Emma smiled at Henry's reflection in her squad car mirror. She opened the door, climbing out to greet him. "Hey, kid."
He cycled past without acknowledging her.
"Nice to see you, too," she laughed, following after him.
"The storm!" Henry exclaimed, dismayed, jumping off his bike and surveying the damage that had befallen his castle
"It's okay – we can fix it," Emma assured. "I'll talk to Marco."
"Do you think it's still here?" he asked, setting his helmet on the ground and digging in the sand.
"What are you looking for?"
"My book."
"Why'd you bury it here?"
"So my mom doesn't find it."
"Hiding it under your mattress wasn't good enough?"
Henry's digging paid off, as he uncovered a red metal box, taking the padlock off it. "That's the first place the Evil Queen would look."
"How about leaving it with me?" she suggested.
"That's the second place," said Henry, lifting the lid and revealing the book safe inside. "It's still here. Good."
"Hey, why don't you give the book to Wendy? She's part of Operation Cobra, isn't she?"
"That's a great idea!" Henry beamed, closing the box.
"So, your mom doesn't know about the castle?"
"No," he turned to her, before focusing his attention on reburying the book. "This is our secret."
"Henry!"
They both turned to see Regina approaching them. Henry frantically threw sand on top of the box, standing on dusting off his hands.
"Henry! I've been looking everywhere for you. You know you have a session with Archie this morning." She turned to Emma, dislike clear on her features. "I should've known he was with you. Henry – car. Now."
Henry did as he was told, running off.
Regina glanced at the ruined playground. "You let him play here?"
"The storm hit it hard, but we can fix it."
"Well, can you fix a cracked cranium? Because that's what you'll have on your hands if one of these boards collapses under his weight."
She rolled her eyes.
"You're not thinking about Henry or his safety. Just ways around me. Miss Swan, don't let your feelings cloud your judgment. People can get hurt."
"What's that supposed to mean?" she frowned.
"You're the Sheriff now – it's time to be responsible."
Emma settled into her seat at the city council meeting. She took a deep, steadying, breath. She could do this.
When Sidney had approached her, drunk and evidently upset, she'd scoffed. But then Regina had torn down Henry's castle; had destroyed the thing he loved most. Then she'd cut the brakes on the squad car.
She had to be exposed. Emma had to do what was right, even if it was the wrong way to do it.
"This session of the Storybrooke city council will come to order," Regina announced, banging her gavel. "We will begin by reading the minutes from our last meeting."
Sidney stood. "Uh, excuse me, um, Madam Mayor. I have something I'd like to bring to the council's attention."
"This is not an open forum, Sidney," said Regina, fixing her venom-like stare on him. "And no one on this council's interested in hearing the boozy complaints of a disgraced reporter. Now sit down."
Another deep breath, and Emma stood, too, taking the binder from Sidney. "He's not the only one who has something to say."
"Miss Swan, this meeting is to discuss issues facing Storybrooke."
"Like the Mayor stealing thousands of dollars from the city to build herself a second home?" she challenged, glare icy.
Titters and gasps rose from the audience. Regina banged the gavel again. "Miss Swan, you will sit down immediately or so help me—"
"What? You'll punish me? You'll bully me like everyone else in this town? No. Not today." She turned back to the crowd, taking out the blueprints she and Sidney had found. "In my hand, I am holding documents proving that this woman, your mayor, stole funds from the city to build herself a lavish home in the woods."
More commotion answered this statement. She gestured to Sidney. "And this 'disgraced reporter' – you want to know why he was really fired? Because he stood up to her. Because he questioned her. And we all know what happens to people who question the Mayor." She turned back to face the front, to face Regina. "You claim that you act in the best interest of all of us, but that isn't the truth, is it? The truth is, you are a thug that doesn't care about anyone, or anything, but yourself. That is who you really are. And it is time for the people of Storybrooke to know that."
"You are right, Miss Swan. I am building a house." She stood from her chair, removing a remote from her pocket. "A playhouse."
With a flick of the remote, plans for a playground appeared on the screen behind her. The audience gasped. Emma glanced at the floor. She'd been wrong.
"The accusations are true – I did take city funds. I wanted to build a playground so my son, Henry, and all the children of Storybrooke, could have a special place to play. Safely." Emma glanced up. "As for the sketch in your hands, it was inspired by a drawing I found in one of my son's books. So, there you have it, Miss Swan. You've exposed me for who I really am. I hope you're satisfied."
Swallowing, and wishing very much that she could disappear. She sat down.
"Well, that was a disaster," Emma muttered, as she and Sidney hurried to the car. Mr. Gold blocked their way, eyes focused on Regina.
"Look at her – queen of the castle. You know, what you did in there was commendable, Miss Swan. But if you really want to bring her down, you're going to need a strong ally."
"Like yourself? Thanks, but I'm not going to make that mistake again."
"Oh, one can wish."
"Miss Swan. A word?" Regina paused, glaring pointedly at Sidney. "Alone."
"I don't know what you were hoping to accomplish in there. But now, I hope you'll go back to your job. Which is upholding the law – not breaking it. You don't think I know you broke into my office?"
"Don't pretend like you're so innocent. I know you messed with the brakes on my car."
"Your brakes? Are you delusional? Why would I kill you when you just saw I had nothing to hide?"
"Nothing I can prove," she muttered.
"Well, until you have something more substantial than disdain to throw my way, you're going to stay away from me. And, more importantly, from Henry."
"But that's—"
"Not open for discussion. You've lost the high ground, Sheriff. If I wanted to, there's not a judge in the world that would deny me a restraining order after what you've done. You don't get to see my son unless I say so. And right now? I don't say so."
"That was something of a display back there."
She sighed, turning to face Killian. "Don't start. I've had enough for one day."
"Quite the contrary. I'm here to accept your offer."
She raised her eyebrows. It took a moment for her to remember what the offer had been. "Really?"
He nodded. "I talked to Wendy and – well, she wouldn't let me say no."
"Smart kid."
"Don't I know it."
Emma smiled, fighting back the sickening feeling that she'd lost Henry again. "All right. Let's get you to the station."
"Sounds ominous," he joked.
"Shut up."
"So," said Emma, conversationally, as she searched through her filing cabinet. "That accent. Where does it come from?"
"Well, believe it or not, but I didn't always live here."
"Shocker."
He smiled. "I know. Originally, I was from Armagh."
"That's not an Irish accent."
"Quite observant, Swan, aren't you?"
She shot him a look, locating his file and tossing it onto her desk. Killian Jones. No previous convictions. Hers was a little more interesting, (and she still strongly maintained that crashing into the city sign should not have been counted as a conviction), with the 'DEPUTY' stamp, and the 'SHERRIF' one just below it.
"No. I spent much of my life in London."
"London?" Emma raised an eyebrow, stamping the file to indicate that Killian was now Deputy. "Why did you move here?"
"Wendy," he answered simply.
She nodded, eyes sympathetic. "Makes sense. What happened to her parents? I never asked …"
"I met them at a very low point in my life. Right after I lost my hand, actually. I owe my life to them, and—" he gestured towards the hatstand, with his prosthetic hand, ironically — "Graham, of course. We became close, and then they moved here to start a family. Then I got a call to tell me that they'd died in a car crash, and that they'd wanted me to be Wendy's guardian if ever something happened to them. Funny how we all ended up living here, actually."
"You moved all the way out here for Wendy?"
"Is that so surprising? Look at you. Not too long ago you were in Boston."
"Touché."
"So, have I passed your screening test?" asked Killian, approaching her.
"This wasn't a screening test," she replied, returning the file to the cabinet beside her desk. "I just thought I should get to know you better, if I'm gonna be your boss."
"It's official, then?"
Reaching into her desk drawer, she located the deputy badge and held it out to him. "Yup."
With a grin, he pinned the badge to his belt.
"Welcome aboard, Deputy Jones."
Still sour about what had happened to the squad car – at least Tillman would fix it at a discount, after what she'd done for the twins – Emma drove the bug to the playground. Henry spotted her, waving. She returned the gesture.
He pulled out his walkie talkie, asking, "Why are you so far away? Come out here!"
"Sorry, kid. I can't today."
"You're undercover, aren't you? For Operation Cobra?"
"No, Henry. I'm not undercover. Your mom – she doesn't want us seeing each other for a while."
"You don't have to listen to her," he insisted.
"Actually, this time, I do. I screwed up, Henry. I got mad at your mom about you and the castle and everything and … well, we're just going to have to be apart for a little while."
"I don't want to be apart."
"Neither do I. But, right now, we have to. Don't worry – I'll find a way back in. I'm going to give my walkie-talkie to Killian, okay? You and Wendy can talk Cobra stuff, and you can give me messages. It won't be so bad."
Henry looked glum. "I hope so."
I'm not particularly fond of this chapter, for reasons that I'm not entirely sure of, but I couldn't skip 'Fruit of the Poisonous Tree'. The reason that the book wasn't taken will become clear in the next chapter, but of course for the narrative to progress (especially with the way s4 is going), August does need to take it. Wendy just didn't want to tell Henry because he trusted her to take care of the book, but he will find out when he discovers Pinocchio's story's been added. I hope that makes sense.
