Save Emma

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Regina blinked hard, once again trying to get her bearing after traveling through the portal once again. This time, she found herself seated in a booth at Granny's diner, a garden omelette and a cup of coffee in front of her. She reached for her purse, looking for her cell phone, until she remembered she didn't get a cell phone until she adopted Henry, not feeling the need to have others contact her at will before then.

"Are you ok, Madam Mayor?" Ruby asked, as she refilled Regina's coffee cup. The young woman looked like she had been out drinking all night and received no sleep. Regina much preferred Red, Ruby's Enchanted Forest alter-ego, a mature young woman, a stark contrast to the moody adult child in front of her.

"Yeah...Yes. I'm fine Miss Lucas. Just feeling a bit off today is all." Regina said, thanking Ruby for the coffee. "Actually, would you happen to have a newspaper? I forgot mine at home this morning." Regina asked, as Ruby started walking away.

"Yeah, sure. I'll bring one right over." Ruby said, slightly confused at how nice the Mayor was acting.

"Thank you." Regina smiled when Ruby returned a few minutes later with a fresh newspaper, her face visibly confused at Regina's nice demeanor. "I keep forgetting how much of a bitch I was before the curse broke." Regina thought to herself as she took a deep breath, searching the front page of the newspaper for the date. "August 13, 2001" was written across the top of the page. "Two days. Henry will be born in two days." Regina thought to herself, glancing down at her watch, noting the time. "More like a day and a half really, if I remember correctly." Regina thought, trying to remember the details of Henry's birth from his adoption folder, trying to recall the time of day Henry was born. "He was born in the early morning, before the sun came up." She recalled, after a brief conversation once with Emma, during one of their "stakeouts". "She's going to feel her first contraction in a few hours, alone in her jail cell." She thought, as she tried to figure out how much time she had to get to Phoenix, Arizona, before Henry was born.

After eating her breakfast and paying her bill, Regina hurried home to make arrangements to travel to Arizona, calling her secretary as soon as she entered the house to inform her that she would be taking the remainder of the week off and to not expect her until Monday morning. Her house felt so empty without Henry there, and she remembered just how lonely it was in the first eighteen years of the curse before Henry came into her life.

The silence was deafening, as she settled into her desk, calling the travel agency in Portland, inquiring about flights to Phoenix, and booking a seat on the next available flight. Checking the time again, Regina did the math and realized she would make it to Phoenix with just enough time to make it to the hospital shortly after Emma would be admitted with active labor. She packed a small carry-on bag, not expecting to stay long enough after Henry was born to need a hotel room.

She went into autopilot as she drove to the airport, rushing through security and arriving at the gate with only a few minutes to spare before boarding began. Taking a seat in the waiting area, Regina suddenly felt the effects of the past few days, exhaustion hitting her hard. She couldn't remember the last time she slept, and suddenly didn't mind the upcoming five hour flight. She needed sleep in the worst way, and she knew she wouldn't be getting much sleep once she arrived in Arizona. As soon as she settled into her seat, she laid her head back, gazing out of the window at the airport workers milling around outside the plane, her mind racing, her eyes suddenly becoming very heavy. She was sound asleep before the plane even left the gate.

<~**~>

Five hours later, the plane pulled up to the gate at the Phoenix Skyharbor airport, Regina still sound asleep in her seat. The flight attendant gently shook her awake, informing her they had arrived in Phoenix and that she needed to vacate the now empty plane. Regina stumbled out onto the walkway, making her way through the airport, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, suddenly realizing she didn't know where she was to go from there. The hard part had been getting to Phoenix at the last minute, it never occurred to her she wouldn't know where to go from there. And since it was 2001, googling prisons in Phoenix was not possible.