AUTHOR'S NOTE: When I first posted Chapter 3, I listed Belle's curse name as Melody, but then I decided to change it to Isabella, which is Belle's more popular curse name in the fics I read. I've since corrected it, but am posting it here again for those who read Chapter 3 before I revised it. just to avoid confusion. I originally planned on going back and re-editing the chapters with Belle's official curse name when it was revealed, but I don't really like the name Lacey and so I'm sticking with Isabella.

Emma awakes the next morning to find Neal beside her. She is still getting used to the novelty of sleeping in a real bed when there is a knock at the door.

"Emma, Neal, it's time to get up," Granny says.

"Is waking people up a part of your job?" Emma asks.

"I just wanted to remind you that the mayor expects you at her office by 9 to start your new job," Granny says.

"Okay," Emma says. She's reluctant to get out of bed but excited to be starting her new job. "Come on Neal."

Neal begins to stir. She really tired him out last night. Neal leans in to kiss her.

"You're incorrigible," Emma says, pulling away after a minute. "I don't have time for that now. We have to get dressed and then go get breakfast. I have to start work today and you should go see Ruby and let her know that you've decided to accept her job offer."

"Okay," Neal says as Emma goes to the closet to get dressed.

"Oh no!" Emma says. "I don't own any suitable clothes to wear to work. What am I going to do?"

"It's 7:30 now," Neal says, checking the clock. "We can hurry to Granny's and then find out if any clothing stores around here open before 9. If so you can grab an outfit before you have to be to work."

"Good idea," Emma says.

They quickly finish dressing and rush to Granny's diner. Upon entering the diner, they find it is very busy with the breakfast rush and that several waitresses are taking orders.

"Hey, have you seen Granny?" Neal asks one of the waitresses.

"She's where she is every day at this time," she responds, "taking breakfast down to her granddaughter at the sheriff's office."

"Ruby is Granny's granddaughter?" Emma asks in surprise.

"I guess so," Neal says. "She must have forgotten to mention it."

"What about Amelia? Is she here?" Emma asks.

"She's in the back storage area," the waitress answers.

Emma and Neal walk into the back area to find Amelia talking to a pretty, Chinese girl. They are momentarily stunned as she leans in to give the girl a passionate kiss on the lips. After a minute, they break apart and the Chinese girl notices them and quickly rushes off.

"Who was that?" Neal asks.

"That's my girlfriend Michelle," Amelia says, and then pauses. "That doesn't bother you, does it?"

"No," Emma and Neal say in unison.

"That's a relief," Amelia says. "Some of the people in this town can be judgmental. My close friends don't mind, but some of the older, more conservative people find it disturbing"

"It doesn't bother me at all," Emma says.

"Me either," Neal says. "I'm pretty open-minded."

"So how did you two meet?" Emma asks.

"She was there for me after my father lost his business and my fiancé left me," Amelia says. "He tried to hit on her, and we bonded over how much of a jerk he is. Then one night to my surprise she kissed me and I found it was a much more passionate experience than it ever was with Christopher."

"So what does she do?" Neal asks.

"Well she was in the army and she was very brave," Amelia says. "She won the Congressional Medal of Honor for saving two medics in her unit after her helicopter was shot down by rebels in some foreign county, whose name escapes me at the moment."

"Wow she sounds amazing," Emma says.

"She is," Amelia says, "but she's a bit shy about public displays of affection."

"So is she still in the army?" Neal asks.

"No she retired after her last tour," Amelia answers. "Now she works at the library as a security guard."

"Why does the library need a security guard?" Emma asks.

"In truth it probably doesn't," Amelia says, "but Mr. Gold, the librarian's husband, became a bit paranoid after the mayor's baby was kidnapped. He's the richest person in town and donated a lot of money to the town after our former mayor all but bankrupted us, with the conditions that the library would be immune from all budget cuts and they hire Michelle as a security guard."

"But doesn't she find the work boring after being in the army?" Neal asks.

"No, not really," Amelia says. "The kidnapping of the mayor's daughter was shocking to her as well and while it's unlikely the kidnappers will return to Storybrooke, she still feels like she's accomplishing something protecting the kids that frequent the place. Also the librarian, Isabella is Michelle's best friend."

"I met Isabella yesterday at her husband's shop," Neal says. "She seems like a very nice person."

"She is," Amelia says. "She manages to see the best in everyone, even Mr. Gold, who has a reputation of being a bit of a tyrant. But there's no doubt he truly loves her and acts like a completely different person whenever she's in the room with him."

"Amelia your break is over," a waitress shouts. "We need your help. We're swamped out here."

"Sorry, I have to go," Amelia says.

"Wait, we wanted to ask you if you know if any clothing stores are open yet," Emma says. "I'm supposed to start my new job today and need appropriate clothing."

"You can go to Lucy's Clothing Store," Amelia says, running off. "It's two blocks over."

After eating a quick breakfast, Emma and Neal head out of the diner.

"You want me to come with you?" Neal asks.

"You know anything about women's fashion?" Emma asks.

"No not really," Neal answers.

"I'll be fine," Emma replies. "You can head down to the sheriff's office and talk to Ruby about that job position."

"Okay," Neal says, kissing her quickly. "I love you have a good day at work."

"I love you too," Emma says. "I'll see you tonight."

Half an hour later, Emma arrives at town hall wearing a new business suit.

She enters the building and to her surprise, the interior looks completely undamaged. She walks over to the mayor's office to find Mary talking to an older gentleman wearing a tool-belt.

"Good morning," Mary says, looking at her outfit. "You look sharply dressed for your first day of work."

"Thank you," Emma says, looking around. "This building sure doesn't look like it was in a fire two days ago."

"The fire was mostly contained to the mayor's office," the man says. "The fire department was able to put it out pretty quickly otherwise the whole building could have burnt down. As it was, all that was needed were some minor repairs, some new furniture, and a new coat of paint."

"This is Marco," Mary says. "Marco, this is Emma."

"Pleased to meet you," Marco says, although Emma senses that Marco is looking at her a bit strangely.

"I'm sorry to have to do this to you on the first day here, but we have a lot of work to do," Mary says. "The computer in my office was completely destroyed, and all my back-up files were on my laptop and that was destroyed during the fight with Roger the One-Handed. We're going to have to completely rebuild the computer files from the paper records in the basement."

As she says this, a pretty, young woman walks into the building and Marco immediately flinches, as if something had happened between the two of them.

"Regina, are you okay?" Mary asks concerned.

"I've just been having bad dreams for the last few nights," Regina says.

"About what?" Mary asks, concerned.

"About..." Regina says, and then trails off.

"The kidnapping?" Mary guesses.

"Yes," Regina says.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Mary asks.

"I'll talk to Archie about it later," Regina says. "I don't want to add to your troubles."

"Of course," Mary says smiling. "You know, it's weird. Last night was the first time since someone took my Emma that I didn't have a nightmare and for some reason I can't quite explain I feel better than I have in ages."

Marco watches this exchange with great interest. He didn't know Mary offered Emma a job. From her comments about feeling better, it would seem that on some level she knows that this Emma is her daughter. That along with the town clock moving again must mean that Emma's very presence here is weakening the curse, but he now knows that her boyfriend is not his son. He saw a picture of this Neal Cassidy in the paper and he looks nothing like his son. The fact that Pinocchio is not here confirms Marco's worst fears. The system must have separated his son and Emma, which probably means she knows nothing of her true heritage or destiny. It is up to him to convince her of the truth.

"Marco, are you okay?" Regina asks in concern.

"Just tired," Marco says. "I've been having bad dreams about the kidnapping as well."

"I see," Regina says. "Maybe you should talk to Archie too."

"I will," Marco says, and then turns back to Emma. "It is a pleasure to meet you. We must have lunch sometime."

"Of course," Emma says, watching as the old man leaves. She fully intends to stay away from him as much as possible. While she senses the old man doesn't mean her any harm, she still feels weird about the way he looks at her.

"Regina has volunteered to help us rebuild the destroyed computer files," Mary says. "Are you any good with computers?"

"I'm excellent with computer systems," Emma says. "Before I dropped out of high school I had a 4.0 grade point average."

"You did?" Mary asks, surprised. "Why did you drop out?"

Emma considered not telling her, but for some reason some part of her tells her, she can trust this woman. "My last foster parents were real jerks," Emma says, telling her everything that happened on her last birthday, except for the part about her being a thief. When she is finished, Mary is speechless.

"How awful," Regina says. "Doesn't the foster care system have any checks and balances in it?"

"I asked myself that many times," Emma says, "and the answer I came up with is no."

"Well," Mary says, trying to come up with something to say. "You can't change the past. All you can do is look forward to the future."

"I am," Emma says. "Life has been awful for me in the past, but Neal has been so good to me and everyone I've met in town is so nice."

"With the exception of Roger the One-Handed," Mary says.

"I don't know why everyone insists on calling him that," Regina groans. "I know he lost his hand, but calling him Roger the One-Handed makes it sound like he's a villain in a bad Batman comic."

"Well you have to admit that he acts like a villain from a bad Batman comic," Mary points out.

"True," Regina admits. "Well let's get to work. Those computer files aren't going to rebuild themselves."

Five hours later, the trio is still working on retyping all the information from the paper files into the computer system. Emma looks in dismay at how little they've done and how much they have left to go.

"There must be a hundred boxes here and we've barely finished the first one," Emma says. "This will take months."

"I know," Mary says, dismayed, "and we have to have it finished in time for the yearly budget review in the last week of September."

"At our current rate, we won't be done until mid-November," Regina says, "and I have to start school in two weeks."

"We need more volunteers," Emma says.

"You're right," Mary says. "Anyway it's way past time for lunch, let's head to Granny's and we can think about who we can get to help us."

"Sounds good," Regina says.

They head over to Granny's diner and find they have indeed missed the lunch rush and there are only a few other people in the diner.

"Emma," Granny says, calling her over, "you missed Neal by a couple of hours."

"I'm surprised he didn't call me," Emma says, only now realizing that he hadn't.

"He wanted to, but I explained that the town hall computer systems and the back-ups were completely destroyed and that you were probably swamped," Granny says. "He said he didn't want to disturb you on your first day at work, and for you to call him at the sheriff's office when you get off."

"Sheriff's office?" Regina asks in surprise. "What's he doing at the sheriff's office?"

"Ruby offered him a position as deputy for his quick thinking at the town hall," Mary says.

"And you're okay with that?" Regina asks surprised.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Mary asks confused.

"Well it's just that David..." Regina says, trailing off.

"Oh that's right," Emma says. "Your husband was sheriff before Ruby. I didn't think..."

"Don't worry about it," Mary says, "either of you. I haven't given up on David recovering, but even if he wakes up today, he won't be able to return to work for months and Ruby needs the help."

As she says this, an older gentleman with a cane walks in.

"Good morning Madame Mayor," Mr. Gold says. "Mrs. Mills. How are you doing today?"

"I'm doing fine," Mary says.

"And you are?" Mr. Gold asks Emma.

"Don't you already know?" Emma asks.

"Yes, but I prefer to have introductions done in person, rather than by rumor," Mr. Gold says.

"Emma Swan," she says, extending her hand.

Eighteen Years Ago

"I still don't like you doing this," Belle says. "What if something goes wrong?"

"Nothing will go wrong," Rumplestiltskin says. "I spent centuries planning this."

"But what will I do when you're gone?" Belle asks. "What if Regina finds me?"

"Regina still thinks you're locked up," Rumplestiltskin says, "and she's too busy preparing her curse to waste time and effort getting through my defenses."

"But I'll miss you," Belle says.

"And I you, my love," Rumplestiltskin says, "but I've already explained why I'm doing this it's the only way I'll ever find my son."

"I know, but are you sure the Snow and James' daughter will be all right?" Belle asks.

"I'm sure," Rumplestiltskin says.

"But what will happen to her?" Belle asks.

"I don't know for certain," Rumplestiltskin says, looking a bit disturbed. "Telling the future is difficult at the best of times and this new land's lack of magic is clouding my vision, but she should be fine. The Blue Fairy has already located an enchanted tree that can protect two from this curse, so even if Snow has the child before the tree can be readied, at least one of her parents will be able to accompany her."

"Are you sure?" Belle asks. "What if the curse hits before the tree can be readied?"

"I spent centuries designing this curse," Rumplestiltskin says, "and while this lesser curse is more benign and riskier than the one I originally planned to use, I wouldn't leave something like that to chance."

"I know," Belle says.

"Now this is important," Rumplestiltskin says, handing Belle a chipped teacup.

"The teacup I chipped," Belle says. "I can't believe you kept it."

"Of course I kept it," Rumplestiltskin says. "It was all I had left of you when I thought you were dead."

"But why give it to me now?" Belle asks.

"It's a powerful symbol of our love," Rumplestiltskin says. "As such it is one of the few objects that will retain its magical powers in this new land. I've enchanted it with a spell. Once I've learned the unborn child's name I will use a magical type of ink I've hidden on myself to write her name so I'll remember it. When this child comes to Storybrooke and tells me her name of her own free will, it will break the curse on me at once so I can help her with her quest to break the curse on everyone else."

"What about me?" Belle asks.

"That's where the enchantment comes in," Rumplestiltskin says. "Once I finish my task, this cup will glow bright gold. Once that happens, you'll have to drink a cup of tea from it. You must do it within an hour of the enchantment's activation, so keep it on you at all times. It will glow so bright, that it will waken you at once just in case you're sleeping at the time. Then when I remember my true self in the other world, I will give you another cup of tea in this new world, which will restore your memories."

"And if I mess up?" Belle asks afraid.

"Then you'll have to wait a few more months for the curse to be broken on everyone to get your memories back," Rumplestiltskin says, "but I don't think I can wait that long."

"And we'll be able to kiss in this new land?" Belle asks.

"Yes my love," Rumplestiltskin promises.

"I'll be sure to guard this cup with my life," Belle says.

"One more thing," Rumplestiltskin says, hesitating. He then takes out a scary looking dagger.

"What is that?" Belle asks fearfully.

"This is the only thing capable of killing me," Rumplestiltskin says. "I used it to kill the previous Dark One. It can also summon me from wherever I am, no matter what spell is holding me."

He places the dagger in Belle's hand. "This hasn't been out of my possession once in over three hundred years," he says. "If your life is in danger, you can use it summon me, but only if you're in danger. If I leave that cell than all my centuries of planning will be ruined and I will have to start again."

"Then why risk it?" Belle asks.

"Because I value your life more than my plan," Rumplestiltskin says. "I can start from scratch if I have to, but there is no way to bring back the dead, at least not in a way that you'll want to live."

Belle begins to question him on that, but then thinks better of it. "I won't let the cup or the dagger out of my sight and I'll only use it if I absolutely have to."

"Well I'm off," Rumplestiltskin says. "I'll see you again in a few months and with your full memories in twenty-eight years."

Present day

"Emma, what a lovely name," Mr. Gold says, and then checks his watch. "I'm so sorry, but I just remembered I'm supposed to meet my wife for tea. I'll have to chat some other time."

He turns to leave the diner.

"Wait you forgot the rent money," Granny says.

"I'll pick it up later," Mr. Gold says, hurrying off to his car. "I'm really in a hurry."

"That was odd," Granny says. "Not once since I've known him has he missed a rent payment."

"Yes that is odd," Regina says, "and did you see the way his whole demeanor changed when Emma introduced herself."

"He probably just doesn't want to miss his date with his wife," Emma says, although she does think she saw something strange come over Mr. Gold when she said her name. Then she decides to ignore it. For the first time ever, she has a home and she isn't going to let some strange looks from a couple of old men ruin it for her. "Anyway, I'm starving. Let's eat."