Change of plans


They set up a room and sat up that night, discussing their next steps.

"I'm telling you, Mom, I don't see anything evil about that Queen," Emma reiterated.

"You don't know what it was like, Emma."

"Mom, who cares what it was like? What I am worried about is now. And right now, I think showing compassion will go a little further with her," Emma explained, putting her educational background into play. She suggested that the monarch may have felt threatened before and might truly have changed now. "We can break the curse some other way."

"Okay, Dr. Swan," Snow said. "But what should I do?"

"Mom, I think you need to stay hidden. We don't need the Queen getting alerted that you are here. It's bad enough that Granny and Ruby know," Emma stated.

"Fine," Snow agreed. "I'm going to go see if I can find your father somewhere."

With their plan outlined, the two fell asleep.

The next morning, Emma sat at a table in the diner. The sheriff walked in and tipped his hat at her. Emma smiled; Gram was kind of cute. But Regina... wow. Just as she was thinking about it, Regina walked into the diner.

"You! My son has run away again. Do you know where he is?" Regina demanded.

"Lady, I haven't seen him since I dropped him off at your house. I just woke up, and I was meeting with you here," Emma replied with a shrug. "I don't know this town."

"Well, he wasn't in his room this morning," Regina said.

"Did you try his friends?" Emma asked.

"He doesn't really have any friends," Regina stated. "He's kind of a loner."

"Every kid has friends," Emma said softly. "Did you check his computer? If he's close to someone, he'd be emailing them." She picked up her mug of hot chocolate to take a sip.

"And you know this, how?"

"Social behavior is what I do. It helps when you're trying to find someone," Emma said, putting her mug of hot chocolate down. "Here's an idea, how about I help you find him?"

Back at the Mayoral mansion, Emma sat in front of Henry's computer. He had wiped all of his emails. "The kid is smart," Emma said and pulled out her covert utility tool and plugged it into Henry's computer. She uncovered what he had been up to and how exactly he had found her, even the credit card he had used to do it.

Emma watched Regina interrogate Archie and sensed that he was keeping something from her. She stayed behind when the woman left in a huff. Emma looked at Archie and said, "You know where he is, don't you?"

"You might want to check his castle," Archie answered. Emma nodded and headed toward the playground with the book in her hand.

"You left this in my car," she said, sitting next to him and handing him the book as they looked at the town and its unmoving clock tower. "It hasn't moved yet, huh?"

"I was hoping that if I brought you here, things would change."

"Hen, they are going to change. I just have to figure out the best way to break this curse in a way that everyone gets their happy ending, including your mom," she sighed. "Come on, let's go."

"Please don't take me back there!" Henry begged.

"I have to get you back to your mom," Emma said. "I have to make sure that she knows I want to stay on her good side. I can't do that if you go around calling her evil. She loves you."

"You don't know what it's like with her! My life sucks!" Henry replied.

"But if I stay on her good side, I can see you," Emma pleaded. "Please, let me take you home. Grandma and I will figure this out, I promise." He stood there, looking at Emma, unwilling to go back home. "Look, your mom is trying her best. I know it's hard, and I know sometimes you think she doesn't love you. But at least she wants you."

"Didn't you want me?" he said, tears coming to his eyes.

"I wanted you, but I had to give you your best chance," Emma stated. "Come on, Henry."

Emma brought Henry back home, and Regina stepped out to thank her. "Thank you," she said.

"You know, yesterday was my birthday, and he just kind of appeared. I had thought about him, and there he was…"

"Please don't take this as an invitation back into Henry's life. You chose a closed adoption; you should stick to it. Henry is my son. So you should take your beat-up little bug back to Boston and leave my son and me alone. Because if you don't, I will destroy you if it is the last thing I do."

Emma stepped back. This woman was tough and infuriating, but Emma didn't want to leave just yet. "Do you love him?" she asked, needing to be sure it wasn't a lie.

"Excuse me?"

"Henry, do you love him?"

Regina looked at Emma dead in the eye. "Of course I do." Then she turned and slammed the door in Emma's face. At least Emma wasn't a liar. Regina loved Henry. But there, underneath the surface, Emma could see the Evil Queen she had been told about. She actually used the words she had heard so many times.


Regina needed her gone. She knew, somehow, this was Snow's brat, the Savior. She had made it here after all. That could only mean Snow was not far behind. The looming threat of Snow White's return weighed heavily on Regina's mind as she contemplated her next moves.


Meanwhile, at the hospital, Snow wandered around, taking note of the people she knew. Then she got to the John Doe room, and there he was—David, in a coma. She smiled, elated.

Later that night, Emma arrived at the B&B and told Granny that she was staying for an extended period of time.

"Well, Emma, we welcome your patronage," Granny stated.

"Emma... what a lovely name," a voice said from behind Emma. She turned to face the older gentleman.

Granny reached out with a wad of cash and said, "It's all here."

"Thank you," he said, then turned to the blonde. "Enjoy your stay... Emma," and walked away with a smile playing on his lips. He remembered, and the curse was about to break.

"Who's that?" Emma asked the ladies of the B&B.

"That's Mr. Gold," Ruby said. "He owns this place."

"The Inn?" Emma asked.

"The Town," Granny answered. Emma blinked, and Granny shook herself out of it. "Anyway, how long will you be staying, Emma?"

"A week," she answered. "Just a week."

"Great!" Granny said and handed her a key. "Welcome to Storybrooke."


In the town square, the clock's minute hand moved to mark 8:16. Henry noticed, and he knew his mom wasn't going anywhere. The curse was beginning to unravel, and Storybrooke would soon be free from its grip.