Regina stumbles in shock backwards off the front porch of Emma's temporary home with her mouth agape and her head mindlessly shaking. She feels a shallow cave forming in her chest just before a ripple of shivers attack her body. She knows, she feels the pressure building in her gut and she knows something is wrong. That's not like her Emma to dismiss her so quickly and carelessly.
Regina scans her surroundings for any kind of clue that maybe Emma may not be alone or if someone is lurking in the shadows watching them, but she comes up short. She shuffles back to her home, pulling out her phone and scrolling through the recent calls until she finds the one random number from a few days ago. She quickly falls into her home, slams the door shut and leans her back heavily against the door while pressing the phone to her ear.
"Hello, Nolan speaking."
"David Nolan, this is Regina Mills, we spoke-"
"Yes, yes. What can I do for you, Madam Mayor?" He questions, sounding slightly out of breath and agitated.
"I was calling because I really don't know who else to call. My-my son is missing right now, he never showed up for school and when I went to speak with Emma about the situation, she practically slammed the door in my face. Usually, when my son sneaks away, he runs to Emma, so I assumed he was at her house, but she refused to let me in. That's so unlike her, she always allows me to walk right into her home-"
"Well, you'd be the first," David mumbles under his breath, inspiring a warmth to spread across Regina's cheeks, painting them a delicate shade of pink.
"I-I was wondering if you have spoken to her recently? Something was off, she would never dismiss me in such a manner," she urges, hoping her girlfriend's Captain will be able to shine some light on the matter.
"I spoke with her over an hour ago, maybe two by now..."
"That's when I last spoke to her as well, before going to her home," she concludes, nervously nibbling on her bottom lip. "Maybe I should go back over there and-"
"Absolutely not," he sternly commands. "Listen to me, earlier we proceeded with our case and I have a feeling that she didn't exactly listen when I told her to stay away from the case," he growls into the phone, before she distinctly hears some papers rustling around in the back.
"She did," Regina stresses, hoping to save Emma from any trouble with her boss. "She was at home to pack her things, when I asked her to help me look for my son, she said she couldn't stay in Storybrooke any longer, she didn't want to risk her job."
"Something is definitely off, but for now I need you to stay in your home. Lock all the doors and do not leave, there is too much going on right now-"
"No, I can't. My son is still missing and I need to go out looking for him," she pleads.
"Call everyone you know to keep an eye out for him, but you have to stay in your house, especially if something is going on next door. I will send one of my guys over there immediately to check on Swan," he vows just before he ends the call, rather rudely, she thinks.
Her heavy head falls back against the door as her eyes drift closed and she presses her phone to her chest.
"Henry, where are you?" She whispers to herself.
XXXX
Emma's phone vibrates again in her pocket, the fourth time in a row as Bae continues to glare at her with his gun pointed directly at her chest. She takes one slow and steady breath and decides her best option is to convince Bae to leave the house, for Henry's sake.
"Bae, what do you plan on doing here?" She gently asks, as sweet and tender as her voice can produce to calm the raging persona within this man she hardly knows. "You know you can't shoot me, unless you want to spend the rest of your life behind bars."
"Well, I can't run off and have you warn everyone," he acknowledges, his eyebrows knitting together as he contemplates his next move and dear god, does Emma wish she had her gun right now. "Hand over your phone," he demands coldly.
"Alright," she softly agrees, very slowly reaching into her pocket and retrieving the device. The moment it's in her hand and out of her pocket, Bae snatches it away and shoves it into his own pocket. "Now what? I'm not going to fight you here, Bae. I promise."
"Yeah, right," he scoffs in disbelief while rolling his eyes at her. "Alright...uh, do you have a gun on you?" He nervously questions, revealing how out of his element he truly is.
"No, I don't carry one while undercover," she admits, hoping to ease his worries and maybe gain his trust. "Look, you can go. I swear, I'm not going to run after you and you have my phone, so it's not like I can really call anyone," she attempts to persuade him, however, there's a creaking sound coming from above them, disrupting their conversation.
"Someone is here," Bae harshly whispers, his deep brown eyes roaming over the ceiling above them.
"No, don't be ridiculous. There isn't anyone in the house except you and-"
"No, I bet you Regina's kid is here," he rebuttals, but Emma's phone buzzing again in his pocket redirects his attention.
He quickly pulls out her phone with one hand, his lips puckering out as his eyes shift to read the message left behind for only Emma's eyes. He clicks his tongue and angrily tosses the phone across the room, against the wall, causing it to shatter as it hits the ground. Emma flinches, but before she can even think her next thought, Bae roughly grabs Emma's leather jacket in one swift motion and shoves her toward the door.
"Let's go. You're coming with me," he growls, persuading Emma's feet to shuffle toward the door.
"O-okay, where are we going?" She gently inquires.
He doesn't bother answering, instead he presses the gun into the middle of her back and pins her between the door and his husky body. "You're going to walk calmly to your car without making a scene. I'm going to put the gun away, but if you even think about running, I will shoot," he threatens, his hot breath whispering in her ear and sending all the wrong kind of shivers to torture her body like an infectious disease.
And while she is trapped beneath his heavy weight, with his breath against her ear and the gun pressing into her back, she knows she can't make any risky moves and she must follow his every demand. Normally, she would fight under the predicament. She would lash out irrationally, dive into the suspect, forcefully yank the gun free, find another type of weapon to knock the person out when they are least expecting it, but this time she doesn't fight back. She can't.
For once in her career, in her life to be more specific, she has loved ones to consider. Before she could make hasty and bold moves, because it really didn't matter what happened to her. Nobody would ever care if she was gone, nobody would sob hysterically over her dead body and pray to anyone listening to reverse the clock. Except now, she does. She has Regina and Henry to consider and she knows she has to place their feelings before her stupid ideas that might end up killing her. She can't possibly risk causing more pain and damage to either of their lives and she knows in her heart, if something were to happen to her, it would break both of them.
She closes her eyes, takes a deep breath and nods along. "You're in control, I'm not going to run," she solemnly swears.
"Good. Now let's move," his rough voice murmurs in her ear as he reaches in front of her and unlocks the front door. "I'm driving, so walk calmly to the passenger side, do you understand me?"
"Yes, of course."
Bae stuffs the gun behind his back then opens the door, forcing Emma to take a step back before they both cautiously exit the home. Emma keeps her word, very slowly walking toward her own car and together they both slide into their seats.
"Start the car," Bae instructs as he removes his gun from behind his back and points it again in Emma's direction.
Her heart is stuttering in her chest, but she has been in more dire situations before, so she knows how to remain calm and again, play the part that he's asking of her. She gradually eases the key into the ignition, not wanting to make any sudden moves that might spook her captor. She starts the car and carefully slides back into her seat, with her hands resting on her knees, so he doesn't feel threatened in any way.
Bae fights with her stubborn stick, growling and cursing under his breath before he finally manages to throw it in reverse and back out of the driveway. And then he's speeding out of the neighborhood faster than Emma's mind is racing to come up with a plan.
XXXX
He's trembling, his entire body involuntarily quaking as he pleads for the moment to just be over with. All he wanted was proof, just a little something to prove that maybe he is right about the curse. After everything that has been going on with his mom and Ally, he started to let go of those stories and promises of a better life. He trusts Ally, he really does, and when she looked into his eyes and swore that she's never even been pregnant before, all those haunting memories of his real birth mother came flooding back. He felt completely shattered on the inside, until he simply became numb.
He abandoned all hopes and dreams of his fairytale world and decided to just live miserably. Except, he does really like Ally and he really likes how she makes his mom smile. He enjoys how young and playful she acts, and how she is always getting his mom to do fun stuff. So, he decided to forget about the curse and try this new life with Ally.
Maybe she could take his pain away.
After all, she said she didn't want to feel so alone anymore either.
But then, last night, he heard his mom on the phone and he could tell by how light her voice sounded that she was talking to Ally, except she called her Emma. He distinctly heard the name, Emma. So, maybe his dreams were true, maybe Emma is the Savior, there to bring back all the happy endings and end the misery he's drowning in. That's when he decided to sneak into Ally's house again and search for something, anything, to backup his beliefs.
He rode the bus to school, but ran away before the first bell even rang. He ran all the way back home, sneaking through the woods and houses to avoid being out in the open and end up caught and in trouble. He snuck into Ally's home, through the side door that leads to the basement and rummaged through every inch of her home. He's not entirely sure how long his adventure lasted before he heard someone creeping around downstairs.
So, Henry hid in Ally's bathtub, curled up into a tiny ball, covering his head and listening to the person sneak around Ally's home. He could tell by the heavy boots trampling around and the deep man's voice mumbling that it was in fact, not Ally. So, he didn't move a single muscle, he even held his breath at times until he heard the door downstairs opening again.
Henry heard two muffled voices conversing back and forth for a little bit and that's when he snuck out of the tub and crawled across the bedroom floor, into the hallway and near the edge of the staircase. He listened as the man accused Ally of being an undercover cop, and their back and forth banter until his mom showed up in hysterics looking for him. He has never in life, ever, wanted to run so fast into his mother's arms when he heard her voice by the front door, but he knew he couldn't. He knew the man was threatening Emma (as his mother had called her again), and truthfully, his body was too petrified to move.
When the door slammed shut, Henry scrambled away from the stairs, tripping on his own feet and falling to the ground. In a panic, he ran back into Emma's room and crawled under her bed in fear that they might come for him. When nobody came to look for him, he slinked across her floor again and waited by the stairs until he heard the man ordering Emma out the door.
So now, he waits, impatiently at the top of the stairs, his heart hammering so brutally against his chest that he thinks he might be sick. All he wants in this moment is his mom; the woman who took him into her home when that horrible woman didn't want him. The woman who taught him how to read, write, ride a bicycle and ride a horse. The woman who tries to hug him every day and tells him constantly that she loves him. Evil Queen or not, it doesn't really matter anymore, because she loves him unconditionally and he isn't even her blood.
He just wants to go home.
Once the loud bang of the front door firmly shutting echoes through the home, he waits on top of the stairs for just a few more minutes, until he hears Emma's old bug firing up in the driveway. That's when he takes off like a runner at the beginning of an Olympic race. He bolts down the stairs, making a huge ruckus and dashes toward the door. He leans heavily into the wood and cracks it open just the slightest. His hazel eyes roam up and down the street, all over his yard and Emma's, and when the coast is clear, he runs as fast as his little legs can carry him.
He charges across Emma's driveway, his shoes smacking against the pavement before he leaps onto the grass between their homes and dashes over his own driveway. He's holding his breath the entire time, the wind biting at his cheeks and the bitter breeze stinging his nostrils until he collapses against his home. He turns the doorknob to let himself in, but it's locked. He's never felt so frightened and defeated in his life, which provokes burning hot tears to well up in his eyes as he angrily jiggles the handle once more.
"Mom," he cries out from sheer panic, slamming his palms roughly against the door. "Momma!" He mumbles in a frenzy, his brain reverting to his toddler days when he was scared of the shadow on his wall and he would cry for his mom in the night. "Mom!" He shrieks, banging his little fists against the door as his forehead connects with the cold wood and he cries.
And then, like magic, the door is disappearing from beneath his trembling body and his mother is right there to catch him.
"Henry? Where have you been?" She hysterically cries, clutching his tiny frame as close to her body as humanly possible. She presses her lips to the crown of his head and breathes in his familiar scent, urging her mind into squeezing him in even closer. "Henry, honey, what happened? What's wrong? Are you hurt?"
"Emma-" he hiccups, fighting against his own lungs to consume a breath of fresh air.
"Emma?" She repeats, sounding utterly stunned as she freezes into place, her hold subconsciously coiling even more possessively around his quivering body.
"Mom, please you have to go," he cries, pushing himself away, so she understands the severity in his eyes. "You have to save Emma. He-he took her. He had a gun...he's gonna hurt her, mom!"
"Who Henry? Who took Emma?" She very seriously questions, grabbing hold of his trembling shoulders and meeting his frantic gaze.
"I don't know, but he took her. They took her car and left," he sobs, thick tears gliding down his cheeks like rain down a windowpane.
She whirls him into the house and reaches into her back pocket for her phone. "Call Robin and tell her to come here right away, it's an emergency," she instructs, her eyes narrowing and explaining how serious she is. "Then, call the last random number I called and tell Captain Nolan what happened, do you understand me?"
"Yes," he sniffles, desperately trying to catch his breath as Regina nods and releases him.
She rushes around the foyer, slipping into her shoes and gathering her keys. "Listen to me Henry, you lock this door and do not open it until you know Robin is on the other side or Aunt Zelena, alright?"
"Yes, mom. I promise," he vows, nodding vehemently while wiping away his insistent tears. And then without any warning, he barrels into his mother, almost knocking her over. "I'm so sorry, about everything. I love you."
Her heart comes to a complete stop in her chest, forcing her to choke on her last breath. She pulls her son even closer and promises to always remember this exact moment. She places her finger beneath his chin and tilts his head up, so their eyes can meet in the middle.
"I love you with all my heart, Henry. Don't you ever forget that, okay? I know you believe I can't love you because you didn't come from me, but-"
"But you're my mom, it doesn't matter," he states with conviction, persuading a warm liquid full of joy and love to fill her eyes.
"I love you and remember, do not open this door for anyone."
"Okay," he cries, plastering on his best brave face and watches as his mother runs out of their home with a terrifying look in her eye that he's never quite seen before.
XXXX
He's quiet, the only sound to be heard is the low humming of the engine as they fly down the streets of Storybrooke toward the edge of town. Her mind is speeding just as fast, coming up with a million different scenarios to escape the unfortunate situation she found herself in, just before she was finally free to live a life she has waited her whole life for.
She clenches her knees, releasing some of the tension building in her tightly wound body while wiping away the slick sheen of panic coating her palms. She peeks out of her peripheral, observing how Bae rubs his nose across the back of his hand that's holding the gun, still pointing in her direction. She swallows.
"So...I take it...you're not going to tell me where we are headed?" She innocently inquires, but Bae just shifts in his seat, straightening his posture, refusing to mutter a single word. He's picked a fine time to stop divulging on his plan. "Alright, are you gonna ditch me somewhere?" More silence. Bae grips the steering wheel even tighter and glares dangerously out at the open road that is surrounded by evergreens. "Can you tell me what my phone said to you that made you so offended?"
He scoffs, his grip becoming painfully tight and evaporating all blood from his rough fingers. "Your guy arrested my brother," and she's not quite sure if he's asking or stating the obvious and she has no idea what would be the best response right now that won't fire up the embers sparking in the back of his mind.
"I believe so," she opts for the truth, "is that what my phone said?" She carefully asks, her voice as tender and caring as possible.
Bae tilts his head, cracking away the tension knotting inside. His lips curl into a snarl as his free palm fiercely beats against her steering wheel, causing her to flinch and on reflex, she shields her head, terrified the rage maybe inflicted upon her or worse, the gun may go off.
"Ungrateful little shit," Bae growls to himself while Emma slowly uncoils herself and peeks over at the fuming man beside her.
"Bae?"
"That little bastard gave me up," he laughs humorlessly, viciously shaking his head in disbelief. "That no-good weasel, he was going nowhere in life and he has the balls to blame me?"
"What happened?" She tries again, still as cautious as a stray cat cornered in the back of an alley by a pack of wolves.
"He sold me out," he confesses, glancing at her for a split second before his eyes dart back toward the road. "The precious son, gave up my name to save his ass. Your friend was warning you. Well," he laughs again to himself and flashes her a smug little smirk. "...first, he was asking where you were and why you weren't answering. Then, he continued on, saying how Gideon gave my name up, said I was the brains behind all the operations."
"But if you have any information, you can make a deal I'm sure with the D.A," she begins to explain.
She's hoping that maybe she can talk some sense into him, because they are now entering the eerie part of the road that travels for miles and miles with nothing around except the monstrous evergreens that are swallowing them whole. Out here, there's nobody around, nobody to hear her scream, nobody to save her life, nobody to miss her.
"Don't you get it, Emma?" He screams, causing her to flinch once more because she feels like a lonely child again with another foster parent berating her for her stupidity. "I can't make a deal, I'm in too deep. I've been so careful too," he murmurs mostly to himself. "I'm like a chameleon in this world, nobody ever notices me."
And for a fleeting moment, she sympathizes with him, because she has said those exact same words before about herself. Maybe they are similar, maybe they have a lot in common from having a missing parent, maybe in another life they would have been great friends.
She opens her mouth, but no words ever make it out into the world, just an ear-piercing shriek when her body is hurled forward from the immense impact. She hears the rubber tires squealing their protest, along with a slur of curse words, followed by glass shattering, but then there's an excruciating pain possessing her skull and that's the last thing she remembers before everything fades to black.