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Italics show peoples thoughts.

All mistakes are mine sorry in advance.

~o~o~o~o represents a break in scene.

Disclaimer in chapter 1.

Thank you to my beta NoSoup395.

Regina and the kids are a quarter of the way through the puzzle when there is a knock at the door.

"Stay here." She tells Sofia and Henry, her face a mask of confusion as to who it could be.

She gets up from where she is sitting on the ground and makes her way to the door and pulls it open.

The Mayor is greeted by the ashen face of Deputy Mara Lucas.

"Deputy Lucas?" She says, confused as to why the woman would be at her door.

"Madame Mayor. Could I come in, I don't think I should tell you what I have to say on the porch."

"Of course, dear." She opens the door wider to allow the deputy to slip past her before promptly shutting it.

"So, what is this about?" She raises a brow in question.

"It's Emma."

Regina's face completely falls at the sound of Emma's name.

"She...she's been shot." The deputy can't help but let her tears fall.

"No!" Regina shouts, tears springing to her eyes, blaring her vision. "No! She said she'd be careful. That can't be true."

"I'm sorry, but it is. She was wearing a Kevlar vest but got shot in the legs as well as the vest. Her femoral artery was hit and she's being taken in for surgery."

"No!" The brunette sobs out.

The sounds of their mother's shouts draws Sofia and Henry from the family room and to the foyer.

"Mom?" Sofia frowns at the sight of her mother in such a state. "Mom, what's wrong?"

"Mommy?" Henry whispers, not having seen his mother this upset since Sofia was kidnapped.

Regina looks towards her children and can't help the sobs that wrack her entire body at the sight of their worried faces. Her tears fall and her knees give out, leaving her in a sobbing heap in the middle of the foyer.

Sofia and Henry run to her and each wrap their arms around the crying woman.

They stay there, each of them clutching the other with only Regina's sobs breaking through the silence.

After a couple of minutes Sofia turns to Mara, who has been standing nearby watching the scene play out. "What's going on?" She asks the deputy.

"It's Emma. She's been shot."

"What?! No! She can't be." The girl is in denial, much like her mother.

"I'm sorry, but it's true. They've taken her to surgery so I'm sure she'll be fine."

The Mills siblings cling to their mother at the news and can't help but join in with her sobs.

Regina brings her arms around them, holding them close in a comforting embrace.

"Shh, Emma is a fighter. She'll be fine. You'll see." She tries to sooth them, though she can't help but think the exact opposite at that moment.

God, why is this happening? I've only just got her. She can't be ripped from out family now, not when we haven't had the chance to be a real family yet. I never got to tell her how much I love her and need her. I need to see her.

The Mayor somewhat composes herself and shifts to extricate her body from the smaller ones clinging to her.

"I need to go to her." She says as she looks round for her purse to retrieve her car keys.

"We want to come too." Sofia says, now clinging to her brother as he clings to her.

"No, you stay here. It's safer for you to be here. They may not let me in, but I'll do everything in my power to make them."

"But-"

"No." Regina cuts the girl off before she can being. "I'll call you, just stay here. Stay safe, please." She finally locates her purse then looks back towards her children. "Okay?"

"Okay." Sofia whispers.

"Would you call Katherine, and ask her to come be with them and stay with them until she arrives?" She asks Mara.

"Yes, of course."

"Thank you."

She leaves , determined to get to the hospital as fast as she can, to get to Emma.

It's not her time to go yet. We are a family now, she can't leave us. I love her.

TBC.