Sorry for the break! I've had some very exciting and kind of scary events going on in my life these past couple of days, so I was dealing with them, but it's nice to come back to this story as they are beginning to settle down.

The guards standing outside the door the dungeon stirred as they heard a stifled cry from within. Someone was shouting at them, but they had been instructed not to respond. They had received word that the castle was at siege above, but their orders had been to stay at their post.

When the screaming persisted, one of them eyed the door warily, then reached for it.

"Don't rise to it," the second said, raising his hand in warning.

"What if something's really wrong?" he asked. As they glared at each other, they could make out a few of the words being shouted through the thick door.

"Guards!... Please!... Help, someone!"

The guard swung the door open immediately, his companion on his heels. When the made it to the cells the looked down upon the brunette kneeling with her hands wrapped around the blonde. The pair was covered in blood. Snow was screaming for her daughter to wake.

"What happened?" the guard asked loudly.

"She did it," Snow stammered, completely overwrought, her hands shaking as he daughter's blood flowed over them. "She did it to herself."

One of the guards fumbled with the key, wrenching the cell open.

"If she dies on our watch it will be our heads!" his companion whispered frantically behind him. Once the door was open, first guard crouched fretfully to examine the blonde. Her eyes were shut and there was red blood all over her clothing. She looked as if she was turning blue. Snow was swept roughly backwards onto her feet.

"It was too much pain, she couldn't take it," she cried, her breath ragged and torn. "I tried to stop her, I tried…"

The second guard crossed the threshold, nervous sweat pouring from his brow. The moment he as over, Snow's manner changed dramatically. Her wailing stopped as her face hardened and in an instant, before the guards could even register the change, she had disarmed the guard nearest her, taking his sword and knocking him unconscious with one strong, well-aimed blow. The first guard turned to find a blade at his throat, but before he could even register enough to reach for his own sword, the knee of the blonde below him jerked up and met its mark. He crumpled in pain as Snow dealt the blow that knocked him out, toppling over on top of Emma. She grunted with the weight, and Snow helped heave him off her and pull her to her feet. Emma caught her mother's eye.

"I didn't know you were such an actress," she panted.

"It's easy to act like a mother grieving when you know that if your plan fails, you most likely will be experiencing that grief for real," Snow explained.

When the two guards had returned with Emma's limp body and thrown it unceremoniously on the ground beside Snow before clanking the door shut, Snow had never known such fury. Perhaps it was a good thing she was unarmed, because had she had a sword or bow in her hand, those guards would have met their maker in an instant. But then, King George would have been on to their ruse. Instead she worked as quickly and gently as possible to regain her daughter's consciousness. She had given the signal, which meant time was of the essence. She needed to clue Emma in on their plan.

She had not told Emma right off the bat in case the torture King George was dealing her would cause her to spill the beans. Snow by all means had faith in her daughter's ability to keep secrets, but in all honesty part of why she decided to wait before informing her of their plot was that she was so shocked at her weak state when she arrived in the cell that she didn't want to burden her with anything other than allowing her to rest comfortably in her arms. But now, she could delay no longer. Emma had awoken to a painful coughing fit, but her feverish shivering had steadied slightly as Snow began to quietly describe to her what she would need to do.

When Snow felt the vibration of dozens of hooves through the stone walls of her cell, she knew the plan had been set in motion. Sometimes she surprised herself with how quickly she could revert back to that highly attuned vagrant who had lived on the run in the woods. The subtle sense came back so easily.

"They're here," she had whispered to her cellmate.

"How can you tell?" Emma hissed back, her consciousness a bit sharper after having been introduced to the plan for their escape. She knew her mother's escape depended on her own, and was all the more sure to succeed because of it.

"Can't you feel them?" she asked in a hushed tone. Emma froze and listened hard. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to be feeling. But she trusted her mother to know.

"We don't have much time," Snow said, turning to her daughter. "We can't bring Regina's magic into the battle until you're out of the castle, or George will know it's all been a trick and come looking for you. They said they would stand siege to distract the soldiers as long as possible without shooting the first shot, but knowing your father, he's not particularly good at standing and not fighting. Are you ready?"

Emma nodded, her pale face set and determined. She reached for a rock and began to use it to reopen the wound that had just begun to heal. Snow winced.

"Is that really necessary?" she begged.

"It will make it more convincing," Emma shrugged, disregarding her mother's concern as the wound began to bleed freely. She swept some of it across her throat and down her clothing, then folded herself into position, pressing her eyes together tightly. Snow took in a deep breath and began to holler for the guard's attention.

"You sure no one will notice them missing?" Emma whispered as they tiptoed their way around their unconscious forms and out of the cell, locking the door behind them for good measure with the keys Snow had thought to unfastened from their belts.

"That was the point of the diversion upstairs," Snow breathed, heading for the door to the dungeon. "Draw everyone else away so that when we take care of these two there's no one to come asking questions. But if it's one thing I know, plans don't always go according to… well, plan."

She turned slightly to cast a glance at her daughter behind her only to realize Emma had not kept up the pace. After tripping along a few paces, she had stopped, leaning on the stone wall beside her with one hand as she wheezed. Snow returned to her, concerned.

"Do you think you can make it?"

Emma nodded, but just the slight movement seemed to nearly send her toppling over. Snow reached to support her, and with her added help, Emma continued.

"That was the other point of the diversion," Snow explained as they hobbled forward. "So that hopefully the castle will be pretty well cleared out as we try and find the back door Regina told me about."

Snow did not want to seem discouraging as she helped Emma limp out of the dungeon and swung the door shut, but she thought it all too likely they would never make it that far.

Outside, as Charming, Hook and the rest of the men rode towards the castle to display their fake siege, Regina and Neal peeled off from the group as planned and doubled back around the fortress. Regina knew of the back entrance from the several time she had visited the castle when it still belonged to Rumpelstiltskin. Perhaps not as grand as the main entrance, the door was large enough to be getting on with, once they were passed, the guards on the other side would be another matter. But as they approached the wooden door, they were thrown back without being able to even touch it. Regina held her hands up against the invisible barrier, sensing.

"He's used an enchantment on the door," she informed Neal. "If I use magic to break it, George will sense it, and know I'm helping you.

"Well then, I suppose we can't use the door, now, can we?" Neal mused, rubbing his chin cryptically with his hand. Regina cocked an eyebrow at him.

"What do you have in mind?" she asked skeptically, but even as she spoke Neal had jammed his toe into a foothold low on the wall, reaching up to grasp a wayward stone jutting out. "Are you serious?"

"Can't be a thief for years and not know how to scale a wall," he explained, his tongue sticking out between his lips as he concentrated, pulling himself still higher. Regina gaped at him. "I'll take care of whatever guards are left on the other side and open the door for you from there. Bring the horses around, we'll need to bolt as soon as they show up."

"If they show up," Regina mumbled, turning to grab the horses' bridles. "If the princess can hold up her end of the plan."

There was only one guard to best on the inside of the gate. Neal dropped down silently behind him and twisted his neck until he fell unconscious to the ground. Just as the body buckled, he heard a pleasantly familiar voice from behind him.

"See you haven't forgotten how to scale a wall," Emma scowled smarmily. Neal turned to find her, leaning slightly on her mother for support as they tripped their way from the castle through the yard towards the gate. His heart fluttered with relief as he ran to her.

"Emma," he breathed, scooping her into his arms. He didn't care if it was inappropriate. He didn't care if there was tension regarding the nature of their relationship between them. He was just so happy to see her alive. She grunted as he squeezed her, reminding him of her injuries so that he hastily released her. "Are you alright?"

"I've been better," she mocked, swaying so that he caught her as she seemed in danger of tumbling backwards. He eyed the blood drenching her clothing.

"What happened?" he gaped breathily.

"It's not as bad as it looks," Emma said, her drained voice failing to inspire confidence that she spoke the truth.

"Where are the others?" Snow demanded. She too look pale, the worse for ware for her short stint in George's dungeon.

"Regina's just outside the door with the horses," Neal said, absorbing Emma's extra weight from her so that Snow ran forward to unlatch the gate. For a moment, Emma did not have the breath to speak her skepticism, but as the gate swung forward and she saw the three large beasts standing beside her son's adoptive mother, she couldn't help herself.

"Which brilliant mastermind discounted the fact that I don't know how to ride a horse when they came up with this part of the plan?"

"It's like riding a bike," Regina scoffed with a scowl.

"A – no it's not. Bikes have wheels, not hooves and minds of their own. And B – I never learned how to ride a bike," Emma retorted.

"You're riding with me," Snow assured her as she reached for one of the bridles. "Now let's get going before the battle breaks out."

Up next: Part A of the plan, operation get Emma out, has been a success. However, part B, operation make sure King George can't harm her or anyone again, has yet to be enacted. The escape plan continues!

Also, literally as I'm writing this I'm finding out about the Boston Marathon bombings. I'm from Boston, and my family still lives there. I don't know if they were planning on attending the marathon, but your thoughts and prayers for the people involved would be greatly appreciated :(