Sorry about the long wait, but here is a nice long one for you.
It had been an interesting night. It started with arresting her 'father', than getting a call from everyone and their cat, and a few times even the mouse, about the power being out. Which was ironic considering that it's not her job to handle power, and that phones appear to be the only thing that works without it. Add to that Gold and Michal were mourning the fact that the nuns got all of their candles sold.
But this was a new day, and everything would be great.
God help her, no one could or would believe that lie. She knew for certain there couldn't be anything good about this day.
The first thing that should have tipped her off was that Ruby wasn't working at the dinner. August was there. "Well hello Sheriff. And how are you on this fine day."
"Currently hoping I'll get hit over the head and taken captive, if only to avoid work and this conversation."
"Oh, I'm not so bad, why on Earth would you want to avoid me?"
"Let's start with that Christmas kiss and work our way forward."
"In my defense, any male who would pass a chance to kiss you is either gay or in need of a hospital."
"And any man who did take that chance would rewrite the medical world from the ground up. No one would be able to figure out how they managed to survive that long with so many suspiciously cane shaped wounds."
"Well, it would be worth it, after all you'll think I'm enough of a man that I survived the encounter."
"Oh, no I said you managed to survive that long. You would still be very dead at the end, it's just the pain would last longer."
"I still believe it would be very worth it. What is an eternity in hell if you could spend a moment with an angel?"
"Who said that?" Emma asked.
"Me I think. And it was rather good wasn't it." August said smiling.
Emma couldn't help but crack a smile. "Maybe, a very very small maybe."
"Did I just get a very very small compliment from you?" August then stepped away and dramatically stretched out his arms and then brought them down to hit his chest. "My life is now complete. You may kill me and I shall now die happily."
"Careful. My husband is capable of hearing request like that from desperate souls anywhere in the world. He might just drop out of the sky and take you up on that offer." Emma said before leaving.
Before she got very far Mary Margaret came running up behind her. "Is he okay? David?"
"Oh, yeah. He's a little shaken up, but he's headed home. He's fine."
"Any word from Kathryn?"
"Nothing new."
"Did you check with Boston again?"
"She's not there, Mary Margaret."
"So, we have no idea what happened to her?"
"All we know is that she found out about you two, gave you a well-deserved slap, and then disappeared."
Mary Margaret just froze, looking at Emma in disbelief. "Well deserved? Do you really believe that?"
"No." Emma said turning to her friend, placing reassuring hand on top of hers. "I'm just preparing you for what everyone else is going to think. You two are going to look bad until you figure the truth out."
"You mean David? Th-that people are going to think in order to..., be free with me..."
"Some are. And, he's not doing himself any favors. So, there's anything you could think of to pin down his whereabouts that night–"
"He wasn't with me. We really are through." Mary Margret said defensively. They kept walking and came upon a bus stop. If it wasn't for the fact that Ruby was currently talking with Dr. Whale, Emma would have looked at it curiously. She had yet to see any form of public transportation that ever left town. Nor any form of public transportation other than a taxi or the school bus.
"Sorry. No, I don't need a ride." Ruby said. She was obviously very annoyed.
"It's awfully cold out here." Dr. Whale said.
"I'm fine – really."
"I could carry your bag. Where you headed?"
Mary Margaret walked up to the man. "Dr. Whale?" She said in the most unfriendly way Emma had ever heard from school teacher. Which all things considered, the meanest she could ever be was equivalent to someone not saying please.
Dr. Whale turned around, seeing both Mary and Emma, he gave a nervous laugh. "Mary Margaret. Emma. Hello there." And he was just as nervous talking to them.
"Hey." Mary Margret said.
"I was just talking with Ruby here. But, I should, um..."
"Yeah. Yeah, you should." Emma said kind of threateningly.
"Yeah..." Dr. Whale left.
Mary Margaret then gave Ruby concerned looked. "Was he bothering you?"
"The day I can't handle a leeches is the day I leave town. Which this is, I guess."
"You're leaving?" Emma said surprised.
"I had a fight with Granny. I quit my job."
"You quit? We're you going?"
"I don't know. Away."
"Yeah, well, buses out of town don't really happen. And, you might want a destination first."
"Hey, if you need a place to figure things out, you can always go home with one of us." Mary Margaret offered helpfully.
"You'll forgive me if I don't take Emma up on the offer." Ruby said. "Nothing personal, I just don't think I could get a wink of sleep listening to you when Gold goes at it, or knowing that I'm in the same hemisphere as him."
"Really. How did you manage to sleep all of these years?"
"Knowing Granny would kill me if she found out I was still awake after a certain hour."
"Yeah well, come on." Mary Margret said.
Sheriff Station. The Next Day.
"Want to be a bike messenger?" Henry asked hopefully. He'd been trying to help Ruby all day with finding a job. And if he happened to help her remember in the process, it was a win-win.
"Bike messenger? She asked confused.
"That's about taking things to people in a little basket."
"Nope. Yeah, see, I'm not so great at bike riding."
"How about taking things on foot, to people, in a little basket?"
"I'm not so sure that's a real job. And what is it with you and baskets?" Ruby asked. But before Henry could answer the phone was ringing again. "Why do the phones keep doing that?"
"Oh, the non-emergency calls go to a machine when Emma's busy." Henry said.
The phone then rang again and Ruby answered "Sheriff's station. How can I help you? Mmhmm. I'll get her to return. Thanks, you too."
"Sheriff's station. Hey, Miss Ginger. Uh, no, that's not a prowler. That's Archie's dog – Pongo. Throw him a vanilla wafer. He'll quiet down. Did you still want to talk to Emma? Great. Glad I could help."
"How's it going, you two?" Emma said walking into the room.
"Great. Except I can't do anything."
"I'm sure that's not true. I just saw you on the phone. That was good."
"That? That's nothing."
"No. No, it isn't. I actually have some money in the budget if you want to help out around here." Emma asked hopefully. Being almost 6 months pregnant and investigating disappearance meant she had very little time for paperwork. And despite the fact that Gold had made it so that she could have a file clerk, no one seemed interested in the job. Although considering she had been forced to suffer through paperwork for so long, she could understand the lack of interest.
"Yes! Thank you! Yes. Um, I could answer phones and help out. Um, is there anything else that you need done? Organize files, cleaning up? Please – I want to be useful."
"I'm swamped with the Kathryn Nolan thing. If you maybe want to grab us lunch, the three little ones and I would never say no to a grilled cheese." Emma's stomach growled with thought of food. "Maybe seven or eight grilled cheeses."
"Done. You want anything?" Ruby said to Henry.
"Um, two chocolate chip cookies, an apple pie, and a hot dog." Henry requests with a smile.
"He ate at school." Emma said.
"Hey! Lunch, Mary Margaret? I'm getting for everyone."
"Uh, no. I'm not hungry." Mary Margret said, she then ran over to Emma as Ruby left. "David's in the woods. There's something wrong with him. He looked right through me. It's like… It's like he was a different person."
"Great." Emma said happily. Emma had been hoping for a peaceful day, more or less, considering that today was one of her scheduled ultrasounds. But if David was running around…? "I'll call Dove. If anyone can track David it would be him."
Storybroke General Hospital.
Emma was greatly looking forward to this ultrasound. There wasn't really anything very special about it, she wasn't finding out the genders, or the number, or anything like that. They had already done all that. They were having two girls and one boy, and Gold was already fussing over the nursery, the names, the insurance fund, the accidents fund, the college fund, buying weapons for going hunting with his son, or for the boys that broke one of his daughter's hearts.
But Gold had been very sweet, and was thinking of buying her pink rifle so she could go with them. She had quickly shot that idea down in favor of a red one. And she had wanted something automatic, and machinelike.
But she was still looking forward to it, she couldn't quite explain, but every single time she had looked at the ultrasound photo, it made her feel all lightheaded with joy. And getting a new one was like an addict discovering a new type of drug. And if this was her drunk, well, she was very happily hooked.
Gold even more so. "Where is that doctor?" Gold said pacing around the room. Occasionally glancing at Emma who was lying on the table with her stomach exposed. Emma every once in a while would look in the mirror and believe she was turning into a balloon. And then Gold would quickly squash that notion by informing her that he thought her baby bump was the sexiest thing the world, and that the fact that her breasts had gotten bigger and more sensitive didn't hurt anything. "He should have been here by now with that wonderful machine."
"He'll be here any minute. Stop pacing like that, you are acting like an addict whose dealer had to pop out to get some more drugs and was late coming back."
Gold just gave her a look. "One would hope you're not speaking from experience."
"No. But when you spend enough time in a woman's prison, you'd be amazed at all the interesting people you meet."
"Yes. I'm sure nobody missed a chance to complement you on the joy you would soon be having with Henry. I'm betting even a few of them kept at it after you have given birth, not noticing all the subtle changes in your physique."
"Yeah. Crazy Becky was a very interesting person, but mean Mary Michael was also very interesting, she did not live up to her nickname at all."
"I don't think it's possible for a person to be mean with a name like Mary."
They managed to fall into a comfortable silence, with Gold not pacing. He had even managed to sit down. That was until Emma suddenly jumped putting her hands on her stomach. And then Gold was up like a rocket, ready to grab any doctor and throw them into the room to assist his wife and unborn child. "What is it!?"
"The baby just kicked." Emma said in amazement.
Gold just went wide-eyed, and then he slowly placed his hand on her stomach. A second later he was rewarded with a strong thud against his hand. "Is this the first time?"
"I guess." Emma said still in shocked amazement. "I never felt any of them kick before; one of them must have realized you were anxious."
And a minute later the doctor finally came in. "I'm sorry it took so long, I'm pretty sure every patient I have, including the recently deceased ones, dropped out of the sky to ask me a question on my way to getting this thing, and then somehow managed to forget so they had to ask again on my way back."
"Well no matter. Just do your magic, and we will see you next month." Gold said. He then reluctantly took his hand away from the stomach.
"Okay. I'm assuming by now you know the drill." The doctor said to Emma.
There might be some arguments about whether or not this machine had magic. But as far as Gold and Emma were concerned, whenever that screen lit up, they had never seen anything more magical.
Emma and Gold were currently walking on cloud nine. Giggling like school children, adoringly looking at the black and white photo.
Emma was suddenly brought out of her own little universe created be the little bundle of joy, by the sound of dogs barking. She turned to see a pet store, Storybrooke Pet Land. And suddenly an idea struck her. "You have money, right?" Emma asked.
"No, Emma. We are dirt poor now and will be forced to sell our things and huddle together in cardboard boxes on the street while holding signs that say 'will work for food.' I was planning to break it to you gently over candlelight, dinner, and caviar." Gold sarcastically said. Emma just looked at him. "Why?"
"I just got the most brilliant idea in the history of brilliantness."
"Are you insinuating. That it's more brilliant than your idea to marry me. Emma, I take great offense at that idea."
"Oh shut up." Emma said. She then went up and kissed him, and pickpocketed his wallet. "Thank you." She said holding up the wallet as she went into the store.
"Hey. I'm pretty sure that's an unfair advantage."
Gold's Home.
It was about an hour later, Emma and Gold had gotten home, with a few additions. Gold was trying to get them settled, when Emma answered the door to see Dove, Ruby, Henry, Michal, Mary, and Madelyn at the door. "Hello." Michal said. "Dove and Ruby are apparently here to tell you the result of their search, Mary is here to ask about the results of your search, Henry just wants to hang out, and Madelyn and I are just here to talk with Gold."
"Ah. Well." Emma said distracted. Then there was the sound of a crash behind her, she then all but ran into the kitchen with the group behind her. And they were just in time to see a white basset hound puppy with brown spots run past, followed by a mean looking gray kitten, and then a black chocolate lab puppy. And Gold was on the ground, his cane in the opposite corner, and a dozen eggs in their carton cracked on the ground between them.
"Get a turtle for the children I said, we won't have to worry about burying it I said, it's low maintenance I said. But it's boring you said, it's not fluffy you said. I said buy the rabbit, its quiet I said, it's happy in a cage I said. But they're more high maintenance you said. Get them a goldfish I said, nothing to worry about with a goldfish I said, it won't break anything I said. But the puppy is so cute you said, and the basset has such big ears you said, and the kitten is just so fuzzy you said." Gold said annoyed, slowly trying to get up. Michal went over and grabbed the cane up off the floor and handed to him. "Thank you Michal."
"You got a dog!" Henry said very excitedly. "You got two dogs and a cat!" Henry then ran off to try and find the nearest four-legged animal and pet it like crazy.
Michal just stared as Henry ran off. "If it's any consolation Gold, I'm pretty sure Henry will be having you nominated for Parent of the Year Award, and if Miss Blanchard allows Henry to bring them to school, you might just get his whole class on board." Michal and slowly left the room. "I'll be up in the study. Come up when you're finished with all of these."
After Michal left Dove and Ruby went over to Emma. "We managed to find David; he's at the hospital currently." Dove said. He then motioned for Ruby and him to leave.
After they'll had left, Mary began to talk. "So. You got pets." She smiled, and then broke out into a small laugh. "I think I saw Henry get the Basset hound, and is in the middle of scratching his tummy."
"Yeah he's good." Emma said fondly. "I'll go and see David at the hospital; I'll call you when I know something." Emma then took a picture from her pocket. "And here's a picture of your future grandchildren." Emma said laughing.
Gold's Study.
After Emma had left to go to the hospital. And Mary had also gone. Gold left Madelyn and Henry to ooh and awe over the new pets. And went up to the study. "They're adorable old man. They will cause you no end of trouble, just like those adorable children."
"Of this I am painfully aware." He said rubbing his bottom. "But I'm assuming this is not a social call."
"No it's not." Michal said gravely. "Jefferson and I were both wondering what it is you want us to do concerning the Kathryn Nolan case?"
"Nothing for the moment." Gold said sitting down. "The plan is for Emma to find a heart and the box soon, and the box will be Mary Margret's and it will have her fingerprints. And when Mary Margaret is arrested I shall step up and be her lawyer. And then Emma will find a hunting knife inside of Mary Margret's apartment that was used to cut out the heart. Regina then wants me to plant a skeleton key in her cell, at which point Mary Margaret seeing the hopelessness of her case will run away. That is when I need Jefferson to intercept her before she goes over the town line. All he has to do is make sure she doesn't go across the line, and then make sure Emma finds her."
"Well you appear to have this whole plan under control then. And since you will be in no way requiring my assistance, what should we do about the nun situation?"
"Nothing for the moment. The Bear is working perfectly, and with the black fairy's wand we should be more than capable of threatening them if need be."
"But I was hoping we might be up to killing Blue, before the curse breaks."
"No we can't kill her. As much as I would enjoy it, making her powerless is more fun, and someone else would just take up that mantle of power, and for all of her many many flaws Blue is predictable. And predictable is a good thing in a powerful enemy."
"Well, any more persuasions we should worry about?"
"Not at the moment. Considering the bureaucracy of this town, and the lack of what Emma would consider modern conveniences, it could be a month or more before this trail comes to a head. Plenty of time for the fool queen to hang herself trying to build up." He said smiling.
Granny's Dinner. That Night.
Granny looked up when she heard the door open. Ruby walked in, looking worse for wear. And she was wearing not only jeans, but a long sleeve shirt.
"You look good." Granny said. She was even missing her highlights.
"Thanks." She said shyly.
"Want something for the Sheriff?"
"No."
"Ah…" Granny grabbed at her arm in pain.
"Your arm okay?"
"Same as it is every full moon." It was a day like this she almost felt sorry for Gold, she could only imagine what his leg would feel like, and he had problems with the weather as well. "What are you doing here, Ruby? You here to tell me more about your fine new job?"
There was a pause. "I want to come back." Ruby said finally.
"Why? You were pretty mad."
"I wasn't mad."
"Looked like mad from here."
"Mmhmm, yeah. Here's the thing – um… You were talking about having me do all this stuff, and I…wasn't sure. I-I said that, you wanted me to turn into you, but… What I meant was, I don't know how to be you. You're a tough act to follow."
"Oh." Granny said, trying not to smile at that.
"And then you wanted me to take on all this extra responsibility, and I… Guess I just got scared."
"Don't be. You shouldn't be." Granny said, comfortingly taking her hand.
"Well, I am. But, it's okay. I can do it anyway. I sort of found something in myself that was more than I expected."
"What about adventure? What about lemurs?"
"Emma was my lemur. Did that, found out I could do that, and also that I don't want to. I don't want a job where a good day means ruining someone's life. I want to do something that makes me happy. Somewhere I love."
"Look – just so you know, I wanted you to do the books and everything, so you could take over when I retire. Own the whole place."
"Own it?"
"Sure. I mean, who else would I give it to but someone who loves me back?" Granny said smiling. "Unless I end up loving my Godchild more then you. Then who knows." She let out a laugh.
"Granny." Ruby patted her non hurting arm. The two of them then hugged.
"Proud of you."
"What was that?"
"You heard me." She then hit her arm as well.
But it was true, although she rarely said it, it was true.
Storybroke Animal Rescue Center.
At the beginning of this case, Emma had been wishing that it was possible to buy small DNA sequencers. One that she could just put on her desk and it would work to figure out whose DNA was at a crime scene.
But today she was extraordinarily happy that those were still either too advanced and/or too expensive to be sold. Because after sending the heart out the lab for testing, she had fingerprints on the inside of the box run. And unfortunately that only took a matter of hours to come back.
Emma was trying to think of every possible way to delay what she had to do, eat lunch, eat dinner, eat dinner again, eat second dinner, eat dessert, and go into labor if at all possible. Pray to anyone that cared that her car might break down, but just like all the times she'd prayed for her car not to break down, this was the one time it ran smoothly. She was going to have to punch Gold for getting her such a reliable vehicle.
As she slowly counted the steps she took going into the rescue center, trying to make her feet be as much like lead is possible. But in the end she got there, and Mary Margaret was sitting on a chair trying to help David. "Emma." David said. "Please tell me your here for dog or cat food."
"Believe me I wish that were true."
"Emma. What is it?" Mary Margret asked, knowing that her friend looked agitated.
"What is it? Did you find her?" David asked.
"We found a box."
"Wait… Wait… What does that mean?"
"We think it… We think that she…"
"What?" David asked frantically.
"There was a human heart inside it." Emma finally said.
"Oh, my god." David said collapsing in a chair before he broke down in tears. "No. No."
"We're going to send it out for some tests, but there aren't any other missing people."
"Maybe you should go." Mary Margret said, going over to try and comfort David.
"There's more."
"What?"
"There were fingerprints inside the lid of the box. I ran them through the records of everyone in town, and there was a match."
"Arrest me."
"No. David!"
"Arrest me, Emma. Do it!" He said. An odd mixture of sorrow, conviction, and strength were displayed his eyes and cross his face. She could only imagine what her next few words were going to do to him, or her best friend.
"David, the fingerprints weren't yours."
"What?" David said incomplete shock.
"They were Mary Margaret's."
"What?" Mary Margret said, she was also in complete shock now, and those words were just bouncing around inside of her head, not making any sense, and not willing to settle back down.
"I'm sorry Mary Margaret." Emma said before taking out her handcuffs. "But I'm afraid you're going to come with me."
Mary Margaret didn't even move, Emma doubted that she could, as the handcuffs were put on. It was days like this where she just had to chant in her head over and over again, 'I love my job, I love my job, I love my stinking horrible job!'
"Emma." Mary Margaret finally said in a weak voice.
"Don't worry, if you're worried about getting your phone call you will."
"No it's not that. How will you tell Henry that you've arrested your mother for murder, for killing her husband's fake wife given to him by the curse? And that Snow White ripped out a heart?"
Emma just put her head down, not even wanting to think about what Mary Margaret just said. 'I love my job, I love my job, I love my job, oh to heck with it, and no one's going to believe that.'
Thank you to Ravenclaw992, a few parts of this story was specifically inspired by Sunshine and Rain. And of course Sunshine and Rain has been large inspiration for the story in general.
Thank you to lozzy035, riverrunner11, Twyla Mercedes, and don't worry Dearie, I have plans for everyone *maniacal and evil laugh, with lightning*.
Thank you Guest, and I do have to admit the idea of Gold and Merlin/Michael singing Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah, what is a really funny mental image. And thank you CosPalp.
And a big thank you to Grace5231973 for being such a wonderful beta.
P.S. It means all of you who want to complain about my spelling, that you can go and bug her.
P.S.S. But if I were you I wouldn't, I happen to like Grace5231973, she's a useful beta and good at her job. And I happen to be a great believer in the Second Amendment, and that if you insult a lady, it entitles me to one free shot at you.
P.S.S.S. And due to the raising ammo prices, there shall be no warning shot given.