A/N: Sorry it took so long for the next chapter, I was in BC watching filming and doing other OUAT things for much of August and didn't end up having time to write while there. It was awesome though! I've been working a lot since getting home but I was able to slowly get this chapter finished. The next one is done too I just need to edit it. I hope they don't disappoint, it's been hard getting into the writing mood after work. Also I hope this is edited alright, I hoped to have a bit more time to work on it but I'm being dragged out the door and I wanted to get this posted tonight! Hope you've been well and I hope you like the chapter, please let me know what you think, I miss hearing from many of you! xx
Emma was pacing the living room in agitation. She was the only one with Henry at the moment, and while she knew she couldn't leave him, her worry for the missing brunette made her unable to sit still for long either. She was thankful that David was still in town at least. He rather than Emma had stayed behind to check the situation inside the hospital so that she could accompany Henry back to the house.
She could hear her mother's voice drifting in from the kitchen as Mary Margaret spoke on the phone. Emma had let Mary Margaret help her dry off after being in the rain for so long, and she had ultimately agreed to put on a new change of clothes, but she was growing increasingly more anxious to get back into town. It had been hours since Regina's kidnapping and still Emma hadn't had the chance to personally start searching for her.
"Emma?" A quiet, broken voice asked from the couch.
"What," Emma responded a little shortly.
She stopped pacing to turn to look at her son. She and Mary Margaret had wrapped him in blankets and given him a seat by the fireplace, which was where he was now curled up.
"If they kill my mom... would it be my fault?"
Emma's eyes saddened at his words. "No Henry, of course not." She said, instantly softening her tone. "This isn't on you."
"But if it wasn't for me you might have found her by now."
"I don't know about that..." Emma sat down beside him.
Henry was silent for a few moments and Emma watched him. He was huddled in the corner of the couch, leaning against the same pillow and wrapped in the same blankets that Regina had so often used in the past months.
Emma remembered the first time she had seen Regina curled up like this. It had been around two or three in the morning and Emma had found the brunette gazing into the fire, there had been tears streaming down her face. Thinking back to that night now, Emma only just realized that she had never discovered why Regina had been crying.
There was certainly no shortage of possibilities; it had been less than a week since Henry had returned home, she could have still been in the residual pain of him leaving her in the first place. Secondly, Regina hadn't yet learned of the kidney failure at the time, but she had already known about the liver damage. Also, she had been discharged from the hospital only three days earlier, which meant she had only just begun to recover and so she had still been quite fragile.
Another possibility was that earlier that day had been the drive home from Boston, during which the mayor had voiced concerns about breaking the curse. Regina had wanted Emma to help her do it but she had worried about what it would mean for herself and Henry. Emma remembered that Regina had been worrying about how the town would react, but Emma also remembered that the brunette had been afraid of Henry turning on her again once the curse was lifted.
Emma knew it really didn't matter at this point what the exact reason was for why Regina was upset one night so many weeks ago, especially not when there was so much more that had happened since then, but not knowing still made Emma feel guilty. She should have tried harder to comfort Regina that night. She should have asked Regina directly why she was crying. She should have tried harder to make it better. Regina had seemed a little more content when the both of them had finally gone to bed just as the sun had been about to rise, but that didn't mean everything had truly been better.
"Emma do you think my mom's already dead?" Henry's voice broke through her thoughts.
The blonde gave a heavy sigh, not wanting to think about that.
"Do you think..." Henry trailed off, wiping a tear from his cheek. "Do you think they already killed her?"
"I don't know Henry," Emma responded quietly as she felt a few tears forming in her eyes.
"What do you think they're going to do to her?"
"I don't know..."
The boy sniffled. "Are they really going to torture her?"
Emma closed her eyes.
"Do you think she'll be able to fight back?"
"Henry..."
"Do you think she's really scared?"
"Henry please stop..." Emma whispered as a tear escaped her lashes. She quickly wiped it away.
"I should have stayed with her..." Henry's voice broke. "I shouldn't have left her."
"But Henry then you might have been taken too. Or worse. There's nothing you could have done to stop them."
"But at least then I would still be with her. At least then she wouldn't be alone."
Emma gave a mournful sigh. "Henry, if you had been taken with your mom it would have destroyed her. And to be honest it probably would have made things even worse for her."
"How?" Henry asked in a small voice.
"Whoever it is that has Regina... we don't know how far they're willing to go to see her suffer. If they had gotten you too they could've tried to use you against her."
Henry sniffled. "What do you mean?"
"I mean there are some people who wouldn't think twice about hurting you just to punish her. Regina's strong, she can handle a lot, but if she had to watch someone hurting you," Emma shook her head, trying not to picture it herself, "I think it would all just be too much for her. Personally I don't think I would be able to handle something like that."
Henry curled in on himself under the blankets, dropping his gaze from hers. "I just don't want her to be alone."
"Neither do I..." Emma agreed quietly.
Henry's lower lip trembled. "She told me she can't use her magic because she's so sick... Emma she's dying because of me. She would have been strong enough to stop them, she would have been able to protect herself..."
Emma's shoulders practically sagged in a silent sigh.
Just then she heard Mary Margaret entering the room, and turned to see her carrying two mugs.
"Hey," the brunette said softly, giving them both a comforting smile.
"Who was that on the phone?" Emma asked a little stuffily. When she heard the sound of her voice she quickly sniffed, she also tried to wipe away any stray tears.
"David. He didn't find anything useful at the hospital unfortunately." Mary Margaret sat down, offering one of the mugs to Emma. "I made you some coffee, it'll help warm you up."
"No thanks..."
Snow nodded in understanding, she set the mug down on the table. "Henry?" She said softly to the boy who was now staring unseeing into the fireplace. There was a permanent, frightened look in his eyes. "I made you some cocoa."
It took a few moments but Henry eventually accepted the mug. However he didn't take a sip as he resumed his silent worrying.
"That little girl was found." Mary Margaret said to Emma.
"Hmm?" Emma asked distractedly, not really listening as she continued to observe Henry.
"The little girl, the one who was missing. David found her. Her mother's car was dumped on the side of the road and she was still in the back seat when it was found."
Emma's attention piqued. "Does she know who kidnapped her? Does she know who stole the car?"
Mary Margaret shook her head sadly. "I think they drugged the poor girl while she was still asleep. She doesn't remember a thing."
"Jesus... A four year old?!"
Mary Margaret nodded with a sickened expression on her face. "There's a mark on her arm. But don't worry, she's being taken to the hospital, she'll be fine."
Emma folded her arms, her brow furrowed as she tried to piece everything together. "This has to be connected to what happened to Regina. Do you think it really was just a diversion to get us away from the house tonight?"
"I don't know. Maybe whoever took Regina used the car so they'd be less identifiable to her neighbours." Mary Margaret suggested.
"Yeah..." Emma agreed thoughtfully. "So that girl might even have been in the same car as Regina... She must remember something, I want to talk to her." She said quickly.
"Emma," Mary Margaret shook her head, "David and her parents have already asked all the right questions. She doesn't know anything about what happened to Regina."
"She could just be scared. I've been at this longer than David, I could at least give it a shot."
Mary Margaret shook her head again. "It would just be a waste of time." She said gently.
"But she might have been the last person who's seen Regina! She could help us," The blonde insisted.
"She was asleep Emma. Leave her be, she's been through enough tonight." Mary Margaret responded softly.
Emma breathed a heavy sigh. She fell silent for a few moments as she tried to imagine what could have happened outside the house earlier that night, and also what could have taken place afterward. If what she suspected was true, she supposed Regina must have seen the girl, and hopefully if she had, the brunette would at least know that the child was okay now.
"Alright fine..." Emma conceded quietly. "Anyway I'm really glad she's safe, at least we were able to help one family tonight."
"Now hopefully we can focus on finding our other missing person."
"Yeah..." Emma said softly, turning her head to check on her son. "Since you're here with Henry now I think I'm going to head back into town. Take good care of him for me okay?"
"Of course. Be careful out there."
Emma nodded distractedly.
"Where will you go first?"
"Gold's I think..."
"Emma honey it's midnight, I highly doubt he'll be there at this hour."
"I'll still have a look from outside. Something's telling me he's involved in this. That fire... it had to have been magic." Emma's voice trailed off. She became lost in her thoughts as she gazed into the fireplace.
She tried not to think about it: the four people who meant the most to her in the world, all trapped among the unforgiving flames. She knew she easily could have lost all of them in one shot and so she knew she had to be thankful that they had all escaped, but she just couldn't force herself to feel that way, not while the fate of one of them still remained unknown.
"Want me to tell David to meet you there?" Mary Margaret's voice brought her back.
"No... I'd rather we cover as much ground as possible. It's easier if we're split up."
Mary Margaret nodded. She wasn't sure if she was comfortable with that but she knew it would be useless to argue with her daughter at this point.
Emma turned to look at Henry, who was staring miserably down into his mug of hot cocoa.
"Hey kid, I'm heading out now. Be good for Mary Margaret okay?" She said squeezing his shoulder softly.
Henry nodded, not looking at either of them.
"I'll come with you to the door," Mary Margaret offered.
"Thanks," Emma replied, giving Henry another glance before standing up and heading for the front foyer.
Emma stopped in the hallway, looking back at Henry who was lying down now, resting the side of his head on the arm of the sofa.
"I wish I didn't have to leave, he's so scared." Emma said softly.
"Can you blame him?" Mary Margaret rubbed her daughter's arm comfortingly. "He'll be okay Emma, I'll keep him safe."
The blonde gave a sad smile in appreciation. "I know you will..." She gave a heavy sigh. "I still feel so terrible leaving him though. But right now Regina needs me more than he does, I can't let her down now."
"You won't let her down."
Emma shook her head uncertainly. "I hope you're right. I wasn't prepared for this."
She cast her eyes downward, gripping her cell phone a little too tightly as a sudden, heartbreaking thought washed over her.
"What is it?" She heard Mary Margaret's voice ask.
"It's Regina... I just hope that the last thing she ever gets to see isn't one of them."
"One of–?"
"Whale. Gold. Whoever took her. I don't want the last thing she sees before she dies to be the faces of her kidnappers."
Mary Margaret had a wounded look on her face as she thought about that too. "Emma stop tormenting yourself, don't think about things like that. For now just focus on what you can do to help her."
Emma wasn't listening, she just couldn't get herself to stop worrying about what might be happening to Regina. "I hope they're showing her at least some leniency. I hope they're keeping her somewhere warm, you know?" Her voice caught in her throat. "And I hope they're not just leaving her lying on the ground somewhere, she's been in enough pain as it is."
Mary Margaret nodded, blinking back tears of her own.
"Emma?" A small voice asked from beside them.
She turned to see Henry standing in the doorway, tears streaming down his face.
"Kid..." She said in hushed surprise.
He ran into her arms, burrowing desperately into her embrace. He wanted her to stay with him so he would know she was safe, but he also wanted her to find Regina.
"I wish you didn't have to go too." He mumbled into her jacket.
"I know Henry, but I have to find your mom."
Henry sniffled as he continued to cling to her. "Do you promise to come back?"
Emma nodded, "yeah... Nothing's going to happen to me, don't worry about that. I'll find Regina, I promise Henry."
"How?" He asked in a broken voice as he looked up at her.
"I don't know yet..."
Just then her phone began to ring. When she saw who was calling she quickly answered it.
"David? What is it?" She asked, continuing to hold Henry with her free arm.
"Hey, Emma, I just ran into Whale... Or more like I saw his car and pulled him over..."
"Was anyone with him?"
"No it was just him. Emma, if he knows about Regina's disappearance than he's doing a pretty good job of pretending he doesn't. I wasn't sure if I should arrest him or not. I thought it might be best to hold off for now?"
"Yeah..." Emma agreed thoughtfully. "If he really is involved in what happened to Regina it might be easier to find her if he's not locked up. If we keep a watch on him he might be able to lead us to her."
"It's hard to say. As much as I'd love to throw his ass in a jail cell for what he did to Regina I agree with you."
Emma felt a pang in her heart as the memory of Regina struggling against Whale on the front porch of the house flashed across her mind. "So what was he doing when you saw him?"
"He looked like he was on the way to the hospital."
"I'm heading down there now."
Storybrooke General
David had been correct, it didn't take long for Emma to find the doctor once she had entered the hospital. He was currently doing his rounds, checking on the unusually large number of patients who had ended up there due to the chaos that had erupted when the curse had broken.
When she turned a corner on the second floor of the building, as soon as she caught a glimpse of him she felt the hatred bubble up inside her.
"Where is she?" Emma stormed up to him angrily, instantly forgetting the initial conversation she had planned on having with him.
Whale turned around, looking quite surprised at her blatant arrival. "I'm sure I don't know who you mean. Are you looking for a specific patient of mine?"
"Regina! Tell me where she is now."
"I have no idea." Whale said innocently. "I haven't seen Mayor Mills in days. I thought you were her roommate now, shouldn't you know where she is?"
"Someone's taken her."
"Have they?" Whale's eyes lit up. "Well I must say I'm impressed. I know how hard you and your parents have been trying to protect her. It can't have been easy to snatch her out from under your nose, but... I suppose if the timing was right... And we both know our poor, dear queen can't put up much of a fight herself right now can she?" He said with a grin and a glint in his eye. "She's practically asking for it after everything she's done to the people in this town."
Emma grabbed Whale by the collar and shoved him hard against the wall. "Is this a joke to you?! Because it's not to me, and it sure as hell isn't to Regina! Tell me where she is now or I'll–"
"You'll what?" Whale asked, angrily pushing her off of him. "Kill me? Have you forgotten about the laws of this land?" He stated more than asked.
"You want to talk about the law?" Emma fumed. "How long do you think the prison sentence for kidnapping, torturing and murdering is?" She ignored the laugh of incredulity he gave at that. "Besides I don't need to kill you, I'm still the Sheriff, I could just lock you up and let you rot until you talk if that's what it would take."
"So throw me in jail," Whale challenged. "It wouldn't do you any good, even if I did have her."
Emma glared at him. "And why is that?"
"Because do you honestly think anyone who took her would ever tell you where she was?"
"I could make you tell me."
Whale chuckled at that. "You could certainly try. But if what you're saying here is true and you arrested me... well then I'm afraid you would end up with a bit of a problem Sheriff. One that Her Majesty would end up paying for."
"Yeah?"
"Mmm," he agreed. "You see... if I really had taken Regina..." He stepped forward, a mocking look in his eyes, "...and you locked me in jail, well... there's no guarantee that you could get me to tell you where she was. And if you couldn't, you'd risk her starving to death wouldn't you? Scared, alone, and in some dark, cold, rat infested cellar or the like. But luckily for you, you don't have to worry about that," his voice dropped to an almost whisper, "because I don't know where she is."
"I know you took her."
Whale only gave an infuriating smile in response.
"Let me tell you something Sheriff." His voice dropped dangerously low. "I wish I had taken her. I would make her suffer. Unbearable agony, that's what she would get. She would be begging and begging me to kill her and you know what? I never would. I'm sure you know by now how weak she is in her current state. I know she wouldn't last long but... oh the fun I could have. But unfortunately for me, I don't have her."
He went to turn around but Emma's rage had built up so high that she hadn't been able to stop herself. She swung her arm using every ounce of hatred she had for him, and before he had even realized what was happening, her fist made contact with his face.
The result was a satisfying cry of pain from the loathsome doctor. However, something else had happened as well, his shout had been drowned out by the sounds of a sudden and deafening roll of thunder from outside.
The angry, ear-splitting tones caused Emma to jump, she turned to the window, awestruck by the coincidence. She could hear the startled cries from some of the hospital staff and patients as she stared open-mouthed at the lightning that was now flashing outside. Whale on the other hand, showed little sign of caring about the storm. As the monstrous thunder continued to rumble moments later, he was still doubled over and clutching the side of his face in pain, too preoccupied to give mind about the weather.
Recovering from the surprise, Emma paced around him, showing no signs of remorse for what she'd just done. "Relax, I could have broken your nose if I wanted to."
Whale didn't respond, he was still gasping from the sudden shock.
"What the hell did she ever do to you?!" Emma suddenly shouted at him. "The curse wasn't personally directed at you, you just got caught up in it. Everyone in Storybrooke was a victim of the curse, and yet, most people aren't trying to kill her! So why are you so hell bent on watching her die?"
"You know nothing of what went on in my world." Whale growled angrily fixing his lab coat as he straightened himself up.
"I know enough."
Whale gave a tired, furious sigh. "Look, I wasn't the one to take her. So why don't you stop wasting everyone's time here and try to figure out who really did kidnap the Queen."
Emma studied him hard. Despite how much she despised him for what he had already done to Regina, and despite how badly she wanted him to suffer for what he'd just admitted to wanting to further do, she found herself believing him. That being said, even if he didn't personally take Regina that didn't mean he wasn't still involved.
She narrowed her eyes. "Alright fine, let's say you didn't take her, but you of all people must have some idea of who did?! You were the one to rile up the mob that morning and lead them to Regina's. Tell me what you know and I might even consider not throwing your sorry ass in jail."
Whale gave an incredulous laugh. "On what charges? You have no proof that I'm involved in any of this."
"Does attempted murder sound familiar to you?"
"King George is the one who fired that gun, not me."
"You nearly strangled Regina to death; hell, you damn well might have succeeded if I hadn't stopped you. You've been lucky that I've been too busy dealing with everything else to arrest you for that."
"I wasn't going to kill her."
Emma folded her arms, raising her eyebrow. "Oh no? She told me what you said to her that morning. You've been planning her death for days now so don't pretend like your threats towards her today are empty!"
"I was just trying to scare her." Whale said, breathing heavily as he assessed the injuries on his face once more.
"Forgive me if I don't believe you." Emma replied sarcastically. She gave an angry sigh. "How about this; help me find her and I'll consider letting you walk free. Don't help me and I'll personally see to it that you rot in prison for the rest of your life. I'm ready to go down to the station right now but it's up to you."
"If you were really going to do that you would have done it already," Whale growled. "Stop saying you'll arrest me and just do it if you really mean it."
"This town's already gone to hell, the hospital doesn't need to follow." Emma lied. "I don't want to imagine what this place would be like in a few days after none of the patients have been able to see a doctor. They shouldn't have to pay the price for you being an asshole. That's why I'm giving you this one last chance."
The words themselves may have been true, but the reason for not arresting him wasn't. She still had to hope that he would trip up at some point and lead her to Regina.
"Ohhh I see," Whale smiled. "So you've had to choose between which is worse: not arresting me for saying a few less-than-respectful words to a queen, or letting the entire town suffer because you're upset that you let your new girlfriend down. She's not your friend Sheriff, she's using you. The minute Regina doesn't need you anymore is the minute she'll throw you under a bus if it means getting ahead."
Emma's chest was heaving as she glared at him. "You're lucky there are so many people here who need your help Whale..."
"I don't know where she is." He repeated.
Emma's expression changed at the look in his eyes. She stepped closer to him, silently challenging him. There was a murderous look in her own eyes as she held his gaze for a few moments longer. This time she knew he was lying.
"Let me make one thing clear," Emma began in a quiet, dangerous voice. "If she dies and I find out you were involved, you die too."
"And then you'll be the one to end up in prison and your son will have lost both of his mothers." Whale retaliated with a tilt of his head. "Wouldn't want to do that to the poor boy would you? Or maybe you wouldn't care... After all you did abandon him once before."
Emma lunged forward with another furious cry, but before her fists were able to make contact again she felt a pair of hands forcing her backwards.
"Emma stop!"
"David let go of me!" She protested, eyes full of fire as she kept them trained on Whale.
"This isn't helping anyone." David said as she pulled her arms from his grasp.
Whale gave a triumphant laugh before continuing. "Although, with how unstable you and Regina have both turned out to be, perhaps being raised by his grandparents is in young Henry's best interests."
"What's that supposed to mean?" David demanded.
Whale didn't break eye contact from Emma. "I always knew Regina was crazy... but as it so happens, Henry has not one deranged mother but two. I think you're letting the Evil Queen rub off on you Savior, if I were you I'd cut the cord while there's still time to turn back. Perhaps leaving Regina to her fate is in your best interests."
With that he straightened his tie, nodded to David despite the detestable look on the prince's face, and then left to continue his rounds.
Emma gave a frustrated sigh as she watched Dr. Whale's retreating form.
"He knows where she is David, I know he does." Emma muttered.
"Emma if he had taken Regina why would he be here at the hospital working the night shift?"
"I don't know maybe to throw us off, maybe he needs something here, does it matter?! I'm not wrong David!"
"Okay, okay," He responded gently as he took a hold of her shoulders. "I trust your instincts Emma I do. I already had a look around when I was here earlier but if it'll make you feel better to check again then that's what we'll do."
"Are you sure you've checked everywhere? You can't possibly have checked every room. I mean it's not like we have a warrant or anything." Emma pointed out.
"Whale might want Regina to suffer but that doesn't mean all of the nurses do. It might surprise you but many of them are sympathetic to her."
"Really?"
David nodded. "When she was a patient here they were able to see her in a way that the other townspeople never have. When I was here before the nurses even let me check the patient's rooms and intensive care. I'm sure they'll give us access again, we just have to let them accompany us when we do."
Emma nodded, tightly folding her arms. "Alright."
"With Whale here now things might not go as easily as they did before, but if he gives us any grief I'll just set you loose on him again."
Emma breathed a bitter laugh at that. She was shaking her head, still angry at the doctor as she followed David back down to start searching the first floor.
Early the Next Morning
Emma was sitting in the passenger's seat in David's truck, she hadn't noticed that he had pulled the vehicle over and was watching her in concern.
She was leaning heavily against the door beside her, resting on her hand. Her head kept tilting slowly forward until she would jolt herself awake again, but it was never enough to prevent her from nodding off less than a minute later.
"Emma?" David asked, but she seemed not to have heard him.
"Emma," he repeated.
Giving a tired sigh, he reached out and shook her gently. "Emma wake up."
"Wha –?" Emma jumped, instantly sitting up straight. "What is it did you find something?"
"No Emma... unfortunately not."
"Then why–?" She stammered, looking around to see where they were. They appeared to be on a country road in the outskirts of town.
"Emma I'm thinking maybe it's time we head back to the house."
"What? No way, not until we find Regina." Emma argued, suddenly on high alert.
"Emma it's well past three in the morning, we really should get some rest. We've looked everywhere we can for tonight, and we can't question any more neighbours until morning."
"What are you talking about? There are still so many places she could be!"
"We've looked everywhere we can without starting to break into people's homes." David rephrased.
"What about the woods? We've barely looked in there! She could be anywhere David we can't stop now."
"It's too dark and far too dangerous to check the entire forest tonight and we wouldn't even know where to start. I agreed to check inside Gold's cabin because I know he's never there and I know you think he might be involved, but we can't just go breaking into any other buildings. We'll have better luck in the morning, I know we will."
Emma sighed heavily, shaking her head grievously.
"You are no use to Regina passed out from exhaustion. We'll start again in a few hours, I promise Emma."
"But she's already been gone so long David. I can't just stop to take a break while she's still out here somewhere having god knows what done to her."
"I know... but if we want to be able to get her back, we have to take care of ourselves too."
Emma closed her eyes tightly, knocking her head back against the truck as she tried to suppress yet more tears.
"Why the hell wasn't Whale brought to the Sheriff's Station when Spencer was?" Emma stated more than asked. "We should have arrested him days ago, maybe then this never would have happened."
"There was a lot of confusion that day," David responded. "Henry was hurt, Regina was in danger, they were our first priority. And we still don't even know for sure that it was him who took Regina tonight."
"I know he's involved." Emma said, closing her eyes again.
She fell silent for a minute or two, and David let her use the time to think over her decision.
"So what do you say?" David asked softly after another minute. "Should we call it a night?"
Emma bit her lip. She was shaking her head again, not in response, but in resentment of the whole situation. "Fine... Let's go back."
It made her sick, knowing that she was returning to Regina's comfortable and warm house to rest for the night, while the brunette herself was out there suffering somewhere on such a chilly, stormy night.
David nodded silently in response. He could see a tear escape his daughter's lashes but he didn't comment on it. He knew how hard this was for Emma, and he knew that right now, she needed her space. Instead of responding he just turned the truck around and tried not to think about the terrible mistake he'd made by leaving Regina alone in it earlier that evening.
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A/N: Thank you for reading, I promise Regina is in the next chapter. Please review, take care xx