Baelfire knew what the agreement that he and Jefferson had been about getting Emma home in one piece. Rewards and pardons awaited them if she was coherent enough to tell her parents what they'd done.

But he didn't want to part with Emma. He found her enjoyable and she was his friend. Jefferson didn't either, but Jefferson wouldn't never ever admit something like that. Not after the rough start that he and Emma had gotten off to once they met.

She wasn't so bad. She'd picked up on the tricks fairly easy and she was fun to have around. She could sass with flirt with Jefferson and flirt with himself and he sort of liked it. After 300 years of being trapped in Neverland thanks to Hook, no one really flirted with him. They flirted with Jefferson because he was the more 'ideal' mate.

He was okay, Baelfire supposed.

So Baelfire set about to find Emma and make her a quiet offer, one that anyone with sense would reject, but he was going to make it anyone.

Come be with us.

Nothing romantic. The flirting was only flirting, he swore to himself. But he thought Emma was pretty. He liked looking at her and he had fun with her sharp teasing tongue. She was the perfect addition to their little family.

But what princess would give up the family she was so desperate for a couple of thieves?

He was going to ask anyway.

Baelfire didn't find her in her room so he went down to the stables. Emma liked horses, sometimes he found her brushing whatever one they'd rented down to pass the time.

Barry the Guard was surrounded by his own little army when he got downstairs. Baelfire grinned when he saw the familiar mop of brown hair that he'd come to recognize as Emma's in the crowd. He took a few steps forward and realized that she wasn't standing upright. She was slumped between two men and they were dragging her.

He felt his heart race in his chest as they dumped Emma in the back of a wagon.

Something was wrong.

He rushed forward, "Emma?"

Barry turned around, "She's changed her mind, Baelfire. You're not needed anymore."

"Then she can tell me that," Baelfire snapped and started forward again. His hand closed on the dagger at his belt when he saw some of the men moving to block his way.

"Emma?" he asked.

"Bae?" Emma called out half drugged.

In a pouch on his belt there were noisemakers, it was an alarm designated to let his friends know if something was wrong.

He quickly cut the belt pouch and then slammed his foot against them. Immediately they started popping loudly. Some of the men scrambled back. Baelfire saw that the wagon was preparing to leave and he raced over. Jefferson wouldn't be able to get there in time and if the wagon left and these soldiers stayed behind to fight, then she could be lost.

Two men stood in his way. He knocked them out. He wasn't a killer like his father and probably his mother, he was just…him.

Emma was struggling to sit up when he reached her. With ease, he lifted Emma up and shoved her on the horse next to the carriage. He tried to climb on himself but Barry wrapped his arms around Baelfire's ankle and the others were closing fast.

"Go," he whispered

"Bae!"

He slapped the backside of the horse and it bolted. The man tried to grab Emma but they were too late.

The hilt of a sword came down against Baelfire's skull and he collapsed against the wagon.

The last thing he remembered was Barry telling them to take him to Regina before he slammed his foot against Baelfire's head.

00000000000000000000000000

Jefferson would've gotten to the front sooner if not for the soldiers that attacked him.

The soldiers that were SUPPOSED to be spies of Emma's, he was going to have to talk to her about that later.

He made his way downstairs and out to the front. Two men were lying unconscious. There were tracks in the mud that said there'd been more, a lot more.

"Bae!"

He looked to his right; Emma was hunched over the horse she was riding.

He was at her side in an instant, "Emma."

"Barry….h-he drugged me."

"Where's Baelfire?"

She could barely hold her head up, "Took him…."

No, no, no, no, no….not his brother in bond.

Jefferson felt light headed. He felt his stomach threatened to shoot out his lunch but nothing came.

There was screaming in the distance. The guards were circling back.

Jefferson choked his tears back and climbed up behind Emma on the horse. "We're getting him back."