A/N: A reviewer pointed out to me that the age in which Emma gave birth to Henry on the show was not made clear. While Emma may or may not have have been 17 when she had Henry, I'll be taking some liberty here. She will be 18 in this story.

-Chapter Three-

Neal and Emma slept like the dead that night, morning coming before they knew it. It seemed as if one minute they were entering their rented room and flopping down on the bed, and in the next minute, sunlight was streaming through the curtains on the windows.

After waking up, they left the room rather quickly, after getting dressed and taking turns in the shower. They were planning on heading out on the road early to make some good time that day.

The shower was Emma's favorite part. It felt nice to be able to take her time, and just let the warm water run down her back as opposed to sneaking into hotel rooms and constantly worrying about being caught. She would never take a relaxing shower for granted again, she thought. Ever.

Emma thought of that as Neal and she exited the inn, only giving minor pause to the fact that no other people could be seen or heard at all. That she attributed to it being a small town and there probably not being many visitors. Nothing strange there.

They got into the car, with Neal driving and Emma in the passenger seat next to him, as Neal navigated the streets of the town, hoping to find the "Leaving Storybrooke" sign.

A wrench was thrown in that idea after only a few minutes. The car, it seemed, had other plans as it drove through what was obviously the richer part of town. It decided it wanted to shut down completely, failing them now after everything it had been through.

"Oh, come on, come on, c'mon..."said Neal, growing more agitated by the second as he managed to pull the misbehaving vehicle over to the side of the road.

Emma didn't bother to mention that he had parked the thing directly in front of someone's driveway, blocking anybody who may want to get out. He'd figure it out himself. And besides, it's not like she was the perfect driver herself. She was still a teenager after all, one who had taught herself to drive only a year and a half ago, and was by no means an expert. She'd forgotten turn signals and things before, many times. Neal had teased her about it more than once.

Neal pressed his foot on the gas, as if he was willing the car to move forward, but it didn't move an inch. After letting out one final "You've got to be kidding me," he slumped back in his seat, defeated. The car had made it clear that it wasn't moving forward anytime soon.

It had chosen now of all times to act up. Just as they were about to go on their way, it had broken down completely.

Emma thought about all the times lately that she'd seen smoke coming out the back, or heard a funny noise, and how every time she'd chosen not to say anything about it. On the road, they had completely ignored it, not wanting to believe anything was wrong. Looking back, they really shouldn't have. Now they wouldn't be able to leave this stupidly-named town until it was fixed. They were stranded.

Emma usually hated to feel self-pity, but thoughts of how unfair the situation was came to her anyway. She would always be so close to a so-called "happy ending", but something always got in her way. She would get sent to a nice foster home, but would always eventually be sent away. She ran away from the system before finishing high school, but nobody would hire her to do even a minimum wage job, so she had to turn to a life of crime. Then she met Neal, and was the happiest she'd been in a long time, and then the watch incident happened. Now this. Was the universe against her or something?

Emma pushed away the thoughts and memories, telling herself that things could've gone so much worse and that she had no reason to be complaining. She could have spent her eighteenth birthday in jail instead of with Neal, but she didn't. And once they got whatever was wrong with the car fixed, maybe they could get out of the country and start over in Canada.

As Neal pulled out his phone, presumably to reach a mechanic, Emma noticed the door to the mansion-like house open, a woman coming out of it and storming down the steps and in their direction. How she could walk that fast in those high heels she wore, Emma had no idea.

She wore dark, professional clothing, dark makeup, and a very ticked-off expression.

Walking up to the car, stopping in front of it, and folding her arms, she glared. If looks could kill, then there would have been two less people in town that instant.

Emma stared up at her, pulling on her best innocent face that she'd perfected from months of stealing, and spoke in a desperate attempt to not get in trouble, even though she'd been caught red-handed.

"Hi there...is there a problem?"

The woman's glare deepened even more, which didn't seem to be humanly possible. "The problem is that you have parked your car directly in front of my home, blocking my driveway, which is in violation of traffic laws," she said, wasting no time and going directly to the point.

"The car broke down. We can't help it," said Neal, staring up at the tall woman as well and wearing the exact same fake-innocent face used before. But what made this time different from all the others was that they actually were innocent. It wasn't his fault the car broke down and he had to pull over. Or maybe it was his fault, for ignoring all the obvious signs, but that was besides the point. Not that the lady would listen to him.

The woman narrowed her eyes at him, studying the two people as if thinking of what to do with them next, before changing the subject completely. "I don't think I've seen you around here before," she said slowly.

"Well, we were just passing through for the night. We'll be leaving after the car gets out of the repair shop. You wouldn't know a good repair shop around here, would you?" asked Neal, not particularly scared by the older woman's intimidating, almost regal, appearance.

"There's Tillman's. Not too far from here," she said, clearly not wanting to continue talking to the people sitting outside her home. Neal could see her patience wearing down as she looked straight past him, tilted her head forward, and stared Emma directly in the eye, as if challenging her. "I would suggest you go there, and get your car fixed, and then leave this town, and go back to...well, wherever it is you came from. We hardly ever have outsiders come to Storybrooke, and the residents here may not like the idea of strangers coming in and disrupting the peace."

"Lady, I'm not sure what the problem is. We're not here to 'disrupt the peace' or whatever. We're not going to be a problem. We're just going to get the car fixed and then leave," said Neal. If this was what most people were like here, then he would be more than happy to. Seriously, was this woman for real?

Emma spoke from behind him. "And besides, what would you know about what every single person in the entire town would think?"

"I've been the mayor here for as long as anybody can remember. "

Emma rolled her eyes at the answer and made no effort to hide it.

"Whether you agree on my opinions or not, it doesn't change the fact that your car is parked in front of my driveway. I could call the sheriff right now and have it towed. But I won't. I will walk to my job this morning rather than drive my own car, and if that thing..." the mayor said, looking at the old car as if it was a piece of trash,"... is still there by the time I return, there will be consequences."

She then turned around and, without another word, began to walk down the sidewalk in the opposite direction, heels clacking against the cement.

"Come on, Neal, let's just get the car to the mechanic. You heard Madam Mayor. There 'will be consequences' if we don't," she said, although she was unable to keep teasing sarcasm from seeping into her voice on the last part.

Crazy mayor or not, there was still some truth to her words, which Emma didn't like to admit. They would be fined extra money if they didn't move, money they really couldn't afford to give up over something silly. They would already have to pay to fix whatever was wrong with the car as well, Emma realized. Fantastic.

"We can go into town, I guess, and get a bite to eat. Then we can find a mechanic and see if he'll send a tow truck out,"said Neal, and Emma's stomach grumbled as she remembered that she hadn't had anything to eat for breakfast that morning.

"'Kay, let's go," replied Emma. After retrieving a few more bills out of the trunk and making sure all windows and doors were locked, they left. Emma wasn't crazy about just leaving it there for the time being, but no other options were available, the car unable to be moved. And there couldn't be that many other car thieves in a town this small in the first place.

Emma reassured herself with those thoughts as she followed Neal in the same direction the mayor had gone, into what presumably led away from the rich neighborhood and into the center of town.

...

It wasn't the walking that Regina minded, for both the diner she went into before work and the town hall were only a few blocks from her house, and her black jacket and matching leather gloves helped protect her from the October chill. It was the reason why she was walking that upset her-the strangers she had encountered.

She was worried about them, to be honest, even though the thought of the mayor being worried about a couple of kids entering town was unusual.

It was no matter, she thought to herself. They'd probably be gone in a few days, never to return, leaving her to wonder exactly who they were and how they got into her seemingly undetectable town. There was only one possible explanation as to how the outsiders passed through the barrier that rendered the town invisible to all outsiders, but it was one she didn't want to consider.

Maybe they weren't outsiders at all. Maybe they belonged to the other world.

Maybe they were here to break her curse.

Come to think of it, Regina could've sworn she'd seen a bit of pre-curse Snow in the girl, in both looks and attitude. And come to think of it, it was Snow's little girl who had somehow disappeared and had escaped capture from her guards on that one fateful night all those years ago.

But she didn't want to even think of that option, and refused to think of it unless it was nescessary. Whether they were from there or not, they were still outsiders, still a possible threat, still wild cards in a game supposedly rigged in her favor. And they had to be dealt with.

The last strangers to come here had long since faded from everybody else's memory but hers. But their visit had ended in a fiasco, a subject she also disliked thinking about, and didn't think about often. Until now, that was.

The man and woman she'd never seen before in her life had to go, whether they were born in this world or the other. She couldn't afford to leave such a liability open.

If they didn't leave soon by themselves, trouble would inevitably start. And trouble was the one thing that Regina, in her current life of order and balance, hated.

Thoughts and worry occupied her head as she strode down the streets heading towards the diner. That was, until a man walking his dog headed over to her, smiling.

Regina knew exactly how this would go. The cricket, now known as Archie in this life, would comment on what a beautiful morning it was, and then she would respond that yes, it was a beautiful morning in a forced tone, and carry on her way. Just like every other day. She could picture it in her mind, crystal-clear.

"Good morning, Madame Mayor. Beautiful morning, isn't it?"

"Yes, Dr. Hopper, it is."

In the moment in which he should have carried on without another word, he didn't. Instead, he stopped in the middle of the street, gawking at something in front of him.

"The clock's moving. Guess those rusty ol' innards finally straightened themselves out. Isn't that something?"

Regina followed the cricket's eye to the nearby clock tower, only to discover that the hands now read the time 9:59.

Trying to hide all the shock and anger that bubbled up inside her, she said,"Yes, isn't that something?" to the cricket before walking away to dissuade any further attempts at conversation.

That clock should have read 8:15 , like it had every day for the last eighteen years or so. Why didn't it read 8:15?

Whatever it was, time had begun to move forward again. On the same exact day two new people entered Storybrooke. Was it a coincidence? Most likely not.

Something had changed in Storybrooke, and Regina would stop at nothing to get to the bottom of what it was.

However, one thing was made exceedingly clear to her, even more so than before.

Those two had to go.