A Twist In Time

Chapter 20:Turning Tables

This was taking too long; he needed to accelerate the plan, so with that, he called the mayor's house to get ahold of the kids, arranging for them to meet him outside of Granny's Diner that morning, once Regina left for work. "It's almost nine. You know what to do?"August asked Hope and Henry that day.

"Operation Cobra is always ready."Hope and Henry answered in unison.

"It's just.." Hope started.

"Just what?"August asked.

"I just don't understand how this is going to get Emma to believe," Henry answered.

"Well, sometimes other priorities surface. Can you handle a little improvisation?"August asked.

"Well,yeah. I mean, we're 10. Can you?"Henry asked.

"We're a go then," August said, using the two across the street until finally, the trio landed at Gold's pawn shop.

"Hey, Mr. Gold!"Hope and Henry greeted the man in unison as they walked into the main room.

"Why; Hope and Henry Mills. Good morning. What can I do for you?"Gold asked, turning his attention from his work to the kids.

"We wanted to get a gift for Miss Blanchard," Hope answered. "Since she clearly didn't kill that woman."

"Ah, good thinking."

August sat around the back of the shop, waiting for just the right moment where he could sneak through. Hope and Henry had Gold very distracted, and soon enough, he slid through the back shop door; into the office. Well, at least he thought they had. "May I help you?"

"Yeah. I'm looking for some maps. I'm kind of a collector. I thought this was the entrance."August said.

"Well, it's clearly not. This is my office. The shops there; through the curtain."

Hearing the news that Katherine was awake, Emma retreated to the hospital. "Emma, look who's awake."Dr. Whale exclaimed as Emma walked into the room.

"Katherine, hi. Listen, I don't want to take a lot of your time. Do you remember what happened?"Emma asked.

"I don't know much."Katherine admitted," I was in a car accident, and I remember the airbag going off. The next thing I knew, I was in the dark in some basement. I didn't see anyone, but there was food and water, and I guess I was drugged."

Whale nodded."Yeah. We're still trying to flush that out of your system."

"Then I woke up in a field outside town, and I started walking," Katherine said.

"You saw no one?"Emma questioned."Didn't hear a voice? Smell any perfume or cologne?"

Katherine thought for a moment, then shook her head."No. Nothing. I'm sorry. I wish I could help. Especially since..my heart was gone. You thought I was dead?"

"Your DNA matched the heart we found. I think someone was trying to frame Mary Margeret."

"You broke our deal," Regina muttered in a raging tone, meeting with him in the office at the pawnshop.

"I've broken one deal in my life, dear. And it certainly wasn't this one."

"Right!"Regina groaned."Katherine was supposed to die, and Mary Margeret was supposed to get the blame."

"You didn't say kill her, to be quite frank. We both agreed something tragic should happen, and abduction is tragic. And let's not talk about intent; the intent is meaningless."

"Intent is everything."Regina threw back. "This is going to raise tons of questions about where she was and how the test results were fake."

"Oh yes. And um, who put the key in her cell?"