"We need to go after her!" Hook insisted, doing his best impression of a valiant hero.

"No!" he snapped. "You should let her go for now."

Now that Emma was gone, he looked around at the damage she'd done. He checked to be sure Henry was okay and dropped the protection spell and the bubble that had kept him and Belle safe.

"Let her go? Gold…she's my daughter!" David hissed, coming toe to toe with him. "Can't you see she's hurting? She needs us right now!"

"She needs to clear her head of emotions and get a grip on reality. Until she does that, anyone who approaches will be putting their life at risk."

"There is nothing to risk! This is Emma, she's never done anything like this before!"

"Exactly!" Why was he the only one seeing the trouble in all this? "She has more power than you realize, more than she's ever learned to control before, and she needs to focus on controlling it right now!"

"We can talk her down."

"The only thing you'll do is paint a target on your back and get her more worked up when, not if, you get yourself killed by your daughter!"

David didn't like that answer. He didn't like that response in the least, but as he stared at him with angry eyes and nostrils flaring, he couldn't seem to come up with a rebuttal.

"He's right," Belle muttered from behind before wrapping her hand around his arm again and alerting him to the fact that his muscles had been far more tense than he'd realized. "Emma's born as one of the most powerful magical users in all the realm, but she's barely tapped into the full potential of what she's capable of. She doesn't know how to use it. Until she can calm down, she's dangerous to all of us."

And maybe it was her touch, or just the way that she'd worded it, but suddenly he understood what Emma's father found so insulting about that. He wasn't saying they needed to rally the villagers and their pitchforks or even that Emma was a villain. He was only trying to keep everyone safe.

He sighed and moved away from Belle, closer to David where he could feel that nothing was broken, his wrist simply seemed badly sprained. A lucky thing, given that bones didn't heal perfectly with magic. But a potentially unlucky thing if he helped him and David still refused to understand.

"Give her the night," he commanded as gently as possible while reaching out to heal the traumatized muscle.

As David moved it about, flexing and testing his arm, he stepped forward and used more magic to remount the lamppost, then put the bricks back into the wall, right where they came from, mortar, paint, and all. Now, all scars from the incident had been healed. Emma just needed to get herself some control. And so did her family.

"By morning she'll be rested and hopefully cooled down, someone might be able to try talking to her then, but until morning comes everyone should do as she says and stay away or a sprained wrist will be the least of our worries."

Danger behind them, he wanted to make this as quick and painless as possible. So, he turned back to Belle and held his hand out for her. Without hesitation, she was right back at his side again, hand through his arm, letting him lead her back to the safety of the shop and the-

"No."

He stopped in his tracks. He'd been expecting David to put up a fight at this plan, but the voice that had uttered that "no" was smaller and lighter. It was defiant without any bit of David's anger behind it. It was chilly. And so, when he turned to meet the defector, it didn't surprise him that Elsa stood there with her arms crossed over her chest.

"No," she repeated. "I understand your argument," she commented with a soft but stern tone he could only call queenly. "But I know better than most that at a time like this, she shouldn't be alone. Leaving her by herself risks it getting worse just as much as it risks getting better and…I won't do it. I'm going to look for her, and anyone who wants to come with me is welcome to."

He had been willing to work with her proposal up until that last bit. Now, he felt anger rise in him all over again.

"That's unwise."

"Maybe," Elsa answered simply. "But…I owe it to my sister to go after her."

"We'll split the baby," David declared. "I'm going with you."

"As am I," Hook chimed in.

"Me too," Mary Margaret added.

He was about to comment that nothing about this plan of theirs was remotely similar to the compromise they thought it was when David insisted, "No. You're not," looking at his wife.

For a moment, Mary Margaret's jaw dropped nearly as far as he thought his own would have at the news. "Neal is fine," she explained after a second. "I left him with Granny-"

"But it is too dangerous," David insisted, glancing over at him as if to prove that he agreed with him. He failed to see how three people going to search for Emma instead of four was any kind of compromise. Especially if the one leading the charge saw his point. "We don't want to overwhelm her, and there's no telling how long it'll take us to find her. So, you should go back to Neal, take him home, get him dinner, and wait for us there. Henry can go back to Gold's and Belle…one way or another, we still need to figure out how to take apart the real mirror."

Belle nodded at his instruction; he did his best not to glance at her in shock. "The real mirror"? There was a false one? There were two mirrors?

"But what about you?" Mary Margaret argued. "If it's dangerous for me, then it's-"

"I have faith in our daughter," David breathed, stepping up to her and grasping her shoulders tight. There was a smile on his face as he craned his neck to meet her eyes. "She may have hurt me once, but she won't do it again. I trust her. And I'm going to go and bring her home to us."

The kiss he left on Mary Margaret's forehead was endearing, sweet even. But it was made sour by his contradictory statements. There was no such thing as compromise in this situation. Either David believed what he said when he said that Emma was dangerous, or he didn't. Giving himself permission to go after her while keeping Mary Margaret away wasn't "splitting the baby." It was forcing Mary Margaret to abide by his belief even while he rejected it. Nevertheless, he stood there with his wife and grandson and watched as the hunting party went out to hunt down the Savior.

I love this chapter, too. Even though it's short, I once again love watching Rumple in his element, giving advice to the others, even if the advice is given in warnings.

Thank you, Grace5231973 and Rsbeall12, for your consistent reviews. They really do mean something to me as I continue to not just post but also write the next installment! Peace and Happy Reading!