Something was changing within Storybrooke, Tippetarius couldn't exactly put her finger on what was going on but things were different now, there was in the air that seemed to rejuvenate this small town. It was no longer a sleepy little town in Maine, for the first time ever it seemed like Storybrooke was finally waking up. It was kind of ironic for Tippetarius as she was a bit of a chronic insomniac but for her, it seemed like this town that she called home had been in some kind of rut for a very long time and now there was this new lease of life.

This new change was making Tippetarius' days longer and perhaps even stranger as the last thing she had been expecting when she woke up this morning was to be dragged around in the woods by a ten year old Henry. She wasn't exactly sure what was going on but Henry had said that it was pretty important, something about some man needing their help. Tippetarius was certain that Henry had explained the purpose of this mission to her at some point but it had obviously went through one ear and out the other, which she could only blame on her tiredness.

Lately Tippetarius was being plagued with some bizarre bout of insomnia, for hours upon hours she wouldn't be able to sleep and then on the instance she managed to get some sleep, the dreams she had were unlike anything she had ever experienced before. They all seemed to vivid to be just dreams. It was odd and wrecking havoc with her life, as now Tippetarius was constantly in a state of exhaustion which is how she found herself being dragged along the woods by Henry.

This whole thing was probably a bad idea but Henry seemed so excited by all of this that Tippetarius didn't have it in her heart to tell him not, besides she was certain that on the chance that she had said no to his request, he would have made his way to the woods by himself. The last thing Tippetarius needed was Henry getting himself lost in the woods especially since it was already getting late and the sun had already set, at least if she was with him then there would be nothing to worry about as Tippetarius knew these woods like the back of her hand.

There was something about all this greenery that Tippetarius adored, she felt so comfortable being out here away from what little noise came from town and just being surrounded by the vast amount of trees and shrubbery. There was something very cathartic about being here and for Tippetarius, this little walk through the woods with Henry was helping to lift her tired and dreary mood. The fresh earth scent in the air was doing wonders for Tippetarius and she was feeling a lot better about herself than she had done in weeks. She had always found the woods to be a good place to come and clear her head.

"I do hope you know Henry that your mother is going to kill us when she finds out that we're out here and by us, I do hope that you realise I mean me. I'm the adult here and yet I always find myself willingly going along with whatever it is you want us to do." Tippetarius stated, feeling the need to yet again let Henry knew that this wasn't the best thing to be doing considering that Regina was still on the warpath about Emma Swan being in town. If anything the two of them should be trying to placate the Mayor and try and minimise the damage that seemed to come, but Master Mills seemed to be content in pushing his adoptive mother's buttons further.

Tippetarius knew she shouldn't be condoning any of this behaviour in the slightest but yet, there was only good intentions in Henry's heart as he wanted to find this missing man. Not to mention it was a tiny bit amusing to see Henry taking such an open defiance of his mother's instructions, it seemed to be bringing out some new found confidence in the boy and Tippetarius couldn't' remember the last time Henry had been so happy and enthusiastic about something.

"Tip, you don't need to be worrying about my mom as you're Princess Ozma! You've never been afraid to stand up for what's right and wrong regardless of who stands in your way. Even the Evil Queen." Henry retorted and Tippetarius let out a small smile as she continued to led them through the woods using a flash-light to help them see where they were going, this Ozma character sounded a lot braver than she was.

"So tell me more about this Ozma… Is she a good one?"

"I told you already Tip! You were born half human and half fairy, your father was the King of Oz and your mother was a Fairy Queen from another land. They named you Ozma and you were beloved by the whole of Oz and this evil witch kidnapped you and turned you into a boy called Tip, so no one would know who you really were. That's your name here is once again Tippetarius because you don't know who you really are! Back in the fairy tale world, you were raised as Tip until you were rescued, turned back into a girl and found out that you were Princess Ozma. You returned to Oz to become queen and rule over Oz forever. You were a good queen, a kind one who couldn't ignore any one in trouble which is why Snow White and Prince Charming knew they could come to you for help about this curse."

"I'm not exactly the princess type Henry." Tippetarius wearily retorted as she motioned to her outfit that consisted of a mud splattered green anorak, dark jeans and black wellington boats. Along with a nice sweater and perhaps white sneakers, this was pretty much Tippetarius' every day go to outfit, she never wore dressed and it was rare for her to wear any jewelry baring two little studs in her ears. Although there was her necklace, an emerald pendant that Tippetarius discreetly wore and had for as long as she could remember. It had been a gift from her mother, the only thing Tippetarius had that belonged to her parents.

All of this was further proof that Tippetarius was no princess just some ordinary and boring plain jane. Of course, most little girls would dream of being a princess but Tippetarius had never been like that. She had never really known what she had wanted to do with her life, she had never had her own dreams or aspirations.

"Any person can wear a crown Tip, but it's not the crown that makes the queen!" Henry adamantly stated and Tippetarius couldn't help but place one hand over her heart.

"How wise you are Henry, for someone so young… I wish I could be more like you."

"Now come along Tip!" Henry chimed, continuing to pull Tippetarius alongside with and she continued to go with the young Mr. Mills rather willingly.

It was getting darker with every passing minute and Tippetarius' mind couldn't help but wonder about the lost soul who they were looking for as her and Henry continued to make their way through the woods. It seemed strange that this mysterious John Doe character would end up here especially after being in a coma for so long, Tippetarius tried to make heads or tails of it but she soon realised that she wouldn't know what she would do in that situation. She couldn't really imagine waking up after so long and not knowing anything about herself not even her name.

A person's name was pretty much made them who they were. It was a special thing. To hear someone calling to you by the name you were given was kind of remarkable even for someone with a name like Tippetarius O. Oswin. She couldn't imagine not being able to recall own her name, even with a name that was quite the mouthful like hers. Tippetarius was who she was, even though she preferred to be called Tip. How lost and lonely John Doe must be feeling, Tippetarius couldn't help but think to herself.

Although she was dragged out of her thoughts rather abruptly by Henry pulling her down a short hill and being caught so off guard by this, Tippetarius was barely able to keep her footing by the time the two of them had reached level ground.

"Henry! Tip?"

Tippetarius looked in the direction in which she heard her name coming from and to her surprise she saw Mary Margaret Blanchard. She knew the fair skinned and dark haired woman well enough to call the local elementary school teacher and one of her few friends. Tippetarius had known Mary Margaret for as long as she could remember and she could honestly say without any hint of irony or sarcasm that her friend was as sweet as apple pie, possibly even sweeter. Tippetarius was surprised to see her dark haired friend out here as this wasn't exactly the kind of place that she would find Mary Margaret.

This was a new one indeed and it wasn't just Mary Margaret's surprising appearance that took Tippetarius off guard as there was somebody else with her, two people in fact and one of them happened to be the Sheriff, who Tippetarius was already good terms with but the other person? She was woman that Tippetarius hadn't had the pleasure of formally meeting yet but had managed to see her briefly in person and more recently in print. Tippetarius would recognize the blonde hair woman instantly as it was her arrival in town only a few days ago that had shaken things up considerable and rattled Regina's cage so fiercely that the whole of Storybrooke was still quaking.

It was Emma Swan; Henry Mills biological mother.

"Mary Margaret, as ever it is good to see you." Tippetarius warmly greeted with a friendly smile, she should have known that her friend would be out here helping as the lovely Ms. Blanchard was the kind of person who would help you with anything.

Tippetarius' attention soon turned over the blonde haired woman who she had been looking forward to formally meeting ever since she arrived. Tippetarius had been wanting to shake the hand of the woman who was causing Regina so much trouble and making things here a little more interesting.

"It's Emma, right? Your Henry's biological mother… I've heard a lot about you, most of it from the paper although I did take it with a pinch of salt as Sidney Glass isn't exactly known for his objectivity. I'm Tippetarius by the way, Tippetarius Oswin."

"Tippetarius Oswin?" Emma questioned, her eyebrows rising to the heavens over hearing such a bizarre name and Tippetarius couldn't but laugh, that kind of reaction was some thing she was very much she used to. Her name was very unusual.

"A bit of a mouthful I know, but feel free to call me Tip! Everyone does…"

"Not everybody."

Tippetarius couldn't help but grimace as she knew that voice tinged with an Irish accent very well. She should have know that Graham wouldn't have kept his pretty boy mouth shut when the subject of her name came up. Sheriff Graham Humbert. The tall, dark and roguishly handsome man refused to call Tippetarius by her nickname, when he did use her name he always Tippetarius because it was the name she was given at birth. It drove Tippetarius insane which only encouraged Graham further. Tippetarius couldn't help but idly roll her eyes as Graham sauntered up to with this all knowing look in his eyes and an arrogant smirk in the corner of his mouth. She adored him of course, Graham was perhaps the only person who knew her as best as anyone could.

"Indeed, the Sheriff is one of two people to call me by my whole first name."

"So you're here to help us find our John Doe? That's awfully nice of you Tippetarius but I've got it covered."

"Are you sure about that Sheriff? I'm pretty sure that if I left it up to you then this poor soul will never be found!" Tippetarius retorted without skipping a beat before proceeding to brush past Graham in order to carry on the search.

The woods here in Storybrooke were no national park but the land was vast and you were fully capable of getting lost if you didn't know where you were going. Even though Tippetarius practically knew her way around the woods, it was Graham who knew the terrain better than anyone else in Storybrooke.

However, as well intention that Tippetarius was, her ego had got in the way and due to her somewhat god awful lack of co-ordination she tripped over her own feet and took a rather ungraceful fall into the dirt. Tippetarius let out a groan as she rolled onto her back as her day was going from bad to worse, she didn't know what the hell was going on with her at the moment. She was of no real use to anyone if she could barely walk five feet without almost tripping up and taking somebody with her. Tippetarius could balance the books for the entire town and just walking in a straight line was a challenge for her.

"Christ! How can someone so beautiful be so clumsy?" Graham questioned as he helped Tip to her feet. So quickly did Tippetarius feel herself get flustered and she had to force herself to look away from the Sheriff and it wasn't because of the fall she had taken in front of him.

No, it was to hide the hideous blush that was on her have because he had called her beautiful. Nobody had ever said she was beautiful before and even though the compliment had been attached to a comment about her poor co-ordination, it was still something nice to hear. Especially from Graham. To him calling her beautiful left Tippetarius with this funny feeling in the pit of her stomach which made her feel uncharacteristically shy.

"Look at the state of your hands! You have scrapes all over! How many times have you fallen over today Tippetarius? Because your hands are a mess…"

"Maybe twice…" Tippetarius vaguely replied, despite knowing that in itself was a full blown lie as she had tripped over about twenty times today. She had been a certified klutz for as long as she could remember as she never seemed to be paying attention to where she was walking.

"Apparently not, given the state of your hands… For some reason Tippetarius you seem to be more accident prone that usual today, so you are sticking with me so I can keep an eye on you, whether or not you like it."

Tippetarius was surprised when Graham took her hand, linking his fingers with hers but she couldn't bring herself to say anything as she was afraid that her words would fail her, that her reaction would give away how she was feeling. Already she was blushing because he had called her beautiful and now he was holding her hand. Uncertainty clawed at Tippetarius stomach as she wasn't sure what this meant, her and Graham were friends, always had been. But Tippetarius was certain that her feelings towards the Sheriff were just the feelings you had towards a friend, however those kind of feelings were the ones that Tip kept buried where no one could find them.

Such as now.

This wasn't about Tippetarius or her feelings towards the man currently holding her hand, this was about the man who had gone missing from the hospital. He had nobody, given that they didn't know his name, it meant that his family probably were unaware that he had been in Storybrooke all time, Tippetarius had to focus on that. They all head to focus on that and resuming the search, the small group continued to search the terrain for any clues as to where John Doe would have gone. Dear little Henry was certain that John Doe was looking for Mary Margaret as her reading his book managed to wake him up. This was all due to this dark curse.

Tippetarius wasn't sure what to think. As much as she was focused on John Doe, she couldn't help but think if the roles were reversed would there be people looking for her? None of them knew anything about this man and yet there were all looking for him. Tippetarius was sort of jealous as she didn't think any one would do that for her. Or even notice that she was missing. Tippetarius had no family, no real dependents and she lived alone in a house that was located at the edge of the woods. If something happened to her, no one would know.

"So what's the story with this John Doe character? Do we know anything about him?" Tippetarius found herself asking despite knowing full well that it was a redundant question. How could they know anything about a man with no name who had been in a coma for god knows how long?

"Apart from him suddenly waking up and absconding from the hospital? Not a clue Tippetarius, nobody knows a single thing about him but apparently Regina found him unconscious by the side of the road years ago and she brought him. The guy's been in a coma ever since then, Dr Whale has no idea who John Doe is or what kind of accident he got in that caused the coma. All I know about John Doe is that he seems to share your enthusiasm for suddenly taking off." Graham commented and Tippetarius just pursed her lips in response as this was all a bit weird as she couldn't' recall ever hearing about some guy being found in the middle of the road ever appearing in the newspaper.

Surely something like that would have appeared in the papers especially since nobody knew who he was.

Running a story on the man could have possible brought some information to light about his accident and more importantly his identity as he had to have a name, everyone had a name. John/Jane Doe was just something that was idly handed out to people when there was no way of identifying them. All this uneasy about John Doe was making Tippetarius feel more unsettled about herself and how empty her life seemed to be. She could very much easily be the one in John Doe's shoes. It scared her more than she would have liked it to and she could feel the anxiety of it all clawing at her stomach.

"We have no such thing in common! All I did was turn my phones off and stay home for a couple of days. I didn't pull some kind of disappearing act or pull some kind of Houdini act, I just decided to take some personal time for myself. I needed to get some things in order and take a small break from work. You've seen my office G, it's a miracle that I can get any work done as I seem to have paperwork coming out the seams." Tippetarius retorted as whilst she knew that she was prone to going off the grid ever so often, it's not like she just waltzed off into thin air, not telling anyone where she was going. Tip never went far, she was always in some vicinity in Storybrooke. Either at home or at the office.

"You're not getting any sympathy from me on this one, it's not like you need to work like the rest of us. You just chose to work princess." Graham quipped as he went from studying the ground, no doubt for tread marks to looking for any kind of disturbances in the foliage whilst keeping a firm grip on Tippetarius' hand. She had no idea what Graham was looking for but she knew that he knew what he was doing.

All the jokes that Tippetarius made about Graham and his job aside, he was pretty damn good at his job and she trusted him wholeheartedly. Although Tippetarius could do without the never ending princess nickname rearing it's end rather frequently.

"Princess?" Emma questioned referring to the nickname and Graham quietly laughed in amusement whilst Tippetarius just rolled her eyes. This whole princess thing was relentless and never ending, it seemed to bring Graham countless joy using that annoying name whenever he wanted, knowing full well that it drove Tippetarius up the wall.

"As you can see it's my own personal nickname for the ever lovely Miss Oswin as I always thought there was something noble about her eyes, I'm convinced that she was royalty in a past life. But for the most part the nickname reflects wealth and status here in Storybrooke."

"Ignore him." Tippetarius quietly muttered as she went about kicking a rock with her wellington boot, she hated all discussions about money which was ironic given that she was an accountant. Well, she hated talking about her own money as it made things awkward and just talking about money in general was a tricky subject.

"Am I missing something here?" Emma questioned and Tippetarius just awkwardly looked away and decided to look at a really odd looking tree that was in the distance. If they really wanted to talk about this then they could do whatever they wanted, Tippetarius just couldn't hang around and get involved in the conversation.

She knew better than anyone that money wasn't everything, it didn't solve any of Tippetarius problems and it didn't make her any happier and it most certainly didn't ease any of her loneliness and long nights. She never asked for any of this, Tippetarius knew that she sounded like a spoilt and ungrateful brat just thinking this but it was the truth. This was the life she was born into and just walking away wasn't that simple. People here depended on her, Tippetarius owned buildings that countless people lived in, she owned the buildings that were used for most of the businesses here.

These were people's livelihoods and they counted on her to keep them going. If she sold up there was a good chance that Mr. Gold would sweep in and take it all and who knew what he would do. Tippetarius held a lot of responsibility here and whilst she often wished that she didn't have the money that she did, this was her reality and she had to live with it.

"Whilst Mr. Gold like to act like he owns the whole town, in reality he only owns half. The other half that he doesn't own is owned by the lovely Tip." Mary Margaret kindly explained and Tippetarius pursed her lips together and frowned. If they didn't find John Doe soon then it was going to be an incredibly cold and long night searching for this missing man.

"All those properties and yet she chooses to live in a cottage by the woods." Graham added and Tippetarius just scowled at him as he wasn't making things any better.

"Wait just one second… Tip you own half the town yet you chose to live in little house by the woods?" Emma questioned asking the exact question that Tippetarius knew that was inevitable ever since this talk about her wealth had cropped up.

It was a bit of a surprise that someone with Tippetarius sizable wealth lived in such a small but rather cosy house at the outskirts of town and right by the wood instead of one of the significantly much larger houses in town. But that wasn't her. She couldn't live in town, it wasn't her at all. Tippetarius was a very lonely person, she had always been by herself and her home situation seemed to reflect that perfectly. Her days and nights were rather lonely, quite often hunched over her desk or some other table doing work. Living out here by the woods was a source of comfort for Tippetarius, she loved the smell of woodlands especially on cold and wet morning and then there was something about all the greenery. From the dark green with a hint of yellow that was the moss of the floor to the emerald green pine trees, it brought this comfort to Tippetarius that she couldn't quite describe. It was almost homely.

"Yeah it doesn't make sense but then you can never win with the princess." Graham quipped with a small laugh.

"It's not about winning!" Tippetarius angrily retorted, she couldn't help herself as she was stuck in her own head, fixating about being alone and having nobody in her life. It seemed to be eating her up from the inside.

"Then what is it about?" Graham quietly asked and as Tippetarius looked into his eyes, his blue eyes that reminded her so much of the lake that ran by her house and she felt herself get lost in a moment. Like nothing else mattered and that the two of them were the only ones here but that wasn't the case. They were here for a reason and they needed to remember that and stop getting distracted. There was a man missing here. A man all alone and in desperate need of their help.

"Nothing, just forget I said anything at all." Tippetarius quietly said before tugging her hand out of Graham's grasp and walking off using her flashlight to guide her and look for any signs that John Doe had come in this direction. They had found his hospital wrist band covered in blood which didn't bode well. All Tippetarius wanted to go back home and hide but she knew that she couldn't do that.

As much as she had just overreacted to the whole money thing, John Doe needed them and she couldn't go home knowing that some poor man could be hurt and was in need of her help. She didn't get too far as something reached out and grabbed her hand, Tippetarius knew without looking that it was Graham as from holding his hand less than a minute or so again, his touch had already been ingrained in her heart. She would know his hand anywhere now.

"Something is bothering you. Tell me what it is." Graham softly questioned and Tippetarius kept her head forward, she didn't want him to see her like this, when her head was all over the place and she was feeling so unsure of herself.

"No."

"Tippetarius talk to me, please."

"Leave it alone."

"I will. Once you stop pushing me away."

She wasn't sure what it was, maybe it was how adamant Graham was about finding out was wrong with her or perhaps it was how gentle he was being. But all Tippetarius knew was that her feet were slowly turning around to face him. She was certain that he was going to laugh about how silly she was being. That much Tippetarius was convinced off and she couldn't bare to see him laughing at her about something that was chewing her up inside.

"Maybe I am similar to John Doe, sure I know my own name but I am completely alone. I have no family, I have no one who really needs me and I can't help but wonder… If anyone would come looking for me, if I ended up in a situation like this."

Tippetarius waited for the laughter to come but it didn't. There was no laughing on Graham's part, instead he pulled her off to the side by two trees, just out of sight of Henry, Mary Margaret and Emma. She was rather surprised when she felt two hands, or rather Graham's on the side of her face and these two hands gently tilted her face up to make her to look at him. Tippetarius felt uneasy as she looked at Graham, unable to look away from the blue eyes that seemed to be looking straight into her soul, trying to unearth all of her darkest secrets. He looked at her with a steady gaze, concern shinning through despite the darkness. Tippetarius could feel his warm breath tickle her throat and she was at a loss of what was going on.

"Do you really believe that no of us would notice if something happened to you? That we… That I notice? If something were to happen to you Tippetarius Oswin, of course I would come looking for you and I wouldn't stop until I found you. I would be waving flashlights, calling your name, I would have dogs out trying to pick up your scent… Tippetarius, you are not alone as you think you are. You have me Tip, you've always had me and I'm not going anywhere." Graham said, his words heavy but delicate and Tippetarius was trying to process everything that the Sheriff had just said to her and yet all her anxiety was slowly slipping away. Somehow with mere words, Graham had eased her discomfort and given Tip hope for the first time in a long time. Just because she didn't have a family, it didn't mean she was alone.

Tip felt a lump get caught in her throat. Now she wanted to cry,

"You don't even have a dog." Tippetarius found herself saying through a teary laugh which caused Graham to laugh before leaning forehead and leaning his head against her own.

"Then I'll ask Dr. Hopper if I can borrow Pongo."