Chapter 29 –

~~ Storybrooke, Maine – six days after Emma went back in time; evening ~~

Regina couldn't help but take a bit longer than necessary to place and secure Zelena in Henry's old carrier. The sheer amount of Storybrooke residents that came tonight was mind-boggling. And they were all here for their Savior. She had fought hard to control her facial expression since the moment she spotted the pirate at the second row. She knew that the word of Gold's attack had spread through the town like wildfire. More than probably aided by Ruby's habit of gossip, since people kept coming up to their table at Granny's as she, Henry, Zelena, and the Charmings had their lunch. But she shouldn't fool herself – they were here for Emma, not to see how badly she was hurt. Magic had her body healed well before lunch after all.

People were here because they wanted Emma back. Except for maybe Blue and a handful of her fairies, who were standing in a close group near the back of the hall, speaking in low voices, and casting distrustful glances her way every few seconds. They were there to keep an eye on her.

She ignored them.

But no matter how hard she tried, she could not ignore Hook's stare quite as easily. The thought of the pirate reunited with the woman she loved made her almost physically sick. So she fussed with her sister as Snow went to check on her own son.

"Are you ready?" The shorter brunette asked quietly when she returned to Regina's side, at the front of the large assembly room.

She nodded once, suddenly much more nervous than she was only a few seconds ago.

Despite her preparation - this might still not work.

But what if it did?

"Would you mind if I opened this meeting? I want to thank them all for coming. And I think that the ones who are still apprehensive might feel a bit more confident if I-"

"The ones who want to cast me as the Evil Queen will continue to do so for as long as it suits them," Regina cut her off in a low voice. "Nothing you can say will change that. Some of them will likely think that it's not Emma that will come back, if I can bring her back today since she is likely to have changed in the time she was in the past."

"In a week?" Snow seemed incredulous, and Regina couldn't help but sigh as she turned to fully face the woman.

"More than a week has passed for her. You remember how irregular the calendar we kept back then was – the only point in time where I could be sure of the date, time, and her location - was during the Green-and-White ball. She would have lived in the kingdom for nearly two months by then."

Snow nodded slowly, "I see." Regina's eyes glanced around the room, noting Ruby as she closed the doors, and giving her a nod, before her eyes moved on. "As least she wouldn't have changed much physically – growing taller or growing a beard."

Regina couldn't help but smile as she closed her eyes. Her gaze had landed on Hook as Snow said her last word, and it was all she could do not laugh as she took a deep breath, wishing to whoever might be listening that this wasn't just an ill-timed joke. She reopened her eyes, noting the concern in Snow's features. "I'm all right," she offered with a quick smile, "let's start."

Snow barely finished a nod, by the time Regina had taken a step forward and raised a hand for silence. When the younger woman came to stand at Regina's shoulder, the room had already quieted, Ruby had taken the seat saved for her by Granny, Henry had put his game away, and all were focused on their former mayor. "First of all – thank you all for coming. I realize that you had no obligation to do so, but it is likely that at least some of you will contribute to Emma's return."

"How do we know the spell is safe?" Jim stood up and asked from the middle of the third row on the left; Kathryn tried pulling him back down. "I mean – if I understood Belle correctly – you're going to try gathering energy from all of us. What if when you do that - we don't have enough energy to keep breathing?"

"That won't be a problem," Snow was quick at assure the room which broke out in mumbling at the question. "Belle, Rumpelstiltskin, Henry, David, and I have all been through this with Regina before and none of us have suffered any consequences. Besides, if there were any ill affects – do you think that Regina would have allowed Henry or Zelena take part in this?" The boy got to his feet and made his way to his mother's right.

Regina could feel her heart brimming with love and with pride at his silent show of trust and support.

"She could have cast a spell on him!" Leroy called out from one of the back rows as Jim retook his seat.

"I didn't cast a spell on him when magic first came back and he was adamant that I'm the Evil Queen and left home, why would I cast one now? No one is forcing you to participate tonight, but I plan to try and get Emma home, and to generate enough power for Zelena's spell to work I need a brain, courage, a heart, and innocence. And as you probably noticed getting literal with this recipe doesn't quite work – so the next best option was this meeting."

"How will you get all of those from the people here?" Mulan's quite voice was clear, and eyes turned to her.

Belle, who sat at her side, patted her knee. "That's actually quite simple," the seated woman began before casting a quick look at Regina, "though please correct me if I'm wrong." Regina nodded. "The heart represents love – and this town has a very large concentration of people who have found their true loves. Courage is found both in the hearts of heroes and in those who choose to stay and help despite their fear. Innocence – well, think that there is a bit of it in all of us." She turned her full focus on Regina. "I'm not sure I understand the brain though. It's a reference to wisdom that was quite straightforward with Rumple, but I'm not sure how to apply it here."

Regina couldn't help but smile. Belle had gotten quite close to what she had reasoned was the deconstruction of the spell Zelena had used. "I believe you are not far from the truth. Although not all of us have enough innocence to harness. When the six of us attempted this before – I only registered Henry's innocence. When it comes to wisdom – it's true that taking Rumble's brain had the bonus of hijacking the mind of the wisest user of dark magic for a spell performed with dark magic. But," she raised a finger, "I do not intend on powering this spell with dark magic, and," she raised another finger, "said wisest user was also partly insane at the time, no matter his hundreds of years of experience that enhanced this wisdom."

"Mom, you're losing them." Henry's mumble caused her to glance at him before letting her eyes roam over the crowd.

She grinned giving him a one armed hug. "You just want to get on with it."

David, and the rest of the front row, laughed a little at his sheepish nod.

"Well, let's try and get her back." She ignored Zelena, who started being vocal about her displeasure of being left alone. "Those of you who were lucky enough to find your true loves – think of them, parents think of your children." She took a deep breath, pushing away the feeling that she was channeling a meditating hippy with her request that they all concentrate on love.

Zelena's sharp cry broke her from her focus. She was tempted to ask Henry to get the child, but she was all too aware that her sister didn't seem to like her son yet. And so, with a sigh, she moved back to get the squirming infant.

"Quiet, now," she mumbled to the girl as she picked her up from the carrier, "we're about to pull off your life's work. Again." She needed a free arm. She needed to pull in, to focus, all of the energy she was hoping to harvest from the room and her magic was always accompanied by gestures.

When she turned, Henry was by her side. "I'll hold her."

"Henry, you know she doesn't like you very much."

He nodded, "yes, but you need your hands. She'll have to get used to me sometime anyway."

She looked from her son to her sister, back and again, before touching the tip of the girl's nose. "Behave, little one. You might not like it right now, but you need to behave." Zelena gurgled and tried to bring Regina's finger to her lips.

They turned back to the room, with Henry holding Zelena, as family. Regina could practically feel her heart swelling.

"I still don't think this is going to work." Leroy grumbled.

"You're free to leave, Leroy." Ruby's voice was acidy as she spun in her seat to face him. "But I want to help get my friend back."

The dwarf grew quiet, and Ruby turned to face the front again. Regina couldn't help but notice the waitress's dark eyes dart to Belle and Mulan before returning to hers with a look of steely determination.

She nodded once at the woman before taking a step forward so that she stood on the tip of one of the points of the compass, and closes her eyes. It's easy to bring the image of Emma to mind – the blonde hair; the green eyes; her smile; her atrocious fashion sense. Regina couldn't help but smile as she began uttering the words of the enchantment, trying to focus on them and on the night of the ball at the same time.

This city wants to fight / but it can't touch us anymore / we have come so far, / we have shed our skin / the more that's taken from us now, / the more we have to give / and when we can't be heard, / and when we can't be seen / I will call you close and / you will reach for me…

The lyrics, newly remembered, gave her focus, and she reached forward almost unconsciously. She remembered the song, she remembered how she had felt when the realization hit her that Emma loved another. She remembered stepping out of the room to an open corridor to get air, and how the blonde had followed her. The moon was just setting, backlighting Emma so beautifully that it had made her heart ache.

The lines of energy appeared before her eyes as she finished saying the final word – true love from Snow and Charming, Kathryn and Jim, Ashley – or Ella, as the young woman preferred, and Sean, as well as several other couples she knew of. She blinked in surprise as she saw this red line of energy snake tentatively from Ruby towards Belle. The bookish woman seemed to feel nothing.

The second energy to appear was courage – strong, incandescent, yet translucent yellow light, emanated mostly from the warriors in the room. But Nova, Ruby, and Granny contributed their own share.

The white light she assumed was innocence came from only one source - behind her and to her right. A quick glance back showed that most of that was Zelena, with only a little aid from Henry.

Today was full of surprises.

One more – all she needed was the brain – the wisdom.

She closed her eyes, focusing on that thought, trying to pull all of the energies to her - to the compass. She could feel the sweat starting to bead on her forehead as she raised her other hand, all ten fingers opened wide as she used her shoulder muscles to pull her arms back. There was almost something, she could almost feel it, she had to ignore the gasps, had to ignore the other people in the room.

She needed to think of Emma at that ball in that crimson dress that she had unconsciously imitated in quite a few of her own gowns during her reign as queen. The sangria-red dress; the black lace; the golden curls that framed Emma's face; the woman's smile; she had to focus!

She reopened her eyes when a gust of wind hit her face and she nearly collapsed in relief at the sight of the open portal – and Emma was rushing through it! The view of the corridor, the gardens, walls, and pillars blurring away as Emma seemed to solidify, the flow of air generated by her movement making her hair and the skirt of her dress billow behind her. As she rushed towards them – towards her, towards Henry, Zelena, and the blonde's own mother.

That bit of reality was nearly enough to make her lose her concentration, she shook her head, but it was too late – Emma had arrived, slamming into her and sending them both tumbling to the floor.

The portal closed.

"Emma!" Snow jumped to her daughter's side and pulled her to her feet. "You're back!" And just like that – the blonde was surrounded by her family. And Hook.

Regina sat up, and rubbed the back of her head. Looking up she saw the pirate grab the blonde, spin her to him, and crash their lips together.

She was going to be sick. She could almost feel what little dinner she had making its way up her throat.

Henry was the only one who noticed the purple smoke, since it also took Zelena from his arms. The rest of the people in the hall were too preoccupied with watching Hook bend over and fall to one knee with his hands clutching his privates.