Eighteen-year-old Emma Nolan sighed and brushed a piece of hair out of her face as she stood behind the counter of Granny's Diner, watching as one of the few customers they'd had left. It was two o'clock, and in-between rushes on a rainy Thursday afternoon, and she was tired. She'd really only taken the job at Granny's to help pay for a sweet looking, yellow VW bug that Doc was selling at his car lot. Why everyone in Storybrooke called him Doc she didn't understand. He wasn't even a doctor!
Oh well. At least it would be worth it to have the car so she could actually commute to college in the fall instead of having her dad – the town's sheriff – driving her to class everyday. Talk about embarrassing. It had been bad enough in high school, when being the daughter of the sheriff had lost its cool factor.
She drummed her fingers against the counter, watching and waving as Belle Gold walked into the diner and grinned a little at the bored look of thirteen-year-old Gideon as he trudged in behind her. Clearly, mother-son lunch wasn't exactly what he'd had in mind for the day.
She made her way over to the table, jotting down their orders before looking up in surprise as the door chimed again. Considering the hour, just Belle and Gideon alone were considered to be a rush.
"I'll be right with you!" she called to the man, who was shaking out his jacket. Emma realized he must not have been used to the cooler summers in Storybrooke… which was strange, and made her curious.
He gave her a thumbs-up as she grabbed an iced tea for Mrs. Gold, a coke for Gideon, and slipped the meal tag to the chef, before making her way over to the man that had entered the diner.
"Welcome to Granny's. What can I get for you?" she asked with a small smile.
"Black coffee," the man said as he looked over the small list of desserts. "And a slice of pumpkin pie."
Emma nodded and smiled. "Coming right up."
As she slid the coffee and pie over to the man, she tilted her head curiously, realizing she had never seen in town before. "So what brings you to Storybrooke, stranger?"
"Is it that obvious when you have new people in town?" he said with a chuckle. "A job."
She tilted her head. "A job?" That was strange. People from other cities didn't exactly transfer to Storybrooke, Maine from Seattle or Tallahassee.
He nodded, shrugging. "I felt like I needed a change from New Orleans."
"Huh."
"Not the answer you were expecting?" he teased, noting the look of surprise on her face.
Emma scoffed, opening her mouth to answer before she was called to get the order for Mrs. Gold and Gideon (two hamburgers, fries, onion rings, and extra pickles that Granny only ever charged Mr. Gold for despite her insistence to the contrary) before casually making her way back over to the newcomer.
"Got a place to stay?" she asked curiously. "Real estate isn't exactly the best here."
He shook his head. "I only just got to town. I haven't had time to look for a place yet. Know of anywhere I can stay?"
She grinned, flicking her ponytail over her shoulder. "Well, as luck would have it, there's a bed and breakfast down on Main street. You really can't miss it. Granny owns it too."
He grinned back at her over the lip of his coffee mug. "Do I get a discount on dinner if I stay there?"
"Ha! You'll be lucky if she gives you a discount on anything," she replied with a laugh, leaning in closer. "She even charges Mr. Gold for extra pickles."
The stranger froze slightly at the mention of Mr. Gold, and as much as Emma wanted to ask him more about it, she changed the topic. "Anyway… no, I don't think you can get a discount. She's not exactly an easy woman to deal with. So what sort of job did you move here to take?"
"Firefighter. I just got all of my certifications a couple of months ago and they offered me a job here," he explained.
"Firefighter, huh? That's really brave of you," she replied with a small smile.
He shrugged modestly. "All a part of the job," he said with a chuckle.
She gave him another small smile and a giggle and went back over to her perch at the counter, pulling out her cell phone to check to see if she had any messages from Lily or Alexandra. The three of them had made plans to have one last celebration before the summer ended. Since there wasn't much to do in Storybrooke and they weren't twenty-one so the Rabbit Hole was out, the big party was to be Netflix and popcorn at Lily's place.
But, there were no unread messages on her phone, which was a little frustrating because if Granny caught wind of her only talking to customers instead of doing her job and looking out for more… well, Emma knew as well as anyone in Storybrooke that Granny Lucas' wrath was the most dangerous thing in town.
"Emma!" Gideon called, breaking her from the stupor. "Can I have another coke please?"
"Half a cup," Mrs. Gold added with a look directed at her son as Emma made her way over to their table. "I don't want you to have too much sugar, especially before the party tonight."
Emma grinned as she refilled both cups. "Ooh, a party? What's the occasion, Mrs. Gold?" she asked curiously, taking the drinks back to the table.
Mrs. Gold chuckled and shrugged a little. "It's nothing fancy. We're just having a little family get together to celebrate Aiden's birthday, that's all. His mothers are coming in from Augusta, and my father actually agreed to be cordial. We'll see how long it lasts."
Her eyes widened. "Wow, Mrs. Gold, that's awesome! I hope it works out for you guys. If not, my dad'll come over to take Mr. Gold out to the Rabbit Hole before he kills someone," Emma grinned, making a mental note to warn her father when she got home that he might be on call to the Gold house that night.
"Thanks, Emma. Aiden does enjoy spending time with your father," Mrs. Gold replied, looking a little relieved that there was a possible out if something went wrong.
It wasn't long before Mrs. Gold and Gideon were heading out, leaving just she and the stranger together in the diner.
"What's your name anyway?" Emma asked as she poured him another cup of coffee with a smile.
He grinned up at her as she picked up the empty pie plate. "Do you ask everyone who comes in here their name?"
She laughed. "Storybrooke isn't a big town. I already know everyone. You're the stranger here."
"Name's Neal. Neal Cassidy."
She smiled, holding out her free hand to shake his. "It's nice to meet you, Neal. I'm Emma. Emma Nolan."
He smiled back. "Nice to meet you too, Emma. Oh – I'll take this to go if I can. Looks like it's about to storm and I've got some of my stuff strapped to the roof of my car."
Green eyes followed the man's gaze to the window and she nodded. "Yeah… the weather mentioned something about storms. I'll get you your to-go cup. Here's your bill," she said, ripping the bill from her pad and setting it down on the table. Whistling something under her breath, she set the coffee pot down and grabbed a to-go coffee cup for the man, sliding it to him as he handed over the bill and the cash.
"It's all set. Keep the change," he said, pouring the mug into the cup and sliding out of the booth. "And thanks again for the directions. Hopefully I'll see you around, Emma."
"Don't worry, you will!" she teased, waving as he hurried out the door.
It wasn't until she looked down at the bill and money in her hand that she realized that he'd left her a $20.00 tip on a $6.00 bill.
But he was gone before she could stop him, and before she knew it, Emma was finally relieved of work and was laying on a pillow with a bowl of popcorn at her side. Lily lay next to her and Alexandra had taken command of the sofa. Although to be fair, she had messed up her ankle, so she did need to be keeping it propped.
"So how was work, Emma? Boring as usual?" Lily asked as the opening credits to Crazy, Stupid, Love started.
"Actually, it wasn't bad... well, the end of my shift was good anyway. Apparently, there's a new firefighter in town," she said with a grin. "And he tipped very generously."
That caught their attention immediately, Alexandra nearly rolling off the couch in an attempt to get closer to the conversation.
"What sort of tip?" Lily asked with a grin and a wag of her eyebrows.
"Lily!" Emma scoffed, going red at the thought. "He left me more than he needed to, that's all. Especially since he just came into town."
"Yeah Lily, there's plenty of time for that sort of tip to come later," Alexandra added with a wink as she tried to dodge a handful of popcorn Emma threw in her direction.
Emma flopped down and groaned into a pillow. "You guys are ridiculous. I don't know anything about him aside from he's a firefighter from New Orleans!"
"That's never stopped anyone before," Lily shrugged as she took a sip of water. "Besides, if he works here now, there's plenty of time for you to get to know him."
"Lily oh my God," came Emma's muffled reply.
"I bet that's not the first time you're going to say that about him."
Emma had never wished harder for a portal to another dimension to swallow her whole.
Neal sighed as he looked out the window of Granny's Bed and Breakfast, rain pelting against the window as thunder rumbled in the dark sky. He'd felt bad, lying to the waitress at the diner about not knowing where the bed and breakfast was, but if he was going to keep up the charade of being new in town, he needed to.
He'd decided to come back to Storybrooke after his mother and step-father had somehow managed to get custody and filled his head with all sorts of stories about his father. Neal didn't know if any of them were true, having been so young when they'd taken him out to Charleston. But by the time he'd turned thirteen, he'd been tired of the stories and had asked for the truth.
They hadn't given it to him, so Neal ran, ending up in New Orleans. Changed his name from Gold to Cassidy and going from Baelfire to his middle name – Neal. He'd been placed in a foster home until he graduated high school. His foster mother had been like a dream (he even had a foster sister, something he hadn't anticipated), and when he'd told her he wanted to find his birth father, she had gone so far as to actually help him look.
She had given him the information the same day he finished training to be a firefighter.
It had been the best graduation present he'd ever gotten.
He made a mental note to send she and her daughter a postcard and a long, long thank-you note and an invitation to visit him whenever they wanted.
Providing, of course, that his father was not as bad as Killian and his mother had claimed he'd been, which was why he was playing the 'lost and new in town' game. He wanted to observe his father and get to know him before he let the truth out.
Seeing the woman supposedly going by Mrs. Gold and her son had been a shock to the system. His father getting remarried and having another son wasn't something he'd considered before, but he supposed he shouldn't have been too surprised. It had been long enough since his parents divorced, although it poked a large hole in his mother's theory of his father not knowing what love was.
Well, Neal hoped it did anyway.
Shaking his head, Neal laid down on the bed and flipped the television on. He was nervous enough about starting his job in the morning. For now, he wanted to put the mess about his family on the back burner until he couldn't hide it anymore.
Slowly, Neal's eyes fell closed as lightning illuminated the night sky.
