Henry had said that Regina had asked Mary Margaret and David to meet her at her office. That was the first place she had to go then. She hadn't learned much, but she could tell them what she had managed to learn from the books, see if the meeting Regina had with Zelena had given them any clues, and start from there.
As she exited the pawn shop she checked the bell jar and was shocked to find that it wasn't as clear as it had been only a few seconds ago.
The glass was foggy. "Frosted glass" Lacey's memories informed her. For a moment she panicked. She couldn't see the rose within it, she'd taken her eyes off of it for all of two minutes and…
"Show him to me!" she demanded off-hand, giving the thing a little shake.
To her relief, the moment the words left her mouth the frost in the glass melted away from the top on down, opening as if it was a flower for her to look upon her precious rose. Still whole. Still happy and healthy.
She could do this. She could-
She stopped dead in her tracks again the moment she tucked her jar under her arm and looked up. There was something on the street that hadn't been there yesterday, or even early this morning after she'd come back from the apartment.
Her car!
Their car?
She circled it fascinated for a moment, staring at it open mouthed before she noticed a piece of folded paper tucked up under the windshield wiper. Securing her jar she reached forward and plucked it up. "Sometimes it's not what you know but who you know and what they know! Consider it a consolation prize. –Will"
She smiled, beamed really, and fought back tears and sadness and happiness all at the same time. He'd gone away, possibly for a long time, but before he'd left he'd found time to find the car for her. He was a good man. She knew that and always would. Wherever he was, she hoped he'd find happiness, he deserved to find happiness with someone even if it wasn't Anastasia, even if it was a long way down the road. And her…
She needed to be a long way down the road. Literally. She had Rumple on her arm, her keys in her pocket, and a car once more to put them in…things were finally starting to look up. Now if only they could say the same thing about Emma.
With that in mind she unlocked the door, folded herself into the seat, and drove the short distance to the Mayor's office. It might not have been far from the pawn shop but the car certainly got her there faster than walking would have.
She heard voices as she approached the door, the familiar ones of Regina, David, and Mary Margaret, but the moment she pushed the door open their chatter stopped and all eyes fell to her as looks of shock stretched over their faces.
"Belle!" David breathed. "I didn't expect to see you here anytime soon!"
"Rumpelstiltskin?" Mary Margaret questioned. "Is he alright?"
"Is he awake?" Regina asked almost desperately, taking an anxious step toward her.
She glared at Regina, her automatic instinct was to pull away from her, but she knew that wouldn't help Emma. Like it or not she'd have to endure at least a little bit of the Evil Queen to help the Savior. So she took a deep breath, adjusted her bell jar and took a step into the fire. There would be no turning back now. "No, he's…he's not. And…neither did I," she answered nodding in David's direction. "But I talked to Henry and Will and the Blue fairy and they all reminded me that I can't spend the rest of my life waiting by his bedside wondering if he'll live or die, especially when I'm needed here, so…so the Blue Fairy gave me this!"
She held up her foggy bell jar for all to look at it and when it didn't melt away again she asked, though a bit nicer this time. "Show me my rose." Once more the foggy bell jar melted away and revealed the vibrant healthy rose to the crowd who, despite the situation they found themselves in, gawked at it much the same as she had when she'd first seen it.
"What magic is this?" Regina growled uncertainly.
Not that Regina needed to know, but..."I think it's a mirroring spell of some kind, probably mixed with an enchantment of Blue's. The rose…it's Rumple. As long as it's healthy like this, he lives."
"And if it's not healthy?" Mary Margaret questioned quietly, looking at it with concern and skepticism. She couldn't exactly blame the woman for that, but for now she preferred to look on the brighter side of things. The rose was healthy, and so was Rumple.
"So long as it has petals, he's alive," she clarified carefully. "So…" she sighed, tucking the jar back under her arm and breaking their stares. "What do we know since last night?"
David gave a sigh of disappointment. "Well, not much more than before unfortunately."
"Zelena?" she questioned. "Henry said you went to see her."
"Hardly any help," Regina answered. "But she did say that even if we got the portal open we need something to channel the magic so it'll take us to Emma."
"Right…something…something that belonged to Emma," she realized happily. "Something that will take us to her no matter what!" It didn't matter which vault she'd was in or if she had come out of it yet or not, the portal would do the magic for them. So…why weren't they using it. "So, what's the problem?"
"Finding someone to actually use the wand," Mary Margaret commented in an emotionless tone. There was clearly a big difference in the woman than there had been last night when she'd last seen her. Her jaw was set, not necessarily determined, but it was far from flinching. It was as if she'd accepted that all this worrying was her fate, but was determined not to be happy about it no matter what.
"My sister thinks she can open the portal," Regina continued on for her. "I think that trusting her is foolish."
"There must be someone else, someone in Storybrooke that walks the line between good and bad who can open the portal for us," she reasoned with her because despite their differences at the moment she actually agreed with her. Zelena was too much a loose cannon. "Malificent?"
"Maybe, but with her daughter back in the picture she may be no better than I am now!"
"So think, Regina," David insisted. "There must be someone in this town you know that can help us. You encountered your fair share of villains in the Enchanted Forest."
"In the Enchanted Forest, yes, but here…there was only room for one Evil Queen thank you very much and it's not like we got together for tea and cakes every Tuesday at noon to talk about the weather and our favorite torture techniques! And after I cursed them I don't exactly see any of them lining up to offer their assistance, do you?"
"Sorry love but I'm afraid we're going to have to put that on hold…" she glanced over at the door to find Killian and Henry striding into the offices.
"Henry?" she blanched. Hadn't he just been at the diner?
"Hold? Hold for what? You've been pushing this harder than anyone now you're stepping on the brakes," Regina questioned instead, ignoring her sons presence.
Killian opened his mouth but nothing came out. In fact after another breath he sighed and reached into his pocket. He took something out and held it in the air before them. A band of some kind. What was that thing?
"What's that supposed to be?" David asked for her.
"My mother's?" Regina answered for him. "You found the second bracelet?"
"No…not exactly…" the pirate answered slowly with a look like he'd just taken a cookie from the jar before dinner.
"Well then…don't tell me...you didn't! Tell me this isn't-"
Hook nodded. "It's the one that was on Zelena."
"She cut if off her arm before we could stop her," Henry inserted, making Killian roll his eyes and shake his head.
"Easy, lad, it's all in the delivery."
"It is not all in the delivery!" Regina screamed suddenly. "You took my son on a covert mission and you let her out?!
She watched as Killian rolled his eyes again and struggled to bit back his frustration before pointing out "Technically I let her escape."
"Moron!" Regina roared.
"Watch it your majesty, at least I'm doing something to save Emma."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well maybe you like being with Henry, alone! Maybe you like not having Emma around."
"Maybe you like having a hook! Maybe you'd like another!"
Belle rolled her eyes and took a small step away from the pair, refusing to be a part of their petty spat...again! Frankly she was surprised either of them were giving in at all. They were clearly baiting each other and continually taking the bait offered! They'd never accomplish anything that, not even if they-
"Enough!" Mary Margaret called out over the two of them, finally breaking up the childish squabble. "Zelena's out, that is what matters, but not as much as Emma!" she said tersely. "Emma kept us united and that is exactly how we are going to remain, come hell or high water we are going to put our nonsense aside and find my daughter! Okay?!"
Hook and Regina glared at each other in the silence that followed but neither said anything and no one objected. It made sense. There were a dozen different relationships in this room that had changed half a dozen times at least. The fact that she was here with Hook and with the Evil Queen and didn't fear for her life was startling to her. She could work with Regina for now, if she could work with Killian then she certainly could work with Regina. No, she didn't have to enjoy it, what she'd done to her heart only days ago still hung between the two of them and felt raw and fresh. But that didn't mean that she had to argue with Regina and sacrifice the knowledge and good that could come from their collective understandings. This was about Emma, not them. They'd deal with their issues on their own time, when Emma was safe and Zelena was no longer a threat. The others seemed to understand that as well. It was just like the conclusion that Mary Margaret must have come to between now and last night. Acceptance but dislike. They'd have to live with it.
"Okay…" Mary Margaret confirmed for them. "Where would Zelena go first?"
"I know exactly where," Regina answered. "Or more accurately who she's after."
Aaaand because nothing makes sense in this episode they are off again. Sorry ya'll I'm doing my best to smooth this episode out, really I am. I did have to do something to explain the lack of graphics for the rose in some scenes here. Not too upset about that though, I understand if they didn't want to add graphics for that all the time, it would have been a lot of money with very little reward...kinda like Hades hair. Plus, I felt this was a pretty easy way to explain it. And if it makes you feel better it's going to get a little more fun as we go on. I gave it some development. Just not in this episode because nothing seems to develop here. I hope that you won't mind how I handle it in the future.
Thank you Fox24, Grace5231973, Rumbellefan, Skitzoeinhoven, and Teresa Martin for your reviews on the last chapter. You've had some really interesting thoughts and head canons going on for some of this stuff. I think it only really proves just how all over the place this episode was and really how all over the place this season was! But I like hearing the theories. They are interesting! Never change! Peace and Happy Reading!
