But on a Wednesday in a cafe I watched it begin again

Granny's was buzzing this Wednesday afternoon. There was people everywhere, sitting or laughing together. There was only one table in the whole diner that was occupied with only one person.

Lily was sitting alone at her table and was trying not to watch the other people around her. Happy people. Quite a lot of them were couples having lunch together.

She couldn't even remember the last time she had been in a serious relationship. But she could remember when she was in a happy relationship.

Never.

Every men she had dated either treated her horribly or abandoned her because she was too distant or too clingy or just not worth the trouble.

But being the daughter of Maleficent and being cursed with Emma's darkness didn't really make her appealing or desirable or nice.

She was from another world, and she just wanted to get back to that world so she could finally feel at home.

But now that she was in this world, she felt more lost than ever.

It was great spending time with her mom, getting to know her and learning about being a dragon. But Lily was very keen on not spending too much time with her, to show her they should not just cling to each other.

Maleficent had little trouble with that. Even though she had been a villain for a long time, she seemed to have not much trouble in making friends. Beside Regina and after a while even Snow, she hung out with a lot of people of the town. Former villains, former members of Regina's black knights, and quite a number of heroes.

Lily, on the other hand, had only one friend. Emma. And as Emma always seemed to hang around with either her son or her boyfriend or both, she never really got to talk about how she felt in this town.

Coming to this town and knowing about everything, but not really getting it before she saw it. The town was nothing she had expected. But even Emma didn't share this experience. She had known nothing about it before she came to town. Or rather, before she broke the curse.

As Emma seemed to be busy right now, Lily was just sitting in the diner, all on her own, waiting for the time to go meet her mother in the park to spend some time together.

Lily had half a thought about just going back to her room in Granny's B&B as someone sat down opposite of her.

In front of her sat a young man, about the same age she was, with dark hair, a trimmed beard and shiny, curious eyes.

She eyed him in confusion as he smiled at her as if he knew her.

"You must be Lily." He stated, not stopping to smile.

"You seem to have an advantage, as I don't know who you are and what you want from me." She returned dryly. Was this how men of this town hit on women?

"Sorry, how rude of me. I'm August. A friend of Emma's. She told me she was worried about you feeling left out in this town. So when I saw you sitting here all by yourself, I thought I could maybe hang out with you. You know, share experiences and all." The guy explained. The smile didn't seem to leave his face. His, as Lily had to admit, rather handsome face.

She still eyed him carefully. "And what experience might that be?"

Now his facial expression got more serious. "Growing up knowing you belong in this world but not being able to come here. Hoping to come here and get to your family to finally feel at home, but not feeling that way at all. Getting your parent back and mourning the time you two could never have together."

Now she was curious.

On August's face, sadness and hurt had flashed for a moment, but he had banned it very fast. He didn't want to make her sad; he wanted to make her feel better. Ever since Emma told him about her, he had been curious. She had grown up so similarly to him and Emma.

He knew how left out she felt. August was a very open character and had little problems making friends. But the inhabitants of Storybrooke shared a past together. So many stories, he would never be a part of. Their relationships and friendships were built over decades and it was not so easy to break into this.

Even after the second curse had hit the town and he had been turned back into a man, he hadn't really found new true friends. And certainly no one who really understood him.

Emma was the only exception, but as her boyfriend never seemed to be comfortable when August was around her, he reduced his interaction with her to a minimum. He had never had any romantic feelings for Emma, but he missed hanging out with his friend more often. But as her friend, he didn't want to bring trouble to her relationship, so he just hung out with others.

"You see, my father sent me through the magical wardrobe along with Emma to protect me from the curse. He did what he thought was best for me, but I really missed him. I grew up in the foster system. It was not that I could have never been adopted, but I made sure no one ever did. I always had the feeling if I did, if I really felt at home somewhere, I would betray my papa. So I waited 28 years to come back here. Like you, I didn't know if I could ever come to Storybrooke, but I held onto the hope that I could. To see my papa again. To get my home back. But I'm still not sure if I ever found a home here. It just doesn't feel complete." He told her.

She eyed him with fascination as he poured out his heart in front of her. Usually, she didn't like to share with people or have people share their deepest feelings with her, but with him, she somehow didn't mind.

"I felt at home once before. Or, at least I think I did. It was with the family I was adopted by. I was a child and I felt at home and loved. But after I found out I had been adopted I never could shake the feeling that something was missing. I had hoped I would stop feeling this way after I finally found my mother. In fact I do feel better now that I found her, but the feeling is still there."

With the conclusion that she had finally found someone, who understood her, she smiled. Brightly, and genuinely.

August was quite used to making other people smile, but her smile sparked something inside him.

…

"Maybe we could have burgers today." Emma suggested to Killian as they walked hand in hand to Granny's.

"No grilled cheese? Who are you and what have you done to my Swan?" Killian teased her playfully. Emma just chuckled and planted a kiss on his cheek.

"Emma." Someone called out from behind them. They both turned to see Maleficent approaching them.

Without further greetings, she got right to the point. "Have you seen Lily? We wanted to meet in the park half an hour ago, but she didn't show. It is really unlike her to run late. I'm afraid something happened to her."

Emma looked at the panicking Maleficent in worry, but Killian calmed them both.

"I would say she looks rather distracted." He pointed to the glass front of the diner. The two women's gazes followed to where he was pointing and saw Lily. Sitting and laughing with August.

Emma tried not to chuckle. "I would say she found someone more pleasurable to hang out with than me or her mother." She commented, making Killian laugh. Maleficent didn't look so relieved.

She stormed into the diner to the table where Lily and August sat together.

…

"And then, he just looked up to me and said: 'You don't mind babe. She is so much hotter than you and you never liked it anyway.'" Lily just finished a story about one of her ex-boyfriends cheating on her.

August laughed whole-heartedly. Then his gaze got more intense as he spoke. "Stupid fool."

Lily blushed at his stare and comment. But even though she was embarrassed, she still wasn't able to look away. He stretched out his hand, grabbing hers, wanting to say something, just as her mother stormed in.

"Mom, what are you doing here?" she asked feeling like a naughty teenager being caught by her parents making out with her boyfriend. Unwillingly, August let go of her hand.

"I have been waiting for you for half an hour and have been worrying." Maleficent explained, not even granting August one look.

Lily looked at the clock on her watch and got even more embarrassed. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry, mom. August and I were just talking and I completely forgot about the time."

"Well, I guess we can go now." Maleficent demanded in a cold voice.

Lily nodded. "It was nice talking to you, August. Thank you."

Before she could storm off, he replied. "It was really nice. Maybe we could do that again some time. Even better, when you have to be nowhere to be afterwards and we have all the time in the world." His smile was soft and slightly insecure.

"That would be really nice. Emma has my number." Her eyes shone at him and for a moment, she forgot all about her silently raging mother next to her.

Before Lily and her mother left, Maleficent shot August her best and most evil stay-away-from-my-daughter look she could come up with.

On their way out, they passed a giggling Emma and a very amused Killian, who immediately made their way to August to give him Lily's number.

…

Three months later, Lily and August lay naked in his bed. His arms were wrapped closely around her and his face was pressed into her hair. Her cheek was resting on his chest and her hand was absentmindedly running up and down his side.

"Now, I think everything is in place. Now, I think nothing is missing." Lily sighed into his chest.

He didn't need to look into her eyes to see the happiness and she didn't need to look into his eyes to see his doubt. She felt it with the laugh rumbling through his chest.

"You think nothing is missing anymore. But if nothing was missing anymore, you'd know it. But I know what you mean. The biggest part of home is now complete."

She sighed, annoyed, as he planted a soft kiss into her hair. Why did he always think he knew everything?

…

Five years after their first meeting, Lily did know it. "Now, everything is complete. Now our family and our home are complete." She exclaimed happily.

August, wearing the brightest smile she had ever seen, even brighter than the one he had worn when she walked down the aisle towards him, looked up from their newborn daughter Michelle, that he was holding in his arms, and nodded.

They had just gotten home from the hospital with their baby girl and were now bringing her into their home and into her own room for the very first time.

"Yes. Now everything is perfectly in place. We are both at home again. On that Wednesday, in the diner, I watched it begin again."