A/N: So that midseason finale kind of sucked, eh? Not going to lie, it sapped my desire to write in the same universe as this show right quick. But then a couple days passed and I was able to buck up and remember when I truly loved Once and why I was attempting to do it some justice. And so Emma V survived, and here we are.

A Gambit in Trust

Emma V

If pulled in front of a judge and asked to speak the truth or suffer the direst of consequences, Emma would swear up and down that she had tried damnedest not to show her amusement at Regina's expense. Despite her will to stop herself, she could not prevent the grin that built from the way Regina's hands would shift into a vice-like grip on her seat every time Emma took a corner in the bug. Long experience told her that the aging vehicle would hold it together despite the speed she held as she weaved through Storybrooke's streets, but Regina had no such knowledge to draw from.

And Emma may have taken several turns sharper than necessary just to tease the woman, which may have been petty, but Emma justified it by reasoning that she rarely saw Regina out of her comfort zone without a matter of life or death looming over them.

And it might keep her mind looking ahead, rather than dwelling in the past.

"I'm never letting Henry ride in this thing ever again," Regina said after the old bug's engine whined while Emma accelerated through another corner.

"She'll hold together." Emma nodded toward the spinning blue light sitting on her dashboard. Combined with her vigorous use of the horn and the townsfolk's knowledge of the yellow bug, the light cleared their path toward the beanfield. "I don't even have to weave through traffic, this is nothing for her." Regina muttered under her breath and Emma choked back a laugh, sobering only as they approached the coordinates David had supplied her with.

It appeared to her as nothing more than an empty field that stretched on for several dozen yards before the trees began to eat away at the space.

She frowned, but pulled the bug to a stop before assuming she was lost. She closed her eyes and tried to reach out with her "magical senses" as Regina had taught her. She felt nothing but foolish for a long minute before something tinged the edge of her mind, feeling… slippery? She blinked her eyes open and looked toward the open field, squinting and still trying to focus.

Every time she thought she grasped what energy she was feeling, it escaped her grasp. "Damn it," she muttered. She knew something was there, but did not have enough information to put it together.

"Sometimes the lack of information can be a clue in itself," Regina said. A small, almost encouraging smile tilted the corner of her lips. "It's not designed to be observed." Emma glanced back toward the field, unsurprised Regina had known what she had been trying to do. From her words, Emma figured Regina already knew what was going on.

Magic that could be observed, but not directly… "Veil?" She guessed, and Regina nodded.

"Fairy work," the sorceress said with a hint of resignation. "You can always tell fairy work." Without bothering to explain what she meant by that, Regina slipped out of the car. Emma hastened to do the same, taking the lead.

"No defenses," Regina said, head tilted to the side and eyes unfocused. "Just meant to obscure, not to prevent entry."

"Good," Emma said and stepped forward. Walking through the veil felt exactly how Emma imagined going through a Stargate would feel like – stepping through a film of jelly. Nothing clung to her or prevented her from passing through, and Emma realized the sensation was purely felt by her metaphysical senses. "That is," she tried to think of a proper word as a two row garden of beanstalks as tall as she was blinked into life in front of her. "Unsettling."

"You're starting to use the basics," Regina said. "The very basics, but I will take any sort of progress as a good sign at this point." Emma gave her a halfhearted glare, but Regina's attention was stolen by something beyond the stalks, her eyebrows raised in amusement. Emma followed her line of sight to spot a disheveled David and Tom Clark weaving between the magical plants toward them. David sported a bloodied nose and split lip, but otherwise not worse for wear.

The cashier turned miner turned farmer looked at her with one wide brown eye and squinted through the other as it swelled shut. "Sheriff! You've got to, to," Tom said, pausing when a series of sneezes overtook him. He groaned after the small fit and glared at the plants around him, rubbing at his reddening nose with the back of his left hand. "Always something new." He sighed, ran the possibly snot hand through his dark, ruffled hair, and seemed to lose his train of thought.

"Tom?" He didn't respond. She glanced to Regina, who rolled her eyes.

David sighed, tapping the dwarf on the shoulder. "Sneezy?" The man jumped back to attention, turning toward the former prince. "Focus." He blinked, looked at Emma, and held up a finger in an "ah-ha" gesture.

"Right, sorry." He drew himself up, smiled, and then continued in the same frantic tone he had begun with. "You've got to get them out of here, they're ruining the crop!" Emma blinked not quite sure what to make of Sneezy's mercurial mood. She pasted on a confident smile, gave him a sharp nod, and strode between the rows of beanstalks. David followed a step behind, explaining the situation, and Regina brought up the rear.

"I came to make my daily check on the progress," David said. "I didn't realize I was being followed, and, well…" He nodded toward the end of the row. Each only held a dozen plants, and the last two that capped each row appeared withered, colored a dim yellow rather than the vibrant green of the others.

Emma frowned, wondering why anyone would be tailing a town deputy. "Who was it?" Emma need not have asked as she found Moe French and Sean Herman hogtied just outside the garden, sitting back to back and guarded by the rest of the dwarves, save Leroy, and the giant that had come within a hairsbreadth of killing her.

She found her hand moving toward her gun of its own accord before she forced it to stop, fist clenching.

"Okay then," she said, not taking her eyes off Anton. The man shrunk under her gaze, appearing as harmless as a chastised toddler. Unlike his compatriots, he sported no injuries that she could spot. Her arm burned with the shadow of remembered pain. "Let's start from the beginning."

Muffled protestations drew her attention to Moe, whose balding head shined red enough to rival Sneezy's nose. He glared up at her with his beady little eyes, his red-stained teeth bared around the dirty rag serving as a gag. Emma closed her eyes, counted to ten, and leaned over to free both Moe and Sean so they could speak.

Moe wasted less than a breath to begin letting out hot air. "Your family won't keep getting away with this, Sheriff." He turned his head and spat both dirt and blood. Emma appreciated that the situation had gotten so bad that he would spit at her. She hated when they did that. "Keeping something this big from everyone? Not even the townies will be able to look past it."

"We already told you they aren't ready, Nitwit!" Doc's high pitched voice echoed with annoyance, his wispy, flyaway hair dancing in the light breeze. Emma noticed his spectacles hanging from his shirt with one lens missing and the other cracked. She stepped beneath the bound men and the dwarves, cutting off their line of sight.

"If anyone has any common sense," she said, looking at each man in the clearing individually. "Nobody will think to turn this into a pissing contest." The dwarves shuffled in place with varying degrees of sheepishness, Anton shrunk into himself, David smiled, Regina smirked, and Moe sneered, but his partner just hung his head and seemed to shrink in on himself.

"Sean." She chose her target, pulling him to his feet by the ropes binding his wrists. "Let's take a walk and talk." Wide eyed and trembling some, Sean nodded and moved without resisting her. She cast a quick look at Regina before pushing the man into the garden. "Keep them from doing anything stupid." Regina lifted an eyebrow in a haughty expression that told Emma just how beneath her Regina believed the assignment to be.

But she nodded her agreement.

"I'll start getting statements from the dwarves," David said, and Emma put a kibosh on it without a moment's thought.

"No, David. You called me in for a reason." She glanced at the volatile Moe still struggling against his restraints. She sighed, already knowing this entire situation would be one hell of a headache. "We can't afford to do anything but follow the book. You were involved. Sit tight and wait for me to take your statement." He grimaced, sighed, and nodded. Satisfied, she shoved Sean forward until they were on the opposite side of the sizeable garden.

"Sheriff," Sean said the moment she turned him around. Emma noted the blossoming bruise on his jaw and how he took his weight off his left leg as soon as he was able. "I didn't want something like this to happen, but Mr. French. He, he." He shook his head, shaggy hair flying, and licked cracked lips. "He just went off. Didn't even try and talk."

Emma absorbed the information in silence, surprised she had not even had to try and intimidate the kid. Either he completely lacked his father's backbone, or he was hiding something behind a mask of cooperation. Emma's instincts leaned her toward the former.

But to be sure… "Blame your partner for everything," Emma said, nodding. "A classic, kid, but you'll have to do better." Sean bristled at being called 'kid,' and stood up straighter.

"It's the truth," he said. "I even told him not to follow your dad in here, but he wouldn't listen."

Emma hid her discomfort at the flippant mention of her familial relationship. She did not want to think what everyone else accepting the truth so much easier than her said about her mentality. "And why exactly were you tailing a Storybrooke deputy around town?"

Sean swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing. "There've been rumors that he's been hiding something. A way for him and Snow White to take over the town and turn it into their personal kingdom."

"Funny," Emma said, eyebrow raising in disbelief and challenge. "People have been saying the same about Midas and your father." He shifted, grimacing as he put weight on his injured leg.

"My dad isn't even running for mayor." Sean reasoned. Without denying Emma's claim, she noticed. "He just wants what's best for the town." She did not believe the claim, but Sean did.

"Then he has something in common with David and Mary Margaret." Sean gave her a queer look, whether from her calling her parents by name or from disbelief she could not tell. He looked her up and down, reassessing her. She held back a sigh. "And after you followed him here, what happened?"

For a moment there was a spark of something approaching defiance in his eyes. "We followed him inside the magic barrier."

Emma reached for her handcuffs and Sean's building bravado melted away as he backpedaled right into one of the beanstalks. The plant started to yellow in an instant, wilting before her eyes. Shit, she thought, but kept her game face on. "You picked an awful time to smart being a smartass, kid." She grabbed his wrist and spun him around, pressing him into the dying beanstalk as she secured the cuffs.

He started talking the moment metal touched his wrist, forgetting how to take a breath between words. "Mr. French got excited when he saw the prince disappear, claimed it was proof they were working with the Evil Queen!"

Emma shook her head and pulled the former prince backward so he stood overbalanced backward, depending on her to keep him up. "She's not the only one with magic, you know." She started to frog march him not back to the others, but toward her bug.

"I know that." He triad yanking at his wrists and planting his feet, but Emma had all the leverage. "But Mr. French ran out of the car after him. I had to follow."

"And you had to get involved in a brawl," Emma said. She slowed her pace enough that Sean would notice, encouraging him to continue.

"Yes! Mr. French was screaming at the prince and that big guy as soon as I crossed over. Going on and on about the plants." He tried to look over his shoulder at her, but couldn't manage the angle. "I don't even know what these things are. Mr. French said something and then the prince threw a punch. Mr. French fought back, but then the dwarves came out of nowhere…" He shook his head. "I couldn't just stand there."

Emma reversed their direction, not needing to hear the ending to know how the eight on two fight would have gone. She cursed internally but remained silent as they traipsed back toward the others. If David had thrown the first punch, it complicated matters.

That it explained why he felt the need to call her in did not bode well for the rest of her day.

Nine sets of eyes tracked them as Emma pushed Sean down to sit at the edge of the garden. The only pair that did not shout guilt at her in some form or another were Regina's. An irony that would have set her laughing most days.

"Regina," she said while looking at each of the men in the clearing in turn. "Can you magic up some handcuffs?" She felt the energy build up and release, and chose her next target.

It's amazing how much paperwork you have to file for bullshit, Emma groused to herself as she typed away at her computer. The machine was barely more than a glorified typewriter and the sheriff had to pause every few seconds for her words to appear on screen through the lag. It made a tedious job almost unbearable, testing her patience.

She put the finishing touches on her report, hit save a half dozen times because she did not trust the damned machine, and leaned back in the hard backed chair that did little to offer any comfort.

Sean had been much more forthcoming than his partner. Moe had only confirmed that David was the first to attack before going on an aimless rant about how Emma's entire family had been corrupted my magic and the Evil Queen, and how soon the whole town would see. Then he clammed up and kept silent.

David had not even tried to deny it. He insulted Snow, was all he offered as an excuse. Which, fine, Emma didn't disagree that the man had probably deserved a blow to the head, but she thought he would know better than to act in anger.

She blew out a breath, grateful that the hint of having a record had Sean Herman convincing Moe not to press charges. Malicious destruction of property paled in comparison to battery, but apparently the specter of Mitchell Herman still had sway with the young man. Sean had a kid of his own, Emma knew, but that did not stop his father from treating him like a child.

That Moe had backed down at the mention of the man spoke volumes as well. She started to believe Regina's theory that Herman was the royal bloc's true ringleader.

A hand slapped against wood, drawing Emma back to the present. "Finally finished?" Mildly exasperated, Regina had sat in the corner of Emma's office with her nose buried in her mother's file. Technically speaking, Regina did not have the clearance to see the evidence, but that was a battle Emma did not see the worth in fighting. Plus, she had not expected the former mayor to stick around and felt gladdened that Regina had.

It was one less person to worry about.

"These wouldn't take nearly as long if someone gave us more to spend than a few pennies and a bit of lint."

"Sounds like a complaint that the mayor should deal with," Regina said with a dismissive air and stood, her back arcing in a stretch as she let out a pleasant groan. "Should the elections ever actually happen at this point." Emma flicked her eyebrows with a tilt of her head, acknowledging the point. The debate had been postponed twice now, and rumors were starting to circulate alongside conspiracy theories.

She wondered how they would be fanned if Midas' lot decided to reveal that there were magic beans growing in Storybrooke. Some people would clamor to return to the Enchanted Forest immediately, and Emma knew there were those so vehemently against the idea that it could spark outrage among certain factions.

She clicked her tongue against her teeth and did not follow the thought down its path. It was a headache she could deal with later.

"We could always just appoint Henry as king and be done with it." Emma joked, but Regina paused and seemed to consider it with a glint of cunning in her eye. "Regina." She admonished.

"It's not the worst idea you've come up with," the former queen said. "He's got the Charming bloodline, and he was raised by the Evil Queen." Regina caught Emma's look and waved her off. "We'll call it Plan B."

"You know, I think it's going to take \ a long time to get used to hearing things like that and considering it normal." A smooth, feminine voice spoke from just outside Emma's office and she schooled her features in a flash. She turned to find Tamara standing in her office door, the woman's white teeth flashing in contrast to her dark skin.

She seemed ready to brave the chill with her hair was pulled back into a tail and the layers of flannel she wore beneath a leather jacket, with boots, jeans, and a ridiculously oversized scarf to complete the image. Neal stalked up beside her, garbed in the same way, and seemed to be getting his color back.

He had bounced back from death's door quick.

"What can I do for you two?" Emma asked, an itch of discomfort blooming as her only exit lay blocked. She felt Regina move to just behind her shoulder.

"I wanted to ask if we could spend the afternoon with Henry. Take him on a hike and picnic. The whole nine. Bonding time." He offered her a hesitant smile and Emma flicked a glance toward Tamara. Neal's fiancé seemed as happy and chipper as she had since Emma had met her.

Something twisted in Emma's gut. Mary Margaret had been quick to name it as jealousy, but Emma thought Tamara just set off all of her bullshit alarms.

She just had no idea why.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Regina said in an even tone. Emma knew her well enough to detect the strain hiding beneath it. Regina's jaw was set, but she wasn't quite glaring at the couple. Neal's pleasant expression fell and he gained an air of something approaching desperation.

"Please. I just want to spend time with my son." His voice hitched toward the end, and Emma knew him well enough to know he was being genuine. Tamara intertwined her hand with his, fingers laced.

"You are barely more than a stranger to him Mr. Cassidy. You don't get to call him your son." Emma winced, and Neal's walls skyrocketed back into place as his face went blank and his jaw set. Regina's reaction to Emma coming into Henry's life had been harsh at the best of times, and had taken over a year before she had gained the woman's trust.

Despite her bluntness, Regina's denial of Neal was polite in comparison, but the man had no way of understanding that.

Nor did his fiancé. "So, I haven't wrapped my head around all this 'fairy tales are real' crap, but I do know that they don't change the facts." Tamara took a half step to put herself between Neal and both Regina and Emma, her eyes narrowing. "It isn't Neal's fault that Henry is a stranger to him." She flicked her eyes toward Emma, and her dislike for Neal's paramour increased tenfold.

"Babe…" Neal said quietly, pulling their joined hands backward.

"No, Neal. You tried being nice, but this is bullshit." She spoke with vehemence, not even glancing back toward Neal. "He never chose to give Henry up," Tamara said and turned her focus onto Emma. She knew the next words before they left the woman's mouth. "You did. He has just as much right to spend time with Henry as you do. Maybe even more of one."

With her wide brown eyes, chin set at an angle of defiance, flushed cheeks, and willingness to defend someone she cared about with such passion, Emma could see what had drawn Neal to Tamara, and could almost respect the woman for it.

If she hadn't been talking straight out of her ass.

"Look," Emma said, noting her voice had dropped several octaves of its own accord. She sounded angry, dangerous. It matched the shadow her mood had fallen under and Emma liked the way it tasted rolling off her tongue. "I don't know how much of our story he's told you, and frankly I don't care. Neal knows exactly why I did what I did."

"And what gave you the right to make that choice?" She flicked her eyes over Emma, up and down. "What qualifies you to make this one? The "small town Sheriff" complex or the decade of abandonment guilt?" The words dug right under Emma's skin and her hands tightened into fists. She could feel the power starting to thrum toward them.

Using magic in anger seemed like a spectacular idea, at that moment. Long, warm, and firm fingers wrapped around her wrist and Emma felt a shock race right up the limb, followed by the numb absence of energy gathering there.

Regina pulled her back, trading their places and locking her "Pissed off Mayor" face onto Tamara. She must have been practicing, Emma mused, as Regina's expression seemed more frightening than any Emma had seen when it was often aimed at her.

"Emma is allowed because she has earned my trust." The barest of smirks pulled at one side of Regina's lips. Emma stood up straighter at the claim, a spark of happiness pushing away her dark mood. "Never forget that I have the final say here, and I do not know you. You cannot fathom how far away I am from trusting you."

Tamara did not back down under Regina's gaze and looked ready to continue from where she'd left off until Neal gripped her by the shoulder and leaned in to mutter something to her that Emma couldn't make out. Tamara sagged, nodded, turned to press a lingering kiss onto Neal, and left without another word.

"She can be a little intense," Neal said the moment the front entrance echoed shut. Emma snorted.

"To put it mildly." Neal cracked a grin, and some of the tension drained from the air.

"She means well," he said, looking in the direction Tamara had gone. "She just…" He trailed off, shaking his head before turning to Regina. "I get it. I do" He took a breath, as if admitting it had placed a burden on him. "But I want the chance to prove myself to you. No matter what it takes."

Regina stared at Neal, hard, for a long moment before she frowned and glanced toward Emma. Put on the spot and without Tamara to goad her, Emma found herself shrugging. Your call Regina. The woman's frown deepened, but she didn't outright reject Neal.

"We shall see, Mr. Cassidy." The man's face lit up like he had just been named father of the year.

"Thank you," he said. His arm twitched as if her were going to offer a hand to Regina, but he thought better of it and made his retreat with a pair of hasty goodbyes, offering Emma a smile over his shoulder on his way out. She gave his back an incredulous look and shook her head, turning to give Regina her thanks, but the other woman spoke first.

"Jealousy does not become you, Miss Swan," Regina said, her lips pressed into a thin line. Wait, what? She verbalized the thought. Regina sent a pointed look after the couple.

"Of Tamara." Emma could not keep the exasperation from her tone. With Mary Margaret the accusation had been mildly annoying. Having it come from Regina left Emma uncomfortable with a need to assuage the suspicion. "Really? That's just..." She struggled to articulate it. "No," she said, emphatic.

"And you've been exceedingly hostile to her for no reason, then?" Emma blinked, speechless. Exceedingly? Regina flicked an eyebrow, demanding an answer.

"How about that she's been acting suspicious as hell since we've met her?" Tracking his phone's GPS Emma could buy. The logic of checking the hospital before the police station was not an unrealistic stretch. But, "Neal didn't mention her once in New York," she said. "Not to me. Not to Henry. Not to Gold." She ticked off each name on a finger. "Even in passing. It should have come up."

Regina hummed, noncommittal.

"And I'm sorry, but nobody would take any of this as easily as she did. Finding out Disney's actually a series of documentaries should be earth-shattering." Emma shook her head. "She didn't even flinch, Regina."

Regina tilted her head, face betraying nothing. "And your ongoing cordiality with Mr. Cassidy?" At least she didn't call it flirting, Emma thought. David had made that leap of logic after hearing part of her conversation with Mary Margaret and it had been… awkward.

"You didn't see me in New York." Emma licked her lips, finding them having gone dry. "I was surprised, scared, and pissed. Henry was there and saw everything. I…" Dragged him through half of a strange city by the wrist at a dead sprint. She swallowed churning shame. "Really scared him." She hedged.

Regina's focus had refined to a sharp point the moment Emma had mentioned Henry, and Emma knew she would have the argument won. "I realized I couldn't be that person. I have every right to be mad. To hate him." She saw a flicker of understanding spark in Regina's dark eyes. "But I did that for a decade already." She took a breath. Putting words to her resolve proved more trying than Emma had expected. "And, for Henry's sake, I've been trying to let it go."

"For Henry," Regina echoed, doubtful.

Emma wore a rueful smile. "He's our son Regina. Do you think us telling him no will really keep him away from a parent he knows about?" The kid had crossed over the majority of two states on a bus before he had even met her. Emma did not doubt Henry's ingenuity would let him go around them to get to know his father.

"Of course not," Regina said, finally breaking her gaze away from Emma and collecting the paperwork she'd spent the last few hours studying. "I learned that lesson the hard way, Emma, but we can damn well make sure your ex knows exactly where he stands." Emma could not see her face, but took the resumed use of her first name as a sign of Regina's acceptance. Genuine relief softened the edges off the stress she held, and Emma rolled her shoulders, smiling.

"Speaking of Henry," Emma said, clapping with an air of finality. "I've been putting it off with everything that's been going on, but I promised the kid an ice cream extravaganza for his help in New York." After saving her life, an obnoxious amount of dessert was definitely deserved. "Come with us?" Regina froze for a pair of breaths.

When she turned, she wore the tiniest of smiles and held an expression of amused incredulity in her eyes. "As tempting as that overindulgence sounds." Regina bowed her head, thumb stroking over the folders in her hand. She looked back up, a softened look of determination set in her jaw. "But I think I have something."

"Suspect?" Emma asked lightly. Emma assumed Regina suspected Rumplestiltskin as much as she did. There had been no physical evidence to point that way, but the timing of Neal's recovery was far too coincidental. Emma simply did not know enough about magic to prove what had happened to Cora, and trying to do so had proven an awful exercise in frustration.

But Regina was light years beyond Emma in that regard. "Possibly," Regina said, guarded and careful. They had both learned that going after the Dark One would require absolute proof. Emma had half a mind to deputize the former mayor, just to cover their bases. "But I need to check a few things."

"Alright." Emma braced her hands against her knees and thrust herself to her feet. "But that extra scoop of Chunky Monkey I'll have in your honor is going to kick my ass."

Regina gave her a flat look. "Woe is you," Regina said, deadpan. Emma flashed her a grin and headed out with a jaunty wave and an admonishing reminder to call her the moment she found something.

Emma was three spoonfuls of ice cream deep when she got the call and was forced to abandon it in the name of duty, dragging Henry along with her for a lack of a better option. For the second time that day, Emma weaved between the sparse traffic while pushing her stubborn old bug to its limits.

Unlike his mother, Henry took to the crazy turns and aggressive momentum with bursts of laughter. Joy wrought from pure adrenaline. When she yanked the bug to a stop behind a smattering of cars parked haphazardly in the street, her son wore a smile stretching from ear to ear.

"That was so wicked," he said, breathless. Emma forced herself not to smile at his enthusiasm, keeping on a mask of grim professionalism.

"Never drive like that," She said as she got out of the car. "And stay there." She threaded her badge over her belt and did not look as Henry's wide smile was replaced with a protesting frown. She locked him in, squared her shoulders, and dove head first into the second angry mob she would have to deal with.

Someone had broken the fairies' veil and several dozen townspeople stood in an arc around the beanstalk garden. They shouted over each other, growing louder and more indecipherable by the second. Anton and the dwarves formed a protective arc around the plants, their pickaxes held ready in warning.

The giant's voice managed to boom over the din. "Please, they're not ready! If we lose any more of the shoots, they won't be able to combine!" Emma filed the fact that the plants that were as tall as she was were only the shoots away with all of the rest of the crap that should not have surprised her anymore.

"We deserve those beans just as much as anyone else!" One man near the front shouted to the cheers of the rest of the crowd. Emma broke through the back of the throng with several well timed shoves.

"They're not ready," Sneezy said, sniffling. "Not even close, don't you get that?" More jeering from the crowd met his word.

"And who, my good dwarf, would be in charge of overseeing the distribution of these beans? How do we know that they are intended for everyone?" Emma sighed, recognizing the honey dipped tone of the would-be mayor. Sure enough, when she made it to the front of the group she spotted Midas standing apart from the rest, looking upon Anton and the dwarves as if they had been misbehaving children.

She took her cue. "That would be me, MIdas." She spoke clearly, with as much gravity and authority as she could without sounding melodramatic. The man scrambled to turn around, eyebrows dipping into a scowl. The people around her backed away with the speed of frightened cats.

"Sheriff," the former banker greeted shortly. "May I ask what brings you here?" His eyes darted to the crowd of his own followers for the barest of moments.

"Noise complaint," Emma said with a knowing smirk. The beanfield was about as 'middle of nowhere' that you could get in Storybrooke without taking a hike in the woods. Midas' scowl deepened and Emma wondered if the man who tipped her off was in the crowd or not. She pushed it from her mind and moved to stand between the two sides, facing off with the portly man.

"Since you're here." Emma saw the gears turning in Midas' mind, trying to turn the situation to his advantage. "Perhaps you would be so kind as to explain why you and yours kept such a wondrous chance of hope away from the good people of Storybrooke? It is a disappointing irony coming from Snow White, but not entirely unexpected. Your collusion in this is troublesome, Sheriff."

Emma could lose her balance with the amount of spin on that statement, but there were voices of agreement from behind him. She flicked an eyebrow, dismissing his claims, and spoke evenly.

"This entire process." She waved an arm behind her. "Only had the smallest chances of success." She was grateful she'd demanded a full rundown of how the field came to be from her parents. "We had one petrified seedling, and it was far from a guarantee it would work." She took a moment to sweep her eyes over the gathered people, meeting gazes with several as she did so. "The plan was to make sure the damn things worked before letting everyone know.

"Then we were going to make sure there was enough of a supply to let people travel between the Enchanted Forest and Storybrooke as much as they wanted to." That had been Henry's solution to solve the split over which realm people should live in, and Emma had taken a shine to the idea.

She was convinced nobody would want to stay in the Enchanted Forest for long with the state it was in, and did not want to abandon people there with no way home.

"And how are we supposed to trust your word, Sheriff?" Midas hedged, sensing a losing battle as the angry atmosphere in the crowd started to dissipate.

Emma's reputation had taken several blows in the recent blows, but she was still willing to bet this battle of wills on it. "When I have ever not done what has been best for the town?" She asked the crowd at large. Moments passed with nobody speaking out against her. Hell, half of them look chastised.

When Midas held his eyes closed for a second too long and sighed, Emma knew she had won the night.

"Exactly. Alright people, get out of here and let these men get back to work in peace." It took a few beats for the first person to retreat, but once one had the rest followed with little delay, shuffling away from the field as if a movie had just let out.

"This isn't over, Sheriff." A promise of challenge gleamed in the former king's eyes. Emma shook her head.

She couldn't wait for the election to be over.

"It is tonight, Midas. Go home." She stared him down, but he puffed up his chest and strode past her, making sure his shoulder whacked hers as he did so. She held back a laugh when the stunt through him off balance instead of her.

Who said she couldn't be graceful in victory?

A dull thump drew her attention to the edge of the garden. Anton had sat down, leaning forward against the pickaxe that named him "Tiny." The sheer relief on his face pulled her heartstrings.

To him this was much more than cultivating a way home. The entire project was his family's only legacy.

The dwarves gathered around him in a protective circle, speaking to him in low voices Emma couldn't make out.

"I'll assign Ruby to stand watch with you guy starting tomorrow," she told them, but received no indication that they had heard her. She sighed and left them to their moment, wandering back toward her car.

She wondered if the parlor would give her a discount if they headed straight back, or if…

Her train of thought went off the rails and terror froze her heart. "No," she whispered. The bug was where she had left it, but the passenger side door sat wide open, its window broken.

And she couldn't see her son.

"Henry!?" She sprinted the remaining distance to her car, finding nothing but shattered glass inside. "No no no no…" She felt panic threatening to overwhelm her, adrenaline pumping through her veins. She ran away from the car and back into the dispersing group. Most were only just climbing into their cars at this point, but as she shouted her son's name and checked every car she passed, she came up empty.

"This can't be happening, please." She repeated the plea under her breath, but nobody came to reassure her it was an awful joke. People were looking at her in a mix of confusion and horrified sympathy as they caught onto the situation.

Emma spun in a slow circle in the middle of road, eyes roaming over everywhere, but caught no sign of her child.

"Henry…" She heard her voice break and felt horror so deep it threatened to drown her.

Her son was gone.

E/N: Who could have done this!? Poor young Henry is at the mercy of one of our villains, but was that the right call for the baddies to make? Nothing brings people together quite like Henry, especially when he's in danger.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter and the slow crawl that is the evolution of Regina and Emma's relationship. How are you liking the direction that's taking? Too slow burn? Too quick? Let me know!