In Storybrooke David's phone rang waking him up. "Hello" he answered tiredly. "Nolan sorry to wake you but I need you to come head to the rabbit hole. It looks like we have a problem" Graham said into the phone. "Sure I'll be right there" David said. He hung up and looked at the time. 5:30 am. He still had a whole thirty minutes before he had to be up. David rubbed his eyes and got out of bed. He had been sleeping in the guest room of his and Katherine's house. He may have no choice but to pretend to be in this sham of a marriage but he wasn't going to sleep in the same bed as her. Snow was still his wife. He said he needed time and told Katherine he wanted to sleep alone. He hurt her which he felt bad about but he wasn't going to betray Snow. David took a shower and started to get dressed. He checked on Emma who was still sleeping and he saw that Katherine was too. He would have to skip breakfast for now because he had to get to the rabbit hole.
David drove over to the rabbit hole and walked in. He saw Graham trying to stop a fight between two men who were obviously drunk. "Nolan good a little help" Graham said seeing David walk in. Graham was in between the two men trying to hold them back. David walked up to one of the men and pulled them back. "OK that's enough" he said. The drunk man looked at him. "Get out of my way" the man yelled lunging at the other man who Graham was bringing outside. David held him back again. "I don't think so. Stay in here" David said. The man turned and looked at David. "Your not the boss of me" the man said and went to punch David. David moved out of the way and the man hit the bar and fell to the floor. "Hey that's no fair. You moved" the man said from the floor. David leaned down and helped the man up. "I think it's time you sobered up" David said pulling the man to his feet. "Thanks David" the bartender said. "No problem Garry" David said pulling the man out of the bar.
David brought the man home and wound up having to tuck the man into bed. The man was asleep instantly and David headed to the station. When he got there he walked in and was greeted by a woman. "Hello you must be Deputy Nolan" the woman said. David recognized the woman as Drizella Tremaine Lady Tremaine's crazy daughter who always tried to get with him back home. He didn't know who she was here. "Yea and you are" David asked. "I'm sorry how rude of me. My name is Olivia Jones" she said holding out her hand for David to shake. David shook it and Graham walked up to them. "Nolan I see you met our new assistant" he said. Graham had said they were going to be looking for someone to help them around the station. The only problem was Graham hired someone who back in the enchanted forest was absolutely crazy. Maybe she was better here. "It's nice to meet you" David said. He walked over to his desk and started on paperwork.
It was quiet today so after an hour David told Graham he was going to stop by Granny's for breakfast seeing as he hadn't eaten yet. David drove over to Granny's and bumped into someone as he was walking in. "I'm sorry" David said and looked at the person he bumped into. It was Fredrick or Paul in this world. "That's all right. It was my fault" Paul said. David noticed Paul was carrying three bags of food. "Having a big breakfast" David asked. Paul laughed. "I'm got lunch and dinner too. The mayors told me I can get whatever I wanted. I'm staying with them now" Paul said. "Really" David asked in surprise. Why would James and Regina let Fredrick stay with them? What was so special about him? "I should get going" Paul said. David nodded his head. "Stay out of trouble" he said. "Of course deputy" Paul said smiling. David walked into Granny's and the smile faded off Paul's face. That man got to walk around pretending to be a good man. It sickened Paul. He'd stop him though somehow.
David took off his leather jacket and placed on the back of the chair he was sitting in. Emma walked up to him. "Hey dad. You weren't home when I woke up. Is everything OK" she asked. David nodded his head. "Yea we just had a problem at the rabbit hole but it's been taken care of now" he said. "Good. So what will you have" Emma asked. David looked at the menu for a moment. "I think I'll have some pancakes and eggs with a glass of cocoa" David said. Emma wrote it down and walked away she came back with David's cocoa and placed it in front of him. "Thank you" David said and took a sip of it. Emma sat down across from him. "Dad something's been bothering me" Emma said. David looked at her worried. "Is everything OK" David asked. Emma nodded her head. "It's just I've been reading the book a lot lately seeing if I can find any clues as to how to break this curse and something's been bothering me ever since I read about it" Emma said. "What is that" David asked intrigued taking a sip of his cocoa.
"Grandpa" Emma said. David choked on the cocoa and started coughing. He wasn't expecting that. He put the glass down and looked at Emma. "What about him" David asked. "Well I read about the things he did to you and mom and Uncle James and Aunt Regina and I was worried. What if he tries to hurt mom or Henry or do something to any of us? We don't know who he is in this town or if the curse even affected him. He was really powerful" Emma said. David shook his head and put a comforting hand on Emma's hand. "He's not here" David said. "How do you know" Emma asked. "If there's one person your Aunt and Uncle hate more than me it's him. There's no way they would have cast this curse if there was even a chance he would be here. Trust me he's not here. Besides I already looked just to be sure" David said. Before Emma could respond James and Regina came to their table. "Hello David Emma" James said as he sat down next to David. Regina sat down next to Emma. David rolled his eyes.
"I actually thought I would get to enjoy my breakfast" he said under his breath. "So what were we talking about" Regina asked. "Well we were talking about how good your day was going and then you guys showed up and ruined that" Emma said. James and Regina glared at her while David laughed. "David you should really teach Emma some manners. That is no way to speak to family" James said. "Don't worry about Emma. She's fine and you guys are very distant family" David said as his pancakes arrived. "Thank you" David said. James took the plate and pushed away from David and toward himself. "Obviously you need to learn manners. We want to have a conversation with you" James said. "Well can't we have this conversation while I eat. I'm hungry" David said reaching for the plate. James pulled it away from him. "Not until were done" he said. "We just put Henry on the bus so we have time to talk to you guys now" Regina said. "Oh great lucky us" Emma said.
"We just wanted to let you guys know that you no longer worry us. We did a little digging into your lives here in this land and let me tell you we feel better. It was soothing. So we are giving you guys permission to stay here in Storybrooke. What's important in this conversation is the number seven" James said. "Seven" David said confused. "It's the number of addresses you guys have had since arriving in this land. You guys never stayed anywhere for longer than two years. Your longest address was in Tallahassee. What did you guys enjoy so much about Tallahassee" Regina asked. David and Emma looked at each other. Tallahassee didn't have the best memories attached to it for them. "Were staying with Katherine after you guys forced my father to be in a relationship with her. You won" Emma said. James smiled. "So David how long is your lease? Oh wait you wouldn't know because Katherine is paying all the bills. Talk about a deadbeat" James said.
Emma had enough. She was done with them insulting her father every chance they got. She didn't care if they were her Aunt and Uncle. Emma stood up glaring at James. "Emma it's OK. They're not worth it" David said. Emma sat back down still glaring at James. "You know David you should learn to control your daughter. She's out of control maybe it's your parenting. Henry would never act like that" James said. "You know James you really should stop insulting my daughter or I'll show you what out of control looks like" David said. James just scoffed. "Well it's obvious where she gets it from" James said. Regina looked at David. "Anyway the point is in order for something to grow David it needs roots and you obviously don't know how to lay any. People don't change they only fool themselves into believing they can. You guys will be gone soon" she said. Now David was the one who laughed. "All I've done since I've arrived in this land is try to find Snow and the rest of the kingdom you guys cursed. Now I finally found her and the kingdom you really think we're going to leave. Come on Regina. It's like you don't know me at all" David said.
James's phone beeped. He looked down at it. "That stupid girl" James said. He looked up at David. "I got to go. I have something to take care of. Some of us actually work and don't just spend their time sitting down eating. Enjoy your breakfast" James said pushing the plate with David's breakfast into his cup of cocoa which feel in David's lap leaving a big stain in his shirt and jeans. "You know David you should be more careful" James said getting up. David got up and blocked James from going leaving. "You did that on purpose" David said glaring at James. James laughed. "Seriously David you can't blame me because you don't know how to eat like a normal human being" James said trying to leave but David still blocked his path. "If you don't mind I have business to take care of" James said. David nodded. "Yea you do. Ever since I came here you've been treating me like crap. Why don't we settle this right now" David asked. James just put an arrogant smile on his face.
"OK David let's play this your way. We fight you beat me or I beat you it doesn't matter. You know why because you still lose. Everyone will see it as you being the bully and starting a fight with me when all I was trying to do was have a civil conversation with my brother and niece" James said. "That's not how it happened" David said still glaring at James. "That's how I would spin it and guess what. That's how everyone would see it because no one will stand up against me" James said. "I will" David said. James shook his head. "Yes and you will always lose. I own this town. Look around David" James said. David looked around and saw everyone staring. "Everyone of these people are puppets. They do as I say. That badge you wear on your belt. That means you work for me not the other way around. That makes you nothing more than my puppet. Now move" James said roughly pushing past David. James turned back to Regina.
"I'll see you at home" he said. Regina nodded her head. James walked to the back of Granny's. Regina stood up and looked at David. "You might want to take care of that Mr. Nolan. We expect our police force to at least look professional" Regina said walking to the front door of Granny's. She stopped and leaned in close to David. "Apparently you didn't have to be cursed for us to get our revenge on you. Your true love hates you, the people of your kingdom are more loyal to us then they are you and you work for us. This is a better outcome than we could have hoped for" Regina said and smiled smugly and left. Emma and Ruby walked up to David with napkins. "Are you OK dad" Emma asked. David nodded his head. "Is there a washing machine here" David asked. Emma and Ruby both nodded. "Yea it's in the back" Emma said. David grabbed his jacket. "Thank you" he said and walked toward the back. "Do you want me to come and help you work the washing machine" Ruby called out hoping he'd say yes. David rolled his eyes. "No I'm good" he said walking into the back to wash his clothes. James and Regina were slowly but surely destroying his life and there was nothing he could do about it. Maybe they were right. Maybe he really was nothing more than just their puppet.