Author's Note: So tonight's episode definitely inspired me to finish this chapter. That was insane! And then the promo for next week (which I am so not happy about the two month hiatus by the way...) This show is just too good! Anyways, thank you for the kind reviews! I love hearing what you all think. I hope this chapter is just as good as the others have been!

Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon A Time...sadly.

Thirty Five

"Good bye, Henry. Have a great day." Emma kissed her son on the forehead from the sidewalk just in front of Storybrooke Elementary School. "I'll pick you up this afternoon."

"Promise?" No matter how many times Emma had apologized to him both yesterday and today, it was obvious he was having problems accepting any of the apologies fully yet.

"Henry," She knelt down to look straight into his eyes. "I promise I won't up and leave again…without taking you with me." Emma joked as they both heard the school bell ring warning children how little time they had left before they needed to be inside. "Now go before you're late. Miss Blanchard won't want that, and I swear I will be here to pick you up no later than four thirty."

Henry hugged his mother again tightly before turning and walking towards the school, finding Paige and August on his way to the doors. Emma noticed her mother holding the door open and waved, knowing Mary Margaret saw her. Henry's teacher just turned and joined her students as they made their way to the classroom.

"She's still mad…" The blonde woman muttered under her breath as recalled how little the two had spoken in the past two days. Emma had gotten back a lot later than she meant to, not making it home until close to six the next morning and Mary Margaret had been in the kitchen when she finally walked in. As angry as her mother was, she hadn't spoken to Emma in days.

As soon as her son was safely inside the school building, Emma began her walk to work. About a block away from her destination Emma passed Sophie.

"Sophie! Where have you been?" Emma said as she stopped and watched her best friend blow her off. "Hey! Soph!" She yelled out, speeding up her steps and grabbing her friend's arm to stop her. "I know you saw and heard me, so what the hell? Why didn't you respond?"

Sophie refused to look at Emma, staring at nothing in particular as she was held by Emma's grip on her arm in her spot on the sidewalk.

"Oh, so you're not talking to me either? And I assume avoiding me too? Really?" Emma fought her urge to yell. "Awesome. So both you and Mary Margaret are ignoring my existence right now. You know, you two pretending I don't exist won't change anything! I'm sorry I did what I did and I know I shouldn't have but-"

"No, you shouldn't have!" Sophie finally replied, cutting Emma off.

"Oh, now you're speaking to me? To what do I owe this honor?" The blonde was just as mad with them now as her mother and best friend were with her.

"I can live with you leaving me without any explanation, I'm an adult and I'll get over it eventually. I won't be happy about it, but I can move on. What kills me though is that you left your son." She spoke with both anger and sadness in her voice through clenched teeth. "How could you leave Henry? After everything you've gone through not only to have him, but to keep him? I watched you stress out over whether or not you would give him up. I know it wasn't easy, Emma. So how could you leave him? How?"

Emma hated how everybody thought she could and would leave her son. "Sophie, you can't seriously think I would just leave him. After everything you've watched me go through? So, I needed a break, and yes, I should have told somebody where I was going and when I'd be back. I know that now, but I didn't and I'm sorry."

"I know it's hard, Emma." Her voice was quieter as she slowly started walking again. "It isn't easy for me, either, but we have to get through it...together. Together does not include one of us running off when we feel like it's getting to hard!"

It bothered the blonde a little when Sophie spoke like that. And even worse, she had no idea who Sophie even was and how she pertained to Storybrooke and it's residents. "You're completely right. I'm sorry, it won't happen again." She finally apologized again. She could see Sophie accept her apology.

The two stood silently for a moment before they spoke again. "So...what did I miss while I was in Boston?" Emma asked.

"Well your mom and Henry may have-" Sophie began to answer before being cut off suddenly.

Emma's cell phone began ringing from her pocket. The second she answered it she was greeted with yelling from the other end.

"Miss Swan!" Mayor Mills scream into the phone, loud enough for Sophie to hear it and cringe just like Emma was. "If you're going to be the acting sheriff of this town for the immediate future, it would be appreciated if you could answer your phone when there's an emergency."

"My phone wasn't ringing…?" Emma pulled her phone away from her face quickly just to make sure. "I mean, I don't have any missed calls."

"The hospital called the station multiple times before they finally gave up and called me." She spat out.

"Your dad may have woken up a bit yesterday." Sophie whispered just loud enough for her friend to hear without the mayor knowing she wasn't alone. "We…uh…we think."

"Mr. Doe is missing." The evil queen was still yelling into the phone.

"WHAT?!" Emma replied to Sophie. "How?"

"I don't know how Miss Swan. That's what you are paid to do." Regina mistook the blonde's intentions and rudely answered. "Now get over here and do your job! I do not need an amnesic man running around my town." The woman hung up the phone.

"I guess I'm needed at the hospital then?" Emma concluded. "Want to go with and fill me in on the way?" She watched her friend nod before the two made their way to the cruiser and drove the short distance to the hospital.

On the short car ride Sophie told Emma how, when nobody showed up to get Henry after school, Mary Margaret had taken him to volunteer with her before dropping him off at the Inn with Sophie. While they were there Henry decided to try and reach John Doe by reading the story of Snow White to him. Near the ending of the story Mary Margaret walked in to place some fresh flowers on his bedside table. As she stood next to the young boy and admired his kind action, she had subconsciously placed her hand on the hospital bed. Suddenly the prince's hand was on top of hers, startling the cursed princess and exciting Henry.

"So my mother knows about the curse?" Emma was still a bit confused as they pulled up to the hospital.

"Well…" Sophie hadn't realized how complicated this was until she tried to explain it. "She knows that Henry thinks that everyone in the town is a fairy tale character, and she knows that Henry thinks she is your mother and his grandmother. She just thinks that it's his imagination though, so we're safe on that front at least."

The two made their way into the building and towards the missing patient's room. Emma was surprised to see the decorations placed all around as the two made their way into the John Doe's room. She had forgotten about Henry's field trip yesterday, but it looked like the children had fun cheering up the patients.

"Nice of you to take your time getting here! Oh and look, you brought company, how lovely." The sarcasm seethed through the mayor's voice.

Emma decided to take the high road and ignore the comment. "I'm sure you have much more important things to do, Mayor Mills." She politely tried to get rid of the woman. "I will let you know as soon as we have found Mr. Doe."

"Fine." She huffed off. Sophie and Emma both found it a little bit surprising at how fast that woman could go in the heels she was wearing.

"How long has he been gone?" Emma turned back to the hospital staff standing in front of her.

Dr. Whale was the one to speak now. "My nurse found him missing when she came in to check on him around seven this morning."

"And when had he been checked on before that?"

"Four thirty at the latest." The small and timid looking nurse replied. "He was stable then, I don't know what happened."

"So nothing seemed out of the ordinary? No increased brain function or heart rate?" The town sheriff had been doing her reading on comas since she found out her father was in one.

"No."

"Mmkay. I think our best bet is to go look at the security tapes first. You two let me know if there's anything else you can think of that could help." Emma smiled before she and Sophie went looking for the security office.

OUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUAT

"He couldn't have chosen a warmer day to just leave the hospital?" Sophie moaned as she trekked along behind Emma through the woods. "It's freezing out here."

Emma's hands were on her temples trying to fight off the inevitable head ache. As much as she wanted to turn around and tell the brunette to shut up she knew she was still walking on thin ice for her leaving. "Where could he have gone?" Emma thought out loud. "The man's been in a coma for twenty eight years, his legs couldn't be in that great of shape."

The video has shown Emma's father walking out a door that lead to the forest. The two had been searching through the woods back behind the hospital for almost an hour now and it was starting to wear on them both.

"Any ideas?" Emma asked as the two stopped moving for a moment.

"What is that?" It seemed as if Sophie wasn't paying attention at all, instead she was pointing at something and running towards it rather than answering Emma.

Emma quickly followed.

"A toll bridge…you are no help at all some—" She stopped mid-word, noticing how somebody had spray painted an "r" onto the sign to make it say "Troll Bridge."

"You and Daddy met while fighting trolls on a bridge?" A just barely five year old Emma asked her mother excitedly one night.

"No, that's not how we met. We met when Mommy…well…I'll tell you that story when you're a little older." Snow answered her daughter, cooking dinner in the process. "It was during that fight that I started to fall in love with your father, though."

"That's so cool!" Snow White heard her daughter run off back into the living room to continue reading the fairy tales for herself. Her brother was teaching her to read by helping her read the fairy tales in the book.

"Sophie, you're a genius!" Emma yelled, starting to search vigorously around the old bridge.

"Why am I a genius?"

The blonde answered while continuing to look around, not wanting to waste any time. "My parents first met when my mother stole jewels from my father. She sold the jewels to some trolls. When he came looking for them the two went back and ended up in a fight with the trolls…on a bridge." Emma explained.

Sophie stated to join Emma in looking. "I still don't get it though." She yelled out.

"Henry was reading Snow White to him the other night." She was so proud of herself for figuring this out. "If he remembers anything—"

"He would have gone looking for her, got it!" Sophie yelled.

The two searched all around for ten minutes before another word was spoken.

"Dad!" Emma yelled out. "Sophie! I found him!" She called out for help as she ran to the water line of the creek running below the bridge where his body was laying. "Dad!"

And...? Let me know what you think about the story, the new episode, whatever you'd like :) I love reading them all! Hope you enjoyed!