Disclaimer: Once Upon A Time and the characters within do not belong to me, and I do not profit from this story in any way.
Chapter 3
Late Night Confessions
A few weeks later, Emma and Lily were going on vacation to visit the Hamptons. They had some rich lesbian friends that shared a time share at a quaint bungalow near the sea. As fate would have it, Lily had something of a green thumb in this world and had many window box flowers and wild things like vines growing in her little window garden. She showed up next door at August's around lunch time the day before the trip, her pretty brow creased in a troubled fashion when he opened the door to greet her.
"Ah, Lily," he said, gesturing for her to come inside. "To what do I owe the pleasure? Call me crazy, but I have a knack for sensing a damsel in distress," he said knowingly, going to plop down in his computer chair. Lily stood before him, her hands clasped in a pleading fashion. "August, Emma and I are heading out to the Hamptons tomorrow and I completely forgot to ask someone to come and water my plants while we're gone."
The writer quirked his eyebrow curiously, secretly thinking about the glass of liquor in the kitchen. Did this woman not see him? He could barely take care of himself, let alone take care of green things that absolutely needed care and attention, two things he didn't have much left of. Yet he knew by the desperate look on her face that he was about to agree to whatever she asked of him.
"Will you do it, please?"
The writer rolled his eyes and gave a put-upon sigh, wickedly teasing his next door neighbor. "I suppose I could do this for you just this one time... but what will you do for me in return?" He asked coyly, flirting with the brunette. "I'll owe you one," she said and gave him a heart warming smile and bounded over to him, leaning down to wrap his muscular shoulders in a brief hug. "You only have to water them a cup of water every two and half days. It'll only take a second," she told him.
She reached into the pocket of her tight fitting denim jeans and pulled out a key to their apartment attached to a swan keychain. "That's Emma's extra, so don't lose it, ok? She'd kill me," the woman said as she handed it over. "It's safe with me," he promised. "How long are you girls goin' to be gone?" he asked.
"A week and a half," the brunette replied. "Oh good, that gives me plenty of time to fornicate on all your furniture while you're out," he quipped. Lily's eyes widened and she swatted at August's chest. "You perv!" she said, outaged, but delighted by his racey sense of humor.
"You'd better not!" August's blue eyes twinkled as he winked at the brunette. "Alright, you got me. I'll limit my use to red heads only," he teased. "August, so help me if I catch a whiff of sex when I return," she threatened idly as she headed to the front door. "Be good!" she called as she shut the door.
*~*~*~* ONCE * UPON * A * TIME *~*~*~*
August used his opportunity alone in the girl's apartment to his best advantage. He tried to learn more about the girls as tools for persuasion. He looked at the pictures scattered around the living room, exclusively shots of just the two girls. There were no family or friends to speak of in any of the pictures.
There were pictures of the girls they'd obviously shot themselves, up close and selfie style as they both beamed, or one kissed the other's cheek. In one photo, the two girls were deliciously tanned looking in matching cut off shorts with a beach at their backsides. In one picture, Emma wore a green bicyclist's outfit and matching helmet on a city street. In another picture, Lily stood in a puffy purple coat holding a snowboard with snow caps and mountains in the background. The two girls certainly were well traveled.
August was determined to take them on another trip. He searched for clues that the two girls were getting used to the routine in this place, a sure sign that they would be leaving soon. He noticed in the bedside drawers that Lily had marital aids and Emma had binoculars, half finished to-do lists, and pens everywhere. A cursory glance through their closet suggested Lily wore sheer, pretty things to bed and Emma opted for a more boyish look. He found several long t-shirts and boy cut panties in Emma's things.
He almost didn't forget Lily's plants most of the time. He started out doing a good job, having went on the second day they were gone. But after that, August got holed up at home writing on his vintage type writer for a couple days. While the girls were away, he found himself visiting the bar at night and went home with a few women during their absence.
Four days went by and the plants slipped his mind, and it was almost too late by the time he rememberd. After his close call, he paid more attention to his duties and started staying long enough to brew coffee in Emma and Lily's fancy cappicinno machine. One day towards the end of their hiatus, he decided to bring a very important piece of the puzzle over to their apartment and purposefully left a huge volume of story book fairytales on the girl's living room table to be easily discovered. It remained there, until his neighbors' return.
It was hard to miss the girl's arrival back home. The girls got home late at night, bumping and thumping in the apartment next door as they acclimated themselves back to home. There was silence for awhile, but eventually August started to hear raised voices next door. He didn't see the girls right away. A few days went past, and each night he heard raised voices in the apartment next door. He heard the sound of something breaking one night, but knew better than to go interfere. He regretted the trip had not gone better for the two.
*~*~*~* ONCE * UPON * A * TIME *~*~*~*
A week after the girls return, August discovered Emma at a cafe near their apartment, reading over an old and familiar book. It was the story book August left in their apartment. Before Emma took notice of him with her golden head bent over the book, he watched her from afar and saw the cute way she worried her lower lip with her teeth.
It was endearing and so adorable, the way she concentrated on the words before her and paid little heed to her surroundings. Her eyes staring down at the page were red rimmed and puffy from crying. The writer knew Emma well enough to know she'd just finished her morning run and was avoiding returning to her apartment, like she had been all week. What she didn't know was she needn't worry, Lily had been avoiding the apartment like the plague as well.
As August approached Emma, he caught her attention by calling out, "Don't worry, the coast is clear!" Emma looked up at the swaggering frame of her next door neighbor, startled out of her reverie. She cleared her throat and asked, "What?" She narrowing her puffy eyes at him suspiciously. "What're you talkin' about?" she asked.
"It's safe for you to head on home. I happen to know your other half isn't at home right now," August informed her. Emma glanced at the watch on her wrist curiosly. "How do you know?" August dropped into the chair across from her. "Because I've just came from my apartment," he answered and his blue eyes swept evaluatingly over Emma. Sadly, the blonde had seen better days.
"How do you know I'm avoiding her?" Emma asked, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back in her chair. She was itching for a challenge, a distraction from her case of the blues, and he was just the man the give it to her. August gave her a pointed look with those clear blue eyes of his and Emma found herself distracted by the way he pursed his lips and the stubble on his chin. "I have ears, don't I?" he asked. Emma narrowed her eyes at him. "Trouble in paradise?" he inquired knowingly.
"I'm not in the mood to talk about it," she grated out in a low, angry voice and August leaned backward, tapping his fingers on the table. "Alright, alright, truce," he called. He tilted his head to the side as he regarded the blonde. "What are you reading?" he asked, changing the subject entirely. Emma appreciated the change in topic and obliged him. "These are fairytales, only they're not like they always were written when I was a kid," she explained. She flipped through a few of the pages, passing many colorful illustrations.
"Is this yours?" she asked. "It was on our table when we got home," Emma explained and August answered,"Oh yeah, now I recognize that old thing. I must have left it over there." Emma started to shut the book and give it back to him, but August stuck his finger in the book to hold her place. "It's no trouble, keep it for awhile," he said with a friendly grin on his face.
She didn't know what to make of his open availability to her, how he wanted to know more about her, and dared to get closer to her. She usually didn't have or need friends and he was proving to be an exception to the matter. Despite his cryptic answers and half truths, Emma sensed that she had a friend in the strange writer.
"Have you got a chance to read much of it?" August asked about the book. Emma looked down at the page she was on, and it happened to be a story about Red Riding Hood. "I'm on the one about Red the werewolf," she said, leaning in towards August. "It's so weird that in this version, she's the wolf! Ate her own boyfriend," the blonde said with a laugh. The waitress came by and refilled Emma's coffee mug, and August asked for an omelet.
"What if those stories turned out to be true?" August asked Emma hypothetically, testing the waters. "That they really happened?" Emma asked, and if her eyebrows could have met her hairline they would've. "You'd feel pretty bad if you were her, just having ate your boyfriend and all, so you shouldn't laugh," he chided her and Emma frowned. "Oh please. And Hogwarts is real,too," she guffawed.
"Like there really used to be princes and princesses that wake up from some weird curse because some freak goes around kissing people in their sleep?" She scoffed and laughed at the thought. Her life was a modern fairytale, and modern fairytales had no happy endings. As a writer, she felt it only right that August shouldn't have any misconceptions about them or their reality. "Sometimes bad things happen to good people for no good reason and the good guys don't always win. If only," she sighed wistfully.
"Geez, sorry I asked Ms. Glass Half-Empty," August said defensively, and beamed flirtatiously at the waitress when she came back with his order. He winked at her as she set it down and commented, "Just what the doctor ordered" as he started to dig in. "Let me guess, yours is half full," she presumed. August grinned toothily at her and Emma raised an eyebrow. "You mean you believe in magic or something?" Emma asked, darting a dsitracted glance at her new friend as she eyed the waitress walking away. She needed to know now if her new friend was one sandwich short of a picnic basket.
"I figure it's important as a writer to keep an open mind," he cryptically answered and bit into his eggs. Emma flipped through the pages of his book in silence without looking up for a few minutes as he ate, trying to remain nonchalant. "I bet you believe in aliens, too," she mockingly said at length, leaning across the table to tease him. Her green eyes sparkled with a little sign of mischief which was much better than the sad and dejected look she wore before he got to the table. If it was at his expense, so be it. But some day, he would find a way to convince Emma Swan.
*~*~*~* ONCE * UPON * A * TIME *~*~*~*
After Midnight, Last Call
August was at the bar he'd first met the Savior in his first night in town. Unlike his first visit, this stint at the bar was proving to be much lengthier and the writer was well in his cups by the end of the night. He groaned when the bartender asked for his motorcycle keys. "C'mon, man, don't be like that," he complained as the bartender crossed his muscled arms and refused to relent. He was Chinese in descent but well-toned and buff, and August was not much of a fighter. He relinquished his keys.
The bartender wouldn't pour him any more drinks. August was left to drunkenly hang onto the bar and sway on his bar stool. "You got anybody to call?" the bartender kept asking him, but August only shook his head. There was no one to call. There was no one who cared about him, or even remembered him. His arms were crossed and his forehead laying against them as a pillow when he felt a friendly hand on his back, patting him reassuringly. "August, doll, we gotta move you," he heard and looked up, bleary eyed but glad to see his friend and neighbor, Lily.
Lily had been intending to go get black out drunk herself when she spotted her friend had beaten her to it. She sighed and put her plans on the back burner as she went to the bar to make sure her friend was okay. The bartender she knew by Chris informed her, "He's cut off" in a stern voice. "Don't worry, I'll get him home," she said, and collected his bike keys from the bartender. She put the writer's leather clad arm around her shoulder and hefted him out of his seat with little assistance from him.
A bouncer helped Lily get August into her car. "Ugh, Auggie, you drunk," she said with disgust once she got him stuffed into the backseat. "What's got you in such a state," she questioned herself under her breath, peering into the backseat using the rear view mirror as she drove the short distance home. August was laying face down on the pleather seat, stubble rubbing against the seat as he groaned drunkenly, the contents of his stomach swishing around as Lily made turns in the car.
He retched when Lily opened the car door just in time. They were parked on the street and he hurled onto the concrete near her feet. "Oh!" she exclaimed, barely side stepping the mess and crying out girlishly. "Ew!" August felt much better after emptying the contents of his stomach, and he let Lily drag him out of the car from the opposite car door. He stumbled through the door to their apartment complex and leaned on her as they rode up the elevator together.
Lily somehow managed to skillfully hold the grown man up and used his keys to get into his apartment. "Ugh, let's get you cleaned up," Lily said as she flicked on the light switch. She lowered him onto the wine red couch and proceeded into his bedroom to get him a fresh t-shirt. In his small bathroom, she found some blue hand rags and rinsed one under cold water, bringing everything into the living room with her.
She wiped August's mouth and face with the cold hand rag and August let her, soothed by someone taking care of him. "Auggie, change your shirt for me," Lily said to him as she turned her back, heading towards the kitchen. In his drunk state, August struggled out of his leather jacket and managed to pull off his dark blue t-shirt. There was some sick near the collar of it, and he tossed it aside with distaste.
Lily reentered the living room to a shirtless Augst, and admired the chest hair on his pecs. She held a glass of water in hand and approached August, sitting on the couch beside him. "What's got you so upset, huh?" she questioned softly, offering him the water. "You can tell me, I'm your friend," she reassured him when he took the water, gratefully gulping some down. She put her hand on his forearm and the t-shirt she'd got for him lay abandoned on the couch's arm rest.
"I'm a fuck up," he muttered ashamedly. Only the drink could make a grown man cry like a baby, Lily had learned over the years. She figured it wouldn't be so bad if she played catch up, and went to help herself to August's well-stocked bar. She still hadn't forgotten what she sorely needed to forget, and a drink with August was just the thing to make her feel better. At least it was better than drinking alone, as August had obviously proven to her.
"Now, now, August, I'm sure it's not so bad," she told him, taking a sip from a glass she had filled to the brim with gin and tonic. "Nothing's so bad it can't be undone," she told him. August swiveled his head, made heavy on his neck by the drink, and gave her a baffled look. "What world do you live in?" he slurred. "You can't undo things," he argued stubbornly.
Lily looked hopefully towards him. "Don't say that," she pleadingly said. She crossed the room to sit next to him again on the couch, this time grabbing his arm reproachfully. Urgent. "We have to believe we can make things better again," she insisted. Her eyes were wide with unshed tears and August clearly wasn't understanding her. "What the hell're you talking about? What happened on your trip?" he demanded to know.
"What do you mean?" Lily squeaked, then took a prolonged gulp from her glass. Her eyes shifted guiltily to look anywhere but at August, and his brow furrowed in confusion. "What'dya mean, what do I mean? Emma's clearly been upset with you ever since you guys got back. What happened when you guys were gone?" he asked, but he was beginning to suspect the answer to his question.
"Alright, alright," Lily groaned and took another drink from her gin and tonic. She set the half empty glass down with a bang on the coffee table. "I might've sort of cheated on Emma a little while we were on vacation," she stumbled over her words in her rush to get them out. "Lily..." August said in a disappointed voice. "What makes you think that's so bad?" he asked.
"What?" Lily asked, complete disbelief etched onto her face. "What do you mean it's no big deal? I tell you I cheated on my girlfriend, and you've got bigger problems buddy?" she asked, huffing. Lily picked up her glass again, and August tsked at her. "Lily, that is small fries compared to what I'm talkin' bout. I'm talking about finding a way to find my mother," he admitted, his hands clenching into fists on his knees as he poured out his heart to the brunette. "I keep missing my chance to find her," he told her.
Lily was instantly distracted from her own problems. The search for missing parents was a mission she was intimately familiar with, and she sympathized greatly for August. She shushed him, and tugged his head down to her shoulder. His breath came in hot and haggard bursts against her collar bone, and Lily petted August's curly brown head comfortingly. "I'm sorry August. If there was a way we could all magically find our parents, I'd be happy to help you," she sadly told him, never knowing what music she sounded to his ears with the sentence.
After a long pause, he asked, "What if I told you there was a way?" Lily peered at him anxiously. "Are you saying there is?" She gulped, hardly hoping that this mysterious and drunken man might hold all the answers to her questions. But if she knew personal motivation was anything to go by, then August had just as much reason for looking for a way to find missing parents as she did.
"What can we do? What'd'you know?" she asked, desperately needing to know for herself. She was filled with questions, and eager to find any way to get her answers. She would leave no stone unturned in her quest, and August could sense that fact about the brunette. He knew that he would be able to get her to come to Storybrooke with a little coaxing, but the trouble now in light of Lily's news would be getting the girls there together. He couldn't have the two of them splitting up and going their own separate ways. He'd have to find a way to help keep the girls together.
"When I was overseas, I heard about a man back in the states that might be able to help. He can find any lost object. And I figured..." August trailed off, and Lily looked at him excitedly, her eyes shining. "Well, where is he?! Where can we find him?" she asked eagerly, and August said, "That's the catch. The place he lives is cloaked by a powerful protection spell, and its location wont be visible to us for a few months." Lily looked incredulously at him, taken aback.
"What, you mean like real magic?" she scoffed. Either she was drunk or he was crazy, or maybe they were both. She considered the notion for a minute, and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up excitedly. Against all reason, she was intrigued by the offer August was making her. There wasn't any option Lily was willing to ignore in the search for her parents, and if August knew someone who might be able to help them, then she felt he could be trusted. After all, they had a common goal, and slowly Lily realized, they were both most definitely drunk. They probably wouldn't even remember this in the morning, she thought to herself.
A/N: This chapter is more Lily-centric, just to prove not everyone is perfect. How will this affect August's mission to get both of the girls to Storybrooke? Follow/fav to find out, and don't be afraid to review :)
