Tick Tick Tick.

The clock drove Dawn insane, especially on days like today. She fought the urge to rest her head on her hands.

Tick Tick Tick.

" I'm sorry sir, rent was due almost a week ago. I can set you up with a roommate if you want."

Her smile almost certainly looked like a hyena. The man in front of her rubbed his face, not bearing the burdens of maintaining professionalism.

Tick Tick Tick.

" Yeah, but you don't get it. I've got an interview today. I'll get a job and pay you back, no need to uproot someone's life so things will just go back to normal. "

Admittedly, his reluctance to follow orders wasn't absolutely unreasonable. It was probably in the top ten best cases a possible evict had made. If the last evict hadn't skipped town she might have even been able to take him up on it.

Tick Tick TIck.

That clock would be the death of her.

" I'm sorry sir, I really am-"

"- I could even work for you until then, or something!"

Tick Tick Tick .

" Sir!" She hardly restrained herself from slamming her palms on the table. " Just please take the offer. This is the best I can do." Taking a deep breath, she prepared to continue, but he interrupted.

" No, I'll just move out. I'd rather live out of my car for a few days." He grabbed a handful of mints and walked out.

Tick Tick Tick.

Stay, we'll delay your rent. Just use less water and we can work it out. I'll cover you for a day, just until you find out if you got the job. Dawn wanted to call out any excuse to let him off the hook, She didn't. Instead, she meekly closed the door.

Tick Tick Tick.

She also tore that forsaken clock off the wall and threw it in the trash. If Marco asked, she'd say it fell off. Once again a pang of regret appeared. Maybe she could get it fixed? As she pondered local repair shops, she found that even the monotonous sound of the clock was better than silence.

Bang!

Dawn was startled out of her thoughts by the door practically crashing in. A new man came in. His face lit up the moment they met eyes. A smile spread across his face like butter. It was almost expectant, had they met?

" Hi?"

The man's face fell, although he tried to hide it, and he walked up to her desk. Dawn figured they had met at a bar and he hoped he'd made more of an impression than he had.

" I have an appointment. Moving here, so I need a place to stay. "

Dawn checked her calendar, which corroborated the story. She took a moment to look him over

The man leaned back in her chair and spoke to her as if they were in a bar instead of an office. His clothes weren't helping. He'd clearly never worn remotely dignified clothes before. The tag was still on his shirt.

Aside from that he seemed well groomed and in decent health. Chances were that he wasn't a druggie or a gang member. Not that her town had many of those anyways. The more she looked at him, the happier she was that he was staying. The guy was above average in the looks department, even if he had a few loose wires.

" Yes. Well, is there a room you'd want?" Half the rooms in her place were empty. Getting one for the strange guy wouldn't be a problem. Lovely. To her surprise, he slapped down a check. It covered the rent for a month.

" Any room will do." He was still staring at her. Sure, he had toned it down a bit, but not enough. Dawn reached for the nearest key. All of the rooms cost the same on account of all of them being equally flawed.

" Room 319 okay?" He nodded. At least this guy offered some excitement. Realizing that she didn't want to call him ' this guy' for eternity, she asked, " Who are you anyway?" She had meant to sound friendlier, but he had overcompensated in that department.

" Eugene, Eugene Fitzgerbert." Once again he wore a look of anticipation on his face. He was a dog waiting for scraps. Sadly, despite a moment of doubt, this was certainly a stranger.

" Welcome to Storybrooke Eugene." Dawn handed him his keys and he walked out of the room with an expression masking something she couldn't quite read.