Coming Back to You

Chapter Twenty-Five

When Regina and Robin returned with Zelena to the prison cells below the hospital to lock her away again, the former Evil Queen waved her hand over her sister and over the surrounding room in order to check for the taser Isaac had left for her to escape with, as well as anything else Zelena might have used, or could, to break free again. The taser was still within the pocket of the shawl she was wearing and the Wicked Witch was defeated, as there were no more surprises up her sleeves, figuratively or otherwise.

Zelena yanked herself away from her sister's and the archer's hold on her, then spun around while she spoke up coldly saying, "You may have defeated me again, but I won't ever stop trying to take you heroes down. If you seriously think this is it…"

Regina cut her off as she interrupted, "Save your threats, Zelena. We know them all and we're sick of hearing them. Emma and David found their way back home from whatever adventure they fell into, just like she and Hook had done the first time around. And you know as well as we do that that's no easy feat."

"Just out of curiosity, what exactly was your back up plan going to be?" Robin asked Zelena as she turned around and sat upon the cot, then backed up into the corner farthest away from the two heroes.

"What does it matter to you?" she answered curtly. "You stopped me. Or Emma did. I was going to make her pay for stopping me from using the portal myself. At least the first time I was able to send my spirit through into the time she and Hook fell into, but the best I could accomplish was killing your precious wife to make myself whole once again."

Robin attempted to move towards Zelena to lash out against her for bringing up his dead wife until Regina held him back to keep him from doing something he's regret, while Zelena smiled as she continued, "I was going to hold the pirate as my prisoner until Emma managed to return so that I could kill him in front of her. I expected the Savior and her father would find their way back. I just didn't expect it to be so quickly."

The archer glared at her as he responded, "I'm sure that it wasn't so quick for them."

"No… you're probably right about that," the witch replied, then turned her head to glare up at Regina again. "Then, if Emma and David didn't return, I thought I would ransom Hook's life. But not for money of course. A life for a life. I thought I'd see if you would be willing to trade your life for his, sis. Would you be willing to give your life to save another villain whom deep down you truly hate?"

"I don't hate him and I don't hate you," the younger woman answered sincerely. "I wish things could be different between us, Zelena. But you're the only one hanging onto your hate. If you would just allow us to help you, you would have a chance at winning your happy ending the same as the rest of us. And you would be that much happier for earning it the right way. You don't need the Author's or Rumplestiltskin's help. They will only screw you in the end. Trust me, I know this far better than even you do. Goodbye, sis. Don't worry, you and your child will be well taken care of. The more you act like a model prisoner, the better you'll be treated. Think on that."

Within the Charmings' loft…

Later that evening, David was sitting on their couch with his son in his arms as he worked on putting Neal to sleep for the night. Mary Margaret was up on her feet in the kitchen as she worked on making her husband dinner after he had mentioned he wanted to make himself and Emma an extravagant meal for dinner that night, not really going into much detail as to why other than that they hadn't had more than poorly tasting stew, stale bread, and a few other things that barely filled their stomachs. However, his wife happily offered to cook for him so that he could hold their son.

When he finally laid the sleeping boy down in his crib, David walked over to stand beside the woman he loved as he laid his hand over hers to stop her from cutting the vegetables for the salad she was making on the cutting board in front of her, then took her face within his hands and leaned in to kiss her tenderly. She happily reciprocated and wrapped her arms around him until he finally pulled himself away, looking down at his feet as he did so and Mary Margaret could tell that something was troubling him very deeply.

Finally she felt it was time to ask him what happened to them while he and his daughter were somewhere in time, not wanting to do so until she felt he was ready to talk about it, then she laid her hand over his and said, "It's clear that where you wound up was very difficult for you and Emma. But you know you can tell me anything. Whatever you might have changed for us in this time, were you able to make things right?"

The Prince looked at her worryingly as he responded, "That's just it… I'm not really sure. I mean, Hook is here and everything looks like it's been returned to normal, but I don't know if I can really be sure since I didn't really know Hook all that well before we fell into his past because I haven't made that much of an effort to."

"Wait… you wound up Hook's past?" his wife asked strangely, then pulled him along with her into the living area so that they could talk more comfortably and without the distractions of food. "How did that happen? I take it that Emma was thinking of him as you fell through the portal?"

"She thinks so," David replied. "We found ourselves in an old sea port that I didn't recognize. We figured we would find a ship to take us to the Enchanted Forest so that we could track down Rumplestiltskin just as Emma and Hook had done before when they fell through time, but once we found a Captain who would take us there, we discovered the bastard was a slave master… Hook's slave master. It turns out that before he was a pirate and even a lieutenant within the King's Navy along with his brother, Hook grew up in slavery. Believe me, you have no idea the amount of pain and suffering he endured throughout his life. After everything we learned about him, and forced upon him even more since we arrived and messed things up for him, I'm no longer surprised by him becoming a pirate and villain. But I am impressed he's been able to become a hero. Not because I didn't think he had it in him, but because beneath all of his hate and pain, he's still a good man, Mary Margaret. And he almost died because of us. We saved him, but we ended up getting his brother killed, years before he was ever meant to. If that didn't change… if the wishing star we used to try to make things right and return to the moment we fell into Zelena's portal in the first place didn't correct everything…"

His wife then laid her finger over his lips to keep him from continuing, then she whispered, "If things didn't go back to exactly the way things were before you and Emma disappeared, then we will deal with the consequences whatever they may be and we will help Hook in whatever way we can. When he and Emma arrive, we can talk to them, though I'm sure that she's talking to him right now. Everything will be fine, David. You'll see. Now, tell me more. Seeing as Rumplestiltskin didn't become the Dark One until after Hook had become a pirate, did you meet the man who was before him?"

David nodded and stated, "His name was Zoso. You're never going to believe what happened. After the ship set sail…"