A/N: Angsty "what if" of Neal seeing his father for the first time in Storybrooke and totally misreading the situation
He hadn't known at first if he would actually go through with this, but after years of running Neal knew was time to confront his past. He'd been fourteen years old the last he'd laid eyes on his father. And although the actual number of years was lost in a maelstrom of time and memories, he'd have recognized the older man sitting in the far off booth in this small town diner anywhere.
He stood in the doorway paralyzed. Unable to move forward, but unwilling to turn away. The door knocking into his back the only thing that pulled him out of his trance.
"I'm so sorry," a stranger apologized from behind. "I was in a rush and I wasn't looking…"
"It was my fault I didn't realize I was blocking the doorway." Neal moved out of the way, giving him a moment to study the stranger. She was petite woman with an accent unlike the so-called locals. She was quite beautiful and despite her impressive footwear stood a similar height to the young man whose hand she was clutching beside her.
"Come, Henry," she ordered, pulling him into the diner. "It's cold outside." The boy appeared to be around age twelve. That awkward age when body parts were growing at different rates and gawkiness was a fact of life. The diminutive woman, who he assumed to be younger than himself, must have had the boy at a young age for it was obvious by the way she ushered him about while holding his hand that she was his mother.
Standing aside to let her pass, Neal put the mother and son from his mind as he spied a booth nearby that afforded him the opportunity to eavesdrop without being noticed. He ordered a coffee then took out his phone, pretending to be engaged but all the while his attention focused solely on the table across the room. His father sat alone, unsurprisingly, with his back to Neal and held a teacup as he gazed out the window. Would he recognize his own son after all this time if he turned around at this moment? Part of him wished he would turn around. Another part was terrified of it. His emotions churned as he drank in the sight of the man he hadn 't seen in forever. Imagine his surprise then when the mother and son he just ran into, stopped at his father's booth. Surprise turned to shock, though, when the pretty little sprite leaned down and kissed the older man in greeting.
"I'm sorry I'm late, darling," he could hear her apologize again, this time to his father. "I had to pick up Henry from school and we had to drop off some things Mary Margaret gave me for the library. Then Granny had a question after we got in."
Murmuring a thank you to the waitress as she set his coffee down, Neal attempted to study the three patrons without being noticed. Who was this woman who was now holding his father's hand across the table as they talked, his mind wandered.
It was only when a different waitress approached their table that he finally glimpsed the full profile of the man. He knew when he decided to cross into Storybrooke that this moment would arrive, but he wasn't prepared for the rush of feelings that came over him as he gazed at his 'Papa'. The man looked much like the spinner he remembered as a child. Before the magic and a curse took it all away.
He was so engrossed in his examination that Neal didn't notice at first that another person was studying him with the same intensity he gave to his father. The young boy, Henry, he recalled the woman saying, stared unabashedly at him.
Locked in the boy's vision, he instantly realized those eyes were not unknown to him. The boy's coloring was all wrong. His father had sandy hair, not the deep brunette of the boy. But the eyes were identical. It was like someone had punched him in the gut. He couldn't breathe anymore. Throwing some cash on the table, he rushed out of the diner. His destination unknown. He just knew he had to leave.
Stumbling into a nearby alley, he slide down the brick wall and buried his head in his knees. The truth hit him with the blinding force. His father had a new family.
Neal hadn't known what he expected from seeing his dad again. In this new world would he be Dark One? The Spinner? What he hadn't counted on was Rumplestiltskin sitting calmly in a diner having a cozy family dinner. Questions raced through his mind at bullet speed. Did his even regret his actions that day in the forest? How did the Dark One get someone to fall in love with him? Was she under a spell despite looking normal and happy? Was the man even cursed anymore?
The worst thought of all was the thought that he, Baelfire, was not enough for his Papa. He had begged and pleaded with the man to escape to a new world. To start again. But he wasn't enough of a reason for his father to distance himself from the power and magic. The family sitting before him evidently was.
Neal didn't begrudge anyone the right to move on. His own life experiences were messed up enough for him to not pass judgment on others. Part of him remembered the loving father he'd had before the curse and was happy for him. Everyone deserved love and happiness. But the little boy still inside of him, the one called Baelfire, who had struggled to belong in any world, was devastated to know he just wasn't enough.