Looooong chapter, but a good one!

Tons of new information, introduction of a character, and maybe even a plot twist? Hmmm… go ahead and see for yourself, dear reader.

I do not own Once Upon a Time, or any of its characters. However, I adore them as if they were my own.

"Good morning!" a light voice said as they entered through the door. Scott opened his eyes a bit and sat from where he was lying down. For a second, he forgot where he was. The restraint of his wrists helped him remember.

Great. He was in the Sheriff's department… in the cell.

He rubbed his eyes and waved at Emma as she walked in with two cups of something. Sniffing the air, he realized it was chocolate but stayed quiet seeing if she brought it up. She set them down on her desk and walked over to the cell.

"Alright, Regina isn't coming until later so I figured," Emma unlocked the cell door and jingled the keys as she smiled at him. "Let's get you out of those handcuffs for a bit. And out of this cell."

"I'm sorry, you're letting me out?" Scott asked her, still on the cot in the cell.

"Yes. But don't get used to it!" she said, narrowing her eyes at him with a small smile.

He got up and followed her to her desk and good Lord; he couldn't help but look at her walking in front of him. She sat down behind her desk and pushed over one foam cup to him. Scott looked at the whipped cream and cinnamon sitting atop the hot chocolate and grinned. Then he slowly looked up at her,

"You remembered, lass."

"Of course. Even without reminding me last night, I still owed you one."

He took a sip and nodded at her while she snorted and pointed at him.

"You got a little something on your upper lip there, Scott."

He licked it off and smirked at Emma, who rolled her eyes.

"You're something else, aren't you?"

He shrugged. Scott hated how at a loss for words he was when Emma was around.

"And you don't say much. That's strange!"

"Actually, I do. I was just savoring your special mix there, Swan."

"Did you like it?"

"Yes, very much. So you've been doing this for how long?"

She sighed, putting her cup down on the desk and leaning forward to him.

"For as long as I can remember. Childhood quirk, I guess."

"Well it's a very good creation. I'm going to call it The Emma Special."

Emma laughed, scrunching up her nose as he chuckled himself. After her laughter died down, they made eye contact for what seemed an eternity and they smiled at each other.

"The Emma Special, that's a good one."

"Thanks. But I bet you get it a lot."

"Ha! You're funny. No, I don't." She cursed herself for sharing that bit with him. Emma couldn't help it. It was just kind of easy to tear that wall down when he was around. Like they'd known each other forever. But she couldn't take a risk now, not with an almost complete stranger.

He didn't seem to hear her or if he did, he didn't say anything. Emma secretly thanked him for that and took another sip of her chocolate then looked at him right in the eye and asked,

"Okay well now that you're out here, why don't you tell me about last night?"

He rolled his eyes and sighed, resting his eyes on her gaze.

"Right. Well here goes, listen closely. Yesterday I wake up, a day like all the others in this town, go out fishing and come back early because I have a meeting with my boss, Mr. Gold. I go in with Leroy, the man that sells what I catch, to talk to him. Mr. Gold comes in and tells us that our profits are being cut in half because he wants to expand or remodel his shop or something. Point is, I get pissed off and lash out at him. Then I headed back home and went back last night. The rest is obvious. I broke in, took the money that I should be paid normally and then got caught… By Mr. Gold who alerted the authorities, which I had forgotten was you. So I apologize for making our second meeting so strange from the first time, lass."

Scott realized he had tightened his grip on the armrest of his chair and hadn't touched his chocolate since the first sip. He took a deep breath to calm down and drank a bit then relaxed when he realized she had placed her hand on his.

"I'm sorry that you had to end up here and if I had any say in this, you wouldn't be in here. You were doing what you thought you thought was right. But in the eyes of the law, or in this case…"

"Regina," they said simultaneously.

"Yes, her." Emma said, with a grimace. "Well according to her and Mr. Gold, you're at fault here. But I'm going to do as much as I can to make sure you are not here for very long."

Scott looked at her, trying to hide his astonishment at how fierce this woman was. He smiled and nodded once,

"Thank you, lass. No one's ever cared that much for my sake." Then kicked himself mentally for admitting that.

"No problem. If no one does it for me, I might as well do it for someone else." She did not just say that out loud. Maybe he'd disregard it like he did the previous time. Wait… previous time. Shit.

"Well then…" he began. "I owe you one, Swan."

Emma rolled her eyes at him.

"No, I mean it. I promise."

The look in her eyes changed, a flicker. As if she had remembered something important. She heard an echo in her head

We'll see each other again soon. I promise…

"Say that again?" she told him.

"I promise…"

Emma took a deep breath because Scott's voiced eerily matched the one she had heard in her dream. So she had been dreaming about him. Weird. She wondered why and thought of the possibility that he had dreamt the same thing.

"Is everything alright, Swan?"

She snapped back to reality, shaking her head.

"Yes. Sorry. Just processing that and uh, noted. By the way, finish up your drink in there because Regina will be here soon and I have to go out for a minute and I can't leave you out here alone. Office policy, I'm sorry."

"It's alright, lass. Cuff me."

"What?"

He held up his wrists to her and smirked.

"Cuff me."

"I hope that wasn't intended with innuendo."

"I didn't think of it that way but if you did, that was all you."

Emma scoffed, rolling her eyes and pulling out the handcuffs. She pushed him gently back into the cell, as he was still laughing at her expression, and locked up.

"I'll be right back, I swear."

"Hurry back, I'll get lonely with you!"

"Oh don't be such a drama queen, Scott."

He laughed at her response again and watched her pick up her keys, putting on her red leather jacket while running out the door. Her quick footsteps picked up speed as soon as she walked out, like she was running. He wondered why as he took a sip of his now cold chocolate.

"Mm. Still good," he muttered.

Emma jumped in her car and drove back home. She had to tell Mary Margaret about the connection she had to the dream. In less than five minutes, she was already on her front door, swinging it open.

"Mary Margaret! Mary Margaret where are you? I need to tell you something about the dream I ha— Whoa, okay there."

She found her best friend hiding under the covers with just her head poking out, smiling and blushing bright red. With a man, about their age, trying to hide himself next to her.

"Hi, Emma. What did you want?"

"Nothing. You're clearly… busy. Hey, whoever you are."

"You said she wouldn't notice!" a muffled voice came from under the covers. Coming out of hiding, was David Nolan. He worked at the animal shelter and Emma had not been expecting him there. Her face betrayed all emotion of shock she could possibly muster because her eyes had bulged out and her mouth had slightly dropped.

"I mean, Hey David!"

"Hello Sheriff Swan. I'm sorry we had to meet like this."

Wow. Quite the gentleman.

"Just Emma will do. And it's fine. I'll come back later to talk to Mary Margaret."

"No, no. It's fine. Go talk, I can wait." He said.

"You sure, hun?" Mary Margaret whispered.

Hun? How long has this been going on? Emma thought.

A few moments later, Mary Margaret crawled out of bed wearing an oversized flannel buttondown, which was clearly his, and went downstairs to Emma.

"How long has this been going on?"

"What is it, Emma?"

They questioned at the same time, then looked at each other as if challenging the other girl.

"You first!" Emma shouted as Mary Margaret hid her head in her hands and blushed again. "Ha! Go."

Her roommate sighed and went on,

"Okay we met at the animal shelter the other day because I found an abandoned puppy on the road. And we talked and flirted and he asked me out for a drink after work and I accepted and we've been hanging out-slash-going out on dates-slash-hooking up for about a month now."

"A month?!" Emma whispered. "How have you hid this from me for a mon… Wow, you're… you're good." She let out a small laugh.

"Thanks, I think?"

"It was a compliment. Wait but is it official?"

"I don't know yet, Emma."

"Well, what are you waiting for? Talk to him about it! Because he looked pretty smitten and I can tell you are too. Don't lie to me, Mary Margaret, because I have that thing with lies."

"I know it's useless lying to you."

Emma smirked at her and nodded once,

"Well look at that. Mary Margaret is breaking her own rules for once."

Mary Margaret covered her face again, muffling her laughter. She shook her head and wrapped her arms around herself. Emma had known her long enough to know that her best friend did not believe in love at first sight but clearly, things were changing. Maybe it hadn't been first sight but she looked as elated as if it had been.

"Oh Emma, this one's different. He's… I don't know, I'm not questioning anything because everything feels right when I'm with him. And I can't explain why. It's like I've known him forever." Mary Margaret said as she smiled. "So what was it you needed to tell me?"

Emma inhaled and held her breath as she figured out a way to say it without spitting it out carelessly. She exhaled slowly, tapping her fingers on the table then running a hand through her unruly blonde curls.

"I think found the person from the dream I had," she closed her eyes tight, bracing herself for Mary Margaret's reaction.

"What? Emma what do you mean?"

"Last night, someone broke into Mr. Gold's pawnshop and I went and got him arrested but as strange as it is, I had met this guy before," Mary Margaret was about to ask her how but Emma held up her hand and waved it at her.

"Long story. Anyway, I had met him before and this morning we were talking and he said something that I heard in my dream."

"What was it?"

"He said 'I promise' and I heard those words in my dream, I swear it."

"And does he fit the description of what you saw?"

"Well, he does have bright blue eyes," Emma said quietly as she slid her hands into her pockets and sighed.

Mary Margaret seemed to be enjoying this because she pressed her lips together to hold back a smile.

"Who is he?" she asked.

"Scott Knight."

A gasp escaped her friend's lips, "The fisherman?"

At this, Emma nodded. He was the only one in town so it wasn't that hard to figure out. He was also the only person in town with an Irish accent. Not to mention he had a great smile…

Snap out of it, Emma.

"You need to tell me more about this later. Over dinner. Got that?"

"Yes, Mary Margaret," Emma said with a tone that sounded like an exasperated teenager talking to their mother. And with a wave, she walked back out the door and went to her office again. She walked in only to find a nasty surprise sitting on her desk.

Regina Mills.

"Not to be a bitch or anything but," Emma said as she walked to her desk, slamming her keys on it. "What the hell are you doing here? I get that you were supposed to come by today but not without me being here."

Regina turned sharply toward Emma, heels clicking the floor as she advanced toward the Sheriff. Her eyebrows furrowed and a frown slowly etching onto her face while closing the distance between them.

"Ms. Swan, I am the mayor of this town. Which means that I can do anything I want."

"Not if I'm not here. Not on my territory." Emma said, cocking an eyebrow at her.

"Don't test me."

"Oh, I'll test you all I want, you're in my corner of the town now. What happened while I was gone?"

This whole time, neither of them had acknowledged Scott being there. He cleared his throat and the two women jumped at the sound.

"You do know I'm still here? And I'm sure, Emma, that if you want to get an honest retelling of the last few moments here, I would probably be the best person to ask."

"How dare you say that?" Regina would've pounced on him and possibly slapped the smirk off his face, if it hadn't been for the metal bars separating them. His smirk did, indeed, fade while his bright blue eyes widened a bit but he shot a look at Emma, causing him to relax a bit. If she was there, Regina couldn't do anything to him. Right? Was that the idea he was getting? What was he thinking really?

"Madam Mayor, I am only telling the truth, which after all, is the only thing that's going to get me out of this wretched cell. Am I not right?" Scott grinned as best as he could, trying to both charm her and piss her off. The latter was what he succeeded.

"Mr. Knight, I could easily just keep you here, revoke you of your job and just make Leroy do it. But you wouldn't want that, would you?"

His expression stayed impassive, blinking only once and then proceeding to shake his head. Scott was quite the actor, feigning bravery in the presence of this woman. Thankfully, Emma came to the rescue.

"Regina, back away from Scott. Don't threaten him more than Mr. Gold already has."

"No, Ms. Swan. From now on, I will be dealing with Mr. Knight here. You are not to see him or deal with him anymore."

"Why the hell not?" Scott barked, getting up and rattling the bars.

"I don't have to take those kinds of orders from you, Madam Mayor. In case you haven't noticed, you are not my mother and I am not a fifteen- year-old girl."

"The decision is final. Get out." Regina said, with quiet rage, and pointed at the door.

Emma huffed, frustrated as she marched over to her desk to take her keys.

"Swan!"

She spun around, eyes landing on Scott. His eyes said something that his lips didn't.

Don't go.

Emma swallowed nervously and shook her head at him. She mouthed,

"I'll find you." Then she turned and left. Scott dropped his hand as a wave of realization hit him. His name wasn't Scott Knight. He wasn't a fisherman. He did not belong in plaid shirts and jeans. He did not belong in this cell. He belonged out there. With Emma.

Emma.

His name was Killian Jones. He was a pirate. He was in love with a princess named Emma and a curse had taken them away from each other.

"You did this to us… Your Highness."

Regina stared at him with daggering eyes. He knew. He remembered. It was only a matter of time.

"Hello Killian," she spoke, accenting each syllable with venom. "How did you remember?"

"Never mind that. Why did you do this?"

Almost cutting him off mid-sentence, "Because I wanted my happiness. You are not to see her anymore."

"Why?" Now he was furious, he shook the bars between them. "You can't keep me from her!"

"Because if you do see her, chances are you'll re-romance her and the curse will break. Just seeing Mr. Gold and Lacey together broke part of that curse."

"So that's it, then? True love?"

She paused, staring him down with her dark brown eyes. "I'm finished here."

Heels clicking away and just before she walked out the door, he spoke up.

"You can try to keep us apart but you're only messing with destiny. And that's not something you want to fool around with, Regina. Think about it."

With that, she left with an evil smirk on her face. He shook the bars once again and slammed his handcuffs against them. He screamed in frustration. How long had he been trapped in this world? Being someone who was just a very pathetic version of himself? Had Emma remembered him at all? Possibly just a glimmer of recognition? Anything at all? He slid down the wall of the cell, burying his face in his hands. What he hated most about this situation was that there was no one to wipe his tears away because she didn't remember him.