Sound of Surviving

71

"Yes, your majesty."

---

Belle was holding Neal in her arms at the Charming family's loft and said, "Shh."

"See... Belle's a natural," David told his wife. "She's got all the emergency numbers. If anything happens, Neal will be okay."

"I'm not worried about emergency numbers, David," Mary Margaret replied. "I'm nervous about leaving him at all. Between the curse and the wicked witch, we don't exactly have the best track record with our babies."

"He is going to be fine. And we need this time away. You need it. Hey. So what do you say? You ready for our evening stroll?"

---

Emma drove her, Nevaeh and Elsa to the woods.

"You okay?" Elsa asked.

"It's just the pictures," Emma said. "Reminds me of when I first got here. Regina and I hated each other. Well, "hate" might be the wrong word, but we did not mix."

"But it seems like you've come a long way since then."

"Yeah, but it looks like we're right back at it. Just wish I could fix it. Coming?"

"I think this sound like something you two should talk about alone. You know, if things were getting better between you two before, maybe they can again."

"Doubt it. I screwed her over. Once you screw someone over, there's no getting them back."

"What makes you say that?"

"Experience."

HOPKINS, MINNESOTA - 1998

Emma was at a food store. A girl watched her and left. Emma stole food but got caught. The girl rescued her.

"Whoa. What you got there?" a woman asked.

"I've been looking all over for you," Lily said. "Just go with it. Thanks for hanging on to that till I got us a cart."

"You two girls are on your own?"

"My parents are outside in the car. They sent us to grab a few things."

"Okay."

"Thanks," Emma said. "That was about to get ugly."

"Yeah, no kidding," Lily agreed. "You know, the whole "stuffing things under your shirt" move never works. You need one of these. Lift some plastic, and you can buy whatever you want."

"I'll remember that next time."

"Wait! You're part of my cover now. So what do you say? You want to go shopping?"

Outside the store, Emma stated, "Wow. That actually worked."

"Hold onto your bag and run," Lily instructed.

"What? Why?"

"Trust me. Go! Go! Go!"

A man in a car followed Lily and called, "Hey!"

Emma and Lily ran to escape the car.

"Come on!" Emma yelled. "This way!" The girls hid and the car lost them. "I'm Emma, by the way."

"Lily," Lily said. "Thanks for the help."

"You had my back, and I got yours."

STORYBROOKE - REGINA'S VAULT

"Ms. Swan," Regina called. "What an unpleasant surprise. Unfortunately, I'm a little busy trying to save my true love's wife. Or hadn't you heard?"

"What do you know about these?" Emma asked.