They stared at each other, silently. Then, Gepetto whispered :

"Pinocchio."

"It's me, father."

"My boy, it's you. It's really you."

And an instant later, Gepetto was holding August in his arms. He clung to him, like he was never willing to let him go again. They were too overwhelmed by emotion to speak but there was nothing to say : father and son were reunited and their love was the best reunion message they could give to each other. After a long moment, the two men moved a bit away from one another. Gepetto put his hand on August's cheek, as he still couldn't believe his own eyes. Then, Gepetto remembered :

"You came to see me at my workshop, telling me that it was your father who taught you how to fix clocks."

"I was starting to turn back to wood, I wanted to spend some time with you."

"Yes, of course. But… then… oh son, I don't want this to sound like a reproach but…"

"You wonder why I didn't want you to see me after the curse was broken."

"Yes."

"Because I had failed you, dad. All those years ago, I had promised you to take care of Emma, and I didn't do it. I lost myself, I failed and I didn't want to face your reaction once you'd have come to realize that. I didn't want to see how much I had disappointed you. So once the curse broke and I turned back to flesh and bones, I decided to do what I'm the best at : I ran away."

"Son, when you arrived there, you were so young. What I see today is that you came back. You realized you had made a mistake when you left Emma, so you tried to make up for it and you came back. You made her believe and it worked, she broke the curse. No, I'm the one to blame for sending you there in the first place."

"Ok guys, sorry to interrupt, but you need to stop apologizing. Both of you."

August and Gepetto jumped. They had totally forgotten that Emma and her parents were still there. Emma looked successively at everyone in the room and repeated :

"No one in this room has to apologize because no one in this room is to blame for what happened."

Gepetto went towards Emma and told her :

"Because of me, you didn't grow up with your mother the way you were supposed to do. And that's my fault."

"I didn't grow up with my parents because of a spell Regina cast. You didn't make this curse happen. And then you did what you thought you had to do to protect your family. I almost lost my son, not so long ago. So I know that I would have done anything to save him. I don't blame you, Marco."

Hearing Emma's words, Gepetto couldn't resist more time to the desire to cry he had since he first entered the room.

"Thank you, Emma. What you said means a lot to me."

"And to me.", added August, who had come closer to his dad.

"No problem. Now I don't want this to sound like I'd like to kick you out but you guys probably have some catch-up to do."

"Yes", said August, laughing, "you're right."

He wrapped an arm around his father's shoulders and both walked to the door. Passing by David and Mary Margaret, Gepetto stopped and said :

"Thank you, for helping me find my boy."

"Don't mention it.", answered David, smiling, "Nothing's better that a family reunited."

After they left, Charming, Snow and their daughter found themselves alone in the living room. The time for the talk had arrived. Emma was the first one to break the silence.

"How did he know about August ? And, how did you know he'd be here ?"

"We were there yesterday, we heard everything."