A/N: It's been a rough few weeks over here. Between colds and activities and planning for the next school year, things have been hectic. I'm actually surprised this chapter got done, though I did look forward to writing it. A huge thank you to the fans of this story and to my wonderful beta, steph-the-fangirl-925, and aimeeloren, who catches things as well. I appreciate all of you hanging in there with me.

Disclaimer: I do not own the major characters to this story, as they belong to the franchise of Once Upon A Time. I also do not own some of the dialogue contained within this chapter as it was originally written for the show and I just tweaked it to make it fit within the storylines.

Chapter 17:

"Regina, what's so urgent it couldn't wait until morning?" Emma squinted at the clock on her phone. "It's past two am here."

"That map you sent your parents, they printed it out and Henry showed it to me when he came over to spend the night. I know it," Regina told her with urgency in her voice.

Emma sat up and pushed herself against the hard wood of the headboard. "And…?"

"We need to discuss this when I know you're fully awake. Call me back in the morning right after Henry heads off for school."

"I'm already awake. Why can't you tell me now?"

"I was barely able to step away to make this call. Just call me tomorrow. Gold and the others won't think anything about my behavior if I get a call from you right as Henry heads off for school. They'll think that you called to talk to him but missed him."

"Fine," Emma agreed. "We'll talk tomorrow."

After hanging up, Emma debated about calling her parents. Neal could already be down for the night and Mary-Margaret would go on a rampage if he woke up before it was time for him to eat. God, he must be getting big. Emma missed the little guy.

Deciding to text her father instead, Emma sent a quick message to let him know to call her back. It only took five minutes for her phone to ring. After a few minutes of conversation and some argument, it was agreed that David and Mary-Margaret would be on the call the next morning along with Emma and Regina.

When Emma awoke, she found Robin straight away to discuss the conversation with Regina and her parents. Robin wanted in on the phone call too. He assured her that they both needed to remain informed if they were to proceed in gaining more clues as to how the ring pertained to their trip.

Emma was anxious all morning long and by lunchtime she was about to go out of her mind with curiosity. Finally, it was time to call. Emma arranged for her parents to call her from the police station where they had the capability of performing the conference call. Then they called Regina.

"What are you doing?" Regina accused as she answered the phone.

"Hello to you, too, Regina," Emma told her.

"The whole reason I told you to call me now was so we could talk covertly. Now I see that you set up to bring the whole Charming softball team. All you're missing is your pirate mascot. Oh, I forgot, he's a priestly mascot now."

Emma gritted her teeth in frustration but Robin grabbed her arm and shook his head.

"Regina," he reprimanded.

"Well, apparently, your mascot has taken the place of ours," David teased. "Ow. What did I say?"

Emma had to smile. It seemed that Mary-Margaret punched David for his sarcasm.

"We were worried about you," Snow said.

"Then worry quickly because if Gold sees I received a call from the police station he might become suspicious."

"Regina, you wanted to tell me about the map," Emma reminded her so that this conversation could get back on track.

"Yes. Henry showed it to me. When I was queen, I was privy to the maps of the kingdoms. The one that Henry showed me from your book was very similar to lands found amongst several of them. The land masses show that many of them had been combined into one at the time your map had been made."

"So, it is our lands in the map." Snow said with awe.

"Yes. Your father's, George's, the land that once belong to my grandfather and a few others. They had all been ruled under one king during the time that the map shows," Regina explained.

"The map is real," Emma said with some wonder as she stared at Robin who seemed just as overcome as she was by the information. "The book may be real."

"I suggest we ask August when he awakes," Regina said.

"He still hasn't woken yet?" Emma asked with concern.

"Just enough to eat," Snow informed her. "Gold must have hit him with something pretty strong."

"I've discovered why Gold has organized us all together," Regina chimed in.

"What do they want?" Emma sat down and Robin joined her on the bed, the phone on speaker between them.

"They want to shift the entire balance so that villains win and heroes lose. They feel the only way to get their happy endings is to destroy yours."

"Mine already pretty much sucks," Emma mumbled. Louder, she said, "Do you think they can find the author?"

"They have a lead. August mentioned something about a door inside Storybrooke. We think it looks like the door in the picture I gave to Henry. The one I found amongst August's belongings. Gold wants me to bring it to him."

"Don't," Robin piped up. "I don't trust him. Especially, not after what he did to Killian."

"Neither do I," Regina assured him. "I already had Blue make a copy of the picture. He'd sense my magic right away, but Blue found a way to block hers."

"Good." Emma was glad Regina had thought ahead. "It's best we hold onto the original in case there is any extra clues associated with the page.

"I need to go," Regina said quickly. "I'm supposed to meet Maleficent in ten minutes."

"Be careful," Snow told her.

"I will. Robin, I'll call back later for you to talk to Roland."

"Why? Where's Marion?" Emma saw Robin's brow crease.

"She told me she had a doctor's appointment this afternoon."

"Is everything okay?"

"She seemed fine to me," Regina assured him. "I have to go."

"If you need us, Regina, we'll be there," Emma told her. "I said I was a part of Operation Mongoose. I'm a part of it. You wanted my help and now you've got it. No matter what it means for the both of us."

Robin reached out and squeezed Emma's arm. He knew exactly how much Emma would have to give up if she left Rome to help Regina. And he knew she'd do it if she felt her parents and Regina needed her. That being said, he had something he needed to do. He had to put a stop to her lunch/coffee date with the young seminarian. If Emma had to abandon her plan to get Killian back he didn't want anything standing in her way of having whatever time she could with him.

He heard her talking to her parents after Regina hung up so he slipped out of her room. Signora Assante, after several months, had gone slack in her rules with them and closed doors. Searching the house, he was unable to track down Matthew. It was okay. He had until tomorrow to correct the situation that he had forced upon Emma.

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When Regina called Robin back later, he had already begun to worry. Not just about not being able to find Matthew and cancelling Emma's meeting with him, but over Marion's reason for being at the doctor. Keeping his anxiety at bay, he tried cheering Roland up by telling him that the hoped to be home soon. Robin really wished that it was true, yet he wasn't so sure.

Regina returned to the phone after about ten minutes when Roland tired of talking. "Is Marion back?"

"Not yet. I have something to tell you but I want to settle Roland first. Can you hang on?"

"Yes." Robin paced his room as he waited. Regina quickly returned but it felt like hours. "What's going on?"

"Henry found the key. The page is the actual door. August awoke just long enough for us to inquire. I feel that Henry may be in danger."

"Relax, Regina. Between you, Snow and David, I believe he'll be safe," he reassured her wishing he could take her in his arms to give her more comfort than just his words.

"I know. I just don't trust Gold. He seems desperate. And the other three… Well, I wouldn't trust them with a flea."

There was a commotion on Regina's side and he heard Regina call out but he couldn't tell who to. Next thing Robin knew, Marion was on the phone.

"Robin." Marion sounded breathless with excitement.

"What happened, Marion? Why did you need to go to the doctor?"

"Hold on. I want to head to my room." A brief pause once again enveloped the phone line. "Okay. I'm here. I have some wonderful news and I wanted you to hear it first."

"Marion, just tell me," Robin insisted.

"I'm pregnant."

"You're what?" Robin really didn't mean that question to explode from him the way it did but there was no taking it back now.

"I suspected a few weeks after you left. I went to the doctor today and they confirmed it. I'm pregnant."

Robin felt his mouth open and close, however no sounds came out. His knees practically gave out so he sat on his bed only to discover he was too restless to sit, so he performed a few jack in the box moves as his brain tried to process Marion's surprising news.

"Robin?"

"The doctor confirmed it?" he finally choked out.

"Yes. This afternoon." After Robin still didn't say anything, she continued. "I went for a walk after I found out. It's a lot to take in."

Hating to lie but not know what else to say, Robin told Marion he had to go because he needed to talk to Emma before she retired for the night. "Give Roland a kiss for me."

"Will do. Love you, Robin."

Instead of saying it back, he hung up. Flopping back on his bed, he flung his arm that held his cell phone over his face. In only a few minutes sleep overtook him.

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Emma was in her room discovering that the page was indeed where the author was hidden from her parents. She also discovered Henry found the key, which meant the author could be released. When she asked Mary-Margaret and David why they hadn't done it yet they told her to sit down because they had something they needed to discuss with her.

She sat in stunned silence as her parents related their tale about the dealings with Maleficent and their hand in sending an innocent child to this world alone. Finally, Emma could hold her silence no longer. "This whole time I was right. You were lying. I wanted to believe you. I wanted to believe in you."

Her mother sighed, while her father spoke. "We were just trying to protect you."

"Emma, are you okay?" Mary-Margaret asked her worry carrying over the phone line from half a world away.

"No," Emma said sharply. "I'm not okay. I gotta go."

"Emma, please don't go like this. I'm your mother."

"I don't care." It was times like these that Emma wished she was talking on a phone from her early childhood so she could have some satisfaction of slamming it. Instead she hung up, turned off her phone, and shoved it in the nightstand drawer with a sharp smack.

Frustrated with herself and her parents, Emma paced her room until she felt caged in the short space. It didn't matter that it was getting late, she needed to go for a walk. Taking her phone back out but refusing to turn it back on, she shoved it in her back pocket, grabbed her coat and left.

She didn't pay attention to where she was going and Emma definitely didn't know how long she walked. It was pitch black out when a half awake Robin found her. She didn't know how she knew, yet she could sense he had spoken to her parents.

"I'm just gonna need some time," Emma told him as he approached.

Robin smiled in understanding and nodded. "August is awake. Your parents and Henry are with him."

"Is he…?"

Once more, Robin nodded. "He's gonna be fine. Your friend is gonna be fine."

Emma sat down on one of the benches that lined the road where they stood. "Why did my parents send you? I'm surprised they didn't call."

"Your phone is going straight to voicemail. And, frankly, they didn't think you'd listen to them," Robin informed her as he sat next to her, folding his hand between his legs as he leaned forward.

"They were right," Emma said with some lingering anger.

"Come on. Let's head back to the house and talk to them." Robin stood and held out his hand.

Emma grabbed it and they walked silently arm in arm back to Signora Assante's. Robin seemed troubled by more than what was going on between her and her parents so she didn't press because she didn't want to discuss her own situation either.

Frankly, Emma used the time to think about what she wanted to say to August and how best to avoid conversation with her parents without involving Henry. Why did her parents have to make things so much more complicated? Seriously, it seemed like life was kicking her while she was already down. Wasn't being away from her home, away from her family, while trying to convince the man she loved that he loved her back, enough?

No, now she had to discover her parents, the people she came to care for first as her friends, than as her parents, lied. They cheated not only her out of a family but some poor helpless baby as well who probably felt as lost in this world as she had. It was beyond cruel. And it definitely wasn't something she expected the people she had come to know as heroes to do.

Robin squeezed her arm as they entered the house. "You ready?"

"No, but I need to talk to August. Thank you for coming to get me. I know things haven't exactly been the best for you as well."

"You have no idea," Robin said with a sad chuckle. "I'll be in my room if you need me."

Emma watched him enter his room and proceeded to hers. Before she opened the door, she looked across the hall at Killian's. She'd love to be able to knock on his door and tell him everything that happened. Not that he wouldn't listen, he was a priest after all, but he wouldn't understand as the man she had grown close to.

With a sigh, Emma entered her room and powered her phone back on. When it was ready, she called her father's cell.

"Emma, thank God."

"I want to talk to August."

"Of course." He sounded disappointed but he didn't argue which made Emma happy she called him instead of her mother. "You're on speaker."

"August! How are you?"

He chuckled softly. "Tired but better." He paused. "Something's wrong. How are you?"

"I'm fine."

"You forget, I know lying," August informed her.

"It's a long story. It's not really worth getting into right now. Did Henry show you the surprise he found?"

"Not yet, Mom." There was some small sounds before August gasped.

"You did it," August said with excitement.

"That's right. Now what do you say we let out the author? I have some questions," Emma told him.

"Emma, please," Snow pleaded. "Think about this. This isn't just want Regina wanted. This is what Gold wanted too."

"I'm not worried about it are you?" Emma ground out. "Cause now I have some questions about me. And he can tell us everything."

"If he is the one who wrote your story," August chimed in.

"What are you talking about?" Emma and Henry almost said simultaneously.

August laughed. "Something you need to know about the author. He wasn't the only one. There have been many authors throughout time. It's a job not a person. And the one trapped in here was just the last tasked with the great responsibility."

"Which is?" Emma inquired.

"To record," he told them. "To witness the greatest stories of all time and record them for posterity. The job has gone back eons. From the man who watched shadows dance against cave walls and develop an entire philosophy, to playwrights who tell tales and poetry, to a man named Walt. Many have had this sacred job. Great women and men who have taken on the responsibility with the gravity it deserved until this last one. He started to manipulate rather than record. He did something. I don't know exactly what, but something that pushed them over the edge. That's why the sorcerer and his apprentice put him in there. They're the ones who choose the author. And they took responsibility for their error."

"They did and he's still in there," Henry said.

"He still has the ability to alter the book. To alter the course of things," Emma continued, because if the author did exist, he might be able to help all of them.

"You sure have come a long way from the woman who wouldn't believe," August said impressed.

Emma smiled even though she knew August couldn't see it. "Yeah, I have. Okay, Henry. Do it."

There was a loud swoosh of sound and her parents gasped loudly.

"You're the author?" Snow exclaimed.

Metal clanged and the sounds of something falling startled Emma. She hated not being able to tell what was going on. "Henry, what's happening?"

August must have picked up the phone and switched it off of speaker because his voice sounded much closer and clearer now. "He and David ran after the author."

"Damn it, August. What happened?"

"The author. I think he and your parents knew each other. He ran out the second he recognized them, knocking things down to slow them from catching him."

"I needed to ask him questions," Emma lamented.

"Hold on. Henry's back." Apparently August held the phone to his chest because all Emma heard was some rumbling. "You're Dad and Henry lost him. Your mom and dad are going out to search for him."

"Great. The only person who may be able to answer any of my questions runs off and my only chance of finding him is two people who considered burning the page with him inside." Emma kicked out at the nightstand in frustration. "Just keep me informed, okay?"

"Will do, Emma."

She hung up and laid down. Sleep, despite the lateness of the hour was a long time coming, but she was going to need to rest if she was going to figure out the mess that was her life.