With the bean crops burned, everyone believed Regina was the one responsible despite Emma and I believing otherwise, but believed the first logical place to check for Regina was her office. Oddly enough, nobody had heard from Regina since earlier that day, even after Emma had reached out to her. Clara ran into us outside her office, having been worried about her friend and the lack of contact they'd had throughout the day and looking for her herself.
You see, Clara was the closest thing Regina had to a friend, she was probably one of the main reasons Regina was doing so well. The two women had a unique relationshiop and Regina actually trusted Clara, something few people could claim. They'd been friends during the curse - to the extent Regina had friends, at least - and from what Clara had told me there was a past between them but with everything that had been going on we still hadn't had a real chance to sit down and talk about her life before coming to Storybrooke so I wasn't sure what that past entailed.
We all went up to Regina's office and found the doors open and unlocked, no sign of Regina.
We did find a bean plant she'd taken from the field when she'd found them. The beans were gone and the security system had an override code used at 6am this morning based on what Emma could see - meaning someone had broken into her office. Henry and Clara were both worried since Regina was missing, she might have been in trouble.
Emma was convinced Tamara was behind it, and I had to admit I agreed - ever since Tamara came to town things had been off and it couldn't be a coincidence. Our parents, however, believed it was Mr. Gold - he was the only person who could over power Regina. Emma told our parents and Clara to go talk to Mr. Gold and see if he could help them find a way to find Regina, while she searched Tamara's room once again. I elected to watch Henry while they got everything handled and told them to call me the moment they figured out where Regina was - or if Emma found anything or needed backup.
Henry was worried about his mom, that she was in danger, and I assured him we would find her and make sure she was safe. If there was anything we were good at it was finding people. This seemed to have comforted him because he calmed down and we drank our hot chocolate, having gone to Granny's, and I told him tales I'd left untold from the Enchanted Forest to pass the time.
I got the call from Emma to meet them at the cannery by the docks about an hour and a half later, she and Neal were already headed that way, David, Snow, & Clara not too far behind.
Gold had given them a spell that linked Clara to Regina, allowing her to see where she was and experience everything Regina was experiencing. What she was able to get was that Regina was in pain, the person causing the pain was looking for answers about a father but she hadn't seen who it was. She knew Regina was in trouble and down at the cannery so that's where everyone was going.
I asked Granny to keep an eye on Henry and told him we'd be back soon - with both his moms - and he smiled at me before I ran off, knowing the quickest way to get there thanks to all the time I'd been spending there lately.
When I got there and saw the way Neal was acting with Emma I couldn't contain my eye roll. He was engaged for goodness sake, to a woman who was probably some kind of bad guy, and here he was pining after my twin sister who he was only not with because he abandoned her and got her arrested. I scowled at the back of his head, hoping he could feel the glare and know what it meant.
As we were walking in the gloom of the cannery we ran into Clara and our parents and split up to search for Regina. Emma, Neal, and I all stayed together while the others went off deeper into the building, toward the offices.
As we went David radioed in on the walkie and told us to cover the exits but we'd already been on it - I had already separated from Neal and Emma, magic at the ready, to block one of the exits. That's when he told us it had been Greg Mendell.
So it wasn't Tamara after all.
I heard a gunshot back toward where Emma and Neal had been heading and ran toward the sound, ignoring the plan entirely. I ran through the hallway and saw Tamara running the opposite direction. I started to run after her but then felt the energy - the magic - in the air and as I rounded the corner into the hallway I saw Neal fall through a portal, Emma barely outside its perimeter. I ran for her, the portal disappearing, and hugged her to me tightly as she cried and told me what happened.
Neal had been shot - no matter what land he found himself in, he was dead. She'd just gotten him back into her life and now he was gone. Henry had just gotten his dad back, and he was gone. I felt bad for the earlier annoyance, as she told me he'd sacrificed himself for her, so Henry wouldn't have to grow up without them both, and it made me realize there was a lot more to Neal than met the eye.
We walked back to the loft, Emma a wreck, and I hung back to let Emma talk to David and Snow about Neal. Mother Superior - the Blue Fairy - had gotten the magic cuff off Regina - the way Greg and Tamara had been able to over power her - and helped heal her. Clara was sitting on the bed, standing vigil. Regina woke up not long after Emma's proclamaition to everyone that Neal had died and asked where Greg and Tamara were.
When we explained they had gotten away she became extremely distraught and that's when she told us of the trigger to destroy Storybrooke.
A trigger had been built into the curse that would basically be like an undo button. Tamara had tortured the location of the trigger out of Regina before she'd admitted to Greg that his father had been alive and free all these years, he'd simply lost his memories and hadn't remembered he had a son to get back to. We all gave her a look but she said it had been right after they had arrived in this land and she was still the Evil Queen - obviously she wouldn't do that now (unless they'd done something to Henry, then all bets would be off). Greg and Tamara had some kind of work around when it came to magic and Regina seemed sure the two would get the trigger.
Of course there would be some magic "trigger" that could destroy everything and everyone in Storybooke. Fantasitc, wonderful, I love that for us.
At least we were all in agreement - Tamara and Greg were dangerous and we needed to stop them. Regina told us the trigger was located below the library, with Maleficent, the woman Emma had killed as a dragon to get the potion of True Love back when she was trying to break Henry's sleeping curse. Clara volunteered to take Regina there to see if they could get the trigger before Greg and Tamara and left.
Now all we had to do was tell Henry his dad had been shot and fallen through a portal to who knows where and was dead. We all agreed to go with her for moral support and found Henry and Granny at the park, Mr. Gold standing not too far off watching Henry.
This wasn't going to be pleasant.