Chapter 5

I am so hungry, I am going to die. My stomach is going to eat itself and I am going to die. We have been walking along this trail for too damn long. My feet have blisters, every single muscle in my body is protesting any further movement, I am hungry and I am emotionally spent.

The only thing keeping me from quitting is the thought of reuniting with Henry. That and Snow's undying strength are lighting the fire under my ass. Otherwise, I would have given up hours ago. I would have collapsed and rolled myself up into a ball and I would have just forgotten about everything. I still want to, but I never will. I will never, ever forget Henry.

"Emma, would you like to rest? You look like you're going to faint." Snow catches my arm as the Castle ruins come into view. Oh, now she asks…now that we're here! I almost reply with a snarky comment but think better of it. The woman just risked her life to save mine and now is not the time to repay her with underhanded comments.

"Oh, no that's okay. We're almost there anyways… and that means we're closer to getting back to planet Earth, so no thanks. I'm fine with keeping our pace, Snow." I reply with a smile. "Do you need a break?" I turn to Snow to assess her face.

A large bump has formed just above her left temple. She has a few scratches, but looks happy enough. I can tell her spirits are still high, which is more than you could say about mine. Stop being such a negative Nancy, Emma. Sheesh.

"If you're fine, I'm fine. I don't need to stop." She beams over at me with the most beautiful smile and I can't help but smile back at her. I love spending time with her. Mom…mom…ah, the word just doesn't come easily to me. I'm not ready yet. Some day, I will call her "mom" ….Just not today. Or tomorrow.

We continue walking in relative silence. There isn't much to say and I'm too drained from all the events of today to ask Snow any questions. Finally, after hours of walking, we come to the beginning of the Castle ruins.

"Oh, thank God!" I exclaim. Snow jumps about a foot into the air, clearly startled by my outburst. I can't tell if the situation is actually funny or if I'm just too tired to censor myself, but I laugh. I laugh long and hard and am winded by the time I get my giggles under control. Snow smirks at me in a motherly "oh-really-you're-laughing-at-me?" kind of way.

I grin back at her, a little embarrassed. She throws her arm around my shoulders and kisses the side of my head, "Just like your father…" Snow whispers and releases her hold on me. We continue walking about the ruins, when we come to a partially intact stairwell. And Snow is stopping here? Of course she is…

"If I'm right about this, Emma, we need to climb this stairwell. Once we reach the top, we will turn right and through the third door is your nursery." Snow's breath hitches in her throat and she turns her face from mine. I know that talking about this is hard for her, so I let her recover in silence.

She wipes her tears and looks back to me, "I'm sorry. It's just so hard for me, Emma. No mother wants to part with their child, especially just moments after they give birth. I hope someday you can forgive me for everything I've put you through. It was never my intention to desert you, Emma. I wanted to give you your best chance at survival. I never stopped loving you and I never want you to think that I did. There is so much I'd like to tell you, so much to apologize for, but now is not the time."

Snow sniffles and wraps me up into her arms and for once, I hug her back. I let a few tears roll onto my cheeks before looking back up at her. "I did…I did give up on you though. I wish I wouldn't have, but I did, Snow. And now I love you so much…I'm just…I just need some time to sort through my feelings. I don't hate you, so please don't think that I do. I just don't know how to handle all of this. All I am certain of right now is that I need to get back to Henry."

Snow clenches her jaw and nods her head. I feel bad for being so abrupt with her, but I just can't deal with her emotions on top of mine right now. I already feel like a cyclone of hormones and emotions right now without another thing to worry about. I take her hand and move to walk up the staircase.

The stone stairwell is unsteady, so we have to climb it quickly. The hallway is dark and dusty and only fractions of filtered sunlight bounce off the walls. It smells musty, like moist soil. This time, Snow leads the way to my nursery. Until now, I had been uninterested to see my nursery but I can't help thinking about what I could have had. What does it look like? My crib? The walls? Are they painted? Did I have toys?

The paint on the door is cracked and peeling. I run my fingers over the wood, trying to visualize what my life would have been like here. Snow turns the knob and slowly, the door creaks open. A wave of dust floats up around our feet and into the dimly lit room.

The room is large and beautifully decorated. Glass and shreds of paper scatter the ground. That's odd. A wooden crib, a rocking chair, pink blankets and stuffed animals; it's absolutely everything I have always wanted. I am home. In the middle of the room is a large tree stump.

Suddenly, everything makes sense. Snow brought us here for the magical stump; the portal back to Maine. It takes every ounce of strength for me to stifle my tears. I cover my mouth. I want to cry.

"That's why we're here…" I whisper in disbelief. I had no idea why Snow wanted to bring me back here, but now it's far too clear. "I'm not going without you, Snow." I shake my head at her incredulously. The stump only has room for one of us.

"Emma, I think you're the only one that can get it to work again. You…you're magical." Snow furrows her brow at me, her lip trembling slightly. Me? Why me? Why the fuck is everything in my hands all the time? Well, I'm sure as hell not leaving Snow here.

I shake my head at her. "No." It's all I can say because I won't do it. I open the doors of the stump and look around inside of it, measuring. Snow is right, there is no way that both of us can fit inside. Hold on.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see movement; the slightest flicker of movement from a mirror hanging on the wall. I creep closer to the mirror, now just inches from the reflective glass. I could have sworn I just saw Regina's face in the mirror. "Hello?" a faint voice from the mirror chimes.

I have never screamed louder in my life. Snow tackled me to the ground and covered my head with her arms. I look up at the mirror in shock. That fucking thing just talked to me! "Hello?" comes from the mirror again.

Snow runs to the mirror, suddenly elated. "Regina? Is that you? Can you hear me?" Snow shouts into the mirror and waits for a response. Regina's face flickers onto the mirror again but is gone just a quick.

"I'm here. It's Regina. I can hear you, Snow." Regina's voice purrs through the mirror. My stomach sinks because I know if it's in Regina's hands, we are never getting out of here.

"Regina, please help us. We need to get back to Storybrooke." Snow pleads our case through the mirror. Suddenly, I get an idea. I walk up to the mirror and place my hand on it. The same buzzing feeling surrounds my hand, just like the time when I touched the Storybrooke sign. That seems like a lifetime ago.

"Snow, take my hand!" I yell to her before the vortex can pull me through alone. Snow grabs my waist and I throw my free arm around her neck, holding on for dear life. The suction pulls on my arm and just like that, there's the deafening whoosh in my ears. We are spiraling through dimensions and worlds of different sorts but I focus on Henry. I can't breathe, it's like the air is being sucked from my lungs. Focus on Henry. Picture his sweet little kid face. All I want is Henry.

The last thing I remember is Snow holding onto me. I wake up in a dark place, with hard wooden floors. Snow is still clutching me tight around the waist. I shake her softly, my throat too dry to speak. She looks up at me, terrified. "How did you do that, Emma?" Her voice is weak and muffled into a whisper.

I shrug and sit up, looking around the dark place. I can only see about a foot in front of myself. Somehow I know this place. It just feels so familiar to me. I run my hands along the floor, looking for something, anything. My hand bumps into something hard and it rattles along the floor.

I pick up the object to study it. It's hard but soft. It feels like metal or marble or something along those lines. I hold it up in front of my face. Oh my god… I gasp and drop it. "Snow, I know where we are. I just found a skeleton key." I whimper, willing myself not to break down.

I scoot back to Snow and hold her hand. This is bad. "We are in Regina's house…aren't we?" Snow whispers back to me as a tear falls onto my hand. I grip her hand even tighter, trying to be strong.

"Yeah, Snow. We're at Regina's." The pit in my stomach returns. How are we going to get out of this one?

**Hello everyone! I'm so sorry it took so long for me to update. As some of you may know, my laptop completely died. I have to use an unreliable desktop for now but I hope to get my laptop fixed asap! Please let me know what you think or what you'd like to see happen in the story. Thanks for following! Xxoo**