Chapter 31

He beats the fire truck and the squad car to the quadplex, but the ambulance has already arrived and paramedics are treating the Dolenzes and the Nesmiths. The building is on fire; beyond the flames, Gold can barely discern the skeleton of the building, his building. It won't survive the night. Three families and one single, the dwarf Dopey, have been displaced. Well, he has another property that's currently unoccupied, though well furnished; he will place them there temporarily, after he's put wards up: 108 Mifflin, the former mayor's mansion. Dopey is out in the woods somewhere with the other dwarfs, on patrol; Gold will have to call him with the bad news.

As Gold approaches, he hears sobbing and groaning, then a wail overrides the scream of the approaching squad car. He remains a respectful distance from the injured families, but he identifies the one who wailed: Mrs. Nesmith, crumpled on the ground, struggling to free herself from her husband's arms. She's attempting to block the passage of a stretcher, on which a sheet-covered form lies, nearly buried under life-saving machinery. Gold loses his footing as he steps out of David's and Snow's way. He catches himself against the squad car's hood. He doesn't need to hear the exchange between the Charmings and the paramedics to know who's under that oxygen mask.

Gold covers his mouth.

The fire truck arrives, and a few minutes later, Emma in her yellow Bug. Under her red jacket she's wearing a pair of Belle's pajamas, which look more like capris on her; when he takes the liberty of magically replacing them with her standard street clothes, she doesn't notice; she makes a beeline for the ambulance to take statements. He seizes her arm. "Emma! This will have to wait. We need to get to Granny's now."

"But–" she then realizes what he's saying and shouts for her parents. She urges them to return to the squad car, but Gold shakes his head. "No time!" He conjures a purple cloud and when it clears, the four of them are on Granny's lawn. Guns drawn, Snow and David circle around the alley way, while Emma proceeds into the front entrance. Gold takes the magic route up to the third floor, Granny and Ruby's private rooms, where Henry stays when the Lucases babysit him. He find Granny's bedroom door ajar, an unconscious Granny slumped to the carpet with Ruby aiding her. "Regina–" Ruby begins.

"Where did she go?" Emma appears at the top of he stairs.

"Down the back stairs. She tried to, you know, magic herself gone, but she couldn't.

David is in the hallway now. "How long ago?"

"Five minutes maybe."

"Where?" David turns to Emma as Snow tops the stairs and kneels beside Granny.

"Anywhere. . . .Marco's? Henry likes to hang out there." Emma guesses.

David gets another idea. "Ruby, we need you. Come with us. Regina's scent–"

"You want me to leave Granny?" Ruby's taken aback.

"I'll take care of her," Snow offers. "Please. Regina has to be stopped.

"Call Blue," Gold conjures a phone, already dialing itself, and tosses it to Snow. "She's a Healer." He bends, bringing magic to his fingers, and he presses his palm to Granny's forehead. The innkeeper opens her eyes and gasps in a lungful of clean air. "She'll be all right, I promise. Let's go."

Ruby allows Snow to ease Granny's head onto her lap. With a scowl Ruby nods and sniffs the wind. She gallops down the back stairs, David and Emma in tow; Gold shoots a blast of painkilling magic into his ankle so her can keep up. Ruby leads them north on Keane Drive, past the courthouse and the library, then turns onto Rush Avenue, past the park and the school. "I smell rotten eggs," Ruby pants.

"Her magic isn't working right," Gold explains. "It normally would smell like baked apples sprinkled with red pepper."

When they turn east onto Macbeth, Gold has a fair idea where Regina's headed, so he transports them there. They arrive at the Wilsons' bungalow–this is where Paige lives, when she's not Grace and living with Jefferson. As they arrive in a puff of magic, they find the house dark and quiet. "The Wilsons are at home, sleeping." Ruby reports with a sniff.

David reaches for his gun. "Not for long." A black Mercedes pulls up to the curb.

Regina's only just slid out from under the steering wheel when she's surrounded. Emma spins her around, pushes her down onto the hood of the Mercedes and slaps handcuffs on her as David holds a gun on her. "Do you think these toys will hold me?" Regina curls her lip and pulls against the metal, sending a bolt of magic into the lock, but Gold counters it and the lock holds.

"I've had several more months of practice, Regina." Gold reaches for his phone.

"Maybe so, but I have a son to reclaim," the mayor spits back. "What do you propose to do with me, Sheriff? I can walk right through any kind of prison you can hammer together."

"Not today, you can't." Emma yanks her upright as Gold makes his phone call.

"Do you know what you did back there?" David rages. "Four families homeless. Burns, lacerations, broken bones. And a four-year-old boy in critical condition."

Regina's facade breaks. "Four–?"

"Micky Nesmith." Emma snaps. "He's supposed to start kinder next week."

Gold finishes his phone conversation. "The jail is ready. Bernadette and Cecilia are waiting."

"Nuns?" Regina sneers. "If you think you're going to administer my last rites, you've got another think coming."

Emma smiles grimly. "We're using them in their other capacity. Gold, would you take us?"

Truth be told, his body and his magic have reached their limits for one night, but he's not about to give Regina an opportunity to summon her powers while they wait for Snow to arrive with the squad car. "Perhaps, Mr. Nolan, Ms. Lucas, you would drive back in Regina's car?"

Emma catches on. "Right. Good idea. We need to impound it as evidence."

He stands behind Regina so she can't see the strain on his face as closes his eyes, visualizing the strands of life flowing in and from his two passengers: Emma's life force, green as spring grass, and Regina's, red as honeycrisp apples. With a bluffed confidence, he demands of his magic that it wrap around these two lives, cocoon them completely so there will be no falls, and slowly his magic pulls and lifts. The women are transported to the jail. Gold follows moments later to watch Emma usher Regina into Cell B, "the one with the view," she says. "If you're ten feet tall."

As soon as the queen is locked in, the fairies sprinkle a layer of their dust thick enough to choke an imp. Gold stands well back, but his skin itches and prickles like he's run through a bramble bush, his head begins to throb and his vision blurs. He waits just along enough to observe the same effects in Regina. "Sheriff, I'm going home. I suggest we keep our houseguest with us another night or two. You too are welcome, until you've found suitable lodgings." He fails to extend the offer to the Charmings, for which Belle will chastise him later, but he wants to keep as much of his house–and Belle–to himself as he can. Henry's family, so he's entitled.

Emma cocks an eyebrow. "Will I owe you a favor?"

"You can cook breakfast tomorrow."

Belle and Henry greet him at the front door, both with big, relieved smiles. In the background he can hear the television on: Roy and the Sons of the Pioneers are singing "New Moon over Nevada." They've found his Roy Rogers box set, then. And here he'd thought he had it safely hidden in his underwear drawer.

He's glad he was caught, though. The music instantly relaxes him, as does Belle's insistence that he sit down in his recliner and take his shoes off. She seems a little surprised by the grass-stained sneakers on his feet. "Where are your Ferragamos?"

"Oh." He lays his head back against the pillow she's provided. "Left them in the car. I took a little walk last night."

"Yeah, I hear you were quite busy last night. Any injuries I should know about?" She cocks her head. "Or that you don't want me to know about?"

"Just tired." Gold tries to smile. "If you don't mind. . . ." He can't remember how he intended to finish the sentence, so he gives up.

"We'll turn the TV off," Henry offers, "so you can sleep."

"No, leave it on," he murmurs.

"Okay." Henry and Belle start to tiptoe from the living room, but Henry pauses. "Is my mom-?"

"She's fine. She'll be staying with us for a while."

"Yeah, I heard about the apartment." Henry frowns. "I started a list."

"A list?" Gold can't keep his eyes open.

"Of my stuff. For the insurance, you know. Belle's helping me look up replacement costs online."

Gold smiles: westerns and now insurance claims. He may have inherited Charming's do-gooder tendencies, but he thinks like a Gold. "Chip off the old block." He yawns. "One of these days, lad, I'll take you to my tailor. Every boy needs an Armani. . . ."

"Thanks, Grandpa."

"How's the boy, the four-year-old?" Regina is asking as Gold walks in to the sheriff's office the next morning.

"Same as yesterday," David reports. "Still in critical condition. His family's still homeless."

"I offered them your house," Gold smirks, "since you won't be needing it. But they thought it a bit drafty. But I have an empty rental on Durza Street that Belle's getting ready for them. Dopey's moved in with Sneezy, so that leaves the Dolenzes. They're staying at the inn until something comes available." He stops a full three yards from Cell B: the fairy dust is already making him break out in hives.

"It was an accident. My magic got out of control. I can't be held responsible." She sits on the cot. "I didn't know there was a child in the building."

"You said that yesterday," David grunts.

"And Henry? How is he?" There's a spark of hope in her voice.

Gold reveals nothing in his body language; she mustn't find out where Henry's staying.

"He's okay. He asks about you. Granny's recovered," David says, "in case you were wondering. She's back at work." He brings Regina a cup of coffee, then offers Gold one. "Ruby will be delivering your breakfast at nine."

"Don't bother," Regina says, resting her head in her palm.

"You look rather green at the gills, dear," Gold remarks. "Perhaps Mr. Nolan should call Dr. Whale."

"That quack?"

"You're right," Gold says. "Considering the source of your ailment, Blue would be a more suitable physician for you."

Regina shudders, then lurches forward, grabbing a bucket at the foot of her cot. Gold is momentarily puzzled about the reason for the bucket, until she makes it clear by losing the contents of her stomach in it.

"This is cruel and inhumane treatment," she protests weakly, wiping her mouth on a towel David brings her. "You can't leave me in here. I'll die."

"Yes, but you'll go insane first." Gold smiles pleasantly, as if she'd commented about the weather. "I speak from experience." He throws a sidelong glance at Charming.

"We're discussing options," David brooks no side remarks. "You'll get a trial, a fair one, and then we'll decide what to do."

"A trial." Regina's bloodshot eyes shoot to Gold. "I'll need a lawyer."

"No."

"You're just as responsible as I am. It was your curse."

"No."

"You conned me into it."

"You came to me, as I recall, asking to be taught. Asking for escape from your grief, a way out from under Cora's thumb. You were well on that path before I began training you—or need I remind you what you did to your husband and your admirer?"

David interrupts. "Enough. If you can't find an attorney to represent you, the state will provide one. You'll get your day in court, Regina."

She wraps her hands around the bars of her cell and directs her glare at Gold. "Oh, but you're the only one who understands me, dearie."

He flies at her, bent on squeezing her neck the way she's squeezing the bars, but he settles for sneering at her. "After what you did to Belle and Josiah, there's no way in seven hells I'd help you."

"Gold." David urges him to step back.

She blinks innocently. "Just a little joke, master. I suppose I forgot you have no sense of humor."

He allows David to push him away from the cell. The fairy dust is causing his stomach to churn—or maybe it's Regina.

"Oh, and my condolences," she calls out after him as he walks away. "Pity about the whole baby thing. But, I mean, how upset can you get over an imaginary baby?"

He slams the door behind him. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he hears the theme song from High Noon.