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Chapter Thirty-Six
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Present day
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"Emma," Graham says. He's been wanting to start this conversation since he woke up with her, but first her parents walked in on them, then her parents walked in with her this morning and then they had to take a confession that sounded more rehearsed than sincere.
"Mm," Emma says. She's not looking up, staring at ceiling as if it holds some sort of mystery he can't see.
"About what happened..."
"No," she says, interrupting him. "We had sex, it was good, my parents walked in on us and that's all the 'about' we need to get into."
"I was thinking more about getting into the 'about' doing it again. Without the parents walking in on it."
She lowers her gaze to his sharply and he offers his best inviting and charming smile just as hurried footsteps approach and Belle bursts into the room.
"You have to stop this!" Belle says breathlessly. "Mr. Gold. He's done something to Killian, marked him with something. You have to save him."
"What?" Emma says dumbly. "Gold did what to who?"
"Marked me for death," Killian says, stepping in as well. The man from the bar, Emma remembers. He holds up a hand and on his palm, a strange symbol is marked in flesh. "Very charming welcome from the Mayor."
"Hell," Emma says and Graham's hope for a quiet day at work dies a painful, crushing death.
II
"We could make a home here," Snow says softly. She tilts her head up to look at him. "Here in Storybrooke with Henry and Emma. We could get a bigger house."
"Here?" he repeats. He sounds confused. "Don't you want to go back? To our kingdom?"
"We don't even know if it exists still," she points out. "The curse broke and we're still here. Maybe there is nothing to go back to."
"Maybe there is," he says hopefully, looking distant. Charming. Always the optimist. She loves it in him but sometimes, sometimes it also pains her just a little.
"Yeah," she just says, closing her eyes as he lifts his hands to cup her face and kiss her.
II
"Please, you have to save him," Belle says again. The others look at her, perhaps surprised by her passion. Truthfully, she's a little surprised herself. But Belle, the Belle she remembers being, that Belle would care.
"Didn't know you cared so much, darling," Killian says. She shoots him a glare.
"I am trying to save him. If he kills you..." she trails off, looking at Emma and Graham again. "Please."
"I'm not going to let anyone kill anyone on my watch," Emma says, sounding determined. She crosses her arms while Graham puts his hands on his hips. "Magically or otherwise."
"If magic is the means, perhaps magic is the way to prevent it," Graham suggests. "Maybe Regina will know what to do."
"If it involves crossing Gold, she might even be interested in doing it," Emma replies, already going for the phone.
II
Henry draws the castle, every now and then pausing to consult the book. It's mom and dad's castle; a proper fairytale castle and looking like it. He can already imagine living in it.
Him and Emma and mom and dad and all of them. Having adventures, having their happy ending. He'll get to be a prince and ride horses and sword-fight and be a hero.
Most important of all, he'll have his whole family there. They're together now.
Henry draws on, a future in pencil lines and a child's imagination.
II
Regina can see trouble coming a mile away, or in this case a street away as Emma, Graham, Belle and Hook hurry towards her.
"What does this mean?" Emma asks without preamble, holding out Hook's hand. Regina makes a slight sound as she recognizes the mark.
"I warned you to stay below deck," she tells Hook, who rolls his eyes slightly. "Gold did this, I gather."
"Yes," Graham says. "What did he do, Regina?"
"Marked our friend the pirate to have his soul sucked by a wraith," she says brightly. "It should arrive by nightfall, I expect."
"What can we do to stop it?" Emma asks. She looks quite determined, Regina notes. That Charming sense of honor again.
"It can't be killed," Regina says thoughtfully. "But perhaps it could be displaced."
"What do you mean?" Graham asks, looking at her skeptically.
"There is an object that can transport people between worlds," Regina says thoughtfully. "Jefferson's hat. If I was to venture a guess, I would say Gold has it."
"I'll get it," Belle interjects. Regina gives her a thoughtful look. Yes. Perhaps.
"Bring it here as fast as you can. The rest of you – you may wish to arm yourself. Oh, and Miss Swan? Your parents are inside making out. You might wish to go in there, avert your eyes and give them the good news that they'll soon be fighting a wraith."
II
David hums a little at the back of his throat as Snow links her hands behind his neck and kisses him again. His hands support her back as she tip-toes to deepen the kiss, and the hum turns to a moan.
"David? Mary Margaret?" their daughter calls into the room. They both go still, then carefully untangle lips, tongues and hands.
"Yeah?" David asks, his voice a little hoarse. He clears it. "Yeah?"
"We've got a soul-sucking wraith to deal with," Emma informs them. She's deliberately not coming in, Snow realizes.
"Be right there!" he calls back. Snow chuckles a little as he brushes his thumb across her cheek.
"I think I know where Henry inherited his timing," he observes drily.
"Mmm-mmm," she agrees. "And I know where our daughter inherited her tendency to find trouble."
II
Belle marches into his office and Gold barely has time to look up before she's leaning across his desk and into his personal space. "Give me Jefferson's hat."
"What?" he asks. The request is clear enough, but from her it is a little surprising.
"Jefferson's hat," she repeats.
"What do you need it for?"
"You took my heart," she says without flinching. "Now I have yours. Everything you do that darkens it, darkens mine as well. I am going to save us both. Give me the hat. Unless you can call off the wraith."
"No. Once summoned it will not stop until it has its victim's soul."
"Then give me the hat."
He nods, walking over to the wall. She watches him as he opens the hidden compartment and then the safe and pulls out the hat.
"Belle, all magic has a price," he says softly.
"I am ready to pay it," she says. Impulsively, she leans forward and kisses him. She can feel his heart in her chest leap a little as she does.
"Yes," he says, touching her cheek tenderly. "But are you ready for others to?"
II
"Red will look after Henry while we deal with this," David says, hanging up. Snow nods at him a bit absentmindedly as she holds the brooms they've found, watching Graham hover around Emma. He follows her gaze and narrows his eyes a little.
"Hey," Snow says, putting a hand on his arm. He lowers his gaze to hers, and softens as he looks at her.
"I know," he says. "She's not a baby anymore, is she?"
"No," Snow says sadly. She must be remembering, as he is, the last glimpse of baby Emma they ever had.
"I got it!" Belle calls, hurrying inside with the hat in her hands.
"I could kiss you," Killian offers. Emma gives him a look. "What, I could kiss you too."
"I could cut your other hand off," David interjects. "How does this work, Regina?"
"It will open a portal to our land. If it still exists, the wraith will be trapped there. If it doesn't, then sending the wraith there will be as good as killing it."
"Either way sounds good to me," Killian says merrily.
"Shut up before I regret helping you," Emma says irritably. "So, we wait for the wraith, we open portal, we send it through, and we go home for dinner. Sounds good to everyone?"
"Sure," David says, looking at the window and what is coming through it. "Except we don't have to wait."
II
Graham reaches for the gun as the wraith more or less drifts into the room through the window. It occurs to him that it might not be the best weapon against a magic creature, especially as Regina throws a fireball from her hands. The wraith hisses, but stays on course.
"Is this where I beg?" Killian jokes, but there is a nervous edge to it. Good, Graham thinks.
David and Snow lift their now burning brooms, trying to ward the wraith off while Belle sets the hat down carefully. Regina kneels down, her eyes gleaming in the dark for a moment.
The hats spins and spins and purple whirls into the room.
"Snow!" David calls in distress and Graham looks up to see that the wraith has tossed her. She slides across the room, hitting a wall with a thump The wraith is still descending on Killian and Graham fires at it, drawing its attention for a moment.
That moment is enough as David slams his broom into it from behind. It hisses and screams, going backwards and backwards as David almost seems to herd it with fire towards the hat.
"Get clear!" he calls, shoving the broom forward again. The wraith backs up just that extra inch – into the portal. The sound it makes is inhuman, making Graham clutch his ears. For less than a second it seems all is going as planned.
Then the wraith stretches out a hand and clutches David. The broom falls from his grasp as he is pulled into the portal also.
"DAVID!" Snow screams. Emma makes a noise also. They both dive for David at the same time as the hat tips over and swallows them all in a purple haze.
Graham doesn't think, merely leaps as Regina, Belle and Killian stare. This is Emma, who is Emma,and Snow and Charming who he gladly risked his life for such a long time ago and yet it feels like yesterday. He can't not reach for them.
The portal closes as he falls and Graham crashes to the floor, crushing the hat under him.