Ailey Jones was no ordinary school girl. It wasn't because she lived in a town full of magic and the fact that she herself possessed magical powers. And it wasn't because of her family; actually her family was pretty normal (compared to her half-brother's family on his adoptive mother's side). Sure, her mother had also possessed magic, something that Ailey had inherited from her, and was the savior and town sherif, while her father was a former pirate with a hook for a hand; but that was only part of what made her anything but normal.

No, the thing that separated her from all of the other girls her age was her beauty. She had long golden blond hair that glistened in the sun and emerald green eyes that could pierce through one's soul when looking into them. Her skin was fare and absolutely flawless, she had the face of a porcelain doll. As if that wasn't enough to make the other girls envious of her, she was also more developed than girls her age. She had fully bloomed at the age of twelve, making her look more like a sixteen year old. No one could have really noticed though, until the day she stopped taping her breasts when she was fifteen. That was the day her father learned how to use a shotgun, even if not very well because of his hooked arm, but he would have found a way to use it. Not that he needed a gun; back in his pirating days he killed men with his bare hand when he felt like they were out of line. He wouldn't do that now, of course; but then again he's never had a sixteen year old daughter before. He tells her all the time how he became a better men when he fell in love with her mom, but that doesn't mean he wasn't willing to break a few knuckles.

In fact, he did break a boy's nose the year before, after a schoolmate of Ailey's tried to cop a feel with her behind the bleachers at a football game. They were making out when he tried to take things further when his hand went under the front of her shirt. She tried to push his hand away but he forced himself on top of her instead and wouldn't let her go until she accidently zapped him with magic. She didn't hurt him but it was enough to make him run away. After she came home in tears, Killian hugged her and asked what was wrong with his angel, so she told him what happened. She had never seen so much anger in his eyes when he stomped out of the door and went to the football game to find him behind the bleachers kissing a different girl. He lifted him off of her with one hand before he gave him a bloody nose and told him if he ever laid a hand on his daughter again he would cut both of them off. He didn't get in trouble, though, because his wife was the sherif and she was very much on his side when it came to protecting their daughter. Her overprotective dad coupled with her mom being the sherif was a sure way to be unapproachable to any boy... any smart boy anyway.

There was one boy, though, who couldn't be kept away if he wanted to; and he clearly didn't wanted to. Ailey was with her best friend, Collete Gold, when she saw him for the first time. He had brown, clean-cut, parted hair and blue eyes that he couldn't take off her when she passed him in the hallway at school. She gave him a shy smile as she walked with Collete to their next class. It was the first day of school for the year and he was new in town. People were coming and going all of the time now since there were no longer any magical (or physical) barriers around the town line.

During lunchtime, Ailey sat with Collete and her Uncle Neal, who was barely two years older than her.

"Oh god, please keep her away, I don't need her drama today," Collete said as they saw Zelda across the room looking at them. As Collete glared at her, the new guy came over to their table.

"Do you mind if I sit here?"

"Sure, but I don't know if you would want to if the spawn of the wicked witch comes over here," Collete replied.

He laughed as he took a seat next to Ailey. "Wow, what did she do to deserve that?"

"He thinks I'm joking," Collete shook her head.

"My name's Jasper by the way."

"Collete. And this is Neal and his niece and my best friend, Ailey."

"Neice?"

"Yeah, my sister - her mother - is a lot older than I am, but it's better just to not ask," Neal replied.

"Oh, I see."

"So, where are you from?" Ailey asked him, taking him by surprise that she was actually speaking to him.

Jasper looked at Ailey as he spoke. "I grew up in New York."

"What's it like there? I've never lived anywhere outside of Storybrook." Collete asked him, and he reluctantly tore his gaze away from Ailey as Collete piled on what seemed like a hundred more questions.

Ailey and Collete were very different in that respect. Collete usually talked while she listened. Ailey was mostly quiet except for when she was around her family. Her family was close and she actually adored her parents. She always watched them from a distance while they talked and laughed together. She knew that if she ever did find a guy worthy enough in her father's eyes, she wanted a relationship like the one her parents had.


"Hey, wait up!" Ailey's brother, Liam, ran to catch up with her, Colette and Neal.

"There you are, I've been looking all over for you," Ailey told him.

"Yeah, we were about to leave without you," Collete teased.

The four of them approached Ailey's car before she saw a figure in the reflection of her car window. She turned around to find Jasper standing in front of her as the others got into the car.

"Hey, I was wondering... Um..." he paused as he scratched his head. "Uh... I just was wondering... If I could... " he paused and a in moment of hesitation asked something different than he had originally planned, "I was wondering if I could borrow some notes from English class? I kind of fell asleep during most of it."

"Um yeah, sure." Ailey let her backpack strap slide off of her arm and pulled it around to unzip it and fish through her notebooks and school papers to find them. "Ah, here they are." She grabbed her English notebook and handed it to him.

"Thanks. I'll give them back to you tomorrow."

"Okay." She smiled and said goodbye before she turned and got into her car.

The next four weeks, he tried to work up the courage to ask her to ask her to the Homecoming Dance, but failed every time he tried. It was a Thursday and Homecoming was just around the corner when they gathered around their usual table for lunch, and Ailey got up to use the restroom.

"Collete, can I ask you something?" Jasper asked her.

"Are you asking me to homecoming because I already have a date?"

"No, actually, I wanted to ask Ailey to homecoming. Do you think she would say yes?"

Neal and Collete just stared at him.

"What? You don't think she'll go with me?"

"It's not really her you should be worried about," Collete laughed.

"What do you mean?"

"Even if she wanted to go, her father is the one you would really have to impress."

"Yeah I've heard him being mentioned a couple of times. Is he really that bad?"

"He put a guy in the hospital for trying to put his hands on Ailey."

"Yeah, I heard about that, but it sounded like the guy had it coming. I don't intend to hurt Ailey, I just want to spend time with her."

"Well, like I said, it's not her you have to impress; it's him."

"Right. I'll do whatever it takes. You both know him, right, so what do I have to do to impress him?"


After school, Jasper walked to the address Collete gave him, his stomach in knots. He almost turned around about ten times before he got to the door. He took a deep breath before he rang the doorbell.

A man with dark hair and blue eyes answered the door.

"Are you Mr. Jones?"

"Aye. If you're looking for Liam, he's not here. He's at a friend's house."

Jasper swallowed hard before the words stumbled out of his mouth. "Actually, I came here to see you- to ask you something."

"Do I know you?"

"No, but your daughter does... we're in some of the same classes and we sit at lunch together. My name's Jasper." He took out his to shake Killian's.

Killian looked at him suspiciously, and asked, "What is it you want to ask me?"

Jasper put his hand down when Killian refused a hand shake. "I wanted to ask for your permission to take your daughter to homecoming, if she'll go with me."

Killian glared at him, not saying anything.

"Look, you can take us to and from the dance if you want, either way I will have her back at a descent hour."

He was still glaring for another minute before he asked, "And why should I let you take my daughter to the dance?"

Jasper stood up straighter, feeling a little more confident and replied, "Because I'm a nice guy and I only have good intentions for her, I promise." And then he remembered the one thing Collete told him to say. "And I believe that a man not willing to fight for what he wants gets what he deserves. And what I want is to take your daughter to the dance, so I'm standing here asking you for permission. Do I have it or not?" He looked at him dead in the eyes as Killian stared back at him.

Finally Killian spoke. "Heres what's going to happen... I take you both to the dance, you have two hours and I will be waiting outside the whole time to pick the both of you up and take you immediately home."

Jasper let out a long breath he had been holding. "Thank you, you will not regret it, I promise."

Killian stepped closer to him. "And if you so much as lay one unwanted finger on her I will not hesitate to break it off. Is that understood?"

"Yes, absolutely, Mr. Jones." He nodded his head.

Apparently that was the hard part. Now he just had to ask Ailey if she would even go with him.

Ailey came to the door after her father went back inside. "Hey, Jasper. What are you doing here?"

"Will you go to the dance with me?" He blurted the question out before he had time to hesitate.

"Um, I would like to but my dad..."

"He said it was ok... I asked him for permission."

"And he said yes?" She asked as she raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, as long as he drops us off and picks us up two hours later."

"Ok, yeah, I will go to the dance with you."

"Really?"

She smiled. "Yes. Any guy who can convince my dad to agree on letting his daughter go to the dance with him definitely deserves a dance with her."