AUTHOR'S NOTE: Just to avoid confusion, chronologically this chapter takes place just after the first scene in the last chapter and before the second and to make sure people don't worry, when people in this chapter refer to the possibility of Emma's baby being in danger, it takes place before Dr. Whale runs his tests. So just a reminder both Emma and her son are fine.

As Prince James, Rumplestiltskin, and Neal head off to the hospital, Red takes a deep breath. It's now up to her to clean up this whole mess. The fire department is busy evacuating the buildings surrounding Emma's apartment, bringing out many dazed and injured people.

"There's going to be a lot of homeless people in town," Aurora says, looking at the burning buildings.

"Yeah," Red says, watching the scene in dismay. "It's fortunate that those thugs decided to empty Emma's apartment building before destroying it. I just hope no one in the surrounding buildings was killed."

At this point, the fire chief comes over to talk to Red. "We're doing a final sweep of the buildings, but I think we got everyone out," Kevin says. "We're transporting the injured to the hospital and the deputy mayor is organizing a relief effort for the others with the help of Isabella and your grandmother."

"Wait," Aurora says. "Storybrooke doesn't have a deputy mayor."

"Actually it does," Kevin says, "but mostly it's a ceremonial position. The deputy mayor doesn't receive a regular salary and under normal circumstances only attends one meeting a month to get a status update on the town. They are appointed by the mayor and their only job is to take over during a crisis in case the mayor is injured and unable to discharge their duty."

"Well, who is our deputy mayor?" Aurora asks.

"Regina Mills," Kevin answers. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to work. Oh, and I received a call from Kathryn Sheppard down at the library. She wants you to come down and pick up the thug that's still there. My department and I should be able to handle things here, so you should probably start your investigation into this mess."

Kevin walks off, leaving the trio standing there.

"Wait," Aurora says in shock. "Isn't Regina the Evil Queen, the one who sent us all to this world?"

"Yes she is," Red says. "She may even have been in league with King George. She could be one of the people who organized this attack."

"Regina? Involved in this attack?" Michelle asks in shock. "She would never do such a thing and what on earth are you talking about her being an evil queen? This entire night has been one impossible thing after another. Your fight with those four men, the dragon..."

"I can explain everything," Aurora says. "It may be a bit hard to believe, but I swear it's the truth. It all started..."

"We don't have time for that now," Red interrupts. "Listen Michelle, I know you're confused right now but explaining everything will take hours, and we don't have that luxury."

"You're right," Michelle says, reluctantly, since she really wants to know what's going on, but also understanding that this is no time for lengthy explanations. "What do you need me to do?"

"I need you to take custody of that thug over there and then go get the two we left at the gym before they manage to escape," Red says.

"Wait, what happened to Chris Early?" Michelle asks, remembering the weasel of a man she captured at the mine.

"The fire chief gave him a sedative and sent him to the hospital," a passing EMT says, having overheard Michelle's inquiry. "He told the ambulance driver to be sure to let the hospital know what he'd done and to have him put in a secure hospital room with handcuffs. He should be out for a few more hours."

"We can pick him up later," Red says. "Right now you really need to check on those two we left at the gym."

"Right," Michelle tells the sheriff, before turning to her girlfriend. "I can't pretend to know what's going on tonight, so just stay safe."

"I will," Aurora promises her girlfriend. She gives her a quick kiss then turns to join Red and head to the library.


Meanwhile at the library, the scene is one of chaos. The group of people George's thugs held hostage for most of the last few hours have learned about the destruction of their apartment building and most are not handling the news well. Several of the young children do not understand what is happening and the night's events have traumatized those that do. Dr. Hopper is trying his best to calm their fears, but he knows that some might have nightmares for years.

In the meantime, Granny arrives with a lot of food from the diner and with the help of Isabella and Jim, is handing the food and drinks out to the displaced residents.

"What's going to happen to us?" a woman asks. "Where are we all going to stay?"

"No need to worry about that," Regina says. "I've talked to Granny and she's going to allow all of you to stay at her inn free of charge until your apartment building is rebuilt or you find a new place to live."

The crowd settles down, relieved that they'll have a place to stay. It is at this moment that Kathryn re-enters the room, looking troubled. "Regina, can I speak to you and Granny in private for a moment?" she asks.

"Yes," Regina says, noticing the troubled expression on her face.

"You can use my office," Belle says. "Should I join you?"

"No," Kathryn says. "You deserve to know what's going on, but all of us disappearing at once might make people suspicious."

"Good point," Belle says. "I'll hold the fort here, while you discuss what you need to."

Regina and Granny follow Kathryn into Belle's office and close the door behind them.

"What's wrong?" Regina asks immediately.

"I just got off the phone with the fire chief," Kathryn says. "They have the fire contained, but all the buildings on the block are going to be a total loss. Upwards of two hundred people are going to be homeless."

Granny groans. "What are we going to do now?" she asks. "My inn only has enough space to accommodate the people from one building. There's no way I'll be able to fit that many people in there."

"This is a problem," Regina says. "Finding a place for all these people to live won't be an easy task."

"I know," Granny says.

"We need to come up with some kind of solution before the people here learn about the other buildings being destroyed and figure out we don't have enough space for everyone," Regina says.

"Mary really should be the one handling this," Kathryn says.

"Unfortunately she's in no condition to handle anything right now," Regina says. "I called the hospital to check on her and the nurse told me was sobbing hysterically when she arrived there. Apparently, Emma sustained serious injures trying to protect Mary from Albert. Mary had to be sedated and Dr. Whale is still running tests on Emma to see if any harm was done to the baby."

"I see," Kathryn says grimly, before fully realizing what Regina said. "Wait. The baby?" she asks in shock.

"Emma just found out she was pregnant," Regina says only now remembering it is not widespread knowledge yet.

"Dear god," Granny says, sitting down. "What does Dr. Whale think the chances are the baby was injured?"

"He doesn't know yet," Regina says. "The nurse put him on the phone for a minute and he sounded grimmer than I've ever heard him. I hope I was just imagining it, but he sounded worse than when David entered his coma."

Kathryn and Granny are both at a loss for words when Isabella enters the office.

"I hate to interrupt whatever it is you're discussing," she says, "but other people have just started arriving at the library. From what they told me, they're evacuees from the buildings surrounding Emma's apartment and the entire block may be a loss. We may need more food and we'll definitely need a new plan for housing them all."

Isabella exits the office, leaving the three of them staring at one another.

"So much for coming up with a solution before everyone finds out," Kathryn says.

"I better head back to the diner to get more food," Granny says. "By the way, have any of you heard from Amelia? I managed to contact all my waitresses, except for the one that lived in the affected apartments, but haven't heard from her."

"Jim told me that Amelia was part of the team that helped rescue the hostages at the library," Kathryn says. "The last I heard she was with Ruby, David, and Mr. Gold helping at the scene of the fire."

"Wait," Granny says in disbelief. "Amelia took part in the rescue operation? She has no defense training. And what's this about Mr. Gold helping to rescue people?"

"Well the situation is bad," Kathryn says. "Albert Spencer launched a coordinated attack on all our town's leaders. As the former mayor, he knew exactly how to hit us. Storybrooke wasn't exactly prepared for what was essentially an attempted armed coup."

"I know," Granny says, "but still…Amelia taking part in a hostage rescue mission?"

"Let's not worry about that for the moment," Regina says. "Right now we have a lot of people to calm down and a solution to the housing problem to come up with."

"You're right," Granny agrees. "Everything else can wait until morning."


Red and Aurora arrive at the library to find a scene of barely controlled chaos. At least thirty more people from the buildings surrounding Emma's apartment have joined the original thirty hostages. Red can see the worried looks on everyone's faces as they wonder where they're going to live.

"Ruby, Amelia," Belle greets them. "Are you here to take custody of that attacker?"

"Yes," Aurora answers, "but first we need to find the Evil Queen. The fire chief said she was here somewhere."

"Wait," Red says, surprised. "Isabella knows who she really is too and she's still with the Dark One?"

Belle sighs. "I take it you have your real memories back as well," she says.

"I do," Red says, "but I want to know how you can stay with that monster..."

"Listen, as you told me earlier now isn't really the time for that," Aurora says. "We can discuss it once things settle down. Whatever Rumplestiltskin might have done in the past, he wasn't responsible for tonight's attacks. His family was in danger from these attacks and he did help us out a lot tonight."

"You're right," Red says, still trying to wrap her head around the fact that the Dark One actually has a family.

"Right now we need to find the Evil Queen before she attacks anyone else," Aurora says, "and we need to find out if there's anyone else involved in tonight's attacks lying in wait. At the very least I suspect there are a few more people who knew what Albert was planning that weren't involved directly in the attack."

"Where is the Evil Queen?" Red asks. "The fire chief said she was here."

"I don't think Regina was behind the attacks," Belle says. "According to my husband, the curse stripped Regina of her memories as well."

Aurora and Red absorb this for the moment. "Are you sure she doesn't have her real memories?" Aurora asks. "She may have been stripped of her memories when the curse was cast, but she could have regained them since."

At her words, Belle's expression becomes troubled. "That hadn't occurred to me," she admits. "Snow and David's memories were restored, but that was because of the direct intervention of Emma. And though she wasn't directly responsible, Emma's magic played a part in restoring my husband's and my memories, how about the two of you?"

"My memories were also restored by Emma's magic," Red answers, "but Aurora managed to remember all by herself. And while King George didn't have his real memories, he somehow managed to discover the town is under a curse."

"How did you manage to break the curse by yourself?" Belle asks Aurora, surprised.

"Maleficent used a weaker version of the curse that brought us here, one that affected only a single person, on me," Aurora explains. "A seer who knew that the curse was going to be cast told me how to prepare myself, so I could remember who I truly was when I needed to."

"Wait, you were already affected by a version of the curse?" Red asks. "What did it do to you?"

Aurora shudders. "I'd prefer not to discuss it," she says. "It still gives me nightmares."

"Okay," Red responds, deciding not to push the subject. She has a feeling that whatever this Maleficent did to Aurora was a hundred times worse than the curse that brought them all here. "What we need to do is ascertain whether or not Regina has regained her real memories."

"Well she's around here somewhere," Belle says. "Let's go look for her."


After leaving Isabella's office, Regina starts to walk around trying to calm the rapidly growing group of newly homeless people and assuring them that the town will find new homes for them all. She also has to comfort people who are still shaken up by the kidnapping. Dr. Hopper is trying to deal with them as best he can, but he is only one person and there are many traumatized people. It's very tiring and Regina feels like she needs a break.

Upon learning what happened, she called the Mother Superior to inform her of the situation. She and the rest of the nuns quickly got to work and were busy trying to gather some basic things for the people here. Regina told her to make sure that they also find some toys and games for the children. Mother Superior told her while they have some things on hand, they don't have nearly enough for so many people. She is working on trying to get enough to last everyone here for a few days, but with the chaos going on in the town, she most likely won't be able to begin gathering more things until the morning. She is sending what she has, along with several of her nuns, down here and will be arriving within the hour.

"Daddy, I want to go home," a young voice says from nearby, bringing Regina out of her thoughts.

"I know you do Roland," an older man, whom Regina assumes is the boy's father, replies. "Unfortunately we won't be able to."

"Why not?" the boy, apparently named Roland asks. "And why are all these people here? Is there going to be a party?

"No, there's not going to be a party," the boy's father answers. "They're here because..." he trails off, apparently unable to come up with a way to explain this to his son.

"Who's the pretty lady?" Roland asks suddenly and Regina turns around to find the young boy pointing at her. His father is facing away from her, but turns around at the boy's question.

"Hello," Regina says.

"Hello," the boy's father says, back to her.

"Who are you?" Roland asks again.

"My name is Regina Mills," she replies. "I'm a teacher at the elementary school. What's your name?"

"My name is Roland Locke," he says, then yawns. "I'm sleepy. I want to go home."

"It's past his bedtime," the man explains. "I thought we would be going to Granny's soon, but with all these other people here, I know Granny won't have enough room for all of us."

"We're working on a solution," Regina assures him, though in truth it is more as if she is desperately trying to think of one. "How old is your son?"

"Two and a half," he answers.

"That probably makes him the youngest child here," Regina says. "I've been taking a headcount and the youngest child I saw besides him is five."

"I want to go to sleep," Roland says, yawning.

"How long before you come up with a solution?" the man asks.

"I don't know," Regina answers honestly, before making a decision. "Come with me."

She leads the man and his son to Isabella's private office. She goes over and pushes a hidden button on the wall revealing the door to the hidden bedroom.

"What is this?" the man asks.

"It's a small room with a bed that Isabella can use if she's feeling tired," Regina says. "Her husband had it built as a gift and she showed it to me once. I'm sure under the circumstances no one would object to your son using it."

"Thank you," he says, placing his son who has already started to nod off in the bed and returning to the main office.

"I'm sorry I didn't catch your name," Regina says.

"Robin Locke," he says. "I'm a locksmith."

"A locksmith named Locke?" Regina asks, and Robin sighs. "You hear that a lot, I suppose."

"Only from everyone I ever meet," Robin says laughing. "Some days I seriously regret going into that business, or not changing my name when I did. I thought it was a clever marketing ploy at the time. Locke's locks, but the jokes do get tiresome after a while."

Then, Robin's expression turns serious. "What am I going to tell my son?" he asks. "We've lost everything we own. My shop was on the same corner as our building, so I've lost that as well."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Regina says, "but I promise you that the town will help everyone who's lost their homes tonight."

"And who are you to make such promises?" Robin asks. "You said you were an elementary school teacher."

"Yes, but I'm also the deputy mayor," Regina says, "and the mayor is my best friend. I know her and she will do everything in her power to make sure everyone is taken care of."

"Then where is she?" Robin demands angrily. "No one I've talked to has seen her all night."

Regina looks away sadly and Robin instantly feels ashamed of his outburst. "Is she all right?" he asks, concerned. "She wasn't injured in all this, was she?"

"The man behind all this kidnapped her," Regina says. "From what I've heard she wasn't harmed, but her secretary, Emma Swan, was when she tried to protect her."

"That's terrible news," Robin says. "I've talked to both Ms. Swan and Neal on several occasions. They're good people. Is she going to be okay?"

"I don't know," Regina says, trying not to cry. "But I called Dr. Whale and his voice sounded grim. Mary was in such a bad emotional state that she had to be sedated."

Robin looks at Regina and senses there is something she's keeping from him. "There's something you're not telling me," he says.

Regina looks conflicted for a minute. "I'm not sure if I should tell you," she says. "After all I just met you and don't want this spread all over town."

"I'm sure given what happened tonight that whatever it is won't say secret much longer," Robin says, "and I sense it would help you to talk about it."

"Emma just found out she was pregnant a few days ago," Regina says her voice low, "and I'm afraid that all this stress might cause her to lose the baby."

Robin feels himself go cold. Just a few minutes ago, he said that he'd lost everything, when that wasn't true at all. He and his son were both safe and unharmed. Many people tonight might not be so lucky.

"I don't know what to say," he says.

"I'm just so worried about Mary," Regina tells him, her voice barely a whisper. "After the attack on her house and the kidnapping of her daughter, I feared she would never be able to smile again. In this last month since Emma arrived and David woke up, Mary has started to brighten up. I fear that if Emma does lose this child, it may push her over the edge and nothing will be able to put her back together again."

He remembers too well the shock of the entire town at the kidnapping of Mary Margaret and David Nolan's baby girl. Everyone liked the mayor, if you didn't count Albert's cronies, and even today, over a year later, the town was still in shock over the event.

"All we can do now is pray," Robin says. "Emma is a strong young woman. We have to hope that the baby will be okay."

"You're right," Regina says, trying to think more positively. "Do you want me to go find your wife and tell her you're here? Was she one of the others who were taken hostage or was she not at home yet?"

A sad smile appears on Robin's face. "No, she died in childbirth," he says. "She was battling terminal cancer when she became pregnant and the doctors said there was only a ten percent chance she would survive long enough to give birth, but she managed to hang in there long enough to bring Roland into this world."

"Oh," Regina says. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"Thank you," Robin says, and then pauses. "She was a fighter. She fought everyday so she could stay alive long enough to give birth. Emma reminds me a bit of her, that's why I have faith the baby will be okay."

"I pray that you are right," Regina says. "Well if you'll excuse me, I really should be getting back to the crowd before they notice I've disappeared."

"Of course, my lady," Robin says, bowing slightly causing Regina to laugh. "I hope we have a chance to speak in the future under more pleasant circumstances."

"I hope so, too," Regina says.

"And if you visit the hospital, say hello to Emma for me," Robin says.

"I will," Regina replies, turning to leave the office, her spirits raised slightly.