Author's note: Just saying, this is a pretty important ch. So y'all better REVIEW!
Also, thanks to MonkeyLovr for her amazing ideas for this ch! If you like Pretty Little Liars and haven't already, go read her story Love Me Again.
Chapter 8 (several days later)
Emma blinked, taking in her surroundings. Where in the hell was she? She looked around, noting the familiar wallpaper and armchairs. Then, it hit her. She was back in Archie's office.
"Archie!" She said, immediately heading towards him. He sat calmly in his armchair, pen in hand. He was wearing the exact same clothes he was when she and Ruby had found his body. A sense of foreboding filled her. She'd had this dream many times, and each and every time she watched helplessly as Archie had his "heart attack" and dropped dead. Each dream had gotten weirder and weirder. Last time, Archie had mysteriously told her to "listen to the tapping", whatever that meant. But each dream had had the same ending. Except this time was different. This time she was no longer a bystander. Was she doomed to relive this over and over until she figured out the truth behind the therapist's death?
He didn't seem to hear her as he continued writing whatever the hell was so important. She waved her arms in his face, trying to get his attention.
"Archie, we have to get out of here!" She said loudly. "Something bad is about to happen!"
But he just ignored her.
She ripped his pen out of his hand and threw it across the room, spinning his chair around to face her. "Listen to me. You're going to die." She said firmly, her hands on his shoulders. "We have to go."
Slowly, he smiled at her. His face began to shift out of focus, his features blurring and melting together. Emma blinked rapidly, looking away. Maybe it was just a trick of the light.
Archie leaned in real close to her ear. "You're next."
"What?" Emma slowly backed away, realization flooding her. She looked in horror at Archie. But in a puff of purple smoke, Archie morphed into Regina.
Emma sat straight up, her heart pounding loudly. Next to her, Graham snorted softly. She rubbed her eyes. A dream. Again. But this time it was no longer a trivial nightmare. Emma couldn't shake the feeling that her dream had had some sort of significance.
By the end of the week, she was a lot better. Her mind had cleared, and she knew what she had to do. She knew deep in her bones that Regina was back and somehow responsible for Archie's death. There was no doubt about it. All she had to do was prove it, find some sort of evidence. And since everyone thought she was crazy, she'd convinced everyone that it had just been the fever.
~Long Gone~
"Em, are you sure?" Graham asked one Saturday morning. "You still look a little pale."
"I'm fine." Emma waved him off. "You and Henry go have fun." Henry and Graham had plans to go hiking that day.
"Ok." Graham said, but he still looked unconvinced. He kissed her goodbye. "See you tonight. Bye Scar." He said, leaning over to kiss the toddler.
"Bye daddy." Scarlett waved cheerfully. As always, her teddy bear was clutched under one arm. "Wuv you!"
Emma shut the door behind them. Finally. She finally had time to herself. Time to review the security footage from Archie's office. Ever since that first time she'd seen Regina at the station, Graham had confiscated her laptop, saying that she was overstressed. But Emma knew he was terrible at hiding things. Sure enough, the laptop sat on top of the fridge, in plain sight. She'd wait till Scarlett was napping, and then retrieve it.
"Hey, Scar. It's just you and me today. What do you wanna do?"
"Pway!" Scarlett took her thumb out of her mouth. "Pway with me Mama!"
Several hours and a couple episodes of Sesame Street later, it time for Scarlett's nap. Emma picked up the sleepy toddler and deposited her into her crib, tucking her teddy bear. "Love you." She said, kissing her daughter's forehead before exiting the room, leaving the door half open just the way Scarlett liked it.
Dragging over a chair, Emma reached up and grabbed her laptop, sitting down on the couch to get to work. This time, she felt as though she was watching the video with a fresh eye, for now she knew what to look for: evidence that Regina killed Archie.
But as the hours ticked by, Emma grew more and more weary, for the footage was exactly the same as the nine hundred fifty seven thousand times she'd watched it. She played it over and over, frame by frame, second by second, scouring each pixilated image for any flash of purple smoke, bloodred lipstick, just anything. But the video revealed nothing. Emma threw her laptop aside, groaning in frustration. So much for finding anything. She pinched the bridge of her nose. Ugh. She could feel a migraine coming on, thanks to that crazy mysterious tapping again. She made a mental note to check the pipes.
Emma looked at the clock. It was already 5. Huh. That was weird. She looked at the clock again. Hadn't she put Scarlett down for her nap at around noon? Usually, the overexcited toddler couldn't nap for more than three hours. Shouldn't she be awake by now? Figuring that Scarlett was just super sleepy (they had done a lot earlier), she turned back to her laptop.
Jesus. That tapping was making it hard to concentrate. Somehow, she knew it was important. But how? Listen to the tapping. Archie had said in that one dream. Had that been some kind of warning? She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to recall that dream. She remembered desperately asking him who his killer was, but all he'd said before dropping dead was "listen to the tapping."
What was the significance of the tapping? Wasn't it just something to do with the pipes? Emma concentrated, listening for it, pacing around her apartment. It seemed to get louder as she got closer to Scar's room. Three short taps, followed by three long taps, then three short again. Three short, three long, three short. Three short, three long, three short. It seemed awfully familiar, like something she'd heard in a movie or something before. Three short, three long, three short. It brought back memories of spy movies and old games she'd played with foster siblings. Three short, three long, three short. She remembered tapping it out on the walls, pretending to be in trouble during a war game while a foster sibling would rescue her. Three short, three long, three short. SOS. SOS. SOS, Emma realized with a jolt. The tapping had been SOS in Morse code.
So what had Archie been trying to say? Was he trying to communicate that he'd been in danger in his office? Well that was stupid, for everyone and their mother knew he'd died at his office. Had he been trying to say that he needed her help? Yeah, right. He was beyond saving now.
She knew by now that this had been a coded message. If it didn't stand for help, what did it mean then? The three initials, paired in that way, seemed so famliar.
SOS. SOS. SOS. Emma thought. SOS. SOS. SOS. What in the hell did SOS stand for?!
And then she knew. SOS didn't just stand for help. It stood for Scarlett Olivia Swan. Archie had been trying to communicate that her daughter was in grave danger.
Without hesitation, Emma dashed to her baby's room. It was weirdly cold and silent, which was odd, since usually Scarlett liked to babble in her sleep. Something felt off, but she couldn't put her finger on it. She approached the crib. "Scarlett?"
The sight made her stop short, her heart immediately pounding. Scarlett was gone, just like in that one hallucination she'd had about a week ago. Except this time, nothing was out of place. Except for the fact that Scarlett was no longer in her crib.
Emma knew her daughter well enough to know that as rambunctious as she was, there was no way in hell she could've gotten out of her crib without anyone noticing. She immediately started searching around the room, crawling everywhere. But Scarlett was nowhere to be found. She widened her search to the rest of the apartment, peeking in every nook and cranny. She even looked on top of the fridge, on the off chance that Scarlett could've somehow ended up there. But there was no Scarlett.
"Scarlett!" Emma called, growing increasingly desperate. "Scar! This isn't time for hide and seek!"
Her baby was gone. Her beautiful baby girl had disappeared. Resigned, she trudged slowly to Scarlett's room. The toddler's blanket was peeled back as though someone had just picked her back. Even the teddy bear was gone. Emma pressed the baby blanket, so similar to her own, to her nose, breathing in her baby's familiar scent. Tears dripped down her cheeks.
Suddenly, her head snapped up. Was that a hint of…rose perfume? Cautiously, Emma sniffed the blanket once more. Sure enough, the blanket had slight hints of rose. Thoughts began to whirl as she processed this new piece of information. She'd only ever smelled this scent on one other person…Regina. Regina had taken her daughter.
"Regina!" Emma shouted, dashing from room to room, fully expecting that evil bitch to just be standing there, smirking like in all of her dreams. But Regina was nowhere to be found. Just like Scarlett, she was long gone.
Author's note: Soooo what did you think? For those of you who have seen this coming, you're so smart. REVIEW!