A/N: Hello there, OUAT fandom. And welcome to my first fanfiction. *Bows deeply* Thank you for clicking on my story, it means a lot to me. I would like any critique you may have as I find it helps to improve my work. However I will not tolerate flame reviews and will make fun of you in the following chapter for it.

Thank you to BundyShoes for looking this over for me. You rock!

Disclaimer: I do not own OUAT, that belongs to ABC. If I did Emma would be Gold's true love.

Chapter one: Introductions

October 23rd 2001

"Ouch!"

Emma stared at her finger with a deep frown beginning to set into her young face as she saw the blood trembling down the tip. She stuck the tip into her mouth, sucking lightly and trying to ignore the bitter taste it left in her mouth. The young woman glared at the door almost childishly even though she was the one breaking in.

I hope whoever owns this shop doesn't mind me staying for the night, she thought to herself. The young blonde removed her finger with a loud 'pop' from her lips before placing the hand gingerly above the knob of the door. She pressed the hair pin against the keyhole once more sliding it in part way. She began to push it in further, wiggling it to try and unlock the door. Come on baby, Come o-

Emma allowed a small smile onto her face as she heard the loud 'click'. The teen gripped the lock in one hand, twisting it gently. The small smile spread into a huge shit-eating grin as the door opened. The ding of the bell made the teen freeze, halfway through the door.

Shit!

The 18 year old quickly made her way inside. She shut the door a bit too hard behind her, causing it to make a loud smack. Emma winced; her deep blue gaze looking all around the odd shop. Once she was sure that no one was coming from inside the shop she allowed her shoulders to drop and her head to rest against the glass panel. The teen eyed the items with a raised brow and a roll of the eyes. Right, it's a pawn shop. Weird crap is everywhere in these things.

She slowly made her way down the shop. This is definitely the weirdest pawnshop I've ever been too, Emma thought as she passed by a pair of dolls with a rather horrified expression. Shaking her head she made it to the back of the shop, the back curtain fluttering behind her as she made her way in. Her hands flew to her nose as a revolting smell hit her.

Gagging and holding her nose she walked a few steps further, noticing a jar of something on the desk next to a few items.

"He's dedicated, I'll give him that," she muttered, taking off her jacket. It was a bit raggedy now from all the travelling she had done in the past week and was beginning to tear at the pockets. She threw it down over the items to hopefully contain the smell slightly.

The blonde glanced around the shop before reaching up to her ponytail, pulling the hair tie out with a soft sigh. She couldn't remember at that moment when she had last felt safe. A sudden frown set into her face and she stared at her wrist where a large, beautiful watch was currently making its home. "Oh wait, yes I do."

The teen walked over to the chair, located behind the desk. Her nose crinkled at the lingering smell causing her to pull it out as far as she could get from the desk. She plopped down in it, crossing her arms as she let all of the muscles of her body relax. She closed her eyes trying neither to remember Neal nor to think about how tired she was. With the frown set in stone on her face, she fell into the first real sleep she had gotten since she had left him.

Poke.

Pokety-Poke.

Emma groaned as she felt something poking her rather hard on the shoulder, trying to dig her cheek further into the opposite shoulder. There was a sound of a huff in annoyance and she grunted, eyes opening as whatever was poking her gave a rather sharp jab at her collarbone. It reminded her of the annoyance of the dream she had just had. She could really only remember a man's voice just acclaiming, "You're early! You're early!" It had also been in the most high-pitched voice she had ever heard coming from a being and it was still ringing as she lifted her head and blinked at what was poking her.

With wide eyes she realized it was not a what, but a whom.

A man stood before her, wearing a pitch black suit with a deep green dress shirt underneath. His hair was a long brown, falling to his shoulders. His chin and nose were both pointed downward and large brown eyes seemed to darken as he noted she was awake. The item that was poking her, she noted, was a large black cane raised to hover

"What the hell are you doing in my shop?"

Ah so this was odd, shop keeper.

"Sleeping." She muttered, her gaze meeting his.

He raised a brow, "Why?"

She scowled at him, "What's it to you?"

"You're sleeping in my property. I didn't give you permission, "he stated calmly, lowering his poking weapon down to eye the teen, with a raised brow. "Now why are you sleeping here?"

Emma shrugged her shoulders, "Because this chair was too comfortable to pass up.

That one didn't even crack a small smile, Well he's not in a fun mood today. He scowled at her, his hand tightening on the cane, "Is that the reason you'd like me to give the sheriff when he comes to arrest you?"

The blonde sat up right away, her eyes wide and filled with fear, "No!"

His scowl turned into a smirk, "Well then why don't you tell me why you're in my shop then and I'll see if it's a reason enough to not turn you into the sheriff."

Emma chewed on the inside of her cheek, lowering her gaze to the floorboards below. She could lie about what happened, say that her car broke down on the way into town and his shop looked like the easiest one to break into (Not exactly a lie either since the inn was far too obvious and she didn't have a lot of money. His shop had looked like the easiest place to get into when it was pitch black outside.). After a few more moments of some contemplating she looked up at him, a scowl re-forming onto her face, "Deal."

His eyes seemed to sparkle at those words, "Great then." He said softly, leaning against his cane and closed to her, "Why don't we start with introducing ourselves? My name is Mr. Gold. And you are…?"

Emma frowned at him, and tried to think of a fake name off the top of her head, "Belle Smith."

Gold frowned at her, his gaze narrowed, "No lying. Real name or no deal."

The teen continued to scowl at him before spitting out, "Emma Swan."

Something seemed to change then when she said that, he began to blink rapidly a bit. His grip on the cane tightened; his knuckles turning white. Emma swallowed nervously wondering if he had heard her on the news. Would it have reached Maine? In a town that's barely even shown on the map?

After a few moments, his features seemed to soften as he looked at her and Emma felt herself shiver for some reason. He showed some teeth as he smiled revealing a few gold ones, "Emma….What a lovely name."

The teen raised a brow staring up at him, an odd feeling entering the pit of her stomach, "Thanks." The feeling didn't go away though, and Emma had a strange feeling that something awful was about to happen.

A/N: Well, what did you think? Please leave a review if you wish and it will encourage me to get the next chapter out as soon as possible. Thank you for reading!