Emma had been gone practically all night with Jefferson and before breakfast she had gone out again.
Rumpelstiltskin tried not to let it bother him as he dusted things in the shop but his daughter was keeping secrets from him about where she was and what she was doing so his mind automatically went to the worst possible scenario. And he didn't want Jefferson as a potential son-in-law. The man knew too much.
He was going to have his bodyguard follow her now. He tried to do it last night but the big oaf got lost in the woods when Emma went in there. She was smart, he'd give her that
The bell over the door rang, Rumpelstiltskin barely looked up when he realized it was Regina who stormed in, "What kind of joke does your daughter think you're playing?"
"Are you going to be specific or are we playing the guessing game?" he demanded.
"Your child, oh wait sorry, Charming and Snow'sdaughter," she smirked and he wanted to kill her, "broke into my vault. She made off with my hearts."
Rumpelstiltskin looked up and smiled proudly and he had to admit he felt a twinge of relief. That was his girl, "Did she, now?"
Regina leaned forward, "We had a deal. She stays out of my way, I stay out of hers."
Rumpelstiltskin gave her a condescending smile, "Perhaps someone told her just how well you keep your word."
Regina glowered at him and it only made him smirk wider, "Fine example you're setting, teaching her to break a deal. How unlike you, I thought you bragged on only ever breaking one."
"Emma never agreed to the terms of the arrangement and I honestly don't see how her taking a bunch of enchanted hears is any way affecting you. It's not as if you can do anything with them anyway with about maybe one or two exceptions. It doesn't get in your way and it bothers no plans of yours. Emma is just…taking steps to ensure that you remain true to your side of our bargain. Given your record for keeping your word, I don't think even you could fault her for that."
Regina smirked, "Your daughter may have taken every heart out of my vault, Rumpelstiltskin…but she didn't take every enchanted heart that I own."
Rumpelstiltskin's smug look fell.
"You're daughter took a big risk, Rumpelstiltskin," Regina said, "And she is about to lose."
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Entering into Regina's secret vault was like a whole new experience for Emma and she took a moment at the bottom of the steps to look around. Growing up, she'd come to learn that her father's shop had bits and pieces of home scattered through it, hidden among the Storybrooke goods. Once he'd even shown her some of them which included the mobile that had been hung over her crib when she was a child. But this…the building, the structure, everything in it was from the homeland.
"That's the vault," Jefferson said and pointed straight ahead at some drawers behind a pulled back curtain.
"Aren't very many," she remarked, "I thought you said that Regina took so many hearts that she lost count."
And then Emma smiled at a joke she made in her mind. Maybe Regina couldn't count that high.
Jefferson looked as uncomfortable as Emma began feeling when she heard the hearts beating, "She only brought over those who she thought she could use."
Emma looked at the small group of drawers in front of her, "I'm going to look around, there might be more."
"Wouldn't it just be enough to get these?" Jefferson asked.
What would be enough would be to fill this place up with cement so that Regina could never get to it again but Emma didn't want to have to explain to Marco what exactly this was and why she was down here, "She might use other hearts as leverage to get these back, I just want to check."
Jefferson grabbed the crowbar and followed her, "Regina might've set traps."
There wasn't anything in the first two rooms but when Emma opened the door to the third, she had an unwelcome surprise.
There was a man's body there. Emma immediately drew back in shock and surprise. She would've screamed but Jefferson was behind her and when she fell against him he put one arm around her waist and the other over her mouth.
"Shh. Shh. He's not alive. He's dead. It's just Daniel. It's Daniel."
When Emma stopped struggling, Jefferson took his hands off her. Emma crept forward and put her hands on the glass and stared down at the man. He looked like he was asleep but she knew from the book that he was dead.
Emma knew that the fairy tale world existed and what her father told her was true for years but now…staring at someone in full Enchanted Forest clothes…it just cemented that reality.
"This is your first dead body, isn't it?"
Jefferson's casual asking of that question just made her curious about how many bodies he himself had seen, but it would be inappropriate to ask, "In a town where no one ages and no one ever comes here to stay? Yeah, first body."
"We're not taking him with us, Emma. I hope you know that."
Ew! Like she would suggest such a thing.
"Well you are lonely," she pointed out, "Maybe he's a good listener."
"Oh, aren't you funny?" he said snidely, "Come on, we have work we have to do."
Emma looked at him one final time. This man's death was what started all this. Emma didn't expect to see him and quite frankly…she could've lived her life happily without seeing his corpse. It was VERY disturbing to think that Regina was so bent on revenge and not letting go of the past that she preserved his body for what? Almost thirty years?
Emma turned and walked right beside Jefferson as they walked to the vault. Emma used the crowbar to pull out the first one as it would only open at Regina's hand and she opened the small container that was inside it.
There one of them was, red, glowy and beating.
And Emma felt even sicker.
"I don't suppose we could track everyone down without a heart and shove them in there, can we?" Emma asked as Jefferson looked over her shoulder.
"Probably wouldn't be wise. We don't know whose heart belongs to whom and since we're without magic…walking up to someone and trying to shove a beating heart in their chest would probably end with it exploding or something."
Wonderful visual there.
Emma took a breath and shoved the crowbar against the next drawer. They'd wasted enough time, they had work to do.
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Thanks to the day before that she and Jefferson spent digging a hole in the woods wide enough to hide the hearts and then stealing all of them the night before, burying them, and dispersing the rest of the dirt elsewhere in the woods so that they couldn't be found, Emma was dead on her feet at the sheriff's station.
Even Graham seemed to notice. Since she'd been working for him, he seemed to notice every mood she was in, "You alright today, Emma?"
"Yeah, it's just…," she looked for something to be wrong and found an excuse that even sent her father running, "Female stuff."
"Oh," he said and turned back to his office abruptly.
Growing up there was a part of Emma that hadn't liked him because she knew he was in league with the queen. But now that she was older, she knew it was far more complicated than that and despite herself and the dangers she knew it would mean for him because of Regina….she genuinely liked him. He was always so nice to her and he tried to make her comfortable throughout this arrangement which would be ending soon.
"Sheriff?"
Emma tensed at Regina's voice. She expected this would happen but she wasn't looking forward to it. It figured Regina wouldn't have the bravery to face her with her father in the room.
These three months since Regina found out, Emma had lost her fear of her and it'd turned into full blown hate. Rumpelstiltskin warned her that having that attitude towards Regina wasn't right and wasn't healthy. Emma couldn't help it. It was hard NOT to hate someone who would kill you if given the opportunity.
"Madam Mayor," Graham said jovially and Emma cringed liked she always did because she knew the truth of their relationship, "What can I do for you?"
"Emma and I have something we need to discuss, could you give us a few minutes?"
"Why?" he asked and the happiness dropped from his voice, "Is she in trouble?"
"No, of course not," Regina said, "I just need to talk to her…about the possibility of her father's surprise birthday."
Emma scoffed at the horrible lie and even Graham looked confused. As if Mr. Gold wouldn't shoot all the guests if they tried that.
He shrugged and left and when Regina closed the doors, Emma stood, ready for her fight.
"Do you know what kind of a person breaks into someone else's place and takes what doesn't belong to them?" Regina began, "A coward."
Emma didn't even have to think long for a barb of her own, "Do you know what kind of person rips people's hearts out and commits multiple rapes on a man because they didn't kill someone? An evil vicious psychopath."
Oh, that got Regina angry, "What did you do with my hearts, you little thief?"
Oh good, they were getting right to the um…heart of the matter, "To be fair, they're not really 'your' hearts are they? They belong to other people that you screwed over."
"Where are they?" Regina demanded.
"They're safe," Emma assured her, "Don't worry; I'm not going to go trying to shove them in people's chests or anything. You didn't label them and it would probably end badly."
Regina wasn't amused. Without a word, she reached into her purse and pulled out another heart container and Emma's eyes grew. No…it couldn't be, they'd gotten all of them. Both Emma and Jefferson had checked two times each.
"Do you know who this belongs to?" Regina asked and pulled out the beating heart. Emma paled but said nothing. She'd lost, she'd missed one, "This belongs to our resident sheriff."
"It wasn't in the vault," Emma said. It was more of a statement than a question.
"No Emma, it wasn't. This is the Huntsman's heart and as you already know he's…very important to me."
The way Regina said that made Emma feel sick.
"And on top of that, he's the sheriff which means he's an authority of the town. Do you really think that I would be so careless as to leave his heart with the others?"
Emma stared at her and decided to call her bluff, "You're lying. That's not his. And if it was, then you just pretty much told me why you wouldn't squeeze it."
Regina's content mask slipped and Emma saw the furious evil vicious woman that she already knew existed. Without a word, she began to squeeze and Emma immediately rushed for her. It might not be Graham's but it was someone else's and they weren't about to die because of something that she did.
The only thing that stopped her was the sound of someone outside the doors that gave a cry of pain and collapsed.
Regina stopped squeezing when Emma stopped rushing towards her. IT was Graham's heart. She still had Graham's heart and Emma knew that she'd lost.
"Tonight is a town council meeting but you won't be there. You'll be in my vault putting the hearts back. If anyone asks, you'll tell them that you were sick. But you'll do exactly what I say and you'll put them all back. You and whoever helped you."
The lie came easily to protect Jefferson, "No one helped me. I did it by myself."
"I doubt you moved out all those hearts."
"I've been moving them out all week, I can't' believe you didn't notice."
Regina's eyes darkened as she searched Emma's face for the lie. Emma held her gaze and revealed nothing.
"They'll be in your vault," Emma assured her.
Regina nodded, "They better."
She turned to leave and Emma waited till she was gone before she rushed out into the hall and found Graham unconscious.
He was breathing, but barely.
"Graham," she whispered through emerging tears. She had to get to an ambulance, she had to get to her father, she had to get to Jefferson….no, she couldn't get to Jefferson because now, Regina would have someone watching her at all times.
She closed her eyes, she'd failed and now others were paying the price for her negligence.
"I'm sorry," she whispered to the sheriff's unconscious body and went to the phone to call his ambulance.