Mary Margret's phone buzzes on the nightstand. She moans and reaches over. The weight of carrying the baby has taken a lot of her energy and with Emma missing, it's ten times worse. She spent most of the day in bed, nodding in and out of consciousness with Elsa and Aurora bringing her things when she needed them. Killian and Henry came home late last night and didn't say very much before they both collapsed in bed and on the couch from exhaustion. The teacher had tried to at least do some lesson planning for her kids since she's missing the school and most likely the rest of the week, but she gives up, distressed and the image of Emma lying on the side of the road somewhere haunts her waking and sleeping moments.
She checks the ID. It's David. She hopes that he has some good news.
"Hi honey," she says.
"Hi, Mary. How are you feeling?"
"I'm tired."
"Did Killian and Henry make it home alright?"
"They're still sleeping."
"Well, you may want them to be awake because we have footage of Emma!"
"You do?!" Mary gasps nearly dropping her phone in shock. "Where? How? When? What…?"
"One of the officers was sent to the bar the girls attended and they have a security camera on the front of their bar and inside. We're just getting the tape now. We need a few people to positively identify her."
"I'll call Elsa and then get the boys ready."
"Please… be careful," David says, making sure his wife doesn't hurt herself in excitement.
"I will, I love you. I'll see you soon."
"I love you too."
Mary hangs up. She staggers out of the room at top speed and goes to the couch.
"Killian! Killian" she says loudly, shaking his shoulder. He's still in his clothes from the day before.
"Five more minutes," the Irish man mumbles, burying his face into the pillow.
"Get up, they have footage of Emma!"
Like he was struck by a lightning bolt, Killian sits up immediately, now wide awake.
"They do? Where is it? Does it catch her kidnapper? What are the cops going to do?"
"We'll find that out when we get there," Mary says. She rushes to Henry's room.
"Henry, Henry!" she says.
"What is it?" the teen moans, opening his hazel eyes.
"There is footage of Emma. We need to go down to the station to identify her."
Henry's heart pounds loudly as he sits up before practically racing to his closet for a change of clothes. He then runs for the shower. Mary Margret changes into some more clothes that Aurora was nice enough to go and get for her. Killian is splashing water on his face and cleaning himself up as best he can, as Mary picks up the phone and calls Elsa.
"Mary, what's wrong? Are you okay?" she asks.
"I'm fine, we need to get down to the station, David says they have footage of Emma at the bar. We need to ID her!"
"I'll be right over, I'm bringing Anna too."
"Okay, but hurry."
Mary Margret begins to pace back and forth, calling the others and telling them the news. She paces for a little bit while she and Killian wait for Henry. That is until her feet get sore and she's forced to sit down at the kitchen table. Killian taps his foot impatiently.
"You should really get some change of clothes," she points out to Killian, trying to fill the silence.
"Aye, I will, it's just not been my top priority right now."
"I know," Mary sighs.
Henry rushes out with wet hair and clean clothing. The three of them lock up the apartment and head down to where Elsa and Anna are waiting in their car. Anna looks very pale and is a lot quieter than usual. Obviously, the abduction of her friend has made her very nervous and scared.
Elsa nearly runs every red light as they try to get to the station.
David is waiting for them, heavy bags under his eyes and a coffee in his hand. He opens his arms and hugs his pregnant wife tightly. Leroy sits on a bench nearby, downing coffee with whiskey in it.
"Took you long enough," Leroy growls.
Killian shoots him a dirty look and then the five people begin bombarding David with questions. The officer groans, his lack of sleep is getting to him, but he tells them that they're setting the video up right now.
Soon after, Ruby, Aurora, Regina, Zelena, Lacey, and MeyLing enter the station. Each of them embraces Henry, Mary Margret, and David. They are all ready to give their statements if it means finding their friend, Emma Swan.
David hears a buzzing in his walkie-talkie, indicating that they are ready. He leads down a hall to a room with a projector. On the screen is a frozen image of what looks like the inside of a bar. No one can see the name of the bar, but the neon lights can be seen along the bottom of the screen. It's a good view of the bar overall, with the chairs, tables, and people sitting around, as well as a good view of the stage area where karaoke was held. There is a figure standing just underneath the camera in a black shirt. One could assume that this was the bouncer for the bar. The time and date are in the top right corner of the screen. There are several chairs set out for everyone and the room quickly fills up with Emma's friends and loved ones. Even Commissioner Gold is there, David and Nova insisted on it since it was an important case, but the main reason was to prove to him that Emma didn't just take off.
Nova has the footage on her laptop and she dims the lights so the picture can be seen better. It's not the best quality, but it's all they have.
Once everyone is settled, Nova speaks and presses the record button as this can be credible evidence.
"So, Miss French?"
"Yes?" Lacey says, sitting up to attention.
"It was your birthday that everyone was celebrating?"
"Yes, ma' me."
"And according to Miss Lucas and Mills, you started in The Blue Diamond Bar?"
"Yes," all the friends say in almost unison.
"And was anyone sober enough to remember the name of the next bar you went to?"
"I do," Elsa says, "It was the Good Luck Chuck Wagon,"
"Okay, now we were given at least three hours of footage. This is the inside camera, and then we'll look at the outside. We need to know the moments that led up to Emma leaving the bar. We might find someone who had talked to her and such. In a few seconds, your party will walk into the bar and I want you to identify yourselves in the frame, understood?"
The friends nod.
Nova presses play and the entire room goes dead silent as they watch, almost immediately a group of brightly dressed girls comes into frame. Nova freezes as the women seem to be dancing into the shot.
"That's me in red," Ruby points out.
"I'm in the bright green dress," Anna says. "And red hair."
"Emerald green dress," Zelena says, even going up to the screen to point herself out.
"Platinum blonde and blue dress," Elsa says.
"Navy blue dress and tiara," Lacey says.
"Dark hair and dress," Regina says.
"Pink dress," Aurora says.
"My dress has yellow in it," MeyLing says.
"And there's Emma," David says pointing out the only other blonde in the shot.
"I can't believe the bouncer let us in, we were practically hammered by then," Ruby mutters.
"Now I'm going to play the video. I want you to keep your eye on Emma the whole time. Point out anything that might be important."
Everyone nods and then Nova presses play. The entire room is in silence again as they watch their blonde friend in the bar. They can't help but occasionally watch themselves, seeing what they were doing. The group sees Anna going up for singing, along with Lacey, Ruby, Elsa and Anna and then the whole group. The group then sort of splits off afterward. Eyes are kept on Emma as often as possible. The entire room seems to be holding its breath, watching the night unfold. They see Ruby dance on a tabletop until the bartender comes over to her. Regina hanging out with the DJ in the far corner. Anna hogging the spotlight and microphone on stage, MeyLing, and Aurora chatting away with random patrons. Eventually, they see Emma walk over and sit at the bar while Lacey lines up for the bathroom in the far upper left corner of the screen. A few people squint to see what's going on with Emma Swan. She takes out what looks like a phone once and then puts her head down for a moment. Then a man walks past her, obstructing the view of their friend for a moment and then everyone sees Emma again.
"Wait Nova, rewind!" David says.
Nova does so.
"Zoom into the bar."
Nova fiddles with her computer and gets the image closer.
"Watch what happens to Emma's drink," David says.
Nova presses play and they all watch.
The drink Emma has is shining slightly in the light of the bar and everyone can see that it's about half full, but as the man in dark coloured clothing passes by, it's full again. Nova pauses it and replays it several times to be sure.
"Bloody hell!" Killian says. "He switched her drink."
"It might've been laced with a date rape drug or something," Ruby says.
"She doesn't notice," MeyLing points out.
"Please don't tell me she drinks it?" Anna moans.
Nova presses play and sure enough, Emma doesn't notice the difference, she drinks from her glass and then stumbles out the door, and out of frame. Nova records the time for the outside camera.
"Where does that guy go?!" Mary Margret asks, leaning forward in her seat. "Rewind Nova!"
She does so and everyone watches this man, all dressed in gray, the problem is, his face is in profile and they can't make out any features due to the grainy quality of the footage.
"Who the hell is he?!" Killian practically yells. "He's done something to Emma."
"We can almost fully confirm that."
They all watch as the man walks out of frame.
"DAMNIT!" David growls.
They all watch intently, waiting for the man to come back into the frame but he never does.
"WHERE DID HE GO?!" Henry shouts at the screen.
"Is there a back door to the bar?" Nova asks.
"The officer didn't ask," David groans.
"I'm switching to outdoor cam, maybe we'll get this guy in the act."
"We can't be sure if he did grab Emma until we see it," Gold mumbles, mostly to himself.
Nova switches to the outside, with the bald head of a bouncer in one corner. She fast-forwards to the time that Emma was leaving. Everyone watches with bated breath as Emma stumbles out, her blonde hair reflecting the street light, she seems to be looking at her phone and swaying slightly. She then goes to the furthest part of the camera, just barely out of view but everyone can still see her dress and her slight movements. She's cast in shadow, which is not a good sign at all. Everyone's hearts are racing in fear, worry, and desperation. They see Emma sit down for a few moments. Then there's another shadow, but it's so indistinct that no one can see who it is. There's more movement and then the two shadows vanish from sight.
"WHAT?!" Henry yells, tears in his eyes and jumping out of his chair. "THAT CAN'T BE THE END! WHERE'S MY MOM?!"
Mary Margret puts her hand gently on the teenager's shoulder, trying to calm him, but they were all feeling the exact same way. Frustrated and very upset. Mary Margret is also close to crying, upset, and thinking, what if this was the last time she ever saw her friend. Elsa felt guilt in her stomach, being so worried about Anna that she didn't pay attention to when her friend was in trouble. Lacey wished she hadn't been throwing up. Zelena, mostly wishing she hadn't been making out with the guys. Ruby in hooking up with her group. Regina, seeing Henry's distress, wished that she wasn't so distracted by Graham to keep an eye on Emma. MeyLing and Aurora felt the guilt of not inviting Emma over to talk with them. It was clear to everyone in the room that Emma did not run away, she was drugged by a man dressed in gray, who somehow managed to slip away without being noticed.
"How do we know it's the same guy?" Nova asks quietly
"How could it not be?" Ruby says as if it's obvious. "He obviously knew she was inebriated and that she'd go outside for fresh air. It happens with most drugs, I've had people say that their body temperature increases, causing them to go outside to cool off and then being picked up by the rapist"
Mary Margret shoots Ruby a look as Henry's colour drains from his face at the mention of rape.
"That's one possibility," David says, trying to calm the uneasy feeling in all their stomachs. The thought of Emma being raped…
"Zoom in a rewind Nova."
The officer obeys, but no matter how many times they rewind and zoom, they can't tell who it is and whether it's the same man. David's heart sinks as well as almost everyone else's.
"Are there any more cameras in the area?" David asks.
"I don't know," Nova says. "We'll have to check."
Henry is practically crying now, wiping his tears away in embarrassment, but he can't help it. He's worried about his mom, they all are.
"Don't give up hope just yet Henry," Nova says. "At least we know your mom didn't run away and we now know when she went missing. I know it's not enough, but it's a start."
Nova kneels down to look Henry in the eyes as he's slumped over in sadness.
"We'll find her buddy, I promise. We just need to know who this man is and where he went."
Thank you, everyone. Sorry, but Arthur did not make it easy for the cops to trace him. Please review because it really helps out.