Disclaimer: I do not own the Once Upon a Time franchise.
Chapter Seven
Rolling over, Emma let out a stretch with a slight groan. She felt her back crack pleasantly as she sat up in bed. She glanced around her new bedroom. There wasn't much to it other than a bed, two bedside tables, a dresser, a mirror, a small chair in the corner, and an armoire. She was itching to get some pictures put up around the place as a way to make it feel like home. Glancing at the clock on her nightstand, she saw that it was very early. August and Henry would likely sleep for another couple of hours, so Emma moved quietly downstairs to brew some coffee and get ready for the day.
It was closer to three hours later when August appeared, rubbing sleep out of his eyes and grumbling about mornings before turning toward the coffee pot. "Good morning, sunshine!" Emma greeted him with a bright smile, knowing that her cheeriness would annoy him.
August continued grumbling as he moved his way over to the living room section and plopped down next to her on the sofa. "Mornings are stupid." He muttered into his coffee cup.
Emma just shook her head with amusement, "I know, August. I remember." She winked at him. "Well, before Henry wakes up, I thought I'd run today by you?"
August's brow furrowed, "Are you going to make me have plans today? Because it's too early to make plans and I don't want to have plans today. We've had a lot of plans lately, I just want to not have plans today."
Emma shook her head, "We need home things, August. I glanced in the cupboards and there aren't any dishes and we don't have any food so we have errands to run. And, unlike you, I'm not going to eat off of paper plates and out of these flimsy Styrofoam cups." She nudged him as he just grunted in response. He would be happy never having real dishes, but Emma wanted to make this a home. And homes had real dishes.
A few minutes later, they heard the pitter patter of Henry's feet on the metal staircase, "Momma, Uncle Auggie?"
"In the living room, baby." Emma called out, smiling as Henry snuggled in between them. "Good morning, sweetie. Did you sleep well?"
Henry nodded and yawned, "But the sheets are itchy."
Pressing a kiss to the top of his head, Emma softly hummed in agreement, "Okay, well, we have a lot of errands to run, so we'll put it on the list. Go get dressed and we'll go get breakfast from Granny's." Emma nudged August's foot too, "You too, Uncle Auggie."
It took longer than Henry would've liked for August to get ready, but finally they were locking the door to their apartment and heading down to the Bug. While they ate (Emma had to put her foot down and say that lemonade was not for breakfast) August and Emma made a list of the errands they needed to run: a home store for dishes, sheets, towels (Emma wanted fresh towels and linens), school supplies for Henry, some picture frames for when Emma took photos and had them printed, and groceries.
August and Henry were only interested in the groceries, but Emma informed them they would be joining her in all errand running and they would not be complaining. Emma even promised them a trip to the library after the house was settled if they were both well-behaved.
It was hours later when the groceries were at put away and Emma agreed that she, August, and Henry could walk down to the library. According to Ruby it would be open until 5pm, so they still had a couple of hours. August wanted to check out their research section, Henry wanted to check out a couple of fairytale books, and Emma was happy to browse for some light-hearted fiction to read. It was nice walking down the street and having people say hello to them, even if they were still strangers to the town. The whole place had the feeling of home. It was a feeling she had been searching for in a place and had never been able to find. Based on the look of contentment on August's face as they walked, it seemed he agreed with her.
When they opened the library door they found a tiny brunette woman screaming lividly at David Nolan and Killian Jones. The three of them stopped, listening with amused smiles as she yelled, "He was here yesterday and then back here today! He was picking the lock this morning and then ran off and now you're saying you can't find him. Again!" Her voice was lilted and pleasant even though she was angry.
"Look, lass," Killian tried to soothe her, "we're looking for Will right now. You know he'll turn up sooner or later and he didn't get any books."
"This time!" She cut in, "Why is it that you all can't seem to handle him? And why couldn't you find the book he stole yesterday?"
Finally, Emma cut in, "Is everything okay here?"
The three of them spun to find August, Henry, and Emma standing near the circulation desk. "Oh dear!" The woman set the book she was holding on a cart and floated toward them. "Good afternoon, I'm Belle!" She introduced herself. "Welcome to the library." She greeted them.
Henry decided to ignore the tension between the adults and just introduce himself, "I'm Henry Swan!" He bounced on his toes, "I would like a library card and to look at books! Momma said that we could get books." He pointed to Emma, "And Uncle Auggie wants to look at boring stuff for work. His work isn't boring, but his work stuff is boring." He continued. "Then we're going to have dinner at Granny's so I can get lemonade. Uncle Auggie isn't happy about that because he wants something green, but Momma wants grilled cheese. I want chicken fingers, but mostly I want lemonade and to read new books. Do you have fairytale books?"
Belle looked at him with wide amused eyes, "Well, Henry, it's very nice to meet you. We have plenty of fairytale books. First, Uncle Auggie, I presume?" She asked.
August chuckled, "Yes, otherwise known as August Booth." She shook the woman's hand. "I wanted to look at your research materials. Your computer set up, your databases, newspapers," he paused, "I'm a journalist." He explained.
"Ah, well," Belle motioned toward the left side of library, "it's not big, but it's a good starting place and I have a good relationship with Augusta and Portland." She smiled, "Now, Momma," she looked over at Emma.
Emma smiled at the lovely young lady, "Emma Swan." She held out her hand in introduction. "And I'd like to peruse your fiction, I can find my own way around though. Henry and I have always loved libraries." She looked at her son, "Will you be good if Ms. Belle shows you the fairytale section and Uncle Auggie and I look at other books?"
Henry nodded, "Of course!" He agreed, holding his hand out to Belle.
Belle took it with a smile, "Well, Henry, why don't we go look at books and see if we can find a few you like?"
Emma watched with a smile as Henry and Belle moved upstairs where there was a big children's section. "August," she motioned to her friend, "this is Killian Jones, the other deputy in town." She introduced the two men now that the chaos from Belle and Henry was gone. She could still hear Henry's happy voice and Belle's accented laugh floating downstairs.
August watched the way Emma's cheeks flushed slightly as she introduced him and gave a grin at that, "Nice to meet you, Killian. As Emma said, I'm August, or Uncle Auggie. That's my cooler name." He admitted.
Killian shook his hand, "Nice to meet you. Welcome to Storybrooke."
David grinned, "As you can see, we may be small, but we're not sleepy. Not with Will Scarlett around."
August looked at the two deputies and Emma, an idea forming in his head, "You know, Emma is a bail bondsperson." He started, ignoring Emma's wide and panicked look, "And she's really good. She could probably track Scarlett down."
Killian and David both looked at Emma with raised eyebrows, "Really?" David asked, "You know, that would be helpful if you ran across him because Graham texted about a missing hiker and I think Killian and I should head out before it's too dark."
Emma nodded, "Alright, any tips on where he likes to hang out."
"The Rabbit Hole, Granny's and the beach. He has a place a couple of blocks south of The Rabbit Hole. It's a dive, I wouldn't take Henry." David admitted. "When you find him, you can call Graham or drop him at the station." David picked up a piece of paper from the circulation desk and jotted down the number for the station and Graham's cell. "Thanks, and good luck!" He tugged on Killian's arm, "Let's go, Jones."
When the two deputies were outside, Emma turned to face August. "What was that?" She asked.
August shrugged and moved towards the research section, "You need a job. And you're good at this and know how to do it." He ran over her before Emma could protest, "And I can watch Henry. It's why we're a team. And I'll pick out a few books for you too, so go say goodbye to Henry and then head out and work. Bring in the local trouble maker! It'll feel good."
Once back in the police cruiser, Killian looked at David, "What the bloody hell was that?"
David shrugged, "Look, we have more important things to do than hunt Scarlett down today," he reversed the car, "and maybe she can find him. Besides, we both know that Scarlett isn't a threat to anyone, least of all Emma. She seems like a woman who can hold her own."
Killian glanced back as the library disappeared from view, "I don't know, it kind of seems like she's running."
David rolled his eyes, "Just like most people who stumble into our town." He remarked, "Look, if she finds him that's great, and if she doesn't that's fine too. What we need to do right now is find this hiker who wandered off from his group."
Emma decided to start at Granny's to see if anyone had seen Scarlett. Some of the patrons gave her a weird look as she questioned them, but she just got the same response "Check the Hole." That was how she found herself standing in front of a grungy looking place that she had a hard time even existed in a town as quaint as Storybrooke. With a sigh she opened the door and wandered up to the bar. A nice-looking guy stood behind the bar wiping it down.
"Hey," she smacked the bar lightly to get his attention, rolling her eyes when he nearly tripped over himself to help her.
"And what is a lovely lady like you doing in an establishment like this?" He leered at her.
"I'm looking for Will Scarlett." She leaned against the bar top, "Has he been in today?"
The man sighed, "Not since last night. He was muttering about how he had the wrong book. He downed about half a bottle of whiskey and seemed to stumble home."
Emma nodded, "Thanks." She turned and left without another word. She wandered past the bar and found one apartment complex with no security. She caught a woman coming out and asked which apartment was Scarlett's. With the number 14 in her head, Emma mounted the steps and moved to the third floor.
After five minutes of banging, the next-door neighbor came outside. "He's not here." The man grumbled, "So go bloody bang on another door."
Emma shook her head and uttered an apology before turning to head down to the beach. It took her about fifteen minutes of wandering the expansive and beautiful coast to find Will Scarlett, with a map from a storybook laid out next to him as he dug furiously near the rocky coast line. "Really?" She asked as she approached him.
When Scarlett saw he coming he tried to take off, but he was clearly still drunk as he stumbled to the ground. "Lass, I'm minding my own business." He slurred as she yanked on his arm to pull him to his feet.
"Oh," she cringed at his breath, "let's get you to the station where you can sleep this off." She scooped up the book that Belle had clearly been screaming out as she pulled a drunken Will Scarlett down the street.
When Emma opened the door to the sheriff's station she was exhausted. It took forty-five minutes to drag Scarlett what should've taken fifteen. "You sent her after Scarlett?" Emma heard the Irish sheriff ask incredulously. Killian and David had just returned after dropping the no longer missing hiker at the hospital.
"Yup," Emma responded for David and Killian, "and here is your book thief and Belle's book." She waved the book around.
David grinned proudly at Killian and Graham, "Emma used to be a bail bondsperson and" he continued, "weren't you just saying you wished you had another deputy for the busy season?" He pointed at Graham who was locking a half-asleep Will Scarlett in the cell.
Graham looked between Emma, David, Killian and Scarlett, "Well, Emma, do you want a job?" He finally asked.
Emma was a bit stupefied. She thought she'd end up working shifts at Granny's or something, but this seemed better. And an easy way for her to keep track on Walsh's search for Henry and her. "Yeah, I do want a job." She glanced down at her watch, "Oh, shoot, I've got to meet Henry and August for dinner."
"Well, why don't you take another week, that way you can get your lad settled in school. So, a week from Monday?" Graham asked.
Emma nodded and shook his outstretched hand. "Thanks!" Emma agreed. She had a bit of an extra pep in her step as she made her way to the diner.