<div align="center">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/e/e8/Oncebanner.jpg)</div><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 22pt;">H</span><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 13pt;">e was convincing. Stealing a quick look in the direction of two retreating figures - one of which had been her companion for the evening - she mulled over the events of the past few hours and tried to come up with any indication that the young man was disturbed or anything other then what he appeared to be…but she kept coming up empty. Neither was it the first time in the latest few hours that she had engaged in said activity. But no matter how many times Emma went over it, the results were the same…<br/><br/>He believed every word of what he was saying.<br/><br/>‘He’ would be the young man that had appeared at her door in Boston earlier. ‘He’ said his name was Henry and that he was the biological son she had given up so many years ago. As jarring as that piece of information was, he was just getting started with the bombshells. Apparently he lived in a small little coastal town called Storybrooke and he was absolutely convinced that his adoptive mother was some sort of evil queen and all the residents within were actually characters from fairy tales and legends! ‘He’ needed her help…or so he said.<br/><br/>The logical being inside of her screamed that there was simply no way anything Henry had told her could be remotely possible. So why was it that she felt so compelled to help him? Emma had internally reasoned that it wasn’t irrational that she wanted to make sure he made it back home safely. Even if nothing he said was true…what kind of person would she be if she didn’t at least help him get back to the people that cared about him? If he were her child, wouldn't she want someone else....<br/><br/>Nevermind that line of thinking. He was claiming to be exactly that.<br/><br/>Fairy tales? Seriously? <br/><br/>The drive took but a few hours and before she had really had a chance to digest what she was being told, the mysterious Storybrooke materialized before her eyes. Oddly enough, it looked like every other small sleepy town she had ever seen. Granted…it was far into the night but nothing struck her as particularly unusual. Fog hung lazily in the air like thick drapes of silk…as it so often did in harbor towns. The quiet was eerie but somehow instead of it feeling odd, it was somewhat soothing. Things in the city were rarely so calm and it was nice to be able to hear one’s own thoughts for once. On the other side of that coin was the thought that many people that enjoyed larger cities perhaps were hiding from said thoughts so maybe they embraced the noise?<br/><br/>Musings for another time.</span><br/><br/><br/><div align="center">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/d/da/Storybrooke.jpg)</div><br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 22pt;">H</span><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 13pt;">enry hadn’t wanted to be dropped off at home so Emma drove them into the heart of the town, hoping inspiration would strike in the form of another apparent suggestion. It did…just not in the form she had been expected. A gentleman and his dog had wandered past them - possibly on an evening stroll - and it was evident from their greetings that Henry and this “Dr. Hopper” were acquaintances. A few more moments of conversation went by and a compromise was struck. If she promised to stay in town overnight, Henry would go home. Watching the pair walk away was difficult…but not in the way that would be most apparent. Emma was not the type of person that allowed others to dictate what she did…but in this case, she was making an exception. There was something ‘off’ about the situation and Emma never backed down from a mystery. She strove to understand things around her and this was no different. There was nothing back in Boston that needed her immediate attention so a few days poking around couldn’t hurt anything.<br/><br/>For the moment, all she seemed to need was a place to stay. Dr.Hopper had mentioned a place named “Granny’s” and given some general directions, also mentioning that having strangers in town was something highly unusual. It wasn’t hard to find the place and in a matter of minutes she found herself in a comfortably quaint inn-like lobby. Granny herself was a fairly no-nonsense type of woman….and Emma could appreciate that. She asked no questions and simply handed her the key to her room. It was possible, of course, that the lateness of the hour contributed to the older woman’s indifference on the matter of the town newcomer. Sleep and the dawn of a new day would probably bring out the town’s curiosity...but that would lead to a new problem.<br/><br/>What was she going to tell them?<br/><br/>Unknown to Emma, her decision to stay in Storybrooke had caused at least one change. The broken clock in the city tower…moved forward. It was not something Emma herself would ever notice but there were certainly people in town that would...and would know what it signified.</span><br/><br/><br/><div align="center">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/4/45/Clocktower.jpg)</div><br/>………<br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 22pt;">M</span><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 13pt;">orning came with birds chirping and sun shining. Emma recalled Granny saying something about her diner next door and decided that it would probably be a good idea to get some food in her stomach before doing anything else. Grabbing her jacket, she left the coziness of her room and ventured downstairs to the entrance to the diner. Busy…but not overly so. Granny acknowledged her presence with a nod and waved her to a seat at the counter. Noting to herself that the older woman’s demeanor apparently didn’t change with the time of day, she lowered herself onto the stool and began to look over the menu.</span><br/><br/><br/><div align="center">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/0/06/Grannys.jpg)</div>