As the sheriff and her entourage walked through the doors of City Hall and toward the large space meant for town hall meetings, Emma couldn't push down the unease she had been feeling all morning. Something was off, and it was more than just the fact she was about to talk to a hostile crowd and support a very unpopular opinion.
Her eyes kept scanning around them as they made their way, and she kept a protective hand on Henry's shoulder as he walked between her and Regina. As they came to a stop in front of the massive double doors, she found herself stepping in front of them so she could enter first, as if she were trying to shield them, but from what she wasn't sure.
"Sheriff, I don't need you to be my bodyguard," Regina scoffed, though she didn't try to force the other woman to move.
Emma turned around, a look of concern on her face. "I know you don't, but humor me. Okay? I just have a bad feeling, and I can't shake it."
"It'll be okay, Ma," Henry said. His eyes held nothing but hope. "You're just nervous because of all the stuff that's been going on."
"Maybe," Emma conceded. "But I've learned to trust my gut. Let me take the lead here. Something's fishy. The air doesn't feel right." She again glanced around them with a slightly wild look in her eyes.
"Have you suddenly developed the ability to see into the future, Ms. Swan?" Regina crossed her arms and tried not to roll her eyes. "Don't allow your fear of a situation to cloud your ability to go through with your plans. We've come this far, why stop now?"
"I'm not saying we should leave," the blonde snapped back. "I'm just saying that something's up. Look, I can't explain it. All I know is that I can feel it."
The former mayor glanced around while she actually took a moment to see if she, too, sensed anything. "There's magic here, but," her frown deepened, "that seems likely considering half the town is full of magical creatures." Blowing out a stream of air, she gave the sheriff a contemplative look. "Ms. Swan, how did you detect that? Do you have some sort of magical ability?"
Emma shrugged. "I have no idea. If I do have magic, I don't know how to control or tap into it, so I don't think it would matter either way. But some things happened with your mother just before Mary Margaret and I came back from the Enchanted Forest that I should probably tell you about after this meeting today, now that I think about." She winced at the memory, absentmindedly rubbing one of her hands across her chest. "Right now, we need to go inside. Ready?"
Regina's shoulders straightened and her face fell into a mask of control. "I am always ready."
The younger woman nodded and turned back toward the doors, opening both of them at the same time as she mumbled under her breath, "Let's hope so."
"Emma!" Mary Margaret quickly stood from her place on the stage and made her way down to where her daughter was standing just inside the doors. "I'm glad you're here."
"Of course I'm here," she gave her mother a confused look. "I'm the sheriff, and I have business to address with the town."
"Well, I just meant," the petite brunette looked bemused, "I'm glad you're here early. I've missed seeing you and Henry." She looked around. "Where is Henry?"
"He's with Regina." Emma pointed to the two, who were seated alone in the back row of chairs. "Why?"
"Oh, well, David and I brought you two something, and," Mary Margaret motioned for her husband to join them from where he stood speaking with Leroy and Granny Lucas, "we wanted to give it to you."
The sheriff narrowed her eyes. "Why?"
"Why?" Her mother looked affronted. "Because you're our family, we saw them, thought of you, and we wanted you to have them."
"Emma," David stepped into their conversation circle, "I'm glad to see you."
"Yeah," the blonde's eyes remained narrowed. "Mary Margaret said you had something for me and the kid. Is this something that can wait until after the meeting?" She glanced around. "It looks like everyone is here."
"I'd rather give it to you now, just in case things get busy after the meeting and we don't have a chance to see each other again," Mary Margaret said, her voice light.
David shrugged. "It's just a couple of little things we thought you and Henry would like."
"Okay." With a wave of her hand, she signaled for both Regina and Henry to join them. Her face held a wary look as the two approached, and her voice's intonation screamed she was suspicious of what was about to happen next. "Hey kid, Mary Margaret and David said they have something for us."
"Really?" Henry's face broke out into a broad grin. "What is it?"
Mary Margaret glanced from the face of her grandson to Regina and then to Emma. She gave a pained smile, clearly unhappy to have Regina present. "It's a pin." She pulled out two small pins from her purse. "They've been in the family for generations, and we thought the two of you might like them." She threw a glare at Regina before turning to look at Emma. "David and I realize you're not happy with us right now, but you are our daughter, and you know we only want to do what's best for you. We thought," she shrugged, holding her hand out with the decorative golden pins that held a family crest on the tips, "you might consider that. We also thought you might like something that's been in our family for so long."
Emma's eyes stared down at the small adornments in the palm of her mother's hand. Her instincts screamed something was off, but she couldn't place why. Glancing to Regina, who had the same worried look in her eye, she gave a little grunt. Regina returned the unspoken question with a facial expression that seemed to indicate she couldn't place what was wrong either.
"Emma?" Mary Margaret prodded. "Would you at least consider wearing it?"
After honestly taking a moment to deliberate on it, Emma nodded and picked one pin up, attaching it to her crisp, white shirt. Henry eagerly plucked the other from Mary Margaret's hand and pinned it to his shirt. He looked down at it and smiled broadly. "Is this our family crest?"
"Yes," Mary Margaret said, her voice soft with memories. "It was my mother's crest."
Regina gave an annoyed grunt and turned to leave. She had just made it back to her chair when Emma's voice caught her attention, and she looked up to see the younger woman's face contorted in rage and her body rigidly still.
"What in the hell did you do?" Emma growled as she tried to move toward Regina and could not. Henry appeared to have the same issue. "Why can't we move?"
The scene quickly gained attention as Mary Margaret tried to reason with her daughter. "We didn't do anything harmful," she pleaded. "Emma, just listen. We had to do something. Regina is…"
"No," Emma snapped back. She locked eyes with the former mayor. "Help us."
Regina quickly made her way back. "What have you done?"
"Nothing permanent," David assured her.
"We're just keeping you from doing anything else to them," Mary Margaret added.
"I?" Regina's eyes flared. "I've done nothing to them! The only thing I've done is be an agreeable hostess to the sheriff and a mother to our… to my son." Her hands balled up into fists at her sides. She turned toward Emma and reached a hand out to grab the younger woman by the elbow only to find she was stopped by an invisible barrier. She tried the same with Henry only to find she was blocked in the same manner.
"You will reverse this now." Regina's body tensed more, and her eyes flashed with unused magic. "You will not keep me from my son or Ms. Swan. This is ridiculous."
Murmurs ran through the crowd of onlookers at the mention of Emma and Henry in the same breath coming from Regina. Mary Margaret glanced in their direction, throwing them a hard look and quieting them down.
"I'll do whatever I have to do to protect my family." The pixie haired brunette stepped into Regina's personal space. "You will not hurt me or my family again."
"Oh my God," Emma shouted. "This is not about you, Mary Margaret, and, if I want to spend time with Regina or Gold or Satan himself I will." The force she was using to try to move was evident in her straining muscles and the sweat beginning to bead along her hairline. "You don't get to tell me who I spend my downtime with, and you really don't get to use magic to make me do whatever it is I won't do voluntarily." She grunted, and her arm began to move.
The air sizzled with magical energy. The untapped reserve of white magic that resided within Emma surfaced, causing her own eyes to fill with a white light to match the dark swirls in Regina's own eyes. The sheriff placed her other hand on Henry's shoulder for balance as she fought against the magic.
"Emma, stop!" Mother Superior pushed through the crowd. "You must stop. Something is…"
"Stuff it," Emma cut in, not letting her finish.
The magical energy continued to build as Emma fought, and Regina finally saw what the Blue Fairy had already seen. "Ms. Swan," she yelled over the sound of the crackling energy in the room. "You need to stop." The blonde continued, and Regina began to panic. "Emma!" She yelled, voice hoarse. "You must…"
The blonde's eyes flew up to meet Regina's at the sound of the former mayor using her first name. However, the warning was too late, and the last thing Regina saw of either Emma or Henry was a look of surprise on both of their faces, and then they were gone in a flash of brilliant light.
The room fell quiet, and everyone waited. Regina's voice roared through the room as she turned on Mother Superior. "Where are they?"
"I… I don't know." The nun looked ashamed and upset.
"What do you mean you don't know?" Regina stepped toward her. "How could you let this happen? No," she shook her head and turned on a still stunned Mary Margaret and David. "How could you let this happen? Your interference in matters that do not pertain to you is the reason for all of this." Regina made a wide motion with her hand. "Have you learned nothing?"
Mary Margaret's voice was just as angry, "If you would leave my family alone and stop trying to kill us, none of this would have happened."
"This is not my fault." Regina's voice boomed through the hall. "This is your fault. Once again, your desire to 'do the right thing' and 'protect the innocent' has resulted in hurting people that don't deserve it, people you claim to love. Let me tell you something, Snow White," she growled and pushed her face inches from the other woman's, "this is the last time I allow you to tear away from me the people I love. You wanted me to be the evil one? You wanted me to be the destructive force? Well, congratulations, you get your wish."
"Regina…" David's voice was heavy with worry.
"The same goes for you, Charming." The Evil Queen's voice resonated through all of them causing memories of their former lives and the destruction from the other land to flash through their minds as that all too familiar and chilling voice poured out of the former mayor. "You've sown your seeds. Now, reap them."
With a flick of her wrist, Regina pushed them both against a wall as she walked to the nun. "You," she growled. "You will tell me exactly what spell you've used."
"It was a simple enchantment, a grounding spell." Mother Superior tried to sound calm and rational. "There's no reason for this to have happened. I don't understand what went wrong. The only thing that should have occurred was for Emma and Henry to not be able to be closer than a few feet from you."
"A grounding spell?" Regina's eyes narrowed in thought. "There was more magic here than that." She paused as if something had just occurred to her. "Emma has magic."
"What?" The nun looked to the couple pinned to the wall. "You didn't tell me that."
"We didn't know," David replied with some difficulty. Mary Margaret said nothing, but her face indicated she might have had an inkling of an idea that Emma had some type of magic.
Mother Superior gave them a harsh look. "Her magic must have mixed with the enchantment," she calmly commented. "But where she and Henry are now is anyone's guess."
"This is unacceptable," Regina declared as she released the couple from the wall. They slammed into the ground, landing on thire backs. "I will find my son and Ms. Swan. You," she glared at everyone else in the room, "will stay out of my way. Make no mistake. I will destroy anyone who tries to interfere, and, as for you," she moved to Mary Margaret. Bending over and reaching quickly forward, her hand plunged into the petite woman's chest and came back with a heart clutched in her hand.
The people in the room drew in a collective gasp as David tried to do something to help his wife. Quickly realizing there was nothing he could do, he held back from attacking Regina in case she decided to crush the heart in her hand in retaliation.
"I should kill you now," Regina purred. "You've done enough, but I think, perhaps, I'll make you wonder." She cocked her head to the side, smirking. "Enjoy your time, dear. It's now borrowed." With a departing laugh, Regina vanished from the room in a cloud of dark purple smoke.
How was that for a town hall meeting?