The Thief Who Stole her Heart

6

Emma's POV

After our "family outing", Neal seemed to be coming up with more and more excuses just to see Henry and me. I appreciated him stepping up, but I didn't like the moments where we were alone together. It felt too much like before, and I wasn't opening up that door again, ever. I just couldn't. There would be nothing between Neal and I. Or at least that's what I told myself. However, my heart and Mary Margaret felt differently.

In order to avoid Neal and her pressuring me, I threw myself into work at the Sheriff's station. And by work I meant eating grilled cheese while pretending to go over old cases. Hey, don't judge me.

As I was putting away a case file, I heard footsteps behind me. It was Neal.

"Neal what are you doing here?" I asked startled. He smiled and held up two cups.

"I figured you could use this." He answered and handed me a cup. I slowly reached for it and the smell of hot chocolate and cinnamon hit my nostrils instantly. He remembered. And while I hated to admit it, I was happy that he did. I thanked him while trying my best to appear nonchalant.

"So what are you working on?" Neal asked as he pulled a chair up beside me.

"You know I can't discuss anything with you; you're a civilian." I replied. He placed his hand on his chest as he pretended to be offended.

"Ouch," He joked. Laughter had escaped my lips before I could stop it. I shouldn't have laughed. He shouldn't have been there. What was going on?

"What's that?" Neal asked and pointed to a picture on my desk.

I looked in the direction of his finger and it was a picture of two new visitors in Storybrooke. I knew for sure that they weren't from the Enchanted Forest, and they hadn't originally been on my radar. That was until I bumped into the woman, Tamara, at Granny's who dropped a list with Storybrooke residents and their fairy tale identities on it. She looked guilty, but gave me some lame excuse. Ever since then, I had my doubts about her. The other person in the picture was Greg. He seemed harmless at first. We thought he was just a drunk driver who crashed into our town and would be on his way. The problem was that he seemed determined to stick around and I spotted him and Tamara around town together.

"Oh," I said and put the picture back into the folder beside it. "Nothing..." I said evasively.

I looked at Neal to see if he was buying it and to my surprise, he looked worried.

"Neal?" I called him. He blinked before looking at me.

"Hmm?" He said and took a sip from his cup.

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

"Nah, I was just curious," He said with a forced laugh. "Who are they?" He asked.

I knew something was up, but I didn't push it.

"Just two new people. I've been trying to place them, but I can't. No one seems to know them." I answered.

He nodded his head.

"Do you, do you know them?" I asked. He had actually grown up there and there was a chance he had seen them around if I was mistaken.

I picked the picture up and showed it to him. He looked at it and quickly looked away, shaking his head.

"Never seen 'em," He mumbled. Now I was sure that he was lying, and it made me angry.

"What are you hiding Neal?" I asked as I put the picture away again. He looked surprised.

"What are you talking about?" He asked.

"You know them, don't you? It's written all over your face!" I yelled.

"Emma I--, okay I do know her." He admitted at last.

"How?" I demanded to know.

"It doesn't matter." He dismissed quickly. But it did matter to me. Were they all working together? I tried to put together the pieces in my head and hide my jealously at the same time.

"It does. They have been sneaking around Neal. They are up to something and now I think you're in on it." I shouted accusingly. Hurt, genuine hurt, spread across his face. Part of me felt guilty, but I tried to ignore it. I was the sheriff and I would do whatever it took to keep the town safe.

Neal's POV

I felt as though Emma had just slapped me after hinting that I was conspiring with Tamara and some other guy. It hurt more than seeing Tamara, my ex-fiancee', in a picture with another guy. I would worry about who he was and their relationship later though. My only concern was calming Emma down and convincing her that I had nothing to do with whatever she was thinking.

"Emma she's...she's my---

"Spit it out Neal!" Emma demanded.

"She's my ex-fiancee." I admitted. It was no point in beating around the bush. My lies, or withholding of the truth, finally caught up to me. I would rather come clean now in hopes that Emma would somehow be understanding than letting it blow up in my face later. Maybe, just maybe, this wouldn't undo everything we had been working towards. What that was exactly, I still wasn't sure.

Emma's face went pale and she was silent. She just stared at me as she tried to process what I had just told her.

"That doesn't make any sense..." Emma whispered as she looked away from me. I swear I could hear pain in her voice.

"I broke things off with her Emma. She shouldn't even be here, but she wouldn't leave. I guess he's why." I said and nodded towards the picture in the closed folder.

Silence fell over us awkwardly after that. My mind was occupied with wondering what Emma was thinking.

"Do you know him?" Emma asked tightly.

"No," I responded honestly. "I'm curious about that too."

Emma didn't comment on my answer. I reached over and grabbed the file. She looked alarmed, but didn't stop me.

I opened it and saw her hand written notes along with a few other pictures of Tamara and this guy. Was he the reason she stayed? A dozen or so questions popped in my head and I wanted to get down to this just as badly as Emma.

"I can talk to her." I offered.

"No," Emma said surprisingly fast. I was taken back.

"We can't let her know we are on to them. I will handle it and if I need help, then I'll ask David," She explained.

"She trusts me Emma. I can be the inside guy or whatever." I told her.

"I don't know what they are up to. Like I said, we can't let her know we are on to her." Emma insisted.

"She won't know. She trusts me and I want to help Emma. Let me." I pleaded with her.

"Fine," Emma agreed at last.

"But be careful," she warned. I reassured her that I would be. She told me to try to figure out her relationship with the guy; Greg was his name. I told her that I would get to the bottom of it and said goodbye.

As I was going home, I wondered who he was myself and what type of relationship he and Tamara had. Were they friends or something more? Was I just a key to getting her to Storybrooke? Nothing was making sense. I pushed the questions aside and was just grateful Emma didn't push me away. I couldn't take things falling apart between us again.