Emma left Mulan at the inn and headed straight over to Your Sundae Best.
"You're not scheduled for work today my dear." Lea Rubify said with a smile.
"Oh I know." Emma told her, "But I wanted to ask you if I could help with the street fair."
"Really?" Lea asked surprised.
"Yes. I mean you don't have to be a nun to help out, do you?" Emma asked.
Lea chuckled, "Certainly not."
"We're still in the planning stages at the moment." Lea told her, "What is it you would like to do?"
"Whatever you need me to do. I can help run errands, set up booths, get volunteers; work with the clean-up crew." Emma told her, "Like I said, whatever you need."
"The Lady of Perpetual Sorrow is always looking for generous people like you." Lea told her, "So I'm sure we can find you something to do."
"Great." Emma said to her with a smile.
Lea promised to call her when they had a plan and Emma left the ice cream shop with a smile on her face and her latest mission on her mind.
Emma grabbed a copy of the local paper then headed over to the diner to eat.
"What can I get you?" Ruby asked as she stood by the booth Emma was sitting in.
"A pen and a cup of coffee." Emma told her, "Please."
Ruby dug through her apron pocket and pulled out a blue ink pen and handed it to her then poured her a cup of coffee.
"Anything else?" She asked.
"No, thanks." Emma said with a smile.
Emma went back to scanning through the small section of homes for sale. She found what she was looking for and with a smile she took a sip of her coffee. She got up, paid for her coffee then headed out the door.
She zoomed across town in the little car Mulan lent her and parked outside a small beige colored house. She headed up the walkway, knocked on the door and waited.
A woman with long blonde hair and crystal blue eyes open the door and greeted Emma with a smile, "Hello!"
"Hi." Emma said a little intimidated by her enthusiasm.
"Are you here for the open house?" She asked.
"Uh, yeah. Is that okay?" Emma asked.
"Of course." The woman said, "Please come on in."
She opened the door wider and Emma stepped inside.
"My name is Aurora and I am head agent at Briar Rose Real Estate." She said to Emma as she handed her a piece of paper that listed some of the homes features.
Aurora talked the entire time she gave Emma the tour of the home. Afterwards they stepped back into the living room and Aurora smiled her signature smile again.
"So, what do you think?" She asked Emma.
"Why is the owner selling?"
"Mr. Gold acquired a bigger home for him and his young bride." Aurora told her.
Emma looked around the living room then shook her head, "No, there's just something not right about it."
"Okay." Aurora said, "Can you tell me what you're looking for?"
Emma thought for a bit, "Something permanent." She said turned around walked out the front door.
Aurora hesitated then followed her.
"I want a porch with a swing were we can sit and have our morning coffee." Emma told her, "I want a big front lawn with maybe a couple of shade trees. Even a fruit tree or two would be nice."
She turned to Aurora, "I want a home."
A smile appeared on Aurora's face then she turned, locked the front door then said, "I think I have just the place."
Emma followed Aurora in her car. The house was about 2 miles from the center of town.
They parked and Emma got out of her car as Aurora hustled up the walkway to the front door.
It had everything she wanted. The trees, the porch swing and a homey feeling.
"I'll take it." Emma said to Aurora as she stepped up onto the porch.
"But you haven't seen the inside yet." Aurora said with a pout.
Emma sighed, she wasn't going to change her mind but Aurora looked really disappointed so she let her do her job.
"Okay show me the inside."
Aurora smiled and they went in.
She gave Emma the tour, talking about the finer points of the house but Emma was barely paying attention as she was already making plans for the house.
"There's two bedrooms upstairs with a bathroom." Aurora continued, "Downstairs you have the spacious living room, a dining area, bathroom, beautifully redone kitchen and a small office."
She turned to Emma, "You said 'we' earlier. Will someone be joining you?"
"I hope so." Emma said then clapped her hands together, "So where do I sign?"
"It's not that simple Ms. Swan." Aurora told her, "You have to pass a credit check, you need to have the down payment then put in a bid for the home."
"Okay well then let's do whatever you need me to do first." Emma told her.
Aurora took Emma into the kitchen to fill out a form to allow the credit check.
"Do you want to make a bid on the home as well?" Aurora asked.
"Yes." Emma told her and Aurora pulled out more paperwork from her briefcase on the counter.
"Maybe you'd like your lawyer to look over things before you sign?" Aurora suggested.
"I don't have a lawyer." Emma told her.
"I'd suggest getting one to help with all the paperwork. There's no rush, this home has been up for sale for almost a month now with no other offers." Aurora told her.
Emma sighed. She didn't want to wait for paperwork and lawyers.
"Do you have any suggestions on who could help?" Emma asked her.
Aurora smiled, "I do."
She reached back into her briefcase and pulled out a card. She held it out for Emma, "He's been very helpful since coming to town."
Emma looked at the card that read 'Archibald Hopper, Attorney at Law.'
"I'll go talk to this guy and have him bring you the paperwork." Emma told her.
"And while you do that I will have your credit checked." Aurora told Emma as they walked out of the house and she locked the door.
"Once I look over the papers with the lawyer then can I put in a bid?" Emma asked.
"Yes. The paperwork for offering a bid is in there as well." Aurora told her, "Then the offer goes to the owner and they will either approve it or not."
"Do you think there will be a problem?" Emma asked as they headed down the walkway.
"The owner is a bit of a …." She paused, "How can I put this nicely?"
She thought for a minute, "Okay I can't. The owner is a bit of a hard ass."
They stopped at Emma's car, "Who's the owner?"
"The Mayor, Cora Mills."
"Ah shit." Emma cursed.
"You know her?" Aurora asked.
"You could say that." Emma said as she opened her car door and got in.
No one was at the front desk when Emma walked into small office of Archibald Hopper on Main Street.
"Hello?" She called out as she looked around, "Anyone here?"
Emma heard someone fumbling around in a back room.
"Yes, I'll be right there." A man called out.
Emma was busy looking at the degrees on the wall and didn't hear the man step into the room.
"How can I help you?" He said and Emma jumped.
She turned around and saw Archie the man who had woken her up on the bench when she'd first gotten into town.
"Ah Emma, the homeless woman from the dock." Archie said as he walked around behind his desk and sat down.
"You're the lawyer?" She asked him then glared, "And I'm not homeless."
"Okay I'm sorry." He said, "Please, have a seat and tell me what I can do for you."
"I'm here to buy a house." She told him.
"So then would you currently say you're without a home?" He asked her.
"Yes." Emma answered him with a raised eyebrow.
"So that would make you….?" Archie asked trying to keep a straight face.
"Ha-ha." Emma said wagging a pointed finger at him, "I see where you're going."
He pushed up his glasses, "Just a little humor to start off our meeting."
After almost two hours they had gone through all the paperwork and Emma made her bid and signed it.
"I will take this to the real estate office first thing in the morning." He told Emma as he stapled the papers together.
"Take them now." Emma told him.
"Ms. Swan…" He started to say but Emma interrupted him.
"Look, this is the first big thing I've done in a very long time." Emma told him, "So please take the paperwork to the real estate office and get this going for me."
"Of course Ms. Swan." He told her.
"Thank you." She said to him as they both stood up. She shook his hand, "And please call me Emma."
He smiled at her, "I'll get this papers right over to Briar Rose, Emma."
The next morning Emma headed over to the school to talk to the principal about taking back her music teaching job when the fall semester started.
She went to the office and up to the front desk where a woman was sitting at a computer typing, "Can I speak with the principal?"
"Is this about your child?" the woman asked.
"I don't have a child at this school." Emma told her, "I want to talk to the principal about a job."
"The school year is over in 3 days." The woman said, "And the principal is very busy."
"It's for the fall semester and I just need 5 minutes." Emma told her.
"As I said before…" The woman started to say.
"Emma, what are you doing here?"
Emma turned to see Mary Margaret standing behind her.
"I need to talk to the principal but I'm getting stonewalled here." Emma said to her.
"What do you need to talk to the principal about?" Mary Margaret asked.
"I want to see if I can get my old job back as the music teacher." Emma told her.
"I see." Mary Margaret said to her.
And Emma could see on Mary Margaret's face that she didn't believe she was serious about the job.
"I plan on sticking around town for a long time Mary Margaret." Emma told her, "But I need this job to do that."
Mary Margaret walked across the room, "Well then, step into my office." She said and opened the door marked Principal.
Emma smiled and followed her in, shutting the door behind her and sitting down across from Mary Margaret.
"So this is new." Emma said to her, "Last time I was here you were teaching grade school."
"I miss teaching every now and then but I think I can help the kids better this way." Mary Margaret told her.
She leaned back in her chair, "So, unfortunately the music teacher position has already been filled and the teacher is doing a wonderful job."
"Okay I understand." Emma said as she stood up to leave.
"But…" Mary Margaret said as she dug through a drawer in her desk.
"But?" Emma asked as she sat back down.
"There is a position at a private school in Rockland." Mary Margaret told her as she handed Emma a piece of paper with the information about the school and job on it.
Emma looked over the information then looked at Mary Margaret.
"I can put in a good word for you but Emma I don't want to put my reputation on the line if you aren't going to follow through."
Emma didn't realized just how many people she'd let down when she left town.
"I promise you this time I'm not going anywhere." Emma told her as she looked her in the eyes.
Mary Margaret smiled then picked up her phone.
Emma sat quietly while Mary Margaret talked on the phone for almost 20 minutes before finally hanging up.
"Okay, you have an interview tomorrow with Talia Ross at 3pm." Mary Margaret told Emma as she wrote down the information and gave Emma the slip of paper.
"Thank you Mary Margaret." Emma said told her, "I mean it, thank you."
"Thank me when you get the job." Mary Margaret told her with a smile.
Just before Emma headed to Rockland for her interview Lea called her and asked if Emma would be willing to run a new booth at the street fair and Emma happily agreed. She promised Lea they'd get together later and talk about what else she needed to do.
Talia Ross was a tall slender woman with long dark hair, blue eyes and a pointy nose. She wore way too much lipstick and desperately needed her eyebrows plucked.
The two women sat across from each other in Talia's office and Talia asked Emma all the usual questions. They spoke for almost an hour before she leaned back in her chair and smiled at Emma.
"I think you're just what we're looking for." Talia said to Emma.
"Really?"
"Our last music teacher was 82 years old and taught the same lessons for the 45 years he was here." Talia told her, "It's definitely time for a change and you're it Emma."
"I look forward to it." Emma told her with a smile.
Talia gave Emma a small tour of the school and showed her what would be her classroom come the new semester.
They talked more as Talia walked Emma to her car and after a handshake and a smile Emma got in her car and headed back to Storybrooke.
Emma walked into the bakery with a huge smile on her face. She went up to the counter, "I'd like a big slice of coconut cream pie please." She said to Regina.
"Why are you in such a good mood?" Regina asked as she cut Emma a small slice of pie, put it on a plate and slid it to her across the counter.
Emma paid her then looked at her meager piece of pie and frowned. She looked up at Regina and her smile returned, "Oh just having a good day."
She took her pie and headed for the door, "I'm going to eat this outside."
"You can't." Regina called after her and Emma looked at her.
"You can't take the plate and fork outside." Regina told her.
"Okay then." Emma said as she returned to the counter. She placed the plate and fork down, grabbed a handful of napkins and shoved them into her pocket. She smiled at Regina then picked the piece of pie up with her hand and headed out the door.
Emma sat on Henry's bench and took a big bite of her pie.
Her second bite was interrupted when Regina came up and asked, "Where have you been these past few days?"
"Miss me?" Emma asked with her mouth full.
"No." Regina said as she folded her arms across her chest, "I was just wondering why you weren't around harassing me."
"I've taken advice from a friend and I'm trying to get my shit together." Emma told her then took another big bite of pie.
"And how exactly are you doing that?" Regina asked.
"You'll know soon enough." She said and took her last bite of pie. Her cheeks bulged out as she wiped her hands with the napkins. She wiped her face then threw the mess of napkins away in the waste basket near the bench.
She stood up, "Thanks for the celebratory pie and talk but I've got to see an ex-nun about a street fair now."
Emma went over to Your Sundae Best and found Lea behind the counter scooping ice cream for a teenage girl and her little brother. Emma sat down at one of the tables and waited till Lea was finished.
Once Lea joined her they talked about the street fair.
"It's going to be for two nights this year." Lea said with excitement. "So what I'll need from you is to work the new booth one night then on the second night you'll work another booth."
"Sounds good to me." Emma told her, "What booths?"
"The new booth is a dunking booth and the other booth is pie throwing." Lea told her.
"So, I'll be manning a booth where some poor sucker gets dunked by all the people who are pissed off at them in town?" Emma asked with a smile and Lea shook her head no.
"I'm the sucker aren't I?" Emma asked and Lea nodded her head.
"It's not a deep tank, so it's not like you'll drown." Lea assured her.
"I'm sure that will disappoint more than a few people in town." Emma grumbled.
"The pie throwing is well, just what it is." Lea said, "You stick your face through a hole in a cutout and people throw pies at you."
"If this isn't what you had in mind then I can find something else for you, say behind the scenes." Lea said to her.
"No." Emma told her, "This is exactly what I need to do."
"Perfect!" Lea said smiling, "We're so glad to have your help."
"I'm happy to do it." Emma told her.
Emma got into her tiny car and was just about to head back over to the inn when she got a call from Aurora asking if she'd stop by Briar Rose to talk about the house.
She walked into the real estate office with a smile on her face, "Tell me you have some good news for me."
Aurora smiled at her, "Follow me to my office."
They went into Aurora's small office and she shut the door behind her before sitting down at her desk.
"Sit down please." Aurora told her and Emma reluctantly sat down in a chair across from her.
"Unfortunately your bid was rejected." Aurora told her.
"I'll pay more if that's what she wants." Emma told her.
"It's not the amount of money."
"Then what is it?" Emma asked and Aurora looked at her awkwardly.
"Oh." Emma said as she got it, "It's me."
"I'm really sorry." Aurora told her, "I can't force someone to sell their home."
Emma stood up, "No, that's okay. It's not your fault. It's mine."
She went to the door and opened it, "And I think it's about time I start fixing it."