Driving all night was not conducive to alertness.

Sitting on a bench outside the apartment building August had directed her to, Emma sipped at her third coffee of the morning, grimacing as someone brushed past her.

She had forgotten how crowded and loud cities were, and found herself longing for the quiet comfort of Storybrooke, something she would never have believed when she first arrived.

Of course, there was a possibility that the address was wrong and that Neal wasn't even there. He might have moved since August's last check-in.

Then the building door opened - and there he was.

A little older, a tad greyer, but otherwise exactly the way she remembered him from their last goodbye.

Their eyes met across the street and he did a double-take, freezing in place as he stared at her. His mouth formed her name, whether aloud or silent, she couldn't tell over the noise of the city.

For a second, he looked like he might bolt and her muscles tensed in anticipation. She could run him down if she had to - but she really hoped she wouldn't have to.

Thankfully, he seemed to think better of it - if he had considered it in the first place, crossing over to where she was sitting.

"Emma?"

Emma smiled, getting to her feet. "So you do remember me."

Neal laughed. "I doubt I could ever forget you." His smile faded. "I'm sorry. I should …"

"It's okay," Emma said, shrugging it off. "I mean, I'm pissed, but I got through it. And it forced me back on to the straight and narrow." She handed him the other coffee that had been sitting beside her. "Still black with two sugars?"

"Uh, yeah," Neal said, taking it. "Listen, Em; I'd love to catch up, I would, but I've got work and …"

"Call in late," Emma said flatly. "We need to talk, Baelfire."

Neal froze mid-sip. "You're 29."

"Thank you," Emma said, rolling her eyes. "And you're, like, 200 apparently."

"The curse is broken," Neal said, "isn't it?"

"Your father's looking for you," Emma said in response.

"Yeah, well, I'm not looking for him," Neal said. "We had a deal, he broke it, end of discussion."

"Hasn't he suffered enough?" Emma asked. "By all accounts, he's spent every waking moment since it happened looking for you."

"Good for him," Neal said. "Look, it was good to see you again, Em, but whatever my father's …" he trailed off. "Tell me you didn't make a deal."

"In my defence," Emma said, "I didn't know who he was when I did."

"Emma," Neal groaned.

"I didn't just come for that," Emma said. "That's why I need to talk to you. Come on, I went to jail for you for eleven months; you can give me an hour."

Neal sighed, pulling out his phone. "Hang on; let me text my boss." Once he'd done that, he slipped his phone away and guided her down the street so they could step into Central Park, where it was quieter.

"You have no idea what my father is capable of," Neal said darkly. "He's dangerous, Emma."

"I know that," Emma said. "I hope you're not labouring under the impression that I trust him. I was coming to find you anyway, I owed him a favour, and I figured that this was a good way of getting out of that."

"You were coming to find me?" Neal asked.

Emma sighed. "I've been trying to find you for eleven years, Neal. You were one of the three people I could never find."

"Oh?" Neal asked.

"I was a bail bondswoman," Emma said with a slight smile. "The other two were my parents, and I've found them now."

"Yeah?" Neal asked. "What's that like?"

"They're younger than me," Emma said. "It's weird."

Neal nodded, stopping to turn and face her. "Okay, go ahead."

Emma raised an eyebrow. "Go ahead what?"

"You want to punch me, right?" Neal asked.

"I haven't been looking for you so I could punch you," Emma said, before rethinking it. "Okay, maybe right after I would have been, I mean. But that wasn't the main reason."

"You want to know why," Neal guessed.

"Pinocchio told you I could do better," Emma said, "and for some reason you listened."

Neal paused. "Okay, if you know …"

"Well, if you stopped putting words in my mouth," Emma said tartly, "you might find out." She sighed. "You left me with more than just a prison sentence."

"What do you mean?" Neal asked. "I mean I left the car, but …"

"No." Emma smiled a little sadly and pulled out her wallet, extracting one of the two photographs she kept there.

Neal took it from her and unfolded it. "This is … Is this a sonogram?"

"It is," Emma said quietly.

"Is this …?" Neal trailed off, sinking on to the nearest bench as he stared at the picture. "The date … is this …?"

"That's your son," Emma whispered. "I gave him up for adoption, but … I figured you should know."

Neal handed the picture back to her and buried his face in his hands. "I have a kid."

Emma sat down beside him, running a thumb over the ultrasound picture. "This is the only baby picture I have. I knew that if I held him, I wouldn't be able to let go. But I couldn't give him a life, Neal. I knew that."

"So he's … He's out there somewhere," Neal said hoarsely. "With no idea …"

"Well, actually," Emma said, pulling out her phone. "Life works in funny ways sometimes. He got adopted by the Evil Queen. Although I'm starting to rethink that name. And when he was ten, he stole his teacher's credit card and came to Boston to find me."

Neal snorted. "God, that's so our kid. Wait, you mean …"

Emma held out her phone so he could see the picture of her and Henry she'd taken just before she left. "His name's Henry. He's … really smart. I forget he's only eleven sometimes."

"He looks like me," Neal murmured, zooming in on Henry's face. "Does he …?"

"He wants to meet you," Emma said.

Neal took a shaky breath. "And if I tell you that I won't deal with my father?"

Emma shrugged. "Then I'll have to find another favour to pay back the deal and convince Regina to let me bring Henry out here for a weekend."

"Seriously?" Neal asked.

"The only reason he's not here," Emma said, "aside from not giving his other mother a heart attack, is because I didn't want this conversation to be his first interaction with you."

Neal gave her a sheepish smile. "Thanks." Her phone rang in his hand and he handed it back to her. "Who's Belle?"

"Your dad's girlfriend," Emma said, frowning. "Hang on." She answered the call before he could ask. "Belle? Is everything okay?"

She didn't really get an answer - at least not one that made sense.

"Emma, he was … I knew this … I don't know what to do!"

"Belle," Emma said. "Belle, I … You're not making any sense. What's happened?"

Her words were jumbled and broken by loud sobs and all Emma could really establish was that Belle was very upset, and that something very bad had happened.

Emma tried again. "Belle, I can't help you; I'm miles away. I … Is Gold there? Can I talk to him?"

Her sobs got louder and she winced.

"Ruby? Is Ruby with you?"

"No, I'm … I don't know what to do, Emma!"

Emma sighed, lowering the phone. "Can I borrow yours? I need to make another call."

"Yeah, of course," Neal said, handing it over. "Is she okay?"

"Not sure," Emma said, her thumb hovering over the keypad. It was now that she realised how strong her reliance on her contacts list was; she was fairly sure she didn't know anyone's number off by heart.

Well, that wasn't quite true; she knew the number for the inn off by heart, because it had been on a notepad beside her bed on that first night and she had lain awake for hours, just staring at it.

So that was the number she called, hoping that the diner wasn't too slammed and that someone would answer when the call was patched through.

"You're through to Granny's; Ella speaking."

"Ella, hi, it's Emma," Emma said. "Is Ruby around?"

"Sure, one second."

There was a brief pause and then the voice changed.

"You lose my number?"

"I don't know it offhand," Emma said. "I'm borrowing another phone; listen, I've got Belle on the line, I'm in New York and she sounds hysterical - can you go and check on her please?"

"No problem," Ruby said, sounding concerned. "Hang tight."

"Thanks Rubes." Emma hung up that call and handed Neal his phone back, turning back to Belle. "Belle, honey, Ruby's on her way over, just hang on okay?"

When she got home, she was appointing a deputy again, even if it did end up being her father.

Belle was still crying and Emma tried to get more information out of her, but she was still not getting anywhere.

Finally, she heard the faint noise of the pawn shop door, and Ruby's voice sounded again.

"Belle? What … Crap, what's happened?!"

Belle's voice became more muffled and then Ruby's became clearer.

"Emma, I'm going to hang up and call you back - Gold's been attacked; it doesn't look good."

Emma cursed under her breath. "Call my dad; check that Captain Asshole is still locked up."

"Doubtful," Ruby said. "I'll call you back when I know more."

"What's happened?" Neal asked, sounding concerned.

Emma sighed. "I'm not sure. There's this pirate in town …"

"Hook?!" Neal asked sharply.

"Of course you know him," Emma said wearily. "He's got this grudge against your dad. He was in prison, but he's got a powerful sorceress on his side. And that is a sentence that I just said like it was normal."

Neal chuckled. "It is normal. Did he go after this … Belle to get to my father? Is that what happened?"

"No," Emma said. "Apparently he attacked your father directly. Or someone did. Ruby says it looks bad, but she's going to get help and call me back." She tried to say it as gently as she could, but he still winced as the words landed. "I'm sure he'll be okay. Fairly sure he's too stubborn for anything else."

Neal managed a weak smile. "So … he has a girlfriend?"

"I'm not sure if that's the right word," Emma said. "Calling him anyone's boyfriend feels weird. But she clearly loves him. And he's obviously besotted with her."

"Besotted?" Neal repeated. "Did you really just use that word?"

"Yes," Emma said. "Besotted. If you ever meet her, you'll see what I mean." She had something for him, on that note, but he spoke before she could bring it up.

"So tell me about Henry."

Pushing Gold from her mind for the time being, Emma sat back and began talking about her son, starting with the moment he knocked on her door, and Neal drank in every word.

At least until Emma's phone rang again, this time with David's name flashing up at her.

Emma faltered mid-sentence. "Sorry, I have to get this. David?"

"You need to come home."

"What's happened?" Emma asked, standing up to take the call a little further away.

"Hook happened; Cora broke him out and she's going after the dagger."

"What dagger?" Emma asked, frowning.

"Gold's cursed, Emma," David explained. "The curse is tied to a dagger. Whoever holds the dagger controls the Dark One."

"So Cora wants to control him?" Emma asked.

"We don't think so; she gave Hook poison to taint his hook; that's why Gold's in such a bad way. If Cora kills Gold with the dagger, she becomes the new Dark One, even more powerful and more dangerous than she was before."

Emma closed her eyes. "How bad is he?"

"It's bad, Emma. We're trying to find Cora now, but there's a chance that even if she never gets it and never gets to him that …"

"Got it," Emma said, already heading back over to Neal. "I'm on my way."

"Leaving so soon?" Neal asked. "I figured you'd spend longer to try and convince me."

"Alright," Emma said. "You're coming."

"Excuse me?" Neal asked.

"We both know that you're angry and that eventually you're going to break," Emma said. "Your father's been stabbed with a poisoned blade, and Cora wants to become the new Dark One. Either you come with me now, or you're never going to get the chance to speak to your father again."