"You're trying to tell me that you two went from being completely and utterly sober to being flat-on-your-ass drunk without so much as a sip of alcohol. Somehow I don't think that's the whole story." Mary Margaret snapped, crossing her arms before the two of us. Graham looked like he'd just gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar. I'd venture to say my expression didn't look much different.

"Well, that may not have entirely been the case," I responded and Mary Margaret sighed disapprovingly, "We had a couple drinks, but we weren't even that drunk. We were a little tipsy. We fell asleep in the square and when I woke up, Graham was gone and you were pulling me to the car."

"And the only thing I remember is being pulled off the countertop at Granny's by that guy." Graham countered, "Everything in between, I was completely blacked out."

"You don't think Gold had anything to do with it." Mary Margaret questioned.

"No, I think Gold has something to do with everything. But don't you find it weird that some dude from across the street tried to play good Samaritan and bring Graham back?"

"Maybe he was just being neighborly, Emma." She countered.

I shook my head, beyond belief that she still had that much hope for the people of this town, "Really, Mary Margaret. Gold has the dirt on every single person in this town. Think about it. He's probably got something on this guy, too. And Kye probably doesn't have the wits about him to challenge Gold. He probably thinks he's all on his own. He will do whatever Gold tells him to until he sees that there are others who have Gold's number."

"You think we can get him on our side?" she asked.

"You said it yourself. He could be useful. He could know something. Even if he doesn't know anything, we still need bodies on our side. We're revving up for a war. Wars required armies."

"All due respect, Ladies," Graham interjected, "but if this is the only plan we've got, I think we need to take a step back and consider the possibility that this guy could be bad news. I mean, he was a pirate. If he remembers that, or if Gold told him about the other realm, there's no telling what he'd do."

"I think we need to reference the book before we make any rash decisions." Mary Margaret agreed, "As much as I want to have this guy on our side, we definitely need to do our research first."

"Research," I grumbled under my breath, realizing how ridiculous a term that was, "Right, whatever. We've got to wait until Regina leaves the house, though. I'm going to go in alone and you all can wait for me in the car."

"No, we shouldn't take the car. Everybody knows your Bug, Emma. We'll walk."

We had just gotten to the main square, when Graham wrapped an arm around my waist and urged me to move quicker, "Don't look behind you, but it looks like our good Samaritan dropped by for another visit." He whispered, "God, we need to know who he is. We need the book."

"How about this? I've got a better idea." I took an unexpected turn, causing Graham to be thrown off his balance. We slowed to a halt I ducked behind the alleyway's dumpster, pulling Mary Margaret and Graham down with me. True to form, Kye followed a few meter behind and I dove out from behind the dumpster, pulling my pistol from its holster, "Do not move."

Of course, I should've expected that he wouldn't have listened. He did a 180 and took off down the street. I chased after him, followed closely by Mary Margaret and Graham. Within moments, I got a hold on his shirt sleeve and yanked him to the ground, pressing my weapon to his temple, "Who the hell are you?" I whispered.

"I know what you want. We want the same thing."

"Oh, I'm not too sure about that. You work for Gold."

"Emma, people are staring." Mary Margaret whispered, yanking at my elbow, "This isn't the way you want to do this."

"I'm making progress. That book isn't going to help us with this." I snapped at her, before turning my attentions back to Kye, "You're going to stand up slowly and walk into the alleyway. Do not make a sound."

Once we'd all four casually made our way out of eyesight, I continued in my interrogation, "I take it you know something. About where we all came from."

"Mr. Gold told me the basics of it all, but he didn't tell me who I was. I figured the hand had something to do with it, though. So I can assume I'm either Captain Hook or the Demon Barber of Fleet Street." He rolled his eyes.

"Very funny. Well, your common sense deduced that you were in fact Captain Hook. We're from your land, too. We're actually pretty important. So we'll cut you a deal. If you can find some way to get us back there – in our current states – if you can find some way to convince Gold – then we will make you head of the Royal Guard. I assume being a pirate has given you some attributes that would be useful in the position."

Mary Margaret's eyes bugged out as she grabbed my shoulder, "Emma, we did not discuss this. You cannot barter with the safety of our kingdom."

"You just watch me," I murmured back, "Listen, Jones. If we return back to the Forest today, we will all be restored to the state in which we left there. Which means that I will be an infant and my son will cease to exist. And that can't happen. You've got to find some way to get Gold to work around that rule."

"And how do you propose I do that?" he inquired. I could feel his conscious relax as I holstered my weapon once again.

"I don't know, Man. You're a pirate. You figure it out."

A/N: Please leave a comment and let me know what you think! I'm still kind of trying to get back into the swing of things.