Author's note: Thank you SOOO much for all the reviews!

Chapter 5

Late. She was late again. She must've slept through her alarm. Emma dashed from room to room, hurriedly tying her hair back and throwing on the first clothes she found. Luckily, she was never one for neatness. Just then, as she was about to leave the room, she noticed a note taped to the bathroom mirror.

Thought I'd let you sleep in a bit. You look so cute when you sleep. See you at work.

-Graham

Normally a note like this would've made her melt. But today, it was nothing but annoying she thought as she threw it aside, seething with anger. How dare he not wake her up after she missed her alarm. He knew how much they had to do at work, from interviewing witnesses, lining up possible suspects, and reviewing the autopsy report.

Henry was already gone, which was a relief. Emma looked back at the empty apartment. She had the oddest feeling that she'd forgotten something. She shook her head. Whatever. It was probably just the lack of coffee. She slammed the door and strode out.

~Long Gone~

Emma cursed herself as she ran back to her apartment. How could she have forgotten her laptop? It was practically the only thing she used at work. Normally it stayed at the station but she'd brought it home last night to re-watch the security footage again. Of course, she had been rudely interrupted by Graham.

Spying her laptop on top of the fridge (how the hell had it gotten all the way up there?), she looked around for a stool but didn't see any. With a sigh, she started to drag a chair over to the fridge. It made a loud scraping noise across the wooden floor.

"Shhh!" A voice hissed from behind her. Emma immediately whirled around, expecting a burglar, but it was just her mother.

"What are you doing here?" She asked. "Aren't you supposed to be with Scarlett?"

Mary Margaret had an annoyed look on her face. "Funny you should ask that. So there I was, drinking my coffee when I realized it was already 8 and you hadn't dropped Scar off yet. So I asked myself, oh, is Emma sick today? But no, I knew that if that were the case Graham would've dropped by and told me. So I went over to your apartment. Maybe you were staying home again. I didn't know. I open the door, and you know what I hear? Loud cries, coming from Scarlett's room."

Emma immediately paled, a sick feeling growing in the pit of her stomach. She'd forgotten to take Scarlett to Mary Margaret's? She'd remembered her precious laptop but not her daughter? "Oh my God." She gasped. "Scar!" She immediately dashed to the toddler's room, where she found her daughter playing happily with her dolls on the floor.

"I'm so sorry." She wrapped Scarlett up in a tight hug. "Mommy will never forget you again."

Scarlett looked momentarily surprised, but hugged her mother back. "Mamaaaa."

Emma put the toddler back on the floor, kissing the top of her head. "Bye, Scar. Love you."

"Wuv you mama." Said a cheerful Scarlett as she scooped up her dolls again.

Emma stepped back awkwardly into the living room, where Mary Margaret stood with her arms crossed, a disappointed look in her eyes. Emma couldn't help but shrink under her mother's gaze. She so wasn't used to feeling like this, for she'd grown up without parents.

"Thanks for, you know." Emma said, retrieving her laptop from the top of the fridge. "Taking care of Scar."

"How could you forget your kid?" Mary Margaret asked in disbelief. "I mean, I've never had to raise one, given the circumstances, but when I think about just leaving poor Scarlett here, well. I can't even imagine it."

"I know." Emma breathed. "And I'm sorry."

"You should be." Mary Margaret said. "What's going on, Emma?" She stared at her daughter. "You look awful."

"Thanks." Emma said dryly.

"I mean it's not like you to forget your kid." Mary Margaret said. "Are you ok? Do you need to talk?" She asked, all concerned.

"Whoa there." Emma said. First of all, she didn't need this (s)mothering, and second of all, she had to get back to work. "I'm fine." She stepped towards the door. "Really." But as she left, she noticed that Mary Margaret didn't look convinced at all.

~Long Gone~

There it was again. That incessant tapping. For the last half hour, she had been poring over a bunch of witness interviews, and as usual, they revealed nothing. Nothing! No one had seen anyone suspicious Archie's office the night he died. His schedule had been empty as well. As far as she knew, Archie had been completely alone right before his death, which Whale estimated to be around 7 or 8 the night before. There hadn't been any signs of forced entry or struggles in his office. To make matters worse, she'd read over the full autopsy report from the hospital fifty times. It still said the same thing: Archie had been 100% healthy and his death had been completely unrelated to poison, heart attacks, and any other rational explanations. It was almost as if he just up and died.

Emma frowned up at the worn, cracked ceiling of the station. The tapping made it impossible to concentrate and gave her a massive migraine. If his death can't be explained by natural causes, then that just leaves…magic.

She immediately shook her head to rid herself of these thoughts. There was no way that this was related to magic. They'd already established three years ago the fact that save for Rumpelstilskin/Gold, there was no more magic left in Storybrooke. The last of it had vanished along with Regina.

No. There was no way. No way that Regina was back. Emma had personally shoved her into that hat, and Jefferson had sworn on his life that the portal led straight into a black hole. He had no reason to lie. The only reasonable explanation was that Gold was somehow responsible for Archie's death. But that didn't make any sense, since Emma had seen him at Granny's with Belle the night Archie died; she, Graham, Henry, and Scarlett had gone out for dessert. There had been tons of people there. Tons of people to back up the fact that Gold hadn't killed Archie.

Emma leaned back in her chair, massaging her temples. Her throbbing headache was getting worse. She knew she needed to get home, for it was already 10. She and Graham had missed dinner yet again, and worst of all, missed their chance to spend time with Henry and Scarlett. She didn't want to miss out on Scar's life like how she'd missed so much of Henry's.

Reaching back to pull her knotted curls into a ponytail, she tried her best to ignore the mysterious tapping and the sound of rain crashing against the window. She crossed the room towards the window and lifted up the blinds. It was storming like a bitch out there. Lightning lit up the otherwise dark parking lot every so often. No wonder Graham, who had left half an hour ago to buy coffee, had been gone for so long.

Emma sat back down, picking up a pen and trying to concentrate on the suspect interviews again. Maybe there was something she was missing, someone she'd missed who'd seen something outside of Archie's office. Or maybe there was something she'd somehow overlooked in the autopsy.

As she reread the autopsy, she had the strangest feeling that she was being watched. Pausing several times to look over her shoulder, she almost laughed at the ridiculousness. There was no one there. No one except her, her laptop, and a huge pile of paperwork to go through.

Just then, a particularly large clap of thunder sounded ominously. At the same time, the power clicked off and a blinding flash of lightning lit up the world, momentarily bathing the dark station in white light. Emma looked up and rolled her eyes. Really? This had to happen now? And then she saw it.

Standing in front of the window, blood red lips curved in a cruel sneer and dark eyes gleaming with hatred was Regina.

Author's note: Shocker, right? REVIEW! Next ch's already written so more reviews=faster update :)