Wow, it's been awhile. So...I literally just finished this, it's barely edited (in that I basically used Spellcheck and that's about it) but I wanted to put it up ASAP for you guys since it's been, as previously stated, awhile. Sorry about that.
November 15, 2011 Continued
Ada sat with Henry at Mary Margaret's counter as the brunette slid a full cup of hot chocolate- complete with cinnamon and a towering amount of whipped cream- to the still sniffling boy.
"Think you can tell me what happened?" Ada asked as she gently rubbed Henry's back. Emma had calmed Henry down as much as she could before promising him she'd "see about that," and storming out of the apartment- clearly on a rampage.
"I don't want to talk about it," Henry muttered into his hot cocoa before looking up at the women, "Is it true that- that if I keep believing in the curse they'll lock me away?"
"What?" Ada asked, "Of course not- who told you that? Henry, we're not going to let anyone lock you away!"
The boy nodded, and took another drink of his hot chocolate, whipped cream sticking to the tip of his nose before Ada handed him a napkin and he wiped it away. "I should probably go home before she gets back," the ten-year-old muttered before hopping of his stool.
"You were home alone again?" Ada asked, her eyebrows coming together in concern.
"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow- bye, Ada- thanks for the hot chocolate Miss Blanchard!" and with that, he grabbed his backpack and flew out the door.
"Oh, I have such a bad feeling right now," Ada muttered before swiping her finger through Henry's unfinished drink and stealing a bite of whipped cream.
"What do you think happened?" Mary Margaret worried as she looked at the redhead whose eyes were still stuck on the closed door.
"Nothing good."
Ada picked up her phone as soon as she heard Emma's personalized ring tone (Sisters from the movie White Christmas because Ada thought she was hilarious and it always made Emma roll her eyes in exasperation) and almost immediately wished she hadn't when the first words out of Emma's mouth were: "Is Henry with you?"
Ada was very familiar with Emma, and all of Emma's quirks. She knew Emma hated being called "Ems" because it reminded her of Neal. She knew how Emma would grab her necklace (another reminder of Neal) whenever she was considering whether or not to trust someone and would decide ultimately not to. She knew every tone of voice and inflection Emma had.
That particular tone of voice was: freaked the hell out.
"No, he went home about five minutes ago. Why?"
"Shit."
"Emma," Ada dragged out the blonde's name.
"He must've gone to the tunnels then."
"Shit."
"Yeah."
"I'll meet you there."
"No- it's just a thought- I need you to look around town for him and then meet me at the tunnels- Archie and I are going to check out the collapse now."
"Okay- I'll check his usual places, and meet you at the mines. If I find him, I'll call you right away."
"He's trying to find proof of the curse," Emma whispered, "Archie told him the curse was all a delusion."
"You mean he said that after he explicitly told us multiple times to never under any circumstances take away Henry's belief?"
Emma just sighed and hung up.
"Come on," Ada said to Mary Margaret from where the woman stood across the counter, wide-eyed, "Henry's missing- we need to go look for him."
"You said something about the tunnels?" Mary Margaret's voice was hushed in a sort of horror as she grabber her jacket and followed Ada out the apartment door.
"Let's hope that isn't what we think it is."
Ada rushed up to Emma where the blonde stood by the entrance to the tunnels as fast as she could on the rough terrain in her heels. She was beginning to think Storybrooke might require a change for her typical footwear if stuff like this kept up.
"Emma! We didn't find him, Mary Margaret is checking everywhere again- is he?" she couldn't even complete the question.
"Archie went down after him, the tunnels collapsed further, I called in help- the workers should be here any minute," Ada came to a crashing stop by her sister, gripping tightly to Emma's arm in order to prevent the blonde from going into the tunnels herself, like Ada could see her itching to do.
"We'll get him out- they'll be safe," Ada promised, but both women knew how very little promises actually counted for.
They stood guard over the entrance with Archie's dog, Pongo, beside them.
Ada never really considered herself an optimist. She always labeled herself as a realist and was quite proud of it. But now, oh now she wished for optimism. Longed for it. Or rather, wished Emma had it.
"Archie is smart," Marco told the group gathered around the mine entrance as Pongo continues to bark while Ruby holds him back, "He'll keep the boy safe until we get to that." Ada nods absent-mindedly as Graham and Marco flank her and Emma. Regina stood by the workers, rolling her eyes as the dog continued to bark.
Maybe optimism isn't all it's cracked up to be, Ada considers as the ground shakes from the worker's efforts.
"Watch out!" the workers yelled as everyone stumbled away from the falling rocks.
"Stop! Stop! You're making it worse!" the Mayor shouted as she stormed up to Emma and the others.
"I am trying to save him," Emma told the woman, stomping her way towards the Mayor. "You know why he went in there in the first place, don't you? Because you made him feel like he had something to prove!"
Ada went over to one of the workers as Emma scolded the Mayor, "What more can we do?" she asked him quietly.
The man shrugged, "It's not stable enough for us to open a wide entrance and we don't have enough man power to work quickly here."
"We have to stop this. Arguing," Ada heard as she turned to see Emma approaching the Mayor, "Won't accomplish anything."
"No, it won't."
"What do you want me to do?" Emma asked.
The Mayor turned to look at the blonde, "Help me." The group all gathered around to discuss options, "We need to find someway to punch through the ground. We need something big."
"Like what?" Emma asked.
Marco had an epiphany "Explosives."
"You have explosives on hand?" Ada asked, wide-eyed.
Ada crouched down and covered her ears as the explosion rocked the ground further. As soon as the sound faded, Emma dashed under the caution tape and raced into the smoke. Watching as her sister vanished into the grey dust, Ada held her breath. Slowly, she saw Emma's shape become clearer and clearer as she returned from the entrance.
"Did it work?" Regina shouted.
"It didn't open," Emma said, her shoulder slumped in something like defeat.
"Then what did it do?" Graham asked the question everyone was dreading.
"Okay," Ada said, crossing under the tape herself and pacing towards the dust and debris, "We need a new plan, let's see what we've got."
Regina raced towards the workers, "What was that? What the hell was that?! You said you could do this!"
"Madame Mayor," Emma tried to pull her away.
"They could've killed my son!"
"I know," Emma said, placatingly, "But this is not helping."
"If we knew exactly where they were," Marco told Ada as she pulled one of the workers to the side to discuss options, "We could drill down to them," Ada tried to block out Pongo's barking as she listened to Marco. "Maybe, maybe rig something to bring them back up." Ada stopped listening as she saw Emma release Pongo from where he was sitting in the fire truck.
"Emma?" she asked.
"It's Archie's dog!" she shouted back as she followed the dalmatian, "He's found something! Look- this is where they must be. What is it?" Ada jogged over to see a metal covering of some sort.
Graham and Marco removed it to reveal a metal grate, "It's an air shaft," Graham explained.
"It's narrow," Ada said, examining it, "But someone could fit down it."
"So, what's next?" Madame Mayor asked the group.
"We need to lower someone straight down," Marco cautioned them, "Or the line would collapse with the sides of the shaft."
Graham joined them, "I've got the harness."
Regina gave a nod, "Lower me down," she ordered.
"Oh, no way. I'm going," Emma immediately objected.
"He's my son," Regina snarled.
"That's not the point right now- the point is who is going to be able?" Ada cut in, "You've been sitting behind a desk for ten years, Emma's been physically active with her job- she's got the best chance."
Regina took a step into Emma's personal space, and for a moment, Ada thought the woman was actually going to threaten her, "Just bring him to me," Regina said with a stern look towards the blonde.
Emma nodded turning towards Graham who helped her put on the harness.
Never having been particularly religious, Ada found it sort of odd she was wishing she did actually believe in some sort of higher power. Some sort of deity that would keep people safe. That would make this work.
But, she supposed, if there was such a god, then Emma wouldn't have had the childhood she did, and Henry wouldn't have been in this mess to begin with.
She studied the Mayor from the corner of her eyes- the woman was frantic, as any mother would be with a child in danger, but Ada couldn't help but still distrust her. Love, in Ada's opinion, was not enough to automatically make someone a good person. Everyone loves somebody- even the worst people in history loved someone at some point. Loving someone did not redeem you. Hitler loved his mother. An extreme example, no doubt, but it carried Ada's point. Regina Mills still gave Ada the worst sorts of prickings, and despite her obvious love and worry over Henry's safety, Ada wasn't sure she was a fit mother. She left Henry alone for most of the day, most days it seemed, she appeared to keep him isolated and obviously controlled Archie like a puppet with strings. In fact, she seemed to have most of the town attached by strings, and played with them all for her own purpose.
No, love was not enough to redeem a person.
And Ada hadn't missed what lead to this whole debacle- apparently, at Regina's insistence, against Archie's own expert opinion, the Mayor strong-armed the therapist to attempt to strip Henry of his belief in the curse. Henry, seeking to prove something, dashed into the tunnels to find whatever he could.
Worry about his physical status aside, Regina didn't seem to hold much concern of Henry's mental status except in how it related to her.
Ada's attention was quickly diverted back to the air shaft where Emma had gone down in search of Henry and Archie. A rumbling sound and the faintest sound of shouting floated up from it, causing Ada to take an unconscious step forward. Everyone seemed to hold their breath as the workers slowly pulled up on the rope, and Ada crossed her fingers and wished again she believe in some sort of god to pray to.
But gods weren't necessary as the entire group let up a cheer when Emma and Henry became visible and then Archie as well. Ada laughed and jumped in her heels, giving a quick hug to Ruby, who stood by her, and every construction worker within reach before running up to her sister, who was being dragged out of the ground with Henry clutching to her like a lifeline.
Regina quickly pulled Henry into a hug of her own as the boy kept his eyes and whole body turned towards Emma even as the Mayor drug him over to a waiting medic. Emma's eyes didn't leave Henry as Graham pulled her upright and Ada flew over to her before tackling the Deputy with a hug.
"Oh my god please never scare me like that again!" Ada shouted through her, apparently, unstoppable smile as Emma responded to the hug. Ada noticed Archie and Marco sharing their own celebration off to the side as Emma let go of Ada to go check on Henry.
"A good day, huh?" Graham asked her as the continued to bask in the jubilation of the crowd of heroes.
"Hey, you okay?" Emma asked Henry, crouching down to look at him beside Regina.
Ada's smile started to fall, though, when she heard the Mayor coolly tell Emma, "Deputy, you can clear the crowd away," as she used one arm to push Emma to the side.
"As good as we could get, I guess," she muttered to Graham before walking over to Emma, who looked crushed. Guess the peace between adoptive and birth mothers was only contingent on how long Regina needed Emma.
"Thank you, Dr. Hooper," Regina told Archie with a large smile as Henry was lead away by medics.
"I- uh- I have something to say," the therapist said, turning to walk to a slightly more private area to talk with the Mayor. "I'm gonna continue to treat Henry and I'm gonna do it my way," Archie told Regina.
The Mayor's smile immediately dropped and her voice went completely even. "My relief at his safety hasn't change a thing, Dr. Hopper. You will do as I say, or you-"
"Or what?" Archie interrupted, bringing the Mayor up short. "You'll ruin my life? You'll do your worse? Because I will always do my best." Archie concluded in a calm tone, sounding at peace.
"Don't test me," Regina warned coldly.
"Oh, I don't need to, because you're gonna leave me along and let me do my work, in peace."
The Mayor gave a sarcastic, disbelieving smirk, "Really? Why is that?"
"Because someday, Madame Mayor, you may find yourself in a custody battle," Regina's face went still with shock, "And you know how a court determines who's a fit parent? They consult an expert, particularly one who has treated the child. So, I suggest that you think about that and you'll allow me to do my work and let me do it the way my conscience tells me to." And with that Archie walked off, ignoring the Mayor's narrowed eyes and taunt expression.
"You really scared me," Emma told Henry later in the evening as she waited with him beside the collapsed mine, taking the moment that Regina wasn't watching to spend some time with Henry. She reached out and grasped his hand, looking at him carefully.
"I'm sorry," Henry offered contritely.
Noticing that Archie, Marco, and Ada were all ready to go and approaching the two, Emma cleared her throat, "Gentlemen, and lady," she added with a nod to Ada, who still somehow managed to look put together in her heels, skirt and blouse in the midst of all the rubble and dirt. "Well, come on," she told Henry with a pat on his back, "Your mom wants to take you home."
"Hey!" Henry paused as he got up, "Listen!" The group all paused and listened around them. There was the murmur from the workers as they packed up from the day, a slight laugh from Ruby where she lounged on the hood of one of the rescue vehicles, flirting, and carrying over all that, the sound of chirping.
"Crickets," Archie said with a smile towards Henry.
"They're back," Henry turned to look at Emma, "Things are changing."
Emma's eyes were wide as she looked towards Ada, who grinned.
"Well, you know crickets are supposed to be lucky. And I think," she added with a teasing glance at Henry, "We could use all the luck we can get."
Far beneath the group's feet, as they all mingled together in celebration, passing soda cans (and, in Marco's case, a flask), petting Pongo for being the hero of the hour, was a glass coffin with vines crafted over the lid in decoration.
It was missing a piece.
And that's the end of That Still, Small Voice. I was almost sad I had Ada steal the piece of Snow White's coffin off Regina, because that final scene of Regina dropping the glass down the air shaft and it crashing into the rest of the coffin is just so full of symbolism and stuff, but...I made do. And bravo to Archie for standing up to Regina and beating her at her own game. Madame Mayor wants to blackmail the cricket? Well, Archie will play hardball.
