AN: Thanks for the reviews! Here's the next one-shot. Sorry it's kinda short.
Take What You Can Get
Gold finds her at Granny's restaurant, happily sipping away at a hot chocolate. To his amusement, she has a cinnamon stick melting in it. Her gaze flicks up and she smiles when she catches sight of him. "Isn't it kind of late for businessmen to be out and about?" she teases.
"I just paid our dear mayor a visit." he says, taking a seat across from her. "You seriously went after her apple tree?"
"She had me arrested."
"That escalated quickly."
"Yeah, well, payback's a bitch. She should know that. I'm sure more people than me have gotten back at her." Emma says calmly, taking another sip of her chocolate.
Gold smiles. "You would be the first, dearie." he says. "Everyone besides me is too scared of her to do anything of the like."
Emma sighs. "So it wasn't just Archie then."
"No, although he's probably the poster boy for the easily intimidated."
That makes her laugh. It's a strange thing, hearing her laugh. It triggers something inside of him that he thought long dead. She tilts her head to the side and smiles at him. "So, Mr. Gold – what makes you different from the others? Why aren't you scared of Regina?"
He leans across the table. "I'm the only one in town with more power than her, dearie, and she knows it. She hates me for it." he says. He sits back properly once again. "So, tell me – what did you do to regain favor with Henry? Judging from our Madame Mayor, she thought the two of you had a falling out."
The woman frowns. "She tricked me into saying that Henry is crazy right in front of him. I told him I was playing a trick on her."
"And he believed you?"
"I wasn't lying."
"Yes, one would think your child would inherit your superpower, wouldn't one?" He meets her gaze, and she finds herself caught in his eyes. "So I guess Henry's told you his theory about Storybrooke?"
"Repeatedly."
"Do you think he's crazy?"
She slowly shakes her head. "No. I believed in magick too when I was a kid – actually, I even know the book he got the idea from. I had a copy."
That startles him. He hadn't been aware more than one copy had been made. "Really?"
"Yep. One of my foster brothers gave it to me before I left his home. I moved so many times I guess it got lost."
Briefly, he wonders if he should tell her he can smell a lie as well, then decides it's not worth the trouble. She'll tell him the truth when she's ready. Besides, in this town, it might be safer to assume Regina can hear everything, and the last thing that witch needs to know is that Emma knows the stories. "But you don't believe him." he says, deciding to return to the original question.
"I see where he gets the idea from." she replies evasively. "Especially Regina."
That makes him smile. "Figured out anyone else yet, dearie?"
She grins. "You."
"Really?"
"Yep. But I'm not going to tell you yet." She finishes off her hot chocolate. "It doesn't matter what I believe, Gold. What matters is that Henry believes, and a mother never calls her kid a liar – or crazy. That much I do know." With that she walks out of the restaurant, silver spider webs of magick trailing after her. Distantly, he wonders if Regina had realized yet. Henry has the same webs.
Gold stares at her empty cup and sighs. It's not what he was hoping for, but he'll take what he can get.
Soon enough, she'll stop coming for apple trees and go after the real thing – Henry's heart. And when she does, she'll break the curse, whether she realizes it or not.
