A/N: I'm back! It's been way too long since I last updated this, I know. I apologize to anyone who was reading this. However, my schedule is still crazy, so I may not be able to post as often as I did before the hiatus. However, I won't be discontinuing the story. Feedback is still great to receive, and I still don't own Once Upon a Time.

-Chapter Six-

A long time ago, somebody had once taught Regina the importance of names, over and over again. That if you knew nothing more than their name, you held an undeniable power over them. You would always remember it, it could never be taken away like money or land. If nothing else, you would always have at least one last measure of protection.

At the time, she hadn't fully believed him. Power couldn't be gained so easily, it had to be fought for. It took hard work and the using of one's talents to gain it-it wasn't something that could be handed over so easily, over something as simple and subtle as their name.

But at this particular moment, even she had to begrudgingly admit that her former mentor had been right, at least in the case of the new people in town. There was so much she didn't know about them. To her, they had the potential to become threats. They were dangerous. The wild cards in a game rigged in her favor.

And she didn't even know their names. Now, after all those years, she finally understood a use for what he had said. Without their names, she had no way of learning anything about them. And it wasn't as if she could just walk up to them and ask. If-God forbid-they had something to do with the Enchanted Forest, they may become suspicious. These were the people who had gotten past her barriers and potentially restarted time, after all. Dealing with them directly could get messy.

So she had to do go about it in a different way, one which led her to the foyer of Storybrooke's sole inn. She knew they were currently staying there-it didn't take much to find that out, for gossip had spread rather quickly about what was probably a monumental event to them-new people in town. All she had to do was ask around, and soon she knew where they were, although no names had come up.

She had been lead straight to Granny's Inn. Shocking. However, she didn't want to come here looking like an idiot only to find they weren't staying there at all. That was why she had gone through all the trouble last night of talking to people whom she would normally never talk to.

She could hear grandmother and granddaughter arguing amongst themselves-again-as her eyes slowly rolled up to the inn's ceiling in impatience. She couldn't see either person, but the yelling coming from the general direction of the nearby staircase leading up to the second floor alerted everyone in the vicinity of their presence. Not that there was anybody there to hear except for herself of course. The lobby was otherwise empty, which was a good thing.

She didn't want them to hold up her little visit and make her late to work. She did have a town to run after all, and her errand really shouldn't take much longer than a few minutes.

The two voices gradually grew quieter as they moved up the staircase; for they weren't aware of the mayor's presence and continued their daily fight.

"You were out all last night, Ruby! You knew you had work today!"

"I'm not a child anymore. Why is it so hard to imagine that? If I want to go out and have fun sometimes, is that so horrible?"

There was silence, and then the wolf girl-it was strange, that after all these years, Regina still thought of her as the "wolf girl", she thought to herself as she glanced at her watch-spoke again.

"I should've moved to Boston."

"Well, I'm sorry that my heart attack interfered with your plans to..."

The voices echoed off the walls, growing even quieter, and then became completely inaudible after the slam of a door. They had gone upstairs, far enough out of the way to allow Regina to do what she came here for.

She walked immediately to the tall but narrow wooden desk the grandmother usually stood behind when taking in visitors, the one that stood in front of a row of decorated room keys hanging on metal rings mounted on the wall. Out of the twelve rings, only one was empty.

She crouched down behind the desk, pulling one of its drawers open to reveal the dusty ledger book that held the names of every person who had ever come to stay in Storybrooke, which wasn't many.

She smiled, leather-gloved hands reaching forward and removing the book from the drawer, moving carefully so as not to get too much dust on her clothes. While still remaining crouched behind the desk, she opened the book and flipped through the age-yellowed but blank pages.

She stopped suddenly when she saw writing in the book, penned cursive letters forming names and dates and telling Regina exactly what she needed to know.

She mouthed the names in the book silently to allow herself to memorize them, then shut it and put it back in the drawer, remembering to close it and leave everything exactly as it was when she entered so as not to generate suspicion among the owner.

She then stood up, quickly coming out from behind the desk and exiting the inn before Miss Lucas, also known as Granny, or her granddaughter found out about her visit.

They didn't. Regina had came in and left after only a few minutes, and they were none the wiser. Sneaking around may have not been ideal, but she might not have given her the information Regina needed willingly, and that wasn't a chance she was willing to take.

She walked to her car to exit the inn, which she had parked on the side of the building so as not to be noticed. She climbed inside the driver's seat, although not yet bothering to do so much as put the key into the ignition. There was something she had to do first.

Instead, she reached down to the car floor to find her purse, pulling her cell phone out of one of its neatly organized compartments.

Flipping it open and dialing a number, she waited as the ringing began and ended after only two rings.

"Regina? Is that you?"

"Sidney? Yes. There's something I'd like you to do for me,"

"Of course," came the reply. "Name it, and I'll do it."

"Somebody's in town. Someone new. They were parked outside my house a few mornings ago, and they seem suspicious. What I want you to do is to find everything you can about the names Emma and Neal Sheppard. Databases, records, I don't care. Just find out who these people are and what they're doing here as soon as possible."

"Isn't that illegal?"

"That's why I'm coming to you."

There was a short pause before he spoke again, the determination in his voice clearly evident.

"I'll do it. By the time I'm done, you'll know everything you need to know about this person."

"I know I can count on you, can't I?" she said with a hint of fake sweetness.

"Of course."

"Thank you, Sidney."

She knew he would probably get done the thing that would be difficult and time-consuming for her to do herself-search the private databases for information on these people. He may not have been the most competent person around, but it was hard to find somebody as blindly loyal and determined as Sidney Glass.

While some people in Storybrooke, like the former genie himself, admired her, some disliked her, and some were outright scared of her. While she held a lot of power, she could never completely forget the fact that none of it was real. Absolutely nothing in the years since she cast the curse had been real. Everybody's opinion of her-and opinion in general-had been written into the curse.

She held more control over them than any of the residents of Storybrooke could even begin to comprehend. She had won her happy ending, wanting for nothing.

But returning to her large, empty house at night had left an aching loneliness in her heart ever since Owen had left. Her duties as mayor and...visits...with Sheriff Graham no longer distracted her enough to keep busy. And going through the same routine every day for years had left her growing bored and stagnant.

Although she tried to ignore it, there was a small part of her that secretly wished for something, anything, to change, and for her to not be alone anymore.

Well, she had gotten her wish. Something had changed in Storybrooke. The clock tower, which was visible from the empty spare room in the mansion, was still moving forward. Things had begun to shift, and while the changes were barely noticeable at this point, they could become more shaken up if not dealt with immediately. Her perfectly created world could come tumbling around her, and she would be left with truly nothing.

She would rather be lonely and bored than let that happen. The people in town, especially the girl, this Emma with her resemblance to Snow, had in fact brought change to Storybrooke, but not in the way Regina wanted. Emma, in the short time after entering Storybrooke, had managed to worry the mayor deeply.

Hopefully, she would be gone soon. Her and the other person and that stupid car. But just in case she decided to stay even longer, Regina would be one step ahead of her. She could possibly find something, anything, in the records that could confirm who she really was.

Either way, these people that had arrived in Storybrooke almost a week ago would not worry her for much longer. She would stop this as soon as possible before things got out of hand.

...

The shrill ringing of the phone in Regina's pocket went off without warning, breaking the otherwise quiet room. Its dark color matched the sleek blacks, whites, and the occasional hints of red of the Mayor's personal office, where she sat doing daily paperwork. She was almost done for the day, and she would soon return to the mansion for the night.

Regina had a feeling about who it was, seeing as they had called her cell during work hours rather than the regular phone on her desk where all job-related calls went. She fished it out of her pocket and answered on the first ring, her voice lacking in her usual professionalism.

"Hello?"

"Yes? It's Sidney."

Her voice lowered. It was about time he called. "You're late. Well?"

"I believe you're going to be very pleased, Regina. It took some time, but I did some searching, and as it turns out..."

"What did you find?"

"I was just about to tell you that. As I was saying, I found some interesting things in the records about these people. Apparently, the girl, Emma, was abandoned as a baby, left on the side of a freeway, which wasn't too far from here, and was found by a seven-year-old-boy. This was about eighteen years ago, almost to the day. After that, she went into the foster system. Did you know she went through fifteen different foster homes throughout her entire childhood? She never seemed to stay in one place for long. Anyway, she left at age sixteen, and..."

"Is there anything else?"

"I was getting to that. After she left the foster system, a few months ago, she became involved in a watch heist. Helped cover up the other person's crime. Neal Cassidy is his full name. As of now, they are both wanted by police and have changed their names. That's why it took so long for me to get this information," Sidney continued. The excitement was audible in his voice, as if he had discovered gold instead of hard-to-locate records. As editor of the Storybrooke Mirror, the only newspaper in town, there was nothing he loved more than finding a good story. Which was a difficult thing to do in a town like this.

A smirk slowly spread across Regina's face. "You've proven to be very valuable, Sidney."

"Why...um, thank you, and..."

She snapped the phone shut, her head practically spinning with the information she'd learned.

This girl was abandoned on a freeway. As a baby. Eighteen years ago. Around the time she cast the curse that brought everyone here to begin with. Almost the exact same day. And now she's back.

If there were any doubts about who she was, they had been eradicated. Emma may not look like much of anything, but she could be the one who would take away everything she had.

If the people here remembered who they really were, they would be out for blood. They would kill her, or imprison her. They would lock her in a cell somewhere away from their sight. She would be alone, with nothing but her own thoughts to keep her company. They would tell her how she failed to win even one time. How she failed to avenge Daniel's death, even after all these years. How she failed to do anything right. The thoughts would swirl around her head repeatedly as she sat in a cell until her end, powerless, while the people who made her the way she was walked free.

No. That wasn't going to happen. That would require her to accept defeat. And she would never do such a thing.

Besides, she had the advantage. She now possessed more knowledge about the people than she expected to find. As it turned out, they had apparently gotten into some trouble before coming here. This would be too easy.

Someday, maybe she would give into the emptiness she felt and do something about it, but that day was not today. The new people who had came to Storybrooke and had gotten under her skin from the moment she met them would be in jail-or would flee town, at least-very shortly.

She had been toying with the idea of adopting a child to raise as her own for awhile now. Maybe after order had been restored, she would do just that. She'd finally have somebody who would love her without knowledge of her past, and would fill the void left by the curse. Even if she wasn't considered to be "mother material" by some. She could create a happy ending all her own.

She would fix the only obstacle in her plan soon. Tomorrow morning, she would pay those people a special visit.