David Nolan

"You are both. The town is both. We are both."

- David to the townspeople

David Nolan, formerly known as John Doe, is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. He débuts in the first episode of the first season. He is portrayed by starring cast member Josh Dallas, and is the Storybrooke counterpart of Prince Charming.

History
After the casting of the curse, David ends up in a comatose state in Storybrooke's hospital. Mayor Regina Mills never anticipated he might awaken, but the story of his life is that he is married to a woman named Kathryn Nolan. They had numerous issues in their marriage, and after one fight, David leaves. Regina finds him on the side of the road, and brings him to the hospital where no one is able to identity him, or find any of his relatives. Regina becomes his emergency contact, and he stays in the coma and is known as John Doe.
 * -|During the Curse=

The day the curse takes effect, Regina goes to see school teacher Mary Margaret. She brings Mary Margaret to the hospital, and shows her to John Doe's room. Mary Margaret is asked by Regina if she recognizes him, to which she says she does not. Regina explains his current state to her. With an hopeful enthusiasm, Mary Margaret ponders if someone who loves him could find him someday. Regina smiles at the irony of her words, and while she agrees it would be good for him, it's unlikely it could happen.

A few days after Emma arrived in Storybrooke, Henry convinces her to ask Mary Margaret to read Henry's storybook, full of stories from the Enchanted Forest, to the hospital's coma patient John Doe. Because he think John Doe is Prince Charming, Mary Margaret agrees, expecting nothing to happen and hoping Henry will realize fairytales are only stories. She visits David's hospital room that night and begins to read to him. Halfway through the story, David, while still unconscious, grabs Mary Margaret's hand.

Mary Margaret runs for Dr. Whale, but he claims nothing happened and she must have been imagining it. When she leaves, Dr. Whale reports what occurred to Regina. The next night, David awakens from his coma and leaves the hospital. Mary Margaret, Emma and Sheriff Graham form a search party to look for him, only to find him unconscious and bleeding at the Toll Bridge.

Panicking, Mary Margaret hastily performs CPR on him while Graham calls an ambulance. Henry, who tagged along with the search party, becomes upset at the prospect he could die and Emma shields him from watching. However, Mary Margaret's CPR efforts work and he regains consciousness. When she asks him what his name is, he expresses confusion in not knowing what it is.

Back at the hospital, Regina brings David's estranged wife, Kathryn, to see her husband. Emma becomes suspicious of Regina's intentions since Kathryn shows surprise that David has been in Storybrooke all this time; she had assumed he'd gone to Boston.

The next few days, he is playing hangman with Mary Margaret and the two have a good rapport together. When Kathryn visits, Mary Margaret awkwardly leaves. Hoping to reconnect with her husband, Kathryn brings old photos for David to look at. She shows him a picture of their dog, Ajax, to which he feigns recognization. David catches Mary Margaret as she is leaving the hospital for the day, and asks her to accompany him as he is on doctor's orders to get exercise. While they take a walk outside, David admits to Mary Margaret being around Kathryn doesn't feel real and the only thing that does is being around her. As they share a close moment, David sees Kathryn approaching. Kathryn apologizes for coming to him outside of visiting hours, but wants to give David some of his favorite muffins.

After he is discharged from the hospital, David returns home to a welcome home party filled with people he does not recognize. Uncomfortable, he disappears from the party and seeks out Mary Margaret. David tries to express in words he wants to be with her over Kathryn.

Finally, he makes a split decision to leave Kathryn, and tells Mary Margaret of his intentions to do so. Pleading for her to meet him at the Toll Bridge, a surprised Mary Margaret agrees. On his way there, he encounters Regina, who purposefully gives him the wrong directions. David winds up at the pawnshop, and goes inside to ask Mr. Gold for the way to the Toll Bridge. As he turns to go, he sees an old windmill which belonged to him prior to his disappearance. As he gazes at it, David is astonished his memories prior to the coma are coming back to him.

By the time he makes it to the Toll Bridge, Mary Margaret is waiting for him expectantly. Guiltily, he admits to remembering his old life, and decides he will uphold his marriage. Hurt, Mary Margaret becomes increasingly upset he led her on for nothing. She walks away in tears as a dejected David stays behind. That night, he goes back to Kathryn and says he is willing to work on their marriage. Kathryn becomes ecstatic and hugs him.

After Sheriff Graham's death, he is helping to staple promotional posters of sheriff election candidate Sidney Glass around town. He runs across Mary Margaret, who is promoting Emma Swan for sheriff. Casually, she asks if he has found a job yet, and David mentions he is now working at the animal shelter. However, once Mary Margaret notices he is advertising for Sidney, she walks away with an excuse to get more posters.

A few days later, he walks into the diner at 7:15 A.M. Earlier, Mary Margaret arrived to catch a glimpse of David, which she has been doing everyday at 7:15 A.M. Unbeknownst to her, David has been doing the same thing, despite using the diner visit as a pretense of picking up coffee for himself and Kathryn.

When Mary Margaret discovers a dove trapped in a cage, she brings it to the animal shelter. The veterinarian says the bird will be all right, but it must join its flock or risk becoming a lone dove. She leaves to release the bird, but David stops and warns her about the coming storm. She ignores his advice and goes anyway.

As she is going to free the bird, she slips on the ground and barely manages to keep herself from falling down to a ravine. At the last possible moment, David grabs and hauls her up. To hide from the storm, they head into an abandoned cabin together.

Inside, the two confess their harbored feelings for each other. When they are about to kiss, Mary Margaret pulls away and berates him for acting this way towards Kathryn, who she believes is pregnant. David has no idea what she's talking about, though it brings attention to the fact he is still a married man. After the storm, Mary Margaret releases the dove back to its flock, and as she and David contently look on, he grasps her hand. They agree it's better not to see each other again.

David goes home and tells Kathryn he is willing to work on their marriage. He learns she is not pregnant. The next day, he arrives at not 7:15 A.M., but 7:45 A.M., to get coffee and sees Mary Margaret. He immediately walks out and she chases after him. She demands to know what he is doing, and David learns they were both trying to see each other at 7:15 A.M. each day. Unable to resist their feelings for one another, they kiss passionately; not knowing from across the street Regina is watching from inside her car.

He and Mary Margaret begin an affair. After preparing a picnic for the two of them by the Toll Bridge, he texts her and Mary Margaret rushes off to meet him there. They proceed to have a romantic picnic in the woods.

On Valentine's Day, he buys two different Valentine's Day cards; one for Kathryn and the other for Mary Margaret. Mr. Gold spots this and starts a conversation about love. David feigns ignorance and claims the two cards are for the same woman.

He heads to the bar where Mary Margaret is spending a girls' night out with Ruby and Ashley. David catches Mary Margaret watching Ashley and Sean ride off together, and hands her the Valentine's Day card. Unfortunately, he gives her the card meant for Kathryn and only after she opens to read the inside of it does David realize his mistake. She tells him he should go home to Kathryn, and though David knows she's right, he still is unwilling to give up his feelings for Mary Margaret.

A few nights later, while he is having dinner with Kathryn, she announces to having applied and been accepted at a law school in Boston. David shows enthusiasm at her acceptance, but thinks Boston is too faraway. Kathryn suggests perhaps they need a fresh start to have a future together rather than trying to regain what they had in the past. Conflicted, he goes to Mary Margaret for advice. She thinks they should tell Kathryn the truth, and David agrees. Returning home to find Kathryn looking at possible homes in Boston, David tries to break it to her gently that he cannot go with her to Boston. Confused and saddened, Kathryn asks if there is something she doesn't know. David cannot bring himself to hurt her, so he says no and makes the excuse they are not compatible together, but it should not stop Kathryn from pursuing her dream.

In tears, Kathryn goes to Regina, and discovers he is cheating on her with Mary Margaret. she goes to the school and very publicly slaps and confronts Mary Margaret for having an affair with her husband. From Kathryn, she finds out David did not tell his wife the truth. She finds David frantically washing the word tramp off of her car. Asking him why he couldn't tell Kathryn, David states he did not want anyone to get hurt, though Mary Margaret points out now everyone is hurt. She is disappointed he lied not only to Kathryn but her as well, and it shows what they have is not love, but destruction. She breaks up with him and walks away; leaving him devastated.

During the Miner's Day festival, he is watching Mary Margaret converse with the other townspeople. Emma walks up to him and asks him to accompany her to the station.

When they reach the station, he is questioned about his wife's disappearance, but he insists that he does not know anything. Emma reluctantly lets David go home, but gives him the warning about getting a lawyer.

From the time he leaves the sheriff's department, David's memory is completely blacked out and he is unable to recall anything. Mary Margaret finds him wandering the woods in a strange state looking for something. She tells Emma and Ruby, who search the woods and discover him unconscious with a cut on his forehead. He does not remember the events that happened following the period after he spoke to Emma in her office to how he ended up in the woods.

The pair takes him to Dr. Whale, who pronounces David is experiencing a similar state akin to when he first awoke from the coma. David imagines he could've killed Kathryn and would not have remembered it. Regina barges in and demands he be arrested, but Emma stands up to her and resumes searching for Kathryn. She instructs Ruby to search the area by the Toll Bridge, where she finds a box with a human heart inside.

At the animal shelter, David confesses to Mary Margaret his fears about having killed his wife. Emma walks in to bring grim news. She reveals a box has been found containing a human heart. David breaks down in tears in the belief he did it, and orders Emma to arrest him. She stops him by stating the fingerprints on the box were not David's, but are Mary Margaret's.

Later, after Mary Margaret's arrest, David goes to Regina to plead for mercy. He believes Mary Margaret is not capable of such evil and the DNA evidence must have been a mistake. However, Regina refuses, and David goes to Archie Hopper for advice on his blackouts.

Archie tries hypnosis to find out what he has been doing in his blackouts. While in the hypnosis state, David begins to see flashes of his life as Prince Charming. He sees Snow White on a mission to kill the Evil Queen, and pleads for her to not do it. David mistakes the memories for Mary Margaret's attempt in harming Kathryn, and awakens to tell Archie everything he saw.

He goes to Mary Margaret's cell and asks her if she really did kill Kathryn. She is shocked at his lack of faith and orders him to leave.

Kathryn mysteriously turns up alive and unharmed, so Mary Margaret is free of the murder charges and allowed to go home. During a Welcome Home party at the apartment, David attempts to enter and apologize to Mary Margaret, but Emma shoos him away at her request.

Finally, David decides that it is time to leave Storybrooke and comes to Mary Margaret about his decision. He says he will stay if she will give him a reason to, which Mary Margaret cannot, and they part ways. Just as David is leaving town, the Dark Curse is broken by Emma, and he recalls his memories as Prince Charming.

Returning back to Storybrooke, he sets out to find Mary Margaret, and reunites with her as she, too, recalls her memories as Snow White. Overhead, they witness a purple smoke quickly approaching and brace themselves as it engulfs them.

Upon remembering his true identity as Prince Charming, David is happily reunited with several of his friends from the Enchanted Forest, including Red Riding Hood, Granny, and the Seven Dwarves. He is most excited to finally be together with his daughter Emma as well as meeting his grandson, Henry. While David and Mary Margaret are overjoyed to see Emma and realize she saved them all by breaking the curse, they are a little stunned when Emma states she needs time and space to adjust to the new situation. Although Emma is relieved at the reunion with her parents, she never thought in a million years that she was truly the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming. While Mary Margaret wishes to sit and talk about things, Emma prefers to set it aside for now in favor of the current crisis facing Storybrooke.
 * -|After the Curse=

A problem arises when Archie informs them Dr. Whale is leading a mob to Regina's house to seek vengeance for what she did to them. Henry does not wish to see his mother harmed, so David and the rest of the group feel obligated to help stop the angry townspeople. After the mob has calmed down, Mary Margaret pleads they must not stoop to Regina's level, and killing her would not solve anything. She suggests imprisoning Regina in the sheriff department cell for the time being, which they do.

David, Emma, and Mary Margaret visit Mr. Gold in his pawnshop. They accost and accuse him of double crossing Emma. Mr. Gold responds that a thank you might be more appropriate as Regina was defeated, the curse was broken, and Emma was reunited with her parents. As they are talking, the wind howls outside and the power flickers. David leaves with Mary Margaret and Emma to go to sheriff's department cell as Mr. Gold said he released something to take care of Regina once and for all.

At the Storybrooke jail, David and his family arrive to find a Wraith, a creature Mr. Gold had released by the power of the gold medallion, sucking out Regina's soul. Rather than letting her die, Mary Margaret gets a flammable substance and a lighter to drive the Wraith off with fire. David is all for letting Regina die at the hands of the Wraith, but Emma insists she will save Regina, due to the promise she made with Henry.

They take Regina to her office and Regina retrieves Jefferson's hat. The plan is to capture the Wraith within the hat's vortex and place it in a place of oblivion where it cannot hunt and harm again. However, when the Wraith arrives, Regina is unable to activate the hat. Mary Margaret fights off the Wraith with a lit broom until Emma's touch seemingly releases Regina's magic and the vortex opens. The Wraith is pulled in, but a blue whip of light snakes out of the vortex and seizes Emma by the ankle, pulling her in. Stating that she will not lose her daughter again, Mary Margaret jumps into the vortex after Emma. David makes a desperate attempt to follow, but fails just as the vortex closes. Turning his rage onto Regina, he demands to know where they went, though she does not know. Regina attempts to strangle him to death, but Ruby and Henry walk in, so she lets him loose. Henry blames his mother for the loss of Emma and Mary Margaret, and leaves to live with David.

The next day, David goes to Regina's house to confront her about the vortex. Despite her threats, he is satisfied to know she has trouble with her magic, and comments about her less than ideal parenting skills. However, she says that he is no better himself. Regina vows Henry will be hers when she has magic back, but he states forcing Henry to stay does not count. When David returns home, he is surrounded by the confused townspeople and discovers terrible news from Leroy—anyone crossing the town line will lose all of their Enchanted Forest memories. With too much going on at once, David asks for the townspeople to regroup at the town hall in two hours time to hear his plan. Ruby asks what the plan is, though David has yet to come up with one.

In front of a mirror, David is trying to come up with a speech to raise the townspeople's spirits, but finds his words are full of lack luster. Instead, he turns his attention to a solution in bringing Emma and Mary Margaret back. After Henry suggests finding the Mad Hatter, David runs to Mr. Gold's shop and the two make a deal—a person-finding potion in exchange for both of them staying out of each other's way. When David finally finds the Mad Hatter, who is Jefferson, he refuses to help and runs away.

Ruby tells him the town meeting was a disaster as he did not show up, and Regina stormed in to steal Henry away. She also warns of the impending danger because the townspeople are panicking and trying to leave town. Luckily, David and Ruby reach them before anyone can cross the town line. He tells the Storybrooke residents that sometimes it is easier to forget every bad memory, but they cannot do that because they are both their Storybrooke-selves and Enchanted Forest-selves. His heartfelt speech compels them to face reality rather than run away from it, and everyone returns to town.

With one problem settled, David walks into Regina's house to demand Henry back. However, to his surprise, she gently sways the sword away and gives up Henry without fighting; after explaining that she wants to redeem herself. David promises to take care of Henry and demands the truth about the Enchanted Forest's existence. She informs him the Enchanted Forest still exists, but she has no idea how to get there. At the diner, David says some encouraging words to Henry, who is upset and confused about his mother's whereabouts.

While David and Henry are walking down the street discussing a plan on how to get back Emma and Mary Margaret, the boy brings on a new operation dubbed "Operation Scorpion," but David cuts him off saying it is not safe for him to help. He makes him promise not to, and leaves Henry to go to school. Henry disregards David's advice, and distracts Regina by setting up a fake lunch meeting with her at the diner. While she is out, Henry sneaks into Regina's vault and tries to look for something that will help with "Operation Scorpion", but instead ends up opening a box containing vipers. Tipped off by Regina, who realized what Henry is up to, David arrives in time to save him by closing the box. David says he understands, but Henry has to go to school and to make sure that nobody else discovers the vault. Later that day, he and Henry are practicing sword fighting on the sidewalk; unaware that Albert Spencer is looking on angrily at them.

A few days later, David trying to mine for fairy dust with the dwarves. He is approached by Mr. Gold whose desperation over Belle's disappearance drove him to see David. While Emma is gone, David is acting as temporary sheriff. Although David is not willing to help, Mr. Gold manages to persuade him because Belle is the love he once told Prince Charming about back in the Enchanted Forest. After having been turned down by most of the townspeople, David and Mr. Gold run into Ruby. She also refuses to help at first, but reveals her regained sense of smell and tracks Belle to her father's flower shop. After threatening Moe, Mr. Gold deduces he is sending Belle across the town line so she will lose her memories. David takes one look at Moe's dirt-covered hands and deducts he is using the mines to dodge the guards there. They find her handcuffed to a speeding mine cart, which Mr. Gold uses magic to bring Belle back to safety. Fortunately, Belle still has her memory and is grateful to be alive, but she is still angry at both Mr. Gold and Moe. She tells them both to stay out of her life forever.

Upon seeing Dr. Whale, David hits him for sleeping with his wife. Dr. Whale says he was innocent in that because he slept with Mary Margaret when nobody had their Enchanted Forest memories back yet. He asks about the rumors of David finding a way back to the Enchanted Forest, which he admits to be true.

Later, David gives Henry a day off from school and brings his grandson to the stables with the intention of teaching him how to, as he puts it, be "a proper knight". While showing Henry the horse he will eventually ride on, David explains he would not be riding immediately. He wants Henry to "horse-sit" it until the animal decides Henry is ready to ride. The horse seems to like David a bit more than its new young master.

When David hears about Dr. Whale's accident, he immediately rushes to the hospital and assumes it was Regina's doing. When she explains the situation about Dr. Whale resurrecting her dead fiancé, Daniel, he asks her where he might be. She tells him Daniel most likely will appear in the last familiar place he was in, which is the house stables. Realizing Henry is in danger, they both rush over and walk in on Daniel strangling the boy. David manages to get Daniel to let go, and locks him in one of the horse stables. Daniel is uncontrollable and dangerous, and David wants to kill him, but Regina convinces him to let her talk to him. Later, Daniel begs Regina to use magic to let him go and move on because he, too, is in pain and cannot live this way, which she finally does and breaks down in tears.

One night, Henry awakens screaming from a horrible nightmare. As he sits up and begins describing what the dream entailed, David comforts him by lighting a candle.

David and Mother Superior are brought to the mines when the dwarves stumble upon diamonds, which can be used to make fairy dust. In celebration, they head over to the diner to have a late night drinking bash. At a table booth, he sees Henry drinking coffee. Realizing Henry is still worried over the nightmares, David reassures him if anything happens he will be right there. He urges Henry to get some cocoa instead. While David is sitting down, Albert Spencer confronts him. He believes David is not the right person to lead the town as he is not really a prince, but a shepherd. Spencer vows he will make the town people see who he is really is. David leaves; telling him the town knows who their leader is.

The next morning, David and Granny are looking for Ruby after she broke out of her cage during the first curse free wolfs time in Storybrooke. They find her asleep in the woods with no recollection of the night before. When they get back to town, Granny finds Billy's mangled corpse next to his car. Ruby begins to scream in horror thinking she has once again killed an innocent person. David believes in her innocence as he knows who she truly is and does not think she is capable of killing someone. When Ruby asks why he trusts her, he expresses regrets in not trusting Mary Margaret when she was accused of murder.

Albert Spencer wants to arrest Ruby for the murder of Billy. Despite that David does not agree with him, Spencer forms an angry mob of townspeople, and it's decided Ruby will be safer locked up. The mob hunt for Ruby, but by the time they get to the sheriff's department, she is already gone. David, Granny and Belle want to hide her in the library, but Ruby says she should pay for her crimes and shape shifts into a wolf to face the mob.

While searching for evidence, David and Granny find a car with a bloody hatchet and Ruby's stolen red cloak. The car belongs to Albert Spencer, and David realizes this is Spencer's plot to get back at him. They stop Ruby just as she is about to attack while at the same time Spencer is preparing to shoot her down. David helps her regain control, and lays the cloak over her so she can change back into a human. They find Spencer gone, and by the time they find him, he has burned Jefferson's hat over a fire. Enraged, David violently punches Spencer down and draws his sidearm to kill him, but after some convincing from Ruby, he stands down. Later, at home, David contemplates it will be near impossible to bring Emma and Mary Margaret back without the hat, but Ruby assures him he can find a way because she knows what kind of man he is.

David is startled as Henry wakes up from his dream. Henry tells him he had another nightmare and he met someone named Aurora, who told them Emma and Mary Margaret are alive. He turns to Regina and tells her they need help to stop Cora. Later, Mr. Gold, Regina, and David sit around Henry as they prepare him to return to this fiery netherworld. Some time passes and Henry wakes up, but was unable to deliver the message to Aurora. A burn develops on Henry's arm from constantly returning to the netherworld, so David asks to be put under a sleeping curse in hopes of finding Mary Margaret. Regina and Mr. Gold say it is too dangerous, but David says she will wake him with true love's kiss. After Regina is finished making the curse, Mr. Gold puts a needle into the liquid for David to prick his finger on. David seems nervous about how he will find Mary Margaret, but Mr. Gold says he must go if he wants to save his family.

While under the curse, David is trapped in a mirror room. He notices the heat coming from the floor and uses his torch to break through into the fiery room. While in the room, he sees Mary Margaret from across the room. She is worried that David is under the Sleeping Curse. They lean in for true love's kiss, but pass through each other. David realizes the kiss did not work because they are in a dream, and it is not real. He tells Mary Margaret about the squid ink in Rumplestiltskin's cell. Mary Margaret begins crying as she fades out of the dream, but David assures her they will be reunited. Whilst she wakes up, David is left in his fiery nightmare.

David is still asleep in pawnshop while Mr. Gold and Regina are talking. Henry also begins to reading to David from his book. When Mary Margaret comes back, she gives him true love's kiss, which instantly wakes him up. He sees Emma and notes they have a lot of catching up to do.

While David and Mary Margaret are having some "intimate" moments, Henry and Emma walk in. The couple convince Henry they are just lying down and leaves Emma quite uncomfortable. David jokes it is impressive they can still provide her with traumatic childhood memories this late in her life.

A welcome home dinner is thrown for Mary Margaret and her daughter at Granny's. Emma has invited Regina, which displeases some of the other guests, including David.

Due to Ruby seeing Regina confront Archie about sharing information from their sessions with Emma, Regina is accused of murdering the town psychologist. She is arrested and brought to the police station. David and Mary Margaret want to kill Regina, but Emma decides to let her go as there is no evidence and believes she actually is changing for the better.

Emma, David and Mary Margaret go to see Mr. Gold, who gives Emma the dream catcher, which allows her to see into someone's memories. Since Archie's dog Pongo was the only one present in the office last night besides Archie and his attacker, the dream catcher is used on him. Emma sees an image of Regina strangling Archie, but drops the dream catcher in anger before it can be revealed that the "Regina" is actually Cora in disguise.

Because Regina has magic now and will be very difficult to contain, David and Mary Margaret suggest they trap her once more with fairy dust. The group goes to Regina's home where Emma tells her they know she is guilty, will never change, and will never see Henry again. Mother Superior attempts to freeze Regina with the fairy dust, but she catches it in midair and tosses it aside harmlessly. Emma voices her belief they all know who she will always be, and a shocked Regina disappears in a puff of smoke.

When Emma struggles with telling Henry about what happened to Archie, she receives reassurance from David. He compares how much she was a parent to Henry for five minutes is exactly like how he was hers for five minutes too, but things have changed now. Because they are family, they will figure the situation out. Without their knowledge, the real Archie is now a captive prisoner of Cora and Hook.

At Archie's funeral, David attempts to cheer up a very despondent Henry, who has begun to call Archie's office just to hear him on the voicemail. Minutes later, Emma enters with Pongo. After a chat with Marco, she decided Henry should keep him. Everyone agrees Pongo would be great for Henry, though things may get a bit cramped. Mary Margaret suggests she and David should move out, to David and Emma's shock.

When he and Mary Margaret are looking at houses, he turns down every house; saying the yards are too small. Mary Margaret realizes this is not about the houses—he wants to go back to the Enchanted Forest. Although David sees her point about why they should not go back, it is clear he is still thinking about his home world.

After a car crashes through the town border, Emma shows up in her sheriff car along with Mary Margaret and David inside. They rush to the scene, and find an amnesiac Belle who accidentally crossed the town line, Hook was run over by a car, and a stranger is passed out inside the crashed car. Mary Margaret tries to calm Belle down while David and Emma restrain Mr. Gold from beating Hook to death. Eventually the paramedics arrive, and the stranger is taken the hospital to tend to his injuries. Hook and Belle are also taken in to be treated. Mr. Gold shows up asking for Belle, but David refuses to let him go further because he was close to killing Hook. Leroy helps to hold Mr. Gold back until Dr. Whale comes to stop the commotion. Leroy, along with David, Mary Margaret, Emma and Ruby, attempt to break into the stranger's phone to learn more about him. Mary Margaret comments there must be a thousand different code combinations to try on the phone. David asks Leroy for help, but he replies humorously that pickaxing and phone hacking are two different things. Emma comes back from checking out paperwork the stranger had in his car, which shows his name is Greg Mendell. She hacks into the phone and from what they see on it, the man appears to be a normal person from the outside world. Dr. Whale comes back with bad news—the man is bleeding into his chest cavity. Emma tells him to fix the injury, but Dr. Whale is unsure if he can. When he consults with Mr. Gold in the hopes he can use his magic to fix the stranger's wounds, Mr. Gold refuses. He says the driver saw his use of magic, so they better hope he dies of his wounds instead of trying to save him.

David, Mary Margaret, Emma, Ruby and Leroy go into a separate room to debate about the pros and cons of helping someone from outside of town. Leroy does not think it is a good idea with the possibility the stranger could draw unwanted attention of the town's secrets to the world; particularly since outsiders seem to be so inquisitive about magical beings and the way they study them to death. Ultimately, the decision is made to save the stranger's life no matter what. Dr. Whale leaves the room to prep for the surgery, and Mary Margaret remarks how drunk he appears to be. They realize someone must be looking for him. The phone rings a second time with contact labeled as "Her". Again, the call goes unanswered because the group fears it might be traced to Storybrooke. The phone stops ringing, and they wait for the surgery to be over with. A male nurse comes into the lobby looking for Dr. Whale, who he cannot seem to find even after he pages him. Dr. Whale's pager goes off from his lab coat pocket, which is found disposed in a nearby laundry basket. Ruby gets the scent of booze on it, and takes off to find Dr. Whale. Mary Margaret ponders if Dr. Whale does not come back, perhaps they can get Doc to perform the surgery, which Leroy heartily disagrees with.

Ruby returns with a sober Dr. Whale who is ready to perform the necessary operations on Greg. He comes out after the surgery is done to announce to the group the man will live. Dr. Whale also shares the news Greg is ready to talk. At first, Mary Margaret and David want to go in with Emma, but she insists it would look strange if as sheriff she brought her parents in with her as well. Mary Margaret understands, and says they will be waiting for her outside. Emma comes out of Greg's hospital room bearing the reliving news to them that he did not see any magic. On that note, Mary Margaret, David and Emma return to the apartment for the night. Henry comes down the stairs to ask about what had happened. While they each have a late night snack of a bowl of cereal, Henry chats animatedly about the subject after they are finished telling him. He is surprised Dr. Whale is Victor Frankenstein because the Frankenstein story is neither a fairy tale, and the story does not exist in his fairy tale book. Suddenly, there is a knock at the door. The door is opened to reveal Mr. Gold, who comes to ask Emma to fulfill the favor she owes him. Mr. Gold wants Emma to leave with him by noon to New York City to find his son, Baelfire. Just before he leaves, Mr. Gold also warns if any harm comes to Belle while he is gone, he will kill them all.

In the morning, Emma packs her bags along with Henry, who is going with her because she feels it is unsafe for him in Storybrooke with Cora on the loose. After they leave with Mr. Gold, Mary Margaret and David begin their search for Cora when Regina shows up on at their door. Again, she denies killing Archie, to which they apologize for suspecting her since Archie turned up alive. They also tell her Emma left town with Henry. Regina is upset Henry was taken out of town without anyone asking her, but is told Emma does not need her permission, which she half halfheartedly agrees with.

Hook is released and taken from the hospital by Mary Margaret, David and Leroy. They question his motives in Cora's plans in Storybrooke, but he does not know anything about them. Instead, he leads them to the invisible passage onto his pirate ship and shows them a caged shrunken giant Cora kidnapped from the Enchanted Forest. The three become extremely suspicious of Hook, but once again he denies knowing anything of Cora's next move. Hook gives them information about the giant while Mary Margaret opens the cage door to make sure he is alright. The giant, stating his name is Anton, asks if the witch—presumably Cora—is gone. He is furious upon seeing he is human sized, and lashes out further when he sees David, who he seems to recognize as someone. Mary Margaret stops his rampage on both David and Leroy after shooting an arrow at him. Anton leaves the ship, but promises David will pay for what he has done.

Mary Margaret and David take time at Granny's Diner to talk about what just occurred. She asks him if he knows the giant, but David is unsure. Soon, he realizes the giant mistook him for someone else. They are interrupted by a now bigger sized Anton, who, unbeknownst to them, was given a magic mushroom by Regina to eat so he could return to regular size. He takes out his anger on the humans of the town, and throws a car that misses Mary Margaret and David. David orders the town residents to take cover at the town hall, and find Leroy for him. Then, he tries to speak to Anton by telling him the one who harmed him in the Enchanted Forest was not him, but his twin brother, James. Leroy pitches in to convince Anton to stop by mentioning how Emma was given the enchanted compass by him. This catches Anton's attention, and he asks to speak to Emma. Mary Margaret, aghast, unfortunately has to say that Emma is out of town right now. With nothing else holding Anton back, he proceeds to chase the threesome down.

As Anton is going after them throughout town, Leroy asks about David's twin. There is much confusion over whether his name is also James, or is it Charming. Mary Margaret mentions Charming is a nickname she gave him. David tells Leroy his real name was David in the Enchanted Forest. Soon, they realize if they run any further they will reach the town line. David proposes a deal with the giant—he will allow Anton to kill him to spare the lives of the other residents of town. Anton agrees and as he tries to stomp David, the three of them are blown back by the debris as the impact of the pounds hits the ground. The effects of the mushroom begin to wear off, and a large hole remains where Anton's foot smashed the ground. When they approach the hole, they see a human-sized Anton holding on to an underground pipe to keep from falling through to the bottom.

The townspeople work together quickly to save his life. While Granny ties a rope to the back of David's car, Ruby and the dwarves stabilize the rope as David scales down the concrete edges of the hole. Anton is reluctant to accept a human's help, but with words of encouragement from David of choosing life over death, he grabs his hand and both are pulled to safety. Afterward, Granny leads the rescuers and Anton back to her diner to serve them food in celebration.

Everyone regroups at the diner where Anton is introduced to the town in an effort to make him feel at home. Worried about not fitting in, Anton mentions he will probably live in the woods, but Leroy assures him that Storybrooke is home to all kinds of creatures and he will live comfortably here. As they talk, Ruby serves them beer at the counter. Mary Margaret says they have made this land their home since there is no way to get back to their old land. At this, Anton shows them a stem of a beanstalk that could likely grow magic beans.

They take Anton to a place where he can inspect the soil content of the town. Anton thinks the soil might be viable for growing magic beans, but is hesitant because he knows Cora brought him to Storybrooke for this purpose. Mary Margaret reassures him they will not let her get to them. The seven dwarves arrive to accept Anton as a friend, and he receives his own named pickax "Tiny". Anton and the seven miners commence in digging into the soil to plant the beanstalk stem.

With another problem solved, David brings coffee to Mary Margaret and they begin talking about his twin. David wonders if he would have turned out the same if he had been the one to be raised by King George. Mary Margaret knows him and says he would not have. They discuss going back to the Enchanted Forest now that they have a way to grow the beans. Mary Margaret does not want to leave Emma in one world while she is in another. David assures her that Emma and Henry have each other and will always be safe.

Later, Emma calls Mary Margaret, revealing that Mr. Gold's son is also Henry's father. She and David later try to figure out Henry's confusing family tree, and David quips that its a good thing they did not have Thanksgiving in the Enchanted Forest, otherwise it would have been one messed up holiday.

David is making breakfast pancakes on the morning of Mary Margaret's birthday when she stops him and asks what he is doing. He tries to brush it off as being hungry, but Mary Margaret rebuffs his excuse and explains she does not want a celebration on her birthday. Suddenly, she notices a neatly wrapped present on the table. She thinks the present is from him, but he denies it, and says someone else in Storybrooke also must know it is her birthday. Reluctantly, Mary Margaret begins unwrapping the box, and is astonished to find the tiara she once received from her mother, Eva, on her birthday. David wonders where it came from because he thought it was lost because of the curse. There is a card in the box as well, and Mary Margaret opens it to see it's a handwritten note from one of her mother's castle servants, Johanna. David cannot believe Johanna is also in Storybrooke, and they had not seen her in so long. Mary Margaret decides to go looking for Johanna, and heads out after giving David a quick kiss. David enters into the sheriff department, and as he turns his head; noticing Hook come up behind him; he is knocked out with a metal pipe. He collapses and remains unconscious on the ground on his stomach while Hook opens a drawer with a key to find his hook. He slips off his fake hand, and replaces it with the hook.

Mary Margaret rushes back to tell David what she overheard Regina and Cora discussing in the forest, and calls for him as she walks into the hall of the sheriff department. Her cries turn frantic after she sees him passed out on the floor. She nudges him awake, and notices the welt on his forehead. Groggily, David mentions Hook attacking him, and says he likely came to find his hook. Mary Margaret changes the subject by notifying him of more urgent news—Regina lied to them about not knowing Cora is in town, and that she is helping her mother find Mr. Gold's dagger. They discuss the possibility Regina and Cora either want the dagger to control Mr. Gold, or to make Cora the Dark One instead. David moves to phone Mr. Gold, but Mary Margaret already tried and he is not picking up. She has a plan to put some doubt in Regina's mind about Cora's intentions.

David calls Mary Margaret on his cell phone, and they talk about the dagger's status with Cora, as well as what Emma has informed them about Mr. Gold's injury. Meanwhile, Cora and Regina are listening in on this conversation through Regina's phone tap.

When Mr. Gold returns to Storybrooke, David helps carry him to his car, meeting Henry's father, Neal, in the process. He asks Mr. Gold about Cora and his dagger. After he says this, Mary Margaret expresses her eagerness to kill Cora. David tries to remind Mary Margaret that she would never go as far as killing someone in the past. Mary Margaret claims that killing Cora is justice for what happened to her mother, but David does not accept this, telling her that she would not be able to live with herself if she went through with the deed, and her heart is the purest of anyone he has ever known. They then bring Mr. Gold back to his shop.

When he is in the shop with Mary Margaret he senses something is wrong. After he asks if something is wrong, she replies that nothing is wrong, except Cora desperately trying to hurt them. This comes to a screeching halt when the shop shakes, signaling the arrival of Regina and Cora. He yells over to Emma and Neal saying that they have arrived. All four stand with distinct weapons ready to battle it out. The barrier Emma created with magical chalk is no match for Cora and Regina, they break it down without a hitch, entering the shop. David is the first to attack Regina, but is chucked out of the shop, where he lies unconscious on the ground. When he wakes up, he calls Emma. Both realize that Mary Margaret is not with either of them, but she also tells them that they are protected from Cora because of the magic shield. He is later seen running with Mary Margaret, who tries to stop Regina from inserting her mother's heart, because she cursed it with the candle. They run in a few seconds to late, Regina is holding her dead mother's body; blaming Mary Margaret for her death.

In the apartment, Henry watches on as David brings back to the kitchen sink Mary Margaret's untouched breakfast. Henry does not understand what is wrong with her, but Emma just says Mary Margaret is a bit sick. At those words, David and Emma exchange a look, and Henry notices. Disappointed, he can tell they are lying to him. Emma insists no one is lying, but Henry knows she is lying; just like she lied about his father. Emma realizes Henry does have the right to know, despite David's objections, and explains to him the circumstances in which Mary Margaret was partially responsible for Cora's death. Henry is puzzled, and does not want to believe Mary Margaret could do something like that. The conversation is halted by a knock on the door.

David answers the door, and the visitor is Mr. Gold. He has come to warn them about Regina's plans in getting revenge on Mary Margaret, but David is insistent he also owes them in helping to stop Regina since his life was saved by Mary Margaret. They investigate Regina's vault, and find one of Cora's spells missing called "the curse of the empty-hearted". The curse, when cast on someone, has the ability to make the caster think the person loves him or her. From upstairs, Henry has been eavesdropping, and comes down the stairs asking if Regina is going to use the spell on him. David tries to get him to go back upstairs and let the rest of them handle the situation, but Henry pushes David out of the way and goes to Emma. Meaningfully, he states Emma promised she would be honest with him, so he wants to know why Regina is using this curse. Answering his question, Mr. Gold says matter-of-factually that this is the only way Regina can get everything she wants—and what she wants is Henry. Furthermore, Regina not only wants love from Henry, but also vengeance from Mary Margaret. The twist is, in order to enact the curse, Regina needs the heart of the person she hates the most, which is obviously Mary Margaret. Mr. Gold says warning them fulfills his debt to Mary Margaret, but David disagrees, and Emma reminds him Henry is his grandson. He coldly remarks "wars have costs", and that this is a blood feud that goes back several generations, and the only way to end this is to spill more blood; preferably Regina's. Henry is horrified at the idea, and exclaims ending a feud by killing someone is a dark tactic that turns away from the heroes they used to be. No one knows what to say in response. Upset, Henry dashes out of the apartment while Emma follows behind.

David regroups with Emma and Neal after learning Henry is missing from the diner, and search through the mines to see some of the dynamite missing. They realize Henry took some and wants to blow up something. They arrive at the wishing well to see Regina speaking to Henry. After the trio refuse to budge out of Regina's way in getting to Mary Margaret, David, Emma and Neal ready their stance to defend themselves against Regina, who conjures a fireball. Henry runs in between to force the fighting to cease, and yells that he needs someone to help him get rid of magic. Regina states there is no way to do it, and Emma replies the problem is Regina, not magic. Henry believes the problem is everyone; as magic is corrupting good people such as both Mary Margaret and Regina and makes them do bad things, though Emma insists it makes bad people do bad things, too. He pleas for Regina to help him destroy magic, but she cannot do that, however, she burns the spell page. Henry thanks her, and leaves with David, Emma and Neal.

David is making yet another breakfast tray for Mary Margaret, who is still staying in bed since the aftermath of Cora's death. Emma interjects, in exasperation, at David's attempts in continuing to coddle Mary Margaret. His defense is she is having a hard time, and the least they can do is make her feel comfortable, but Emma firmly believes enough days have passed and Mary Margaret needs to move past it. Henry comes down the stairs, and he and Emma head out for the morning. David closes the door behind them, and unexpectedly hears Mary Margaret give a morning greeting. He sees her packing a few things into a bag to spend some time in the woods. He offers to come with her, but she insists she must do this alone.

A little later in the day, he and Henry join Emma, Mary Margaret and Marco on their way from the woods back to the sheriff department to look for August, who made a phone call to Emma from there. They nearly reach the front entrance in time to see August stumble out the door, and collapse onto the ground. David looks on with Mary Margaret and Henry as Emma and Marco attempt to help August. Before he dies, August tries to tell Emma something, but is unable to get the words out. Mary Margaret doesn't want it to end this way for August; still having the firm belief he is supposed to get a second chance.

Then, Henry realizes August can have a second chance because for the first time in a long time, he may have proven his actions to be selfless, brave and true. Mother Superior rushes over to the scene, and agrees if August's actions today have been selfless, brave and true, then she can restore him. She tests it out with her wand, and August reverts from wood back into a seven-year-old Pinocchio.

Afterwards, back in the apartment, Mary Margaret confesses to David she previously went to see Regina, and what conspired between them. David is furious because Regina could have killed her, and Mary Margaret says that is the reason she went in the first place. She could not deal with what she had done to Cora, and now her heart is starting to blacken as a result of it. David asks why she did not tell him, and she sadly states because if she did, what is happening now would be real and she wanted to believe it was not. Mary Margaret does not think there is a way to stop her heart from blackening, or to seek redemption. David sets August as an example that redemption is possible, though she notes it cost August everything to find his way back. David knows Mary Margaret is neither like August or Regina, and they will definitely find another way to help her because he believes in the goodness in her heart.

To protect the bean fields from being seen by outsiders, Mother Superior enacts a barrier to make the area appear as an empty field unless someone stepped inside the barrier. David and Mary Margaret surprise Emma by driving her to the bean fields and showing her what they are growing. Emma is perplexed that Mary Margaret has changed her mind about staying in Storybrooke, and now wants to go back with David. Mary Margaret reasons dealing with the aftermath of Cora's death has been tiring for her heart, and by going back to have a fresh start in fixing the land, perhaps she can heal her heart too. They believe if Emma comes with them, she can also have her happy ending that never was. During the afternoon, David and Leroy head to the diner to order ten bowls of chili for themselves and everyone else at the bean fields. Granny wonders what they are working on, which Leroy quickly answers is just some landscaping. Suddenly, Mr. Gold pops in asking to speak to David about a private matter. Leroy goes back to the bean fields with their lunches while David converses with Mr. Gold. He wants David's help in winning back Belle's heart, though her false memories were triggered by Regina and now she has taken on the persona of a person named Lacey. He goes with Mr. Gold to the bar, The Rabbit Hole, where Lacey is drinking heavily. Mr. Gold is having trouble finding the words to say to her, and on David's urging, he successfully asks her out.

After sundown, David carpools Anton, Leroy, Happy, Bashful, Walter, and Doc and drop them off at the diner. Despite Leroy's invitation to have dinner with them, David and Mary Margaret head home for the night. From across the street, Regina waits for them to clear the area and uses a tracking spell on David's previous car route, which leads her straight to the hidden bean fields.

At the dock, David and Mary Margaret have a quiet evening sitting at a bench by the harbor. They discuss what will happen to Regina once they go back to the Enchanted Forest. While Mary Margaret accepts Regina is still Henry's mother, David dislikes the idea of bringing her along and allowing her to live among them. He suggests they give her an ultimatum to either stay in Storybrooke or live out the rest of her days in Rumplestiltskin's old cell. Secretly, Regina overhears their plan.

Leroy tags along with David and Mary Margaret for a drive to visit the bean fields. They enter the outside barrier, and are troubled by the sight of whole rows of destroyed beans.

Armed with the suspicion Regina foiled their aim to return to the Enchanted Forest with the use of the beans, David, Mary Margaret, Emma and Henry hasten to the mayoral office. Upon entry, Regina is nowhere in sight and the stolen beans missing as well. Not believing Regina would leave Storybrooke without Henry, things seem even less right when Emma uncovers that someone used an override code to break into the office. She goes back to her assessment Tamara might be the one behind it, though Mary Margaret and David don't understand why Emma believes so strongly Neal's fiancée fits into the picture. Instead, Mary Margaret suggests the only one capable enough of overpowering Regina is Mr. Gold.

While Emma goes back to Neal to investigate further on the matter, David and Mary Margaret track down Mr. Gold at his shop. They interrupt him at his leisure with Lacey, who is exasperated at the intrusion. The twosome ask for a way to locate Regina, and he helps them due to being indebted to Mary Margaret after she saved his life from Cora. Bringing out a small bottle containing one of Regina's tears, Mr. Gold asks her to think of a bleak moment and shed one of her own tears. On command, Mary Margaret does and one of her tears mixes with Regina's in the bottle. Afterwards, he instructs she must put the liquid into her eye so a temporary bodily connection with Regina can be breached.

The two return to the apartment where Mary Margaret eyedrops the liquid in and begins experiencing shocking physical symptoms of Regina being tortured by someone. She gets a short, frazzled glimpse into Regina's surroundings in sight and smell, but after the link wears off, is unable to recall anything except a recollection of a strange scent of sardines. David reports back to Emma on Mary Margaret's findings. Instinctively, Emma realizes there is only one place in Storybrooke that smells like sardines, which is the town cannery. They meet up with Emma and Neal inside the building, and form a plan to secure the rooms. David and Mary Margaret race ahead and catch Greg in the act of electrocuting Regina to death. They stop him just in time. Though David wants to go after Greg, Mary Margaret is more concerned about the damage inflicted on Regina. After bringing her back to the apartment, Mother Superior heals Regina back to full health.

David is stunned to learn from Regina that she previously planned to use a trigger to erase Storybrooke and everyone in it for good. Regina expresses anger and justification for it as they planned to leave her in Storybrooke and take away Henry as well, but also brings up the grievous point the trigger is now in Tamara's hands. Emma returns to the apartment alone in a state of shock. Torn, she breaks the news to her parents that Neal is dead.

David, Emma and Mary Margaret head to the park via truck to pick up Henry, who has been watched over by Granny. Once there, they have a surprise encounter with Mr. Gold. The older man claims since Neal wants nothing to do with him, he's spending time with his grandson. Grimly, Mary Margaret tells Emma to speak with Henry first, to which she goes off to do.

Though Mary Margaret says she has important news for Mr. Gold, he shows lack of interest in hearing her out. However, his attention is perked once David says the matter concerns his son, and says Tamara shot him. Stunned, Mr. Gold looks at them uncomprehendingly and asks if Neal is dead. David explains the complexity of the situation as a portal had been opened and after Neal was injured, he fell through into it; showing his death to be very probable. Emotionally shaken, Mr. Gold insists his son wasn't supposed to die.

Hastily, David and Mary Margaret fill him in on what Greg and Tamara's current plans in setting off a trigger that will obliterate every single person in Storybrooke who was not born in the Land Without Magic. They ask for his help in stopping the danger, but Mr. Gold firmly refuses. He goes on to blame himself for Neal's death because he brought magic to this land in order to find him. Mr. Gold is prepared to pay the price of magic by forfeiting his life once the trigger self-destructs; much to David and Mary Margaret's horror as that means everyone will perish as well.

With Mr. Gold unwilling to help, the trio and Henry return to the apartment. Having since recovered from her wounds, Regina and Henry have a warm reunion embrace that is interrupted by a quake. Once the shaking subsides, Emma voices her hunch about what that was about. Regina admits the trigger was activated, which Henry takes to mean they are all going to die, but is reminded by her that he was born in this world and won't be affected. This gives him an even more dreadful conclusion of being all alone. Emma promises she won't let that happen and orders Regina to make the trigger stop, but there is no way of doing that. Tension fills the air when Emma blames Regina for the current dilemma, to which Henry intervenes. Just then, Hook strolls in; earning himself a punch from David's fist. Despite an undeniable wish for vengeance, Hook has decided to align himself away from Greg and Tamara since realizing revenge is not worthy if he is going to lose his own life in the process. Regina makes it clear there is no terminating the trigger and the best she can do is to slow it down. David suggests the delay will give them more time to steal back the remaining beans from Greg and Tamara, use them to open portals, and traveling to the Enchanted Forest. Emma points out no one knows their current whereabouts, though Hook chimes in he knows. To keep the pirate from betraying them, David goes along with him. A plan assembles for everyone else in the group; Mary Margaret will take Henry to gather up the rest of the townspeople while Emma brings Regina to the mines to stall the trigger's power.

As Greg pulls out a small clear bottle containing them, Tamara shoots as an ambush attack, though David manages to dodge while getting grazed by the bullet. Hook tackles Greg to the ground; causing the bottle to break on the floor. While David chases after Tamara, Hook wrestles for the beans and eventually grabs one of them while Greg makes off with the other.

During her getaway from David, Tamara trips and her gun slides across the ground. She is left vulnerable, but only for a short time, when Greg pushes her assailant down from behind. She motions to grab David's fallen gun, but her partner urges Tamara to go as they already got what they needed. By the time Hook has caught up, Greg and Tamara are gone. David is upset at their failure, but Hook shows him the bean he was able to get. This does little to cool David's anger at letting the pair escape, but the latter attempts to calm him down. Rejecting Hook's words, he grabs the box containing the bean and stalks off.

Returning to the diner, where some of the townspeople are grouped, David informs Emma about the procured bean. Henry questions where his adoptive mother is, and Emma tells him that she is in the mines slowing down the trigger, but will not be able to make it out. This angers Henry; comparing this event to the Wraith attack and how are things different this time around. This gives Mary Margaret an idea—they can send the trigger through a portal just like they did with the Wraith. Emma doesn't believe anyone is willing to go through with such a risky plan, but Archie persuades her it's the right thing to do. He talks about in the past when Mary Margaret was Snow White and David was Prince Charming, who led all of them without fail, and asks who is inclined to allow them to do it again, to which everyone follows suit in agreement. Mary Margaret knows she and David haven't had a lot of time to be parents, but asks for chance to be trusted, though Emma is concerned Henry will be alone and grow up just like herself. Another rumble tremors through town, which pushes Emma to think they'd all be better off making it out now by using the bean, but Mary Margaret's lingering guilt about Cora forces a moral obligation to do otherwise. She pleads to Emma that Cora's death was the easy way out as well as a mistake, and this time around they must take the hard path to building a future not at the cost of Regina's blood. Emma finally agrees, but as David tosses her the bean container, Hook snatches it in mid-air. She makes him give it back, which he pretends to do by handing back the box and makes off with the actual bean.

Down in the mines, Henry and his family meet up with Regina, and he announces it is their turn to be heroes. David, Henry and Mary Margaret stand back as Emma prepares to take out the bean, but discovers Hook tricked them. Regina's frustration in not being able to contain the trigger causes Emma to realize she does not have enough strength on her own, but perhaps together they do. Combining their magic powers, an impact blow in deactivating the trigger causes everyone present to be thrown back onto the ground. After the danger is over, David expresses relief since they listened to Henry about not leaving Regina behind. However, Henry is nowhere to be seen. They find his backpack on the ground with torn straps. Emma deducts he has been kidnapped.

They rush off to save Henry from Greg and Tamara, but are not fast enough. Horrified, they watch as a portal opens in the water and Henry is forced to jump in along with Greg and Tamara. After the portal closes, David and Mary Margaret have to hold back a anguished Emma. Mr. Gold and Belle pass by the harbor and overhear their discussion about Henry's disappearance to another realm. Regina begs him to help, but he says there is no way to go across lands unless a portal can be opened. The whole group is despondent until Belle, transfixed, stares out at the ocean's distance and points out a ship, the Jolly Roger, still sitting in port. After discovering Hook didn't leave using the magic bean he stole, the pirate allows them to board the ship in going after Henry.

Aboard the Jolly Roger, Mr. Gold conjures the magic globe and spills his own drop of blood onto it; showing Henry's current location to be in Neverland. After Hook casts the magic bean into the water to open a portal, he, David, Emma, Mary Margaret, Mr. Gold and Regina set sail for the land.

Journeying through the portal, Hook steers the ship until it lands in the nighttime waters of Neverland. Cautiously, everyone on board looks around to assess their new surroundings until Emma asks aloud if they are at the proper destination, which Hook affirms, as they sail towards an island.

At the railing, Emma blankly stares out to sea when she is approached by her parents. Mary Margaret offers consolation by saying what happened to Henry and Neal was not Emma's fault. Emma responds she doesn't, and actually blames Mary Margaret. In stunned silence, Mary Margaret and David listen to her regret the decision of being swayed by "good always wins" and rejecting the ideology of it as she did not grow up in a fairytale land and learned to live in a world of realistic expectations. In defense, Mary Margaret states she and David also have their expectations to go by, and want to share their worldly wisdom with her. Emma retorts though they are trying to be parental, the bottom line is both of them are the same age as her, and therefore have an equal amount of wisdom as herself. Near tears, she recounts the bad decision of breaking the curse, and instead should have just left town for good with Henry. Mary Margaret agrees if Emma had, Henry could be together with her. She tries to explain in words how difficult it was for herself and David to lose Emma, and it's something that haunts them everyday. David chips in by saying that's the reason why they are here now so Emma won't have to go through the same thing they did. Having reached her limit, Emma angrily berates Mary Margaret and David's unyielding optimism when the situation is so grim. David responds it's who they are, though Emma has a hard time understanding why because ever since their memories were restored, things have not exactly been ideal. Despite that, he sees the one good thing has been finding Emma, but she counts off how many lives of people have been lost since then. Mary Margaret chides that letting go of hope is like losing all optimism that somehow, someway things will get better, and promises they will find Henry.

Mr. Gold, now garbed in his old Rumplestiltskin outfit, coolly interrupts to state they won't, and draws Hook and Regina's attention as well. With a calm determination, he announces his intent to get Henry back on his own. Annoyed, Regina reminds him they agreed to go on the search and rescue together, but he replies there was no such agreement. Mr. Gold asserts Emma has never truly believed in her parents, in magic, or even herself, and this is what will be a complete failure in her rescue of Henry. Deciding he would do better off on his own, Mr. Gold disappears to the island with a spin of his cane.

Later, at the helm, David and Mary Margaret steer as something is causing the ship to sway erratically. Regina investigates what they are doing while Hook calls for everyone to prepare for an attack. Having no idea what he means, Regina expresses confusion, but Hook urges her to grab a weapon. High pitched screeches ring from beneath the waves, and Emma asks what is out there. They all look over into the waters to discern what creature it could be, and see bodies of swimming mermaids, which only Hook is unsurprised to inform them of. He attempts to quicken the ship to outrun them, but there are too many. David goes to fill a cannon with ammunition and repeatedly fires it at the swarm of mermaids while Mary Margaret and Emma throw a fishing net into the sea and catch a mermaid on the line. As they pull the creature in, Regina remarks it's only one, and takes matters into her own hands by continuously conjuring fireballs into the water until the other dozens of mermaids disperse away from the ship. Seeing as the weight of the mermaid on the fishing line is struggle to pull up, Regina hauls and teleports it onto the deck.

Disgusted, Hook calls for the mermaid to be thrown off his ship, but Regina disagrees as it might be helpful to have a hostage. David sides with Hook and wants the creature away from them. Regina proposes they should find out why the mermaids were attacking while Mary Margaret wonders if she means to torture it, to which the latter is open to. Sneakily, the mermaid grabs a conch shell that was also tangled in the fishing line and blows into it to signal a warning; eliciting the sound of thunder from the sky as a response. She threatens them all with death if they don't free her. David attempts to interrogate the mermaid about what exactly she did by sounding the shell, while the half-fish half-human being pleads to be let go. Regina refuses, and warns she will use force if no answers are given. Frustrated, Mary Margaret states threatening someone isn't a way to get a response, though Hook clues everyone in that a mermaid's word absolutely cannot be trusted. Mary Margaret suggests perhaps the mermaid is afraid of Pan and letting her go would be best, but Regina hints if that happens, it's just as likely the whole horde of them will be swimming right back to kill everyone. With an air of confidence, the mermaid sneers she doesn't need her friends to slaughter them, and they will do it themselves.

Unexpected loud thunder claps brewing from the sky startle everyone; making Hook realize the mermaid previously called the storm to arms. Using authority with a sword, David presses the creature to stop the storm, and then they will let her go. She refuses, and an impatient David moves to prepare slashing open her neck as Regina incites him to go through with it. However, a shocked look from Mary Margaret deters him away from doing so. During Hook's struggle to motion the ship into speeding away from the storm, more bickering follows Mary Margaret and Regina's disagreements over what to do with the mermaid. Eventually, Regina decides for the group to freeze the water nymph into a wooden statue so the storm disturbance will cease, but instead, speeds it up into a downpour of rain and gigantic sea waves.

Emma tries to help Hook turn the ship at the steering wheel when tensions are reaching a breaking point with Mary Margaret and Regina. Their ongoing dispute over whose fault it is for the current situation turns into an all-out jab of personal remarks until they both begin trading physical punches. David hurries over to break it up, but Hook incurs his wraith by using an unintended insult towards Mary Margaret, and the two start a fist fight. Emma tries to stop it, but even her attempts at informing everyone the real reason for the storm's cause—everyone's animosity towards each other—falls on deaf ears. Too busy brawling, neither Mary Margaret or the other three notice anything is amiss until they all see Emma jump head first into the water. In the process, a rigging rope pulley block snaps from the sail and falls into the water; knocking Emma unconscious. Panicked, Mary Margaret requests Regina to bring her up, but she is unable to without knowing Emma's exact location underwater. David volunteers to retrieve Emma, which quickly helps assemble a group effort to tie a rope around his waist so they can pull him in later. Beneath the waters, David grabs hold of Emma and surfaces; signaling Hook, Mary Margaret and Regina to haul them back onto the ship. The hard work pays off, and both are out of harm's way. On the soaked deck, Emma's parents cradle her until she finally comes to just as the ocean begins to calm and the moon peeks from behind the dark sky.

The Jolly Roger, damaged by the storm, causes a change of plans, and those on board take a rowboat towards the island shoreline. On their ascent off the boat, Regina advocates towards another alternative plan instead of going through the jungle; she can fix the ship with magic and follow through with what Hook intended to do. Emma thinks it'd be better to save up the magic for later use, and notes they should stop running away as Pan already knows of their presence. She proclaims Mr. Gold was correct in that Neverland is fueled by the power of believing, and it didn't sit right that everyone was busy being at each other's throats to be believers. Emma also admits she was wrong, too, and the best thing is to not believe in magic, but in each other. Quizzically, Regina interprets her words to mean that, after all strain in their relationships, she wants to be friends. Emma doesn't expect that, and states there doesn't have to be friendship; just cooperation to save Henry. David doesn't think they can with Hook and Regina, but she insists it's possible to succeed by being who they are and sooner or later each person's individual skill will be needed. Regina questions what Emma's skill is. Emma responds, in turn, that she is a mother as well as a leader, and to help her get Henry back or step aside. With that, she walks off into the jungle. David and Mary Margaret quickly follow suit as does Hook, and Regina trails behind.

While treading through the jungle upwards to a cliff ridge, Regina mentions she could have easily used magic to bring everyone to the present area, but Hook points out there are hidden dangers in an unfamiliar location. He asserts only he himself has proper knowledge to guide them through; a judgment Emma trusts because of his previous residence in Neverland. As David progresses in the lead of the hiking expedition, he swipes stray branches and twigs out of his way with his sword to allow himself and the others to bypass forward easily. Seeing a bushful of thorns blocking a path, he prepares to slit them into pieces, but is blocked by Hook. David insists he can handle it, though the pirate familiarizes everyone with the actual danger in a substance, dreamshade, oozing from the thorns. He mentions it is the same poison, in a concentrated dose, once used on Mr. Gold and in dreamshade's natural form, death will be much more painful and agonizing. Hook advises they go left, but David ignores the recommendation and chooses the right path as Mary Margaret and Regina follow.

In a short period, they reach the ridge overlooking the island. Hook tries to get a sense of where Pan's base might be, though Regina complains all she sees is jungle. Pulling out a portable telescope, Hook uses it to see into the distance; admitting the place has grown and is too different since the last time he was present. With the effort of the journey wasted, David proposes they begin combing the sections of the island, but Hook puts them off from the plan as the Dark Jungle is not safe to travel through and suggests taking the path around it. Seeing as everyone's strength is likely depleted, Hook thinks it's best to set up camp for the night. Regina contests his decision, but drops the subject once tiredness overrides the drive to continue searching.

The group sleeps through the night on makeshift beds, but only Emma awakens and has a face-to-face talk with Pan, who offers her a map to Henry, but only if she stops denying her true self. Later, everyone awakens to the news of Emma's encounter. David and Mary Margaret search the premises for Pan, but he is nowhere to be found. Regina deems the whole charade to be one of Pan’s tools to distract them from looking for Henry, and prefers to try using magic on the map. She moves to take it, but Emma stands her ground in following the given instructions; a move Hook agrees with as breaking Pan’s rules are unwise. Grudgingly, David echoes Hook’s sentiments, to which the pirate deems the latter is becoming more trustful of him. Mary Margaret notes Regina’s magic doesn’t exactly have a gentle touch as David also chimes in that using an enchantment might backfire.

Emma tries her hand at unlocking the map by voicing out loud truthful statements about herself. Urged on by Mary Margaret, Emma digs deeper to unearth the more uncomfortable facts about herself; being the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming as well as the product of true love with her birth in the Enchanted Forest and the manner in how she ended up in the Land Without Magic to one day break a curse. Pressing further, David asks her to say the reason why she was able to break the curse, to which Mary Margaret excitedly remarks there's no embarrassment in admitting it. Hook doesn't understand what they mean, so Regina tips him off on the "s" word. Preparing herself, Emma firmly declares she is the savior, but the map remains unmarked with no response. Tired of playing games, Regina snatches the map and casts a locator spell on it to guide them to Pan's current location.

They follow the map through Dark Jungle to an area shaped like a pit, and at the center standing with his back towards them appears to be Henry. Emma calls out to him, but as the boy turns around, it’s revealed to be Pan dressed in Henry’s clothes. Pan, displeased at the breaking of his rules, sets the Lost Boys to circle Emma and the rest of her group into battle. Hook counsels everyone to be on the lookout for the Lost Boys’ arrows as they are laced with dreamshade. As everyone else defends themselves against the onslaught, David deflects the archers’ incoming arrows, but takes a hit in the process. A moment later, at the sudden pierce of a whistle, all the Lost Boys round up to Pan’s side. Pan reaffirms the map will only show a path once Emma stops denying who she is, and makes off with his gang.

After the scuffle with the Lost Boys, Mary Margaret is worried about David’s wound, but he is not concerned since his jacket took most of the damage. Still perplexed over the map, Emma is given words of positivity from her parents, but she is in no mood to hear them. She walks off to be alone, and while David attempts to go after her, Mary Margaret insists on taking his place instead. Reforming with the others, Emma shows the map, now with its contents unveiled, to Hook. He deducts Pan's camp is in the northern part of the island, but traveling there will be bound with impediments. David suggests preparing for what is coming up, though Regina isn't so sure about their way of doing things. Emma allows her the opportunity to disagree, but reasons their best chances are through working together. With a strategy planned, the group breaks apart to assemble for leaving.

On his own, David sneaks away from camp to assess the laceration he sustained earlier from the one of the Lost Boys' dreamshade-coated arrows. The injury is beginning to fester, and quickly getting worse.

Heading straight north to the site of Pan's lair, Emma unravels the map to see how much further away they are, when the destination on the map changes to a location far behind them. Hook informs the group Pan has just moved his camp. Emma comments the entire journey was a waste, so Regina brings up a faster way to reach Henry; namely by using magic to transport everyone there and grab him. The suggested plan is rejected as, per Hook's knowledge, Pan will likely have shields against magic and that kind of attempt would only result in everyone's death. Regina considers what he has in mind instead, so Hook explains they can track down a fairy Pan trusts as she might be a good inside source to get them into the camp with pixie dust. At this, Emma thinks he means fairy dust. David clears things up by explaining pixie dust is much stronger and is akin to nuclear fairy dust, which helps Emma to realize the fairy they are looking for is Tinker Bell. Alarmed, Regina thinks it's a bad idea, but once again, she's in the minority and eventually goes along with the plan.

As the poison in his injury grows stronger, David's strength is depleting. He passes by a watchful Hook last in the group, who confronts him about the wound. David feigns ignorance until Hook clearly says he saw what happened when the arrow struck him earlier in the fight with the Lost Boys, and asks to see how bad it’s gotten. Making sure the others are not near, David pulls up his shirt to show the cut has turned black and is spreading further out. David wants to know how much time he has left, which Hook estimates to be days or weeks at most, though he definitely won’t make it to summer. Hook insists it might be better if David tells Mary Margaret, but he strongly refuses, and instead hopes Tinker Bell’s pixie dust can heal him.

Since Regina stays behind to rest in the jungle, David and the others progress to Tinker Bell's tree house. Inside, Hook climbs up first to make sure it’s safe and then allows everyone else to follow. David proceeds to look around for the pixie dust, but Hook points out there is no way Tinker Bell would just leave it lying around. While getting used to the tree house surroundings, Mary Margaret finds it strange Tinker Bell needs a ladder when fairies are known to have wings for flying. From sleuthing, David finds a white cloth, which Mary Margaret recognizes as Regina’s. Emma pieces together that Tinker Bell was tracking Regina, and they rush off to rescue her.

They ambush Tinker Bell outside a cavern, but Regina arrives to attest to the fairy's innocence. However, Regina states Tinker Bell won't helping them infiltrate Pan's camp. When prompted over the reason, Regina comes clean that Tinker Bell no longer possesses magic, pixie dust or her wings. Through much discussion, Emma and Mary Margaret promise if Tinker Bell gives a hand to their cause, she can make a new home in Storybrooke. Tinker Bell agrees to the deal, and announces her intentions to enter Pan's base as well as leave an opening for them, too. As Tinker Bell follows Hook and Emma to their campsite, David paces in distraction since learning there is no pixie dust to heal the poison in his body. Mary Margaret asks if he's alright, but David lies about being upset that Henry isn't with them. He wonders how she knew promising Tinker Bell a home would work. Mary Margaret admits it was similar to her own situation of constantly evading the Queen, and all she wished for was a home, which didn't happen until meeting David. He listens with a troubled expression as Mary Margaret says even now being with him is all she needs. Later that night, the group settles into their campsite along with Tinker Bell.

Trivia

 * The name "David" is of Hebrew origin derived from the word "dwd" that means "beloved".
 * The surname "Nolan" is of Irish origin derived from the word "nuall" that means "noble, famous".
 * His cell number is 555-0105.

Appearances

 * David's name appears on the list Tamara has in "The Evil Queen".