So, I normally would have broken this up and saved the second half-ish of this chapter for the next one, but that ended up being a really awkward break so I figured it would flow best if I just lumped everything together. I took some liberties with some of the dialogue and with the timeline, I hope that doesn't throw anyone off. Just to be clear: this all takes place within a much shorter time frame than it seems to in S6E4.

It was too early when she heard it.

Fox had hardly realized where she was and how she got there – in the back room of her shop, she had slept there. It was a rare weekend that the Three Gem's was closed, however the swarthy fairy was reasonably certain that the townspeople would be too busy helping the refugees from the Land of Untold Stories to shop for anniversaries and birthdays. And the lack of notes slid underneath the door told her that she was right. Belatedly, after leaving Granny's on Friday afternoon, Fox had realized that her apartment was in the phone book under her name. So was her business, but she thought that the closed sign would be enough for anyone to assume nobody was inside. And so she locked herself away in her back room at dawn's early light on Saturday and remained there through Sunday as well. There was no protection spell up at the shop, and Fox had thought about casting one. There was one in place at her apartment. Then, however, she realized that discovering one at her shop would only cause whoever was attempting to get in to become that much more invested in succeeding.

Had anyone been around to ask, she would have told them that she was simply falling behind in her work and was using this opportunity to catch up. She would have been lying.

If Fox were telling the truth, she would have gone home to shower and change instead of magicking herself into fresh sweaters. She would have worked quickly so she could have a proper meal at Granny's, not double- or triple-counted all of her stock and eaten a quarter of a sandwich at a time out of her mini-fridge. Replacing her normal methodical demeanor was a tension wound as tightly as an old extension cord, and it was all to do with one person. More specifically, two parts of a person: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

While Fox's past may have been murky and convoluted, she remembered the two of them as clear as day. She remembered Dr. Jekyll, with his quiet and nervous manner, his wide, frightened eyes. And she remembered Mr. Hyde, with his sideburns and his self-assuredness. She remembered how the latter man rarely raised his voice – rarely needed to. The moment he opened his mouth, entered the room, even caught someone's eye, silence fell.

Fox normally enjoyed silence – it allowed her to think and to work. But the silence that filled her shop over the refugees' first weekend in Storybrooke was different. This silence was light and indefinite. It could have been broken, given hours or seconds and every time she heard herself breathe she expected to turn and see someone behind her, waiting. But nobody came, and on the last night of her long weekend she was finally able to tumble into sleep. So when she awoke just hours later, on Monday morning, to the sound of her shop's door flying open, she did not even think to contain the yelp that escaped her until she was twisting and falling out of the chairs she had been perched on. It seemed to still be dark outside – far too early for anyone to be there.

For the next few moments the brunette fairy held her breath, but whoever was in her shop came no closer to the back room door. Briefly, she thought of putting up a protection spell and disguising the door as the rest of the wall in which it stood. But then she thought of how forcefully the main door had been opened. Whoever was out there clearly knew something about magic, and if they had already seen the back room door, they would surely notice when it faded from view. Besides – and Fox cursed herself at this thought – in order to do a protection spell so involved, she would need her wand. Since she had arrived in Storybrooke, she had not had occasion to use it. It was in her main shop, underneath a case, and impervious to summoning spells. An ingenious idea at the time when she granted it with that immunity, but now…

Fox moved closer to the door. She could hear indistinct voices from the far wall, but she could not decipher whose they were, never mind what they were saying.

"…probably with Rumplestiltskin," Fox heard. "That's where every magical artifact in this town that doesn't belong to me is." That had to have been Regina. But the mayor was good, Henry had faith in her. And Henry was the Author, if he believed in someone-

No. Flashes of memory ran through Fox's mind. Clear blue serum, shadows shifting across shifting features. If Jekyll had finished his serum, and he and Hyde were indeed separated – as she had seen in Henry's book – of course Regina would take advantage. This was the mayor's darker half; the Evil Queen.

"But this artifact is not magical, it is quite ordinary." Deep as it was, the voice was subdued. More than that, it was as if the words were spoken by someone who knew he needn't speak up.

Fox's heart fell into her stomach. A sheen of sweat spread its cold way across her forehead and she stumbled back a silent step. Mr. Hyde. The swarthy fairy wrapped a shaking arm around her own waist and continued to listen.

"And if it was brought here by your Majesty's curse," he continued – Fox could almost see him bow his head respectfully – "then it stands to reason it would be somewhere on display." Footsteps. Heavy but measured. He drew closer to the back room's unlocked door, hesitated a moment, then moved on. He was looking through the display cases.

And I know what he's looking for. A guilty knot twisted itself around Fox's heart, surrounded by nerves underneath her forearm. She squeezed herself tighter and continued to listen, closing her eyes. The fairy felt out with her senses – her magic.

On the other side of the door, the Queen swayed in place, still by the front door and gazing around the small shop. "It's not bad, for a Dark Curse."

Hyde tsked. "Admiring your own handiwork?"

"Well, I didn't have control over everything, of course." There was a pause as Hyde continued to search. His eyes left no corner of any case unseen. "Just what is it you're looking for, anyway?"

"I told you," the imposing man reminded her lightly, "it's an old cameo necklace."

"Yes, but why? And what makes you think a simple little fairy would have something so…significant?" Hyde's brow furrowed.

"I was under the impression that every fairy in Storybrooke was a member of the convent?" The way he said Storybrooke made it clear that he refused to embrace the irony of the town's name. Behind his back, the Queen rolled her eyes, but her voice gave nothing away.

"All but one," she held up a finger. "And to her credit, she's the only one who managed to escape the Blue Fairy's clutches." The Queen's nose wrinkled in distaste. "That insipid gnat is like a cult leader," her voice lilted mockingly, "in a pretty dress."

Hyde's spine froze, but only for a moment. He turned away from the last waist-level glass case.

"I see," he muttered, just loud enough that his dark companion could hear him, but not so loud that she could decipher his tone. The Queen thought nothing of it. It did not go unnoticed to her that he had failed to answer her question, but before she could repeat it, his eyes lit up. "Ah." He strode over to the corner of the shop, to the left of the front door. There was a standing case with sparse inventory, and featured directly in the center was a red cameo necklace. "Here it is," he remarked, mostly speaking to himself. Without missing a beat, he pulled down a sleeve and struck the surface of the glass with the top of his wrist, just below the display neck. Hyde broke through layer upon layer of dust and reinforced glass, then gingerly reached through the hole he had made and pulled the necklace out by its cream-colored ribbon.

"So much trouble over something so simple," the Queen noted, leaning forward so that she could better inspect it from her position by the shop's entrance. "You know it would have been easier if I had just–"

The Evil Queen froze, one hand in the air, staring at Mr. Hyde. Mr. Hyde stared back at his companion – he had heard it too.

In the back room, Fox's focus was redirected to her own predicament. Silently, she cursed herself. During her inventory, she always made something of a mess, and in her rush to reach the door against which she now leaned, it had escaped her notice that her foot was propped up on a box. That is, until the box in question was scraping – audibly – out from underneath it.

The fairy's heart shot up from her stomach, through her chest, all the way to her throat. She could feel it beating harder than it had in years, and she wondered if the villains outside could hear it as well. Perhaps the Queen would be inclined to ignore the noise. Little as she seemed to mind getting her hands dirty, she was also extremely goal-driven. If she had come here for the necklace, and not for herself, she may be content to leave. But Hyde knew better than to leave it to chance. And Fox had no wand.

"What the hell was that?" Fox heard the Queen inquire. The sound was muffled by the door and she did not bother feeling out with her magic again. Nothing she heard would matter once they found her.

"Well, I imagine it would be easy enough to find out," Hyde commented. Fox heard two sets of footsteps moving toward the door – one heavy stride, one light shuffle. Go! she urged herself. Poof yourself home. Hide behind some boxes. Don't just stand here waiting to be caught! But Fox could not bring herself to move. Even her trembling had ceased.

"Ah," the Queen sighed appreciatively, "it's been too long since I clipped a fairy's wings." Fox held her breath, mind and heard racing, eyes squeezed shut once more. Her hand tightened on her side. She could feel her ribcage. Her knuckles were pale, her jaw was clenched, her temple pressed into the door. She crushed her other hand into a tight fist.

"Wait." All at once, one set of footfalls silenced. The confident, measured pacing. Hyde.

Hesitantly, one of Fox's eyes opened, then the other. The Queen's footsteps had stopped as well. "The sun is rising." The fairy realized vaguely that his face must be turned away from the door she was crouched behind. "You said this shop is owned by a fairy?" She could hear the frown in his voice.

"Just what are you thinking?"

"Fairies are early risers." Hyde said it as if it were a given. "And they often have rodent friends." Under different circumstances, Fox may have felt a surge of indignance. Now, she dared not even hope.

"Mr. Hyde, are you afraid of getting caught?" the Queen chided. Her tone was playful, but Fox detected a note of disappointment.

"Of course not, but unnecessary distractions often meet disastrous ends." Slow steps toward the door. "If your Majesty would be so inclined…" Gentle footfalls away from the back room door. A brief pause, then two sets of footsteps moving in sync. The front shop door opened and closed.

And just like that, they were gone.

Emma glanced down at the table in front of her. She had just finished her breakfast, but there were bowls and plates full of food that still needed to be closed into containers and tucked away into the fridge. Her father had gone all out with eggs, fruit, sausage, bacon, toast, three kinds of pancakes…Emma knew her dad, and he was clearly nervous about something.

"Here you go," said David, sliding yet another plain pancake onto her plate.

"More pancakes," Emma observed. She absentmindedly thumbed the porcelain handle of her coffee mug. It was a simple mug, white with the word coffee in thin black lettering, but it was her favorite. It had been the first thing she bought for her house. Her house.

The Savior could still hardly believe that she had a home – a physical home with a roof and a sitting room and a front porch. She had lived out of her car for such a long time, and then in her mom's loft. Now every time she walked through the door of the house that she and Killian would share, she looked around in the foyer, amazed at the feeling of space. Here, there was a place for her son, a place for her pirate, a place for her. But even more amazing to her was that when she and Killian had returned to Storybrooke from Camelot, the darkness, the Underworld, the real world, she had not thought twice about giving her parents the keys. This home, it was a part of her. And her parents had not even needed to ask to be let into that part of her. Now, sitting at her kitchen table, Emma could feel just how lucky she was to be so content. But as she watched her father's back, knowing that her mom was doing the same over her little brother's head, she could easily sense that something was off. So, she resolved to draw him out.

"Usually I'm lucky to get a lukewarm cup of coffee on your way to work," she noted.

"Can't a father cook for his daughter?" David kept his voice moderate, but his tone was still defensive. Both of the women in the kitchen noticed.

"Sure," Emma replied, "but I'm the Savior, not a Romanian power lifter."

"Enjoy the breakfast," her father shushed, placing one hand on her cheek and leaning her over slightly so he could kiss her head before moving away. She turned in her chair and smiled with gentle accusation.

"This is about Hook." Now at the stove, David answered too quickly.

"No." He tried to keep his tone light, but now his wife cut in.

"David," she chided. Even baby Neal looked over at him. The prince sighed, put his hands on his hips, and turned to face his daughter.

"Fine," he admitted, mildly aggravated. "It's about Hook." Emma glanced over at her mom as David folded his arms and leaned on the counter next to her. "With him moving in things are going to be different," he reasoned. "We're not gonna see you as much." He tried for a smile, but it did not reach his blue eyes.

"Killian being here is not gonna change anything," Emma soothed. "You can come cook me breakfast whenever you want." She heard Henry coming down the stairs and shifted to stand up. "These leftovers, however, will probably last the next month or so."

"This is good." Snow turned to her husband, bouncing Neal on her knee. "Things are getting back to normal." Henry walked into the kitchen.

"Are you ready for your first day back at school, Grandma?" he asked, stopping just beside his grandparents.

"You know it," said Snow, handing Neal off to David. She gathered some folders and loose papers and made for the door with Henry. They both stopped short, however, as Regina walked through it with Dr. Jekyll. Emma had given Regina a key as well, the mayor being Henry's mother too, but it seemed her parents had left the door unlocked.

"Oh, this can't be good," said Snow at the look on Regina's face. It was a look she saw all too often. Now that she was free of the Evil Queen, Regina should have been having the best few weeks of her life. But here she was; at odds with her sister, mourning the death of her lost love, and now – though she would never admit it – terrified of what an alliance between Hyde and the Queen could mean for all of them.

"We need to talk," she told Snow. Emma walked over, followed by David.

"Whatever this is, we'll take care of it. You and Henry get to school," said the prince, half patting, half pushing his wife's arm toward the door. "Remember: back to normal." Hesitantly, Snow and Henry continued on toward the door.

"Be careful," Henry said over his shoulder. Regina reached out and patted his arm before he closed the door.

"What's wrong?" Emma inquired, frowning at Jekyll. "Shouldn't you be at the lab, working on the potion?" She didn't mean for it to sound so sharp, but the last thing she wanted that morning was for something else to go wrong.

"Er, technically it's a serum," Jekyll stuttered, "and I'm afraid there's been a complication."

"It's Hyde," Regina explained. "He's escaped." Emma folded her arms. David frowned. Baby Neal twisted in his father's arms, it seemed, to look at Regina.

"I was at the lab until early morning. When I returned to my room at Granny's…" he pulled a necklace out of his coat pocket by its cream-colored ribbon, "I found this." Briefly, Emma wondered why he had yet to modernize his clothing. Then again, he was helping them defeat the menace who had brought the townspeople to Storybrooke in the first place, so she supposed she should not judge.

She and David leaned forward to examine the necklace. The pendant was a red, cameo oval with a detailed golden frame. What Emma took the most notice of, however, was the way in which Jekyll held it. He had made a small loop in the ribbon, and it was pressed tightly between his fingers, as if he were terrified to drop it. She had seen him hold beakers of dangerous chemicals with less care.

"It belonged to a woman I cared deeply for. Hyde knew, he's trying to taunt me with it." The pain in his voice was evident. Emma knew that tone – it was one she had heard in her own voice whenever she spoke of Henry's father, before she and Killian had begun their relationship in earnest.

Emma nodded her head once. "We need to get you back to the lab. Now we don't just need the serum to defeat the Evil Queen," she glanced at Regina. "We need it to finish Hyde." Under different circumstances, she knew she would feel conflicted about killing them. But Hyde and the Queen were not whole people, they were partsof people – and the worst parts, at that. And that made all the difference.

Just then, Emma's phone vibrated in her pocket. When she took it out to look at it, she frowned. Henry had texted her. The others in her foyer ignored her while she opened and read through the message.

forgot to mention this but thought u should know, fox (my lit tutor) knows jekyll. whatever it is she might b able to help

Emma felt her thoughts darken, as they had when she first realized Regina was the Evil Queen, the day she broke the curse. She really hated when people kept things from her.

"Well, we'll get you back to the lab and go from there," she heard her dad say beside her. "Ashley's busy today, I'll get Neal to the fairies and meet you there." Regina nodded and she, David, and Jekyll all moved to the door. The men left first and Regina hung back. She looked at Emma, who was still standing with her phone out.

"Emma, are you coming?" Regina's voice broke through Emma's reverie and she looked at the mayor.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm coming." Regina glanced down at the phone still in Emma's hand.

"What is it? Did something else happen?" There was dread in her voice, and Emma was quick to reassure her.

"No, it's probably nothing. I just…I'll meet you guys at the lab. There's something I need to do first." Hesitantly, Regina nodded.

"Are you sure everything's okay?" As much as Emma wanted to tell her that everything was fine, she knew she could not. When it came to anything to do with Henry, hiding things from his adoptive mother never ended well for anyone. So she settled for cryptic.

"Let's hope so."