Chapter One: A Visitor in the Night

The Gods and Goddess raged on into the night, and Mother Nature cried tears of despair as father and son tried to sleep, but neither could for different reasons. Rumplestiltskin's son, Baelfire was terrified of thunderstorms and had crawled into his father's bed as soon as he heard the fierce boom, trembling fretfully. Baelfire sucked on his thumb while clinging to his father's waist with his other hand, but drifted off as his papa told him a story to lull Bae to sleep. Rumple on the other hand could not fall asleep. It wasn't that he feared thunderstorms as Bae did, but his leg was bothering him, tending to ache more during bad weather.

Carefully, Rumple removed his son's arm and replaced his body with the stuffed dragon he had made for Bae. Footsteps made the floor boards creak as he walked across the room into the kitchen area. At the sounds of his son shifting in bed Rumple turned to see if the boy was awake. Fortunately, Bae had just repositioned his body so he was facing the wall, and Rumple returned to his mission at hand. He opened the cabinet where he kept the tools and herbs for healing and found what he was searching for, a bowl of salve. He brought the bowl down, and sitting down scooped some into his hands, gently rubbing it on the flesh where he felt the dull ache. It wouldn't heal his leg, but it would sooth it. Milah was right about one thing, breaking my leg was stupid, he mused, but it truly was my only option at the time. Rumple sat in the dark with the occasional flashes of light coloring the night sky when he heard pounding at his door…..

The cloaked woman clung to the book in her hand still running, trying not to look back, despite being out of breath and getting soaked. She had to find a place to hide before they caught her like they did her parents. Her father was dead and her mother was prisoner. As much as she wanted to go back she had to get to safety and not let anyone get a hold of the book, which was her responsibility, protecting the book. In doing so she would be protecting her legacy as the Librarian. She was the only surviving Librarian, and if she died….if this book got into the wrong hands …. She came upon a small village, and was desperate for warmth, and could have chosen any of these little houses, but there was one she felt a pull towards. She didn't question it as her body was lacking energy, and she was freezing, so she followed the pull. She stopped at one of the cottages and pounded aggressively at the door. Before she could get a good look at the person who answered she slumped to the ground exhausted.

"Who would be pounding on my door at this hour," he muttered irritably as he approached the door ready to tell the stranger this wasn't an inn when he heard shuffling feet behind him.

"Papa, is someone here?" Bae asked as he rubbed his eye with his fist and clung to his toy dragon.

"Go back to sleep son," Rumple told him.

"But I can't sleep papa you left me," Bae protested, his protruding lip quivering.

"Alright, come on Laddie," Rumple said gently scooping him up, "someone maybe here and you can help get rid of them."

Bae smiled impishly at the idea.

Rumple narrowed his eyes suspiciously when he opened the door and realized no one was standing there. Hearing groaning he looked down to see a cloaked figure curled up at his feet. Seeing the stranger was conscious Rumple curiously moved the hood aside to be captured by the most stunning cerulean colored eyes he had ever seen. He couldn't leave a helpless woman lying unconscious at his door.

"Bae, I'm going to put you down now so I can carry this woman inside," Rumple said.

Bae was about to protest, but one of look from his papa and the boy nodded in agreement. He stood there watching as his papa, whom he believed was as strong as a giant, carry the woman into their cottage. Cocking his head to the side, Baelfire watched as his papa laid the woman in his bed, which he wasn't using tonight because he wanted to stay close to his papa tonight, and made sure the blankets covered her completely and securely.

"She's pretty papa," the boy said, fascinated.

Rumple nodded. "She's very pretty. You're alright with her being in your bed?" Rumple asked having forgotten to ask his son if he minded.

"It's okay papa," Bae said, "the pretty lady needs a place to sleep."

Rumple chuckled softly. "Come on we need to get to bed as well."

Baelfire crawled into bed head first and Rumple following smirking at his way of getting bed. He would have chosen to play the tickle monster, but he didn't want his son's giggles to wake the sleeping beauty. Bae's head popped out from under the covers just as Rumple slipped into bed and he put his arm around his son as the boy eased himself against his papa's body.