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People Like Us

Season 2: We Are Both, Part 6


[XVI - I Don't Believe You]

Jefferson was nice, but he had the tendency to be a bundle of angst on certain occasions, like today, and alone in the User world, Yori figured she had enough problems without him in the equation sometimes.

It had almost a month now that she had been in the User world, and she hadn't been able to find so much as a trace of Tron anywhere.

"But he has to be here." She told herself. "I know it."

She was walking through the town, window shopping and browsing through stores as needed, all the while looking out for Tron. It was just as Jefferson had told her that first day: no one in town knew who they had been. No one why they were here now.

In Storybrooke, she and Jefferson and the one other person he had not named were the only ones who knew the truth.

The next store she came to was a computer store, and she stopped to peer in through the window. What she saw made her gasp and step back out of shock before she took control of her senses again and glared.

Clu might not be in charge, but he was here.

Still glaring, Yori pulled open the door and stormed into the building.

Storybrooke DA Albert Spencer was in the store that morning, discussing with Clem Melville different options for a new computer system to be installed at the courthouse.

"I expect it to need regular maintenance, certainly, but that's understandable." Spencer said. "It's taking too much time to go through the old paper files, so I'd like to see a computer system used throughout the courthouse."

Clem nodded. "I doubt it would take that long to install, but I'll start with whatever offices you think are most important and work from there. You'll want to have all the computers connected to a main server, also, so that you all work with the same data."

Spencer smiled. "I see you're the man for the job, Mr. Melville. Come over at four today and I'll show what I think we need. You can make recommendations, and I'll expect to see a cost estimate from you by the end of the week."

"Perfect." Clem responded.

Then the door opened, the bell over it jingling, and a woman came in. "Clu! Where's Tron?! What did you do with him?"

Clem raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

Yori stormed over to the counter, slapped her hands down on it, and leaned across to look Clu in the eyes. "Where is Tron?" She demanded.

"I have no idea who you're talking about." Clem responded.

"I don't believe you!"

Clem sighed, and opened up a file on the computer. "Very well. He tugged some of the extra cord to the monitor free from behind the desk, and followed suit with the mouse. Then he picked up the monitor and set it on the counter so that it faced the crazy woman who had just stormed into his store. He set the mouse beside it. "This is a copy of the Storybrooke white pages. I digitized my version. Perhaps you'd like to look through it? I would have remembered a name like Tron, but I didn't find that name while I was transcribing."

Yori reached for the mouse and began to scroll through the document. All the contact information for everyone in the town was listed, but she focused on the names.

Blanchard, Mary Margaret

French, Moe

Lucas, Ruby

Melville, Clem

Spencer, Albert

Ward, Trevor

Zimmer, Hans

One of these people was Tron, Yori realized, but which one?

There were hundreds of names in the list.

"No. Where is he, Clem? You had something to do with this, I know!"

"Madam." A sharp voice at her elbow said, and she turned to find Spencer standing there. "I don't know what you're rambling about, but I believe you've taken quite enough of Mr. Melville's time. If you are worried someone has gone missing, you may go to the Sheriff's office and file a report there. But you may not accuse citizens of this town without proof. I think you should leave."

After a moment, she turned and left, giving Clem one final glare before she left.

Spencer waited until she was gone, and then turned to Clem. "A file like that might be very useful. How much do you charge for information processing?"

~xXx~

There was one thing he had thought of before he left the conference room, and before he left the hospital altogether he decided to act on it.

Yori would probably be mad at him for it, but she was a prickly customer anyway. Best to make the offer quickly and be done.

He found her coming out of Trevor's room. She looked deep in thought as she left, then she saw him and frowned. "Clu. What do you want?"

"Is that any way to treat someone who's come with an offer of help?" He asked, cajolingly.

"I don't think I want your help." She replied.

"In this instance, I think you might." Clu replied, then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a key. He held it out to her.

Yori looked at it suspiciously. "What does it go to?"

"My car."

Now he had her attention. "I don't need to borrow your car." She fairly hissed. "We'll be fine."

"Will you really?" Clu asked. "Remember, Trevor's motorcycle, his only method of transportation, has just been wrecked. How long will it take to finish the repairs? And even if it is repaired quickly, you need both feet to ride a motorcycle. He's not supposed to have any weight on that knee for how long now? And you expect him to be able to successfully ride his motorcycle in the meantime. That's not a logical conclusion, Yori."

"And you're all about logic, aren't you?" She asked with a glare. Then she looked back at the key.

"Just take it. It's not going to bite."

"I'm not worried that it will bite. I'm worried you'll bite."

He looked annoyed. "Whether you like it or not, Tron is important to me too-"

"As your lackey!"

"As I was saying," He gave her a chilly glance, "I'm only trying to help. I'm not going to expect anything in return.

Yori looked at him. Then she looked at the key.

"A lot of people changed after they came here. I'd like to think I've changed too." Clu said.

She reached out, reluctantly, and took the key. Then she looked at him. "You can tell yourself that all day long. But I don't believe you."

Then she turned and walked away.


[ XVII – The Next Day]

The alarm sounded, and Trevor slapped a hand down on it, shutting it back off. He let out an unintentional half-growl, and buried his face back in the pillow.

"I'm staying in bed today," He announced, voice muffled.

"Why?" Yori asked, looking over at him. She stretched her arms above her head and stared contemplatively at the ceiling.

"What else am I going to do?"

"Tron, just try and think of this as a vacation." Albeit an unintentional, enforced one, but she didn't add the last part.

"I never took one of those until last week." He replied.

"Really?" Yori asked, rolling over until she was resting with her head on his back, listening to growling grumble deep inside him that never quite abated.

"What was I going to do? Frisbee golf? That's what I had weekends for."

"We can do something else. Something that won't be hard on your knee." Yori thought for a moment. "We could go on a boat."

"I would rather not."

"Really? There's a whole ocean out there."

"I know. But I don't want to be on it."

"Tron, what are you not telling me?"

Tron turned until he was laying on the pillow and his face was no longer planted in it. "When Flynn and his son and the ISO were heading for the portal, flying over the Sea, that was when I attacked Clu. It destroyed both our vehicles, and he stole my baton, and I fell into the Sea."

Yori was quiet for a moment, then she said, "You never told me that."

"I relive it enough in my dreams. Sometimes I fall and wake up before I hit the water. Sometimes I just hit the water and sink to the bottom of the Sea before I wake up. Sometimes it's both. I don't want to relive it with you." Tron said quietly

For another long moment there was silence, then Yori said, "Is this why you don't have a bathtub?"

Tron gave a half-laugh. "No. There wasn't one here when I bought the house…" He paused and amended his statement. "There wasn't one here when I got here, just the shower. I'm not adverse to water, I just don't like the ocean. I'm sure Marco can install a bathtub if you want one."

"Well, I'll add calling him to the list of thing to do today." Yori replied. She stretched forward and kissed Tron on the cheek. "I'm going to make us breakfast. Get up, get dressed, and we'll find something to do today."

~xXx~

"I think I see the problem. But the only way to fix it is to reset the machine." Clem said, looking up at Granny. He had been called to the restaurant cum bed and breakfast that afternoon to help with an issue with the cash register in the diner.

The old woman looked at him for a moment, then shrugged. "Go ahead. I've got all the receipts from today."

Clem nodded and set about resetting the machine. As he was working, with Granny watching him, the door swung open and Leroy came in. "Granny, August is back!"

"Really?" Granny asked, turning to face him. "When?"

"Today."

"What happened?"

"I don't know. He went to the sheriff's office and tried to phone Emma about someone, a woman from what I heard, who was dangerous, but the phone line was cut and when Emma, Snow, and the others got there, he was dead. But the Blue Fairy brought him back and now he and Gepetto are gonna start over."

Granny absorbed this. "I should take them some food."

"All done." Clem, who had been listening silently, announced a moment later.

"Do you take checks?" Granny asked.

"I do."

He said nothing about what he heard. But when he was back in his store, he considered it.

It was far too suspicious that the attack on August had happened so soon. And it was even more suspicious that August had been trying to warn Emma about a woman so soon after Tron's accident.

And it didn't cast Tamara in a better light to realize that had Tron not been on medical leave, August would have walked into the sheriff's station and found either Tron or Yori there.

But there was no proof it was Tamara, and anyway, he was sure that Emma wouldn't appreciate his observations. It probably had nothing to do with Tamara and besides, why would she deliberately attack someone she didn't know?

It must be a coincidence.

But somehow, Clem didn't believe that either.


[A/N:] This chapter didn't quite go how I had planned. A lot of extra stuff got added in before the end. The ellipses between the list of names in the flashback is meant to imply Yori is scrolling through them. I just didn't want to lengthen the chapter anymore by listing any names.

While my muse is willing to stay in one place and work on this fic, I've been plotting out some things. If anyone has ideas for "a day in the life," or average events in a normal day in Storybrooke, feel free to submit it via review. In my plotting for this fic at this point, Tron et al are staying in Storybrooke when Emma and the rest go to Neverland. I did this for a couple of reasons. First, I didn't see any feasible way to fit Tron and the others into that arc. Second, someone's gotta stay and keep the home fires burning, as it were. So if you've got ideas you're willing to share, please send 'em my way.

And if you're reading this, please review. Feedback is always appreciated!