CHAPTER TEN - Where Is She

As the blonde fell to the floor and her head ricocheted off the cold stone path, the tall dark figure that managed to catch her off guard glided out of the deep black shadows that were cast by the moon from the garden's inhabitants and stood to watch the blonde fall deeper into an unconscious state as blood began to pool around her blonde curls.

"It's a pity," The mystery figure started in a deep voice, pressing the sole of their shoe to Emma's cheek to tilt her face in order to catch the moonlight on her features. "You are actually rather beautiful, Swan."

With one swift movement of their leg, the figure dropped their heavy booted foot directly on top of the blonde's nose, instantly breaking it and allowing a morbid cracking sound to echo through the night air. Invisible to the sleeping world around them, the dark figure's sinister smirk would have given Regina's a run for her money. Once deemed satisfied with their work, the figure hoisted Emma into their arms and evaporated them out of the garden in a whirl of yellow smoke. The spilt blood included.

The pair reappeared moments later in a cold, dank and dark room that was clearly part of a basement somewhere in Storybrooke. With the blonde still unconscious in their arms, the dark figure carried her towards a hard metal table and roughly dropped her atop of it with a loud crash. Should anyone be around they would have undoubtedly heard the noise and come running, but with Emma's luck, no one did such a thing, so she continued to lay limp and unconscious in the presence of someone who clearly wanted her dead or at least seriously injured.

The figure circled Emma on the metal table before magicking a series of leather straps in their hand and immediately getting to work on strapping the blonde to the table as tight as they could; almost cutting off blood circulation in some places. Once the job was done and Emma was securely strapped to the table, the mysterious figure hovered their arm above the table, sending a bright yellow light coursing through the blonde's body and enacted a spell as a backup plan for the straps. Without waiting any longer, the dark figure disappeared a puff of yellow smoke, leaving the unconscious blonde alone and convulsing under the strength of the spell.

*#*#*#*

Regina's day had gone as well as she could have hoped, even with the one minor blip that she was willing to overlook, just for her own sake and sanity. With the town back in her hands, everything was running smoothly again for the first time since the Neverland fiasco. Whoever had run the office and the town while she was out of office obviously needed an award for Storybrooke's Greatest Idiot. Just the thought of someone else running her town and sitting in her chair made Regina unconsciously roll her eyes at their fatal attempt at doing such a huge job. It wasn't an easy job, she would give them that, but it wasn't exactly rocket science either!

The only things that had remained the same was her secretary, Lucy, and the Sheriff's department, of which she was incredibly grateful for. While they had all been absent and wandering the jungle of Neverland in search for Henry, a few of the dwarves and Ruby took over the Sheriff's station; making Ruby acting sheriff instead of second deputy and Grumpy first deputy. Having a few extra dwarves in the sheriff's department was the only stupid decision made, since Ruby's fiery side was believed to have surfaced, which made Regina undoubtedly impressed.

Lucy, on the other hand, had spent the entire time practically pulling out her hair at their idiocy. She had been fired three times by the new mayor (of whom Regina still didn't know of) for attempting to help them in daily duties that both she and Regina could have done in their sleep. Her usual mundane job had suddenly taken a turn for the worst, sending her into a downwards spiral of paperwork that had been refused to be done by whoever was in office. She had done more work out of her working hours than she had done when she was sat behind her desk for nine hours a day and five days a week. She was both physically and mentally exhausted, wanting nothing more than the former Evil Queen to return.

When Regina had returned to office in the previous week, she was actually stunned at her secretary's reaction to see her confidently gliding through the corridors of the town hall. Her little red-headed secretary even went as far as to hug the newly reinstated mayor. In almost thirty years of being mayor of the town, never was she once nice to Lucy, so the little unexpected hug was something that became a little bit of a reality check for Regina. Since then, she has tried her utmost hardest to be pleasant to her secretary, after all, she was practically her own personal little slave. She even gave her a raise after hearing what she had gone through in an attempt to keep the whole town afloat.

After spending the entire morning attempting to fix everything that had been mishandled — or not even handled at all — in her office, Regina had been pleased that her mind relaxed enough to begin wandering towards the blonde she had spent the previous evening with. Their night had begun with a little uphill struggle, but it actually reassured Regina that Emma was willing to fight for them. She was definitely in it for the long run.

That morning, the brunette had woken happily in her own bed with a small glass of water on her bedside table accompanied by some aspirin. Fortunately enough, it wasn't needed, but the thought the blonde had put into it made her smile anyway. The smile even remained after she had showered and made her way downstairs for her morning ritual of a mug of black coffee and an apple. Before Emma left, to Regina's surprise, she had cleaned the entire kitchen and prepared the brunette's breakfast by the side of the coffee pot with a little note.

After thoroughly enjoying her breakfast and rereading Emma's note several times, Regina tucked the piece of paper into her blazer pocket and gladly made her way to the town hall to start her day with her mind permanently transfixed on Emma. Everything had been running smoothly until her lunch break, when she was supposed to meet the mind-invading blonde for lunch at Granny's. When Emma failed to show up, Regina took her lunch to-go and settled that the only reason for Emma missing their lunch date was because she was dealing with shenanigans, since everything seemed to be going wrong with the town's behaviour lately. She hadn't even considered calling her or attempting to talk to her through their telepathic connection.

The more she thought about Emma and her reasons for bailing, the more she failed to realise how fast time was going and before she knew it, Mary Margaret had thrown herself through her office door with a death glare painted over face. Without a doubt in her mind, Regina had already prepared herself for a little confrontation with Emma's mother about their situation.

"Where the hell is she?" The pixie cut brunette screeched as she advanced towards Regina, who was still peering down at paperwork with a bored look on her face. "What did you do to her? I know it was you! She trusted you and you used it to your advantage to get back at me."

"Ms. Blanchard, I don't have the time or the patience to listen to your incessant rambling." Regina said before finally deciding to look up to the woman now standing before her desk. "What is it you wanted, dear?"

"Emma. I want Emma." Mary Margaret deadpanned as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Regina raised an eyebrow at Mary Margaret's bluntness. "What are you talking about?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about; you've abducted Emma. This was your plan all along, wasn't it? You planted that little 'True Love' image in my daughter's head just so you could get back at me and have Henry all to yourself, didn't you?"

"Ms. Blanchard, I have no idea what you're implying here." The brunette let out an exasperated sigh and pushed her paperwork forward before readjusting her regal position on her chair. "In fact, I don't even know what you mean."

"Of course you don't," Mary Margaret muttered under her breath, barely loud enough for Regina to catch, but it was understood clearly and simply made Regina smirk. "Emma didn't come home last night. She didn't turn up for work this morning. There's no answer from her cell and you were the last person to see her yesterday. So, where is she?"

Before Mary Margaret could even finish her question, her previous accusations hit Regina like a truck — instantly making her stomach drop and her face to dangerously pale. Her thoughts of the blonde flashed before her mind as she thought about what could have happened to her since their dinner the previous night.

"She's missing?" She managed to mutter.

"Don't play stupid with me, Regina." Mary Margaret forcefully bit as she leaned onto Regina's desk with her hands, bringing her face impossibly close to Regina's, who would have been intimidated if she didn't know who the woman before her was. "I know you've kidnapped her, but I want to know why and I want her back."

"Stop being such an idiot, Snow!" Regina yelled, actually surprising herself at the reaction. Ironically, she was just as afraid as the woman before her, apart from the fact that she had no idea where Emma was, whereas Snow seemed to have a strong argument that Regina had abducted her baby girl, giving her some sense of comfort.

Before Snow could reply to Regina's shortness, David came sprinting into the mayor's office to find his wife face to face with his daughter's True Love and the former Evil Queen with a murderous look on her face.

"Mary Margaret, wait!" He shouted, grabbing his wife's arm and pulling her around to face him. "You can't blame Regina for..." David glanced over to the brunette sat behind the desk with an empty look on her face and tears in her eyes. "You had no idea, did you?"

"No, I didn't." Regina ironically chuckled as she bit back the tears that were forcing their way to her eyes. "Emma left my house after our dinner last night and promised to meet me for lunch today. When she didn't turn up I expected her to be out dealing with something that she couldn't delay, so I didn't bother to disturb her…"

Regina took a deep breath and reached for the note in her pocket, gripping it tight and almost crumpling the paper into a ball. Other than when Henry was abducted, she had never felt this worried for someone in her life. She needed a little reassurance from the blonde, so clearly her note was the only thing to keep her as calm as possible without forcing her into seriously hurting Snow.

"She's lying." Snow insisted as she watched her husband's sympathetic look find its way to Regina.

"No she's not, Snow. Just look at her." David pointed to Regina, who was currently lost in her own thoughts, worrying about Emma's whereabouts and the blonde's safety with the most vacant look in her eyes that actually made David worry. "Remember when we blamed her for killing Archie and she had no idea what we were talking about? This is the same thing, except she's actually distraught this time." He hissed through gritted teeth. "I believe Regina and I trust her. So does Emma. That should be good enough for you to trust her too, Snow."

"You're being ridiculous, David!" Snow screamed, dragging Regina out of her thoughts and back into the present.

"The only one being ridiculous here, Snow, is you." The irritated brunette pushed herself up out of her chair and quickly brushed off her pants. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to excuse myself from your pathetic accusations and do something about all of this and actually find Emma."

Snow bit back a scoff when she noticed that Regina was still clutching onto a crumpled piece of paper in her hand as if it was her life support and the only thing keeping her stable.

"Regina... What is that?" The former school teacher questioned with a pointed look towards Regina's hand.

"What is what, Snow?" Regina bit back, hoping to get away from the Charmings as soon as possible and practically praying that Snow would soon drop the subject of what she had in her hand.

"That piece of paper you've been clutching since I told you that Emma was missing." Snow said, matter-of-factly.

"It's nothing; just a piece of scrap paper is all." Quickly putting the note back into her pocket, Regina flicked her wrist as if to dismiss the couple before her.

"Let me see it." Snow deadpanned, obviously ignoring Regina's previous dismissal.

"What makes you think it has anything to do with you?" With raised eyebrows and a dangerous eye-roll from the pixie-cut, Regina gave in. "Fine, it's a note that Emma left in my kitchen for me last night."

"Why would she leave a note for you if you spent the entire evening together?" Snow pulled a face and instantly became suspicious again when she saw Regina's hesitation. "Why did she leave the note, Regina?"

"I might have drunk a little too much wine to settle my nerves last night and Emma, ever the chivalrous knight, put me to bed and cleaned up after our dinner." Regina embarrassingly admitted. If Snow hadn't been so determined to get every detail out of Regina she would have attempted to ignore it and push her away, but there was no way of getting out of this one. "Before she left she must have written this note and left it on my kitchen counter so I would see it this morning. Is that okay with you?"

"No, not really." Snow demanded with her arms folded across her chest. "What does it say?"

"Snow..." David warned as he placed a hand in the small of his wife's back.

"No, David. Emma is our daughter and we have every right to know what she said in that note!"

Begrudgingly, Regina eventually handed over the note for Snow to read. Although the paper was now incredibly crumpled and creased, Emma's handwriting was still as illegible as it had been without the creases.

'Regina,

Thank you for tonight. I know it was difficult for the both of us, but I think it will only make this whole thing easier for us in the future. I hope this wasn't too much for you because I really want this to work out between us and I know that you do too, but it's obvious that you're scared. I need you to trust me that I'm not going to leave and I'm not going do anything to hurt you - you've had all of that and you don't deserve it again.

I already have an idea in mind for our first proper date. And just to warn you; it's going to be one of those mushy movie-romance types of dates because that is something you do deserve. I also think you should meet me for lunch at Granny's tomorrow. ;)

Love you,

Emma

x

PS. When I washed up, I kinda put everything where I thought it goes, I'm not sure if it's all in the right place, I just didn't want you to wake up to that mess! Thanks again.

PSS. Hopefully you haven't woken up with a hangover this morning!'

With a stunned look on her face, Snow handed the note back to Regina, who was standing tall with raised eyebrows and a questioning look plastered on her face.

"I'm not sure if you were expecting a ransom note or something that could possibly hint at where I just so happen to be hiding your daughter." Regina snidely remarked with a smug look on her face, even if her terrified eyes did betray her in every sense. "But I do hope that you found what you were looking for, whatever that was."

"She...she doesn't love you...she can't." Snow stuttered through the fury that was quickly building inside her.

"Out of all of this," Regina waved the note before continuing, "You picked up on the fact that she simply signed off with the words 'love you'?" Of course, to Regina, those simple words weren't actually simple at all. Just the smallest gesture as such made her heart race and the butterflies in her stomach flutter more than ever. She hated how fast she had fallen completely in love with Emma, but it also intrigued her more than she cared to imagine. "You know what? I don't care what you think about all of this; I have loved your daughter for quite some time and whether you like it or not, I'm going to find her, because clearly you're more concerned in trying to blame me than you are at actually finding her. For all we know, she could be hurt or in some serious danger; so waiting around here and arguing isn't going to get us to her any faster."

Before Snow could even open her mouth to argue, Regina had grabbed her purse and cell phone from her desk and stormed out of the office with a murderous glare on her face and desperation drowning in her eyes that only David seemed to notice. She needed to find Emma and as much as she hated to admit, she needed to prove to the Charmings that she was worthy of loving their daughter.

"You have to stop this, Snow," David argued as soon as Regina was out of earshot. "Regina is right; we need to focus on finding Emma before sticking the blame on anyone. The sooner we find Emma, the sooner we find out who did this. But you also need to apologise to Regina because she isn't the one that has done this."

"You don't know what, David!" Snow bellowed, pulling herself away from her husband.

"Actually, yes I do." He sternly stated and made Snow instantly turn to face him. "The way she reacted when she thought that Emma could be hurt or in danger. I recognise it. It's the same look that both you and I have when we think the other is in the same situation. She does love her Snow and together we will find her."

*#*#*#*

As Regina stalked out of her office, seething from her conversation with Snow and her pathetic little accusations, she completely misheard Lucy calling after her.

"Regina!" The redhead shouted as she cautiously grabbed the brunette's arm to grasp her attention. "Regina what on earth is going on?"

With a quick shake of her head to settle herself, Regina pulled her arm away from her secretary. "Sheriff Swan is missing and it's apparently my fault, so I'm going to find her."

"What can I do to help?" She asked, no longer feeling intimidated by the former Evil Queen and knowing exactly when she was both scared and telling the truth. "You look like you could use all the help you can get, Madam Mayor."

"Just cancel all of my meetings and make sure everything stays afloat again, Ms. Perriweather." Regina flashed a thankful smile before rushing out to her car.

Lucy overlooked the formal use of her name and got to work immediately. Regina was terrified and she knew it.

'Emma, where are you?' Regina asked and waited a while for her reply before asking again. 'Emma Swan, don't you dare ignore me. Where the hell are you?'

'Please, Emma. Where are you?'

Her attempts were futile and it only made her even more frustrated. How the hell could Emma get herself into this situation? Sure, her parents were idiots, but Emma had a fair amount more common sense than the Charmings had put together. Just the thought of those imbeciles made Regina's skin crawl; even if David had defended her, they were still stupid enough to run looking for a fight rather than looking for their only daughter.

Regina attempted to telepathically connect with Emma several times before deciding to give up and actually search for her through town, starting with the Charming's apartment, even if they had said she wasn't there. She needed to try everywhere. And then it hit her. She ran, Regina told herself. She promised me she could handle this and she ran. Before Regina could even begin to be mad at the blonde, a tugging feeling in her stomach forced her to focus on everything around her. The tugging feeling wasn't nerves; it wasn't worry — it was reassurance.

She's still here.