By the time the sun rose, and he ventured quickly out to his home to shower and change before returning, he had a plan.

He wasn't proud of it. Belle would hate it. This nicer, gentler version of Regina probably would too, but he preferred not to do it alone and suspected that magic would require he didn't do it alone.

He hadn't been idle all night, all those hours he'd spent spinning by the wheel, he'd been thinking, working things out in his head. He didn't know what plan the women had in mind to use, but he knew it involved a portal. A portal was the only thing guaranteed to bring them back to this realm without bringing the others with them. If they wished to leave Cora behind, he had to believe that was what they would use. If he knew where the portal was going to come out of, he could set a trap. He could make it so that anyone who tried to come through died before they made it.

The downside? It potentially meant Emma and Mary Margaret would die too if, by some miracle, they had gotten the message and were on their way.

The upside? It guaranteed that Cora would not enter this world. Of course, there was the trouble with the Seer's prophecy. But maybe it wasn't Emma who would take him to Bae. Maybe he'd misinterpreted the Seer's prophecy; it certainly wouldn't be the first time. Perhaps it was Cinderella. Maybe all he needed was Cinderella and August. Or maybe Belle was the female presence he'd felt beside him in those visions. Emma had served her purpose for the Curse and as for Mary Margaret and David…

It was tragic they'd never be together again, that David would never wake from the Sleeping Curse, but not as tragic as the havoc Cora was capable of if she came to Storybrooke.

No, Belle wouldn't like this one bit, all the plotting and planning, all the deception…but it was for her that he was doing this. He couldn't let her be used as Regina had already used her. Not by anyone, but especially not by Cora. And he was certain, without a doubt in his mind, that if Cora showed up, then she'd go straight for Belle, if for no other reason other than it would hurt him.

He turned around at the sound of his bell ringing over the door, though he could already feel Regina's magic before he spotted her. What he hadn't planned on was seeing her alone. Henry wasn't with her.

"He wanted to pick something up from David's apartment first, and I let him go so I could get here first," Regina explained without needed a prompt. All the time, she kept walking, moving closer and closer to the back room. "How is he?"

He motioned his head in the direction of the curtain. "See for yourself."

She didn't need the words, she was already practically in the back when he'd muttered them, and he flipped through his books as he waited for her to return, waited for the bell to ring again, signaling Henry's arrival. However, he was secretly hoping the retrieval of whatever object he needed might take some time. It would be better to have the conversation he wanted to have with Regina with him outside of the building.

"Any change?" he inquired when Regina finally walked back into the front room. By the look on her face, he didn't have much faith there was anything different.

"No," she responded predictably. "He's not improving. He needs True Love's Kiss. He won't wake up until Mary Margaret comes back."

"Until? Well, that's rather optimistic, isn't it?"

"What are you talking about?"

"They're up against your mother. The only chance Snow and Emma have of defeating her is with the squid ink."

"Which is why you sent the message through David."

"Which would be beneficial if we knew that message were delivered. But alas, given the prince's condition, we don't know. As such, it's important we take precautions. We have to consider the possibility that, when that portal opens, it won't be his family that comes through. It'll be Cora."

Regina gapped at the very suggestion. He knew that she wouldn't like the plan, but he didn't need her to like it. He only needed her to agree with it.

"And neither one of us wants that," she concluded for him.

He gave a slight nod and moved away from the counter, glancing out the window to be sure Henry was still nowhere in sight. Still away…that was good. He had an argument to convince Regina, and it would be much better to make without the boy present.

"We have to find where they're coming through and destroy that portal."

"But whoever came through would die," Regina pointed out, following after him.

"Exactly," he confirmed, knowing he was getting to the part he suspected she wasn't going to enjoy. "But I'm confident between the two of us, we can summon up enough magic to complete the task."

"Well, what if we're wrong? What if that portal opens up, and it's not my mother? What if Mary Margaret and Emma do defeat Cora and go through it?"

"Well, I believe in this world, they call that a win-win," he stated, suddenly glad he'd thought about this response last night.

"How exactly is that?"

"If we stop Cora, you are protected from your mother's wrath. If, on the other hand, we stop Snow and Emma, well…you become the only mother in your son's life, now, don't you?"

He waited for a response, but she said nothing as he watched her eyes widen as the full realization of what he was saying hit her. No, she really wasn't going to like it.

"Look, magic is unpredictable in this world. If something unfortunate were to happen while you were attempting to help…Henry could hardly blame you for that, could he?"

"No. I can't lie to him. I am trying to be a better mother."

He fought back the urge to roll his eyes, to growl at her. Did she not think that he wasn't trying to be "better" for Belle? Did she not think that this was just as unpleasant for him as it was for her? He knew the risks, he knew the cost of this, but he also knew the cost of letting Cora into this world, around those he loved. Didn't she see that?

"You won't be able to be a better anything if Cora comes through," he warned, taking careful, measured steps toward her. "And if she does, she will be a threat to everyone, including your son. So, if you truly want to be a good mother to Henry, to protect him, if you want to be better, prove it," he snapped.

Tears gathered in her eyes as she stared unseeing into him, thinking through the options in her own mind, hopefully coming to the same conclusion that he had, the conclusion that he wanted her to come to.

Suddenly the bell over the shop rang. Henry sprinted in, a thick book under his arm. He appeared well-rested, and he suspected that if he asked, he'd say he hadn't had any dreams of the Red Room but had probably hoped he would. But the boy took one look between the two of them, and his face fell immediately.

"What's wrong? Is David-"

"He's still asleep, Henry," Regina breathed, offering a small smile. "I'm sorry."

Henry's face fell, he slouched his shoulders a bit as he took a breath. For one quiet moment, it was as if the boy's sadness had sucked up the air in the room. But then the boy shrugged. He straightened his back and put a forced smile on his face.

"That's okay. I brought something that can help from the apartment. It worked once before, during the Curse. Maybe it'll help this time too," he offered, looking at Regina.

She nodded but didn't share words as Henry went back into the back of the shop with his book. He studied his former pupil's face, measured her reactions and emotions. Her breaths were steady, they were controlled, but he could smell the fear and the shame on her a mile away. He could gauge the lost look in her eyes all too easily. And try as she might, she'd never be able to stop the erratic pounding of her heartbeat. She was conflicted, and he couldn't say that he didn't understand that feeling. He'd had all night to ponder the choices ahead of him, to wrestle with them, to feel that same conflict she did and come to the conclusion he was asking her to make now. He understood her turmoil, truly he did. Some part of him even acknowledged the cruelty of it because he was expecting her to come to the conclusion he'd made in hours in only a matter of minutes. But this was where they were at. They were running out of time. They might even be too late as it was. The time for decisions was upon them.

Finally, Regina took a slow breath and turned to the curtain Henry had disappeared behind as if to make sure he wasn't really gone. "If I agree to something like this…" she whispered, "what do you have in mind?"

"A union of magic," he answered in an equally quiet voice. "An alliance as you suggested yesterday. It's going to take a lot of magic to seal a portal, but it can be done. With a kernel of your magic and mine…and some fairy dust."

"Fairy dust?"

"David was going to use it to open a portal, it stands to reason we should be able to put up a barrier around the exit. If we electrify the exit, create a net of sorts, it'll ensure no one gets through. If it's your mother, then this time, we'll make sure the body really is dead."

"And if it's Emma and Mary Margaret?"

"I'll handle it."

"David would never wake up."

"You of all people, Your Majesty, should know that when it comes to a curse, you can never say 'never," he chastised, though he wasn't entirely sure why he cared about giving her that hope. It probably had more to do with his conscience than his own. "Unlikely, perhaps, but 'never'…that's a strong word."

Regina swallowed hard and nodded. "Give it until lunch."

He sighed in frustration. They didn't have time for this. "Need I remind you that without a return confirmation from David, that portal could open at any moment."

"We wait until lunch, and then I make my decision."

"We wait until lunch, and you are welcome to make your decision, but know this. If he's not awake, then after lunch, I've made my decision. I will protect Belle from your family. Even if the cost is losing her."

I think the hardest thing about this chapter, and the last one really, was getting everyone in and out and then back in the shop in a way that I found appropriate and in character. That might not seem like a big problem, but sometimes it isn't easy to make it realistic when a character does something counter to what I think people would actually do in a certain situation. I feel, fairly certainly, that in the situation of David going under, most people in that situation would have just stayed overnight at the shop. And yet, in this episode, everyone, including Rumple, has had a change of clothes, indicating that they went home at one point or another. No problem, I got Regina and Henry out the door by having Regina mother Henry and insisting he go home to bed. That felt in character. And then Rumple, ever since Belle left, has developed this habit of staying in the shop overnight and then going home in the early hours to shower, so that was no issue. However, in this chapter, there is clearly a moment when Regina is in the back looking in on David before Henry getting there. Given that Henry is one of David's biggest fans, I found that highly out of character. If anything, Henry should have beaten Regina to the shop. So I sent him to the apartment to grab the storybook because, really, I couldn't think of any other reason he'd be talked into not checking on David first. And the later scene does have him reading the book...

Thank you, Grace5231973, for your review of the last chapter. I hope that you'll find this chapter keeps everyone in character. That's really my biggest worry about this episode because everyone sort of goes haywire in their own way. I hope that it all makes sense and can't wait to hear what you think. Peace and Happy Reading!