This thought gnawed at him as he marched towards the cabin. What would happen to he and Samantha after all this? They would be a pair of orphaned toddlers stuck here for the next fifteen years. What if during that time, as they grew up again, she decided she didn't love him anymore? That would be a fate even worse than death. He might as well let Veronica kill him now.
As they neared the cabin, Joseph picked up a rock from alongside the path. He didn't see any other safe way to get Samantha than to hope this show of force caused Veronica to surrender. If not, then maybe they could negotiate a solution. He would volunteer to trade himself for Samantha. Veronica would agree to that so she could get rid of the algae and use the Fountain of Youth again. Unless she had become too unstable to care about the fountain anymore. Someone who would have her best friend burned at the stake couldn't be too stable. Still, it was the best chance they had to save Samantha.
He reared back to hurl the rock through a window of the cabin. A moment later, he saw a head of curly black hair and a pair of brown eyes peer over the top of a crib. Samantha! Joseph's heart leapt at the sight of her. Before could wave or call out to her, a pair of hands ripped her from the crib.
Veronica opened the door, Samantha tucked under her arm like a bundle of laundry. She surveyed the line of children with their makeshift weapons. "Look at that, the Lollipop Guild is armed for battle," she said.
"Let Samantha go," Joseph said.
"You'd like that, wouldn't you Prince Charming? Did you really think you'd walk up with your little friends and I'd just hand her over to you?" Veronica took a knife out of her belt to hold at Samantha's head. "We're going to walk out of here and there's nothing you can do about it unless you want your girlfriend here to get a lobotomy."
"She's not the one you want," Joseph said. "Take me instead. I'll help you get rid of that algae so you can use the fountain again."
"Joseph, no!" Samantha said.
"Oh, how cute," Veronica said. "See how much she loves you? Maybe I'll let her go so you two can go make mud pies."
"I can't let you take her," Joseph said.
"You can't stop me," she said, taking a step forward. The children behind Joseph whispered to each other, the grip on their weapons loosening. "You see, Prince Charming? I win. Now if you excuse me, I'm going to put Fatty here on a boat for Seabrooke and then I'm going to dump her body right next to your father's. After three days I bet he's not smelling too good. You can come with me if you like. Then you can die in each other's arms like a miniature Romeo and Juliet."