Death on the Night Watch

Someone knocked on Bae's door, awakening him from an uneasy sleep, and he opened the door a crack. "Your turn for watch," Morraine said. He nodded, slipped out, and closed the door behind him. She walked back down the hall, and he glanced in the other direction. Satisfying his paranoid side that he was now completely alone, he returned to the room for his bow and quiver and walked back downstairs and out the back door.

He climbed the tree and edged forward on one of the thicker branches, making his way toward the roof of the mansion. Once he questioned the ability of the branch to hold his weight, he judged the distance between himself and the roof, and he jumped.

His foot landed on the shingles, and after another step, he let out a breath. He walked up to the top and sat cross-legged, his eyes on the paths leading to the front and back doors and his ears peeled for any sign of unusual activity.

For a long time, the only sound he heard was the breeze rustling through the leaves of the trees about town, the occasional car driving in the distance, and some wildlife in the woods surrounding Storybrooke. For long stretches of time, the town was completely silent, or the sounds were so soft he couldn't hear them. The breeze barely ruffled his hair.

His eyes drifted to the clock tower silhouetted against the sky, blocking out some of the stars, and he had the impression that it was supposed to be ticking, but it wasn't. Odd, he thought, but then, machines did fail to work properly. His father had said as much discussing the car and its mechanic with him in the woods. Perhaps the clock tower needed a mechanic, too, and no one in Storybrooke qualified.

A pair of lights pierced the darkness, jerking Bae from his musings, and he stood and armed his bow. The lights turned and moved down the path, and he crept down the side of the roof, careful about where he placed his feet in order to avoid slipping and tumbling off the edge.

The lights stopped, and as Bae's eyes adjusted, he noticed the outline of a car, that familiar but ever-enigmatic piece of this new world that he found everywhere he looked. Two figures stepped out of the machine and approached the door. Bae aimed and watched the two figures approach the front door, wondering where to place his first shot to best get to the two of them. One stepped barely in front of the other, and the corner of Bae's mouth curled up. He released the string.

The arrow slid into the first figure's shoulder and barely nicked the jacket of the second. Both looked up at him, and he scrambled up to the top of the roof, grabbed another arrow, and took aim. The figures had drawn guns, it took a moment for the word to come to him, and aimed at him. He backed up and crouched behind the peak of the roof, his bow still ready. Something rang off the edge of the roof, making him jump and slip deeper into the shadows. The memory of being struck in the shoulder by an invisible projectile rushed back to him.

He peered over the edge of the roof and tried to glimpse the two figures, but he was too far from the edge to do so. After a long moment, he heard nothing, so he crept back to the front edge of the roof. The figures had disappeared inside the mansion.

Bae jumped off the edge of the roof and landed on the sidewalk. Then he slipped into the foyer. He didn't need to listen very hard to hear the men's clumsy footsteps on the second floor, but even as he rushed up the landing, the two snaps of bow strings told him he wasn't needed.

The second-floor hallway was crowded by the time Bae reached it. The two men, one still with his arrow in his shoulder, were hunched against the wall and the railing, respectively. Belle and Morraine stood facing them. The former had lowered her bow and stepped back, breathless, her eyes fixed on the victims. Morraine walked briskly toward Bae. "I woke her," she said before he could utter a syllable.

"So you heard them," he replied. She nodded.

"I told you that you taught her well."

He cast a glance Belle's way. "Try not to bring this up with her. The first kill is usually quite shocking. Let her try to recover form it first." She nodded. "Their car is still out front." She nodded again, and they walked downstairs.

The kids walked out to the front path and approached the car. Morraine cast Bae an uncertain glance, and he nodded his reassurance. He opened the passenger door and looked around inside. In front of the passenger seat was a small compartment with two buttons on the handle. He pressed the buttons and pulled back. Aside from a few papers that seemed completely meaningless to him, the compartment was empty.

Morraine walked up to the car and paused beside him as he searched. Then she opened the door next to him and felt around underneath the back seats. "All clean back here," she said when she finished.

Bae climbed over the center console to the last seat that remained to be searched. She sat on her knees, her hands folded in her lap as she watched him as well as the seats allowed her to. After a few moments, he returned to a sitting position and looked at her. "There's nothing here to give us any clues," he said. "That means we need to return to the bodies."

She swallowed, but she nodded resolutely.

OUAT

With Jefferson's help, Bae and Morraine had searched the bodies for anything that may be of use, gotten Belle to calm down enough to try to get some sleep, and prepared to move the bodies and get rid of the car. Morraine tried several times to coax Bae to go to bed, but she got the same response every single time: "And how do you expect me to sleep?" She finally rolled her eyes, gave him a playful shove, and gave up on him.

As soon as dawn arrived, Jefferson called Mr. Gold and summarized for the pawnshop owner what had happened during the night. "I guess the question now is, do we just drop the bodies somewhere deep in the forests of upstate Maine or do we have to talk to somebody about it?"

"We already have enough trouble," Gold replied. "Take the bodies as far into the forest as you can. Have a couple of the Merry Men guide you. They know this sort of environment well. Do not, under any circumstances, give anyone a clue that anything happened here last night. You and whoever else participated are the only ones to know."

"We can't keep a secret forever."

"We don't need to. We just need to hold out until Emma does her job." Jefferson swallowed. He never did like to think about exactly what breaking the curse entailed. "Whoever you have guide you, make sure they know this, as well."

"Got it." After a brief moment, he said, "You do know where my daughter is, right?"

"Yes."

"Just checking. I don't want you pulling a Regina on me."

"There is only one time I didn't keep my end of any of my bargains. You can sleep easily."

"Good to know."

Jefferson hung up and slipped his phone into his pocket. If he wanted to get those bodies and that car out of his mansion without attracting too much attention, he needed to move quickly.

He walked out of the foyer, into the living room, and took a seat on the ottoman in front of Bae and Morraine. "I need your help."

OUAT

Bae, Morraine, and Jefferson picked their way back down the slope of a hill, their backs to the sun and their time spent cooking up the story of a hike to explain their dirty clothes. Jefferson even had an excuse for the hike that Rumpelstiltskin was likely to agree with: he wanted the kids to get some fresh air after being cooped up in the mansion for so long.

When they returned to Jefferson's car, Bae finally sank into a deep sleep, much to Morraine's relief, and when they returned to the mansion, she helped him up to his guest room and lay him down on the bed. She slipped out of the room to find Jefferson standing in the hallway. "Thanks," he said.

"You're welcome," she managed before turning on her heel and walking to her own room.