"What's bothering you?" Ella gently put an arm around Henry's shoulders.

At first, he hadn't even noticed that she had joined him; the castle courtyard was practically empty at this late hour and he had been sitting on the edge of the fountain, lost in thought and staring ahead of him. Smiling sadly, he turned to her and gave her a kiss. "Is Lucy asleep?"

She nodded and took a seat next to him, only to snuggle up to him again straight away. "So? What's wrong?"

Henry sighed and looked in front of him again. "Somehow everything is just going wrong at the moment. We don't know what happened to my moms, Zelena almost killed herself and there's no sign of Hook. He was supposed to be back by now."

Ella was silent for a while and stroked his back in gentle circles. "Would it do any good to look for him?"

Henry shook his head. "No one knows where he's gone. The Blue Fairy could probably make a locator spell, but she and Zelena are busy enough trying to find a way to Storybrooke. Or one for Mom and Emma here, as the case may be." He paused and turned his head toward her. "I'm glad at least you and Lucy are okay," he admitted honestly, leaning his forehead against hers. "I haven't had much time for you guys these past few days, I'm sorry about that."

"It's all right, we know you've got a lot on your plate at the moment and you're worried about Emma and Regina. Take as much time as you need, all right?"

He nodded again gratefully and gave her another brief smile before looking away from her again. "We almost lost Zelena yesterday... I don't even want to imagine what happened to the others. It's just not like them to just not get in touch. Emma, maybe. She's a bit of a mess sometimes. But not mom. She'd make sure she never missed a conversation with me."

Nodding, Ella agreed with him. "Yes, you're right about that. I haven't known her as long as you have, of course, but that's exactly how I met Regina. She never missed a date when she wanted to spend time with Lucy."

"Exactly. And she's been like that all my life," he added, taking a deep breath. "It's late. We should both try to get some sleep," he said quietly, even though he knew he wouldn't get much sleep again.

"So you can toss and turn for hours again?" she asked with a grin.

Henry looked at her, caught off guard.

"I know you, don't I? If you want, we can sit here for a while longer."

"No." He shook his head. "Just because I can't sleep doesn't mean you have to keep yourself awake. Go to bed, I'll catch up with you. I need a few more minutes."

Nodding, Ella slid off the edge of the fountain, took Henry's face in her hands and kissed him tenderly. "I love you. Good night."

Henry returned the kiss gently and stroked her hair briefly before nodding. "I love you too. Sleep well!"

When Ella was gone, he closed his eyes and listened to the sounds of the night that had settled over the castle. He hoped so much that everything would end well, after all, this was the fairytale world, they had to get their happy ending. But as much as he tried to tell himself, he was no longer a little boy and life had proven to him more than once that things didn't always turn out well.

"Good news."

Regina was just about to eat breakfast the next morning when Emma entered her hospital room with a flourish. "Good morning. You attract attention when you move around so euphorically," she reminded her that she should actually be in pain.

"Oh, and what about you? When was the last time you had breakfast out of bed?" she asked her slightly provocatively, stealing a slice of apple from her plate before sitting down on the chair at the table.

"Besides, the wound is still there, so don't make it burst open." Regina simply ignored the question and took a bite of her roll. "So, what's the news?" she wanted to know instead.

"Hope is doing great, she's developing normally, drinking well and has already put on some weight. If everything is OK at the final check-up tomorrow, we can go home," Emma announced, beaming.

Regina's gaze immediately became gentle. "I'm so happy for you. Luckily, she's just as much of a little fighter as you are. Who knows what your magic would have done to her otherwise."

"Don't remind me what could have happened. Everything went well and that's all that matters now."

Regina nodded and propped her chin in her hand. "I've been thinking. The first thing we should do is look for the crystal. If you have anything of Hook's with you, I might even be able to locate it with a locator spell."

"I've got a shirt of his," Emma nodded immediately, before she realized what she had just enthusiastically announced. A blush immediately appeared on her face.

Regina pretended not to notice and nodded instead. "Well, that's settled then. What hasn't been settled yet is the question of whether you would be prepared to leave your car here."

It was just an old, battered car, but the prospect of it not being with her made Emma look shocked. "Why would I have to do that?"

Regina raised an eyebrow and stared at her. "Well, until now we've been afraid to drive all the way back to Storybrooke. Now I can teleport us there within a breath. Of course, we could fly now that you're no longer pregnant, but I doubt it's such a good idea to take a newborn on a plane and I'm personally not keen on being pushed to my seat by any cabin crew. Besides, you won't have a car either."

Emma struggled with herself and fiddled with the hem of her shirt. "Can I think about it?"

"Sure you can. But your car wouldn't be out of the world. As soon as the dust has settled, I'm sure we'll find a way to bring it back to Storybrooke with magic. But I have to admit, I don't really want to try it right now. Putting a sunflower in a vase is one thing, teleporting an entire car across the state is quite another."

"No, of course not. I would never ask you to do that," Emma said immediately, before sighing. "I think you're right. We don't need the car now and we can always get it later. As long as you can get just the three of us to Storybrooke safely, I'm fine with it."

Regina nodded and shoved the last of her roll into her mouth. "It's a deal. And I promise you'll get your car back later." She smiled at Emma's relieved face, but at the same time she could understand why she cared so much about this old rust bucket. After all, the Beetle had been with her for half her life and always got her from A to B reliably.

Emma finally stood up, leaned over to Regina and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Now if you'll excuse me, I can finally take Hope to my room," she said, beaming at her words.

"Then of course I won't keep you any longer," Regina nodded and turned away from the table in her wheelchair towards the door of the room so that she could glance after Emma. The spot touched by her lips was literally burning, but it was a pleasant feeling and she wanted to hold on to it for as long as possible.

Robin leaned against the wall outside and waited for her mother to call her back into her room. She had spent the entire night with her and in the morning Zelena had felt well enough to get out of bed. While she had wanted to freshen up and change, she had insisted that Robin leave the room until then. But the more time passed, the more restless she became. "Mom?"

"I'll be done in a minute," she heard Zelena's voice hurriedly from inside. "Just a moment."

Robin brushed back her reddish-blonde hair and took a deep breath as she paced restlessly. "Are you sure?"

"Then come on in." Her voice was harsh and angry.

However, Robin was pretty sure that this anger wasn't directed at her, but at Zelena herself when she opened the door and saw her sitting on the floor with her back against her bed. "Did you fall?"

Zelena's pale face appeared a lot grayer in contrast to her red hair and beads of sweat glistened on her forehead. "No, I sat down," she tried to allay her daughter's fears and took a deep breath. She had vastly overestimated herself, but she wouldn't tell her that.

"Let me help you back to bed," Robin asked immediately and leaned over to put her arms under her armpits.

Zelena let her do it without any objections. Even though she would have loved to sink into the ground, she knew that without help she would still be sitting here hours later. Relieved, she let herself sink back into her pillows and closed her eyes to block out the black spots that were creeping into the edges of her field of vision. "Thank you," she said honestly with her eyes closed as she felt her daughter spread a blanket over her as well.

"Promise me you won't try to get up on your own again?"

Zelena fell silent and gritted her teeth.

"I'm so glad you're alive. You do realize how important you are to me, don't you?"

The red-haired witch opened her eyes and looked lovingly at her child. "Not as important as you are to me," she replied and stroked Robin's cheek gently. "You have no idea what a struggle it was that I was able to keep you as a baby."

"Because of Aunt Regina?" Robin asked, who of course knew the story but had never heard the details.

Zelena nodded. "Yes, that too. Of course, it was a long time ago, but I still have the same fear of losing you today as I did then."

"You won't lose me. And you won't get rid of me as long as you're unwell. As you could see: no sooner do you get into mischief with your magic than I'm sitting by your bedside," she joked and pressed a kiss to her mother's forehead. "Get some more rest, mom. I'm going to get us something to eat and then maybe I should look for the Blue Fairy so she can get an idea of your condition."

"No way! That's just what's missing, for her to see me like this!" Zelena was outraged and immediately regretted sitting up again.

"But she's like... your doctor now, isn't she?" Robin cautiously pointed out and pushed her back into a lying position.

Zelena shook her head gruffly. "Nonsense. I'm getting better by the hour, there's nothing she can do now. And I'm certainly not going to make sure I'm any deeper in her debt than I already am."

"That's unreasonable, mom."

"No, it's pure self-preservation. I'd rather be in the Dark One's debt than hers!"

Robin rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I'm going to get something to eat. And you stay put and get some rest! That's an order from your daughter!"

Zelena's features relaxed and were replaced by a gentle smile. "What would I do without you?"

"Still sitting on the floor, I guess," she was heard to say with a laugh before the door slammed shut.