Title: Look After You
Chapter One: The Stranger
Author: snarkysweetness
Story Rating: R
Chapter Rating: PG-13
Characters: Emma Swan, August W. Booth/Pinocchio, Henry Mills, Mary Margaret Blanchard/Snow White, Regina Mills/The Evil Queen, David Nolan/Prince 'Charming' James, Ruby Lucas/Red Riding Hood, Mr. Gold/ Rumpelstiltskin, Mother Superior/The Blue Fairy, Marco/Geppetto, Jefferson/The Mad Hatter, Sidney Glass, Granny/Widow Lucas, Kathryn Nolan/Princess Abigail, Dr. Whale, Archie/Jiminy Cricket, Sheriff Graham Humbert/The Huntsman (Flashbacks) mentions to just about everyone in Storybrooke.
Pairings: Eventual Emma/August, Past Emma/Graham, Mary Margaret/David, Snow/Charming, and mentions to others.
This Chapter: Emma, Henry, August, mentions to Emma/Graham, beginning of Emma/August.
Summary: The courtship of Emma Swan and August W. Booth from 'True North' onward. This is a behind-the-series story on how I see their relationship developing throughout the first season and then into my own version of what happened after the finale. There's a lot of character development and backstory that we don't really see in the show, but is hinted at. We can call this a character study with plot, if you will.
This Chapter: Emma reads over her own case file and bonds with Henry when a Stranger rides into town, reeking of intrigue and sex appeal.
Warnings: Language, August's pervy mind, eventual sexual situations.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Author's Notes: These two own my mind and I have no regrets about this. I don't have a set number of chapters for this because I keep breaking things up or adding new chapters, but most of the story is done, so it will be finished. Everything in this story can be considering canon, just an altered view on what we see, since the show doesn't show everything, and we do have evidence of some August scenes being cut from episodes. It all follows what actually happens in the show, so if some things look familiar, that's why.

Emma hated this case.

The election had kept her mind off of Graham, because she'd been so busy trying to beat Regina at her own game, but the moment that it was all over and Emma was wearing his badge, sitting in his chair, working at his desk, the grief became too much to bear. She'd begged the universe to give her anything to keep her mind off of her short-lived love affair with the former Sheriff and his sudden death.

Unfortunately for her, she'd gotten her wish.

Next time, she'd remember to be more specific.

Helping the Zimmer twins connect with their father brought forward a mess of issues that Emma had been attempting to put behind her since arriving in Storybrooke. Issues she hadn't had time to dwell on because Henry had become her main concern.

Giving Henry up hadn't been easy, but she'd been young and stupid and recovering from an abusive relationship that no one at her age needed to have to deal with. Before she'd grown up and come to accept that her decision had really been in Henry's best interest, Emma had considered taking her son back dozens of times, because she'd fallen in love with him before he'd even been born and having to deal with being alone again had been terrifying.

In an effort to not ruin Henry's life by tracking him down, she'd focused all of her energy into finding her own parents.

Her twenties had mostly consisted of the disappointment of finding nothing and of coming to the realization that she hadn't been wanted.

Emma continued to search because it was better than dwelling on the child she'd given up. So she'd kept at it, until Henry had shown up and thrown a wrench in her life. Ever since, finding her parents hadn't mattered, making sure Henry was safe and that giving him up had really been the right choice had become her focus.

But now?

She flipped through the file she'd compiled over the years about herself. Aside from the blanket she'd been wrapped in as a child, she had no clues concerning her parents. Everything always led her right back to that small diner near the Highway. It was as if her parents hadn't existed and she'd just appeared out of thin air one day.

It was maddening.

She had no clue where she came from or why she'd been left on the side of the road. The baby blanket was the only hint she had that maybe her parents had loved her. It had been a fantasy she'd held onto during those long nights in her foster homes, thinking that maybe her parents were looking for her too, that they missed her, that they'd come for her. And then she'd grown up and accepted that she simply hadn't been wanted.

She'd been sixteen when she finally accepted that there were no such things as fairytales and that her life was in her own hands. No one was going to save her, so she needed to save herself.

Of course, that mentality hadn't lasted long. After emancipating herself at the age of seventeen, while working nights at a small diner, and days at a grocery store to support herself, Emma met who she thought would be her knight in shining whatever, but ended up being nothing more than a rebel without a cause who brought Emma down into his world of bullshit, before leaving her alone and pregnant.

She couldn't even remember how she'd ended up in jail, just that it was Henry's father's fault. She'd been an unknowing accessory to one of his many crimes.

He really was better off with a lie. The kid needed something happy in his life.

Emma had the worst track record when it came to men. They either abandoned her or died in her arms.

Henry didn't need to be made aware of these things. He was an innocent kid and it wasn't like his father was going to stroll into town looking for him, so what was the harm? She'd meant it when she told Mary Margaret that he was better off not knowing the truth.

Emma flipped through her file, thinking about those kids and their father and her own parents when she heard footsteps and looked up to find Henry.

"What's that?"

"Just an old file, what's up?"

Henry did not need to know about her search for her parents. Just one more thing on the long list of things she wanted to protect him from.

"Pumpkin Pie, I thought you'd like some."

Emma gave him a sad smile.

She had the best kid in the world and when he did things like that, it reminded her that she had nothing to do with who he'd become and maybe being here in this town, expecting to catch Regina abusing him in some way, really was a stupid thing to be doing.

"It was pumpkin, right?"

Stupid, maybe, but every moment she spent with him was worth it.

"Right."

Emma stepped out of her police cruiser and joined Henry on the street.

"Henry, about your father-"

"Yeah?"

She hated lying to him, but what other choice did she have? Tell him that his father was a drug-abusing, alcoholic with no respect for the law or for any other human being? And then throw in the part where he liked to get violent after a few drinks? Especially when she was in the room?

Emma looked into his sweet, innocent, imaginative face and knew that she couldn't take the fairytale away from him, not like it'd been ripped away from her.

The lie was better for Henry.

"I'm glad I told you."

"Me too."

Henry threw his arms around her and Emma's heart ached.

Guilt told her that she could have done more to make a life for him and keep him. Reason told her that she'd made the right decision.

Emma pulled away with a sigh and took the pie, putting on a smile; just another show for the kid.

"Give me that."

"What you did, with Ava and Nicholas, you really are changing things."

Emma lifted an eyebrow. Not the curse, again. Boy, Regina had messed their kid up, hadn't she?

Before Emma could respond, the quiet street was suddenly filled with the load roar of a motorcycle's engine.

She watched with confusion as a stranger got off the bike and removed his helmet, making his way towards the pair. Since moving here months ago, she'd never seen anyone new arrive to town. His appearance was curious.

And attractive.

Very, very attractive.

And dangerous.

No, mysterious.

That was it. He was the mysterious type.

Just the type of man she was known to fall for.

And just the type she had no intention of getting involved with.

"Hi."

"Hey."

"Is this Storybrooke?"

"Yeah."

What, he didn't know what town he pulled into?

"Is there any place to get a room around here?"

She exchanged a look with Henry, who looked bewildered at the idea of someone new in town.

"You're staying?"

Emma was ready to tell Henry he was being a bit rude, but the stranger didn't seem to mind.

In fact, he gave Henry his full attention.

"That's the plan. Just looking for a bed."

Remembering that she was the Sheriff and it was probably part of her job to be polite to anyone coming in to town and to keep a close eye on them, just in case, Emma decided to make an attempt at being friendly.

"Granny's Bed and Breakfast is just up the road. Another two blocks."

Oh, she did not like the way he was looking at her.

Definitely dangerous.

"Thank you."

And there was that look again.

Just great.

There was a new guy in town undressing her with his eyes, being all mysterious and sexy, and with the leather and the bike and the sexy stubble. Regina was going to love this.

"Hey, I didn't catch your name," Emma called, realizing she would need something to call him if she ran into him again.

"That's 'cause I didn't give it."

Mysterious and cheeky.

As he left, Emma remembered something Henry had told her once.

"I thought you said strangers don't come to Storybrooke."

"They don't."