CHAPTER ELEVEN
Favor

It wasn't easy, keeping her promise to Regina.

Things were rockier than ever with Mary Margaret and David, and their constant insistence that they had 'done the right thing' did nothing but grate on Emma's nerves. There was nothing right about what they had done, in any sense of the word, and they were lucky that she and Regina had already formulated a plan to rectify the situation, because Henry would have been inconsolable otherwise, which would not have sat well with Emma at all.

Henry, to his credit, still acted as though he was never going to see his mother again and constantly moped around the apartment, giving Mary Margaret and David the occasional dirty looks when they tried to act as though everything was normal. Emma wasn't particularly happy either, and over the past week and a half she had more than once blown up at them about how her disaster of a love life wasn't for them to control.

In a way, life without Regina was easier, but as that was not going to be the case for as long as she lived, Emma refused to indulge in the freedom. There was no use pretending that because of Henry they wouldn't be tied to each other for the rest of their lives, and so although it was unnecessary that Regina call her nearly every single night to check in, Emma allowed it.

Their calls ranged from talking about where they were going to live, to arguing about personal matters. Although, in all fairness, the arguing did sometimes spill over into their planning, but Emma's temper had been on a short fuse as of late, since she wasn't drinking enough to numb herself anymore. Just… just enough to get her through the day.

"It's not an actual farm, Emma," Regina had told her on day five, her tone sounding as though the blonde was trying her patience. "It isn't as though I'm going to expect you to wake up at five am and tend to the chickens. The house is merely farmhouse style, and the loft apartment in the barn should be more than sufficient—"

"I don't care; I'm not living in the middle of buttfuck nowhere as your kept pet!" Emma had exclaimed, the thought of being within walking distance from Regina not sitting well with her at all.

"Well the city is no place for a child, and your inability to recognize such is completely—!"

"That doesn't fucking mean I have to live twenty feet from your damn door, Regina! For fuck's sake, use your head! You really think that'll be rainbows and sunshine for me? Jesus."

Emma had eventually hung up on her, and later when they spoke again – when they were calm – they mutually compromised on finding a place in the suburbs with at least five miles in between their two living spaces. Still, Regina was having difficulty finding a school district that she approved of, let alone places for them to live, and when Emma one day offhandedly mentioned that she might as well just enroll Henry into private school, Regina had snapped at her and told her that she wasn't made of money.

Which, in all honesty, was news to her.

Emma had believed that Regina was extremely well off (cause hello, her house, first of all), but it seemed that being the ruler of a cursed town had the perk of not having a mortgage, so she had never had to pay to live there. She just… willed it into existence, as well as all her clothes and possessions. Regina had given herself some money when she created the curse, yes, but it wasn't exactly infinite. It would run out sooner or later, and the disadvantage of being unable to sell her current house left Regina with a lot less than they both would have liked.

The woman never had to be careful about her spending before, and it seemed that now that she was being forced to, it tried her patience more than anything else; how she spat out the word affordable when discussing places to live was more than enough proof of that. Regina hated it.

And honestly, Emma did too. It was just another roadblock on a highway of difficulties that she did not have the strength to deal with.

It was hard enough, trying to function through the day with only enough liquor to keep her hands from shaking in the morning. Which she had instinctively lied to Regina about, as she knew the sorceress would not be pleased with the fact that she wasn't one hundred percent competent while caring for their son, but it wasn't as though Emma really had a choice. At least, not anymore.

Which, of course, Regina readily disagreed with.

"Do you really think I'm that stupid? I know that you're lying to me!" Regina had shouted at her through the phone on day eight. "And you promised me that you would take care of Henry, and yet instead all you've done is proven, once again, that your selfishness—!"

"I am!" Emma had yelled back, resisting the urge to throw the phone against the wall. She couldn't afford to replace it a second time. "Christ, Regina, I am taking care of him, okay? He's clean and he's fed and he goes to school and… whatever, okay? I know how to babysit him!"

"Parent," Regina had corrected fiercely. "You are parenting him, Miss Swan, not babysitting him. He is your son."

Emma's teeth had ground together at the formality. She had learned to loathe it, as now Regina only used it when she was irritated with her. "I know what I'm doing, Your Majesty. And quite frankly, it's really not any of your business how I get through the day. As long as I'm not tripping over myself drunk and getting the shit I need to get done done, then it really doesn't matter."

"Why on earth do you need to drink in the first place then, if you're not even numbing anything?" Regina's words had sounded more like an accusation, and they ended up pushing Emma right over the edge.

She didn't want to tell Regina why, and her refusal only stood to frustrate the older woman to the point of actual expletives. Needless to say, that conversation didn't end well and it had been two days now since they had spoken. To Regina's credit, she had actually called the very next day, and to Emma's credit, she had answered, but it seemed Regina hadn't expected her to, and after a few long moments of nothing but silence, the line went dead.

And not thirty seconds later, Henry's phone rang in its stead.

Emma tried to tell herself that she didn't care – that Regina was probably just too stubborn to apologize considering this time she wasn't entirely in the wrong – but in the end, it still bothered her. Maybe she had just become used to Regina practically groveling for forgiveness that Emma had begun to expect it at every little turn. But the drinking was on her, not on Regina, and although Emma was pissed that she couldn't just let shit go, she wasn't so stupid as to not realize that the entire thing was probably her fault anyway.

But, then again, she could be just as stubborn as Regina was, and so she didn't pick up the phone to call either. If she did, she knew Regina would still push for an explanation, and Emma really did not want to do that.

And so the silence commenced.

Which, in all honesty, was not the worst thing at the moment, considering Emma had plenty of other problems to deal with that didn't stem from Regina.

"I swear to god, Elphaba, if you don't stop calling about your damn shoes—"

"Just hang up on her," David responded in a tired voice as he came into the Sherriff's station, dragging a handcuffed Gold behind him. Emma looked up at him as Elphaba continued shrieking on the other line about how incompetents like her shouldn't be in office, before she decided to take his advice and slam the phone back down on the receiver.

Screw that. She had actual problems to deal with.

"The restraints were completely unnecessary, dearie; I would have come willingly," Gold told her, trying to keep his tone light even though his aggravation was written across his face.

"Even with bars separating you both, keeping Hook and you in the same room unchained didn't seem like the smartest idea in the world," Emma shot back, before ordering, "Now sit."

With a firm hand on his shoulder from David, Gold was practically manhandled into a chair. His eyes flashed, but he kept his composure. Hook, on the other hand, did not.

He furiously pulled on his bindings, the handcuffs clanking loudly against the metal bars as his eyes grew dark with anger. "I've already told you, there is nothing that this man can say that will sway me from giving him that which he deserves. The crocodile will pay for what he did, even if it's the last bloody thing I do!"

Emma was quickly losing patience. "Then fine, stay in that cage and rot for all I give a crap!" she shouted, interrupting him. "Because if you actually think I'm going to let you out when you have some kind of age-old blood vendetta against someone in this town, you've got another damn thing coming, Hook. We got enough shit going on without everyone trying to kill each other."

"Snow and I, as well as Emma, have agreed that from this day forth, any and all crimes that were committed in the Enchanted Forest will be pardoned," David informed them both. "This is a clean slate for everyone, and I suggest you both make use of it, because the dwarves are currently building a proper jail so that Storybrooke can finally have a full-circle justice system, and we are not opposed to making the both of you its first two residents."

"Me? Whatever did I do, dearie?" Gold inquired, a hint of a smirk playing at the edge of his lips. "Because from what I can recall, it was the infamous Captain who had broken the law, not myself. I am the innocent victim in all of this."

David scoffed in disbelief.

"You wanna know what's in it for you?" Emma asked dangerously, leaning forward in her seat a little. "If you play nice with Hook, I'll not only overlook that you threw an unwilling resident over the town line, but I'll also ignore the fact that it was you who created the damn curse in the first place to bring everyone here."

It seemed Gold wasn't expecting Emma to know either of those things, and his jaw slacked. But then, ever so slightly, he smirked, as though he was actually proud of her for figuring things out. It made Emma feel dirty, to be looked at by him in that way. Even without knowing that he was Rumpelstiltskin, Gold had always been really freaking creepy.

"Yeah," Emma continued pointedly, brushing off his look. "Information courtesy of Regina. I'd say you can thank her for it, but then, it was your doing that made her make this whole mess in the first place, which also makes you the underlying reason of why she's no longer here. And that doesn't exactly fill me with warm fuzzies."

David side-glanced her, but said nothing. Emma was sure that she'd hear an earful later about how she was blaming everyone but Regina for the things she had done, but she didn't care. She blamed Regina for plenty, believe her that, but Emma knew that Regina didn't get to where she was without help from other people as well.

In all honesty, the curse thing was merely a guess, but considering Regina told her before that she didn't create it, only really led to one other suspect. By Gold not outright refusing her claim, she knew that she had hit it right on the money too.

"I don't expect you guys to hug it out, I just want a damn truce," Emma went on, looking between them both. "So can you just… just fucking do that, please? Because we seriously have more important things to deal with right now."

The bandage that now covered David's right forearm being a testament to that. He had finally caught up with Jafar two days ago, only to find that he really was with Scar – and Ursula too, apparently – and that they had somehow found a way to arm themselves. The bullet had just grazed David's arm, but it was still enough to wound him.

The three of them fled after that, and Emma was having a bitch of a time trying to find them again. For how small a town Storybrooke was, it seemed there were a million and one places to hide. It was incredibly frustrating, as she didn't want to leave town before the current threat was taken care of. David and Snow weren't safe, and as it was now, the three of them had to sleep in shifts. The enemy having guns elicited worries about being assassinated in their sleep, and it had just been… fuck, really damn hard on all of them lately.

She really didn't have time to deal with crap like this, but David insisted it would probably only take an hour out of their day and then they would no longer have to deal with it, which sounded appealing. They had enough on their plate as it was.

It took a little longer than she had expected, but finally both Gold and Hook agreed to call a truce, provided restraining orders were put in place. Emma had no idea how long that would last, as in her experience, restraining orders didn't exactly deter the determined, but she hoped that they would at least respect it for a little while. She was sure that she'd be hearing of another altercation down the road, but if they wanted to spend some time in jail that was on them, not her. For right now though, it solved the problem, even if it was just temporary.

And that was one load off her mind.

As David was unlocking the cell door to escort Hook from the building, Emma led Gold into one of the interview rooms to uncuff him. She didn't want them leaving at the same time, despite them having come to an agreement, and since Hook had spent the better part of the week locked up, she figured he was due for some fresh air. Gold could wait a minute.

"So let me guess," Gold drawled, his smirking face catching Emma's eye in the reflection of the two way mirror as she uncuffed him. "Your parents were the one to suggest this… ah, clean slate, of sorts, so that way they can be absolved from their own crimes. Surprisingly smart; well, for the likes of them, anyhow."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Emma gruffed, taking the handcuffs off him in a rougher manner than was probably acceptable.

"Murder is frowned upon in this realm, is it not?" Gold countered, turning around so that he could face the woman before him. "Even when it comes to acts of justice. Don't get it wrong, dearie; your parents might be on the side of 'good', but in the Enchanted Forest, even good people kill. It is how order is maintained, after all. So if they were to hold others responsible for their past crimes, they would be obligated to do the same for themselves. I'm guessing that option wasn't very appealing to them, especially after what they had done to the Queen for her crimes. Interesting, isn't it, how this newfound leniency was implemented after Regina's banishment?"

Emma just stared at him. In all honesty, she had never given much thought to how things were run in her parents' land, nor about what they had done to maintain order. She had heard the stories of course, but sometimes she still had trouble relating fairytales to the real world. It made her stomach twist uncomfortably in her gut, to think that her parents were responsible for death. Despite whether or not it was 'justified', Emma came from this land, and here it was just… wrong. Really, really fucking wrong.

Emma had just thought that they had suggested a clean slate because they already had enough on their plate as it was without hunting everyone down for past wrongdoings. Another life, another world. Well, for everyone except Regina, but the sorceress had been right when she said it had become personal more than political; Mary Margaret had a vendetta against her, and because of that she would always hold Regina to a different standard than everyone else. It was fucked up, but what was done was done, and since Emma was planning on leaving town anyway, she didn't bother dwelling on it.

Still, this newfound leniency now caused Emma to suspect that maybe there were ulterior motives behind the decision, and that only stood to make her feel manipulated.

And that aggravated her.

"Look, why don't you just stay out of everyone's business and maybe count your blessings instead, yeah?" Emma scowled at him. "Seriously, don't push me today, Gold; I'm in no mood."

"Then I suppose that this isn't going to be a pleasant conversation," Gold replied conversationally, leaning against the long table. He smirked at Emma's obvious confusion.

"What?"

"The favor you owe me, dearie; I'm calling it in."

Emma blinked at him. "Excuse me?"

Fuck, she had completely forgotten about that. And with everything going on, right now was so not the time to be doing god knows what for Rumpel-fucking-stiltskin. Gold was bad before the curse broke, but Emma was certain that he wasn't called 'The Dark One' for no reason; so despite the fact that he no longer had access to magic, Emma still considered him to be far more dangerous.

And that made her wary of what he was about to ask of her.

"The favor you owe me, Sherriff; surely you haven't forgotten? My sympathies if you have, but it will hold no bearing on what's expected of you; a deal is a deal, after all."

"Save the speech," Emma snapped impatiently. "I get that I owe you something, and I'm not trying to get out of it, it's just that now is really not a good time."

"Forgive me, but it's not exactly in my nature to care," Gold responded, his smirk growing at the look of annoyance plastered on the blonde's face. "Now, would you like to sit down so we can discuss our arrangement, or…?"

"I'd rather stand," Emma said shortly, folding her arms across her chest. Gold merely shrugged.

"Suit yourself, dearie."

Gold crossed the room, taking his sweet ass time in sitting down in one of the chairs. Emma exhaled an impatient breath and leaned against the far wall, her eyebrow rising in expectation. After a moment, Gold finally spoke.

"As I'm sure you already know, the town line is still intact," he began. "Unfortunately, this poses a problem for me. I have something that needs to be… ah, retrieved from the other side, so to speak, and though I could easily go and get it myself, bringing it back is where the problem lies. You see, it's hard to get back to a place that has completely disappeared once you are no longer inside it."

Emma narrowed her eyes. "What's this got to do with me? If I leave, I can't get back just as much as the rest of you."

"That is true," Gold continued. "However, I believe there is a way to fix the town line. All I need is access to the magic that was released in this realm when the curse broke and—"

"So you want me to tell you where the magic is, is that it?" Emma cut in. "Why do you even assume I know?"

"No, that's not it at all," Gold told her, sounding a little impatient at being interrupted. "I know where the magic resides: at Regina's manor. It is where the curse broke, after all."

It really did not sit well with Emma that he knew that, as she didn't trust the man in the slightest with or without magic. And with? Well that was probably a whole lot worse. But if he already knew, what the hell could she do about it? It wasn't as though she could go and hide the magic from him or anything.

At the moment, Emma was just going to have to trust that he didn't have destructive motives behind getting it.

"Then I'm still not seeing what you need me for," Emma responded after a moment's silence.

"If you could find it within yourself to be quiet for longer than a minute, dearie, then perhaps you will," Gold sharply replied, which only made Emma glare at him harder. She did, however, say nothing, so the man continued, "I have waited a long time – longer than you can even imagine – to find this particular person, and—"

"Wait, a person?" Emma interrupted, probably only furthering Gold's theory that she lacked the self-discipline to keep herself quiet. "I thought it was an object or… something."

"No, that which I am seeking is very much a person, Sherriff Swan," Gold confirmed impatiently. However he paused, taking a hesitant breath before revealing, "It's… my son. Baelfire. He fell through a portal some time ago and ended up in this realm, although the specifics of where is still unknown to me."

Emma felt her brain grind to a screeching halt at those words. Gold had a son? Henry's book had never mentioned that.

As the woman before him seemed to be struck mute at the revelation, Gold took the silence as a sign to continue. "The favor I am asking of you, Emma, is to find and retrieve him for me. You seem to have a certain expertise in that area, so I'm sure the task won't prove to be too difficult for someone like you."

"You…" Emma began, looking at him like he had about six heads. She still couldn't wrap her brain around the fact that Gold had actually managed to reproduce once upon a time. Emma pushed that aside for a minute though and pointed out, "But what about the boundary? Even if I find him, I can't bring him back until you figure out a way to fix it."

"If you give me your spare set of keys to Regina's manor, I assure you, all will be rectified by the time you return."

Emma nearly laughed at him with disbelief. "You really expect me to just leave when I have no guarantee of coming back? Your kid could be anywhere, which means I could be trekking halfway across the world for this. I can't bring Henry with me if that's the case, and you just expect me to leave him here when I don't even know if I could get back to him? No."

"You seem to be mistaken, dearie," Gold hissed, getting to his feet to face her. "I am not asking. This is what you owe me, and I really do not believe you want to find out what happens to people who break deals with me."

Emma's eyes flashed at the threat as Gold began to breeze past her, uncaring of her plight.

"You have twenty four hours to give me an answer. And rest assured, if you say no, you will not like what will follow."

[x]

"What do you think he'll do if I refuse?"

Mary Margaret and David side-glanced each other, equal looks of worry painted across their faces. "Honestly, I really don't think any of us wants to find out," David responded. "He may not have his magic right now, but if what he says is true, then he'll get it soon. Damn," he cursed beneath his breath, looking frustrated with himself. "I can't believe we didn't realize it only resided at Regina's. We're going to have to keep the manor guarded, because if Jafar…" David trailed off, sighing heavily. "Damn," he repeated again, this time much softer and more to himself.

"It's okay, David. There has been a lot going on lately, it's understandable that we missed it," Mary Margaret assured him, placing a comforting hand on his forearm.

It made Emma feel a little guilty, as she had known since before Regina left that there was magic there. Or, at least, that she was able to do magic while there. Still, she should have put the pieces together sooner. What if their enemies already found out? It was bad enough that Gold had, but he wasn't the one actively trying to kill them.

At least, not yet.

"So you really think I should do it?" Emma asked, surprised that they weren't protesting this more. But then again, they knew what Gold was capable of much more than she did. "What if I can't get back?"

"No, I don't think you should do it," Mary Margaret told her firmly, before a pained expression passed over her face. "But I don't think you really have a choice. What that man does to people who break deals with him…" She trailed off, unable to meet her eye anymore.

"We'll have to keep an eye on him while you're gone," David told her, trying to think of some way to make this situation a little more ideal. "Explain to Gold that he can only get access to the magic at Regina's manor under our supervision. We'll make sure he's working on a way to get you home."

"He's sending me to find his son," Emma responded. "So I'm pretty sure he's legit in that sense, but yeah… I don't exactly like the idea of him doing god knows what with the magic available to him. He may have other motives."

"Exactly."

Emma sighed heavily, running her fingers through her hair as she leaned back in her seat. "I really don't like the thought of leaving you guys alone while the Evil Trio is still out there somewhere. I mean, Henry…"

"We'll take care of him, Emma," Mary Margaret promised her. "I swear. We will not let them harm a hair on that child's head."

Emma still didn't feel completely comfortable with it, but it wasn't as though she had any other options. "Fuck," she breathed, covering her face with her hands before sliding them down her cheeks dejectedly. "This was so the last thing I needed right now. I don't even know how long I'm going to be gone. What if it takes months to find this guy?"

"Have more faith in your abilities, Emma," Mary Margaret consoled her, trying to give her a small smile even though it was clear she wasn't happy with the circumstances either. "You did this for a living once, didn't you?"

"Yeah but this kid came through some freaking portal. I don't even really have a viable place to start. All I have is his name, which I'm sure he's changed by now. 'Baelfire' would kind of stick out like a sore thumb in this world, you know?"

"I'm sure you'll find him," David assured her, trying to boost her lacking self-confidence. Emma wished it worked.

She had spent a large portion of her life finding those who didn't want to be found, but they all had a paper trail. This kid was from another world, and unless he was thrown into the foster or adoption system once he came here, Emma wasn't sure she'd be able to locate him. And even that was iffy, considering there was a very large possibility that Baelfire didn't even end up in this country. The world was a very large place; he could have been dropped anywhere.

Fuck, Emma thought miserably, I'm going to need a miracle.

TBC…

Author's Note:
I'm sure there are going to be some complaints about Neal being involved in this fic, but I assure you, he will not be used as some kind of jealousy tool to drive a wedge further between Emma and Regina. He actually has a purpose that will play out near the end of this fic. So much in fact, that after I figured out what I was doing with him he graduated from being called 'stupid face' in my notes to his actual name, lol. So don't worry about some het stuff being spewed in your face. While their past relationship will be touched upon at one point, it won't become a large factor in the overall plot.

Also, originally this chapter started out very differently. I've posted the alternate scene on my tumblr (obsessionisthenewblack); you can search the "TotH" tag on my blog if you're interested. While I do like what I wrote before, this story is already looking to be around forty chapters when completed, and I didn't want to add anymore scenes that weren't entirely necessary.