Thanks so much to everyone that reviewed and favorited and followed! I'm so glad you guys like the story so far. I've decided that it will be four chapters, and I should have the third up before Friday this week. Enjoy!

Chapter 2

Four Days Ago:

Emma was pacing. Pacing. It had been just over two days since Hook was separated from Robin's men on a routine patrol (if it was routine to search the forests of Maine for witches and flying monkeys), and the fact that he was still in the wind left her anxious and restless. He would have come back by now, and she just knew something was wrong. She felt something twisting in her gut, and he had proven himself such an invaluable fighter, a clever strategizer, and they just couldn't afford to lose anyone else…

"Emma, honey, relax. I'm sure he's fine. This is Hook, remember?" Mary Margaret tried to soothe. "He'll show up at some point. David and Robin are…"

"Doing everything they can. I know," Emma finished, fingers grasping and toying with her necklace.

A very pregnant Mary Margaret was currently reclining on a somewhat battered couch, though it looked much better now that several blankets had been thrown across it. She, David, and Henry had made a camp of sorts there in a more secluded, albeit dilapidated house, separated from the town center by a good deal of acreage. Emma and Regina had collectively placed a cloaking spell over it so that they were invisible to Zelena and Gold, and it gave them a safe place to go home to at the end of the day. Downtown Storybrooke was all but deserted now, the people having fled the town center to find cover in the woods, underground, anywhere they could manage it. Regina and Belle were currently researching ways to unbind Rumplestiltskin from his dagger, but they'd discovered nothing promising so far. David and Robin led men on those daily patrols in the woods, searching for Zelena just as sure as she was searching for the rest of them. God, they'd already lost so many already. Neal, Little John, and two other members of Robin's group, three of the seven dwarves, Archie…and not the mention the countless others of which they had no way to keep track…

"We can't lose anyone else," Emma said, attempting to refocus. We can't lose him. "If David and Robin haven't found anything by the time they get back then I'm going out there myself."

"Emma, you can't just go barging out into the woods. You have little to no tracking skills, and I doubt Robin would miss anything. He's almost as good as me." Emma stopped pacing, catching the slight smile on Mary Margaret's face, and willed herself to calm down.

"You're right," she sighed, perching beside her. "I just…I just feel so helpless all the time. We can't find Zelena, we have no idea how to get Rumple's dagger back, Neal is dead, and how he's - "

She trailed off, stuck between not knowing how to finish, and not wanting to finish.

"Since when does it bother you so much that Hook isn't here?" Mary Margaret asked, awkwardly reaching over her stomach to wrap an arm around Emma's shoulders.

"I don't know. I've just gotten used to him, I guess. And he's a good fighter. We need good fighters. And Henry keeps asking about him."

"Are you sure that's all?" she pressed after a moment.

She met her mother's gaze, the question unexpectedly sending her brain into a frenzy. Emma couldn't deny that he was someone she'd come to rely on, someone she trusted. Of course she knew that he would have liked it to be more, that his gaze was often weighted with far more than she was prepared to deal with, but she wasn't ready, damnit. Neal had only died two weeks before, Henry was still without his memories and struggling to deal with his new and terrifying reality, and why the hell should she care so much that the pirate hadn't bothered to come back yet?

"I don't…I just don't – "

Emma words died in her throat when Mary Margaret's face suddenly contorted in pain, her arms wrapping around her stomach as she gasped.

"What? What is it, what's happening?" Emma braced her hands on her mother's shoulders, the helpless feeling creeping back and sending her into panic mode.

"I'm okay, I'm okay Emma, really," she panted, eyes closed as she fell into an all too familiar breathing pattern.

"No you're not, you're not. You look like you're in – "

"Labor, I think," her mother finished, nodding furiously as sweat began to bead on her brow. "War or no war, I think this baby is coming. I felt a few smaller contractions earlier, but this one is stronger."

"Oh God. Uh, uh breathe. Just breathe," Emma said, mimicking that familiar heave heave ho pattern. "Can you get to a bed?"

Mary Margaret was silent a minute longer before her face relaxed, her grip loosening around her stomach. "Let's hurry, before another contraction hits," she said, teetering to her feet with Emma's arm securely around her. "And get Whale."

"Yeah, sure," Emma said, anxiety blossoming and growing fast. Too much was happening at once, this was all just too much –

The front door suddenly banged open, revealing a very worried David and a confused Robin.

"Something felt wrong. What's wrong? What's happening?" David was beside Mary Margaret in an instant, his hands cupping her face as she smiled weakly back at him.

"Mary Margaret is having contractions," Emma said in a rush, grateful when David took her place and practically carried Mary Margaret to the downstairs bedroom. Before following after them, she caught Robin's eye.

"He could tell just something was off just by feeling something?" she asked. "Really?"

"It does seem quite remarkable," Robin replied, "but not unlike your truth detecting talent that Killian told me about."

Emma was quiet for a long moment before she worked up the courage to ask.

"Anything?" she finally managed, daring to hope. When his eyes lowered to the floor, the anxious expression on his face fading into something softer, pitying, she gathered that it likely wasn't good news.

"Perhaps..."

Emma felt her gut clench. "Perhaps what? What did you find?" she asked, jumping slightly when Mary Margaret let loose another cry of pain.

"I asked Regina to brew up something that might reveal a trail, since I couldn't find anything physical. It worked, to an extent. We picked up what looked like a game trail in some brush, but after looking closer we realized it was more like something had been dragged through it. The trail ended at the stream that runs under the bridge, but we found this tacked to one of the posts." He handed her what looked like a letter, water damaged from the rains the night before. "We were hurrying back here to show everyone when David felt that something was amiss with Lady Snow."

Emma squinted at the note, her eyes just barely able to make out the faded, brownish lettering.

Savior,

Thank you for the lovely gift. I can see why you've been so keen to keep this pretty one around, even if he tongue is a bit crude. I feel so selfish keeping him all for myself like this though, so if you wish for another turn with the pirate, don't be afraid to drop by. I'm sure it won't be too difficult for my dear sister to trace this letter back to my home. Until then, I'll give him all your best wishes – personally.

Ever your friend,

Zelena of Oz

Emma read through the letter three more times before it finally sank in, before her fist bunched it into a ball and she was forced to focus on not screaming out in frustration, rage.

"Get Regina," was all she managed to grind out before David called from the bedroom.

"Emma, we need you!"

She closed her eyes and forced herself to inhale, exhale, much in the same manner as before. "But get Whale first."

Robin nodded, patting her once on the arm. "I'll be quick."

She offered a half-smile in gratitude, but it didn't reach her eyes. Once Robin was back out the door, she stuffed the letter in her pocket. She froze when she heard a squeak on the stairs.

"Mom? What's going on? Is Mary Margaret okay?" Henry asked from above her, starting down them when her eyes met his.

"She's fine Henry," Emma quickly reassured, forcing the conflict away. "But the baby is coming and we need everyone to help out, okay?" Her voice didn't crack, it didn't. "Can you grab some towels and a bowl of cool water?"

"Yeah, sure. Anything," he said, barreling past her into the kitchen. She could hear the excitement in his voice, a hint of panic.

"Knock on the door before you come in, okay?" she called out behind her. The poor kid had already been scarred enough for a lifetime.

"Okay!" he yelled back, and Emma tried her damndest to push everything back, back out of her head. Her parents needed her, her sibling needed her. Hook…

No, not now. The choice was terrifyingly cut and dry, even if it practically killed her. Fists clenched and breath shallow, Emma walked into the bedroom, closing the door behind her.

Mary Margaret spent the next twenty-six hours in labor.

It had been a hard delivery, especially without the convenience of the hospital, but Whale had pulled her through well enough. They had already gathered most of the supplies that they needed at the house, and everything went as smoothly as possible under the circumstances. Emma kept Henry close at her side as Robin's men tightened the perimeter around them and tensions rose. No one was to be allowed near the old house and her concealment spell, not even the townspeople. They were more vulnerable than ever now, and would continue to be until Mary Margaret and Emma's new baby brother Leopold were stable enough to travel. Two more weeks at the least.

David never left her and the baby's side, and with Robin maintaining the defenses around them, there hadn't been much opportunity to discuss any kind of rescue plan for Hook. Regina had said that she would be there within the next day, but she had more important things to attend to first. It had been the hardest thing in the world for Emma not to punch Robin then and there once he delivered her message, and he'd left quickly after she told him as much.

Emma hadn't slept once since the baby's delivery, Leo's cries often jolting her from moments of silence, worry and fear keeping any kind of rest at bay. She maintained her distance from Mary Margaret's room, popping in only once and a while to catch a glimpse of him, healthy and strong and content in her parents' arms. Henry was in there constantly, fawning over his new…uncle, and it hurt Emma's head to think about it anymore than that.

When Regina finally did show up, hours after the birth, Emma was so anxious that she practically knocked her over when she came through the door.

"What took so long?" she demanded, her frustration not even veiled a little.

"Watch it, princess. I'm not going to apologize for making sure that Roland was safe before I left."

"Did Robin tell you what the letter said?" she asked, pushing forward. They've already lost so much time…practically four days…

"Yes," Regina replied, removing her gray suit jacket. After pushing black sleeves up her arms, she began clearing a place on the small kitchen table. "I had just enough ingredients left in my stores to work up a locater spell. Hand me the letter. We're going to find that witch and have her strung up on my clock tower before the night's over."

"Now you're talking," Emma said, pushing up her own sweater sleeves as well. She fished the letter out of her pocket (she hadn't let it leave her person since Robin first gave it to her) and placed it in Regina's outstretched hand.

Regina pulled what looked like a stick of white chalk out of her bag, and drew a circle on the table's rough wood. "This is a stick of compressed oak ash. It represents the forest around us." Emma watched as she removed vials of various liquids, and flinched when an unmistakably rotten smell hit her nose.

"Oh, what is that?" Henry asked from behind them, and Emma immediately straightened to block his view.

"Nothing – "

"A locator spell," Regina spoke over her. "And that's all you need to know for now."

"Regina – " Emma started, shooting a look.

"It's okay, Mom. I'm not freaked out by it. Promise," Henry said, squeezing between them. "Are you trying to find Killian?"

"The Wicked Witch," Regina answered, now mixing various items together with a mortar and pestle.

"And Killian," Emma added, shooting another glare. "We think she might have him."

"Yes, and we can only hope that he hasn't spilled his guts and told her where to find us all. We'll be lucky if we can get to her first," Regina said, adding some sort of crushed, dry leaf to her mixture.

"Don't worry. Killian won't tell her where we are," Henry said, the conviction in his voice startling Emma. She looked at him, meeting his intense gaze. Emma hadn't even entertained the thought that Hook would betray them. She just knew from something in her gut, similar to how she knew when people lied, that he would die before giving them away. Before giving her away.

And that was part of what was scaring her so much. As she watched Henry's face, the serious set to his brow that was much too old for his youthful features, she realized that Henry knew it to. He had seemed closer to Hook after that night they'd spent away from the showdown in town, just before things had gotten really bad. She had noticed Henry shadowing him, heard them both laughing together at odd moments. God, how had she missed it? Hook had slowly but surely worked his way into not just her life, but Henry's too.

"No," Emma finally said, dropping an arm across his shoulders and tugging him against her. "He wouldn't do that to us."

Regina paused to watch them for a moment, her expression softening slightly. "Maybe not," she admitted quietly. "But time is still of the essence. Give me your hand, Emma."

"Stand back, Henry," Emma said, giving him a small smile before pushing him gently away. When he was a decent distance behind them, she grasped Regina's sweating palm, and immediately felt a rush of white-hot energy shoot up her arm and channel throughout the rest of her body. Regina's foul-smelling mixture had been spread out around the inside of the white circle, and the letter placed on top of it so that the liquid bled through the paper.

"Put your other hand on the letter," Regina said, and Emma positioned her left hand next to hers, shivering as the circle completed. "Just let the magic show you. Don't resist it," she instructed. "Let the picture paint itself in your mind."

Emma did her best to relax, the energy sparking and pounding in her veins like a second heartbeat. Colors began to spread through the darkness in her closed eyes and swirled to make shapes, lights, until finally there was a face. She nearly lost it when she found herself suddenly staring into blue irises, and Regina's grip on her hand tightened.

"Focus, Emma," she commanded, and Emma struggled to breathe. Beyond the blue she saw red and black, pale skin, a white flash of teeth as lips curled back in a grimace.

"Oh God, I can't – " Emma stuttered, Hook's battered face and bound body suddenly filling her mind, her senses. She couldn't see anything but him, a dirt wall, and tungsten bulbs. He could be anywhere, anywhere…

"Emma, pull back," she vaguely heard Regina shout. "Pull your eyes back, broader. Don't worry about him, we need to know the location. The location, Emma!"

She tried, God she did. Emma let herself drift backwards, away from him, until the full outline of the cellar made itself known. She was going up a set of stairs now, above him, onto level ground…

"No!" she shouted, panicked as Hook began to fall out of her vision and the cellar doors closed. "I can't leave him, not now. Please!"

It was at that moment she felt something hard and utterly unyielding circle her consciousness, forcing her eyes off the hole in the ground and around to the quiet clearing around her, holly bushes dotting the tree line's edge. She knew this place…

The vision was suddenly knocked away from her, her eyes plunging into darkness again.

"Emma!"

"Mom!"

The two different voices stirred her back into awareness, and as the electricity in her body abated, her sensations returning, she realized quite abruptly that she was in someone's arms, the hard floor directly under back.

"I'm okay," she managed to say, opening her eyes. David stared back at her, panic and fear easily visible in his gaze. She realized that he was the one holding her, and Henry was crouched right beside him. She struggled to sit up.

"Easy, take it easy," David said, arm around her back. "What the hell did you do to her, Regina?" he demanded, and she saw for the first time that Regina was on the floor too, hand cradling her head.

Robin and two of his men came bursting through the front door then, Robin immediately going to Regina's side and squatting beside her. "What happened?" he asked, arm circling her. Emma's chest constricted painfully, that God-awful image of Hook flashing briefly before her eyes again.

"What the hell, Regina!?" she shouted. "What the fuck just happened? Why did I see…why did I see…" she made herself take a breath, easing the tightness in her throat. "Why did I just see him? I thought the spell was for the Wicked Witch?"

Robin helped Regina stand, and Emma brushed off David's offered arm and stood on her own. "Tell me! Is that where she is? Is that where he is? Was that even a locator spell?"

"Yes, it was," Regina snapped back. "In order to do a proper locator spell you need some of the person's blood. The note was written in blood, Robin told me as much, so I assumed it was either Zelena's or Hook's. I couldn't know for sure which, and it didn't matter either way as long as both of us did the spell."

"That's why you had me do it with you?" Emma asked, struggling to keep up. Her head felt foggy and thick, awful, terrible thoughts pervading every space.

"Yes. The other necessary element is that the person conducting the spell be connected in some way. Zelena is my sister, Hook is…well, your boyfriend apparently, and that was all it needed. It worked, so I don't see a problem."

"The problem," David interjected, "is that Emma ended up screaming on the floor because of what you did to her, and she didn't have the opportunity to prepare – "

"If I told her beforehand that the note was written in what was likely Hook's blood, she wouldn't have been able to focus. As things are, she barely managed to pull it off, and only after I intervened."

"You mean that was your magic pulling me back?" Emma asked.

"Of course it was. Now, can we stop bickering about this and put together a real plan to confront her? This is the best lead we've had in weeks, and I'm willing to save the pirate if it means getting my hands on Zelena again."

"She's right," Emma nodded, the anger fading away and an extreme sense of urgency replacing it. "This is our chance, and we have to save Hook."

"Emma, this is probably just a trap," David said. "Our greatest advantage now is time and secrecy. We need to wait and find more of the residents before we come out into the open. She has Gold's power on top her own, too. We wouldn't stand a chance, not now."

"We can't just leave him, David! You didn't see what I did. She's –" Emma stopped herself, gaze falling on Henry. "He's hurt."

"And I wouldn't count on her having Gold's power for much longer," Regina said, stepping away from Robin. "One of the other reasons I was so late is that Belle thinks she found a way to separate him from his dagger, at least temporarily. Long enough for me to kill Zelena."

"Seriously?" Emma said. "You found a way?"

"Wait a minute, here. Even if you did, what is it going to take?" David asked, voice edged with frustration. "Something like that can't be easy, and the price would be – "

"Dark, yes," Regina finished David's sentence, eyes momentarily flicking to Robin. "It requires the blood of an innocent, an infant. The firstborn son of true love."

Emma felt her eyes widen, the pieces falling into place. "That's why Zelena – "

"Exactly. She probably knows of the spell and wanted to prevent us from having the necessary ingredient, Snow and David's baby. He's the key."

"No."

Emma could feel David shaking beside her, the fierce protectiveness rolling off him in waves. He looked just about ready to kill Regina with his bare hands, and Emma couldn't make herself move to stop him.

"You took our daughter away from us. You made us live without her, made her suffer. There is no Goddamned way in hell you're laying one finger on our son!" he shouted, advancing towards her.

Robin positioned himself just in front of Regina, palms towards his chest. "Easy, David. No one is talking about taking your son…"

"Not what it sounds like to me," Emma said evenly, standing just behind David.

"I just need a drop of his blood, that's all," Regina explained. "We're not talking about killing him. Just get Whale to draw some blood. That's it."

"You. Will. Not. Touch. My. Son – "

"David." A soft voice spoke from the doorway of the bedroom. Mary Margaret stood there, leaning heavily against the frame. Despite her disheveled and exhausted state, her eyes held in them a stunning awareness and clarity. "How many more people have to die? How many more have to suffer?"

"Snow…he's not even a day old. We can't – "

"Emma wasn't even an hour old when we sent her to this horrible world, all alone. I hadn't even had time to feed her yet – " her voice trailed off, and Emma felt a burn in her eyes. "It's a small price compared to what we've paid in the past, and we owe it to Emma now, and to the people of our world. Whale is coming by in a bit to check in, anyway. We can just have him take a sample of blood then. That's all you need, right Regina?"

"Yes, yes that's all." Regina took a breath, and Robin eased his stance. "I'll go get Belle, then. She can confirm all of what I said, too. She is the one that found the spell."

"Fine," Snow nodded curtly, her gaze steely. "Just hurry."

Regina gathered her things, the ingredients, and her suit jacket before looking back at Emma. "For what it's worth," she said, "I am sorry that you…that…" she trailed off, before shaking her head. "I'll do whatever I can."

Emma nodded, biting the inside of her cheek.

"Care for an escort, your Majesty?" Robin asked, following her towards the door. He opened it for her, and Emma looked away as they walked out together.

"Okay," she sighed, pressing a thumb and forefinger to her eyes as the dark images flashed in them again. "Okay. Looks like we have a rescue to plan."