Chapter Three: The Lonely Traveler

Emma, Snow, James, and Henry could not allow themselves to go to Mr. Gold's after the intense scene that just took place in the station with Regina and the Doctor. They followed him right back to his TARDIS. The Doctor was so upset that he failed to remind himself to lock the doors behind him upon entering, allowing the family to enter without warning. Emma's jaw dropped as she witnessed the bizarre change of dimension, expecting to have walked into closed space. Apparently she was not the only one surprised by the larger interior – it was Snow and Charming's first time in the TARDIS as well, and they were equally bewildered. Henry, having been inside of it before, half-smiled over the way his mother and grandparents were taken aback from the scene.

"It's…it's…" Emma stammered.

"B-Bigger…" James managed to get out.

"…on the inside." Snow finished.

The sounds of levers and knobs being pulled and cranked directed Henry's attention away from his astounded relatives and to the Doctor, who looked to be taking the TARDIS out of Storybrooke again. He was leaving, much to Henry's shock. Does he even realize that we're still in here with him? Henry wondered.

Henry acted fast before the Doctor pulled the last lever that made the TARDIS dematerialize from the spot it had landed in. "Doctor! Wait! You can't leave!"

The Doctor stopped himself as his hand went for the lever on the control console. Emma, James, and Snow also realized what the Doctor was about to do, yet they had no knowledge of the meaning behind the lever like Henry did. The Time Lord turned to the group, anger still in his eyes. "Did you tell her?"

Emma was puzzled by his question. "Tell her what?"

"DON'T PLAY GAMES WITH ME!" The Doctor stormed away from the console and advanced on the group. "What are all of you? Have you been following me? Watching over me behind my back?"

He was scaring Snow and Henry especially and did not even realize it. Quickly, James stood in between his family and the Doctor, even though he knew the Doctor would not harm them. "Doctor, we're sorry for what Regina said. We don't even know what any of it meant. Honest."

The Doctor seemed ready to let out another outburst – even tell them all to leave the TARDIS, so that he could continue on his mission to find River. But all he had done was drop his head and went to the stairway that led to the console platform, taking a seat upon them. Clearly, the Doctor was distraught, clasping his trembling hands together and looking to be on the verge of tears. Snow and the others had moved from being terrified to concerned for their alien friend; she went to the Doctor and sat right beside him, putting her steady hands over his shuddering ones.

"We're sorry," she softly told him.

He looked down at her hands and then at her face, noting the warm smile that she gave him. He had seen such a smile before. It was a friendly smile. But not the type of friendly smile a stranger gave to another while passing each other on the street. This friendly smile was that of someone who knew him nearly his whole life. These people really did know him. It was no trick.

"What happened in Manhattan?" Emma questioned.

The Doctor looked to her, barely catching her question. "I'm sorry?"

"Regina mentioned something to you about 'Weeping Angels' in Manhattan." Emma said. "What happened there?"

"Are Amy and Rory alright?"

The Doctor's eyes darted from Emma to Henry, who looked more concerned than everyone else in the room. He was not sure how Henry knew about Amy and Rory, but he was definitely not sure how to tell the boy what happened to them. Even though he was unsure how close Henry was to the Ponds in the time that he had known them, the Doctor thought it best to tell anyway – more for his benefit than Henry's. "They…were taken from me." He took a deep breath before he continued. "Our encounter with the Weeping Angels, a race of quantum-locked beings that take the form of statues, led to them being taken away from the year 2012 to sometime in the past where they lived their lives until they died of old age."

Listening to the Doctor's story, Emma glanced around the console room. "Well, why not go back and get them? I mean, if the stories Henry told me about this ship of yours are true, then you can just go back in time and—"

"I can't!" The Doctor snapped, hastily quieting Emma. He calmed himself before explaining: "We created a paradox to free Rory when he was almost taken by an angel to a time further back than 1938. Creating another to free them both will tear New York completely apart." He shook his head as he dropped it sadly. "I will never be able to see them ever again."

It was an extremely sad story that dismayed Henry. "I'm sorry, Doctor."

The Doctor nodded, accepting his sympathies. "Now I've lost River…which makes me completely alone now. The lonely traveler…once again." He grinned through his sadness and added, "She told me never to travel alone…now look where I am."

He felt Snow's hands gently squeeze his. "You are not alone, Doctor. You may not remember any of us, but we have never forgotten you and what you've done for all of us – even when you were John Smith."

The Doctor's ears perked on that last detail. "John Smith?" Snow nodded with a smile. "Blimey! I have missed a lot, haven't I? How in the world am I going to help any of you without knowing all that I did?"

Henry's face lit up with excitement. "You're still going to help us?"

"Well, that woman – Regina – has memories of all eleven of my lives. Of course I'm not going to leave without investigating that. But I must to know what happened in this fairy tale life you all once had and how I played a part in it."

Henry knew exactly the answer that the Doctor was looking for. He took off his backpack and reached inside of it, retrieving the "Once Upon A Time" storybook that he handed over to the Doctor. "You've read it before, but this time will be better – because you're in every page."

The Doctor smiled as he held the large book in his hands. "First Melody Malone and now fairy tales! I'm betting fan fiction will be next!"

Emma was suddenly reminded of the business they had yet to tend to before arriving in the TARDIS. "Hey, we should get back to seeing Gold."

"Of course." Snow agreed with her daughter. "Doctor, are you coming with us?"

"No, you four go on without me. I have some reading to catch up on." He briefly opened to one page of the storybook and his eyes grew wide on the illustration he saw of a character who appeared to be himself standing at a makeshift altar in the forest with Red Riding Hood. "A lot of reading."