PART TWO

Chapter eleven

1996

A yellow Volkswagen made its way through Main Street. It stopped on the red light from the junction between Main and Oak, the latter where the driver was headed.

It was early morning on a Saturday, and even though half of Storybrooke was yet to wake up, a loud voice was booming from the Volkswagen, singing along the song on the radio.

"-TELL ME WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH MY MIND… UH UH UH SAVE ME NOW…. FROM THE DEPTH OF MY…. INFATUATION… I COULD DROWN… IN THIS SEA OF LOVE… AND ISOLATION-"

"If I save you now, can you promise you'll stop singing?"

Emma Swan jumped from her skin, and the jerk almost made the car's engine die. Ruby Lucas was smirking like a devil on the sidewalk.

"Jesus Christ, Ruby!" the blonde gasped, and the brunette laughed.

"Did you get laid? You sound happy."

"I don't need to get laid to be happy."

"Duly noted. I will no longer feel offended when you spend the night and still sulk the next morning."

Emma rubbed her eyes. "Ruby, don't start-"

They had been on and off with that conversation, jumping on each other's bed for thirteen years, and yet, the talk was always lingering.

"I know we are still ten years from the dreadful deal, but a deal is a deal."

"Ruby-"

"There. Cranky again. You know how to flatter a girl."

"I'm late for work."

Ruby scoffed. "Another emergency with a nest of birds being seriously threatened by a cat this morning, Sheriff?"

Emma rolled her eyes. "The Mayor was admitted in the ICU on Thursday, and people are sort of rioting for news in front of his house. As you know, this is David's area, so I have to get up early and take care of the phone and paperwork."

Emma would never set foot on Mifflin Street if the incident was too close to the mansion of number 108, so David was escalated to those jobs because Emma was too immature to swallow that up and deal with it.

She loved being Sheriff; Henry Mills himself made sure to offer her that job when he found out Emma could not graduate from High School because of What Happened in '83.

She liked him. She just didn't like that he was always around to check on town business, sending regards to her mother with that kind face and a constant air of guilty and apology, making sure she would never forget about Regina and What Happened in '83.

Emma had been the one who found him passed out on his office, and after she dropped him at the Hospital, she came face to face with Cora Mills on the front lobby after successfully managing to avoid her for years.

"Sheriff Swan," she said quietly, walking past Emma.

That had been extremely polite of her.

"Well, I'll let you go now," Ruby sighed. "I stopped by the Station earlier and left breakfast. Hopefully David didn't eat that."

"Thank you," Emma smiled at her friend, noticing the light had gone green. "See ya later."

"Go save the world, Sheriff-"

Emma made a right on Oak Street and after a few blocks, she was in front of the Police Station. She saw David's Cruiser parked underneath the giant oak. That was her spot. She hurried inside, ready to scold him, when she noticed David wasn't behind his desk.

Instead of him, she saw Mary Margaret, looking antsy as she hung up the phone.

"You're on my spot," Emma said pointing her thumb over her shoulder.

"I'm leaving, cranky pants," she sighed. "I just…"

Emma frowned. Her friend was usually annoyingly chirp in the morning. "What's wrong, MM?"

"David asked me to stay because the phone won't stop ringing and you don't answer your pager. We saw her last night... She's back in town because of Mr. Mills and… The Mills want you by the old mine-"

Everything, every piece of information sounded disconnected, and Emma was not really sure who she meant by Her. Only that stubborn, out-of-pace heart knew it, felt it. It was Her.

"Mary, what-?"

"Her… son. Regina's son fell down the old mine. They want you leading the rescue team."

Emma had no idea if Mary was done talking; she spun on her heels and hurried to the Bug. It still felt like a nightmare when she arrived in the woods and saw all the yellow tapes and the red lights surrounding the area.

David came running towards her. He looked flustered, just like Mary.

"Emma, he…"

Emma didn't even look around for Her.

"How old is he and what's his name?" she asked bluntly.

"Uh… Henry. He's ten."

It was a lot to process, so she didn't.

Emma just ran, David on her heels adding personal safety equipment on her body. When she crouched by the entrance – something like a slimy cave with a diameter no bigger than fifteen inches – Emma was wearing climbing ropes around her waist and a helmet with a flashlight.

"Get me down," she barked to the men, not even listening about precaution and instability. She already knew all that. The mine was at the verge of collapsing, and the new kids were not stupid enough to get any closer.

If that was back in her day, she was sure Killian would be that exact stupid kid.

She tried to focus on the ten year old boy down there rather than the suffocating, hot moldy atmosphere. It felt claustrophobic, and it felt even worse when she imagined how it would feel to be crushed by the ceiling.

"Kid? Can you hear me?" she yelled, pointing the flashlight to all directions.

"Over here!"

She quickly pointed the light to the left and found, about eight or nine feet below her, a little boy with dark hair, petrified against a cracked beam.

"I need more rope!" Emma bellowed upwards, feeling her body jerk to the sides then lowering towards him. "Hi, kid!" she grinned, panting when she landed in front of him. The air was cold and absurdly heavy with dust down there. "I'm Emma. I'm the Sheriff of Storybrooke. Your name's Henry, right?"

"Yeah," he said.

"Are you hurt? Does anything hurt?" she asked, noticing a small cut on his right, pale cheek. He shook his head 'no'.

He didn't look like Regina.

And then cold dread fell down her spine when rocks started to fall dangerously close to where they stood.

"Listen, I'm getting you out of here –"

More rocks collapsed violently on the ground, and suddenly Emma could no longer see the small fissure she came through up there. Her radio sizzled.

"Emma? Emma? Can you hear me?"

It was David.

"Yeah, what happened?"

"The thing is crumbling. We had to let go of the rope. I'm guiding you through the old elevator, okay? It's the only way we can get you out-"

She rolled her eyes. Great. She was already going on a suicide mission before breakfast. That reminded her of Ruby. Ruby and her façade. Ruby and those sad eyes.

She was going to ask her out on a proper date if she made it out alive.

She kneeled down in front of the boy, and she felt a pang in her chest. She could not let anything happen to that kid.

"Listen, Henry… Are you a fan of comic books?"

"Yeah…"

"Who's your favorite?"

"Spiderman."

"Oh, I am too! Well, okay, I need you to think like Peter Parker, now. Imagine that… " She pointed at the rusty, crooked frame covered in dirt "-Mary Jane is trapped in that elevator-"

"If you want me to get in there with you, just say it."

That sass sounded like Regina, and Emma's heart jolted.

"Fine, Mr. Smart Pants. Do not let go of my hand. Alright?"

"Okay," he smirked.

Emma guided him through debris carefully; she used a piece of wood to shovel rocks and a pile of dust that had anchored the old elevator there, and then she looked up at the rusty chain, not really sure it could support them both.

"We're going to feed the generators to lift it. Can you handle thirty minutes, Em?"

"Yeah," she replied, attaching it to her belt again. She turned to the boy. "Well, get in. We have to wait so they can make it work again."

"How old is this thing?" he asked, getting inside after Emma.

"I don't know… Looks like a thousand years to me."

"Aren't you supposed to lie to make me feel less scared?"

Emma smirked. "Are you?"

"No."

"Well then."

"So, how long you've been a Sheriff?"

"Ten years or so."

"And how old are you? Oh. Sorry. My mom told me not to ask other people's age."

He looked truly embarrassed, even in the dark. Emma smiled. "I'm thirty and I don't mind if you ask."

"You're my mom's age. Did you know her? She lived here in Storybrooke all her life-"

"I think we shouldn't talk much," Emma spat. "Save oxygen, avoid echo and listen to the radio, stuff like that. Any noise down here can be important."

"Okay, sorry," he muttered quietly.

They went on in silence for about fifteen minutes. It seemed comfortable for him, but Emma was a mess just by looking at the boy. Light eyes, light skin… He didn't look anything like her. Emma wanted to know his last name, but she was too afraid to ask.

"Listen, I'm just… I didn't mean to be harsh. I'm just concentrating on taking you out of here," she mumbled.

"I know," Henry said simply. "I heard my mom yelling that she wanted a specialist to come down here, so I guess you're the best. Like a super hero."

Emma blinked. Was it the mine or were they running out of air?

"I'm no super hero, kid."

He grinned discreetly, just as if he knew her, just as if he knew she played with her own insecurities by assuming a post she didn't believe she deserved.

"If you say so. I was scared when I fell down, and you just came because you had to."

"What were you thinking, anyway? The woods are far from your grandparents' house-"

"I was walking around the woods, uh, to find the road."

"Couldn't you just ask?"

"They wouldn't just tell me! I didn't want to move in here. I just… Wanted to go back home."

"Mm," Emma nodded. "Where's home?"

"New York."

"Huh."

Emma never knew that Regina was only hours away from her. Mr. Mills could have said so if she didn't run away from him like a demon from a priest.

"And… Is your entire family here, in Storybrooke? Your mom and dad? Do you have any brothers and sisters?"

Henry opened his mouth to answer, but the radio sizzled so loud that the echo hurt her eardrums.

"Em? How's it going?"

"We're alive, David."

"Five minutes to reload. I'll keep you informed. We're getting you out soon."

"Who's David?" Henry asked.

"My Deputy."

"And what does that mean?"

"He's like a sidekick."

"Cool. Do you like being a Sheriff?"

"Yeah, it's fine."

"Is that a tattoo?" he pointed at her wrist.

Someone had to cut the sugar from that kid.

"Yeah, I… had it done to cover an old scar."

"What happened?"

"Huh, I-"

"Em? Stand still. We're lifting you in five seconds-"

"Okay, kid. Let's split the weight… Don't move," she said, reaching out the center of the cabin with one leg to try and get some balance. She pulled the radio. "We're good, David-"

There was a low, threatening rumble as dust fell on their heads like rain. Emma squeezed his hand, pretty sure it was collapsing, but the elevator actually started to move upwards. It jerked and creaked, but it was definitively moving.

"Hang on, Swan!" David cheered. "I can't wait to see your ugly face back here-"

The celebration was short lived.

One of the chains snapped, eaten by rust and time. The cabin jerked and dangled precariously on Emma's side. They were only a few inches from the ground, so Emma slid down and picked her radio.

"Lower it back, I'll try to reattach the other chain," she panted.

It wouldn't hold the two of them, and they needed to take Henry out first. He had been there longer and-

And he was Regina's.

XXX

It was the first time in many years that she heard that voice.

She still sounded confident and prying.

Regina was actually surprised that, with a Fire Fighter Squad just there, it had been precisely her who went down after Henry.

Now she was nervous and mad.

"When I said specialist, I didn't mean someone with experience on tree houses and rooftops!" she yelled at David.

"When Mary told her your son was on the old mine, she disobeyed all the protocols and entered there without permission!" he yelled back at her. "She's not a specialist, and I'm trying to focus on not getting them killed down there! Can I do my job?"

"Sorry," Regina muttered a little embarrassed and very touched with that information.

"Emma, how's it going with the chain?" he asked nervously.

"Wonderful," she chirped, her voice sizzling with sarcasm. "I managed. Pull it up."

"She has reattached the chain!" David called out to the fire fighters. "Turn on the generator!"

He pulled Regina to a safe distance. The old generator shorted out, and a few sparkles flew around. They tried it one more time, and then it rumbled again.

Regina noticed that David didn't change much, except for the hair. It was short and decent-looking, and he wouldn't stop running his hand over it. She also noticed a wedding ring.

"Em, is it coming up okay?" he asked on the radio.

"It looks okay from down here-"

"What do you mean, down…?" David lowered the radio and ignored Regina's questioning look, turning to the squad. "We're making two trips, the boy is coming up first!"

The next ten minutes were the longest in Regina's life. When she saw Henry's dirty but otherwise unharmed body coming out of the ruined shaft, she ran to him and engulfed him into a bone crushing hug.

"Mom," he muttered, hugging her back.

She kneeled down in front of him, hands on his face checking for any mortal injuries underneath the dust. "What were you thinking, Henry? You could have died-!"

"Is Emma going to be okay?"

An array of emotions hit Regina square in the chest.

She held his hand and pulled him with her, closer to David. "You're pulling her up now, right?" she muttered to the blond Deputy.

"You're her sidekick?" Henry asked.

David smiled down at him. "Yeah. Are you okay, buddy?"

"Yeah. What about Emma?"

David exchanged a dark look with Regina then turned to the boy with a reassuring smile. "We're getting her out now."

He commanded the shaft to be lowered one more time. When they ignited the generator, it didn't make a sound.

"Again," David growled.

It took three more attempts to have him yelling profanities. The others tried to calm him down, but he sought Regina's eyes for comfort. The brunette's expression was lifeless. He waved to a paramedic, who took Henry to the ambulance and offered him snacks.

Emma's voice came on the radio again.

"I'll climb the chain. Make sure the shaft remains open."

David smacked his head. "She's an idiot. She's going to-"

Regina felt her heart skipping a beat, and something uncomfortable installed itself in her stomach. Her throat felt constricted, and before she noticed, a tear was running down her cheek without permission, like the many other tears that ran down her face when she was forced into that plane to Europe. Or like the ones when she found Emma's cigarette case inside her purse. Or the ones that always came up through the years, whenever that beautiful delinquent popped on her mind.

"Please. Get her out alive," she whispered to David. "Because I'm going to kill her when she gets here-"

David and the fire fighters threw another rope through the shaft. Regina noticed the Nolan's old Cruiser parking next to her rental. His dad always let him use it when they had important games in school, and for a second she felt like she went back in time, waiting for the infernal roar of the white GTI…

MM and Ruby came out of the Cruiser, the first finally rid of that awful perm and using the matching ring she saw on David's finger, the latter looking a mess of tears and mascara.

MM was the first to fling her arms around Regina.

"Welcome back!" she panted. "It's so good to see you-!"

"Oh, hello," she sighed, hugging her back. She was obnoxious but Regina always liked her.

"Hi," Ruby sniffed, wiping her eyes as she stood arm in arm with Mary, both looking expectantly at David, who on his belly was halfway inside the shaft, yelling muffled instructions at Emma.

It took about half an hour.

First, dusty blonde hair. Then strong arms and a torso, then legs and boots, everything covered in mud. Regina saw her stand up and receive a relieved hug from David, followed by Mary and Ruby, with whom she locked eyes.

Regina felt a pang in her chest.

They looked like… a couple.

Was it what they became?

"Mom! Mom!" Henry came running towards her, pulling her frenetically towards the commotion. "Come meet her, c'mon-!"

Regina felt lightheaded when she witnessed Emma Swan drop on her knees and hug her son as though he was her own. Then she lifted her eyes, her turbulent green eyes, and they found Regina…

Henry was jumping up and down, between them, but for once Regina wasn't listening. Her sight was blurred with tears, but she could recognize that shit-eating grin from a mile.

Emma stood up and waved.

"Hey, Mills."