a little pile of sand where Tamara's shoes must have been. "If she runs in the woods, then why did she track sand in here?" The woman stood, staring at the man standing beside Georgia.

"Maybe she likes to run along the beach instead. What does that prove?"

"That she lied to you." Emma stepped forward. "If she lied about this, then you can bet she's lied about other things, too."

"Or maybe she just likes to run on the beach."

"I mean," Georgia shrugged. "It's not really evidence though, is it? It's— it's like saying you're going to do something but then changing it last minute. Doesn't prove anything except for the fact that she can change her mind. But I'm with you 100%." She glanced toward the man beside her. "Sorry."

Emma raised an eyebrow. "One way to find out."

—

A sigh escaped Georgia as she walked slightly slower than Emma and Neal, her eyes stuck to the sea beside her. It was cold, the red head keeping her arms wrapped around her torso and her dark red scarf wrapped round her neck. "So," Neal called. "Where do you think she's hiding Regina? In a sand castle?"

"They have to be somewhere." Emma muttered.

"Look, Emma, you're letting your emotions get in the way of judgment—"

Emma stopped walked, turning to the man with disbelief. "Do you really think this is all about me trying to break up you and Tamara? What do you want to hear, Neal? That it killed me you never came looking for me even once I was locked up?"

"Emma—"

"That it didn't hurt that you found Tallahassee with someone else?"

"Tallahassee?" Georgia muttered with confusion before a shout echoed behind them.

"Neal?" It was Tamara. In her running gear while she ran down the beach toward them. "Hey! What are you doing down here?"

"We were... we just..." Neal stuttered, trying to explain. "I thought you go running in the woods?"

"Yeah, I start in the woods. But then I run along the beach." Tamara panted, jogging on the spot. "Everything alright?"

"Regina's missing." Emma told the woman, watching her face closely. A look of shock appeared on the woman's face, halting her jogging as she looked between the two.

"Oh, my god!" Tamara looked at Neal. "That's terrible."

"I thought maybe she was down here, but I was wrong." Emma lied.

Tamara let out a sigh. "Well, I'm sure she'll turn up somewhere. Let me know if I can help at all." The blonde gave her a tight-lipped smile before the woman turned to her fiancé, kissing him gently on the lips. "I'll see you later." The woman continued on her jog.

"I think I should go." The blonde woman muttered, staring to walk off.

"I wanted to go to jail for you." Neal called after her. Emma turned to face him, trying to get him to stop talking but he continued, walking toward her. "It kills me that I Let August talk me into letting you go."

"I don't want to hear it—"

"Okay, But I have to say it." There was a small silence as the woman waited for him to continue. "I wanted to look for you. I just— I... I was too afraid."

"Of what?"

"That you would never forgive me. Cause I never forgave myself." Neal admitted.

Georgia, having obviously felt the situation to be very personal, had walked until she was far enough to only hear their voices as incoherent mumbles. Letting out a small breath, the woman muttered under her breath, shoving her hands in her leather jacket pockets. The only sounds she focused on were the waves and the birds soaring above.

From what she could remember, of her blurry memories of childhood, she had loved the sea for as long as she could remember. Visits to the beach was one of the things she loved. Emma gave Neal a tight-lipped smile before noticing the red head in the distance. Her eyebrows furrowed.

"What's she doing?" She questioned, pointing toward her.

"Uh," Neal turned, looking over his shoulder. A chuckle escaped him. "When I found her in New York, wandering around like lost puppy in that big dress of hers, the first thing she spoke about was the sea. I guess it's one of the only things that reminds her of home... even though she doesn't know where that is."

"Huh..." Emma hummed. "do you... do you know how she got to New York? I mean, don't you think it's weird?"

"I have no idea..."

— — — — — — — — — — — —

🦈‼️