When it was just getting dark and Emma didn't know how she was going to spend any more time in the car seat with her back pain, she passed a small motel. Without further ado, she put on the blinker and pulled into the parking lot. She had to think about her child and it wouldn't do any good to arrive in Seattle in the middle of the night. She would rather set off the next morning rested and tackle the last part of the journey.
All she had was the information about the location of Roni's Bar, as Regina's nightclub had been called during the curse. Due to the seriousness of the situation, Emma hadn't even gotten to think about the fact that Regina had worked as a barmaid. In other circumstances, she would have laughed heartily at the idea.
Emma parked her little Beetle and took the few bags she had with her out of the car. As it had always been the case that half her life fitted into these bags, she didn't want to take any risks and leave them in the car.
As she entered the lobby, which didn't really deserve the name, she dropped her belongings, out of breath, next to the counter, which was unoccupied at the time.
The tiny room was paneled in dark wood, making it seem even smaller than it already was. It almost seemed as if the walls were getting closer and closer the longer she stood there. Most of the space was taken up by the dark counter in the middle, behind which hung a board with a few room keys. The desk was adorned with a bitten hamburger and an obviously cold cup of coffee. Although Emma was hungry, the sight made her feel rather nauseous. The smell of cabbage hanging in the air didn't help.
To the right of the counter, the banister led up to the upper floor, where the rooms were probably located. What little aisle was left at the front of the counter was filled with clothes racks and an umbrella stand.
"I'm thrilled," Emma muttered as she hit the bell to summon an employee. But she didn't need more than a bed and had had to sleep in worse shacks.
It wasn't long before a lanky young man in gym shorts and a soiled shirt came out from behind a curtain that Emma hadn't even noticed at first. Somehow the sight of him, his pierced ears and his wild haircut surprised her. The ambience had made her think he was an old lady with curlers, not a youngster you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley.
"Yes?" he asked in a voice that suggested a heavy cigarette consumption.
"I'd like a single room. For one night," Emma said, her heart in her throat. Her hand unconsciously moved to her stomach and stayed there. She had already had plenty of encounters with guys like this, but the fear she felt was new to her. She put it down to hormones and concentrated on the person opposite her again.
"With breakfast?" he wanted to know and slid an old-fashioned key across the counter to her.
"No, thank you. Just the room," she replied, taking the key and paying the price he told her.
Finally, she grabbed her bags and made her way up the stairs. Even if he had offered to help her carry them, she would have refused.
Glad to have arrived in the room, she immediately locked it from the inside and leaned her back against the door. She closed her eyes and felt her heartbeat slowly calm down again.
She suddenly found herself in tears. So far, she had simply functioned and done what she had to do. But at that moment, she simply wished that her husband was with her, as he should be in her condition. She wanted to sit at home on her comfortable sofa and have him serve her good food. She wanted to snuggle up to him and breathe in the smell of rum and salt water that always clung to him, even when he stayed away from his ship and alcohol. She wanted to kiss him before they finally fell asleep arm in arm.
'Soon,' a voice inside her whispered, 'soon you'll be able to do that again.
But until then, she had to figure out how to find Regina. She thought it very unlikely that she would be sitting in her bar, beaming with joy, waiting for her. However, if she had been the secret caller, she might at least have left her a clue. But if the call hadn't come from her and she was injured, it would be difficult to track her down.
"One thing at a time," Emma said to herself as she wiped her tears with her sleeve and pushed herself away from the door. She had no intention of unpacking her bags, so she simply put them next to the bed and got rid of her leather jacket. Her visit to the bathroom was also only a brief one, so a little later she sank into the bed in the corner under the window.
The room was sparsely furnished, but was perfectly adequate for her purposes. Apart from a closet and the bed, there was only a chair and a small table that couldn't be used for much more than a shelf. As far as she could tell, the sheets were clean and the mattress was less worn than expected. That was all she needed. And even though the baby in her tummy was hiccupping and Emma was still a little shaken up, she fell fast asleep after just a few moments.
"Aunt Zelena?" Henry stepped cautiously into the basement room that had been given to Zelena and the Blue Fairy to prepare their spells. Zelena had initially found it very difficult to cooperate with the so-called fluttering, sparking moralizer, but for the sake of her sister she had finally agreed.
The witch turned around when Henry addressed her, her red curls swinging around her head. "Hello, Henry. Good to see you. I thought the Blue Fairy would be back by now. I swear, if she says one more encouraging calendar phrase in my presence, I'll wring her skinny neck."
Henry had to stifle a grin, stepped into the room and sat down on one of the three-legged wooden stools that stood at the long table that stretched the length of the wall. He looked at the magical objects on it, which were arranged in jars, flasks, boxes and other containers, leaving hardly any space to work on. "How are you getting on?"
"I'm not sure," Zelena replied truthfully, pulling up a second stool next to her nephew's. "The whole plan is a huge sum of maybes and ifs. And we don't want to endanger Emma in her condition. Do you know what I think all the time? If my sister were here, she would definitely have a brilliant idea. Or at least she could tell us if we were completely on the wrong track and missing something. I try to put myself in her shoes. What would Regina do? But I can't. All I can think about is that my little sister is somewhere in a faraway land and from what you've told me, I can't even be sure if she's physically okay at least. Do you think I would feel it if she had died?" Zelena now looked directly at him with her piercing, bright eyes.
Henry didn't want to lie to her or give her any more calendar sayings, so he shrugged his shoulders. "If I knew that, we'd probably have got somewhere by now," he added. "I'm trying to reassure myself that Mom is tough and has survived every situation so far. And she has her magical powers too. I just don't want to believe that she has to pay for breaking a curse by dying. That would contradict all the laws of fairy tales. Good always wins. And breaking a curse is good."
"I can only hope you're right. I wish we'd had more time together, Regina and me. And then we wasted the time we had fighting each other. We were so stupid."
Henry put a hand on his aunt's forearm and looked her in the eye. "But that's in the past now, you've moved on and that's a good thing. I'm glad you have each other. I think it was important for Mom when I moved out, too. She needed someone she could rely on and you were there. I'm incredibly grateful to you for that."
Zelena smiled demurely before she sighed and her shoulders slumped again. "And yet none of this is getting us anywhere with our plan."
"Then why don't you explain it to me from the beginning and I, as a non-wizard, will tell you where I see any problems."
Sighing, Zelena unrolled the parchment she had painstakingly scribbled on. "As soon as Emma finds Regina, the two of them will make their way back to Maine. Emma knows the place where she was found as a baby. We hope to reactivate the remaining magic in the closet so that a portal can be opened via the tree. However, we have to change the magic so that it can transport Regina and Emma with her child in her womb. The original magic could also transport two people from the fairy tale world to your world, but we want to play it safe this time, as we're dealing with a heavily pregnant woman again. That didn't work out so well the last time we tried it. Once they're back with us, we can work out how to get those who want to go back to Storybrooke there. But until then, at least everyone will be together again."
Henry listened to her carefully and nodded thoughtfully from time to time, resting his chin on one hand. "And what if Emma doesn't want to come here?"
"Didn't I just say that we could..."
Henry interrupted her: "Yes, you did. But what if you don't find a way to bring everyone - or at least those who want to - back in the near future? I don't think Emma wants to raise her child here. It's just not her world, she's recognized Storybrooke as her home after not having one at all for so long. She won't want to give it up for this again."
Zelena hesitated for a moment. "You can discuss that with Emma the next time you contact her. The pirate and you remember to recharge the crystal in time, right?"
"Of course, tonight we're finally going out to the hill behind the castle," he nodded.
"Good, then you can suggest sending her husband back to her if she prefers. It's all the same to me. And depending on how Regina is doing, you might want to go too," she said.
"She'll be fine, Aunt Zelena." Henry knew that she was worried about her sister all the time, even if she didn't always say so directly. "But I have one more question... I mean, your plan is for them to cross the country again to get back to Maine. But what if... you can't reactivate the portal?"
Zelena's meaningful look was enough of an answer for Henry.
