Hi, so here is a little story that popped into my head right after watching the midseason finale. It toke some time to conclude it. Hope you like it

Disclaimer: And of course, I don't own OUAT or any of its characters.

Gold's back

Six years. Belle let out a bitter laugh. She could hardly believe it had been six years, since she had send her husband across the town line. Six long years since she had last seen him. Six years.

She still felt a sting, when she thought of it. This man had been her husband, her true love. And he had just betrayed her. He had lied to her and hadn't showed the slightest bit of regret doing so.

And still, she had been awake in her bed so many nights regretting her decision. Just wishing he was there beside her. But even though she missed him, she knew it had indeed been the right decision. He had wanted to sacrifice lifes to expand his power. Such a man did not deserve pity.

But still. She loved him. Six years didn't change it. Couldn't change it. Because he had unknowingly left her a goodbye present. Andrew. Who reminded her every single day of the good man she had once seen in him. The man she had fallen in love with. The man she was not sure had ever existed.

"Well, I think we need to spend more money on forest care. The animals hardly feel welcome in this parts.", Mother Superior, the Blue Fairy, declared. From everywhere came voices of agreement or disagreement. It was just a loud discussion, in which no one was listening to anyone else.

"Silence!", it came angrily from Snow White. "Dear Council members, let's come back to the point of the request to build a new kindergarten building. Your other request you can bring to the head of finances.", she declared, now in a calm tone, and waved to Regina, who was sitting on her right.

"Thank you, Madame Mayor. I'm always happy for more request.", she hissed silently at her, so no one else could hear her. Snow only smiled. "You wanted the job and I just got reelected, so you can't get out of it. And you and I both know, you love it." Regina only rolled her eyes and they both turned back to the others at the council meeting.

At the docks Happy and Grumpy just tied their boat at the landing stage as Killian approached them.

"Ah, there you are, mates. Let's see.", he said and look at his formulas. "Oh Happy, your license is just about to expire." Now he took closed look at the boat. "And I don't know, if you should have it renewed again. In fact I don't know if you should be allowed to sail this ship anywhere. It looks like danger. If you don't get it fixed very soon, I might have to call the sheriff.", Killian declared with a dead serious look on his face.

Happy look at him with fear in his eyes. He looked like he was about to cry. Trouble with the sheriff! He never did something wrong. He didn't know it was so bad. Sure, his ship needed fixing, but a danger?

Meanwhile, Grumpy shoot the pirate an unimpressed look and turned to Happy. "Don't worry, Happy. The master of harbor here just loves every single excuse to call the sheriff. That's all!"

Killian gave the dwarves a big laugh. "Fine, fine, you got me. I can think of nothing better than the beautiful sheriff rushing down to the docks with her handcuffs and…" But the dwarfs just waked past him and Grumpy mumbled something about him keeping his dirty fantasies to himself.

"But you should really get it seen to.", Killian shouted after them. "It might not be a crime in this land to let a ship stay in this shape, but it should be!"

A few minutes later his phone rang and to his delight displayed Emma's number.

"I heard you terrorized the citizens again.", she said. He chuckled. "Terrorized? Hardly. I just never get enough of seeing the world's most beautiful sheriff." "Well, just stop doing that. I'm really tired of complains about you threatening to call the sheriff. Or the next time someone does, I let my dad arrest you." "Isn't there a chance you could come here and use your cuffs on me?"

He heard her sigh tiredly. "Is everything alright, love?", he asked concerned, playful mood gone. Another sigh was heard. "Well while I tried to sleep last night your son decided to not let me. So I'm pretty tired right now. But you can relax. I already had to promise my dad to go home early today." "So, whenever he is not behaving, he's my son?"

"Hey, I'm the pregnant one. So yeah. Every time the baby won't stop kicking me, when I try to sleep or whenever the little pirate comes in our bed at night because she had a bad dream and kicks me in the back all night, they are your children." Killian laughed. "Fair enough."

"Well I need to get back to work. See you at home. Love you." "I love you, too, Mrs. Jones." Killian could almost feel the smile creep on her face. "Over five years you still don't get tired of saying that." "Never."

"Well, children, I wish you all a very good weekend. And on Monday morning we will have a trip to the forest to get to know all the different flowers and trees and animals.", Tinkerbell said to her preschool group. All of them cheered happily and then went to get their things as they were picked up.

"Henry, Roland, how good to see you.", she said to them as they came in.

"Hello Tinkerbell, I hope you'll have a nice weekend.", Roland said. They stood together and talked, while Henry was picking up his siblings and his uncles.

"Hey kids, are you ready to go?", he asked when he found them. Dawn immediately smiled as she saw her big brother. She was already in her raincoat and her boots as the others were still getting dressed. Neal just got his backpack on as a little girl walked past him, giving him a shy smile and whispered "Bye Neal." The other three started to laugh at him as he turned red. "I'm so glad than I finally get to school in a month away from these dummies.", he scold as the others sang repeatedly "Neal and Ginger".

Henry looked at his uncle and said: "Neal, this was not nice. Though they are mocking you right now, you will miss them very much." Neal just shout him a sulky look and said: "I want to walk with Roland today." And he stormed off to him. Following that there came shouts from Andrew and Tom "No, I want to walk with Roland."

As the three boys were arguing about who was allowed to walk with Roland, Dawn reached for Henrys hand, proclaiming: "Don't worry, I will always walk with you." Henry smiled and hugged his sister. "And that is why you are my favorite sibling."

The six of them walked out of the building down the street, Neal and Tom at Roland's hands, Dawn and Andrew at Henry's hands, chatting about their day and about what they learned.

Suddenly Dawn let go of Henrys hand, stop and looked at the opposite of the street. Henry when back to her with a questioning look. "Sweety, what is it? What are you looking at?" He looked to the spot Dawn was staring at, but saw nothing.

"There is a man standing there. Staring at us. He feels cold…", she mumbled still fixing the point.

Henry grabbed her shoulder and turned her so she was facing him. "Dawn, you don't have to be scared. There is no one watching us." As she was eager to explain him that there was a man, she turned back and then let out a confused "He's gone." But she could not take her time to look for him again, because Henry already dragged her down the street.

"I can't believe my little baby is moving out soon.", Emma sniffled. Then she cursed under her breath. "Stupid hormones." Henry only laughed at her. "Mom, come on. Regina is probably waiting for us by now. We should be going.", he said. Henry was looking for apartments with his mothers in Boston, where he would soon go to college.

Killian pushed both of them to the door. "Have fun, son. And don't let your mothers talk you out of every apartment just because they don't want you to leave.", he said and hugged his stepson on his way out. Then he turned to his wife. "And watch my precious wife and our little duckling." He gave Emma a passionate kiss while caressing her bulging belly.

"Please, you won't even notice that we are gone when you have our little pirate all to yourself. She will keep you busy.", Emma laughed.

As they had left the apartment Killian turned to his daughter. "Well, my little pirate. What do you want to do first?" It was only then when he noticed, that she sat on the couch not looking so happy. He assumed she was sad, that her mother and brother were gone for the weekend and at the prospect of her brother moving out. So he came up with an idea that always lightened her up. "What do you say we go to the supermarket and buy ice cream and chocolate and all the other things we need for a proper pirates weekend."

This earned him at least a little smile and the plan was made.

When he came out of the supermarket with the bag and his now happy daughter holding his hook he knew that Emma would most likely kill him for all the junk food he was giving to their daughter and having himself. Good thing she wasn't there.

On the parking lot as he was loading the car he ran into Belle. "Hello, love.", he greeted her. "Did you leave your little one at home?" Belle nodded. "Snow and David are watching him. It is way easier to go shopping without him stopping on every second shelf begging for me to buy something." Killian gave her a knowing look. "Oh yes, this little pirate…" He paused.

His daughter was standing a bit away from them and looking at a spot. "Who are you?", she said. Killian and Belle gave her a concerned look. "Honey, no one is standing there.", Belle said as she got a few steps closer to her.

Dawn gave Belle and her father an angry look. "There is someone and I will show you.", she proclaimed insulted. She waved her little hand and wave of bright white light rushed out. And at the spot right in front of Dawn a man appeared.

"See, there is someone!", she said victoriously to them.

But Belle and Killian looked in horror at that man in front of them.

"Clever girl. And very powerful.", it came in a dangerous calm voice from the man before him.

Recovering from his shock Killian rushed to his daughter picking her up in his arms and holding her protectively. "Crocodile.", he hissed. "Stay the hell away from my daughter."

But Rumpelstiltskin only gave him an arrogant laugh and said: "I assure you, I wasn't looking for your brut." Then he focused on Belle, who was still staring at him in shock.

Belle was still frozen in shock. She didn't know what to do. She didn't know what to feel.

But before Rumpelstiltskin could come any closer to her, Killian reacted. "Listen, Dawn. I know you're not supposed to do transporting magic, but this is an emergency. Transport us and Belle to grandma's and grandpa's place. Can you do that?" He gave his daughter a serious look. Dawn didn't understand what was dangerous about that man, but she understood that her father was concerned. So she nodded to him and the three of them disappeared in a white cloud.

Snow and David were just watching as Neal was teaching Andrew in sword fighting with his soft swords. It was so cute how Neal acted like he was the number one expert on it, constantly correcting the younger boy.

Then suddenly Belle and Killian, who was protectively holding onto Dawn, appeared it the middle of the room in a white cloud.

"What are you doing here?", Snow asked surprised. Killian just set his daughter down and kneeled, so he was at her eyes level. "Listen, Dawn, can you go play with Neal and Andrew? I need to talk about some serious things with your grandparents." As Dawn went off to play with the others, a still distraught Bell went after her. "I will watch them. I don't want to let Andrew out of my sight for a second." Killian only nodded and guided his parents-in-law to their bedroom and closed the door behind them.

"Gold is back." This simple sentence explained all the horror in both Killian's and Belle's eyes and frightened David and Snow too, at the same time. "Oh my god, we need to warn the people!", Snow stated as David said: "We need to call the Blue Fairy. We need a protecting spell immediately."

"You do that. I will try to reach Emma and Regina. If Gold is here, not only Belle and Andrew will be what he's after, but also Henry."

Later that night, Rowland was playing with the children upstairs in his room in Regina's house, as the adults talked about protecting plans in the living room. "How did he get back here in the first place? I thought he was banished and forced to never come back?", Robin asked, his arm draped around Regina, who had just arrived back with Emma and Henry. "Well, if I know one thing about Gold, it's that he always finds a loophole.", Emma stated. She sat on the couch, one hand holding onto Henry's the other stroking Belle's back to comfort her.

"And I guess it is pretty clear what he wants.", Belle murmured, still absentminded.

"And I think we all agree he will not get it.", it came from David. He was standing next to his wife and giving Belle and Henry a supportive look.

Henry himself was feeling really bad. "I should have believed her when she said there was someone there. He could have taken Andrew, he could have hurt her! And I wouldn't have been able to protect them." As both his mothers were trying to assure him, he had done nothing wrong, Killian, who has been running back and forth in the room, said: "But the question is, why he didn't? I'm pretty sure he has found out Andrew is his son by now. He could have just taken him. He could have just taken Henry and Belle. He could have hurt Dawn or me or anyone in this town. But he didn't…"

"You don't think he has changed, don't you?", Snow gave her son in law an irritated look. "I don't know. I have seen many strange things in my life. But I actually just ask myself why he didn't do any of this." "Maybe to worm back his life into Belle's life.", Emma suspected.

"Well, whatever he is planning, he will not come near our son." Regina said, with a finality in her voice, to both Emma and Killian. "Well he surely can agree on that.", Killian answered.

"And I think it's saver if the kids stay here for now. It's way easier to protect them all in one place.", Regina went on. "Well, I don't like the thought of leaving both of my children here, but I guess you're right.", Emma said with a sigh. "And we are helping them more if we find out, what he is up to." As Emma attempted to get up, she was held back by her father, her son and her husband at once.

"Love, you're very stupid, if you think I will let you out going on a search for them." "I'm the sheriff, it's my job to fight the bad guys!" "Yeah, but so am I. And I'm also your father, so I say, you're staying here.", David cut in. "But you need magic to defeat him!" Now Regina interrupted the heated discussion. "I'm not sure, if he needs to be defeated. But I will help them with the magic. You stay here and protect the kids." Emma knew every protest was useless. Being pregnant really sucked sometimes.

So as Emma, Belle and Snow stayed at home to watch the children, the others were joined by Ruby and Tinkerbelle. As Robin, David and Tinkerbelle went to the pawn shop and Belle's place, Killian and Regina went with Ruby, who was tracking Rumpelstiltskin down. At the edge of the woods they found him sitting on a fallen tree. It seemed like he had been waiting for him.

"That is quite a new constellation. I would have expected Miss Swan with the Captain.", he said in a humored voice.

"Lot has changed in the time you were gone, Dark One.", Killian hissed through his teeth. His drawn sword was right at his side. "I would have at least expected you to get back your hand, Captain. So that you could be a better man for your swan. And you Regina, on his side again, fighting to keep your happy-ending you think I'm threatening."

"No, we are a family. And we protect each other. So it doesn't matter if you threaten Belle or our son, we will fight you, no matter what.", Regina explained with an angry voice.

Now Rumpelstiltskin face froze. "'our son'? Henry's father is Baelfire." "You're right he is. But as Henry has more than just one mother, I don't see the trouble with him having three fathers.", Ruby returned.

"Well, don't worry. I'm not here to fight anyone or get anyone back. The only thing I will take back is my pawn shop. I've seen Belle and Henry, and I know their life went on without me. Henry is grown up and Belle stopped loving me a long time ago and started a family with another man.", he said as he turned his face so Killian and Regina couldn't see the sadness in his eyes.

Now it was their turn to shoot him a confused look. "You mean Andrew?", Killian questioned.

"I know it is a satisfaction for you to see that I've lost everything and that the woman I love has a child with another man, but even I have feelings, pirate."

"He is you're son.", it came from a voice behind Killian and Regina. Rumpelstiltskin's eyes lit up as he saw Belle walking towards him. "How could you think he was from someone else? It has always been you, Rumpel. Always. There was never place for another man in my heart." Tears were streaming down Belle's face. Rumpel, filled with joy and love, wanted to rush towards her, but was stopped by her.

"No! I can't trust you. And before you tell me how you've changed, I don't want to hear it."

Regina, Ruby and Killian could see the heartbreak on Rumpelstiltskin's face as a response to Belle's words. Whatever he might have done, he obviously loved her. Truly.

But Belle went on: "I don't want to hear any words, I want you to prove it to me that you've changed. You can see your son, but only under oversight. And the same goes for Henry. And if you've proven that you are trustworthy, maybe I will talk to you about us. But I assure you Rumpel, one slip, one mistake and you will never see any of us again. Ever. For now Andrew thinks an evil wizards has taken his father away. So, proof that he is back. And if you hurt him or Henry, I can tell you that this entire town will be after you. And that our family will take you down." She looked at both Killian and Regina with affection in her eyes. After all those years together, they were all a family.

"So, do you take her conditions or do you want to leave right away? And I can tell you, this town is not gonna be easy on you for getting back."; Killian said.

"Well, I guess I have no choice."

"Daddy, you're back!", Andrew squealed hugging his father. "Did the evil wizard let you go? Is he gone now?", the little boy asked sitting on his lap in the diner while being watched from Tinkerbell, Regina and Granny.

Rumpelstiltskin ran a hand though Andrew's curly auburn hair and looked into his brown eyes, which looked exactly like his own eyes. Tears were streaming down both their faces.

"Yes, the evil wizard is gone and he will never come back, my little boy.", he whispered into his hair, as he held his son tight to his chest. And though he had said it quietly, Belle, who said on the other side of the table, had heard him. And has she wiped away her own tears, she thought: 'Maybe we can be a family after some time.'

And after a lot of time and a few slightly awkward dates ("you date the father of your child, it shouldn't be so hard", Ruby had told her) and some new villains coming to town and causing trouble, Rumpelstiltskin was tolerated by most of the town, permitted to attend family dinner at Snow and David's place (Emma still didn't want him in her house at family dinner, in the light of his and her husband's past together) and after a year moving in with Belle and Andrew.

Thanks for reading :-)