"Now what?" August barked into the brisk wind as the rumbling sound of the train subsided behind him.
Emma's hands burned as she dug them into the pockets of her coat from the gravel on the trackside that they had met as they halted her face from meeting the same painful texture by mere inches. Maine was colder by far than Pennsylvania, colder than New York, colder even than Boston, which was quite a feat. Then again, she mused, that must be what a trek northward entailed.
"Now we get grouchy a cup of coffee," she mumbled, striding away from the train tracks with a power that commanded her elder comrades to follow.
"Name calling is not appreciated," August huffed as Neal choked a laugh. "I've been sitting on cold, hard train floors for the past week and a half, so excuse me if I'm not in the best of moods."
"Why did we get off?" Neal asked, quickening his pace to catch up with Emma. "I thought we were going to Portland."
"We're already in Maine, so what difference does it make at this point?" she said. "I pulled us off because of that there." She pointed towards a hill in front of her. On top of it sat a relatively tacky, one-story building with metalic walls and a blinking, neon sign.
"A diner?"
"We've been sitting on trains freezing our butts off for days and we still don't know where to go from here, so yes, a diner," Emma insisted, not slowing her pace even as she began to climb the hill. "We have a little money scraped together, we might as well talk things through in a warm room with free coffee refills."
"I'm with her," August agreed, and the three of them scurried up the hill and climbed over the fence to the diner.
There were a total of five people in the diner. A waitress, a cook, an old lady reading a newspaper at the corner table, and two leather-clad bikers at the counter. The taller of the two eyed Emma as the trio traipsed past them to a booth, while the second went so far as to murmur, "you look like you could use some warming up, sweetheart," at her. She seemed to have a much easier time ignoring the comment than Neal did as he felt heat rise to his face.
Emma pulled them into a booth, next to which a map of Maine hung on the wall. While August wrapped his freezing hands around a warm mug of coffee, Neal studied it closely.
"Wow, this state is much bigger than I would have thought," he mused in a defeated voice.
"It's also the only state in the US with just one syllable in its name," Emma contributed as she dived into her own mug.
"How do you know that?" Neal asked her, flashing an impressed smirk in her direction.
"I did the math," Emma shrugged. Behind August and Neal, the two bikers were paying for their coffee. As the gathered their coats and helmets, the taller one blew her a kiss and wink before the bell at the door rang. Emma rolled her eyes and brought her focus back to Neal who shot the two men a dirty look before returning to their conversation.
"Well it's impractical to think that we will be able to search the entire state, especially since winter is only just beginning," Neal said. "August, do you think you could at least find where it was you and Emma came through the first time? Storybrooke can't be too far from there, right?"
"I would assume so," August said, taking a slow, drawn out sip from his coffee. "And I could probably find it again. Not on a map, but when I get close I'll recognize the area. But it will take time, and more importantly, some mode of transportation, which we don't have."
"I think I can handle that," Emma said slyly, eyeing something out the window, and without another word she slid from the booth and headed towards the door. Neal stared after her, perplexed, then he and August turned their attention to what she'd been staring at outside the window. She was walking towards the bikers, who now stood smoking a few yards from where their bikes were parked by the gas pumps. Neal's stomach curled as Emma exited the building and stepped up to them with a sweet, slightly seductive smile.
"Not again!" he seethed.
Outside, Emma approached the two men.
"You guys mind if I bum a smoke?" she asked, keeping her smile subtle and mysterious as she caught both their eyes with a flash. Both the bikers raised their eyebrows, then they smiled to each other.
"Aren't you a bit young to be smoking?" one of them asked, while the other extended his pack to her. She plucked a cigarette from it and drew a puff as the same man lit it with his lighter.
"What are you, my daddy?" she asked, sure to keep her voice confident but good-humored as she exhaled neatly. The two men chuckled.
"Maybe I could be, darling," he smirked, taking a slow step closer to her. Emma felt the instinct to retreat shoot through her, but she fought it, and instead looked the man up and down, almost inviting him to come closer. She needed him to come closer.
"Those two boys you with, they don't mind you smoking out here with us?" asked the man who had lit her cigarette as he leaned back. Emma glanced back at the diner.
"My brothers?" She inhaled the cigarette. "They were boring me. Brothers can be so," she exhaled and caught the eyes of the two men, "over protective."
Emma tried not to grimace as she watched the affect her stature and tone were having on the men. She didn't like that she was good at this. She didn't like that it was really all she had learned her entire life was how to use what she had to manipulate people. It was the only thing she was good at, and that made her ashamed. Her mind quickly passed to her parents, whom she was hopefully about to meet. What would they think of her, when they finally met her? A girl seducing two men outside a roadside diner over a cigarette in an attempt to steal their motorcycles?
"We've got to find you something warmer to wear," the first man continued, draping his arm around her and rubbing her shoulder. "This ain't Texas, you know. This here is Maine. Isn't that right, Jerry?"
Jerry chuckled, and Emma joined him with a small smile, though her skin was crawling. She could feel the keys in the pocket of the man's jeans. She just needed to distract him long enough to fish them out. She looked up through her long eyelashes at him, searching for the right balance for innocent and sultry. "Is that so?" she murmured. "I guess I have a lot to learn."
The first man cracked a grin, and with a flick of her small hand, she plucked the keys from his pocket. He didn't seem to notice. His eyes were slowly moving their way down from her face. She then slid a bit of distance between her and the man whose arm was around her, taking another puff of her cigarette.
"You boys from this area?" she asked, but behind her back, she jingled the keys and motioned for the boys in the diner to come out. August and Neal saw the signal from through the window.
"Come on, we better help her," August said, grabbing his jacket and sliding from the booth.
"Why does this come so naturally to her?" Neal asked as he followed suit, pouting a bit as he slid his arms through his own jacket.
"Because she grew up the same way we did, but she's a girl," August explained shortly, and despite that Neal did not want to admit it as he followed him down the narrow row of seats, there was truth in what he said.
Outside, August subtly took the keys from behind Emma's back as he passed her.
"We gotta get going," he told her, but he did not really stop to chat as he said it. Neal followed his lead, although at a bit of a slower pace, eyeing the men next to Emma. Emma rolled her eyes and looked back at the two men.
"What did I tell you," she smirked. "Brothers."
Neal nearly turned around and swung at the men as they chuckled, but he kept his cool and continued behind August.
"One more for the road?" Emma asked, eyeing the second man's back pocket where he had deposited the cigarettes after offering her the first one. She knew that one bike would not be enough for the three of them, not to mention if they left one behind the men could easily chase them. She need the other set of keys.
"Sure," the second man said with a smile, reaching behind him but Emma stepped up to him.
"Don't worry, I got it," she said with a wry smile, and she reached her own hand into his back pocket, maintaining his gaze with enticing eye contact as she did so to ensure he didn't notice her taking more than just the carton from him. "Thanks," she said, with a final smile.
They watched her walk away, and she made sure to walk in a way that would ensure they were not watching anything but her, not watching August start up one of their bikes while Neal stood by the other, waiting until she tossed him the key from a few steps away. That's when they realized what had happened, but all he had to do was turn it in the ignition as Emma hopped on the back and they were off, the dumbfounded expressions of the two bikers following them as they sped away.
They hugged the coast, the beauty of which Emma had never seen before, despite the bitter wind that accompanied it. They stayed on the freeway because that's where they would find the restaurant where August had emerged with Emma as a baby. At first they seemed to be going in random directions, but as they progressed, Neal and Emma following August in the lead, they began to sense that he was beginning to recognize his surroundings. Neal only hoped they would find what they were looking for before they ran out of gas. They had barely had enough to pay for the coffee, but there was no way they could fill these tanks without stealing the gasoline.
As an early dusk was beginning to set it, August switched on his blinker and took the exit ramp off of the interstate. Neal followed, hope flaring up inside him as August seemed to be taking a stronger lead. A few meters from the ramp, he pulled into the parking lot of a local restaurant. Neal pulled up beside him and looked from him to the restaurant.
"Is this it?" he panted, and as if to answer, Emma was already sliding slowly off the back of his bike and taking a nostalgic step towards the restaurant.
"Yep," August confirmed, powering his own engine down and dismounting. "This is where we came through. I brought you to this diner here. We came from back in those woods there." He pointed. "I can show you precisely where if you like."
Emma eyed the woods for a long moment.
"No," she said, though her gaze lingered. "There's no reason to do that, I just..."
"You should go, Emma," Neal prodded.
"We'll just be wasting time," she insisted, avoiding his eyes and turning back to where the bikes were parked. Neal stopped her with his arm. She looked up into his empathetic eyes.
"It's important," he told her. "Go see where you're from."
August led the way and after a hesitant, almost fearful glance at Neal, Emma followed suit. Neal brought up the rear, a bystander really in this nostalgic arena the two of them shared. August took them deeper and deeper into the woods.
"It's like nothing has changed," August breathed, looking around him, his voice visible in the cold air against the dark night. Emma was silent, and Neal followed her lead, feeling a bit like an intruder, as the trio trudged forward through the dead, frosted leaves littering the forest floor. Eventually, August came to a stop, and Emma pulled up with him. Neal joined him. August was looking at a large elm tree with a particularly round knot in the middle of it.
"This is it," he said, his voice cracking, although Neal was unsure if it was from the pain of the memory or the cold. He stepped forward and reached out, touching the knot gingerly. "I climbed right out of this tree, and then I turned around and there you were, laying in it."
He turned to look at Emma and stepped aside for her to approach. Emma took a slow, unsteady step forward, then seemed to falter. She raised her hand as if to touch the tree as well, but then she stopped, her fingers inches from its bark. As the moon slid out from under a cloud, Neal could see tears resting in pools in her eyes.
"Do you remember it?" August asked.
Emma sniffed, then shook her head.
"No. I'm trying, but..." She put her hands in her face. "I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm crying."
Neal took a step towards her but August was already there. Gently, he engulfed her in his brace, wrapping the little ball that she had made of herself in his arms.
"I know," he said in a soothing voice. "It's alright."
Neal took a step back, and even turned a bit to the side, wanting to give them their moment. He debated stepping out of the picture entirely, but was unsure he could find his way back to the roadside in the dark. August and Emma stood there for a moment, then he placed a very sweet kiss on top of her head and she looked up at him.
"You ready to find them?" he asked her. "Your parents?"
She smiled, sniffed, and nodded.
"Good," he said as they broke apart. "Because I'm guessing that considering this is where we came through, we are getting close to Storybrooke." He turned and began to walk towards where Neal was standing. "So, let's continue with our hunting, shall we?"
As August began the way back, Neal waited for Emma to catch up with him, then he slipped his hand in hers. She cast him a watery sideways smile as they made their way back through the woods.
Ok, I know I promised they'd be in Storybrooke by the end of this chapter, and I wrote it in here, but then I realized that it is better placed at the very beginning of the next chapter, so I am not lying I'm telling the truth this time, they will get to Storybrooke in the first scene of the next chapter, very first thing, I promise.
The stranger the real show becomes, the farther from this it gets, so I hope people still find something like this amusing.