Locked and Alone: Chapter 2

Rumple stirred from his drunken haze. His hand raised to his forehead as he groaned, sitting up off the bed to sit on the edge of the it. On the floor by his feet, lay the empty bottle of scotch he had started and finished last night. He kicked it and sent the bottle clattering to the other side of the room. Rumple winched from the noise before pushing himself up from the bed to stand. Leaning onto the cupboard nearest to him he looked about the room.

Not seeing anything but regret and memories of Belle, Rumple shambled into the front of the shop, his eyes surveying his shop. The order he tried to keep in his shop was possibly some foolish idea of control over his life. Control of the battlefield. At one time he had control over all the players... Until Belle came back into his life.

The shop door sign clattered as someone hurried through the door. "Rumple!"

"Yes, Miss Swan." His fingers tried to soothe the pain she inflicted with her voice from his temple.

"There you are." Emma said, closing the door less forcefully than she had entered. "We need to talk about the dark cloaked guy, your son"

"There is nothing to discuss, Miss Swan." Rumple waved his hand through the air, trying to dismiss her words away.

"Well, I think there is, Rumple." Emma moved closer to Rumple.

He sighed in defeat knowing she was not going to go easily. "I am going to take care of it. Nothing for the Savior to bother herself with."

Emma's eyes quizzed him. "Rumple, he has vowed to kill me."

"It doesn't matter." Rumple said, pointing his finger at her. "You just stay away from boy."

"Whatever he has planned is not going to be..." She was cut short by her phone ringing in her pocket. Emma pulled it out and answered it. "David?"

Rumple could not make out the conversation. He breathed in deeply and then turned to make his way into the back of the shop. His hand seemed to make its own way up to his heart and began to rub it, trying to soothe the pain that lingered there.

He could hear murmuring from the other room but his mind had turned to other things now. He had to find a way of helping his son. To help Gideon. Shuffling across the floor, Rumple made his way to his private collection of dark spell books. He pulled out a few and threw them to his workbench.

The curtain pulled to one side and allowed Emma through. "Rumple."

"Yes, Miss Swan." He said walking over to his workbench with two more books under his arm.

"We can help, Rumple." She said with that annoying sound of pity in her voice.

Rumple rolled his eyes as he leaned on the counter. "Just stay out of my business. I've already told you. I will sort this out."

He had not noticed how close she had gotten. "Rumple, we can help you stop him." He allowed his gaze to meet hers as her hand came to rest on his shoulder. 'There it was', he thought to himself and shrugged her hand off his shoulder.

"Who said," Rumple's voice became deep and dark. "That I wanted help from... you."

"I... Well... Belle." Emma took a step back as she told him.

"What?" Rumple was taken aback by Belle's name leaving her lips.

"She's over at my parent's apartment. She's with my parents trying to find a way to stop him." She explained.

"Look, Miss Swan," He turned to face her. "I will take care of my son. You can just go back to sheriff-ing Storybrooke."

Emma's brow furrowed. "We will help you. Your family, Rumple. Gideon is family. I will not stand by idly."

Rumple grimaced at her words. He was not sure whether they were honest or if she was trying to get one over on him. But... he was not interested in others getting between him and his son.

"Miss Swan, I think it's time you left my shop. Thank you for your offer but I am not interested." His voice turned back to dark again. "I will find my son. I will help him. But I am not going to do this for... For this town. I am doing this for my son and Belle. So, please, leave now!"

Emma visibly swallowed. He wasn't sure whether he had spoken to her like that before, but that thought was soon forgotten as he turned back to the books on his workbench. Rumple started to flick through some of the pages in a book and Emma started to leave, but paused in the doorway.

"Whether you like it or not, Rumple, but this town is in trouble, which makes me involved no matter what you say. We are going to find a way to stop him, with or without you. It would be easier with you, but I understand." Emma told him before walking through the curtains. He could hear her footsteps and then the shop door clattered again, before being shut again.