Emma Swan ran as fast as she could across the front lawn of Mayor Mills' house. The front door to 108 was left ajar but the young blonde did not look back as she hastened towards her car. The little three-year old child in her arms was wailing and trying to fight against her but she took no notice. Once she reached her car she flung open the door to the back seat and fumbled with the car seat she had purchased for the occasion.
"Kid! Calm down I'm not going to hurt you." Emma tried to quiet the boy.
"I don't wanna go with you! What did you do to my mom?" Henry cried while flailing against Emma as she tried to secure him into the seat.
"She's not your mom, I am!" Emma insisted. "She doesn't love you like I do. Don't worry I'm going to take good care of you. Please stay still, we have to go." In reply Henry was now whining something that Emma couldn't make out. When she was finally able to fasten the seatbelt around the feisty toddler she shut the door and slid into the driver's seat, eager to get on the road as soon as possible. Expertly backing out of the driveway she set off towards the highway and breathed a sigh of relief. Things hadn't gone exactly according to plan, but she had her kid and they were heading out of Storybrooke. Hopefully everything would run smoothly from now on.
A few minutes into their drive Henry was able to settle down a little. In a small voice that Emma could barely make out over the engine he asked, "Did you hurt my mommy?"
Emma bit her lip and looked up at him in the rear-view mirror, not sure how to respond. Instead she switched her attention back to the road and remained silent.
Henry tried another question, "Is she dead?" Emma looked up at him again; his big green eyes were full of worry and fear. Emma felt a pang of guilt; she had never meant to hurt her son, but getting rid of Regina had ended up being a necessity.
"I'm sorry, but I couldn't let her keep us from being together." At her response Henry began to sniffle again and tears ran down his cheeks in worry for his mother. He wiped them away with his sleeve but they continued to fall.
"You'll see Henry, we're going to have a lot of fun!" Emma said trying to cheer him up.
Henry's lips quivered and he didn't reply, instead he slumped into his seat and refused to speak.
xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
Regina stirred from where she had fallen on the floor, as the pain hit her she sucked in her breath. She could hear a car engine roaring to life through the open front door, but she couldn't get up as quickly as she would have liked. "No!" She said out loud in fear. This couldn't be happening, that woman couldn't take Henry. Groaning, she pushed herself up with one palm trying to stand, but the piercing pain coming from her left side made this extremely difficult. Any sudden moves resulted in a blinding agony that made it hard to focus. Finally succeeding, she stumbled towards the front door, grabbing onto the walls for support as she went. When she reached the doorway she paused for a brief moment to steady herself and then looked around, there was no one in sight. A sickening feeling of dread ran through her, they were gone. Henry was gone.
Regina's eyes widened in panic and she struggled towards the road, panting from the effort. The street was completely silent with not a single person or car in sight. Regina shook her head in loss of what to do and covered her mouth with her hand. Before she had even realised what she was doing she was screaming at the top of her lungs into the night. Collapsing onto the ground, she hid her face in her hands, and then ran her hands through her hair in despair, clutching at the raven strands that fell to just above her shoulders.
"Mayor Mills?"A concerned voice came from beside her. She looked up at the woman who placed a gentle hand on Regina's arm. It was one of her neighbours. "Are you alright?"
Regina inhaled a shaky breath, preparing to speak, but she couldn't find her voice. After a few seconds she was able to whisper, "my son... she took him."
"Don't worry, I've called the Sheriff, he should be here any minute." The woman said in attempt to comfort the mayor. As she tried to help Regina to her feet, the woman noticed the wounds. "Oh my, you're bleeding! Here let me help," the woman took off her zip-up sweater and pressed it against Regina's side in order to staunch the blood. "Who took your son?"
Regina grabbed the woman's wrist but before she could say anything the sounds of a siren filled the air and a police cruiser came skidding to a halt. Graham leapt out of the car and came running over to the two of them.
"Regina, what happened?" He asked as he knelt down beside her, placing a soothing hand on her back.
Regina's breath came rapidly in her distress. She turned her attention to the Sheriff, "a woman, she said her name was Emma Swan, she came and just... took Henry. Claiming he was hers." She paused for a second, swallowing hard. "She said she was his birthmother." Regina explained shakily, shutting her eyes as she began to get lightheaded.
"Mayor Mills has been shot Sheriff," Regina's neighbour told him.
Graham's face filled with concern, "let me see." The woman removed the sweater from Regina's side and he inspected the wounds. "Regina we need to get you to the hospital, immediately." Looking up at the neighbour, he said "Thank you. For all of your help, I'll look after her from here."
Noticing that Regina was shivering he took off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders, and then he carefully helped her up and led her towards his police cruiser. It would be faster to take her to the hospital himself than to wait for an ambulance to arrive. As they walked Regina clung to him, leaning against him heavily for support; mainly because she was getting weak from loss of blood, but also because she needed the comfort of her friend. Graham held her securely to make sure she didn't trip, and was careful not to touch her injuries and cause her more pain. He could feel her fingers clutching at the fabric of his shirt, "Graham..." she sobbed.
"I know, just hang in there. We'll get you fixed up, and then we'll find Henry I promise."
A few tears ran down her face, "You can't be sure of that."
"Regina, I will find him. Don't you worry about that, just try and focus on staying awake."
"I'm not going to fall asleep Graham," She replied with a hint of resentment.
"Maybe not, but I don't want you slipping into a coma on me. You need to stay strong for Henry."
As they reached the car Graham helped Regina into the passenger seat and then hurried over to his side of the car. Sliding in, he buckled his seatbelt and sped off towards the hospital.
xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
The doors to the Emergency Room burst open and Regina was wheeled inside on a gurney, Graham following closely behind.
When they got close to the operating room Regina suddenly started to fight against the doctors, trying to get up. "I don't have time for this, I need to find my son!"
"Mayor Mills you need to stay still!" Dr. Whale warned her. "You're going to do yourself further injury. We need to operate immediately or else you could die. You've lost enough blood already, we can't afford to wait any longer. Do you understand?"
Regina continued to fight, "Why is no one doing anything? We need to find him!"
"Regina we'll do everything we can but we need you to calm down so we can help you."
When Regina still refused to stop, Dr. Whale ordered that she be given some sedatives. A few seconds after the injection was administered Regina stopped struggling and lay unmoving. Her breathing steadied but she was still conscious and more or less aware of her surroundings.
Graham approached her side and held her hand comfortingly, "I'll look for Henry, don't worry about that." He assured her for the second time that night. "Right now I just want you to let the doctors look after you ok? I promise I will do my best." Regina responded by making a small noise which Graham took to be her agreement. As he stroked the back of her hand with his thumb, a single tear fell from her eyes, and she blinked weakly trying to keep him in focus.
"Sheriff I need to ask you to leave now, we need to prep Mayor Mills for surgery. We can inform you of her condition once we are finished operating." Doctor Whale said to him.
Graham nodded, "thank you." He smiled down at Regina reassuringly and then exited the room, planning to head back to the station to run a background check on Emma Swan. On the way to the hospital he had asked Regina to describe Emma, and inquired if she knew the type of car the woman had been driving. Regina had done her best to tell him everything she could remember, but she had unfortunately not seen the car. Graham hoped he could find something about Emma Swan that could help him to track her down.