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Snow shut the door and bolted it as Charming left, hand lingering on the door handle for a brief moment. Her skin was still tingling from their passionate moment before, and she wanted nothing more than to go out and steal him away from his responsibilities. He needed her just as she needed him and she wanted to show him just how much that was. For right now though, she knew he needed to be the sheriff. Forcing her hand off of the door handle, she made up her mind to wait up for him, just as she'd promised she would.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, willing her nerves to calm down. She had started to feel almost silly for being on edge all evening until Grumpy's call. Now, she wondered if her intuition was correct the whole time. Although, who would leave a car randomly burning in the middle of the woods? It wasn't exactly the sort of thing any of their enemies would really go for. It was crude and lacked finesse. Still, something was nagging at her in the back of her mind. Something wasn't right. She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts.

Grumpy had told David over the phone that there was no one inside of the car, so that was a start. Not that arson wasn't serious, but at least David could will himself to delegate some of the investigation to Thomas, Robin, or other members of the guard. If it involved an injured person, however, he would take on all of the responsibilities himself. He had been running himself ragged as of late trying to handle the sheriff's station on his own. Snow had intended on having the conversation of hiring a temporary deputy to assist him but hadn't gotten around to it yet. Between parenting Neal, their responsibilities as Prince and Princess, and trying to find a way to free Emma from the darkness, they'd had few moments to themselves where they didn't just fall asleep in exhaustion in each other's arms at the end of the day.

As Snow's thoughts strayed to Emma, her heart ached. Snow would give anything to call her right now, asking if she knew anything about the car and if she would back up her father on the case right now. Regretfully, she knew that it was impossible at this point, considering the amount of secretiveness and manipulation that surrounded the new Dark One. No, as much as she wanted to trust her daughter, she couldn't call her. No one knew Emma's end game yet and, especially after the incident with the dream catcher and events with Merida, Snow knew they needed to tread carefully.

After poking her head into their bedroom to make sure Neal was still asleep, she went to the kitchen and put a pot on the stove to warm some milk for hot chocolate. Sleepy Time tea could not calm her nerves quite like her signature beverage. She mixed in the cocoa and dashed the whipped cream and cinnamon on top and made her way to the couch. She briefly considered putting pajamas on but decided that Charming may prefer helping her get ready for bed when he returned. She smiled, imagining just how much her husband would enjoy that. She very much would too, for that matter.

She took a sip of cocoa, thoughts wandering to Charming again as she looked out the window. How she hated not being there as his back up...

BOOM

Snow dropped her mug and shot up from the couch, instinct carrying her to where her husband's sword hung over one of the dining chairs. Whatever caused that noise had shaken the whole building and there was a loud rushing sound, like a waterfall was on the other side of the wall in her bedroom. Wind suddenly whipped around her causing most of the loft's contents to fall to the floor and get jammed up against the walls. Despite the sudden roar of noise, Snow could feel her heartbeat thudding in her ears. Her adrenaline surging, she unsheathed the sword and ran to get Neal, who was screaming in the next room.

David reluctantly left his wife in their loft and made his way down the stairs and outside to his truck. Everything in him wanted to turn around and continue what he and his bandit princess had started, but he couldn't shake off his responsibilities as sheriff right now. In this regard, he knew he was walking a fine line. Although Snow was as supportive as ever, he wasn't giving her the attention he felt she should be afforded. His son had already spent so much time in his short life apart from them when they had gone off on rescue missions. His daughter was overtaken by darkness.

It took everything in him to ignore the guilt and to continue trying to be strong, fulfilling his duties as husband, father, and Prince. Unfortunately, he was so spread out with all of his responsibilities that none of those things were getting the full attention they deserved. He had considered hiring someone to temporarily help him at the station, but couldn't bring himself to do it. It felt like replacing Emma, and that thought brought on the most guilt of all. Still, he needed to think of something. While his family wasn't yet whole again, they had to patch up what they could until a solution could be found. They needed to have faith and make the best out of what they had now. He sighed, making the decision to talk with Snow about this when he got home but, for now, a crime scene needed investigated.

He inserted the keys into the ignition and the engine fired up. After turning on the heat he put the truck in gear and turned it towards the woods, hoping that nothing further was found in regards to possible persons in the burning car. He glanced up to look at the sky. Even from the lit streets of Storybrooke, he could see the smoke rising from the trees, indicating the scene wasn't too far into the forest.

He drove the truck down the dirt road he knew would lead him as close as he could get to where the smoke was billowing up. As he approached the clearing Grumpy had described to him, he saw the car through the trees. It looked like the fire had come down to a smolder but he could still make out the outline of the frame contrasting against the light of the embers. He could see Doc and Happy inspecting the area nearby, so he got out of his truck and approached them. Hearing footsteps, Doc looked up.

"Your Highness," he acknowledged. Happy turned at Doc's voice and, seeing David, bowed his head slightly before turning back to what they were looking at. Although they knew of his lack of royal heritage, the dwarves still referred to David like a member of nobility. Regardless of his insistence that they could drop the formalities if they wished, they did not. Well, all of them except Grumpy. He called him whatever choice words he had in mind at the moment. David decided long ago that as long as Grumpy spoke to him at all they were on decent, if not good, terms. When it came to the dwarves, David knew to heed his wife's advice: just go with it.

"Gentlemen," David nodded. "What's the word?"

"There was no one in the car. In fact, it doesn't appear there was anything in the car at all. It looked as though it was set on fire using a chemical to make it smoke and burn faster. Although, it is hard to tell if that wasn't caused by a full gas tank," Doc replied.

David mentally breathed a sigh of relief at the news of no persons being present in the vehicle. He glanced around, knowing the dwarves would have set up a parameter already.

"Any clues in the canvassed area about what happened?" he inquired.

"No, but we are going around again to be certain," Happy replied as he continued searching between nearby bushes. "We called Red. She should be able to sniff out anything unusual that we may have missed."

David nodded and looked around, catching glimpses of flashlights around the parameter of the crime scene.

"Were there any tire tracks?" he asked.

"None that we could see. It was like the car was dropped from the sky and set on fire. It's quite strange," Doc replied, looking pointedly at David. "It's like whoever did it wanted it to be found quickly."

David turned Doc's words over in his mind and pursed his lips. It had been something that nagged at him on the drive here. Why would someone just burn a car in the middle of the woods just to burn a car? It made no sense. He supposed he could chalk it up to a prank but doing something like this would be going pretty far, even by potentially angry displaced Enchanted Foresters standards. No, something wasn't right about this. In fact, it was almost like…

David froze. It was almost like he and Snow's first meeting. She had cut down the tree as an ambush tactic in order to rob him, which ended up being a diversion more than anything. A diversion from noticing what she was about to do until it was too late. David turned, scanning the area, unease rising quickly. If this was an ambush, they were all too vulnerable out in the open like this. He vaguely noticed the remaining dwarves had rejoined the group as he listened for any sign of an approaching attack. Grumpy gruffly clearing his throat broke his train of thought. David briefly glanced at him, tilted his head towards the dark forest, and continued to scan their surroundings. The dwarves followed his lead, though unsure of what had him on edge.

"Highness, is something wrong?" Sleepy whispered, covering up the following yawn with his hand.

"Any of you get the feeling that this is a set up?" David responded quietly, placing his hand on the gun at his hip, ready to draw it if necessary. He was still getting used to not carrying his sword around as his primary weapon. He much preferred it to the firearms of this realm but, like with everything else, he'd had to adjust to the new way of doing things.

The dwarves, taking their cue from him, gripped their pick axes tightly and peered into the trees as well. All of them jumped at the sudden boom that rang through the forest, sounding like a deep clap of thunder, which then turned into total silence. David's senses went into overdrive, sure that the noise had come from the town. He and the dwarves sprinted towards their vehicles, ready to head back.

Ring... ring… ring…

David started, the ring of his phone cutting through the silence of the previous moment. He blindly answered his phone while his other hand was fumbling for his keys and his eyes still remained warily on the forest.

"Snow?"

"No, it's Red…" His breath caught. Why hasn't Snow called yet? He attempted to brush this thought aside, trying to focus on Red. She sounded as if she was running.

"…coming your way. What was that?"

"I don't know, it sounded like it came from town. Where are you?"

"Halfway to the clearing," she managed. "I'm turning back."

"We'll be right behind you. Be careful."

"Always am," she countered, her wit never lessening with the gravity of any situation. David let out a nervous laugh at that as he hung up, glad for some form of normalcy tonight. He glanced at his phone, found Snow's name in the "recent calls" menu, and pushed Send as he pulled his truck out of the clearing.

"Answer, Snow," he mumbled as he made his way onto the paved road that led into Storybrooke. Glancing in his rear view mirror, he saw the truck carrying the dwarves right behind him. He bit back a curse as the call went to voicemail and was about to try again when another call was coming in. Seeing who it was, he quickly answered, "Regina."

"David, what the hell is going on out there?"

"I don't know but I'm headed back into town now. I need to check on Snow. I haven't heard from her."

He was trying his best to control the panic that was rising in him, but judging by Regina's silence on the other line he wasn't doing a very good job of it. After a moment, she responded.

"Keep me informed. Robin and I will be out as soon as we can."

"Thank you," he managed in response. He tossed his phone on the passenger seat and sped as fast as he dared towards the loft.

So, what do you think? I have a few scenarios in my head right now but am having trouble narrowing down exactly how I want to get these characters to the ending I have in my head. I am open to suggestions. Anything/one you want to see? A scene you want me to write? Please review or send me a PM! Thanks for reading! Now, off to work on the next This Is Right chapter...