It was in the dead of the night that her decision had been made. She packed the few belongings that she had elected to take with her, a memento of her mothers, the dresses she owned and the charm bracelet that Bae had given her on her birthday earlier this year. She quietly approaches the cot that her son is soundly sleeping in, kneeling beside it and with a feather light touch stroking his plump cheek. He'll be alright she tells herself, his father will take care of him for she knows that her husband loves nothing as he loves their son. "I love you, Baelfire" she whispers before placing a loving kiss to his forehead, "I'm sorry". She adjusts his blanket, pulling it up around his shoulders and tucking it in before taking one last lingering look.
Mid-way to the door, beyond which her freedom lie, she pauses before walking and drawing back the curtain that hangs between the kitchen and the room that she shared with her husband. Perching gently on the side of the bed that he slept she observes, not for the first time during the years that they had spent together, how peaceful he looks in sleep, as if all age had left his face. There is suddenly a weight in her chest as she considers what she is about to do, what she is leaving behind. The need to speak overwhelms her, to tell him in the hope that some part of his subconscious will understand and one day, forgive her.
"I'm sorry Rumple" she begins in a whisper so as not to wake him, "I don't hate you, I don't, but this isn't the life I wanted and there is so much more out there waiting for me." She reaches up a hand to gently to stroke his hair back from his forehead. She had always loved that way it gracefully flopped over his forehead, a source of annoyance to him on occasion, but she was fond of it. "Our marriage may not have worked out but something good did come from it, our son, Baelfire." Her throat thickens and the words come out sounding choked. "Protect him, help him grow into a man, love our grandchildren when they come, and please, please Rumple, tell him I love him everyday." A tear slips from her eye, dropping soundlessly into her lap. She takes a moment to compose herself, wiping the trial of tears from her cheeks, and leans over, careful not to disrupt the bed and places a kiss on his brow. "Goodbye, my love," she whispers, not her true love, for he waited for her with the promise of a lifetime of adventures, but a love nonetheless.