Eep... sorry for the long wait time.

Emma could feel her hair getting all tangled, but she didn't have time to worry about it. She had to find a way to save Neal. Going through all these books had yet to provide her with a solution - apparanetly dying from trading your life force to save your Dark One father was not a very common occurrence. She knew Belle was also looking through books, as was Rumpelstiltskin. They could ask for more help, but they had decided to keep it a secret until they found a solution. They didn't need Henry getting false hope (mostly Emma's concern), or the entire town interfering and messing things up (mainly Rumple's concern). They believed that they would find something, though. Rumpelstiltskin had suggested many times that maybe he could undo Neal's sacrifice, but Belle kept insisting that there had to be a way to save Neal without doing that. She had suggested True Love's Kiss, but this wasn't a curse or spell, Neal just didn't have a life force in him.

He didn't have a life force in him.

Of course.

Emma could hardly believe her own stupidity.


"Gold," she said, knocking on the door. She had never been to his house before, and it was strange.

He opened. "Emma, what is it? It's the middle of the night."

"I know. But I think I may have found a way to save him."

"Come in." He led her to the couch and the sat down. "Alright, what did you find?"

"Well, it's not really a find, more of a thought."

"What?"

"He's not dying from any spell or curse or anything. He's dying because he doesn't have a life force in him. So we just need to get him one."

"Well, yes; I have been saying I could give my life, but Belle -"

"No," said Emma, "I think there's a way we can give him a life force without anybody dying."

"How?"

"Well, how is a life created?"

He gasped and gave her a look of disgust. "You are not seriously considering -"

"Okay, not what you're thinking of."

"Then what?" he said, relaxing.

"We use something from a life that Neal himself created, to bring him back."

"Henry?"

"Yeah. Part of Henry is Neal. So part of Henry's DNA might give him life back."

"That seems extremely far-fetched."

"Well, yes it does. But it's worth a shot, isn't it?"

"I suppose. How do we get Henry's DNA?"

Emma raised her eyebrows. "I'm his mother, how hard do you think it was?" She held up a hat. "His hair's in here."

"Alright. Let's give it a try."


20 minute later

"Ms. Swan, I do believe you are a genius," Rumpelstiltskin said.

"Wait, it worked?"

"I think so. He appears to be alive."

"But, if we remove the spell... that's it. No more chances."

"Indeed. Do you think it's worth it?"

"If you really think it worked, then yeah."

"I do." He took a deep breath. "Alright then." He waved his hand and removed the spell.

"Is he alive?" Emma asked.

Rumpelstiltskin looked over his son's body. "He's alive."

Emma just about let out a cheer. "But... not awake."

"No, that might take a while." Suddenely Neal's eyes shot open. "Or not."

"Papa? Emma?" Neal asked. "What... what's going on?"