The air-conditioning in the man's car was much better than on the buses to Storybrooke. Emma sat in the passenger's seat beside the smartly-dressed man as they made their way towards the Nolan household.
"So then, are you a student at Storybrooke High School?" he asked.
"No," said Emma, wondering how much she should tell this guy. "I don't live here."
"Ahh," was his response. "That's a shame. I was hoping you could give me some pointers."
That made Emma frown. "About what?"
"I only moved here two weeks ago," the man explained. "I've secured myself a new job as the principal at Storybrooke High. I start next week."
Emma nodded. "Well, I've only been in Storybrooke for twenty minutes. It seems like a nice place."
"It certainly does. Like something out of a fairytale."
There were a few moments of silence after that, before it was broken by Emma.
"So, uhh... how exactly do you know the Nolans?"
"Hm? Oh, well, I know David Nolan," the man said. "He works at the animal shelter. I went there last week when I found a wounded bird on the sidewalk outside my home."
"Oh, right," said Emma. "And... do you know his son?"
The man shook his head. "Can't say that I do... is that who you're visiting?"
"Yeah."
"Well, if he's around your age, I imagine he'd still be at school," replied the man. "Do you want me to take you to Storybrooke High instead? That's where I'm headed anyway. I've got a meeting with the man I'm going to be replacing. Old guy, by the name of Albert Spencer."
Emma considered this for a moment. It would be awkward if she just showed up on the Nolans' doorstep and announced herself as 'maybe their daughter'.
"Sure."
When they arrived outside Storybrooke High School, the man checked his expensive-looking watch.
"School finishes in about five minutes," he said. "So it won't be a long wait. I'll drop you off here."
Emma gave him a polite smile. "Thanks, Mr..."
"Gold," he finished. "It was my pleasure."
When she got out of the car and closed the door, Mr. Gold drove through the school gates down to the parking bay reserved for staff members. Emma decided to wait outside the gates until school was over. Five minutes ended up feeling more like ten, but the siren eventually went off, and Emma saw students spilling out of the classrooms in their haste to get the hell out of school. Emma's gaze searched each face in the distant crowds, but none of them looked like Neal. Eventually, Emma chose to just walk through the gates and find him. She passed the front office and entered the crowd of bustling students, earning a bunch of quizzical looks from students who noted both her unfamiliarity and her clothes, which were most definitely not the school uniform. Emma spun on her heels to try and scan the crowd, and then she saw him. Neal was laughing with a couple of other boys, and he was disappearing around the corner of a classroom.
"Neal!" she called, but he was already out of sight. "Shit."
Emma hurried over to the classroom, half-running, and rapidly turned the corner, only to find herself colliding with someone. She fell to the ground flat on her back. Ouch. Quickly, she forced herself to get back up, and saw that the boy she had run into was doing the same. Standing beside him was a dark-haired girl who was glaring at Emma.
"Watch where you're going!" the girl snapped.
"Sorry, I..." Emma started, but she felt nauseous. The boy held up a hand, using his other hand to brush dirt from his uniform.
"Don't worry about it," he replied with an Irish accent. "No harm done. Are you alright?"
Emma nodded. "I'm fine."
The girl crossed her arms, still glaring. "Where's your school uniform? You don't even go here, do you?"
"Regina," the boy muttered. "I said don't worry about it. Let's go."
"Excuse me, Graham," the girl replied. "Don't tell me what to do."
She looked back at Emma, whose embarrassment was slowly becoming anger as a mixture of smugness and disgust appeared on the girl's face.
"You don't belong here," she went on. "I mean, look at you. What are you even doing here?"
"I'm looking for someone," Emma said, gritting her teeth and fighting the urge to punch the girl square in the jaw. Then, she heard a boy's voice from behind the couple.
"Emma?"
The boy and girl, apparently named Graham and Regina, parted to reveal that Neal was standing there, grinning.
"Neal," murmured Emma. "Hey. I'm, uhh... I'm here."
"I knew you'd come!" he exclaimed. "Come on, we can go home and you can meet our dad."
A look of confusion plagued both Regina and Graham's faces.
"Meet your dad?" Graham asked, his eyes switching from Neal to Emma. "You two are siblings?"
Emma shrugged. "Supposedly."
In the few moments she had known Graham and Regina, she had assumed that the latter was prone to being a loudmouth who spoke her mind all too often. Now, however, she had gone quiet, as though she was thinking hard about something that was proving to be a puzzle. Emma decided to say a brief and awkward goodbye to Graham, before following Neal off the school grounds to his home.
"That girl Regina seems like a real piece of work," said Emma.
Neal shrugged. "She's the student council president. Apparently, her grandma used to be the principal at this school until she was murdered."
"Murdered?"
"Yeah," said Neal. "That's what Dad told me, anyway. People say Regina's mom was killed too, in her own home."
"Oh, wow," Emma muttered, suddenly feeling bad for Regina. "That's horrible."
"Weird, too," Neal replied. "I've lived in Storybrooke for as long as I can remember, and there hasn't been a single murder here. Sad, though, isn't it? Apparently Regina's mom was also named Regina. She was part of the Mills family that used to practically own Storybrooke. Dad says they were powerful people."
"Powerful, huh?" said Emma, curious. "What do you mean?"
Neal gave another shrug. "I don't know. That's just what Dad says. You can ask him about it when you meet him."
Emma sighed. "You know, if I meet him, and I decide that he's not my father, I'm leaving Storybrooke tonight."
"Fair enough," said Neal. "But don't decide straight away, okay? Give him a chance."
Before long, they were outside the Nolan residence. Neal opened the front door and they entered. Neal's dad, David, was sitting on the sofa watching some spy movie on the flatscreen. He turned his head to greet his son, and was surprised to see Emma there as well.
"Hi," he said.
"Hi," Emma replied.
"Dad," Neal spoke excitedly, "This is Emma."
David's eyes widened, and he rose from the sofa. "Emma? You mean... no, it can't be..."
"It is! Tell him, Emma!"
Emma, feeling nervous, simply reached into the schoolbag that was hanging loosely from one shoulder, and pulled out a baby blanket with her name on it. David all but gasped, his mouth open in astonishment.
"Is this... did your wife make this?" Emma asked him. David approached them, and put a hand on the blanket to feel it.
"I can't believe it," he said quietly. "It's really you, isn't it? You've come home."
It's true, Emma realized. Neal was telling the truth. This man is my father.
The face of the man she thought had been her dad for the past seventeen years flashed in her memories. Her mom's, too. They were never her parents after all. The more Emma had thought about it, the more it had made sense to her. She resembled neither of them, but even as she looked at David Nolan now, Emma could clearly see a resemblance between herself and him. The tears in her eyes caught her by surprise, but she welcomed them. When she saw that there were tears in David's eyes as well, she threw out her arms and hugged him.
"Dad," she said, her voice weak. "You're my dad."
Their hug lasted a few seconds, before Neal spoke up.
"So... does this mean Mom can come home now?"
"Maybe," David said, smiling. "I don't know how much Neal told you, Emma, but... ever since your mom gave you away to that girl Zelena, she's never been able to forgive herself. And trust me, she looked for you for a long time, but it was as though you, and Zelena, and that boy hacker, you'd all vanished off the face of the planet. We tried to move on, but she just couldn't. Things eventually took a turn for the worse, and now she's in a... well, she's at an area in the hospital for people with problems."
Emma nodded. "Neal told me that much. I want to see her. I'm ready to meet my mom."
