Emma got up, completely not ready for another day. It was always something in this town, though. Perhaps today, a meteor would come from the heavens and kill them all. Or, maybe - even more unlikely, but still strange enough to happen - Regina would finally pull the stick out of her butt. No, the sun would freeze over before that possibility could even be considered. She got ready for work anyways.

Speeding through her routine, Emma only hesitated when she needed to pin her badge on. Only for a second, Emma remembered Graham. She saw his smiling face as he thanked her for returning memories she didn't know he was missing. She heard him laugh at one of her sarcastic comments that was meant to push him away. She felt his soft lips on hers as her heart opened to the possibility of love once again. Then, she saw his lifeless face. Then, she heard his body hit the floor. Then, she felt his cold skin against her hand. And that second was over. Emma couldn't remember Graham or his stupid jokes. She couldn't remember any of it without feeling all the same pain of that night. So she didn't remember it. She just pinned her badge on so she could look every inch the sheriff she was pretending to be. Emma would pretend for as long as she could, and then she would have to go back to real life.

The sheriff went into the kitchen to toast some bread with the new toaster she had bought Mary Margaret. It was already seven fifteen, so the teacher was probably sitting one table away from David Nolan, pretending to read a book or eat her breakfast. Emma knew her friend was in love, but did she really have to pick a married guy? They were planning on telling Kathryn 'soon' as Mary kept saying. That was really going to backfire, and Emma kept telling her, but she just wouldn't listen.

Emma decided she would go to Granny's to get some coffee and maybe even read the paper. There probably wasn't anything interesting in there, but it would keep her occupied until she had to be at work.

When she walked in, it was as loud as usual. Families eating together before they were to send their kids off to school. Couples drinking their coffee and talking while holding hands. Friends chatting away as they wasted time before work. No one sat alone in that diner, except for one person. Every seat was filled for morning rush, except the one across from him. It was only yesterday that she came to owe him yet another thing. Though, it would be kind of nice to see if she could annoy him to death. Then she wouldn't owe him anything.

And that is how she found herself seated opposite Mr. Gold in the booth by the door. He didn't even look up from his newspaper. He just kept sipping his drink from a to-go container while he read.

"Good morning, Miss Swan," he greeted cordially, still not looking at her.

"Morning, Gold," Emma smiled.

He frowned slightly at the loss of his formal title. Other than that, though, he showed no signs of even hearing her. So Emma just sat there and watched him read, trying to unnerve him, but it appeared he was not a self-conscious reader.

When Ruby came by their table in her usual tight, too short shorts and her almost nonexistent shirt to take Emma's order, she stared disbelievingly before asking Emma what she would like.

"Just a coffee, please," Emma said, Ruby knew her usual.

"Not cocoa today, mmm?" Gold hummed questioningly after Ruby walked away.

"Oh, so you did notice me sit down?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. No one else in this town is brave enough to stare down the beast while he's reading," he quipped smugly.

"Well I've always been told I walk on the wild side," Emma smirked.

"Careful, monsters bite," Gold smirked right back at her.

"Only if they can get close enough."

"Is that a challenge, Miss Swan?"

"I'll leave that up to you."

Emma snatched up his newspaper, much to his chagrin. She couldn't help but feel opprobrium every time she saw Gold's face, but she did enjoy this little game they had. Ever since she came to town, they had been having a battle of wits and minds, and she couldn't tell who was winning.

When her coffee came, Emma just started sipping while staring at her paper, ignoring Ruby's inquiring glance. The girl's mouth never stopped running, yet people kept telling her things. She should consider a position as a reporter.

"Is there any particular reason you decided to disrupt my morning routine, dearie?" Gold asked, almost sounding annoyed. Almost.

"This was the only seat available. And it came with a free newspaper," Emma didn't look up from her paper as she spoke, knowing it aggravated him.

"Ah, so you don't have the answer to my question," he concluded.

Emma didn't say anything to that. She took a small victory in the fact he admitted she was disrupting him, though. She didn't know if she could get under his skin, but at least she could annoy him. It was the little things that mattered.

"Perhaps you could answer a different one," Gold said casually as he sipped his drink.

That got Emma's attention, "You want to switch questions?"

"No, I merely want to ask you another one," he smirked.

"Why?" Emma asked with suspicion.

"Because, Miss Swan, you intrigue me, and I'd like to know you better," he answered with a smile.

She searched his eyes for any alternative reasons, but came up empty. Was she really so interesting that he would sacrifice some of his secrets for some of hers? If he was proposing a question for a question, she would know more about him than anyone else in town. Perhaps she already did.

"Okay. If you ask me one, I get to ask you one. Every time," Emma said.

"And if you don't answer, I don't have to answer," Gold added.

The sheriff stared at him for several seconds before deciding it was fair enough. She would know just as much about him as he knew about her. That would definitely level the figurative playing field.

"May I ask my first question?" Gold prodded.

"Shoot," Emma nodded.

"Did you ever find your parents?" Gold asked.

"How do you know I'm an orphan?" Emma shot back.

He stared at her with a raised eyebrow for several seconds before she caught on. She opened her mouth and closed her mouth several times.

"That's-that's not what I- that wasn't my question!" Emma said indignantly.

"But you asked it nonetheless," he smirked happily.

"That doesn't count!" she continued.

"Oh, but it does," he grinned

"No, I never found my parents," Emma conceded.

"I read the newspaper," Gold said.

Of course, the fact that she was an orphan had been in the newspaper. How could she forget? In this town, she was the eighth wonder of the world. So much for leveling the playing field.

"Cheater," Emma muttered.

"As I always say, 'read the fine print.' You really should pay closer attention to your words, Miss Swan," Gold took another sip of his drink.

"What's your first name?" Emma asked.

"Who's Henry's father?" Gold replied.

"Very well," she sighed.

He was really serious about this 'names have power' thing. Giving that information away wasn't worth a name, though. That answer was locked away in the deepest, most forgotten place in her mind, banished from her heart.

"What's your middle name?" Emma tried again.

Gold seemed to think about it a moment before, "Were any of your foster parents abusive?"

"I wonder why on earth you would want to know that," Emma made sure not to phrase it as a question.

"Just curious."

"No. None of them were physically abusive."

"My second name is Weaver," Gold admitted.

"Weaver? Are you serious?" Emma laughed.

"What's wrong with it?" he furrowed his eyebrows.

"Your name is Weaver Gold?"

"Yes."

"Do you not see how funny that is?" Emma asked.

"It's a bit ironic," Gold smiled.

"No kidding," Emma laughed again.

Emma looked up at the clock on the wall. It read eight o'clock sharp, which meant she would be late.

"Crap," Emma cussed.

"Miss Swan, such a crass word shouldn't come out of such a pretty mouth," Gold chided.

Emma leveled him with a glare before downing her coffee and walking briskly to the door. She looked back at him only once before she left.

"You forgot to pay, dearie," Gold scowled.

"No, I didn't. You're being a gentleman and paying for me," Emma smiled as she walked out the door.

Perhaps this day wouldn't be so bad after all. Maybe it would be just fine. No meteors and no Reginas. She didn't even have to pay for her coffee.

{[(/*\)]}

It had been a fairly quiet day at the station. She only got there a few minutes late, so Regina would never notice. Emma didn't need to give the mayor any reasons to fire her, so she had to be careful. It was a pretty quiet town, but every now and then, there was something like Leroy walking around town with a pickaxe while drunk. Why he chose a pickaxe, Emma would never know. So, when she glided through the whole day and clocked out at ten with nothing more than some paperwork on her desk, she wasn't surprised. Storybrooke may be low on crime, but it had never ending stacks of paperwork that seemed to have been piling up for years. Curiouser and curiouser.

When Emma got home, she was ready to throw up her feet and watch some television. Maybe Mary would be up for joining her if she didn't watch anything too scary. However, when Emma walked through the door, she saw Mary Margaret laying on her bed, crying into a pillow.

"Mary Margaret, what's wrong?" Emma asked gently as she approached her friend's bed.

"I don't want to talk about it," Mary groaned without looking up.

"Do you want to be alone?" Emma laid a tender hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Nope."

"How about cocoa?"

"Yep."

As Emma got up to go make them their drinks, planning on adding a little of that whiskey Mary kept hidden, she finally got a good look at the teacher's face. There were tear tracks lining her cheeks and her eyes were rimmed red, but there was also a bruise on her cheek. Emma wanted to ask, but she remembered Mary didn't want to talk. Instead, she just went and made them their drinks, adding a little more MacCutcheon whiskey than she originally planned.

When she got back to the bed, Mary Margaret had her face dry, though she still looked like she wanted to burst. She just sat there. Mary took her drink numbly as she just stared into space. She brought it to her lips and took a sip. Suddenly, she choked a little and looked down at her drink in surprise.

"Are you trying to poison me?" Mary Margaret asked sadly.

"Only your brain cells," Emma answered as she took a sip of her own cocoa.

When Mary lifted an eyebrow, Emma clarified, "Whiskey. I figured you needed it tonight. No offence, but you look like crap."

As soon as the sentence came out of her mouth, Emma thought of Gold and what he had said earlier. Why was she thinking of him right now? She needed to be thinking of nothing but Mary.

"Yah, I'm sure I do," Mary nodded tiredly.

Just when Emma was sure she could pry an answer out of her friend, her phone rang. As the sheriff, she was technically always on duty since she didn't have a deputy, so she answered immediately, shooting Mary an apologetic glance.

"Sheriff Swan," Emma said into the receiver.

Mary Margaret watched Emma's face fall as she listened to her phone. What was it now? Yet another thing added to a horrible day?

"I'm sorry, I have to go," Emma said after she ended the call.

The sheriff flew off the bed and grabbed her keys. She already had her boots and her red leather jacket on, so all she needed to do was get to her car.

"Why?" Mary asked curiously.

Emma only hesitated a second before saying, "Kathryn's car was found near the town line, and she's not in it. I need to call David and get down there."