Once Upon a Time does not belong to me. This has not been beta-read, and I really need a reviewer. Any critiques or comments are welcomed!

CHAPTER 3

"Are you Mr. Gold?" Belle called out as she entered the room. She smiled as brightly as she dared. Hook stood behind her warily.

"Belle!" Henry exclaimed, glad for the reinforcements.

"So I've been told," he quipped. "I'm assuming from the lad's response, that your name is Belle." His eyes twinkled as he examined her face. "Quite an appropriate appellation, too."

"Thank you." She blushed. "Yes, my name is Belle -" she paused "- Belle French. My, my father is Moe French, the florist."

Rumplestiltskin nodded in understanding. "I'm pleased to meet you, Miss Belle, but I'm not familiar with this realm, this - " he glanced at Henry with a smile " - this Maine. What was your name in the Enchanted Forest? A man would be a fool to forget so lovely a face as yours."

Belle's smile faltered for a moment. "My father was Sir Maurice of the Marshlands."

"I didn't know the old crocodile had it in him to charm a woman," Jones muttered.

It only took one, tiny glance at the pirate for the delightful older man to transform. His smiling countenance and flirtatious tone instantly dissolved. At first, only confusion clouded his face. "I'm sorry, but I don't know - "

But no sooner had those words been uttered than his eyes flooded with hurt and fear. "Yes, you, you're the pirate who took Milah away!" he declared. "How could you? You kidnapped my wife, stole a mother from her child?" Terror filled his eyes, and he tightly clamped his mouth shut. His body quaked with fright. When he spoke again, it was ragged croaking. "Have you come for your revenge? You know I can't fight you. I'm just a poor spinner, a cripple. I can't even walk without my walking stick." His voice was quivering with dread. "You've taken my wife away. If you kill me, you'll leave my poor boy, my little Baelfire, without anyone. Surely, sir, you wouldn't condemn a child, a wee lad, a - " He stopped and blinked, becoming as rigid as a statue.

Still his body pulled tighter and tighter until he was as taut as a bowstring. Rumplestiltskin continued to stare straight ahead, and the tension mounted until at last it broke. Suddenly, the man was sucking in huge gulps of air. His hands clenched into fists of rage, and his chest thrust up and outward. Madness sported around the edges of his glittering brown eyes. "Yes," he hissed in a nasally tone. "I remember you now." He hummed slightly and giggled insanely. "You killed Milah."

Killian's eyes burned with anger. "You killed Milah," he returned furiously. "You ripped her heart from her chest and crushed it!"

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Rumplestiltskin yelled, spit flying from his mouth. "I did. I did because you made me. I had to kill her! She chose you over me and her own child! How could any mother leave her own child? Just leave without a thought or care for her babe? She was no fit mother. She deserved to die!"

Belle's mouth dropped open, and her face blanched. She knew there was bad blood between the two, but she never dreamed it could be this bad. Not what she was hearing the whole story, she was dumbfounded and horrified. Her eyes filled with tears.

Henry slipped over next to her and put his arm around her shoulder. "Shh, Belle," he whispered to her, "It's okay. I don't think he'd ever hurt you. You won't end up like his first wife. Even in the author's alternate reality, he loved only you."

Belle pulled quickly away. Dashing towards the door, she swiftly left the room, trying to regain her composure.

Her obvious pain touched Henry. "Stop it!" Henry shouted. "Both of you, just stop! You're upsetting Belle and solving nothing." Stepping forward like the young hero he was, Henry slapped the flat of this hands against the table top.

Instantly silenced, both men glared at one another. Rumplestiltskin blinked rapidly and shook his head like a wet dog, trying desperately to clear his thoughts. Killian Jones inhaled deeply several times, seeking his center; he was the first to surrender the standoff.

"I apologize for allowing my anger to get the best of me," he said firmly. "Henry, thank you for reminding me to behave in a manner more befitting an officer and a gentleman." He nodded a brisk bow to the young man.

Not to be outdone in anything by anyone, the Dark One spoke up, too. His voice, while strangely high-pitched, was steady and polite. "It was never my intention to distress either the lady or you Henry." Now, his voice softened and nearly broke, as he seemed to be speaking as much to himself as to his grandson. "Your father hated my power. He wanted me to give it up, but I couldn't and now -" The words stopped cold in his mouth, and a frown etched itself into his forehead.

Killian walked carefully over to the bed. Slowly, he raised the Kris dagger and set it down on the bed table. "Have a look, Gold," he told the older man.

Rumplestiltskin narrowed his eyes, watching the pirate's every move. But his eyes widened in shock and fear when he recognized the dagger. "So, you think you can control me?" He tried to bluster. "That will never happen!"

Henry moved from the other side of the bed to see. "Mom!" he cried out, grabbing the dagger. "It says mom's name."

"What? Let me see!" Rumplestiltskin snatched the dagger from the boy, and his mouth dropped wide as he read the name inscribed. "Emma Swan? Who is Emma Swan?" Then the penny dropped. "And who am I?"

"Emma Swan is my mother," Henry cried out. "And, I told you, you're Mr. Gold, my grandfather."

"But I am the Dark One," he shook his head in confusion.

"You were the Dark One," Jones replied. "The darkness nearly killed you, old man. So, the darkness was removed, but it needed to attach itself to another human soul." He swallowed hard, forcing down the lump in his throat. "Emma, the boy's mother - " he pointed his hook at Henry " - sacrificed herself, taking the darkness into her own soul to save the entire town. She's now the Dark One."

Henry clenched his teeth, manfully staring straight ahead, but he couldn't stop the tears that rolled down his face. "Where is she?"

Jones shook his head sadly. "We don't know, lad," he signed helplessly. "We're hoping that he -" he jerked his chin at Gold " - can help us find her."

Rumplestiltskin wanted to refuse. That bloody pirate, that home-wrecker, that bully deserved nothing, but then Henry, his grandson, turned tear filled eyes on him. He could not deny Bae's boy. He nodded. "I don't know if I have any answers," he whispered, "but, for you, Henry, I'll try my best."

The boy looked down, blinked the tears from his eyes, and brushed them away with the back of his hand. When he looked up again, there was a steely determination in them. "I know you will, Grandpa Gold."

In that moment, with such strong resolve in those identical brown eyes, they looked so much alike, it nearly took Killian's breath away. "Anything you can think of will be useful," Killian added. He held out his right hand in surrender to stop the barrage of angry words he could see building in the other man's eyes. "You may not remember, but we have come to an understanding," he told Gold. "In the Enchanted Forest you were first known as Rumplestiltskin, the spinner. I wronged you greatly. Both Milah and I wronged you and Baelfire. I can't change what happened, but I am sorry. I was younger, arrogant, selfish, but - " he glanced at Henry " - I thought I was in love."

"If you can honestly apologize, I suppose I can accept it," Rumplestiltskin put in grudgingly. "Milah was more to blame. She knew she had a husband and son, but chose to run off after her own selfish desires."

"Aye, well, when you became the Dark One, you took your revenge." With a rueful grin, he held up his hook and shook it slightly. "I reckon we're even."

Rumplestiltskin snorted and nodded. "Henry-" he turned to the young man " - you say this Emma Swan is Baelfire's wife?"

"No," Henry answered slowly. "I don't think they were ever married." When he saw the anger threatening to cloud his grandfather's face, he added, "I don't think they had time to get married before they were separated. I don't know all the details. It's a long story." He shrugged. "You'll have to ask mom about it. They never really told me anything."

Gold glanced back and forth between Jones and Henry. There was more, much more, to this story than he was being told. He felt like he was being used, and he didn't like that feeling one little bit.

Belle quietly reentered the room. Though there were no tears in her eyes, they were red rimmed, and it was evident that she had been crying. It only made her blue eyes all the more vivid and mesmerizing. She smiled placidly and and moved to stand again beside his bed. "Rumple -" she saw the confusion in his face as both his eyebrows rose at that name "- yes, I called you Rumple. That's the name I know you by." She paused. "I don't want to overwhelm you with too much information right now, but you need to know that I care about you a very great deal."

"I am honored," he replied. "I've never knew a lady who concerned herself with peasants." He inclined his head respectfully, but there was a note of sarcasm in his voice.

She took his hand gently. "I need you to trust me, Rumple. Captain Jones needs any information you can give him about the Kris dagger."

Although he was no longer the Dark One, more than three centuries of bargaining had left its mark on the man. Rumplestiltskin or Mr. Gold, whatever name he was given, was a shrewd man and a fair judge of character. He trusted this woman. He wasn't sure why, but he did. "The dagger works on a very simple principle," he began. "With it you can command the - "

The door opened, and Regina entered cautiously. Extreme prudence was necessary any time Hook and Gold were in the same room together. "Belle?" she called out. "How is everything?"

"Cora!" Rumplestiltskin hissed.