Chapter One: Change of Plans

"There's just something that I have to get out of the TAR…police box, before we get on with our investigation." The Doctor told Henry and Emma upon walking out of Granny's dinner.

Emma and Henry quickly took notice of the particular police box across the street, which the Doctor ran to. While the Doctor went inside it, Emma pointed to the police box and questioned to Henry, "Has there always been one of those in Storybrooke?"

Henry shook his head. "Not that I remember." As he watched his new friend, "The Doctor," walk into the police box, he quickly saw what was inside of it. From what Henry could make out, it certainly was not as wooden on the inside as it was supposed to have been; in fact, it looked bigger on the inside. Rapidly turning to Emma, he shouted in exhilaration, "Did you see that?"

"See what?" Emma said with a raised eyebrow.

Just when she thought there was an answer coming, Henry bolted away from her and went to the police box. He was just about to open the door until…

"Henry!"

He looked to his right to see his adoptive mother, the mayor of Storybrooke, walking up to him and the box, appearing from seemingly out of nowhere. Needless to say, his mother did not look very happy as she approached him. "That is the last time you leave the house without telling me. Do you understand?"

Emma did not enjoy seeing Mayor Mills yelling at Henry, which was why she often did what she had done that very moment. "It's my fault," she told the mayor, stepping into the exchange. "Henry wanted some breakfast, so I picked him up to take him to the diner."

Regina was not buying the story. "Henry can get breakfast at home, just like he always does, Miss Swan."

"I wanted cereal, but we were out of milk." Henry defended his case.

"Then I'll make sure to get some, if it keeps you at home where you belong." Regina snapped in anger.

Before the conversation could have gotten any more heated, the door to the police box opened again and the Doctor stepped right out, wielding around a strange device in his right hand. With a triumphant smile, he said, "Got it! Now we can be off!"

Regina was so angry with Henry that she never even bothered taking notice of the police box that was on the street corner; she only did when the Doctor had exited it to her immediate surprise. "Who the hell are you? And where did this come from?"

"Judging from your tone, I have to assume you're the mayor."

Regina nodded. "Yes, I am. That still doesn't explain who you are."

"Of course." The Doctor extended his hand out to Regina, nervously smiling. "I'm the Doctor."

"Storybrooke already has a doctor. A very fine one, in fact. His name is Dr. Whale." Regina deflected.

Her response only made the Doctor chuckle. "Oh, no, no. I'm not…uh…I suppose it's a little hard to explain, but I'm not here to take anyone's job, I assure you."

"Good."

That was all Regina had said to the Doctor before she took Henry by the hand and started leading him away from the Doctor and Emma. Watching them leave, the Doctor hurriedly told the mayor, "Oh, wait. We're supposed to be handling an investigation."

Regina stopped and looked back to him with an odd expression. "What kind of investigation?"

The Doctor was about to give the "honest answer" to Regina before Emma stepped in and gave the real right answer. "We're just investigating some missing mail." The Doctor gazed upon her strangely. "Yeah, apparently someone is stealing everyone's mail, and we're looking for clues."

It was very quiet amongst the group after Emma gave the fabricated answer for the mayor. After some time, Regina finally said, "Well, I certainly hope you catch the perpetrator, Sheriff." That last word oozed with maliciousness to Emma, but she did not say a word about it. Not in front of Henry, she thought.

Regina and Henry continued down the sidewalk, but they were again stopped once Henry turned away from his adopted mother's side and approached the Doctor again. He took off his backpack and reached in, taking out a thick, old book and handing it over to the Doctor. In doing so, he whispered to the Doctor, "Take this. You're going to need it to find out how you got here and help break the curse."

The Doctor took the book with a heavy sense of uncertainty before watching Henry leave with Regina. As soon as they were halfway down the street, the Doctor then glanced into the book, noting the pages and pages filled with various fairytales, all seeming to be combined into one whole story. He read through several pages in a matter of seconds, which greatly surprised Emma when she watched him hand the book over to her and say, "Interesting storybook. I always love a good non-fiction every now and then."

"Non-fiction?" Emma said with a giggle.

"Yes, non-fiction. As in not make-believe, the real deal, it actually happened…that type of non-fiction."

Emma shook her head with a grin. "Trust me, Doctor. I believe Henry enough to know that most of what goes on in this book is a simple coincidence to what really goes on in this town. It's actually helped me quite a bit."

"Then you trust his judgment enough to see that this town is indeed not real…that everyone here is in fact real fairytale characters involved in a massive curse." The Doctor emphasized the word "massive" by briefly raising his arms above his head.

"Well, I…"

"Where do you live?"

The question was spoken so rapidly and unexpectedly that it completely caught Emma off guard. "I…beg your pardon?"

"You're not from here, so I have to guess there's a place of residence that you spend your time while watching over the people here."

The Doctor had figured her out already, and Emma had yet to figure out him. Who was this guy? What business did he have to ask me where I live? These were questions that she did not have the heart to ask out loud because this was someone who Henry clearly trusted enough to give his book to. Plus, she did not want to end up sounding like Regina whenever she was with Henry, telling the Doctor to keep away from her and him.

"I live with the town's schoolteacher, Mary Margaret," she finally told him.

"Could Mary Margaret help us in this investigation?" The Doctor inquired.

Emma was a little unsure of whether to give an honest "yes" or "no" for that question, so she simply stated, "Maybe. She's been pretty helpful with me, letting me stay with here and all."

"Brilliant." The Doctor said. "Because we are going to need someone who knows this town like the back of their hand, maybe even the front of their hand, or the whole arm if they choose."

Emma laughed. It was clear this stranger, whoever he was, did not seem to be all there; but who was in this crazy town known as Storybrooke? "Alright. I'll take you to her, but I can't promise she'll take you too seriously."

"I'd actually prefer people not taking me too seriously." The Doctor said, smiling.