Paulaa90: no, Graham is still sheriff with Emma as the deputy. My apologies if you're kidding, I can't really tell.
MerlockVonBaron: yes, she is. What happened to Snow White in this version is supposed to be a surprise.
That Emma isn't the sheriff is unclear to at least two people makes me think that I did something wrong.
Graham had walked into the room as Emma was standing up from her desk. "Mr. Clark at the pharmacy says that Henry was shoplifting."
"I'll go with you."
"There's no need for the sheriff and the deputy to go," Emma said. She grabbed her car keys off her desk. He was so used to trying to be there for Henry that how it would look for both of Storybrooke's only law enforcement to there at a simple shoplifting incidence hadn't occurred to him. "Besides maybe he'll listen to me. I'm the saviour and all that."
"It's not like Henry to shoplift," he said. Henry was a good kid, sometimes driven to extremes because of his knowledge of the curse. He wouldn't break the law when he didn't need to.
"Maybe it's all a misunderstanding. I'll let you know when I get back."
At the pharmacy Mr. Clark was talking to Regina. Henry, another boy and a girl were also in the shop.
"I'm sorry, madam mayor, but your son was shoplifting."
Regina snapped her head at Henry. "Were you?"
Henry shook his head.
"Well, look for yourself." Mr Clark pointed to the shop counter which had Henry's backpack and some candy and other store goods that had been found in his backpack.
Regina took a look at the store counter. "My son doesn't eat candy. And he knows better than to steal." She picked up Henry's backpack and zipped it close. "It was obviously those two. We're going."
Regina and Henry were leaving the pharmacy as Emma entered.
"Henry. What happened?"
"Miss Swan, must I remind you that genetics mean nothing? You are not his mother and it's all taken care of.
"I'm here because I'm the deputy." Despite your best attempts to change that.
"Oh, that's right," Regina said as if she had forgotten which Emma didn't believe she had for a moment. "Go on, do your job." Emma walked pass Regina. "Take care of those miscreants."
Emma ignored her and said to Mr. Clark, "Did you call their parents?"
"Uh," Mr. Clark said, "the number they gave me was disconnected." He walked away, leaving Emma to talk with the kids.
"Did you guys give Mr. Clark a fake number?" They shook their heads. "Then why is it disconnected?"
"'Cause our parents couldn't pay the bill," the girl said.
Emma picked up a box of toothpaste from the stolen goods. God, this situation brought back bad memories though she didn't show it. "You guys are just trying to help out, huh?"
She nodded. "Please, please don't arrest us. It will just make things worse for our parents."
Emma had payed for what they had tried to steal and driven the kids to where they said that their house was. She parked in front of a nice looking house.
"This it?" Emma asked. It was the first thing she had said in a while. After they had left the store aside from a quick call to Graham to let him know that she was taking the shoplifters home, things had been quiet.
The girl nodded. All three of them unfastened their seat belts. Emma opened her car door and was about get out of the car when the girl spoke.
"Please, no. If our parents see you, they'll be so embarrassed."
Emma closed her door. "Did Henry tell you about my superpower?"
She shook her head. "We just met him."
"I have the ability to tell when anybody is lying. Tell me the truth, money problems aside, is very thing okay at home?" Emma concentrated on the girl's face.
"Yeah, we're great. Can we go?"
"Alright." Let's do this the hard way then.
Ava and Nicholas got out the car. Emma started the engine and watched the kids run up the stairs. They stopped at the door and looked behind them, seeing that Emma has driven off the girl turned to her brother and spoke.
"She's gone. We're good."
They went down the stairs, ran to the backyard, jumped over a fence and end up behind an rundown house, which they lifted a large trap door to enter the basement of. The boy sat on a bed and Ava put the food they got into a cupboard. Suddenly, they started to hear noise coming from upstairs. They went back to the trap door to investigate.
"Why did you guys lie to me?" Startled, they turned around to find Emma behind them. "Where are your parents?"
"We don't have any," the girl admitted.
The kids were eating at the table in Lacey's flat while Emma and Lacey were having a conversation.
"Do you know them? Do they go to your school?"
"I've seen them, but I had no idea, none of us did."
Emma opened a file she had with her. "Ava and Nicholas Zimmer. So their mother was a woman named Dory Zimmer. She died a few years ago." Lacey shook her head. "No one seems to know her or remember her."
"And the father?"
"There isn't one, at least not one that they know."
"What does, uh, what does social services say?" Emma's silence told Lacey what she needed to know. "You didn't report them."
"I report them," Emma whispered, "I can't help them. They go into the system."
"The system that's supposed to help."
Emma scoffed. "Yeah, says the woman who wasn't in it for sixteen years. Do you know what happens? They get thrown into homes where they earn meal ticket, nothing more. These families get paid for these kids and as soon as they're too much work, they get tossed out and all starts over again." That's not even getting into what the adoption homes are like.
"But they're not all are like that."
"All the ones I was in."
"What, we're just going to adopt them?"
"I want to look for their father. They don't know him. He may not know they exist."
"And you think if he knows, he'll want them. Have you told Graham about this?"
Emma hesitated. "Not yet. I don't know what I'm going to say to him." Graham had been odd lately. Even if he hadn't been she didn't know if he would be on her side with this. He would probably be on Lacey's, believing that the system is going to help. "I don't know what the father will do. But what I do know is that it's hard enough finding foster families to take one kid that isn't theirs, let alone two. It's the best shot, or..."
Ava suddenly came up behind Emma. Talking through tears she said "...we're gonna be separated?"
"No, that's not gonna happen."
"Please, please don't let it." She looked at her brother and then looked back at Emma.
The Hall of Records smelled like an old closet. A middle aged man sat at the desk with an ancient computer like the one at the sheriff's department. Several drawers were behind the desk with boxes stacked high on top of the drawers. There was a bookcase against the wall filled with boxes and folders. He had clearly made as much use of the limited storage space as he could. Emma approached the desk.
"Excuse me, Mr.," She looked at the nameplate which read Mr. Krzyszkowski. "Ku-sas-ki?"
He looked up at her. "It's Krzyszkowski. Everyone calls me K."
"Mr. K, I am deputy Swan. I'm hoping to look at the birth certificates of Ava and Nicholas Zimmer."
"Well, just fill out this form, in triplicate." He took out three identical forms. He then stamped all three forms.
Emma took the forms. "Okay."
Emma started to fill out the forms, while Mr. Krzyszkowski looked through a filing cabinet. After searching he said "I am so sorry. Those documents have been recently removed."
"By who?"
Emma had come to Regina's office to confront her about the missing birth certificates.
"Don't worry, Miss Swan, you can relax. I've contacted the social services. Turns out these kids are on their own. They need help."
"Which is exactly what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to find their father."
"Well, he doesn't exist."
"He has to." I could find him if you'd just let me. It used to be my job to find people.
"Of course, biologically, he exists. But there's no record of him, which means we have no choice. These children need a home, so they will be put in the foster system."
"Storybrooke has a foster system?" The town didn't really have a proper jail, just holding cells. And the Hall of Records had looked like it had seen better days.
"No, but I have contacted the state. Maine's group homes unfortunately are filled. But they put us in touch in two homes in Boston. Boy's home and a girl's."
"They're separating them?"
"I don't like it either. But we've got no choice. Graham needs to have them in Boston tonight."
"Graham?"
"Well, he wanted to be sheriff. This is what sheriffs do. Yes, he's taking them. Don't worry I'll let him know." Regina started to dial the phone.
"No, I promised them they wouldn't be separated."
"Well, then you should stop making promises you can't keep. These children need a home. I'm just trying to find the best one."
There was a knock on the door. Lacey opened it to see Graham. "Did Emma tell you?"
Graham side stepped her question. "Are the kids alright? I just want to talk to them for a while." Regina had told him and while it hurt that Emma didn't trust him with this, he understood where she was coming from. He'd have to find a way to regain her trust but right now he had to focus on the kids.
Before coming over he had looked through the town charter, trying to find something that could allow them to stay in Storybrooke and there was nothing. He hadn't really expected there to be. But all angles had to be covered. He got the feeling that something terrible would happen if they left Storybrooke but he didn't know what or even if that was true. Was it just the curse making him believe that so he wouldn't try to leave? He envisioned the police car blowing up as the three of them drove across the town line and was glad that he knew how to keep a straight face.
Lacey moved aside to let him in. "Come in. They're fine."
Graham walked in and found the kids sitting at the kitchen table. Lacey closed the door after him and went to the kitchen. He walked over to couch where they were watching TV. They were sitting together, shoulder to shoulder. There was a bowl of apple slices on the living room table in front of them, no doubt left out by Lacey or Emma. (Probably Lacey as the apple slices didn't look old and Emma had left for the station a while ago.) Ava looked straight at him while Nicholas only glanced up at him for a moment. His eyes were glued on the TV while Ava was watching Nicholas intently. Graham ignored the sounds of the TV and looked around for a chair. When he found one he set it in front of the kids and sat down.
"I'm Graham Humbert. The sheriff."
"Are you here to take us away?" Ava asked. Nicholas squirmed in his seat.
Graham held up his hands. "No! No. I just wanted to talk to you. See how you're getting on." He clasped his hands over his knees and calmly asked, "Did your mother ever mention anything about your possible father? Or any extended family?"
"There's no one," Ava said. She crossed her arms. "If anyone wanted us we wouldn't be living on the streets."
Something about that statement cut him deep. It was more than just feeling sorry for the kids but he couldn't put his finger on it. Graham smiled. "You take really good care of your brother." Ava looked surprised and Nicholas just looked at him blankly. He continued to address her. "Do you need anything? A change of clothes maybe?"
"Yeah," Nicholas said. He wasn't smiling but he looked brighter. Ava frowned and Graham got the feeling that she hadn't been about to accept help from him.
"What have you been eating?" He could smell the omelette that Lacey was cooking.
Nicholas looked thoughtful but Ava answered for both of them. "Lot's of stuff. Don't you have real police work to do?"
He didn't know how to answer that in a way that would satisfy her so he asked another question instead. "Where are you and your brother sleeping?"
"Emma's room," Lacey answered, surprising Graham as she'd been so quiet up to now. "Emma is bunking with me."
Nicholas flinched which didn't go unnoticed by Graham or Ava. Ava looked back at Lacey. "We don't need you to answer for us."
Lacey fumbled with the spatula, nearly dropping it as she cooked. She looked like she was about to say something but seemed to think better of it and looked down at the frying pan instead.
Graham got up. He was unlikely to get anything more out of the kids and the situation could spiral into a bigger mess if he wasn't careful. "I should get going. Let me know if you need anything."
Henry walked up to her desk while Emma was searching for information about Ava and Nicholas's father. To Emma taking the kids to Boston seemed like a job that social services could do. But then there would be a wait for someone to come to town and the kids wouldn't be out of Storybrooke as quickly as Regina would like. Then again a reporter with no law experience was qualified to run for sheriff so who knew how Storybrooke law worked.
"Any luck?"
"No."
"I know who they are. Brother and sister, lost, no parents. Hansel and Gretel."
"And do you know anything about their dad?"
"Just that he abandoned them."
"Right, sounds like a familiar story. Whoever this guy is, he could be in Loas by now." Or Tallahassee. Wouldn't that be something? Emma thought sardonically.
"No, he's here."
"Just how do you know that?"
"'Cause no one leaves Storybrooke. No one comes here, no one goes. It's just the way it is."
"I came here."
"Because you're special. You're the first stranger here, ever."
Emma got up and took out a file from a drawer. "Right, I forgot. Well, if he's around here anywhere, I'm gonna find him." She sat back down at the desk. What other answer did I expect?
Henry sat down on her desk. "Can, you tell me about him?"
"I don't know anything yet."
Henry tried to not be impatient. "Not their father, mine." Emma looked up at him from her computer. "I told you about your parents."
Tit for tat. He told me, I should return the favour. Not that I really believe that Snow White and Prince Charming are my parents.
"Please," he pleaded.
Emma turned her head to better look at Henry. She felt bad about what she going to do but she had put Henry through enough pain when she gave him up. "I was pretty young. I just got out of the foster system and the only job I could get was like, this 24-hour diner, just off the interstate. And um, your dad was training to be a fireman. He always got the worse shifts. So he'd come in and order coffee and pie, and sit at the counter and always complain that we didn't sell pumpkin pie. But he always come back the next day anyway."
"Did you get married?"
"No, nothing like that. We just, we hung out a few times outside of work, and life happened. His got better and mine, got worse. I got into some trouble."
"And went to jail."
"Yeah. And before I went, I found out I was pregnant with you." Henry smiled. "And, I tried to contact him." She leaned forward. "And I found out, that he died saving a family from a burning department building. So, you think I am the savior, Henry. He was. Your father was a real hero."
"Do you have anything of his? Something you can remember him by." He leaned back. "Something I can see."
"I... I don't." That wasn't true. There was her swan pendant and the yellow bug but if she told him that then she might just tell him everything. Holding onto things. She mulled that thought over and then it hit her that she did know that how to find the father.
"Henry, I'm sorry. I gotta go. I may know how to find this guy."
Emma stood up and left. Henry hopped off her desk.
Graham came back with clothes for the kids. He had gotten them a few pairs of pants, some shirts and some pajamas. He was worse at guessing sizes than he had thought. Ava's shirt was so long that it looked more like a dress while Nicholas's pants were too long. Lacey compared the pants to see which ones were also too long.
Henry was already there by the time Graham had come back. He was sitting at the dining table and he had looked at Graham with the look that meant that he wanted to tell him something very badly. Graham sat down next to Henry. The kids were in Emma's room continuing to try on clothes while Lacey was in her room hemming multiple pairs of pants.
"Did you get it back? Your heart."
"Sort of. I don't know how to put it back in." Lacey was going to be upset with him if she walked back into the room while they were talking about this. But Henry should have someone to talk to about the curse, someone who believed him. Graham smiled fondly when he thought back to Lacey and Emma helping him even though they didn't know what was going on. Then he frowned. "Don't tell Lacey or Emma about us discussing this. They helped me get my heart back but they think they helped me steal a gem from Regina instead." A gem from the underground of Regina's father's coffin to boot. "They can't see it as it really is."
Henry's eyes shone with excitement. "But they still helped you and they haven't told Regina, right?"
"Yeah."
"They must sense what's going on, they just don't understand it yet." Graham hoped that was the case as well but he wasn't entirely sure. Maybe it was the pessimist in him that stopped him from being sure. "Lacey will understand once the curse is broken but you have to get my mom to believe."
"How do I do that?"
Henry scrunched his face up in thought. "I'm not sure yet. But we'll figure it out. What did you do with your heart?"
"Hid it somewhere that Regina would never think to look." He wondered if he should dig up his heart before he left town. Was the something bad that he felt was going to happen if he felt town that he wouldn't be able to come back for his heart?
He didn't want Henry to see him worrying so he decided to change the subject. "How have you been Henry?"
Henry instantly brightened. "Good. Did Emma ever tell you about my father?"
"No. What was he like?"
"He was a hero who died saving a family from a fire." Then Henry recounted what Emma had told him about his father while Graham smiled at him fondly. It was great to see Henry so happy, he only wished that Henry could have had known his father.
They both looked towards the door when it opened. Emma stood in the doorway. She stared at Graham, clearly having not expected him to be here. Then she looked at Henry. Emma made her way inside and closed the door behind her.
"Does your mom know your here?" Emma asked.
"It's okay," Henry said. "She won't notice that I'm gone."
"Where are Nicholas and Ava?"
"Your room, I think. They're trying on some clothes that I got them."
Emma walked over to her room and knocked on her door. "Can you two come out? I need to show you guys something." She walked away for the door and waited for the kids to come out. The kids came out in ill fitted clothes. "It's in my room. You two can change in the bathroom if you want."
"It's okay," Ava said. "We want to know what's so important."
Emma didn't want to waste time arguing with her. "Wait in the kitchen. I have to find it first."
Ava and Nicholas went to the kitchen while Emma looked through her room. Graham gave an apologetic look when he saw them.
"Sorry," Graham said. "I've never gone shopping for kids before."
"Hello," Henry greeted brightly.
The twins didn't answer them. They were more concerned with finding food. They were eating pink frosted cookies at the kitchen counter when Emma came in holding a box. Everyone looked at her when she entered the room, the attention made her nervous. She took a white crocheted baby blanket with purple ribbon threaded in it near the edges out of the box.
"What's that?" Nicholas asked.
Graham recognised what it was right away but said nothing. This was Emma's moment and she'd explain in her own time. He hadn't known that Emma had kept anything from her childhood and he wanted nothing more than to comfort her somehow. But he also felt strangely lonely and angry. He was angry for Emma's sake but he wasn't sure that was all it was.
"It's my baby blanket," Emma held the blanket to her chest, showing the part of the blanket where her name had been stitched in, "something I've held onto my whole life. It's the only thing that I have, from my parents. I've spent a lot of time with a lot of kids in your situation. And all of them, all of us, we hold onto stuff. I want to find your father, but I need your help. Is there anything of his, you've held onto?"
"I might have something," Ava said. "But if I give it to you, you'll make sure we stay together, right?"
"Right." She put her baby blanket back into the box. Ava went back to Emma's room, came back to the kitchen with a compass and handed it to Emma. "A compass?"
"Our mom kept it," Ava answered. "She said it was our dad's."
"Thank you." Emma started to walk away.
"Did you find them?" Ava asked.
"Who?"
"Your parents."
"Not yet. But I'm gonna find yours."
Emma entered the pawnshop while Mr. Gold was cleaning an oil lamp.
"Emma, how lovely to see you." He put down the oil lamp. "I'm flattered to take time off your busy schedule for me. What can I do for you?"
Emma put the compass on the table in front of Mr. Gold. "I'm looking for information on this old compass. Any idea where it could've come from?"
Mr. Gold picked up the compass. "Well, well, look at the detail. You know, this is crystal. This jewelled setting. Despite the rather unfortunate shape it's in, this is actually quite an unusual piece." He put the compass down to the table. "The person who owned this obviously had great taste."
"And where would someone like that buy it?"
"Right here, of course." Mr. Gold opened his arms to gesture to the entire shop.
"You know it?"
"Indeed. A piece like this is difficult to forget."
"Do you happen to remember who bought it?"
"Well, I'm good with names, Miss Swan, but," he walked to another side of the shop, "maybe not that good. However, As luck would have it, I do keep quite extensive records." He opened up a drawer and searched through it. "And, yes," he took out a white card, "here we are." He held out the card but said nothing.
Thankfully Emma caught on fast. Mr. Gold decided that he liked that about her. "What's your price?"
"Forgiveness." They were going to work together to find his son one day and he had no idea how long that was going to take. Might as well get her to agree to get along now.
"How about tolerance?"
Can't have everything I suppose. "Well, that's a start. The compass was purchased by Mr. Michael Tillman."
"Anything else?"
"Just a name. But I generally find that's all one needs." Emma nodded, then turned and walked towards the door. "Good luck with your investigation." Emma looked back then continued to walk. Mr. Gold looked back at the card, it was blank. He had known the name all along but he hadn't wanted her to be suspicious.
Emma was at Michael's automobile repair shop with Michael Tillman. Michael was reading the file about Ava and Nicholas that Emma had given him.
Michael gave the file back to Emma. "Not possible." This type of stuff doesn't happen in real life.
"Actually it is."
"Sorry. But Dory, she wasn't my, my..." He wasn't sure what he wanted to say. Wife, girlfriend. It didn't really matter. "It was just once." He turned back and walked back to his car.
"Sometimes that's all it takes."
"I met her when I was camping. And, we um... No, it's not possible. I don't have twins." He focused on the car. That was something that he knew how to handle.
"Yes," Michael turned his head and looked at Emma,"you do. You have twins that have been homeless ever since their mother passed away. Your twins have been living in an abandoned house," Michael went back to working on the working on a car in an effort to ignore her, "because they don't want to be separated from each other. Your twins are about to be shipped off to Boston, unless you stepped up and take responsibility for them."
Michael flinched as his hand got cut. "Look, I can barely manage this garage. I can't manage two kids." He walked over to his working table. Emma followed after him. Clearly she wasn't going to leave and he couldn't work while she talked about them. "Why are you so sure they are mine?"
Emma took out a compass. "Besides the timing? Have you ever seen this?"
Michael walks towards Emma and she handed him the compass. "I lost this."
"Let me guess, twelve years and nine months ago?" Michael looked up. "I know it's a lot, believe me, I know. A month ago, a kid showed up on my doorstep, I gave up for adoption, asking for help with... something, I ended up moving here for him."
"I heard about that. It's the mayor's son. But staying in town is, a lot different from taking him in."
"I don't have my kid, because I don't have a choice. You do. Those kids did not ask to be brought to this world. You brought them into this world, you and their mother. And they need you. If you choose not to take them, you are going to have to answer for that every day of your life. And sooner or later when they find you, because believe me they will find you, you are going to have to answer to them."
Michael paused for a while. I'm really sorry, I am," he put the compass back into Emma's hand. "I don't know anything about being a dad. If it's a good home you're looking for, it's not with me." He walked into a room and shut the door.
Henry, Ava and Nicholas were baking. Graham's cellphone rang and he answered it.
"Hello."
"Hey, it's me." Emma was standing on the street outside of Lacey's loft. "I need you to come outside right away." This wasn't a conversation to be hard over the phone.
"Is everything okay?"
"Don't say anything to the kids, but no, it's not." Graham took a look at Lacey and the kids. The kids were smiling as they watched the oven. Lacey looked at him concerned. "I'll be right there." He hanged up and told Lacey "I'll be right back."
Graham met Emma on the street outside of Lacey's apartment.
"He doesn't want the kids."
"And you don't want to tell them."
"I can't. Because all I'll be telling them is that false hope I gave them is exactly that."
"The truth can be painful, Emma, but it can also be freeing." The truth can set you free. It sounds cliche but it's true. I wouldn't have left Regina and gotten my heart back if I hadn't seen the truth.
"I agree on the painful part."
"Hey, look, you told Henry the truth that his father is dead and he's handling it great."
"I didn't tell him the truth." Graham didn't say anything. He hoped that she told Henry someday but now was not the right time to bring it up. "Henry's father was no hero and trust me, he does not need to know the real story. Maybe we can hide the kids, just until we can find a family for them, someone to take care of them."
"How are we going to hide them? We'd have to keep them from going to school." Graham didn't want the kids to leave Storybrooke either but right now it seemed like their best chance. At least they'd be away from Regina. Maybe nothing bad did happen if someone left town and it was just the curse making him think it.
"You have a better idea?"
"Maybe there isn't another way to solve this. Maybe we just have to let go."
Regina approached the two of them on the street. The sight of her made Graham's stomach turn. "Sheriff, shouldn't you be on the interstate?"
"What are you doing here?" Emma demanded.
"Seeing to it that you and Graham do your jobs."
"You know, you don't have to check up on us. We know what we have to do."
"Really? Because those kids are supposed to be in Boston tonight."
The police car was parked near the sidewalk. Emma, Henry and Regina watch Graham and the kids. Graham loaded some bags into the trunk of the car, the bags were filled with the clothes he had gotten for the kids.
Emma marched over to Ava. She took out the compass and gave it back to Ava. "Here. I'm sorry."
Ava and Nicholas got into the car in silence. Graham shut the door behind them.
"I'm taking them," Emma stated.
"No. I'm the Sheriff, I'll take them."
Regina's smirk remained unseen. It was gone when she tried to pull Henry away. "Let's go, Henry."
Henry shook Regina's hand off his shoulder and ran to the car's driving seat. "Neither of you can go. They can't leave Storybrooke, they can't! Something bad will happen."
"Something bad has already happened." She softened as she added "I can come and go from Storybrooke remember? And I'll keep them safe."
Graham realised that she had a point even if she didn't know that the curse was real. If there was any chance for those kids to stay safe, it was with her. But he wasn't sure if she could leave, the wolf had stopped her the first time. Would it stop her again? Would something else?
Emma got into the front seat, she started the engine and drove off.
Regina watched her leave with a wide grin on her face, finally she'd be rid of Emma. The plan had been to get rid of two birds with one stone, both Graham and the children. But this would work too. She'd find another one to get rid of Graham.
Emma's car had stopped on the way to the town border. Emma waited outside the car while the kids stayed in the car.
Ava noticed that the compass' needle had moved. "Nicholas, look!"
The needle pointed to the back of the car so they turned and looked through the back window to see a car approaching. The car stopped and Michael Tillman came out.
"Those are them?"
"Those are them."
"And the car? It's fine?"
"I just wanted you to see them, just once." She hadn't been able to look at Henry when she gave him up. If she had she would have wanted to keep him, do anything she could for him. "I didn't think I could do it either. I gave up Henry 'cause I wanted to give him his best chance. When I saw that he didn't have it, I couldn't leave. I was just as scared, more, probably. But once I saw him, got to know him, I couldn't go back."
Michael walked, stopped near the car and looked at his children. Then he looked at her. "You're taking them? To Boston?"
"I don't have to."
Michael looked back at Ava and Nicholas. "No, you don't have to."
Michael walked over the side of to the car and Ava lowered the window. Emma felt like her heart would burst.
Lacey was folding her clothes on her bed when Emma entered her room.
"Hey, what happened?"
"Their dad, he showed up, changed his mind." Emma lied down on the bed.
"Changed his mind? Just like that?"
Emma smiled. "He might had a little nudge."
"They found their father. That's great."
Emma looked up at the ceiling. "I wonder what that would be like."
"Maybe you'll find out. You can't give up."
"I don't know. I kinda think giving up might be the best plan. I think I need to let go."
"No, you don't."
"Really? If they wanted to know me, they wouldn't make it so hard to look." She had looked under every rock and corner to find them a long time ago. It was as if they didn't exist.
"Maybe. But maybe there's other reasons, maybe there's an explanation."
"If there is, it's something crazy. Something even crazier than Henry's theory."
"What's Henry's theory?"
"Well, that my parents put me in a magical wardrobe, and sent me to this world to save them."
"Oh, and who does he think they are?" Lacey asked. She chuckled.
"David."
"David?"
"Well, Prince Charming. Snow White's prince charming."
"Snow White has a kid?"
"Apparently that book you gave him, not exactly the stories in the most traditional sense. I think I need to go get some air." She got off the bed and walked out of Lacey's room. Lacey finished folding her clothes and then she followed after her. "I'm gonna go think." Emma took a manila envelope from the box that contained her baby blanket.
"If you're going to be back late I can wait up for you so we can eat together."
"No don't do that." You've already down more than enough. And what to I do? Keep kids over without consulting with you first and break your toaster.
"I'll save you some leftovers."
Emma got the house keys when Lacey caught sight of Emma's baby blanket.
"What a pretty blanket!
Emma turned back to look at her. "Thanks, goodnight."
Emma was sitting on top of her car and reading a news cut about her as a baby. Henry suddenly appeared outside the car holding a white box.
"What's that?" he asked.
"Just an old file. What's up?"
"Pumpkin pie. I thought you'd like some." Emma smiled. "It was pumpkin, right?"
"Right." She got off the car and Henry walked towards her. "Henry, about your father."
"Yeah." He smiled brightly up at her.
"I'm glad that I told you." The kid has so much trouble in his life, why not let him have this one thing? His father's long gone and who knows where he went anyway. It's not Henry is going to find him if he doesn't go looking.
"Me too." He hugged her.
Emma took the box from Henry's hand. "Give me that." She opened the box and started eating.
"What you did, with Ava and Nicholas, you really are changing things." Emma smiled at Henry.
Then they start to hear a motorcycle. They looked up the road where the noise was coming from. They watched a man driving a motorcycle drive up to the other side of the road and park there. There was a wooden box on the back of his motorcycle. An old one from the looks of it. Emma frowned and tried to make out his features in the dark. Aside from some of the bottom half of his face she couldn't make out anything but that he was dressed just like she would have imagined a motorcyclist to look. To her surprise he took off his helmet and walked towards them. While walking he smoothed back his hair with a gloved hand even though his short hair wasn't at all ruffled by the drive.
"Hi," Emma said. He was wearing a leather jacket and dark jeans, and he smelled of motor oil. He looked around her age, had dark hair and a five o'clock shadow.
He walked closer before replying. "Hi. Is this Storybrooke?"
"Yeah."
"Any place to get a room around here?"
"Uh, you're staying?" Henry asked. No one ever stayed here. No one came here at all. If it wasn't for the curse Granny would have had to close down the bed and breakfast ages ago.
"That's the plan. I'm just looking for a bed."
"Granny's Bed and Breakfast is just off the road, another two blocks," Emma told him.
"Thank you." He walked back to his motorcycle.
"Hey!" Emma called after him, "I didn't catch your name!"
He turned around. "That's 'cause I didn't give it." He got on his motorcycle and drove off.
Well that was rude. "I thought you said strangers don't come to Storybrooke."
"They don't." Henry watched the man turn the corner.