❃
|Granny's|
❃

"You have thirty minutes to decide," Hades said. "But I expect my answer in thirty minutes exactly," he disappeared and Emma immediately started talking.

"Regina, you're going to New York with Neal, Meg, and Evelyn."

"What?" Regina spun to face her blonde friend. "Are you crazy? Hades will just come after us!"

"Not if we tell them you're hiding here in Storybrooke," Emma smirked. "It could work, though, just listen. You four head to Neal's apartment because you are the four who Hades wants us to pick from. We'll tell Hades you're all in hiding in Storybrooke, and he'll search for you here. While he's occupied, we'll figure out some loophole in Gold's deal."

Mary Margaret nodded slowly. "That might work. Obviously the only way to stop Hades is to get technical with deals. We just need time to figure out how. And since it's not safe to open another portal to the Enchanted Forest, New York is your best bet."

Regina shook her head. "He'll follow us to New York and we can't risk anyone finding out about Storybrooke. It's best if I just go with him."

"No," Robin disagreed firmly. "I'm not letting you go with him. You have to go to New York."

"Robin--"

Robin cut Regina off by pulling her into a kiss.

"I'm not losing you or our child."

Regina reluctantly gave in. "Okay. We'll go to New York."

❃
|The Town Line|
❃

Only a small group had gathered at the exit of Storybrooke because they didn't want Hades figuring out their plan. Robin, Regina, Meg, Belle, Evelyn, and Neal were the only ones there. Henry and Gold had said their goodbyes back in Granny's.

Belle was holding onto Evelyn for as long as she could before they strapped her into her carseat in the back of Regina's car.

Regina was wrapped in Robin's arms, inhaling his forest scent. Last time they had been saying goodbye at the town line, Robin had to leave in order to save "Marian," so the place didn't hold happy memories for either of them.

"Don't let Hades take you away," Regina ordered. "I don't want to come back here only to find that you're in the Underworld again."

"I won't," Robin promised. "Now you should get going."

Regina pulled back so she could take one last look at Robin's face. "This isn't goodbye forever," she said, mostly to reassure herself. "It's only until you can figure out some way to overwrite the deal Gold made."

Robin nodded. "I will see you again." He pressed a final kiss to her lips before Regina opened the car door and took her seat in the back next to Evelyn. Once Regina's door was shut, everyone was ready to leave.

Neal pressed down the gas pedal and Regina's car sped across the town line. Regina saw Robin and Belle disappear in the rearview mirror. She sighed and turned to look at Evelyn, who was peacefully sleeping. Meg was already putting headphones in her ears so she could drown out thoughts of Storybrooke with music.

❃
|Granny's|
❃

Robin and Belle had only been back in Granny's for five minutes when Hades burst in again. "So who will it be?"

"Regina," Gold answered as he had been instructed to. He turned back to look behind him as if Regina was supposed to be standing there. "What--?"

"Did you really think we'd let you trade Regina away?" Emma asked, hoping her voice didn't sound like she was reading a script. They needed to make this sound real.

"Well he's not touching Evelyn or Neal!" Belle argued. "I thought we all agreed?"

"You call suggesting a Hunger Games for those Hades wants 'agreeing'?" Zelena spat. "Because that was the point we were at!"

"Where are they?" Hades questioned through gritted teeth. "All I ask is for one of the four."

"Well apparently they've all rushed off," Emma said, rolling her eyes in Gold's direction. "You'll have to figure out where they rushed off to."

"He's not going to find Regina or Meg," Robin assured Emma. "It's Neal and Evelyn who have to worry."

"Do not threaten my daughter!" Belle shouted.

Hades froze everyone with a wave of his hand. "If you are all going to argue, then I will find them myself." The god disappeared and everyone unfroze.

"Do you think he fell for it?" Emma asked.

"Looked like it to me," Belle replied. "Now let's warn everyone and hope Regina, Neal, Evelyn, and Meg are all safe."

❃
|New York City, Eight Hours Later|
❃

It took three food breaks and seven restroom breaks, but the four finally made it to Neal's apartment. Evelyn was screaming and Meg was complaining loudly so she could be heard over the cries when Neal shoved the key to his old home in the lock. "Can you stop it, Meg?" He asked, clearly annoyed.

"Maybe if I could hear myself think."

"She'll be fine once she has food," Regina assured Meg. She bounced Evelyn slightly into her arms in attempt to quiet her. Neal opened the door and Meg hurriedly followed him in. A few minutes later, Evelyn was drinking a bottle of baby formula and no longer screaming her lungs out.

"I hate New York," Meg mumbled.

"You and me both," Regina agreed.

"I don't think anyone here likes New York," Neal was looking through his cupboards, trying to find something that someone had apparently moved. "Any idea where my map of Maine is?"

"I was here for approximately five minutes and those five minutes were spent exposing Zelena and having my heart broken, so no," Regina answered, keeping her eyes on Evelyn.

Neal rolled his eyes and opened a drawer. "Found it!" He announced, holding up a piece of paper. He picked up a red marker from the drawer as well and started marking the map.

"Where is Evelyn supposed to sleep?" Regina asked.

Neal shrugged. "Has anyone ever had a baby here?"

"Meg was supposed to be born here, but obviously that didn't happen, so no."

Meg scrunched her nose. "Let's not talk about where I was supposed to be born. Or my birth in general."

"Try the bedroom," Neal suggested. "We'll just have to make this work because this place is too small for a crib."

Regina stood up, Evelyn still drinking the formula in her arms, and walked towards the bedroom. She sat down cross-legged on the bed, trying not to think about the last time she had been in New York. When Evelyn had finally finished, Regina looked up from the nearly-sleeping baby in her arms and allowed herself to look around the room. It was when she did this that she noticed something she hadn't noticed at first; a wall of pictures.

Most were of Neal and Emma when they were teenagers. As Regina approached the wall, she found that Robin and Lily had both added pictures of their own to the wall. Regina's hand ghosted over a picture of her and Roland making apple turnovers. She hadn't realized Robin was taking a picture, but he had somehow managed to capture the moment perfectly. Regina and Roland were both covered in flour and frozen mid-laugh.

The next picture that caught Regina's eye was one of her and Robin. One he assured her he would delete because Regina hated having her picture taken, but obviously he hadn't deleted it because here it was, printed out and taped to the wall of the bedroom in Neal's apartment.

Lily hadn't added many pictures to the wall. The one that Regina noticed first was of Lily and Belle, both smiling. It must have been taken when Belle ventured to New York to get Lily so Maleficent would help her and Dorothy open a portal to the Underworld.

"Regina--" Neal lowered his voice when he saw that Evelyn was asleep. "You okay?"

Regina nodded, tearing her gaze away from the pictures. "Yeah."

Neal walked over so he was standing next to her, looking at the wall of pictures as well. "Wow. Guess I didn't realize these pictures were all still here. I assumed Robin or Lily would have taken them down."

"I guess they liked your idea," Regina mused, keeping her eyes locked on a picture of her and Robin. "I hate this place," she said, but the ghost of a smile on Regina's face betrayed her words.

"Don't we all?"