Fruit of the Poisonous Tree...pretty much done with this chapter.
And in other exciting news: I also remembered that there's the letters from the Untold Stories app so I'm gonna work those in! Yay! Not all the letters, probably just Graham's letter and Henry's. Have you guys read those? They make me sad. So of course I'm going to use them to make you feel sad, now.
I feel like Gold, putting all the pieces on the chess board in the order I want them as I wait for the perfect opportunity to go in for the kill. Or, in this case, the drama. Lots of set-up is going on and Gold has a little surprise for us all at the end of this chapter. Hope you enjoy!
February 8, 2012
Regina smirked in her office, pleased with the report Sidney was giving. Initially, Miss Swan had been stubbornly noble. Rather like her parents, but desperation had won out and she listened with glee as Sidney played his recording for her.
"You're right Sidney," Miss Swan's voice came clearly over the tiny speaker, "We can't play this straight. We have to get on her level."
Regina leaned back in her chair as Sidney turned the recording off, and grinned, "Mhm. She bought it."
"It was tough for her to swallow," Sidney concurred, "But she did."
"Masterful job, Sidney," Regina praised, "Top to bottom," she offered him an apple with a smug smile, "And cutting the brakes of her car? Inspired."
"I'm glad you approve," Sidney preened.
"Now, she trusts you," Regina mused, "Now we can have some fun."
"Everything she does. Everywhere she goes. You'll know about it."
Regina smiled and looked carefully at her Mirror, "I don't know what I'd do without you, Sidney."
Emma clicked off the radio as she heard Regina praise Sidney yet again. Mary Margaret and Ada were quiet.
"So," Emma cleared her throat. "What are we thinking?"
"I can't believe," Mary Margaret trailed off and shook her head, "The brakes on your car? You could've been hurt!"
Ada's mouth was tight, "I'm just surprised Regina didn't suggest it herself."
"We've got the bug on Sidney, every time he reports to her we'll be able to hear it," Emma added, "And we can record all their conversations. At the very least, this should keep us one step ahead for awhile."
"How did you bug Sidney?" Mary Margaret asked, her brow pinching.
Emma shrugged, "It's getting colder, Sidney only seems to have one coat, so I put a bug in the lining while he was in the bathroom. I added one on his phone, too, for any calls he makes."
Ada smirked, "Masterful," she approved.
Emma gave a slight nod in recognition. Mary Margaret shook her head, "I still can't believe- your brakes."
"They added a tracker on my car, too," Emma added, "So they'll be able to see anywhere I go in the cruiser. I had Tillman take it apart and put it back together for me, off the books. He was pretty surprised by the bug when we found it."
"Have you checked your phones for bugs?" Ada asked and Emma started.
"No," she trailed off.
"Well, no time like the present," Mary Margaret attempted cheer, "How do we check?"
Emma reached for the landline, "We take it apart, basically," and she did just that as Mary Margaret and Ada watched.
A few minutes later, Emma put something to the side and reassembled the phone.
"And this from the girl who broke my toaster," Mary Margaret whispered, though her heart wasn't in it as she stared at the tiny piece of electronic equipment on her island.
"Emma specializes," Ada tried to joke.
They all examined the bug carefully.
"What do we do with it now?" Mary Margaret finally broke the silence.
"I can think of a couple of options," Emma began, considering, "One. We put it back and be very careful with what was say on the phone. Two. We flush it down the toilet, and tell the town how we totally dropped the landline in a pot of boiling water and killed it, then buy a new one. The deadbolt on the door should prevent anyone getting in with a skeleton key when we bolt it," Emma flashed a significant look to Ada, "And as long as we don't leave anyone suspicious alone by the phones, we shouldn't have to worry about a new one being installed. Three. We get...technical, and attach it to another phone that is connected to the landline as well. Depending on what we want them to hear or not decides what phone we use to make a call."
"Third option sounds like the one that would raise the least suspicion on their part and give the most control on ours," Ada commented, "But option two sounds very cathartic," she added.
Mary Margaret shifted on her feet, "How do we know when the bug was added?" she asked.
Ada and Emma's eyes suddenly flew to each other.
"Did you make any of the calls-" Emma began, and Ada thought quickly.
"No," she determined, "They were all from my cell phone."
"What calls?" Mary Margaret began.
"About the custody battle," Ada told the brunette.
"Oh," she breathed, "You're putting things in order?"
Emma nodded, "I don't want to leave things to chance with the way things are going."
Mary Margaret nodded, her eyes full of approval and support. Emma blushed slightly and ducked her head at the expression on her mother's face.
"So what're we going to do about this?" Ada brought them back on track, tapping the counter top next to the bug.
"Whatever you two decide," Mary Margaret decreed, throwing up her hands, "I don't really know much about this whole...job." She winced at the wording.
Ada and Emma made eye contact and seemed to almost have a wordless conversation. The both nodded after a few seconds.
"Option three it is," Emma sighed, grabbing her coat. "We need to go buy a phone."
Ada sighed, "Let me get it, people will assume it's for my new apartment, rather than for you. If Regina or Sidney notice or hear, they won't think anything of it."
Emma nodded and put her coat away as Ada wrapped herself up in her scarf and prepared to leave.
"I'll see you guys later, and don't forget to lock that deadbolt," she reminded before exiting.
Emma obediently locked the deadbolt behind her.
Mary Margaret gave a sigh and began to make hot cocoa.
February 10, 2012
"This is the Reader to Gloria and Emma, the pepperoni is on the pizza," Henry's voice came over the walkie and Ada giggled at his code as Emma cracked a smile.
"We're on it," she replied and gave a nod to Ada, who turned the corner from where they stood beside Granny's back alley. She spotted Kathryn almost instantly.
"Oh, Kathryn!" Ada waved her down, "Thank god, could you do me a massive favor?"
"Sure," the blonde easily replied as she looked at the apparently flustered Ada, "What's wrong?"
"Well, I can't believe it, but I left my purse somewhere around town, I've been retracing my steps from the whole day but, well...it's a lot of ground to cover by myself. Would you mind helping me out and checking a few places? As long as you don't have anything else to do?"
"No," Kathryn easily replied, "I was just going to get some food, but I'll help you look. Where haven't you checked yet?"
Ada gave a sigh and grinned brightly, "You're a life saver. I'm going to rush to Marco's and check there, but I was also at Jim's Pizza for lunch- you know the place? Would you mind checking there while I run across town?"
Kathryn nodded and asked, "What's your bag look like?"
"Oh, it's a bright green fake leather sort of thing about this big," she gestured, "And it has a big brass buckle on the front. You can't mistake it. I've got my cell and stuff in there. Thanks so much again for doing this. If you find it at Jim's just...well, I guess I'll meet you there from Marco's and you can give it to me there."
"Ok," Kathryn took off in the direction of the only Pizza parlor in town and Ada grinned before returning to Emma.
"Reader, this is Gloria," she said as she slipped the walkie out of Emma's hands and pressed the button, "Hook, line, and sinker."
"Awesome!" Henry cheered over his end. Emma and Ada exchanged a grin.
"You better clear out, kid," Emma took the walkie back, "And don't forget to leave the bag there!"
"Over and out!" Henry cheerfully replied. "But I'm going to watch from the back," he added as an afterthought. Emma chuckled.
Kathryn figured she owed Ada more than one for all her help sorting out her feelings about the divorce. Ada was right, she hadn't been in love with David in years, if she ever really was. She tried to remember the feeling and it was all a haze, causing her to doubt if their marriage was ever worth fighting for in the first place, or if they were just fighting because they were too stubborn to admit they were wrong to reach that point. Taking the online classes was helping, too. Kathryn had something to do with her day other than wallow in the fact David had already found love elsewhere while she was alone in that big house that was supposed to be their home. Ada's comments about confidentiality had also inspired Kathryn to go see Archie a few times. She wasn't in therapy, she told herself, she was seeking help and advice from an professional. It helped sooth some of the pride Kathryn was starting to find in herself. She hadn't been proud before her divorce. Neither with David or without him. She felt like she was finding pieces of herself she had forgotten she had, and it felt good.
So, when Ada asked for something as simple as help finding a lost bag, well, Kathryn took the opportunity to repay back at least part of what she owed the woman.
Kathryn knew Jim's Pizza but had personally never set foot in it. She wasn't much for fast food, and pizza fell into that category by her definition. Oh, she knew there were specialty brick oven pizza creations that in all honesty were probably closer to artwork than fast food, but she just didn't have much of a taste for it.
She looked around the pizza parlor, wishing she had thought to ask Ada if she remembered where she had been sitting at lunchtime, and, distracted, she bumped into someone.
"Oh, hey!" he shouted. And he was definitely a he. Kathryn looked upward and saw a man, tall, with longish brown hair and oh dear god those green eyes were the color of moss. Truly, deeply green, not the muddled green you got so often that appeared more hazel than true green.
She realized she was staring.
He was staring back.
Ada casually walked into Jim's Pizza about half an hour later and spotted Kathryn sitting in a booth across from Jim, actually taking a bite out of some cheesy pizza. Ada couldn't suppress the grin that stretched across her face even as she walked towards them.
"Kathryn?" she called out slightly as she approached, and both parties jumped a little, as if startled out of their own private world.
"Oh, Ada!" Kathryn shouted, and bolted out of the booth towards the redhead. She quickly grabbed Ada by the arm and lead her towards the door, "I found your bag, here it is," and Kathryn practically stuffed it in Ada's hands.
Ada could tell when she wasn't wanted, and only grinned more for it.
"So, meet someone interesting?" she questioned teasingly.
Kathryn's cheeks turned a bold red, "That? Oh, that's Jim. He, uh-" she trailed off and then looked at Ada, almost fearfully, "Do you remember when you told me no one deserves to be alone? And that, maybe, I should consider moving on- with someone who picks me, no questions or doubts?"
"Yes," Ada responded, wiping the grin off her face as she recognized the serious moment for what it was.
"Did you really think that?" Kathryn asked quietly.
Ada grabbed one of the woman's hands and watched as she straightened, her pride coming back to put iron in her spine as she raised her chin up high.
"Yes," she reassured the Princess who had forgotten who she was and how she loved the man sitting in the booth behind her, waiting for her to return with another half of a cheesy pizza.
Kathryn gave a jerky nod but smiled sincerely as she pivoted and, with all the grace of a ballerina, returned to the booth where her True Love sat.
Ada smiled as she left the pizza parlor.
February 12, 2012
Everyone sat silently as Regina ran the town meeting, discussing her plans for a new playground perfunctorily as if something about it didn't go to plan.
Ada and Emma exchanged a smirk at that one, especially when they heard some people grumbling about Regina using the funds without approval from anyone else in town.
But the meeting went slowly, Regina dragging it along because she could, and they all left late in the evening. Ada nudged Emma and nodded towards Kathryn, who was walking literally arm-in-arm with Jim the gym teacher. Both girls shared another grin.
"I think we're doing well," Ada announced as they strolled back towards Mary Margaret's, knowing the teacher herself would be delayed as she walked very slowly home on David's arm.
Emma just nodded without adding anything.
"I mean, we've got Kathryn and Jim, David and Mary Margaret, Tillman and his kids, we're reuniting people left and right."
Emma gave another nod.
Ada continued, "And I saw a strange car pull into Granny's. I think our social worker has arrived."
At that news, Emma turned to stare at Ada, "Why didn't you say something before?" she asked, her voice rising and crackling with tension.
"Because I wanted you to be yourself," Ada told her with a pat on the arm that made Emma feel rather infantilized. "And now that you've acted normally for the whole day, I'm ready to let you know the social worker is here so you will act on your best behavior and not be totally stunned when she approaches you to ask questions."
Emma just sighed and kept walking.
Sarah Monday frowned as she left the town hall where a meeting had just taken place. She'd kept herself inconspicuous, hanging in the back where no one noticed her except for a very short man who growled at her and called her "sister." Sarah hadn't seen Henry Mills at the meeting, but she had seen both Regina Mills and Emma Swan (and Sarah felt pretty confident in identifying the redhead with Miss Swan as Ada Ward).
It had been an odd day, not the least because of her difficulty getting into Storybrooke. The small town was impossible to find on any map, so she ended up almost driving right past it. Then, just as she had found the town line, her car died. Right there, in the middle of the road on the town line. Fortunately, it was a small enough town and Sarah felt relatively safe leaving her car there and locked as she walked into town for a mechanic. It was then she spied the town meeting going on.
Regina didn't seem to have the approval of many of her constituents, considering the grumbling that had gone on when she carried on her meeting, discussing plans for a new playground. Didn't voters usually like projects like that? Sarah found the town's attitude odd, considering Mayor Mills had gotten elected. Perhaps it was an off night? Small towns are notorious for their drama and involvement in each of their citizen's lives, maybe Mayor Mills had done or said something minor to get the town riled at her?
Sarah looked around, seeing who she would like to subtly probe for answers while asking for a mechanic. She spotted the same man who had growled at her earlier and quickly decided against him.
"Excuse me?" she approached an older woman, grey-haired with half-moon glasses that Sarah hadn't even realized were made anymore. The woman turned to face her and, after quickly eyeing her critically, smoothed her expression into something welcoming.
"Yes?" she asked, stopping to turn towards Sarah.
"I'm afraid I'm looking for a mechanic- I was driving and my car just stopped, right up the road there. I came and found the town meeting and figured I could ask for a local mechanic?" Sarah smiled, trying to set the woman at ease.
"Tillman is one of our best mechanics," the older woman said, pointing to a man who was walking in the opposite direction with a child on either side of him, "If you end up needing a place to stay the night, I run the B&B, right over there," she pointed again, "You just come in and ask for Granny, don't mind my granddaughter, Ruby's...got a mind of her own." With that, the woman gave a sharp nod and went on with her night.
David was pretty sure he'd never regain his memories at this point, but he couldn't really bring himself to care. After all, the present was so much more...more than he could imagine his past ever being. And it was all because of her.
Mary Margaret.
Well, it wasn't totally and completely her: he did have several friends who were making life well worth enjoying. Sean Herman, despite their age difference, was a pretty great drinking buddy for the occasional beer at the Rabbit Hole. It was interesting for David, giving the younger man advice when he himself had no memories older than the past few months. Sean was thinking of proposing, and that thought brought him right back to Mary Margaret.
They weren't ready for that yet, but he could see it, which was astonishing enough.
For now, he was happy just to walk her home from the town meeting before leaving for the night to go to his own apartment. Emma would be there already, waiting for Mary Margaret while trying to act as if she hadn't been. David found the blonde surprisingly easy for him to read, and was grateful she and Mary Margaret had each other. Sometimes, though, Emma would look at him as if...almost as if she wasn't quite sure what to make of him, whether to hug him or punch him. David couldn't figure it out, was pretty close to just asking her about it.
"Good evening," a voice interrupted his musing, and he and Mary Margaret turned to spy Mr. Gold walking up to them. The pawnbroker gave a smile at the couple and tilted his head. "Mr. Nolan," he continued, "I understand you're still struggling with your memories."
"I don't need them," he assured the man, finding himself a little unnerved by his presence. Something about Gold was just...off. Unsettling.
"Ah," Mr. Gold smiled, "How Charming, but I'm sure you'll find that you do one of these days," he gave a little shrug, "And, in my own way, I'm offering some help. You see, I have many items in my shop, and one of them used to belong to you," he held out his hand and David automatically grasped what was in it, "According to my records, this was yours. Perhaps it might jog something, if not," Gold shrugged, "Well, time is a wonderful thing as it progresses. Have a good night." David looked down in his hand and saw a tiny, delicate, blue glass unicorn.
"What is it?" Mary Margaret asked, and he held it out between the two of them as they looked. "Oh," she gasped as she caught sight of it, and David could've sworn he saw, in the reflections off the glass, a memory of a white dress and long, curling black hair with flowers in it.
"Well," Mary Margaret brought them both out of their thoughts with a laugh, "This doesn't quite seem your style," she teased him.
"Maybe," he trailed off, "Maybe it was my mother's? Or something. I think..."
"What?"
"I reminds me of," but as he sought to put it in words, the memory of the white dress and black hair was lost, replaced by the real-life vision of Mary Margaret with her grey jacket and knit hat. He shrugged, "I don't know."
She gave him a small smile and, tucking the unicorn in his pocket, they continued their walk.
Rumplestiltskin gave a smirk as he watched the Charmings head off, arm-in-arm, and brought out his phone. Wonderful devices, he'll give this realm that much. Of course, the lack of magic was something he'd need to correct as soon as possible. But for now, Regina couldn't have that sort of power, and his ability to manipulate and the help of Miss Ward would keep him ahead of the game until it was safe for him to claim his full power.
It was getting boring, dearie. You'll thank me later.
He pressed send on the text. Miss Ward would be puzzling that one out for a little time, in the meantime, he had a few more pieces to move about the board. Let's see how well his rook would keep up with the game.
I'm so thrilled to write that happy interlude for Kathryn. Not to mention having Henry, Ada, and Emma working together to get them to meet was hilarious. I love having Henry use the walkies. That kid is freaking adorable.
I considered having Sarah not be able to get into town to clue Emma into the fact that August wasn't necessarily from the Land Without Magic, but then I remembered Ada had gotten into town so, that wouldn't exactly work. Unfortunately, that realization came after I had already rewritten several chapters, so I had to re-rewrite them. It was fun. Hopefully that allowed me to catch more grammar mistakes, though! Silver lining.
So what did you guys think of the chapter? Like it? Love it? Hate it? What did you think of Gold's newest move?
