"So," said the mayor as she placed a hot mug of tea in front of her newest employee. "It seems you've failed, Sidney."

"I…I did everything you asked me to do, Mayor Mills. I don't understand."

"Your actions were supposed to result in Mary Margret Blanchard's death. I thought I made myself absolutely clear."

Sidney gulped. "You…you did, Mayor Mills. I didn't…didn't know she would be wearing a seatbelt."

The woman shook her head disapprovingly. "It's time to step up your game. By the end of tomorrow, you will come up with someone or something to destroy that Helena doesn't want destroyed. And you will destroy it successfully. Do you understand? Or would you rather go back to living in your abandoned trailer in the woods?"

"I understand, Mayor Mills."

The following morning, Mr. and Mrs. Gold invited Helena to join them for Sunday brunch, and Virginia tagged along. Still somewhat unsure of herself in groups, Virginia sat quietly and watched as Mrs. Gold and Kayla disputed whether two slices of cake for dessert would be too much and Mr. Gold told Helena stories about Kayla when she was younger.

"And by the time we found her, the entire kitchen was covered in tiny red handprints," Mr. Gold finished. Helena started laughing. "She was so proud of herself. She didn't understand why none of us loved the beautiful picture she'd painted on the walls."

Mrs. Gold caught wind of the last line and laughed along with them. "I don't remember that one," she said. Mr. Gold just smiled sadly. He knew from experience that trying to make his wife-or anyone in Storybrooke-remember things that happened more than a week before would only cause them distress. The curse hadn't allowed long-term memories to accumulate for anyone who didn't remember who they were, because that would have made them aware of the passage of time. For most people in town, that didn't matter. But it had made raising a growing child a bit complicated. Mrs. Gold been able to retain basic facts about Kayla from week to week over the years, such as her love of school and animals and her belief in fairytales. But specific memories were lost. That had resulted in the handprint incident repeating itself four times because she hadn't been able to remember not to leave Kayla alone with fingerpaint.

"Do you remember the day Kayla Belle ran away and found Henry?" Mr. Gold asked.

Much to his relief, both Mrs. Gold and Helena looked at him like he was an idiot. "Of course I do," said Mrs. Gold. "It was only a little over three weeks ago. She was gone for so many hours with nothing but a backpack full of snacks and that book…"

A smile spread across the pawnbroker's face that no one but him understood. "Yes, darling. I remember now as well."

Kayla suddenly leaned across the table and quietly spoke. "Helena, have you seen that guy?"

Helena and Mr. Gold both looked in the direction of the person Kayla was talking about. There was a man hunched over in the booth next to them eating a rather extravagant meal all by himself. He was wearing white gloves, a grey hat, and a grey trench coat. His face was hidden from view, but they could see that he was attempting to eat soup with a fork.

"Not that I know of," said Helena.

"Nor have I," said Mr. Gold. "Very strange indeed."

A door slammed itself shut behind the counter as Granny entered the scene and walked over to lecture Ruby about using too much whipped cream on the waffles. Helena looked away, still unhappy with Granny because of the remarks she'd made about Henry just a few days ago. She caught Ruby's eye and smiled at her for a split second.

"Let's tell Helena more stories about me," said Kayla. Then she smiled smugly. "I learned how to read when I was three."

"More like three and a half, Kayla Belle," Mr. Gold corrected her.

"That's still pretty impressive," Helena assured her.

"Well, her mother is the town librarian." Mrs. Gold had taken Kayla to work with her every day from the day she turned three until the day she started school. Not that she remembered that either.

Everyone's thoughts were interrupted with the slamming of the cash register behind the counter. "Why don't you just admit that you're still mad at me for working part-time at the sheriff station because of the money it's going to cost you if you have to buck up and actually hire someone instead of using me for slave labor?" Ruby snapped.

"You were getting almost all the tips, I would hardly call that slave labor," Granny retorted. "Can we please talk about this tonight? We have guests."

"We could, but if I try to talk to you about it later, you'll come up with some other excuse not to. So why not do it now in front of a live audience?" Ruby dramatically turned to face their handful of customers. Helena, Virginia, and Kayla were already shamelessly starring at the scene, and Mr. and Mrs. Gold were pretending to find the pattern of the tablecloth fascinating. "Welcome everybody to Granny's Dine-In Theater! Today's show is called Let's Dump On Ruby For Finally Finding Something She Loves That She's Actually Good At!"

"You were good at what you did here!" Granny yelled. "There was no need for you to go out looking for trouble!"

"I'm not looking for trouble!"

"Then what are you looking for? Danger? Opportunities to be even stupider than you've already been lately? The thrill of making me angry after all I've done for you?"

Helena finally stood up. Virginia glanced at her in surprise. Kayla bit her lip and looked away.

Ruby took a deep breath and glanced at Helena apologetically. "I promise if you stay you won't have to listen to us fighting anymore."

"Ruby, come here for a second," said Helena calmly. She motioned for the girl to follow her to the opposite end of the restaurant, feeling Granny's accusing eyes burning holes in both of their backs every step of the way.

"I'm so sorry you had to see that," Ruby said. "I'm just so over the way she's looked at me ever since I started working for Graham. She's treating me like I'm somehow betraying her by trying to find myself when I've been working at the diner for her for free as long as I can remember!"

"The way she's treating you is completely wrong, but I don't think she really thinks you're betraying her," Helena admitted. "She's probably just having trouble adjusting to the idea of you growing up."

"Huh," said Ruby. "Sucks for her then. There's nothing she can do to stop me from working for Graham."

"I know," Helena assured her. "She'll see that eventually, too. And she'll realize that if you didn't still love her and the diner as much as ever, you wouldn't still be working here part-time."

Ruby sighed. "Of course I'll always love this place. It's the center of my world. In some ways I suppose it's even the heart of Storybrooke, but I can't help but feel like working here full-time was sheltering me from experiencing life, you know?"

Helena nodded. "I see exactly what you mean."

Ruby smiled gratefully. Then she glanced over Helena's shoulder and raised her eyebrows. Helena turned to look at what Ruby was looking at and saw that the strange man she'd noticed earlier was now drinking his soup through a straw. She and Ruby exchanged amused glances, and then Helena rejoined Virginia and the Gold family for another round of stories about Kayla's toddlerhood escapades while Ruby went back to work.

As soon as they were out of his line of sight, Sidney Trapp discreetly extracted his notepad from his pocket and began scribbling down the details of what he'd just overheard.

Helena visited Henry in the hospital the following morning and briefly told him about David and Mary Margret's adventure and how she, Graham, and Ruby had saved them. He told her he was feeling better and begged her not to worry about him. The truth was that he missed her every minute she wasn't there and her visits were the only thing he had to look forward to. His only other contact with the outside world was Dr. Hopper, and their sessions were less than pleasant. But he knew she wasn't safe here, and the fact that she'd somehow become involved in every major event that had happened since he was locked up only increased the chances of Mayor Mills noticing her and hurting her.

"You should know by now that you can't tell me not to worry about you, Henry," Helena scolded gently.

Henry half-smiled. "Yes, I can. You're just never going to listen to me."

"Exactly." Helena stood up from the edge of Henry's cot. "I'd better get going. I promised Virginia I'd meet her at Granny's in twenty minutes." She leaned over and hugged her brother. "I just hope that when I get there Ruby and Granny aren't fighting again. Ruby started working for Graham part-time a few days after you stopped working there, and things have been kind of on edge ever since."

"Good for Ruby," said Henry. He said goodbye to his sister, and then she and the supervising nurses left the room. Daniel had already been taken out in preparation for Henry's therapy session in an hour.

The one bit of information Henry was able to comfort himself with right now was that even with him locked up, time was still moving forward in Storybrooke. Things were still changing. And from what he'd learned from Kayla and Jefferson about the past twenty-eight years, any change around here was good.

One glance in the direction of Granny's told Helena that something was terribly wrong. From a distance, she could see clusters of people standing around gossiping. As she drew closer, she saw the restaurant itself was wrapped in yellow caution tape. Graham's car was parked nearby. Helena scanned the small crowd for familiar faces and saw Mrs. Gold off to the side talking to Eleanor, and Virginia and Granny standing together closest to the restaurant steps. Grudgingly, Helena approached the latter pair, her closest friend in Storybrooke and the owner of the tarnished establishment.

"What's wrong?" asked Helena.

"I'm not sure of the details myself," Granny admitted. "I came here this morning and the place was a disaster. Someone smashed the front window, stole the money from the cash register, broke some chairs and plates, ripped the fabric on some seats…" Granny's voice trailed off as she choked up.

"Is Graham in there?" asked Helena.

"Yeah. He's been in there with Ruby for over an hour."

"Why would someone want to do this?" Virginia wondered aloud. "Everyone in town loves Granny's."

"Technically, not everyone," Helena reminded her. "I can think of a certain someone who I've been told feels this place is beneath her."

Granny glanced at Helena. "The mayor?" Helena nodded without meeting the older woman's eyes.

Virginia shook her head. "This isn't the sort of way my mother goes about destroying things. If she hated the diner that much she'd find an excuse to have it legally shut down. She doesn't like to get her hands dirty."

Helena sighed. "About that…she kind of vandalized our apartment the other day."

Virginia's eyes widened. "What? Why wouldn't you tell me that?"

"I didn't want you to worry. She didn't actually damage anything but the bathroom mirror before I caught her."

"You don't need to keep secrets from me to protect me," Virginia almost snapped. "I'm not a child." Helena looked away. "What did she say when you caught her?"

Helena struggled to remember the specifics. "That she wanted to show you that you needed her, that you weren't going to be able to handle living on your own once I left, and that you're not as strong as you think you are…" The fire in Virginia's eyes as soon as she heard the last line told Helena she never should have worried about her. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

"It's alright," said Virginia softly, the flicker of irritation in her expression betraying her.

"Do you…" Granny paused. "Do you actually think your mother would do this to my restaurant?"

Virginia looked at the ground. "To be honest, I don't know what to expect from anyone these days."

Moments later, Ruby came bursting out of the restaurant followed by Graham. "Calm down, everyone!" Ruby yelled to the crowd. "I know who did this!"

Everyone started chattering at once. Ruby scanned the crowd and then made a beeline for Helena. Graham followed suit.

"Helena, remember that guy who was at the restaurant yesterday when you were here? The one in the weird outfit who couldn't eat soup?" Helena nodded. "It was him."

"Are you sure?" asked Granny, looking back and forth between her granddaughter and the sheriff, mostly at Graham. "He seemed harmless enough from what I saw of him."

"I found a glove that was just like the ones he was wearing," said Ruby. "It smelled like his body odor, and like the soup he was eating. It was on the floor behind the cash register so there's no chance that he dropped it while he was here for brunch."

As Granny's mouth dropped open, Graham discreetly snaked behind Helena and moved through the crowd in the direction of a retreating stranger in a trenchcoat. As soon as Graham had a grip on the criminal, Ruby shouted, "That's him!" in confirmation. The crowd watched and cheered as Graham arrested the odd stranger, who just stared blankly at a crack in the ground while listening to his rights.

"This is what you get for destroying the only bloody thing in town everyone doesn't hate!" Leroy yelled.

"I guess I should take down all the caution tape," said Ruby, turning to her grandmother. "After that I'm supposed to work at the sheriff station until noon, but if you desperately need some help putting the diner back together, maybe I could ask Graham…"

Granny turned to face Ruby and put up a hand, cutting her off. "I was afraid for you, Ruby," she said softly.

Ruby raised her eyebrows in confusion. "You were afraid for me when? Just now when I was in the restaurant?"

"Ever since you decided to work at the sheriff station," Granny admitted. "I was afraid of you going out into the world and getting involved with things like…this. I didn't think you were ready yet." Ruby didn't say anything. "But the way you figured that out so easily is amazing. You have a gift, granddaughter. I'm so sorry that I didn't see it before. And..." Granny turned to face Helena. "…I'm so sorry I took it out on your brother. He didn't deserve that."

Helena nodded courteously. "Thank you."

"I'll be fine, Ruby," said Granny. "Go on back to work." Helena and Virginia glanced at each other and smiled when Ruby pulled her grandmother into a bone-crushing hug for a full ten seconds.

Helena nudged Virginia. "Now what? We can't eat here now, and I know by the time it opens again you'll have to be at work."

"Let's just grab something at the convenience store," said Virginia.

Helena sighed and nodded in agreement. Once they'd drawn further away from the crowd, Helena said, "I'm really sorry I didn't tell you before. It's not like I thought you couldn't handle it or anything, it's just that with everything you already have going on…"

"You have a lot more going on than I do Helena," Virginia cut in. "I'm sure you meant well, but I've spent way too much time already with someone who keeps things from me and tells me they're doing it for my own good."

"I promise I'll never do anything like that again." Helena's eyes begged her new friend's forgiveness. "Since I've got nothing else to do today, is it alright if I come help you groom the horses?"

Virginia hesitated, then smiled. "I thought you'd never ask."

"Our time is up," said Dr. Hopper to Henry as he checked his watch. "I think we made some good progress today, but things would come along a lot faster if you would be more willing to discuss things with me." Henry sighed. "I know it's a lot to ask, Henry. I know."

"There's actually one more thing I wanted to ask you about," said Henry. "It's about my roommate, Daniel."

"The one who you think is your father?"

"Yes," said Henry. "He's been down here a long time. He has amnesia. He doesn't have curse memories or real memories. Nothing. And I was hoping that you could try to do something to help him." Dr. Hopper didn't say anything, but he seemed thoughtful. "Even I can tell that you're the only decent doctor in this place, and Daniel's not having sessions with anyone at all right now. Even if it turns out I'm wrong and he's not my father, I'd still want someone to help him."

Dr. Hopper smiled, mostly because Henry had at least acknowledged the possibility that he was wrong about someone's identity. It wasn't much, but it was a bigger step in the right direction than he'd been expecting this soon. "I'll think about it, Henry." If no one was seeing the other man right now anyway, and Dr. Aras didn't object, he didn't see why not. If he could get this man to remember being someone other than Daniel it might help Henry realize he could be wrong about others he'd "profiled" as well, and he liked the idea of having more clients at the hospital.