Chapter 43

"Henry?" Emma screamed as she got up and started looking around, not seeing him she screamed once again "Henry where are you?" looking at the earthy ground with clay tones she saw Henry's footprints that were leading to what looked like a creepy forest, sighing she whispered to herself "Of course he had to go into the creepy, scary forest… he couldn't follow sweet unicorns and beautiful rainbows, no…"

As she kept talking to herself, not really paying attention to her surroundings she walked right in to a trap, her left foot got trapped in what looked like some kind of rope and up she went, swinging upside down, she screamed in frustration "Fucking shit!"

Three seconds later she heard "Ma, is that you?"

"Henry? What the hell kid? Did you make this?" she still couldn't see him but hearing his voice made her feel slightly calmer.

"Sorry Ma, I thought Jefferson could come after me or something so I made a couple of traps as fast as I could." He said sheepishly, finally making eye contact with his mother.

"Well, what are you waiting for to get me out of here? Being left hanging upside down isn't that fun kid." She said crossing her arms and winking at him.

"Right, sorry Ma." He moved behind the big tree and said "This might hurt."

"Whaaaa….." she hadn't even finished her question when her body was hitting the dirty ground "God damn it… Henry, a little warning next time…" without getting up she asked "Where the hell did you learn to do these freaking traps?"

Looking down at her he answered "With grandma." And extending his hand he gave her his jackknife.

Rolling her eyes, she couldn't help but ask "Who gave you this?"

"Grandpa…"

"Seriously?" she sat up and started cutting the weird rope from her left foot "Are they prepping you for the apocalypse?"

He simply shrugged and once she was free and putting his jackknife into her jeans back pocket he threw himself into her arms. She hugged him back, holding him as tightly "It's ok kid, we will be home soon, I promise."

"How?" he asked trying to stop his tears from falling.

Breaking their embrace, she reached for her jacket's inside pocket "Look." And she opened her hand, showing him their ride home.

"Where did you get this?" he asked curiously while cleaning the tears that had managed to fall from his eyes.

"Your mom, don't ask me how she got it because I have really no idea." Getting up and taking his hand in hers she asked "Ready to go home?"

With a smile on his face and a yelled "Hell yeah." from him she thought of the place she wanted to go and the woman she loved and she threw the magic bean.

"What is taking them so long?"

Grabbing Regina by the shoulders to make her stop pacing Ruby asked again "Where are they? Where is Aileen?"

"I don't know where he sent them but they should be back by now and Aileen is with Purple, at least she is safe."

"Ok, baby is safe but how are Emma and Henry coming back home Regina?"

"When Purple came to take Aileen away she gave me a magic bean and I gave it to Emma." She placed a strand of hair behind her ear nervously.

"Come here." Regina let herself be hugged as Ruby tried to reassure her "Don't worry, they are strong and pretty inventive, I'm sure that they are safe and they will be popping out here at any second now."

"You are right." Breaking their hug and looking at Jefferson's body she added "Let's make sure that he is still out and put him in a jail cell."

Ruby nodded and as they were making their way to Jefferson both women stopped as a portal started opening right before them and ten seconds later Henry and Emma were coming out of it.

As the portal closed behind them, Henry was the first one to recover and ran towards his brunette mother who with some difficulty picked him up and held him tight against her while kissing his face and whispering "I love you, I love you my little prince."

Hiding his face in the crook of his mom's neck he said back "I love you too mom."

As Emma made her way closer to her family she briefly hugged Ruby who followed her until they reached mother and son. Regina placed Henry down and with tears on her face hugged the blonde woman "You scared me. What took you so long to come back?"

Emma kissed her and laughed, pointing at Henry that was now giving Ruby a sideways hug "Let's just say that I was caught in a trap made by our son who left me hanging upside down for a little while."

"That's my boy." Regina said proudly.

"Easy for you to say…" Emma said kissing her again more passionately than before.

Not wanting to see the couple kissing Henry and Ruby turned around so they could give them some privacy.

A minute later as they broke the kiss for some much needed air and Regina opened her eyes, she saw Jefferson standing up and pointing a dart at Emma's back she screamed as he took his shot and turned them around, the dart hitting her on the left side of her back.

"Regina, no, no, no, no…" Emma yelled as she held the brunette's limp body "Please beautiful, open your eyes, please, please…" she kissed her true love multiple times but the rich chocolate brown eyes that she loved so much remained shut. The tears were now running like a wild river down her cheeks. She could hear Henry crying and when she looked up she saw that Ruby was pinning Jefferson down with a knee on his back.

She removed the dart from Regina's back and signaled Henry to come closer. As he got there she got him to sit on the floor of the hospital's entrance and she laid Regina on the floor with her head on their son's lap "Take care of her."

"I will Ma, I promise." As Emma walked away he kissed his mom on her forehead whispering "Come back to us mom."

As she approached Ruby, the red head let go of Jefferson and as he was getting up Emma kicked him on the stomach and as he was falling again she hit him again and again, letting go of her anger and remembering that she needed him to wake Regina she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and "What did you do to her?"

He sniggered and turning his head he spit blood before saying "I cursed her heart in a way that no normal true love's kiss will be able to break it, what a shame, I made that curse specifically for you Savior, I wanted to take everything from her but I underestimated how much the Queen loved you."

She punched him again and asked furiously "How do I break it, tell me!"

"If I were you I would give up trying to bring her back." Getting his mouth closer to her ear he added "I will never tell you." And he maniacally started laughing.

As Emma was preparing to hit again David that had just arrived with Snow placed a hand on her shoulder and said "I will take care of him. Go to Henry, he is not letting anyone touch Regina." She swallowed her tears and let her father take Jefferson from her hold.

"Henry? Kid, look at me." She told him as she knelt by his side. When he look at her she gently caressed his cheek and whispered "You need to let your mom go, Whale will take care of her and once she is settled in her room we will stay with her, I promise."

He hugged and kissed Regina before turning and hugging Emma. The blonde signaled her mother who quickly approached them with two nurses and Whale who picked Regina up and carried her to one of the hospital's most private rooms.

As she hugged her son she felt her own mother's arms surround her and she broke down, what was supposed to have been a magnificent day turned into one of the worst days of her life.