Chapter Thirty-Eight: Journey's Beginning

Jack drove his sedan towards the border of Storybrooke with Gold in the passenger seat and Henry in the backseat. Henry accompanied the two men as a promise Harkness had to make for David. With Hook and Cora in Storybrooke, Henry had to be somewhere far away from the town, fearing one of the two (presumably Cora) finding and hurting him. In agreeing to the deal, Jack mostly thought of Emma, who would not have been too pleased to learn that her son fell at the hands of the mother of her worst enemy. Taking Henry with him and Gold to New York sounded reasonable on both sides of the spectrum.

"So…where are we going?" Henry asked during the road trip.

"Logan International Airport." Gold responded, clearly dodging the question.

"He means after that." Jack clarified. "I've arranged for us to meet Gwen in the lobby of the Livingston Hotel – that's where she and Rhys are staying."

"I thought we agreed this trip to be specifically about finding my son." Gold said in an offended tone.

"No, this trip is about finding the Doctor and your son." Harkness rebutted. "We can easily kill two birds with one stone. We meet up with Gwen at the hotel first. After that, we'll take things one step at a time." As they got closer to the town border, Jack briefly glanced over at the beige shawl around Gold's neck. "You really think that shawl will work once we cross the border?"

"Well, if it doesn't, and I revert to my cursed self, we're all gonna have some problems." Gold jested. He then confidently assured, "It'll work."

Harkness and Henry could only put a fragment of faith in Gold's assurance as they finally came upon the "Leaving Storybrooke" sign. Just as soon as the sedan crossed the border, there was a small gust of wind come over the inside of the car. With the windows closed and the air-conditioning off, neither Jack nor Henry were certain where the breeze came from until they looked over to Gold and noticed it mostly blew his way. Once it passed, Jack and Henry looked cautiously to Gold, who just stared off into space.

"Gold?" Jack uttered in concern.

Gold grinned. "My name is Rumplestiltskin. And we're gonna find my son."

Jack figured once he, Henry, and Gold got their tickets for the flight to Manhattan that it would be smooth sailing from there. Unfortunately, he discovered how wrong he was when the three arrived at the security check. Gold appeared increasingly agitated and Jack quickly took notice of it. He attempted to ask whether or not if the man secretly known as Rumplestiltskin was alright, but he was soon interrupted by an overly enthusiastic Henry. "Pretty cool, isn't it?"

"What's that?" Jack asked.

"That when you arrived in Storybrooke, you were heading to the airport to find the Doctor." Henry indicated. "Now you're finally here for the exact reason. Pretty cool, huh?"

Harkness smirked at the notion. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess it is."

Henry then directed his focus to Gold, who continued to grow nervous the closer they got to the security check. "So, Mr. Gold, have you ever been outside of Storybrooke before?"

"No." Gold seemed a bit perplexed in his response.

"Are you nervous?" Henry asked.

"No."

"Are you worried about meeting your son?"

"No, Henry, I'm fine."

It was obvious from Gold's reply to the last question that Henry had gotten on his nerves. To avoid Gold unleashing a full-blown rant on the boy, Harkness quickly interjected as they finally reached the security check. "Alright. Take it easy. Henry, we can talk more about this later, O.K.?"

Henry acknowledged with a nod, checking his bag, coat, and shoes in the bin. "It must be really hard not to use magic, being like everyone else." His words unknowingly put more of a negative impact on Gold, who was already nervous as it was with maintaining his memories so far from Storybrooke.

Behind Gold, Jack had already started checking in his trench coat, shoes, and vortex manipulator. He noticed the TSA agent glancing at the vortex manipulator questionably and calmly said with a smile, "Father's Day gift from my son." He gestured to Henry. "You know how kids are – give us a tie that doesn't fit, gotta pretend like it does."

The agent smiled back and nodded. "Tell me about it."

Soon after convincing the agent of his fib, Jack whispered to Gold, "Make sure to put your shoes in."

Gold cringed at Harkness. "How terribly uncivilized." He then removed his shoes with discomfort and placed them inside his bin.

"Uh, scarf and cane go inside the basket." The agent told him.

"What?"

"Scarf and cane go inside the basket."

The request brought Gold at an unease; he turned helplessly to Jack. "I can't."

"You're gonna have to." Harkness said.

"It ain't rocket science, buddy." An angry man said behind them. "You ever been on a plane before?"

The impatient man only infuriated Gold more, waving his cane in the stranger's direction. "Have you ever been impaled upon a cane before?"

"Hey, hey." Jack stepped in between the two men, lowering Gold's cane and saying to the stranger, "My uncle's just nervous. It's his first time on a plane."

"Your uncle?" Gold whispered in surprise.

"Just put the shawl in the bin." Jack whispered back. "I'll help you get through."

"Harkness, if I let this go, I could forget who I am."

"That won't happen, I promise."

Gold looked long and hard at Jack's face, seeing the genuine sincerity as he gave him his word. After a brief moment of immense hesitation, Gold finally removed his coat along with the shawl, placing the two inside the bin. Immediately after doing so, he began to feel disoriented – things around him were starting to feel unfamiliar, including Jack, who guided him through the metal detector. As soon as Gold's bin made it out through the scanner, Jack quickly took out the shawl and coat and placed both back on Gold. The immortal captain said something to Gold that sounded muffled and garbled at first, but once he regained his focus, things sounded much clearer.

"You alright?" Jack asked again.

Gold exhaled and nodded in reply.

The time Jack, Henry, and Gold spent in the airport waiting for their flight felt like an eternity of turmoil for Gold. After watching him pace back and forth for hours, Jack suggested that he go to the bathroom and splash some cold water on his face for a while. Gold took Harkness up on his suggestion and, in the meantime, Jack and Henry went to a nearby coffee shop to grab some hot drinks and some Cinnabons that Henry spotted on the way past the security check. During their time in the coffee shop, Jack attempted to contact Gwen again while Henry watched a television show on a nearby set. Even though Henry wasn't absolutely certain what the show was called, it featured one character that bore a striking resemblance to Jack.

"Damn." Henry's attention moved away from the TV back to Jack himself as he furiously pressed the "end" button on his phone. "She's not picking up. This trip is taking longer than I imagined it would. If we're not there in the next…"

"We'll make it on time, Jack." Henry assured. "Just chill."

Jack chuckled, shaking his head and taking a sip of his coffee. "You're right. I'm just as bad as Gold, aren't I?"

"Actually, between the two of us, I think Mr. Gold's about ready to slam his fist through the wall." Henry said. "But don't let him know I told you that."

"Don't worry. I won't."

Henry looked down at his cup of hot coco and Cinnabon for a moment, lost in thought. "Jack? Do you think Emma and Mary Margaret are doing okay?"

Jack saw how concerned Henry was about his mother and grandmother and felt great sympathy for the boy. "They're with the Doctor, Henry. I'm sure they're perfectly safe."

Henry frowned. "I know, but…that's why I'm so worried. I know the Doctor protects people and saves worlds, but sometimes that's not always what happens, is it? Sometimes the people he's with do get hurt or die…like Amy and Rory…right?"

The boy's question brought silence over Jack. There was no way for him to answer Henry's suspicions without confirming the fact that they were true, which would have only made him more concerned for Emma and Mary Margaret. However, Jack was spared of the difficult decision to be honest with Henry when the announcement of the boarding of their plane to Manhattan came over the intercom.

"That's us." He said. "You better go grab Gold, so we can get to our plane."

"Sure thing." Henry affirmed before departing from the coffee shop and leaving Jack to momentarily ponder on whether or not Emma and Mary Margaret would survive whatever insanity the Doctor may or may not have been putting them through, just to return to Storybrooke.