Everyone stayed in Regina and Robin's room for the remainder of the evening and Esme couldn't remember the last time she had laughed so much; the entire evening was filled with jokes and imitations and laughter. Although it was yet to be entirely eliminated, most of the worry Esme felt about feeling awkward around her parents dissipated; once Roland and Henry went to bed, Regina and Robin stayed with Esme and all three of them simply talked. They talked about when Esme got her powers, what happened when she was in the tower and Esme found herself telling them both things she never imagined she would, and she actually found it easy to do so; it felt like sharing her problems made them seem an awful lot less daunting. As she told them her stories, she saw the worry and pain in their faces at the sad parts, the joy in their faces at the happy ones and it was through their conversations that she realised they truly cared about her. She had seen glimpses of it prior to now, but somehow, the very thing she was afraid of (spending some time alone with them both) was actually what she needed. As they shared stories, Esme found her eyes beginning to sting but she genuinely didn't want their time together to end; she couldn't understand why, but she the more she shared, the closer she felt she became to them both an, although it seemed silly, she was worried that her awkwardness would return if she left the conversation for another day. She would have talked all night if she could, but she wanted to prepare for Zoe coming (her visions were never particularly detailed, but they were never wrong) and so she would need as much strength and practice as she could muster, and that meant sleep. Thankfully, whenever Esme yawned Robin, who was sitting with his back against the base of the bed, looked to the clock on his right and noticed it was now 2am.

"My goodness, look at the time. No wonder you're yawning, you should rest," he said as he stood up.

"Yeah thanks. Umm Regina can we practice tomorrow?" Esme said, as she watched Regina remove her head from Robins lap and join him at the door.

"Of course. What is ti you want to practice?" Regina said, elated that Esme was now more open to spending time with her and actually including her in her life. It was something that only yesterday seemed like a dream, so she would take any and all opportunities to make it a reality.

"Just magic. I don't want to use my seer powers on either of you when you're still coming out of being compelled," Esme said in a very business like tone that made Robin smile.

"Why are you smiling?" Esme laughed, to which Regina whirled around and saw the smile that had spread across Robins face.

"Yes, why are you smiling?" Regina asked.

"No reason!" Robin said as he began to walk towards Esme, but he couldn't suppress the laugh that escaped his mouth when he received almost identical looks from both Esme and Regina.

"It's just- you are both so alike. Get some rest, " Robin explained before he kissed Esme on the head and walked towards the door again.

"Wait, this is your room, is it not? Where are you guys gonna sleep?" Esme asked as Regina began to walk towards her. She couldn't quite explain why, but the nerves she felt prior to her vision were gone, and so whenever her mother kissed her head, Esme smiled at its warmth as opposed to squirmed at her touch. When Regina and Robin left, Esme closed her eyes and dwelled on the thought that she would rather love and have the possibility of loss than die having never known their love, and with that thought, she fell asleep so quickly, she couldn't even remember them leaving.

"Esme! Esme!"

Esme woke up to screams. It had been three weeks since her vision about Regina, and every moment of every day, Esme jumped at the slightest sound. Every single morning, she woke at the same time as the boys and while Robin walked them both to school, Regina and Esme practiced Esme's magic. Regina started them off with some easier spells, but Esme had been practicing the easier spells for weeks, and she needed something stronger, something that could stop Zoe and her powerful pack of mindless morons. So once a week had passed, and Esme was confident that Regina was impressed with her defensive and protective spells, Esme suggested Regina taught her some of the more powerful spells; so she did. By the end of the second week, Esme was not only growing in power, but in confidence, and so by week 3, the two were throwing all types of enchantments and spells at each other; Esme actually really enjoyed herself. Not the power part, it actually kind of scared her to see what she was capable of, but the magic thing was something she and Regina could do together, without anyone else being involved. Making sure that they spent time together, even amidst all the madness that seemed to follow them, made this family close, and now that Esme and Regina had been spending more time together, she began to feel a small part of that. With Robin, Esme had always found it easy to relate to him, to be close; their sense of humour was the same, they were both fairly affectionate people and Esme found herself in awe of his kindness and strength. But with Regina, she had struggled. Initially she saw a terrifying woman, not unlike Zoe; anytime Esme thought she could see a redeemable quality in her, Regina ensured Esme viewed her as a foe, not a friend. During their compelling sessions, Esme began to understand why Regina was the way she was, but it felt like anytime they got close, Regina pushed her away; like she wanted to keep her at arms length. But when the compelling enchantment broke, Regina flipped, and began to look at Esme and talk to her the way she did Henry and even Roland, and it was that aspect that she struggled with; with Robin, their was little change in his behaviour, only love, but with Regina, her entire character flipped. She always found that so odd and it was that change in her character that Esme found hard to deal with; she knew how to be around Regina when she was Regina the mayor or even The Evil Queen, but she wasn't sure how to act around Regina when she was Regina the mom. But getting to spend time with her, seeing the joy in her face when Esme mastered a particularly hard spell, or laughing when Esme got frustrated when she couldn't, made Esme realise that it wasn't Regina's behaviour making things awkward, it was hers. She watched Regina's joy turn to utter terror when she thought Esme hadn't deflected a spell and the sadness in her eyes when she saw a small bruise she had caused on Esme's arm. She saw how truly interested she was when Esme told her stories of Messene and saw how pleased she was to share stories of her own. Those three weeks not only made Esme's magic stronger, it bonded her and Regina in ways Esme didn't think would be possible.

"Esmerelda!" screamed a voice that Esme distinctly noticed was Robin's. Esme woke up immediately, startled by the terror that was behind every scream. Whenever she looked out, she noticed it was still pitch black outside, but before she could find the light switch she heard another scream of her name and it was that that truly terrified her; even though it was something Esme thought only happened in movies, she knew that when she was called 'Esmerelda', there was something wrong. Seriously wrong. It was then that she bolted up out of bed luxurious white bed and ran straight the downstairs, but on her way down, she noticed that the large, glass panelled front door was lying open and everything was eerily silent.

"Regina? Robin?" Esme called, worried as to why nobody was calling her name any longer.

"We're in here!" Esme heard Henry shout but she wasn't sure where they were. She continued to descend down the extravagant, white marble staircase and looked around Regina and Robin's hallway, only to notice that every door was lying open except for the one that led to Regina's office and so she rushed to that door. However, when she put her hand to it, she felt a sharp spark that ran all the way up her arm, like electricity was flowing through her veins for a mere moment, and immediately pulled her hand away in shock.

"Regina did you cast a spell on this?" a very confused Esme called into the room. Why would Regina lock her out?

"Mom isn't here. She went to the town square," Henry replied. This confused Esme even more, but just as she was about to open the door, Robin shouted.

"There's no use opening it! Regina cast a spell, we can't get out."

"What? How long was i asleep?!" Esme shouted.

"She cast it to protect us. She saw a portal and thought it was Zel-" Robin continued but the mere mention of the word portal sent Esme's head into a spin.

"A portal? You're sure?" Esme asked.

"Yes? Why?" Robin continued.

"Stay there!" Esme shouted and with that she turned to run out the door, however her rescue mission was halted whenever Robin threw open the door and tried to run out after her, only to be thrown back by Regina's protection spell.

"Esmerelda don't you dare!" a very angry Robin shouted as he stood up and totally disregarded the things on Regina's desk that he had knocked over.

"I have to! She can't go alone!" Esme tried to explain but Robin continued to through himself against the invisible door Regina had placed to protect her family, and it was then that it suddenly dawned on her. She know that they weren't like normal mothers and daughters, but Esme truly didn't believe that Regina would have woken up Henry and Roland to protect them, but leave Esme totally defenceless. What if it wasn't just that door.

"No.." Esme whispered to herself as she ran towards the open front door, and her worst fears were realised whenever she ran into an invisible force field that flung her the entire length of the hallway.

A chorus of 'sissy' or 'Esme' chimed from the room but very quickly stopped when Esme returned to her feet almost immediately. She didn't even look a little hurt; she actually looked furious. Her body language was tense and her hair was messy as it fell out of the bun it was usually in when she fell asleep but it was her eyes that gave her away; they were calculating her options, trying to figure out a way out, angry that she could do nothing.

"Esme you can't get out!" Henry said.

"I have to!" Esme screamed as she began to pace the hallway, trying to figure out what how she was going to get. Every second she stayed here was a second that Regina was possibly alone with Zoe and her inner circle, and Esme couldn't and wouldn't let that happen.

"Esme, she can handle Zelena. She's a good witch," Henry explained, completely unaware that in his attempt to calm everyone down, he gave Esme an idea.

"She is… She is a good witch, and a good witch covers her tracks, but a better one, can uncover them," Esme said. Regina had taught Esme every protection charm there was, and in doing so, she told her that there almost always had to be a scapegoat in case anything went wrong, and so Esme began looking for Regina's.

"What-" Robin said but Esme needed to concentrate.

"Shhhh!"

"Bu-"

"Shhhh!" Esme insisted as she stared at the door. Regina typically used blood magic in her protection charms, meaning that ultimately only she could enter or leave the protected area. But Esme had some of Regina's blood running through her veins, so maybe if Esme used her own, she could override Regina's spell, at least in one small area.

"Regina would have been in a hurry, and so she probably only used a typical protection spell-" Esme began to say to herself as she made her way through the dark house to the kitchen.

"What are you-" Robin tried to ask but Esme didn't need his distraction. Besides, he would not be pleased at her plan, and so it was best he didn't know until she had actually done it.

"Shh!"

"But your-"

"I said shhhh!" Esme said as she rummaged through the drawers and found a small sharp knife. She wasn't sure exactly how she was going to do it, but Regina had taught her that any spell was possible so long as you believe you can do it and so she was hoping that that advice was enough. When Robin saw her approach the front door with the small knife in her hand, the anger and frustration he felt around ten seconds before hand returned and he began doing the only thing he could do form inside his bubble; shout.

"Esmerelda Hood! Stop whatever it is you're doing right now!"

"I'm just-"

"Stop it now! I don't want you anywhere near that portal, do you understand? It is bad enough that your mother is out there, i am not having you anywhere near it!" Robin said with such conviction in his voice and fear in his eyes that Esme actually felt bad that she was soon going to disappoint him.

"Don't worry," and with that she slowly pricked her finger and placed the blood along the window at the door. She watched as the spell seemed to absorb it, making it look like her blood flowed through the window in vein like patterns and when she saw it reach the top, she slowly squeezed her way through. She wasn't sure how on earth she did it, and she knew Robin was furious she had managed it, but somehow, she had squeezed through the window and was out in the open, so she ran. She ran through Regina's perfectly maintained garden, she tramped through every muddy puddle last nights rain had left and she sprinted down every dark ally Storybrooke had to offer, all in an attempt to get to Regina before Zoe did.

As Esme was running, the portal disappeared, just like in her vision, but when the town centre finally came within view, Esme was relieved to see that the scene greeting her was not the one she had seen a few weeks ago. Instead of the street being deserted, except for Regina and Zoe, it was full of people; so full that Esme didn't actually see Regina.

"Regina?!" Esme called as she ran towards the crowd, all of whom were now looking at her. It seemed like the whole town was here, except Regina, and so the relief Esme felt when Granny pushed her way through the crowd was indescribable. That was, however, until Esme noticed the look on her faced that screamed pity, and it was then that Esme began to panic.

"Granny? Where's Regina?" Esme asked in as polite a way as possible while also asserting that she wanted to truth. Now.

"Maybe we should-" Granny said, as she slowly wrapped Esme's arm in hers and tried to pull her towards the cafe so that they could talk away from the eyes and ears of every town gossip, but Esme refused, and stopped granny in her tracks.

"Zelena took her through that portal."

"Wh-What? That's not possible.." Esme said as she tried to figure out how the hell this happened. You needed magic, and lots of it, to create a portal. Even if Zelena had somehow managed to escape prison and get the cuff that prevented her form casting spells off, she would never have had the resources to create one. Not alone. And then it hit her. If someone had a desired destination, they needed someone to be able to open or close the portal at that location. It was Zelena who had summoned her from Messene, to Storybrooke. If she had Zoe's help, or at least one of Zoe's witches help, it would have been easy for her to simply reopen the portal. All of this gobbledygook led Esme to one, sickening conclusion: Regina was in Messene.