Henry was alone in the police station, Regina, Snow, David, Emma and Hook all left to go find Gold, hoping he'd know something about the two strangers.
Henry was supposed to be at Granny's with Ruby, but he snuck out the second her back was turned.
The strangers were asleep, handcuffed to the bars, their belongings emptied next to Henry. Henry was on his seat, watching as the man and woman stirred, then bolted awake.
"What-How- Where are we?" The Doctor yelped, looking around with panic.
Henry smiled. "You're at the police station." he said, swinging his feet. "You've been asleep for, like, an hour!"
"We have? How'd we get here?" Rose asked, looking around. The sheriff station was small, the cell the two time travelers were in the only one. She and the Doctor were both handcuffed to the cell's bars, hungry gnawing at her stomach.
"I'm not supposed to talk to you, my moms told me not to." he said, shrugging apologetically.
"Oh." Rose sighed, struggling against the handcuffs. How did she get here? Last thing she remembered was the mayor throwing blue powder at them, then bam, handcuffed to a jail cell!
"But," the boy smiled, "I'm also not supposed to be here!"
The Doctor and Rose turned to each other and smiled. A boy out of their own heart.
"I'm Henry. Henry Mills." he said.
"Mills?" the Doctor asked, tilting his head, "You're the mayor's son?"
"Yeah. But Emma, the sheriff, is my birth mom. Regina's my adopted mom." he explained.
"What?" Rose asked, puzzled.
"It's complicated. Everything in Storybrooke is." Henry smiled mischievously.
The Doctor and Rose smiled at each other knowingly.
"So, why exactly are we locked up?" the Doctor said.
"My moms are afraid of you guys."
"Typical. Humans always fear what they don't understand."
"No, it's not that... People don't com to Storybrooke." Henry said, staring straight into the Doctor's eyes.
"So? You need to advertise more. Print an ad in the newspaper and get a billboard. No reason to lock people in cages." The Doctor advised.
"No," Henry laughed, "It's not that. Storybrooke... Isn't your average town."
Rose and the Doctor looked at each other, and the Doctor leaned forward.
"Henry, listen to me very carefully. Me and Rose, we can help. It's what we do, we help. Why is Storybrooke different?" the Doctor asked, his tone serious.
Henry was quiet for a second, then looked at his hands.
"I really shouldn't tell you... Last time people came to town my heart was ripped out and I almost died."
"What?" Rose yelped, jumping.
"Henry, we think the people of this town are in danger... Your mother, er... Your adopted mother, mentioned something about people being taken. What did she mean?" the Doctor asked.
Henry nodded. "In the past week, like, ten people just vanished. No one knew what happened. No trace or anything... Like magic." Henry said, looking up.
"Magic is just science we can't explain yet." the Doctor said.
Henry smiled, and said, "You may change your mind about that after you leave here."
The Doctor wanted to ask another question, but the sheriff door opened, and in walked a huge group of people.
The lady with the baby from the diner early was there with a blond man who appeared to be her husband. The mayor looked as angry as she usually did. Emma Swan and the make-up leather pirate man were together.
"HENRY!" Both the mayor and sheriff yelled at the boy angrily.
"Hey moms!" he smiled sweetly. "Oh, don't even try it young man!" The mayor scolded.
"You, out!" she said, pointing at the boy. "Ahhh!" he moaned, and the mayor rolled her eyes.
"Fine." she sighed. She turned from her son to the Doctor, her eyes narrowing as she did.
"Hi!" he smiled, and waved with his free hand.
The group didn't return the smile.
"Who are you, really?" the sheriff asked.
"I'm the Doctor." he smiled, "This is Rose Tyler."
"What are you doing in Stroybrooke?" the mayor demanded.
"We crashed!" the Doctor said again, sick of having to repeat himself.
"Yes, but what did you crash in?" she asked, arching an eyebrow.
The Doctor felt himself stiffen under the woman's evil gaze.
"Alright, fine. But you're not gonna believe this!" the Doctor laughed, causing the group to smile a secret smile.
"I'm a time-lord. Time lords are aliens from the planet Gallifrey, but they all went extinct hundreds of years ago. I have a TARDIS. It stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space. It can travel though time and space. Rose is human, but she's a bloody brilliant one. She travels with me, we fight other aliens that are trying to hurt Earth or anything else. We've saved the world at least a few dozen times."
The Doctor smiled, and waited for their faces. God, it was always hilarious.
He waited.
And waited.
"Er, I'm not lying." the Doctor said, smiling.
"Yeah, we know." Regina shrugged.
"And... You don't think a time traveling alien is a bit odd?" Rose asked.
Regina looked at the others, then shrugged. "It's weird, yeah... But we've dealt with time travel before, and stuff that's a hell lot weirder."
"Wait... You... You've dealt with time travel before?" the Doctor yelled.
Was it possible? Was there another TARDIS, or some other way to travel through time?
"Yes." Regina said coldly, her eyes never leaving the now guilt-ridden Emma. "And I don't look forward to dealing with this again."
The Doctor tilted his head and studied the two women. Most of the time he could read people, but Miss Mills was a mystery.
"Alright." the Doctor said, leaning back, "I've told you about me. Now you guys talk."
Regina looked at Snow and the others, then sighed. "God, where do we even begin?"
"I have an idea." Henry said suddenly. He reached into his backpack and fuddled with something big and heavy, He pulled whatever it was out of his backpack and handed it to the Doctor.
It was a huge leather book, each page dusty and antique. Hundreds of years old, the Doctor could tell. On the cover read in bright lettering, said, "Once upon a time?" he asked, looking up.
The boy smiled, and asked, "Do you believe in fairytales, Doctor?"
