Title: Meant to Be

Alternate Title: There is no Excuse for This

Summary: Post-Season 3, but not delving into Season 4's work with time portals and Frozen characters. Introducing new characters and answering the show's mysteries with headcannons. Because sometimes, things just happen differently.

-

Chapter Three: Spit-Spot

Chapter Summary: An unfamiliar person arrives in Storybrooke.

A/N: This arc came from a few random headcannons I had even before Once Upon A Time become a thing. I thought this might be a good platform to share them on.

-

"Have you ever even seen her before?"

There was definitely discourse in the monastery that morning, all revolving around the appearance of a mysterious woman. At the moment, the unfamiliar person was making up beds, ignoring the chatter about her arrival. The question came from a very annoyed Sister Maggie, who stood before Mother Superior with her arms crossed.

"No," she responded; "No, I haven't. Girls, I'm sure you already have your assignments for this morning, so I'd suggest you get ready," there was no command in her voice, it sounded helpful rather than bossy. "I'll handle this,"

"Yes, Mother Superior," the Sisters gradually dispersed and thinned out.

Blue approached the new-comer in the bedroom cautiously while the others tended to their morning rituals. All things considered, this woman would get along with the rest of them almost perfectly. She looked to be in her late thirties or early fourties and kept her solid black hair up in a bun. Her garments were already typical of nuns. "Good morning," she started the conversation calmly.

"Good morning. As I understand it, you're the Superior in charge of these Sisters- how do you do?" she spoke with a strong, distinct English accent.

"I'm doing fine, thank you. The Sisters and I were wondering exactly who you are,"

"...hmm..." the woman pondered for an inordinately long time to gather up her own name. "Well, my name is Elizabeth,"

"Sister Elizabeth," she gave a firm nod as welcome, not mentioning her suspicion of the pause. "I see. Where are you from, if you don't mind telling me?"

"London. In England," she pointed out the window as though her home could be seen through it. That wasn't exactly the kind of answer she was looking for, but she let it go.

"London is quite a ways from here. How did you end up all the way...here?"

Again, the woman was clearly uncertain of how to answer. She was so involved in piecing together an appropriate response that her work on making the beds slowed down. "I came here to find someone who needs my help. I had to follow him; his trail led me here," there was a small pause between that sentence and the next. "I fully intend to earn my keep. When I arrived, it was quite late and there was no one to speak to. You needn't fuss over me; I promise, I'll only be here until the wind changes," Elizabeth finished the first bed; it looked straight enough that one could easily bounce a coin off it. Then she moved to the next one.

Someone needed to talk to Mr. Gold about those flimsy locks. Mother Superior nodded understandingly. "...alright," she sighed. "I suppose we can let you stay here temporarily. We only have one spare bed at the moment, so you'll have to share a room,"

"I have no complaints. Thank you for your generosity,"

-

By the time Emma arrived at the sheriff's department, Blue was already standing outside. Scrambled by this oddity, she checked the time on her wrist watch over the top of the half dozen box of donuts she was carrying in.

"It's only five passed eight," she informed, pulling the donut out of her mouth.

"I know, but I'm afraid it's urgent. I had to get here early,"

"Oh, um," she fumbled the box as she grabbed her keys; "okay. Well, just come on in and I'll help you as well as I can,"

"Thank you,"

The sheriff opened the door and let them both inside. Mother Superior took to standing beside the available chair, rather than sitting in it, while Emma took the chair behind the desk and got her notepad out.

"Well, then, what's the problem this morning?"

The nun cleared her throat; "Early this morning, before I even woke up, there was a strange person occupying the monastery," she looked up from the notepad immediately; "It's a woman I've never met before, and neither have any of the other girls. She claimed to be from London,"

"Did you happen to get her name?"

"That's another odd thing. She told me her name was Elizabeth, but when I asked, it seemed like it was incredibly difficult for her to come up with that," there was a slight pause, whereas Blue allowed Emma to write down whatever she needed to. "I heard talk yesterday that someone had arrived in town through an unknown portal. I fear that's what this may be. If things continue at this rate, who knows how bad they could be?"

"Yeah, I got it," the sheriff turned in the chair. "I'm going to have to hunt down Mr. Gold today and see-"

"You're relying on him for help?"

Oh, right. "I'm guessing you have a better idea?"

"...Well, Henry was perceptive with our identities,"

She shook her head. "I spoke with Henry last night. He met Steven at Granny's- no idea who he is,"

Blue relented a bit with that, but added; "Just be careful, Emma,"

"I'm not afraid of him," she answered; "but, thanks,"

"I have plenty of work to do today, and I'll leave you to yours. Thank you for your time,"

Emma nodded. "You're welcome- thank you," once she was gone, the sheriff heaved a sigh and gathered a stack of paperwork. Her days' work was cut out for her. If more people were coming through this unknown portal, she didn't even have time to finish that half-eaten donut and make phone calls, she had to get to Mr. Gold's house right away. So, she did what any good sheriff would do and struggled out to her car with the stack of papers and a pastry hanging out of her mouth, catching a glimpse of herself in the rearview mirror when she sat down.

When in the world did she become a sheriff eating donuts?
She rolled her eyes at her own existence.

"A little after eight in the morning" was a bit early to be up for two people who had spent the last few days off. Nevertheless, Rumple was awake, sitting with his legs over the side of the bed. His hands were gripped onto Belle's shoulders, where she stood just a little higher than him; her eyes were open, but any view of consciousness stopped there.

"Belle," he shook her; she didn't hear. "Belle," her body moved around as though she were a sleeping person, yet she somehow stood. "Belle, come back to me," she blinked her eyes, muscles tensing up as she regained consciousness.

"What..." her voice came out thin and soft and she had to force her muscles to move to talk; "What happened?"

"I have no idea. Well, actually, I do. You suddenly got out of bed about five minutes ago and tried to pound your way through the bedroom window,"

"...what?" that response prompted an incredulous stare. He motioned for the window to the bedroom, which was now garnished with a crack.

"Then you started screaming- I had to bring you over here, and I've spent the last moments trying to wake you up,"

She rubbed her eyes with her whole arm. "That's really weird,"

It was quiet a moment. Now, it was his turn to be confused. "So, you have no idea what was going on, either?"

"No," her face felt wet and sticky and she knew it had to be swollen, but she had absolutely no idea what was the matter. "It...sounds like I was having a nightmare, but people usually remember nightmares..."

He started to respond, but was cut off by a knock at the door. He chose to ignore it in favor of conversation.

"When I was little, I used to sleepwalk all the time," she smiled and pushed out a small laugh; "that's probably all,"

Sleepwalkers didn't try to pound through glass. Rumple's face remained blank.

Bang! Bang! Bang! "Open up, Gold! I know you're in there!"

Belle turned around so she could face the voice, though the front door was downstairs and their bedroom door was closed. "That sounded like Emma,"

"Yes, it did,"

There was some relief on Belle's face. All she was wearing right at the moment was an overly-large pajama shirt, so she pulled on a pair of pants. His PJs were a complete set, so he didn't really have much he needed to do.

"You don't suppose we-" he was about to suggest that they leave her out there when another bang came;

"I need to talk to you!"

"We're coming, Emma!" she stumbled in her clothes, still not fully awake yet. "Come on, let's go see what she wants,"

He didn't really care to see what the sheriff wanted, but Belle had made up her mind before he could protest properly. The one thing he wanted to do less than open that door was try to convince her to just get back into bed and let the pests go away on their own. She helped him get down the stairs, allowing him to lean on her for extra support until they got there; then, she rushed for the door and opened it just before Emma could knock again.

"...ah...hey," there was something disorienting about seeing a woman opening up the door to Rumple's house, no matter how well she knew what was going on here. "I need to talk to Mr. Gold,"

He shifted so that he was in sight range. "I'm not terribly interested in conversing with anybody right now, Ms. Swan, so I suggest you say your piece and leave,"

"There's been a portal opened to Storybrooke. No one knows where and no one knows why. No one even knows where it's from, but we've had two people show up here in the last two days,"

"And what...exactly...does this have to do with me?"

The sheriff frowned and rolled her eyes. "We need you to help us figure out who they are and where they're from,"

"And why would I do that?"

"Because as long as that portal stays open, everyone here could be in danger. Everyone," her eyes darted towards Belle, who had been standing by the door silently the whole time. "And not just her. Henry's in danger too,"

He was about to make some other comment about this not being his problem, but evidently, he decided not to.

"What are we in danger from?" the sleepy-eyed girl asked.

"Because we don't know where they're coming from, we don't know what exists there, we don't know what they can do,"

"And because," Rumplestiltskin tapped his cane on the ground; "we don't know about this portal,"

Neither one of the two women there knew what he was talking about, but neither asked and he made no attempt to explain. Belle just nodded and started out the open front door. "We should go right now, then,"

"No, I'll go," he headed out the door behind her; "It's too dangerous,"

Emma backed out of the way to let them out.

"I'm going with you. I want to help,"

"I know you want to help," he heaved a sigh; she shut the door behind him. "But I've got this under control,"

"Then I'll come along for the ride,"

Something occurred to him right then, it was clear by the expression on his face and the way he relented. "...fine, but when we do find it, you mustn't get close to it. There are some portals that can just pull you right through,"

"That won't happen," she told him that so confidently, as though she could see the future and that wasn't even a possibility. As though she would have woken up that morning and thought 'I'm going to get sucked into a portal to Timbuktu today.'

"And what if it does?"

She smiled at him, letting a small few seconds of silence pass between them before she answered. "Then you'll come after me,"

"Are you guys coming?" Emma was already at her car, and getting impatient.

"Yeah. Come on, Rumple,"

-

Flashback
Unknown Universe
A day or so ago

The Warrant for a Magical Search came that morning, allowing him to use his power to obtain a record of events. Looking over the paperwork, he stepped out of his car and guided Azure up to the door on a leash. She entered the house first, of course, and headed straight for the picture. Azzie knew the drill. Criminals often returned to the scene of a crime.

"Bark! Bark!" she placed her paw on it. In the blink of an eye, her body shrunk down into it.

"Skadoo," the detective breathed, following behind her.

Within what felt like seconds, he felt his body hit concrete. He was behind the bars of a sheriff's jail cell in the middle of who-knows-where. Disoriented, he looked around for any indication of what was going on, and found only a little girl standing in there with him. She seemed happy that he'd arrived.

"Wh-who are you?" he asked, and it dawned on him not seconds after he asked. "Azzie?!" and she giggled soundlessly, patting him on the arm because she couldn't reach his head.

-

Flashback cont.
Unknown Universe
Later That Night

It was strange when the detective didn't go home that night, and even stranger when he didn't leave the last house he was investigating. Although no one else seemed to notice, there was a particular nun living with a convent in the area who was concerned enough to leave the monastery in the middle of the night in search of him. The door to the crime scene was yet unlocked, so she let herself in.

"Detective?" she called into the darkness. "Mr. Penn, is everything alright?" there was no answer. She turned on the light.

A few dusty pawprints led her into the bedroom. On the ground, she saw the portrait of her son behind bars. Relief crossed her face, and then she laughed.

"Oh, Steven," she placed her umbrella up-side-down over the image; "what on earth have you gotten yourself into?" she thumped it firmly three times, and faded into the image herself.

-

Present Day
Storybrooke, Maine

Steven managed to find a place to crash- with a man who called himself "Mr. Walters" (with no first name given) and who was also referred to as "Happy" by the townspeople. He said that he could stay as long as he worked, and told him that a man named "Mr. Gold" (also with no first name) may convert his coins into currency.

This town sure was eccentric.

For now, he was helping out at a farm, with six other men there. The "other two" had gotten called into work. They told him he could bring Azure, but it would definitely be too hot, so a woman named "Sister Astrid" said she could stay with her and the other volunteers at the library until they closed.

"Alright, we have orders for avocados this week," Leroy called out; "so- hey, you, 'new guy-' you start with those," he flipped through some papers; "We're adding an expansion over here- gotta get rid of these trees,"

It was going to be a very, very long day.

"You found him standing right here?"

It was so, so tempting not to close and lock the cell door on him.

"Yes,"

He looked up at the celing and poked around with his cane in the air. It hit something rubbery that twitched and surged a deep blue.

"I like the look of you behind bars, Rumple,"

"Really? But stripes are so unflattering on my figure," he hit it again.

"Found anything so far, Gold?"

"Yes," he lowered his cane back to the ground. "It's a one-way portal, leading directly to this spot. It's...also pathetically basic, it shouldn't even work," all the gears in his head were spinning. There must have been just enough magic here for a tiny, insignificant opening. "Only one person could have come through,"

"So, are we safe, then?" Emma asked.

"Not necessarily," he turned around; "This portal was made for only one particular person, by another person, on purpose- but somehow, two people have used it. That makes it highly unstable. There is also the small matter of how in the hell someone even knew about this place, and why they sent them here," he walked out of the cell, not bothering to close the door.

"Got any other relatives in other dimensions we should know about?" Belle inquired, shuffling through items on Emma's desk out of curiosity.

"No,"

"How about ones we shouldn't know about?" the sheriff pushed for more information.

"Ms. Swan," he straightened his back; "do you truly think that I would leave my wife or grandson in danger if I had a clue as to who was behind this portal?"

She gave him a skeptical glance that was nearly a glare. Somehow, he always managed to avoid the question. "What's the worst-case scenario with one of these things?"

It looked as if he wasn't going to answer, but even if he was planning to, he didn't have the chance. Belle did.

"I think the worst-case scenario for a one-way portal is...when it becomes unstable and creates a vaccuum..."

Rumple looked at her. "Where did you get this information?"

"You," she said with a half-smile.

"I'm not much of a teacher. Furthermore, I remember nothing of this,"

She giggled; "That's because you didn't know I was paying attention,"

"Hm," he gave a light nod of approval. "What she's neglected to mention is what happens if it creates a vaccuum," he gave Belle a challenging look, but she just shrugged. "If it creates a vaccuum, both of the worlds connected to this portal will disappear from their rightful places and blend together. It will be unpleasant for everyone, I assure you,"

"Oh, well, that's great," Emma deadpanned. "Is there anything you can do to keep that from happening?"

"..." he looked to Belle, then Emma, apparently weighing his options somewhere in his mind. "I may be able to stabilize it temporarily, but I don't have what I'd need to shut it down,"

"Then buy us some time,"

"I can get you a week, at best. In the mean time, Ms. Swan, I'd suggest you don't use this cell,"

She nodded and grabbed a stack of papers from her desk. "How long do you think you'll need to...uh...do whatever your doing?"

With a look of pure cynicism, he retorted; "That depends on how long I wish to meditate on 'the force,'"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on,"

-

That night, the six men- one of whom was called Tiny in spite of a near-monstrous height- worked on that farm until dusk. Steven was exhausted long before them; he flopped over in a haystack and maintained a state of only half-consciousness that was interrupted as a few of them squabbled over the lyrics to a song he'd never heard. Eventually, they took to just whistling "The Farmer in the Dell" until their lips were sore.

Mr. Walters got his attention by standing right beside him, slapping his shoulder, and chuckling. "You look like you're all tuckered out there, kid,"

He sat up without saying anything.

"It's about time to head home. Come on, Steven. I'll take you to pick up your daughter,"

He didn't have the energy to argue about whether or not she was his daughter. He just nodded and forced his legs to move until he could flop over in the passenger's seat of the car.

"Maybe you'd have a better time at a desk job," he said. "I think the sheriff may need someone to help with answering phones. Hey, I know, we'll stop by there first,"

"Okay," he forced his mouth to move.

He wanted to just rest in the car, he was sunburnt and tired and probably dehydrated, but he knew he was expected to get out and go in when they reached the sheriff's office. When the car stopped, he obligingly got out and trudged up to the door. He didn't have to do anything from there, though, as the door suddenly swung open.

"Uh...hey," Emma was confused to see him there; "Did you um, find a place to stay?" he nodded and motioned for the car. "Oh. Mr. Walters," she said that with a hint of sympathy. "Well, can I help you with-"

"When can I go?" he sounded garbled and muffled from exhaustion.

She didn't really know how to answer that. All she could give him was a vacant stare. "I...uh...I don't know, exactly. Hopefully within the week- are you feeling alright?"

He tried to nod, but got a headache. "He...uh...he suggested I come to see if you have any job openings for a secretary..."

"...I would have to check the budget. Why don't I call you first thing in the morning?"

Steven hesitated, his mind completely blank. When he could manage it, he nodded, and turned to walk back to the car. Emma did the same, getting into her little yellow bug to go pick up her son.

Flashback
Wonderland

When Rumplestiltskin arrived in the Hatter's abode, all he could see was hats. Hundreds of them, if not thousands, if not hundreds of thousands. Even The Dark One was startled by the volume of them. And they were all completely, totally, and thoroughly useless.

"You'll never be able to make one like that, dearie," he said, though the man at the desk didn't flinch. Didn't even seem to notice him. He twitched and flinched and stared. His hands were scratched and bloody from accidentally (or not) pricking himself.

Another hat was finished. The Hatter didn't bother inspecting it before he tossed it away.

"That hat wasn't made with fabric the first time. It was made with magic,"

Again, he didn't seem to notice. Rumple, not enjoying this dynamic, picked up a stray teacup that was lying about and threw it against the wall. The shattering broke Jefferson out of his trance.

"What's a man got to do to get a little recognition around here?!"

"Wha...what are you doing here? How did you get in?!"

"Details, details..." even Rumplestiltskin couldn't get into the hat without relying on the Hatter's power. "The question isn't 'How did I get in here?', but 'How can you get out?'"

"I can't. If you let me leave here, you'll be trapped. One in, one out. Hat's rules,"

"Maybe I'm not making myself clear," he didn't have time to dawdle. "I'm here to make you a deal. To get you out of this...Wonderland,"

"I have nothing you want. None of these hats have any enchantments in them. None!" he shoved a pile of them off to the sides.

"Hm..." Rumple stared at him blankly. "No, I don't need any hats,"

Present Day
Storybrooke

The library had closed two hours ago, so Azure was at the monastery. Again, Steven had to get out and walk up to the gate.

"Are you here to pick up Azure?" it was Mother Superior who was outside, watering some flowers when he showed up.

"Yes,"

"Well...come in," she opened the gate for him. "She's in the chapel with Sister Astrid and Sister Elizabeth," so far, there were very few of the fairies who were receptive to Elizabeth. Even Astrid was on her guard, but she was one who managed to be friendly in spite of that, so Mother Superior facilitated their interaction by putting them both in charge of the child. Steven really didn't want to walk more, but he knew he had to to get Azure. Once he got inside, it was only a matter of navigating to the chapel- the doors of which were right to his left.

"'You are not my mother!'" what he heard immediately was the distinctive sound of an English woman, reading a story to a young child; "'You are a snort!'" Azure laughed in her typically silent way, and even Nova giggled. Any distrust she had towards Sister Elizabeth had vanished completely. The doors to the chapel closed loudly, and ended the story abruptly. Both the women stopped and turned to look. Azure, happy to see Steven, quickly jumped down off of the one nun's lap and ran to embrace him. He pushed himself to bend down and give her a hug.

Elizabeth couldn't seem to stop looking at the man who'd just come in.

"Oh, um, Steven, this is Sister Elizabeth,"

He took in a deep breath as he stood. "Don't I know you?"

She considered her response carefully. "It's quite possible. You look familiar to me, as well,"

Azzie tugged on his arm lightly.

"You look tired, Mr. Steven," Nova tried to be polite; "I'll get you something to drink,"

He didn't have it in him to argue. Sister Elizabeth stood up.

"No, don't worry about it, Sister Astrid. I'll get it. I suspect putting you in the same room as breakable dishes is a recipe for 'disaster,'"

She left the room for a few moments, and came back with a glass of water. Steven drank it down quickly. "Thanks," he said, barely breathing as he handed it back over to her.

"You're welcome,"

He nodded lightly. "Alright. Come on, Azzie, it's time to go home,"

The two of them left. Sister Elizabeth immediately reached for the book she'd been reading.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm worried about this bird," she said, flipping through the pages. "I want to make sure he gets home alright,"

As Steven made his way out with Azure, the young girl caught sight of Mother Superior. This put a big smile on her face, and the nun returned the gesture. With that, the younger girl curtsied.

"Have a good night," was all Blue said.