Regina glared at the man in front of her. His very presence sent chills down her spine, and for Regina that was something for concern. There was something about his smile, in looks, and the way his eyes followed whomever he was watching around the room, calculating everything inch of the person. There were traits about this man, that made him eerily familiar. Clutching the door handle, she asked the stranger again, "Sir," leveling him with her best glare, "Is there something you need?" Her tone brooking no contest from the stranger.
He smiled closed lip, he eyes slightly upturning, as he shook his head, "No," and then tilting his head forward, "I'll be going now. It was nice meeting you, Regina." And with that he turned away. Leaving a stunned Regina in his wake.
Regina was disturbed by many things with regard to this new stranger, particularly the fact she had never given her name.
She tried to place where she had seen his face before. The man was handsome, distinctive, but there was something more. He was not someone to be easily forgotten. His charming face was eerily familiar, his hazel eyes, and brown hair, while traits of many people, it was the way his hair fell, and how his eyes turned up at the corners with his closed lip smile.
Momentarily dismissing the stranger from her thoughts she glanced at a photo of Henry, taken almost two years ago. She had known even then, before Emma that Henry was growing distant. That he would not be held captive by so many others in the town. His was so confused, as he passed through the grades leaving behind friends. He was becoming lonely. It was just about that time when Mary Margaret… no Snow gave him that book. Her face twisted slightly at the thought of Snow, always doing more harm than good. Though she couldn't hold Snow completely responsible, Henry would have grown up with or without the book and still asked the questions eventually.
She could see some of Emma in Henry. It was in his habits, not so much his looks that she saw Emma. She had never noted in anyway a similarity to Snow or Charming. Sometimes, even now staring into the photo, she could imagine that Henry was her son. She had named him and loved him. Tried to love him as she wished her mother had loved her.
Suddenly an image of the stranger appeared in her mind's eye, the disturbing sensation running down her spine, the chill that had only ever accompanied the presence of one other. The strange man reminded her of her mother.
With a flurry she realized she needed to get to Henry, to get to David and tell them that something was very wrong. Quickly grabbing her bag and keys she rushed for the door, swinging it open, when she was suddenly stopped. Surprise lit her face as she stared into the strange man's smirking face.
Eyebrows furrowing, her glare resuming its ever constant position on her face, "Yes?" her short answer, an attempt to quickly dismiss him.
He smiled this time, and this time it was the way temperature dropped and how even behind that welcoming face, she could sense the evil. "I forgot to introduce myself," reaching out his hand, "I'm Collin Baelfire."
"Nice to meet you," hesitantly shaking his hand, "I really have to be going though." Pushing her way past him, as she closed the door. Marching toward her car, she was almost free until the stranger asked a question.
"I was actually going to ask if you could help me," his tone was not one of askance, but a snide mocking one, "You see I am looking for some family that maybe here in town."
Turning to address him she was shocked to see he was once again in her personal space, "I am sorry perhaps another time," deflecting his question beginning to open her car door.
Suddenly his hand was over hers, "I think now is a fine time, Regina," he voice held such malice.
Turning her most wicked glare on him, she could feel the magic pumping just beneath her finger tips, "What do you really want?"
"Like I said I am looking for some family," his face was no longer charming or warm, but cold and wicked.
"Is there a problem, Regina," both Regina and the stranger were startled to see David and Henry standing at the end of her driveway. Regina, suddenly realized that Charming was offering to help her, and a breathe she didn't know she was holding rushed out of her. Relief washed over her face.
The stranger's glare though suddenly lightened, as he saw Henry, his head tilted to the side as he looked past David, at the boy. Hazel eyes glared back at one another, and suddenly Regina noticed that Henry looked like a miniature of the man in front of her. A sweet charming boyish miniature of the menacing man before her.
The stranger took a step back, smiling once again, "I actually should be going." Nodding his head at Charming and then looking back to Regina as he stepped away, "Another time then Regina." Both Regina and David glared as he was past them. He stopped then next to Henry, smiling, a smile that spoke of a thousand secrets, nodding his head, he again began to walk away. He did not glance back as they watched him in silence. He just continued walking.
"Regina," David asked hesitantly as he stood before her, "Are you okay?"
"I…," she stopped suddenly looking around, "We should go inside."
"But," Henry began to only be quickly hushed by Regina.
"Inside Henry," she said with a meaningful look, which made Henry's eyebrows rise in the sudden realization that the stranger may not be completely gone. It was a caution he had never seen in his adoptive mother. Quickly he and David began to follow Regina into the house, and they watched as she quickly secured the locks of all the doors, watching as she peeked cautiously out the blinds before drawing them. Motioning for them to follow, she led them into her office, her personal sanctuary, warded against the outside world.
"What's going on, Mom?" Henry asked hesitantly, unsure of the situation and unsure of what he should be calling Regina.
But to Regina, it warmed her heart to still be Henry's Mom. "That man…the stranger," shaking her head, "I was actually about to find you two," she said eyeing them, "When he first knocked I answered, hoping it would be Henry or you, David," glancing at them, "But that man he was there, and there was something about him that made me freeze in my step. Something sinister."
"You didn't know him," Henry asked, eyebrows furrowing, "Was he someone from Fairytale Land?"
"I don't know, but I swear I recognized him, something about him," her voice dropping, "He knew me, he knew my name, but I think he knew even more," she said glancing at David who stood at the by the window, watching the street apprehensively.
"He knew you," David asked, one eyebrow raised skeptically, "But you didn't know him?"
Regina tried to hide the obvious disgust from her face, rolling her eyes, "Did I stutter, Charming? I do not know him," rolling her eyes and glancing at Henry, she noted the way he stared at her with such intensity. "He said he was looking for family here in Storybrooke. He said his name was Collin Baelfire."
"Odd name," David said looking back at her, eyebrows raised.
"Actually it sounds kind of epic," Henry said with that look of wonder, "This is perfect for Operation Scorpion!"
Regina raised an eyebrow, "Henry I think I need to talk to David alone for a moment."
"Really," the obvious disappoint across his face and in his tone.
David nodded, "Listen Henry, we won't be long." Henry trudged from the room leaving, giving one last look back before leaving and closing the door begrudgingly behind him with a huff.
"David," Regina said gesturing to the sit across from her, "I know you know but I am worried about Henry's safety with that man around. Something about the way he looked at Henry…It wasn't right."
David up until now had kept his concerns regarding the man silent. He had wanted Regina's opinion, before he voiced his own. Leaning forward resting his elbows on his knees, "I felt like I knew him," shaking his head, "There was something so familiar about him, but different all at once."
"I know," Regina said with a whisper, "At first I thought it was my mother, something about his presence just wreaked of her, but then there was something more," her face twisting, glancing to her lap in a moment of hesitancy and then back at David, "But then I thought…I thought he looked like Henry." David suddenly sat up straight, "But I thought maybe it was my worry, and concern over Henry's safety…I can't deny his safety was the first thing to come to mind as a I looked at the man. But," shaking her head again, "When he looked at Henry…I knew something was very wrong."
"You think his Henry's father?" David asked cautiously, his jaw clenching.
"There is the distinct possibility, David," Regina said, "Emma didn't conceive him on her own."
David glared back at her, "You think that his father was someone from our home?"
"We were not the first people from our home to enter this world," Regina said remembering the stories her mother told her and the hints she had been given by Rumplestilskin, "There were time tunnels, realm jumpers, and even magic beans long before I had the curse. Anyone of them could have escaped the curse and been here." And then suddenly she added, slightly more gently trying to be considerate, "Perhaps Emma was attracted to him, because of where he was from…even if she didn't know it."
"What should we do?" David asked, "Henry's safety is my primary concern, as is yours," he said, making Regina's eyebrows rise, "Emma made a promise to Henry, I can't let anything happen to you."
"Thank you, but I am sure I can take care of myself," Regina said rising.
"That you may," David said with a sad smile, "But help is always worth taking." Standing, "Was there anything else about him?"
"There may have been," reaching for the cabinet where the spell book now resided, "There was something that reminded me of my mother. She was as you can imagine a truly evil woman, David."
Henry had of course been listening, eagerly and attentively. Asking him to leave had been an open invitation to listen. His father was here in Storybrooke, not dead, but alive. And had been harassing Regina, and while Regina had done some evil things, something about this man…his father…was very wrong.
Quickly he made his break from the house, as Regina and David continued to discuss their plans. He had contemplated seeking out Jefferson for assistance, but realized that everything going on with Grace, he couldn't endanger them both. No there was only one man who could offer the insight he needed, and that was Mr. Gold. Running down the streets of Storybrooke, he quickly made it to Gold's shop, smiling and breathless he rushed in. He was floored by the sight before him.
Mr. Gold and the Stranger Collin stood facing each in a death stare. Neither relenting, both were startled by his entrance, both glancing in his direction. The Stranger's eyes were calculating, and Mr. Gold's had the tiniest hint of fear.
"Mr. Gold," Henry said approaching the two men.
"Henry go wait for me in the back," Mr. Gold said motioning for the boy get behind him.
Nodding Henry began to walk by, when the stranger's hand clamped down on his shoulder, making him cringe, "He can stay."
"Release him now Bae," Mr. Gold said through clenched teeth.
"Now, father," Baelfire said tsking, "I have come to find my son, and unlike you I intend to keep him." Henry felt the blood rush from his face as he looked for assistance from Mr. Gold. Who despite this revelation did not seem floored at all.
"Bae," Mr. Gold began he voice pleading, "I did everything to find you. I did everything to get to this world for you. To be together."
"You can keep your pleas for someone who cares," Bae said he voice and face a cool mask of indifference, "I have not come for any of it."
"Bae," Mr. Gold said, the unspoken warning hanging in the air between them.
"You won't hurt me," Bae said with a smirk, "And you wouldn't hurt your grandson," squeezing Henry's shoulder. "Don't worry. I will keep him safe."
"What of Emma?" Mr Gold asked trying desperately to find some shred of his son in this man.
"I will deal with Emma." Bae said beginning to turn around.
"She will come for her son," Gold looked at Bae with warning, "She will come for him, her parents will come for him. I will come for him. Your sister will come for the boy."
"But I will keep him, from them and from something far worse that is coming," Bae growled at his father. "When Cora comes for her grandson. I will be the only standing between her and him."
"What has come over you Bae?" Gold asked, his voice holding the pity that was evident in his eyes.
"You…you left me, and I have rotted here alone for 28 years," he said eyes blazing, "You have no idea what that was like. The way I am was the only way to survive."
"I was alone for centuries searching for a way to find you," Gold growled back, his voice suddenly menacing.
Suddenly Henry spoke up, "I don't want to go with you," His hazel eyes looking up into cold ones, "You act like you're the only person's that ever suffered but my mom, Emma, has been alone her whole life and I won't abandon her for you," He young face scrunching with disgust, "Not like you already did."
"Henry!" the shout seemed to echo as Regina rushed through the shop door, taking everyone by surprise and allowing Henry to shrug off Bae's hand. David stood protectively beside Regina as she clutched Henry tightly to her.
Regina's cold stare turned from the obviously angered Gold to the malicious stranger from earlier. "Leave," she whispered menacingly.
As Bae began to leave, he stopped and looked from David to Regina, smiling he shook his head. "You just don't have it in you, Regina? Do you? To think she invested all her expectations in you." And with that bit he left the shop.
"Who the hell is he," David asked looking at a stunned Regina and worn Gold. Henry was still clutching Regina's hand, his face pale and shocked from the encounter.
"That is Baelfire, my son," Gold said his face twisting with disgust.
"That's the reason we are here," Regina's glare turned on Gold, "You manipulated me. You made me bring us here. You made me ki…," suddenly stopping herself.
"I made you do nothing. You were fueled by your own rage," Gold said back diplomatically, "You were simply a means to an end. As well any actions you may have taken part in to complete the curse were completely of your own violation."
David couldn't tell which emotion was stronger on Regina's face, anger or remorse. She practically looked ill.
"He's my father," the small voice of Henry whispered staring at the floor, "The man who abandoned my mother."
"Henry," David asked kneeling down, "its okay we'll figure this out." But Henry just shook his head.
"Henry's your grandon," Regina asked Gold who simply nodded while staring at the boy and David, "Then why did you give him to me?" she demanded.
"I did not know he was my grandson," he answered looking up, "I suspected and wished it were so, but all I knew was that he was the savior's son. The only way to bring her to us, would be to place the boy with you. Create the ultimate strife that would break the curse."
"Break the curse so you could search for the person you loved most," Regina's words were like ice, stabbing at her heart and his. Gold could only nod.
"Who was he talking about?" Henry interjected looking to Gold, "Who is coming?"
"There may be bridges between our worlds," Gold said looking meaningfully at David, "Bridges that would require a great deal of magic. Magic that is possessed by a witch who was trapped in the Enchanted Forest."
"Who?" Henry asked looking expectantly at Gold.
"My former wife," he said an angry smirk lining his face, as shock broke across Regina's. "Bae's mother left us when he was a child and I was deserter. Years later when I was the Dark One I came across her old and near death. She wanted magic, so I gave it to her, but all magic comes at a price," he said shaking his head, "Cora did what was asked, and I gave her first introduction to magic. Her youth was restored and she later remarried."
"My mother?" Regina asked incredulously her mouth agape. As the clogs clicked into place, "That man is my half brother than?" she asked suddenly calculating and looking at Henry, "He's my nephew?" Suddenly the similarities in the stranger made sense, Cora and Henry. Henry…Henry's similarities to her suddenly made sense!
"My aunt," Henry asked looking with new eyes at Regina, "Aunt Regina."
"Wow," David said in a breath looking around the room.
"Quite the convoluted family tree, Charming?" he asked with a sneer. "Bae's possible future step-mother is at my home as well."
"Aunt Regina," Henry tested, as Regina turned her eyes to him, he smiled, "You know you are also my step-great grandmother! And Cora is my step-great great grandmother and just my grandmother."
"Way to look on the lighter side of things, Henry," David said ruffling Henry's hair, and sighing deeply.