The Outsider
A couple days later, several Storybrooke residents were gathered around a casket and a tombstone. It read 'Archibald Hopper – Friend and Conscience'. Mary Margaret stood in front of the crowd to give the eulogy, "Some of us knew him as Archie. Others, as Jiminy. But we all knew him as a true friend. And though, he may now be gone, he will always live on inside of us. Reminding us to be our best selves, to do the right thing, to always fight for what we believe in. So, we shouldn't think of today as goodbye, just as a way of saying… Archie, we'll be listening."
After the funeral was over, Marco and Gwen walked up to the tombstone and laid Archie's umbrella against it, "I miss you so much, my friend." said Marco, "Well, at least… You are in a better place."
Gwen placed a rose on the tombstone, "I love you, Archie." she kissed the fingers on her right and placed it on the tombstone.
A little while later, Mary Margaret, Gwen, Tamera and Fallon watched Emma offer Henry a Pop Tart as he sat on Mary Margaret's bed, just looking out the window. He turned it down. Emma set it on the bed then walked over to her mother, her aunt and friends, "Well, that went well." said Emma.
"Emma, you're doing all you can do," said Mary Margaret.
"That's what makes me feel awful."
Just then, Leroy walked up to them, "Ladies? The dwarves have been thinking. We have to ask – when do we go back?"
"Back? Where?" asked Gwen.
"The Enchanted Forest. Our home."
"You want to go back?" asked Mary Margaret.
"We fought really hard to get here," said Emma.
"But with what Regina did to Archie, Storybrooke ain't as safe as we thought," said Leroy.
"We're going to find her," said Emma, "There's only so many places she can hide."
"We've dealt with her before, we'll do it again," said Fallon.
"But it's not just her," said Leroy, " The curse is broken. There's a whole world full of people beyond the town line that don't know who or what we are. Ever think of what might happen if one of them were to come pay us a visit?"
"He's right," said Ruby, "What if they see, you know, magic? Like a girl turning into a wolf, for example? People weren't exactly understanding back in our world."
"Okay, let's not worry about 'what ifs'" said Emma, "No one is here."
"Yet," said Leroy, "Maybe they come, maybe they don't. But that doesn't change the fact that while we might enjoy things like penicillin, we're a bit homesick."
Later that day, David and Mary Margaret were washing dishes at the loft. Gwen was helping them clean up. David walked up to his sister, "How are you doing?"
Gwen sighed, "Better... I'm taking things one day at a time." He gave her a hug and
They saw Henry sitting on Mary Margaret's bed. They saw Henry on the phone, "Who's he calling?" asked David.
Mary Margaret picked up the extension, and they heard Archie's voice on his office answering machine, "You've reached the office of Archibald Hopper. I'm sorry I can't take your call right now. I'm either with a patient-"
"Or dead," said Henry as he hung up the phone.
Gwen walked over and sat down next to him on the bed, "It'll be okay, Henry. Things will get better, I promise. You just… got to hang in there."
"Doesn't feel that way," said Henry.
"I know. I know."
Just then, Pongo came in and rushed over to Henry, "Pongo!" He said.
"How did he get in here?" asked Gwen.
"I brought him," said Emma as she came in, "Marco and I had a chat. Archie knew how much Henry loves this dog. We decided he should have him. If that's fine with you, Gwen?"
Gwen smiled, "Archie would be fine with it and that'd good enough for me." Then she looked at Henry, "That is, if you're up for taking care of him."
"Yeah, I am!" said Henry.
They saw the trail of mud Pongo brought in.
"Henry, why don't you take Pongo outside and clean him up?" asked Emma.
"Okay. Come on. Come on, boy! Come on! Let's go! Come on, boy," said Henry as him and Pongo left.
Gwen smiled and stood up, "I'll go give him a hand." Then Gwen walked out.
A little later, Henry was sitting a the table drawing while Pongo was lying near his feet. Gwen and Emma walked over and Emma asked, "You plotting your escape from Shawshank, kid?"
"No, they're blueprints," said Henry, "I had some ideas for what to do if David and Mary Margaret move out. Look."
They looked over the blueprints and Gwen asked, "You want to make Mary Margaret's room an armory?"
"Yeah. You know, for weapons and stuff. To protect me and Mom... from Regina."
"She's not going to hurt you," said Emma, "I'm not going to let her."
"She hurt Archie. What if she wants to take me back?" asked Henry.
"That's not going to happen," said Gwen. Just then then there was a knock on the door and Pongo became excited, "Pongo? What is it?" She and Emma went over to the door and they were shocked when he saw Archie, alive, on the other side, "Archie…"
"Gwen," said Archie. The two of them hugged and kissed. Tears of joy started to fall down Gwen's cheeks.
"Please tell me your real," said Gwen.
"I'm here, Gwenevere..." said Archie.
"What happened?" asked Emma.
"It was Cora," said Archie as he and Gwen broke there embrace, "She kidnapped me."
"Archie?" said Henry as she walked over.
"Henry," The two of them hugged, "Oh, it's alright. I'm fine. I'm fine."
"Henry," said Emma, "We were wrong. Regina didn't do it."
"I knew it. Maybe we should let her know," said Henry.
"Yeah. But something tells me, either way, we're going to pay the price." said Emma. Just then Emma's phone rang, "Sheriff Swan… OK… All right… We'll be right there."
Gwen looked at her niece, "What's up?"
"There's been some kind of accident at the town line, we've got to go," said Emma. She looked at Archie, "Can you watch Henry?"
"Of course," said Archie.
"Come on Gwen..."
Gwen gave Archie a kiss. She didn't want to leave but duty called, "I love you..."
Archie smiled, "I love you, too..." Then Gwen and Emma headed out. Emma called David and Gwen called Tamera and Fallon.
When they got to the town line, Emma, David and Mary Margaret arrived one squad car while Gwen, Fallon and Tamera came in the other, they saw Gold holding an injured Belle. Another man was unconscious at the side of the road, he had a hook for a hand. There was also crashed car on the side of the road with a man inside.
"What are you?!" They heard Belle shout at Mr. Gold.
"Are you okay?" asked David, as he, Fallon and Mary Margaret went over to Belle and Gold.
"I'm at the town line," said Emma, on her cellphone, "Two people down, maybe three. There's a car – pretty banged up with Pennsylvania plates."
"What's going on?" asked Fallon
"She crossed over the line. She doesn't remember," said Gold.
Emma, Gwen and Tamera went over to the man with the hook for a hand. He was now conscious and looked up at Emma, "Hey, beautiful. Here, I didn't think you'd notice,"
"You know him?" asked Gwen.
"Yeah... Mary Margaret and I met him in the Enchanted Forest... Meet Captain Hook..." Mary Margaret and Emma told them all about how Hook had been working with Cora in the Enchanted Forest. Obviously, he was how she got to Storybrooke. Emma leaned down and pushed on his ribs. He yelled out in pain and she said, "Your ribs are broken."
"Oh, that must be why it hurts when I laugh," said Hook. He looked over at Gold, "Did you see his face? His one true love, gone in an instant! Just like Milah, crocodile!" Gold walked toward Hook and Hook said, "When you took her from me…"
"But you took her first," said Gold. Then, he kicked Hook in the face and lunged at him, pressing his cane against Hook's neck.
"Gold, are you insane?!" asked Tamera.
"Yes, I am!" said Gold.
David and Fallon rushed over to help Gwen up to pull Gold off of Hook "You can't do that!" said Fallon.
"I can if you let me go."
"You don't want her to see that," said Tamera, as she pointed over to Belle.
"I'm a stranger to her," said Gold.
"Murder is a bad first impression," said Emma.
"What would Belle want you to do?" asked David
Just then they heard the ambulance arrive, distracting Gold long enough for David to pull him off of Hook.
"Over here!" called David.
The paramedics head over to them but then Emma saw the other car, "No! Him! Take care of him. He can wait."
Mary Margaret and Belle walked over, "What?" she asked.
"There's someone in there."
"Stay," Mary Margaret said to Belle, "I'll be right back."
Emma, Gwen, Fallon, Tamera, David and Mary Margaret watched as the paramedics checked on the unconscious driver of the car.
"Do you know this guy?" asked Emma.
"I've never seen him before," said Gwen.
"That's because he drove into town," said David.
"From the outside?" asked Mary Margaret.
"Looks like the world just came to Storybrooke," said Emma.
Hook and the driver of the car were wheeled into the hospital on stretchers by the paramedics, while the rest of the group from the accident site follow behind them, "Car versus pedestrian," said one of the paramedics, "Chest trauma from the wheel. Pedestrian's got contusions, broken ribs."
"Go to X-ray," said the attending nurse, "Pedestrian first."
"Hide him," said Emma.
"What?"
Emma pointed at Hook, "Find a room and hide him,"
Just then Gold came in, "Belle. What's going on?"
David blocked him, "Get him out of here!"
"Well, what's happening? Belle!"
"I'd like to know that myself," said Leroy.
"Belle! Belle!"
Just then, Dr. Whale walked in, "Everybody, calm down!" he looked at Gold, "Mr. Gold. Everything will be fine. She's in good hands here. I promise."
Mary Margaret, David, Gwen, Fallon, Tamera, Ruby and Leroy were the lobby of the hospital with the driver's cell phone while Emma talked to Hook, "We've got to get into his phone," said Leroy.
"Let me guess another pass code," said David as he took the phone from Mary Margaret.
"You can't guess. There are a million possible combinations," said Mary Margaret.
"Ten-thousand," said Ruby.
"Ten-thousand."
"Leroy, can you get it open or something? Hack it?" said Tamera.
"Well, you do understand that computer hacking and pickaxe hacking are different," said Leroy.
Just then Emma, walked up. "Here, let me," said Emma, as she took the phone from David, "I have a thing," Emma plugged a hacking device in the phone. "And we do know something. There was stuff in his car – rental agreement, maps, receipts. His name is Greg Mendell." Emma got into the phone and started to look through it, "Pictures of him alone at a bunch of Eastern Seaboard tourist locations, a LinkedIn account, and he tweets pictures of his food. I'll keep looking, but I think what we have here is a well-documented, real-life ordinary Joe. Or Greg."
"So, whatever's kept random people from stumbling into Storybrooke for the last twenty-eight years..." said Gwen.
"Is gone," said Mary Margaret.
"Anyone could drive in," said David, "Why are my instincts telling me that's a bad thing?"
"Cause you've seen E.T., or Splash, or any other movie where they find something magical and study it to death," said Leroy, "Think what'd they do to a werewolf."
"Oh, and his friends and family?" said Mary Margaret, "They're going to come looking for him soon."
"Let's try not to overreact," said Emma.
"Leroy's right," said Fallon, "We don't need outsiders here."
"Hook says he doesn't know where Cora is, and God knows what she's going to do," said Emma, "With other people coming here, that's not going to be good for anyone."
"We need to find Regina," said Mary Margaret, "and tell her we know she was framed."
"I've been tracking her. No luck. She's gone underground," said Ruby.
"What if Cora finds her first?" asked Mary Margaret, "I don't want to think about the damage those two would do together. This could not have come at a worse time."
"It's okay. The guy's being patched up right now," said Emma, "He'll probably be on his way home by morning."
Just then, Dr. Whale walked up, "Not quite. He's bleeding into his chest cavity. It's not a full flood, you know. But, pretty soon, he'll be drowning in his own blood."
"So make it stop. Aren't you a doctor?"
Just then, Dr. Whale saw Gold walking down the stairs, "Gold," the doctor walked up to Gold, "You fixed me. Now fix him. It will take you seconds and cost you nothing."
"No," said Gold.
"No? Just… No?"
"I owe you nothing, Whale. I owe none of you anything. And some of you, owe me. So, yeah, just… No. Oh, and point of interest – the driver? He saw me throwing some magic. So, instead of trying to get him out of here, you better be hoping he dies. Because if he doesn't, he's going to be driving tour buses up and down main street. So glad I don't give a damn," then Gold walked away.
Dr. Whale turned back to the group, "Look… Letting him die is easy. I can do that, if that's what you decide."
"Let's take this somewhere private," said Emma.
They walked into a supply room and Dr. Whale said, "It's not really murder if we let him succumb to his injuries."
"I'm pretty sure it is," said Emma.
"Of course we save him," said Mary Margaret.
"Obviously," said David.
"Well…" said Fallon.
"Fallon!" scolded Mary Margaret.
"If we save him and kill the whole town, is that really better?"
"So we have to choose between our lives and his," said Tamera.
"We can worry about the town later," said Gwen.
"Which doesn't mean we should abandon him," said Mary Margaret.
"I know, but let's worry about Storybrooke after we save a life. Dr. Whale, prep for surgery," Said David. Dr. Whale nodded and left.
"Anyone else notice he's drunk off his ass?" asked Mary Margaret.
Suddenly, the Star Wars theme started to come from Greg's phone, "Someone's looking for Greg," said Emma, "How long before they come here?"
A little while later, they were all in the lobby of the hospital. Greg's phone, now on silent, began to vibrate. Emma looked at it, "Same person again?" asked Fallon.
"'Her'," said Emma, as she looked at the caller ID on the screen, "Cute."
"Probably a girlfriend," said David.
"We could answer it – just let her know he's okay," said Mary Margaret.
"He's not okay," said Emma.
"He's alive. We could let her know he's alive," said Tamera.
"Nah. The police could trace it here instantly," said David.
"She can activate the find your phone thing without us picking it up at all," said Emma.
The phone stopped vibrating, "That settles that," said Leroy.
"Oh, my nerves can't take this. Is the surgery almost over?" asked Mary Margaret.
"I… I think it takes…" Emma started to say, when a man walked in and scanned the lobby.
He turned to leave when Gwen went to stopped him, "Whoa. Whoa. Wait. Wait. Any news?"
"No. I was just looking for the doctor," said the man.
"He's not in the OR?" asked Ruby.
"He never came in."
"Then page him," said Emma.
"He was not looking so good earlier," said David.
The man picked up a phone and they heard a beeping sound from nearby, "He's here," said Mary Margaret.
They all looked and saw the beeping was coming from a laundry basket of dirty scrubs. Emma looked through it and found Dr. Whale's lab coat with his pager in the pocket, "No, but his pager is," said Emma, "He's gone."
Emma handed Dr. Whale's lab coat to Ruby and she started to sniff it to pick up the scent, "Got the scent?" asked David.
"Boozy," said Ruby.
"Just find him and bring him back," said Emma, "We'll watch Hook and figure out options if Whale doesn't come back."
"Maybe Doc can do it," Mary Margaret suggested.
Leroy started to laugh, "Surgery?" then he got serious, "No."
"Maybe he didn't even run. Maybe Cora grabbed him for some reason."
"I don't think so," said Gwen, "He's been in a rough place since he brought Regina's fiancé back to life."
"Daniel?" asked Mary Margaret.
"Back to life?!" asked Emma.
"And had his arm ripped off and put back on," said David.
"Cool," said Leroy.
"Wait. Daniel came back?" asked Mary Margaret.
"Like some kind of Frankenstein?" asked Emma.
"That's Whale," said Tamera, "The doctor. And Daniel was his-"
"What went on here while we were gone?" asked Mary Margaret.
"Ruby, get going. Bring back… Dr. Frankenstein," said Emma. Then Ruby left, "We're going to send this guy back home with bolts in his neck."
"She'll find him," said Mary Margaret.
"Yeah, but what kind of state is he going to be in?"
A while later, Dr. Whale and Ruby came back to the hospital, while the others were still waiting in the lobby, "You're back," said Mary Margaret.
"Finally," said Emma.
"I don't know why everyone's so worried," said Dr. Whale, "I was just stretching my legs. Now I'm going to go do this thing." Then, he headed off to the operating room.
A few hours later, Dr. Whale walked out and Ruby walked over to him, "Where are they?" asked Dr. Whale.
"Getting coffee from the machine," said Ruby, "What's the verdict?"
"He'll live."
"You did it?"
"Thank you. Monster to monster."
"You did it!"
The others came around the corner when they hear Ruby, "He's going to make it?" asked David.
"He's got some recuperating ahead of him – a few weeks, maybe – but yes," said Dr. Whale, "He's going to live."
"Thank goodness," said Mary Margaret.
"Or me."
"Telling you right now, this will come to no good," said Leroy.
"Quiet, Leroy," said David.
"I want to talk to him," said Emma.
"He's waking up now," said Dr. Whale.
"Already?" asked Gwen.
"I waited a couple of hours to tell you in case he, you know, keeled over," said Dr. Whale, "But so far, so good."
"Alright, then," said Mary Margaret.
"Well, let's talk to him," said David.
"We're not talking to him as a group," said Emma, "We're not a group Sheriff."
"But, we've been doing this together," said Mary Margaret.
"We're trying to convince this guy this place is normal," said Emma, "In a normal town, the Sheriff goes in and asks a few questions. She doesn't bring her parents in with her."
"That's probably true," said David.
"We'll be right here, then," said Mary Margaret.
Everyone patiently waited downstairs while Emma talked the man. Emma came back downs headed back down a short time later and told them that he didn't see anything. He was looking at his phone before he hit Hook. "He didn't see nothing?" asked Leroy.
"Free and clear," said Emma.
"Oh, good," said Mary Margaret.
"Now maybe, things can calm down for ten minutes and we can catch our breath," said David.
AN: Remember, if you like this story. Review, Favorite and Follow. It gives me motivation to keep going.