A/N: If anyone was confused by how they snuck Emma out last chapter, here's an outline:
Emma switched appearances with Regina temporarily. Emma, looking like Regina, left the hospital with Snow and Henry. Then, when the magic that made Regina look like Emma wore off, Regina got the attention of a hospital worker and asked to be let go, being that she wasn't the patient that was supposed to be in the room (which would be Emma). Hope that helped!
Emma, back to her normal blond self, slept soundly in the back of her yellow bug. Regina, also back to herself, was driving, Snow had shotgun, and Henry was staring out the window at the passing sights from beside Emma.
"How much further until Storybrooke?" Henry asked, probably for the fifteenth time.
Regina sighed at her impatient son. "I don't know, Henry. A few hours, maybe."
"Okay." Henry accepted the time estimate.
"You remembered the scroll, right, Henry?" Snow asked from the front seat. "We can't get back into Storybrooke without it."
"Right here, Grandma." Henry patted the side of his backpack. "I remembered it the first four times you asked, too."
A small smirk formed at the corner of Regina's lips. "Now you know how annoying it is when someone constantly asks you the same question."
Henry stuck his tongue out at his mother. He didn't care that he was fifteen, and that that was a childish thing to do. Henry had a right to be his own person.
Snow pressed her cheek against the cool glass of the window and observed her sleeping daughter through the side view mirror. She couldn't help but wonder why Emma was looking sicker and sicker as the days went on. Sure, today had been a lot of work for Emma, but she had been looking ill before today, too. She was becoming worried for her daughter.
"Regina," Snow whispered so Henry wouldn't hear.
The brunette flicked her eyes to the younger woman. "What, Mary Margaret?"
"Why do you think Emma looks so… unhealthy?"
Regina used the rearview mirror to glance back Emma. "I don't know. Maybe they didn't take very good care of her in there."
Snow sighed. "Maybe, but she wasn't in the hospital for very long; she couldn't've gotten that bad that fast, could she have? She looked fine in the picture from the paper. And that was just days before we saw her," Snow pointed out.
Regina shrugged. "I don't know how fast people go downhill. Maybe she's right on track."
"You're not very helpful, you know that?" Snow told her.
"I used to be the Evil Queen; helpful isn't exactly my forte."
"Right," Snow responded, looking down at the floor of the car.
They rode the rest of the way to Storybrooke in a heavy, uncomfortable silence.
"I think we're getting close to Storybrooke," Regina mumbled once she started to feel the town's presence, thus breaking the silence.
Snow's phone suddenly rang from her purse. She fished it out and answered it. "Hello…?"
"Snow?" It was David.
"David!" Snow exclaimed happily. "Listen, we found Emma, and we're bringing her back to Storybrooke!"
"What?!" David's voice was filled with shock and worry. "Mary Margaret, no, you can't bring Emma back into Storybrooke."
Snow frowned, her eyebrows scrunching close together. "Why not?"
Henry began to count down their entrance into Storybrooke loudly, like an excited child going into a new state. "Ten… Nine…Eight…Seven…Six…"
David's voice crackled over the speaker. "Lily told me it's not a good idea to bring Emma back into Storybrooke-"
As soon as David said the word "Storybrooke," Henry hit zero in his countdown, and the car crossed over the town line. David said something else, too, after the word "Storybrooke," but Snow missed it because of the events that happened next.
Emma's eyes flew wide open, and she instantly shot forward in her seat, clutching her head between her hands. Her face scrunched up, and her features twisted into an expression of pure agony.
Henry noticed Emma's unusual behavior. "Mom, are you okay?" he asked urgently.
Emma rapidly shook her head no. She made sounds that were crosses between a moan and a scream.
"Is that Emma?" David asked over the phone upon hearing the noises. His rich voice was filled with panic for his daughter. "Are you in Storybrooke?"
"Yeah!" replied Mary Margaret worriedly. "David, what's happening?"
At this point, Regina had evacuated Henry from the car and was forcing him to keep his eyes off of his other mother, who was currently crying out at the excruciating pain radiating throughout her body.
"Mary Margaret, get Emma out of Storybrooke. I think she has too much magic here for her own good."
Snow immediately dropped the phone and stepped out of the car. She flung open the passenger side door and grabbed her daughter by the waist with one arm. Snow pressed her free hand against Emma's matted blond curls in an attempt to comfort her. She was pretty sure it wasn't that comforting, though.
It was in this awkward position that Snow dragged Emma back out of Storybrooke.