Of Escapes, Conversations, and Kisses

Rumpelstiltskin drove the car along August's route, with August in the passenger seat to guide him and Bae seated behind him, waiting for the moment to lead the two adults to the hostages that they had all been searching and fearing for. Rumpelstiltskin pulled over on the side of the road, not far from where August parked his bike earlier, and Bae hopped out of the car, followed shortly by his father and the puppet. "This way," he said, turning to the path and picking his way through the underbrush. He tried not to rush, despite the anxiety turning his stomach inside out.

Once they reached the cabin, Bae opened the door and wasted no time leading them down the hall. He stepped back and gestured for Rumpelstiltskin to approach the door and knock. "Rumpelstiltksin?" Belle asked. "Is that you?"

"Belle?" he replied. The door was wrenched open, and faster than one could blink, Belle threw her arms around Rumpelstiltskin's neck, drew back, and pecked him on the lips.

Bae gasped and met Rumpelstiltskin's startled gaze. Belle drew back fully and said, "I'm sorry. I know you..."

"No, no, it's alright," he said gently. "This is...really quite a suprirse. In this world, it's unlikely to find someone alive after they've been held hostage for more than a day or two." He paused briefly, something not lost on Bae. "I'm sorry I let this happen to you."

"They didn't hurt me," she said, almost too quickly. Another thing Bae noticed, and a trick he knew well.

"They didn't?"

"No. They took us from the house, tied our hands behind us, moved us to their car, drove us here, untied us, and left us here."

"Not very good captors."

"True. They didn't even lock our door."

"That's because usually they've got somebody with a sawed-off shotgun right across the hall," Jefferson said, appearing in the doorway. Bae was about to ask when a click echoed from the door behind Rumpelstiltskin. He pushed Belle toward Bae and August, who guided her down the hall and stepped back in their own right. Rumpelstiltskin turned toward the door, and Jefferson stepped out of the room.

"What's going on?" Belle whispered.

"We're not safe," Bae replied. "This, for future reference, is one of the instances where you need to improvise."

"Improvise with what?"

"That's just the thing, though. There is no guide for improvising, just practice."

"Well, I don't see anything here."

"Then we go downstairs."

"Kid, you sure about this?" August asked.

"It may be our chance. Let's go." Bae moved to the living room, followed closely by Belle and a little less so by August. A shot rang out when they were halfway down the stairs. A door fell to pieces, and he thought he heard Jefferson say, "Okay, time to go."

The three spilled into the living room as well as three people could do, and Jefferson and Rumpelstiltskin were close behind. Another shot rang out, closer this time, and loud enough to make Bae jump. A big-shouldered, black-clad man stood at the top of the stairs. "Alright, now what?" Belle asked.

"I don't know. Improvise."

"Chair," she said suddenly.

"Alright, let's go." Bae and Belle moved along the stairwell to the dining area, the thug firing at them all the way. He pushed her ahead of him and turned to watch the thug descend the stairs, still aiming at him. He threw a glance over his shoulder to find Belle armed with the chair, moving, almost gliding, toward them. Bae stepped to the side, making sure the thug would follow him. He backed up toward Rumpelstiltskin, who stepped forward and was only stopped by his son's hand on his chest. Rumpelstiltskin glanced over the thug's shoulder, nodded in understanding, and smiled softly. Bae gave the smallest nod, and Belle rushed up and bashed the chair across his back, breaking a couple of the legs off.

The thug wheeled on Belle, and Bae dove for the two broken legs, tossing one to Rumpelstiltskin as he backed away. Rumpelstiltskin caught the makeshift stake without so much as a glance. Belle took a step back, raising the chair again for another blow. Bae glanced askance at his father and gave another quick nod. "One," he mouthed, turning his eyes back to the thug with the strange-looking gun.

"Two," Rumpelstiltskin mouthed in response.

"Three!" Belle yelled, bringing the chair down on the thug's head like it was the wrath of God. At the same time, Bae and Rumpelstiltskin pushed the chair's two newly-freed legs into the thug's back. She panted and stared at the thug. Bae and his father stepped back as he landed on his back, his weight and the floor of the cabin pushing the stakes deeper into his body.

August walked through the front door, ready to say something, saw the body, and asked, "Whoa, what'd I miss?"

"You wouldn't believe," Belle said. "It took three of us to bring him down."

"Only because the opportunity presented itself," Bae added in a low voice. "Let's get out of here before shotgun's friends come back."

"Sounds like a plan to me," August replied. Belle dropped the remains of the chair and moved toward the door, Bae and Rumpelstiltskin close behind and August bringing up the rear. Bae squeezed into the back seat between Belle and the window. Jefferson was in a similar position, on Belle's opposite side, and August and Rumpelstiltskin returned to the passenger's and driver's seat, respectively.

As they pulled out, Belle threw a look over her shoulder at the swiftly disappearing cabin. She looked back at Bae and whispered, "We just killed another person."

"It's kind of tough to get used to, but when it's kill or be killed, it needs to be done," Bae replied, staring at the seat in front of him blankly. Belle pursed her lips and looked down at her lap. It would be a long, silent ride home.

OUAT

Belle waited until Bae was alone in Rumpelstiltskin's dining room before walking in herself. He was seated at one end of the table, his hands folded on the tabletop, his eyes down until her footsteps prompted him to look up. "Yes?" he asked.

She looked down at her hands, clasping and unclasping them in front of her, and then up at Bae. "You seemed rather...interested in the kiss I shared with your father earlier," she replied.

"For one, all I've ever seen you two do prior to today is hug each other."

"He was so worried about breaking his curse and losing his power the last time I kissed him. I was nervous about doing it again."

"Makes sense."

"But judging by the look in Rumpelstiltskin's eye, there seems to be something more to it than simple surprise."

Bae licked his upper lip. "Please, have a seat." She sat opposite him. "I can't say for certain, but I think you two might have something that will break the knife, my father's knife."

"Breaking a knife should be easy."

"Not this one. The Knife of the Dark One is a magical object and the vessel of power transmission. If you were to kill my father with the knife, you would gain his powers, and thus the cycle would continue. But true love, it has the power to break any curse. Perhaps it could destroy the knife as effectively as a sensitive such as myself pulling some of my father's power out of him to use to save his life later. And it's certainly less dangerous."

"Less dangerous than...than what?"

"Than allowing his power to eat away at me."

"But how do you know you could do it, if it came to it?"

Bae described in brief his encounter with the cloud in Regina's basement, emphasizing the moment when he'd told the cloud to shut up and get back, his exact words. "And the strange thing is," he said in a voice barely above a whisper, "I think it obliged."

"You forced it back?" Bae nodded. "And you think, if you can push, you can pull?"

Again, Bae nodded. "But I'm afraid I'll be taken down with him if I fail, which is why I haven't told him this yet, though he probably figured it out."

"But if true love's kiss can break any curse, then you wouldn't need to risk yourself." She knit her brow and looked down and to the side slightly at the tabletop. "But there's something else. Last time, he thought I was working for Regina, conspiring against him. I want this time to be an honest kiss, to mean something other than an attempt to break a curse. I won't get anywhere unless this condition is met, and that's a personal thing."

"Why's that?"

"Bae, I love him. I love your father. I think, someday, I might be your stepmother."

Bae blushed. "I hope you understand that I might have a hard time adjusting, if this is so. My mother left us when I was two, and I haven't had a mother since. This will be...different."

Belle nodded and pursed her lips. "I understand."

"Bae, a word?" Rumpelstiltskin asked from the foyer.

"I'd better go," he said. She nodded to him as he left.

"You never told me you were planning on risking your life," Rumpelstiltskin whispered as soon as Bae reached him.

"I didn't want to worry you," Bae replied. "Besides, now I might not have to. Surely if you heard that, you heard everything else."

"Including Belle's reservations."

"Look at it this way, if worse comes to worst, we have a back-up plan, which is never in bad form."

"Which is the main plan, then?"

"I can't be sure yet. The opportunity and its circumstances haven't presented themselves yet." Rumpelstiltskin nodded, and Bae lowered his voice. "If you've heard Belle's reservations, then you've also heard her plans for the future?" Rumpelstiltskin nodded.

"Well, Bae, whatever course of action you take in this matter of yours, I wish you luck."

"Thanks, Papa."

Rumpelstiltskin took his son into his arms, squeezed gently, patted him twice on the back, and then released him. With a smile, he squeezed Bae's shoulder and said, "I'll let you go now." Bae nodded his thanks and returned to the dining room.

"All is well, I take it?" Belle asked.

"As well as can be expected," Bae replied. "I surprised my father a bit, but he understands."

"That's good, right?"

"With my father and concerning my safety, as good as it gets."

OUAT

Morraine returned to the edge of Storybrooke and stepped onto the hard path that led away from it. She had no idea where to find Rumpelstiltskin when he wasn't at his shop, but perhaps she could get directions from someone. Or she could find Bae the way storied lovers were always able to do, through sheer instinct and their desire to be together. But those were just stories, she told herself.

The lights of the town, what few twinkled in the twilight as the sunlight danced over the various surfaces, flickered through the trees on either side of the path she was taking. A few people walked back home in the dusk, and she stopped a bespectacled man in something resembling Rumpelstiltskin's suit and asked, "Excuse me, sir, but do you know where I might find Rumpelstiltskin at this hour?" The man blinked, but he nodded pointed down the street and gave her directions. "Thank you," Morraine said when he finished.

"Sure thing," the man replied. He nodded to her and continued on his way, and Morraine set off down the path, hoping she could follow his directions.

Soon, her footsteps were the sole sound in the silence of the twilight in Storybrooke. She adjusted the bow and quiver strapped to her back, but she felt reasonably safe. She turned a corner, listened, got her bearings, and continued on. Finally, she found the black, red, and gold castle described to her. The facade looked too smooth to scale, and it seemed there would be no aid in sight, unlike Regina's back wall. Even so, she walked around to the back, hoping the picture would change. It didn't.

Here goes, she told herself as she walked back around to the front door and knocked. For a moment, she waited for Rumpelstiltskin to answer the door and begin to grill her as to the purpose of her visit, but she caught a break when the door opened and she saw Bae's eyes brighten. "I was beginning to wonder about you," he said, stepping aside and gesturing for her to enter. She crossed the threshold and faced him, waiting for him to close the door. "I take it you asked directions?"

"Had no choice," she replied.

"I have something to show you." Bae walked into the living room, and after a moment, Morraine followed him. What she saw on the sofa stopped her cold.

"Are those..."

"Yeah."

"Where did you..."

"A cabin in the woods."

"Why were they..."

"No idea."

Morraine took one step forward. "Jefferson? Belle?" Both people on the sofa looked up from whatever they were focusing on.

"I see you have a bow and quiver with you," Belle said. "Perhaps we may continue lessons?"

"If he's some space to spare," Morraine replied with a smile. Belle smiled in response.

"And...there's something else," Bae said in a darker voice. "Excuse us," he said to the two on the couch before guiding Morraine upstairs to his room, a previously locked, somewhat dusty, modest affair with all the clothes he was able to fit into on the day he left neatly folded in the dresser.

"He saved this for you?"

"This isn't what I wanted you to know about. It's just a private place where we can talk."

"Talk about what?"

Bae gestured for her to take a seat on the bed, sat next to her, and told her his tale about Regina's basement and what transpired there after she was cut off from him. She took his hand, and her eyes were fixed on him. Her pallor deepened as he continued, but she listened patiently nonetheless. "...and now I have two methods of breaking the knife that both might work but can't be tested until proving time comes," he said in conclusion. "Putting my sensitivity to use, and Belle's love of him."

"And you think they can work?"

"One, at least."

Morraine nodded. "At least we have something to work with. We can build a strategy with that."

"So, we can make something that works."

"Exactly."

Bae nodded slowly, chewed his lip, and looked down at the floor. He felt Morraine's fingers brush against his, and he laced their hands together in response. He looked up at her, and she smiled. His face flushed. Wow.

She leaned in toward him, her eyes half-lidded. He waited for his heart to stop pounding out of his chest, but no dice. Instead, the closer she came, the more his heart pounded. She closed her eyes fully, and on instinct, Bae closed the rest of the short distance between them.

In one instant, the world shrunk down to the two of them sitting on the bed. The deeper the kiss became, the less the outside world mattered, and the less Bae listened to his rational mind, no doubt yelling futilely at him to wonder what would happen if his father, or worse, anyone else, caught them snogging on the bed. Alone. Sans chaperone. Where anything could happen.

Carefully, Bae broke contact. "I don't want anything bad to happen," he whispered. "I don't want to hurt you."

"That's sweet," she replied, kissing him on the cheek. "That's really sweet."

"Thanks."

"But in case you get the wrong idea somewhere in that mind of yours, you're a fantastic kisser, and I really enjoyed it." Bae found himself grinning like an idiot, and Morraine smiled at him.

"If...if you want, I can help you settle into one of the guest rooms, or...or something."

"I'd like that."