...

Author's Note: Here we go again. I was aiming for less shocking and more entertaining this time, so I hope you guys have fun reading this. If you haven't read Pride and Sorrow you may be slightly confused as this is a direct sequel and I talk about situations and characters from that story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Once Upon a Time or its characters, I am using them in my own story. Other characters have also been taken from other tales but full disclaimers on those will be given at the end so as not to spoil any surprises. I hope you enjoy.

….

Chapter one

Emma and Charming lost the battle for Sheriff, mainly due to the town threatening crises generally being linked almost directly to them.

"It's more an issue of bias than blame," Dr Hopper had told them at the commiseration drinks after the vote. "I think the people wanted someone who they could be sure would look out for the rest of the town as well as their own family."

David and Emma had wanted to argue the point but the time for that was well and truly over. In fairness Emma couldn't really criticise the town's choice for the new sheriff and the demotion to deputy had freed her up to spend more time with her family. Having less responsibility didn't have to be a negative. The only problem, which as it turned out wasn't a problem at all, was that Storybrooke didn't need a sheriff and two deputies so someone had to leave. She'd only felt a little snubbed when she'd found out her pirate had already head hunted her father for his detective agency and Killian had made sure to make it up to her.

Emma dropped the sedan into park and pulled the handbrake, her eye catching on the shining sheriff's star attached to her passenger's hip.

"We could have walked this distance," Mulan grumbled.

"I told you, the sedan isn't just for transport, we can use it to hold suspects, it stores equipment and if we get a call on the other side of town we can just go," Emma explained to her new sheriff for the second time. "You'll need to start embracing this realm's stuff you know. It's not all sword swinging and charging into battle here."

"I am wearing these jeans you suggested," Mulan replied.

"And?" Emma asked as they exited the car.

"They are comfortable and easy to move in and seem hard wearing," the new sheriff admitted.

"You just need to lose your chest armour and you'll be one of the natives," Emma said nodding at the heavy layered armour weighing down the other woman's shoulders.

"There may not be swords swinging all the time but you admit people still use swords on occasion," Mulan stated as if Emma was the one being silly.

"Yeah, I guess I did say that," the previous sheriff now deputy sighed.

Mulan had moved into the sheriff's station with the dedication and vigour everyone expected from the warrior. Her seemingly inherent self confidence meaning she had no issue asking Emma for help and advice with matters she had no experience in, mainly issues related to The Realm Without Magic, but also meant she wasn't afraid to set up new protocols, which is how they had deputised one of the fairies as the official Sheriff's magical adviser. It was also why currently every other afternoon included a training session, Mulan with a gun and Emma with a variety of old world weaponry. Mulan was a faster learner than Emma was proving to be. All in all, the transition had been shockingly painless.

They stood together on the sidewalk as Mulan studied the half burnt shell of the main street bakery. Emma took a breath and concentrated on letting the other woman take the lead. They'd got the all clear from the fire chief that it was safe to enter and their visit was more of a formality while they awaited his report anyway. It was still difficult not to go striding ahead and demand answers. She had never been good at letting go of the reins, recent events involving darkness and underworlds proved that, but she knew the other woman appreciated respect and formality and although there had been an awkward couple of moments, they were getting less and less.

Mulan seemed satisfied with her external inspection as she finally moved to the entrance, the glass door having been broken and discarded by the fire fighters. Emma followed a step behind.

The original yellow paint could still be seen in patches between the black soot and charred masonry. It was kind of disappointing to see the lovely window display had all been replicas, probably more due to the fact the plated breads and buns had melted into dysmorphic plastic mass.

"Sheriff!" a startled voice squeaked from the back of the shop. Standing next to a huge stone oven was a bedraggled man with red hair and beard and smudges of ash on his hands and face.

"Are you the owner?" Mulan asked.

"Er...yes, yes I am," he replied taking a strange side step away from the oven.

"You don't sound very convinced," Emma noted. The guy actually tugged nervously on his collar.

"Sorry, I've never been questioned by police before," he said. Emma and Mulan exchanged an unimpressed look.

"Why don't you tell us your side of things Mr…?" Mulan started.

"Baker."

"Your name is Baker?" Emma asked incredulously.

"Yes," the baker sighed, in a way that suggested he heard that response a lot. "I really don't know what happened. I locked up as usual at the end of yesterday around eight pm then I went home. I live alone before you ask. Then I got a call at four this morning from the fire chief saying my shop was burning. I came right here... and it was."

"And you have no idea what could have set it off?" Mulan asked moving to the back of the shop where he was standing. The baker's eyes flicked to the oven and then the floor.

"No idea, that's what I was looking for when you came in," he mumbled. Mulan and Emma exchanged another look. The new sheriff tilted her head towards the nervous man and then at her deputy. Emma caught the signal and plastered on her best friendly smile.

"Come on Mr Baker, let's sit down over here," she said, motioning to a pile of chairs that had somehow escaped the blaze. She grabbed the two least smoke damaged ones and placed them so Mulan and the oven were just behind them. The baker shuffled over looking between the two of them.

"Sorry, I'm not sure who to talk to. Does it get awkward?" he asked, finally giving in and sitting with Emma, though he kept glancing back at the sheriff. Emma opened her mouth to offer a swift denial.

"Yes it does," Mulan said bluntly. "But that's our concern not yours. You may speak freely to both of us."

"Right, right, sure," he nodded.

"So Mr Baker, can you tell us how your oven works?" Emma asked.

"Er, it's a traditional stone oven, like we had in the old world. People like to come in and see it, they say my bread reminds them of home," he stated proudly. "It has a large coal burner underneath, er the door's at the back there." He turned and pointed and Mulan disappeared around the side to check it out. "All the coal is stored out back in a separate storage shed, you know in case there's a...fire." He gave out an anxious breath and looked around his destroyed shop. Emma patted him awkwardly on the hand and willed Mulan to return quickly.

"Could you have left it burning?" she asked.

"No. There's a whole protocol for putting out every day and it shouldn't have mattered if I had. It's designed to be on for hours without tending. You know, so we can bake through the morning."

"Who else works with you?" Mulan asked as she emerged from behind the oven and walked over to join them.

"Er, I have Thomas er, Boulger, he helps with the baking and Tess, she runs the till," he answered. "I've called them and told them not to come in."

"Very sensible," Emma said with only a hint of sarcasm. "We'll need their contact details."

"Right, right, er…" he floundered, pulling out his phone and then looking lost until Emma handed him her pad and paper.

"We'll have to wait and see what the fire expert says, but just in case... is there anyone who would want to burn down your bakery?" Mulan asked. The baker looked startled.

"No, no," he denied emphatically. "No one. I'm well liked and like I said, everyone loves my bread." Emma wasn't sure about that. No one had ever recommended or even mentioned the bread shop to her, but she chose to keep that to herself. She didn't kick people when they were down.

"Okay, Mr Baker," Mulan said, motioning to Emma that they should leave. "We'll contact you when we have the report."

"Yes, Thank you Sheriff er, Sheriffs," he called after them as they walked back out into the fresh air.

"What do you think?" Mulan asked.

"He's not telling us everything, but whether it's because he started the fire on purpose or because he was incompetent and started it by accident, it's difficult to tell." Emma replied.

"I found this in a pile of ashes by the oven. Looked like he was trying to clean up," Mulan said, holding out a piece of burned material that could have been blue once. Emma squinted at it and shrugged when she couldn't discern anything more.

"I'll get a bag for it," she said, moving to open the sedan's trunk for the box of basic forensic supplies she'd collected. "Hey, your first investigation, you looking forward to it?"

"It was a fire in the middle of main street Emma, people could have died," Mulan replied flatly.

"So that's a yes," Emma smirked, taking the material and dropping it into a sandwich bag.

"Yes," the Sheriff admitted, her cautious smile making her look downright sweet. A look that faded into her usual stern mask when she nodded over Emma's shoulder to the two men leaning against the caution tape surrounding the edge of the scene.

"Morning Love. Sheriff," Hook nodded in greeting as they walked over. "And if the morning hasn't been made dramatically lovelier by seeing you both," he smirked as his eyes flicked to Mulan, a twinkle of suggestiveness in their blue depths. She gave Emma a look of are you serious and walked away.

"Stop aggravating Mulan Hook, I'm trying to convince her that you've changed, but every time she sees you you go back into that infuriating pirate mode she hates," Emma scolded as she smacked him on the arm.

"I'm sorry Love," Hook said half sincerely. "But I see her disapproving face and I can't help myself."

"Hey Dad, you guys here about the fire?" she asked, giving her father a good morning kiss on the cheek.

"Actually we didn't know about it until we pulled up, it's the next door shop that's asked to see us, but we don't believe in coincidences," David replied.

Emma studied the shoe repairs and key cutting store next to the bakery, there was some smoke and singe marks on the external bricks and signage but the owner couldn't know the extent of the damage yet.

"Hey," her dad interrupted her thoughts. "If it's relevant to your investigation we'll let you know, promise," he reassured her.

"So? What's happened here then?" Hook asked nodding behind her at the bakery.

"It is such a shame you offended the new Sheriff because she doesn't want me talking to you about cases," Emma shrugged. Now Hook looked offended and actually sent Mulan a hurt look that she rolled her eyes at.

"The owner says he locked up last night then the fire service called him early this morning to tell him it was burning. Looks like it started at the back where the ovens are, but we'll wait for the report. Owner doesn't know what happened," Emma summarised.

"You think he's lying?" Hook asked.

"He's too nervous about something, don't know what yet," Emma said. Hook and David nodded taking her opinion as fact.

"Well, we best not be late, our first proper client after all, " Hook said, giving her a peck on the cheek goodbye which was followed by one from her father.

Mulan came back to her side as she watched them enter the next door shop, an alien feeling of pride mixed with nervousness for them settling in her chest as they went to work. Her boyfriend and her father fighting crime together...what every girl dreams of.

"I still don't understand how you're with him," Mulan frowned.

"It's way too long a story," Emma replied evasively, turning back to the sedan and climbing in the driver's side. Mulan getting into the passenger seat as she spoke. "But, he really is different to what we first thought when we met him. We've been through so much together and he...he sacrificed a lot showing me how much he loves me…. And, I love him." Emma started the car and kept her eyes fixed on the road ahead, amazed that she'd managed to say any of those words out loud.

"I can see he's different," Mulan admitted quietly, thankfully not pressing the love issue. Emma had never been so grateful the warrior wasn't a stereotypical girly girl.

"Part of that was coming here, to Storybrooke. He finally changed his clothes for one," Emma said giving her sheriff a challenging smirk.

"Maybe it wasn't such a surprise that I ended up in Untold Story?" Mulan said, running a hand from her jeans covered thigh to the dagger she still kept strapped to her waist. "After Red woke Dorothy I found myself acting as part bodyguard part third wheel… again," she sighed. "When Hyde spoke of this new realm I realised it was the one Red and Snow talked about. I thought it would be a good place to try and be my own story and stop being a side character in other people's." It was the most personal information Emma had ever heard her give in one go and panicked for a second for how to respond.

"Well I'm really glad you did, or you wouldn't be here now and I'd have to deal with Nottingham as Sheriff," Emma replied trying to joke through the awkward moment.

"Let's not waste time thinking about what didn't happen, we need to figure out what did," Mulan said firmly, drawing the conversation to a close.

"Aye aye' Sheriff," Emma mock saluted.

"It's still unbelievable," Mulan muttered, shaking her head at amount of pirate recognisable in Snow White's daughter.

…..

The interior of the key cutting and shoe repairs shop might have been spared the flames but the air was hazy with the acrid smoke that was still hanging around.

"Are you the pirate investigators?" an old voice croaked from the back of the little shop. A man with grey balding hair, a slightly bent back and small round glasses came out from behind a high counter looking them both up and down.

"I told you everyone would call us that," David commented.

"Only because you keep repeating it," Hook replied before addressing the old man. "I'm the pirate, he's a prince, but we are investigators."

"You have to use it, it's our brand," David interrupted.

"Our brand? What do we need a brand for? We're the only outfit in town that does this work," Hook complained.

A cough drew their attention to the frowning cobbler who was clearly wondering if he'd made a mistake calling them.

"Sorry," David apologised. "If this about your neighbour's fire, it'll probably be best to wait for the fire chief's report before-"

"It's a smoke screen," the old man cut him off sharply.

"You mean... a literal one?" David asked confused.

"Yes," he exclaimed. "I need you to prove it."

"Prove what exactly?" Hook asked.

"That he's been robbing me for weeks."

"What has he taken?" David asked.

"I don't know," the old man replied with just as much conviction.

"You don't know what he took? How do you know he took anything?" Hook asked incredulously.

"Someone has been in here, night after night, moving things. At first I thought I was just being forgetful, I'm not as young as I once was," the old man said showing them further into his shop.

"No one is, though some are closer than others," Hook smirked waving at his own face. The cobbler ignored him.

"But I tested myself," he continued. "Look, I always make sure I leave my tools in these exact spaces every evening when I close up but in the morning they are moved around into the wrong places."

Most of the walls were covered in uncut keys and an assortment of tools hanging on little hooks. The inside of the counter was set with multiple shelves and cubby holes that were filled with pieces of leather and rubber and various other materials. The countertops and a small work bench were clear and clean. It was a very tidy shop. Everything had a designated place and everything looked like it was in its place.

"The samples back here?" the old man continued showing them the cubby holes. "I have them by colour, have done my whole career, but look. Look! They're arranged by size." The old man spoke as if this was a great scandal and David and Hook exchanged an uncomfortable glance.

"You may think I am a crazy old man but does it matter?" he challenged them. "I will pay you to find out what's going on. If you prove that it is just me losing my marbles I will still pay you. But I'm telling you, it's that sneaky bastard next door."

"And you think it's the baker because…?" David asked.

"Because he's up to something. I've seen him skulking around, strange bundles under his arm. He's been having meetings, in his bakery, after hours. Who does that?" he listed. David and Hook exchanged another glance and Hook shrugged.

"Right, OK," David said accepting the case. "We'll ask around see if anyone knows anything and er...stake out the back of your shop tonight see if anyone comes by." The old man puffed up with satisfaction, giving them both his first smile.

"Good. Thank you," he said, shaking both their hands. A case was a case the two investigators told themselves. No matter how un-case like the case may seem.

….

"Well I already know our first port of call," Hook declared when they were back on the sidewalk. He paced backwards for three steps, turned and walked into the next store along, right under the sign with LIQUOR written on it.

"Hook, it's not even nine," David complained following the pirate.

"Captain!" called out a happy voice from the back room. Of course Hook was a regular here, the prince thought. The store didn't actually seem to be open yet, which was both a relief and discouraging considering how confidently Hook had wandered in. "You can't be here for your regular order yet," the shop owner continued emerging from a back room into the store front.

She was medium build but had enough muscle to give the impression she could take care of herself. Her dark wavy hair was cropped into a short bob that flicked outwards at the end giving her a permanent windblown look and she had on enough jewellery to walk the line between excessive and more than excessive. The only way the woman could look more like a pirate was if she strapped a sword and pistols to her chest.

"You are correct Skylights," Hook smiled. "I'm actually here enquiring about your fire afflicted neighbour."

"Ah, you mean the ginger bread guy?" she replied cheekily. David coughed out a laugh and Hook shook his head. Why did everyone love puns so much in this realm?

"The only reason you can call him that is because you're one too," he said, deciding to play along.

"Aye, a sensitive lot our race," she mock sighed. David frowned at the dark haired woman.

"Are you some kind of baker?" He asked and was not surprised when the two pirates laughed at him.

"My apologies Dave, may I introduce you to the Sly Fox," Hook introduced with a bow. The fox smirked and gave a small bow back at him. "Best lookout I ever had," Hook continued. David groaned internally, he didn't like coming with Hook to talk to his old crew. The conversation would always descend into private jokes and short hand reminiscences.

"Who better to see in the dark of Neverland's night," Skylights replied.

"Who indeed?" Hook agreed. "But what we require now is information."

"About Baker? Not much to tell Captain, the man is an arse of the highest order."

"In what way?" David asked.

"In every way," the fox stated. "He acts like he's better than us because he's an artisan and we're all trade. He won't do anyone any favours but expects them from you. He makes out that closing down the town line and all the upheavals with Camelot and such haven't affected his business at all, but we all know he's doing as badly if not worse than us. Everyone loves his bread? Everyone buys my booze."

"He ever break into other shops at night and move things around?" Hook asked.

"No," she answered slowly. "Why?"

"No matter," Hook replied brushing it off. "What of the old man between you?"

"You know those people who used to stand on street corners shouting that the end was nigh?"

"Paranoid type then," Hook guessed.

"Might put it lightly sir. Also he's one of those men who won't admit they're getting old. I keep having to send one of my staff over on pretences, to help him move things and the like," she sighed shaking her head.

"You get any damage from the fire," David asked looking around.

"No. I can smell the smoke something fierce but we were spared anything that'll need fixing," she said. Hook gave her a solid pat on the shoulder.

"I'll be by for my order as usual," he smiled. "And if you spot anybody sulking about your neighbour's gimme a call."

"Aye, Captain."

"So….The Sly Fox was your look out?" David asked when the shop was behind them.

"Aye, and now I have a magical dog with eyes the size of mill wheels who guards the ship and keeps my decks clean," Hook shrugged his shoulders in a what you going to do kind of way. "Didn't hurt that her teeth are as sharp as needles, can bite through bone that one," Hook continued appreciatively. David didn't share the Captain's enthusiasm but gave him a flat smile hoping he'd stop talking about it.

….

Author's note: The game's afoot! I hope you found it interesting.I love Mulan, the animated and Once versions, so I'm glad I found a good way to include her. Do you approve? I know, she says she wants her own story and I ironically used her as a side character, but at least I'm using her!

Updates won't be as fast on this as the last one, but I shall get it out as soon as possible because I have a massive exam that I really should be concentrating on preparing for. My brain won't stop rebelling however, so I also have a quick one shot in this universe to polish off before I post it as an interlude in the middle of this one.

As always, Thank you so much for reading. Please leave me a review and let me know what you think. I really look forward to hearing from you.