A/N: It seems there is no fooling you guys! You've all seen right through my plan. I know that a lot of you aren't happy about this plot twist, but I promise that this is going to move in a positive direction. I hope you'll stick with me but I understand if this has all gotten to be too much. I've been worried about this story getting to be overly melodramatic, and I always welcome your feedback.
Special thanks to cynarabueno for being my sounding board.
"Your son is a terror," Ruby said. "Great kid, but don't be surprised if he's chained himself to the Storybrooke sign when you get back."
"Sorry." Emma was sitting in the hotel lobby, taking Ruby's call while Regina looked up real estate listings on the guest computer.
"Granny may or may not have locked him in the walk-in freezer."
Emma snorted at that, and Regina glanced in her direction. She was feeling much better now that she'd eaten a full meal, and the smile she gave Emma reassured her that everything was all right.
"I don't want to impose the kid on you guys, but Regina and I were thinking about taking a couple of days to scout out a new home. And since he clearly doesn't want to leave yet…" Emma watched Regina turn back towards the computer.
Ruby sighed dramatically. "I suppose."
"You're the best."
"I don't feel right leaving him when he's upset," Regina said as Emma hung up. She finished what she was doing on the computer and came to sit beside the blonde. "I should go back and get him."
"You?" Emma asked. "Don't you mean we?"
"Well, you are certainly not crossing that town line any time soon," Regina insisted, slipping her hand into Emma's even as she scolded.
"And you are not going to Storybrooke by yourself," Emma replied. "So let's take a day or two, look at some of those towns you found, and then we can go back and get him."
Regina stood, keeping her fingers entwined with Emma's and urging the blonde up with her. "Let's get started, then."
The nice thing about having to spend an otherwise totally boring day at Granny's was that Henry, after so many days with only his mothers, could see what was happening in the rest of the town. Or hear. He was lying down in the back booth, busy reading, when he suddenly noticed the voices coming from the next booth over.
"I finished the autopsy this morning." Henry set down his book at the sound of a voice he couldn't place. "You won't believe how he died."
"Oh? How is that?" That voice he knew, although it took a second to remember whose it was.
Mother Superior, Henry realized. Or whatever her real name was. He didn't know for sure, but he knew that the nuns were fairies for the most part.
"His heart was ripped out," the other person replied. Henry figured it must be someone from the hospital.
Mother Superior gasped. "The Queen's doing, no doubt." Henry inched closer to the edge of the booth in hopes of hearing better. "You know, I told Whale that we should have killed her while we had the chance. I offered to do it myself, but he said he wasn't done with her. He let his lust cloud his judgment, and look what happened to him."
Henry scrambled to keep up. So his mom had killed Dr. Whale? And Mother Superior wanted her dead, and Dr. Whale wanted something else?
He wasn't sure what lust meant, but he definitely knew that nuns weren't supposed to want to kill people.
"It gets stranger," the hospital worker said. "We checked the security footage, obviously, and she wasn't on it. There were just the usual patients, their families, staff… and Emma Swan."
Henry's eyes widened. He remembered his mom saying something about how she didn't know if Emma would be able to rip out hearts, but was it possible that she could? Did Regina put Emma up to this?
It was easy to slip from the booth to the storage room, and he cut through the kitchen to find Ruby rolling silverware in napkins for dinner. There were a million questions, but he led with what seemed the easiest one. "What's lust?"
Ruby just stared at him for a second. "What?"
"What does it mean?"
Ruby was surprised to see that he looked totally serious. "I'm pretty sure Regina would kill me if I gave her baby boy the sex talk."
"I know what sex is," Henry retorted.
Ruby shook her head, smiling at the stubborn boy who was digging in, arms folded across his chest in a way that was completely Regina. "Lust means wanting to have sex with someone really badly."
Henry considered, trying to remember what exactly Mother Superior had said. It was something to do with Whale. He shrugged, thanked Ruby, and then hurried upstairs.
He'd brought some of the books on magic with him, and he pulled them out from where he'd concealed them.
Emma and Regina had driven through a few small towns, only finding one worth getting out and walking around. There were a few more on Regina's list, and Emma figured that they might as well press on and see one more before finding somewhere to stay for the night.
She'd noticed that Regina seemed tired, but Emma was surprised when the brunette handed over the keys to her beloved Benz and let her drive it.
Emma glanced at Regina as she pulled into town, seeing that she'd dozed off during the drive. She drove a bit through the streets, trying to decide if this place was worth waking Regina for. It was bigger than Storybrooke, with more shops and restaurants, but it still had some of that same charm. Emma drove by the high school, which looked good from the outside, at least, and then turned a corner to find a spectacular view of the ocean. She pulled over, the road high above the rocky beach, and looked out into the water.
It wasn't flat and tame, like Storybrooke's harbor. Here there were no docks, no old canneries, just rocks and unending water.
"Regina," Emma said, reaching over and stroking the side of the brunette's face. "Hey, Regina," she said a little louder, and that seemed to startle Regina out of sleep. "Wake up."
Regina opened her eyes, lips curving into a smile when Emma was the first thing she saw. No one had ever looked at Emma like that before, like she alone was worth waking up for. It took the breath out of her, and with no words coming to mind Emma simply leaned across and kissed Regina. And again and again until she finally remembered why she woke Regina in the first place.
"Hey," Emma said breathlessly. "Look at that."
Regina turned her head and stared silently at the vista for a long moment before looking back at Emma. "It's beautiful."
"I think it might be the one," Emma told her, and they both admired the ocean for a bit longer before Emma drove them back to the town's one, small hotel.