Disclaimer: It all belongs to ABC.
"So…I guess this means you're my grandpa now."
Rumpelstiltskin glanced at Henry. The boy had been unusually quiet since it had been revealed that Bae was actually his father. Although, if Rumpelstiltskin was being honest, neither he nor Henry had had a chance to say anything at all. Rumpel had barely been able to reunite with his son before Emma had dragged Bae into the adjoining hotel room. The first half hour had been filled with loud yelling and at least one object breaking, but the door was so thick that the words, no matter how loudly they were yelled, were undecipherable. Thankfully, everything had appeared to die down, but neither Emma nor Bae had made an appearance.
He realized that Henry was still staring at him, waiting for some sort of response to his statement. Unwilling to enter into a conversation just yet, he gave a wordless shrug, hoping that it would be answer enough for the time being. Apparently satisfied, Henry turned back to his game console, quickly becoming immersed in the game.
This gave Rumpel time to study the boy (his grandson – now there was a word he had never thought he would say). He couldn't believe he had never noticed the resemblance. The dark hair, the insatiable curiosity, the sweet tooth, the need to always help someone – it reminded him so much of Bae at that age.
Rumpelstiltskin wondered, not for the first time, why his son had simply abandoned a pregnant Emma. Rumpelstiltskin knew he hadn't been the best father (after all, letting your son fall alone through a portal to a strange new world didn't exactly win him the Father of the Year award), but he thought he had raised his son better than that. If not him, then at least…Milah (gods, how long had it been since he'd thought of her)...should have instilled some common sense into Bae.
No matter whose fault it was – his, Milah's, or maybe just Bae's – it had still been a mistake to let Bae fall through on his own, and it had been a mistake to let a lad so great as Henry to grow up without a father figure. And while it may be too late to fix things with Bae (even though he hoped it wasn't true), he wasn't going to fail Henry by not taking an interest in the boy's life. Because even though Rumpelstiltskin still found it hard to believe, Henry was his grandson, and he was going to be the best grandfather he could be.
Making a spur-of-the-moment decision (how ling had it been since he'd made one of those), Rumpel quickly scribbled a note to Emma and Bae.
"Henry?" he asked, and Henry quickly looked up from his game. "I don't think the two of them are going to finish arguing anytime soon, and I saw a Cinnabon down the street. Do you want to go?"
Even before he had finished his sentence, Henry had leapt to his feet and started pulling on his shoes. "Cool! Do you think they'll let me have some extra frosting?"
"I'm sure we can ask," Rumpel replied, and as he followed Henry out the door, he promised himself that, no matter what, he would not mess up this second chance.
Even if he had to bribe the Cinnabon man to get the extra frosting.