David had bought Ava and Nicholas home with him and Erica. He made them food. Erica stayed over by the kids talking to them. Just then the doorbell rang. He walked over and answered the door. He smiled at who was standing on the other side. "Mary Margaret. Thanks for coming" he said as he moved aside to let her in. She walked in.
"Of course. Your phone call sounded urgent" Mary said.
David closed the front door behind her and walked her over to the kitchen. "Those kids. Do you know them? Do they got to your school" David asked.
"I've seen them but I had no idea, none of us did" Mary said.
David opened a file he was holding. "Ava and Nicholas Zimmer. Their mother was someone named Dory Zimmer. She died a few years ago" David read. Mary shook her head. "No one seems to know her or remember her" David said which honestly didn't surprise him considering the curse.
"What about their father" Mary asked.
"There isn't one. At least not one that they know" David said. Their father had to be around here somewhere. He must have come over with the curse.
"What does social services say" Mary asked. David didn't say anything. He just looked away. "You didn't report them" Mary said.
"I report them, I can't help them. They go into the system" David said.
"The system that's supposed to help" Mary said.
David shook his head. "I've seen first hand what the system does to these kids. They get thrown into homes where they are a meal ticket. Nothing more. These families get paid for these kids and as soon as they're too much work they get tossed out and it all starts over again" David said.
"They're not all like that" Mary said.
"I used to believe that. I used to believe they actually helped but trust me they don't" David said.
"What happened" Mary asked.
David shook his head. "Let's just say I learned from my mistake" he said.
"What are you just going to adopt them" Mary asked.
"I want to look for their father. They don't know him. He may not know they exist" David said.
"You think if he knows he'll want them" Mary said.
"I don't know but I got to try something. Those kids are not going into foster care. What I do know, is it's hard enough finding foster families to take one kid that isn't theirs. Let alone two. It's their best shot or…" David said.
"We're going to be separated" Ava asked behind David. He turned around and looked at her.
"No that's not going to happen" David said. Erica walked over and her and Mary looked at each other.
"Please. Please don't let it" Ava begged. Mary and Erica looked at her sadly. Ava turned and looked at her brother then back to David.
That night after David got off work he returned home to find James there moving boxes with Henry. "Hey David" James said.
"Hey Uncle David" Henry said.
David smiled at them. "Hi guys. You need any help" he asked.
James shook his head. "No I think we got the last of the boxes" he said putting down a box. David walked into the living room and took his leather jacket off and threw it on the couch. He took his guns out of his shoulder holster.
James turned to his son. "Henry could you go upstairs and check that I didn't leave anything upstairs" he asked.
Henry nodded. "OK. I'll be right back" he said. Henry ran upstairs.
David was taking off his holster when James walked up to him. "We have a problem" he said.
David unloaded his guns and looked at his brother. "What's wrong? Is everything OK with Regina" David asked worriedly.
"Yes everything's fine with Regina. I lost the memory rocks" James said.
"What" David asked.
"Yea I was looking for them today because I was going to give mom her memories back and I couldn't find them" James said.
David looked at him confused. "Why did you want to give mom her memories back" he asked.
James shrugged. "Well I figured since you remember who you are now there really wasn't any reason for mom to forget about you" he said.
David smiled at his brother. "Thanks" he said.
James nodded. "I can't find them. I'm sure there somewhere in the house unless your new friend Gold took them" James said.
David shook his head. "He doesn't have them. They have to be somewhere else. Like you said they're probably somewhere in your house" David said. The other night when Gold had David under a hypnotic trance he put a spell on David.
David couldn't remember anything that Mr. Gold didn't want him to. David didn't remember that he had the rocks. Gold couldn't make David trust him completely. He didn't have the magic here in this land but he made sure David wasn't suspicious of him. James nodded. "You're probably right I probably misplaced them somewhere in the house" he said dropping the subject of Gold. James knew Gold still had David hypnotized but he also knew to be careful about pushing the subject to hard with David. There was no telling how David would react if he did. James just had to find out more.
"There was nothing up left up there dad" Henry said running down the stairs.
James smiled at his son. "Thank you for looking Henry. Now what do you say we start this guys night" he asked.
David nodded. "I just got to drop this stuff upstairs" David said holding up his holster and guns.
A couple hours later, they had gotten through a movie and Henry had fallen asleep on the couch. David and James were in the kitchen at the table talking and laughing. It was just like old times. Kathryn had come home an hour before. She tried to give David a kiss but he instinctively backed away. He wasn't going to kiss anyone who wasn't Snow even if he had to keep up this charade of a marriage for the time being. David apologized and told her it had been a long day. Kathryn didn't push it but she knew something was going on with him. She went upstairs and left the twins sitting at the kitchen table. James took a sip of beer. "I got to say this land has better alcohol then back home" he said.
David nodded. "Yea it definitely has that over the enchanted forest" David said. David looked over at James. David had something on his mind that he had to get out.
"James I think we need to talk about that night" David said.
James sighed and shook his head. "We really don't" James said.
David wasn't backing down. He needed to get this off his chest. "We never had a conversation about what actually happened that night and I think we need to" David said.
James sighed and took another sip of his beer. "I'm going to need more of this for this conversation" James said.
David took a deep breath. "I did tell dad about you and Regina but he tricked me. He changed into mom and I thought he was mom. At first I didn't say anything but he manipulated me into believing you were in danger. I was scared and was just trying to help" David said.
James shook his head. "David, listen…" James started but David interrupted him.
"Please James. Just let me finish" he said. James nodded.
"Yes I'm the one who made the potion dad used on Regina and that murdered your unborn child but he switched the ingredients on me and I didn't find out until it was too late. I'm so…so sorry for the part that I played in that night. If I could go back and change it, I would. For over 20 years I've beaten myself up about it and what I did. I can't fix it but I wanted you to know what happened" David finished.
James looked at David. He had to say this to David no matter how much it hurt. He took another sip of his beer. "David, I appreciate that and I understand that you were manipulated by dad but it doesn't matter. It doesn't change what happened and what you did" James said.
"James please…" David said but James shook his head.
"I let you finish now please let me finish" he said sadly. David sighed and sat back in his seat.
James looked at his beer bottle sadly. He knew what he had to say even though it hurt. He looked up at David. "The truth is…I hate you David. I wish I didn't but yea I hate you" James said. That hurt David more then anything. "Our whole lives I never asked you for anything. You promised you wouldn't say anything. The one time I ask you for something you betray me. I told you not to tell anyone about me and Regina, and you tell dad of all people. I know you thought you were helping but I trusted you. When I look at you or Snow, I'm reminded of that night and all that hate and rage comes up" James said.
"Snow has nothing to do with this" David said.
"She told Cora where we were going so they knew where to find us. If I could go back I wouldn't tell you. Me and Regina would have left the kingdom earlier" James said.
"Dad and Cora still would have found you guys" David said.
"Maybe they would have" James said. He took a deep breath and continued. "You want to know the truth David. That night I didn't just lose a child. I lost my brother. I don't know if I could ever forgive you or look at you as a brother ever again. If the roles were reversed and you asked me to keep you and Snow a secret I wouldn't tell anyone no matter what. I sometimes think if I didn't tell you about me and Regina and they still found us yea the same result would probably happen but at least I would still have my brother. You died to me that night. Our relationship was destroyed and I don't know that we could ever get it back" James finished.
David was hurt and angry. He took a sip of his beer. "So your telling me you can't look past a mistake I made over 20 years ago when we were 18 and you're going to hate me forever because of it" David asked looking at James.
"I'm sorry David. We can still have a relationship but don't ask me to ever trust you again or look at you as a brother because I can't" James said. David just sat there silent letting everything James just said to him sink in. James saw how hurt David looked and felt bad. "David I really am sorry" James said.
"It's OK. This was a bad idea. Let's just keep our relationship purely professional. I'm the sheriff and you're the mayor. We'll just interact when we have to. You should probably wake up Henry and head home. I'm going to bed" he said getting up. David walked to the doorway of the kitchen and stopped. He turned around and looked at James. "If the roles were reversed and you made a mistake and told dad about me and Snow and we lost a child…I would forgive you" David said. He turned around and left the kitchen leaving James sitting there by himself.
David walked up to the second bedroom that was James's room and walked in shutting the door behind him. He locked it and immediately felt the tears come. He lost his brother forever. James's words hurt worse then anything his father ever did to him. He heard the front door close and started to get undressed and ready for bed. When he was ready he hopped into the bed and just laid there. He thought about how alone he felt right now. Emma still didn't have her memories, Snow was still under the curse and his mother didn't remember him. Now James lost those stones. He was separated from all of the people he loved. At least before he had Emma but now he didn't even have her. He tried to sleep but found he couldn't. He got up and walked back downstairs. He sat at the kitchen table and poured himself a drink.
A couple hours later, he went back upstairs and was finally able to sleep. When he woke up Kathryn had already left for the day. Good he wasn't in the mood to have a long conversation. He showered and got dressed for the day. He put on a pair of jeans and a blue button down that he left the top two buttons unbuttoned like he normally did. He tucked his shirt into his jeans and put on his belt. When he came down he saw that James's moving boxes were gone. Good riddance he thought. He made himself a quick breakfast. He put his badge on his belt, then his shoulder holster and loaded his two guns in it. He grabbed his leather jacket and put it on. Ava and Nicholas had stayed at Mary Margaret's the night before. David wanted to see if he could find Ava and Nicholas's father so he decided to check their birth certificates. He drove over to the hall of records.
David walked up to the front desk. He saw a man sitting behind the desk looking through files. "Excuse me" he said. The man looked up at him. David took his badge off his belt and showed it to the man. David looked at the nameplate on the desk. "Mr. Kryzyskowski" David said mispronouncing his name.
The man got up and corrected David. "Everyone calls me K" Mr. K said.
"So what can I do for you sheriff" Mr. K asked.
"I'm hoping to look at the birth certificates of Nicholas and Ava Zimmer" David said.
"Alright just fill out this form" Mr. K said putting three forms in front of David. "In triplicate" Mr. K said stamping all of them.
David took the forms. "Ok" he said putting his badge back on his belt. Mr. K looked in the file cabinets while David signed the forms.
Mr. K looked over at the sheriff. "I'm so sorry" he said. David looked up at him. "Those documents have been recently removed" Mr. K said.
"By who" David asked.
"The mayors" Mr. K said.
David rolled his eyes. "Of course it had to be them" he said under his breath. He smiled up at Mr. K. "Thanks anyway" David said leaving the office. Now he had to do something he really didn't want to do.
David drove over to James and Regina's. He sat in his truck not moving. He really didn't want to do this but he knew he had to for Ava and Nicholas. He took a deep breath and got out of the car. He walked up to their front door and rang the bell. James answered the door and stared at David in shock. "David hi. Listen about last night…" James started to say but David shook his head.
"I'm really not in the mood right now James. I just have to talk to you and Regina" he said.
James nodded. "Come in" he said moving aside so David could walk in. David walked in and James closed the door. "Regina's in the office" James said. He walked to the office and David followed.
"David. So what can we help you with" Regina asked.
"I need Nicholas and Ava Zimmer's birth certificates. Mr. K at the hall of records said you guys took them" David said.
"Don't worry David you can relax. We've contacted social services. Turns out these kids are alone and they need help more help then any of us can give them" James said.
"Which is exactly what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to find their father" David said.
"Well he's not here" Regina said handing David the file.
David took it from her. "Well what did you guys do to him" David asked.
"We sent him to the infinite forest with his little brats so that they could forever look for each other" James said.
"There's no record of him here so which means we have no choice. These children need a home so they will be put into the foster system" Regina said.
"Storybrooke has a foster system" David asked.
"No. We've contacted the state. Maine's group homes, unfortunately, are filled, but they put us in touch with two homes in Boston. A boys' home and a girls' " James said walking away from the desk. Regina followed and so did David.
"They're separating them" David asked.
"We don't like it either" Regina said. David stood there upset. He couldn't let this happen to those kids.
"We've got no choice. You need to have them in Boston tonight" James said.
"Me" David asked.
James poured him and Regina a glass of wine. He handed Regina hers. "Well, you wanted to be sheriff" James said. David shook his head. This was unbelievable.
"This is what sheriffs do. Yes, you're taking them" Regina said.
"No. I promised them they wouldn't be separated" David said.
"Well, then perhaps you should stop making promises you can't keep. We know what you're promises are worth. They're about to learn that lesson the hard way" James said taking a sip of his wine. David just glared at his brother.
Regina walked up to David. "These children need a home" she said.
"We're just trying to find them the best one" James said.
David rolled his eyes. "Yea sure you are" he said leaving the room. He wasn't going to let this happen. Their father had to be here somewhere. He was going to find him. Finding people was what he was best at after all.