Chapter Fourteen: Dreamy

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"Excuse me. Can I have everyone's attention, please?" Snow asked loudly.

All of Granny's looked towards the woman, who they were quite shocked to see was rather disheveled and had red eyes as if she had been crying. Snow smiled brightly. A smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your morning, but I just wanted to remind everyone that a very special occasion is upon us – Miner's Day. As always, the nuns of Storybrooke are hoping that everyone will get involved, and will help sell their exquisite candles. All we need are a few energetic volunteers. So, who wants to join me?"

"I'll help out," Ruby called from behind the counter. "Those candles need some sprucing up. No one will by them if they're the boring ones like last year."

"I don't suppose you want to volunteer, Leroy?" Snow asked the man who was standing in front of her.

Leroy glared at her, something that made Snow recoil slightly. "I want to leave, sister. You're blocking the door."

Snow nodded. "Of course. But, you know, if you wanted to help, it could really be a-"

Leroy scoffed. "Oh, yeah. Right. Me. The town drunk. No one'll buy anything if I'm helping you, sister." He marched past Snow and out the door.

"So, what the bloody hell is Miner's Day?" Killian asked, confused.

"Oh!" Ruby exclaimed. "It's an annual holiday celebrating an old tradition. The nuns used to make candles and trade them with the miners for coal."

"Coal? In Maine?" Killian asked skeptically.

Emma rolled her eyes. "It's a fundraiser." She nodded at Snow. "I volunteer Killian as tribute." She snickered.

"I volunteer Swan as tribute," Killian smirked.

Emma opened her mouth to retaliate, but her phone rang. She picked it up. "Hello, Sheriff Swan," she said as she began walking to the door, then she froze. "Excuse me?" She turned to Snow. "Kathryn's missing."

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"What the hell are you doing here?" Emma demanded as soon as she saw Sidney.

Sidney looked at her rather cross. "Well, just because I got fired from The Mirror, doesn't mean I can't do a little freelance reporting. So, what do we got here?"

"None of your beeswax," Emma told him. "Give me your camera and notepad. I'm confiscating them."

"You can't do that!" Sidney protested. "Freedom of the press!"

"She can," Regina's hoarse voice cut in.

Sidney sighed and handed the objects over. He hopped into his car and pulled away.

"Did she say anything about Boston?" David asked. "I know that's where she wanted to go last time, but..."

Everyone shook their heads.

"Never met her," Belle said apologetically.

"Same thing as last time too," Emma said shaking her head. "Gym teacher found this thing on the side of the road abandoned. Engine running, no one around. Registered to Kathryn Nolan. She's MIA."

"Kathryn got accepted to law school in Boston last time," David explained to Belle. "I may have dumped her, and she decided to leave town. This time though, she and I didn't end up together after I woke from the coma."

"Still," Belle said glancing at the car, "I mean, maybe her car broke down, so she hitched the rest of the way."

"That's what I would do if I was running away from my problems," Emma called. "Not Kathryn. From what I've gathered, she's a strong and independent woman. Besides," she flipped the trunk open, "would you leave your clothes in the car?"

Gold studied the vehicle. "It's quiet possible she ran to find the nearest taxi station without the hassle of luggage. Last time Regina and I kidnapped her to frame Mary Margaret."

Snow glared. "That I have not forgotten."

"Nor have I," David added.

"So do a locator spell," Henry suggested. "That would lead us to her."

"Magic does not exist outside of Storybrooke," Gold told him. "The instant the object we are using to locate her leaves the boundaries, the magic stops working."

"Not true," Emma breathed. "Your scarf thing. You poured a potion on it so you would remember yourself when you crossed the line. Killian and I could follow it, we weren't brought to Storybrooke by the curse. We can leave."

"And how do people react to seeing an object flying though the air?" Regina asked sarcastically.

"Do you have a better idea?" Killian snapped.

"Yes, actually. We simply wait for her to show up. That's what happened before, right?"

Emma nodded. "Okay, Regina. We do it your way."

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The citizens of Storybrooke were setting up for Miner's day. Leroy walked past a ladder, and what looked to be 'fairy dust' fell on his head. He looked up and saw Astrid.

Astrid gasped. "Oh, I'm so sorry. It just slipped out of my hand. I…"

Leroy brushed her off. "No problem at all."

Astrid climbed down the ladder and began to wipe the glitter off Leroy's head. "I really am so sorry. I… I was so busy trying to get the lights to work, that I didn't realize I was about to knock it off the ladder."

Leroy grinned. "Let me take a look at those lights for you." He climbed up the ladder and nodded. "Here's your problem – you're overloading the transformer. You kept messing around with these lights, the whole thing could've blown up on you."

Astrid's eyes widened. "Oh. Then I guess that makes you my hero," she said sheepishly.

Leroy shook his head. "I'm nobody's hero, sister."

"Oh. You can just call me Astrid."

"I call everybody sister. I'm Leroy." Leroy tinkered with the lights, which turned on.

Astrid gasped. "How did you do that? Are you an electrician?"

"I'm in the custodial services game," Leroy informed her. He quickly came down the ladder.

"That's… Wonderful."

Leroy scoffed. "No, it's not. What I really wanted to do, was sail. I even bought a boat. It's a real clunker. I was going to fix it up, sail around the world, say good-bye to this hellhole. I'm… I'm sorry, sister."

Astrid giggled. "It's okay. You know, someone once told me, you can do anything as long as you can dream it."

"You really think so?"

Astrid beamed. "Sure. Look how easily you fixed those lights. I bet you could do anything. I should, uh, get back to the Volunteer Center. Nice to meet you, Leroy."

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"Where can I sign up?" Leroy demanded.

Snow looked up in surprise. She quickly swiped away any tears that were left over from the Robin discovery. "Excuse me?"

"What? I want to volunteer to sell candles," Leroy defended himself.

Snow gave him a watery smile. "No, you don't. You made that very clear this morning at Granny's."

Leroy sighed. "Well… Maybe, I saw the light. I mean, maybe somebody showed it to me. What difference does it make, sister?" He noticed her red, puffy eyes. "Have you been crying, sister? Or are you sick?" He edged away from the table as he said that.

"It's been a long month or so," Snow said. She huffed in irritation. "I'm not sick, Leroy!"

Leroy scoffed. "Could have fooled me."

Snow gasped. "Astrid? What's wrong?"

Leroy's head turned at breakneck speed to see a sniffling Astrid approaching.

"We get a stipend each year for expenses," Astrid said, "and it's all carefully budgeted except for the part where I spent it all. On helium. And now we can't pay our rent."

"Oh, Astrid. I'm sure he'll allow you some leeway," Snow soothed the sister.

Astrid sniffled and shook her head. "No, he hates us. We have to pay him."

Leroy shrugged. "So, you'll make it up when you get your next stipend."

Astrid sighed. "It isn't till next month. The rent is due next week. And the only income we have are these candles. We'd have to sell like, a thousand."

"How many did you sell last year?"

"Forty-two."

"If we miss a payment," Astrid explained, "we're out. And then they'll reassign us, and we'll have to leave Storybrooke."

Leroy crossed his arms defiantly. "No, you won't. You know why you only sold forty-two last year? Because you didn't have me. This year, we're going to sell all of them." Astrid's face lit up. "Wow! Leroy, I guess you really are my hero."

Snow's face was priceless.

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"People have been asking me all day if I'm sick," Snow sighed. "The sooner we break the curse, the sooner we can explain what happened."

"Don't forget we have to get rid of Cora," Killian added.

Regina pushed a loose piece of hair behind her ear and sniffled. "As much as I want to stop you, I know my mother needs to go." She sighed. "And Zelena. She needs to be removed from the picture."

"What about Pan?" Belle asked worriedly, looking at Gold. "Last time we had to, well, anyway, Rumple died. Then Neal died to bring him back. Is that going to happen again or what?"

Gold spoke up. "If we protect Henry, even if Pan does get a hold of him, perhaps knowing the future can help Henry keep Pan busy. Stall him until the magic runs out."

"I can do that," Henry nodded. "As long as we don't switch bodies of course."

"You ready to sell a thousand candles?" Emma asked Snow.

Snow huffed. "Me? No. Leroy? Yes. For a nun too!"

"Cut the lights like last time," David suggested.

"Great," Snow said in relief.

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Emma sighed. "I just got off the phone with Kathryn's school in Boston. Registration was this morning, and she never showed up."

"Something did happen then," Killian said.

"It looks that way." Emma stared at her phone for a while. "Killian, why are we here?"

"I'm sorry, love, come again?" Killian asked looking confused.

Emma started pacing. "I mean, is it some curse? Or did we really just time travel for a purpose?"

"I don't know, Swan. I really don't."

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Snow and Leroy were unpacking the boxes of candles.

"Leroy, you understand that a relationship between you and Sister Astrid can never happen?" Snow asked gently.

Leroy scoffed. "Yeah, yeah. My whole life people made it their business to tell me what I can't do. She was the first person that said I could do anything. Who believed in me. I don't want to disappoint her."

"But there are consequences to following through when the world tells you not to," Snow protested.

"All I want is a moment with Astrid. One moment to give me hope that any dream's possible," Leroy explained. "Haven't you had any moments like that?"

Snow stared at the candle she was holding. "Many, many times," she said quietly. Only to be ruined by something worse than before, was the silent addition to the sentence.

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Emma stared at the phone records Regina had given her. "No way," she whispered. "There is no way these are right."

"It's Kathryn's phone records of the last few days. Just like you wanted," Regina said irritated. "They have to be right. Why on earth would I fake phone records?"

"If you were the one to cast the curse that sent us back in time," Emma suggested.

"The most likely candidate is my sister," Regina snapped.

Emma shook the papers in Regina's face. "These are the exact records I was given last time! I'm pretty sure Prince Charming isn't cheating on Snow White!" She pointed to the eight minute long conversation between David and Kathryn.

"Any progress?" David asked as he entered the sheriffs station.

Emma but her lip. "Did you talk to Kathryn? On the phone?"

David shook his head. "The last time I talked to her was when she came by the hospital."

Emma handed him the phone records. "According to these, you did talk to her."

David laughed. "I lost my phone days ago, Emma. If someone was talking to her through my phone, it wasn't me."

"Then who...?" Emma closed her eyes. "Sidney."

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At the Miner's Day festival, Leroy has a pick axe on the roof of one of the buildings. Snow pointed to a transformer near him.

Leroy grinned. "Perfect. You might want to duck." He swings the axe which hits the transformer. The power at the festival went out.

"Let's sell some candles, Leroy," Snow smirked. She quickly hurried over to the candle booth Belle was currently manning. People had gathered up to buy a candle quick.

A little while later, Snow turned to Leroy. "Leroy," she said excitedly. "We sold out."

The two of them hugged. Snow saw Astrid standing with the other nuns.

"Well, go on – give her the news. Have your moment."

Leroy brought the box of money over to the group of nuns.

Astrid noticed Leroy. "Excuse me," she said to the other nuns who leave.

Leroy handed her the money box. "Five thousand bucks. Piece of cake."

"You sold them all?"

"I had a little help," Leroy said pointing back at Snow.

"You made it happen," Astrid breathed.

Leroy snorted. "You have no idea."

Astrid looked flustered. "I don't know what to say."

Leroy grinned at her. "You're welcome. Listen – that boat of mine? I'm going to fix it up. And, well, maybe you could be my first passenger."

Astrid smiled. "I'd like that."

Leroy nodded. "Well, then, that's what we'll do, sister."

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A/N: Aww. I think Leroy/Astrid is so cute. So uh oh. Kathryn's missing. And Emma suspects Sidney. I'm not sure, but I think Kathryn should be found when she is in the real episodes.

Chapter Fifteen: Red Handed; Ruby drama, new additions in the group, and nightmares.