"I see Henry!" Mary Margret screamed even while the Jolly Roger was still flying through the air towards a landing in Storybrooke's harbor.
Gripping the railing as he moved to stand beside Mary Margret, Rumple fervidly scanned the docks for any sign of his wife, but he found none. No sign of her when Hook's ship was flying through the air, nor when everyone from the ship moved onto dry ground and was assailed by an ecstatic Henry. He hugged each and every one of them - including Rumple - at least twice before he actually said a coherent sentence - and that was to answer Rumple's monosyllabic question of "Belle?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Henry said with a small laugh.
"What do you mean?" Rumple asked, concern creasing his brow.
"Um… how about you just let me show you - all of you. You'll need to go see her anyway."
"Why is that necessary?" Regina asked. "I'd like to go home first."
"Please can you just come with me and Grandpa? I want to be there when Belle explains things, but I just got to see you again after a whole year! Please, mom?"
Regina frowned but nodded, agreeing, "Fair enough."
Henry grinned and turned only for Ruby to call out, "Hey, Henry, come on!" And then the waitress noticed the group surrounding Henry and darted towards them while screaming with glee. Another round of hugs followed - this one not including Rumple - before Ruby asked Henry, "Are you taking them to see the mayor? Because they need to go there before they see anyone else."
"Who says?" Rumple snapped, getting unbelievably impatient to see his bride.
"The mayor herself - back when they left; don't you remember, Henry? She said that they had to go to her office before anywhere else."
"Who does she think she is?" Mary Margaret asked.
"Good question," Regina agreed, inquiring, "I assume this conversation means that an stand-in has been elected in my absence?"
"She was asked to fill the position for a two-year term," Henry said carefully.
"But I've returned, so I can take the office back over," Regina replied, a sort of quizzical question in her tone.
"I doubt that'll be as easy as your thinking," Henry revealed. "People have become amazingly loyal to her."
"Who is she then?" Regina asked, her voice now laced with what might nearly be described as shock.
"Uh… just… the mayor," Henry answered nervously before saying, "But Ruby's right; we've got a private council meeting that we need to get to, and you guys should probably all come with us. She'll want to talk to you."
"Oh, believe you me, I want to talk to her too," Regina replied sharply, heading up the group as they moved towards the mayor's office.
"Mom, please," Henry practically begged, skipping ahead to walk abreast his mother. "Don't cause problems. She's going to be a wreck enough at seeing you all again, and she's nearly a wreck anyway because she puts too much on herself… so just please be nice… and maybe even offer to help her out for the rest of her term? If you want to keep your foot in the door of town politics?"
Regina glanced sideways at her obviously nervous son and her steps lost most of their tense fervor as she asked, "What do you mean 'she puts too much on herself'?"
"She owns most of the town now," Henry revealed. "And she takes a personal part in a couple of… businesses as well as her duties as mayor - and she's got a kid."
"Sounds like she's busy," David remarked.
"A you think she could use some help," Emma continued. "Does she have a good sheriff backing her up?"
Rumple rolled his eyes at the actual intent behind Miss Swan's question as Ruby answered quickly, "No."
"Why? Who's sheriff?"
"Jefferson."
"As in the mad hatter who kidnapped Snow and I?"
"Yeah…" Henry drawled. "We got a little desperate once you guys all left."
"Belle's looking after the pawn shop, right?" Rumple checked.
"Yeah… though I do help out a whole lot."
"And the library?"
"She does some things, but mostly August just keeps it open a couple of hours after school lets out."
"The library's only open ten hours a week? Belle can't like that."
"We're doing the best we can right now - but you're all back now, so I'm sure that things will get better."
"I hope so," Rumple answered, muttering under his breath as they stepped into the halls of town hall, "As soon as I finally get to see my wife, that is."
"Why don't you… stay here," Henry suggested once they were just out of hearing range of the mayor's office. "Ruby and I can go tell her you're back."
"Okay…" Emma drawled, looking at her son quizzically.
"Thanks." So saying, Henry smiled reassuringly and disappeared with Ruby into the mayor's office.
"You two are early," Belle remarked, looking up from the pile of papers on her desk that she was pouring over.
"Nobody else is here yet?" Ruby remarked, a smile already playing about her mouth despite her best efforts to keep a neutral expression.
"No," Belle sighed. "Grumpy went to grab Alana from daycare before he came, Archie's finishing with a session, and Mulan is… I don't even know what Mulan is doing."
Noticing the tension lacing Belle's expression – as had become the norm within the past year – Henry said helpfully, "We've got someone here who wants to see you."
"If it's Granny about that ever-loving road-"
"I talked to her about that… again," Red said quickly.
"Then that means it'll be Jefferson wanting another unnecessary warrant – or better yet, Kathryn, telling me that Alana got sick while at daycare today."
"Lanie's right here," Grumpy said, manhandling the four-month-old's car seat with her inside it as he came into Belle's office. "And Miss Daycare-"
"Kathryn Hopper," Belle corrected him.
Grumpy rolled his eyes, amending, "Kathryn Hopper didn't say anything about her being sick."
"Well, in that case," Archie strode into the room with Mulan at his heels. "Do I have Mommy's permission to be the one to put her in her crib in the side room for the meeting's duration?"
As it often did, the council members' love for her daughter coaxed a smile onto Belle's face as she nodded, assenting, "Sure." Once Archie had taken the baby into the side room that had long been set up for Alana, Belle turned back to Henry and asked, "So who is here?"