It was 2001. He'd owned the shop now for so long he couldn't remember how long he'd been doing this same routine. Each morning he woke up, stretched, and got into the shower. He dressed in a suit, adding layer after layer to make any who felt the need to deal with him feel underdressed. That was a trick he'd learned as a lawyer. In the morning, he read the newspaper, cooked himself some breakfast, eggs usually, with spinach if he had it. He drove to town and parked his car in the lot or on the street. He didn't live far from work, but he wasn't about to walk there. With his leg, he'd never manage, and besides, walking might give the impression he cared about something. He walked down the street every morning. Sometimes people lifted their eyes to him in acknowledgment. He never returned the favor. He barely paid any attention to Marco on the ladder as he walked swiftly by him.

As he unlocked the door to his shop, he glanced at the abandoned library on the corner across from him. It always made him feel uneasy, probably because it was becoming an eyesore. One of these days, he would file a complaint with Regina about that, but today there was too much to do.

Inside the shop, he opened the blinds and took a deep breath of the musty smell that came with age. It still felt like home, probably more like home than his pink house, which he still needed to get painted. He turned the sign behind him to "open" in case someone felt like coming in to make a deal but then escaped to the back room just like always. It was his favorite place in his shop. The spinning wheel he'd first seen when he bought the place was back here, along with a fold-away cot for nights he got carried away and just decided to sleep there. There were two tables crowded into the back that he could use to polish or repair or clean or whatever he needed to do. On the table was an old marble chess set he'd just acquired as collateral for a large loan. Seeing as how the loan was due in two days, he felt confident that the set was about to become his own. It would need a good polishing before he was ready to put it up for sale. That was his task for today.

It was just another day in Storybrooke.

And then his cell phone rang.

It was only by chance he'd found a child for Regina. When she'd first wandered in and asked him about finding her one, he'd put his feelers out in all the ordinary places, but at the last minute, something in the back of his mind told him to call one agency in Boston he rarely contacted. It seemed, however, Lady Luck was with him.

They had a child they were trying to place immediately.

The baby had been born in Phoenix and flown out to a new family in Boston, he'd lived there with them as a foster child for the first three weeks of his life, but the parents had returned him to the agency just that morning because of sudden financial hardships. Considering the age and circumstances of the child, they wanted to find him a home quickly. Was his client still interested in adopting fast?

It seemed like fate. Not just because of the timing or the unexplainable urge he'd had to call that particular agency, but also because of the circumstances surrounding the child's mother. As the man he talked to rambled on, he explained that it would be like coming home in a way, since the child's mother had been found not far from Storybrooke.

Found…

"Found?" he inquired, his mind carefully picking out that little detail. It seemed the sort of thing one might want to know.

Yes. Found. She was a strange case, it seemed. The mother had been abandoned in the woods when she was only an infant herself, found by a small boy. The child's caseworker explained that he'd been in touch with the Mother's social worker, who informed him that the girl had been trouble from the beginning. She'd been placed in the foster care system and had been in and out since they'd found her running away and starting over several times before being arrested and convicted for possession of stolen goods. She'd spent her entire pregnancy in a minimum-security prison in Phoenix, Arizona. The only time she'd left was when they took her to the hospital to give birth. In another couple of weeks, she'd be released. They wanted her child placed by then.

It was a shame, really. He imagined that if her parents hadn't done such a thing, her life might have been much different. Eighteen years old, she should have been in school, or working, just figuring life out for herself. Instead, the cycle of abandonment had been forced to continue. It was tragic.

"We'd be happy to surrender the child to your client," the man on the phone explained. "No use in two generations enduring the system when someone is willing to take him. And if the child isn't safe in a home before she's out, who knows what she'll do."

He agreed wholeheartedly and gave them the number of the town hall to fax the information and paperwork to him along with a little something else.

"Tell me, what are the chances I could get my hands on the Mother's records."

"Not good," he answered. "She was a minor when she was arrested. It's a sealed juvenile record."

"I know, I understand, but as a lawyer, I also know that so often those records…they're handled a bit haphazardly. From one civil servant to another, I just want to be able to reasonably inform my client about what she may have to deal with."

On the other end of the phone, the man sighed. "I'll tell you what, I'm not making promises, but in the interests of getting this all taken care of quickly...I'll see what I can get my hands on and send you anything I can dig up when I fax the paperwork over."

He thanked the man and then silently thanked him again when he retrieved the fax from the town hall. Included in the file on the baby boy was the information about the Mother. It was sparse, the name appropriately blacked out, so it only allowed relevant information, but the arrest record and page of notes from her social worker told a story. So did the newspaper article that came with it. It was the report of exactly what the caseworker had said. A baby girl had been found in the woods by a boy, unnamed. Both children had been put into social services. It was a difficult life she'd had, no doubt from where she sat in jail now, it was a difficult life she'd continue to have. At least the boy might be slightly better off with Regina, though the more he thought about it, the more he admitted he didn't know which would be better.

He made the appropriate copies of the paperwork, then tried to drop by to inform Regina of the baby he'd found only to find her office empty. She was in meetings until that afternoon, an assistant informed him. Normally he would have left and let her figure out what she'd missed on her own, but considering the importance of timing on this particular deal, he left a message that he had information on a child and to come see him at once. He'd just barely gotten the chess set out on display when she walked into the shop with a smile on her face.

"You have news?" she asked excitedly.

"Yes. Fate may be on your side. This morning, I, uh, spoke with an agency that had placed a baby boy from Phoenix with a family nearby in Boston."

"With a family? How's that fate?"

"Because at the last minute, the adoption fell through. It happens," he shrugged.

Regina beamed. "So the baby still needs a home."

"Indeed. As they say, fate appears to be on your side." He turned back to the counter, toward the folder that he'd prepared for her after removing the information about the mother from it and storing it for his own records. "The agency is in Boston," Regina took the folder and opened it, smiling as she read. "The agency is reputable, the caseworker seemed eager and excited to close this case, and-"

"It's a boy!" Regina smiled so wide he could see her back molars. Figured. He'd arranged too many adoptions to count; details were always important, but all the parents ever seemed to want to know was boy or girl, blonde or brunette, green eyes or blue eyes…so much importance placed on the physical appearance. So far, Regina was like every other parent. But knowing the mayor as personally as he did, he suspected that wouldn't last long.

"It's a boy," he confirmed. "White, male, average height, average weight, average in just about every way…"

"What's his name?" she interrupted.

"He doesn't have one."

Regina turned her nose wrinkled in anger and confusion. "He doesn't have a name?"

"It is a bit odd. I understand when the adoption was finalized, his parents were to give him one, but as they didn't adopt him…it'll be up to you to decide who he is. Or you could always ask the caseworker what his previous family called him if you can't think of something-"

"No, actually…" Regina closed her eyes and shook her head at the words as if meditating on something strange he'd said. Finally, a smile blossomed over her face again, and she looked up at him happily. "Actually, I have the perfect name in mind! So…what's next? When do I get him?"

"I told the caseworker you'd go up to meet him tomorrow to make everything final. He'll walk you through the final stages, of course, as your lawyer, I advise you not to sign anything until I have approved of it."

"Tomorrow? Boston is only four hours away! I'll go today! I'll leave right now!"

She forgot to say good-bye, merely turned on her heel, and strode quickly out the door so that he was stuck in his shop with his mouth open, ready to say words she'd never hear. Just like most parents, he supposed. There was always so much to do when a baby was coming into the family, and apparently, Regina was about to attempt it by herself and in one day. This would be something fun to sit back and watch.

"I'll call the caseworker," he muttered to himself in response.

Simple chapter, nothing we haven't seen before. In fact, all of these last chapters are something that we've seen before, just with a bit of framing to fill them out a bit. That was always to be expected with this ficlet, short as it is. But only one more chapter and then we're into Breaking the Curse, that's when things get fun!

Thank you, Jennifer Baratta, Fox24, Grace5231973, and Alarda, for reading and, of course, for reviewing. I'm glad you are enjoying this little trip we've taken into Storybrooke during the Curse. Only two more chapters, and we get to meet that baby abandoned in the woods! Peace and Happy Reading!