Chapter 8:
The next morning, Bella woke up a little later than usual and the first thing that crossed her mind was "Will Will Scarlet show up tonight or will he be another guy to let her down?"
Shaking her head and trying not to think about it, Bella got ready and went to Granny's to get some breakfast before she went to the sheriff's station to see what Emma and Graham were planning on doing for the day. When Bella arrived, around 10 in the morning, Graham was interrogating a handcuffed Sydney Glass while Emma seemed to be filing some paperwork.
Bella directly went to see her.
"Bella, how was your night?"
"Let me guess, you already know that I went out with Ruby last night." Bella shook her head.
"It's a small town, word seems to get around quickly around here. So, how is he?" Emma replied.
"I don't know… I mean, he's cute, but I don't know if we'll have much in common. I said yes because it'll be something to do, to socialize, but I doubt it'll become love anytime soon, even though he's very charming in a boyish kind of way. I just feel like there's something off about him."
"Well, maybe you'll at least have some fun."
"Probably, if he shows up. I get a weird vibe about him, I don't know what it's about so I'll see tonight. So, what did Mary-Margaret have to say last night?"
"Last night? Not much… She came back around 6 this morning to shower and change before she went to work." Emma smiled.
"I take it that David believes?"
"I haven't seen him yet but Mary-Margaret told me that he read the pages of the book she showed him, he listened to what she had to say and he's willing to believe."
"The book worked on him, then?" Bella asked her.
"Yes. They want to see me for dinner tonight." Emma replied nervously.
"You have nothing to be nervous about. He's probably just as nervous as you are, maybe even more so because he just learned that he had a 28 years old daughter."
"I know but still… Prince Charming is my father. My father battled dragons, mermaids and black knights… He's… cool, and brave!" Emma smiled.
"Wait, where does he stand with Katherine? You know, his cursed wife?"
"As soon as she came home from the school, they had a serious talk. They both knew that they were having problems, that things between them weren't right so…" Emma shrugged her shoulders.
"It must have been quite a connection she felt with the gym teacher."
"True Love." Emma replied.
"So, what do we have planned today?" Bella asked.
"As soon as Graham is done with Glass, we'll go to the City Hall and look in the records if we can find anything about Belle or where she could be." Emma replied.
"Wouldn't it be easier to place a tracking device on Regina or something she always has with her?" Bella asked.
"Graham placed one under the hood of her car early this morning but we can't place one anywhere else, that would be taking the risk of being discovered."
"True. And we can't follow her because she could notice it." Bella realized.
"Yep. So, what are your plans today?" Emma asked Bella.
"Well, since I can't look for my own parents, I'll help you and Graham for a while, then this afternoon I'll go to the park and write a little before my date with Will." Bella replied.
"Good idea. Do you want me to look into the database to see if he has a history?" Emma asked, speaking about Will Scarlet.
"Why not." Bella nodded and Emma started typing on the computer, quickly finding that the young man was often arrested for breaking and entering.
"He never stole much but he's not exactly a good guy." Emma commented.
"Yeah well, he'll do until I meet my knight in shining armor, right?" Bella chuckled while thinking back to her previous boyfriends.
She had never really dated any good guys, only bad guys seems to be interested in her, men that wanted something from her or that were going to break her heart. Whenever she thought that they were good guys, she ended up finding out that they were actually just pretending to get her in their bed. Maybe she'd meet a good guy in this town, maybe a prince or some sort of knight or good wizard.
"Sydney is in jail for now. So, do we get to work or do you have something else to do?" Graham walked in and suggested.
"Yes, let's go." Bella and Emma nodded.
"You're coming with us?" Graham asked Bella, surprised.
"Yes, I'm very good at research and if someone comes, I'll distract them while you run or stay hidden." Bella replied.
"Good idea." Emma nodded.
.
They managed to get to the archives without being spotted by Regina and immediately started looking through the numerous boxes.
"A lot of it is empty, the rest are the same pieces of paperwork with the date changing." Bella realized after a few boxes.
"That's probably because of the curse. Why do the paperwork for 28 years if every day is going to go the same way?" Emma suggested.
"True." Bella nodded.
"It'll make finding Belle easier." Graham commented.
"Well, we know there's little chance of being interrupted. Everything is so dusty, I'm sure nobody ever comes in here." Emma added.
"We just have to be careful not to be too noisy and attract attention." Bella nodded.
They kept on looking for a while, putting aside anything that could be useful and doing their best to put things back in place behind them, even though the traces in the dust showed that someone had been in there.
"Emma, do you think someone here knows who my mother is?" Bella asked her best friend.
"I don't know, we don't have much evidence right now."
"I know… I think I'll still ask Mister Gold, if anyone knows who she is, he will." Bella replied.
"What do you know about her?" Graham asked her.
"Nothing… There's nothing obvious in the book and all I have is a faint memory that sometimes resurfaces as a dream. A cruel laughter and magic. But even that is all very fuzzy." Bella replied.
"Could be Regina." Emma teased her best friend.
"Please don't joke about this, what if it's her?" Bella shuddered.
"I don't think it's possible, I remember hearing Regina and her father talk once. She apparently cursed herself so that she'd never have children." Graham informed them.
"Why would she do that?" Emma asked, curious.
"Because her mother wanted her to have heirs, so she did it to hurt her mother." Graham explained.
"That's twisted." Bella shook her head, not imagining doing something like this to herself.
"That's Regina for you." Graham commented.
"It looks like she regrets it though. I mean, she did adopt Henry, which shows she has some mothering instinct buried somewhere. Anyone with mothering instinct can't be that evil." Bella added.
"What about Mother Grethel from Tangled?" Emma smirked.
"She's the exception. Still, I don't think that Regina is unredeemable. I've got a feeling that deep down, she wants to have a chance of being good and happy but she's afraid of being hurt again, so she acts strong to protect herself." Bella insisted.
"It must be buried very deep." Emma whispered, her hatred of the woman who had her son and had attacked her as soon as she had arrived in town was stronger than any compassion she could feel right now.
.
They looked for a couple of hours but, once they realized that they would find nothing this way, they discreetly left the town's hall and went their separate ways. On her way to Granny's for lunch, Bella walked pass Mister Gold's shop and came in.
"I was about to close up." He informed her.
"I'll be quick, I just have a question for you." She said apologetically.
"Sure, ask away Miss Swan." He nodded.
"Do you have any idea of who my mother could be?"
"What do you know about her?" He asked her, willing to help the young woman who had brought him hope again.
"Not much actually. There's nothing in the book and the only memory I have is one that sometimes comes back in dreams, a cruel laughter, and dark magic. It's a bit fuzzy though so even if I could show it to you with magic, you wouldn't get much. Even her laughter is clouded by everything else." She replied.
"Unfortunately, that could be a lot of different women I've crossed over the years from Ingrid to Regina, including about a dozen more." He shook his head.
In his head, Gold was remembering every female villain he had met or made and tried to find a resemblance with Bella in each one of them. Maleficent, Cruella, Ursulla, Regina, the blind witch, Zelena, Cora, The Red Queen of Wonderland, the dark fairy, Bo Peep… Witches, sorceress, fairies or even simple human woman who were really mean or wicked or both and didn't need magic to be terrible villains. He wanted to help her but he couldn't see a resemblance between any of them and Bella at the moment. Maybe she took everything from her father.
"It's okay, I didn't think you would but I had to at least try."
"I understand but are you sure that you want to find her?"
"I believe that nobody is completely evil, there's always at least a spark of goodness just begging to be light on fire in anybody. I don't know what my mother did that was so bad, or why it was so terrible that he had to send me away but I have to at least give her a chance to make it up. Everyone deserves that chance." Bella smiled.
"I hope my son feels the same way you do when I find him." Gold shook his head.
"If he doesn't I'll try to change his mind. It all depends on how we present things to him. And who knows, maybe he'll be willing to come. I can sense that you'll have the chance to tell him those three words you want him to hear and I have a good feeling that he'll say them back eventually." Bella promised.
"I hope you're right." He smiled.
"My feelings are rarely wrong." She smiled.
.
Bella made her way to Granny's where she ate her lunch at the counter, sharing a conversation with Leroy, aka Grumpy, before going to the park to write a little. She didn't see time pass and soon, it was time for her to get ready for her date. She tried not to be too nervous, after all, she didn't even know if he'd show up or not. If he didn't show up, she'd go to the sheriff's station and spend her evening investigating Belle's location with Graham while Emma ate dinner with her parents.
At 7:30, Bella was already sitting in a booth, a soda in front of her. She was playing Candy Crush on her phone, figuring she'd have a while to wait when she felt someone sit in front of her.
"I told you I'd remember you." Will declared as soon as she looked up.
"So it seems." Bella smiled, putting her phone away.
"Was I interrupting important texting or something?" he asked her.
"No, just a game of Candy Crush." She shook her head.
"I see. So, how are you liking our little town so far?" Will asked her after ordering his own drink.
"I like it. It's small, quiet, and full of hidden stories to be uncovered and told. The kind of place where I can see myself settling." She smiled.
"Ha, yes. I've heard that you were a writer. I have to say that I've never read your books, I'm not much of a reader myself. I tend to wait for them to be adapted into a movie." He confessed.
"Well, maybe someday, who knows." Bella shrugged her shoulders.
.
While Bella was having simple conversation and fun with Will Scarlet, Emma was nervously getting ready at Mary-Margaret's place. David was about to arrive and her mother was making dinner for the three of them. Emma tried to concentrate on the present, she didn't want tonight to be the night where she told them how angry she was at them for giving her up, for the life she had had.
If they had kept her, she wouldn't have met Bella or Neal, Henry wouldn't exist. That's what she had to keep in mind, that even though she wished things had gone differently, she wouldn't have Henry or Bella in her life if they had and she couldn't imagine a life without Bella in it.
As she stood in front of the mirror to set her hair, Emma realized something: She was a princess.
Her mother was a princess, technically a queen since her father was dead and Regina was evil and didn't count and her father was a prince as well. She was a princess and she couldn't believe it. She was never the kind of girl who wanted to become a princess and dreamt about the perfect prince or knight in charming armor to defend her. She had learned early on that life wasn't a fairy tale and that she'd have to save herself without expecting anyone else to do it for her. Bella had barely managed to get her to believe that hope wasn't for suckers and now she opened her eyes to the fact that her parents represented hope in the fairytale world.
"I better not have to wear a crown anytime soon." Emma muttered.
She firmly believed that she didn't have a head fit for a crown. When she was a teenage girl, with Bella, shortly before they senior Prom, they had gone to a store and tried on several crowns. If Bella looked like every single crown they had tried was made just for her, Emma felt weird with it on her head. Of course she looked pretty, every girl looked pretty with a crown, but she firmly believed that it didn't belong there.
"Are you ready Emma? What's wrong?" Mary-Margaret asked, entering the room and noticing the frown on Emma's face.
"Just thinking that I was never the kind of girl who wished she was a princess. I hope I won't ever have to wear a crown." Emma replied honestly.
"I'm sure you'd look lovely with a tiara on your head but don't worry, tonight is casual." She joked, making Emma chuckle.
"David should he here soon."
"I'll be down in a minute, I just need to calm my nerves first." Emma replied and Mary-Margaret nodded before she left the room.
A couple of minutes after her mother left the room, Emma heard the doorbell ringing and David's voice greeting Mary-Margaret.
"It's now or never Emma, be strong, be brave." Emma told herself, feeling like she was trying to speak herself into facing a dragon rather than simply meeting her father.
"Emma, here you are! David's here." Mary-Margaret declared when she saw Emma walking down the stairs, knowing that Emma could see David on her own.
"Hi." Emma greeted shyly.
This wasn't just David Nolan anymore. He wasn't the coma patient who had woken up and that she had found later. He wasn't her friend. No, he was her father, the brave man who had fought against several black knights with her in his arms to get her to safety. He was her father.
"Emma… I… I'm so happy to see you." He replied before hugging her and even if he didn't remember everything, just like Mary-Margaret, she liked that he tried to give her a bit of the closure she needed.
"Why don't we start eating?" Mary-Margaret suggested, hoping things would go smoothly.
"Sure, I'm starving." David nodded and Emma followed them to the table.
"I… I'm not sure where to start… This is weird." Emma stated.
"Why?" Mary-Margaret asked her.
"Because you accept and know that you're my parents because you've seen it in the book and you believe in the book but you don't really remember me, your feelings when I was born…" Emma tried to explain.
"Not yet, but we will as soon as you break the curse. Still, I want to get to know you better until then." David replied.
"I was so angry at you… for so long…" Emma shook her head unable to let it out.
"Because we sent you away?" David asked her.
"All I knew for all of my life was that my parents gave me away. I wasn't even brought to a safe place, I was found in the woods… Growing up knowing that your parents didn't want you and didn't even care enough to drop you off at a hospital, that leaves a mark on you." Emma told them, trying to stay calm.
"You used the past tense. Does this mean that you're not angry anymore?" Her mother asked her.
"More like, I know you did what you believed was best for me, so I'm trying to be okay with it." Emma replied.
"I can't say that I really remember everything, not yet but according to what we know, it was for the best… if we had kept you with us, you would have been cursed with us." Mary-Margaret argued gently.
"But we would have been together, which curse is worst?" Emma asked her mother.
"Well, at least we're together now and we can try to figure out a way to break this curse. Do you have any idea of how you can do it?" David asked her.
"Well, Graham got all of his memories back after I kissed him but…" Emma tried to hide her blush.
It was wrong of her to speak of kissing a guy in front of her father right?
"But?" David asked her, not feeling the fatherly over protectiveness yet.
"I can't really go on kissing everyone around town. Bella believes that it worked on him because I'm the product of True Love but in order to break the curse in one kiss it would have to be a real True Love kiss." Emma replied.
"So you have to with until you fall in love with Graham?" Mary-Margaret asked her.
"I guess so, I'm not sure… Right now we're trying to get Gold, Rumpelstiltskin, on our side by reuniting him with his love Belle. We think that Regina has her hidden somewhere. Once we have Belle freed, he'll be on our side and that will be a good step forward." Emma explained.
"You have to be careful though, he's dangerous." David warned her.
"We know, don't worry. But Bella believes, and she's rarely wrong, that if we give him Belle and get hi to think of us, or at least her, as his friends, then if he ever falls back into his old dark magic habits, he'd be less inclined to hurt us. Maybe he'd even help us without asking for anything in exchange." Emma explained, knowing that she could trust them completely.
"That's not bad thinking." Mary-Margaret nodded.
.
After their dinner, Will took Bella out on a walk around town and, on the way, they walked pass the Library.
"Why is it closed?" She asked him curiously.
"Not really sure. Mayor Mills shut it down a while back, but I don't remember why." He replied, shrugging his shoulders.
Of course Bella knew why. Books gave hope and any of these books could have given someone hope for a happy ending Regina had taken away. This Library was, somehow, important and Bella was determined to have it open again as soon as she could. Of course first they'd have to free Belle and break the curse but Bella would have it open again to the public, even if it ended up costing her everything she had.
"What's wrong?" Will asked her.
"Nothing, I just don't like seeing a library closed. It's sad. Every town should have an open library." Bella replied with a small smile while Will kept on walking taking her in the general direction of the docks.
"So, did you like eating at Granny's? We could have gotten dinner somewhere else." Will asked her.
"I love eating at Granny's. I could eat every meal of everyday here for the rest of my life and die happy. It's like eating every meal at your cool grandmother's place." Bella replied.
"Don't let her hear you say that or she'll be an even bigger fan of yours." Will chuckled.
Review please?
We're getting close to the last of the old rewritten chapter, I think after next chapter it will be all new chapters.
Lorelei Candice Black