Once Upon a Time in Storybrooke - OUAT DR

Chapter 16 - A Framing Most Foul

I told Henry I'd be right back and went over to the man, giving him a tip that he may want to offer his legal services to Mary Margaret, who was being framed quite obviously and was currently in a jail cell at the sheriff's station. He seemed to take my recommendation seriously and left not long after.

I got to helping Henry look for answers in the book and he asked me if I really believed the book was real or if I was one of those people that needed proof. I explained that I was a bit of both – someone who had first-hand encounters and lived a life in the Enchanted Forest but came over in the curse and told me it was real, I might believe them. But with proof? Proof and evidence were things you couldn't ignore. So, I didn't necessarily fully believe, but I didn't fully not-believe either, and he seemed happy to accept that answer.

Honestly, the proof and evidence Henry had for his belief that the book was real, well, it was almost as staggering as the frame job being done to poor Mary Margaret right now, I thought to myself as Henry combed through the book for answers. 

Henry must have gotten an idea because he ran off, telling me to meet him at the loft in an hour. I left Granny's and ran into August once more, almost as if he had been waiting for me to emerge from the little diner. He invited me out for a drink at a location of his choice the next evening. I hesitated, but he said he'd take me on the bike and we'd go somewhere new and, well, it had been a long time since I'd been on a motorcycle, so I accepted. I mean, why not?

I left August and checked in at work – the poor Office Manager was once again behind on her uploads to the website but wouldn't allow me to help so I had the day free. I checked my watch and decided to head over to the loft early, sitting at the top of the stairs when Henry came running up with a big smile on his face. I asked what he found and he just told me to wait and he'd explain once Emma got there.

We didn't have to wait long. Emma came up the stairs less than fifteen minutes later, files in hand, looking conflicted. Henry wasted no time telling her he had proof, pulling out a huge ring of keys from his jacket.

Fuck, he stole keys from his mom, the mayor, I thought to myself. I couldn't decide if I was impressed or upset but whatever the case it didn't look good. I immediately put my hands up in a "don't look at me I had no idea" gesture but Henry continued on, explaining that this was how his mom had framed Ms. Blanchard and placed the hunting knife in the apartment. 

When Emma asked if he stole them he said "Yeah, the book said they could open any door" and I stood up, stepping out of the way so Emma could come all the way up the stairs. I shook my head, realizing now what Henry must have found in the book when he'd left. Kind of weird that the Evil Queen in his book and the mayor both had a huge ring of keys, though. Or was it?

Emma didn't believe the keys would even fit the lock, but Henry insisted on trying them anyway. Emma and I watched as he tried one by one to unlock the apartment door with the keys but to no avail. Emma tried to talk some sense into him but he insisted she try one more key. 

Exhasperated she took the key ring from Henry, picked a key at random, and sure as shit the key Emma picked amongst the hundred or so keys on the ring actually unlocked the door to the loft.

Did Regina actually frame Mary Margaret for the murder of Kathryn? Could the mayor have really done that to her friend just to frame a schoolteacher? Of course, the Evil Queen would do all those things and more to get back at Snow White...

My mind was racing, I felt like I was going crazy. Of course, it couldn't be real. Mary Margaret couldn't be Snow White, Regina couldn't be the Evil Queen, it was all nonsense and the very creative imagination of a ten-year-old kid. And a 30-something--year-old-writer, I remembered, thinking back to August and Henry's talk at Granny's.

Emma seemed to be just as shocked as I was while Henry was going on and on about how it proved his mom framed Ms. Blanchard and the storybook was real. Emma got a call and sent Henry on home before his mom realized he was gone, telling me she'd catch up with me later that night.

Emma did end up calling later that night and asked to come upstairs – already outside my apartment. She had come over to talk in person, not wanting to risk telling me anything over the phone given how far Regina's reach could go. I let her in and she told me, off the record of course, that the heart had been identified as Kathryn's, which meant Kathryn was dead, and Mary Margaret was in a hell of a lot deeper shit than she already had been. 

I asked if Mary Margaret knew yet but Emma said no, she was told by Mr. Gold not to talk to his client, but she was going to tell her in the morning - rules be damned. She was being forced to move forward with the case despite knowing Mary Margaret was being framed and somehow, Regina was behind it. Emma was going to find a way to save her, and I assured her I knew she'd find a way and I would help– somehow, someway, we'd be able to prove Mary Margaret was being framed.

Emma told me as she was leaving that she was planning on telling Mr. Gold, Mary's lawyer, about her suspicions the next day. I wished her luck and told her I'd do anything in my power to help save our friend.

The next day at work I was scanning papers and trying to figure out what I could do to help save Mary Margaret. Honestly, it was hard to believe all of this was even happening in such a small out-of-the-way town, and how well everything lined up with the storybook and Henry's theories. 

Something was definitely off about the town, about this frame job with Mary Margaret and Regina's involvement, and I was determined to figure out the answers.

With everything going on, it made me nervous about what this little outing with August was going to look like, that it was an unnecessary distraction. August had seemed off - as if he had something important he needed to tell me. 

Whatever it was, I wasn't sure I was ready for it.