Hi All - Once again thank you to everyone who has shown such positive support for this story. I apologize for my delay in posting. It was a very busy week for me. Anyway, please enjoy. I hope you like. One thing that I would like to reiterate is that this is my story done my way. It may not follow the details of the show exactly. So if you do not like it, then simply move along. There may be some errors, I will fix them at a later time. I wanted to get this posted right away, but as before, I need to walk away from it for a bit. Enjoy!

Chapter 7 - The Medallion

Today started like any normal day, except for the fact that I rushed off to get to the station early. With everything that had happened yesterday, I hadn't really put in a full day of work, I only responded to the calls that were absolutely necessary. Which wasn't many, the snow kept most people inside.

I walked to the station, being such a small light car; the bug did not go well in the snow. But that didn't matter to me much; ever since I was a kid I enjoyed taking a walk in the fresh fallen snow. The snow fall rate had slowed yesterday evening but it did continue to fall throughout the night leaving about 9 inches of accumulation in total.

"Damn it," I groaned as I approached the station and saw him standing there. I would place bets that this man must watch the station waiting for the days that I would come in alone. I pulled out my keys as I pushed him aside so that I could unlock the door to the station. "What can I do for you today, Spencer?" I didn't even bother to hide the annoyance in my voice.

"Now, is that any way to greet your grandfather?" He was always trying to find a way to stick it to my father. And one of his favorites was trying to pretend that there was an actual familiar relationship with us; especially me. In the Enchanted Forest, Mr. Spencer was King George, the adoptive father David's brother, James and eventually David too, sort of. He was also the King that my parents overthrew to take back the kingdom. He knew that just his presence near me drove my father nuts and he was all too happy instigate.

"You are not my grandfather." I walked around him to enter my office. He followed me, like always. I glanced at the clock; I knew that it was best to get him out of the station quickly before my father arrived which would be in about ten minutes.

"You're father…" he started with a raised voice, but I finished with a matching pitch.

"Is not here, Mr. Spencer. So please, spit out whatever complaint it is that I'm going to ignore and let me get on with my day."

He quickly changed subject away from David, "Why it is that the roads were not cleared last evening?" I heard the irritation in his voice.

"I'm the sheriff, not the road crew." I responded with little care of easing his grievance.

"And as the sheriff, an emergency responder, you should be demanding the roads are cleared immediately." I just rolled my eyes.

I picked up some files from my desk and began to place them in their proper file cabinet drawers. "The truck broke down."

"We only have one truck in this town?" I guess today was going to be jackass day. Albert Spencer was like clockwork. Every eight weeks or so, he would show up at the station griping about something insignificant. He was that town pest that everyone had wished would just go away. His tactic was always the same; wait until I was alone but at the same time know that my father wasn't too far behind.

"Apparently, so." I was quite disinterested in this conversation. I stopped my filing long enough to scribble a name and number down on a notepad. Ripping the top sheet off, I handed it to him. "Call the road supervisor. File your complaints with him. If there is a reasonable cause for concern then he'll bring it to the mayor's attention."

"The mayor?" it wasn't a question. More like a derogatory remark.

I flashed him a smile that was full of arrogance. "Yeah, the mayor. I believe that you know her?"

I could see the anger building in his face. "I don't believe that like your tone, Miss Swan." Wow, was that all of a comeback that he could muster?

"Good," I responded, I put both of my hands down on the desk allowing me to lean forward in an intimidating stance with my same arrogant smile, "that means that I've accomplished something today. And I love it when I have a productive day."

His face turned beat red with anger. He turned and huff out of the station knocking into David's shoulder as he was coming in with a box of donuts and coffee. David shot him a glare then quickly looked back at me with concern "Did he-."

"No, he's fine." I said waving it off. "He just has a bug up his ass about the roads. I sent him to Leroy." David set the donuts down on my desk and leaned in to give me a quick kiss on the cheek as he handed me my hot chocolate. Both of my parents were being overly affectionate after yesterday. I had a hard time with displays of affection, it was something that I was not quite comfortable with but it seemed that I needed to let them do it, so that they could heal. "Bear claw?" I asked him grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"Now, come on, would I get my girl anything else?"

I quickly pulled the pastry from the box and took a bite. "I love it when you spoil me."

"Don't tell mom, ok?" He gave me a wink and went to his desk to get started on his paper work. "She'll use it as an excuse to make extra vegetables for dinner."

I went back to my filing and he began writing up the reports from the few calls that came in overnight. Every once in a while I would notice, out of the corner of my eye, him staring at me. The couple of times that I looked up at him, he didn't turn away; he just gave me a loving smile.

"Hey, Dad?" I hoisted myself up to sit on his desk when I was done with the filing.

"Yeah." He answered. He threw his pen on his desk and leaned back in his chair to get a better look at my face.

"If you…do you ever still think about going back to the enchanted forest?" It wasn't the question that I was going to ask, but it must have been the question that was on my mind because it flew out of my mouth the minute that he gave me his attention.

He didn't get a chance to answer. In the couple of seconds that he took to pause, I heard a throat clear from across the room. We both looked over to see JC entering the station. My father quickly got up and moved toward him with an extended hand. "JC, what brings you here this morning?"

JC shot me a puzzled look, but quickly recovered with a nod in my direction. "Emma asked me to stop in this morning before I headed back to Augusta."

"Well, then," David looked around the room with his eyes stopping on me. "I will step out and give you two a minute."

"No, Dad. Stay." My reaction was a little too sharp. I saw the concern rise on David's face. I eased my voice a little before I continued. "JC, just came by to tell us how he found Storybrooke and what he knows." I crossed my arms and gave JC a knowing stare.

"Still not one for small talk, huh?"

I shook my head and pointed to the vacant chair next to the desk. "Nope. Especially when it delays my quest for answers."

David was now standing next to me leaning on his desk while JC reluctantly took a seat before I continued. "How'd you find me?" That was it, short, sweet and to the point. I could tell that David didn't like my tactic when he put his hand on my shoulder.

"JC, would you like a cup of coffee?" he offered.

"Sure, that would be great. Thank you."

"No problem." David looked at me and nudged his head in the direction of the coffee pot.

I furrowed my brow and my jaw dropped. "You can't be serious?"

"Emma, please, just go put on a small pot of coffee." I let out a little huff as I jumped down from the desk. JC gave a little chuckle as he watched me obey my father. It was an action that earned him a smack to the back of his head with my hand.

"Ow!" He rubbed the point of impact with his own hand.

My father quickly interjected with his next question. "So, JC, you said that your girlfriend is a detective?"

"Yeah, for the Augusta Police Department." Great, my father was making small talk. Just what I didn't want to do.

"So what is it that you do for a living?"

"I'm a social worker, for Child Protective Services." I dropped the can of coffee.

"You're what?" I spun around ignoring the mess that I made. "What the hell? Why didn't you tell me that?"

"You didn't ask." He turned back on me.

"What are you laughing at?" I cut a hard look to my father.

He tried, unsuccessfully, to cover the grin on his face with his hand. "If I didn't know better, I would argue that you two are actually brother and sister."

"Well, then, I guess it's a good thing that you know better," I snickered. "Unless, of course, there is something that you're not telling me."

"Actually, Emma, you're the reason I went into social work." The mood suddenly turned serious. "After what happened, I made a vow to myself that I was going to see to it that I would help kids in those situations. I've been working for Augusta Child Protective Services since I graduated with my master's degree in social work."

"Wow, that is very admirable." My father was impressed.

But I wasn't buying it, "Or, you had been looking for me, and working for CPS gave you access to my file."

"Come on, Emma. You were already out of the system for six years, what good would any of the information in your file have done? Why are you so distrusting of me?"

"Because, I want to know why you are here? How you did you find me? How did you find Storybrooke?" My voice was suddenly higher and gave way to my emotions. "Things aren't adding up and I want the truth!"

"Fine, you want the truth? Ok, here it is," JC got up and starting pacing the room running his hand through his hair then down over his face. "Fine. Yes, I took a job in an effort to help me locate you. Not because of what may have been in your file, but anything that may have come in about you as an adult. Then one day, this older guy comes in to my office with a court order to access records. Imagine my surprise when the name on the order was Emma Swan. He was a lawyer, said that he was hired by you to expunge your record. The real perpetrator had been apprehended and admitted to setting you up."

"Who was he?" I said in a growl.

"His name was Sam Jepson. I didn't ask too many questions, I just did what he asked. Suddenly, there was a man standing in front of me who knew where to the find the woman that I had been searching for."

"Sam Jepson? I don't know anyone with that name, and I certainly didn't hire anyone to expunge my record." I looked to my father, "Did you?" he shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.

"I cooperated with him in any way that I could, this was the first and only break that I had in finding you. But I also didn't want this guy to know that I was interested in your whereabouts. So I enlisted my girlfriend. She put a tail on him. That's how I found out that you were in Storybrooke and how to get here. Because like you said yesterday, this place isn't on any map that I've ever seen."

"Ok, so how did the 'tail' get this information?" My father asked.

"He was followed to this slummy bar in Augusta. A real dive. He was meeting some woman, we never did get her name. But the conversation was about Emma. He told this woman how to get to Storybrooke, and said that the biggest obstacle was going to be Emma Swan, her parents, and her step-grandmother." JC reached into his coat pocket and pulled out an envelope. "Here, he was able to snap a few pictures."

I carefully pulled the pictures out of the envelope. Scanning through them it didn't take long for me to recognize Sam Jepson. "Gold. Damn it." I said shaking my head. I looked up at David, "who's the woman?"

"I don't know, but I think I know some who will."

"Regina," my father and I said it in unison.

"Who's Regina?" JC asked. As things were beginning to make sense for us, JC was becoming more confused.

"My Step-grandmother."

"Oh."

"JC? You said before that you and your girlfriend came to Storybrooke. You just drove right into town?"

He gave me a confused look. "Yeah, why?"

"How long ago was that?"

"Oh, the beginning of September," he answered.

"That was before Elsa…" I didn't have to finish that sentence for my father to understand. JC was able to drive right into town because that was the time that people were able to leave Storybrooke, right before Elsa's ice wall. "And was that the trip when you bought the medallion in the pawn shop?"

JC nodded in affirmation.

"Was there any time that you had difficulty getting into town?"

"Yes," he said. "It was after the trip that scared the hell out of me and I starting asking questions at the diner. There was, a glacier type wall surrounding the town for a while that blocked my return. I just kept coming back, one day in December, it was gone and I was able to enter the town again."

I looked to David and he to me. We were both thinking it. When Elsa took the wall down, after the snow queen's spell was broken, a cloak was left over the town. Once again, crossing the town line meant no reentry except for myself and Henry. The realization washed over me, "That's it."

"What's it?" David was clearly puzzled.

"The medallion. Dad, don't you get it? In order to get back into Storybrooke, you must possess something that belongs in Storybrooke."

"We need to talk to Regina." David said grabbing for my coat.

I turned to JC. "Thank you." I leaned in to give him a hug. "Go back to Augusta as you planned. We'll take care of Gold from this end. But, when this snow clears, please come back for a visit. I would love to meet your girlfriend."

"You got it, super Swan!" He gave me a smile and extended his hand to David as we exited the building. We knew that Gold wouldn't just disappear quietly. Now we had confirmation that he was on the move and planning something. We just had to figure out what.