Once Upon A Time: Dancing With The Devil, Part Two
By Rebekkalee Mouri-Hibiki
Emma walked into her office, setting the case from Mr. Gold's down on her desk along with the bag from Granny's. She stared at the case for a long time, wondering where the best place to hide it would be. It more the size of a small suitcase than a briefcase so half the hiding places she had thought about were now off the table. She recalled there was a rather large gun safe in the basement and decided to try it hiding it there.
She turned to go check it out, nearly jumping out of her skin when she saw Henry standing in the doorway. " Shouldn't you be in school? " She asked rather sharply. It was only one-thirty and school didn't get out until two forty-five.
" We had early release today, " Henry replied. " So I walked. "
" And does your mom know? " Emma arched an eyebrow.
" She had an appointment. She told me to walk, " Henry said.
" What else did she tell you? " Emma knew Regina had most likely said something about not seeing her. She was pretty sure Regina always said it though Henry always chose to ignore it.
" She told me I could go to the arcade for a while, " Henry said. He held out two five dollar bills, " See? She even gave me part of my allowance early so I could. "
" That's just part of it? " Emma asked. " How much do you usually get? "
" It depends on my grades. I get five dollars for every good grade I get, " Henry explained. " I usually get all A's so I get about twenty-five dollars a week. "
Emma blinked, realizing Henry got at most a hundred dollars a month, " How long has she been giving you an allowance? "
Henry shrugged, " Since I was seven or eight I guess. "
" What do you spend it on? " Emma was still trying to calculate how much Regina had given Henry over the time period.
Henry shrugged, " I go to the arcade and get comic books. I save a lot of it though. "
" You do? " Emma asked.
" I had enough to pay Miss Blanchard back for stealing her credit card, " Henry said.
" I thought your mom did that, " Emma was confused.
" She did. I tried to pay her back before my mom did but she wouldn't take my money, " Henry said. He smirked, " And now you're here, I can use it to help you out with Operation Cobra stuff. "
Emma rolled her eyes, " Just what I need. Another benefactor and a ten-year old one at that. "
Henry looked past Emma at the desk in her office and wrinkled his brow, " What's in that suitcase? Are you going somewhere? "
Emma looked over her shoulder then back at Henry, " No. It's briefcase. I'm hanging onto it for someone. "
" Someone? " Henry looked up at Emma. " Who? "
Emma thought about it for a long moment. She wanted to tell him it was for someone he didn't know but she knew that wouldn't fly. Henry knew just about everyone in town and everyone in town knew him too. " Don't worry about it. I just have it until I catch this thief that's running around. "
" Is that why you were at the drugstore this morning? " Henry asked. " I saw the police car from the school bus. "
" Yeah, " Emma nodded. " Someone broke in there last night but didn't set off the alarm. "
Henry cocked his head to the side, " But how? "
" I'm trying to figure that out, " Emma sighed. " Look, I really REALLY need to get back to work, Henry. Your mom wants a report about all this before she leaves the office. "
" She's meeting me at Granny's at five, " Henry said.
Emma shook her head, " Then I really need to get cracking if I don't want to make her late. "
" I guess so, " Henry hugged Emma. " Later. "
" Yeah, " Emma said, patting him on the back.
Rumplestiltskin sat on a rather large rock, watching as Clarissa carefully scaled the side of the tower that contained the Wyvern's Tear. He reached into his coat cuff and pulled out his flask, unscrewing the cap and taking a swig. He smiled at the progress she was making, scaling the wall like it were nothing.
He was pleased she knew so much about the jewel and was eager to help him retrieve it. He watched as she shimmied through a tiny window at the top of the tower. He continued to watch for a long time, smiling to himself when he sensed she had it. He screwed the cap back on the flask then put it back in his coat sleeve before jumping down from his perch.
He moved closer to the tower, waiting for her to come out. He waited for quite a while, much longer than when she went up. He suddenly smelled smoke, wisps of it coming through the cracks in the bricks of the tower. Flames began to come out of top window, it's bright orange fingers licking the roof tiles.
Rumplestiltskin took a step back, closing his eyes as he tried to sense Clarissa. He frowned when a picture came to his mind of her scurrying through the trees on the other side of the tower, moving quickly... too far ahead for Rumplestiltskin to catch up to her. He let out a growl then shouted, " Little bitch! "
He heard a commotion coming from the palace adjacent to the tower, guards dashing out to investigate the fire. One stopped in his tracks when he set eyes on Rumplestiltskin. He froze for a brief second then shouted, " Men! Men! Intruder! Intruder! "
Rumplestiltskin snapped his fingers and was gone in a puff of smoke...
Emma walked into city hall, her notes, report and chart neatly gathered together in folder. After securing the things from Mr. Gold's shop, she wrote the report and cleaned up her notes so they were halfway readable. She had concentrated on it and made it perfect in an effort to keep her mind off of what had happened at Mr. Gold's shop.
The kiss had been a total surprise. It made her wonder how he felt about her but she wasn't brave enough to ask. She was afraid she was misreading the simple action. She knew she would be horribly embarrassed if it was truly nothing but a simple act of gratitude.
She tried to put it out of her mind as she climbed the stairs. She had to have her mind on the robberies and how she was going to go about solving them. She reached Regina's office, finding her hunched over her computer, working on something.
Emma took a deep breath to steel her nerves then knocked on the door frame. " Regina? "
Regina looked up, " Oh. Miss Swan. I starting to think I wasn't going to see you today. "
" I had a lot of things to take care of before I came here. I had evidence to catalog and a report to write, " Emma showed her the folder with the report.
" I see, " Regina put her hand up, " May I read it? "
Emma handed it to her, " I didn't have much to go on but that's all I know at the moment. There're descriptions of what each scene was like... "
" Are you going to let me read it or are you going to tell me about it, Miss Swan? " Regina said sharply.
Emma took a step back, " I'll let you read it. You can ask me any questions you come up with. "
" Don't worry, " Regina said. " I will. "
Emma watched as Regina read the report. She picked up the last paper then frowned. " Like I said before, I didn't have much to work with. "
" Then you need to start looking harder, " Regina said sternly. " I cannot have criminals running loose in my town. "
" I don't want them here either but I need a little more to go on, " Emma said.
" A little more to go on would involve another robbery, Miss Swan, " Regina said sharply.
" I know, " Emma sighed. " But that's not what I meant. I meant maybe a clue I overlooked. "
Regina looked through the pages of the report again, " Can I ask you a question? "
" Sure, " Emma said.
" Why isn't there anything about Mr. Gold's robbery? I thought there we four including him, " Regina said. " However, there're only reports for the drug store, the hardware store and the appliance store. "
" I must have left that on the printer, " Emma said.
Regina arched an eyebrow and nodded, " Right. You left it on the printer. "
" I'm sorry. I was in a hurry, " Emma shook her head. " I was in a hurry to catch you. "
" These are the kinds of things that make me wonder if you can really handle being sheriff, " Regina stood up. " Two weeks ago, you put Mr. Gold in grave danger because you let him talk you into leaving him by himself instead of listening to ME, your boss. "
" I was still checking in on him though, " Emma lashed back. Apparently, Regina still didn't know she had actually been there with Mr. Gold the night he was kidnapped. " He told you himself. "
" You should have staked out his house, " Regina said. " Or talked him into staying under police protection. "
" It would have just taken more time to end up the same way, " Emma pointed out. " Mr. Durbin was unstable and would have cracked at some point. "
" I don't think so, " Regina said. " We could have done something to keep him from taking his life. "
" Do I have to remind you that he was a desperate man with a gun? " Emma said.
" I know he was, Miss Swan. But we could have caught him instead of letting him hang himself, " Regina replied. " He was my friend... or did you forget that? "
" No I didn't forget but you couldn't see him for what he was because of that, " Emma nearly shouted.
" He needed another chance! " Regina said.
" He made his choice and there's nothing we can do about it now. I'm not arguing about it anymore, " Emma said. She also didn't want to get so angry with Regina that she blurted out her theory that she had driven Mr. Durbin and Mr. Gold to the river.
" That doesn't change the sloppy way you handled it! " Regina pressed her fists into her desk. She sneered, " I hope you handle this robbery case better than you handled Mr. Gold's case! "
" I will! " Emma sneered back. " You need to give me some space and let me examine the facts I have! "
" Well at least tell me what happened at Mr. Gold's shop, " Regina said.
Emma took a sharp breath, " What do you mean? "
" The ROBBERY, Miss Swan, " Regina said. " How did the thief get in? "
Emma went cold. That was something she hadn't thought about. She then recalled something. " Mr. Gold has an apartment above the back room of the shop, " She said.
Regina arched an eyebrow, " Oh really? How long have you known that? "
" Since about two weeks ago, " Emma said. " After that first night when Mr. Durbin broke into Mr. Gold's house. "
" So what was taken? " Regina arched an eyebrow.
" Mr. Gold requested that I not disclose that information to anyone, " Emma said. " I have to honor that. "
" Of course you do, " Regina scoffed. " I forgot the two of you got very 'friendly' with each other when you were supposed to be protecting him. "
" We didn't get friendly, " Emma didn't like the way she emphasized the word. " All we did was talk. "
" You were doing a little more than talking at the hospital, " Regina started.
" We're not going over that again, " Emma cut her off.
Regina frowned, " Then could you tell me what took the two of you so long to answer the door this afternoon? Oh, let me guess. You two were busy 'processing' something in the upstairs apartment. "
Emma's eyes went wide at what she was implying, " I was finishing my investigation in the back room. "
Regina nodded, " Right. Is that why you looked so rattled when you came out? "
Emma frowned, " I was upset because of the robberies. "
Regina looked at the clock then shook her head, " I'm done. Bring me the missing page of your report tomorrow morning. I have to go meet Henry at Granny's. "
" And I have a case to work on, " Emma said.
" Then I suggest you do, " Regina said as she started straightening things on her desk.
Emma turned to leave but stopped. She turned back to Regina, " I'll be out there tonight and every night until I find out who's doing this. "
" Then I'll appoint some temporary deputies to back you up, " Regina continued to straighten her desk.
" Thanks, " Emma said and left the office. She walked downstairs and outside. She got into the police car and started it. She backed out of the parking lot then headed to the police station.
Rumplestiltskin walked into Clarissa's room in the clock tower to the sound of ransacking and the clatter of gold coins hitting the floor. He moved slowly, hiding behind a stack of trunks she hadn't gotten to yet and got out his dagger. When he heard her get close enough, he jumped out and grabbed her. She fought but he was stronger than her and her struggling was useless.
" Do you know what happens to people who try to trick me, dearie? " Rumplestiltskin said as he brought his dagger up to her throat.
" Please don't, " Clarissa whispered. " I'll give you the tear. Just please don't kill me. "
" You wasted your chance, " Rumplestiltskin snarled in her ear as he pressed the blade to her throat. He sliced into her skin but stopped. He pulled the dagger away, " You know what? "
" You changed your mind? " Clarissa sounded hopeful.
" No. I just thought of a better fate, " Rumplestiltskin said. He snapped his fingers, Clarissa getting enveloped in a cloud of purple smoke and her empty clothes crumpling to the floor. He reached down, running his hand through the clothes until he found her belt. He pulled it out, finding her pouch attached to it.
He smiled as he opened the bag, reaching in and retrieving The Wyvern's Tear. He looked at it closely, smiling as he did. He looked down at the pile of clothes just as a little white mouse scurried out and away. Rumplestiltskin giggled and called out after her, " Watch out for cats, dearie! "