7 hours

The royals dispersed quickly as the sun began going down. Snow and David began talking with the man called Little John after Robin Hood gave the man a reassuring nod. And Regina took off into the woods, she could only assume, to disable the spell surrounding the castle. She didn't particularly care. After everything that had happened she didn't know how she felt about the Evil Queen or if she really trusted her. Right now she seemed to be submitting to the group, going along with what they planned, but she could see something behind the Queens gaze, something she recognized because she could see it in Rumple's eyes when he was alone with her and his guard was down. She was haunted, mourning. She really had loved Henry and being away from him…well, if she stopped to think about it too much she suspected that she and the Queen had more in common at the moment than she cared to admit.

She didn't know if she trusted the Queen completely, but for this task…she didn't have a choice. Either Regina would do as she said she would, and they'd be in the castle soon or she'd disappear never to be seen again…and they'd be no worse than they were now. Only the prospect of battle, of not knowing what they were walking into, was making her nervous.

Eagerly she moved around the people fighting to get past her and stepped up next to Neal again walking with him as they continued their trek through the forest to collect the weapons that Robin Hood had at his camp.

"Are you alright?" she asked looking him over, putting a hand on the shoulder she thought the creature might have nicked him on. He didn't seem hurt, but he was wearing layers; a wound could easily get lost in all of it. Still, nothing looked ripped or torn at least.

"Yeah, fine I think." She let out a sigh of relief and Neal looked as though she'd just pushed him, taking a timid step away from her. "Are you?" he asked.

Was she? It was an excellent question considering all that had just happened, everything that she'd learned, and the day that she'd had…days, since she hadn't slept since…since he'd gotten back from Neverland. Since they'd had one night. On the outside, yes, she was managing to look fine. But on the inside, she felt like there was a war raging within her. Hope wanted to live. But there was only a little of it in her chest, and sorrow threatened to drown it out with every thought, every reminder, every gesture! And then Neal-

The moment she'd seen that creature, the flying monkey, attack him she'd felt as though her heart had stopped. She felt as though she was about to watch someone else she loved die right in front of her eyes all over again. Of course she couldn't tell Neal that. She knew how it would have sounded, and she promised that she would never mother him. Expressing the panic he'd sent her into, certainly didn't sound like "not mothering", just as checking him over for wounds would. That was probably what had startled him a moment ago as it was.

So she took a step back and nodded. "Fine." He stared at her for a while, looking her up and down suspiciously before finally taking a step toward her again as they walked, accepting the truth she'd offered. She wasn't okay, she wasn't great, she wasn't good. But he hadn't asked if she was okay, great, or good. For once she was the one to find the loophole instead of Rumpelstiltskin. He was fine. He was okay. At least one of the important people in her life was still here, by her side. Hope was smoldering somewhere deep inside of her fighting to stay alive. For now, she was no better or worse than fine.

But for how long? Every silent step brought them closer to Sherwood Forest closer to battle, and what she saw around her didn't make her feel fine. Little John was still talking to Snow and David, still holding their attention, but as she watched them David reached up to cover his mouth, hiding a yawn. Roland was on his own again; walking with some member of Robin Hood's group that she hadn't met yet and as the sky got darker and darker she couldn't find the boy's father anywhere. The camp they finally arrived at wasn't exactly an armory. It was a simple, plain camp. She might not ever have led a war, but she'd sat in on the war council room enough to know that these were not favorable conditions to go into battle. There weren't many of them. Those that were taking weapons to go back and fight didn't exactly seem like trained soldiers, it was dark, their leaders were exhausted, they hadn't been here in decades, the geography could have changed, they didn't know their enemy…

There were a million more reasons why this was a bad idea. But she seriously doubted anyone would listen to her, that they would stop to think for a few moments about changing their plan.

"Alright!" David called out, stepping up on a fallen tree trunk and addressing the "soldiers" gathering around him. "There is a blockade around the castle, Regina will disable that for us. We turn, go back to the castle, wait in the woods until we have access-"

"I'll keep watch!" Grumpy shouted with a determined scowl on his face.

David nodded. "Once the shield is down we attack the witch and any minions she may have fighting on her side, monkey or not. That is our castle and this is our Kingdom…and we're going to get it back!"

"This is wrong," she muttered against the loud victory chant, watching the men turn and begin to walk back in the direction they'd just come from, toward the castle. It wasn't that she disagreed with David, just his plan. She turned to look at Neal, seeking out support, someone to agree with her, but instead she only watched as he drew a sword from his belt that she hadn't noticed until this moment. "What are you doing?" she asked stepping away as he pawed it, as if he was testing it out. He wasn't actually considering joining them was he?!

"Getting ready for a fight," he answered offhandedly. His concentration was obviously used up on the weapon he held, but hers was busy focusing on the drop her stomach had just done. Similar to the one she'd had when she'd seen him attacked.

As Bae took a step forward, she didn't care if it was too "mother-like" or not, she reached out, pulled on his arm with every ounce of strength that she had, forcing him to stop off to the side of the group. "Neal, this isn't smart, don't go!" she begged.

"If it could help me figure out some way to get back to Henry then so be it."

"What are you talking about?" she questioned harshly, feeling like she'd been completely blind-sided from the sudden change in topics. They were talking about battle not Henry! Weren't they?

"Look," he corrected, watching her, "this isn't Oz, right. If that witch could figure out a way to get here from there, then maybe she knows a way to get me back to my son."

Her body practically shook with fear as Neal moved around her and proceeded with the group. No. They had a plan, they'd figured it out before they'd learned about the witch and they needed to stick to it. There were right ways and wrong ways to get him back to Henry and siding with a person like the Wicked Witch wasn't something she was going to let happen.

"No, Neal!" she called, chasing after him, cutting him off as she stepped in front of him. "This isn't the way to get back to Henry and Emma."

"Any way to get back to them is a way-"

"But it's not the right way, please Bae, we have a plan, give it a chance."

"I need to get back to my son," he insisted moving around her again. But she refused to give up and chased after him once more.

"And that," she spat at him, doing her best to keep her voice down as the crowd passed the pair of them by, "is exactly what your father said time and time again before he made poor choice after poor choice!" Neal glanced away from her, off into the tree line somewhere, avoiding her gaze just as Rumpelstiltskin would have…when he was considering what she was saying but didn't like it. Neal didn't like what she was saying, but he hadn't made a motion to move away from her again and she could only take that as a good sign.

"There is a right way and a wrong way to do this," she informed him. "You're fathers ethics were questionable and we've both seen the damage those ethics had on his heart. Don't do what he did. Don't take the wrong path. Make sure that when you see Henry again, when Henry finally sees you, his father, your soul is intact." Maybe it was because she'd grown up reading too many stories, maybe it was because she spent too much time with Rumpelstiltskin, a true wordsmith, but for whatever reason, she could see that she'd chosen her words right. Neal agreed with her. She could see it in his eyes.

But still his posture was defensive, determined. He knew she was right but right now he was probably just as exhausted as she was and he was having a hard time conceding to the right, but still road less traveled. "Look," he sighed after a moment, "even if I think you have a valid point we still have a problem. We don't have a plan. We have a goal, an outline, nothing more-"

"We can make a plan."

"How?! You heard me talking to David earlier, they aren't going to let us get away, they aren't going to let us go look for my father, or even try to get back to my family, not while we're like this. Let them get into the castle, let them take back their damn kingdom! If they're good and distracted at least they aren't watching us!" He moved around her again as if she was nothing but a tree.

She'd won. But so had he. She hadn't exactly heard the rest of the conversation that Neal had with David, she'd been distracted at the time, but she should have known it had gone poorly because they were here, instead of at Rumple's castle. Now she had a reason why. They didn't want Neal to go back to Emma and Henry. But Neal had a point too. They didn't have a plan, at least she understood that they didn't now. Before she thought it was as simple as taking Neal and going to find the castle but if they were on their own, if the others really didn't want them to go…they had more obstacles to overcome.

She didn't like it, hated really the idea of Neal going off to fight some witch he didn't know about, but she supposed there wasn't much of a choice. He had two options. Fight with them or don't fight at all. She didn't know him like she knew her Rumple, but from everything she'd heard about him, every brief interaction they'd had, she had the feeling that asking him to sit out on the sidelines wasn't an option. Somehow he'd survived on his own in Neverland then again when he'd finally got to The Land Without Magic, maybe he could survive against the Wicked Witch of the West. And at least he wouldn't be alone this time…she wouldn't let him be alone.

Before she could convince herself that it was a bad idea, or remind herself about every bad thing that could go wrong, she ran after him and put her hands around his elbow as they made their way toward the castle again. "What are you-"

"I'm coming with you," she insisted before he could finish the question.

"No," he stated coming to a stop. "No, what do you think you're going to do to-"

"I can't use a sword and I've never fought a witch but I've taken on a Yaoguai and lived to see the light of day, not to mention dealt with Rumpelstiltskin…what's a Wicked Witch?" Neal gave an irritated sigh. She didn't care if she was clinging to him. What else did she have to cling to? She'd already lost everything else that mattered to her she wasn't going to lose Bae too. The bottom line? If he was going so was she.

"We're it remember," she muttered pulling him along with her. "If we don't stick together, then we'll never get home."


I love the idea of teamwork that starts between Belle and Neal early on. It shows their character, the desperation of Neal that we saw in 3x15, and for Belle the urge to do the right thing. She doesn't want Neal to get back to her family the wrong way, only the right way. In my opinion this chapter is very...them!

Thank you to Meredith Pechta, Kathryn Claire O'Conner, Raizen Yusuke, Deweymay, and Skitzoeinhoven for your reviews on the last chapter! Peace adn Happy Reading!