"Come on, where's your happy smile?"

"Knock it off."

"Are you really just going to sit inside and paint all day?"

"Cut it out, Nina!"

The redhead pouted at the entrance of the living room, having been pushed out of her friend's personal space once already. Alison sat on the couch, staring at a blank canvas with her hands tangled in messy strands of blonde and an impatient tap in her foot. Nina sighed, knowing her teasing was only making her irritation worse and she leaned against the wall, a hand on her hip. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? I know you're stressed about Regina's painting. I thought maybe you'd just like to get out and get some fresh air or something."

Taking a deep breath in, Alison exhaled shakily and stopped her nervous foot tapping. "It's not the painting," she said, voice sullen and rigid. Her eyes danced upon the carpet and she bit her lip, wanting to avoid telling Nina the reason for her stress but knowing that she just couldn't. Nina would weasel it out of her one way or another. "I got a phone call from Emma this morning."

"Is everything okay?" Nina asked, concerned, truly wanting to know the full details of what exactly that phone call was about, but she knew better than to dig deeper than Alison was willing to share. She just waited patiently and felt herself being relieved a little when the blonde picked her head up and actually looked at her.

"Yeah, it's nothing too terrible, really. I'm just a little conflicted, that's all." And that's as far as she cared to go. She gave Nina a sad smile until she noticed what the younger girl was wearing. Normally she opted for the comfort and warmth of flannel shirts in winter, but Nina had on an olive green, short sleeved button up shirt (top few buttons left unbuttoned, of course) a pair of fitted blue jeans and clean brown sneakers. The extra money that they had been making plus Alison's profits from the festival had warranted a shopping trip, but even then Nina refused to wear her new clothes except for special occasions. Apparently today was one of those special occasions.

"And just where are you going?"

"Yesterday was Valentine's Day, but I didn't get to go out or do anything because I had to work, so… today is make-up Valentine's Day!"

"Oh. That's nice." Alison turned once more to the canvas, trying to visualize a castle in her mind when the obvious realization smacked her in the face. "Wait, are you going on a date!?"

Nina nodded enthusiastically, her cheeks glowing lightly just at the sound of it. "Anderson's going to show me the ranch today!"

"Who?"

"Anderson!"

"Well, yeah, that's his name, but I've never heard you mention him before," Alison said, raising a brow in question. "Actually the only guy I ever hear you talk about is John."

"Pfft. John's just a crabby guy who comes in the diner all the time," she said dismissively, taking a moment to laugh at her own pun and realizing that Alison just wasn't finding the humor. She cleared her throat. "And, okay, maybe it's not really a "date" date, but-"

"Nina, how long have you actually known this guy?"

"…A week."

"One week?!"

"It's true love, Ali!"

"Nina, what do you know about-"

She cut herself off. She had to. The words sounded bitter in her head and she knew it would sound crueler if she spoke them out loud. She sat back, trying to calm down, reminding herself that Nina, for all her quirky mannerisms and occasional bouts of poor judgment, was a capable adult. She was free to make her own decisions and live her life; who was Alison to stop her due to her own general mistrust of people?

The blonde leaned back into the couch and pulled her braid over her shoulder, absent-mindedly playing with the hairs at the tail. "Just be careful," she said.

"Well duh, thanks Mom," Nina mocked, earning another irritated look. She turned to leave when she stopped, having forgotten to mention something. "Oh yeah. Today's my day to go to the orphanage, so I'm not going to be home until dinner. Is it okay if I pick something up from Granny's on the way back?"

"That's fine."

"'Kay! And Ali…" Nina started, unsure of exactly what to say, but in her usual nature she just pressed on. "Whatever's bothering you, it'll be okay. Things are getting better around here and I just… everything will work out. Don't worry."

Nina left the apartment and the sound of the door closing behind her seemed to echo off the walls. Alison still sat there, just wanting to paint but feeling so worked up and anxious over the phone call and Nina's sudden love interest. She glanced at the clock in the living room and sighed. "Might as well just get this over with…" she mumbled as she rose from the couch to get ready to leave.

The phone call replayed in her head as she got dressed and she wished that she had imagined it.

"Alison? This is Emma Swan."

"Oh, hi Emma. What can I do for you?"

"Uh, well," Emma stalled, hoping to break the news slowly. "I have a perpetrator in custody here at the office and he… well, he's asked to see you."

Immediately Alison felt her heart sink. She didn't know a whole lot of people in Storybrooke and wasn't very close with many of them. Who in their right mind would get themselves in trouble and ask to see her?

"Can I ask who it is?"

There was an audible sigh on the other line. "Mr. Gold."

Alison slammed her closet door shut and exited the bedroom. Of all people, why would Mr. Gold ask for her? She was under the impression that they only shared a mutual business contract and a general dislike for each other, or at least, she could care less about the man if he didn't give her money every couple weeks.

She slipped on a pair of sneakers and headed out the door, only to pivot and march back in when she remembered it was below freezing outside and just wearing a t-shirt would grant her unwanted attention. She grabbed her coat and locked the door behind her, heading out into the cold.

She shoved her hands deep into her pockets as she walked down the street, ignoring everyone and everything she passed as she stewed in her own thoughts. She hardly noticed that her name was being called, and when she did, she only turned around out of curiosity.

"Henry! What-"

"Okay, before you ask me why I'm not at school, it's after 3:00," he said matter-of-factly, accurately guessing Alison's question before she even asked it. "And I'm by myself because the school's closest to the police station and I wanted to hang out with Emma before I go home."

"O-Okay, that's fine, but won't Regina be mad if she found out you were seeing her?"

"My mom thinks I'm going to therapy right now," Henry told her, shifting the weight of his backpack on his shoulder as he caught up to Alison's pace. "And she works late today, so as long as I get home before she does I'm good."

"You know, maybe you should try doing what your mom says for once? I asked Emma why I never see you around much and she says you were grounded."

"That's only because my mom doesn't like Emma and she hates it when I hang out with her!" Henry said, his distraught clearly written in his face. "And it's not fair. Emma's a great person."

Alison took a moment to think as his confession reminded her of the harsh words she nearly spat at Nina earlier. "Do you think your mom would like Emma if they spent more time together?" Really, she should have been asking the boy if he thought that she'd feel better about Nina dating if she weren't dating a complete stranger. Hell, she'd feel a hundred times better if she could just put a face to the name.

Henry shrugged, glancing at the clock tower as they passed the library. "I don't know… maybe, I mean, my mom's the Evil Queen."

"She's what now?"

"Never mind," he said, deflated. Alison just shook her head at him, trying to dismiss his obsession with fairy tales while Henry looked to her with a plea in his eye. He wanted so badly for someone to believe his theory about the curse over Storybrooke, and he knew that if Alison could break free from the curse she'd be able to help him free the rest of the town, or at the very least, be willing to help him find a way. It was just hard getting her to see what he believed was real because she was quite the academic intellect and an equally stubborn woman. Any time he brought up the topic of magic, she claimed there was no such thing; there was only science. To her, fairy tales were just that: tales of myth and make believe, and while she did enjoy such stories, they weren't real. None of it was.

It was frustrating, because every time he saw her paintings, he was reminded of a particular story in his book, one that suited her so well. If he couldn't convince Alison that she was just as cursed as the rest of the town, then he would at least make her enjoy the element he believed to be tied to her before the seasons changed. He stopped suddenly and pointed to the other side of the street. "What's that over there?!" he asked, feigning panic.

Of course, Alison fell for the elementary trick, believing his frantic state. She turned her head, equally panicked and searched the street, trying to find what the boy had been pointing to. "Henry, I don't see-"

She realized a little too late what was going on when a snowball smacked her in the face. Henry took off running down the street and Alison scooped up a fistful of snow, packing it into a ball as she ran after him. "Oh no; you're not getting off that easy!"

The snowball fight down the street was a sight to behold and they fired ammunition on the move, ducking behind lampposts and mailboxes for cover. It had Alison grinning like an idiot and making a show of herself, something she'd normally be embarrassed by, but she didn't care right now. Henry brought out that youthful side of her that only showed when she was with Nina, and it was fun to just let go instead of being the responsible, older sister she acted as to the two of them.

When they arrived at the police station winded, red-faced and covered in melting snow, Emma just stared at them with her arms crossed. "Okay, what happened to you two?"

"I am the snowball fight champion!" Henry claimed. He got a playful shove from Alison and he smiled up at her when she ruffled his damp hair.

"You only beat me this time because I'm tired," Alison claimed. "Next time I won't go easy on you!"

Emma looked between them in disbelief, but still humored, she put an arm around Henry's shoulders and led him to the office. "Okay "kids," it's time we all got to work. Henry, go start on your homework. I'll be there in a bit to help."

Henry took a seat at Emma's desk in the private office in the station and she shut the door, more so to keep Henry from hearing the conversation than to simply give him quiet to work. Alison brushed off her coat, wanting to avoid the reason why she was here, but she knew deep down that she couldn't. She met Emma's eyes with worry, but the sheriff seemed poise despite the prisoner she was keeping. "What's going on?" Alison asked, only slightly aware of the situation.

Emma leaned against the door and looked at the man sitting inside the jail cell. Alison would only glance at him, oddly happy but remorseful to see Mr. Gold behind bars. "I'm just going to give you an abridged version of what happened," Emma said, waiting until Alison nodded to continue. "Someone broke into Gold's house-"

"I thought someone broke into his store a couple of months ago?" Alison interrupted.

Emma rolled her eyes and gave the other blonde a look. "Yeah, well, you work with him. I think you understand best that he doesn't have many friends."

Oh yeah. Who would want to be friends with a greedy, manipulative deal-maker whose chosen profession was as close to legal thievery as one could get? Alison considered Mr. Gold to be many things, but a friend was not one of them.

"Basically he couldn't wait for me to do my job and found the guy who robbed him, gagged him, took him to a cabin just outside town and nearly beat him to death."

The pale woman grew paler and Alison's heartbeat jumped up to her throat. "He did all that?" she asked, getting a firm nod in response. "And he wants to see me?"

"That's what he said. I don't let my perps out for phone calls, but it's really up to you if you want to talk to him or not. I have to stay here to listen, though, so figure that in to your decision."

Really, Alison just wanted to go home and work on her commissions. She knew Mr. Gold wasn't exactly as noble as he dressed, but she'd never expect him to do something like this… though he did skewer her best painting with hardly a thought or remorse. Her instincts just told her to go, just walk out the door and leave this problem behind, but she caught Mr. Gold staring at her with a plea in his eye, and she couldn't help herself. She had to talk to him.

With a breath of courage, she walked over to the blue couch placed next to his cell and sat down, waiting for him to say the first word.

And he didn't, which for the record was a first for him. She avoided his gaze, choosing to look at her sneakers instead and clasped her hands together as she kept waiting. Eventually, the nerves in her stomach grew to an unbearable level and she picked her head up, glaring at him with confused, worried eyes. "Why am I here?" she asked, almost more to herself than to him.

The pawnbroker sighed, resting his hands on the hilt of his cane as he sat hunched over on the side of the provided bed. "Well you didn't have to come if you didn't want to," he stated, noting her obvious nerves. He gripped his cane tighter when her blue eyes wouldn't leave him, silently demanding an answer for her summons. "I need a favor from you. I need you to bail me out."

"You want me to what?" Her eyes were wide, even more confused than they were before. Of all people, why her? She'd only been the victim of his numerous scams and he had taken so much of her money that she was sure she was paying for his shop utilities herself. Blue eyes narrowed and a tight scowl crossed her face with those thoughts and a reminder of why the man was behind bars. "You nearly beat a man to death!"

"He deserved what he had coming to him," Gold stated simply. It wasn't helping to calm Alison down or sway her decision at all.

"For stealing from you? He was probably one of the many people in this town you've screwed over," she shot dangerously. "If he's struggling as much as I was I don't blame him for breaking into your house."

"Is that a threat, Ms. Vinter?" He stood from his seat, dropping his cane and gripping the iron structure of his cage. "As you know, I don't take kindly to threats."

"Tough talk from someone on the wrong side of the bars."

The tension filled the room and Alison was practically brimming with power. All those conversations and deals they've made over the past years have acclimated her to his ways. She could sense his desperation behind his weak excuses and even his threats meant nothing to her with metal bars and a locked door between them.

But this powerful feeling was overwhelming. It didn't suit her, it scared her actually, and she feared going too far and pushing Mr. Gold to seek revenge against her for something she said once he did get out of prison. She stayed composed, crossed her legs and kept her hands folded, reigning back the bold, regal persona that had taken over and addressing him more sincerely. "Why don't you just pay the bail on your own? You have money."

Mr. Gold backed off from the bars, limping to his cane and picking it up carefully. "Oh, we all know that I have money, Dearie, but that's not the problem." He turned around, cane in hand, and stood in his usual stance with the golden hilt centered beneath his palms. "The problem is that I had none on me at the time of my arrest, and thus, I cannot pay to leave this cell. That is why I need you."

Alison's strong cadence from before was fading with an underlying realization that refused to surface within her mind. She sat there, seriously considering his request, and when the thought of money came up she got frustrated. "What makes you think I even have that much money to begin with?" she asked, palms open with the wide question. Bitterness laced her tongue at the thought of the apartment in December, cold and powerless due to this man's cruelty. "You hardly pay me anything."

"And you won't get paid at all unless you get me out of here."

Throughout the conversation Alison had felt as though she had the upper hand. She felt powerful, strong, and critical perhaps in her accusations, but they were right. Even with all her strength, Gold had managed to play his trump card at the last minute. He didn't even need to elaborate. She knew what he meant, and it knocked the wind right out of her sails.

Her surplus from the festival was a great boost to the household funds, but it wouldn't be enough to get them started in a new apartment if she wasn't making money through Mr. Gold's shop, and Mr. Gold couldn't give her money if he wasn't there to run the shop that sold her paintings. Again, she found herself stuck.

She hated having to be stuck working with this man, but right now, there was little other choice. She conceded, standing up and facing him to finalize the terms of their agreement. "I can't get you out until tomorrow," she said, realistically able to help him today, but giving herself a night to sleep on the decision and perhaps change her mind if she could find a workaround to her reliance on him. "The next time I walk into your store, I want the money from my paintings and double the amount of bail money I'm paying to let you go."

The added requirement on the end of the bargain didn't go unnoticed, and it amused the pawnbroker. Alison was getting better at this.

"Aye. I can agree to that." He put his hand through the bars of the cell and Alison shook it once, feeling sick when she realized that she was shaking hands with a man charged with assault. She lowered her head, blonde strands shadowing her eyes and mirroring a deep frown.

"You really owe me for this, you know."

"That I do, Dearie."

She hardly noticed someone behind her clearing their throat and only turned at a quiet mention of her name. Emma motioned to her silently, holding the door to her office open and beckoning her to come inside.

Once the door was shut, Alison let out an exhausted sigh and felt like she could collapse. Her legs shook and she held on to the edge of the desk, covering her eyes with her other hand as Emma put a light touch on her back.

"For someone who admits to having social anxieties and hating conflict, you nearly kicked his ass back there," Emma said, forgetting to filter her language for Henry from her enthusiasm. "I'm impressed."

Alison closed her eyes at the compliment, her hand still covering her face as she shook off the adrenaline. The last five minutes felt like a rush, a burst of anger flanked by excitement and analytical overload. It exhausted her and as she reflected on what just happened, she wondered if the outcome could have happened any other way.

She felt stupid when she realized it, but Mr. Gold specifically asked for her to bail him out because in the long run, she couldn't afford not to. She played into his hands like she always did and she hated herself for it.

Emma watched her cautiously, making sure that she was okay before she retreated her hand from her back. She leaned on the edge of her desk, arms crossed as she addressed the other blonde once more. "So are you serious about bailing him out?"

She paused at the question. Mr. Gold had taken so much from her, ruined her work, made a mockery of her negotiation skills and belittled Nina every time he saw her. It would have been satisfying to see him spend a good few years behind bars, or however long he would be there, but she couldn't afford to do it.

Reluctantly, she nodded. "Yeah. I don't have much of a choice. Nina and I are doing fine financially, maybe even better than I think we are, but it's not going to last if I can't get my paintings sold."

"Well," Emma started, breathing in and shrugging her shoulders with the intent to bring some light to the situation, "if it makes you feel better, this really can't hurt. The charges still stand even if you bail him out, so hopefully he'll get what he deserves and you'll still get your money." She sighed, knowing that if Gold did eventually go to jail, Alison wouldn't be getting paid at all during his stay there. "I hope this all works out for you, kid."

I really hope it does, too, Alison thought to herself. She thought about what Nina might say if she were here. She wouldn't care about the money, because for as strong as Alison's sense of justice was, Nina's was stronger.

Smelt the key to his cell and wear it as a necklace!

Yeah, something like that sounded pretty accurate.

"If you guys are done…" The two women looked away from each other to the boy working quietly at the desk. He dropped his pencil on his book and looked between them with hope. "Is anyone good at geometry?"

Alison grinned. Finally, something she was good at that didn't require an argument.

"I'm home… Oliver and Markus say hello," Nina called quietly as she opened the door, knocking into the frame of it as she maneuvered herself and the bag she carried through to the apartment. She shrugged off her coat and closed the door behind her, noticing the silent wave of a hand Alison spared her from the living room. "How was your day?"

Alison sat cross-legged on the couch with her sketchpad balanced on her knees and a pencil in her hand. She kept working as she fabricated her answer. "It was… interesting," she said, wanting to exclude the details of her visit to the sheriff's office. Nina didn't need to know that she was going to pay Mr. Gold's bail or that he was even in jail in the first place; she'd find out the latter information soon enough. Lord knows that news of any sort of scandal or crime spread like wildfire in this town. "I took a walk around town to get some fresh air and I ran into Henry. He said he needed help with his geometry homework, so…"

"You can never say no when it comes to helping him with homework," Nina grinned. "I'm surprised Regina hasn't asked you to work as his tutor by now!"

Nina laughed when Alison's hands flew to cover her face. "No! Oh God, that would be terrible! It's bad enough I have to paint for her!" She leaned back into the couch, resting her head on the back cushion as she watched Nina retrieve take-out containers from the brown bag. "So how was your date?" she asked with a sly smile and a dark brow raised in question. It was Nina's turn to blush and she stopped mid-movement.

"Ah, well, it wasn't really much of a date, date…" she laughed, piling the containers in her arms and bringing them into the living room. She plopped on the couch and handed one of the white boxes to her roommate. "But it was still really nice! He showed me the ranch and we walked through the stables… I got to meet his horse, Sitron, and oh! There was a moose there, too!"

Alison discarded her sketchpad in favor for the takeout grilled chicken gyro Nina handed her and was entranced by the smell when she realized what Nina had just said. "Wait, did you say a moose?"

"Yeah! Or… well, at least I think it was a moose… but anyway, we started talking, and we realized that we like a lot of the same things! We both love horses, obviously, and spring is his favorite season too, and you'll never guess what his favorite food is!"

Alison didn't expect for Nina to wait for an answer, but she did. "Um, I dunno. Sandwiches?"

"Yes!" Nina squeaked, shaking her fists in a love-dazed excitement until her eyes narrowed at her best friend suspiciously. "Wait. How did you know that Anderson likes sandwiches…?" she asked slowly.

Alison blinked, looking at the club sandwich her friend's hand before meeting her eyes again. "I guessed? I mean, you like sandwiches," she said, pointing to the one she was holding, "so I just assumed… why are you looking at me like that?"

"Have you been spying on me?" Alison rolled her eyes at the absurd accusation.

"No. Nina, that's ridiculous."

Oh, but Nina was sure she had a hunch. Alison's irritation this morning when she mentioned Anderson and her sudden interest in how the date went? Oh yeah, her roommate could be aloof and sneaky, but Nina saw through her mask. "You totally are! You're jealous that I have a boyfriend!"

The blonde clenched her hands and pouted, her emotions from that afternoon coming back. "No, I am not, and how could I have been spying on your date when I was at the police station all afternoon?"

"You…! You what?"

It was the one thing she wanted to avoid talking about with Nina and she opened the door to that conversation not even five minutes after she came home. She turned her head away, just looking at the wall to avoid Nina's questioning glare. "I don't want to talk about it."

"What don't you want to talk about?" Nina asked, pressing for an answer. "You were grumpy about that phone call before I left this afternoon and you didn't want to talk about that, and now you tell me that you've been at the sheriff's office all day and you don't want to talk about that," Nina huffed, clearly frustrated. "I spill my guts to you every day about everything and you used to do the same thing, so why are you leaving me out when something's obviously bothering you?!"

"It's my problem…"

"So then it's my problem too, Alison! We grew up together, we live together, so please, just talk to me…" Alison turned back to meet Nina's sincere teal eyes. She wasn't angry, but sad and upset, searching for some kind of understanding. "Don't shut me out. I want to help."

There was a moment of silence.

And then Alison told her everything. The phone call, how she ran into Henry on the way to the police station, how she had an outstanding sense of confidence while debating and arguing with Mr. Gold only to realize that she had become one of his unknowing pawns. She'd spent the next few hours tutoring Henry just to shake off the emotions before she came home.

Nina listened quietly, not interrupting to simply understand what the other had been going through, and once the blonde ran out of things to say, Nina just reached for her and lightly touched her elbow. "Thank you," she said, smiling a little before it dropped. "I wish you would've told me earlier, though."

Blue eyes snapped shut tightly and a hand flew to her forehead, trying to think through the emotions. "I know I should have, but I didn't know I was going to have to bail him out. I just kind of went there blind…"

"So you're going back there tomorrow?" Nina asked. With a shaky sigh, she got a nod in confirmation. "Okay then. I'll go with you."

"You don't have to-"

"Nope! I'm going and you can't change my mind!" Nina proclaimed. "Every time one of us has to deal with him alone, he makes us want to keep secrets from each other," she realized, recalling how she tried to keep the repaired painting a secret from Alison, and now Alison had tried to avoid talking about paying Mr. Gold's bail. "We'll go together, because I don't know about you, but I always feel better when I have to talk to him and you're there."

Truthfully, there were moments at the sheriff's office that day where Alison felt much the same way. She felt so cold and unfeeling when she first addressed Mr. Gold, wanting him to pay fully for his crime without even thinking about what repercussions that might have on her, and by extension, Nina. Paying his bail would buy her some time to find another way to get her paintings out to market while he still acted as her broker. She wouldn't lose money in doing so and wouldn't forfeit the progress they were making on the new apartment.

She smiled back at the redhead and nodded. "Fine. After we take care of him, we'll go straight to his shop to get my money. Then we'll go visit Oliver and Markus together."

"It's a plan!"

They sat together on the couch, Alison tapping her foot impatiently, hunched over with her elbows on her knees while Nina was comfortably cross-legged, holding her ankles and rocking back and forth gently while looking between Emma and Mr. Gold.

Somehow word had gotten out about his arrest and now reporters from The Daily Mirror and a few other magazines were waiting outside the sheriff's office, wanting an interview with the man who owned the town. The crowd wasn't very big until the reporters drew the attention of some interested citizens, and now the parking lot seemed to be at capacity with bodies wanting to confirm the rumors.

Emma had to lock the doors to keep people from getting in and called Alison ahead of time to come in through a side door that had to be opened from the inside. "I really hope you're worth all this trouble," Emma had said when she let Mr. Gold out of his cell to sign the paperwork of his release.

Alison had already paid his bail and signed whatever documents that needed her mark. Now she and Nina were stuck waiting for Mr. Gold to leave and draw the crowd away so they could make their exit unnoticed. They sat and listened to Emma explaining what would happen now that Mr. Gold was out on bail.

"There's a court date set up for your arraignment in a few weeks," she explained. She cast a quick glance at the other blonde sitting quietly before focusing back on Gold. "Don't let your bail go to waste and miss it, otherwise I'll hunt you down again and you'll only end up with a longer sentence."

"I'm well aware of how the legal system works, Ms. Swan, but regardless, why don't you just do me a favor and drop the charges?" Mr. Gold asked. "I'd be happy to collect on that one you owe me."

The blonde sheriff shook her head, her lips drawn in a firm and thin line. "I can't. Yes, I know I owe you a favor, but this is all out of my hands now. You committed the crime and I caught you in a confession. The court is going to expect you at this arraignment and if you don't show up you're guilty, end of discussion."

There were no quick-witted responses to that and Emma sighed, turning to the younger women watching impatiently on the couch. "Don't mention that Alison paid your bail, either," she reminded him. "If anyone asks, just say that you paid it on your own. These two don't need the attention."

Mr. Gold laughed and turned towards Alison, light dancing in his eyes where hers darkened. "What's wrong, Dearie? You don't want to be recognized as the hero who let the dashing shop owner out of jail?"

Nina started at that, about to say something back but Alison beat her to it.

"No, I don't want to be known as the idiot who freed the town's biggest pickpocket who mugged a man for no apparent reason."

He brushed off the insult as though it was nothing and his smile faded with the reminder of business. "Remember who's paying who, Dearie."

"And remember the deal we made," she snapped back, "and the favor you owe me."

"Yes, of course." He straightened his posture, adjusted the knot in his tie and looked to the hall that led towards the exit. "Well Ms. Swan, am I free to go?"

Emma uncrossed her arms and motioned towards the hall, unwilling to let him go but having little choice. "Sure, go spread your wings before the dogs at the door tear you to pieces," she said, reminding them all about the savage reporters clawing at the front doors. "I'll walk you out. Alison, Nina, stay here for a bit. I'll let you know when you can leave."

The pair on the couch watched as Emma led Mr. Gold away and Alison glared after him, almost regretting paying his bail after the snooty way he just talked at her. Nina noticed her dark eyes and bumped her in the shoulder, trying to bring her out of it. "Well that's over now," she reminded. "We'll get out of here and everything can just go back to the way it used to be!"

And to be honest, Alison wished that things could be the way they were, when she was unwittingly falling into her place with Mr. Gold's schemes, but now that she knew her place with him she wasn't sure if that kind of ignorance would be such a peaceful existence. For now, she had little choice. She had to have some kind of payment to live off of aside from sporadic commissions. She needed her paintings on the market.

She didn't want to admit it, but things had been changing quite drastically around town and it was beginning to catch up with her. It wasn't enjoyable, she felt like she didn't have enough time to just stop thinking and relax and if she said or did the wrong thing, then everything would come crashing down on top of her. She started feeling that way ever since the night the clock tower started working again, but she couldn't let Nina, who saw the change as a positive thing, know that she felt it was something bad.

So she stayed quiet and waited for Emma to return. Her hazel eyes were wide and she stopped at one of the desks outside her office, typing on a keyboard as she looked at a computer screen. "The crowd out there is vicious; they nearly jumped on him before he even walked out," she said, bringing up the camera feeds from outside the building. "We'll wait a little bit until they leave, then you guys can sneak out. Sorry about all this," she added, knowing that Alison's anxiety had nearly gone through the roof when she called her about the growing commotion this morning.

"Why is everyone so excited over this?" Nina asked, standing up and wandering over to the computer to see what Emma was looking at. The sheriff shrugged, watching the crowd beginning to break up as reporters followed Mr. Gold down the street.

"People love a good scandal," she said, "and in a town like this where usually nothing crazy happens, it gets blown out of proportion fast. People eat it up like they've been craving it all year long." She continued watching the monitor, silently wishing that the last few lingering reporters would just go away. "I want to get you guys out quietly so nobody tries to connect you with his bail." She looked over her shoulder to the other blonde in the room. "You doing okay, Alison?"

"I'll be better once I get my money back," she joked, aching from the chunk the bail cost took out of her savings for the new apartment. "Next time you have to lock him up, please warn me if he wants me to bail him out again."

"Will do. And… I think you guys are clear." Nina peeked over her shoulder as Emma scrolled though the various outdoor cameras and maneuvered them to scan for any hangers-on. "Go out the front doors just in case. If anyone sees you, you lost your pet or something."

"But we're not allowed to have pets in the-"

"I know, Nina. It's an alibi."

"Ohh…"

They thanked Emma kindly for looking out for them and went on their way, following her instructions and exiting the building from the front instead of the side door. They walked at a casual pace, keeping attention off themselves and gaining distance from the sheriff's office while faking a conversation unrelated to their brief visit. Alison talked about mathematical equations required to find the area of various geometrical shapes while Nina answered her with various excited responses of "potato," completely unable to fake a conversation in fear of saying something she shouldn't despite regularly being able to ramble on about a topic just on a single take of breath.

Stopped at an intersection just down the street, they waited at the crosswalk, thinking their ruse was normal enough to avoid detection. As they waited for the light to change to cross the street, a short, elderly gentleman approached them during Alison's dissection of the Pythagorean Theorem, interrupting her lecture with a polite grunt. "Excuse me, but did I just see you come out of the sheriff's office?" he asked.

"Pota-heey…" Nina answered, slurring the words together in an awkward response when she realized that someone other than Alison was talking to her. She turned, searching for the voice when she finally looked down, finding the short, white-haired balding man hiding a smile beneath his turned mustache. He peered up at her down his long nose, a brow quirked when she wasn't answering his question.

"Y-Yeah, we did," Alison said, providing the answer instead. She was about to change the subject or deflect his question as a rude one, but he interrupted her before she could get another word out.

"You wouldn't happen to know who bailed Mr. Gold out of jail, would you?" he asked, leaning closer to Nina in pursuit of the answer. "Hmm?"

Nina leaned back and glanced at Alison who nearly brought her palm to her face from being discovered so quickly after taking steps to make sure it wouldn't happen. "I uh, we lost our cat," Nina explained, taking a step back to retrieve her personal space. She spied Alison putting on a frown and she did the same, feigning sadness. "We went to the police station to see if they could help us find him."

"Oh dear…" the man said, pulling out a small notebook and a pen from his back pocket. "Perhaps if you told me its name I could help find it for you."

Nina glanced at Alison and she stared back, wide-eyed. They answered him simultaneously.

"Magnus."

"Fluffernutters!"

There was an awkward staring contest between them and the short man pushed his thin framed glasses up his nose as he cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that."

"It's…" Nina started, making sure Alison wasn't going to intervene, not that she wanted to now. "Magnutters. He's a silver tabby with black stripes," she said, elaborating to strengthen the ruse.

"Ah, got it. Magnutters, male, silver fur with black stripes. Ah, and before I forget," the man reached into the pocket of his black coat, producing a business card and presenting in to Nina. "My name is Harold Torvik, author of "What's New in Storybrooke?" Section C, column two in The Daily Mirror," he said, handing the card over with pride. "If perhaps you might remember overhearing anything about Mr. Gold's case while you were in there, do give me a call. Good day!"

He turned and headed down the street, presumably to follow the other reporters to Mr. Gold's shop in pursuit of more answers from the man himself. They watched him go, wondering how the heck he managed to avoid Emma's detection outside the office while being amazed at themselves for successfully bumbling through his questions and sending him away.

There was a silence that followed his parting and Alison just looked at Nina with dull eyes. "Magnutters? Really?"

"Well I had to think of something!"

Alison huffed as the crosswalk light began to count down and they moved to the other side of the street. "Remind me to never let you name our pet if we ever get one."

"What, you don't like Fluffernutters either?"

"Nina, hush."

"I think it's a cute name! Why did you pick such a dark and scary name like Magnus," she said, deepening her voice when she said the name. "It's so brooding, like-"

"Be quiet!"

"Why?"

"He's following us. Don't turn around. Look." Alison pointed to the trunk of a parked car, urging Nina to look at the reflection of the street behind them in its shine.

And in that reflection was Harold Torvik, calmly keeping his distance behind them. "He didn't believe me?" she whispered, panic filling her expression. Alison shrugged, reaching for and grabbing her friend's hand protectively.

"Either he believes we let Mr. Gold go or he's desperate for a story," she whispered, keeping an eye on the reporter in each car they passed. She sighed, hating the situation but knowing there was nothing she could do about it now. "Let's just skip going to Mr. Gold's for now and head straight for the orphanage."

"This could have gone a lot better…" Nina mumbled, not at all regretting her decision to go with Alison today after all the chaos and nerves that were the result of Mr. Gold's freedom and feeling better that she didn't make her go through it alone. The blonde shrugged, forging ahead, wanting to be with the boys who were able to melt her heart every time she saw them.

"Yeah, well, that's why you don't trust people as soon as you meet them," she warned. "I trusted Mr. Gold with my paintings and here we are. He steals my money, threatens to kill my work and I have to bail his ass out of jail to get paid."

Nina listened to the warning, compared it to her own naiveté when it came to meeting new people and made unmentioned parallels between Gold and Anderson. Sure, Anderson was a nice man, but even after spending most of a day with him, she felt as though he knew more about her than she did of him. She'd been so charmed by him that she hadn't bothered to get to know him well enough to truly trust him or be able to say that they were really a couple. She took the advice and planned to use it the next time she met with him, learning from Alison's mistakes and vowing to be more perceptive.

She spotted another glimpse of Harold in a reflection and she felt her friend's grip tighten in her own.

"I am never bailing anyone out ever again," Alison whispered. Nina leaned over, nodding her head against her shoulder.

"Potato."

AN: Oh man... do I have some stuff planned for this one, especially for Season 2!

That's right. I'm taking this to Season 2. I can't say for sure when exactly in the OUAT timeline this story will finish, but for right now I'm not concerned about it. I'm having too much fun writing it :)