CHAPTER TEN - Happy Beginnings

The barn was exactly how they'd left it three-quarters of a year ago. The dirt floor still inscribed with Zelena's magic spell and sadly, it was every bit as empty of life as it had been when they left it.

No Snow

No Emma

No Regina

No baby

"Does this mean..." Robin began.

"No." David said, cutting him off, "It worked. It has to have worked." he paused looking around the empty barn, "They're probably all back in town looking for help or it could be that they don't even know anything has happened at all."

"How could they fail to notice," Hook asked, "we've been gone for nine months?! They must think we've all dead."

"No no." Rumple said, his skin back to its human shade. "The magic should've returned us to the exact moment we left. No time should've passed at all."

"Then why aren't our loved ones here to greet us?" Robin asked, "It was here they all disappeared and here I expected them to be when we returned."

"Time travel," said Rumple, "was thought to be impossible until Zelena proved it otherwise. As far as I know we are the only people to have made a journey like this one and I can't be sure of the consequences."

"You never should've brought anyone back with us." Hook said, looking grimly at the baby in Rumple's arms as they began walking towards town, "If Zelena grows up in Storybrook instead of Oz, won't that corrupt this entire timeline?" he asked, "She's going to lead an entirely different life now, which means she'll never have created the time curse in the first place, meaning we should all cease to exist any minute as the time-streams sort themselves out."

David rolled his eyes, "You've been watching too much TV with my daughter." he said, "This is MAGIC we're dealing with, not science-fiction."

Rumple stayed grimly silent, he too had been hoping the missing people would be waiting for them in the barn when they returned.

The town at least was still there and so were the people. As they walked towards Granny's, the most likely place to find anyone in Storybrook, they saw many familiar faces... Dr. Hopper, walking his dog... several scattered dwarves... the lady who runs the ice-cream parlor... but something was clearly wrong. Everyone was staring at them, opening mouthed staring in fact.

Then they saw a commotion in the crowd that had started to gather around them and Belle pushed her way through the mob and threw herself sobbing into Rumple's arms. Rumple deftly transferred the baby to David to keep it from being smothered as Belle clung to him, wetting his clothing through to the skin.

"What's wrong Belle?" he asked, tilting her face up towards him. "How long have I been gone?" his own eyes were beginning to tear-up, unable to abide seeing tears in his Belle's eyes.

"Gone? Rumple you were dead. We all saw you die!" Belle sobbed.

Another voice rose from the gathering crowd as someone else pushed their way through, "Papa?!"

Rumple's heart skipped a beat, "Bae?!"

"Papa!" Baelfire cried, sandwiching Belle in a loving hug between father and son.

"But, son ...you're ...alive." Rumple stammered.

"Thanks to you papa, we're all alive. Don't you remembering how Pan was going to kill us all and you sacrificed your life to save the town?"

"Yes, I remember, but afterwards you..."

"It never happened," David whispered in his ear, "Zelena was the one who tricked Neil into opening the dark vault. Without her interference Neil would never have been able to trade his life for yours. None of that happened."

"I did what now?" Bae asked, overhearing just enough to be curious.

"We did get sent back to the Enchanted Forest by Pan's curse, right?" David asked. Deciding to let Rumple fill Bae in later when they were alone.

"Yeah." Bae answered, "Figured we were good and stuck there too after Belle and I gave up on finding a way to bring you back, Papa. Frankly we were all looking into getting jobs and houses of some kind by the time Snow and Charming figured out how to get us all home."

"We ...cast the dark curse." David remembered that, though he guessed a bit differently now than Snow would. "I guess that means I still have half a heart... speaking of which, where's my wife?" he asked turning to the crowd.

Grumpy stepped out with a cell-phone in his hand. "I just called the hospital to tell her you were here. Where have you been? You do realize you walked out on your wife, who has just given birth to your son, and might just want a little emotional support..."

"Right," David said, passing the baby back to Gold. "Tell her I'll be right there." he took off running for the hospital, happy to have his family back at last.

"Yeah, maybe we should go too, Papa." Bae said, "Emma's and Henry are already there. It would be nice to have the whole family together at last."

"Is Regina there as well?" Robin asked. Hook had already started for the hospital as soon as he'd heard Emma was there.

"Yeah, sure." Bae said.

Robin also took off towards the hospital, desperately hoping that whatever things had changed in this world, Regina's feelings for him would not be one of them.

Belle was already smiling over the baby. "Who is this?" she asked, "I didn't know there were any other newborns in town..."

"Yes, well, you see, Belle, she..." Rumple began, unsure how to explain what actually happened.

"She?" Belle said, smiling even deeper, "Can I hold her?" she asked.

"Of course," Rumple said transferring the baby to Belle's arms, which seemed to make both of them blissfully happy. "Belle..." he began, "This baby, well... she doesn't have a home and I was hoping that you and I could ...that we could adopt her."

"Is that a proposal, Rumple?" Belle asked with a shy grin.

"Only if you want it to be, love." he answered, he still couldn't believe a wonderful woman like Belle would want him.

Belle nodded happily and they kissed to seal the bargain and as they walked to the hospital they made plans for an impromptu wedding. The adoption would create no trouble for Gold. Any doors that magic couldn't open, money would. And it wasn't as if anyone would be looking for this child. Bae would be his best man and Belle quickly offered Emma as her maid of honor, which pleased Baelfire. Henry was probably a little old to be ring-bearer, but they figured he wouldn't mind.

At the hospital all seemed well, Snow was glowing with new motherhood and she and David had clearly patched up whatever glitches the recent timeline shift had thrown between them. Hook leaned morosely in the corner feeling like a third wheel as Neil greeted Emma in what appeared to be a very warm fashion indeed, while Robin and Regina were sitting outside in the hall, sipping coffee as he quietly filled her in on what just happened to the four of them.

Later Snow and Belle discussed baby names, the first offered were Colette for Bell's mother and Leopold after Snow's father (Snow was actually relieved that they would longer be naming their son Rumpelstiltskin since the original wasn't dead anymore - however that happened), while Rumple tried to persuade Bae to move into his 'rather large estate' as he had plenty of room for him, for Henry and for... anyone else who might need to find a different living arrangement, say now that her parents had a newborn...

Bae was so happy to have his papa back from the dead that he agreed to try it out, but not for 'awhile', he added, remembering the upcoming wedding and assuming the newlyweds might want a little privacy. No house was that big.

Emma asked Rumple if marrying him was like marrying Santa Clause, "You know will, she (Belle) become immortal too once you two are married?"

"Well..." Rumple began...

######0000

Months later after all the fuss had died down the four time-travelers met for a quiet drink in Gold's study, after having helped moved Bae & Emma's meager possessions into the mansion. Henry had come too, though he was basically living in all three houses now that his grandpa (guess which one) had created a magic door in his room that let him pass from his bedroom at grandpa Gold's house to his old bedrooms in his other grandparents apartment and his mom's house. The family figured this would be especially helpful during the holidays, though Regina insisted that the door be coded so that only Henry could pass through it into her house.

As for Regina, she and Robin weren't married yet, but everyone expected an announcement any day.

The babies Leo and Colette were healthy and happy. Colette's obvious magical nature had been impossible to hide due to the sheer precociousness of her magic which frequently caused trees to blossom in the dead of winter and fireworks to go off in the sky when she was especially happy. Leo wasn't magical in the slightest, despite being the product of true love, but it was early days yet. Rumple thought looking at Emma, whose own powers had only surfaced later in life. He looked at baby Colette who giggled and her hands out for her papa to pick her up.

All in all, time really had been kind to him.

Maybe a villain could get a happy ending after all?

And they did. They all lived happily ever after. Really they did. Though there had been that little spot of trouble with the woman who ran the ice-cream parlor...

THE END