*notes*

I just wanna thank my beta reader Denise for again helping me out with this story. I am so beyond grateful for it. I know this story could've had much more drama to it but I was running out of time and had to get it all finished. So, that being said I hope you like the story. This was based off of a artwork I saw on Facebook that led me to want to write it but of course I changed it up a bit to make it sound better as to why Emma didn't go off to Neverland too. I really hope I did this story justice. Please comment and give kudos if you like it because that means a lot to me and thanks again to my beta reader!

chapter 1

Regina had been captured by Tamara and Greg. The latter turned out to be Tamara's secret lover. That was a piece of information that no one saw coming. Snow and David went on to free Regina from the gurney she was strapped to, as Emma and Neal went after Tamara.

Greg had taken off running. He had gotten away, but Tamara was not so lucky. Before they could even react, Tamara pulled out a gun and pointed it at Neal. Emma didn't even blink; she automatically dove in front of Neal. The bullet went into Emma's chest, puncturing a lung. Immediately, Emma fell to the floor passing out. Tamara took off running.

Neal didn't bother to chase after Tamara. He was too worried about Emma, who was already bleeding profusely, so he called out for his father.

"Papa, I know you can hear me. Get your ass over here, or I'll never forgive you!"

Suddenly, Gold appeared in a puff of gray smoke.

"Bae? What happened?" said Gold. His face looked very confused.

"It was Tamara. She shot Emma. She's not responding. She's unconscious and won't wake up. Can you heal her?"

"Even if I wanted to, I don't think I can. Miss Swan is the Savior, my magic won't heal good magic like Emma's. She's the product of true love; the purest magic of all. My magic is dark. I couldn't heal her even if I tried. I'm sorry, Bae."

Neal looked at Gold as if he was lying, but he knew deep down that his father would never lie to him, especially about this. He started crying, tears running down his face.

"You gotta do something, Papa. She can't die. She can't…"

Gold glanced down at the unconscious blonde, passed out on the ground, his son hovering, trying to wake her up before he finally spoke again.

"I'll tell you what; I'll transport her to the hospital. I'm pretty sure Dr. Whale can help her."

Gold knelt and lightly put his hand on Emma's shoulder and looked up at his son.

"Thank you, papa!" whispered Neal as Gold disappeared with Emma in gray smoke. Neal was left alone and determined to catch his now ex-fiancé, Tamara, before she ultimately got away. He really couldn't bear the thought of her getting away.

Neal started heading in the direction he saw Tamara disappear, heading towards the docks. Only now did he realize that Tamara wasn't alone. Greg was with her, and so was Henry. Snow, David and Regina were all passed out on the docks, their bodies limp, like tossed ragged dolls, as if they were hit over the head. Henry was also there, unconscious like the rest. Only Greg was holding Henry in his arms. Neal inched closer, Tamara and Greg spotted him, and Tamara raised the gun as if she were going to fire at him.

"Stay away, or I'll shoot!" Tamara's hand was shaking unsteadily with the gun.

Neal didn't show any signs of unease. For some reason he didn't think she'd actually shoot him, even though she almost did already, if Emma hadn't jumped in front of him he probably would already be dead. He kept walking slowly closer and closer.

"Come on Tamara, put down the gun. He's just a kid. Why do you even want Henry? Let him go!"

Tamara's smile turned evil, the corners tilting up to an unsteady degree, her eyes shinning with contempt

"I work for a higher power. I answer only to him. Not you."

"Oh, really, and who do you work for?"

"That's none of your concern!"

Greg pulled a magic bean from his pocket and threw it in the water. After a few seconds, a magic portal appeared. It looked like a swirling sinkhole was forming in the water. Before Neal could even react, Greg jumped down into the portal with Henry in his arms. Right before Tamara followed Greg and Henry through the portal, she shot Neal in the leg, slowing him down enough not to follow.

Neal fell to the ground in agony from the wound. He started screaming "HENRY!" as the portal closed. Snow, David, and Regina woke up on the docks a few moments later. They looked around in panic.

"WHERE IS HENRY?" her voice quaking, in even more of a panic now that Henry was nowhere to be seen.

Neal glanced at Regina and shook his head for a few seconds. Regina's eyes opened up in disbelief when she realized what this meant.

"They….took…him!, said Neal in agony. Tears started to form in his eyes from the sheer agony of the bullet searing through his flesh.

"I couldn't…follow!"

"NO!...NO!" Regina shouted as she collapsed right after standing moments before. Tears started to fall down her face. She was panicking. Her worst fears were materializing right there and then. She stood back up and started walking back and forth like a caged beast. Her agony screams sounded almost feral. Snow and David promptly stood up and ran over to Regina, trying to calm her down with reassuring words, telling her that they would go after Greg and Tamara and bring Henry back home. David then ran over to Neal to check on him and to assess how bad his wound was. It wasn't too severe from what David could see, but it looked as if he would need stitches. After David reassured Neal that he'd be alright, David frantically looked around for any sign of Emma, and when he couldn't spot her, he began to panic.

"Neal, where's Emma?"

"Tamara shot her and she passed out. I called my father and asked him to heal her. He told me he couldn't because her magic was pure and his was dark. Apparently, dark magic can't heal light magic so, he took her to the hospital."

"And you believed him?" Emma's mother lashed out, David almost having to hold her back.

"Of course. He would never lie to me!"

Regina stopped pacing back and forth. Her brows were scrunched together in thought.

"I know how to find out where Henry is. But I need a drop of your blood," turning towards Neal.

Henry's father didn't respond. He just nodded in agreement, Regina held out her hand, purple smoke appearing all around her hand. As the smoke disappeared, a white paper formed in her hand. It looked like a paper from the 1800's. She laid it on the ground.

Once the map was flat on the wooden surface of the dock, Regina then made a tiny dark blue potion bottle appear in her hand. She held it up to Neal's wound on his leg, the tiny glass filling with dark red liquid. Neal screamed in agony at the touch.

"Don't worry; I'll heal you once I have enough of your blood to use for the locator spell."

Neal looked up at Regina, shocked, because he never thought she'd heal him. If anything he thought she would be happy with the idea of him dying from the gunshot. He knew she wasn't keen on him. He figured she'd take him to the hospital to get treated at best. Although, he definitely preferred to be healed magically, he only wished Emma could be healed magically too. He hoped Emma was alright.

"Why would you be nice enough to heal me? Not that I'm not grateful, but why?" asked Neal.

Regina just looked at him. She didn't smile. She looked a little annoyed by his presence. To be honest, she really didn't like him, but she knew Emma cared for him. Enough to think Emma would hate her if she didn't heal him.

"You're important to Emma, which means I can't let anything bad happen to you. Not if I can help it."

"Why do you care what Emma thinks?"

Regina just looked down at the ground before trying to think of a decent way to respond.

"I don't, but Henry does..."

Truthfully, Regina cared a lot about what Emma thought. She didn't want to, but she did. And lately, all Regina could think about was, wanting to be good for the blond and Henry. She was trying so hard to be the hero and not the villain; to prove that she was a good mother to Henry and truly loved him with her whole heart. She never thought she'd ever care about what Emma thought, but here she was, thinking about what Emma would think of her. It was starting to confuse her. Sometimes, her judgments didn't work out in her favor because she only thought about what Emma and Henry would think of her. Unfortunately, seeking their approval had lead to her capture by Greg and Tamara.

Once Regina had enough of Neal's blood in the small vial, she let some drops fall onto the paper. Letters started forming as blood drops began to run through the surface, developing a clear image. They slowly spelled out 'Neverland.'

"Neverland! That's where they took Henry. I'm going to follow them. I'll bring him back home. But first, I need to make sure Emma is okay. I can't just leave without knowing she's okay." The brunette rambled as she readied herself to poof out.

"Neverland! They took him to Neverland!" Henry's dad grabbed the paper to take a closer look at the formed letters to make sure that's what was written.

"Have you been there before?" asked David.

"I have! Once. When I was about 14. It's a long story, and honestly, I will not let them keep Henry there. He will become a Lost Boy if we don't get him back, but I agree with Regina; we need to make sure Emma is okay before we go running off to Neverland."

Neal then looked at Regina before continuing.

"And frankly, I'm surprised you even care about Emma. I thought you hated her and wanted to get rid of her since the first day that she set foot in this town. So why do you care if she's okay? Normally you'd be following Henry to Neverland and not even thinking about anyone but him."

Regina looked at Neal as she tried to hide her feelings. Over the last few weeks Regina had started noticing she had feelings for Emma, She wasn't sure when she started to feel different towards Emma, when exactly all her animosity started to dilute. She wasn't really sure how to handle these disconcerting new feelings if she were being honest with herself. Especially since Emma had been too jealous over Tamara and Neal being together, let alone Hook always following her around like a lovesick puppy. So, Regina had hidden her feelings because she felt that it was better that way. Whatever these feelings were, which she hadn't had time yet to process, she tried to school her voice and not sound too concerned. She didn't want her internal turmoil be known by any of them.

"She's my son's other mother, and if anything happens to her, Henry would never forgive me. So I need to make sure she is okay before we go off chasing Henry to Neverland. If I go to Neverland without checking on Emma first, Henry would probably never talk to me again. I can't risk it. He's everything to me."

Neal looked at her like he understood, but still was curious if that was all it was. With all her history as the evil regent she had been, he couldn't avoid being suspicious about her apparent good intentions. Neal, like many other unsuspecting residents of Storybrooke, honestly thought there was always some ulterior motive behind her actions. Either way, he was grateful that she was willing to help them in any capacity.

"Regina, can you please transport us to the hospital? I can't wait to see if my daughter is okay. I can't lose her again. I just can't!" Snow's tears dripping down her face as she contemplated the worst.

Regina didn't reply. She just shook her head. She then waved her hand over Neal's wound on his leg to heal it, and after it was healed, she helped Neal up before transporting them all to the hospital in a cloud of purple smoke.