David called Emma before they left. She didn't pick up, instead he left her a message telling her what they knew: Zelena was dead and with her magic freed from the pendant, she'd managed to trigger the time portal. David added that he knew that she was in the middle of a difficult decision at the moment, but wanted her to call him or Mary Margaret so they wouldn't worry and they knew she was safe. She didn't know what decision he was talking about and walking out of the sheriff station, listening to the concern in his voice, she figured that it was better if she didn't ask. It sounded like family business, if it concerned the pair of them they'd say something…at least she hoped they would. Besides, they had other problems to worry about. Or just one. One really big problem to worry about.

She watched it the entire drive back to the diner. It was hard not to. The sun went down and it got darker and darker, allowing the beam of light to get brighter and brighter against the sky. It would be okay. It had to be okay, they had to find a way to fix it! Otherwise…she didn't want to think about what "otherwise" would bring them. They could only keep people away for so long, before someone got too curious about the beacon and wandered over only to discover that there was no protection spell. Or worse, in a town like this, there had to be one or two Zelena's, people who were more than willing to risk everything and take advantage of the time portal to go back and change something.

"Still nothing from Emma," David said as they once again found themselves standing in the small patio area of Granny. "Still nothing" didn't stop him from dialing and pressing the phone to his ear in another attempt to reach her again.

"I'm sure she's fine, Hook is with her…" but she wasn't listening to Regina's unfamiliar assurances. Something had caught her eye, something that made her gasp and tighten the grip she had on her fiancé's arm.

"Rumple!" she said pointing at the sky as she saw it happen. They were looking, but it was too late, they wouldn't see it…or could they? It was the strangest thing. For a moment the light seemed to wink, or stagger. It was as if it had closed for the briefest of moments before blinking open again. But now, now that she'd pointed, now that everyone was staring, it did it again! Only this time it didn't come back. There was quiet for a second as they all stared into the empty normal looking sky, waiting for it to come back…but it didn't. Was that good? Or bad?

"It's gone!" David observed, a small sigh of relief in his voice. Clearly he believed it was a good thing. She wished she could be that confident.

"Gone for good?" Robin Hood questioned.

"Well, some magic can run out once the objects being used to create it run dry," Regina suggested sounding unsure. "It's possible whatever sparked it to life simply ran out of magic."

"Not this spell," the words burst out of her mouth before she could catch them and as they did she was suddenly aware that it wasn't Robin Hood or David, or even Regina that was staring at her as if she'd just spoken a foreign language, but Rumple. It made sense. He usually was the one to answer questions or misconceptions like that, but while he'd been gone the job had fallen to her, and he was the only one of them not quite used to it. He would though, he'd have to get used to it. She couldn't erase the information she now had in her head and she wouldn't stop being helpful. But she would have to explain things to him…later, after she explained something else.

"The ingredients Zelena used for her spell," she went on, ignoring his gaze and focusing on the problem, "they were symbolic, none of them contained magic. That was what she needed the baby for to enhance her own. This magic is coming from Zelena, it's her magic fueling it unreservedly. It won't 'dry up'. At least not any time soon, not without something to contain it."

"She's right," Rumpelstiltskin assured them, sounding so amazed it made her blush. "That portal would only close if it got what it wanted, if it took someone with it."

"Emma?" Regina questioned looking at David. "Do you think she could have gone through?" She wasn't sure why she thought it would have been Emma, there were any number of people in this town that might have been drawn to it by now. But she did have to admit, with their luck and Emma's natural curiosity and desire to be a hero, the savior, going to investigate the portal did sound like something she would do. And, unless David had left her a different message on the way back to Granny's, he'd neglected to tell her to stay away from it.

"It's possible," Rumple answered. "But even if she didn't someone did."

"What could that mean?" she questioned, glancing at him. "For us?" She knew that portal closing this soon couldn't be a good thing.

"It means that if that person isn't careful, our present, their future, could begin to change quite drastically. But it all depends how far back they actually went and where."

"Dammit, she's still not answering!" David shouted angrily finally ending his call. He rubbed his forehead nervously, obviously concerned before closing it altogether and looking at Rumpelstiltskin with desperation in his eyes. "Where and when they went...is there any way to determine that?" David asked heroically, sounding as if he was ready to make his own portal and jump in after her.

"No!" he answered with irritation in his voice. "This is new magic, never before done! That portal could have carried someone back in time centuries, or back to last week, they could have ended up in Storybrooke, or the Enchanted Forest, or Neverland!"

She tightened the grip that she had on his arm. She understood, she knew that he was worried about the portal, but what was worse was that it was obvious he felt guilt over it. She knew the way his mind worked, and it didn't matter that he had no choice in fetching the items Zelena had required, he'd done it. He blamed himself for this, for not understanding it, for not knowing the answers. But it wasn't his fault, not to her, and she was going to inform him of this just as soon as she could calm him down and get him to stop yelling at the people who were just trying to help. Fortunately her touch seemed to have that effect on him and after a moment she felt him sigh and ease against her slightly as if he was trying to please her. It wasn't exactly what she wanted, but given the situation, she'd take it.

"It all depends upon what the individual was focused on at the time. Their thoughts. Their emotions. Their desires. In many ways, the intent of the individual using the portal is the final requirement."

David didn't look reassured, he didn't look comforted. But until they heard back from Emma, in all honesty, she didn't think he would have peace of mind. She didn't know where Emma had gone, what decision she was making, why she and Hook had stormed off into the woods before they'd seen the portals light, but for his sake, for her father, she hoped that she'd at least contact them soon...of course then they'd have to worry about who else might have fallen through. Emma or a stranger, which was worse? "Please," David begged, with more gentility and less desperation. "Is there anything that we can do?"

"I'm sorry, but it can't be done," he answered right away with sympathy. He could relate to a father's pain, to the unknown, to a child going through a portal and not coming back. If he could fix it, he would.

"Alright," Regina conceded. "There's nothing that can be done, we know the worst of what could happen, what's the best case scenario?"

"They come back," he breathed, as if it was obvious. Maybe it was. "If they could figure out how to recreate the portal and open it wherever they are, with the intention to return home, then they'd return only moments after they left because that was as far as they knew their future existed."

"It flashed!" she exclaimed suddenly, her jaw dropping as she realized exactly what she'd seen in the sky. "It flashed, when I point it out to you! It was there and then it wasn't, I pointed and by the time you turned around it was back again before it disappeared completely."

"Belle," David asked stepping forward and staring at her with intensity. "Are you sure?"

She swallowed nervously, but nodded. She might not have known what it was but she'd seen it and now that she had an explanation, she was positive. "I saw it."

"Could that have been it?" David asked Rumple. "A return?"

"Yes," he answered. He glanced at her and she nearly broke just at the sight of the look he gave her. It was the look he'd given her last night, a look that didn't contain even a sliver uncertainty. Trust. He hadn't seen it, but he believed she had.

"Then we don't have anything to worry about," Robin Hood concluded. "If anything too drastic had been changed we'd know, wouldn't we? We'd have two sets of memories."

"Oh, quite the opposite," he corrected with a chuckle. "You'd have no memory of anything being changed at all because the past you had before no longer existed, and that is if there was any interaction." It was eerie. It was strange. That meant that there could be a memory in her head, that hadn't been there only a second ago, a past that someone had influenced in some way and altered how she'd ended up here, with him, and she might not even know it! It was mind boggling. It was crazy even for the woman who had spent twenty-eight years in an asylum.

"Alright," David sighed, looking around before glancing at his phone. "Let's not panic. Someone went through, someone came back, and for now the portal is closed. I don't know how I don't know why, but so long as it's shut there is nothing to worry about, right? No reason to believe that Emma or anyone else for that matter is missing."

She could see the torment in his face. He wanted to answer honestly, to say that he was right, that everything was fine. But he couldn't. There were a million things to worry about, hundreds of threads that could have been unwoven, dire consequences they might not be aware of, whether Emma had gone through the portal or not!

"For now," he answered, choosing his words carefully, "there is no reason to believe that your daughter is missing."

"Great," he muttered, glancing at his phone. "I'll get Henry to call Emma. She'll answer for him," he concluded, then turned his back and bounded up the stairs leaving the rest of them behind. She could see through what he'd said, one glance and she was certain David could too. There was no reason to believe that Emma was missing, but at the moment there was also no reason to believe she wasn't missing. Ironically enough, only time would tell. But David, in his determined optimism, or maybe just blind desperation ignored what he'd just heard, and chose to believe in the more positive of the two statements. For now, he wanted to believe that Emma was safe.


I wanted to conclude the epic before they got back into the diner because it seemed beyond out of character to me that they would get done with figuring out the time portal and then say "Alright, dangerous time portal on the lose and Emma's not answering her phone but let's go back to the diner and have a good time anyway because danger in Storybrooke always blows over right?" So, by ending it and giving hope that Emma is alright, I felt that solved that little problem. What do ya'll think?

Thanks to Onlyinyourdreams77, Meredith Pechta, Raizen Yusuke, Sara K M, Grace5231973, Katido, Agent66, Deweymay, and LaurieAHancock for your reviews on the last chapter! Much appreciated! And I'm glad the suspicion is working it's way in there. Can't have it be too overwhelming but I don't want to ignore it completely either. Peace and Happy Reading!