Disclaimer: only the plot is mine.

Neal Cassidy was dead.

When they found him, they were sad, but not surprised. He was found at the bottom of a particularly steep stairwell in his house that Emma had always warned him to be careful about going down, especially when, as was obvious from the box of Halloween decorations scattered beside him and spilled from an overturned box, he was carrying something.

"Thanks for letting us know about this," she told Rumple as she got up from her kneeling position next to the body and put her arms around henry and then let him bury his head in her shoulder. He wasn't a little boy anymore, but she didn't blame him for looking away from his father's still body. "How did you find out about it yourself?"

"Well," Rumple sighed and took a deep breath. "Well…you know how he always called me in the morning to make sure…to make sure everything was all right? Well, this morning he didn't. And an hour later, I was still waiting for the call. I know I should have called him, but after two hours, I shrugged it off. I thought he was just busy and I didn't want to be in the way. But had I known that this was the reason why he wasn't calling, I would have…I would have…" He broke down and Belle took him in her arms and hugged him hard. "It's okay, Rumple," she told him as he sobbed on her shoulder. "It'll be all right."

"It's not," he said. "I didn't even get to say goodbye!"

"Oh, but I'm sure he knew you cared," Belle assured him. "He knew it."

Soon she had to make room for Henry as well and they all hugged while Emma went to the phone and called David to get someone to come and retrieve Neal's body.

When David arrived, he gave Emma and Henry hugs and then went inside along with Doctor Whale.

"He's dead, right?" Emma asked. "I mean, I figured as much." Rumple and Henry had retreated to the car along with Belle by then so it was just Emma, the doctor, and her father.

"Yes," Dr. Whale replied. "The way he fell broke his neck. There would have been no way for him to survive a fall like that."

Emma sighed and then went to sit next to David, who put his arms around her. "Why don't you take Gold and Henry and go to Granny's?" He suggested. "There's nothing else you can do here."

"Yeah," Emma nodded. "That's a good idea. I don't think I want to be here anymore."

So they went to Granny's and told her what happened as she handed out cocoa.

"Want a little something extra in yours?" She whispered to Emma. "I'm sure I have some brandy around here somewhere."

Emma sighed. "I really shouldn't but…" she pushed her cup back. "Maybe just a little."

"All right," Granny winked. "I promise I won't say a word."

After she finished her cocoa, she helped Belle convince Rumple to eat something because she was sure that he'd been so shocked at Neal's death that he hadn't eaten yet that day.

"You don't have to eat a lot," Belle told him. "But just get something in your stomach. It doesn't have to be much."

"Maybe some soup," Emma suggested. "Chicken soup would be a good idea."

"Yes," Belle nodded. "I like that." So she ordered Rumple some soup and made sure he ate it, and after that, they took him home and tucked him into bed.

"Would you and Henry mind staying the night?" He asked Emma. "Please? I know it sounds silly, but after all that's happened, I wouldn't mind having a few people in the house. If it's not possible, I understand, but…"

"No, we can stay," Emma said. "I need to call Regina and let her know, but I'm sure it won't be a problem for us both to stay."

"Good," Rumple smiled. "Thank you."

"Yeah, thanks," Belle told her.

"You're welcome," Emma told them. "It's really no trouble at all."

Since he was in a house full of people, Rumple fell asleep right away and slept soundly until he was abruptly awakened just after two in the morning. He'd been having a terrible dream about his son being buried alive and yelling and screaming to be released. It was soon after his eyes popped open and he sat up that he noticed some wispy white smoke in the corner of the room. Or at least that's what it looked like. His first thought was to panic because the house was on fire, but he didn't smell fire, so he thought it was best not to wake the whole house over nothing. He continued to watch the smoke as it floated to the foot of his bed and, to his shock, coalesced into the form of his son.

"Bae?" He whispered. "Bae, are you all right?" He asked it, even though his son still had that look of horror that he'd had in his dream.

"Help me," the form whispered. "Help me, Papa."

"What's wrong, Bae?" Rumple asked, beginning to feel agitated himself. "What's wrong? Please tell me/"

"I need you to know," Neal said firmly. "I didn't just happen to fall down the stairs. I was murdered."

"Murdered?" Rumple repeated, feeling sick to his stomach. "Oh, son, I'm sorry. If I had been there, I could have stopped it. I-"

"I know," Neal told him. "I know, Papa. But it's too late for that. I need you to help me get justice because the person who killed me, they're way too skilled to just be caught and way too smart to just confess."

"Are you giving me permission to avenge you by all means necessary?" Rumple asked, his eyes narrowed. "Because for you, I will, even though I would much rather use methods of my own."

"Well, you know what I would want from you, but you do what you feel you need to," Neal told him. "It's not like I can stop you anymore."

"I'll do it," Rumple promised. "I'll avenge you, Bae."

"Thank you, Papa," Neal said and then disappeared, leaving the room dark and silent except for the sound of Belle's steady breathing beside him.

"Your son came to you in your sleep last night?" Belle asked as she drank her tea the next morning while listening to Rumple re-tell the story. "That's not good. Usually when the dead return, it's never for anything pleasant."

"No," Rumple shook his head. "He claims he was murdered by someone very powerful."

"Oh, dear," Belle sighed. "What are you going to do about it?"

"I'm going to do what he wanted me to," Rumple told her and took her hand. "But I don't think I can do it alone. Will you help me?"

"Yes," Belle smiled and nodded. "Yes, Rumple. I would be glad to." She paused. "How would you like to start?"

"Well," Rumple ran his fingers through his long brown hair flecked with gray. "Ideally I would like to see if I can contact my son and get any more details out of him because he didn't talk for very long and I was only half-awake when he was speaking, so while I think I know what he said, it wouldn't hurt to double-check, would it?"

"No," Belle shook her head. "I don't think it would."

"And I suppose I should tell Henry and Emma since they've been so supportive of me during all this. And it might draw Neal in if a lot of us want to speak to him." Rumple shrugged. "Not that I know much about talking to spirits. You wouldn't have a book on how to do that, would you?"

"I might," Belle nodded. "I'm still working on making a catalogue of my library. Let me go look while you call Henry and Emma and I'll see what I find."

"All right," Rumple took her hand and kissed it. "Thank you, Belle."

"You're welcome, Rumple," Belle replied and hugged him hard before running off to the library to see if she had any books on how to conduct a séance.

"So let me get this straight," Emma said to Rumple as she and Henry sat on the side of the table opposite from him and Belle. "Neal came to you, as a vision, and told you he'd been murdered and wanted you to find his killer and avenge him?"

"Yes," Rumple nodded. "Do you believe that, Miss Swan?"

"Well, are you sure it was really him and not just a side-effect of your grieving process and the fact that you haven't been getting much sleep lately?" Emma questioned. "Now, I'm not necessarily saying that you didn't see what you thought you saw. But if someone is going to be murdered or arrested for Neal's death, we have to really be sure that he was in fact murdered."

"Of course I know that, Miss Swan," Rumple spat, his tone biting. "Why do you think we're doing this in the first place? It's not just for fun!"

"You're right," Emma nodded and put her hands up before sitting back in her chair. "I'm sorry."

"I believe you really saw Dad," Henry told Rumple. "And, well…other than being murdered and stuff, did he seem all right?"

"I would like to think so," Rumple nodded. "It makes me feel better that way."

"Yeah," Henry nodded. "Me too."

The lights were then turned off, and Belle lit a circle of candles around the table before everyone held hands.

"All right," Belle murmured. "Focus on Neal. Try and draw him here with your thoughts."

And as they all did, a dismayed voice sounded. "Really, Papa! Did you have to get everyone involved?"

They all opened their eyes and gasped as Neal stood behind an empty chair, looking dismayed, flickering for a moment, but then remaining solid.

"I just had to be sure you weren't some hallucination," Rumple replied. "And I thought it would be nice to have everyone you care about know that you're still around."

"Yes, but that's dangerous!" Neal exclaimed. "The reason why you know about it is because you have enough cunning and magic to be able to fight my killer if they come after you too. And that's enough. No one else needs to be drawn into this."

"Maybe you don't think we should," Emma told him. "And I…I guess I'm touched by the sentiment, but…you were killed, Neal. And because you mean something to me, I want someone to pay for that, all right? And sure, it will be in a legal, law-abiding way, but I won't just sit on my butt and wait. I won't. I might not have your father's powers, but I know how to take care of myself if something bad happens. And Henry too. We can help with this. We'll be all right." She then sucked in a breath as Neal put a hand on her arm and she felt tingles and cold.

"I guess I'll have to stay then," he said. "Which is fine. With the way I'm feeling now, I probably wouldn't be able to find peace anyway."

Emma just sighed and looked at his sad eyes, wishing she could hug him. But instead, she cleared her throat and said, "All right. Since you're staying, where do we start? Can you tell us who killed you?"

"Yes, I can," Neal nodded. "But getting them to admit it…that will be the problem."

"Oh, really?" Rumple rolled up his sleeves and bared his teeth. "Because I know quite a few very effective ways of making people talk."

"No!" Emma, Neal, and Belle cried out at once.

"I know that you're angry," Belle continued, putting a hand on Rumple's arm. "But killing whoever killed Neal isn't going to help anything."

"Yes, it will," Rumple nodded. "It will help quell the feelings of rage I have. That alone is a good reason to do it."

Belle and Emma just looked at one another and shook their heads. This was going to be difficult, but they'd expected that.

"Okay," Belle got out. "At least tell us who killed you. We can start there."

"Was it Regina?" Rumple asked. "Did she do it just to spite me?"

"No," Neal shook his head. "It wasn't Regina. And it wasn't Hook either, before you ask that.

"Oh, damn," Rumple sighed. "I've been looking for an excuse to go after him."

"I know, but it shouldn't surprise you that I don't want to be a cause of murder," Neal told him. "There are other ways to avenge me."

"Yes, you mentioned that," Rumple huffed. "Please, just tell us who killed you."

"It was the queen's sister," Neal confessed after a long pause. "She was the one who killed me."

"Zelena!" Rumple cried. "I should have known!"

"Why would she want to kill me?" Neal asked his father. "What did you do to her?"

"What makes you think I did something?" Rumple wanted to know. "You can't completely blame me!"

"Yes, I can," Neal sighed. "Remember how well I know you?"

"Damn," Rumple told him. "All right. If you don't want me to avenge you, how would you like to handle Zelena's crime?"

"Well, this'll give you a chance to stretch your magical wings," Neal told him. "I know what the answer might be, but…could you bring me back?"

"To life?" Rumple questioned. "I've never thought it was possible."

"What about Dr. Frankenstein?" Henry questioned. "He knows how to bring people back to life."

"Oh, it's a good thought, but remember when Regina's love Daniel attacked you in the stables as you were taking care of your horse?" Emma questioned. "He was an example of a person brought back to life by Dr. Frankenstein. Would you like Neal to end up like that?"

"No," Henry sucked in his breath. "I don't think so."

"Well, that makes things easy," Emma said. "Do you want to just haunt her and drive her crazy until she confesses?"

"That's not morally wrong," Neal replied. "I can handle that."

"Rumple, I'd like to ask you a favor," Belle told him the next day. "I know that we all decided to leave the specific plan of how to get Zelena to confess up to you, but…I'd like to be part of it. Not necessarily in a way that involves fighting because I'm well aware of my limitations in that area. But I just…I can't sit idly by and do nothing."

"I figured you would say as much," Rumple nodded. "Now, you know I'm not naturally inclined toward mercy, especially when it comes to those who hurt those I love, but I suppose we could give Zelena one chance to confess before we put our plan to really frighten her into action. And you could help with that."

"Wow," Neal popped into the chair across from them, making them both jump. "Did I hear you say you were feeling merciful, Papa? I'm impressed."

"So you don't mind me giving your killer a chance to confess on her own?" Rumple asked. "It doesn't bother you?"

"No," Neal shook his head. "It…it really makes me proud of you. You're being sensible instead of flying off the handle. That's good."

"Well…thank you, son," Rumple replied, his voice quiet, his cheeks flushing. "I…I thought that's what you and Belle would want. And if it doesn't work, then you haunt her and show no mercy."

"Yep," Neal nodded. "Exactly."

"Tell me what I need to do and I'll do it," Belle smiled. "I can't wait to hear."

The next day, Belle came into Granny's with a book in hand and sat down at the table where Zelena was eating without being invited.

"I hope you don't mind me sitting here," Belle said with a smile. "Lovely day, isn't it?" She put the book down with a loud thump and Zelena looked up. "Do you mind?" She asked.

"Sorry," Belle said. "I didn't mean to disturb you."

They stared at one another and Zelena sighed. "Well, since you don't seem to be leaving…shame about Rumple's son. How he just fell down the stairs like that and died. I bet the poor man was heartbroken." She tried to look sad, but couldn't stop herself from smiling.

"Oh, of course he was sad," Belle nodded. "But soon after the accident, Neal visited him in a dream and told him that he'd been murdered. He asked us to catch the killer. And you know that when Rumple makes promises, he doesn't renege on them. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

"No," Zelena leaned forward. "I don't know why you think I would."

"I know you and Rumple have a history that isn't good, so you have motive to hurt people close to him," Belle remarked. "But if you don't feel like confessing now, that's all right. It doesn't surprise me you don't want to make things easy for yourself. But just to warn you…it's not unheard of for spirits to return and avenge their unnatural deaths. Just something to think about."

Zelena just burst out laughing. "I think you spend way too much time with those books of yours," she said. "Your attempt to frighten me won't work." But she looked nervous," Belle saw, to her satisfaction.

"You know, you're right," she nodded, opening the book she'd brought to a ghost story of a spirit looking for revenge against his murderer. "Why don't you give that a read? And have a good day."

"So she didn't confess?" Rumple asked as Belle handed him the recording device she'd been wearing inside her dress.

"No, she didn't," Belle shook her head and gave Rumple a kiss. "Can't say I'm surprised. She's never been the type to do the sensible thing, has she?"

"No," Rumple shook his head. "Not really." He listened to the tape and smiled at Belle. "That was some really clever prompting you gave her. Is it true, though? Are there stories of ghosts coming to avenge their killers? I mean, I know my son can't be the only one, but I had no idea it was so common."

"Oh, yes," Belle nodded. "It sure is. So now that we know Zelena won't confess to what she's done, what will happen?"

"Leave that to me," Neal replied, making another sudden appearance. "You don't have to worry about another thing."

"Good luck, son," Rumple said.

"Thank you, Papa," Neal replied and disappeared.

When Neal arrived at Zelena's house, he decided to start small. He waited until evening, and then began made her lights flicker on and off before plunging the house into total darkness. Then he heard a shriek and several thumps as Zelena tumbled down the stairs. He started to feel bad, and then remembered that this was the woman who murdered him. When she got up, he breathed a sigh of relief and followed her as she made her way to her bedroom.

"Damn darkness," she cursed, going to the medicine cabinet to look for a pill that would soothe her aching head. She found the painkillers and shut the cabinet door, letting out a shriek when she saw Neal reflected behind her in the tiny mirror that hung there.

"Hello, Zelena," Neal got out, trying to call up some of his father's imposing manner. "I bet you never thought you'd see me again. Am I right?"

"You're dead!" Zelena cried. "Go away! You're not even real! You're just an illusion brought on by that Belle woman putting ideas in my head. She shut her eyes, but that didn't make Neal go away. Instead, Zelena felt herself be lifted to her feet so she was suspended in the air. Then the showerhead came on and sprayed her, making her soaking wet.

"Stop!" Zelena cried. "Please stop!"

"Not until you tell Emma that you were the one who killed me," Neal told her. "Will you?"

"No!" Zelena yelled stubbornly. "I won't!"

Neal then made her float out the bathroom door and into the living room, setting her down on the carpet just as fire and smoke filled the room.

"What are you doing?" Zelena cried. "Are you going to kill me too?"

"That's up to you," Neal told her. "I'm assuming you want to live. You either stay in here and die, or you can leave the house and confess what you did to Emma and her father, who are waiting outside.

Zelena then tried to use her magic to get out, finding to her horror that it didn't work.

"My father warned me about your powers," Neal told her. "You don't think I would let you get away that easily. And even if you were able to, I would just haunt you until you did the right thing, day and night, a constant reminder. Let's make things easier for both of us. Go confess now. Please."

Zelena just grinned and laughed then, backing herself up against wall. "I don't think I will." She told Neal. "Move along, spirit. Go scare someone else!"

Neal didn't know what to do then, so he left the house to talk to his father, who'd come along with Belle in case David and Emma needed magical assistance. Rumple had been skeptical about Belle coming, but she'd insisted, and there was no point in arguing with her. "She's not coming out, Papa. Is she the sort of person who would rather die than confess?"

Rumple nodded. "I should have seen this coming. She's never been the most stable."

"So what are we going to do?" Belle asked. "We can't just let her die!"

"Don't worry," David assured her. "We'll go in there and get her out." But when they tried to open the door, they found it was locked.

"Kick down the door," Emma suggested.

David was about to do just that when a terrible shriek rang out. He looked into one of the open windows at the front of the house and saw that Zelena had become enveloped in flames.

"What should we do now?" He asked. "Try and save her?"

"I don't think it will do you any good," Rumple told him, putting a hand on his arm. "She seems to want to die, and even if we were to get her out, she'd never confess. Maybe it's better to end things this way. She won't hurt anyone else now. And you know you tried to save her. She had a chance to leave and didn't take it. It's not your fault." He then put his arms around Belle, who was shaking like a leaf beside him. "It'll be all right," he said.

"I know she wasn't a good person," Belle told him, gasping for breath. "I know she hurt you and others, but…it all seems like such a waste! Think about what she could have been if she'd only tried!"

Rumple hugged her harder. "It's a shame that it's easier for you to see the good in some people than it is for them to see it in themselves, sweetheart."

After the fire trucks arrived, Rumple, Belle, and Neal left Emma and David to deal with the fire damage and the retrieval of Zelena's body, and headed home to have cocoa in front of the fire. Belle thought that would cheer them up.

"So…" She asked Neal. "What happens now that you've been avenged? Are you going to go wherever it is you're supposed to go?"

"I could," Neal nodded. "I guess that's a possibility. But I thought I might stay, if that's all right. There's still plenty to do around here." He paused. "Unless the idea of having a ghost in your house scares you."

"You could never scare me, son," Rumple smiled.

"No," Belle agreed, taking Rumple's hand. "We'd love to have you for however long you want to stay."

"All right, good," Neal smiled. "Cause it feels right to me. Do you think Emma and Henry will mind?"

"No, I shouldn't think so," Rumple shook his head. "They were very broken up when they found out you were gone. We can tell them in the morning."

"I could go tell them now myself, if you two want some time alone."

"All right," Rumple agreed. "See you when you get back, son."

"See you," Neal said, waving goodbye and fading away, leaving Belle and Rumple alone, drinking their cocoa with their free arms wrapped around each other under a green and blue blanket as a fire crackled beside them in the dark living room.

The End