"I bet she's doing it again," Eirys says pouring the white tea into a white and pale green tea cup. "Even in this weather." Outside the little store the wind was howling, tossing leaves everywhere with the signs of rain. She glances once again at the grandfather clock ticking towards 7:15.

"And what would she be doing?" Mr. Gold asks taking a sip of the tea, only to put the tea cup back on the table and reach for a muffin. "Cucumber?"

Eirys sniggers silently. "Of course, I couldn't resist." She greedily pours herself another cup of the tea. "You should at least give it a change, you know."

"I'd rather not." He says ripping apart his banana bread muffin. "So, going back to what we were discussing before we were interrupted by this, tea." He pushes the tea away from him, as if distance could eliminate all of the malice he had for the flavor.

Eirys takes the teacup and pours its contents down the drain. "Mary Margaret has taken up the habit of stalking a certain someone every single day around this moment in time at a certain café."

"I see," Mr. Gold says probably not taking much care about the affairs of someone he held at arm's length. "How do you know about this little detail in her life?" Eirys pours him a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice.

"I have my own ways of learning information. You're not the only one with connections around Storybrooke."

"Come on Bae, how do you know you won't like it if you've never tried it?" Ivy demands jogging slightly to keep up with Bae's longer strides and they make their way through the forest. Since Ivy had free time due to the wedding between Prince James and Midas's daughter, Ivy thought that she might as well help Bae with his work.

Bae whirls around almost causing the shorter girl to run into him. "That isn't food, its poison. The last time I got near it I got hives." They were once again arguing about Bae's terrible diet and the fact that here seemed to be a nice layer of fat growing around his midsection.

Ivy rolls her blue eyes as they continue their little journey. "But pumpkins are amazing."

"You can go and feed your pumpkin filled foods to your other little friend," Bae says strolling down the trail that led to a small dock just at the edge of the forest. "But I have a little business to take care of."

"With whom?" Ivy asks just barely hearing the splashing sounds of a boat. However, the mist that had settled itself over the lake masked the view of the stranger. "What should I do?"

"You should just stay here and don't do anything stupid." He starts to walk out of the covering of the forest. "And don't make a single peep." And with that he too disappears under the veil of the mist.

And of course, being told to do nothing meant that time would only trickle by so slowly in Ivy's mind. The rustling sound of legs walking through bushes roused her from her slumber. "What took you so long?" Ivy yawns, stretching her arms above her head.

"If you must know, I was tending to a young girl's broken heart." Bae says offering Ivy a hand from her cuddled position with a nearby tree. "Love is a dangerous thing after all."

"Love can also be very important; no one can deny its powers." Ivy says through her yawns. "So, did you help her gain the love that she wanted?"

"It's more like forgetting an impossible love." Bae replies helping Ivy make their way through the dense forest. On a day when she wasn't so tired, Ivy would be able to hear the mischievous tricky tone to his usual mocking voice. However, being tired in the middle of a forest very late into the night did nothing for her cognitive abilities. "It was a love that was not meant to be."

"I hope she's happy like this," Ivy mumbles transferring her tired glomp to Bae, attaching her arms around his arm, her long finger nails biting into his skin painfully. "I wonder what will happen if the two of them meet again."

"I guess we'll just have to see." Bae says trying to pry her fingers off his arm with no results. By the time they had made it back to his castle, Bae was literally dragging Ivy's deadweight body on the ground. "You are not the easiest creature to drag through the forest."

He lays her under the covers before going to bang his head against a nearby wall for the not realizing that he could have just found a magically solution to the problem instead of taking the hard and laborious way out of things. "I'll have you pay me in the morning." Bae rubs his sore arm thankful to the nearby lamp that he used to replace his arm in Ivy's iron grip.

However, upon entering his sanctuary room the familiar scent of pumpkins wafted up to his nose. Of course he couldn't go one day without having some sadistic joke played on him by either the world or by Ivy. "And I'm going to collect with interest." He takes the plate of pumpkin pie and walks it towards the trash bin. However, the sparkling white whip cream sitting on top of the soft flaky crust covering the muted orange pumpkin filling made his stomach growl. "Just one bite couldn't hurt." And just as his instinct had told him, the pie, upon digestion was like a punch to his gut. So never again will Bae ever eat late night pumpkin pie.

"I see you enjoyed the pumpkin pie," Ivy says having recovered from his fatigue. Her smiling innocent face was just a little too innocent. "I don't suppose you left any room for a little feast at a nearby estate?"

"Are you talking about the feast at King Midas's castle for the wedding between Prince James and Abigail?" Bae asks rubbing his stomach, he suspicious picks at his freshly made salad of greens and meat. "You didn't put anything in this, right? I'm not going to run off to the bathroom after eating this, am I?"

"Of course not, that would be too cruel." Ivy says pushing the plate of salad towards the paranoid friend of hers. "I just can't wait for the party; I heard that King Midas has a lot of fancy dinnerware."

"He can turn anything he touches into gold with that hand of his." Bae adds thinking about getting a golden platter for his room, it would add that last bit of luster that his room was currently lacking. "You don't think he'd mind loaning me one."

Ivy gently smacks him on the head. "You shouldn't try to steal from him, after all, he's letting us eat at his castle, don't ruin this for me!"

"I like how you came to me to help you with this problem." Eirys says pulling out a surprising well maintained bird cage from under a pile of junk in her storage shed behind her house. "I can't remember the last time I've used this thing."

Mary Margaret puts the white feathered bird in the cage, letting it sit on some shredded newspaper. "Maybe we should take it to the animal shelter?"

"Woah, hold up, rewind," Eirys says holding up her hands. "'We' aren't going anywhere, you're going to take the bird to the animal shelter. I have a lot of work to do around here to prepare for the storm." Although the weather channel said the storm wouldn't be coming for a while, the wind and the rain clouds were telling a different story.

"Don't worry, I'll be right back, once I'm sure she's ok." Mary Margaret says taking the cage to her car. "I'll call you if I need anything!"

"Don't do anything stupid Mary Margaret." Eirys calls out after her, although the wind probably blew her comments away from the school teacher. "You don't think one of us should go with her do you?" Ashley Boyd shakes her head seeming to have the childish fear of thunder.

Ashley flinches as another crack of thunder sounds above them. "P-perhaps we should finish this up first?" she gestures towards the potted plants that were sitting outside. They needed to be taken into the back storage room and any flowers that were rooted to the soil outside needed to be wrapped and some sort of container needed to be securely placed on top. "We have a lot to do."

And not enough time. Eirys glances up at the sky. The dark rain clouds were bloated with water. "Go fetch Mr. Gold; we need all the help we can get." Eirys props the store door open while trying to get her large pots inside.

"I don't suppose you'd need any help." Mr. Gold says with a cowering Ashley behind him. "I'll stand here, and try not to get in your way." He leans against the door, holding it open with Ashley and Eirys take the heavy plants in doors.

"Why don't you head home, Ashley." Eirys pushes the last potted plant into her backroom, making it look like a deranged jungle. "I'm sure Alexandra is awaiting your return."

Ashley nods quickly gathering her stuff to leave for the day. "Maybe you should drive her home. She looks jumpier than a loose leaf." Indeed, Ashley Boyd may have gone through hours of labor, but she was still a young woman who was afraid of thunder.

"Ashley, let me drive." Eirys takes the keys out of the shaky girl's hands. "I don't think it's safe for you to be driving if you're this jumpy. You can have Sean drop you off tomorrow morning to pick up your car." Ashley gratefully takes the passenger seat of Eriys's car, letting the older woman drive her back to Sean's house where Alexandra was spending the day.

"You look like a drowned cat." Mr. Gold says stepping around the potted plants to hand Eirys a dry towel. Eirys had managed to get Ashley to Sean's house before the storm hit, but once the storm came it came down like no other. Within a matter of seconds the streets were starting to flood and she was soaked to the bone from the run from her car to her store.

Eirys tosses her wet jacket into the laundry basket by her washing machine. "It could have made, I was this close." She holds her index finger mere centimeters from her thumb. "Just another minute and I would be inside, warm, and still dry."

And in that exact moment all of the electricity goes out. "Well, isn't this pleasant?" Mr. Gold asks sarcastically. He could hear the calm shuffles of Eirys's socks making its way around the tiny kitchenette looking for candles.

"I just hope that we don't burn the store down or my house." Eirys says lighting another white candle; they had over a dozen candles lit just to have enough light to walk around the plants without tripping. "I can try and get the other stove working."

For some reason she had one of those stoves that needed to be fueled by wood to work. In modern times it's not a very convenient piece of technology; however, its times like these that Mr. Gold no longer questions the eccentricity of his store neighbor. "Please do," He gently eases himself into his chair, watching the wax slowly melt off the candles.

Luckily for the both of them the old stove seemed to have enough energy to make a good pot of hot tea. "Just watch the water while I got changed." Eirys says taking a candle and disappearing up the stairs to her room. "And don't let it boil too much unless you want the tea to burn your tongue."

"Yes, yes." Mr. Gold replies carelessly. He knew his response would infuriate her and make her worry about the tea because if there is one thing he learned about her in all the years they have known each other is that her pride is deeply connected to her ability to make good tea. Why it was like that, he could only guess, but he knew that she would not allow herself to make a bad brew. "I was watching it you know."

Eirys rolls her blue eyes, fixing the collar of her sweater after she came tumbling down the stairs to check up on the tea. "Not with that type of attitude." She quickly scans her many boxes of teas. "I think a nice calming peach tea is in order."

"So, you want me to help you check up on Snow, because of some love story connection the two of you had while you both were locked in King George's prison?" Ivy asks rubbing her sleepy eyes. The party the previous night was full of excessive eating and some how, lots of drinking. "Why should I do this again?"

Grumpy rolls his stony eyes. "Because you obviously have nothing better to do, you're picking peaches in the dark." Grumpy definitely lived up to his name, even though he was actually just a real softy.

"What if I had a sudden desire to eat peaches in the middle of the night?" Ivy counters even though it was not true. "But I suppose I could join you and see how that tricky little girl is doing."

It was surprising to find Snow White walking away from King George's castle in tears. "Hey sister, I guess you didn't find him." Grumpy and the other dwarves merge in with her, their lanterns lighting up the road in front of them.

"It's worse than that, I lost him." Snow says wiping her tears on a handkerchief offered by Ivy. Grumpy reaches out and grasps her hand, squeezing it once.

"Come along then." Ivy says as the dwarves lead Snow White down the path she was currently on. "We're going home."

Snow looks to Grumpy for an explanation. "We all lost someone today. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you. Now, we're going to take you home and we're going to protect you."

"I don't need protection, but my heart." She lets go of Grumpy's hand and takes a clear vial filled with a cloudy white liquid out of her pocket. "But with this, all my feelings, all this pain can be erased."

"No," Grumpy says snatching the vial away before Ivy could wonder what was in the vial, and before Snow could make the fatal mistake of drinking the liquid and becoming a possible vegetable for the rest of her life.

"But you of all people should know what it's like. You lost love too." Snow White says trying to make him understand. "What if all of your pain would be erased?"

"I don't want to erase my pain." Grumpy explains, "I need my pain, it makes me who I am, Grumpy. You're not alone anymore, that's the entire cure you need. And if the pain gets too much." He hands the vial back to her. "But not tonight."

Ivy smiles leading them back off the path towards the dwarf's house deep within the forest. "And you can always come to me for anything you need just send out the word and I'll come, ok?"

Snow nods, "I'll try."

"Good, now we can't have you dressing or smelling like dwarves while you heal so I'll arrange for something more suitable to be brought to you." Ivy says mentally making a list of all the items the dwarves were going to need now that they were living with a human. "And perhaps some food, you look thinner than I last saw you, but it might just be the isolation."

Ivy takes another glance at the cloudy liquid sitting in the vial on the desk in the little room the dwarves had allowed Snow to stay in. Ivy had the sudden urge to just snatch it up and toss its contents down the nearest outhouse she could find, however, if Snow was stupid enough to do something like that, then all hope of true love would be lost with it.

"Make sure she doesn't do anything stupid like trying to stop the royal wedding." Ivy whispers to Grumpy before pulling the hood of her traveling cloak over her head to block out the bright rays of the sun. "And try to keep and eye on that vial."

A potion that could take away the feelings of a broken heart sounded too good to be true, especially at this moment in time when Snow's emotions were going crazy. No potion could perform its duties without some sort of side effect and the stronger the potion, the stronger the side effect is, and the stronger its effect on the user's life it will be.

Grumpy nods, "Don't worry about her, she's in safe hands here." Ivy nods heading back into the forest.

As it turns out, the forest areas took the brunt of the storm, leaving most, if not all the shops intact. "You know what I miss?" Eirys asks rhetorically skimming through the morning paper. "The stories that Sydney used to write."

"Even if the stories were about your friend, Emma and were printed under the direction of the mayor?" Mr. Gold asks sipping his tea. "Are we on some sort of diet here? All I see is peaches and last week it was bananas."

Eirys rolls her eyes, tossing the boring paper to the side. "I got a lot of peaches for a good price. And I like peaches. I'll make a fruit salad for tomorrow." She added yogurt to a list of food she needed to buy. "I sure hope you plan on giving me a discount the next time I go to your store. After all, I'm practically feeding you here."

"Of course," Mr. Gold says, money was never a problem for him since he owned most of Storybrooke and had plenty of land that could be leased and sold to other people who could find better use for that space. "Maybe you should grow a peach tree if you like peaches so much."

"You have a lovely tree my Queen," Ivy glances up from picking at the hem of her coral pink dress. She was supposed to look her best of this little meeting, but it was so boring. Her friend Saphira had called her lucky for being able to travel with her parents for a while; however, Ivy would have rather just stay at home with a good book. "I'm sure it's roots will settle down nicely here."

King Leopold's second wife glances down at the little fairy girl. "What a beautiful daughter you have, and such wonderful blue eyes."

"Yes, she's going to be just like her mother." Ivy reaches up with her tiny arms and wraps them around her father's neck, and buries her face into his shirt, avoiding the gaze of the new queen. "I hope your tree will become as luscious as it was before."

The queen gazes at the tree with a certain emotion that one would not usually use to look at a tree. "Tell me, do you think my tree will be happy here?"

"One can never know." Ivy's mother replies. "But I'm sure that no matter where the tree is, it will wish that you are happy here with it." Indeed, people usually didn't see trees or plants to have any type of feeling, but in reality, their feelings are just expressed in a way that humans can't understand. "I can tell that the two of you have a special bond."

The queen gives the apple tree one last pat on the trunk. "That we do, thank you for coming so quickly when I called for your aid."

The pair bows to the queen. "It's always our pleasure to assist those pure of heart and fair of life."

"Thank you, it's a shame you won't be staying for supper." The queen says in what can only be described as a royal voice. "Perhaps, another time, then."

The two fairies bow, swiftly making their way out of the blue and gray toned castle. Despite being able to bring their daughter out of the Grounds for the day, they had to return before nightfall or else they would loose any privileges they wished to gain in the future.

"You two just barely made it." The mayor says, not that he was actually timing them or anything and could have cared less if the two fairies were the taddest bit late on their return. "I hope you two remember your agreement?"

The parents nod, letting one of the wish granting fairies remove the memories from their daughter's mind. "We can't have the children be tainted with any sort of outside influences at the moment. She will remember once she gets her wings though."

"She will do many things, this daughter of ours." Ivy's father pats Ivy's tiny sleeping head. "I just hope this memory won't come back to haunt her when she finally remembers it."

"Here are some sandwiches in case she comes late, being the mayor and all, it must be a time consuming job." Eirys says packing wrapped banana sandwiches into the lunch box on her counter. "I can't even imagine what Regina could gain from buying your land, especially in the middle of the forest."

"Sometimes in this line of work, one shouldn't ask so many questions." Mr. Gold suggests plucking the lunch box from her kitchen counter. "I'll return this tomorrow morning."

Usually there are merely a few sentences exchanged about any sort of deal transaction that Mr. Gold went through, however, this one was particularly juicy. "So, Emma and Sydney were trying to spy on you and Regina?"

"I wouldn't really put it that way," Mr. Gold puts in, though he doesn't technically deny the statement. "I think the two of them are up to something interesting. I don't suppose you have any new information to give me."

Eirys shrugs, never one to gossip about the inhabitants of Storybrooke as Mr. Gold was so fond of doing. "I heard of the stranger that has come to Storybrooke, Regina was asking around about him. He's kind of like an enigma."

"There's no law against coming to Storybrooke," Mr. Gold points out, his face totally void of any possible emotions that he could be thinking about inside that manipulating brain of his. "But, maybe, she'll bring it up during the city counsel meeting."

Eirys groans, banging her head against the table. "We have to attend that meeting don't we?"

"Unfortunately so." Mr. Gold says, only for Eirys to slump down into her chair. "You don't have to go if you don't want to."

Eirys lets out a dry laugh. "Yeah, so she can come over and uplift me from my house. No thank you, I think I'll just play sick and not go. Tell her that I give her my full support and that I wish her the best of health." Eirys quickly gets up and clears off the table, letting Mr. Gold finish off the last bits of the, mostly peach, fruit salad.

"And, what exactly will you be doing?" Mr. Gold asks knowing that Regina had her own ways of finding private information, for all anyone could know, she could have someone spying on them right this second waiting for something blackmailable to show itself. "You can't be working, someone will report you."

"That's why I'm going to hide out upstairs in my bed." Eirys says furiously scrubbing the dishes. "And then you can come get me after the meeting is over and I'll make some sort of miraculous recovery by morning and we'll pretend nothing happened."

"I'll keep you up to date about things," Mr. Gold says getting ready to leave for the meeting which was to start in a few minutes. However, unlike what Regina could do to most people, she could not totally control Mr. Gold.

"I screwed up pretty badly." Emma says. Eirys nods, propping up her pillows to get into a better sitting position. "I mean, really badly."

"So, why are you calling me?" Eirys can't help but ask. Sure she was a part of Operation Cobra like Archie and Emma, but she played more of a supportive role rather than a main part of destroying this so-called curse. "Shouldn't you be arming yourself with stronger players, you could ask Mr. Gold for help."

Emma chuckles. "Sorry, but I'm not in the business of making deals with him for the moment. But if you ever want to put in a good word about me then sure, I could use all the help I can get."

"She can't keep you and Henry apart forever you know." Eirys says feeling bad for the 28 year old mother. "You're his mother too; you should have some part of his life."

"No, I have to listen to her." Emma says the sounds of her head shaking muffles the sound of her voice. "I messed up big time today and I need to stay on her good side or else things could get very ugly."

"Well, just try to keep a low profile for now." Eirys says rubbing her temples; she was probably coming down with something for real. "We all know that Regina's got her hands in some deep pockets so just be careful, you never know who you can really trust."

"Like Mr. Gold?"

"Like Sydney." Eirys says knowing that her idea of a mistrustful person would be very different from Emma's. "He's been Regina's puppet for years, and she's known for playing dirty."

"Well, I think it's about time the tables are turned."

Eirys and Emma say their good-byes and Eirys tosses the phone onto her cluttered desk. "All this drama is giving me a headache."