A Happy Beginning

Chapter Five

Emma stayed exactly where she was, frozen in fear for her daughter's wellbeing. Killian ran past Snow and sprinted up the stairs, his chest begging for air by the time he reached the final step. Hoping this was all a dream, he pushed the guest bedroom door open to find an empty bed - Emma's baby blanket, which was passed down to Leia after she constantly cried for it, was still spread out on the bed.

"No...no," Killian whispered to himself and took a second to collect his thoughts before heading back downstairs. His head was aching like it never had before and the pit in his stomach was making him sick.

"Where's Emma?!" He asked in a panicked tone when he walked into the living room only to find Snow sitting there, tears filling her eyes.

"Um," the shakiness in Snow's voice was apparent, "She ran out without saying anything. David and Henry went after her. I...I wanted to," a tear ran down her cheek and she quickly wiped it away, "I have to stay home with Neal. He's asleep."

Without a second thought, Killian grabbed his dark washed jean jacket from the coat hanger, and pulled the front door open.

"Killian."

He turned back to face his mother-in-law, trying to hide his eyes so she would not see how scared he truly was, "Find her," she whispered, "Bring Leia back."

With that, Killian ran down the house steps and hopped in their car, not even bothering to buckle in his seatbelt until well into the drive. He drove across town and down Main Street, trying to keep all his focus towards finding Emma; he knew that if he let his mind slip into thoughts about his daughter he would not be able to handle it. His heart practically skipped a beat when he spotted David's truck parked at the curb and the library lights turned on. Emma.

"Emma, you have to stop!" Killian could hear David's pleading cries before he even set foot in the library, a million thoughts crossing his mind. He ran up the stairs following the voices all the way up until the third level where he found Emma rabidly sifting through books, not caring whether or not they fell onto the floor. While Henry helped her by looking through several books on the other side of the room, David was trying to calm her down but Emma's mind was set on one thing - Leia - and there was nothing stopping her.

"Emma," Killian said in low voice, approaching the scene slowly from behind.

David sighed in relief, "We have to stop her."

Killian could feel the vibrations of his heart pounding hard against his chest throughout the entirety of his body, "What's she doing?!"

David shrugged and ran his hand over his eyes, "I don't know. What I do know is that we should be out there looking for Leia."

"Emma, sweetheart," it took every bit of him to try and make his  voice sound as low and calming as possible when in reality, his world was spinning.

"Hey," Killian muttered as he came up behind her, resting his hand and hook on her shoulders, "Luv, what are you doing?"

Now that he was close enough to touch her, Killian could hear Emma's heavy panting, "I have to find it," was all that she managed to say in between breaths.

"Find what?"

"It has to be in here somewhere!" Her entire demeanor was frantic; there were only three other times when Emma had acted this way - once when Henry bit into Regina's poisoned apple turnover, another time when Chernabog threatened Leia's life when Emma was still pregnant with her, and when Killian died before she turned him into a Dark One all those years ago in Camelot; all three times she was fighting to protect the people she loves most in the world.