Twice Upon A Tale

S2E14

Manhattan

"This is where he is? You're sure?"

It was a fairly mild day for New York, the air was crisp and the traffic was horrible. Bundled in their jackets, Emma and Regina walked hand in hand down the streets of Manhattan with an excited Henry and an anxious Rumplestiltskin ahead of them.

As Emma stood and eyed the apartment building in front of her, she began to have her doubts. Mr. Gold was looking for his son, and if this was the place to find him, then Emma wasn't sure what kind of person Gold would be finding.

The building was sketchy and rundown, for starters, and it wasn't in the best part of Manhattan. The area was questionable at best, and the crappy exterior of the building gave off  a less than inviting vibe.

"People really live like this?" Regina leaned into Emma's ear to murmur, just above a whisper to avoid anyone else hearing her.

For a moment, Emma smiles, knowing that Regina would've just said her judgements loud and proud before she and Emma got together. Now, it seems, the older woman is taking more care to think of other people's feelings before speaking too harshly.

"We'll see" she replies, letting go of Regina's hand to walk over to the list of apartments next to the buzzers. Each one had a name, all except for one. She had worked enough jobs to know that the one without a name was usually the one who didn't want to be found.

She didn't need to question it; she just hit the buzzer. The only excuse she could think of was lame, but after spouting off some bullshit about delivering a package, Emma stepped back from the buzzers to see someone hauling ass out the fire escape.

"Stay with Henry!" Was all she could manage, before she'd taken off running after the culprit. His sneakers had barely hit the pavement and she was off running; the cool air burned her lungs as she pushed her body as hard as it would go. The adrenaline that coursed through her veins was similar to the rush she'd get when working as a bails bondswoman; the feeling of catching somebody who didn't want to be caught was exhilarating.

He'd gotten a fairly decent headstart on her, but she was far from out of shape; she ran every day (mostly; sometimes it was every other day), so her body caught up to him easily.

When she pounced to tackle him was when she'd realized her mistake.

"Neal?"

"Emma? What the hell?"

Her entire body froze for a second, but just as easily as she'd run after him she shook it off. The ice that ran in her veins, however, was another story.

Quickly, she scrambled up to stand, dusting her clothes off as he picked himself up and straightened himself out as well.

"What the hell Neal? You're Baelfire?" She asked, not even bothering to hide her shock. Out of all the things she was expecting, Henry's father being Rumplestiltskin's son was not on her bingo card.

"Why are you here?" He asks, dodging the question altogether. He looks angry, but she doesn't care; she was resisting every single urge in her body so she wouldn't lean back and deck him.

"I owe your father. We made a deal, I'm holding up my end. You have to go talk to him" she says bitterly, wondering how on earth her luck had been so goddamn bad. How could this possibly be happening to her?

Neal looked the same, mostly, with feathery brown hair exactly like Henry's and a serious look on his face unlike any other Emma had ever seen him wear before. Neal, the person she'd known, had not been an overly serious person.

He was like the wind, twelve years ago, and he'd blow in and out of places leaving nothing but chaos in his wake. Emma, when they'd been together, had thought that maybe she was different; maybe she was the leaves in the breeze that went wherever the wind took her.