Chapter 4
She drove a mile down the road until she saw a huge house. "Wow! This is your house? It looks more like a hotel. You must have a big family."
He shook his head. "Nope. Just me." She couldn't help but notice the longing in his eyes. They made their way inside and he offered her a cup of tea. "Here, something to keep you hydrated during your search."
"That's nice of you, but I really need to continue my search."
He nodded. "That's why I brought this." He pulled a map from under his arm and rolled it out on a table. "I am a bit of an ametuer cartographer "
"Wow." She looked over the map and picked up the tea cup she was offered. "Well, Route 6 runs the boundary of the forest, so..." she takes a sip of her tea. "So, if I just… if I just follow that… I should… be able to..."
"Something wrong?"
The teacup fell to the floor, next to the couch. "I'm just, uh, feeling a little..."
"Let me help you." He pulls her onto the couch. "Let's just lie you down there."
She's too weak to fight it. "Dizzy." She finished. He started walking away, without a limp. "Your limp?"
"Oh that." He walks back over to her. "Guess you caught me."
Her vision is starting to get blurry. "Who are you?" Before he can respond, her world goes black.
XXX
She wake up, tied up on the couch, she notices her teacup on the ground and places a pillow over it, so she can break it quietly. She takes a shard of glass from the broken cup and uses to cut the tabe off her wrists and ankles.
She realizes all the windows are sealed, then made her way through the house , she found a telescope and looked through it and saw that it pointed to the station at her desk, she moved it to look at David's office and she saw him on the phone and he looked worried.
She heard a scraping noise and opened the door to find Jefferson sharpening a pair of scissors. Creepy much? She quietly shut the door and proceeded to trying to find her way outside.
The next door she opened, she saw Mary tied up and scared. She quietly shut the door and untied her, then took the gag off her mouth. "Mare? Are you okay? What happened?"
"I was taking a walk through the woods, I thought I heard something behind me, then… I woke up here."
Emma nodded. "Alright, I'm gonna get us out of here."
"How are you Emma? Did he hurt you?"
She shook her head. "I'm fine Mare, but I should probably see a doctor when we get out of here, he put something in my drink." They quietly made their way out of the room, when the heard a gun cocking behind them. "Oh… that's where that went." Emma said.
"I see you found your missing friend."
Emma turned around to look at the man. "I've already called for backup, they're on the way."
"With what?" He said pulling her and Mary's phones out of his pocket. "Tie her back up."
They go back into the room and Emma lightly ties her arms behind the chair. "Emma..."
"It's going to be okay Mare." She then placed the gag back over her mouth and goes over to Jefferson. "I saw your telescope. You've been watching me. Why?"
He grabs her arm. "I need you to do something for me." He leads her into another room.
"I swear to God, if you hurt her, I'll make you regret it." She promised.
He raised an eyebrow at her. "Hurt her?" He questioned. "I just need you to break the curse!"
"Why have you been spying on me?" She asked, changing the subject, hopefully.
He moves over to the telescope, gun still pointed at Emma. "For almost nineteen years now, I've been stuck in this house, without my Grace. That's torture."
"What do you want from me? I've been trying! I'm trying okay! I don't know what to do! I don't know how to do it! What do you want me to do?!"
He sat her in a chair. "I want you to make it work." He put a hat in front of her. "You have magic. You can make it work!"
"I can't make it work. What you're asking me is impossible here. I don't have magic. You don't seem all that cursed to me. I'm sure you can find a way to be part of Grace's life. You have a nice house too."
He sighed. "Come look. I can't destroy her reality. She has a family. If I just interject myself into her life, she'll be confused. It'll only hurt her."
He turned around and ran a hand down his face, Emma took the chance and picked up the telescope and hit him with it, knocking him out. She made her way to Mary, who almost had her self free. "We're gonna get out of here, don't-"
"Emma! Look out!"
XXX
David was pacing his office, waiting for an update from Emma, when the phone started ringing. "Emma? I was starting to get worried. Are you guys home yet?"
"Uh, no. Sorry, it's Ashley, um, Emma never came to pick up Henry. She stopped by earlier and said she might be late, but she was supposed to be here two hours ago."
He paled. "What? She went out to look for Mary hours ago." He took a deep breath, he was really worried now. "I'll pick him up. I'll be there in a few."
He rushed to the daycare and picked up Henry, then took him to the diner. "David? What's up?" Ruby asked when he entered the diner.
"Can you watch him?"
Ruby nodded and took Henry from David's arms. "What's going on? Where's Emma?"
"Mama?"
David sighed. "I don't know. She went to look for Mary four hours ago. I was hoping that they were safe at home, but Ashley called and said that she hadn't picked him up." He said gesturing to Henry.
XXX
"Emma! Look out!"
Jefferson tackled Emma and Mary to the floor causing his scarf to fall off, revealing a scar across his neck. He stood up with the gun in hand, pointing it at Emma and fixed the hat on his head, then smiled like a madman. "Off with his head."
Mary picked up a mallet and hit Jefferson with it, then kicked him out of the window. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah. That was… impressive."
Mary nodded. "I have no idea where that came from." They looked out the window and saw Jefferson's hat, but no Jefferson. "Let's get out of here."
They made their way to Emma's bug and started driving when they heard sirens behind them, neither could help the grins that formed on their faces.
David ran up to the bug. "I've been looking everywhere for you two! What the hell happened?"
They both got out of the bug and hugged him. "Sorry boss, we got a little held up." Emma joked. "Do you think kidnapping is a good enough excuse for my tardiness?"
"What?! Who… what?"
Emma shook her head. "I just wanna see my son. We can talk about that later. Where's Henry?"
"Granny's."
Emma was about to get back in the bug, when Mary stopped her. "Wait, Em. You need to see a doctor."
"I will. Just after I see my son."
XXX
Emma ran into the diner and picked Henry up from Ruby's arms. "Mama! Mama!"
"Mama missed you baby." His arms were wrapped around her neck and her arms were wrapped around his small body. "I missed you so much kid." She turned to Ruby. "Thanks for watching him, but David is making Mary and I go to the hospital, I'm taking him with me."
"Is Mare okay?"
Emma nodded. "She should be fine. I think the guy hit her in the head when he took her, but other words she should be fine."
"And you?"
She scratched behind her ear. "The lunatic put something in my drink. I just need to make sure I'm okay."
XXX
"You and the baby are fine. Congratulations, by the way."
Emma nodded. "Thanks Whale. This stays between us. They know and that's it." She said gesturing to the couple standing outside her room, holding her son.
He nodded. "Of course." He said, wiping the gel from her stomach. Emma nodded and went home.
XXX
A few days later, Emma was getting ready for work, but she couldn't button her jeans and she just started crying, she wasn't sure why, it was so out of character for her.
Mary came upstairs when she heard the crying. "Em? What's wrong sweetie?"
"I don't know why I'm crying." She wiped tears away. "I just can't button my stupid jeans. I've already gotten sick twice this morning. God, and I'm getting achey. And I'm complaining Mare. I don't complain like this." Mary just stood there and let her vent for a minute. "I'm sorry." She pulled some sweats out of her dresser. "I can wear these."
Mary smiled at her. "It's perfectly fine Emma. You needed a release. It's okay."
"Thanks Mare. You're amazing."
XXX
It's been roughly a month, so Emma's starting her second trimester now, and Henry's turning one in a little over a week.
"Come on Henry. Come to mama! Walk to mama baby! Come get your dinosaur."
He reached for his dinosaur from his spot leaning up against the table. "Di-saur!" He pushed himself up and started walking towards her. "Mama!"
"That's it baby! Good boy!" He toddled over and got his dinosaur from Emma. She lifted him up. "Good job baby! That's so good!" She turned to Mary and David. "Did you guys see it? He did it!"
Mary and David were smiling at her. "We saw Em."
Emma sat on the couch with Henry in her lap. "I'm gonna have to tell people soon. It's getting pretty obvious. Bulky shirts aren't cutting it anymore." She chuckled to herself, she suddenly felt the urge to hug her parents, not her roommate and boss, but her mom and dad. "I'm gonna go out for a bit. Watch him?"
"Of course Em." David told her.
She nodded and went to go see Graham. She missed him. She needs him to wake up. But right now, she just wants to lay with him.
XXX
She walked in his room and didn't bother sitting in her usual chair, she instead climbed into his hospital bed with him. "So, second trimester. I'm starting to show. I've been wearing your shirts to cover my belly bump. I wanted to wait until you woke to tell everyone, but it doesn't seem that, that's an option." She sighed. "I need something from you Graham. I'm starting to lose hope. What the hell kind of savior am I, if I can't save you or get anyone to remember..." She trailed off thinking about the night of Graham's aneurysm.
She leaned in to kiss him, he returned it gladly, then he backed away for a moment. "Graham?"
"I remember!"
Emma raised her eyebrows at him. "Remember what?"
He cupped her cheeks. "Thank you." Emma smiled at him.
He leaned in, to kiss her, then he stiffened, he dropped to the floor with a loud thud. "Graham! Graham! Graham! Come on! Graham!"
"You remembered." She gasped. She sat up. "You told me you needed your heart." She murmured. "It was right in front of my face. You're the Huntsman. Regina took your heart. She had the power to control you or… kill you." Realization hit her like a ton of bricks. "How could I have been so blind?"
She got out of his bed, with promises of returning later, and went to go pay the Evil Queen a visit.
XXX
She knocked on the door and Regina answered with a roll of her eyes. "Miss Swan. What do you want?"
"Where's Owen?" Regina raised an eyebrow and Emma rolled her eyes. "I don't want him to overhear the conversation we're about to have Regina."
The older woman then stepped outside. "What?"
"You know, the day of his so-called-aneurysm, Graham told me something." Regina swallowed and gestured for her to continue. "He told me he was looking for his heart. See, at first, I thought he was just delirious from his fever, but now that I truly think about it, I don't see how I was so blind." Emma laughed darkly. "Before I was given up as a baby, my parents left me something. A book. In this book, it spoke of an Evil Queen and a Huntsman."
"Miss Swan, is this going somewhere?"
Emma nodded. "In this book, the queen took the huntsman's heart, which gave her the ability to control him or kill him. However, in a land without magic, that can greatly complicate things. In theory, instead of killing him when the queen crushed his heart, she could have left him in a coma."
"I should've known, really. Snow's eyes, Charming's hair and his God forsaken tact. You're their daughter."
Emma nodded. "Bingo. And now Madam Mayor, you're going to help me figure out a way to wake him up."
"And just why would I do that for you, Miss Swan?"
Emma rolled her eyes. "Are you willing to let another child grow up without a father? Much like the fate you forced Owen into?" She asked, sending a sideways glance up to Owen's bedroom window, she noticed he was watching them.
Regina pinned Emma up against a tree in the front yard, pressing her forearm onto Emma's throat. "Your child is not Graham's. What the hell are you talking about?"
"Mom! Mom! Stop! Mom stop it!" Owen yelled, trying to pull his mother off the only friend he's managed to make in this town.
Emma fell to the ground holding onto her throat. "What the hell?!" She glanced over at Owen, then back at Regina. "I'm pregnant Regina." She hissed. "And you're going to help me wake up the father of this baby."
XXX
Both women stormed into Gold's shop, with Owen in tow, the kid could be quite stubborn.
"I was wondering when this conversation would be happening." He mused. "Though, I never thought our almighty queen and her son would be accompanying us."
"Are you going to help or not?"
He nodded. "Yes Miss Swan. True love- the only magic that can transcend through all realms and break any curse. Luckily for you, I have some bottled up, saved up for a rainy day."
"Where is it?"
Gold smirked. "Where it is, isn't the problem. It's getting it that you should be worried about." He turned to Regina. "Tell me your Majesty, is our friend still in the basement?"
"You twisted little imp! You put it with her."
His smirk only widened. "Oh, no dearie. I put it in her. I knew you couldn't resist bringing her over."
"What are you guys talking about?!"
Regina sighed. "There's something we have to-"
"No." Gold abruptly cut off. "Just Miss Swan. She's the product of true love. It has to be her. Only her."
Regina rolled her eyes. "In case you haven't noticed, she's pregnant." Emma responded with an eye roll.
"I'm well aware." He pulled out a small vial with a light blue liquid in it and a large case. "That's what these are for." He lifted the liquid up. "This will protect the child." He lowered the vial and opened the large case. "And this will protect you."
"Is that..."
God nodded. "That it is Miss Swan. Your father's sword."
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