Rebuilding
"...Papa, what is it?" Bae asked, feeling his father tense in his embrace.
The sorcerer summoned the Book of Shadows from his bag and opened it, his face pale when he turned to a page in the middle section. He closed the volume and sighed deeply. "A shift in the Balance...the dagger has been claimed..."
"By Emma," Bae said gravely. "And Regina. Papa, how can this be? Two Dark Ones?"
Before he could answer the door flew open and Kat and Henry ran into the room, both awakened by a sense of dread and fearing something was wrong with him. Seeing his father at last in physical form brought tears to young Henry's eyes and at last he was able to do something he'd longed to do for a year...hold him. Though there was a grave situation facing them, Robert wouldn't dare deny his son and grandson these tender moments.
Kat pulled up the chair beside Robert's bed. "Bobby, are you all right? I sensed something."
"I'm all right sweetheart. And you did sense something...a shift in the Balance. Come. Let's give them a few minutes alone."
He took her out into the sitting room. "The dagger has been claimed...and a terrible prophecy has been fulfilled." He summoned the book and handed it to her, turned to the page he'd been reading earlier. "The Queens of Darkness have been united...and they will unleash their beast upon the world..."
"Emma and Regina will have a child...but how?"
"Using the darkest magic, dearie. That child, since it will be born in this world, can harness the magic of both. Along with new Dark Ones, new Saviors will also be chosen, ones who are immune to the seductive call of the darkness."
"Who are they?"
"One I suspect is little Neal Nolan. The other..."
Would be their child.
"The power of two as one..." Kat whispered.
A vision flashed before the budding empath's eyes. She could see an older Neal Nolan standing at the side of a young woman with hair and eyes the same as Robert's, their hands joined with eternity knot wedding bands on their ring fingers.
"I cannot see the outcome Kat, but we must prepare for this battle. The Light is sending Neal to me to raise and train."
"Snow and David...they have to give up their child again?"
"All magic comes with a price, Kat. The Powers are not merciful to those who attempt to change fate. Emma was born with the darkness in her. Snow and David had that darkness removed and contained inside another...Maleficent's child. Now that darkness has been returned to the one it was destined for. To defeat it, Snow and David must pay its price...surrendering the care and training of the Light's savior to me."
"Because who better to train the savior to fight than one who was cursed with the darkness himself," Kat murmured. "It makes sense . . .know thy enemy."
"You had no idea what you were signing on for with me, did you dearie?" he inquired sadly.
She put a hand over his. "Yes, I did. Nothing worth doing is ever easy, Bobby. But you are always worth it. So we have a hard road ahead of us. Life is hard. This is just a different facet. And together we shall face whatever comes. I will not run. Come what may, Mr. Gold, I will stay with you forever."
"Kat, dearie...are you...asking me to...marry you?"
"I know that's not usually how it's done . . .but I was never very conventional. I love you, Rumplestiltskin Gold. For all that you are. And I would be honored if you would make me your wife."
"Now...? Tomorrow?" he asked nervously.
"When you're ready, Bobby. And you know, I do need time to get a dress and plan a reception, small as it is."
"Ummm...I've heard tell Italians tend to have...grand ceremonies," he joked.
"Only if they have money to pay for it," she laughed. "But if not . . .we can have a good time with just our family and your friends from the office. And I insist upon cooking."
"The bride should no' be cookin' on her wedding day!"
"Oh, dearie, I have magic, so I'll no' be cookin' on my wedding day," she giggled. "I'll put all my dishes in stasis and then when we're ready to eat, remove it and it's as fresh as the day I made it."
He giggled. "Showing off a wee bit?"
"Just a bit. We mages have our pride, don't we, caro mio?"
Her eyes shone. "And you're marrying the finest cook on this side of the Hudson, darling and everyone will know it when they sit down to dinner at our wedding."
"Oh will they now? I'll have to step up my game then."
"A little competition is good for the soul," she grinned.
"Well I'm going to need to get a ring...and then we're going to make our announcement...properly."
"Of course. I am an old-fashioned girl. Just as you are a gentleman, Bobby. And if my dad was still living, you could ask him for my hand."
"I would but I dinna think he would like the idea of me being a sorcerer."
"But he would love the idea that you're a trial lawyer . . .and he knew about the magic, my aunts were sort of witches back in Italy-white ones."
"Why dinna ye tell me this earlier?"
"It's not something we really discuss outside the family . . .we're good Catholics and even though the magic is something that has always run through the Southern Italians . . .the Church prefers to pretend it doesn't exist, so long as we don't advertise it."
"Aye and ye woulda been persecuted."
"My aunt read cards and gave out charms for good fortune and health. My cousin was a Dreamer and dreamed true Dreams. And everyone in their village knew not to cross my family . . ."
"Explains why I was able to sense your aura so easily. Tis a strong one Kat."
"Well, I come by it honestly. My great grandma was a Sicilian white witch . . .and many came to her for charms and potions, to help make their lives easier, and asked her for readings. Some asked for curses, but she didn't traffic in the dark spells, and she sent them away with a flea in their ear. It's from her that I suspect I get my Gift."
And their child would inherit the powers of both realms, an equal match for the spawn of darkness.
"My great grandma Sophia followed the Threefold Way-the magic of three-do good and good shall return to you threefold. Do evil and evil shall return to you threefold."
"For us 'tis tenfold dearie."
"Then we must be very careful to do good, my love."
She looked at him keenly. "When you were cursed, did you not train dark mages? So now that you are no longer, could part of your penance be teaching the Light saviors now?"
"Yes but it is a penance I will happily do now."
"Then you didn't enjoy teaching your previous apprentices?"
"The three that I had...you saw how that turned out."
She nodded. "Those who crave power for themselves . . .are never satisfied. And they are treacherous beyond compare."
Her hands clenched into fists. "That green bitch is lucky she's dead. For I would take out of her hide all the hurt she has done on you-with a spell of Justice and Retribution."
"She's serving it all in Hell dearie."
"Yes, the Dark Powers have no mercy for those who fail Them."
"Dad...does this mean you can stay...here?" Henry asked hopefully.
Bae sighed. "Only for a short time, Henry. As a Guardian I can assume physical form . . .but not always. I'm like a-celestial spirit now."
"Why do I feel like something bad is going to happen?"
"Because you're sensing a shift in the Balance, son. As a mage you'll feel it when the Balance of Power changes-for good or evil. In this case-it's the Dark who is ascendant for now." He debated on whether to reveal to Henry why. It was not news he wished to have to be the bearer of.
"The dagger...someone in Storybrooke has it. Is it Mom?"
Bae sighed heavily. "Yes. This is not something I want to tell you but . . .you're an apprentice of the Light, and you need to . . sometimes the Light requires you to make hard choices. It's not just Regina who is the new Dark One, but Emma also."
"Both of them?" Henry gasped.
"Yes. They are . . .together now . . .allied and . . ." he swallowed hard, feeling ill. " . . .dark lovers. I'm so sorry."
"Why?"
"Because they blame others for their fall . . .and they wish to have a child together, a child who will be the darkness' own. Loyal only to them-and untainted by my cowardly Light blood."
"You weren't a coward and neither is Grandpa!"
"I know, kid. But it's how they think of us. They deceive themselves. And part of the reason they chose the dark-is because they wished to."
"Mom...she only tried to change when it suited her...and Emma...why? She's supposed to be the savior!"
"She was only the savior, Henry, because Papa made her one, in order to break the Dark Curse. Actually, she was born with an equal capacity for good and evil like everyone is . . but Snow and David . . .they committed the sin of pride-and they did something very wrong."
"What did they do?"
"They found out that there was a way to-remove the darkness from her-but the way was dark, yet they did it anyway. They pulled the darkness from he while she was still in the womb and they transferred it to another innocent unborn baby-Maleficent's daughter. Whom they then stole and threw into a portal that led here."
Henry's eyes widened. "That was horrible! Did the baby...die?"
"No, she lived. In fact she's alive now. She's a dragon shifter, Henry, since Mal is also a dragon. And that was how your grandparents convinced themselves to do what they did-they tricked themselves into thinking that because it was a baby dragon it would be evil anyhow, and so they gave her double the amount of darkness. But they were wrong. Because unless it is a demon-no baby is evil when it is born. Not even a dragon."
"So the Powers made Emma the Dark One because of it?"
"Yes and no. They returned the darkness to her, the same that she had when she was conceived, for we all do, kid. But then she chose to go dark, Henry. She chose to listen to the demon and follow. It's important that you understand that. We all have free will . . .and we all make our own choices . . .unless we are tricked-like I was, like my papa was-those choices make us who we are."
Bae cleared his throat. "Regina was always a great one for saying "evil isn't born, it's made." But she didn't understand what that meant. We are all born innocent, with the potential within us to do good or evil. But we MAKE ourselves evil or good. The Dark deceives, and seeks to blame others for the wrong choices we make, but the Light knows better. You and you alone are responsible for what you do, and you have to face that. Dark practitioners . . .refuse. And in doing so they damn themselves."
"So we're gonna have to fight them...and their kid...?"
"I'm afraid so. Light must fight Dark, so innocents don't suffer. It's one reason why I was allowed to be a Guardian."
"I just wish we could lead a normal life. Archie and I left Storybrooke so we could get away from villains."
"I know. And for a time . . .you will be able to. But sometime in the future, years from now . . .the darkling child shall rise and two Saviors shall confront it."
"Am I one of them?"
"No. You're a Light mage, but it's not your task to fight the darkling. That's given to others," Bae replied honestly.
"Who?"
"One is your uncle, Neal Nolan. The other . . .is not yet born. But like the darkling she shall be a child of two magical heritages."
"If Neal is supposed to fight them he's not safe in Storybrooke!"
"No, he isn't. So hopefully his parents will get him out of there."
Henry stood up and went into the sitting room. His grandfather and Kat were still sitting on the sofa. "Grandpa, do you know...what's going on?"
"Aye, lad. I know. Two new Dark Ones have risen," he replied quietly.
"Emma and Regina."
Rumple gave him a sad look, his brown eyes crinkling. "Yes. I'm sorry. I know this is difficult for you."
"I'll be okay..."
"If ye need to talk, I'm here." He offered. "Ye know, long ago, before ye came to Storybrooke, Regina came to me, wanting a child to . . .fill the void in her heart left as penance by the Dark Curse. And I told her-that in order to be a good parent, you must be prepared to give up everything for your child. That child is your whole world. I asked her to think carefully whether or not she could. I had my doubts. But she insisted . . . and so I located you. I thought perhaps I had been mistaken. But I wasn't. Like Cora before her . . .she loved you only as much as she felt was necessary . . ."
He nodded.
"It's okay...I have you...I have Dad...Archie and Jeanna."
"She tried to give ye back, ye know. After having ye a mere week, she found she couldna deal with ye crying all the time . . .and said there was something wrong with ye and she was going to bring ye back . . .but for some reason something changed her mind."
"What?"
"I don't know, lad. But she returned from Boston with ye."
Kat looked thoughtful. "I wonder . . .if another couple had offered for you, Henry while she was there and hadn't signed the forms releasing you?" she mused. "Sometimes when someone else expresses interest in something you have . . .you become jealous and hang on to it."
"She was like that," Henry said.
"Aye, like a child with a toy," agreed Rumple. "She would throw a tantrum and declare she hated something, like a child throwing a toy down and saying I don't like this and won't play anymore, but let another child come by and say I want that, suddenly she was all it's mine and you can't have it. She did that with me when she decided to learn magic from me. She wanted me to bring back Daniel from the dead. But even I couldn't do that. it's forbidden. So I told her it was impossible-dead is dead. She grew furious and stormed off. So I began training a new apprentice instead. When she found out there really was no way to raise the dead, she came back to me, saw me instructing my new pupil, another young woman, and she ripped out her heart and crushed it, saying that she wanted me to teach HER."
Rumple's mouth twisted. "Zelena was just like her. Neither of them would tolerate anyone else as a student besides them. They wanted my undivided attention, just like spoiled brats who don't know how to share."
"Like two dogs fightin over a bone," Jeanna said from behind them unaware that she'd forgotten to out a robe on over her nightgown.
"Quite. And I was the bone," Rumple snorted.
Bae glanced over at the private investigator and smirked. "You might wanna put a robe on," he teased. "And if you're gonna play musical beds...make sure no one's looking first."
Jeanna flushed scarlet. "Dammit! Archie! Our secret's out!" she yelled.
Rumple waved a hand briefly. "There! Don't want to shock the kids, dearie!"
Archie poked his head out of his bedroom door. "What's going on?"
Rumple snickered. "Oh dinna play innocent wi' me, Hopper!"
"We know you were playing house," Kat added.
Bae roared with laughter.
"Playing house? What...?" The therapist blushed. "Jeanna, I told you we should've...!"
"Priceless, dearie!" Rumple sniggered.
The bedroom door shut and Archie came back out dressed in his pajamas. "Why didn't you wait until everyone was asleep!"
"It's how my dad used to describe it when we were small and wanted to know what they were doing," Kat replied. "One time they forgot to lock the door and my sister came in, she was four . . ."
"Oh God!" Archie groaned.
"At least yours had taste in euphemisms," Rumple said. "Mine just told me he was going whoring up the street. And one night he came back and woke me up and I made the mistake of asking him how his whoring went and he smacked me so hard my ears rang."
"Why are we having this discussion?"
Jeanna laughed. "My cravin for KCF...gettin me in trouble again!"
"It's fingerlickin good . . . !" Bae howled.
"Jeanna!"
"Dad! TMI!" Henry cried.
Bae gave him a rueful grin. "Sorry, couldn't resist."
"Well...he does have a point..." Jeanna cooed at Archie.
"What kind of man tells a child he's going whoring?" Kat demanded angrily to Robert.
"My papa. He didn't care that I was only four. I was, according to him, a larvae that sucked away his youth."
"Asshole!" Jeanna snarled. "Reminds me of my daddy...he used to say he was going down to get some p..."
"Jeanna I swear if you say it you are not getting any KFC from me!" Archie growled.
"Well, at least he didn't take you with him and tell you to shut up and stay in the corner in the lobby," Rumple recalled bitterly. "And if I talked he'd whip me later with the buckle end of his belt."
"That's disgusting!" Archie exclaimed.
"That was Malcolm for you. He never should have been a parent."
Bae stared at his father in horror. "Papa, I never knew he . . ."
"Well, Bae, that's not exactly the thing you tell your son about his grandpa, now is it?" Rumple said evenly.
"My God!"
"God had nothing to do with it, lad. And that's why I never told you anything about my childhood."
"Sometimes it's hard to..." Jeanna said.
"If I had that miserable . . ." Kat snarled several things in Italian regarding Malcolm's ancestry and what she would have liked to do with him and a butcher knife.
"I should get you some camo, Kat," Jeanna joked.
Kat grinned icily. "Never piss off a Sicilian. We have the vendetta down to an art."
"And a Texan can rough you up six ways to Sunday."
"Damn straight."
Bae looked from one to the other and said, "Why do I get the feeling I'm in a cage with two maneating lionesses?"
"Cause you are, hon. Only we'll sheathe our claws around you," Kat chuckled.
"Yes...but...with some of you...we like to get a little wild," Jeanna purred.
"Jeanna, for God's sake...do you want to scar Henry for life!" Archie looked like he wanted to crawl in a hole.
Kat wrapped her arms around Robert. "No one messes with my wizard. Or else he gets torn to shreds for the vultures to pick at. And that's if I'm in a good mood."
Then she smiled sweetly.
Bae shivered. "Jesus, am I glad you're on our side."
"Don't worry, Bae. I'm sweet as sugar . . .unless you hurt my family. Then you'd better run like the wind, because hell won't be deep enough to hide you from me."
"So are you two gonna be playing musical beds now?" Henry asked.
Bae facepalmed himself. "Henry!"
"We should...talk about this..." Archie began nervously.
"Maybe in the morning. We have a few things to sort out. The dagger has been claimed." Robert said.
"What?!" Jeanna and Archie exclaimed.
"And not just by anyone...Emma and Regina," Henry told them.
"They...ahhh...are..well..."
"Two Dark Ones? Is the even possible?" Archie asked.
"Yes, since it's happened."
"Sounds like a match made in Hell to me," Jeanna muttered.
"That's exactly what it is," Bae muttered. "And it comes complete with hellspawn eventually."
"But they can't come here...can they?" Archie's hand was trembling as he held Jeanna's.
"No, Archie, they can't. We warded that town line well," Robert insisted, hoping to put his friend's mind at ease.
"We're safe out here...but the others aren't. In spite of everything, I still worry about everyone we left behind."
"Hopefully they're smart enough to get the hell outta there," Bae spoke up. "But knowing those two...they'll be watching the town line like hawks now."
"It's not the only route out of the town, dearie," his father reminded them.
"What do you mean, Papa?"
"Archie and I got out through the mines," Henry answered. "Then we hiked into the nearest town and got a car."
"When the ice wall was put up and Snow wasn't all that concerned about it when she was acting mayor, a group of us got together and decided we needed some sort of escape route if needed. The dwarves dug several tunnels leading out of town but they only told a few people about it," Archie added.
"I knew about it...it was how I was able to go to New York to make preparations before Belle cast me out. It was the one time where my Sight served me well."
"Well if either of those bitches tries to hurt you Doc, I'll douse them with squid ink, skin them alive and mount them on my wall!" Jeanna growled.
"You don't hunt. You fish."
"So? I can gut a hellbitch as good as a trout!"
"I have a blowgun with holy water waiting for them, water infused with particles of Light magic in its purest form," Kat said. "Since they are possessed by a demon, it will burn them to ash worse than hellfire, because it will target the spirit hiding within the human body. Injected into them by darts."
Jeanna grinned at her. "You ever watch Van Helsing? That sounds like something he would have."
"Yes. But I thought of it mainly because that asshole Hook tried to kill Bobby by using dreamshade and coating his hook with it."
"I shouda cut his junk off when I had the chance," Jeanna said angrily.
"Whoa...you guys are worse than Amazons!" Henry laughed.
"That scumbag ought to have been castrated by some outraged husband for violating his wife long ago." Kat said angrily. "If he'd been in Italy, that's what would have been done to him-and then he'd have been strung up as an object lesson to rapists."
"And someone else shoulda been strung up with him!"
"Jeanna..."
"It's okay Archie...I already know," Henry confessed.
Bae frowned. "Who told you?"
"I ahhh...overheard him and Grandpa talking..."
Rumple smirked. "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it, Bae?"
"Aww come on Papa. When have I ever eavesdropped on you!"
The others laughed. "I'd like to hear this story," Henry giggled.
Bae was learning quickly that none of his antics as a child would ever be kept a secret as long as his father was around to remind him of them. For the rest of the night they left the darkness outside the door and focused only on happy times.
The next morning they started back for New York.
They were all shocked hours after they returned when a terrified Granny called Geppetto on his cellphone begging him to help them find Robert and Archie. Geppetto put his phone on speaker so that the others could hear the conversation. Ruby had been trying to get to Manhattan and had gotten lost. Robert cast a locator spell that placed them fifty miles from the city and enchanted Ruby's car so that it would drive them directly to Robert's apartment. They arrived a short time later all of them exhausted and still terrified by what they'd witnessed the night before.
"I can't believe this is happening," Snow sobbed brokenly, cradling Neal in her arms. "We've lost her...we've lost our daughter again!"
"Rumple, tell me there's another way. Tell me Neal doesn't have to..."
"I'm afraid there isn't, David. Your son must be the Savior now," Robert said. "He may be able to save his sister but ultimately she must decide whether to save herself or be lost in darkness forever."
"This...this is our punishment...for what we did to Maleficent and her baby..."
"I'm afraid so." Robert sighed. "But unlike before, you won't be far away from each other. You can come to see your son anytime you wish. All magic comes with a price, dearies...and it must be paid no matter how difficult it may be."
"How...how will we live here?" Granny asked worriedly.
"You needn't worry. We will all help you get settled in," Robert assured her.
"Mr. Gold, we can't possibly accept..."
"Granny, let us help you," Archie pleaded. "I know how frightening being on the outside can be. I lived it when Henry and I first came here but now...I could never go back. Yes, there are as many dangers here as there are in Storybrooke but we have so many more opportunities here that we never had in that town. We can be anyone we want to be."
While he sat there, David began to regret trying to talk the rest of the town into leaving as they wished to when the curse broke but realized that had they done so without both sets of memories, their lives would not have been better. They would not have had the moral support of their friends and families after the crossing. They would have all been lost and alone. Free of the darkness that always seemed to surround their little town, he had high hopes of a better life in this strange new world he found himself in.
"And your past can only affect your future if you let it," Kat said softly. "You can start again . . . and let your past die . . . because out here no one knows who you once were-and no one cares as long as you obey the law and don't make trouble. America is the land of second chances-if you are willing to let your past die." She looked pointedly at the newcomers.
"That especially goes for my fiance, Rumple, who goes by Robert Gold here. You don't throw his cursed past in his face ever-or you'll have a problem with ME-and I'm not a meek wallflower like his previous wife-not when you insult my family. Remember what you owe—and to whom you owe it to. We all have shadows in our pasts and sacrifices we made. And none of you are any better than any of us, I don't care who you were or what you called yourself. So do yourself a favor-and be nice. Or else I'll get out a baseball bat and make you."
"And if you cause trouble for the Doc here, I'll be gettin my camo out," added Jeanna.
David burst out laughing. "Are you sure you two can handle these Amazons?" he asked Robert and Archie.
Robert smirked. "If you know how to stroke my Kat the right way, she'll purr and not claw you to death, right, sweetheart?"
"Only if you do the stroking, caro," she giggled.
Archie grinned at Jeanna. "And I know how to calm a Texas Tornado."
"You certainly do, Doc..." she murmured.
"Yeah well can you guys do that after I go to bed, please! I don't want to have to cover my eyes!" Henry covered his eyes for emphasis.
"And just when were you going to tell us you were engaged?" Bae demanded of his father.
"Umm . . ."Robert flushed guiltily. "It was very sudden. I was waiting for the right time."
"I asked him," Kat said. "So he was kind of caught off guard."
"Ummm...Rumple you're not the only one who...ahhh...forgot to mention it either..." Archie said nervously. He held up Jeanna's hand, a large princess cut engagement ring on her finger.
"Oh, that's beautiful!" Kat gushed. She showed Jenna and company her own, a mystical blue diamond in Celtic claddagh setting of pure gold. "It's a Mediterranean blue diamond, been in my family for generations. Bobby just respun the setting for me."
Jeanna smiled as she recalled how Archie had proposed to her.
She'd just fallen asleep when her cellphone beeped with a message.
I can't sleep.
Say no more honey. I'm on my way.
When she walked into his bedroom he was sitting up in bed holding a bucket of KFC in his hands.
"When'd you get that?"
He grinned. "I have my ways. Of course I could just eat the whole bucket by myself if you're not hungry..."
"Oh no you don't. Gimme!" She jumped onto the bed and snatched the bucket out of his hands.
"Aren't you going to share?" he teased and pulled her onto his lap.
"Mmmm...maybe," she said while she bit into a drumstick and finished it then reached into the bucket for a breast and bit down, wincing in pain. "What the hell?" She lifted it up and found a large diamond ring sitting on top of it. "Doc..."
"Jeanna Theresa O'Malley, will you marry me?" he asked softly. "I know we haven't been seeing each other that long...but...I love you and I'd like to spend the rest of my life with you."
"Oh Doc...YES! Yes, I'll marry you!" she sobbed and tossed the bucket of chicken onto the floor as he kissed her and slid the ring onto her finger. "Let me stay here for a little while..."
"You can stay all night..."
"I plan on it..." she whispered as he laid her down on the bed and made love to her slowly, reveling in the knowledge that their days of sleeping apart would soon be over.
"...Yes, it all happened rather quickly. We didn't mean to exclude you," Robert was saying, pulling Jeanna out of her reverie. "Perhaps we'll have an engagement party later on to celebrate?"
"After the weekend, Merlin. I want to do a little celebrating of my own first," Jeanna said, winking at her fiance.
"TMI Jeanna, TMI!" Henry scolded. "So Kat proposed to Grandpa...how did you ask Jeanna, Archie?"
Jeanna giggled. "He sends me a text message after you all went to bed...and ah...hid the ring in a bucket of KFC."
"And you almost ATE it!"
Robert giggled. "Well that would have been interesting, wouldn't it?"
"And I'm surprised you didn't break a tooth, Jeanna!" Kat laughed.
"Congratulations!" Ruby and Snow hugged both women, thinking that weddings would be the perfect thing to lighten their moods.
"Speaking of surprises...how are you here?" David asked Bae.
"I'm my father's guardian angel so to speak...and I can watch over him and Henry but only those who know me can see me."
"Maybe if you had lived...and you and Emma had worked things out..."
"That's odd coming from you. You didn't like me that much...but you gave Hook your blessing."
"Well he...ahhh...did save my life in Neverland."
"No MY FATHER DID. He was the one who made the potion that cured the dreamshade. The water only sustained you until you had the cure...and the only reason why Hook saved you was to get into Emma's good graces. That's how he works."
"But you were..."
"Yes, we were friends...once. But he sold me out to Pan and took the only woman I loved...no took BOTH of them. First my mother, then Emma."
"Your mum was no loss, lad." Rumple muttered.
"That's for sure," Kat mumbled. "You know how they say a sailor has a girl in every port? I guarantee that by the time that ship left port Milah had had every sailor on the ship. Including the captain."
"And I assure you lad, Hook bragged that it was exactly what he wanted to do with her...give her to his crew."
Kat made a face. "It was probably what he did with all the women he met . . .only he didn't kidnap your mom, she went with him willingly . . .because she didn't want to be just a spinner's wife and a mother in a little village. She wanted more. Her kind always do. Never satisfied. And in the end, she got what she wished for. Only it wasn't all it was cracked up to be."
"Honestly I don't know what's so great about him...Jack Sparrow wannabe with a penis the size of a fingernail!" Jeanna giggled, "Well now, anyway."
Rumple started laughing.
Ruby spit out the soda she was drinking. "Oh my God...who did that!?"
"Me...with a little help from Merlin here. The sonovabitch had it coming for what he did to Doc. Woulda skinned him too!"
"He's lucky I wasn't there . . .I'd have broken both his kneecaps and made him sing soprano, then gave him to the sharks to eat," Kat growled. "Misogynistic bastard!"
"He's dead," Snow said.
"What?" they all gasped.
"Emma...killed him," David informed them.
"Emma killed him?" Archie was stunned.
Her parents nodded. "And she would have killed us too had we not escaped. She was trying to fight it but she couldn't."
"The Dark One is at her most dangerous right after the possession begins," Rumple recalled. "Because it uses all its host's fear and anger to influence them . . . and makes them like what it does. We all have darkness within us-even those who claim not to, and the demon just makes it come out to play . . . and then joins it."
"And now she's with...Regina," Snow sobbed.
"It's not going to happen overnight," Bae spoke up. "Neal cannot go into that town until he's fully trained and only my father can determine when he's ready."
"When...will we have to...?"
"Why don't we wait until Bobby and I are married?" Kat suggested. "Bobby can draw up some papers like he has with Archie stating that we have joint custody of Neal...he stays with you certain days of the week and with us other days of the week."
"That's fine with us."
"Excellent." Robert handed David a business card with his office address on it. "We'll go to the office in the morning and talk about it. You can all stay here tonight."
"Or at my place," Archie offered.
"We wouldn't want to impose..."
"Right now this is the safest place for you," Kat reminded them. "All of our residences are warded."
"Plus I have my camp," Jeanna spoke up. "Anybody who tries to trespass there is libel to get shot."
"Snow, I would prefer you, David, and the baby stay with me," Robert said. "Archie, do you have room for Granny, Geppetto, Pinocchio and Ruby?"
"I should."
"If not, I can make the room, dearie. And before you lot start protesting, ye'll only need to do this until you can find a place of your own. We know how frightening the outside world is to you but we'll help you find your way."
For the first time in their lives, the others began to see another side of Mr. Gold and found themselves wondering if it had been there all the time and they just hadn't seen it.
Using his cursed name Marco and renaming Pinocchio August, he opened a carpentry business in the city and was living in an apartment in the same building as Archie as were Ruby and Granny. The Charmings bought a house nearby. Robert worked out a custody arrangement with the Nolans that he and Kat would have Neal during the week once they were married and his parents would have him during the weekends with the option of keeping him any day of the week if they wished to. Snow applied for a kindergarten teacher's position at a private school in Manhattan and David was working in a veterinarian's office and was going to college to become one himself since he loved working with animals. Granny and Ruby opened a diner that after two months of operation was more successful than the one in Storybrooke. Robert had given each family a small loan to start their lives, his return payment from the Nolans was the custody agreement and Geppetto and Granny were able to repay theirs back immediately. It was a bit difficult for them to adjust to life outside the town borders at first but now they didn't want to go back to Storybrooke again. There was nothing left for them there just as there was nothing left there for Robert, Archie and Henry. They'd all made new lives for themselves, far better ones than they could have possibly imagined.
It was a new beginning for all, and yet those they had left behind were not forgotten.
A/N: Next up, a Country Cricket Wedding and some more Bae bonding time!