How Did We Get Here?
The green blinking alarm clock was bright in Emma's eyes as the minutes slowly ticked higher and higher. Regardless of how much of a night owl she normally was, 3:37 am was pushing her limits, as well as the fact that she had seen that same time come and go many nights the past few weeks. The room was hot, then cold, then her damn ankle brace was itchy, Henry's last playoff basketball game before the State championship was in about fourteen hours now, and sleep was the last thing on her mind. A rumble of thunder caught her attention away from the clock just as it changed to 3:38 and she took a deep breath, turning over to the inside of the bed and finding herself face to face with Regina. Emma watched her shoulder rise and fall so naturally, slowly, and softly as Regina sleepily breathed the night away in what Emma only hoped was a peaceful sleep. She reached out and with the most gentle hand caressed her cheek. It was so warm, smooth, the sweetest touch of another human being, and it nearly brought tears to Emma's eyes. Emma swore she could see the edge of Regina's lip curl up in an unconscious grin, and it made Emma's heart so happy to be in this place with her.
Happy thoughts quickly turned to sad as her brain pulled her back into the reality of the situation she had gotten them all in. Time and time again she felt like when they had finally found some light at the end of the tunnel, the rocks came crashing down around them, leaving their lives in a constant state of rubble. When things seemed great, they turned for the worst. She was tired of it all, tired of the curse that befell her family and she felt hopeless in any way to fix it this time, and being confined to the small invisible force field around her own home made it near impossible to do anything but sit and wait, which is something that she had never been good at doing.
She sat up in bed, rubbing the exhaustion from her eyes and allowed them to adjust to their bedroom's darkness. The door was cracked just slightly to the hallway, but it was equally as dark on the other side. She hoped Henry had finally fallen asleep, tucked into his covers and warm, unlike most of his late nights when she'd have to come in and turn his lamp off and collect all the papers from his playbook that were strewn across his bed. After his meltdown, everyone had been cordial but not comfortable in the house. They had eaten dinner together, watched TV together, anything a normal family would do, but Emma could still feel the tension like a straight jacket around her, and like many other things, it added to her list of things that kept her up at night.
The blankets moved around her, and she felt a warm touch on her exposed arms.
"Babe? Are you okay?" Regina asked sleepily sitting up next to Emma. She ran her fingers down Emma's back, giving Emma goosebumps all over her chilled skin.
Emma smiled at the feeling. "Yes, I'm sorry if I woke you up."
"No, you didn't." Regina kissed Emma shoulder. "Have you slept at all tonight?" She asked concerned, her voice sleepily slurred.
Emma sighed. "Unfortunately no."
They sat for a moment in silence, Regina leaning her head on Emma's shoulder and closing her tired eyes, while Emma's burned from sleeplessness.
"Regina, how did we get here?"
Regina rose her head. "What do you mean?"
"How did I get us into all of this mess? All of it. All of the last couple years it's like something is trying to pull us apart." Emma's voice cracked as she choked up, but swallowed the feeling.
"That's not true." Regina tried to reassure her, reaching up to her chin and pulling their foreheads together. "That's not true at all."
"Look at our life right now, Regina." Emma squeezed Regina's hand. "Ever since we met, things have just felt like they have gone wrong for us. You and Daniel, then the accident, then this. We love each other don't we? Isn't that enough for the world?"
Regina sat up closer to Emma, her arms and legs exposed to the cool night. Her silk, thin strapped top falling off of her shoulders. "Emma, look at me."
Emma kept her head down, but Regina reached out and placed a finger under her chin and raised Emma's head up. A sudden flash of lightning from outside lit up the room and her tear filled, baby blue eyes sparkled in the quick flash.
"I don't care about what the world thinks, or whatever the hell has happened to us. All I care about is you. Whatever this looks like from the outside, I don't give a damn about that. I care about you. I love you. That will always be enough for me." Regina caressed Emma's cheek, wiping a stray tear that escaped from the blonde's blue eyes. "You have no idea the joy you bring to my life. Forget the accident, forget the stupid case, forget about everything else, that's just life. But between us… this is love. I hope you can believe me when I say that."
Emma suddenly laughed. "That's the most beautiful thing anyone has ever said to me."
Regina smiled and couldn't keep her own laugh from escaping her lips. "Shut up!" Regina shoved Emma in the shoulder. "I'm trying to be serious!"
"I know, I know. I'm sorry, I think it's the sleep deprivation catching up with me. Thank you, Regina. For always being the one to pull me out of my darkness. I wish I could do the same for you."
"Are you kidding me? Emma, where have you been the last year? You single-handedly took care of me, nursed me back to health, you gave me my memory back. Did you forget all that?"
Emma bit her lip nervously. "I just want to be perfect for you."
Regina clicked her tongue. "Oh, my sweet. I don't want you to be perfect. I want you to be you, with all of your faults, your silly jokes, your beautiful face, and absolutely selfless heart, and I'll even take the ankle bracelet." They giggled. "All of you is what brought me back. You brought me back to my life. That is something that no one else could ever do for me."
Emma shook her head understandably and then their lips met and pulled away too soon. Emma was feeling so many things. It's amazing how such sweet words from someone you love could make you feel better, but still leave you with some kind of hole. Emma knew Regina loved her, they had expressed their love time and time again, but Emma was at a point where she needed to love herself again, and she was worried that until she could do that, the hole would never fill.
As the rain pattered gently against the window above their heads, Emma and Regina fell asleep, wrapped in each other's arms. Truly sleeping for the first time in a while, Emma knew it was because she was in her happy place, Regina wrapped in her arms, and her family safe under their roof.
It didn't take August long to put together enough information to really start suspecting Mr. Gold. Peter wasn't exactly vague about who attacked him, and after he took Peter to the hospital, he stayed up late that night trying to figure out how Gold had any connection to this case. From what he could find on the internet, Gold had money in just about any industry you could think of and practically owned the entire town of Storybrooke, except for what had to be owned by the state. August figured that was just about everything but the army base, but what he could assume was since Gold couldn't own the base, he'd just own the lives of every soldier on it. Regardless, he knew that the only way he was going to get anything on this guy was to get him talking.
The inside of Gold's Antique Shop was as dark and musty as any small town antique store should be, and since it was the only one in town, and doubled as a pawn store, it was overflowing with enough nick-nacks and useless decor that August was lucky enough to get a foot in the door. He felt like he was walking into his grandma's house as he was a kid, but too bad no one had yet to approach him with freshly baked cookies. August approached the counter, slowly examining all of the trinkets that littered the inside of the locked cabinet in front of him. There were gold, and silver watches, rings of all kinds, pearls, diamonds, and any other type of jewel you could think of that exists. How a man could collect priceless jewels when his store was located in such an isolated area. He hadn't seen anything like this in any pawn store he'd ever been in. It was like the man had single handedly robbed the crown jewels.
"See something you like?" A scratchy voice rounded the door frame that led to a back room.
August stood up proper to see a small spindly man standing behind the counter. He had a pleasant demeanor but August could tell instantly he was someone who could sell a pencil to a pencil maker. "Uh, yeah actually. I'm looking for a present for my sister. It's her birthday and I kind of forgot, so I'm a little desperate." August lied.
Gold squinted at him questioningly, but obliged. "Is there anything in particular that she likes?" He asked.
August played along looking concerned and confused, examining the store completely. "Uh, she likes books?"
The spindly man smiled and started out from behind the counter. August noticed the click of his cane and as Gold rounded the corner the detective could see the small stick carrying the weight of his left leg. August's brain raced for his next theory, because this man couldn't have possible attacked Peter. "What kind of books?" Gold asked politely.
"Old ones I think. Like, fairy tales."
"Well I have a wonderful collection of original Grimms Brothers right over here that she might be interested in." Gold escorted him over to a large bookshelf that took up just about the entire wall from floor to ceiling and side to side. August imagined there were at least two or three hundred books lining the shelves, with small trinkets scattered between. It was a bit overwhelming he had to admit. Gold had to move over a large bronze statue of a horse to get to the book he was looking for, but he pulled out the ancient looking bind from one of the middle shelves and handed it to August. August toiled with it in his hands noticing it was on the verge of falling apart.
"It's definitely old enough." August tried to joke. He flipped it over, accidentally pulling too hard at the bind of the book tearing it a little bit. Gold sighed heavily at the brute. August clenched his teeth. "Oops. I'm sorry. I'll pay it."
Gold nodded expectantly. As Gold rang up the purchase, August noticed a large chalkboard behind the register that looked like one of those old school betting boards he'd seen in movies from the 1940's. It was smaller than he had imagined, and the handwritten chalk looked fresh, but it was definitely a genuinely interesting piece. August was a bit of a history buff and even though he wasn't a huge fan of antiques specifically, the board was in great shape and thought it might actually look nice in his office once he finished this case.
"You a betting man?" August joked. Gold didn't respond. "It's a cool board." August tried again. "How much?"
"It's not for sale." Gold finished inputting the sale without even looking up from his register, his voice was serious, but when he turned back to August he had that polite smile on his face that made August a little nervous.
August clicked his tongue. "Damn, that's too bad." He tapped his fingers on the counter. "Hey, actually, now that I'm here, I got a buddy in town that bought a couple of items from you a while back and I was wondering if you had something similar? I've been looking for a gift for my dad."
"You're the master of gifts." Gold smiled thinly.
"Yeah, I'm trying to be better about it." August pulled out his phone, and after flicking through a couple of pictures he showed the two artifacts to Gold who studied them intently. One was of the watch found on Daniel's wrist and one was of the jacket he was wearing when he was found dead.
"Those were nice pieces," Gold finally said with a smirk after some time studying the photos, "but unfortunately one of a kind." He answered plainly
"Oh." August looked down at the pictures disappointed. "That's too bad. My dad would have loved something like that. He likes all this… old stuff." August waved around.
"$15.78." Gold stated plainly.
"I'm sorry?" August put his phone away after staring at the pictures a bit too long.
"The book. $15.78." Gold motioned to the old faded pages still sitting on the counter.
"Oh god. Yeah. I'm sorry. It's been a long day." August apologized pulling out some cash from his back pocket. "Hey, you get a lot of guys from the army base come here?" August asked as Gold gave him his change and carefully bagged the book up in a sack.
Gold seemed annoyed by the conversation but he stayed professional. "I suppose they come in every now and then." He answered.
"Yeah, that makes sense." August laughed a little. "What do they normally look for in here?"
Gold sighed. "Are you searching for another gift?"
August smiled. "Ah. You got me!"
"You know there is such a thing as Amazon. I hear they typically deliver the next day. Even to our little town. You might find something suitable there." Gold handed him the bag. "Have a nice day." He said plainly.
August smiled. "Alright, yeah. Sorry to trouble you." August took another look up to the betting board. "You sure the board is not for sale?" He asked one more time. "Sure looks like whoever used it last was betting a lot of money. Might bring me some luck!"
"I'm sure."
"Hope he didn't lose whoever it was. Someone would kill for that much money, am I right?" August chuckled.
Gold smiled snakily. "I wouldn't know." He shrugged.
August didn't feel great about this encounter but he also knew he wasn't going to get much out of this visit, so with a knock of his knuckles on the glass cabinet he thanked Gold again and headed out of the door. Gold was a man used to covering his tracks. He had probably be dodging around the law for quite some time. Maybe this little encounter would make him nervous enough to make a mistake. Or, as much as August hated to admit it, maybe he was barking up the wrong tree.
As the bell rang, Gold called out, "Oh and by the way, tell Emma Happy Birthday for me. So unfortunate her situation. I do hope that all of this will be over soon."
August felt a lump ball up in his throat. This situation had just escalated very quickly. He turned slightly, only enough to see Gold's evil grin.
"Oh, you didn't think I knew that, did you?" Gold's smile faded, his tone more serious.
August shut the door to the store, both men about to square off while the remainder of the town went about their business like nothing was happening. He remained quiet though, trying to judge just exactly who he was talking to here. Clearly he had underestimated the old man's ability to do his own research. August was not prepared for Gold to know anything about him, but the man was sneaky, and August was going to have to play this one smart.
"Tell me detective," Gold came back out from behind the counter to stand face to face with August.. "Good men die every day. Why investigate this one?"
"Every murder deserves to be investigated." August answered quickly and coldly.
"Sure, can't disagree with you there. But why this one in particular?"
"Because there is much more going on in this town than people seem to think." August answered.
Gold acted surprised. "Oh? Storybrooke is such a peaceful town from what I see every day."
"Yeah, until dead bodies start washing up on the beaches."
Gold chuckled. "Seems to me like that's already a cut and dry investigation. The victim clearly had enemies."
"Seems that way doesn't it? But I don't think this is that easy. Man turns up dead, obviously the last person that threatened him would be the killer, right? But like you said… enemies… plural. So it makes me wonder, there could have been someone else who hated him more. Or someone he owed a lot more too." August took a step forward, his guard up and ready for Gold's mind tricks.
"Maybe things really are just that easy sometimes. Maybe things should just be left alone. Wouldn't want someone else to get hurt" Gold warned.
"Are you threatening me?"
Gold retracted. "Oh, no, detective. I would never do such a thing. Anyway, I am an old man, I couldn't harm a fly."
"No, you couldn't, could you?" August squinted. "But you could hire someone."
"Now detective, you know that's a huge accusation for someone who has no proof." Gold called him out.
"How do you know I have no proof?" August asked.
Gold smiled again. He was always smiling. "Because if you did, the sheriff would be here arresting me already."
"The both of us know Emma didn't do this, don't we?" August eyed him suspiciously.
"Sure. I hope it turns out that way." Gold paused. "But I doubt it."
August studied his enemy, and as he racked his brain for more comebacks to trap him, he realized it wasn't going to do him any good now. Gold was right, he had no real proof other than his own opinions, and Gold was too smart to get played with words. This was going to take brute. And luckily for August, he was good at brute.
In a flash, August headed out of the store without another word. Gold called out behind him to have a nice day as any good store owner would to a customer. August felt sick that he had even given that man a cent of his money, and the first trash can he saw he threw the book into it, landing with a heavy thud at the bottom.
As he got into his car, his phone began vibrating in his back pocket. When he answered, Dr. Whale was on the other side, letting him know that Peter had woken up and was asking specifically for him. Maybe he could finally get some of the proof he needed.
Dr. Whale had filled August in on Peter's conditions. He was stable, a few broken bones, but nothing that won't take a couple weeks to heal. He was lucky to be alive and no surgery was necessary. Whale said he'd been awake for about fifteen minutes, but he had fallen back to sleep. August asked about family, but Dr. Whale said they hadn't been able to contact anyone. He didn't have anyone.
The room was dimly lit, monitors audibly beeping the boys slow heartbeat, and Peter himself looked like he was sleeping like he'd never slept before. His head was wrapped with a freshly applied bandage, the bruising under his eyes had spread to most of his face and his lip was swollen to nearly twice its size. The rest of his body was hidden by his robe and bed sheets, but August could only imagine it looked exactly like his face.
August sighed heavily, sitting down near the bed, trying to figure out just what kind of situation he was slowly uncovering in this town. He headed over to the window and looked out at the bland parking lot, surrounded by this bland town. What kind of shithole town could someone be covering up some kind of huge underground betting ring, and killing over it? He suddenly missed the busy city life where you could walk down the street and no one recognized you, no one knew anything about your personal life, where no one cared. He wished he could just take Emma back to the city and start over their lives. Who would have known when they met in that dingy foster home, that they'd end up in this situation.
He had almost dozed off when the squeak of the hospital bed shook him awake. August checked the time on his watch noticing he'd been there for about 2 hours and had completely lost track of time by falling asleep. August rose up and took a step toward the bed as Peter became more conscious and aware of August a few feet from his bed.
August spoke first. "The doctor said you wanted to talk to me."
"Uh, yeah, I did." Peter sat up in his bed and winced, cradling his head.
August waited patiently for Peter to get situated and gather his thoughts.
"I didn't tell you the whole truth when we spoke on the docks." Peter admitted. "I knew Daniel really well. He was actually one of my good friends on base. We had the same stations and duties and we got real close. But…"
"But what?" August pressured.
Peter hesitated realizing the information he was about to tell could get him in a lot of trouble.
"Peter?" August hurried him.
"But, we got into some trouble."
"What kind of trouble?" August could feel the pulse in his neck veins.
Peter took a deep breath to calm himself and continued. "We were running low on money. See, we liked to drink a little too much, and… other things." He rubbed the back of his neck anxiously. "And then, you know, all that happened with his wife and the accident, and man he was torn up. I'd never seen a guy get so low."
August could see actual tears brewing on the edge of Peters eyelids and he knew that all of this was going to be hard to hear, but it was going to be the truth.
"He got into some trouble with these bad guys. Like those guys in black suits that carry around guns and harass people, like in the movies." Peter stared at his hands. "I saw him one day, on base, with one of them. The guy was rough with him, pushed him up against the side of the commissary, and was talking to him real close. I couldn't hear everything they were saying but when the man left, I went to check on him."
August didn't rush him this time. But he pulled up one of the chairs next to the bed. This story was going to be loaded, and he needed to make sure he was sitting down.
"He said he'd borrowed some money and wasn't going to be able to pay it back. He was scared. Like actually scared. This man had been to war and made it home and he was scared. I tried to tell him everything was going to be okay. But..." Peter stopped as he got choked up.
August pulled out a notepad and jotted down some details. "What did the man say? What did he look like? Was it the same man that attacked you?"
Peter thought for a moment. "No, a different guy came after me. Daniel would never tell me what he said, and I didn't want to pry. You know a man's got his business and that's that, you don't ask questions. He was a big, bald, white guy, taller than you. The guy that came after me was similarly large but he had hair, and a beard."
August wrote down the description. Unfortunately though, he knew it would be tough to match seeing as that matched probably a million white males in the greater New England area.
"So, how do you fit into all of this?" August asked, motioning to him. "Why did you get your ass kicked?"
Peter scoffed and wrung his hands nervously. "I, uh, might have borrowed money too, and I can't pay it back. Daniel told me he was in deep. Tens of thousands of dollars. I didn't figure I would get in so deep but it all happened so fast." He admitted.
"Who'd you borrow money from?" August asked.
"Gold. He's the only man in town that has money. There are other guys from the base who go there all the time but I always thought they were just buying and selling jewelry or other things to get their money."
"If Daniel didn't tell you, how'd you find out about all this?"
Peter looked completely drained, like he had just spilled his guts to the whole world. Admitting you are in deep with some kind of mob figure and then expecting everything to be peachy was far from the truth. Peter had a lot to answer for, but August wasn't getting answers as quickly as he would have liked.
"Well he did kind of tell me, but he doesn't really know." Peter said.
August looked at him confused, and a little annoyed at the circle talk. "So he told you, or he didn't tell you?"
Peter rubbed his eyes roughly, wincing at the bruises. "After he had a run in with that guy, Daniel tried to kill himself. Hung himself right there at his bunk. I found him. He was still alive. I got him down and got him over to the infirmary. When I went back, I found his suicide note. It talked about everything, about Gold, about money, about his wife and all that."
"So, you decided you wanted in on that after you saw what it did to him?" August questioned him harshly.
"I was a desperate man!" Peter almost shouted. "I needed to get out of here. War does things to you. My friend had just tried to commit suicide and I'd seen enough. I used the money to buy the boat and I was going to split before anyone knew I was gone." He rubbed his temples. "I've seen things no person should see. I've watched my friends die, innocent people die. And for what?" He paused. "I had to get out. I thought maybe no one would come looking for me."
"How much money did you borrow?"
"$50,000." Peter mumbled under his breath.
August's jaw dropped. "Fuck! And you thought someone wasn't going to come after you for that?"
"I thought I could get the boat ready fast enough." Peter defended himself.
It was quiet while August thought for a moment. If all of this was about money, then he had a lot of digging to do. He needed proof that it was Gold behind this, and he was sure Gold had plenty of ways to make sure his hands stayed clean. He needed physical proof. Then, as if in an epiphany, a light bulb went off in his head. The betting board in Gold's store.
"Peter," August said suddenly, "did you ever see how Gold kept track of the money he loaned out? Like a book or something?"
Peter's eyebrows squished together. "Well yeah, he's got this big chalkboard thing in his store. He keeps it covered up to make it look like it's part of the shop but he… he writes everything on it."
"Did the man that attacked you say anything to you?" August's hair rose on the back of his neck. He was just now thinking through his own words. People would go to extreme links to get that much money back. Death doesn't settle debts.
"Well yeah he threatened me." Peter said obviously.
"Yeah, but what exactly did he say? Word for word." He pressured.
Peter thought a moment. "Uh, he mentioned my family. But, jokes on him, my family is long gone. All died in a house fire when I was six years old." He stated nonchalantly like it didn't even bother him anymore.
August suddenly became very worried. Gold had already had one man killed and attempted to kill another, and who knows how many unexplained deaths he was connected to around town. He was not one to let someone stand in his way or not pay back their debts. And, he knew August was investigating him, and that Emma was his sister. The next person he would go after for the money would be someone close to Daniel, and despite everything that had happened, that was Regina. His family was in danger.
August ran out of the hospital faster than Peter could say anything else. His car couldn't go fast enough as he headed to Emma and Regina's home to warn them. None of them were safe. The big bad wolf had entered storybrooke and his name was Gold. One of the most dangerous kinds of men, and August had dealt with only a handful just like him. He was ruthless, and willing to kill anyone who jeopardized his business.