The events of the last two weeks had not been something Rumplestiltskin ever foresaw. He knew, of course, that the queen had retained all of her memories throughout the curse, but he never imagined that she would kill someone so soon. But, he supposed, that was the downside to the curse. The hole in her heart would never be filled. Not fully. Not even with sex with the sheriff.
Graham's death was the least of his worries though, because that man, Neal Cassidy, was combating him at every turn. He knew exactly what buttons to push in order to get Rumplestiltskin to back off, which amazed, infuriated, and confused him all at the same time. But the man wouldn't say who he was. And it was driving Rumplestiltskin insane trying to think, because the man was familiar, but he had not met him in the Enchanted Forest… or anywhere he'd traveled. Had he?
"Mr. Gold?"
Looking up from the box of things from Graham's house, he smiled a little when he saw the former prince of the Enchanted Forest walking into the shop, looking sad and confused. The poor man. Rumplestiltskin felt somewhat bad for him. But in another way, he was jealous – at least this man didn't have twenty-eight years of fake memories in his head. But he realized Charming was waiting for him to respond so he broke from his thoughts and smiled at the man.
"Mr. Nolan, I'm sorry about that. I guess I'm a little distracted from the whole… incident with the sheriff. What can I help you with?" he asked.
"It's okay, I understand. A clue. I'm just… looking for a clue to help unlock my memories. Do you have anything that belonged to me at one point?" the man asked.
His cursed memories told him there was a lawn ornament that belonged to the Nolans, but Rumplestiltskin knew he couldn't risk Charming getting cursed memories too. So instead, he tried to think of something that had belonged to him in the Enchanted Forest. He reached to grab a necklace he knew Charming had once bought for Snow White, before he blinked as Charming went to the unicorn mobile hanging next to the counter.
"Charming, isn't it?" he asked the man.
"Yeah… and familiar," Charming responded, his voice quiet, almost as if he was in a trance as he reached for one of the delicate, glass unicorns. As soon as his finger brushed it, Rumplestiltskin watched the man's knees beginning to buckle, rushing over to him to keep him steady.
"Easy, Mr. Nolan…" he said as Charming scrambled to grip the counter, holding himself up as he blinked rapidly. "Mr. Nolan, are you alright?"
"That's not my name…" the man rasped. "My name is David, King of The Enchanted Forest."
"Oh I know that, your majesty. But you didn't until a minute ago," Rumplestiltskin replied with a small smirk. "Sit down, dearie, you look a little pale."
"Rumplestiltskin… it's you. You're human."
"Well I wasn't always a beast. Now come sit down. You look like you need some tea. And a chair," Rumplestiltskin said, guiding the man to the back room and helping him into a chair before hearing the bell above the shop door ring, signaling another customer.
"I'll be right back, your majesty," he said softly before making his way back to the front of the store.
Miss Swan. Just the woman he wanted to see.
"Miss Swan. What can I do for you?"
"I'm sorry to intrude I just… wanted somewhere quiet to think," Emma sighed, running a hand through her long hair. "Everything that's happened has been really hard on Henry and I don't know how to make it better."
He nodded in understanding. "Sheriff Graham was the only male influence Regina allowed him to have. Not even I was allowed to get too close to the boy."
Rumplestiltskin saw the frown of concern, and his heart felt a twinge of sadness. He could see Miss Swan was struggling with having given him up for adoption.
"I understand, Miss Swan. But, I have an idea. As Sheriff Graham had no family, I was the one to inherit his belongings. I found these walkie-talkies among them, a pair of his boots, and his jacket. Perhaps you'd like some of his things? You could share the walkie-talkies with Henry."
Emma sighed and shrugged. "I don't know…"
"I insist. Maybe Henry can help you while you're being the sheriff, hm?"
"I… I'm not going to be sheriff. Regina has already appointed Sidney in Graham's place," Emma responded, looking down at the tile floor of the shop.
"A journalist? As the town sheriff? When there are two people on the loose from the hospital?" He noticed a visible wince from her, and forced a smirk back. "Tell you what, Miss Swan. I'll offer you a deal. I'll help you out in a bid for sheriff, and you help me find out some information on someone I want found."
She frowned. "Why would you help me?"
"It's like I said before. I like you Miss Swan. Not to mention, I dislike Sidney Glass and I don't think he should be sheriff."
She sighed, and he could see the conflict in her face. "Well… who do you want information on?"
He smirked a little. "A man named Neal Cassidy. He's new in this town and well, he's being quite secretive with me."
She paled. She was trying not to, he could see, but she did.
"Do you know him?" Oh this was delicious.
"You could say that."
"Mm. What a coincidence." Delicious, delicious coincidence. He was only very grateful that Sidney Glass left his shop alone. "What can you tell me about him?"
"Why don't you ask me yourself instead of dragging Emma into this?"
He looked over, startled. He hadn't noticed Mr. Cassidy and Henry entering the shop.
Miss Swan looked pale, trapped, and Rumplestiltskin couldn't help but be curious as to why.
"Emma, what's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost," Henry asked, looking up at the woman with a frown.
"I – uh – it's… it's nothing Henry."
"No it's not, Emma," Henry said, now looking upset. "Whatever you have to say is okay. I'm sure I'm old enough to hear it."
He watched calmly as there was clear conflict written on Emma's face. He noticed her take a deep breath and nod before she turned to him.
"Gold," she said. "Can we go somewhere private to talk, please?"
Obvious relief flooded her as he nodded. "Come. I have two back rooms. Mr. Nolan is already recovering in one though, so we'll have to use the other one."
"Recovering from what?" Henry piped up as they made their way into the back rooms.
David looked up at the question. "Well, let's just say when memories come back, it causes a heck of a headache."
"Wait. Memories? You remember?!" Henry asked, running over to the man.
"Hey Henry, why don't you keep Mr. Nolan company while the three of us talk, does that sound okay? We'll come get you in a bit," Rumplestiltskin suggested. It would be good to have the boy avoid what he assumed was going to be a not-so good story about Mr. Cassidy and Miss Swan's past together. Besides, he knew Regina had him in therapy and was trying to repress his belief in the curse. The boy deserved to know his grandfather after all.
"Sure!"
Henry quickly plopped down next to David with a wide smile, pulling out the book and opening it as Rumplestiltskin quickly led Emma and Mr. Cassidy into the other room and closed the door behind them.
As he turned back to face them, he saw Mr. Cassidy staring at the spinning wheel.
"Beautiful, isn't it? They don't make them like that anymore," he said, looking at the man curiously.
"No they don't. I can't believe you kept it after all this time."
He frowned now. "What do you mean?"
Mr. Cassidy looked up at him. "You haven't figured it out yet, Papa?"
Papa.
Papa.
Shock rocketed through him, and he stumbled back against the bookcase, his cane clattering to the floor, ignored.
"Bae?" he whispered.
The man nodded slowly, and Rumplestiltskin was beginning to see the similarities. The dark hair, dark eyes. The small birth mark on his left cheek, just barely visible from beneath the scruff of hair. Yes. This was his son. His Baelfire had come home at last.
"Wait. That's your father? The one you ran away from? What are you doing here then? I thought you were afraid of him." Emma suddenly asked. Rumplestiltskin had almost forgotten she was there.
Baelfire cleared his throat and nodded. "I was. You're right. But then I just thought… why should I let fear get the best of me? I'm not a child anymore. He doesn't have any control or power over me anymore. Besides… it's like I told you in Portland. When you find a place to call home, you just miss it once you leave."
"Yes, how is it that you two know each other?" Rumplestiltskin asked, finally snapping back into reality. His son was here, yes, but he and Emma Swan had a past.
Miss Swan shifted in obvious discomfort. "We met in Portland. We clicked instantly. Your son turned into a coward – " there was a visible wince from both men "– and left me holding the bag of stolen merchandise. That's how I ended up in jail."
Baelfire was rubbing his face in discomfort. "For what it's worth, I wasn't the one that called the cops on you. I was hoping you would be able to pawn the watch you had and get yourself some money, plus the money I left you. I wanted you to be able to build your life."
She looked confused. "What money?"
Balefire blanched. "The twenty-grand I got from the other watches."
"Neal… I don't know what happened with that money… but I didn't get it. If I had maybe then I would've kept Henry."
"Henry? Wait – you're Henry's birth mother? The one that gave him up for his best chance?" Balefire asked, his voice shaky.
"Yes."
"He's ten."
Miss Swan nodded, tears brimming at the corners of her eyes as realization struck both he and his son.
"Emma… is Henry my son?"
Rumplestiltskin stood with bated breath, still leaning against the bookcase.
"Yes," she finally whispered. "Henry is your son."
Rumplestiltskin was very, very glad he was leaning against something study, otherwise he was certain he would have fallen to his knees, much like his son had done.
"I'll go get him. He needs to know the truth," Rumplestiltskin said, reaching shakily for his cane and hobbling out of the room.
Adults were annoyingly secretive, Henry decided. He'd wanted to know what was going on with Emma and Neal, but instead he'd been distracted by Mr. Nolan getting his memories back. Though, what memories they were, Henry didn't know.
"What's that you've got there, Henry?" David asked. Henry noticed that he was looking at him in awe, like he'd never seen anything like him before.
"It's a book of fairy tales. My mom doesn't think they're worth anything. But she's wrong," Henry said, opening the book to a random story. "Everything in this book actually happened."
"Indeed they did… how did you get something like this?" David asked, in awe as he took the book into his hands.
"Miss Blanchard gave it to me. She said it – wait. You agreed with me that these stories are real," Henry said, his eyes wide. "When you said you remembered… did you mean – "
"That I remember my life in the Enchanted Forest."
Henry's face broke into a wide smile. "That means you're my grandpa. How did you remember?"
"You know that unicorn mobile that's in the shop?"
Henry nodded.
"It was supposed to hang above your mom's crib. We'd picked it out in honor of a friend of ours."
Henry smiled. He liked that story. Especially coming from his grandpa. It showed that Henry had been right – that Emma had been wanted by her parents. Not that unwanted and left on the side of the road story she always talked about. "Who was your friend?" he asked curiously.
David opened his mouth to answer, before Mr. Gold walked back into the room, looking a little shaken.
"Mr. Gold, are you okay?" David asked in alarm.
"Yes. I'm alright. Henry, Emma wants to talk to you now," he replied, looking at Henry with the same awe David had been giving him earlier.
Henry smiled. Finally, he would find out why Emma was being so odd. "You can keep the book for now, Grandpa David," he said with a smile as he rushed into the back room, halting in alarm when he saw Mr. Cassidy with his hands pressed against his mouth, staring at him, yet again, with awe in his gaze.
"Henry. I know you're just getting used to having me around, but there's someone else I want you to meet. Mr. Cassidy – Neal – he's your father," Emma said, her voice shaky and thin.
Henry stared between them, before looking at Neal. "You're… my dad?"
"It appears so, buddy," Neal replied, giving him a weak smile. "Sorry I took so long."
Henry ran to him and hugged him. "It's okay. I'm just glad you're here now."
He felt Neal chuckling as he returned the hug. "There's someone else that's your biological family, Henry. Mr. Gold is my father."
A father and two grandfathers in one day. How lucky could a kid get? And the fact that it was Mr. Gold, the most influential man in town? This was amazing. Henry could only smile. "Hi Grandpa Gold. Boy, will my mom be shocked to find this out!"
Emma gasped suddenly. "The sheriff's election. I need to go tell Regina I intend to run against Sidney. I'll be back later kid," she said, running out of the room and the shop.
"Running? Why isn't she just automatically sheriff?" Henry asked with a frown as he looked at his newly-discovered grandfather.
"It appears your mother isn't going to make things easy for her. She appointed Sidney Glass to the job instead. By voicing her intent to run, the whole town will have a say in who our sheriff is. Err. The adults in the town of course."
He must have noticed Henry had been looking eager at the thought of being able to vote.
"You know, kids usually have a better sense of who wants to actually do good for a society," Henry said with a small frown. "Why can't we vote?"
"Ah, don't worry about it buddy. It's the law in the whole country, not just Storybrooke," his dad said with a smile. "But don't worry. We'll make sure Emma wins sheriff."
"How?"
"Because good always wins, Henry. You've read the stories," David suddenly said as he appeared in the back room. "This curse is a setback, but every hero goes through a struggle. In the end, good wins. And we'll make sure she does." The king then looked up at Neal. "Oh, hello. I don't believe we've met. I'm David."
"Neal Cassidy. Nice to meet you David."
"Neal's my dad!" Henry said with a grin.
David did not seem to match Henry's enthusiasm, his smile dropping as his eyes narrowed slightly. "Oh really now?"
"He's also my son and we can discuss his transgressions with your daughter later," Mr. Gold said, stepping slightly in front of Neal. "Right now, we need to get some things in order. One, your majesty, you cannot let it slip to anyone – especially Regina – that you have your memories of the Enchanted Forest back. She's already suspicious of you because of the stunt you pulled with Abigail. And two, we need to get your daughter to be sheriff, because I certainly will not allow a journalist to be a sheriff."
"So how do we do that?" Henry asked, tilting his head.
"Just leave it to me," Mr. Gold replied, a small, knowing smile on his face. "But for now, I suggest you all get home – especially you, Henry. You don't want to get your mother suspicious now do you?"
Henry looked up at the clock, feeling his heart stop when he realized how long they'd been here. "Dinner's in twenty minutes! I need to get home!"
"Right. Right. She knows I was taking you out to watch me photograph some stuff. I can say time got the best of us," his dad said as the two of them rushed out of the shop.
"Henry, you're cutting it close today," his mother said as they raced into the house just as the clock chimed with the five o'clock hour. She raised an eyebrow, looking at Neal with distrust.
"I'm really sorry about that Regina," Neal said as he rubbed the back of his neck. Henry wondered how practiced he was in lying. "Henry just showed me a great spot at the beach and we just… kept talking and taking pictures. I didn't think it was so late. You were right, Regina. Storybrooke is just like a fairy tale."
His mother smiled as Henry slipped into the dining room for dinner, still able to hear the conversation.
"It's quite alright, Mr. Cassidy. I'm glad Henry seems to be taking a shining to you. He really needs it, especially since Graham's death."
"I'm sure that wasn't easy for anyone. I'm glad to be of some help to him if he needs it," Neal replied. "If it's okay with you, I'd like to take him out again tomorrow. Kid's got a really great eye for finding places to photograph."
Henry rested his chin in his hand as his mother spoke again.
"No, of course I don't mind. Just have him home a bit earlier than you did tonight."
"I'll be sure to. Goodnight, Regina."
"Goodnight, Mr. Cassidy."
His mother's heels clicked against the tile floor before she appeared in the dining room, a small, polished smile on her face as she took a seat across from him.
"Well, how was it with Mr. Cassidy today?" she asked, clearly not believing that he had enjoyed his time with the man.
Henry smiled. "It was great! I can't wait to see him tomorrow."
"Well, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you look at him like a father figure."
Henry could only smile. If only she knew.