{ enchanted forest }

18. { selfless, brave and true }

David had stood up early that day so he could make Mary Margaret breakfast in bed. Emma came downstairs, probably from waking Henry up so he could prepare to leave, and sees what her father was up to. She tells him it is better to stop pampering her and help her stop feeling pity for herself. It might be harsh, but it's reality. Snow has overheard their conversation and stands up to pack her bag. David was surprised and was even more so when she says she wants to go to the woods.. on her own.

In the meantime Emma drops Henry off at Granny's Bed and Breakfast at Neal's room. Henry asks his dad to tell all about the Enchanted Forest. Neal promises to do so and gives him money to get three hot chocolates, only really so he could be alone with Emma and tell her that Hook was again a free man and that Tamara will come to Storybrooke.

Emma was not impressed, to say the least. Neal kind of had to admit he didn't think through that Tamara, someone who believes fairytales are just that and nothing more, might see Anton the giant or Ruby the werewolf running around town. The blonde tells her ex to tell her the whole truth and was about to leave when Neal asks her if she could stay, only saying hello and nothing more, to which Emma hesitantly agrees.

In the woods Mary Margaret was training her arching skills on a target. She notices something strange in the woods and pulls her earbuds out so she could investigate. After walking around the forest for a while she comes across a trailer, completely covered in rotten leaves and moss. It was even turning slowly green. She goes inside to look who might be there and sees something she hadn't thought she would see. August W. Booth, also known as Pinocchio.

August explains how, after the Curse broke, he could move but was still completely made out of wood. That was because turning to wood is his own punishment, not that of the Queen and so can not be broken by her Curse being gone. Mary Margaret tries to convince him to come into the town, as Emma and his father Gepetto miss him and there has been a lot going on.

"Henry's father returned, Emma found him, Winter is trapped in a Sleeping Cur-" Snow summarizes, but was cut off.  "Wait, Emma and Neal? They're back together again," Pinocchio asks. He had been the one to break the two up, for Emma's future of defeating the Dark Curse, and had hoped the two would find each other afterwards. But that's his problem- hoping, as they didn't and Neal is now engaged to someone else.

August tells Mary Margaret that she never had to worry about forgiveness and redemption, which wasn't exactly true at the moment, and tells her to leave and never tell anyone that he was there, hiding.

In Granny's Bed and Breakfast Henry, Neal, Tamara and Emma were eating the bagels that Tamara brought with her as they share stories and get to know each other better, like how Neal and his fianceé met. Emma reminds them that she would drop Henry off at his grandpa's, leaving the two lovebirds on their own. Hesitantly Neal starts to tell her about not coming from there but from a place called 'The Enchanted Forest'. He gives her the book for her to look at, but Tamara doesn't take it well. She leaves angrily, not believing any of his crap. In Granny's diner Greg was having an apple pie, but was interrupted by Regina trying to make conversation with him. When she asks if they've met before, as he seems familiar to her, he acts as if his nose bleeds. When she was about to leave, she crosses Mary Margaret and torments her a little more.

Mary Margaret passes her and goes to her daughter and Marco at the bar and tells them her discovery of August. They agree to go to the Blue Fairy, but they don't notice two pairs of ears listening to their conversation. Mother Superior explains to the three how August is what he is because he broke his promise of being brave, truthful and unselfish and how the only way to return him back into a man of flesh and blood is to redeem himself.

Back in the woods, August hears knocking and reacts agressively. He suspected that Snow White had returned to convince him back into Storybrooke once again. What he had absolutely not expected was who was really in front of his door. Tamara, someone who he had done a horrible thing to in the past. She invites herself into the trailer.

August was surprised that Tamara was able to see him and that she believed. The woman in front of him replies sarcastically that she wouldn't have chased the same 'wonder doctor' as him if she didn't. When the wooden man asks what she's doing in Storybrooke, he got no clear answer.

Tamara tells him that he owes her for what he did to her and that he should do as she requests, which means leaving Storybrooke. He would go to New York and get the cure of the cancer she once had, which was magically erased with a potion that would cure him too. August looks her up and down. She told him she was a normal human, but he didn't buy it.

When he looks at her hand, he sees a ring, an engagement ring, and he connects the dots pretty quickly: Tamara is the fianceé that Mary Margaret was talking about. The woman tells him that Neal has nothing to do with the plan she has and that he would do what she asks quite easily, seeing as he was still the man she left in some Hong Kong gutter.

When Greg returns to his room in Granny's Bed and Breakfast, which was doing so great with this many strangers in town lately, he sees Regina. She reveals to him that she knows who he is. Owen, just a boy when she met him but now an adult man. He tells her that he is looking for his father and Madam Mayor tells him that he had left Storybrooke shortly after his son, never to return.

Owen didn't believe it and tells her he won't leave without his father. Regina tells him simply that he will and that, on the contrary to what he believes, people can just disappear. In the forest, Marco tells them the secret he had held in his heart for so many years, though most of them were cursed years. That the wardrobe he built had magic enough for two, Pinocchio and Emma, and not just only for one. He apologizes for it, but got smacked by Snow for it.

Emma reacts surprised to it, even angry, but her mother explains that it wasn't her who did it. She then spots the trailer and Marco follows her gaze. The three of them go to the trailer, not knowing that August was about to cross the town line that exact moment. He hit a bump in the road, which causes a picture to fall down from the sunshield. A picture which she wasn't supposed to have unless..

August throws the wheel around and goes back to the town, to the police station to find Emma. When she wasn't there, he took the phone to call her. Luckily for him, she picks up almost immediately. He tells her he needed to warn her, but unfortunately for him Tamara was there as well and pulled the phone line out, breaking his contact with Emma. He tells her that he will not continue this life of selfishness, cowardice and dishonesty and that he will protect the people of Storybrooke by warning them of the new threat in town: Tamara herself.

But the latter tells him he's not and uses her favourite weapon, which is a taser. Unfortunately she doesn't realize that he is too wooden to die from it. Tamara escapes before the good people come to the station. With the last powers in him, August stumbles out and falls on the ground before his papa. He tries to warn Emma by whispering in her ear. "Emma.. She's.. she.." he exhales one last time. He had failed in his attempt in telling them what they needed to know..

Henry first mutters something to himself as his thoughts overrun his tongue and speech. "Brave, truthful and unselfish. We need the Blue Fairy." At that moment Mother Superior appears. It's almost magical how people turn up when you say their names in Storybrooke. She raises her wand and raises it at Pinocchio, who turns.. into a real boy. Not exactly the man he was, but the small boy he was even before that.

Tamara has appeared beside Neal to see her plan to kill August partially fail and another example of magic. August was indeed not really there anymore, but Pinocchio is. She was scared that he would reveal her secret, but was relieved that he didn't remember anything.

Nothing was lost now and she can continue her act and find out more about these strange people without being suspicious. A win-win for her, but not for the rest of Storybrooke. It might be time to meet up with her colleague...