I probably look like an idiot right now. My eyes are wider than saucers and I'm gaping like a fish. I'm finally able to breath again when I can feel my lungs beginning to ache from the lack of oxygen they were receiving. At least I know that they're still there.

I still can't move. I still can't speak. I still can't look at anything other than the man in front of me. A man I haven't seen in 20 years. A man that still haunts my thoughts and dreams.

My father.

My papa.

He's standing right in front me. After all these years he is standing right in front of me. And I can't think of a thing to do. I thought I was prepared for this. I thought I was ready to see him. But I'm not. My mind has gone completely blank and I can't seem to form words in my mouth.

He looks different. He no longer possesses the golden eyes and reptilian skin that he had the last time I saw him. But he's not the same as he was before that either. His skin is the cleaner than I had ever seen it. He is wearing a crisp suit instead of some peasant clothes made from ratty fabric. His eyes are cold and calculating.

Something tumbles out of my mouth before I can stop it.

"Rumplestiltskin," I whispered as I continued to stare at him.

I was glad that I didn't say something like 'Papa'. But I still felt like some frightened awed idiot. I probably looked like one too.

His eyes narrowed on me in suspicion. I could practically see the cogs his head turning as he analyzed my movements. He was looking for something. He was trying to figure me out. I don't think he knows me. I don't see any recognition in his face. I don't see anything other than suspicion and slight condescension.

"I don't believe we've met before," he finally said.

I almost want to yell at him. Tell him that of course we've met before. I'm your son! But I push the feeling away before it gets the better of me. I set my lips in a firm line and harden my features. I've spent years perfecting my mask and I am not going to let him crack it. I'm not going to give myself away.

"No we haven't," I answered with a stony tone. "I've just heard about you."

"Have you?" he wonders aloud. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to answer the question or not. But he keeps talking so I guess, no. He slowly walks around me, circling me like a vulture. I notice the tapping sound and I see that he is relying heavily on his cane. I wouldn't have expected him to still have his limp. "I haven't heard anything about you, Mr..."

"Conners. And no, you wouldn't have," I answered as I crossed my arms protectively over my chest and turned to face him. "I'm not exactly big news."

"Mr. Conners," he says the name slowly, like he's testing it on his tongue. I could see a distrustful look in his eyes and I could tell he didn't believe that name for a second. But I kept a straight face. "It's a little early for a stroll, isn't it? Most people don't walk along this pier."

"I'm not most people," I shrugged as I looked out at the water. "I don't mind the landscape. Or the early mornings."

"Well I haven't seen you walking around here before, or walking around anywhere for that matter," he replied with an undisguised glare. He was frustrated that he didn't know who I was. Good, let's keep it that way.

"I usually keep to myself," I answered. I didn't waver under the scathing look he was giving me. I just leveled his glare with one of my own. "Don't get out much."

"Yet you bothered to take a walk along the pier in the early morning," he said in an almost accusing tone. "Usually one who doesn't get out much, wouldn't bother."

His voice was clipped. I could tell he was annoyed with me. And if he didn't realize who I was, then I may be in danger of him getting so annoyed that he kills me. I should probably be careful.

"I'm sorry," I said with false sincerity. "Was I bothering you?"

It's too bad I'm cocky bastard who can't seem to hold his damn tongue. Even after years of learning how to get people to trust me and like me, I still have the ability to piss people off just by opening my mouth.

I see the way his fingers flex around the golden handle of his cane and the way his shoulders tense. It makes me wary, and I unknowingly take the slightest step back. I'm reminded of the creature that stole my fathers face and how much it terrified me when I was fourteen. I try to calm my nerves and to convince myself that I'm not afraid of this man anymore.

"No," he says with a sickening smile. I can see the sinister and hostile gleam in his eyes. "Of course not."

The tension that hangs around us could be cut with a knife. The fear of this man try's to seep into me but I refuse to let it. I need to stand my ground and show him he has no power over me. I level my gaze and narrow my eyes on him. But for the shortest of moments, my eyes flicker behind him and I see something parked along the pier. A tow truck. And something else beside it. Was that a body?

My gaze is now fixed on it and I move around my father in order to see it more clearly. A body. It had to be. I ran forward towards the truck and skidded to a stop when I saw the body that lay on the ground. A man that I think I saw last night at the diner. The sight of his incomplete and mutilated body was almost enough to make me wretch. The mans body ended at his waist. The rest had been hacked off. It looked like it was done by an axe, and quite a sloppy job too. I knelt down beside him, avoiding the large puddle of blood, and looked at the name tag printed on his blue uniform. 'Billy'. What the hell had Billy done that made someone want to chop him in half?

I hear the rhythmic tap of my fathers cane as he walks up behind me. "What a mess?" he whispered only showing the slightest bit of disgust. I cringed a bit from my kneeling position and resisted the urge to wretch again. Did the man have no compassion?

I stood up and grabbed a small tarp from inside the truck and places it over the body.

"I need to call the sherif," I mumbled to myself as I took out my phone and started to dial. My fingers were shaking but I still managed to dial the right number. As I held the phone up to my ear, I heard another ring coming from beside me. I look up to see my father answer his own cell phone, which is a sight I will probably never get used to.

"Yes," he answers calmly, not even phased by seeing half the body of a dead man. Something like this would have gotten an emotional reaction out of him before the dark one. Not so much now. "Of course, I'm on my way."

He snaps the phone shut and puts it into his jacket pocket. "I trust you can deal with this on your own, Mr Conners."

I give him an appalled look as he turned away and left without another word.

I glare in his direction as he leaves me here alone. He had his natural eye and skin color back, but I didn't recognize anything of my papa in him.

Xxx

When Prince Charming showed up with Red and her Granny in tow, Red was in hysterics. She was sobbing over the dead body and crying about how it was her fault. Which I really didn't understand until she mentioned started blubbering about being a monster and a wolf. That raised a lot of questions in my mind. I listened as Charming tried to calm the frantic girl and convince her that she wasn't responsible.

"Wait, are you a wolf?" I asked as Charming and Granny tried to console Red. All of their eyes shot towards me and I backed up a bit. "Not that I'm judging or anything."

People started moving in closer and a crowd started to form around the crime scene.

"Maybe this isn't the place to have this discussion," Granny suggested as she moved protectively close to her granddaughter.

The prince looked out at the crowd and stood tall in the face of adversity. "It's okay," he reassured the two women. "I'll protect her."

"No!" Red yelled in protest. Charming and Granny looked at her in concern. "Lock me up. If the freezer couldn't hold me, maybe a jail cell will. I don't need to be protected from other people, David. Other people need to be protected from me."

Charming tried to protest but Red was insistent on being locked up. I agreed with the prince, though. This girl couldn't have been responsible, even if she had lost control when she turned. It didn't look like a wolf did this. If one did, I would expect at least some of the guy would be eaten. But since I discovered Billy's second half soon after I called Charming, I don't think any part of him is really missing. No, it just looks like someone chopped the poor guy in half.

When Charming had finally relented to Red, he turned back towards me.

"Conners," he said as he pointed in my direction. "You're coming in with me for questioning."

Oh, right. I discovered a dead body. I forgot that people who do that have to talk to the police. It's funny how after all my years of conning and scamming, this is the first time I've ever been brought in for questioning.

"Sounds like fun," I commented dryly.

Xxxx

Red sat down on the cot of her little green cell as Charming locked her in.

"You'll be safe in here tonight," he told her as he walked towards his office and put the keys in his desk drawer.

I sat on the royal blue couch beside Red's jail cell, waiting for my questioning. I thought it would happen in one of those interrogation rooms but I didn't mind the couch.

"Thank you, David," Red said gratefully from behind the bars.

"Thank me in the morning," he answered confidently as he walked up to me. "By then I'll have found who really killed Billy."

He stood in front of me with his arms crossed and his chest puffed out like he'd never lost a war. It was interesting to see how Charming really was like his daughter. "Tell me what happened this morning when you found the body," he ordered sternly. "And don't leave out any details."

I shrugged and leaned into the back seat of the couch. "I was just walking along the pier, looking at the water when I saw the body."

Charming gave me a distrustful look. "Why were you walking along the pier?" he asked with a frown.

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "I just like walking by water in the morning. I like how the sunlight looks on the water."

"Well, did anything happen before you found the body?" Red asks from inside the cell and I turn my head to look at her. "Did you see anything else?"

I thought back to the morning. I realized that I must have been closing my eyes when I passed the crime scene the first time. The only reason I noticed it was because I ran into my father.

"No," I say slowly. "I was looking at the water and then I ran into Rumplestiltskin. After that I-."

Charming jolted back in surprise. "Wait," he interrupted. "You saw Rumplestiltskin at the crime scene?"

I shrugged and continued explaining. "Yeah, he was there when I found the body."

"But he left before I got there?" Charming asked curiously.

"He left when I was calling you," I replied as I looked over my companions' expressions. I could see the tiniest bit of hope in Red's face and a look of revelation on Charming's. Were they both coming to the same conclusion.

"Did he look like he had anything on him?" Charming asked quickly. "Like a-"

"Do you really think Rumplestiltskin was responsible for this?" I asked incredulously.

"Why wouldn't he be?" Charming countered looking a little offended. "He was at the scene and he's killed plenty of people before."

"I'm not saying he wouldn't kill this guy," I stated with a snicker. "He'd probably kill someone for a cheeseburger. But he would do it much more subtly. He wouldn't leave a body. Whoever did this wanted it to be obvious. They wanted a big messy sight."

"Or they were a hungry dangerous wolf," Red whispered in defeat. "And they didn't care what they left behind."

I turned to give her my best reassuring smile. "I don't believe for one second that you did this," I told her sincerely. "You said you were a wolf, right?"

Red gave me a long distant look and gave a slight nod.

"Wolves kill for food," I stated confidently. "They don't kill for sport. If you had been the one to kill him, I'm pretty sure you would have taken a few chomps out of Billy. You would've had a hell of a hard time cutting him straight down the middle."

"Who else would have done it?" Red demanded stubbornly as she stood from the cot.

I sighed and looked up at the sherif. "I kinda feel like this is a frame job," I mumbled to myself.

"What do you mean?" Red asked with a frown.

"A frame job?" Charming repeated in confusion.

"Yeah," I replied. "Even if someone wanted to kill Billy by chopping him in half, I find it weird that they would drag his legs to a different place that was only a few yards away. The action seems a bit redundant."

Charming started nodding in agreement as I saw him think the idea over. "Someone wanted to make it look like a violent animal did it. So that Ruby would be blamed."

"But, who would want to frame me?" Red asked looking stunned.

I glanced in her direction and raised my eyebrows. "That's the million dollar question, isn't it," I answered as I looked up towards Charming. "If we find someone with a motive to frame Red..."

"Than we'll find the person who killed Billy," Charming finished with a grin.

"You already have," a voice called from the hallway that lead to the sherif's office. We all turned to face an older, balding man with a dark glare casted at Charming. He nodded towards Red as he entered the room and gave her an accusing look. "It's that thing. The she wolf."

Charming spun violently towards the man and and gave him a threatening look.

"Get out," he demanded as he stormed over to the old man I had never seen before. "What ever issues you have with me don't involve her. There's no proof Ruby has anything to do with what happened."

I watched the hostile exchange with a look of fascination. The guy was accusing the prince of putting the safety of his friend above the safety of the people. He even threatened Charming, saying he would raise a mutiny and take the power away from the sherif. I gazed at the pair thoughtfully. If this man really hated Charming that much, which I suspect he did, he may have enough reason to drag Red into it. Framing Red because he knew Charming would side with her no matter what. If he did use this situation to turn the people of Storybrooke against their prince, then he would be able to take Charming's power away from him.

Charming wasn't having any of it. He wasn't going to let any harm come to his loved ones. He wasn't going to cower beneath the threats of anybody. So much like Emma, it was almost funny.

"If you want her," he said in a low dangerous voice as he stepped towards the other man. "You have to go through me."

The man took a step forward as well and met Charming fierce glare with his own cold one. "I look forward to that."

With one last contemptuous smile, he marched out of the building.

I couldn't help but smirk. "Oh look," I said. "A motive."

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