Snow was fuming but holding it in as they tromped down the frigid Storybrooke sidewalk. After Henry's idea to go to Gold, both Charming and Snow had immediately said no but after thinking more on it and listening to Henry go on about the idea, they realized they didn't have much of a choice. Gold was, after all, the only other magic user in Storybrooke that would willingly curse Emma out of her freewill. That, however, didn't mean that Snow was happy about it. If anyone knew Rumplestilskin's treachery, it was she, from many, many past experiences. Perhaps if it had only been Snow or even David with her, she would have walked into this feeling slightly m ore confident but she knew she was dragging two innocent children into a lions den. It was common knowledge that Rumple has no real love for Regina only enjoys her for her benefits and had recently sought to destroy the Queen at all costs. Things between them had evened back to a steady quiet-before-the-storm kind of peace but that was tremulous at best and could only last for so long. Snow feared that if, by taking the kids in, and allowing him to have intimate details about Regina's personal life, he would somehow figure out a way to use this all against Regina or worst yet, use the kids against Regina. Sadly they didn't have any other choice.

Charming slipped his hand into his wife's to console her racing mind and her raging emotions. He had known her long enough and loved her even longer to know her well enough by now to tell when something was wrong. It wasn't like he didn't understand her troubles. He was no less pleased with this situation than she was. Bringing the children with them was a bad idea and now that they were nearing their destination he was beginning to realize this. They should have returned the kids home first or even had Red watch them until they were finished talking to Gold. He really needed to work on this kid business.

Gold's shop loomed in the distance like a daunting dragon awaiting them only a few blocks away. Snow placed a hand on both Henry and Gwen's shoulders to still their progress. The both of them turned and looked up at their grandmother and grandfather, both with curious faces and questions in their eyes. David looked at his wife briefly before he took a knee in front of them and took one of their hands in each of his. His hand dwarfed Gwen's easily but Henry, growing close to puberty, his hand was close to David's in size. He gave them both a light squeeze.

"Listen, when we go in there, I want you both to stay close to Snow okay? And let us do all the talking."

Gwen pursed her lip to one side, a cute little pout over taking her heart shaped face, "But you don't know the first thing about magic."

"Yeah," Henry added, "Plus, you can't tell Mr. Gold anything or-"

"Just trust me and do as I say okay?"

The kids shared a look but nodded their acquiescence. He let out a relieved sigh and rose back to his feet, his sight now set on Gold's shop with a drive behind him. He could do this; he had too. When he felt his wife's tiny hand slip into his, he felt the power of their love course through him.

The bell above the door chimed their presence when David pushed it open and walked through with Snow at his side. The children followed closely behind with wide, fear blown eyes though both of them were trying to keep up brave fronts. The shop appeared to be empty of any kind of other being but Charming knew better; Rumple never strayed to far from his precious collection here in this shop. They moved as a unit to the front desk to wait for Gold to make his grand appearance known. Thankfully the elder man didn't make them wait for to long before he breezed into the room from his office, polishing a brass goblet rimmed with rubies. He flashed the couple his signature crooked smile, the light of room catching his gold tooth to make it shimmer wickedly.

"Well, well, well. Prince Charming," Rumple limped towards the front desk, his cane thumping loudly against the floor with each step, and leaned against the counter, "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

David glanced at his wife for her assuring smile, "We need your help."

Rumple raised a brow at David, his amusement obvious by the light chortle he let loose and the twinkle in his eye. Slowly he finished polishing the goblet and turned to place it in a glass cabinet. David sighed in annoyance. He always hated how long Rumple took to do anything because of how much the man liked the theatricality behind making people wait on him. It never failed.

Finally Gold turned back around and strolled back to the counter, leaning over the top of it again. For a moment his eyes strayed lower to catch sight of Henry, not someone he was unfamiliar with, glaring up at him defiantly with his chin held high. Beside him stood a much smaller, less brave looking child who was staring at him curiously. Quite the contrary this child looked completely at peace with the idea of standing in this shop, as if being in the presence of the Dark One didn't bother him in the least. He furrowed his brows and continued to size the child up with a growing unease. He had never seen this child before.

David cleared his throat and Rumple snapped his head back up, glaring at David for having the audacity to treat him that way. With a growl Rumple pushed himself up and came around the counter to stand directly in front of David and Snow.

"It must be serious if you're coming to me Dearie. Is this something your true love finally can't fix?"

David shifted awkwardly from foot to foot, "This isn't about us."

Rumple purred through his malicious smile, "Isn't it?"

"No," Snow cut in, drawing the Dark One's attention to herself, "This is about Regina."

Rumples smile instantly turned to a sneer, "And why would Snow White want to help her evil majesty?"

Snow's eyes turned hard and she tilted her chin up, every bit the royal she was raised to be, "My reasons are my own Rumplestilskin."

David nodded and gripped his wife's hand tighter, "Will you help us or not?"

Rumple stared them down for a few overly long, uncomfortable seconds before he drifted his gaze back to little Gwen. He sneered at the child and gripped the handle of his cane tighter between his folded hands.

"That's depends." The girl stared up at him with her sea green eyes and it disturbed Rumple that there was not even a hint of fear in them.

Snow let out an aggravated huff, "On what?"

The gold in Rumple's mouth glittered dangerously when he flashed a fear inspiring smile, "If you willing to make a deal with me Dearie."

David rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, "Naturally. Everything is always deals with you."

Rumple cackled and gave the prince a mock bow, "Naturally."

"Fine. What do you want?"

Rumple cackled again with glee and flourished his hands the way he always had, "Now, now, we'll get to that. First, tell me what you want."

David and Snow exchanged looks but the both of them knew better than to try arguing with the Dark One.

"We need you to cast a spell that will make someone never want to drink alcohol again."

Rumple hummed thoughtfully, turning around to go back behind his counter so he could open a cabinet to rummage through. Gwen watched through squinted eyes, carefully noting each and every item the suspicious man was pulling out just in case he tried anything funny.

"On Regina?" The man held up a vile of blackened leaves up in front of his face to inspect. Pleased with them he set them back down with the rest of the items.

"No. On Emma."

That seemed to peak Rumple's interest. He whirled on Snow and waggled a finger at her, grinning that evil grin again.

"You want me to use magic on your precious daughter to prevent her freewill regarding the drinking of alcohol?"

David began shifting again, "Yes."

"Then I guess my question is, what does taking that away from Emma have to do with Regina?" A sparkle lit up Rumples eyes as he asked the question. Gwen circled her fingers around Henry's wrist to stop herself from yelling at her grandparents. They were divulging far too much information! Her frantic eyes roved to her grandparent's stiff posture and she saw Snow begin to open her mouth, getting ready to answer, to tell him everything.

Gwen kicked the front of the counter, not even caring that it left a nasty black scuff on the shinny wood surface, to draw Rumple's attention. Once she had it she could properly see the ire and the hostile magic swirling in those dark, dark eyes pinning her to the floor. She easily pushed aside the fear for both her mothers' sake and reminded herself that she had to be brave if she wanted to accomplish this mission and piece her family back together.

"Unless that's part of the deal Mr. Gold, I don't think you need to know." Gwen's tiny falsetto voice held strong despite the little trembles running through her arms and legs, making her knees weak. Gold's entire demeanor changed from predatory amusement to malicious anger. He leaned over the counter top to come closer to Gwen staring up at him, her fists clenched at her small hips and back ramrod straight.

"Is that so?"

Gwen jutted her chin out, lips pursed to one side, "That's so."

Rumple stayed silent for a long moment, just staring at the child like she was a book to be read but it was written in a language he couldn't read, then he snapped back into action to finish compiling the ingredients.

"Very well. I can create a potion for Emma to drink that will stop her desire to drink."

David let out a sigh of relief. When Gwen had stepped forward and opened her mouth his entire body had seized up, preparing him in case he needed to enter a fight to protect the child. He had been terrified Gold would turn her into something horrible and crush her or just simply kill her, regardless of the fact that she was a child. Regina would have killed him slowly and painfully if had managed to get her daughter killed for the one hour that they had been babysitting the children. He didn't even want to think about what Emma would do. Probably something worst than what Regina could do, like disown him and never speak to him again.

"No." Gwen kicked Rumple's counter again and this time David did reach out to protect her, pulling her back into his chest after he dropped to his knees behind her.

Rumple grit his teeth and glared down at the child, "No? I thought you wanted my help?"

"We do."

"Then allow me to make this potion in silence."

"No! A potion will wear off. I'm not stupid," Gwen wiggled in her grandfathers grip until he had no choice but to let her go and stomped right back up to Rumple's counter, slapping her tiny hand against the top of it, "Make a bracelet so she can wear it all the time and she'll never have a craving."

The brow above Rumple's blazing eyes twitched minutely to show his blatant irritation at this tiny thing's audacity. Though he could admit quietly to himself that he had a small amount of grudging respect for the child; not many people would have the gull enough to talk to him like that. He leaned across the counter top to look into the child's eyes.

"Very well." He delighted in the relief that played across David's and Snow's face. Young Henry let out a breath and swooped over to wrap the young girl in a tight, protective hug. Both Snow and Charming placed hands on the children's shoulders, appearing so happy yet forgetting they still owed him something. This deal was not yet done.

"Thank you Rumple." David foolishly replied for the child, looking so pleased with himself.

He waved his hand and a swirl of green smoke clouded the area momentarily. When it cleared a bracelet made of black hemp string lay in his open palm, a punched quarter and bottle cap strung on it. It was shabby looking, perhaps, but it was Emma Swan's style. Pinching it between his fingers, he held it out for David to take but before the man's knobby fingers could grab a hold of it he yanked it back. A frustrated little growl came from Charming and that pleased look that so royally pissed Rumple off, disappeared.

"What do you want Rumple?"

The Dark One flourished his fingers and hand in a few disoriented circled before he straightened it to point at the girl, "Her."

Gwen furrowed her brows but remained otherwise silent while she thought through the different possible reasons she could of why this man would want her. It was impossible even for him to have guessed her origin so it had to be something else. Perhaps he wanted to kill her for what she had done or perhaps it was something else entirely. Snow let out a squeak and hurried to pull Gwen away from the counter.

"Absolutely not. What is wrong with you!? I'm not bargaining a child-"

Rumple quickly stuffed the bracelet in his pocket and made it appear as though he were stepping away, "Then it's no deal."

Gwen kicked the counter for a third time, this time the hardest. When he looked to her there was a bright determination in her eyes.

"Fine." She spoke, her little arms folded across her chest. Snow gaped at the child and shook her head back and forth even though no words were coming out of her mouth. The Dark One waved his hand and the bracelet appeared around Snow's wrist for safe keeping.

"Wonderful! I'll leave you to it then. Hurry with you nauseating goodbyes." Rumple waved his hand dismissively and disappeared into his office. In an instant Henry had Gwen by the shoulders and was giving her an imploring, infuriated, tear filled look.

"What do you think your doing!? This is going to screw up the whole plan! How can you help save Mom if your stuck here!?"

Gwen smiled a sweet, beautiful smile and tilted her head, "Hen, I have you. Together we can do this. Besides, I get the feeling he doesn't want to keep me like a pet, he just wants to ask me questions and stuff. And, even if he does, I'll be gone in 3 days anyway and he'll forget he ever owned me."

Henry opened and closed his mouth to find a sound response but there was no way he could argue with Gwen's logic, even if he wanted too. So instead he just hugged his sister tightly and promised to come save her before her time ran up. She patted him lightly on the back as he spoke, knowing he couldn't deliver on those promises yet was still finding comfort in them. Both Snow and David were sporting the deer caught in the headlights look. The little girl gave them both a pat on their hands, smiling up at them.

"Don't worry. I'll be alright. Just make sure Henry is the one that gives Mom the bracelet that way she'll never want to take it off kay?" Gwen gave her family one last smile before disappearing in the back where Rumple was.

David stared after her with massive eyes, "Regina is going to kill us."

I know it's short, I apologize. But at least it was a quick update right?