"Emma?" Henry walked over to the couch where she was seated, his shoulders sagging.
"Yeah?" She looked up from the papers she was leaning over.
"She's still not answering." He plopped down beside her.
Emma noticed the hint of worry in his eyes. "Oh... well... she could still be asleep and didn't hear the phone. It is still pretty early after all."
"No my mom's usually up by now. She knows your number right?"
"I gave it to her before we left."
"If she saw the number she would know it was us. So why won't she answer?"
"Henry there could be a lot of reasons. Maybe she was busy with work last night, and this morning she could have been in the shower when you called."
"She showers at night."
"Well... maybe not last night. Or maybe the phone's battery is dead."
"I tried both her cell and the home phone."
Emma bit her lip, "hmm."
"Do you think everything is okay?" Henry asked. "Do you think she is okay?"
Emma pulled him into an embrace when she saw how torn up he was becoming. "I'm sure she is kid. Try not to worry, we'll try phoning again in a little while. She's probably fine."
"I hope so."
"Me too. But in the mean time I think we should just wait. We shouldn't start packing everything up before we even let your mom know we're coming. It would be wrong to just barge in on her like that."
Henry broke the hug, "okay... but then what should we do until we call her again?"
Emma checked her watch, it was barely passed seven o'clock. "I'm just looking over the forms for school, but I still have to call them. I wonder if anyone is there yet..." She somewhat mumbled the last bit to herself. "Maybe not."
Henry stared at her.
"TV?" She suggested.
"I guess."
"I know you're anxious, but we just have to be patient for now. Let's not worry until we know there is something to worry about. Okay?"
"Okay."
"I'm sorry, I know it sucks but there isn't much else we can do right now."
"I know."
Ten minutes later Henry had decided to try calling Regina again, not seeing a reason to wait any longer. Emma watched Henry with a small frown on her face, hoping for Henry's sake that Regina would pick up.
She got her answer when Henry hung up and the phone slipped from his fingers onto the couch.
"What do we do?" He asked, his eyes had a lost look in them.
Emma sighed. "This isn't like Regina is it?"
Henry shook his head.
Maybe there was something to worry about after all. "I think I'm going to call Mary Margaret. She might be able to tell us what's going on."
Now it was Henry's turn to watch with bated breath as Emma dialed the phone. She gave him a reassuring smile as she waited.
"Hello?"
"Hey Mary Margaret, it's Emma."
"Hey! How is everything? Is Henry liking Boston?"
Emma looked at Henry, "he does but he's not sure he's going to stay. He wants to go home." She gave him a small smile.
"Oh no, I'm sorry Emma."
"It's fine really, but it looks like we'll be heading back to Storybrooke soon. And that's actually why I'm calling. I have a question to ask."
"Go on."
"Have you seen or heard from Regina at all in the past few days?"
There was silence as Mary Margaret thought about it. "Come to think of it... no. Not since last Friday. But there could be a lot of reasons for that, it was the weekend after all and she might have just stayed at home. Why are you asking, is something wrong?"
"We wanted to let her know we were coming. Henry has been phoning her both at home and on her cell since last night and she hasn't picked up."
"Hmm... well it's only been a few hours right? Maybe she just went somewhere and forgot to bring her phone with her."
"I wondered that too, but when I thought about it... Regina doesn't really go anywhere overnight does she? Like, ever."
Henry shook his head.
"I wouldn't really know." Mary Margaret said.
"So... could you do me a favour?"
"You want me to go to Regina's house to see if she is there."
"Thanks Mary Margaret!"
She laughed, "No problem. I can go before work and I'll call you with whatever I find out."
"That's perfect! And sorry for making you do this at such short notice."
"Don't worry about it, if it's for Henry I am happy to. I'll talk to you in a bit."
"Thanks, talk to you soon."
"Bye."
Emma hung up the phone.
"So is Miss Blanchard going to look for my mom?" Henry asked.
"Yep, and she's going to call us back afterwards."
"Can't we leave now? I don't need to bring all of my stuff right away and now that Miss Blanchard is looking for my mom, she'll know we are coming and we won't be barging in. Please?"
Emma could recognize the eagerness of a kid who didn't want to miss out on anything.
"Henry I think we should just wait. If Mary Margaret finds Regina then we can talk to her and we could bring everything in one trip and save a hell of a lot of time, not to mention money on gas."
"But what if something's wrong?"
"We'll know really soon. Mary Margaret is going to your house before she heads to the school. She'll be leaving in a few minutes."
"Okay..."
"If it makes you feel better we can start organizing some of your things to pack up."
"Alright, I guess."
Mary Margaret was heading down Mifflin Street when she ran into David.
"Good morning Mary Margaret." He greeted.
"David, hi! What are you doing out here so early?"
"I was just returning a dog to a family up the street. I found him wandering a few blocks over on my way to work and the address was on his tags."
Mary Margaret smiled.
"What about you?"
"Oh, Emma sent me to look for Regina, apparently Henry has been trying to contact her since yesterday and can't get through."
"Really? I hope everything is okay."
"So do I. I'm actually just about to go see if she's home."
"Would you like some company? I could walk you to work after if you want."
"That would be nice. Thank you!" She stood there just smiling at him, until he gestured forward indicating that they should move. "Oh right," she blushed and then started walking, David chuckled as he followed her.
When they reached number 108, Mary Margaret rang the doorbell and they waited. After a minute or so she tried again. Mary Margaret frowned as she tried to peer into one of the windows beside the front door while David checked the driveway.
"Well, her car is still here so either she's home or she walked somewhere. See anything?"
"Nope, it's all dark inside."
"Maybe she's already left for work?"
"I don't know, I usually pass her on my way to the school when she walks. I guess I did leave a bit earlier today... but I still probably would have passed her on my way here."
"Where else would she be?"
"I don't know... Okay, before I call Emma back and cause Henry to worry, I think we should check her office first just in case she is there."
David nodded.
"Ugh, I knew I should have driven today."
He smiled as she started to walk back towards the road.
"Wait," she tried the front door. It was locked. "Figured as much, but I had to try."
"Want to try the other doors while you're at it?" David teased.
"Only if you'll vouch for me that I wasn't breaking and entering if we get caught."
"I didn't know you had a rebellious side." He grinned as he followed her around the side of the house.
They reached a side door and found it locked too.
"I wonder..." muttered David as he searched around for a spare key, lifting the mat and nearby flower pots.
"Do you really think Regina of all people would leave a key to her house just..." she stopped as David held up a shiny key in front of her face.
"Hey, you were the one who tried the front door."
…
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! It's kind of awkward that it ended up having similar concepts to this week's episode, like the Charmings looking for Regina and Henry worrying about her. For a few days I was thinking of maybe re-writing it, but the story is completely different to the episode so I thought it would be safe to post. Let me know what you think!