Chapter Twenty-Five: Friends in Need

Sontaran Commander Strax had taken Emma and Snow directly to the home of Madame Vastra for further investigation, believing the two women to have been warriors from the Moon. No matter how many times Emma and Snow tried to convince the bizarre, potato-headed character that they weren't from the Moon, Strax had none of it. Upon arriving at Vastra's home in a horse-pulled carriage, Strax forced Emma and Snow to the front door, which was soon answered by a young English brunette named Jenny, who seemed less than pleased to see Strax.

"What is it this time?" She asked the Sontaran.

"I have found proof of Moonites!" Strax exclaimed. "These two males had fallen from above. And where else could they have fallen other than the sky…" After a long, awkward pause, he then added, "…where the Moon is."

Jenny sighed, shaking her head. "First of all, these two aren't male – they are female." That info took Strax by surprise as he glanced left and right at Emma and Snow. "Second, and for the last time, there are no 'Moonites!'"

"Finally, someone here with sense," whispered Emma.

"But they fell from the sky!" Strax furiously exclaimed. "I saw it with my own two, fully-functional eyes!"

Following on Strax's claim, Jenny curiously glanced at Emma and Snow. "I'll alert Vastra of the situation and we'll keep an eye on them. In the meantime, you should be keeping an eye on the Doctor."

Emma and Snow's faces lit up with the mentioning of their friend. "Wait a minute," Emma said, "The Doctor's here?"

Reacting suspiciously to Emma's knowledge of the Doctor, Strax and Jenny exchanged cautious glances. "How do you know of the Doctor?" Jenny inquired.

"They are spies!" Strax warned. "We should obliterate them immediately!"

Snow feared a possible attack from the two strangers and quickly spoke up: "Wait! We're friends of the Doctor. We met him back in our home – a town called Storybrooke. He's been helping us."

"The Doctor has not helped a soul for quite some time now."

The voice had spoken directly behind Jenny. Everyone looked to see a woman dressed in black and wearing a hat with a dark veil that obscured her face. Of course, Emma and Snow could see a small hint of the woman's face, discovering how green it looked beyond the veil. After a brief moment, they realized the mysterious woman had to be the "Madame Vastra" Strax intended to take them to.

"If you really knew of the Doctor, you would know that for a fact." Vastra looked long and hard at Emma and Snow before she focused on Jenny. "Doctor Simeon is on the move again. Something about the snow interests him – snow that comes from a cloudless sky. It's best to corner him for questioning while he's still out in the open"

Jenny nodded in agreement with Vastra's plan of action and then returned her focus back on Emma and Snow. "What about these two? They know about the Doctor. What shall we do with them?"

Vastra's sparkling blue eyes again centered on Snow and Emma through her dark veil, silently contemplating an appropriate solution to the complex problem that they had brought with them.

"If I were you two, I'd consider praying for a quick and easy death while you wait for us to return." Strax suggested as he closed and locked the door to the bedroom that Snow and Emma had been placed in – against their will.

Emma slammed her fist against the door in anger and frustration. "Damn! Bet if Mr. Potato Head didn't have his ray gun with him, then it'd be a fair fight! You think they're really gonna kill us?"

"No," said Snow, who had looked throughout the bedroom.

"What makes you so sure?"

"Because we're important to them – we know about the Doctor."

"Yeah, speaking of which, some help he turned out to be. Why the hell would he leave Storybrooke for Victorian England? He's supposed to be helping Henry and David get us back home. And he just bails?"

Snow stopped her search to focus on her daughter's discouragement. "He didn't bail on them, Emma. There has to be a reasonable explanation for his presence here. Maybe it's not the same Doctor. Maybe it's a Doctor from the past or the future."

Emma seemed heavily intrigued by that possibility. "You mean…he could've already found a way to get us back?"

Snow smiled and nodded. "Why else would he have left? He accomplished his mission and moved on to save more lives."

"Well, we need to find him and find out how he'll rescue us." Her heightened expectations suddenly crashed as she was reminded of their current dilemma. "But those freaks aren't gonna let us find him when they get back."

"We won't be here when they do." Snow said before going to a nearby chair, picking it up, and – with all her strength – shattering the bedroom window with it. Emma was shocked from her mother's sudden action, which she appeared to have planned all along after surveying the bedroom. She carefully cleared the broken glass from the window frame and turned to Emma. With a sense of direction, she said, "We've got only a two-story climb down. Help me separate the bed sheets and tie them together."