Henry knocked briefly on Hook's bedchamber before entering.

The pirate was busy running back and forth frantically, collecting all sorts of clothes and belongings and spreading them out on his bed.

"What are you doing?" Henry asked, closing the door behind him.

"What does it look like?"

"I'd say you're packing. Only I don't know why," Henry replied dryly and dropped onto a wooden stool, from where he watched his stepfather with his chin resting in one hand.

Hook was trying to fold a long coat with one hand and stuff it into the duffel bag, which was tiny in comparison. "I'm off in search of a bean, a spell, something. I'm not willing to leave my wife's fate in the hands of two bumbling ladies who are more concerned with wishing the plague on each other than looking for a solution."

"But we had agreed that we would stay here!"

"If that's what you prefer, then stay here. I would understand. If I could be with my family, I'd do it in a heartbeat. But I'm going to leave and take matters into my own hands now."

The determination in his voice made it clear to Henry that his decision was irrevocable and that there was no way he was going to change his mind. "Do you know what I was wondering?"

"Hm?"

"Suppose we were to move the wardrobe to another location... Then Emma and Mom wouldn't have to travel across the country again, would they?"

Hook shook his head. "You're forgetting two things. Firstly, the wood of the wardrobe is connected to the tree near Storybrooke, so you can load it onto the Jolly Roger and tow it to Neverland and its destination will still be that tree. And secondly, even if it wasn't, we could never determine which place in the Enchanted Forest would correspond to it in reality."

Henry's shoulders slumped as he realized that Hook was right about everything he said. "I have a feeling I've only come up with the most stupid ideas so far."

"Well, I wouldn't put it like that. At least you're thinking all the time and that's worth a lot." He looked around the now almost empty room and then swung the duffel bag over his shoulder.

"Do you want to leave now? It'll be dark soon!" Henry replied astonishedly.

"So what? Do you think I'm afraid of the dark?"

"No. But light is usually helpful on a search. And if you do find someone selling a magic bean, they'll probably do it during the day."

Hook twisted his mouth into a wry smile. "It's nice that you care about me. But I'm going to go, Henry. I'm leaving the crystal in your care, so now you're solely responsible for making sure Emma gets the information she needs. Take as good a care of her as you can from here." His eyes looked seriously into his stepson's.

"You can count on that. But that goes for you too. I don't want to have to tell Emma that something happened to you while you were trying to help her. Don't forget: they're fine in the real world. They're just not with us."

Hook nodded and pulled Henry into a companionable man hug, patting him on the back. "Aye, I will. I'll return in a week, whether I've found what I'm looking for or not."


They hadn't exchanged a single word on the way back to the hotel. Regina clearly had no intention of talking and Emma didn't know how to start a conversation. The atmosphere was icy as Emma opened the door to their room and Regina made a beeline for her bed.

"Regina," Emma said before the brunette could lie down. She didn't expect Regina to react, but to her surprise she at least paused. Encouraged by this, Emma ran after her, grabbing a chair from the table on the way and turning it around so that she could sit on it reversely and rest her arms on the backrest.

"What are you doing?" Regina inquired and her body immediately stiffened noticeably.

"We might have to spend a lot of time together and I'm not willing to go through with it in silence," Emma said. She didn't let Regina get a word in before she continued. "I understand that you're hurt and it wasn't my intention to make you feel like you never meant anything to me. That's what's really getting you down, isn't it?" The question had been rhetorical, so it didn't surprise her that Regina just stared at her with her lips pressed into a thin line. "Because it's not like that at all. I thought maybe... that it would be easier if I just played it cool and pretended we'd always been friends. I didn't want to put any artificial distance between us and I hoped it might work. I didn't just throw you away. I've asked myself over and over again over the last few months if I've made a mistake. I wanted to do everything right, but I've never been good at doing things right and I certainly don't have any experience in making relationships with other people work. All my life I've been a loner and suddenly there was a whole, huge family, which was nice on the one hand, but sometimes scary on the other. And then the thing I was most afraid of happened: I fell in love. Killian was the first man after Neal that I had real feelings for. And just when I thought it could be good and maybe I wasn't a complete walking disaster after all, the relationship between you and me changed. Killian showed me that I can be loved despite everything, but you showed me that there's more to love than just two people who are attracted to each other. You accepted me for who I am, even when I ran away and didn't want to talk to anyone. You understood that this is what I needed at that moment, while everyone else still wanted to argue with me. Because of you, I know that I can be me and it's still okay. I didn't decide against you, Regina. I chose Killian in that split second and it was solely because I was pregnant. The broken look on your face when you realized I was about to step through that portal with him still haunts my dreams. I wish I could show you that I honestly mean all of this, that it's not just empty words and I mean it."

Regina closed her eyes and a tear beaded from under one of her closed eyelids as she shook her head. "Emma, I know." She opened her eyes and exchanged a long look with her counterpart. "What I don't know is if I can get through being with you all the time and still not be. It would be easier if I knew that my feelings for you were going nowhere. But you return them and that makes it even worse."

"I want us to get along. I want that more than anything. I was so happy to find you and not because I was looking for you for so long. I was glad that you were alive and that we no longer had to wander around here alone. And that's how it should stay. I can't bear to argue with you just because we've gotten too close."

"I can't promise you that it won't happen again. Like you said, you may not have chosen me, but you've chosen Hook and that's a choice whether you choose to sugarcoat it or not."

Emma looked at her for a while, but then nodded. "You're right. I promise you that I'll do my best not to cross any boundaries in future. No more unsolicited massages. In return, can you try not to take every approach from me as a provocation?"

"I can definitely try that." She leaned forward slightly and placed a hand on Emma's arm. "I'm glad you got me out of the hospital," she said with a genuine smile, which Emma returned.


"That stinking, idiotic pirate!" Zelena thundered when Henry told her about Hook's departure the next morning. "What does he think he's doing? Why are we making a decision together if he's going to do what he wants anyway?"

Henry had the feeling that not much was missing and lightning would shoot out of Zelena's eyes. The idea made him smile slightly, completely inappropriate for the situation, but he became serious again shortly afterwards. "He's an adult, let him look for a solution himself if it helps him. Hook isn't made to sit around doing nothing and leave the work to the others."

Zelena looked at him with narrowed eyes. "You and he have become pretty good buddies, is that possible?"

"We get along well, yes. And I can understand how he feels. I'd love nothing more than to go off and look for my moms, but that's no good."

"Exactly, it's no good. You've realized that, but he's running off without a care in the world and possibly getting himself into trouble in the process. I don't feel like having to rush to his aid."

Henry shook his head. "Don't worry, Aunt Zelena. He'll take care of himself. How are the spells coming along?" He didn't know specifically what the two women were currently working on, he only knew that they were working on more than one project.

"Pretty good, I'd say," Zelena said vaguely. In truth, she had almost finished brewing the potion that would allow her not only to speak to Regina, but also to see her, and could hardly wait to try it out. But she wanted to do it in peace, without an audience. Henry's presence wouldn't have bothered her, but for now she wanted to make sure it really worked. "How is your daughter?"

"Lucy's fine. She just misses mom a lot. They get on so well and whenever she's had a problem, Lucy has gone to her. It's hard for her that that's not possible at the moment. But it's very lucky that at least we're together again."

Zelena snorted briefly, nodded and turned away. Since Henry had been cursed until the last moment, he of course knew nothing of the fact that Zelena truly loved her fiancé. Although her cursed self had fallen in love with him, even after her sister had woken her up, she still felt undiminished attraction to him and had chosen to live with him. But then she was pulled back into the Enchanted Forest and Chad probably thought she had left him head over heels, without a word of goodbye and without even leaving a note. None of that seemed to matter to anyone, though; she was just good for doing the dirty work, as usual. The fact that she had also lost someone, not just her sister but also her partner, was forgotten and swept under the carpet. But she was already used to only ever playing second fiddle.

Henry sensed that he was no longer welcome, even if he couldn't say why Zelena was suddenly so withdrawn. So he stood up and moved towards the door. "I'll let you get back to work then. As always, if there's anything I can do to help, please let me know."

"I will," she nodded, already bent over her cauldron again. However, he couldn't see that her eyes were closed and her hands were trembling slightly.