Chapter 13

Past

After Odette gave Grim his heart back, he reunited with Akela. Grim was going to do whatever it took to get Odette out of Regina's castle. He just needed to find a way to set her free and take her away from there. She may have wanted to stay because she wanted to protect her father from Sinbad and Rothbart, but only Grim knew what they were really like since he witnessed the way how they treated others, especially Rothbart.

Grim will never forget when he aided the soldiers to raid a village just to catch traitors who hid Snow White. They ransacked and pillaged the village until the villagers told them whose house Snow White stayed in. It was a poor family who snuck her in at night, and Rothbart asked them how long she was here. When they told him five nights, Rothbart turned to Sinbad and to the rest of the soldiers as he ordered them to push the family inside their house and shut the door on them. Rothbart then casted a barrier spell to ensure they wouldn't escape before he conjured a fireball in his hand and threw it at the house. All Grim heard were the crying screams of the family, including their young children as they were being burned to death while the villagers cried to themselves and look away from the horrible sight. Even Sinbad seemed conflicted when he heard the children scream, but Rothbart, on the other hand, found joy in their deaths. Their agonizing screams amused him, and it sickened Grim.

When he was passing by the dark forest, Grim realized that the sun was setting. He wanted to keep going, but he also didn't want Akela to get tired, so Grim gathered some firewood and stones to place around it so that he could start a fire. Grim then caught a few hares and cooked them by skinning them into skewers for himself. There were a couple that he didn't cook because he knew Akela preferred them that way by tearing off their skin with his teeth and dug into their flesh.

By the time they finished, Akela gnawed on the bone, and Grim knew that they needed to go to sleep so that they could figure out how to save Odette. "Enough, Akela, we need to get up tomorrow."

When Akela kept going at it, Grim leaned in to take the bone away, only for Akela to stop with the bone still in his mouth. Grim retracted his hand when Akela bared his long, canine teeth and gave Grim a nasty growl. Out of all of his wolf siblings, Akela was the most stubborn one. He liked to think of himself as the Alpha until Grim bit his ear to teach him not to mess him when he refused to let him get close to his meal.

As soon as Grim sat back on the ground, Akela stared at him for a moment as his growls deceased before he continued to gnaw onto the bone. "Have it your way," Grim huffed out before laying on the ground.

Grim stared at the stars and wondered how Odette was doing. He hoped that her heart could take the cruel treatment that Rothbart and Sinbad were giving her, but he knew her spirit was strong. She didn't seem the type to get intimidated so easily despite how innocent she looked. Still, if anyone could scare her, Rothbart was the one to do it, which was why Grim needed to get her out no matter what even if she was against it. He wasn't going to allow Rothbart to hurt her after she risked her life to get his heart back.

Grim's eyes soon narrowed when he saw something move. He thought it was one of the branches at first, but he soon realized it was a hand pulling back. That was when Grim realized what was about to happen as he rolled out of the way in time before the arrow flew and missed him just inches away from his body. Akela's head perked up, and he got into an intimidating stance as he stood in all strong legs and growled at the trees. Grim immediately reached out for his bow and observed the area.

A few men came down from the trees and took their swords out to fight Grim, so he ducked out of the way when they brought their sword down on him. It allowed Grim to get an opportunity to draw his dagger out and fend off the men. He knew Akela would hold his own by pouncing on one of them to latch onto the man's arm as he grunted in pain. When one of them hit Akela's stone, he yelped and let go of the man before the man kicked Akela away from him. Grim got so mad when he saw his friend in trouble, so he threw a dagger straight at the man, hitting him the shoulder. Grim then charged at the man as he toppled him to the ground before pulling his dagger out in one swift motion and quickly blocked an attack behind him.

Grim nearly froze when he encountered a large man who had to be at least seven feet tall. He appeared wild with his thick beard and dressed in clothes made of animal skins. In his hands, he carried a long stick, so he threw Grim with it, only for Grim to catch it in time. However, the man was so much stronger than him as he pulled it back and hit him in his chest as Grim sucked in a breath before the large man hit Grim square in his jaw, causing him to fall to the ground.

Grim looked over at Akela and saw that a couple of men threw a net at Akela, causing him to cry out for a split second before trying to get back up only to fall down since the net was too heavy for him. Akela just laid there with his teeth bared, warning them to stay back. Akela was helpless, and there was nothing Grim could do about it. Grim just sat there, defenseless with his dagger out of his reach while the man pressed his long stick just inches away from Grim's neck. He then narrowed his eyes at the man when he brought his stick back, allowing Grim to sit up so that he could get a look at each and every single one of them. When the man slowly backed away and made room for who appeared to be the leader as he jumped down from one of the trees and made his way over to Grim.

He couldn't make out his face since he wore a green hood, but when he drew it back, Grim's eyes widened when he recognized his face.. Their leader had dirty blonde hair and a muscular, slim build that was similar to Grim's. His steel blue eyes slightly widened when he saw Grim, and his lips soon broke out into a cheeky grin. "Long time no see, old friend."

Grim couldn't believe he would ever see him again. He met him once long before he ever met Regina. It wasn't as if Grim didn't particularly like him. He just thought he was too self-righteous at times with his thievery. After all, the notorious Robin Hood held no bounds.

Present

Graham walked around town and just observed some of the people in Storybrooke. There was Archie walking his dog, Pongo, Ruby setting up a sign outside the diner, and Sidney heading into his office while discussing something with Regina. Graham's eyes narrowed as he stopped walking to see what Regina was saying to Sidney. No doubt she wanted him to keep spying on Emma.

As soon as Sidney went inside his office, Regina soon caught Graham watching her. She had a wicked smirk blossoming her face as she went over to him. Graham wished that he kept on walking, but he knew he would eventually face Regina after what happened at the city council. That was exactly why he stood his ground against her.

"Off for a walk deputy?" Regina asked.

He shrugged his shoulders, answering her, "I have some time before going into work."

"Procrastinating instead of doing your job, and here I thought that if you were to dismiss your responsibilities, then you would spend that time with Miss Moon."

Graham grimaced when she had the nerve to mention Nora. She had no right to open her vile mouth and say her name. Nora was so much better than her though, and she didn't deserve what she went through. However, at least Graham knew now that Gold was the one who sent her the flowers so that he could expose Graham being intimate with Regina, but still, it didn't mean that Graham couldn't stand Regina's manipulation since she came into her shop and threatened Graham that she would tell Nora the truth. It sickened him just thinking about it.

"She's dedicated to her work just like me, so you don't have to worry about my work ethic. She's nothing like you, Regina."

"How so?" the mayor mused.

"She doesn't play the games that you do, tugging onto people's hearts to get what you want. She's genuine and true to herself—something you'll never understand."

Graham didn't like how her smirk grew as she replied, "If only that were true. You see, Graham, no one's like that. If you really think she's been completely honest with you, then you're fooling yourself. Everyone lies to hide the truth, but eventually, it will come out sooner or later."

There was no way that was true. Nora would never lie to him, and even if she did, it most likely wasn't anything serious like what he did with Regina. Graham knew Regina was just trying to get into his head so she could strain his relationship with Nora. He wasn't going to let that happen, and he certainly wasn't going to let Regina intimidate him.

"No," Graham told her firmly. "I don't believe that. She's not conniving like you. You can talk about her all you want to me, but it won't change a thing."

"We shall see."

When Regina brushed past him, all Graham thought about was Nora. He didn't believe Regina at all. Nora may be naive, but there was hardly a bad bone in her body. Graham had complete faith in Nora. She would never do anything to betray him.

Past

Robin led Grim deeper into the forest with Akela trotting by Grim's side. Grim still couldn't believe that he met Robin again. They knew each other when Robin caught him by the lake as Grim helped his wolf mother clean her wound by sucking out poison after she was shot by an arrow. When Robin called out to him, Grim fled with his family. They then met again when Grim carried him away from an awful fight after Robin laid there unconscious with the sheriff of Nottingham ready to strike him down as Grim treated his wound.

"I never would have thought to see you again, Grim."

"Well I thought you'd be dead with your thievery," Grim retorted.

Robin chuckled at that. "No. Not yet. There's still plenty of work to be done for these people. They're all still suffering from King Richard's taxes, and the Sheriff of Nottingham does nothing but steal from them, so why not steal it back for them?"

Grim then looked over at the large, beastly man who beat him when he spoke, "Not to worry, Robin. We'll rob them blind and give all the money back to the people they've stolen."

"That's Little John," Robin told Grim, causing Grim to glance at him while Little John offered him a friendly smile. "He's been by my side for a while now. One of the most skilled men I came across."

"Until you came along," Little John scoffed. "You knocked me into the river, and I couldn't even swim."

"It was shallow enough for you to stand," Robin reminded him.

By the time they made it to Robin's camp, Grim saw nothing but tree houses as the men got to work building. The women were gathering food and were led up the steps to the tree houses so that they could take care of the sick elderly as Grim climbed with Robin and Little John. There were very few children at camp playing, maybe about four others. There was one boy though at one of the tree houses who ran over to Robin as Robin grinned from ear to ear and lifted him up.

"Have you behaved yourself while I was gone?" When the boy nodded his head, Robin set him back down. "Go on now. Go be with your friends." Graham speculated who the child was, and he was right when Robin turned to him. "My son, Roland. He's a spirited child just like his mother. I'm just glad that it hasn't broken after she was taken away to be executed."

"I'm sorry," Grim said.

"It's alright. At least I met one of my old friends again. I've even been searching for you so that I could recruit you to be part of my merry men, but you were nowhere to be found."

Grim knew why as he told him, "I was held captive by a queen."

Robin then went over to him to take his shoulder. "Well, you escaped now, which means you can join us and help us do good to the people here."

It wasn't as if Grim didn't want to join, but rather, he couldn't. Grim still had to save Odette. He knew Robin was going to be disappointed when he told him, "I can't. I have to go back to the Queen's castle. There's someone there who needs to be saved. The only reason why I didn't go back was because I knew we wouldn't make it far, so I wanted to find something that'll help me defeat her and the sorcerer who's helping her. I need something to stop their magic, and I won't stop until I find it."

Robin's eyes piqued with interest as he realized, "You must really care for this person if you're willing to risk your life."

"I wouldn't be here if it weren't for her."

"Her?" Little John grinned cheekily, causing Grim to narrow his eyes at him. "So it's a woman you're going after."

Robin then took Grim's shoulders and slowly walked with him across the bridge. "If you truly want to rescue this fair maiden, then allow us to assist you."

It was tempting, but this Grim's mission. He didn't want more people involved. If they did, then it only meant that they would get hurt, and Grim was not going to have their blood on his hands. They were all innocent people, and Rothbart definitely wouldn't hesitate to kill every last man, woman, and child if they interfered.

"No, I can't let you do that."

"Grim, you're not a lone wolf," Robin reminded him. "You can't do everything on your own."

"I don't care," Grim said firmly. "I know what they're like, and the man who's keeping her there, I know what he's like, and I'm not going to let anyone die because of me."

Robin sighed in defeat and stared at Grim to see if there was even a glimpse for him to change his mind, but when he saw that there wasn't, Robin told him, "Alright. There's a lake not too far from here, maybe about three miles down, and in that lake, is a giant squid."

"How would a squid help me?" Grim asked slightly annoyed that Robin wasn't getting to the point.

"It's not the squid itself but it's ink. It can freeze any powerful being for some time, allowing you to rescue your damsel and escape."

If what Robin said was true, then Grim needed to find that squid ink to stop Rothbart. He knew though that the squid ink would only help him in that moment, which was why once he escapes with Odette, then Rothbart won't stop coming after him. It meant that he needed to kill him while he was frozen, and Grim wouldn't hesitate to do it if it meant that she would be free from him.

Present

Graham and Emma headed inside Granny's Diner, but they were soon stopped by a mysterious stranger. The stranger was a man who was lean and wearing a leather jacket. Graham saw him around Storybrooke sometimes, but he never knew who he was. Emma seemed to know him though as the man smiled at her.

"I've been meaning to bump into you," the man said to Emma. "Matter of fact, I was hoping we could grab that drink you promised."

Graham just watched the exchange between the two as Emma smirked at him. "Is that you asking me out?"

"Well, if putting a label on it makes you feel more comfortable, sure. Let's call it a date."

Emma seemed somewhat interested, but at the same time, she was rather skeptical about this man, and Graham didn't blame her. No one had any idea who this man was, so it raised questions. From what Graham gathered though, he was a writer who came here to look for inspiration as Emma pointed out. The man, however, was a little persistent by saying that he was optimistic towards his date.

"See, I have a policy," Emma began, "I won't go out with guys who won't tell me their names. Find it weeds out the ones who keep secrets, like they're already married or they...store body parts in their freezer. It was nice talkin' to you."

As Emma and Graham made their way past him, Emma soon stopped when she heard him say, "It's August. August W. Booth."

"Really? With the middle initial?"

August smirked as he told her, "W's for Wayne. So there goes your reason for not meeting me here after work."

As Emma and Graham headed inside the diner, Graham couldn't help but glance back to see him hop on his motorcycle and revved the engine when he started it before driving off. Graham still had no idea who this man. When Graham got coffee once, he watched him flirting with Ruby before Granny told Ruby that she needed to work instead of fooling around.

When Emma opened the door for him, Graham raised a brow as he asked, "You know him?"

"Not really. I met him some time after you told me about the case you have against Amir."

Granny then handed Granny him his lunch after he called earlier so that he could spend time with Nora since he was on break, and he looked over to see Mary Margaret smiling at him and Emma, so Graham nodded his head at her in acknowledgement before he turned to Emma, "I'll see you later."

"Bye."

When Graham left, he headed towards Nora's shop and met her outside. She had a beaming smile on her face as she went over to him and gave him a kiss to which he accepted. He then took her hand and led her to the sheriff's department, but their smiles quickly faded when they saw Gold heading their way.

"Let's go," Graham gestured for them to walk to the other side.

Nora, however, stopped him. "No. I'm not going to make a scene."

It wasn't that Graham was worried that Nora would make a scene but rather Gold would. Gold was incredibly unpredictable and ruthless. If he made an enemy out of Nora, then he would no doubt treat her coldly after what he did to her.

"Miss Moon, a word?" Gold asked when he came closer to her.

Graham glanced at her, asking if it was alright. When she told him that it was okay, she went with Gold a few feet away from Graham. Graham didn't want her to go since he knew she would get upset if she spoke to Gold, and she had a vulnerability hidden beneath her strength. She may appear strong, but he knew that her heart couldn't take the betrayal if she ever confronted him, which was why she avoided Gold.

"I wanted to apologize for my actions," Gold said as soon as they were far enough so that Graham couldn't hear. "I was simply looking out for you."

"Were you?" Nora narrowed her eyes at him and crossed her arms to give herself some comfort. "Were you ever going to tell me what you did, or did you want to keep playing me for a fool?"

"I knew you would take it the wrong way, which is precisely why I never wanted to tell you that I sent you the flowers."

"I took it the wrong way? I understandexactlywhat you did." Nora felt her tears on the verge of falling when she heard his pathetic excuse as she added, "I cried all night because of what you did to me, and you had the nerve to listen to me without even telling me that it was all because of you."

Gold looked away for a moment when he saw her glassy eyes, but Nora didn't care. He really hurt her by playing with her heart like that. He may have shown her what was going on between Graham and Regina, but the way he did it was absolutely cruel.

"You're not even my father, so stop pretending to be," Nora told him bluntly, causing Gold to be conflicted to say something as he stood there with his lips slightly parting, almost taken by surprise.

Before she had a chance to walk away and head back to Graham, Gold stopped her when he told her firmly, "It's a shame really. After all that I've done and all of my efforts to show you the truth, you still stand by his side. He'll do nothing but harm you. OnlyIcan protect you."

She shook her head, not believing how overprotective he was. He sounded almost obsessed with her, and Nora didn't know to think. It almost scared her to hear him say that only he could protect her when all he did was damage her heart. Disappointment settled in her voice as it slightly broke when she spoke, "You're nothing but a coward."

Nora left him somewhat dumbfounded as he couldn't believe she stood up to him while Graham was proud of her. She then went back to Graham and told him that she wanted to go, so they left. Graham wrapped his arm around her and went across the street with her while Gold just stood there and watched her. Nora didn't even bother giving him a second glance. That was left to Graham as he glared at him. He wasn't going to allow Gold to put any more damage in her fragile heart. Graham was determined to protect her at all times.

Graham took her back to the sheriff station so they they could enjoy some time together, but when Graham started to take their lunch out of the bag from Granny's, he glanced at Nora and froze when he saw the look on her face. "Are you okay?"

"Yes." Graham, however, knew it was a lie though as she sighed in defeat and admitted, "No."

"You wanna talk about it?"

Nora leaned against his desk and looked down in disappointment as she thought about Gold. "I just still can't believe he would do something like that."

"Maybe he really is in love with you."

"That's not funny, Graham." Even though Graham joked to lighten the mood, it didn't have an effect on her. "I mean...I still don't understand why he did it. The way he spoke, it was like he was obsessed with me, and he's twisting words to make it seem like what he was doing was okay. To think all this time I've been defending him, but he showed his true colors."

"You don't have to worry about him anymore. He won't interrupt us anymore."

Nora gave him a sad smile since she was conflicted about it. It was strange. What Gold did was unforgivable, yet for some reason, Nora still felt this weird connection to him. It was similar to Graham's when she first met him, but it was a lot more different, almost as if she had known Gold her whole life, and that was what made the discovery of the lilies made it much more difficult for her to bear-almost painful. That was why Nora was glad she had Graham by her side since he was the only who could comfort her in her time of need.

"Come on. Let's eat," Graham said as he handed her grilled cheese to her.

She grinned cheekily, and they ate their lunch together. It was peaceful like this. They couldn't even help but spare a few glances at each other, causing Nora to chuckle a bit and Graham smiled as he shook his head at her behavior. They even talked a bit about how their days were which nothing much really happened. Just the same old lives they have been living.

When Nora looked at the clock and saw that she needed to head back soon, they threw their lunches away after they finished them, and Nora went over to Graham to say, "Well, this was nice. Thank you."

"Any time."

They both stared at each other, and their chemistry practically ignited when they both leaned in to kiss each other. It was slow at first, and it lasted for a few second before they pulled away with their lips barely brushing each other. However, they wanted to continue, so they did. Their lips soon found each other, and Nora wrapped her arms around Graham's neck as Graham held her close to him before lifting her onto his desk when he felt how intense their kiss was getting. They couldn't help themselves with how steamy their kiss was going to be as Nora opened her legs a bit for Graham to press himself against her, causing a moan to escape her lips. The heat was too much to bear, and they needed to stop, but they couldn't.

They quickly separated though as Nora gasped and jumped off his desk when they heard, "Oh my God!" Both Nora and Graham were breathing heavily, and they looked to see Emma looking away for them to allow them to collect themselves before apologizing, "Sorry. I should've come back later if I would've known you were doing...that."

Nora immediately regretted for Emma to catch them being so intimate in the open like that. "We're so sorry, Emma. We didn't know-"

"Oh, don't worry about it. I get it. There's no one around, and you both just...wanted some alone time together."

There was no doubt how awkward it was, and Graham looked absolutely annoyed that Emma interrupted them, but he also knew that he couldn't go so far with Nora in his office. In a way, it was somewhat a relief for him, but it was still annoying. At least Nora was a bigger person than him.

"We're sorry again, Emma." Nora then turned to Graham to tell him, "I should go."

"Alright." Graham nodded his head in understanding.

As Nora headed out of the sheriff's department, Emma smirked to herself and noticed Graham's scowl before telling him, "Okay. I should have known better."

"Let's just get back to work to get my mind off it."

Without another word, both Graham and Emma continued on with their door while Nora headed back to her shop. She unlocked the door, but her eyes furrowed in confusion when she realized that the door was already unlocked. Nora always locked the doors whenever she wasn't there. Her fears soon plagued her mind as she thought Amir may be inside.

Nora hadn't seen him since Valentine's Day, but it didn't mean that he wasn't on her radar. She had been terrified ever since that day when he cornered her in the bathroom at The Rabbit Hole. Not one person had any idea what she had been through. If Graham didn't come meet her in her apartment, she would have cried herself to sleep since she came to Storybrooke to get away from all of the abuse that she dealt with in her life. She certainly didn't want to go through it again.

When Nora went inside, nothing was out of the ordinary, so she slowly crept to the backroom when she noticed that the door was slightly ajar. She pushed it open just a bit and froze at what she saw. Her eyes widened, and her heart felt like it was going to burst out of her chest when saw dozens of pictures hanging from strings across the room, taped to the walls, and scattered all over the floor. They were all photos of herself with Amir in his office on the night where she measured him and he gave her the money for a new sewing machine.

First, Gold betrayed her with the lilies and now Amir had disgusting pictures of them together. Amir must have done this after she told him that no one would believe him if she said that nothing happened between them if he came out. If anyone found these, her life would be ruined. She wouldn't even know what Graham would think if he saw them. She needed to get rid of them, and she sure did by gathering every single one to throw them away in the trash bin in the back alley. However, she knew that if there were pictures, then she needed to go to the source. She needed to go to Amir to put a stop to this.

Past

When Grim headed towards the lake like where Robin instructed, he passed through the arch and came face to face with the lake. It was huge and it encompassed the whole area. It was also so dark that Grim couldn't see what was underneath. He looked around to see where the squid could go be, but he couldn't find it.

Akela then started barking, so he went over to him to tell him to hush so that he wouldn't disturb the creature beneath the shallows. He continued to look, but there was still nothing. Grim tried going around only to stop halfway when he still couldn't see anything below. He thought that perhaps he was at the wrong lake.

"Let's go, Akela. There's nothing here."

As soon as he turned away, Akela growled, causing him to turn to ask him what was wrong, but before he could, something pulled him to the ground. Grim looked to see a long, sinuous tentacle around his ankle and dragged him towards the lake. Grim wasted no time pulling his sword out to sever the tentacle holding him. Not long after, many more tentacles rippled out of the lake and reached for Grim.

The dark water boiled as a hideous beast sprung out. The giant squid carried menacing eyes, and its large head completely overwhelmed Grim. Its tentacles lashed out at Grim and was ready to thrash at Akela when Akela couldn't stop barking, so Grim told him to move back. When it grabbed Grim again by constricting his arms to his body, it raised him up before releasing a ferocious yell. It dangled him above its head, and Grim saw the amount of teeth it had when it opened its mouth.

Just when Grim thought it was going to be over, an arrow flew and hit the squid straight in its eye, dropping Grim. He fell into the water, and Grim hurried to grab his sword so that he could hack off its limbs. The squid cried and screeched and was ready to dive back in, so Grim grabbed it and held on tight as it sunk into the water before rising back up when Grim stabbed it between its eyes. With one final yell, Grim plunged his sword through its eye socket as it screeched one last time before Grim drew it out to stab it again to make sure it sunk deeper.

Grim then fell when the squid plummeted on its side dead, and Grim huffed out breaths, relieved that it was all over. He then looked to see Akela going towards him, so Grim petted his head before Grim noticed his saviors. He couldn't believe it when he recognized one of them. Snow White was there standing in front of him with a bow in her hand and dressed in rags. Her companion was a woman wearing a long, red cape.

"What are you doing here?" Grim breathed out.

"I should be asking you that," Snow said. "You're no longer serving the Queen?"

"If I did, I wouldn't be here."

Grim then looked back at the squid and went over to it, while Snow's companion told her that they need to leave before there are guards coming. Grim then found out that her name was Red when Snow told her that it was okay. Snow then watched Grim extract squid ink from the giant squid and stored it in a small pouch so that he would have enough to slow down as many enemies as he could.

"What are you doing?"

"Collecting squid ink," Grim answered Snow.

"I see that, but why?"

He had enough of her questions as he finished and put the pouch away before going towards her. "If I'm going back to the Queen's castle, then I need something to help me fight against her and the sorcerer, Rothbart."

Red raised her brow in speculation, "You're going against the Queen and Rothbart? Why would you go on a suicide mission?"

"Because there's someone there-someone I need to save."

Snow and Ruby then led him away as they caught their dinner and ate when they noticed the light setting, so they needed to set up camp. Grim then told them everything when Snow questioned what happened and how he escaped. He was detailed in his story by telling her that he lost his heart to the Queen after he let Snow flee before talking about Odette by saying who she was and why Grim owed a debt to her.

"She risked her own life to get her heart back for you?" Snow asked.

When Grim stayed silent, confirming it and staring at the fire, Red then commented, "Must be some woman for her to go out of her way to save you."

"She is," Grim admitted.

Snow stared at him intently as she realized something. "You must really care for her."

Grim looked at her and started to think about Odette. They've been through so much together, and when he heard her story, he heard how trapped she was just like him. She was a bird in a cage and only her captors had the key. That was why Grim needed to get it to free her so that she wouldn't suffer anymore, and in that moment, his heart beated when he saw an image of her smile. He wanted to see her smile again. Grim wanted to see her again, and he was willing to do whatever it took to make her happy.

Present

Nora wasted no time going inside The Moonlight Mirage. Many of the employees stared at her in disbelief as she came in like a raging lunatic. She didn't care how she looked though as she made her way down the hall and ignored Mr. Smith telling her constantly that she wasn't allowed back there. Nora then bursted through Amir's office and found him sitting at his desk with his laptop open. Instead of appearing surprised, he had a devilish glint in his eyes, and it made Nora even more furious.

She wasted no time going over to Amir to slam her hands on his desk as his eyebrows shot up in piqued interest. "You took pictures of us?"

Amir gestured to Smith that everything was fine as he raised a hand to him, telling him to calm down before he smirked at Nora and admitted, "A video actually."

She shook her head, not believing that he would do this, and Amir almost found humor to see her so upset. "Well, congratulations. You're going to have to talk to the sheriff's department about this."

Before Nora had a chance to leave, Amir stopped her by coldly saying, "Are you sure you wanna do that?" She watched him go around his desk and leaned against it as he warned her, "'Cause if you do, then what's going to stop me from displaying the photos all around Storybrooke. Hell. I'll even make sure that the video's spread around so that everyone could see that pure, innocent Nora Moon is really just a freak in the sheets. I'll be honest here. I don't want to ruin your image, but it won't just be yourself that you'll hurt, but what Humbert?" Nora froze when she realized it as he reminded her, "How do you think he'll take it when he finds out what you did behind his back. A man completely over the moon for you, and you sleep with the first man who gave you that opportunity as soon as he did something wrong."

Nora was absolutely afraid of Amir when she realized his true intentions. Amir was playing her this whole time to get something on her. Now that he had it, he was going to blackmail her with the information he had. It made her feel so sick.

"So, here's the deal, Moon," Amir smirked wickedly. "Whatever I want from you, you'll do it. No questions. No refusals. Try to go against me, and I'll make your life a living Hell that you couldn't even dream of."

Right then and there, she knew she needed to do whatever Amir said. She didn't have any other choice. Amir was the one pulling the strings, and it terrified her even more. Nora wanted to get out of this mess, but it was all her fault to begin with. Now, she had to deal with the consequences.

Hi readers! I know this is one of the shorter chapters, but there wasn't too much going on, but now we see how Amir is getting some power over Nora, and we saw plenty of confrontations like Regina with Graham and Gold with Nora. I hope you enjoyed the chapter overall. Stay tuned for more chapters heading your way, and please leave me a review to let me know what you think and what your expectations are!