A/N: Time to fix what got broken! Thanks to everyone who has left reviews :)
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)
Chapter 9
It was decided that Jiminy would lead the party to the Royal Castle. Since Rumpelstiltskin no longer possessed his magicks, there was no way into the palace but through the front door. The guards would not allow strangers access, and it was unlikely even Baelfire would be a welcome guest after what had occurred. Doubtless Emma would have told her parents of what had happened by now. Despite her protestations, Jiminy knew she would tell them the truth before long. In any case, he was the best person to take the former Dark One, his wife and his son into the castle.
As soon as they gained access, after an array of odd looks from guards too young to know what the Dark One truly looked like and yet had clearly heard tales of, Jiminy took himself to the Queen's private rooms and had the guard at her door announce his entrance.
"Jiminy," Snow smiled as he flew in to greet her, putting her pen down on the desk. "This is a surprise. What can I do for you?"
"Your majesty, I have news that I fear may not be welcome, but before I speak further, have you seen Princess Emma in the last hour?"
"No," she shook her head, smiling still. "She is out with Neal. Today marks two months since they met, you know?"
"Yes, I was aware," said Jiminy awkwardly. "Er, I wonder if Prince David would be able to join us?"
"Jiminy, what is this about?" asked Snow, her eyes narrowing. "Something must be wrong if you want to gather my family to share some news that requires such a grave tone," she noted.
Jiminy swallowed hard, though as he was a cricket the queen couldn't have noticed. She saw only how he hopped nervously in place, his wings unsure whether to flap or be still. He did have news to share of a serious nature. How bad it proved to be was a matter of opinion in the circumstances.
"I wonder if you might come with me, Snow," he said, using her given name as he was prone to do when they were alone and speaking as friends. "There are guests waiting downstairs, and they can explain everything much better than I."
Trusting in her friend, Snow nodded her ascent and rose to follow Jiminy as he flew ahead of her. They moved down flights of stairs and then towards the doors of one of the main sitting rooms. It was at this moment David walked into the very foyer in which they stood.
"Snow? And Jiminy," he smiled at the sight of their most trusted advisor. "Is something wrong?" he checked then, the moment his wife turned to look his way, her expression pensive.
"I don't know," she admitted. "We have guests that we need to meet, though that's all I know so far."
"Please," Jiminy cut in before anything more could be said or asked of him. "If you would come into the sitting room, all will be revealed."
Anybody else and David may not have been so willing to follow without questioning further. Jiminy was a trusted advisor and an old friend. If he said there were guests to be met that would explain all, then he would believe that. Grasping Snow's hand, the Prince pushed his sword further around the side of his body. He would usually take it off when he got into the castle but for as much as he trusted both his wife and their friend, he was always wary of uninvited guests. One had to be in their position.
The doors were duly opened, the royal couple walking in with Jiminy fluttering ahead. First, Snow and her Charming saw Neal sat on the sofa with a beautiful woman beside him, one they had both seen before. Her presence told them all too easily who the figure by the window had to be, even though his back was facing them yet.
"No!" Snow gasped in shock.
"It can't be," her husband shook his head.
"And yet," replied Rumpelstiltskin slowly turning around, "it very much can, dearie," he stated, sounding every bit as much the Dark One as ever, though the sight of his face proved to the royal couple that he was not as he once was.
"Your majesties," said the woman, rising fast only to bow deeply in the presence of the Queen and Prince. "Please, forgive our intrusion. I don't know if you remember me..."
"I do," Snow nodded, reaching out a hand to encourage her up again. "You are Rumpelstiltskin's companion."
"Well, I am his wife now," she confirmed with a smile. "My name is Belle. We have come here to give you an explanation, which I fear is somewhat overdue."
"Indeed," Rumpelstiltskin agreed as he walked over to them with a slight limp that made the Prince stare. "As you see, your majesties, reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated."
David's hand went instinctively towards his sword, despite the fact Rumpelstiltskin seemed weakened now, and not so much like the Dark One as he once had. Snow saw the movement and shook her head. This didn't feel like a trap, and yet as her mind processed the scene, a terrible shudder ran through her, accompanying a realisation she would rather not have had.
"No," she shook her head slightly, looking between her three uninvited guests. "This is... You are the Dark One's son?" she asked Neal outright.
"Not quite, dearie," Rumpel corrected her then. "My son was born fourteen years before my curse overtook me," he explained easily.
Snow and David shared a look, the information they had both received causing many more questions to present themselves in their minds. Belle patted Neal's hand and then moved to stand by her husband, looping her arm through his own. She looked to the Queen and Prince as she spoke then.
"We understand the shock you're feeling, but please, if you'll let us explain," she urged them. "I can't see a way forward until you have all the information, and then we will all be in a better position to help Emma."
"Emma?" Snow gasped. "Oh my... Does she know?" she asked then.
"She does," Neal nodded as he rose to join them all. "I knew I had to tell her the whole truth before it was too late. She got upset and ran from me, back here, thankfully, so we don't have to worry about that, but... but I hurt her, I know that. I hate that I had to, but we couldn't... we couldn't be together if she didn't know the truth about me."
Snow knew he was right, David did too, but it didn't stop the rushing around of thoughts in their heads, or the concern they felt for their daughter.
"She'll be heartbroken and so confused," said Snow sadly. "I can't imagine why she didn't come to me when she found out."
"I can," her husband sighed. "Snow, she has heard nothing but tales of darkness about Rumpelstiltskin. To hear that her true love was born from that same man... It was too much for her to take in, and doubtless felt like far too much to bring to us until she understood her own feelings on the matter."
"I believe that to be true," said Jiminy suddenly making his presence known again. "I also believe that Miss Belle is correct in her assessment of the situation. Your majesties, if you would allow Rumpelstiltskin and his family to explain all that has come before, I believe you will then be able to help Emma better cope with what she has learned today."
There was no denying he was right, as he so often was. Snow nodded her head.
"Alright," she acquiesced. "Let's all sit down and hear what Rumpelstiltskin has to say," she said with a look.
He bowed a little, the smile creeping onto his lips reminding the queen too much of his Dark One persona. Now he looked human, and though his clothes were still a little eccentric, reminiscent of years gone by, Snow had to admit he wasn't half so frightening as he had once appeared. The fact he seemed to have no power and had been hiding all these years, only to appear now for the sake of his son, that spoke to Snow more than anything else. Perhaps the man behind the monster's mask was just a father and a husband, much as her Charming was. It appeared they were about to find out.
Emma had finally stopped crying. It took a good long while after Jiminy had left her for the tears to cease, but once they were over she had a chance to think more clearly. Neal was Baelfire. The name itself wasn't a problem. She always had suspected that he gave her fake identity for some reason. Emma never once imagined the truth of the matter, that her true love was the son of the darkest power ever known in the Enchanted Forest.
Nobody should be judged by the actions of another. This Emma knew to be true. Her parents were good people, but that did not automatically make her a saint. She tried her best to be all that she should be, but that was her own doing as much as her parents influence. Baelfire wasn't automatically evil because Rumpelstiltskin had been cursed with darkness. He certainly never seemed anything but kind, sweet, funny, and so many other good things to Emma.
Of course, believing he was a good person with a true heart didn't make Baelfire the ideal match for Emma. Not only was there her parents view of the situation to consider, but Emma still couldn't wrap her head around the age difference that had to exist between herself and her true love. If Baelfire was borne of Rumpelstiltskin before he was the Dark One, he ought to be hundreds of years old. Though Neal appeared to be older than Emma, and had confessed as much, he never specified how much older he really was. She had assumed five years, perhaps a little more, but that was all. The shock of realising the truth had turned her stomach, but now she thought on it logically, Emma wondered if it could really matter.
Whatever Baelfire was or had been, Emma didn't think it could ever really change her love for him. He had her heart, that was the simple truth, and no amount of wondering on the matter changed the fact at all. He had to love her. If his plan was only to use her for any reason, he never would have told her the truth, the whole, unvarnished, dangerous truth.
"I still love him," she said to herself. "And if he loves me..."
Her voice trailed away because she simply didn't know where to go from there. They could have true love, her and Baelfire, but Emma wasn't sure if it was enough, even now. For her parents, true love had meant everything, it still did. It meant they could overcome any and all obstacles in their path. Emma would love to think the same would be true for her and the man she had always known as Neal until today. She hoped it were true, but she couldn't know for sure until she spoke to her parents and to Baelfire himself.
Getting up off her chair, Emma stretched her muscles out. After a couple of hours being crammed into her mother's seat in the war room, it was time to face the world again. Hiding away never did anybody any good. Now Emma must go ahead and find the people she needed to talk to in order to figure out this situation and her life which depended greatly on what came next. Nothing was ever going to be achieved by sitting here crying.
Emma wiped her hands across her cheeks and then pushed her hair back over her shoulders. Taking a deep breath, she headed for the doors and let herself out of the room. She wasn't sure where her mother or her father would be, they might even have gone out somewhere, but that wouldn't deter the princess from looking until she found them. She headed downstairs, planning to ask the guards in the foyer whether they had seen her parents, if they were still at home or not. Emma was descending the last flight when she stopped with a jump.
"Neal?" she gasped at the sight of him. "Um, no..." she shook her head the very next moment. "Baelfire," she forced out, feeling strange just using the name.
"Emma," he smiled. "I, er... Your parents said I could come to find you."
"My parents? You... you talked to them?"
"Actually, my father and Belle talked to your parents. I was there but... well, between my father and yours, it's a little hard to get a word in edgeways," he smiled.
Emma nodded dumbly. She was amazed to hear that Rumpelstiltskin was in the castle, and having a friendly talk with her parents, no less. It was all a little too much to take in right now, as everything was today.
"I'm so sorry about before," said Neal then. "I mean, I had to tell you the truth, I had to..."
"I know, and I didn't exactly react well," Emma admitted. "I mean, could I have acted more like a kid?" she said, looking away until suddenly his hand covered hers on the bannister rail.
"Emma," he said softly. "You reacted like anybody would've. Trust me, I know the news was pretty shocking."
"Pretty shocking, yeah," she muttered a reply before speaking more clearly. "I mean, first Rumpelstiltskin is still alive, and then he's your father. I can't even figure out how that works, how you're this age still..."
"Yeah, that's a complicated story," he admitted.
"Then tell it to me," countered Emma, surprising them both.
Neal, or Baelfire as she now ought to know him, shook his head as he answered her.
"I wanted to. I still do, but you weren't exactly ready to hear it earlier, and I get it, I do, but Emma, if you'd just let me tell you everything. After that, if you never want to see me again, then I'll go, but I hope that maybe you'll understand and... and still love me," he said, looking away, knowing it was almost too much to ask.
Emma smiled at how shy he suddenly looked, how out of his depth. That was comforting, because she felt exactly the same way right now.
"I'm pretty sure I don't know how to stop loving you, no matter what you tell me," she admitted - Baelfire smiled - "But I do need to hear everything. I'm guessing my parents have gotten the whole story from your father?"
"They have," he confirmed. "They've been... surprisingly understanding."
"They're good at that," said Emma with a light laugh because it was so ridiculously true.
Neal shifted awkwardly.
"So, where do you want to go? I'm guessing you didn't plan on us having this talk on the stairs of your castle..."
"C'mon," Emma urged him, offering him her hand and leading him up to her room.
It felt strange bringing him into her own space like this, and yet totally normal at the same time. Emma didn't understand that, but she figured it was the least of her concerns right now. She and Neal, or Baelfire as she must learn to call him, sat down on the couch in the corner of her room, and she waited for him to begin to explain himself. Over the hours that followed, he did tell her everything from the beginning, about his parents, his father letting him go, Neverland, his return, and his life now. Emma listened to the whole story with rapt attention, saying very little, asking no questions because Baelfire seemed to be answering them without her ever needing to. He really did want her to know everything, and from his lips rather than second hand from elsewhere. Emma found some details sad and others shocking, but she took in every word and continued to listen, even when a gasp escaped her mouth or tears leaked from her eyes. The story ended at last with the moment she and Baelfire first met in the woods two months ago.
"I gave you the fake name because... well, it was what I used with everybody outside of my home. Only my father and Belle know who I really am, at least until today," he explained. "Now you and your family know too, and er, the cricket guy that works for your parents."
Emma nodded slowly. She had taken in a whole lot of information today and she wasn't really sure where to start in responding to it.
"So?" said Baelfire when she was quiet too long. "Now you now everything. What do you think?"
A few more moments serious consideration were needed before Emma finally replied.
"I think that you've been through an awful lot in your life," she said at last. "And that somehow that only makes me love you more," she smiled as she met his eyes. "It had to be hard for you, carrying all of that around with you, never sharing it with anyone."
"You have no idea," he shook his head, reaching out a cautious hand to her cheek. "Especially when I met you, Emma. I wanted to tell you everything so many times, but... but I never thought you'd look at me the same way after you knew the truth."
She smiled and cried at the same time, leaning into his touch.
"Well, you were wrong," she told him. "All I'm worried about right now is remembering to call you by your real name. That one might take some time," she told him with a giggle that she couldn't help. "But I do love you, Baelfire," she said very purposefully.
His eyes closed at the sound of those words, those that spoke of love for him, and using the name his Emma had not known until today. It was a perfect moment, completed when he leant in closer and pressed his lips to hers. Emma was happy to let him kiss her, and to shift her body closer to return the embrace.
It was a lot to take in, but Emma had known before Baelfire ever told his tale that she could not stop loving him now, even if she wanted to. If her parents could accept him, then there was no reason left for Emma herself to try to resist. She loved Baelfire as much now as when she thought he was Neal. Nothing could ever change that. This was true love, and it was forever.
To Be Continued...
