Mr. Gold sat in a booth across from Belle in Granny's Cafe. The noise level in the cafe had finally turned back to normal as the Storybrooke residents quietly buzzed about Regina and Emma's latest fight. Just a few minutes before, the two women had been yelling at each other about something Henry related (like always) which ended up with Regina saying something witty before making a dramatic exit (like always) and Emma being frustrated enough to stomp out her own exit.
To Mr. Gold, the Mayor and the Sheriff seemed like two men engaging in a never-ending power fight, yelling about whose stick is bigger. He also knew that there was an underlying power-fight that dealt more with each woman's desire fighting against their self-control.
"Do they always fight like that?" asked a woman with auburn hair and crystal blue eyes.
Mr. gold immediately recognized her as the mermaid Ariel who had become good friends with Belle.
"Unfortunately, yes," Belle answered back in a sad voice.
"I wish they could get along but from my own experience with the Evil Queen, I know that is a less than a slim chance," Ariel said.
"Less than a slim chance is right. They are the two of the main people who sends tornadoes running up and down the streets and that is not including their magic. That's just their personalities alone," Belle commented back.
"Well, I think they should take a look in the mirror. After all, they are more alike than they seem to notice," Ariel said.
"Oh, I think they notice. They just purposely ignore it." Belle said with a simple shrug.
"All they need is a little something that makes ignoring it, impossible," Mr. Gold said, half to the gossiping ladies and half to himself.
He had been sitting there, politely listening to his love's and her friends conversation without interrupting but when the mermaid mentioned how alike the two tornadoes really are, a plan had instantly formed within his head. Indeed, it was a very mischievous and evasive plan but the Dark One in him had grown tired of Regina's and Emma's power plays ages ago.
I think they need a reminder, Mr. Gold thought to himself, of who is the biggest and most powerful tornado of them all.
Two hours later
"Emma, sweetheart, calm down. No matter what Regina says, she knows as well as everyone that she can't Henry away from you. He loves you and wants to be with you as well. He would never allow being separated from him," Mary Margaret said soothingly to her daughter.
Her words didn't phase the hot-headed blonde in the slightest. At the moment, Emma was pacing the apartment's floors, with very heavy and loud boots Mary Margaret noted, from wall to wall. After a few paces, Emma would calm down enough to actually use words but then they would anger her all over again and she would start pacing once more. Her parents sat calmly and watched her restless body move from one end of the house to the next.
"Yeah, I know. But seriously! Who does she think she is? God? She can't control every little thing. Not the town, not me, and certainly not Henry. He's an eleven year old boy and if he is anything like me, and he is, he's going to find a way to get whatever it is that he wants. And the fact that she blames me is just ... UGH!"
"I can't believe I'm defending her but she just wants Henry to be safe and sometimes that is out of her control and so she finds an ... outlet to release all of her frustration," Mary Margaret said.
David coughed at hearing the words 'outlet and 'frustration' used in the same sentence when pertaining to Regina and Emma. Mary Margaret jabbed him sharply in the ribs and tilted her chin up stubbornly as if saying she will not let that line of thought anywhere near her mind. Of course Emma was too busy being angry to notice this little exchange between her parents.
"Oh, screw that! Madame Mayor can find a damn boxing class if she is in desperate need of an outlet. Or maybe even a-," Emma abruptly stopped her line of thought as well as her legs.
Although it happened a while back, Emma made it her business to evict all thoughts of the Mayor's personal life after what had happened to Graham. Even though Regina seems to have gotten better from back then, Emma wouldn't wish that woman of any man and if a man did find themselves in that particular sticky situation, Emma was not going to interfere. She knows all too well what her interference could cause and she wasn't going to allow another person die in front of her like that. So no, she wouldn't take Regina's abuse but she wasn't all to sure if she would stop the Evil Queen's abuse on someone else. Some other man.
The pause in movement was not absent on David or Mary Margaret and they already followed the paper trail from what Emma was about to say to where those unspoken words had led their daughter's mind. Before they could say any words of comfort,Emma and turned, grabbed her red leather jacket and was already halfway out the door.
"I-I need so air," was all Emma could force out of her tight throat before the door shut soundly behind her.
Twenty minutes later, Emma was still walking around the night fallen town, trapped in the mind numbing haze thinking of Graham put her in. There was no sense of direction in her movement but there was urgency, as if she was trying to run away from something but didn't have the slightest clue where to go. She had wandered into an alley and still lost in thought when she bumped head on into someone.
"The hell-" she started to say, finally broken out of her mind and abruptly forced back into the world.
"Might want to watch where you go, dearie. You never know what can be hidden in the shadows," Mr. Gold said with a polite smile.
Including Regina, Mr. Gold was another person Emma knew who could be so sinister and yet have a friendly and inviting smile.
"I know what hides in the shadows. Snakes like you, Rumpelstiltskin," Emma retorted with her own mockingly polite smile.
And it was true. If there was any person Emma knew that could slink by in the shadows, It would be him. It didn't help that she had already find the sly man in odder places like deep in the woods or emerging out of abandoned buildings.
"Snakes?" Mr. Gold said innocently. "Well, thank you, dearie. I've heard worse and more offensive compliments than that but I guess I'll take what I can get."
"Yea I bet you have. Anyway, what are you doing here anyway? I mean, you probably won't give me a real answer but I've found it doesn't hurt to ask,"
"Oh well, I'm just taking a nightly stroll of the town. Much like you are."
"That must be code for going to destroy some poor citizen's life,"
"Oh no. It's more like going to fix some citizen's life. Although, pitying this particular person is the last thing on either of our minds."
"What is that supposed to m-"
But just before Emma could get the full question out, Mr. Gold had flicked a pinch of dust in the Sheriff's causing her to cough uncontrollably. As she coughed, Mr. Gold took a step forward and leaned on his ever-present cane until his lips were near Emma's ear.
"Quite frankly, even though it is a bit amusing, the town has grown tired of you and Regina's constant toddler bickering. If you ask me, I'd suggest that you seek out the Mayor and simply ... talk things. Or fight it out. Or whatever you heart desires, dearie."
Mr. Gold chuckled to himself and slowly walked to the end of the alley. Before disappearing, he turned and called back, "good luck". With that, he was gone and with him gone, Emma was finally able to stop coughing. The man's words spun around in her head until they seeming melted away. Only three words remained.
Seek out Regina.
And as if she had decided it herself, as if it was the only logical thing to do and caused for no second thoughts, Emma strided out of the alley with a purpose at hand.
