Chapter Forty-Three: The Search Continues

"Henry…I don't know if you're ever going to get this. I don't even know if the reception's even all that good from inside a time vortex, or whatever the Doctor calls it. But I…I miss you. Mary Margaret and I have been away from Storybrooke for so long that it seems so distant from us now. We've tried so hard to get back. There's just something keeping us out. We don't know what it is yet, but the Doctor's looking in on it. At least, I thought he was. He's been so focused lately on this girl, Clara. I can't begin to explain it, but we met her in Victorian England. How Mary Margaret and I got to Victorian England is a whole other story. But, anyway, Clara died, and now the Doctor thinks that she's still alive somewhere in another time.

You know me, always the one to have to see it to believe it. But I've seen a lot of things lately with the Doctor that you wouldn't begin to believe yourself. I saw a short guy with a potato head, a lizard lady, a woman made completely out of ice, and living snowmen. How awesome is that, huh? Really wish you can be here with us. There's so much I've yet to tell you about…me. I lied to you, Henry…about your father. He wasn't a fireman, and he didn't die. In fact, I don't know where he is now, but the Doctor made sure that I'd never know, since I'm the one who had the Doc tell him never to be with me again. But if you do ever bump into him by some chance, his name is Neal Cassidy and…I loved him once. And I know that he'll really love you if you ever meet him."

Tears flowed from Emma's eyes as she left her voicemail message over the phone. Nearby, Mary Margaret stood by the TARDIS console, almost pretending not to have noticed Emma crying at one of the staircases that led to the console platform as she sat there and imagined that her son was on the other end of the connection.

"God, I want to see you again, Henry. It doesn't feel right that I've left you again like this. But I know your grandpa is watching out for you. I promise we'll see the both of you again. I…I love you, kid."

Emma hung up and momentarily put her head in her hands, quietly sobbing. Mary Margaret immediately went to her daughter's side and comforted her. "It was good of you to do that," she told her.

"Good for who? Me?" Emma said in vexation. "Every moment I'm in this damn blue box I feel like I'm moving further away from him."

"I know, but the Doctor…"

"That man's mind is on someone who doesn't even exist anymore. Yet he thinks she's somehow managed to come back from the dead in another time. He's lost it. He lost it the moment he got ripped from Storybrooke just like we did."

Mary Margaret sighed. "Give him some time, Emma. He'll put things right again. This thing with Clara…I'm certain there's a point to it all."

"There's no point to it all. What we see as a coincidence, he sees as the universe's greatest mystery. It's ridiculous."

They heard rapid footsteps coming into the room, alerting them on the Doctor's entrance. Emma quickly wiped away her tears and got off the stairs with Mary Margaret in time for the Doctor to appear and walk down them. The Time Lord was filled with excitement as he approached the control console and triumphantly yelled, "This is the one! This time! I know it is for certain!"

Her mind still on the conversation between her and Emma, Mary Margaret did her best to seem happy for him. "You finally found which time Clara's in?"

"Yes. No. Maybe. Not quite exactly sure." The Doctor answered in his usual ambiguous way, which Emma and Mary Margaret had yet to be used to since their travels with him began. "I'm willing to take another chance after twenty others, but I know she's got to be in this time." Looking past Mary Margaret, his eyes briefly connected with Emma's reddened pair. Frowning over this, he vocally deduced, "You've been crying."

Noticing that he was addressing her, Emma tried to play dumb. "What? No. I…I haven't."

The Doctor moved uncomfortably close to her, staring directly into her eyes. "Yes, you have. Your eyes are as red as cherries. You're sad about something."

Emma stammered. There was just no hiding anything from the overly observant Doctor. "I miss Henry," she finally said.

The Doctor regretfully nodded. "I know you do, Emma. And I'm trying all that I can to get us back there. The postcard that I left a friend of Jack's will work – I know it will."

"That's what I don't understand." Mary Margaret remarked. "How is a woman in Wales going to help us get back to Storybrooke, Maine?"

"Because that woman just happens to be a member of Torchwood." The Doctor answered.

Emma grimaced, recognizing the name. "Jack's secret club or whatever?"

"Well, it's not exactly a 'secret,' or even a 'club' for that matter." The Doctor emphasized. "Not sure what it is now."

"Doctor." Emma uttered. "You were saying?"

"Right! Yes! The postcard that I left for Jack's friend is the key to our return to Storybrooke. I recalibrated a typical psychic paper to match in appearance with the postcards found in the town. Jack Harkness' friend will see one message for her mind and Jack will see another for his mind, taking him to the man who will be responsible for our return."

Emma and Mary Margaret were both pleased with this plan of the Doctor's, yet they were baffled from it at the same time. "Wait. What man?" Emma questioned.

"Do we know him?" Mary Margaret asked.

"Is it somebody in Storybrooke?" Emma inquired.

The Doctor shook his head in response to the last question. "No, no. He's out of Storybrooke, but he's very much accustomed with the world that Storybrooke once used to be."

"Really?" Emma said, sounding intrigued. "How?"

"Well, because…he's from there." Mary Margaret took notice in how the Doctor began to sound unsettled from Emma's questioning.

"He's from the fairy tale world, but he lives outside of Storybrooke?" Emma uttered, clearly puzzled. "How is that even possible? Henry once told me that no one could ever leave Storybrooke when the curse was up." She noted the nervousness on the Doctor's face, which only made her even more curious. "Unless it's someone who never was in the fairy tale world when the curse hit."

Seeing how close she was to figuring out the truth, the Doctor sternly brought an end to her deductive reasoning. "Emma, listen to me carefully. Stop right now."

"Stop what?"

"Stop…piecing everything together. This is a puzzle that you cannot solve for your own sake…for Henry's."

"For Hen—?" She looked closely at him, seeing the strain from keeping what could have only been a crucially important secret. The tables had turned; she had become the overly observant one to him. "Doctor, what are you hiding from me?"

"Emma." Mary Margaret softly said, seeing how assertive her daughter had become towards the Time Lord.

"Trust me, Emma. It's not worth getting deep in." The Doctor said.

"Oh, really? And your fixation on Clara is?" Emma snapped. "Why is it that when there's something I want answers to, it's dangerous for me, but you get to go zooming through time and space like there aren't any consequences?" The Doctor was silent, angering Emma more. "Well, Doc, I hope for your sake that whoever this guy is we're depending on can get us back." He watched Emma walk out of the console room, feeling frustration over being too much of a coward to give her a direct answer when he had the chance.

With Emma gone, Mary Margaret approached the Doctor herself, only much calmer than her daughter had. "Who is this man, Doctor?"

He sighed before answering. "It's Neal Cassidy."

Mary Margaret frowned with confusion and surprise. "Emma's boyfriend? He's from our world? Who was he?"

"His name was once 'Baelfire.'" He deeply stared into Mary Margaret's eyes upon adding the most shocking bit of information: "And he is the son of Rumplestiltskin."

Mary Margaret's mouth dropped as she realized what Neal Cassidy's connection to Rumplestiltskin had meant for Henry. "That means…"

The Doctor nodded, having already made the family connection himself. "Henry is the grandson of Rumplestiltskin." Observing how shaken Mary Margaret was, the Doctor scowled. "I can only imagine how Emma will take this news when she'll eventually find out."