Chapter 2

One Year from now

Matt knocks at the open doorway of the Mayor's office and decides to stand outside. He looks around at the office from doorway. He hate to admit it, but the room had a grandiose feel to it. Considering who Regina Mills is, it is not surprising. He see the Mayor sitting at her desk, reading a form. She looks up and smiles.

"Matthew." answer Regina. "You're back?"

"Yes, Ma'am." Matt walks in the room.

"Since you are alive and well, is it correct for me to assume that the vampire issue has been resolved?" asks Regina as she puts down her paper.

The advantage of working for the former Evil Queen: She understands what evil is. Not the everyday kind that people have seen. She understands darkness that will burns everything in its path.

The fact is that she also knew where he came from and what Matt had experienced. She had been a big help by allowing him to research the old books and taking time off. In return, Matt told her what he knew outside the town limits, specifically what goes bump in the night.
"As far as I am concerned, yeah." Matt walks up behind the chair in front of her desk. He did not feel the need to sit down.
"What happened?"

"Short version, nothing. Turns out they left before we got there. It looks like they are making their way toward Florida." Matt could still see the road map that laid on the table. He could still see the spilled blood that stained the map. It was not the bodies that bother him so much is the fact that the killing has not stopped.
"Really?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"What about that other thing?"

"The vault monster. She went with them."

"That is some good news." nod Regina.

Matt told Regina about the monster that the Armory had locked up in a vault, which Bonnie let out. He told her what it did to people. At the time, that is all he had. He had no idea what it actually was. According to Tyler, Bonnie couldn't find anything about it other than it was bad news.

It was one of the reason why Regina has allowed him to look through her books. In case the monster does comes into town, she wanted to be prepare for it.

With all research Matt have done on the monster, Matt may have something. After all, some of the books in Storybrooke are very old. He narrowed it down to six potential horrific monsters. Each one could be destroy a town within a day. Until he actually see it, he wouldn't know what it is.

"Do I want to ask what happened while I was gone?" asks Matt.
"My doppelganger is here." said Regina.
"Oh, god." said Matt as he sits down on the chair, feeling like his job got difficult.

"As you recall, I removed my bad self out of me with Jekyll's formula. Well, I thought I destroyed my bad self. Turns out that I am harder to kill than I thought. She has been here a while. Turns out she was scouting Storybrooke out as me." said Regina.

"Great." said Matt as he lean back on the chair. "Having two of you is not going to be fun."

"I am not happy about it. Considering that she wants to still kill Snow White, it will be a problem."

"Seriously, Mystic Falls had a doppelganger problem. It was never fun trying to figure out who was who." said Matt as he rubs his hair hoping it would take away his headache. Regina nods her head.

"Mental note: Put in a plan in case my doppelganger tries to replace me."

"Yes, you should. Like yesterday." Matt considered himself lucky. Katherine Pierce could have gotten him killed without even trying. He might not be so lucky even with the sword.

"Fine. I will get Snow and Emma in and we will work out something out and get everyone on the same page since it will be a big problem in their lives."

"Thank you." said Matt as he recalled the chaos that Katherine caused. "Since I am back, I am ready to come back to work."

Regina stand up from her chair. She extend her right hand. A puff of purple smoke engulf her hand. Once the smoke dissipated, she is holding a sword in its sheath. Regina quickly toss the sword toward Matt like it is on fire. Matt catches it. He did not want to take the sword outside the town's limits. He did not know how it would behave. After all, it is magical.

"Just get the OK from Emma. We may need you since we have a town's meeting today." said Regina.

"Expecting trouble."
"Just the usual. Hyde has been causing a lot of problems while you were gone. Henry has a calming force on the people that Hyde brought over. He has actually helped some of them. But, Hyde still have something over them. He is up to something." said Regina.

"Gotcha. I will keep an eye on things." With that, Matt turns around and start to walks out of the room.

Now

"So, how did it go?" ask Henry Mills as his mother walks into his room.

Henry is sitting at his desk. There is a big book in front of him that he is writing on. He places his pen down and closes the book to focus on his mom. There is a bunch of blue thick books on Henry's desk.

"As well as to be expected." said Regina as she sits down on Henry's bed.

When Regina told Emma that she was going to meet Matthew Donovan to offer him the position of sheriff of Storybrooke. Emma insisted in driving her. Regina did not mind the company. It allowed her to explains to Emma what she was actually doing.

What Regina did not like is the yellow Volkswagen bug that Emma Swan owns. She hates being in that tight space for any length of time.

Now that her trip is over and she is looking at her son, she smiles and forget about the drive.

She looks at Henry Mills and wonders what she can do to protect him. The small boy that she wants to protect is become a man with purpose. There is nothing that she can do to stop it. Having his first girlfriend and life purpose as an Author, it is coming fast. It felt like yesterday, she was taking care of her little son from the chicken pox. Now, Regina wishes her teenager son would stop growing up.

But she can't and she wouldn't.

She, however, is getting something that she never expected: A advisor.

"He will be here. We just have to have a plan to get him to stay." said Henry as he nods.

"Henry. Why is it so important that we hire this man?" ask Regina. "I know you recommend him but why?"

The moment that Mr. Hyde appeared in Storybrooke, life in StoryBrooke became complicated. It was not the fact that he came by himself. It was the fact that he brought company. He brought with him several individuals from the Land of Untold Stories. They were upsetting the balance in the town. This event was forcing attention to be diverted elsewhere. It got to the point that Regina heard someone asking if the heroes were going on another quest, who would protect the town from Mr. Hyde's machinations. When she realized that she did not have an answer to that question, it forced her to rethink everything.

Regina had started on focusing on contingents. She hated to admit it: She had been slacking on her responsibility as Mayor. Regina had to make sure that the town was protected.

Her first priority was getting a backup for Mayor position. She had only one person in mind. After a long discussion with Snow White, Snow White agreed to step in if something happens to Regina. Snow did not like it but Regina had to point out what has been happening. The trip to Camelot and the Underworld was making the town vulnerable and nervous. Another thing was Snow White's focus has slowing been shifting away the adventure/quest into protecting her son.

Snow White is the smart choice to fill in for Regina as Mayor. \

The sheriff issue was an issue that had to be address. It was Henry who suggested Matt Donovan's name in the mix.

David Nolan aka Prince Charming pointed out that there was two sheriff and there was no need to hired for one. Henry did pointed out one important fact: Both sheriffs have left the town and left the dwarves in charge. David and Emma did not have any statement to counter that. After all, Hades killed King Arthur after Arthur escaped from his jail cell.

Henry also pointed out that the town population exploded with the new arrivals. The sheriff department will need help. Henry had the perfect candidate. Regina humored her son at the time and said she would think about it. Henry handled his mom a folder of what he had found out about Matt Donovan. Once she looked at what her son found out, Regina suddenly took her son very seriously.

Matthew was a sheriff for a small town called Mystic Falls. He did receive training to be a sheriff. The fact that the young man did not abandoned the small town after a chemical spill, that spoke volumes. After making a few phone calls to the Mayor of the small town, she liked Henry's choice. Regina had to ask one important question to her son: Why?
Henry simply reply why not?

At the time, Regina did not press the issue.

Regina went to offer the job to Matt based on her son's word. She however did not place a lot of faith that Matthew Donovan would accept the position. After all, he never applied for the job. After her initial encounter, she wished that he did.

Now, Regina like to know why it is so important to Henry.

"He needs a second chance."

"What are you talking about?" asks Regina.

Henry grabs one of the big books on his desk and hands it to her. Regina looks at the book. It is like his other books: big and bulky. More importantly, the book is like the first book he had. It was an Author's book.

She opens it up and see the pictures. The first picture she see is a boy picking up a football. Regina looks at Henry. This is different. She turns the pages to see the young man riding his bicycle. Each pages that she turns, She turns the page to see the kid playing football with the neighborhood kids. Regina see the kid first kiss with the girl in the neighborhood. Regina chuckles as she see the little boy angrily chasing a little girl sticking her tongue at him. When she see the pages of the boy wearing a football uniform as a teenage, she realize that she is looking at a young Matthew Donovan.

Regina looks at Henry with a surprised look.

"I did that a few weeks ago." said Henry.

Henry is an Author. He documents stories. While he cannot do anything to influence the outcome of a story, it did not mean he could not help. With the new arrivals from the Land of Forgotten Stories, he found out that all the arrivals had issues that they wanted to run away from. They were not eager to share those issues to complete strangers. Those stories were not hidden to Henry. It is how he is trying to help some people from the Land of Forgotten Stories to they can move on emotionally.

This story is a different issue.

"Ok. That is different." comments Regina.

"Tell me about it. I freaked out a bit. I never wrote a story about someone in the normal world. It was always about character in stories."

"Understandable."
"The fact that it was a normal person that I just documented, I had to find out if he exists. When I did, I did some research on him. I start to check out details from the town's newspapers, his online profile, and even his high school newspaper. I compared it all to the book. It almost line up."

"Almost line up?"
"Well…"

"Henry." Regina can tell her son is nervous about this.
"Have you ever seen a vampire?" ask Henry.

"Yes…" answers Regina, not liking where this was going. She had some run in with vampires. Never a pleasant experience.

"Matt has. He also had to dealt with werewolves, witches and ghosts. Stuff you don't talk about on Facebook but I wrote it."

"Interesting." said Regina, starting to see her son's line of thinking. "If he has seen all of that, he wouldn't be freaked out when he comes to Storybrooke."

"Exactly. I think that is why I wrote his story, I think he is meant to come here. When I said that he has experience, I meant he had experience as a sheriff and other things. It makes sense. He should be the new sheriff."

"Why didn't you tell me this before?"
"The last page."

"What about it?"
"He had a fall out with his friends. It dealt with magic. It was not really bad, but it was definitely not good. It was enough that he left Mystic Falls in search of a normal life." said Henry.

"If he wants a normal life, I wouldn't force him to come or to stay." said Regina. "I can't blame him for wanting a normal life."
"I know, but he would be perfect to be sheriff of Storybrooke. Grandpa and Mom is doing the best that they can, but they need help. Trust me. Just read his story and you will agree with me." said Henry.

"Ok." said Regina with a smile. "I will read it."

One year from now

"Never leave us again." Matt instantly feel a hug from the smaller man who everyone calls Grumpy.

With his stomach growling for food, Matt went straight to Granny's diner. When he walked in, he was greeted by the sweet smells of pancakes and coffee. There were other smells but Matt only wanted to focus on those smells. He had to deal with vampire drama that he had hope to never deal with again.

He deserves pancakes.

The hug from the short guy….that is something else different.

"Ummm...Did I miss anything?" asks Matt with a confusion. Grumpy let go of Matt.

"Matt. She is out of control." said Grumpy.

"Who?"
"Lilly."

"What did she do?" ask Matt with some concern. Grumpy walks back to his seat with his head hanging low in shame. Sneezy looks at Matt.

"Lilly has been ruthless to Grumpy." said Sneezy with a sneeze and a smile. Matt let out a sigh of relief. With Sneezy smiling, Matt can feel that he shouldn't be too concerned.

"Grumpy, what did she do?" asks Matt.

"That girl has been ruthless with her insults. It's 'Hey, Shorty!' Or 'Hey, Lamb chop' or 'Mini Hulk.' That girl is relentless."

"That does not sound too bad. Ever so often, she call me Captain Chin." said Matt as he take a seat. Matt could hear some chuckles in the diner. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Tinkerbell eating her breakfast chuckling at him. He then saw Granny walking up to him with a plate of pancakes.

"How did you know?" asks Matt.

"I didn't. I am bribing you to never leave us again. Do you thinks that Grumpy was the only one that Lilly picked on while you were away on vacation?" asks Granny as she lays the plate of pancakes in front of Matt. Matt looks around the diner and sees several people nodding their heads.

"She started playing the meow game with Peter over at the pumpkin patch." said the woman formerly known as Cinderella.

"I hate the meow game." yells out someone in the diner. People start agreeing.

"Lilly sucks." yells out Tinkerbell. Matt look straight at Tinkerbell. She is wearing her uniform and a smile on her face. Matt shakes his head as he knows what she is doing.

"I got one question." said Matt in a loud voice as he places his focus back on the crowd, hoping to appease them before they turn into a mob. "Was she wearing her uniform when she did this?"

"NO!" said everyone in unison.

Matt sighs in frustration. If she was wearing her uniform, this would have been Emma Swann's problem. But she was not wearing her uniform, meaning it was her friend's problem, which made it his problem.

"Fine. I will talk to her. No sense in telling Emma about it." said Matt as he pours maple syrup over his pancake, knowing that he really shouldn't.

"Just don't leave on vacation." said Grumpy. "She seems to behave when you are here."

"Welcome back!" said David aka Prince Charming as he files a paper in the file cabinet. Matt walks into the sheriff's office and walks straight over the desk. David Nolan is wearing jeans and a flannel shirt.

The thought that he is working with Prince Charming aka David still blow Matt's mind. Matt hate to say it, but David did look like a Prince. Although he is royalty, he behaves like a guy you would have beer with or play touch football on thanksgiving. His wife, on the other hand, seems like royalty. Her mannerism is very proper. The fact that she knew how to use a bow and arrow still throws Matt off.

"Thank. Glad to be back." answers Matt as he sit down behind his desk. His desk is clean.

"Aren't you supposed to be on vacation?" asks Emma as she walks out of her office. Emma Swann is wearing her black blouse and jean. For David and Emma, they were very informal with their uniform. Matt didn't feel like he should not be in uniform when he is working. In his mind, the uniform is important.

"I got bored." answers Matt, knowing full well that Emma knew what was going on.

"So, the trip was good?" asks Emma.

"Not as good as it should be." reply Matt as he nods to Emma. Emma knew what happened. She was very understanding about it.

"OK." said Emma. "So, you are back?"
"If you want me to be?"

"Actually, Lilly has been annoying since you went on vacation. So, yes you are." answers Emma. Matt shakes his head at the future conversation that he is going to have with Lilly.

"Not you, too." said Matt

"She played the meow game." said Emma with a disapproval tone. David walks back to his desk looking at Emma.

"I seem to recall walking in the room with you two meowing at each other in a very angry fashion." said David with some confusion.

"I was defending myself from her." reply Emma as David chuckles as his daughter. She places her focus back at Matt. "You are getting the night shift since she took your shift last night.

"In that case, going home right now to get some sleep." said Matt as he get up from his desk.

"Did you talk to Regina?" asks Emma

"Yep." Matt pats the sword "Do you want me at the meeting?"
"Yeah." answers Emma as Matt start walking out the door. "See you then."

NOW

"You are nuts for not taking this deal." said Tyler Lockwood as he looks over the email attachment. He is speaking directly to his cell phone that is lying beside his laptop. He is dressed very casually. He was on his way out for a night of drinking when he saw the email. After reading it, he had to call Matt back.

"I didn't say no." said Matt. Matt is inside a motel room when the carpet has not been changed since the 1980 and the paint on the wall is needing a new coat of paint.

After his initial conversation with the mayor, Matt did read the proposal. After he finished, Matt emailed Tyler Lockwood the job offer. He just wanted to have another pair of eyes to read what the proposal. It seems too unbelievable. An hour later, Tyler called him back.

"You didn't say hell yes." said Tyler.

Matt takes a deep breath and waits for his friend to explain.

"Dude. You will be making more money taking this job than what you made at Mystic Falls. You have better benefits. Insurance look wonderful. Let's not to mention the fact that you will get a house. Dude, no one gets a house unless they are an NBA Player. A house."
"I don't need a house." said Matt.
"Yes, you do. You are living in your truck and you have no job. Yeah, you need this job." counters Tyler Lockwood.

"There might be some magic involved." fires back Matt to the sound logic.
"What makes you say that?"

"Gut feeling." said Matt as a thought emerge in his head. "Don't you still have access the Armory files?"

"Yes, I do. No one changed it after the Armory turned inside out. I don't think anyone knows that I still have it." Tyler clicked an icon and it prompted him to log in. " I am logging in right now. Have you talk to anyone since you left?"
"Nope. I rather not know what is going on. If I don't know what is going on, then I wouldn't get that urge to try and help them. I can't help them."

"Yeah, I hear you." said Tyler as he can hear his friend's voice. The tone of frustration is evident. Matt was the guy that help anyone and everyone especially his friends. The arrival of the Salvatore brothers took away something important out of Matt and Tyler hated that. "OK, I am in. What do you want me to look at?"

"Storybrooke, Maine."

"Hmmm.." said Tyler as he type the town's name in the search engine. "There is something."
"Really."
"Good call. The Armory had the town on a list for them to check out. The thing was that they were at the very bottom of a very long list. It looks like other things kept popping up that they simply forgotten about the town."

"Like what?" ask Matt.

"Vampires and crazed witches. All of that took priority."

"Why was the town placed on their list?" asks Matt.
"According to the file, a small boy was found seventeen years ago. He was talking about a town that he and his father found. He said that it simply appeared out of nowhere. Kid said that his dad was trapped there. The thing is that they found the kid in the middle of nowhere. No one believe him. Looks like the Armory was going to check it out. Like I said, other things took priority over that."

"How does a town appear out of nowhere?" ask Matt as he lie down on the bed.
"Don't know. I kinda of want to see what this town looks like."

"Weird."
"Admit it. You want to see this town,too."
"It would explain a lot. Still trying to figure out how they got my name." wonders Matt out loud.
"Linkedin?"
"Never put up a profile." answers Matt. "I think I am going to check this town out."
"Need back up?"
"I should be alright as long as there is no prophecy that I have to fulfill in that town."

"Hell, if you die up there, I will personally find Rebekah, drive her to that town, and let her loose. Let's see what happen to that town when she get there." half jokes Tyler.
Matt shakes his head at the thought.