Dreaming Out Loud

Jar of Hearts

Chapter 55: Jar of Hearts

Neal hit the brakes on the van and parked it, as they jumped out of the front seat.

"You gonna tell me how the hell you think you can sail a pirate ship?" Emma asked, as they opened the side door on the van.

"Later," Neal replied, as Belle cradled his father in her arms and he gazed up at her. It was clear the poison was already taking a toll.

"Bae..." he rasped.

"Don't talk...you need to save your strength or you won't make it to Storybrooke," he snapped bluntly, as he peered out to see where the Harbor security guards were.

"We need a distraction," he mentioned.

"I can help with that!" Henry called, as he hopped out and ran toward the dock before Emma could stop him.

"Henry!" she called, as she hurried after him.

"Hey kid, no running along the dock!" the guard cried, as he stopped him with a firm hand on him.

"Sorry..." Henry said, as he started running again, ensuing chase from the guard.

"Hey! Stop, you little brat!" he called, as another guard intercepted him, just as Emma caught up to him.

"Is this your kid?" he asked.

"Yeah...sorry about that," Emma answered, as she put her arm around her wayward child.

"The Harbor isn't a playground! Keep a better eye on your kid," the guard warned and Emma nodded.

"Don't worry...it won't happen again," she assured, as they turned around and returned to the van.

"Am I in trouble?" Henry asked.

"No...because your diversion worked," Emma replied, as she noticed Neal and Belle had managed to get him on board the Jolly Roger.

"Do it again...and totally. New York is not a place I need you running off," she chided, as the slipped aboard the ship too and it set sail. The ship stood out like a sore thumb so the sooner they were out of patrolled waters, the better.

Snow hurried along the sidewalk with her hand in David's and he looked at her with his peripheral vision. He stopped and got in front of her, blocking her path. She gave him an indignant look and tried to go around him, but he stopped her again.

"Snow...give me a minute," he requested and she sighed.

"We don't have time. Johanna said she has information on Cora," she said.

"I know, but I think you need to take a breath, my darling and entertain the possibility that your mother might be right," he said. She looked at him incredulously.

"You can't possibly be taking her side?" Snow cried. He put his hands on her shoulders.

"You know that I am always on your side," he admonished.

"I just think that I'm in a position here to be a little more objective and the last thing I want is to see you get hurt," he said. She nodded.

"I know and I love you for that. But I'm telling you...my mother is wrong about this. Johanna may hate her, but it doesn't extend to me. She was there for me when Eva died," Snow reminded. He nodded. He wanted that for her. He wanted to believe that Johanna didn't hold any of the ill will she had for Persephone for Snow too. But Cora was a master manipulator. Essentially, she was the reason for Regina's unhappiness and her subsequent hatred for his wife. Cora had manipulated Snow when she was a grieving and vulnerable little girl. Knowing that she had also manipulated Johanna when she was at the height of her grief made him wary of her. Her husband had been killed on the day Snow was born in service to her adopted parents. He wanted to think her anger at Persephone inadvertently creating the blizzard that had killed him didn't extend to Snow. But he knew better and was seeing things a bit more clearly than his wife at the moment.