Once Upon A Time

Rumpelstiltskin knew that most people would know about the marriage by that afternoon. Small villages had a way of spreading news such as this around quickly and just as quickly they would both have to deal with well-wishers and those bringing gifts.

He was more than content to just lay here in the quiet with his new wife.

A thought hit him as he laid there. They were poor. He and the wife sleeping on his chest could probably scrape by fine, but what would happen if they had children? One child they could possibly provide for, but what happened if they had several?

"I think our son should have your eyes," Dagian whispered, pulling him out of his thoughts.

"It's a little bit early to think about that, isn't it?"

"Maybe if I hope for it beforehand then it'll come true."

"Wishes only come true for those that can afford it," he said and kissed her, "I have to get up."

"The wind sounds cold out there," Dagian whispered and grabbed his arm to keep him from getting up.

"Well, then we better get a lot of work done today," he said, "Because some of those roofs won't hold through another snowstorm."

"And then a couple of weeks later you'll have to replace them again, and then a couple of weeks after that. And to top it all off Dauis likes to ask you all to help him fix his home but he doesn't help anyone with theirs. And I'll be left with the village women and having to accept their congratulations all by myself. Stay with me."

"You know I can't."

"Only until this afternoon…come on. We're married now, and surely they won't come intruding on our time together. Except for Dauis maybe, because he's an imbecile."

"You shouldn't be so hard on him."

"He tried to dismiss my village's slaughter as someone else's problem and was more than content to leave the survivors to die."

Rumpelstiltskin scowled. He'd tried to keep things like that from her but someone in the village had a big mouth.

"Darling, you've done more for this village since I've been here then what they'd ever do for you. Now which would you rather do? Spend the morning out in the biting cold with them? Or with me?"

He pursed his lips, "Well now that you say it like that."

She pulled him back to the bed, "I knew you'd see it my way."


Present Day

"You had another one of your headaches recently."

Dawn looked up at Archie and rested her arm on the couch, "All of Sunday. The one day I have my husband to myself all day and we don't go anywhere and I get a migraine. You know, I always look forward to Sunday. We fix a big dinner, have a romantic evening and it's just…normal. And now I missed out for this weekend and it feels like my schedule's screwed up. Are you going to ask me how that makes me feel, doctor?"

Archie cleared his throat and turned the page, "Um…no. I talked to you about confronting your past a few weeks ago and you told me you'd consider it."

She felt all her muscles tense, "I thought you took 'I'd consider it' as an 'I'm not considering it'. And you'd leave me alone."

"You've referenced your past before, but you don't really talk about it."

"There's a reason I don't want to remember those days," she said. She realized that she sounded angry but he didn't stop.

"If you don't acknowledge your past then how do you expect to look ahead in the future?"

"Nice to see you're using the cliché-of-the-day calendar I bought you," she said sarcastically, "I appreciate what you're trying to do, doctor Hopper. Really. But I'm not that little scared girl anymore. I married my husband when I was 20 years old and Mr. Gold is who I've been for fifteen years. Why would you want to peel back any more of that?

"Because you don't want to."

"How about we talk about your experience trapped in the mine instead," she drew her knees up to her chest, "What was that like?"

"Mrs. Gold. I know you're here because you feel like you have no one else to talk to. But you also came here for me to help you heal with what you went through during your childhood. If you're not ready to confront that then that's fine, but I think that we know each other well enough personally and professionally for you to consider stepping out of your comfort zone."

"Not about that though," she grabbed her purse, "I think we should end our session for today."