Emma Swan awoke to the screaming sound of Eye of the Tiger emitting from her smartphone's alarm, which happens to always be inconveniently placed right next to her face, instead of it's designated spot on the nightstand next to her bed. In her opinion, it's the perfect song to pump you up before kickstarting your long work day of running after, and almost always catching, idiots. She sighs heavily. Another banner year. Today happens to be her 28th birthday, and also the first day of her much needed two-week vacation.

When Emma was 19, she found herself freshly out of prison with no family, friends, or anything to her name. Just a yellow Volkswagen Beetle and an envelope of cash left to her by the ex that put her there in the first place. Not one to reminisce over past mistakes, and he certainly was one, she hopped in her new car and headed straight for Boston.

She was a foster child growing up, having been left on the side of the road as a newborn by her birth parents, so she moved around a lot and never stayed in one place for very long. She had been deemed a problem child by the age of five so families tended to overlook her, causing her to live a huge part of her life in and out of group homes. However, when she was 16, she was sent to Boston to live with a woman named Ingrid. It was the first time in her life that Emma felt truly loved, that is until Ingrid turned out to be a complete psychopath and pushed her into moving traffic. Still, Boston was always the closest she had to a home. She knew her way around the large city fairly well and she knew that finding a place to stay and someone to hire her wouldn't be too difficult, even with her criminal record. It wasn't long after she arrived that she ended up at Pinocchio's Bail Bonds and acquired a job working for a man named August. He was a tall man, not much older than her, and was hesitant at first to hire an ex-con, but she charmed her way into the position by telling him there are three things she's certain of when it comes to her qualifications:

1. She can always tell when someone is lying.

2. She can always find whoever she's looking for.

3. She always gets who she wants.

The third wasn't exactly true. All she wanted was a family of her own, but she was more than capable of charming her way into the bed of any woman or man she wanted, so she deemed that as good a qualification as any.

Now, here she is almost nine years later, finally having saved enough to take a long break from catching bad guys that are stupid enough to believe they could skip out on their court dates. She loved her job dearly, and she even loved August who had become her closest and first real friend over the years, but all she wanted right now was to go relax on a beach somewhere quiet with beautiful views and beautiful women.

A few days prior, she picked up a small travel magazine and came across Storybrooke, a small fishing town on the coast of Maine. From the photos, it looked absolutely perfect. Small, but not too small. It's also the end of October, so she wouldn't have to worry about any potential tourists. She made up her mind right then that that's where she would be spending her time and nothing would get in her way.

She eventually rolled out of bed to get ready for the day around 10 am. Once she was showered and packed, she headed out to her car and started loading everything up.

It's 4 pm when she finally sees Storybrooke's welcome sign so she takes a moment to pull over to the side of the road and get a photo for August, who insisted that he wanted to see all of the quaint little town. She stepped out of her car and walked up to the sign, stopping in front of it to read the small writing that had been engraved on it.

WELCOME TO STORYBROOKE

where happy endings come true

Wow, they're really capitalizing on the whole fairytale vibe, huh?

She shrugs it off and heads back to her car, ready to go find the first food place she sees. She's absolutely dying for a bear claw after her four-hour drive to get here. She has to admit, the fairytale thing is cute. When you arrive, you're greeted by a long and winding road surrounded by a beautiful forest on either side with, what is arguably, the greenest trees she's ever seen in her life. Not to mention the freshest air. You travel down this road for about 15 minutes before the view opens up and you're on top of a hill looking down on a town that Emma if she didn't know any better, would think had been magically dropped there at the edge of the forest. It appeared to be a tad bit smaller than the magazine had led her to believe, but she was okay with that considering right past the town was a beautiful and vast sea that she had been longing to see for years. She has been to many different places all over the United States, some beautiful and some not, but never had she seen a view as beautiful as this.

She starts off into the town and comes across a small diner called Granny's and notices it doubles as a bed and breakfast.

"Perfect."

This is exactly what she was hoping to find, so she parks her car across the street at Storybrooke Country Bread and heads into Granny's.


Regina is seated at her usual booth at the back of Granny's, leaning over a stack of paperwork as usual. This is a normal Monday night for her, seeing as she's the mayor of Storybrooke. It's a never ending supply of budget cuts and complaints. She doesn't really mind, though. It allows her to supply the kind of life for her son that she always dreamed of having for herself as a young girl. Plus, she's well aware that none of the imbeciles in her town could manage her job even half as well as she does. It's no secret that the citizens of Storybrooke and their mayor share no love for each other, but not a single one would deny that she's best suited for the job. Some even imagine that in another life, she could have easily been a queen. She definitely has the discipline and the take-no-shit attitude for it.

She hears the little bells above the door to Granny's sound-off, signaling that someone has either entered or left the establishment. As she glances up, she notices an unfamiliar blonde in a horrendous red leather jacket casually walking through the door like she owns the place. Regina decides right then that she despises her. She wishes that was all she felt, but there's no ignoring that the blonde is undeniably and irrevocably attractive and aside from her son, a smooth operating town, and the apple tree she's tended to since she was a little girl, pretty women happen to be her favorite thing. Especially pretty women that will prove to be a challenge. Not that she's ever found any worth her time here in Storybrooke. All that aside, Regina isn't too fond of strangers who come out of nowhere.

Before she has a chance to get up and inquire as to who this new stranger is, she overhears the blonde flirting with Ruby, the young waitress behind the counter. She's charismatic, Regina can tell that much. One flash of her very pretty smile and she had Ruby giggling like a young school girl who's just developed her first crush. The blonde didn't stop there, though. Once Ruby walked away to get started on her order, she turned to face another pretty brunette, Aurora, who was clearly sitting with her girlfriend Mulan. That didn't deter her in the slightest bit. Instead, she had them both swooning. Regina was absolutely shocked. Instead of watching how all this would unfold once Ruby came back and saw the new love of her life flirting with her friends, Regina got up and moved over to stand by the new woman.

"Excuse me?" Regina said, not entirely unkind, but not entirely nice either. The blonde spun around on her stool and flashed that offending smile directly at Regina.

"May I help you?" She made direct eye contact, something most people were too afraid to do with Regina. It almost made her forget why she was here in the first place. Almost.

"My name is Regina Mills, mayor of Storybrooke. I don't believe we've met." She held out her hand, Emma taking it in a vice-like grip.

"I'm Emma Swan. This is a lovely town you have here." She dropped her fake smile and granted Regina a genuine one. Regina thought this one was much prettier.

"May I speak to you for a moment in private? Over in my booth." Before Emma had a chance to answer, Regina had already spun around on her Louboutin heels and headed back to her seat, with Emma trailing behind her, a confused look on her face. What could this perfect woman with me?

As they took their seats, Regina started packing away the paperwork back into her briefcase without once addressing why she wanted to speak to Emma in the first place. When she was finished, she looked directly into Emma's eyes and considered the women in front of her for a moment before finally deciding to speak her mind.

"Miss Swan, I don't know why you're here, nor do I particularly care if I'm being honest. However, if you're just here to stir up trouble among my citizens, I suggest you get in your car and go back to wherever it is you came from."

Emma sat across from her, mouth slightly open in surprise. Just as she was about to defend herself, it was as if Regina had read her mind and she was cut off.

"I saw you flirting with Ruby, the woman behind the bar, just before you turned to flirt with two other women who were sitting right next to you. I don't know how they do things where you're from, but I suggest you go back there. I don't take lightly to people who come here and toy around with the emotions of my citizens. This is your warning. If you're looking for trouble, Miss Swan, you will most certainly find it if you do not heed it." And with that, she got up and walked straight out the door with a smug smile slowly forming across her mouth.