This is an AU of Season 2. Gold never called upon the Wraith to attack Regina, so Emma and Snow never fall into the Enchanted Forest. This begins the day after Emma breaks the curse. Emma visits Mr. Gold to talk and ends up seeing a woman at his house. Knowing this woman is the unnamed 'her' Gold beat up Moe French for, Emma sets out to find out who the woman is. Someone Regina isn't aware 'escaped'. She also learns that she is no longer playing a game, and everything changes.

Emma walked up the steps to the pink, or salmon as the owner continued to call it, Victorian mansion at eight in the morning and rang the doorbell. Her parents (who she still couldn't believe existed, let alone were Snow White and Prince Charming) insisted that she didn't talk to Mr. Gold, but she needed to. And she needed to do it alone, which made making sure Mary Margaret and David didn't follow her really hard. Her new found parents and even Regina all told her that Mr. Gold, or as she now knew him as Rumpelstiltskin, wasn't a good man to associate with. Even Henry had told her before she broke the curse that Mr. Gold was actually far worse than Regina, who was the Evil Queen. But Emma knew that Henry, her parents, and even Regina wouldn't be able to give her the answers she needed. Not even August. She had to talk to Gold and learn everything she could because she knew that if she continued to talk to the others, she would only get biased answers. She might now believe in magic and everything Henry continued to tell her for the last few weeks, but in the end she was still a bonds person. And while that might not have meant a lot to everyone else, because they only saw her as a princess (something she never even wanted to be), Emma believed in facts. And for her facts were not biased. They were straight and true and even without a curse or magic she knew that Mr. Gold was nothing if not exactly that. He might like to play around with words and slip a few loopholes into a contract, but he never lied about the truth that not even he could deny.

After a few seconds of waiting the door finally opened to show Mr. Gold. Emma wasn't exactly sure how to react. Was she seeing him as Mr. Gold or Rumpelstiltskin? Perhaps is was because he wasn't wearing a suit. It was always odd how impeccably dressed Gold was and seeing him in just a shirt and dress pants just seemed wrong.

"Hello Miss Swan. To what do I owe the pleasure?" he said in a honeyed voice.

"Hey. Can I come in?" she asked, still shocked by his appearance.

Gold passed a glance behind him into the house before sighing. "Sure, why not."

He moved aside to let her in and gently closed the door. She noticed that all the antiques were still there. She wasn't sure why that surprised her. Maybe after learning who he really was she was expecting something more...magical?

"Everything all alright?"

She watched him walk pass her with his cane. Why did he always walk with one? "Oh, yeah. I just..."

"Just what?" he looked at her blankly. She could sense he didn't want her there at the moment so she decided to try and make this visit quick.

"I don't know." That helps.

"Well you came here. I assume there was a reason?"

It was then she realized that the old man looked...tired. As if perhaps he was crying earlier, and was still figuring out other emotions. It was odd thinking that this man who orchestrated an entire curse for reasons they still didn't know could actually feel emotions, but Emma knew better. She still remembered Valentine's Day week. Mr. Gold might be clever, sneaky, and manipulative (to name a few traits), but he had emotions. He showed them when she found him at his cabin ruthlessly beating up Mr. French over a 'her'. She made a mental to found out who 'her' was later.

"Yeah," she said a little hesitantly. Maybe talking to a man known as Rumpelstiltskin wasn't such a good idea. She read the fairy tale (which was mostly false) but even Regina was a little afraid of him if not completely wary.

"I was wanting to talk to you."

"About what?"

"Not really sure."

Gold sighed. "Miss Swan, I'm not a big fan of people wasting my time so if you do have something to say, please do."

The quick flash of the emotional man Emma saw was gone as soon as he came. Now she was talking to Mr. Gold and somehow, that felt a little safer. She knew how to talk to Gold. Rumpelstiltskin was another matter.

"Or else you may leave."

"Sorry, I was wanting answers."

"Answers to what?"

"About the curse?"

They continued to stand in the hallway. He didn't offer her a seat or something to drink. Apparently he really didn't want her there. Perhaps she should come back at another time?

Before Gold could answer or Emma could ask another question that was probably safer or even leave, another voice was heard from across the hallway.

"Rumple?"

Emma looked behind Gold to see a chestnut haired woman coming out of a room. She wore a blue dress (that looked to be a tad loose on her) with pumps that matched and a small little brown belt. Her hair (perhaps slightly faded) flowed down to her shoulders and framed her face quite nicely. It showed off her blue eyes and sweet smile. She appeared to be a little younger than Emma herself and she suddenly had a sinking feeling. This woman, whoever she was, was the 'her' Mr. Gold beat up Moe French for.

"Oh, hi." The girl smiled. "I didn't know anyone else was here."

Gold sighed. Emma figured he wasn't expecting this to happen or didn't want it to. She assumed it was the later.

"Hi," she answered. "I-I just came to talk to Gold for a moment."

"Oh, okay. I'll just leave you two alone for a moment."

She started to turn around and leave when Gold stopped her.

"Was there something you wanted sweetheart?"

Sweetheart? Emma would definitely need to figure out who this woman was. Her first guess was daughter, but by the way Gold acted when she came into the room and the way he was acting now, daughter probably wasn't the right answer.

"I'm sorry. I just couldn't remember how to turn that box on?"

Box?

Gold gave a quiet chuckle. "I'll show you."

He followed the girl into the room where she came from, leaving Emma alone in the hallway wondering. Now she had even more questions and while she waited for Gold to return she pulled out her phone.

She never bothered to get people's phone numbers. When she did she never kept them for long because they were either part of the job or she had to move, again. However, when she decided to stay for Henry and became friends with Mary Margaret she felt like it was a good idea to have a connection to her son that wasn't an angry, selfish, controlling mayor.

She quickly dialed Mary Margaret. Do you know if Mr. Gold has a daughter?

A few seconds passed until she heard a beep. She looked down at her phone to see the response.

No. He doesn't have any relatives. Why?

Emma didn't have time to explain when Gold returned alone.

"My apologizes for that." He responded hesitantly. "Are you still wanting answers?"

Emma squinted her eyes, looking for something. "Yeah. Can we still talk?"

"Of course. Why don't you sit down and I'll get us something to drink." He gave a closed smile.

Emma made her way to the living room and sat down on the couch while Gold went to the kitchen behind her. She tried to focus on the many and strange antiques around her while she heard him opening the refrigerator.

"I apologize I don't have many refreshments. I wasn't really expecting company." She heard Gold say.

He entered the living room with two bottles of iced tea. From Granny's she noticed.

"No worries. I wasn't going to stay for long."

Gold occupied himself in a seat next to the couch, placing the cane against the arm rest. How did he carry two bottles of tea with a cane?

"So what exactly were you wanting to know about the curse? You already broke it. I don't think it's much of an issue now."

Of course it isn't an issue. She joked inside her head. It's not an issue that everyone in town now has two different sets of memories and identities.

She shook her head. "No, it's not really about the curse itself."

"Oh? But it does have something to do from the curse?"

He was clever.

Emma cleared her throat. "Uh, yeah. You said...you said I was the product of magic."

"True Love to be exact, dearie," he explained in his Scottish tone.

"Right," she stretched out the word, "so I was meant to break the curse?"

"You broke it, Miss Swan, because when I made the curse I placed a drop of the potion onto it."

"The potion you had me take from a dragon?" She never would have believed it if she never did it.

He chuckled. "Exactly. I suppose the curse could have be broken by any True Love product but sadly, you're the only one in town."

Emma wasn't sure how to respond to that.

"Are you upset about that?" he asked.

"What?"

"Because it sounds like to me you actually regret breaking the curse."

"Well it's not like I actually meant to." Her voice got a little louder.

"Really?" He was starting to act like Mr. Gold again.

"No. Henry was dying and I was told that the only way to save him was to get this potion from...something. You know, you could have told me it was a dragon before I went in there. It would have made having a sword easier to understand."

"I didn't think you would believe me. I saw that you did become a believer when you and Miss Mills barged into my shop. However, I didn't think you were quite ready for that news."

Emma sighed. He was acting like...him again.

"So what does the town do now?"

"Whatever do you mean?"

Emma stared at him shocked. "Thanks to your curse everyone in town now has two sets of memories and identities. How do they deal with that? Archie can only handle so much since he's dealing with the same thing."

"I don't think it's much of my problem," he continued before Emma could retort, "I might have created the curse Miss Swan...but I didn't cast it. I'm sure that the person the town wants is Regina. Not me. And you know where her house is."

Emma continue to look at him. Watching for some kind of slip up. But this was Gold she was dealing with. He didn't make slip ups.

"Why did you create the curse?" she simply asked.

Gold sighed and looked out the window, clearly avoiding the question. He took a few more seconds before looking back at the sheriff.

"My business." he sneered.

"Actually, it's not just your business. You made it so I could break the curse, which makes this my business as well. So I suggest you start cooperating or-"

"Or what Miss Swan?!" he retorted loudly, stopping Emma in her tracks. "You'll lock me up again?"

He looked at her with a hostile stare. "I'm sure Henry may have already told you. Regina may be a menace, but I'll give you a fair warning myself. You still owe me a favor...and one day I will collect it."

Emma stared at him, taken aback. Henry did warn her. So did Regina. And her parents. If they all agreed on the same thing she had to be careful from now on. Before she was just playing along, trying to make Henry happy, not truly believing in anything this whole time. Now, she fought a dragon with her father's sword, Prince Charming's sword. And received a magical potion for the sorcerer named Rumpelstiltskin and even broke a curse with True Love's Kiss. That same sorcerer even brought magic back and spent centuries before calculating every step for that curse. Hearing Gold talk like that and seeing the dangerous look in his eyes, she knew for sure now that this wasn't a child's game anymore.

Gold grabbed his cane and stood up, walking towards the door. "I suggest you leave sheriff. I'm no longer in the mood for visitors."

He opened the door and waited for her to leave. Emma made her way to the door and outside, but before leaving she took one more glance inside and looked at Gold.

"Is that 'her'?"

The death glare she received made her wish she kept her mouth shut. This definitely isn't a game anymore Emma!

"Good day sheriff."

Gold shut the door hard without fully slamming it. Emma walked down the stairs, got into her yellow bug and drove away. So much for answers.

Next time: Gold deals with the aftermath of Emma seeing Belle. Emma explains to her family what, or who, she saw at Gold's house.