What's this? A second update within a week since the last one? The world must be coming to an end!

On a side note I did have someone read these chapters before I posted them just to make sure they weren't too far out there in left field. However that person has sadly lost interest and from here on out it really will just be me. If it really gets away from me make sure to let me know!


5 Months After Neverland

Books of all shapes and sizes were sorted into sloppy stacks that were scattered around the room under the Mills family crypt. Regina flipped through a thick volume in her hands, not really focusing on the words on the page in front of her.

A month ago Henry turned twelve years old. The very same day she learned that Emma Swan was in fact alive and tromping about the Enchanted Forest with a Dream Walker, two small boys and two other women. It was surreal to say the least. The biggest problem before Emma now was finding a way home.

That was what brought Regina to where she was now. Emma foolishly made a deal that she did not completely understand. Now instead of finding a way to bring one person from the Enchanted Forest over, Regina had to find a way that would bring over many people and be feasible for Emma to actually perform the magic herself from her end. Regina immediately recruited Belle for the task of researching more on the Dream Walker that Emma referred to as Dr. Facilier.

"Look the deal was that he made a connection between us and help get us all back to Storybrooke; and I would do him a favor." Emma grunted, her happiness that Regina finally accepted the truth dissipating with the brunettes incessant questioning.

"And just who do you think you are bringing to my town Ms. Swan?"

"The boys, this quack of a doctor, Aurora and Mulan. Aurora is pregnant by the way." Emma added as she counted the people off on her fingers. "We are currently trying to locate Robin Hood and his band of Merry Men. There is a woman in their camp I have to bring to Storybrooke too."

This doctor was more than a Dream Walker Belle had revealed, having done more research on her own since Regina first entered the Pawn shop asking questions. The connection that had been forged between Emma and Regina was undocumented. According to Belle, Emma shouldn't have as much power in Regina's dreams as she did. She really shouldn't be showing up as often in person either. The two women decided that Emma was probably using her own magic to hi-jack the connection made by Facilier and communicate with Regina independently. Not that Emma understood what Regina was saying when she tried to explain this to the blond woman.

"And just why are you doing what this Doctor Facilier says Emma?" Regina eyed the blond who still looked the same as she did when Regina last saw her. She wondered if Emma had changed much since then.

Stormy green eyes fixed on Regina and held her in place, "Because I struck a deal with him. And after Rumpelstiltskin I've learned not that it's best to follow through on deals made with people who wield magic."

Belle had been sworn to secrecy after Regina confided in her that Emma was alive. Regina was adamant that the number of people who knew Emma was alive be kept as small as possible. Only the people who had to know, would know.

This meant Henry was still blissfully ignorant of the true fate of his biological mother.

"You can't keep me from him forever Regina." Emma argued fiercely, nearly nose to nose with an equally stubborn brunette.

"I will not give Henry false hope that you might be able to return to us!" Regina bit back, "He is coping with the thought of you being dead. If I tell him that you are alive he will become obsessed and will never let it go. He inherited your stubbornness in spades."

"That was probably nurture not nature Regina."

Regina rolled her eyes at the blond, "If it turns out that there is no way to get you home then I have to be the one to tell our son that you're alive but he will never see you again."

Emma stared at Regina incredulously.

"What?" Regina snapped angrily.

"You called Henry our son."

Regina and Belle had gathered all the books related to portals, curses, and magical forms of travel from the library and brought them to the secret room in her family crypt. There Regina and Belle began pouring over the books when they had the time. Mostly when Neal was working in the library giving Belle a day off or when Henry was busy with his grandparents or father leaving Regina free to do her research in private.

The Dark Curse was certainly out of the question, Emma would never consider such an option. Killing the thing she loved most? Emma was more likely to offer her own life than to take the life of someone she loved. Magic beans were out of the question as well. The shrunken giant Anton hadn't been able to harvest a successful crop since his first one had been destroyed. Not to mention Regina no longer trusted beans as a method of travel. Using a looking glass as a portal might have been an option, but Regina didn't know the spell and neither did Rumpelstiltskin. If he had, she would never have been manipulated into casting the Dark Curse in the first place.

As the preset alarm on her phone went off Regina sighed and slammed her current magical tome shut in frustration. It wasn't the first time since embarking on this research mission that she wished that Jefferson's hat hadn't been destroyed. Not that it would have been an ideal method of travel. Someone would have to travel to the Enchanted Forest with the intention of staying there forever. No she needed a different kind of portal that was similar to a magic bean but far more reliable. And it had to be something Emma could control or navigate successfully without help.

The brunette left the crypt and tried to shift her focus to the new task at hand. Storybrooke's political atmosphere had changed since the curse was broken, but the real changes had only really gone into effect when she and Snow White had left for Neverland to rescue Henry.

Since the unlikely pair left the town at the same time the people had a hard time finding someone else to lead the town for an undetermined amount of time. King George had tried to take control by declaring his Kingly status and instead had been rebuked by the townsfolk. Instead a town council had been established and the new political body took control of the town. They had meetings once a week, and now Regina had to push many of her ideas for the town through them first.

There was one such meeting today, David had pushed rather adamantly that the impending arrival of Lilly Page was a matter of town security and instead of coming up with an solution himself and presenting it to council he wanted to brainstorm with the political body. Forcing Regina to suffer the opinions of those she strongly considered imbeciles.

"Regina?"

The brunette turned, surprised to see Sidney Glass in the cemetery with her. "Sidney, what are you doing here?"

"I was looking for you. Your secretary said that you would be here." He offered a knowing smile. "Visiting Emma again?"

She scowled at the man. Emma wasn't dead, not that he knew that. But ever since she had told him to stop looking for the blond he had been frustratingly adamant in helping her "grieve" for Henry's other mother.

"What do you want? I have somewhere to be." Regina kept moving towards her car, Sidney was going to have to walk and talk quickly.

He scrambled to keep up with her, "I just wanted to see if I could discuss running an article on the Lost Boys with you. Perhaps over lunch?"

Regina reached the black Mercedes and opened the door, wanting nothing more than to be rid of the man. "Not today Sidney. Make an appointment with Sebastian." She gracefully slid into the car and scowled at the man when he caught the door before she could close it.

"Regina, look I know that since Emma's death everyone has been focused on Henry or Snow White and David, but if you need to talk to someone-."

"I do not need to discuss Ms. Swan with anyone." Regina cut him off and jerked harder on the car door. This time he released it and allowed her to drive off without further comment.

She drove silently, taking the calm that silence offered her to organize her thoughts and reign in her frustration that was already nearing its limit for the day between Sidney and the lack of progress with her research.

"If anyone can find a way to travel between realms it would be you Regina. I believe in you."

"I can't guarantee I will be able to find you a way back."

The knowledge that Emma believed in her was something Regina held close to her blackened heart. Emma had little reason to believe that Regina would actually follow through on her promise to help the blond home. After all, most of the time they had spent together involved Regina trying to kick Emma out of Storybrooke and Emma stubbornly refusing to go. On autopilot Regina parked her car and made her way into Town Hall.

"So nice of you to join us Regina." David's voice brought Regina out of her thoughts and forced her to focus on the room.

Chocolate eyes swept the room doing a silent roll call. She was indeed the last to arrive. The council was essentially made up of Snow White's former Royal Council. The Lucas women were present to represent the vast majority of the small town's population. Grumpy and Doc were there to represent the dwarfs and those who were of some kind of trade. Marco had refused the seat after the last time had led to losing his son. Blue of course sat in for the fairies much to the displeasure of Tinker Bell who was not counted as a fairy in Blue's eyes. Belle and Neal were present as well, sitting in for Rumpelstiltskin who owned half of the town but couldn't be bothered to attend meetings. Not that Regina would complain, Belle was far more pleasant to deal with and Neal was fairly spineless when it came to political matters.

King George had elected himself head of the council initially on the grounds of representing the royals and being the only one with actual leadership skills. But once Snow had returned from Neverland he had been booted from his chair as soon as possible. Regina hadn't felt bad for the man at all but there were some days when she would have preferred to deal with him than a hormonal Snow.

Then of course David stood at the front of the room, his seat on the council guaranteed only because he was acting sheriff. Not that he knew he was still considered only temporary in the eyes of the payroll. Regina couldn't wait until Emma returned and hopefully brought some competence to the seat.

"I have still arrived on time. I do have other responsibilities to deal with Sherriff." Regina took her seat and waved David on. "Well do get on with it. This meeting was called because you wanted it."

David blinked, thrown off balance after expecting Regina to take command of the meeting like she normally did. He cleared his throat and paused for another moment, hoping that it would pull the brunette out of her thoughts and to the meeting. "Alright well as many of you know, we are expecting and outsider to come to Storybrooke next month. Emma's childhood friend Lilly."

"David what has you so worried about an old friend of Emma's showing up?" Ruby asked crossing her arms, the action mirrored by her rather surly grandmother. "So what if she shows up. She just wants to meet Henry right?"

"Well yes-."

"I closed my diner cause some stranger is planning to come visit?" Granny asked crossly, "There has to be more to this meeting that that."

"If Lilly comes to Storybrooke and finds out Emma is dead she is going to want to know why." Neal spoke up saving David from having to bumble through a response, "We cannot just say that Emma is dead and not tell her how."

"Lilly is a stubborn cuss Regina. If she shows up in Storybrooke before I get back she is going to want to know where I am."

"And why not?"

"Grumpy think about it." Snow interjected on behalf of her husband, "Would you really tell an outsider that Emma traveled to Neverland to rescue her son and on the return journey was wounded as she jumped off a cliff, so she missed the boat and fell uncontrolled into a portal?"

"I guess not sister."

"Why don't we just put a barrier up around the town to keep all outsiders out? Like Belle did when you all went to Neverland." Blue looked around, the idea had merit.

David was nodding in agreement, "That would keep any other friends Emma might've had from looking for her as well."

Regina fought the urge to curse the lot of idiots in the room. "You cannot just put up a barrier to keep everyone who isn't from the Enchanted Forest out of Storybrooke. That will only create problems, not solve them." Belle shut down that idea quickly. At least someone had common sense.

"And why not?" Grumpy demanded hotly, "Cause it sounds like a damn good idea to me sister."

"Because you idiot we have an economy." Regina finally spoke up leveling Grumpy with a harsh glare. "If you shut off all of Storybrooke's borders how are we going to get supplies? Conduct trade? You will end up closing down the cannery, which is our biggest source of revenue for the town, and put all those people out of work. How will we get groceries? Are you offering to sail a ship outside the town line and fetch them yourself?"

"What if we only did it for Emma's birthday?" David asked.

Neal shook his head, "Lilly would just come back a different day. And the next time we won't receive any warning."

"Could we become self-sustaining? Grow our own food and such?" Ruby presented the idea as a middle ground on which to stand.

"Not quickly enough." Regina really wanted to strangle the lot of them, except for Belle, she wasn't spouting out nonsense. "Even if we could how would we produce specialized things like medicine? Or hospital equipment?" Regina's gaze moved to Snow. "New textbooks for the schools? We simply cannot do it all."

"So what do we do?"

"We come up with a story."

Regina could've kissed Belle for presenting the smartest and most obvious solution to the table. Why David couldn't have come up with this himself and presented a story to the council instead of forcing the group together. This meeting shouldn't be happening. It shouldn't be necessary. If Regina could just find a way to get Emma home then there would be no need for a cover story to tell this Ms. Page.

"You want us to come up with a story to feed to Lilly and get the whole town in on it so she doesn't suspect anything?" Granny asked curiously, the idea had some merit to it. "What kind of story?"

Belle nodded, a smile gracing her face now, "Yes! The closer the story is to the truth the easier it will be to remember. And the more believable it is."

"So what's the story sister?"

"How about something along the lines of Henry going missing and Emma going into the forest to search for him but never returning?" Neal offered, "Obviously Henry comes back but Emma doesn't and it's been so long we just have presumed her dead."

Chocolate eyes rolled as Regina sat back in her chair. She really did have better things to do. More books to comb through, dinner to cook for Henry, there was most assuredly a pile of paperwork to go over since she had spent the day playing hooky in attempt to find Emma a way back.

The meeting wrapped up without Regina being fully aware of it until Belle touched her arm. Most everyone had left the room now, Neal was talking with Snow and David by the door. Tears were pouring down Snow's cheeks. Briefly Regina wondered what had set the pregnant woman off.

"Have you had any luck yet?" Belle asked, glancing over her shoulder to make sure the trio was too engrossed in their own conversation.

Regina shook her head, "None. I haven't found anything yet. But there are still so many books to go through."

"I'd ask Rumple but he hasn't been himself lately." Belle chewed on her bottom lip worried, but before she could say more Neal interrupted.

"Ask Papa what?"

"Nothing that concerns you Mr. Cassidy. Now if you excuse me I have to go prepare dinner for Henry." Regina brushed past him in attempt to make it to the door.

Neal however reached out and snagged her arm, "Wait. I want to know something."

Regina closed her eyes and counted down from five as she gathered the last remnants of her patience. Giving into the temptation of blasting Henry's father through the wall would be a bad thing. "I suggest you let go of me before you lose that hand. Then you and captain guyliner can have something to bond over other than Emma."

"Funny. She's exactly who I wanted to talk to you about." Neal however did let go of Regina but placed himself between her and the door.

"Well I don't want to talk about her. We have done that enough this afternoon I think."

"I asked you before, on Henry's birthday if Emma was alive and you said you didn't know." Neal insisted on pursuing this topic. "Do you know now?"

"Emma is dead Mr. Cassidy. It would be best if you accepted that fact and helped Henry work through his grief. Perhaps doing something not Emma related will help." Regina suggested coolly. Henry was going to have to move on and acclimate to an Emma free environment if she couldn't find a portal or transport of some kind. And if she could get Neal to give Henry that first push then it would be all the better for her.

This time when she moved to sweep past Neal he didn't try to stop her. Regina managed to make it all the way home and prepare dinner without any more interruptions. It wasn't until later that evening did Emma cross her mind again.

Henry was sprawled out on the sofa, headphones on and a book left open on his chest as he slept. It was a pose Regina could picture Emma in quite easily. The brunette had quickly learned in Neverland that Emma would starfish in her sleep until she joined her in the bedroll. Then quite quickly Emma turned into a koala and Regina would find herself wrapped up in Emma's strong arms and surrounded by her warmth.

A smile tugged at Regina's lips, he looked comfortable enough to let him be. Just this once. She kissed his forehead and gently picked the book up off his chest. It was the one he picked from his grandfather's shop. Only Henry would pick a book out of a shop full of objects potentially loaded with magic.

She flipped the book over with the intention of marking the page for him and froze as she skimmed the page on reflex.

A dangerous emotion began to bubble in the pit of her stomach as she reread the page more closely. Re-examining the illustrations to make sure she wasn't seeing things.

Regina had seen this pendant before. It was in Storybooke.

And if what the book said was true.

It was Emma's way home.


As always let me know what you think! Ya'll broke a review record for a single chapter with the last one. Maybe I should do another ficlet for my lovely reviewers? Anything in particular you guys would like to read?