The Author

Reunion

David and Mary-Margaret parked in front of Granny's diner and got out of the truck.

"Should we let people know that Gold and Belle are back in town?" David asked his wife.

"No. We shouldn't set panic to the town unless there's a definitive reason for people to be concerned. They're only here to find their daughter."

"I don't know. Gold looked pretty comfortable back at his home, almost like they never left."

"I can't even think about that right now. We need to find our son. We can figure out their living situation later."

They ran into the diner looking about the establishment and saw only Ruby serving coffee to one of the usual customers. Mary-Margaret immediately ran up to Ruby at the counter and in a panicked voice asked, "Ruby! Where's Granny?"

"She's at the shooting range practicing with her crossbow. Why?" Ruby said looking to her friends to see if she could be of any assistance.

"Have you seen Neal?" David asked.

"Did you see him leave with Henry?" Mary-Margaret added.

"Only from when you dropped him off here this morning. He left the diner at the usual time for school, but I didn't see him leave with anyone. I just assumed the bus came and he left with it. Is everything alright?"

"I hope so. Thank you Ruby," said David.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Ruby asked, noticing their worried faces.

"If you see Neal and he comes back to the diner, could you give us a call?" asked Mary-Margaret.

"Of course," nodded Ruby.

David looked over at his wife with a perplexed look on his face. "Could it be possible that he actually went to school today?" Mary-Margaret rolled her eyes and turned to her husband with an incredulous look. David sighed. It was pointless believing that their children were anything but typical or well-behaved. "Well then, where do you think he is?"

"With Henry out there..." Mary-Margaret answered. "I just can't believe Henry would do something like this? He would never harm his own family. He's never harmed Neal. They're practically siblings."

"I trust Emma's instincts. If she suspects something..." David paused for a moment and debated revealing his honest opinion. But the truth was, he honestly didn't know what to think about the whole situation. The only thing he could think of was finding their son. He quickly changed his tone from worry to encouragement, "We shouldn't lose hope. One thing's for certain, Henry's in trouble. For all we know he could be cursed."

"David... Henry has Cogsworth. He could have taken Neal back to the Enchanted Forest."

"No... we mustn't think that way. If Henry kidnapped Lily and his only ransom was to bring Gold and Belle back to Storybrooke, then he and Neal are still here."

"Well, where could Henry have possibly taken Neal?" Mary-Margaret said looking to her husband for hope.

"The shop?"

The two parents quickly left the diner and jogged over to the Pawn shop and discovered to their disappointment that the shop was closed and locked. David tried to turn the doorknob, but was unsuccessful. "Well, where to now?" David asked his wife.

Mary-Margaret gave out a frustrated sigh, "We should have listened to Emma and bought Neal a cell phone."

"We also agreed and thought that eight years old was way too young for a cell phone," countered David.