Attack and Defend

Gerhardt tore off the sack covering Greg's head and growled into his ear, "You didn't do what I said. You didn't call her off."

"She can't be stopped," Greg said, his panic mounting by the second.

"You could have at least made the attempt."

"I'll do anything you want, just please. Don't kill me. Don't kill me."

Gerhardt squeezed Greg's arm sharply, silencing him. "Don't get me wrong. I did doubt your ability to make good on your oath. For that reason alone, you get a second chance."

"So why drag me all the way out to the middle of the woods?"

"To scare you some more, make sure you're paying the utmost attention."

"Oh, I'm listening."

"Good. Here's what you're going to do. You're going to take your wife, and you're going to convince her, by whatever means necessary, to leave town with you. We have enough problems here without you adding to them, though I have to thank you for bringing them to our attention. Just do us this one favor, get out of town so we can focus on other things."

"We're not just here to prove magic. I mean, I am, but I just got enough proof to last me the rest of my life. She...she wants something else. Wonderland made her crazy. The Queen made her crazy. She wants to take the Queen's enemies across the line and destroy them. She says it's the only way. The Queen herself offered to regain her daughter's trust so the mission could be accomplished. At least, that's what Alice told me."

"Hmm. On second thought, I may have a use for you." Gerhardt turned Greg around and sat him down with a forceful shove. "From now on, you take your orders from me. Understood?" Greg nodded. "You and your wife will stay here, but you will inform me daily of her movements, her plans, her thoughts and actions, dreams, desires, wishes, all of it. I want to know everything that passes through her mind, no matter how crazy. If she starts to act on what you accuse her of planning, I want to be the first to know." Greg nodded again. "One more thing. This is your first, last, and only second chance, and there won't be a third one. You fail here, I will act on my threat, and what's more, I'll make sure no one ever finds your body. Am I clear?"

Greg nodded a third time and choked out a "Y-yes."

"Excellent. Tell anyone about this encounter, and you won't survive a third one."

"Got it."

"Good. Now that that's established, go back into town and make like nothing ever happened except you were dragged into the woods by a random stranger. Go." Greg shot to his feet and bolted toward Storybrooke as if he were a bullet from a gun.

A twig snapped behind Gerhardt, and he turned at once to find himself face to face with Baelfire. "What're you doing out here?" Bae asked.

"I just turned someone over to our cause," Gerhardt replied. "What are you doing out here?"

"Well, I was about to go hunting, and then I heard his confession and your rather explicit instructions and I decided I'd stop and listen."

"So A, you heard plenty, and B, you snapped a twig on purpose."

"Exactly. For a second there I thought you were going to kill him."

"I was about to."

"Then he proved himself useful and you spared him."

"Yes."

"Well, I appreciate your extreme honesty."

"Thank you. I'll let you get back to hunting. A man has to put food on the table, you know."

"Yes, I do know." Something flashed in Bae's eyes; Gerhardt recognized a painful reminder, dropped the subject, nodded to the boy, and walked back toward Storybrooke without waiting to see if he, too, left the clearing. He made a mental note to ask about the magic knife Bae was keeping in his quiver.

OUAT

Victor slumped into his chair and looked up. Red was sitting in the chair she'd adopted as her own, with a cup of coffee in each hand. Wordlessly, she handed one of the cups to him. "Thank you," he said, and he took a huge gulp.

"Long day?" Red asked.

"You have no idea."

"Four curses, two car accidents, three beatings, one of which was with a stolen pick-axe. Oh, and Greg got kidnapped by your brother."

"Wolf ears," he said, shaking his head.

"I'm a wolf all over."

"Except when you're the most attractive woman in town." Their eyes met in shocked silence. "Crap, did I just say that out loud?"

"Yeah, yah did."

"That's...that's not to say it isn't true or anything. Don't get me wrong." He took a sip of coffee to spare himself further embarrassing remarks. "It just seemed like a natural thing to say, is all." Well, that was better. She took a sip of her coffee and looked up at him through her eyelashes like a shy, or more likely coy, schoolgirl.

She leaned on the armrests of the chair, choosing one side over the other, and asked, "Most attractive woman in town, huh?"

"Absolutely. Dr. Whale was lustful beyond all reason, but he did have the right idea." He finished with a smirk and a raised eyebrow, but this time, after he sipped his coffee, he set it on the desk in front of him. He was now watching Red directly.

"I thought you said it went beyond reason," she said with a small smile.

"Not all ideas are based in logic. Sometimes they're the greatest things a mind can conceive, but most times they breed folly."

"And you think-"

"No, of course not."

"So starting a relationship with the girl with the shitty-ass track record is a good idea? Sorry, doc, but I think you need to have your head checked." She couldn't help but laugh by the end of her little speech, and Victor smiled in response.

"I'll refer myself to Dr. Hopper, then."

Now they both laughed, but their moment was short-lived. A nurse poked her head in the door and said, "Dr. Whale, there's been another attempt on the shooting victim."

"Not again," Victor groaned. He sucked down the rest of the coffee, and Red handed the second cup to him. He gave a grateful nod and started chugging as he walked out the door.

He finished the life-sustaining, sleep-replacing beverage somewhere between his office and Hook's room and tossed it into the nearest receptacle. He walked into the captain's room to find Rumpelstiltskin standing over him with a gun in his hand. "I thought I told you to get lost," he said. "This is a hospital, not a killing field."

Rumpelstiltskin lowered the gun, faced the doctor, and said amiably, "Hello, Victor."

"You two know each other?" Hook asked from the bed.

"Long story," Victor replied, hardly looking at him. His sole focus was on Rumpelstiltskin, the man who introduced him to magic and was now about to ruin one of his life's great works, sustaining it. "At exactly eight-o-clock tomorrow, I will go to the DA, and I will file a restraining order against you on behalf of this hospital and this patient. Until then, I can only make the strong suggestion that you get the hell out and never come back."

"Why so hostile all of a sudden?"

"I'm running on coffee and three hours of sleep because of you."

"It's because I brought magic back, isn't it?"

"Magic's the reason we're all in this mess. Or have you forgotten?"

"Oh, I haven't forgotten." Something dark flashed in Rumpelstiltskin's eyes, and Victor knew at once it wasn't evil. He recognized it in his own brother after the killing of their father and the subsequent attack on himself. Rumpelstiltskin nodded and walked out of the room. Victor stared at his back until Hook attracted his attention.

"Well, I suppose I should thank you," the captain said.

"It wasn't personal," Victor replied, staring down at him. "I'm just doing my job."