II

Chapter Fifty-Two

II

Storybrooke, the past

II

This is it, seven-year-old Henry Nolan thinks. This is the Storybrooke city line. The sign says so, after all. Beyond it, the world waits. He's never seen the world, never been out of Storybrooke, never had an adventure.

He wants to. Mom always reads him stories and dad always retells them with the details all wrong - and Henry would like to be in one now. One he can tell to mom and dad.

One, he thinks, taking a deep breath. Two. Two and a half. Thr...

"Henry!"

He turns around to see dad come running towards him while the truck is parked further down the road. Dad looks a little angry, pausing just in front of him. Then dad takes a deep breath and kneels down.

"Henry, what are you doing?" he asks gently.

"I wanted an adventure," Henry confesses. Dad just looks at him. "All heroes have adventures."

"But heroes also have moms who'll get worried when you skip school without even telling her," dad says and Henry feels a little ashamed. He hadn't thought about mom or dad being worried. He just thought about his adventure. "She called me. Henry, what were you thinking not telling us?"

"I'm sorry," he says. Dad nods.

"Henry, one day you will have your adventure. I promise."

"Won't you and mom still be worried?"

"We'll always be worried," dad says, lifting him up. "That's what parents do. Come on, how about we have an adventure together in the stables today? Just you and me?"

Henry nods, but he keeps watching the sign as dad puts him on the shoulders and carries him back to the car.

One day, he thinks.

II

Present day

II

He's crossing the town line, Henry realizes groggily. His head feels slow, as if thinking is happening in slow motion, and his eyelids keep falling down. But he can make out the sign Storybrooke sign through what looks like a car window.

Car. He is in a car. He can feel it and hear it and even vaguely see it if he forces his eyes open as far as he can manage.

He's in a car and it's driving out of Storybrooke. This isn't dad's car either, or mom Emma's. This is a car he doesn't know.

He's leaving Storybrooke in a car he doesn't know. This is either adventure or trouble, Henry knows. Or maybe it's both.

He closes his eyes again, unable to keep them open any longer. He thinks briefly of how worried mom, dad and mom Emma will be.

Then he doesn't think again for a long time.

II

David and Mary Margaret marches into the sheriff station with faces filled with worry and determination equally, and Emma knows her own face is a mirror of them both.

Mary Margaret has brought a bow, is the next thing Emma notices. A bow and a quiver of arrow, in fact. Somehow it still looks natural on her. Then Emma notices David with a sword strapped to his waist and realizes that for her parents, this is normal.

This is how they know how to fight.

Mary Margaret puts the bow down and pulls Emma into a hug without saying anything. It's just mutual comfort and a moment later David puts his arms around them both. Emma closes her eyes and lets herself just feel the embrace for a moment. Then she takes a deep breath and pulls back.

"I walked him to that school bus this morning. I saw him off," she says. Mary Margaret and David both nod, accepting it without question.

"He has skipped school before," David says. But Emma can hear in his voice that he doesn't believe his this is the case.

"If someone took him, they would have done it when he got off the bus," Emma reasons. Someone. Whoever that someone is, she's going to make sure they regret it.

"I'll head over there and talk to people," Graham interjects. Emma gives him a look and she can see in the corner of her eye that so do Mary Margaret and David. "You're all too emotionally invested and you're quite scary right now too. I'll talk to people."

Scary, Emma thinks and folds her arms across her chest. She has no idea what he's talking about.

II

The phone rings. Regina just lets it at first, watching it dully. When it doesn't let up, she finally reaches for it and answers testily. "Hello?"

"Regina," Mary Margaret says. "I heard about your loss this morning. I am sorry."

Regina just nods automatically, then realizes Mary Margaret can't see it. "Yeah."

"I'm sorry to disturb you," Mary Margaret goes on and now Regina can really hear the strong tone of desperation shining through. "But Henry, our Henry, is missing."

She's already lost one Henry, Regina thinks. She's not going to lose another.

"Where from?" she asks, standing up and reaching for her coat.

II

While Graham questions the bus driver and some of the children on the bus, Emma stalks around the area like a tiger wanting to pounce, David notices. It reminds him so much of Snow it makes him a little happy in-between the anger and worry too.

Henry, he thinks painfully.

Mary Margaret leans into him and he rubs her back absentmindedly. They'll find Henry. They have to. For Emma's sake as well and he looks over at their daughter again. He can feel the worry radiating from her just like he can from Mary Margaret.

Emma is becoming a mother, he thinks. His little girl is becoming a mother. It makes him feel old and yet not old enough at the same time.

"He got off the bus," Graham says as he walks over to them. "No one has seen him after that."

David nods automatically. He thinks about last time Henry went missing. That time he came back with Emma. This time, David isn't sure anything good will come from it.

Regina is hurrying toward them, he notices in the corner of her eye and looks up. She's dressed all in black and he remembers Snow told him that Regina's father had died during the night. And yet Regina hurried here as soon as Snow called about Henry. He wonders what that might mean.

"Regina," Snow says. Regina looks at her briefly as I to acknowledge her, then shifts her gaze to the ground. She holds out a hand and David can see the magic in the air. Emma looks up sharply and then stares intently as if trying to work out the spell.

"Henry was here," Regina says decisively. She closes her eyes and focuses, turning around from the school. "He went this way."

As Regina walks, they all hesitantly follow. She leads them across the street and to an empty parking spot. A car could have been parked there this morning, David supposes. A car that is now gone and Henry is gone too.

"Henry would never willingly go with a stranger," Mary Margaret says, clutching the fabric of his shirt fiercely.

"He wouldn't," David agrees. "But what if it was someone he knew?"

II

"Here, drink," a voice says and Henry blinks, vision slowly returning to him. As his gaze focuses, he sees Mr. Gold leaning across from the driving seat while holding out a bottle. The car is standing still at the moment, but Henry has no idea where they are.

He accepts the bottle hesitantly, but doesn't drink from it. He remembers walking over to Mr. Gold from the school bus after Mr. Gold had called his name and then he remembers nothing.

And now they're out of Storybrooke.

"I am sorry about this, Henry," Mr. Gold says conversely. "I had planned for Emma to simply owe me a favor and claim it for this. But since things didn't work out that way I had to give her an incentive to follow us."

"Why?" Henry asks curiously. Strangely, he doesn't feel afraid. Not of Mr. Gold. Maybe he's meant to. Villains should be feared, but Henry doesn't feel it.

"Because I need to find my son," Mr. Gold says and reaches for the phone. "And I need Emma to do it."

II

The phone ringing in her pocket makes Emma almost jump. Regina is still focused on her spell, leading them all slowly out of the city, and she falters slightly at the loud sound.

Emma quickly pulls the phone out, almost barking into it. "What?"

"Henry is safe," Mr. Gold's voice says and it makes Emma stop dead in her tracks. Him. She should have known. In the background, she can hear Henry call out her name.

"Where have you taken Henry?" she asks. David and Mary Margaret look up sharply and then lean closer.

"Outside Storybrooke," Mr. Gold goes on. "I suggest you join us and leave your parents behind unless you want them to forget who they are and you are. I have a mission for you."

"I don't owe you any favors," she says darkly. "Quite the opposite. Why would I do anything for you?"

"For Henry," Mr. Gold says. "I will call you in four hours with the details. I suggest you take the time to pack."

He hangs up before she can give him the piece of her mind he deserves. Graham, Regina, David and Mary Margaret all look at her. "Mr. Gold has Henry. They're outside Storybrooke somewhere. Gold wants me to do something for him."

David stares at her. "What the hell? That's out of the question!"

"I have to! He's my son!" Emma says. It takes her a moment to realize what she's said as David and Mary Margaret's eyes widen. "Oh, I didn't mean..."

"No," Mary Margaret says with determination, exchanging a glance with David. "He's our son. All of us, I mean. Yours, mine and David's."

Emma nods slowly, swallowing a lump in her throat that feels the size of Granny's apple pie. Oh. Oh.

"You can't go alone, Emma. You can't trust him. We're coming with you," David says, looking at her with an equal amount of determination and love.

"You can't," Emma says gently. "You'll lose your memories. I won't let you do that."

"Emma," Mary Margaret says. "In our land he was known as the Dark One. He cast the curse, Emma. You don't know what he's capable of."

"I know what I am capable of," she counters.

David's eyes soften and Mary Margaret smiles softly.

"We know what you're capable of," David says and Mary Margaret nods. "But Emma..."

"No," Emma says resolutely. "Please. I just found you. I cannot lose you now."

Mary Margaret and David exchange pained glances. She can feel the struggle in them, the deep desire to protect her to the world's end and past Storybrooke's town line. But they can't. They really can't this time.

"Okay," Mary Margaret finally says, voice breaking a little. "Okay."

"Okay," Emma agrees, feeling Regina and Graham look at her also. "I guess I'd better pack."