Dawn had always liked the smell of paint. Maybe it was just her imagination, but each color, each stroke smelled a little different. If she thought about it, it might have been association. Whenever she thought of brown, she thought of the rancid mold growing under the sink. Whenever she thought of blue, she'd think of the ocean breeze. Even with this explanation, she never quite figured out why she'd grown so attached to the color yellow.

For about a week now, she'd been painting non-stop. She'd leave to go to work, and occasionly go out with Eugene, but most of her time was spent with the easel. Nearly all of her painting were covered in gold. Unseen memories surfaced every time she looked at them. One of them was a painting of lanterns on the sea, looking like a mix of fireflies and stars. Another was of a mossy, stone tower. Even when it shouldn't have fit, yellow stood out in each of them.

A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. After yelling for the guest to come in, Eugene stepped through the door. He looked as if he had something to say, until he saw the paintings. His jaw was on the floor.

Dawn shrunken back a little and asked, " You like them?"

Eugene chuckled a bit, and smiled. " Like them? Dawn, these are amazing!"

" You know," she twirled her hair as she spoke, " Storybrooke has this fundraiser thing for the nuns every year. Normally we just sell candles, but maybe if I asked they'd make an exception."

" Do you need a salesperson? Because I'm a proud member of the sweet talk society." Eugene offered, only half kidding.

Dawn giggled a bit. " No, actually, I was thinking of hosting a gallery. I've got the space. Why not?"

" You'd have to be pretty dumb to pass up the Picasso of this generation." He leaned in and gave her an encouraging kiss on the cheek.

Obviously Eugene had meant no harm, but his statement scraped away at her confidence. Her face must have shown her doubts, because he sat down beside her.

" Something wrong?"

" If I do this, it won't just be some hobby. I could really let people down if I do this. They'll be expecting a sizable donation if I sign up."

" Blondie, if you don't meet their expectations for an act of charity, you're not the one who needs to apologize."

" I know, but-"

" You don't want to let anyone down. Trust me, you won't"

It was funny how sometimes someone said just the right thing. Words that you said to yourself were never really as good as when someone else said them.

She was doing that gallery.