Chapter 20
Joy to the World Part II
It was the next morning, Christmas Eve, that Regina started off the day in poor spirits. She yawned and stretched as she sat up in bed wearing a long, black satin nightgown with thin straps. She stood up and winced at the cold wooden floors under her feet, throwing on her white robe to go and check on Henry.
She went to his bedside and sank down on it to give him a Christmas morning kiss, when she discovered something was amiss. His blanket was drawn up over his head, and when she went to shake his shoulder, she grasped at nothing. She jerked back the blanket and saw that he had arranged his pillows to look like a sleeping form. Instantly, she was worried yet simultaneously pissed.
"Graham?!" she called out, screaming in frustration. She knew Henry had a penchant for running away, but things had been going so well lately! She thought he was over it. Tears of frustration and fear for his safety ran down her cheeks, and Graham came into the room on high alert in his pajamas. "What? Regina-" he started to ask, but when he rounded the corner he noticed her son's absence.
"Don't worry, we'll go look for him," he said. Graham went to her and pressed a sweet and urgent kiss to her forehead. "Get dressed, don't worry. We'll find him," he told her.
***** ONCE UPON A TIME ****
Their first call was to a very sleepy Emma.
"Where's Henry?"
It was a very abrupt question, and it jerked her out of her sleep immediately. She sat up in bed and started throwing on some discarded jeans laid out on the recliner nearby. "I don't know where he is, don't tell me you guys don't," her voice had a razor edge to it in her state of alarm.
Graham was on the other line, and Regina was ready to claw his face to get the phone from him. "Now see here, Emma, if you are trying to keep my son from me, by God, I will," the mayor frantically screamed into the phone, and Emma held it away from her ear as she pulled on a tight, white sweater.
"Regina, I don't know where Henry is!" Emma barked into the phone, raising her voice. "I swear I don't have him, but I think I might have an idea where he could be," Emma said to the frantic mayor, trying to get a word in edgewise. "Let me talk to Graham," she ordered the mayor.
The mayor was so beside herself, she did as Emma said and let Graham have the phone back. Emma told the Sheriff about Henry's beliefs about the mines, and he agreed it was the first place they should look. They agreed to meet there immediately.
***** ONCE UPON A TIME ****
As soon as the law officers and mayor pulled up to the site and saw the opening caved in, they phoned for the fire department. Of course Henry was down there. It was dangerous and he'd been told not to go there, which naturally meant that was the first place they should look. While they waited for the fire department, they combed the surrounding area with no results.
Regina's panic was visibly rising as the moments passed. The knowledge that her son might be trapped underground had her face drained of color, but her lips were pressed firmly together in grim determination. "We need something, something to punch through the ground," Regina said. The fire department had just arrived and was assessing the situation.
Regina peered at the crowd assembling helplessly, looking to anyone for suggestions. It was one of the townspeople gathered that solemnly suggested that they could use TNT. Regina found herself considering the idea, no other idea presenting itself to her at the moment. Emma was immediately against it, and was very vocal about her opinion.
"I may not have been a mother very long, but I know for damn sure that it isn't smart to involve dynamite around MY kid!" Emma yelled. "You are NOT using explosives," she urged.
"Well at least I'm doing something!" Regina hollered. "We have to get to him!" she sobbed. Graham came to stand between the two tense women. "Regina, I think that Emma is right-" he warily said, and Regina let out a frustrated scream. "I don't care what you do, just get me my son!" she wailed.
"Regina, you have to calm down," Emma said. "This isn't helping anyone," she urged in hushed tones. People were starting to look their way, watching the normally stoic mayor lose her cool completely.
"Oh please, lecture me 'til his oxygen runs out," Regina snidely remarked. Emma rolled her eyes and threw her hands up in defeat. She just couldn't deal with this woman. She turned her back on the hysterical woman. Regina was just about to angrily follow Emma and insist on the explosives again when her foot caught, and she went sprawling across the ground.
"What the-" the mayor exclaimed, and looked down. Her open toed navy shoe was caught in some kind of metal grate, or drain. There was dead grass and leaves strewn over it, but sure enough, there was a metal grate opening at her feet. They pushed the leaves aside and opened it, only to reveal a very deep elevator shaft. Emma stood at the top of it and threw an errant rock down, and they listened hard to see how far it fell.
It seemed to clang endlessly, and Emma looked up with some trepidation. It was going to be a long trip down. "It should be me," she asserted right away, seeing the grim determination in Regina's eyes. "He's my son, I should go," the mayor said with a tightly clenched jaw.
"No offense, mayor, but you've been behind a desk for years. Let me do this. Let me get our son," Emma said meaningfully, staring into the other woman's vulnerable and scared dark eyes. She was just a mother worried about her son, not so evil after all.
"Bring me back my son," she said.
****** ONCE UPON A TIME *********
Graham helped to lower Emma down the darkened shaft. She had a bungee wrapped around her as she scaled the walls of the shaft, advancing farther and farther down. Before long, her flashlight started bouncing off a steel structure, and she raised her hand to cover her eyes from the glint.
"Hello?" she called. Her voice rang off the cavernous walls, but there were no responses forthcoming.
That was when August and Henry started to hear a feminine voice. They stirred from the places on the ground, resting briefly as they were. Henry definitely recognized his mother's voice. "This way!" he cried, urging August onward. They could hear her voice coming from a distance, and it worried August that she was so close. Didn't she know how unsafe it was?
At this thought, it was almost like he called it. He and Henry were running down a corridor, listening for the sound of Emma's voice. Henry was ahead of him, and suddenly, the ceiling started to collapse behind them and it was a race against time. Emma appeared at the end of the corridor, just shy of the elevator shaft, and stared horrified as the ceiling collapsed behind the two running boys.
"Mom!" Henry was screaming as he ran, frantic and fast as his legs could carry him. Emma had the elevator door shaft open, and the top hatch was open so that she could shove Henry through. She wasn't so sure about August running behind him, though.
Her heart raced as she frantically waved her hands, urging the boys to go faster, but August was so slow with his limp. It didn't look like he was going to make it.
At the last second, the boys burst into the elevator shaft with her and collided with the wall. Before the small area could be overrun by rubble and fallen dirt, Emma was hoisting Henry up through the ceiling hatch as quickly as possible. She climbed up next, and reached her arms down through the hole to help hoist August up next.
As soon as they were both safe, Emma yanked Henry into an overbearing hug. She had tears of joy rolling down her cheeks as she kissed the top of his head over and over again. She had thought he was going to die down there!
It was so surreal, watching the boys run from certain death at being crushed under ground. It took a moment for the adrenaline to ebb away and for her hands to stop shaking. August fastened Henry's bungee safety harness for her and she smiled gratefully, exhausted.
When they finally managed to get to the top of the shaft, it seemed almost the whole town had gathered. They cheered when Henry's head came over the edge, and Regina was the first one there to pull him into a smothering hug. Emma and then August climbed out after him. Graham helped her to her feet and told her good job, patting her encouragingly on the back.
Emma felt embarrassed almost. There were too many people around the quad area. She found herself gravitating towards the edge, and watched from afar as Regina and Graham scolded Henry for worrying them, no doubt. The gathering had taken on a celebratory nature, and she could spy Ruby hitting on Vic the car mechanic, leaning across a city vehicle's hood as she spoke with him.
Emma found herself looking for August across the quad where he'd disappeared in all the hubbub. He has good reason to avoid me, Emma thought angrily. What the hell were they even doing down there in the first place?!
August was standing off to the side, by himself. He was sitting on someone's tailgate, watching the livery go on around him. Someone had produced a cooler full of beers. Emma stopped herself short of storming up to him, and took a moment to study him. She noticed for the first time that he didn't have a long necked beverage himself. She didn't want to admit it, but she was truly relieved he was there; alive, in one piece.
She was surprised to find him with her son, but if she really thought about it, she shouldn't have been. She was undoubtedly angry that he, a grown adult, had taken her son down into such dangerous territory, but somehow she couldn't stop thinking about how he'd cheated death. She couldn't forget the desperate look on his face as he ran hard, a step behind Henry the whole way.
She was glad he was alive. That was enough for now. The interrogation could wait for later.
***** ONCE UPON A TIME ******
Later that evening, Emma was standing outside Granny's leaning against her police cruiser. Henry joined her, smiling happily. Back at the quarry, his mother had learned her lesson- there was no keeping the boy from Emma. She could try and separate them, but she would only keep being the villain in her son's eyes. Regina lifted the ban on Emma Swan with a chip on her shoulder.
Henry was beside himself with the news. He took advantage immediately and told his mother he wanted to spend the rest of Christmas Eve with his birth mom. Regina and Graham spent some time alone for some much needed relaxation after their stressful day, worrying about the boy.
Emma let Henry turn on the siren as they drove, and they went back to her apartment with Mary Margaret. The school marm made them all hot cocoa and they sat down in the dining room area. Suddenly, Henry cleared his throat and asked the question he'd been dying to know.
"August told me he met my dad," Henry said to Emma. Snow's eyebrows raised in surprise, and she looked curiously Emma's way. She'd never talked about Henry's father before. This was news to Emma. She grit her teeth in annoyance. "Oh yeah? What did he say about him?" Emma asked warily.
"Nothing useful," the young boy sighed. "He told me I should ask you," Henry said, turning puppy dog eyes on his mother. "Can you tell me about him?"
Emma didn't like to extinguish the innocent, curious expression on her son's face. In fact, she was determined that he didn't need to know the truth the more she thought about it.
"I was pretty young when we met. I had just gotten out of the foster system, and the only job I could get was out at this diner right off the interstate." Henry came around her side of the desk to sit, intent on her tale.
"Your dad was training to be a fireman. He always got the worst shifts, so he always came in for coffee and pie. He'd sit at the counter and always complain that we didn't sell pumpkin pie," she said, rolling her eyes, taking a stroll down memory lane. "But he always came back the next day anyway."
"Did you get married?"
Emma scoffed. "No. It wasn't anything like that. We just hung out a few times outside of work, and well... life happened," she said. "His got better, and mine got worse. I got into some trouble and we lost contact for awhile. Then, when I found out I was pregnant with you, I tried to contact him. Only it was too late. I found out that he died, saving a family from a burning building."
Henry was saddened by this news. Emma looked thoughtfully at him, then leaned down so that she was even with him. She chucked him under his chin. "I know you like to say I'm the Savior, but he was the real savior, kiddo," she affectionately said. Henry smiled tearfully, sad for what he had never known and lost before he had a chance.
"Do you have anything of his?" Henry asked. "Something to remember him by?"
Emma thought for a moment, and then her hand raised delicately to her chest. Henry looked to where her hand rested, and he noticed the swan necklace hanging there. He waited with bated breath for his mother to speak. After a moment, she looked down at the small talisman fondly and then removed it from around her neck.
"Here, Merry Christmas," she said. "This was a gift from your father," she said, offering it to him. "You can turn it back into a key chain, if you want," she bashfully told him. Emma wasn't used to sharing what was hers, but for this kid's sake, she was willing to give him the moon.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this little addition right before the holidays! I apologize for its length, but we should be getting into some juicy details soon that I think should have been delved into in season one between August and Emma. That being said, I really appreciate all of your continued support, and would be eternally grateful if you left a review with any constructive criticism or ideas :) Let me know how I'm doing, y'all.
