Author's note: Wow, thanks so much for all of the amazing responses. Paper and midterm went mostly ok. I hope. Anyways, here's my Valentines gift to you: a new ch. Hope you enjoy and Happy Valentine's Day!

Chapter 24: The Search

Emma burst into the apartment, worry written all over her face. "Henry's missing." She announced.

Forcing himself to ignore the pit of dread pooling inside, Hook placed a look of concern on his face. "What?"

"He's missing. He didn't come home on the bus like usual."

"What about a friend's house?"

"I called all of them! And Regina too! And Neal. Nobody's seen him." Emma paced around the room. "Mary Margaret and David have been out looking, as well as Ruby, Archie, and the dwarves, but nothing." You would think that Ruby being a wolf would be enough to, I don't know, sniff him out or whatever, but nothing!"

"Emma." He placed his hand and hook on her shoulders and forced her eyes up to meet his. "We'll find your lad. I promise." But of course he knew full well that they wouldn't. He was certain that Cora would have implemented some sort of cloaking spell to prevent anyone from sniffing him out.

She pulled away, snorting with disbelief. "You don't know that."

"Oh, but I do. I've never known you to fail."

She seemed to deflate, collapsing into him. He could feel her body shake as she began to cry quietly.

"You'll find him. I promise." Hook murmured soothingly. Oh, how he wished that what he was saying was true.

The day flew by in a flurry of frantic phone calls, missing posters, and search parties. As Hook's appearance was still a secret to everyone, he was stuck in the apartment unable to help. Though of course if he helped it'd be counterproductive, since he knew exactly where the boy was but was unable to reveal the location.

Around nine, Emma came in, looking utterly defeated. Her hair was a windblown mess and the front of her coat was covered with dirt.

"What happened? Did you find him?" Hook stood up immediately, crossing the room towards the tiny kitchen to prepare a cup of hot chocolate. With cinnamon, of course. It was the least he could do.

"If we'd found him does it look like I'd be on the verge of tears?" She snapped.

Hook led her over towards the couch and pressed the steaming mug into her cold hands. "Here, love. This will help."

"I just don't understand." She said tonelessly, holding the cup in front of her, untouched. "Storybrooke isn't that big. We had the whole town searching. We looked everywhere. All his favorite places. The beach, Granny's, school, his friends' houses. I just don't get it."

He didn't say anything, instead choosing to rub his hand up and down her back in gentle, soothing circles.

"Unless he left town, of course." Emma laughed mirthlessly. "Which I wouldn't blame him for doing."

"Why would your lad want to leave town? I thought you weren't allowed to do so."

"Oh, we are. Henry and I are because we weren't cursed." Emma shook her head slowly. "The fact that we haven't been able to find him means that he's probably left town." She sighed heavily. "This is all my fault."

"How so?"

"Because he's still mad at me for lying about his father. I can feel it. He hasn't really talked to me ever since we got home. Why do you think I spend so much time here?"

"Well, I just assumed it was because you couldn't bear to be without me." He teased, hoping to lighten the mood.

"Ok. Partly, yes. But mainly because I can't handle it. The way he looks at me. All that disappointment. I've failed him. And now I've driven him to leave town." A single, lonely tear began to make its way down her cheek.

"I'm sure that's not true…" Hook began hesitantly, but he was interrupted by an incessant buzzing coming from her pocket.

Emma reached in and pressed it eagerly against her ear. "David? Did you find him?" She asked immediately.

Hook sat there, conflicted. On one hand, he so wanted it to be good news, but on the other hand if they found Henry then that'd be a disaster.

He watched as her face slowly fell, filling with a heartbreaking mixture of sadness, horror, and defeat. For a second, he wondered if Cora had disposed of the boy, dumping the body where she knew someone would find it, but as fast as that thought came it was gone. He knew Cora, and he was pretty certain that her use for him would last a while.

His heart filled with pain as he watched her. He, Hook, was directly responsible for her pain. Him. No one else. Granted, he'd had no choice. But if he hadn't been such a coward, he would've stood up to Cora and stopped this somehow.

"Ok...I'll go first thing in the morning." Emma hung up the phone, setting it down on the coffee table in front of them.

"What? What is it?" He pressed. "Did they find him?"

She slowly shook her head. "No." She whispered.

"Is he…" Hook couldn't bring himself to say the word.

"No." Emma muttered. "Ruby was able to sniff out his scent which led directly to the town line. David told me that they found his scarf right outside the line."

"He left town." Hook said, although he knew full well that Cora had just planted the scarf there to lead them away from the docks.

"This is all my fault." Emma repeated, tears filling her eyes. "If only I hadn't lied. Then he wouldn't have felt the need to leave. I should've just told him the truth. Now my son's out there, alone in the cold." She buried her face in her hands, shoulders shaking with sobs

Hook didn't bring up the fact that Henry leaving because he hated his mother didn't make any sense since he had plenty of other family to keep him busy. That wouldn't help anything right now.

"First thing tomorrow, we'll go out and find him." Hook promised, wrapping his arms around her. "We'll find him, love. I promise."

Of course he knew Henry wasn't actually out there, but hopefully this would give him time to think and plan his next move.

"David said that they found the scarf here." Emma indicated at a spot mere inches from the line with the toe of her boot. "And Ruby said that she sniffed out his scent and that it lead directly out of Storybrooke." She pulled out a map from her pocket. "I've circled all of the surrounding towns so we'll check them first and ask around." Emma pointed at the map. "Neal and Olivia are checking these five, so we'll cover these ones. It's likely that he went there yesterday. Of course, there's always the possibility that he hopped on a bus like he did when he went to find me." She shuddered. "If so, we're screwed."

"Hey." Hook placed a hand on her shoulder. "Calm down, love. We'll find him." He said for about the millionth time in twenty four hours.

"Yeah, sure." She pushed her hair behind her ears. "Come on. Get in the car. We have a long day ahead of us."

"Are you sure he's not with Regina?" Hook asked. Late last night, after she'd cried herself to sleep, he'd held her, his mind racing to formulate a plan. Maybe if he played this carefully, he'd get Emma to realize the possibility that Cora was behind this.

She glanced at him briefly before turning her attention back to the road. "I'm sure." She responded. "That's the first place we checked."

"Yes, but have you considered the possibility that maybe she's behind this?"

"Why would she do that?" Emma muttered.

"I haven't a clue. Maybe she wanted some alone time with her son. I don't think the Evil Queen is above kidnap."

"Yes, well like I said we checked already. Besides, she seemed as worried as we were. Even Regina's not that good of an actor."

"Ok…" Hook trailed off. How would he say this? "What if Cora's behind this?" He asked slowly, carefully.

"What?" She frowned."That's ridiculous. You said that the portal closed right after you jumped in."

"Just hear me out, Swan. Cora has magic; she could've used some other crazy method to get here."

"But why would she want to take Henry?" Emma snapped, exasperated. "Is there something you're not telling me, Hook?" She squinted at him suspiciously.

"Of course not." He said immediately, trying to keep his voice steady and his face straight. "Just trying to consider all the possibilities."

"Well the next time you do that, think before you speak. I don't have time to listen to crazy theories." Her tone conveyed that the conversation was over.

Hook sank back against the seat in frustration. Well, that was an epic failure.

As the day went on, Emma grew more and more tense, snapping at him whenever he spoke or suggested anything, until he learned his lesson and just kept his mouth shut. They went from town to town, knocking on doors and asking around. Yet nobody had seen Henry.

Soon enough it was dark out, but Emma was far from done.

"We should check the bus stations." She muttered. "I made a list of all the possible bus stations in this area that he could've gone to. We can check the security camera footage to see if he was there at all and get a better idea of where he went."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Hook said, snatching the list out of her hand "I think that's enough searching for one day. We should head back to Storybrooke."

"You don't understand!" Emma growled. "In case you don't know, my son is out there, all alone. I can't just go home. I'm not going to rest until I find him, Hook!"

"Oh, I understand perfectly." He responded. "But it's been a long day, you've barely eaten anything, and I know that you're tired. The security footage, whatever the bloody hell that is, will still be there in the morning."

Emma opened her mouth to argue, but Hook quickly interrupted. "You know, love, I may only have one hand, but I'm far bigger and stronger than you are. I'm perfectly capable of picking you up and throwing you over my shoulder kicking and screaming. So we are going to go back and you're going to get some sleep whether you like it not."

Emma glared at him for a long moment. "Fine. But we're checking into a hotel. That'll give us an earlier start tomorrow."

"Fine by me." Hook replied, smiling slightly to himself. At least he'd gotten something right for once.

"I'm gonna go check the vending machines." Emma said, throwing her coat down on one of the beds. She flicked on the TV. "Here, amuse yourself." She slammed the door behind her.

Hook sat down on one of the beds, staring mindlessly at the laughing people on the screen. Oh, how he wished he could be as carefree as them.

Today had been awful as he'd trailed behind Emma, who held up pictures of Henry to show people. He watched as she grew more and more defeated, as her shoulders slumped with each "sorry, no" they received.

Suddenly, there was a purple cloud, and Cora appeared with a poof.

"Cora." He glanced nervously at the still closed door; Emma could be back at any moment. "What are you doing here?"

"Here to see you, of course." She responded. "To congratulate you on a job well done, of course."

Hook ignored her. "What have you done with the boy? Have you hurt him?"

"Of course not." Cora looked visibly affronted. "We've just been having a nice chat."

"Highly unlikely." Hook spat. He had never hated anyone as much as he hated Cora in that moment. Not even the crocodile. "Tell me again. How exactly does this advance your plan with your daughter?"

"Why, I've been playing the part of the comforting mother all day." Cora replied. "Everything's been working like a charm. I've been promising to help her find her son. She trusts me again."

"Well, that's great." He said sarcastically. "So am I done here?"

"Nope." Cora simpered. "Don't forget, Hook, I still need you to kill Emma for me eventually."

"How could I forget?" He sighed. "So are you here to just chat, because I find that highly unlikely"

"You always did know me best." Cora smiled creepily. "Indeed I do have another task for you, dear. I need you to help me dispose of the boy. I'm nearly done with him."

"What?" Hook gasped.

"You heard me. Kill Henry and make it look like Regina did it. That way, she'll truly be left with nothing, and everyone will hate her. And that's where I'll step in. I'll help her defeat the Charmings once and for all."

Suddenly, the door burst open and Emma came storming in, her face a mask of fury. And judging by the look on her face, she'd heard every word.

Author's note: OMG EMMA FOUND OUT! How's she gonna react?