I would like to thank JohnnyStormsGirl, PaintMeNeon, Bella-me09, readerlover16, Mrs Haynes, LoveYou369, BloodAlchemist23, Travisgulch, Littledot, and viciousblackrose for reviewing, following, and favoriting my story! I truly appreciated it! Everyone let me know what you think of the newest addition to the Tinkerhook world I am creating. What do you think of Terence so far?

Storybrooke - Present

"Isabel, wait up!" a voice called behind.

The petite brunette turned with a smile as she saw Terence running up to her. She waited for him to catch up before she started walking again. "What can I do for you?"

"Are you doing anything tonight?" he asked. "I mean, I know you're probably going to work on a lesson plan or something, but I was wondering if you were maybe free for maybe an hour? Two hours at the most?" He looked at her hopeful.

Isabel took a deep breath. She had meant to call Terence and invite him to dinner. Peter had been asking for him, but with the curse being lifted, she was struggling with figuring out where exactly she and Terence stood. Before the curse had been lifted, Terence was Ethan Montgomery. He worked as somewhat of a delivery boy. Whenever someone needed something delivered around town, Ethan was who everyone went to. If the nuns needed something from the market, he'd take it to them. If Archie was working through lunch, Ethan would grab something for him. To Isabel, he wasn't a glorified errand boy. Ethan Montgomery was her boyfriend; soon to be fiancé if he could ever get up the courage to ask her to marry him. They were madly in love, and the entire town would whisper about how they were so perfect for one another. They even commented on what a cute little family they would make. And, Peter adored Ethan.

After the curse had been broken and they knew what their past really was, Terence sort of pulled back from Isabel and Peter. It broke Isabel's heart really. Even though they were only friends to begin with, she did care for him. Storybrooke may have been a different life completely, but her feelings never really went away. Like everyone else, she had to deal with balancing the two different lives. That meant whatever feelings she had for Ethan were real and still remained. It wasn't just that he had pulled away from her. He pulled away from Peter as well. Peter tried not to take it personally. He tried to understand, but it was obvious when he starting asking if Terence was ever going to come around again.

"I'm fine," she nodded.

He grinned. "Awesome. Do you want to maybe go to Granny's?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "Pick me up around six?"

"Yeah. See you then," he nodded. He kissed her on the cheek. "Tell Peter I said hello."

Isabel sat across from Terence. The two of them were incredibly nervous. He said he wanted to talk, which kind of scared Isabel. As confused as she was about where they stood with one another, she hoped they could at least remain more like he wanted nothing to do with her. She mostly hated it for Peter. Terence was a father figure to Peter, and without much hope of ever seeing Killian again, she didn't want Peter to lose Terence or his influence. She fidgeted with her silverware as Terence stared at her. Part of her wanted to run. The other part wanted him to get to the point.

Looking up, his green eyes met hers. There was a tenderness there that she always loved. They reminded her of Killian. Even after becoming Hook, his eyes were still just so calming. Of course, that was incredibly deceiving after he became a hardened pirate. Terence's were never deceiving. The tenderness was genuine, and it put Isabel at ease. While looking into his eyes, her nervousness disappeared. She sat up straighter, pushing her silverware away from her.

"You look beautiful," he spoke up, giving her a shy smile.

Isabel blushed. "Thank you. You look very handsome."

"How have you been?" he asked. "How's Peter?"

"We're both very good. He misses you. I miss you," she told him.

A hopeful look crossed his face. It was almost a look of relief too. Terence looked truly relieved to hear that she missed him. "I'm sorry I've been so absent."

"You were just trying to figure everything out, right? No need to apologize for that," she waved him off.

"It wasn't unfair to either of you," he said sadly. He took a deep breath. "I have figured things out for myself, though."

"Do tell," she smiled.

"Well, I like the life I had during the curse, and my magic hasn't quite come back. Until the fairy dust is made, I can't really do anything. But then there's us…'

"What about us?" she asked.

"I'd like for us to try," he told her. "I've always loved you, Isabel."

All she could do was nod. It wasn't really a surprise to her. After all, he had fought Killian in hopes of winning her heart. Still, the fact that his feelings remained after all that time was a little shocking.

Terence let out a sigh of relief. He smiled at Isabel. "Oh thank god."

Giggling, she reached for his hand. "Were you really that worried?"

"I wasn't sure if…well, if you had found Killian or what you'd even want to do," he told her, taking her hand.

"Killian is gone," she said sadly. "My marriage is over. Remember. I left him."

"I didn't know if maybe things were…" he shook his head as he trailed off.

"You're over thinking it, love," she laughed.

"I guess I am. How about we just enjoy our evening. It's been a while," he grinned.

"Let's do that," she nodded.

The waitress came to take their order. It put Isabel somewhat at ease knowing Terence hadn't just given up. If she was going to spend her life with someone else, she'd prefer it be someone who knew her. She wanted someone genuine in their feelings. He was, and they had a past together. As far back as she could remember, Terence had always been there; even before Killian had been. She remembered when she was a kid. Some of the kids in the village were teasing her for being so small. One of the older boys pushed her, and Terence cause her before she could hit the ground. That was her first memory of him, though she was sure he had always been there. He told her once that he had. His job was to look out for her, to protect her. The falling in love with part had really just happened. They had been friends once. Of course, Isabel got a case of tunnel vision when Killian came into her life. It never occurred to her that Terence may have feelings for her. Not that it really mattered; he wasn't her true love.

Part of her felt guilty. Then again, guilt seemed to be the one thing she couldn't shake in Storybrooke. She felt guilty for leaving her husband, lying to her son, it taking a curse to return Terence's feelings. She also felt somewhat guilty for returning those feelings. Something told her that Killian wasn't really dead; that he was somewhere out there. Isabel always believed she would feel it in her heart if he were truly gone. When he left Neverland, sure her heart ached, but nothing felt severed. Whatever connected them didn't feel cut off detached. In her heart, she knew he was alive. She just didn't know how or where. Knowing Killian, he'd find a way. With news of Mary Margaret and Emma finding a way to contact Henry, she was absolutely certain that Killian must have found a way to survive. She didn't know how, but her faith in her husband only grew stronger.

Isabel watched Ruby had been to the mines to deliver lunch to the dwarves. She probably also went to check on what was going on at Rumplestiltskin's shop. Henry had been having nightmares, or that was the word on the street. What he described sounded like an awful place to go when you were sleeping, and Isabel couldn't imagine Peter going through it. It was a bad place. Regina and David must have been really desperate to go to Rumplestiltskin for help. After all, the imp never did anything out of the kindness of his heart. He would have a price. He may not have named it outright to them, but eventually, he would call in a favor to both David and Regina; maybe even Henry if he saw fit. It sickened Isabel to think what that monster might want from them, and all because Henry was having trouble sleeping.

Yet, there was a bit of hope. There was a way for them to contact the lost Snow White and Emma. Inside the room with Henry was another person who had been put under a sleeping curse. She also just happened to be with Henry's mother and grandmother. They could communicate with her, which had been a major breakthrough in trying to get the two of them back. That was really the last anybody had heard of it. The entire town buzzed because of the news. People were hopeful they would be able to return to their former lives. While seeing Neverland again would be nice for Isabel, she wasn't quite sure if she could go back to the life at all. The post-cursed Storybrooke seemed like a great opportunity that most weren't trying to take. They wanted to go home because Regina took it from them. Isabel felt a tad differently. While Regina did take her from the life she was accustomed, good things were coming from the curse. It was that way for many in the town, but they chose to ignore that and continue to stay angry at Regina. It was petty, stupid, and a waste of time as far as Isabel was concerned. Until she was standing in the enchanted forest again, she would not think it possible for them to go back. She wasn't a skeptic by any means. She believed it entirely possible to move through realms, but Storybrooke lacked the amount of power necessary. A few diamonds in a mine for pixie dust simply wasn't enough. The town was kidding itself if they thought that would be enough for anything really.

Ruby went behind the counter, tying the apron around her waist. She grabbed the coffee pot and greeted a couple of guests. They eagerly waited for Ruby to mention whatever she knew about the mines or anything on Henry. At Granny's, it was somewhat customary to eavesdrop on conversations. And, it was no secret that Ruby gossiped all the time. That only changed a little with the curse broken. Isabel wasn't sure there was a big difference since Ruby tended to discuss with Granny openly.

"Any change?" Granny asked.

Ruby shook her head. "No. Apparently he's waiting for Snow now."

"It was foolish of him to think she'd be able to help him," Granny mumbled. "Go refresh everyone's coffee."

Ruby nodded. As she walked out from behind the counter, Isabel looked over to Terence. The two of them were thinking the same thing. David must have done something incredibly stupid. Now he had to wait for Snow to return, but her return might never happen. Isabel remembered the confrontation between Regina and Rumple the day before in Granny's. Everyone knew Regina's mother was working on getting to Storybrooke. No one wanted that. Cora was not someone to trifle with. If David had to bank on Snow's return to get him out of whatever he had done, things had gotten grimmer than anyone hoped. Snow had a very slim chance of beating Cora. Sure Emma wasn't exactly inept and Snow knew how to handle herself, but they weren't nearly as powerful as Cora. Her magic was incredible. They had very little chance.

"That sounds promising," Terence mumbled.

"No it doesn't," Isabel agreed. She smiled up at Ruby when she topped off Isabel's coffee.

"How are you two?" Ruby asked with a big grin. "Happy to see you two are back together. I know Peter's going to be happy." Ruby bit her lip. "Can I ask you two something?" She waited for them to nod in response and took a seat next to Isabel. "If David willingly went under a sleeping curse, is it possible he can wake up on his own?"

So that's what David had done. He had put himself under a sleeping curse. Isabel really didn't want to know why. It was unimportant really. "He can't wake up unless he has true love's kiss, which he's fresh out of."

"That's what I thought," Ruby frowned.

"I would suggest making him comfortable and hoping he's safe where he is," Isabel told the taller girl.

"He'll be okay," Ruby said. "I think."

"Why did he willingly curse himself?" Terence asked.

"Henry got badly hurt," she answered.

"How so?" he asked.

Ruby shrugged. "I don't know. I think he got burnt or something."

Isabel's eyebrows furrowed. As the story unfolded, she wasn't liking the sound of it. She shook her head. "Everyone needs to start figuring out what we're going to do as we are now completely without a sheriff."

Ruby looked over at Isabel. "Why?"

"Cora is on her way. You think Regina is bad? You have no idea what bad is then," Isabel told her.

"Aren't you…" Ruby began.

"Doesn't matter who I am," Isabel interrupted her. "If Cora makes it here, we're all going to be royally fucked."