Chapter Fifty-Four: Doctor What?

Storybrooke – 1983

"Vincent Van Gogh. Can anyone tell me what they already know about him?"

John Smith stood before his sixth grade class, which consisted of children who could not have looked any more bored. Those were the perks to teaching history to preteen kids. John felt a bit discouraged that no one bothered to answer his question as he stood in front of the class near a poster of Vincent Van Gogh taped to the blackboard. He wondered how Mary Margaret Blanchard's class had been going across the hall; unlike his, hers encouraged the children to have fun and be creative.

"Come on. I know there are some of you who have heard about him from your parents, aunt, uncle, cousin, or a friend."

After a while, one girl raised her hand, which thrilled John.

"Yes! Paige!"

Paige put her hand down and said with a rather unsettled look, "Isn't he the guy who cut off his ear?"

The other students – mostly the other girls in the classroom – were just as disgusted. "Ewwwww!"

John chuckled over their reaction. "Yes, yes. Van Gogh did suffer from many mental breakdowns that led to situations like the one Paige pointed out. But he was also a man of great brilliance who exceled in the fine arts like the ones we have hanging around the class." He indicated the various posters on the walls that featured the artwork of Vincent Van Gogh. The students gave half a glimpse at the posters – they still weren't impressed. "There were even stories of a doctor who once…"

Smith stopped in his lecture upon seeing Regina Mills enter his classroom. The bored students suddenly became interested in the arrival of the town's mayor. "Mr. Smith," she said as soon as she had his attention. "May I speak with you outside for a moment?"

"Oooooooooo!" Smith's students exclaimed, making Regina's request sound as if their teacher was in trouble. It was one thing for a student to be called to the principal's office; but when the teacher was called by the mayor, it might as well have been the same as far as the students were concerned.

"Alright, everyone. That's enough. While Mayor Mills and I talk, you all take out your books and read Chapter Eleven." His students moaned over his instruction but did as he said while he stepped out into the hall with Regina. "Is there something wrong, Madame Mayor? I-If the subject of Vincent Van Gogh is too much for students their age, then I can always…"

"I'm not here about your classroom management, Mr. Smith." Regina interrupted. "I want to know if you've had any…feelings…lately."

The address in her statement appeared awkward to Smith, who could not have been any more puzzled. "F-Feelings? Wh…What type of 'feelings' are you referring to, Madame Mayor? Feelings about me and…?"

"NO! Oh, god, no!" Regina reacted in revulsion, slightly offending Smith. "I mean feelings about…you know…" There was no clear way for her to properly tell him what she meant without bringing back the memories of his life in the Enchanted Forest or his life as the Doctor.

Unfortunately, Smith just could not catch her drift. "I'm sorry, Madame Mayor. I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about."

Regina sighed, albeit more in relief than aggravation. "I suppose you don't…and that's…good. But if you happen to come across a man in a brown trench coat any time soon, turn away from him immediately. Is that understood?" Smith nodded, even though he still had not a clue what she was talking about. The whole conversation felt incredibly cumbersome to him. "You enjoy the rest of your day, Mr. Smith. I'll see you soon."

"Certainly, Madame Mayor."

He watched her head to Mary Margaret's class just as the recess bell had rung, allowing students in all classes – his included – to leave for the next hour. Mayor Mills' visit to the school was most baffling to Smith, yet he did not bother to question it for the sake of his job and his life in Storybrooke. Anyone who would dare to cross that woman would be out of their mind, he thought.

Despite her encounter with the man who claimed to be "The Doctor" earlier that morning, things had been looking up for Regina in this new life of hers in this new town called Storybrooke. To celebrate her victory over the residents there – none of whom were aware of their previous lives, she ordered some apple pancakes from Granny's. Before digging into her breakfast, she received a visit from someone who made her morning even more pleasurable.

"Good morning, Mayor."

She turned to see Graham – formerly known as the "Huntsman," her personal slave, in the Enchanted Forest but now the sheriff of Storybrooke and her secret lover. "That uniform suits you nicely, Sheriff," she said in a very sultry tone. "So…well-fitted."

"Want me to come over later?" Graham's inquiry sounded more like a request, one that Regina was happy to oblige until…

"Hey." The voice of a young child who spoke directly behind her made her turn away from Graham and look to a boy who she had never seen before. "You like apple pancakes, too?"

"Who are you?" Regina questioned to the boy.

"Ah, apple pancakes! I could go for some of those myself!"

Another voice – this one sounding more familiar to Regina – spoke from the direction that Graham stood in. The sheriff stood aside to reveal the supposed Doctor who Regina met earlier, waltzing up to the counter with Rose and taking a seat right next to the mayor, eyeing her pancakes.

"You again." Regina said in a snide tone. This "Doctor" character was clearly the killjoy of her otherwise pleasant morning. "Don't tell me this is your child?" She gestured to the little boy.

"No, he's mine." Kurt Flynn stepped in beside his son. "And you'll have to excuse him. His manners are a little rough around the edges."

"That sounds like someone I know." Rose uttered while glancing at the Doctor.

"Oi! I'm polite when I want to be." The Doctor remarked.

Kurt stuck his hand out to Regina, who shook it with a baffled and troubled look upon her face. "I'm Kurt Flynn. We're, uh, lookin' to rent a hotel room for the night."

"Why would you need a hotel room?" Regina asked.

"That's a peculiar question for a mayor to ask." The Doctor said, garnering Regina's attention again. "Certainly the mayor of her own town would expect visitors to have someplace to sleep."

Regina clearly was not pleased with his condescending attitude, which reminded her of the other Doctor she knew (the "real" one in her eyes). "We don't get too many visitors here, Doctor." She addressed him as "Doctor" mockingly; she still was not certain if this man claimed to be who he was, and every moment he was around her was a headache – a literal one in Regina's case.

"Well, you have a good few here today." The Doctor remarked. "Rose and I are looking for a hotel room, too."

Regina became even more perturbed upon hearing the Doctor's admittance to staying in Storybrooke. Immediately, she turned to Graham and said, "We need to have a talk." She then got up from the counter and went to the back of the diner for a private conversation.

While she was away, Kurt and Owen sat down at the counter, across from the Doctor and Rose. "Well, she seems very friendly," Kurt told them.

"Oh, I wouldn't be too sure about that," said the Doctor, who slid Regina's plate of apple pancakes to himself and began eating them, much to the surprise and amusement of Rose.