"What do you mean, you don't know where she is!?" Regina yelled into her phone as she leapt up from her seat in the living room. Snow stood alongside her, hands twisting in her oversized sweater and her eyes red rimmed. Regina had woken her shortly after Emma had left, wanting to share the development and really not wanting to be alone.
"We're doing everything we can, Regina. Pretty sure I can track them," Ruby spoke into her phone as calmly as she could. She was kneeling in the grass between the house they'd been called to and the one next to it. Visible drag marks had bent the grass and the latent magic of her wolf flared her nostrils as she inhaled the scent of something, chlorine and ether? Chloroform! She finally recognized the scent from the samples they'd been given at the academy for some common drugs, "We'll keep you updated, we'll find them, both of them."
Regina stared at her phone as the call was ended and she set it back down onto the coffee table, "Emma's gone now too," her quiet voice wavered and she hated her emotions and feelings. For all of two seconds she considered removing her heart, the urge only lasted a moment though and it was gone. She plucked a tissue from the box between her and her mother-in-law and wiped the quietly falling tears from her face.
Henry appeared then, Neal on one hip and the small toddler was sleepily burrowed into his neck. The older boy was shuffling and in his pajamas. He had dark circles under his eyes and he had clearly not slept well. He took in his quietly crying mother and grandmother, "They didn't they find Gramps, did they?" Regina dried her tears and frowned when more replaced the ones she'd wiped away. She shook her head and cleared her throat, "No and now your mother has gone missing," a broken sound escaped her throat. Fear lanced through the teenager and he set Neal down on the couch beside his mother and he wrapped his in a tight hug. Regina fell into her son and cried. Neal rubbed at his eyes and watched his favorite sister and Nephew for long seconds. Then looked at his quietly crying mother and back to Henry and Regina. Mind made up, he quickly crawled into his mother's lap and wrapped his chubby little arms around her neck. He "whispered" words to her and clumsily rubbed her back as he copied Henry. Snow cried harder and wrapped her little boy in her arms.
Regina tried, she really did, to not cry, to not sob into her son's shoulder. She should be the one to comfort him. Parents should always be the one comforting their child, shouldn't they? Henry soothed at her hiccoughing sobs and Regina melted into the embrace. Deciding that just this once, it didn't matter, he was here for her.
Slowly her sobs quieted, she'd just needed to cry for a little while. Something she seemed to be doing more and more of lately. She blamed the beautiful child growing inside her and she knew that no matter what, the child would be beautiful. It was hers and Emma's. But any child would be perfect and beautiful, just like her son. As the tears began to lesson, she took a deep breath. She felt tired all of a sudden, bone weary and exhausted. It had been a long 24 hours. Regina yawned and while still held in her very nearly grown, or so it seemed, son's arms, she very softly drifted into uneasy slumber.
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Clive entered the Storybrooke Sheriff's department and locked the door again behind himself. It was 20 minutes until 7am and they still had not been able to locate Emma or David. They were convening at the station to head over to the Firehouse, on the off chance that Maggie would show up for her shift. It would either turn out that she wasn't the culprit after all, or she'd show up and they'd take her into custody and she would lead them to the two missing officers. He greeted Sean who was in his polo and cargo khakis. He'd been helping them coordinate efforts from the station and would be manning the station, taking calls and fielding any callouts to them once the normal operating hours started.
Ruby entered next. She looked tired and concerned. She scrubbed at her face tiredly, she'd only managed a couple of hours of sleep before getting the call to come back in. She'd kissed Belle's forehead and slipped out of bed and slid back into the clothes it felt like she'd just stripped out of, "Anything?" Both Sean and Clive shook their heads and she sighed, "I've been trying to get a scen…" she glanced at the Clive. He'd been a huge help in their efforts, but he was still an outsider, "Trail, I've been trying to pick up the trail, but things just get so muddled. Emma pretty much has literally been everywhere in town," if Clive thought anything odd about the statement he didn't show it.
The lock clicked and the door chimed as Robin arrived. He'd been searching along the edge of the forest, trying to pick up any kind of path that their missing people may have taken down, "Nothing in the East quad." Clive glanced at the clock on the wall as Mulan, the last deputy, entered, "Alright, let's head for the Firehouse and cross our fingers," he'd more or less taken the lead in the search. Even if he'd been in an office the last year, he still had more experience than the others. It helped that while friends with Emma, he didn't have the same level of familiarity with her, or David, and was able to keep a clearer head.
When they arrived at the Firehouse, it was quiet. Steve, the Captain of the station was outside. Sean had called and informed him of the situation, "We've not seen her. She usually arrives about 10 minutes before shift," he glanced down at his watch, it was just turning 6:50. The 3 deputies and 1 state police officer followed him into the bay and took up position behind the small fire engine that was parked beside one of Storybrooke's two ambulances, "We'll give her until 10 after?" Ruby questioned. They had discussed a game plan earlier and she wanted to verify it. "Right, then we'll split off into pairs and start the grid again," Clive confirmed. In his experience after certain amount of hours it was best to be in pairs, to help with exhaustion.
The minutes ticked by much slower than they should have. By the time 7:10 rolled around they were all on edge and jaws were clenching all around. Maggie's lack of appearance all but confirmed her involvement. "Alright, off we go. Keep in touch with Sean and call in anything you find," and with that they were off. Clive and Robin heading for Clive's SUV and Ruby and Mulan climbing into the one remaining patrol car.
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Emma groaned up at her undulating wife as Regina massaged her own breasts and rolled her hips faster, "Oh, Emma," the sound drove her to move faster and Emma pumped up into her wife, gripping tanned hips and thrusting harder, faster, deeper into her wife.
Suddenly Regina's face changed and she slapped her across the face. Time stood still and then the action started over again.
Emma groaned up at her undulating wife as Regina massaged her own breasts and rolled her hips faster, "Oh, Emma," the sound drove her to move faster and Emma pumped up into her wife, gripping tanned hips and thrusting harder, faster, deeper into her wife.
Suddenly Regina's face changed and she slapped her across the face. Time stood still and then the action started over again.
The third time it happened, Emma furrowed her brow and focused on a creaking noise that invaded this time. It wasn't their bed, she kept it well tightened and oiled to avoid such noises.
Emma stirred, a moan leaving her lips. Broken sentences filtered her muddy brain. A slap snapped her head sideways.
"- all your fault."
"You could've walked away-"
"- because of you!" Another slap.
"- never again."
Slowly her vision swam into focus, it was dark and lit by two high beam flashlights sitting on end in the corner. She was in some kind of high backed chair, secured to it by a tight pressure on her hands, ankles and forehead. She jerked around, testing the strength of the bindings. She tried at least, she felt so weak that she doubted her efforts yielded anything.
"At first I was…. But then I-"
"Now I can-"
"Don't you worry!"
Emma started to take in her surroundings, the fog lifting more and more. The room swam into focus and she saw David sitting across from her. He was maybe six feet away, strapped into a chair like hers and secured into it just like her by duct tape. His jaw jumped as he clenched and unclenched. Fists opening and closing as he tensed his body repeatedly, hoping he could stretch the tape and create some kind of give. They made eye contact and his lips moved in question, Emma nodded that she was ok, more or less. He mouthed, 'Magic?' And Emma took a deep breath and erupted into a violent coughing fit. The rambling behind her chair stopped and footsteps shuffled forward. Wild red hair entered her vision first, Maggie's face and body followed, "Good you're awake."
"Why?" Emma tried. Her voice croaked out and she cleared her throat, trying again. Her voice was stronger and the word intelligible. Maggie grinned a chilling smile and it sent shivers down both Father and Daughter's spine, "Do you recognize her?" Maggie waved a hand around the room and that's when Emma realized that the room they were in resembled some kind of Dexter fantasy. Pictures were taped to plastic sheeting covered walls. All one woman and she bore a resemblance to Maggie, family of some kind. "No?" Emma hoped it wasn't the wrong answer.
Maggie scoffed and started to pace between the chairs, "Of course you don't." Emma jerked at the restraints again, her strength rapidly returning now and the whole chair jerked with her struggle. The sound stopped Maggie in her tracks, "Really, Sheriff Muscles?" She started to pace again, "Just sit still, this isn't about you, not really." Emma took a deep breath, pleased that it didn't erupt into a coughing fit again. She closed her eyes and tried to draw on her magic, nothing. She'd been pretty sure she recognized the feeling of it being repressed, but it was worth the effort. Wherever they were it was clearly still over the original town line.
"She was my sister," Maggie screamed and gestured to the walls again. Emma tugged at her restraints and grimaced as the tape pulled at her skin and the fine hairs of her forearm. The redhead disappeared behind Emma again and when she reappeared she had picked up a hunting knife and added it to her wildly gesturing motions as she ranted. "It had to be you!" Maggie whirled and pointed the knife at her. She sat on the arm of David's chair, ignoring his noise of protest as it ground the skin of his arm into the hardwood, "All she did was go along with her stupid boyfriend," she slid her arm along the top of his chair and toyed the knife down the side of his face. He jerked away, or would have had he had any mobility. "She got caught and he didn't!" She reared back and jammed the knife halfway into David's thigh, he jerked and screamed through the pain. Maggie flicked it once, David cried out once and grit his teeth, clamping down on any other reactions. Maggie yanked it free and was pacing again, knife waving. Emma was starting to piece together the puzzle and it chilled her.
"He was an idiot! She deserved better, always did. Even at 16 I thought so," Maggie had started flipping the knife now, tossing it into the air and catching it again by it's hilt.
Emma didn't consider it a good thing that she seemed so coordinated, she cleared her throat, "I didn't know you had a sister."
Maggie paused in her flipping for a beat and turned to face her, "Of course not, I hid it. Much easier to pass off the older brothers with commendable service records as firemen and omit the one black sheep," she resumed flipping and giggled, "Though I supposed that's shot now, I'm not exactly the upstanding citizen everyone thought," she crouched down before David and cocked her head as she met his angry eyes, "Does that hurt brother dearest?" She grinned and smacked his bleeding thigh, "You know at first I was just going to take your bitch of a wife, didn't know you had a sibling. None of the information I could dig up mentioned him," she stood and stepped around behind the chair, wrapped an arm around David's broad chest and teased the knife along his skin exposed by his shirt.
"You looked me up?" Emma tugged and the whole chair shifted again. She thought she'd felt some give this time, in the chair if not the tape. Maggie laughed, "Don't flatter yourself Sheriff, I've not spent the last 7 years plotting my revenge," a flick and she nicked the third button off David's shirt and drug the tip of her knife across the skin of his chest. A red line followed, not breaking the skin but scratching it. He jerked and she dug the blade in just a little and a single drop of blood welled around the tip. "Running into you on the road that first day, with your little bit of heroics? Total coincidence, fate if I'm inclined to believe in it," she backed away from David and slapped her palm with the flat of the blade. Emma jerked again and the chair definitely gave a little this time, "So what? Then you started stalking me?"
Maggie grinned, "Not exactly. I switched shifts so I was closer to Storybrooke borders. Better chance of taking a call to your hospital. You know I made four separate trips there before I finally ran into you?" She was back to pacing between their chairs, "Jenn more or less raised me you know. She was 15 years older and mom and dad weren't expecting a late in life baby. Once I was walking and talking they were gone most of the time. I still had an 18 year old brother at home too and it wasn't really wasn't a huge deal to them. They spent more time traveling than at home." Maggie approached Emma this time and knelt in front of her, rested both hands on the blonde's thighs and Emma eyed the six inch hunting knife, "She was 31 and still living at home, maybe if she hadn't had to take care of me things would've turned out differently…" Maggie shook away the feelings of guilt and stood. Emma remained quiet, knowing it was better to just let the redhead get it out, "Pete, man I hated that guy, told her all she had to do was take the package to his buddy," as Maggie's story progressed Emma couldn't but feel some kind of commonality with Jennifer McLaughlin.
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Harry and Sarah entered the living room and took in the four occupants. Neal had fallen back to sleep in his mother's arms, and Snow held him close, her tears had stopped but the tracks remained on her face and her eyes and nose were reddened. Regina was curled up on her side, her head in her sleeping son's lap and she was sound asleep. Her body was adjusting to the extra energy required for the life growing inside her and coupled with the lack of sleep and emotional trauma it had left her exhausted. Harry nudged Sarah, "Let's go make some tea and scrounge up some breakfast?" She nodded and they moved into the kitchen where Harry took a few minutes to acquaint himself with the kitchen and put a teapot on and select a couple different types of the loose leaf teas that Regina kept in her extensive collection. "So, Sarah, how are you?" He placed the mixed leafs into a diffuser and closed it, "Ok I guess, worried about Henry's mother and gr...uncle," she pulled mugs down from a cabinet while Harry located a wooden breakfast tray to carry the tea and mugs. "It'll be ok, they'll find them. Your baby will know they're other grandmother," he assured and if he noticed the near slip he didn't mention it.
Sarah flushed, "Oh, no. The baby isn't Henry's," she softly corrected, she supposed that if she was going to be with this family that seemed so accepting of her she should probably get used to the assumption. The teapot started to whistle and he grabbed it before it could wake sleeping people in the other room, "Sorry I made an assumption. So you're just a friend of the family?" Harry opened the lid and dunked the diffuser. Sarah shrugged, "In honesty, I just met Regina and Emma yesterday. Henry pulled me in when he heard my story. They're kind of legends around here…"
Harry smiled kindly, "I don't know them too well either. Clive, my husband, attended the police academy with Emma. The stories I've heard though, they're special people," he rummaged through the fridge and added bagels and some fresh fruit already cut up that he found to the tray, "So you mentioned a story? Tell me your story Sarah?"
While they were talking in the kitchen they didn't see Regina sitting upright and looking a little green. She glanced over at her son, the motion hadn't woke him. Henry had fallen asleep sometime while she had slept and Snow and Neal were soundly out as well. She made it into the bathroom quickly and quietly. She was on her knees and heaving into the toilet as her morning bout of morning sickness wracked her body. She heaved for long minutes, before finally her stomach started to settle. Regina slumped back onto the floor and rested against her crossed arms that circled the cool porcelain. When her shoulders started to shake, she realized she was crying, fat tears splashing into the toilet. "Goddamnit, I will not raise this child alone, Jelly will have a second parent." She placed a hand to her stomach and shook a fresh bout of tears when she realized that she'd referred to the baby by Emma's nickname.
When she returned to the living room, Henry, Snow and Neal were still sound asleep, after giving her family a look. She straightened, took a deep breath and smoothed out the sweats and t-shirt she'd put on after Emma had left. She flicked and she was dressed in black slacks and a deep red long sleeved button down, she didn't often use magic to dress, but sometime the necessity was there. She brushed a kiss across Henry's forehead and was gone in whirl of purple.
Sarah was just coming to the part in her story when Chuck had informed her that he was breaking up with her and that the baby likely wasn't his anyway. "Bastard," Harry muttered as he dumped water into the coffee maker and started it, "Sorry," he added as he placed sugar, creamer and a jar of honey on the tray. Sarah smiled softly, "It's ok, he was, is, a bastard. I see that now," she let a hand rest against her belly and a thumb stroke the swell of her child, "We're better off without him. Honestly though?" Harry nodded for her go ahead as he leaned against the counter and folded his arms across his expansive chest. "I'm thinking about adoption. Regina mentioned it as an option that was available to me," she accepted the mug of tea he held out to her and she sipped at the steaming liquid. She let a sound of pleasure escape at the soothing mixture of herbs, tea leaves and honey.
"Adoption is a fantastic option, for many traditional and nontraditional couples," Harry offered up his opinion, "If that's something that you would be interested in, let me know. I have several contacts in social services back in Augusta," he poked around in the fridge as he spoke, looking for things to add to the ever growing tray of breakfast and hot tea, "As a matter a fact, Clive and I are in the process of debating between adoption or hiring a surrogate," he pulled a tub of cream cheese and handful of green onions from the fridge.
Sarah nodded, "You would make a wonderful father, Harry. Clive...seems a little intense…" she trailed off with an apologetic smile. Harry grinned as he located a small mixing bowl, a rubber spatula and knife, "He can be, I love the guy, obviously," he held up his left hand and thumbed his gold wedding band, "But yes he can be a lot when you first meet him," he tugged a beautiful bamboo cutting board from a lower cabinet and laid it on the counter and man he could fall in love with this kitchen. Sarah grinned, "Part of his charm, I'm sure. He seems like he'd be a very funny and loving father though. You are very lucky," the teenager glanced down into her mug as she made the compliment. She was still adjusting and likely would be for a while to the idea of expressing herself.
"I think so too," Harry ran the onions under some cold water and shook them out, "Just let me know if you want me to put you in touch with my contacts. I can leave my number with you," he laid the onions on the cutting board and efficiently sliced off the root section and diced them all the way to ends. Sarah nodded, "I will. Regina offered her contacts as well. For the agency she adopted Henry from," she smiled and accepted the single green onion he hadn't chopped and munched on it. Harry emptied the cream cheese into the mixing bowl and added the onion to it, "That's wonderful. How does Henry feel about it?" He opened the fridge again, pulled out some deli ham and started to slice it into narrow strips. Sarah frowned, "I'm not sure what you mean? I've not really talked about it with him though. It's all very new for me, opening up and sharing," she watched him add the sliced ham to the bowl and begin to mix everything together.
Harry glanced up at her, "I just mean, you two are obviously close and if you're unsure about adoption, he might be a good person to talk to. To see things from the other side of the process," he split open a bagel and spread some of the cream cheese, onion and ham mixture on it. He handed Sarah one half and kept the other for himself. Sarah nodded as she bit into the bagel after eyeing it warily, "Oh, this is delicious!" Harry just laughed and ate his own food, "You actually make a good point. I know that his feelings are going to be a little different, since he was reunited with Emma. But for the first 10 years of his life, it was just him and Regina," she finished her half and eyed the tray of bagels and the bowl of spread while licking her lips. Harry smiled and fixed another for her. He cleared his throat as he handed it over, "Do you have thoughts on closed vs. open adoption?" He chuckled lowly as he watched her devour both halves of the second bagel.
The brunette teenager paused in between halves, "I'm not sure the difference to be honest?" Harry nodded and moved towards the burbling coffee pot, pouring some into a mug for himself, "Well, a closed adoption is where you would give your baby up, never having met the parents and basically promising that you would not seek them out and that you would want the record sealed so that hypothetically, you couldn't be tracked down through it," Sarah nodded at the explanation, "And then open adoption, is essentially the opposite. You would have the opportunity, if you so chose, to meet the parents before hand and actually approve of them or not. Another version of that is choosing friends from the beginning to adopt your baby," he added at the end as the wheels in his head turned over an idea. He'd have to discuss it with Clive of course, but the seed was planted.
He added the cream cheese spread to the tray and filled a carafe he found with the coffee, adding it to the tray as well. They headed back into the living room and Harry set the tray down on the coffee table, "Henry," he spoke softly and gave the teenager's knee a shake. Henry woke with a yawn and a stretch. It took a few seconds for awareness to strike and he frowned, "Did they find them?" The hope laced question tightened a knot in Harry's chest, "Not yet, there's food though and tea or coffee," he gestured towards the table, "Are you old enough for coffee?" Harry realized he didn't really know what age people started drinking the hot caffeine. "Ma sometimes let's me have a cup. Don't tell mom though...where is she?" He looked around the room, searching for his brunette mother. Sarah was softly waking Snow and trying not to wake the drooling Neal, but he didn't see Regina.
"I don't know, bathroom maybe? She wasn't here when Sarah and I came in," he offered Henry a half mug of coffee and his eyes twinkled as the teen took it and sipped at it gratefully. They quietly tucked into the food and drink. The mood of the room was quiet contemplation and sober thoughts. Minutes passed and Henry was starting to get nervous when his brunette mother wasn't appearing, "I'm going to go look for mom, make sure she's ok," he finished the last bite of his bagel and stood up.
He tried the downstairs bathroom first, empty. Her study next, nothing. With a deepening feeling of dread and fear he made his way upstairs and tried his parents bedroom. It sat empty too. Henry returned to his bedroom and retrieved his cell phone. He dialed his mom's phone. It rang four times and then clicked as someone answered, "Mom?"
"No, it's Sarah," Henry's shoulders slumped. "Her phone was just laying on the coffee table," Henry's feeling of unease spread through his body and he ended the call. Now both his parents and Grandfather were missing.
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"When the police arrested her, she tried to tell them it wasn't hers, that it was her boyfriend's," Maggie circled David's chair, the blade tap, tap, tapping at her palm, "But isn't that what they all say?" She paused at his side and slowly drug the tip over his forearm, traced the veins there before trailing over his elbow and sharply dug in and drug it over his bicep. David grit his teeth and swallowed a cry of pain. Maggie started circling again. Emma was reminded of watching a shark. Henry loved shark week and she often watched with him. Then, she'd enjoyed watching the circling predators and wondering when they would strike the fatal blow. Now? Not so much.
"All that mattered was that she was holding 2 kilos of Heroin," Maggie stopped her circling and slung an arm over the back of David's chair. She tapped the flat of the blade against his khaki covered shoulder, "They arrested her and tossed her in central booking. She was out on bail a week later. It was her first anything and it took most of the parents money and more than a few personal favors to hire a lawyer good enough to get her a year in local lock up plus 10 years supervised probation," Maggie raised the knife and Emma tugged at her bindings as the blade sliced through the air. It caught in David's shirt just as she twisted the blade out and away with a giggle, "You know this is actually more fun than I thought."
Emma jerked again and she felt something in the left arm of the chair pop. She glanced up to see if Maggie had heard it, but the redhead was back to circling and providing exposition for the situation. "Seven years ago, she was seven years into her probation and she missed a meeting with her probation officer. Asshole always had it in for her. Our father had had a heart attack and she was in the hospital. Completely skipped her mind to call her PO. When she called him the next day, it didn't matter, jerk had already put her on the list for skipping," with an angry yell Maggie punched the sluggishly bleeding wound on David's thigh and he grit through a scream.
Emma's blood ran cold, she had a sudden niggling idea where this was going. Seven years ago she'd still been running bounty work in Boston and her boss often took a look at the skipped probation/parole listings to see if any of them looked like easy money. "When I first came here I figured I'd torment you for awhile. Maybe see if I could get you alone, just the two of us. Nice and vulnerable together," Maggie shrugged, "You're attractive, I'm hot, wouldn't have been the worst thing," she stepped around behind Emma and she yanked at her restraints. David was starting to slump and his head occasionally lolled. The blood loss leaving him feeling drained and bleary. Ice ran through her veins when she heard the all too familiar sound of a slide racking and Maggie stepped back into view holding one of their side arms. "She was picked up a week later by a female bail bondsman. I'll give you a guess as to who it was."
Mulan followed along behind Ruby, "Still have the scent?" It was nearing 10am and they had finally located Emma's fresh scent about 10 minutes ago. Being Sheriff in a small town, the blonde's scent was everywhere and it had taken Ruby longer than she would've liked to find the freshest one. Once they'd left the backyard of the original house they'd tracked three different wrong trails before finally catching onto this one, "Yeah, pretty sure she's in there," Ruby nodded at the mostly constructed warehouse before them. Warehouse was generous as the short squat building was maybe 360'x160'. The size of a football field, but as they were starting to export more and more commodities from the town they needed space and more storage was planned for future expansions if this one went well. Mulan called the location into the station and Sean relayed it to the others. He told them there was a three minute ETA on back up. Mulan and Ruby shared a look. A gunshot and a man's pained scream echoed from the building and without another thought, they drew their guns and charged into the building.
They burst in through the side door, guns raised and flashlights crossed in tactile positions. The warehouse wasn't full, but had a number of crates stacked around. Currently, it's use was holding equipment from the little bits of construction going on in the expansion district and some of the stores opening soon were keeping some crates of merchandise there while completing the insides of their stores. But nowhere could they see Emma or David, or the paramedic who had taken them. Against the far wall was a row of offices. The six 14x20 rooms had been built to offer business' using the warehouse an area to complete inventory and process paperwork for shipments both coming and going. With a silent nod between them, Ruby and Mulan headed for the office doors, guns and flashlights still up in tactile positions.
A/N: I promise last cliffhanger for awhile :)