Emma's head was pounding as she sat up. The bright light from the sun around her made her blink. Her mouth tasted like cotton, and she needed water. She stood on shaky legs thinking she would be making her way to the kitchen to get some; however, she fell back almost immediately. Her body ached from the way she had slept curled up on the couch. She had barely made it in the front door much less to her bed. Her boots, jeans, and white tank top were still in place. She laid back down and let her head try to calm down. She let the memories of the night before run through her head.
She had been sitting at the bar when Regina had walked in. The two sat on complete opposite sides of the bar as they drank. Emma smirked when a Jack and coke crossed the bar into Regina's waiting hands. There weren't many people in the bar that night, and the music was slow. Emma had come here to think, but she enjoyed the calming feeling of Regina being right down the bar. She let herself enjoy a few drinks before she got bold.
It was like the soft music playing knew exactly what was on her mind as the song changed.
Settle down with me
Cover me up
Cuddle me in
Lie down with me
And hold me in your arms
Emma stood behind Regina as the music flowed towards them. She tapped the brunette on the shoulder. She didn't say a world, but she held her hand out. Regina looked back and forth between Emma and her outstretched hand. Emma could almost hear the internal battle waging in Regina's head. Almost reluctantly the brunette took Emma's hand and stood. Regina let Emma lead her to the middle of the room. The blonde's hands slid around Regina's waist while Regina's hands linked together behind Emma's neck. Emma pulled her close, and they moved in a slow circle.
And your heart's against my chest, your lips pressed to my neck
I'm falling for your eyes, but they don't know me yet
And with a feeling I'll forget, I'm in love now
Kiss me like you wanna be loved
This feels like falling in love
Falling in love
We're falling in love
Regina relaxed into Emma's arms almost instantly as the music encircled them making it feel like they were the only two there. Regina felt safe in Emma's arms. She leaned her head down onto the blonde's chest. She could hear her heart pounding inside her chest. Emma placed a soft kiss to Regina's forehead, and she let the electric shock sensation shoot through her body.
Settle down with me
And I'll be your safety
You'll be my lady
Emma pulled back then and let her eyes lock on Regina's as the brunette lifted her head from her chest. Emma felt Regina's breath tickle her face as she exhaled. The music was almost intoxicating.
Yeah I've been feeling everything
From hate to love
From love to lust
From lust to truth
I guess that's how I know you
So I hold you close to help you give it up
Emma let the gravity of the words shoot through her as she held Regina close. She knew she would have to hold on until Regina was willing to give up and just love. She leaned forward inching towards Regina's lips. The anticipation almost had her shaking, but when she expected her lips to make contact she only met air. She felt the coldness instantly as she opened her eyes to see Regina darting towards the door. Emma ran after her.
"Don't run from me." She shouted outside of the bar.
"I can't do this. I told you that I can't." Regina said as she moved towards her car.
"Who hurt you Regina?" Emma asked causing the brunette to stand at her open car door with a sad look on her face. Emma wanted to run to her. She wanted to hold her, but she couldn't. She knew the boundary had been put down again. Regina looked down without responding.
"I won't stop." Emma said. "I love you Regina." Regina let the words sink through her as a single tear slid down her face. She got in the car without a word and drove off leaving Emma standing at the bar. Like any reasonable response to heartache, Emma turned around and re-entered the bar to drown her pain with her good friend Jack Daniels.
Emma finally moved from her couch to find that they didn't have any coffee left. She didn't want to take a trip to the diner, but she needed the caffeine. She walked slowly with her eyes shielded from the bright sun by a pair of sunglasses. A frantic man stepped out of the shadows by the library and stood inches from Emma.
"Sheriff, I need your help. My daughter is missing." He said. Emma moved on autopilot then as worry crept through her body.
"Where did you see her last?" Emma asked.
"At home. I put her to bed last night, but she wasn't there this morning." He said pulling Emma in the opposite direction than she had been traveling.
"Ok, calm down. Just take me there. We'll start there." Emma said following the man back to his house. She stood in his living room then. She knew the most important thing to do was to calm him down. She wouldn't get any valuable information from him in his frantic state. She noticed the coffee pot on the table with two mugs. "Sit down." She told him as she directed him towards the couch. She certainly didn't want him to pass out on her. Emma poured the coffee for herself and the man before handing him a cup. He sat it down, but he didn't drink it. Emma did. Her head was pounding, and she needed to think clearly about what was happening to help find this man's daughter.
"What is your name?" She asked.
"Jefferson." He answered with a wave of his hand annoyed at Emma's question that didn't relate to his daughter.
"Show me her room." Emma finally said as she finished her coffee cup.
She had to grip the wall as she walked to the room feeling a bit of dizziness. She chalked it up to dehydration from the drinking last night with lack of water intake. When she opened the door, she knew something was wrong. There was a bed with a pink comforter on it, but there was nothing else in the room except a wooden chair.
Emma spun on her heels then to confront the man. She felt the dizziness take over as she stopped in front of him. Her body felt like it continued to spin. Emma realized what was happening as her world went black. The last thing she felt was the impact of her head on the hard wood floor.
She woke up later with an increased pounding behind her eyes. She looked around slowly letting her surroundings sink in. She was in the wooden chair in the room. The light from the sun streamed in through the cracks in the blinds on the window making the dust on the floor obvious. She was tied with a rope around each wrist, but she was alone. It didn't take long before Emma had freed herself and cursed the fact that she didn't bring her gun with her.
She crept down the hall back towards the living room. When she peaked inside, she thought the coast was clear so she bolted towards the front door. It was locked. She tried not to panic. She turned to find another way out to be met with Jefferson pointing a gun at her.
"Calm down buddy. No one needs to get hurt." Emma said holding her hands up.
"I will be calm when you get my daughter back." Jefferson said with anger and hurt evident in his voice.
"Who took her?" Emma asked still keeping her hands raised to let the man know that he was in complete control.
"The Evil Queen." He said like it was obvious. Emma almost sighed. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She kept the incredulous look to herself. She didn't want to get hurt for calling this lunatic crazy.
"How did that happen?" Emma asked calmly.
Jefferson searched her face trying to figure out if she was listening or not. "Her curse." He spat angrily. "She took the happy endings. For me, that was my Grace. Now I have to look at her every single day with another family, and she doesn't even know." He grabbed Emma by the arm then moving her to a telescope. Emma looked in to see it trained on a family room window. She saw a man, a woman, and a small girl.
"I don't understand." Emma said slowly moving away from the telescope.
"The curse brought us here. Grace is my happiness, and the curse took her away. I didn't remember at first, but I do now." He said.
"How can I help you get her back?" Emma asked softly. She had dealt with crazy people before. The only way she was getting out of this one was if she made him think she believed him.
"Make my hat work." He said looking deep into Emma's eyes. He grabbed Emma again and pulled her back down the hall to a different room. Her eyes widen when they went in. There was a sewing machine in the middle of the room with black top hats everywhere. Realization struck Emma quickly.
"The Madhatter." She said slowly.
"The one and only." He said in a snide tone. "You are going to break the curse. You are Prince Charming and Snow White's daughter. You can make the hat work."
"I don't know how." Emma said looking down at the hat. He took it from the table and forced it into Emma's hands.
"You will figure out how. I need to get back to our land with my daughter. You will stay here until you fix it." He yelled. He left the room then locking Emma into it. The only light was the artificial light that shined from the bulbs above.
She stared at the hat. How the hell did she end up in this town full of insane people? She wondered if he had been talking to Henry. She hoped that her son hadn't been around this deranged man. She wondered if he had talked to Henry about what he thought happened, and Henry made him believe that he was a fairytale character. It wasn't farfetched that a man who honestly believed that his daughter was abducted to latch on to a story of evil queens, happy endings, and a curse.
She looked down at the hat. She had to think of a way out of there. The only weapon she could use was a pair of scissors, and they certainly weren't a match for the gun he had earlier. She wondered if she was crazy herself when she took the hat in her hands. She didn't know what she was supposed to do with it, but she willed it to work. She sat it down with a laugh. The hat needed magic to work, and this was America. There wasn't any magic there.
She waited for what felt like hours for the man to return. She had checked the door to find it locked and unmoving. She had checked the wall to see if a window had been covered over, but she found nothing. She checked the ventilation system to see if she could crawl out, but the opening was too small. It was dark outside when the door opened again. Emma stood immediately.
"Now that you are acquainted with my hat, make it work." He said throwing the hat down at Emma.
"I can't." She said defeated. She knew this was the end of the road. He was probably going to kill her, but there was no denying that she certainly couldn't magic a hat into working.
"You have to." He shouted. "I have been working for months on these hats. This one doesn't work. This one doesn't work either." He said as he threw the hats to the ground. "None of them work, and you have to make them work." He yelled right in Emma's face. His face was red with rage kicking in Emma's survival instincts. She was so close to him now. She put her hands on his shoulders softly acting as if she were trying to calm him. The man doubled over in pain as Emma landed a knee right in his man hood. She laid a punch right across his face knocking him out cold to give her time to get out.
Emma went for another door and was able to get out easily. She sprinted the entire way back to town running right to the mayor's front door.
She banged on it loud and hard. Regina opened the door with confusion etched across her face. She saw blood on the side of Emma's face, and she quickly was concerned.
Emma stormed into the foyer. "What the hell happened?" Regina asked quickly.
"I got fucking kidnapped." Emma snapped. "Some psycho who claimed that he was the mad hatter. Seriously. He said I was the savior, and I had to make the hat work. He fucking drugged me Regina. The blood on my head is from it hitting the floor. He pulled a damn gun on me." Emma was pacing the room then. Regina wasn't really sure how to stop her so she let her rant. "He left me locked in a room for hours with nothing to eat or drink. I thought he was going to kill me." Regina saw the tears then as the adrenaline was slowly leaving the blonde's small body. Emma wrapped both arms around herself.
Regina moved closer to try to sooth her without touching her. "It's ok." She spoke finally letting a hand run up and down Emma's back.
"It isn't ok." Emma continued to sob. She looked up when she saw Henry enter the room concern all over his face.
"What did he make you do?" Henry asked with a small voice.
"He wanted me to make his hat work." Emma said leaning into Regina as the tears continued to spill. The gravity of what could have happened to her was overwhelming.
"No." Henry said with fear in his eyes. "He wasn't supposed to hurt you. He was just supposed to make you understand. He was supposed to make you believe."
Emma and Regina's eyes widened at that moment as they realized why all of this had happened. "Henry." Regina snapped. "Do you see what this has caused? Miss Swan is hurt. She could have been killed because of your little fantasy."
Emma saw the sadness in Henry's eyes. She wanted to tell Regina to stop, but she was upset herself. All of this had been because of her son. Sure, he never told Jefferson to hurt her, but he made Jefferson believe that she could fix the hat.
"There is no curse kid." Emma said walking over to him and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Something really bad almost happened today."
"I'm sorry." Henry said before running out of the foyer and up to his bedroom.
Emma and Regina made eye contact then.
"I don't want him to be hurting." Emma said.
"He doesn't want anything to happen to you either. You know he feels like it is his fault, and I didn't actually help him feel anything other than that." Regina answered looking down.
"Just give him time. He'll talk when he is ready. He needs to understand how dangerous this was. It's his imagination. This guy is a complete psycho." Emma said trying to reassure Regina.
"Just stay with him. I need to go find this guy and lock him up." Emma said with a smile before turning the leave. She opened the door to walk out before she turned to lock eyes with the brunette again. "Regina, I am sorry about last night."
Regina didn't respond right away. "It's alright." She responded with her mayoral tone back in place.
"Today didn't do anything but determine me more. I know you aren't comfortable with this, but I want you to let me in." Emma said before turning and shutting the door leaving Regina standing there staring at the savior.
Now, she had to do damage control to make her son understand why what he did was dangerous. She hated that she was hurting the boy that she loved. She hated that she had to make him think he was crazy when in fact it was all true. She wondered then if keeping her curse was worth all of this pain.
