Chapter Ten.

Silence hung heavy in the air as Rumplestiltskin remained on his knees staring at the open field in which he'd meant to use. Zelena was gone, but he didn't feel the surge of relief he'd expected in the deed. His revenge was strangely hollow without the second half of his plan coming to fruition.

Belle hadn't moved from his side. There was no judgement from her, no demands to know exactly what he'd been planning and if he'd considered the repercussions. She sat there with him in the dirt, one hand gripping at his torn coat sleeve. There would be a discussion later, certainly, but she knew how deep the pain was setting now. He'd just lost his son all over again.

"Rumplestiltskin?"

Couldn't Charming let it rest for more than a minute? Rumple was ready to shred him with a few sharp words when he felt a frighteningly familiar tug and he stilled instantly. The blond man stood hesitantly, the blood covered dagger held loosely in his hand, almost as if he didn't know quite what to do with it. Give him time, the Dark One thought, they all figure out how to use power.

"Here," he said instead, flipping it over so that he could hand the hilt to his sometimes ally, sometimes enemy. "You were right... Before. Both of you."

Rumple risked a glance at Belle who was smiling through her own tears before he took the weapon. He felt the exchange run through his body, but it offered no real comfort, even as it disappeared to a better hiding place in a puff of smoke.

"Hey, Gold?" Emma called from a few feet away. "Is it supposed to be doing that?"

He tried to sit up a little straighter on his knees, feeling the movement in every muscle. She was pointing out towards the vault where winds had begun to stir again and he could see the bubbling of the darkness again. The vault wasn't done.

"What the bloody hell is that thing doing?" Hook demanded.

No one found it in themselves to answer him as they watched, fascinated even though they'd seen what a burst if that power could do to someone. The liquid bubbled up, building and then folding in on itself just to build a little more. Slowly it started to take shape, forming into a silhouette first and then melting away from it, revealing a face that each person standing there could recognise.

"Neal!" Emma screamed, darting forward. She reached him just as he blinked his eyes open and his knees gave way. She sank to the ground with him.

"Emma?" he rasped. "What... The witch. My dad has to tell you-"

"He did. We're safe. We're all safe."

"She's gone? Henry's safe?"

"Yeah. Your dad... I don't know what he did."

Bae followed his blonde love's gaze to where is papa still sat staring, not quite ready to accept that he'd done it yet. Their eyes met across the opening and Rumplestiltskin felt his chest tighten as his son looked at him. "Papa?"

He was on his feet then, exhaustion and pain ignored. He could deal with it some other time. Sometime in which he hadn't just retrieved his son back from certain death.

Baelfire had made it to his feet by the time Rumple reached him and wrapped his arms around him without hesitation, pulling him close. His papa returned the embrace with more strength than he'd thought he had. He could feel the sob welling up in him and he did nothing to push it down. He just clung hard to his boy, as if releasing him would risk losing him again.

When they did finally part, Bae's face was wet with tears that matched his father's and he took hold of the elder man's hand. "You didn't let go," he whispered.

"No," he choked out. "I couldn't bear to."

Emma was picking herself up from the ground now and the others were inching closer, not quite sure how to react. Rumple could feel all eyes in them, and obviously Bae could too, because he cleared his throat and offered one of his lopsided grins. "So, how'd you break the laws of magic, Pop? Should we expect the worlds to open us up and swallow us?"

His voice was light, but Rumple could feel the anxiety hanging around them. "The same way you did son," he answered after a moment. "You weren't dead, just... lost."

"This is not me complaining or anything, but I was there, Gold. He died in my arms, remember?"

Rumple felt a small smile quirk the corner of his lips. "Emma Swan," he tutted. "Never willing to accept what you can't see in front of your nose. I don't envy your task, Regina, if you'd still planned to teach her magic."

Regina returned the smirk. "You'd probably just throw her off a bridge or something."

"His soul left his body, yes, but it did not move on, as would be expected in death. It was exchanged for mine in the vault. All it needed was another soul to take its place and there we have it. I thought Zelena's would do nicely."

"So you've damned her for eternity in that pit?" Charming managed and Rumple snorted.

"You're going to worry yourself over her soul? Really, dearie?"

"Neal had a point about the repercussions."

Bae reached a hand out for her shoulder. "Emma, if there's one thing Papa knows it's how to-"

"He's the one going on and on about prices," she cut him off. "I just..."

"Want to make sure your family is safe," Rumple finished for her softly and earned a surprised look for his efforts. "I know. And they are. Zelena paid the price for what she did by being the one to swap places with him, and I've taken care of the rest."

"How?" Charming asked.

"In the way it needed to be taken care of. That is all you need to know."

"Will that thing just... Stay?" Robin asked from where he was still leaning partially against Regina. Rumple really didn't know why his former student hadn't sent him back into town.

"The vault will fade. I pulled it through rather quickly, so to push it back out in the same fashion would leave a gaping hole between the worlds. Yes, that is as dangerous as it sounds, so it's best to let it fade back slowly."

"Nothing's going to come crawling out of it, though, right?" Hook asked hesitantly, shooting an uneasy look at the closed vault.

Rumplestiltskin rolled his eyes. "Why don't you leave the more complicated matters to minds better suited for the task?"

"That's not a no..."

"Killian," Bae murmured and the brewing battle between his father and his old friend simmered a bit.

"Well, if everything's... in hand... we should head back in. Robin needs medical attention and there will be a few people glad to know that we have one less problem to worry about," Charming said and a general consensus runs swept through.

"Hey, Gold, about that potion..." Emma began awkwardly.

"Ready for him," Rumple said with a smirk. "In case you changed your mind."

"Of course it is," Emma grumbled without any real malice as she shook her head.

He offered her a knowing smile before taking a step forward. The world pulsed around him and his sight tunnel visioned. "Rumple?" he heard Belle call and hands tightened around his arms as his knees gave way beneath him.

"Papa, can you hear me?" Bae's voice drifted through the incoming fog.

"Yeah," he just managed before everything went black.

Rumplestiltskin had always been full of surprises, but Baelfire wouldn't have been able to predict this particular one if he'd had his father's gift of Sight. The last thing he'd known was that he had been half pulled into Emma's lap, trying to gasp out what he'd been sure were his last words - his papa had needed to know how much he loved him in the end - to the man he'd spent more years running from than not. Now, though, he was standing on a circle that seemed somewhat familiar. It was like out of a dream and his memories came slowly back to him even as his father had pulled him into a hug and proved that it was very, very real.

He caught him as he fell, feeling surprisingly more steady on his own legs than he should have for having been dead - or whatever his papa wanted to call it - for what must have been a length of time. Rumplestiltskin was entirely limp in his arms, having managed only a brief response before passing out entirely. Bae eased him to the ground, realizing for the first time just how thin his father looked, and there were traces of burns across his face that hadn't been there before. They looked mostly healed, but the shadows beneath his eyes and the way his skin seemed almost stretched over his sharp cheekbones was most certainly something he'd been covering when his son had first seen him here.

Belle was kneeling on Rumple's other side and her eyes met Bae's briefly. "Zelena - the witch - had him captive. She had his dagger when we all arrived here," she explained quickly, her hands going to his face.

"She did this to him?"

"I don't know what all she did to him," Belle murmured hesitantly. "You know your papa. He's not the most forthcoming…"

"I know," Bae answered softly.

Her voice was quiet as she continued, as if she knew the words were something that he'd prefer the whole town - or anyone outside of immediate family - not to hear. "He hasn't been sleeping. Every time he does actually drift off, he has terrible nightmares from it, but he won't say what they are. At least I know now what he's been so focused on the last few days."

Regina had come closer now, kneeling down to take a look at her former mentor who hadn't budged an inch. "Hell, Rumple," she muttered as her magic looked for the source of the sudden collapse.

"He said he'd taken care of the rest. What does that mean?" Bae prompted and the sorceress frowned.

"It means that he's an idiot," she grumbled after a moment as she stood. "He'll be fine. He's just exhausted."

Bae couldn't quite bring himself to feel relieved until fingers tightened in his own and eyes the same colour as his blinked open very slowly. "What happened?" Rumplestiltskin rasped.

"You fell over," the younger man joked, squeezing his father's hand.

Rumple continued to blink, trying to clear his vision. He reached a trembling hand up, fingers against the younger man's face. "Bae…? It wasn't a dream?"

"No, not a dream, Pop. I get the impression you did something crazy, but you did it."

A smile tugged at his lips and he pulled a shaky breath in. It took a moment for him to realize that he, Bae, and Belle were not alone, but when he did his grip tightened. "Help me up?"

"I'm not sure-"

"Bae. Please, son."

He didn't like it, and from the look Belle was giving she didn't either, but carefully he repositioned himself to help his father slowly to his feet. The elder man swayed dangerously, but Bae moved to drape one arm around his shoulders. "Compromise," he murmured lowly and received no argument for it.

"Where are we anyway?" Hook asked.

"On the far end of the treeline, just shy of the townline out here," Regina answered and she had a firm grip on a very woozy looking Robin again. "Don't worry, I can get us back quick enough."

The next few minutes were a blur of magic sweeping them down into the town, Emma assuring Regina that she'd bring Roland over to the hospital to see his father as soon as she picked both of the boys up from Granny's, and Charming excusing himself to check on his pregnant wife. Hook seemed to not know quite what to do with himself and had finally found some excuse to duck away with a promise that he and Bae would speak soon and that it was good to have him back.

"So, when am I going to get to see Henry?" Bae asked.

Emma shifted uncomfortably. "Gold, that potion… How quickly will it work?"

"Immediately. I had a batch brewing for Regina next, but apparently True Love's first kiss took care of that," he answered with a wave of his hand. He was still leaning heavily against Bae and looked ready to topple if his son were to release him. Belle was standing to his other side, ready to catch him if he tried to stand on his own and failed. "Henry's is ready and waiting for him."

"I'll bring him over to your shop then, or you can bring it over to the diner if you're not going to fall over in the process."

"I'm quite capable of-"

"Mom!"

They turned, Henry's voice breaking through his grandfather's irritable statement and the teen's eyes widened. "Dad."

Bae felt his father shift carefully, his stance wide but steadier than he'd expected. "Go," he murmured and the younger man couldn't find it in him to say no.

Recognition shined in Henry's eyes and his father met him halfway, pulling him up into his arms and off his feet, crushing him in a full hug that might not have ended if the kid hadn't gotten so damn big. Bae put him down, but Henry hadn't let him go yet, simply changing his grip to around his middle and he buried his face into his shirt. "You're okay," he managed. "But we went to your funeral. I didn't… I didn't remember. Dad, I'm sorry."

"Not your fault," Bae promised, kissing the top of his son's head. "I missed you, buddy."

"Missed you too… Or I would have, if I didn't have fake memories. I missed you through them, though, I think."

Bae swallowed hard and kept one arm wrapped around the teen as he turned them around and Henry beamed as Rumplestiltskin. "You figured it out, didn't you?"

"As did you, apparently," the boy's grandfather said slowly and when Emma shot him a questioning look he raised his hands. "I didn't give the boy the potion."

"I found it," Henry said. "It had my name on it."

"So obviously you drank it," Emma sighed, glaring at Bae. "He's totally your kid."

"Comes from a hellava line of curious," he agreed with a laugh.

"For future reference, Henry, just because your name is on it does not mean that you should always down the whole bottle," Rumple chuckled. "Good to have you back, lad."

Henry broke his hold on his father only to wrap his arms around his grandpa's middle, nearly throwing the man off his precarious balance. Rumplestiltskin managed to keep it though, and returned the embrace. "Very good to have you back."

"Glad you're not dead too, now that I remember that."

"Henry?"

Bae risked a glance over at Emma, her voice proving that she already knew something was coming. He knew she'd kept it from him, and that when he'd… well, whatever he'd done, she had been ready to take him back to New York and leave Storybrooke behind after this was all over. Her question to his father about the potion - memory potion, he assumed now - meant that she'd changed her mind for some reason, and he didn't dare hope it was him, though that thought was very persistent.

"You guys find Robin?" Henry asked and Emma nodded slowly.

"Yeah. Regina's with him."

"Great. Roland's in the shop. I'll get him and then… I'd like to see my mom."

He was pissed. There was no getting around that. She'd promised him that the lying was done, and she'd gone out of her way to keep something from him again. A rather large something, actually. He hadn't felt this betrayed since he found out that Regina had kept Storybrooke's secret from him his whole life. Somehow, with Emma keeping his dad and his grandparents from him in a similar fashion and making him feel absolutely insane because of it, a couple of weeks hit just as hard as the years.

Roland was ecstatic to hear that his father was back and okay, but Henry remained silent in the passenger seat of Emma's bug even as the little boy rattled on. His dad had gone back with Belle and his grandpa, promising to be over there as soon as he was sure that his own father wasn't going to fall over.

"We should have a welcome back party for Dad," Henry said, trying to make himself break the silence. "Like a… Glad You're not Dead kind of party."

"Like the card you made for Mary Margaret that said that the class was glad she didn't kill Katherine?"

Henry snorted a laugh. "Yeah, like that."

They pulled around to the hospital and into the spot. "Listen kid-"

"I know. I just… need time. You promised, Mom."

"I didn't know until right before we came here."

"Yeah, but how long was that potion sitting there with my name on it?" He waited, knowing that look better than any. "Thought so."

"Henry…."

"I'll take Roland in." He didn't let her argue as he pulled the seat up and the kid piled out of the back and raced into the front doors. Emma didn't follow him immediately and he had to give her credit there. He just needed to have time to process. And time to see the family that he didn't realize that he had.

A nurse pointed them to the bag and groused at Henry to keep a firm hold on a nearly bouncing Roland as they moved down the hall. They rounded the corner and the boy pulled free as soon as he saw his papa through the open door. "Papa! Papa!" he called, nearly piling into the hospital bed.

Regina was sitting on the other side and she'd been holding his hand, a look on her face that Henry was sure he'd never seen there, but it was a good expression. Her adopted son hesitated at the doorway, mind reeling on what to say. She'd said her goodbyes to him and he'd had to leave. It had hurt, driving away, and he remembered that now. It had hurt until his memories faded away like the town in the rearview mirror.

She looked up, startled by his presence. "Oh. Henry. Thank you for bringing Roland in."

The teen felt a bit of a smile grabbing at the edges of his lips. "No problem, Mom," he said with a shrug as he entered. "How're you feeling, Robin?"

The thief of Sherwood Forest gave him a grin. "Much better now."

One glance back at Regina said that she hadn't missed the name he'd called her and she stared at him with wide eyes. He couldn't stop the grin as he rounded the bed and wrapped his arms around her. She returned it hesitantly and he could feel her start to shake. Guilt tugged at him, even though he knew they'd had no choice. Neither of them had had a choice. "I'm sorry I didn't know you before."

Regina sniffed and kissed the top of his head. "It's okay, Henry. That was a pretty strong memory spell you were under."

"You're good at what you do."

She huffed out a laugh at this and squeezed harder. "I love you so much."

"I love you too, Mom."

TBC

Notes: In the next chapter - Storybrooke welcomes back Bae and Blue and Rumple have a chat about repercussions.