Mistressnmoon: I'm still on the fence about posting this, slash keeping it up, because while I think it's fun I don't know if I think it's good? Idk but for now I'll keep posting and maybe get back to writing it? Either ay I've got about eleven chapters alread written so I'll occasionally post a new chapter until I decide one way or the other!

Chapter Three

"Everyone! Step back, please!" I stared at the tunnel, which use to lead towards the old mine, in confusion. Those mines were totally stable; at least they were a week ago when I had gone exploring. What could have made them collapse like that?

"Is that a crater?" I shook my head towards Ruby, still frowning in confusion.

"No, there were tunnels, old mines. Something collapsed."

"Sheriff, set up a police perimeter. Marco, why don't you help with the fire department? Miss Swan, this is now official town business. You're free to go." Wow. Regina wasn't even trying to hide her distaste for the woman. And hadn't she seen the Deputy badge Emma was now sporting?

"Well, actually, I work for the town now."
"She's my new Deputy." Oh Graham. That was not the way to tell the Queen that. It's not like he didn't know of the two's dislike for each other, and given that he was currently sleeping with Regina, I'm surprised he would do anything to displease her.

"They say the Mayor's always last to know."

"It's in my budget." Seriously, does he not know how to stop when he's… well he's not ahead, but he should stop before he makes it any worse.

"Indeed. Deputy, why don't you make yourself useful and help with crowd control?" I watched as Regina stepped away from Graham and Emma, and closer towards the crowd of people. "People of Storybrooke, don't be alarmed. We've always known this area was honeycombed with old mining tunnels." But they haven't been unstable until now. Or maybe I was the only one who thought so. "But fear not, I'm going to undertake a project to make this area safe… to rehabilitate it into city use. We will bulldoze it, collapse it, pave it." My face scowled at the mayor, not loving the idea of paving it over, even if it were a dangerous area.

"Pave it? What if there's something down there?" My scowling face turned towards Henry, as he emerged from the large crowd, curious as to why he was here.

"Henry. What are you doing here?"

"What's down there?"

"Nothing." There wasn't anything of interest to the mayor down there, at least nothing I had seen before. "Now step back. In fact, everyone! Please, please step back. Thank you." She hadn't even waited to see if we would step back, before thanking everyone. It's like she just expects us to act like trained dogs. For some reason I was feeling much more annoyed then usual as I watched Regina lean over and pick something shiny off the ground.

"What was that?"
"Henry, enough. Listen. This is a safety issue. Wait in the car." Regina suddenly met my annoyed glance, raised an eyebrow, and asked me, "Can you please wait with him Sage?" I stared back at the woman, actually meeting her eyes for what felt like the first time in forever, before shrugging and making my way towards Henry. It didn't take long until Henry realized that his mother wasn't watching him, which he used to step out of the car and whisper to Archie,

"Hey, Archie! Over here." I chuckled lightly, to myself, as Emma and Archie made their way over to the car. This kid really has everyone wrapped around his finger, doesn't he? "This requires all of Operation Cobra. Both of you." I cleared my throat a bit, reminding Henry that I was supposed to be keeping an eye on him. And that he had previously recruited me for this operation. "Sorry, all three of you." I nodded my head towards Henry in approval.

"I didn't realize I was in Operation Cobra."

"Of course you are. You know everything. We can't let her do this. What if there's something down there?" I suppose that as Henry's therapist, he would know all about this. After all, he is the one who advised Emma to pretend to go along with the fairytale thing.

"They're just some old tunnels."

"That just happened to collapse right after you get here? You're changing things. You're weakening the curse."

"That's not what's happening."

"To be fair, the tunnels were totally fine a week ago. I should know, I've been in them recently." Emma tossed an annoyed look my way, clearly not appreciating me encouraging Henry's beliefs. But hell, it would take a lot for Henry to not believe in something, and while I might not completely believe him, I have the faintest feeling that he had a better understanding than the rest of us. Life before Henry arrived is a complete blur to me; I just hadn't realized it until recently.

"See! Did you do anything different today? Cause something made this happen." Had Emma done something? Maybe. But it's hard to say; I still have trouble believing that her doing something would cause the tunnels to collapse. But I do know that they didn't collapse on their own.

"Henry, I told you to wait in the car. Sage, you're supposed to be watching him."

"I am. Never told me he had to be in the car… Ma'am." I nearly flinched at the glare she threw my way, before she ignored me and turned her attention onto Emma, "Deputy, do your job." Emma gave Henry a small shrug, before he got back into the car, and she headed off to do Deputy stuff. I briefly watched as Regina called out to Archie, and angrily talked to him. I suppose I had best get back to work. I had come down here to test out some of the hiking equipment, like I usually do, but seeing as the mines were collapsed, I couldn't exactly do that anymore. With a small shrug, I picked up the backpack full of equipment, and headed back into town.

The rest of the day had crawled by, and so had the next morning. It wasn't until after lunch at Granny's that life seemed to pick up the pace. Life got a little more interesting for me as I watched a clearly distraught Henry run past me. Sure, we didn't talk or hang out nearly as much as we did before Emma arrived in town, but it was extremely unlike Henry to completely ignore me. In fact, I often comforted the boy when it had something to do with his mother, something that he didn't feel comfortable telling Dr. Hopper. I glanced at my watch, vacantly noting that I would be late for work, before I started chasing after Henry.

"Henry?" Within seconds the boy was in my arms, clearly upset about something. "Hey, what's wrong munchkin?"

"Dr. Hopper thinks I'm crazy." I looked down at the boy in my arms with a frown, wondering just what the hell Archie had told the boy.

"Whatever would give you that idea munchkin?"

"He told me he'd lock me away if Operation Cobra continued." My grip on Henry tightened, as I became upset with Dr. Hopper, and Regina. I knew that she put him up to this; she just couldn't stand Henry having another parent figure around, could she?

"It's okay Henry, I won't let anyone lock you up. Nobody deserves that, I should know." It wasn't until several minutes later, when Henry wiggled his way out of my arms, that I noticed the backpack resting on his back. "What's with the backpack munchkin?" When Henry wouldn't meet my eyes, I realized that he meant to go into the tunnels alone in order to find proof that Regina was hiding something. "Henry, are you planning to go into the tunnels… alone?"

"Maybe…" A sigh escaped my lips, as I stared at the boy in front of me.

"Listen, we've talked about this. You need to tell me when you're going to try doing dangerous things alone. Now come on, I need to get some stuff if we're going into the tunnels."

"What?" I chuckled at his surprised expression, knowing that he expected me to tell him that it was too dangerous, like everyone else.

"Well clearly, you're going regardless of if I go with you or not, and I can't very well let you go alone. Plus, you might want help if we do find something down there."