Buffy kicks down the door and her and David quickly enter Regina's office, once they realise it's empty Buffy lowers the scythe and David lowers his gun "We're all clear!" Buffy calls out into the hall, where Snow and Henry were waiting.
As the two enter Henry looks over at Buffy "When you find her, you're not gonna hurt her, are you?"
Buffy shakes her head "No. But I just want the thief to return the beans she took."
"I don't get it." Snow says "Why would Regina leave her office unlocked?"
"Because she's a crazy person?" Buffy suggests.
David chuckles slightly before walking towards the glass jar holding the beans "Crazy yeah, especially when she's keeping the beans here."
Snow sighs "Was keeping them here. They're gone."
Buffy watches intently for a second "This is not making a lick of sense, I mean come on, why the hell would she leave evidence like this, she's not the type."
"Maybe she already used them to portal out of Storybrooke." David says as he continues to stare at the glass container.
Buffy scoffs "Without Henry? A world of no."
"What if something bad happened to her?" Henry asks, slightly scared and obviously worried.
Buffy turns to the alarm system by the door "The security system says the last time someone was chilling in here, was about 6 in the morning. God, who the hell is up at the hour unless they haven't gone to sleep." Buffy presses on the buttons "Looks like whoever was in here didn't have a key, they used the override code."
David turns to Buffy "Why would Regina need an override code."
Buffy looks up "She wouldn't."
Snow raises an eyebrow "You think someone else broke in and took the beans?"
Buffy shrugs "Well the witch that is Regina, has vanished into thin air, not even a postcard from her."
"So something bad did happen to her?" Henry says he voice clearly evident with worry.
Buffy turns to her son "We will find her, okay, I promise."
"There's only one person who could overpower Regina. Well, other than you."
David nods in agreement "Gold."
"He's too busy with his new slash old girlfriend." Buffy tells them "God, that is extremely gross if you really think about it...Not Gold, Tamara."
Snow sighs "Haven't you already gone down that road?"
"Not far enough it seems."
"Or maybe it's time for you to let it go?"
"Look I don't believe in coincidences, she came to town the day August sort of died."
"What if you're wrong?" David asks "If Regina's in trouble we can't just drop everything because of a hunch."
"Here's an idea, Go to Gold he'll have some creepy thing that can locate Regina."
Snow nods "Where are you going?"
"Where do you think?" Buffy asks sarcastically, before heading out the room.
Once Neal opens the door, Buffy heads straight in "I'm searching your room again, got it. No complaining. This is for real."
Neal chuckles "You wanna tell me what this is about, Sheriff?"
"Where's your girl?" Buffy asks.
"She's...on a run, what do you think she did this time?"
"Regina, witch, mayor whatever we call her these days, has poofed into missing hood."
Neal looks at Buffy skeptically "And you think she...you're—you're still on Tamara? You gotta be kidding me. She came to town to support me, her fiancé. She's not a kidnapper."
Buffy ignores him and walks into the closet before turning to him "First off, I said no complaining and second where'd she go running?
"The same place she goes every morning, the woods."
"And she's been gone how long?"
"Couple of hours." Neal says as he watches Buffy bend to her knees "Does it matter? She's training for a marathon."
Buffy runs her hand over the sand on the floor before turning to Neal "So are woods often full of sand?"
"Maybe she likes to run along the beach instead." He says trying to defend her. "What does that prove?"
"Well, that she lied to you. Which means she's lying about other things to."
Neal shakes his head, refusing to believe her "Maybe she just likes to run on the beach."
"We'll see about that." Buffy says simply "There is a simple way to find out."
Neal follows Buffy across the beach "So, uh, where do you think she's hiding Regina...a sand castle?" He chuckles.
"Well, it's gotta be somewhere."
"Buffy, you're letting your emotions get in the way of your judgement."
Buffy stops walking and turns to him "I suggest you shut your mouth, otherwise I'm gonna get testy."
"Buffy—"
"No. Neal let make one thing clear, I haven't given you a single thought in the past 11 years, because I don't care. The only person I cared about is dead. So I suggest you stop trying to make this about me being jealous, cause trust me. I'm not, I don't care who you sleep with, what I care about is the truth."
"Neal!" Tamara says surprised as she runs towards them "Hey! What are you doing around here?"
Neal turns to his fiancée "We were—I thought you went running in the woods."
"Yeah, I start in the woods, but then I run along the beach. Everything alright?"
"Regina's gone missing."
"Oh, my god." Tamara breaths, appearing convincingly worried.
"Figured she might be down here, guess not."
"Well, I'm sure she'll turn up somewhere. Let me know if I can help at at all." She offers, before giving Neal a quick kiss "I'll see you later." She says before running off.
The moment she is gone Buffy moves to leave as well "Buffy." Neal calls
The blonde sighs "Neal—"
"I wanted to go to jail for you." He tells her.
"I didn't go to jail, I just—"
"I know." He says as he walks towards her "But it kills me that I let August talk me into letting you go."
"Look, I don't wanna hear this."
"But I have to say it." He pauses "I wanted to come find you. But I was too afraid. That you would never forgive cause I never forgave myself. There hasn't ben a day that's gone by that I don't regret having left you. I'm sorry, Buffy, for everything."
"So she said exactly, nothing?" Buffy asks David through the phone as her and Neal walk along the peer.
"Uh, not much." He tells her "She could sense Regina was in pain. It was cold. She was strapped down. Uh, she said she could smell sardines."
Buffy freezes as she spots the fishing port "Get down to the docks right now." She tells him before hanging up and turning to Neal "I was right, I knew it. Tamara is in there with Regina." She tells him before running off, him trailing behind her.
Buffy pulls the scythe from her bag and drops the bag on the ground while raising the scythe as her and Neal make their way through the warehouse "You sure you wanna be here?" Buffy asks "Cause trust me if I could have avoided seeing my ex having gone postal, I would have done it, but I had no choice you do."
"I'm not gonna leave you alone in this place." He tells her "Even if you can bench press me with one hand."
"Let me be clear, Tamara's human, not big on that, so I need to know that you have my back if something goes down."
"Buffy, if Tamara is hiding Regina in her evil layer in the docks..." He says his voice full of disbelief "Yeah, I got your back."
"Good, don't do anything stupid." Suddenly Buffy hears a clattering noise Buffy quickly runs towards it but freezes when she sees David "Seriously?" She asks him "Wear a bell."
David hands her a walkie "Here, it's not a bell but it will keep it from happening again."
Buffy nods "Okay, you and Mary Margaret take the basement, we got the main floor. Regina's here find her."
"Buffy?" David calls from over the walkie "You gotta block the exits."
"Already there." Buffy tells him "You guys good?" She asks as she closes the back gate.
"Oh, we're fine. We found Regina, with Mendell. He's coming your way."
Buffy turns to Neal "Greg Mendell."
Neal nods "So I was right it wasn't Tamara." Suddenly Tamara appears behind Buffy and hits her with a metal post, which causes the gun Buffy kept strapped to her hip just in case, to slip out of the holster.
"Actually...it was." Tamara says as she picks up the gun and points in at Neal "I just had some help."
Neal stares at her astounded "What are you doing, Tamara?"
"I have to keep magic out of this world, Neal. It doesn't belong here. You more than anyone should understand that. It's a poison."
Neal's heart breaks "You've been lying to me. How long have you been lying to me?"
"This is more important than any—"
"How long?!" He screams.
"Since the beginning. Since I spilled coffee on you."
Neal sighs "It wasn't accident. You planned it all."
"Neal, you're a good man. I know that. So please try to understand."
"You never love me."
"No."
"I can't let you leave here, Tamara." Neal says as he approaches.
Tamara keeps the gun aimed at him "Neal, please don't make me." But as he continues towards her she shoots the gun at him.
"Wow, you really are a bitch." Buffy says as she grabs Tamara and hoists her off the ground "You should know something about me, I'm no ordinary girl." Buffy tells the woman before tossing her into the other wall. Tamara groans in pain and stands carefully, she swings her fist out at Buffy, but the blonde easily catches her wrist and twists herself inwards before elbowing Tamara in the face, Buffy then brings Tamara face down to her knees before tossing her to the ground.
Tamara weakly looks up at Buffy who was now standing by Neal with the gun back in her holster and the scythe raised "You might wanna quit." Buffy tells her.
Tamara pulls out the bean from her pocket "No need." She says before tossing it to the ground, Buffy jumps up onto the metal pipe next to her as the portal opens beneath her feet, Buffy find herself being pulled towards the portal "Ahh." She yells as she realises the portal is stronger than her.
"Buffy!" Neal yells as he reaches over and manages to get her away from the portal "I got you."
Buffy pulls away and spots the bullet wound "You're losing a lot of blood, we have to get you to a hospital asap."
Suddenly the wood beneath them cracks and both of them fall as the portal gets wider, Buffy manages to catch Neal's hand before he can fall in, and holds onto one of the floorboards "Neal!" Buffy screams as she tries to keep a hold of him.
"Buffy!" Neal looks up to see the board Buffy was holding getting looser and looser "You can't hold both of us!"
"Like hell I can't!" She yells.
"You have to let me go." Neal tells her sadly.
Buffy groans as the force of the portal causes the wood to break more, before turning back to Neal "You moron! You got shot, you go through that portal and you die. No matter where you land!"
"No, but, Buffy, Henry needs you. He can't lose both of us. Don't make him grow up like we did."
Buffy feels herself beginning to cry "Then don't let go. Please, I can't lose you too."
Neal gives her a small smile "I love you." He tells her before he lets go of her hand "No!" Buffy screams as she watches him fall into the portal.
Once the portal closes Buffy drops her head to the floor and cries.
Buffy walks in through the front door, still dazed. David spots her first "What happened?" He asks as him and Snow approach her "What is it?"
Snow looks around for a second noticing that Buffy was alone "Where's Neal?"
Buffy looks up at them "He's gone." She says emotionlessly "She killed him."
Buffy sits on the stairs with David who currently had his arm wrapped around her, as he tried to comfort her "Buffy, I'm so sorry."
Buffy sits there motionless for a moment before she realises something "How...am I gonna tell Henry?"
David sighs sadly, unsure of what to say but places a kiss to the top of her head.
