Chapter Sixty-One: Same Man, Different Faces

Storybrooke – Present Day

Shortly after the "Wi-Fi Invasion" incident, the Doctor began spending more and more time with Clara than anyone else in Storybrooke. The townsfolk were beginning to see less of him as he took her to see the stars and go on many adventures – from encountering a creature called an "Ice Warrior" on a German sub in 1983 to investigating a haunted house in 1974. On one special occasion, Henry joined the Doctor and Clara on a visit to the "Rings of Akhaten." It was an early birthday present to Henry, who enjoyed every moment of it, even though there were dangers – but Henry expected that whenever there were travels with the Doctor.

They returned from the trip, materializing the TARDIS right in front of the Storybrooke Sheriff Department. "That was awesome," shouted an overwhelmed Henry, as he walked out of the TARDIS with the Doctor and Clara. "How you guys took care of that big sun god by giving your memories to it – it was incredible!"

The Doctor looked a bit nervous. "Yes, just be sure to leave out the part where you were kidnapped from your mother. I dread to think what she might do to me if she found out that you were purchased as a Mongorian appetizer."

"Oh, no problem." Henry assured. "I'll just tell her all the stuff that I loved."

"Like Merry?" Clara slyly mentioned.

Henry's face got slightly red in reaction to her reference of the girl known in Akhaten as the "Queen of Years." "Don't know what you're talkin' about."

"Don't think we didn't see you fancying her the entire trip," said a playful Clara, who smiled big. "Especially after she started singing."

Henry's face now grew even redder – he was definitely blushing to her amusement.

"Oh, come now, Clara." The Doctor said in a rational tone. "Henry didn't 'fancy' Merry. He was simply intrigued by her."

"Which is another way of saying he fancied her." Clara contradicted.

"O.K. Yes. Fancied, maybe. But not infatuated." The Doctor remarked. "Blimey. They're still children."

"You were never in love when you were child, were you?" Clara asked him.

She had him cornered with that question as he stumbled to give a direct response. "I was…I had…We were…" All he could do was look to Henry, who felt just as bashful as he did.

"I think she's got us." Henry jokingly said.

Clara giggled at the two boys. It was then that she spotted Emma, David, Mary Margaret, and Marco coming through the area and each looking rather worried. "Hey, there's your mum and grandparents," she told Henry. "Wonder why they all look so…"

She was suddenly interrupted by the sound of the front door to the sheriff's department wildly swinging open. Her head turned to see what appeared to be a wooden man stumbling out and hitting the ground with a loud, dull clump. Witnessing the wooden man's sudden emergence, the Doctor and Henry rushed to him, as did Emma, David, Mary Margaret, and Marco. They all appeared to have known exactly who he was, judging from their distress over him.

"August!" The Doctor cried out his name.

Marco was the first to reach him, turning the wooden man over face-up and settling him down over his lap. "My son. My boy. What happened to you?"

"I'm so sorry, Papa." August weakly said to his father.

"No. There is nothing to apologize for." Marco said, tears welling up in his eyes. "Everything's going to be alright." He noticed the Doctor scanning August's wooden body with his sonic screwdriver. "The Doctor…he'll take care of you."

The Doctor quickly stopped scanning and slapped his forehead once he realized what he was doing. He sighed and said (almost to himself), "He's made of wood. It doesn't do wood."

Noting his frustration, Marco asked, "Can you help him, Doctor?"

The Doctor looked completely helpless, looking at Marco and then to everyone else staring at him, expecting him to have a solution. "I'm sorry," he sadly told Marco. "There's nothing I can do." Seeing the devastated look on Marco's face broke both of his hearts as he was force to pocket the useless sonic screwdriver away.

"Doctor…" He heard August whisper to him. He fought to move in closer to say something: "They're…They're…" But it was all the wooden man could manage to say before he died in Marco's arms.

"No…not again." Marco wept for his son, while everyone looked on in despair.

"August?" A voice spoke nearby, and everyone saw that it was Neal, who just arrived at the scene.

"No," Mary Margaret uttered. "It can't end this way. He was supposed to get a second chance."

"What happened?" Neal questioned.

"Someone killed him. Stopped him from telling us something." Emma deduced. "He gave his last dying breath to warn us."

Clara looked on in confusion. "About what?"

"Doesn't matter now." The Doctor said with a heavy sigh. "He was the only one who knew anything, and now that information has died with him."

"No!" Emma defiantly told him. "We will not let that be in vain!"

The Doctor looked to her, seeing how determined she was, and nodded.

"Brave, selfless, and true." Henry whispered, before saying those words much louder for everyone to hear. "Brave, selfless, and true! Don't you see what this means? That's what Pinocchio was supposed to be."

Clara's eyes grew wide as she looked from Henry to the dead wooden man in Marco's arms. "This man's Pinocchio? Pinocchio's supposed to be a little boy…isn't he?"

"He was, but when he came to this world from the Enchanted Forest, he grew into a man." Henry told her. "But the rules still apply to him even now. There's still hope in saving him. We just need the Blue Fairy."

Just as Henry mentioned her, Mother Superior arrived at the scene. "I'm here, Henry."

"Of course!" The Doctor exclaimed, resounding hope. "You were the one who turned him into a real boy when he sacrificed himself for Marco! And if his actions today have proven to be brave, selfless, and true…"

"Then there's a chance I can do it again." Mother Superior concluded.

Marco, looking to her with tears in his eyes, said, "Please. I beg you. Try."

The woman once known as the Blue Fairy worked her magic, waving her wand in the direction of the lifeless wooden man in Marco's arms. A bright blue glow engulfed the body, and it shifted in size, changing from that of an adult to a boy. When the glow had dispersed, the real boy who was Pinocchio was there in Marco's arms. He slowly opened his eyes and blinked. The first person he saw was Marco, who was surprised to see his son back to the way he was before the curse.

"Father?"

"P-Pinocchio!"

The Doctor smiled over the beautiful miracle that Mother Superior gave. Everyone looked on with smiles and tears as father and son were reunited.

"I'm a real boy. I'm a real boy!" Pinocchio joyfully said before standing up to give his father a hug.

As he watched the heartwarming scene, Neal noticed someone approaching from the corner of his eye – it was his fiancée Tamara, who had apparently witnessed the entire scene as it unfolded. After trying to avoid her from seeing the real magic of the town, he felt relieved that she finally did that very moment. "It's true," she said, thinking back on what Neal had tried to tell her earlier about being from a fairy tale world himself.

After giving Pinocchio and Marco a moment of happiness, Emma felt it was time to know the truth of what happened. "Pinocchio, I have to ask you a question. I need you think real hard, O.K.? Before you turned into a boy, there was something you were trying to tell the Doctor – something very important."

"Do you remember, Pinocchio?" The Doctor asked, being careful not to pressure the boy into recalling the event. "You were trying to warn me of something."

Pinocchio fought a little to remember. "I…I can't remember. If I did, I would be truthful. I promise."

The Doctor nodded understandably. "Of course, Pinocchio. Of course." He looked to Emma as if to confirm to her his earlier conclusion that whatever August tried to tell them had "died" with him. She only half-accepted this and allowed Pinocchio to depart with his father. Emma and Henry rejoined with David and Mary Margaret, and they also went home, leaving the Doctor alone with Clara, Neal, and Tamara.

The events of the hour clearly left their mark on Clara, who approached the Doctor with a look of awe and wonder. "You have taken me to places and shown me things that are unbelievably awesome. But I think there's more to this place that you haven't shown me."

A grin appeared over the Doctor's face just as Tamara walked up to them with Neal. "You're…the Doctor?" She asked.

"I am the Doctor. And you must be Tamara. Neal has mentioned you."

"Probably not as much as he's mentioned you." Tamara said.

The Doctor gave a flattered nod. "Well, certainly hope it was all good things." He then turned to his companion, offering his arm to her, and said, "Come along, Clara. You want me to show you Storybrooke, there is much I can show you."

Tamara watched the two walk off, leaving behind the TARDIS, which afterward became the subject of her immediate attention. She was so focused on the blue police box that she barely heard Neal say, "Quite a character, isn't he?"

"Yes," she said – entranced by the blue box. "He is."

"Are you sure it was him?"

"I'm sorry, but just how many British guys you know hang around a police box?" Tamara jested with her secret lover, Greg Mendell, in his room at Granny's Bed & Breakfast.

"I'm serious!" Greg yelled in frustration but kept his voice down as not to attract attention from anyone outside his room. "The Doctor isn't just a guy with a police box. It's called the TARDIS, and it can travel to any place at any time."

Curious by these facts, Tamara suspiciously inquired, "Is it magic?"

Greg shook his head. "No. No, I don't think it is. It's not of this Earth – that much is sure."

"And you really believe he can help us to destroy magic?"

"He's been in this place before and knows about the things that go on here. He promised me that he'd come back and help me put it underground. You think he'd lie about that?"

Tamara gave an honest shrug; she could see how defensive he was on the subject and could almost understand why. "I don't know. I only just met the guy earlier today. He seems like a real fruit-loop from the way he dresses, like with that ridiculous bowtie."

Greg quickly reacted to her description. "The Doctor doesn't wear a bowtie. He wears a regular tie with a brown trench coat."

"Well, this guy wears a bowtie with a long burgundy coat."

Greg sighed, his frustrations taking over again. "It's not him. That wasn't the Doctor you met."

Tamara stood perplexed. "He said that he was."

"Were his eyes brown?"

"What?"

"Did he have sideburns?"

"N-No…I don't think…"

"Was there a young blonde with him?"

"No. There was a brunette with him. What does it matter?"

Greg paced around the room. "This doesn't make any sense. You saw the TARDIS, but there's a different Doctor with it."

"Maybe the whole 'Doctor' thing is just a title, and this guy is carrying on the legacy. We can't let this get in the way of our mission. Whether he's your 'Doctor' or not, he's the key to destroying magic once and for all."

There was a knock on the door to Greg's room. He and Tamara looked alarmingly to each other, not expecting any visitors – especially not with anyone knowing Tamara was there seeing Greg. If anyone were to see them together, then their cover would be blown. Tamara hid out of view from the door while Greg went to answer it. He opened the door to find a man dressed in Victorian style clothes with a cold, expressionless face staring right at him.

"May I help you?" Greg asked, baffled over the man's outdated appearance.

"I hear you have been looking for the Doctor." The man icily said. "So am I."

"And who are you?" Greg inquired with mistrust.

"The Home Office sent me." The man responded.

Hearing the words "Home" and "Office" together, Tamara stepped into view of the stranger and also saw his outmoded look. He was clearly a shady character not just in attire but demeanor as well. "Who are you?"

"I am Walter Simeon. And the man you seek named 'The Doctor' is in fact here in this town – same man, different faces."

"And…you can find him for us? Get him to help us?" Greg questioned.

Simeon paused and stared – the coldness in his piercing blue eyes sent chills down their spines. "I have ways of compelling him."

Greg and Tamara continued staring back at Simeon, wondering what he meant and failing to notice the group of featureless beings – dressed in the same manner as Simeon – creeping up behind them from out of nowhere.