"Before you go, how sure are you that she has it?" Emma asked cautiously, slowing to a stop as they reached Henry's house. "The last thing you need is to get grounded for a guess."
Emma didn't feel she was in the best position to be making rash decisions. After her sleep deprived morning led her to imagining seeing Killian, she decided to return to Granny's after walking Henry back to school and listening to his missing storybook theory. She planned and theorised until her mind put on the breaks, falling asleep amidst the scraps of paper. It was only when Henry – fresh out of school and escorted by a disgruntled Granny – banged on her door that she realised she'd slept until the afternoon.
"Just think about it," Henry insisted. "You said Regina remembered everything about the Enchanted Forrest, right?"
"Right."
"So what's to say she's not trying to conceal the evidence and stop us from trying to break the curse?" Henry's voice continued to rise in pitch. "I swear she took it. I always keep my books in the back, supplies and lunch in the front, and it was all messed up this morning; she's the only other one who goes through my bag."
Emma paused for a moment. She didn't like the idea of hedging her bets on a disorganised bag, but unless Henry had left his bag unattended somewhere between tracking down Emma and going to school, they didn't have any other leads. Besides, Henry was a pretty smart kid. He wouldn't have suggested it if he didn't think it at least 80% possible.
"Okay, go for it." Emma sighed and tousled Henry's hair. "I'm going to check up on Belle – Lacey, see if I can find out why she got put on community service. It reveal some other changes in the town."
"Okay. We'll meet at the usual spot tomorrow." Henry grinned and began walking backwards up the path. "But you do know that curiosity killed the cat, right?"
"And satisfaction brought it back," Emma joked, before noticing curtains ruffle from the Mills' upper front window. "Though I think we're going to have to be a lot more subtle about bringing it back."
Henry frowned for a moment, glancing behind him to where Emma was looking. All evidence was gone now, but Emma could almost see the cogs turning in his head before he turned around and flashed a brief smile at her. Then his entire demeanour changed.
"Just leave me alone!" Henry yelled, scrunching his face into a scowl. "I wish you'd never come back."
Emma stood with her mouth agape. She watched as he turned and sprinted up the path, flinging the door open and letting it close with a loud thud, causing the door knocker to noisily rattle to a stop. When Emma swore she could hear the thumps of Regina rushing downstairs, she spun on her heels and made a beeline for Granny's. She wasn't sure she was in the right mindset to deal with Regina right now.
"Real subtle, kid." Emma chucked to herself. "Real subtle."
It was late evening when Emma found herself standing outside of the sheriff's station. Store owners were just about closing up for the day, the last straggle of passersby walking quickly home to avoid the chill of the evening. The station was still open, but assuming that the closing hours were the same as when she worked there, it wouldn't be for much longer.
Emma sighed. The pin number for the front entrance had changed, and to her dissatisfaction, no-one had been in or out of the building for the half hour she'd been there. She didn't usually mind stakeouts back in Boston, but that was when she had a warm car and a Chinese takeaway. She spent another ten minutes pretending to be on her phone until she heard two voices.
"The plot was a lot better than the last movie."
"But it made no sense!"
"Read the books, Jerry."
When Emma saw the two guys leaving the building, she sidled against the wall of the building, catching the edge of the door before it closed. She quickly glanced behind to see the men still engrossed in their conversation before slipping inside, unnoticed.
The layout was still the same, so Emma had little trouble navigating her way through the corridors to the sheriff's office. She had a moment of panic when she heard two voices coming around one corner, but she just paused and pretended to be pinning up a flyer on the nearest notice board. Luckily for her, they seemed more concerned about the issue of parking fine prices to take note of her.
When she finally reached the office, Emma was relieved to see it empty and unlocked. Only planning for a quick in-and-out job, she just closed the door behind her and pulled down the door blinds. She then made her way over to the cabinet storing criminal records and started rifling through them. If there was a place to find out why Lacey had earned community service without the added rumours and speculation, then this would be the place for it.
There were a lot more folders than she originally expected with a lot of names that she didn't recognise, organised in a thematic, non-alphabetical form. Great. With a sigh, she slowly began making her way through them.
"Looking for something?"
Emma froze in her spot. She could recognise that thick accent from a crowd full of people; she'd heard it when he spoke his dying words.
With a deep breath, she closed the drawer and turned to face Graham. He hadn't changed at all since she last saw him. His hair messily flopped onto his forehead, evidence of him running his hands through it after a particularly long and busy day. He still kept a neatly trimmed beard, and his eyes were cautious and guarded as he stood with his hands on his hips. The irrational part of Emma wanted to go over to him and throw her arms around him, relishing the fact that he was very much alive and well.
The rational part of Emma had too many thoughts to keep track of.
When Emma had first entered Storybrooke, she remembered Graham thinking he was going crazy with the visions he was having. It practically drove him to his death. She wondered if it had been another sign of the Curse weakening, and if this Graham would have these visions now, too. He had also been convinced that Regina had his heart. Did Regina still have his heart, or had something changed in the Enchanted Forest that meant that he kept it?
The most prominent thought plaguing Emma was how she was going to explain herself. He was frowning at her now, watching the emotions pass through her in waves.
"Are you okay?" He asked calmly.
"I don't know." Emma responded, not helping looking him over in shock once more. "I think so."
Graham pulled a side smile, his expression relaxing slightly. "You're not a practised thief, are you?"
She pulled a face and shrugged. She didn't want to lie, but she had a feeling that if she revealed her past, he might not be as sympathetic to her cause.
"Take a seat." Graham sat behind his desk and motioned towards the chair on the other side, pulling out some paper from one of the drawers. "You can explain as I file the report, for a Miss?"
"Emma," she muttered, then bit her lip. She didn't know why she expected this to go flawlessly. She didn't know what she had expected even if she had got caught. "Emma Swan."
They spent a few minutes going over her personal details before getting onto the main topic of interest. He scribbled as he spoke: "So why did you trespass and search through confidential files?"
"I wanted to see Lacey's file." Emma arched her chin slightly up, trying to casually catch a glance of what was being written.
"Why couldn't you have asked someone?" Graham sounded bemused, a smile playing on his lips despite his confusion. "I'm not one for gossiping, but the whole town practically knows. She woke half of them up the night she was charged."
Emma closed her eyes and put a hand to the side of her head, massaging her temple in attempt to soothe her growing headache. The laugh that escaped her lips was shrill and brittle, once again shrugging and shaking her head. She didn't know if she was experiencing the delayed effects of portal time travelling, a lack of sleep, or both, but she had had a long and strange day – complete with hallucinations. She was missing her parents, her baby brother, her moody teenage son, Regina's smart remarks and Killian's unrelenting flirting. Heck, she even missed Zelena trying to kill them all.
"I don't know." Emma sighed and looked up. "What I do know is that as soon as you file that report, Regina's going to have me evicted from Granny's. After that, she's going to do everything in her power to stop me from seeing my son-" her face twisted in repulsion "-and I'm going to have to sleep in my car, because I can't go home and I can't leave my son. He's the only person I've got, and no-one understands him like I do."
Graham was silent for a few moments, staring back at Emma with a softened gaze. After some thought, he put down his pen and leaned his elbows on the desk.
"You know that I have to file this report. It's my job, and you're on the cameras." He explained slowly as Emma nodded. "But I like you, so I have a deal."
"What is it?" she asked cautiously.
"You promise not to get yourself into any more trouble, and I'll tell you what I'm legally allowed to about Lacey." Graham paused to grab a scrap of paper from his desk, hastily writing on it before passing it to Emma. "And if you ever find yourself without a bed to sleep in, there's a spare room at my place."
She took the piece of paper with a confused frown. "Why are you doing this? You hardly know me."
"I pride myself on being a good judge of character." Graham chuckled and stretched his limbs before leaning back into his chair. "By the way you talked about your son, it was clear that you really love him. There's something so natural, so sacred about the bond between a parent and their young; it would be wrong for me to come between it in any way. It's like trying to separate a pup from its mother and expecting neither of them to suffer."
All Emma could do was nod and murmur her thanks. She knew that Graham was a generally good guy, she'd seen as much when she first came to Storybrooke. Though even with experience from her Storybrooke, she still wasn't used to the random acts of kindness towards her.
"About Lacey," Graham continued. "Rumour has it that not so long ago, she was roaming the streets with Will after a night of drinking a little too much. They were laughing, having a bit of fun, until something happened and Lacey ended up throwing her shoes and Will. Both missed, and one hit a shop window. Her dad refused to pay, so she's working it off in the library."
"'Will' who?" asked Emma curiously.
"Scarlet."
After a moment's reflection, Emma noted: "That's an awful lot that you're legally allowed to say."
"What can I say?" Graham smirked. "You can learn a lot while playing darts over a pint."
Emma laughed, oddly feeling more at ease. "Thanks, it means a lot."
"So can I escort you out now, Miss Swan, or are you planning on robbing a bank?" Graham teased.
She rolled her eyes. "Not yet."
"This is bordering on stalking, you know?" Regina sighed and pushed open the glass door, glad to finally escape the briskness of the night air. "I should start paying you instead of Sidney."
"You don't understand," said Killian, his tired voice sounding tinny through the phone. "She's here. I've waited decades to see her again."
Regina knew how she really wanted to respond, but she resisted and held her tongue, even though it was forked and dripping with venom. Her emotions had always been her greatest weakness. Instead, she rolled her eyes as she slowly strolled up to the receptionist desk. "Then why don't you talk to her instead of taking the Sweeny Todd approach?"
"I can't." She was surprised to hear his voice crack when he spoke. There were a few moments of muffled noises before he spoke again. "I'll talk to you later."
Before she had a chance to respond, Regina could hear the dialling tone drone into her ear. She frowned and shoved the phone into her coat pocket, then snapped her fingers the get receptionist's attention. She was young, fair hair cut just above her shoulders. Her back straightened as she pushed stray hairs behind her ears, turning to give Regina her full attention. Despite her calm composure, her fingers quickly drummed against her desk.
"Has anyone else been to visit since I last came?" Regina asked in a sharp tone.
"No," she said, though hesitating for a moment. She quickly glanced at her computer and bit her lip. "Though we did note a brief change in activity."
Regina's heartbeat increased, feeling a growing sense of dread rise within her. Change was usually a good sign if someone was in a coma. In this circumstance, Regina felt fearful and livid; fearful in case true identities were discovered, livid because it was a sign of the spell weakening. She had already noticed some small changes, such as the clock tower chiming as she walked to her office in the morning. For the first time since the Curse was set, she felt almost powerless.
It was all because of Emma Swan.
If Regina felt hatred anything more than the intense inferno in which Snow White sparked every time the wretched woman so much as breathed in her direction, Swan would be it. Not only had the town's routine slowly began to change, but Killian had become a lot more distant. If it were not for him pausing to eat, sleep or change clothes, she would barely see him anymore; he'd coincidentally always be out where she was. The only perk Regina could see was that whilst Killian was practising his stalker routine, he was less aware of what she did.
"Change in which monitor?" Regina asked cautiously.
"Both."
Regina exhaled a deep breath through her nose and stormed off up the stairs, heels loudly clicking in the silent corridors. She only slowed and quietened as she walked down the ward of sleeping patients, not wanting to risk having a gossiping audience. As she came to the end of the ward, she paused in front of the ICU, sectioned off by glass walls. She paused to check for onlookers before pushing the door and stepping inside.
She sauntered towards the nearest bed connected to a series of machines and monitors, picked up its file and scanned through the pages until she noticed the irregularity. His heartbeat fluctuated early hours the previous morning. No-one had been in the room to report it, and it hadn't been a vast enough change to trigger a warning alert. It had been noted by one of the nurses later on the same morning, signed off by Dr. Whale, and left at that.
After checking the rest of the file and finding no more irregularities, Regina sighed and replaced the file. 'John Doe' was never supposed to have lived when she cast the Curse. Snow White was supposed to come here a widow, ensuring a little more security for her Dark Curse. The only solace Regina received from the situation was knowing that Snow was oblivious to who David actually is. She knew that Snow – or in this land, Mary Margaret – volunteered her spare time in the hospital, and had seemingly paid no more attention to this ward than any of the others.
Regina felt a small jolt of satisfaction. Perhaps 'true love' isn't the strongest kind of magic after all.
Turning towards the other bed in the room, any positive feelings Regina did have quickly drained out of her. In it lay a man with greying, shoulder-length hair. His face was lined with age, though looked somewhat peaceful in its sleeping state. After checking his file, Regina noted that the change in his activity was nearly identical to David's. She tutted and shook her head, staring down at the old man.
"If you weren't so stubborn, you might not be here, dearie." Regina smirked at the last word, taking a moment to relish how the balance of power had changed. "But if he knew that you were still alive and kicking, he wouldn't waste a second in shedding the crocodile's skin again."
At that, Regina hooked his file onto the end of the bed and strolled out, letting the glass door swing softly shut behind her.