Chapter THIRTY-FOUR: More Problems

Meanwhile, in Hook awoken to find himself in a hospital room. He looked around and saw his his hook missing. He looked up at Emma, who was sitting at the end of the bed. "Where's Cora?" She asked.

Hook started to get up, but found he was handcuffed to the bed. "Again? You're really into this, aren't you?" He attempted to move again, but found it too painful. "Damn, that hurts."

Emma stood up and walked to the front of the bed. "Strax told you. You cracked a few ribs. Where's Cora?"

"You look good, I must say, all "Where's Cora?" in a commanding voice. Chills."

"You have all sorts of sore places. I can make you hurt." Emma lunged forward as if to press on Hook's ribs, but, at the last moment, pulled her hands back, making Hook relaxed.

"I've no idea where Cora is, she has her own agenda. Let's talk about something I am interested in, my hook. May I have it back? Or is there another...attachment you'd prefer."

"You're pretty chipper for a guy who just failed to kill his enemy, then got hit by a car."

"Well, my ribs may be broken, but everything else is still intact, which is more than can be said for all the other bad days I've had. Plus I did some quality damage to my foe."

"You hurt Belle."

"I hurt his heart. Belle is just where he keeps it. He killed my love. I know the feeling."

"Keep smiling, buddy. He's on his feet, immortal, has magic, and you've hurt his girl. If I had to pick dead guy of the year, I'd pick you. Emma turned and started to leave the room as Hook kept trying to free himself, but the pain was too much for him.

While Emma was talking to Hook, Mary Margaret, David, Ruby, Leroy, the Doctor, the Professor, Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax were all huddled around the Outsider's phone, trying to hack their way into it. At the moment, it was David who had the phone, and he was trying to input all the possible PIN's into it. "We gotta get into his phone. Let me guess another pass code," David said.

"You can't guess! There are a million possible combinations," Mary Margaret said.

"Actually, there are ten thousand different possibilities," the Professor said.

"Ten thousand?" Mary Margaret asked.

The Professor nodded. "Yep."

"You can't try another code, you've tried enough." Reaching towards the phone, the Doctor took it out of David's hands, along with receiving his sonic. "If you lock it up, it'll have to be reset and we don't want that." After a quick whir from his sonic, the phone unlocked and the Doctor skimmed through the contents of the phone. "Now, let's see...his name is Greg Mendell. There's pictures of him along the Eastern Seaboard, has a LinkedIn account and tweets pictures of his food." He pocked the phone into his monk robes as Emma turned up after talking to Hook.

"So, have we found anything out about the stranger?" Emma asked.

"Yes. His name is Greg Mendell. And he seems like any other human on Earth," the Professor said.

"Wait..." Ruby spoke up. "Does this mean whatever kept random people from stumbling into Storybrooke is gone?"

"Looks that way," Mary Margaret said.

"Anyone can drive in. Why are my instincts telling my that's a bad thing?" David asked.

"Because you've seen E.T. or Splash or any other movies where they find something magical and study it to death! Think what they'd do to a werewolf," Leroy said, as he received 'the look' from Ruby.

"His friends and family, they're gonna come looking for him soon," Mary Margaret said.

"Let's try not to overreact," Emma said.

"Leroy's right. We don't need outsiders here," David said.

"Hook says he doesn't know where Cora is, and God knows what she's gonna do. With other people coming here, that's not gonna be good for anyone," Emma said again.

"Do we know where Regina is hiding?" Mary Margaret asked.

The Professor shook his head. "No. Wherever she is, she picked a good spot. She may have even skipped town."

"But what about her memories?" Madame Vastra asked. "I heard that people from Storybrooke can't leave town because they'll lose their memories..."

"That affects the people affected by the curse,' the Professor began. "Regina wasn't a victim so she can pass safely. I can too. And Hook and Cora too.""But what if Cora finds where Regina is first?! I don't wanna think about the damage those two could do together. This could not have come at a worse time!" Mary Margaret said.

"It's okay. The guy's being patched up now. He'll probably be on his way home by morning," Emma said, as Doctor Whale approached them.

"Not quite. He's bleeding into his chest cavity. It's not a full flood, you know. But pretty soon he'll be drowning in his own blood," Doctor Whale said.
"So make it stop. Aren't you a doctor?" Emma asked, just when Mr Gold was coming down the stairs after visiting Belle.

Doctor Whale saw him and went over, with the others following. "Gold. If magic can fix me, it can fix him. Please. It will take you seconds and cost you nothing."

"No," Mr Gold said.

"No. Just... no?"

"Yes. I owe you nothing, Whale. I owe none of you anything. And some of you owe me. So yeah, just "No." Oh, and point of interest? The driver? He saw me throwing some magic. So instead of trying to get him outta here, you better be hoping he dies, because if he doesn't, he's gonna be driving tour buses up and down Main Street. So glad I don't give a damn." Mr Gold turned to leave the group and started walking back to his shop.

"I'm gonna go after him. See if he's alright..." the Professor said, following after Mr Gold.

"Look. Letting him die is easy. I can do that. If that's what you decide,"Doctor Whale said.

"Let's take this somewhere private," Emma said, as everyone went to a supply room.

Once everyone was there, Doctor Whale said, "It's not really murder if we let him succumb to his injuries."

"Pretty sure it is," Emma said.

"Of course we save him," Mary Margaret said.

"We can try to save him," the Doctor said. "He at least deserves that."

"Well..." Leroy started to say.

"Leroy!" Mary Margaret said.

"We gotta think it through. We save him and kill the town. Is that really better?"

"So our choice is either to save the town or this man's life. Leave him be or save yourselves...?" Madame Vastra asked.

"We can worry about the town later," David said.

"Which doesn't mean we should abandon him," Mary Margaret said.

"I know, but let's worry about Storybrooke after we've saved a life," David said, as both him and his wife, before saying to Doctor Whale, "Dr. Whale, prep for surgery."

"My scanners show that the human male is intoxicated with too much alcohol and is not qualified to perform the operation. There is also a serious chance that he will do something reckless himself," Strax said, as Greg Mendell's phone started to ring.

"Someone is looking for Greg. How long before they come here?" Emma asked, looking at all of them.

Meanwhile, Mr Gold and the Professor arrived at the pawn shop. Mr Gold went over to the brown cupboard and opened it, taking the chipped cup out. He stared at it thoughtfully, before turning around and said, "You, know. If it wasn't for you and the Doctor in our lives, I would have lost Belle. Thank you."

The Professor smiled. "It's okay," he said. "I know you'll do the same for me and Clara. Well, when I find her again."

Mr Gold nodded. "You will. Fate has given her to you two times already. Fate appears to be on your side."

Suddenly, the door bells jingle, and both looked around. There was no one there. Mr Gold put the cup back in the cupboard and walked around the shop, before looking out the window. The Professor walked to the counter, where he saw a box. "What's this?" He asked, making Mr Gold walk back.

As soon as he got back to the counter, a female said, "Hello, you two." Both looked up, seeing it was Cora.

"I expected this was just a matter of time," Mr Gold said.

"Anyway, how did you escape that prison?" The Professor asked.

"Persistence," Cora said. "And, I had a gift for you." She motioned to the box.

"Yeah, did you bring the antidote, too?" Mr Gold asked.

"Oh, Rumple. It's a peace offering."

"And what do you want for this, uh-" Mr Gold looked back at the box. "-this peace offering?"

"My daughter. You were so clever to get her lay the curse so you could come here. You don't need her anymore. Let me try to get her back. And- let us live," Cora said.

"And what do I get for my troubles?"

"Your son." Mr Gold turned to face the box from Cora, and opened it. Once the box was opened, the gift resembled a blank, white globe. "You know what that is, of course," Cora said.

"It'll find him... If this one truly is it," Mr Gold said.

"Darling, I have no reason to cheat you."

"Anymore," Mr Gold interrupted.

"I want you to find the one person in this universe who might still love you. After all, I'm doing the same thing."

"You know, Rumple could have just used the TARDIS to find Bae," the Professor said. "It does the same job."

"The TARDIS is here?" Cora asked, a bit surprised.

The Professor nodded. "Yes. My father is helping me find out where Clara Oswin Oswald is. There's some special; something magical about her. I sense great things in her."

"Well, my gift to both of you to make up for what I have done to both of you is the globe. So will you accept my offer of a truce?" Cora asked.

Mr Gold thought about it for a minute then he shook Cora's hand. "Truce."

The Professor went over and shook her hand too. "Yes. Truce."