Chapter 4: Calling in the Favor
The next night, the Charming clan sat together enjoying a quiet meal. After all the celebration and excitement, it was a relief to have some time alone with family.
"You'd better make sure your homework is finished before bedtime," David warned Henry as he moved to clear off the table. "You have school tomorrow."
"My, my. Don't you sound parental," Mary Margaret commented softly as she assisted her husband. "Be careful not to step on Emma's toes," she advised quietly as she pushed up her sleeves to avoid getting them in the dishwater. "I know you've been taking care of Henry, but let Emma have some responsibility now."
"It's kind of early for bedtime, isn't it?" Emma inquired, not noticing the conversation her parents were currently engaged in over by the sink.
"We go to the stables before school," Henry informed his mother. "David says I have to take care of my horse every morning so we get up before everyone else in Storybrooke it seems."
"So that's where you two ran off together this morning," Mary Margaret replied. "And I thought you guys were just out having breakfast and letting me and Emma sleep in."
Henry soon filled his mother and grandmother in on all the responsibilities that came with owning a horse. As he was just getting warmed up, the young boy was interrupted by a knock at the door.
"Wonder who that could be?" Emma inquired as she stood to answer the door. "Were you guys expecting anyone?"
Both David and Mary Margaret shook their heads no as Emma called out to visitor awaiting in the hall, "Who is it?"
"It's Mr. Gold," said a voice from the other side of the door.
"What does he want?" Mary Margaret whispered to her daughter as Emma turned to open the door.
"Mr. Gold," Emma greeted as he entered the apartment carrying an antique black traveling box in his free hand. "What's going on?"
"I'm sorry I didn't get to enjoy your little celebration last night."
"Out casting curses and brewing potions?" Emma asked.
"Something like that," Gold replied. "But we'll get to that later."
"What is it you want, Gold?" Emma asked impatiently. "I know this isn't a social call."
"You'd be correct about that," he responded. "Actually, I've come on a bit of business."
"There's no business I want to do with you," she replied.
"Oh," Gold informed her. "That's where you're wrong. Don't you remember that little favor you owe me? It's time to pay the piper."
"Okay, Gold, just tell me what you want," Emma demanded. "I've already literally slayed a dragon for you. What else is there to do?"
"I need you to find someone for me," he answered.
"So you can do what?" Emma inquired. "Set another wraith upon them?"
"Did something happen to Belle again," David asked, concern evident in his voice.
"No, no," Gold answered. "Belle is fine. This is a different matter." Turning back, he looked Emma in the eye and asked, " I need you to find someone very important to me. I need you to find my son."
Nothing else could have quieted the apartment more than Gold's pronouncement.
"You have a son?" Emma asked. "But I thought you were Rumplestiltskin. I don't remember him having any children in the story."
"Haven't you learned not to believe all the versions of fairytales from this world yet," Gold said impatiently. "Yes, I have a son. I'm not going to go into the whole story at the moment. We had a deal and I'm calling in my favor."
"Wait," Emma asked in confusion. "How did he get out of Storybrooke if nobody can enter or leave?"
"He was never in Storybrooke," Gold informed her. "That's why I need you to find him."
Emma sat down as she tried to process the information swirling in her head. "The curse," she said, putting the pieces together. "You created the curse. You brought everyone to this world so you could find you son."
"Actually," Gold corrected Emma. "Regina enacted the curse. She brought you to Storybrooke. But yes, I did create it with the intention of finding my son."
"You can't leave, can you?" Emma deduced. "If you do, then you lose all of your memories of him. Isn't that true?" David had brought Emma and Mary Margaret up to date about the escapade of the dwarves and the spray-painted line now decorating the border of Storybrooke.
"It was true, Miss Swan," Gold informed her. "Until last night."
"You broke the border curse." David said in amazement.
"That explains how the new guy got into town," Henry announced as if solving a major puzzle that had been plaguing him.
"What new guy?" Snow asked her grandson in confusion.
"There was a stranger in town the other day," Henry explained. "I've never seen him and he had no idea who I was so I assumed he was a friend of August."
"Seems this town is getting full of people we've never seen before," Emma commented, giving Gold a level stare.
"Ah," Gold commented. "So David has informed you of our new Librarian. Belle was always in Storybrooke. I just had no clue since Regina had her locked away in the hospital. That is after she informed me she was dead."
In addition to telling the ladies about the Sneezy losing his memory of his other life, David also including the addition of Mr. Gold's newly acquired friend. Trying to steer the conversation away from Regina and what she'd done, David remarked, "I guess we're just going to have to get used to outsiders coming in to town now."
"He couldn't have gotten in because the curse is broken. I only tested it last night," Gold said, wondering how an outsider was able even find Storybrooke. "And as far as I know, it only works for me."
"I wonder how he got in then?" Henry wondered.
"One problem at a time, kid," Emma answered, hugging her son close to her. Turning to Gold, she continued, "I've just gotten back with my son. Why would I want to leave once again on another mission?"
"Because you owe me a favor and my deals are never broken," he informed the sheriff. "Plus, you're the best person for the job. Magic will only take us so far. You've said yourself that finding people is what you do. You're background is perfect for the task ahead of us."
"Us?" Emma questioned.
"Yes, us. I'm coming, too. I've waited forever to reunited with him once again. Something I think you can relate to, Miss Swan." Gold replied, trying to appeal parent-to-parent. You might not approve of my methods, but I did it all for my son."
Emma hated having her back against the wall, but she could see no way out of the current situation. "Okay," she said, exhaustedly. "What do we have to do?"
"Emma," Henry cried. "You can't leave me again. You just got back."
"Henry, calm down," she responded. "We don't even know the specifics yet." Turning to Gold she asked, "What am I even supposed to begin with? I can't track someone without at least a little bit of information."
"Well," Gold began to explain. "I've got his cloak…"
"How am I supposed to track someone with a cloak from the Enchanted Forest?" Emma interrupted. "I need names, credit card receipts, tax records."
"Sorry, I have none of those things, but I do have this," Gold replied as he opened the small ancient black box he had brought with him and pulled out a small bottle containing a glowing liquid."
"What is that?" Snow asked worriedly, burrowing into her husband's embrace.
"It's a locating potion," David supplied, surprising everyone in the room except Gold with his answer.
"Correct," confirmed Mr. Gold.
"How would you know what a locating potion is?" Emma asked, looking at David in shock.
"Because I went to Gold after you went through the portal. I wanted to find the owner of the hat to see if he knew how to make it work again."
"Jefferson," Emma whispered as she exchanged a knowing look with her mother.
"So you know him?" David asked, raising his eyebrow questioningly.
"Long story," Mary Margaret replied. "Tell you later."
Filing that bit of information away for later, David continued, "I went to Gold to see if he had anything like the ring to be able to find the hat's owner. He gave me the potion. I sprinkled it on the hat and it led me right to Jefferson. Only he had no idea how to get it to work again."
"Okay," Emma declared, throwing her hands in the air. "I'm confused. Rings, locating potions. I'm lost."
"Let's just say that I have the ability to turn objects into their own little tracking devices," Gold supplied.
"He enchanted my mother's…er, now it would be your mother's ring so I was able to find Snow after Regina poisoned her back in the Enchanted Forest. That's how I knew Gold might be able to do it once again."
Turning to Gold, Emma asked in confusion, "If you're able to do that then why do you need me?"
"Because magic works differently here, Miss Swan," he explained. "I've tried it myself, and it won't work for me. I was hoping that you'd get a different result." From his black box, Gold pulled out a piece of brown cloth and sprinkled the bottle's contents on the fabric. Holding the ancient cloth out to Emma, he explained, "This is Bae's cloak. Can you sense anything?"
Tentatively, Emma took the cloak from Gold's hands as everyone waited with baited breath. When nothing happened, she looked up at Gold. "Sorry, noth…," but was distracted from her reply by a low vibration the cloak softly began to emit.
"What's happening?" Gold asked eagerly.
"I can feel a small vibration," she explained.
Reaching out for the fabric, Gold responded, "Hand it to me." After Emma handed the cloak back to him, Gold replied, "Nothing. I feel nothing."
Taking the cloak once more off of Gold, she said, "I can still feel it. It's very faint, but it's there."
"The vibration will get stronger the closer you get to Bae," Gold explained.
"So what does this 'Bae' look like," Mary Margaret asked.
"Last I saw him, he was fourteen years old," Gold responded. "But I'm not sure how old he is in this land. Here is a drawing of him," he said, handing a rough illustration of a young boy to Emma. "He has similar coloring to me, brown eyes, but his hair is darker."
"That's really helpful," Emma said in exasperation. "That could describe half the population. Even Henry fits that description."
"What if he's deceased?" Mary Margaret asked tentatively as she gazed down at the picture Emma handed her.
"The curse was designed to send us to where Baelfire is located. Not in the past, not where his body is, but where he's located. The potion wouldn't have reacted to the cloak if he's gone."
"That narrows things down a lot," Emma replied, not even trying to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. "So we're looking for a white male with brown hair and brown eyes who could be between the age of fourteen to one hundred four years old. Seems an easy task."
"One I'm sure you're up for," Gold sallied back, gaining back some of his snark.
"So when do you want to go on this little adventure," Emma asked.
"Tomorrow, hopefully," Gold answered. "I've got some preparations to take care of, but I'll be in contact with you tomorrow morning to let you know."
"Here, take it," Emma said, setting the cloak on the table as Gold repacked the potion bottle into his black box. "I don't want to be accused of destroying it if something should happen to it." As he reached down to put the cloak back in the box, it fell into a puddle on the floor.
"Here you are, Mr. Gold," Henry said as he reached down and picked up the cloak. Looking up in shock, Henry turned to his mother, clutching the fabric. "Mom! I can feel it!"
"Looks like the boy inherited something else from you," Gold retorted.
"I can feel it!" Henry exclaimed. "But you said it was just vibrating." Turning to Mary Margaret, he said, "Grams, remember when we learned in class about magnets. Those big magnets you had us hold. That's what it feels like."
Four sets of eyes immediately turned in Gold's direction, looking for him for some kind of explanation. "It shouldn't be doing that, yet," he explained. "Unless…"
"Unless he's nearby," David responded. "The ring grew brighter the closer I got to Snow. When I reached her, it could have lit up the night sky."
"Hand that back to me," Emma demanded. Taking the cloak off of her son, she pulled on her coat and headed for the door.
"Wait," she heard her mother cry out behind her. "Last time we followed a magical object it trapped us back home. We're going, too."
Emma was standing outside the apartment building with the cloak in her hands as the others finally caught up with her. "The vibrations are stronger, but I can't tell which direction to go."
"Give it to me," Henry said excitedly
"No, Henry." Emma demanded. "I'm not letting you do this."
"Please, mom," he implored. "I know I can help."
"I said no," Emma replied, emphatically.
"I'm the one who brought you to Storybrooke. I'm one who told you about the curse." Henry begged, "Please let me help with this."
Emma began to feel herself crack under the stares of everyone. "Okay," she relented. "But you're only to grab a corner. I'm holding it."
Henry excitedly took a corner of the blanket and concentrated on the direction it was pulling him. "That way," he said, pointing toward the center of town.
Standing at main intersection of town, the motley crew stood awaiting the next words from the young boy leading the way. "Not again," Emma commented offhandedly. "Regina can't have another one locked away in a basement somewhere."
"Emma," Mary Margaret warned as she started at Gold. "I wouldn't joke at a time like this."
"Sadly, I wasn't joking," Emma replied, feeling the vibrations grow stronger as they trekked through the center of Storybrooke.
"Over there," Henry pointed. "I can feel it pulling. Toward Granny's."
"The Inn!" cried Emma, as the group made their way across the street.
"Wait." David called out. "We can't go barging into the Inn. Even if you are technically the Law."
"August," Mary Margaret called out as if she had an epiphany. "It has to be August."
"No," Gold responded with sneer in his voice. "Definitely not August."
"But it fits," she continued. "He showed up after Emma, he has brown hair. It has to be August."
"No, Mary Margaret," Emma responded. "August is Pinocchio. He can't be Gold's son."
"How is he Pinocchio? He was a little boy when the curse was enacted. And a red-head," Snow asked in confusion.
"Another long story that will have to wait for another day," Emma explained. "I can't go into it now, but he's absolutely not Gold's son."
"Then who can it be?" Mary Margaret asked.
"The new guy!" David exclaimed. "Henry mentioned him earlier. He showed up a few days ago."
"What's his name?" Gold demanded.
"I don't know. I never met him." Turning to Henry, David asked, "Henry, do you remember his name?"
"I think it was Phil," Henry answered, screwing up his face trying to remember the conversation. "No, it may have been Bill."
"Bill is close to Baelfire," David replied, looking to Gold as if he had any more answers than the rest of them.
"I think we should talk to Granny first before we start searching all the rooms," Emma responded. Turning to her parents, Emma said, "Why don't you guys return back home. Take Henry with you."
"No way," Henry cried. "I've gotten you this far. I want to see how it ends."
"Henry," Emma warned.
"Let the boy stay," Gold replied.
"Come on, then," Emma relented as she walked up the steps to Granny's Bed and Breakfast and opened the front door.
"Granny," shouted Emma as the door banged closed behind her parents who were the last to enter the entryway.
The sound of footsteps coming down the stairs announced the arrival of the person in question. "What is going on?" the older woman asked as she stared at the group assembled before her.
"Granny, we need some information. It's very important." Emma informed
"What is it? Anything for you," she answered, pulling her shawl tighter around her shoulders.
"It's about your new boarder," Mary Margaret cut in, just as eager as the others to find out who exactly was Mr. Gold's son.
"Quiet fellow," Granny replied. "Won't talk much. I haven't been able to get much out of him at all. From what I've assumed, he's a friend of August's. "
"What room is he is in?" Emma demanded.
"I put him in Room Seven," she answered. "Is he in trouble? Has he done something?" Granny asked worriedly.
"No, he hasn't done anything," Emma reassured her. "Do you by chance have a name?"
"Yes," she answered. "He signed in as a Mr. Cassidy."
Silence hung in the air and the color began to drain from Emma's face. "Emma, are you okay," her mother asked, but she could near nothing but the pounding of her heart accelerating in her chest.
Breaking out of her brief trance, Emma bounded down the hallway and up the stairs, not bothering to care about the people she'd left behind. Suddenly, she was standing before a door with the number seven emblazoned before her.
Before she realized she was doing it, Emma began pounding on the door and screaming, "Open this door…now!" She didn't need to issue a second demand before the door before her was wrenched open to reveal a sight she'd never thought she'd see again in her life.
"Hello, Neal."
"Hello, Emma," Neal responded as he stared into the face he'd last seen eleven years earlier. He didn't have long to linger on her before he heard the pounding of footsteps and a small crowd assembled behind her.
"You know him?" Mary Margaret asked in confusion.
But Mary Margaret's inquiry was pushed aside by the sound of a cane echoing behind her and a voice Neal never thought he'd hear again in his lifetime call out, "Bae?"
Dum, dum, dum…
I hope you guys liked seeing things on the other side of the Emma/Neal storyline. Fireworks should really start flying next chapter, which I've already started writing. I hope I didn't alienate any of my readers by making Neal be Bae, but I've had clues in early chapters so it shouldn't have been a big shock. Hope to have the next chapter up sometime this week. Thanks to everyone for their support.