If Regina had known Aleera would be coming to Storybrooke as a breathing human being instead of a statue, she would have given her a better life. She would have anointed her like she had King George and Rumplestiltskin. She would have sooner gratified her sister than the Dark One. But she had made a deal with Rumple to get him the life he had.
Regina dug into Jessica Duncan's records and sent Sidney to find things out about her. She found out that Jessica lived alone with a couple dogs at her parents' house and was greatly involved in extra-curricular activities: dance, gymnastics, and karate. She had performed stage productions most of her life with her parents. That of course had never really happened. But Regina got to laugh at how well that fit, since Aleera had fooled her back in the Enchanted Forest when she pretended to be a lady in waiting named Jane. Regina found that Jessica's parents had died in an accident that conveniently left no trace of them. She also found out something about Jessica that was even more perfect that was thanks to the curse.
"I'm adopted!" Aleera yelled at Mr. Gold when she found out. Aleera had never thought that was part of her Storybrooke personality. Just like in the Enchanted Forest, the people who raised her were not really her parents. Rumple had found it fit to tell her when he'd found out Regina was digging into Aleera's life.
"Yes," Rumple told her. He was mindlessly twiddling a chipped teacup in his hands. Aleera ignored his weird tick. "I handled your adoption, I have a memory of it." Aleera raised her eyebrow at him and scowled. "Well," he added. "…an artificial memory. But it is the truth of your life in both worlds."
"Why couldn't Dora and Roderick just be my parents?" Aleera asked. "What's the point in me still being an illegitimate child?"
"To tie you to Regina," Rumple said. "She won't be able to find any trace of your birth mother, there isn't any to begin with because Cora never came here. But if they tested your blood they would find you to be half sisters through the same mother."
"And why would a test ever be taken?" Aleera asked.
"Regina may see it as an opportunity to get her hooks in you," Rumple suggested. But he grimaced at his using of the term, 'hooks.' Aleera was aware of his past with Captain Hook, so she easily caught the spasm he tried to hide. But that wasn't the issue she wanted to deal with at the time.
"Why would she do that?" Aleera asked. "I haven't heard anything from her since I bumped into her."
"That doesn't mean you're safe," he told her. "She's just busy with her son and his mother. She will get back to you again."
Regina was indeed busy with Henry and Emma. She had to work with Emma to save Henry from a caved in mine, she'd had to avert Snow White and Charming getting back together, she'd lost her sex slave, and she had worked hard to thwart Emma's goal to become Storybrooke's Sherriff. She had failed, and was grumpy about it. Her latest clashing with Emma had to do with the fates of Hansel and Gretel. Which of course she lost at destroying Emma again. She was taking a break from all that by delving into Aleera's life.
Things got even more mysterious in Storybrooke when a stranger rode his bike into town. People don't just come into a town that is unknown to most of the world. The stranger first came across Emma and Henry, but Jefferson and Aleera saw him coming in from one of Jefferson's many telescopes.
"What the hell is going on?" Jefferson asked.
"I wonder how he got in here?" Aleera asked rhetorically as she peered at him through the telescope. She was going to find out. In reality, it was an honest mistake that this stranger August W Booth was able to come in. Henry, Aleera, and Jefferson all wanted the curse broken. August was here to help. That was how he got in.
Henry also found this man to be suspicious. He planned to talk to Aleera about him. But he did plenty of probing himself first. He talked to August a few times over the stranger's first few weeks in town. Jefferson kept an eagle eye on him and he was Aleera's second source after Henry. She wasn't entirely sure she wanted to introduce herself to the stranger. It was a 50 percent chance he was from their world, and a 50 percent chance he was a real world person who was out for them all. But when Jefferson saw the man steal Henry's book from the hiding spot at the castle playground, Aleera knew she needed to probe.
Aleera chose to do her investigating while the town was a buzz with Valentine's Day. She had been studying the stranger's patterns for a while and she figured out he liked to go to the diner at 10 on Saturday mornings. When she saw him leave the inn she went in and took the extra key from the desk. She had the cover of being Ruby's friend. She'd made a habit of visiting the inn to specifically see Ruby for the last few days so August wouldn't be suspicious. But little did she know he was onto her.
He had seen her staking out the place from his bathroom window. He opened his window before leaving and when he'd left the inn he'd only gone out of Aleera's sight. When he saw her go in he gave her some time to peruse his room before he snuck in. He planned to go into the room next to his that he knew was being cleaned and he would climb out the window there and climb back into his bathroom window and surprise her.
When Aleera got into the room she didn't waste time marveling at it. She went immediately for his bags. She found a few clothing options, a note pad, and some pictures. On the inside of the bag she found his name sewn in: August Wayne Booth. She checked under the blankets and pillows, making sure to remake the bed once she was done. She checked under the bed and in the desk and that's where she found the storybook. She was about to leave because she'd found what she'd came for, but then the man known as August Wayne Booth jumped out of the bathroom.
"Boo!" he said. She jumped and galvanized into action. She chose to flee. She shoved him out of the way and headed for the window he'd come in from. He lunged for her but she was too quick. She got out the window and began carefully stepping on the roof with the book where she planned to shimmy down the drainpipe on the side of the building after dropping the book onto the ground.
"Breaking into a hotel room is a crime you know!" he called out to her as he watched her try to get away. "I'll call the Sherriff!"
"Oh yeah you do that," Aleera told him from the second story outside wall. "And while we are reenacting a scene from Runaway Bride could you remind Emma that she has no idea who you are, August W Booth? It will save me an anonymous call."
"If you come back here I won't press charges," he said to her when she had gotten to the edge of the roof. She paused there and thought about it. She was about to drop the book onto the gravel when he added, "I'll give you even more information!" She decided to go back. He helped her through the window and they sat in his room.
"Who are you?" she asked him.
"You know that already," August said. "I'm August W. Booth."
"Who-Are-You!" Aleera asked again less calm that time.
"Who are you?" he asked back.
"You don't know?" she asked, deciding to tease him back, but it was unlikely that he'd figure it out. She wasn't a famous fairy tale.
"I don't know," he admitted. But then he made speculations. "You are friends with Red Riding Hood and the Magic Mirror has been stalking you. You've also been cavorting with the Dark One. You are kind of all over."
"Why do you call them that?" Aleera probed pretending to be clueless.
"Call whom what?" he asked innocently. And then he smiled. "You seem to know exactly who I am talking about." Aleera picked the book back up from the table in between them and got up to leave.
"I was just returning this to the kid you stole it from," she tried to play it off as she head for the door. "It's very important to him. You should be ashamed."
"I'm Pinocchio," August told her. She whipped around holding the book tight to her chest and gave him her full attention. "Do you want proof?" he asked. She remained silent. He then lifted his leg up onto the coffee table and lifted his pant leg. His leg was made of wood. Aleera sat back down again, but she didn't feel he was confirmed.
"This book says you should be around 7," she said, opening to the picture of Geppetto and Pinocchio working on the wardrobe. "You don't strike me as that."
"Yeah, no kidding," he said. He sat back down too, but he was wobbly. "I came through the wardrobe with Emma."
"Then why doesn't she know you?" Aleera asked.
"Because she hasn't seen me since she was a baby," he said. "You can't blame her for forgetting."
"I'd ask you questions only Pinocchio would know," she said. "But all I know is from this book, which I'm sure you've read cover to cover."
"There's more to me than is in that book," he said.
"Uh huh," Aleera said incredulously.
"And there's absolutely nothing about you in it," he said. "Maybe you are the one who shouldn't be trusted."
"I'm not the pathological liar, Pinocchio!" Aleera reminded him, saying his name with a Geppetto accent. August winced.
"Don't say it like that," he begged.
"Aw…" Aleera gushed. "Daddy issues?"
"Would you just tell me who you are?" He asked, starting to get annoyed himself.
"Okay, sure," she said. She still didn't trust him or entirely believe him, even with the wooden leg. But she decided to tell him.
"I'm Aleera," she told him. He looked very confused, he hadn't heard of her. Aleera decided to take pleasure in being more specific. "The Dark One's daughter."
"Whoa…" August exhaled. "Talk about daddy issues." They smiled at each other. "I'm glad you were willing to be honest with me."
"Oh I'm not really all that willing," she admitted. "I just figured I owed you the name of the man who will kill you if you aren't telling the truth."
"Oh gee, thanks!" August laughed. Aleera laughed too. They both knew it was an empty threat, on Aleera's part at least. Rumple still might kill him if he betrayed them.
Aleera left August a little while later, but she did not take the book with her. He told her of his plan to add his full story. He was going to give it back to Henry soon. But Aleera was not to tell Henry about the whereabouts of his book. August had an ingenious way of how he was going to give it back through Emma. Aleera thought the idea was cute. She said as long as he gave it back in the timetable he claimed he would take with it, she wouldn't rat him out.
As exciting as Aleera's morning had been, the rest of the day depressed her. It was the most romantic day of the year and she didn't have a date. It was a silly thing to mope over. But Aleera wished she had Alastair to celebrate with. As Geoff he would never take her out on the town. He couldn't. She would be sleeping with him that night because it was often Saturdays when they did. But it wouldn't mean anything to him.
But on her way to Geoff's place the night got a little more exciting, but not in a good way. Aleera was walking in the woods past an abandoned cabin when she saw her father ushering the florist Moe French out of his deliver van at gunpoint. She wanted to stop him but she knew not to go alarm him when he had a gun. So she got out her cell phone and wandered around until she got some bars. She was near Geoff's house when she got a connection, and she called the Sherriff. She remembered that she'd talked about making an anonymous call to Emma earlier that day about August.
"Sherriff's Station," Aleera heard Emma's voice on the other line.
"Uh, I'm calling to share an anonymous tip?" she said. What else would she say?
"Oh really?" Emma asked. "What's your name?"
"It's an anonymous call, duh!" Aleera shrieked. "I saw Mr. Gold take Moe French at gunpoint into the abandoned cabin in the woods!"
"This better not be a prank," Emma told her.
"Dude! Just get here!" Aleera squeaked, and then she hung up. Emma knew Mr. Gold had a thing with Moe going on right now, and David had stopped by to say that he saw Gold buying duck tape and rope and had been acting shady. As young as the anonymous tip girl sounded, she was probably telling the truth.
"So…" Rumple said in his conversation he had with Regina in between the bars when he'd been imprisoned. "You did put him up to it then?"
"I merely suggested that strong men take what they need," Regina replied.
"Oh yeah and you told him exactly what to take didn't you?" he asked rhetorically. "And I assume you called in the tip?"
"I did no such thing," Regina smiled. "Is that how you were caught?"
"You are a dreadful liar," Rumple said gruffly.
"We used to know each other so well Mr. Gold," Regina said to him. "Has it really come down to this?"
"It seems it has, yeah," he replied. "But you know what I want. What is it you want?"
"I want you, to answer one question," she told him. "And answer it simply. What's your name?"
"It's Mr. Gold," Rumple played coy.
"Your real name," Regina said glaring at him.
"Every moment I've spent on this earth that's been my name," he claimed.
"But what about moments spent elsewhere?" Regina asked trying to be subtle, not her strong suit.
"What are you asking me?" Rumple played confused.
"I think you know!" Regina snarled. "If you want me to return what's yours…tell me, your name!" Rumple paused for dramatic effect and then gave an impish smile.
"Rumplestiltskin," he finally admitted. Then he stood up and got serious. "Now give me what I want." Regina tried to play it off that she wasn't freaked out. She teased him with the teacup before giving it to him. She tried not to flinch when he called her, 'your majesty.' While he was looking over the cup to make sure nothing else was broken off of it or wrong with it, Regina decided to ask him about Aleera.
"Does Aleera remember?" she asked him. He looked up at her and raised his eyebrow.
"Why would she?" he lied.
"Just checking," she said. "It's interesting that she just now came on my radar. You wouldn't know why would you?"
"I don't," he continued to lie. "But now that we are being honest with each other, let's remember how things used to be shall we?" he then proceeded to get the upper hand on the conversation. "Don't let these bars fool you, dear. I'm the one with the real power around here. I'm going to be out of here in no time. And nothing between us will change."
"We shall see," Regina said as she leered at him through the bars. Then she left him alone with Belle's cup.