Charming's coffee mug tumbled from his grasp and shattered on the counter top, the warm brown liquid inside splattering across the tile. Charming reached instinctively for his chest, which had erupted suddenly in a tense pain. He leaned on the counter for support, his breathing heavy.

Both Emma and Neal had looked up at the commotion. Emma stood from where she sat at the kitchen table, and moved towards her father.

"David?" she asked, grabbing his arm to help support him in his weakened state. "What's the matter?"

"It's Snow," Charming muttered, his concerned eyes darting back and forth. "Something's happened to her. She's in trouble, I can feel it."

Emma raised her eyebrows and blinked. "You can feel a change in each other's well being through your hearts?" she asked skeptically. At this point, nothing should surprise her, she thought, but still it seemed so cliché.

"I've felt it before. When her heart stopped after she bit the apple, I could feel it was in danger, even though I was locked in a prison cell at the time. It's the same now."

"I thought Snow was upstairs in her room," Neal said from where he sat on the sofa. "Why don't you just go up and ask her what's wrong?"

Charming took the stairs two at a time, a concerned Emma on his heels, but when he threw open the door to their bedroom, it was empty. Charming ran to the open window as Emma surveyed the empty room in a dreadful and shocked silence.

"The fire escape's been lowered," Charming said, looking back at her. "Snow climbed out the window."

"Why?" Emma breathed fearfully. "We know Regina is after her, we know she wants her dead."

"I know Snow," Charming said, the hint of devastation in his voice. "She has felt an unbearable remorse for what she did ever since she sent Regina to place her mother's cursed heart inside her. I told her I knew she wouldn't be able to live with herself, and I was right. She wasn't. She's not."

"But she tried to stop it," Emma argued, almost pleading, although she was unsure with whom. "She tried to undo it."

"It doesn't matter to her," Charming said. "She is responsible for Cora's death, and that's all that will matter to her."

"But what does she have to gain by leaving here, where she's been protected by Gold's spell?"

Charming's eyes met his daughter's, unsure of how much to tell her about her mother's nature of guilt and sacrifice. He felt a strange need to lie to her, to protect her as she had done for Henry. But the woman before him was a grown woman, he reminded himself, and she deserved the whole truth.

"She thinks that if she can give Regina what she wants, she can save a lot of other helpless innocents from getting hurt in the crossfire."

"But what Regina wants its revenge," Emma said, slowly, pulling all of the information together. "What Regina wants is Mary Margaret's life."

Emma's eyes sought her father's, imploring him to deny the conclusion she was drawing in her mind. His soft, sad exhale did exactly the opposite, confirming her fears.

"She's going to sacrifice herself," Emma concluded, struggling to keep her voice from cracking.

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Charming said, his voice a low rumble thick with fear and determination. He strode quickly and distractedly from the room, side stepping Emma and nearly sprinting out the door. Emma followed him down the stairs.

"Is she alright?" Neal asked, standing from the sofa.

"She's not there," Emma told him. "She climbed out the window."

"I'm going to find her," Charming said, fastening his holster to his belt and reaching for his jacket.

"Is she even still alive?" Emma asked, afraid of the answer. "If she's already made it to Regina's house, she doesn't stand a chance. Was that what you felt? Her death?"

"No, her heart still beats, I'm sure of it," Charming said as he donned his jacket, his frantic haste causing him to miss the arm several times before finally catching it and shimmying it on.

"The real question is, is it still in her chest?" Neal asked darkly from where he stood, now watching the pair from behind the kitchenette. Father and daughter froze at the notion and swiveled slowly to look at Neal, taking in what he said and realizing what it meant. "Maybe Regina took her heart but is keeping her alive for some reason. Maybe that's what you felt."

Charming's face nearly drained of all color, his breathing shallow and rapid as beads of stressful sweat wove their way from his temple down his face and neck. Without another word, he flung the door open.

"I'm coming with you," Emma called, shoving her boots on her feet and reaching for her own gun.

"No, Emma, it's too dangerous," Charming said, turning back from where he stood in the door frame. "I'm not losing both of you."

"You're not losing either of us," Emma said, checking her clip, surprised at the certainty she heard in her own voice as the promise came out. "But once we get Regina involved, our only chance is if we have magic on our side. I know I'm new to my powers, but I think I'm getting the hang of them and it's better than nothing."

"I could get my father to help us," Neal offered. "I know I forgave him, but that doesn't mean he doesn't owe me a life time of favors to make up for how he left me."

"I need you to stay here with Henry," Emma interrupted him. For a moment, the two locked eyes as they both recognized the significance of the request.

"Of course," he said, his voice stammering before it found its strength. "If you see my father, send him to come talk to me, but I won't leave this apartment. I'll make sure nothing happens to Henry."

"I'm trusting you to keep him safe," Emma said, her eyes full of meaning and a thunderous gravity. "Don't make me regret trusting you again. Not like the last time."

Charming looked from his daughter to Neal. For a brief moment, his anxiety over his wife subsided as he found himself vaguely curious to what they were referring. Another second and the fear was back, wracking his lungs as he remembered his wife was missing.

"I'll keep him safe, I promise," Neal swore. Emma cast a swift and sad glace down the hallway towards Henry's room, where she knew he was sleeping. Then she locked eyes with Neal one last time.

"Good luck," he bid her. She let a small smile of gratitude slip onto her face as she followed her father and closed the door behind her.