For Regina, it had been a long three months.

Her son rarely spoke to her, she was trying to build a relationship with her sister who hadn't actually died, unfortunately, and Robin had been acting strange.

Henry was obviously broken by the loss of Emma, but he spoke to nearly no one these days. To worsen matters, he spoke to Hook much more often than her. Even though Henry saw Killian as a father figure, Regina was his mother. It pained her that her son was always so sad.

Her and Zelena had begun to form a normal sisterly relationship after her sister returned from her charade as Marian. Regina did want more family, so she'd refused to kill Zelena. Her sister had been given a second change and hell if she wasn't taking it. Regina was just beginning to get to know her but already, they had so much in common.

But Robin, he'd been acting odd in the past few weeks. The first few months after his return had been bliss. Despite the constant sadness of the town, Regina had her little bubble of happiness with Robin and his son. She wished Henry could have been there too though. However lately, Robin had grown agitated and nervous. Whenever Regina tried to talk to him about it though, he waved her off, asking her to take Roland out to the park. She didn't know what was going on.

She was in the kitchen one afternoon, preparing lunch for Robin and Roland when Killian walked right in.

"Um, can I help you? You may not be aware, but the appropriate thing to do would be to knock on the door," she said.

She'd expected the pirate to come up with a witty comeback, maybe even knock on the wall... He did neither. He just sighed and looked at the floor like an ashamed child.

"Okay, what's going on?" Regina felt bad now.

Killian scratched behind his ear before speaking. "Gold found a way to get to Emma," he said quietly.

In the three months that the saviour had been gone now, Regina had seen very little of Killian and he seemed almost as bad as Henry. There has been a few times when he'd been in Emma's room talking with Henry, but he'd left right away, never saying a word to her.

This was the first time in three months that they'd spoken. It hadn't been because of anger towards each other, no. Everyone had been so impacted by Emma's sacrifice that it seemed as though the entire town had been ripped apart. The family rarely spoke. It had been weeks since Regina and Snow had spoken, months since her and Charming had.

No one had spoken to Gold, except apparently Hook.

"What do you mean? She's dead, Hook," Regina said sadly.

Killian clenched his jaw. "No, she isn't. There's a spell to get her back and we need you to enact it, Regina. Please, if not for me than for Henry, for your family. Emma was wrong, there can't be any happy endings without her. Everyone is affected by her being gone. You have a chance right now to bring your son happiness and you'd be crazy not to take it. If it doesn't work, the only one getting hurt will be me," Hook pleaded.

"The only- no. If it doesn't work, Henry will be worse, David and Mary Margaret will be worse, everyone will be worse. You'll be dead, but Henry will lose his best friend and the closest thing he has to a father because that's what he sees you as. If it doesn't work and he gets his hopes up... Killian I don't think he'll ever get over that," Regina was at the point of tears now, because this was all so ridiculous.

"He... He sees me as a father?" Killian asked in awe.

"Yeah. He does," Regina replied.

"Please. I'll make it back alive and with Emma. I can't live much longer without her," he said.

Regina huffed. She knew the pirate shared Emma's stubbornness and that he wasn't going to let this go.

"Fine. But if you die, I swear..."

Killian smiled and nodded.

"Thank you," he said gratefully.

The next morning, everyone -Mary Margaret, David, Henry, Killian Belle, Will, Robin, Zelena and her- were waiting in the sorcerer's mansion for Gold.

"How do we even know he's going to come?" Zelena asked.

"He'll come," Killian said, "The man I encountered yesterday was someone different. He seemed like a decent person. That awful spirit left him."

"But now you need to make it leave my mom," Henry said, "and you need to come back after you do," Henry hugged him.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again, he should be thanking me for that curse. And for the time-travel. Emma and him are the cutest-"

"Zelena, stop," Regina rolled her eyes, "You're going to make him attack you... Again."

The sisters laughed.

Moments later, Rumple showed up.

"It's about damn time," Will said.

Rumple shot the best of glares his way before handing a scroll to Regina.

"Recite it. A portal of sorts will open, but it will lead straight to wherever Emma is. Hook will jump through it, then we wait and see what happens," he explained.

Everyone backed up slightly.

Regina was able to successfully open the portal and looked back to see a teary-eyed Henry hugging Hook. Hook whispered something to Henry, who nodded.

Then the pirate stepped forward. "I'll bring the saviour home," he promised before jumping into the red portal that closed soon after.