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“Like with Hook, my first instinct was to rip his throat out.”
Regina kept talking, but Emma didn’t really hear anything else through the panic and anger in her heart. She kept hearing it while Regina droned on and on about not really wanting to be good. She kept hearing it while she went through Henry’s computer to figure out where he’d gone. She kept hearing it while she followed Regina to the Bug so they could go after him. She kept hearing it while she paused on the front steps of Regina’s house and pulled out her phone to call her True Love, smiling a little in spite of the grisly replay on repeat in her head as she hit the “Killian button.”
He responded almost instantly, his voice nearly drowning out the sound of Regina’s vitriol, “Emma, Love, have you and Regina found Henry?” The fact that his first words were about Henry made Emma love him even more–if that was possible.“
"Yeah, it looks like he’s on his way to New York of all places. What I can’t figure out is why. Regina and I are going to follow him.”
“You’ll find him Swan, and then you’ll have your explanation.”
“I know, but it’s just not like Henry to run away from things like this. Usually he’s running towards something….”
“The lad’s been through a lot these last weeks, Love. Perhaps he just needed to get away from…everything for a bit. At least he didn’t run too far. I’m still at Granny’s with your parents. They can figure out what the Crocodile is up to and handle this plan of Zelena’s to send everyone back to Camelot without me. Why don’t you stop by here on your way out of town, and I’ll come with you.”
She want to agree. She wants him with her…not just now, but always. She opens her mouth to say yes, when the memory of Regina’s words comes roaring back: “Like with Hook, my first instinct was to rip his throat out.” It’s suddenly as if she’s on the floor of the diner begging her family to help him as blood pours through the fingers he’s pressed to his throat–she’s in a field of flowers begging him to live…for their future…while he tries to comfort her–she’s in the dark clutching his body as it slowly gets colder…trying to escape the memory of his sad little smile right before she had to run him through….
“Swan…Emma…Love, can you hear me?!” She’s brought back to the here and now by his increasingly worried voice in her ear.
“I’m here…sorry, I…got lost in my head for a minute. I…don’t think you coming with us is a good idea. And…I’m sure my parents can use your help. Besides, I’m still not sure we can completely trust Zelena with something like this and we still need to know what Gold was doing in the Clock-tower. An extra set of eyes couldn’t hurt.”
“Love, are you alright? This is about more than Henry, isn’t it? Did Regina say something…do something?!”
“I’m ok…or I am now that I hear your voice; but wow, you really meant that open book thing, didn’t you? I don’t have time to explain now, but the short version is that she said something…about…you, and I really don’t want you trapped in a car with her for hours at a time right now. Just…trust me on this…please…I’m sorry, I know you can take care of yourself, but I just need to know you’re safe…I just got you back….”
“Emma, Love, breath. If you need me to stay safe, then safe I shall be, I promise you. But love, are you safe? If Regina is as upset as I suspect, should you be trapped in your vessel, alone with her, all the way to New York? If not me, perhaps one of your parents should accompany you?”
“No, it will be fine…I promise. I’ll be back before you know it, and we can pick up where we left off. I love you, Killian.”
“And I you, Emma.”
She ends the call, and hurries to the Bug, ignoring Regina’s sarcastic, “How is lover boy,” as she starts the car. She ignores a lot of what Regina says on the drive, keeping most of her answers businesslike and short. She tried empathy earlier and got both a rebuff and a threat to her True Love. Empathetic Emma is taking a break.
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They find Henry (destroying magic, really Kid?) and deal with Gold (again). She has a bad few hours when she has a strangest feeling that something’s wrong, and she can’t get Killian or her parents on the phone; and she finally gets another surprise of her life (just when she thinks she’s used to this….) when Killian and her parents (and Zelena and some stranger) appear through a portal in a fountain. They were missing…in another realm, her parents…her True Love, and she didn’t even know it….
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Finally…finally, they all arrive back in Storybrooke, and all Emma wants to do is hug the living day-lights out of her pirate before dragging him to their home so they can both sleep for a week; but Regina’s hand on her arm holds her back for a moment. “Emma, about what I said before…about Hook…I was upset and…I’m sorry, and I….”
Emma cuts her off (she has a feeling that pre-Dark One Emma would have let her finish; but no matter what Regina thinks, she understands the darkness now) and double checks that Henry and Violet are out of both the car and earshot, “Regina, I understand that you’re hurting, and I’m so, so sorry about what happened to Robin. If there’s a way to get him back, we’ll find it, I promise. But, I need you to understand, if you ever hurt Killian…or even try to hurt Killian…I will end you.”
With that, Emma exits the car, leaving a shocked-speechless Regina behind. She has a True Love to hug and a future with Killian to get started on….