Storybrooke:

"It's such a beautiful day, wouldn't you agree?"

I look up to see Mr. Gold standing behind my bench. I'm at the local park, and I take in our surroundings. Tree branches are strewn everywhere, and the kid toys are covered in mud, and debris. While it is sunny, and nicer than the storm last night, I'm not sure I'd got straight to beautiful.

I don't respond, and go back to watching two small kids jumping in and out of a puddle on the sidewalk.

"I heard a very interesting conversation this morning between your mother and Ms. Swan."

I still do not look up at him, but he knows he has my attention. "They seemed to be arguing over that dreadful play castle your brother seems to love so much, and whether it was worth saving-"

I furrow my eyebrows in confusion over this, but continue to listen, "and Ms. Swan asked about your location. Now you see, Ms. Mills, this is where it gets interesting, your mother, the Mayor I remind you, admitted to not knowing your location."

Mr. Gold has gone silent, and when I finally look up he's ginning at me, he eyes full of delight and malice. The look I've seen him give plenty of times, when he's about to get something he wants.

Deciding to play his little game I say, "What do you want Rumple?"

There's no surprise on his face, and my guess was correct. Rumpelstiltskin has had his memory probably this whole time.

"Ah, Elizabeth, it is lovely to see you, dearie." As he says this, he limps around to the front of the bench and takes a seat beside me.

He reaches into a breast pocket and pulls out a set of keys, "303 S Iowa St. Apartment 103. It's yours"

With this he holds the keys in front of me, "what's the catch?"

He gives a gleeful shrug, "Oh, consider it a repayment of one of your mother's debts to me."

I stare at the keys. It's a trap, I know it a trap, but… I have nowhere else to go. Sighing, I grab the keys from his hand, but say nothing.

With that, Mr. Gold lets out a satisfied sigh, stands, and straightens his suit. "I hope you find the accommodations to your liking, no worries about rent, that will also be on your mother's tab." He starts to walk away, but then pauses, "Oh, and dearie, if you find yourself twiddling your thumbs tonight, I suggest you attend the city council meeting"

I eye him suspiciously, but he simply starts walking off, whistling some tune to himself, and I'm left holding a set of keys to apparently my new apartment.

Slowly, I take in the room in front of me. There's a couch with a sheet over it. A full bed is shoved into the far, right, corner, and is also covered. There's a kitchen tucked into the back and it is separated from the living room by counter top.

I take a deep breath, but instantly regret it. Coughing, I move to the window and shove the shade up. Streaky light filters through the thick glass, and I struggle to lift the window a couple of inches, in its old frame.

Once I manage to get all three, smaller, widows open slightly, on the left wall, there's enough light in the small living/bed room for me to better asses the place.

The wall paper is old. Very old, and is slightly greenish white with simple lined patterns going from floor to ceiling. The floors are also old, dark, scuffed up wood floors.

There's no ceiling lights in the place, but there's a few lamps set around. Standing ones, as well as table lamps. I'm not too worried about the lighting, though. During the day plenty of natural light comes through the windows.

I decide to lift the corner of the sheet from the couch and I see that an old navy and white striped couch is beneath is. Clearly, this is a mixed and matched apartment, but I just remind myself that it's a roof over my head. Still not sure at what cost, but it's only temporary.

No matter how temporary, I realize I need to buy food as my stomach lets out a grumble. And looking around at the small place, a few cleaning supplies. I pull my wallet out of my bag and open it, only glancing in with one eye. Within, I see 3 crumpled 1 dollar bills. "Awesome." I say to myself, and flop onto the dust ridden couch.

Enchanted Forest:

Elizabeth is walking around her mother's chambers, waiting for her to finish getting ready. They're to address people of the kingdom today, aside father. Really this just means endless standing for the princess, but she enjoys seeing the people. They're interesting and always bring random offerings.

Elizabeth starts fingering her mother's jewelry until her eyes land on a mirror she's never seen before. It is a handheld and the craftsman ship on it is exquisite. "Mother, where did this come from?" Elizabeth asks, holding up the mirror. It's much heavier than she expected.

Regina has just finished putting on her earrings and turns to see what her daughter is asking about. Her eyes widen at seeing her daughter with the mirror from the Genie. "Elizabeth, put that down this instance!"

The younger girl jumps and almost drops the mirror. She fumbles for a moment before carefully setting it back down. During this time, Regina has stormed to her daughter and grabs her wrist. Elizabeth winces slightly, as her mother continues, "how many times do I have to tell you, do not touch my things!"

"I'm sorry, mother." Elizabeth stammers out. Regina releases the girl's wrist, and starts to walk away. As she does, Elizabeth rubs where her mother grabbed her, shocked at the anger she just witnessed.

Pausing at the door, Regina takes a deep breath and turns back to her daughter. "Come, my child, your father waits for us to join him."

Elizabeth give a curt nod and makes to follow her mother. When the girl reaches the door, Regina stops her, gently grabbing her daughters face. Regina turns Elizabeth to look at her and says, "I'm sorry for my outburst, but please do not touch my things. That mirror is very dear to me, and irreplaceable."

Elizabeth's eyes slide back to the mirror on the table before the girl says, "Yes, mother" in a quiet voice. Regina taps the girls cheek twice, and then, they head to the throne room, to greet the villagers for the day.

Storybrooke:

"Does mom know you're here?" I ask Henry as we sit down at the docks and swing our legs over the water. "Nah, she's at work."

I nod my head in understanding and after a moment I continue, "I'm sorry to hear about the castle, and the book."

Henry only shrugs in response, so I decided to tell him, "Oh, umm, I now have an apartment."

As I knew he would, Henry finally looks at me, surprise written with every feature of his face. "Where?! And, how?"

I wince knowing that he's not going to like what I say, "It's in the old apartment buildings off Iowa St. Number 103. Stop by anytime." I say smiling at him.

Henry furrows his brow, thinking about where that's located. After a second, he asks, "Doesn't Mr. Gold own those?"

Damn this kid is smart. "Yeah, I mean, the man own practically all of Storybrooke." I say, shrugging.

"You went to Mr. Gold? Have you gone mad?!"

"Henry, calm down. I didn't go to Mr. Gold… Mr. Gold came to me." Henry starts to protest some more, but I cut him off, "Really, it'll be fine. Besides, I didn't exactly have a choice. I had nowhere to go."

"You could have stayed with Emma!" He tries to argue back.

"And say what? Hey Emma and Ms. Blanchard, mind if I crash here while I'm on the run from my mother?"

Henry huffs out a breath trying to think of a counter argument, but I continue, "Besides, if I had gone there, that wouldn't have gone over well with mom."

We are both silent for a few moments when Henry turns to me. "What?" I ask, at his strange look.

His brow is furrowed again, as he's thinking. Eventually, he asks, "what should I call you?"

The question confuses me. "What do you mean?"

"You know, your name. What name do you want to go by now?"

"Oh," out of all the things I thought we'd talk about, this wasn't one of them. "Uh, I don't know." I say, honestly.

Henry nods, as if to say 'take your time.'

I'm still puzzling over what he's just asked when he starts to get up, "where are you going?"

"I need to get home, before mom does." He tells me, picking up his backpack. He suddenly starts digging around in his bag and pulls out an envelope, then he proceeds to hand it to me.

I give him a quizzical look, and slowly open the flap. The envelope is crammed with crash. My eyes widen and I quickly look to Henry. "Where the hell did you get this?!"

He shrugs, like handing out wads of cash is totally normal, "I stole it from mom's emergency stash that she keeps in the study. Figured you'd need some money, and if she starts asking, I'll just blame you."

This makes me smile. I had to hand it to him, it was smart. I pull the kid into a hug and squeeze him tight. After a second, I release him and ruffle his hair. "Thank you, Henry. Now, go on. Get home, and be safe!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." He says, turning away. "See you around, Mads."

I watch my little brother leave the docks. After a moment, I remember I'm holding a crap ton of money and quickly shove it into my bag. At least I can afford groceries and cleaning supplies now.

Enchanted Forest:

"I don't understand." Elizabeth's voice is irritated and confused. She's due to meet her mother for her writing lesson, but the guards tell her that she not to enter. "You do know that I'm the princess, right?"

The guards continue to stand rigid by the doorway, eyes staring straight ahead.

Elizabeth turns away, off to find her father, and to demand to know why her mother has been locked in her chambers. As she rounds one of the halls, the Genie passes her carrying a box. "This passage leads only to her mother's chamber, why would the Genie be heading there?" the young girl ponders to herself.

Deciding he must be there to as a favor to her father, Elizabeth continues on, to inquire about her mother's entrapment.

Storybrooke:

I enter the town hall only minutes before the meeting is supposed to start. I quietly sit in the back and luckily go unnoticed by my mother. I have no idea why Gold told me to be here, but there must be some sort of reason, and it turns out, I don't have to wait long to find out what.

Just after mom tapped her hammer thing, Emma and Mr. Glass stand up and start accusing my mom of stealing money. "Dear God, this isn't going to end well." I think to myself and sure enough, my mother manages to make Emma look like a fool.

The meeting lasts for what feels like forever, but once it ends, I quickly stand and head out, not wanting to have to deal with my mother. I consider sticking around to try and talk to Emma, but I know that it wont be possible without being overheard.

My mother tends to hem and haw after these meetings, so I head to the house, deciding to grab a few things.

Knowing that no one was home, I simply walked in the front door, when I get to the house. I quickly filled a second bag of my stuff: clothes, toiletries, some food from the kitchen, and such.

I was going to leave as quickly as I came, but something pulls me to the study and before I know it I'm tearing open my mom's desk, looking for the storybook.

At some point, I lose track of time and even my surroundings, and suddenly, my mom's voice cuts through the ruffle of papers, "Can I help you find something?"

I jump, knocking off a pile of papers, as I look at her. "I… I didn't hear you come in." I stammer out.

"Clearly," she replies, her lips pursing.

"What are you doing, Elizabeth?"

I'm startled by her using my real name, but attempt to keep my face blank. "Did you take Henry's book?"

It's now her turn to look surprised, "and why would I take his book?"

I shrug, "you destroyed his castle, so I wouldn't put it past you."

"Is that what you really think," She asks, walking further into the study and placing her brief case on a chair. When I don't answer, she continues, "For your information, the storm destroyed that play set and as you know from the town council meeting, I already have a new one in progress. As for the book, I have no idea where it is."

We hold eye contact for a few moments, but eventually I break it and look away. I nod at her, accepting what she's said. "Alright, whatever. I should be going."

"And just where do you plan to go?" She asks, moving to block my path, "the girl's locker room at the school?"

I'm not surprised that she knew where I'd stayed, irritated, but two can play this game, "No, I actually have somewhere to stay. Mr. Gold set me up with an apartment."

It's apparent from the look on her face that that wasn't what she was expecting. "You – You made a deal with Gold?" I can't tell is that genuine worry in her voice or not.

"Oh, what? Now you care about me?" I ask, side stepping her. "See you around mother."

"Elizabeth, wait, please." She pleads with me. Reluctantly, I pause at the door and turn to see her looking at me. "We're family." She says to me, her voice breaking and a few tears escape from her eyes. I let out a humorless laugh, "we stopped being family the day you had my father killed." And with that I walk out of the house, without looking back.

Enchanted Forest:

Elizabeth is furious. She was turned away from her father's chambers because he was 'in meetings all day'. The girl had considered sneaking in, but if her father was angry with her mother, then Elizabeth knew he'd be upset with her for disobeying his guard just to ask questions about it.

When she'd returned later, the guard informed her that her father had gone to bed early.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow she would get her answers, and find out what was going on around this palace.