"Yes Mother," he confirmed. The problem was he looked and sounded exactly as he did in the dream. Not the supposedly adorable toddler that Gideon should be.

"But you're so…Grown up?" questioned Belle.

The young man shrugged, "Time works differently in the Black Fairy's Realm. But I never forgot what you taught me," revealing "Her Handsome Hero" that had been hidden safely under the cloak.

"You still have it?" she smiled, reaching out to touch her precious son's face.

All the while their tender reunion was going on, Riley had scooped up Bobby and went to find the Fairest of them All. She found her in their usual booth.

"Well Miss Snow, I've held up my end of our bargain. It's time you fulfilled the last part of yours - My son and I are leaving in the morning." At the Dark One's words, the whole diner quieted. Even Belle and Gideon stopped what they were doing.

"What was that?" his eyes narrowed distastefully at the toddler, who whimpered. "Yes, you had better be afraid" said Gideon, grasping the handle of his sheathed sword threateningly."

"Gideon!" scolded his mother in disbelief as she put a hand on his arm, "No!"

But Belle's words just redirected his anger towards the corpse of the evil fairy that had held him captive. A blast of magic shot out from his gloved hands and incinerated the body into black magic dust. "May you rot in Hades! You miserable old wretch!" he seethed.

"-Gideon!" exclaimed the Bookworm, now disturbed at the amount of hatred she heard in his voice.

"- That is ONE of the many reasons, I will not be extending my stay in Storybrooke" explained Riley with a hand gesture when Henry had quietly asked "Why?"

"-You really are different," stated Grumpy, with a shake of his head in the next booth. "Your Grandfather would have stayed to fight, manipulate and sneakily take control of the situation."

"-I know how to pick and choose my battles."

Just then the lady who own the establishment came over to the table. "Is there anything else I can get you?"

"No thank you Granny, we're fine" answered Charming.

"Ganny!" the little boy held his arms out to her like he'd come to do. The old woman was apprehensive for a moment, now that she knew his true identity. But found herself unable to say "No," as she stared into his big, trusting brown eyes. Taking Bobby from the Dark One, he merely snuggled close to her neck, sighing contently. "You must be doing something right, Miss Cassidy."

"Like all good parents, the only thing I can do is "try."

It was at that moment Granny made up her mind to not judge her based on what her Grandfather did as the Dark One. People were individuals after all. But she had to admit, things were slightly more clear about Rumpelstiltskin after Zeus' visit.

"- Yes, it is. Bobby? I pray you stay just as you are" she said with a quick kiss to his forehead. "Are you sure you're going to leave tomorrow?"

Riley nodded, "The sooner the better. Already I'm sure rumors are spreading of what Bobby did to the Black Fairy, and the last thing we need is him being hailed as "The Next Boy Who Lived"

"-Who?"

"-Granny," Emma cut in. "The Boy Who Lived" is one of the many titles given by the Public to a fictional wizarding orphan who defeated one of the greatest dark wizards of all time as a 15-month-old infant."

Granny's eyes widened, The Sheriff huffed exasperated, "Seriously?! Has no one in this town heard of "Harry Potter?"

"-You forget Ms. Swan; this town was created the very day you were born and hasn't moved forward much since then" answered Regina.

Emma nodded, "Right, it's still just surprising. Considering "Harry Potter" became a World-Wide Phenomenon starting back in 1997."

"-But you can't go!" Henry persisted, looking at his sister pleadingly.

"I can Henry, and I must. Our life is out there. Not here in Storybrooke where Bobby's now a "Hero" and I'm the-!"

"Dark One," he finished.

"-For all the wonderous attributes I'm sure this town has, its residents are proving themselves to be very small minded – NO OFFENSE!" she raised her voice as people started to grumble.

"I'm not interested in our lives being defined by a Title. There's so much more. Did you know that before Peter Pan and the Black Fairy, our family's greatest legacy as the McGuffin Clan was: "Though at times "MIGHTY", We shall always be "MEEK" and "HUMBLE" at Heart"?

"No," stated the shocked teen.

"So, he was ALWAYS supposed to be Weak," Gideon spat.

The Dark One spun around to face her "Uncle" with burning eyes. "- I said "Meek," a TOTALLY different word. It means "Gentle", And "Humble" is "Not Proud". That trait must come from your Mother's side, and I'm still not sure we're related. From the way you talk, Gaston could've very easily been your father-"

"I Wish HE was!"

Belle could not believe what she was hearing. The words that were coming out of her son's mouth! Maybe Riley was Right?! No! NO! She-! She must be controlling him! But she saw HER give him his heart back? And now? She was going to take Rumple and LEAVE tomorrow? Unless SHE won the bet and gained access to talk to him privately…

"Gideon, Please… Say ONE nice thing about your Papa?"

The young man locked eyes with her, "He ruined our family Mother, what do you want me to say? "I'm Glad he died, so I don't have to protect you?"

Gideon's cold response ultimately broke Belle's heart, as she sank to the floor and he stormed away out of the Diner.

"He'll be back," said Henry, but the bookworm paid no attention as she just sat there and sobbed. Only noticing when the Dark One's shoes approached her,

"Happy now?" she asked, "You've Won but I don't have the book, Gideon does"

"-This wasn't about Winning, Belle" said Riley, her tone filled with compassion. "It was about getting you to the truth, The Cold Hard Truth. The kind that you desperately sought from Grandpa but turned your back on when you didn't like what was being said. Part of Adulthood is listening to those hardships."

"-You think of me as a Child?"

"A Spoiled Teenager, technically. In their arrogance, they see themselves as "Grown Up" but in reality? They have no idea how the world works, because they are still learning and have lived sheltered lives."

"-I did -I do want to see the World,"

"Then you best be ready to play by their RULES, otherwise you'll just get hurt."

"-I'm pretty hurt already," she said with a frown.

"I know, listen. I didn't come here to gloat. I came to offer you a chance to say "Goodbye" to Bobby privately at the station tomorrow before we leave?"

The Bookworm was shocked as she shakily got to her feet. "You would do that?"

"-Yes…"

Walking back over to the "Heroes" table, the Dark One took a piece of paper from her pocket and wrote down a series of numbers and handed it to Henry. "This is my phone number, you can call me whenever it's ok with your Moms."

"-But the deal was-?"

"-Snow, Charming, and Emma can't contact me. It doesn't say anything about you. Loopholes Dearie – just don't abuse it."

The Charming family and Regina chuckled. Maybe there was a hint of Rumpelstiltskin in this girl after all.

After ordering a couple of sandwiches and drinks to go. Riley retrieved the food and a slumbering Bobby from Granny to head back upstairs to what she hoped would be the rest of an uneventful night. No Such Luck…

It was after 1 am when the Dark One was awoken at the sound of the locked door knob jiggling. Someone was trying to break in!

The mother instantly shot out of bed and scooped up Bobby. But before she could get to the bathroom, the door swung wide open to reveal Gideon standing in the doorway.

With bloodshot eyes, he glared at the petrified toddler. "I'm glad you died, But YOU should HAVE STAYED Dead! Something I'm going to rectify Right Now!"

Giving chase to them with a sharp butcher knife. Riley made it inside, locking the door. Trying to shield her child with her body.

"Stop Cowering Woman! You're the Bloody Dark One?!" Gideon had magicked himself inside,

"Not by Choice!" she hollered.

"Impossible!" he spat. "Well you have a choice now: Get Out of The Way!"

"-NO!"

"Get out of the way! You don't have to die! Even though there's only one sure way you can!"

"-NO!"

He paused at her insistence, " -You would die for this Beast?"

"-Yes, I love him. Any good mother would, including yours"

"That is precisely why I'm doing this! Fool yourself all you like, sooner or later he was going to be a monster again!"

Gideon lashed out stabbing Riley in the back! And grasped Bobby's foot with his free hand but was scorched all the way through the glove, screaming in pain! That he couldn't undo! "WHAT IS THIS MAGIC?!" The wounded mother took advantage of Gideon's distraction to weakly place something over her son's head and he vanished! Just as the loud wailing siren of the Sheriff's Squad Car pulled into the parking lot…

Gideon was admitted to the hospital with a bad 3rd degree burn on his right dominate hand. It was also reported that before the break in and attempted murder, he had been drinking down at the Rabbit Hole. It went without saying that Gideon was under arrest, his non-injured hand was handcuffed to the bed railing along the magical restraint.

Riley surprisingly was in critical condition for a while, not surprising was that she eventually pulled through. Considering she was after all the Dark One.

"-Riley?" asked Emma after she'd awoken. "Where's Bobby and the Dagger?"

"Some place safe…"

At that moment clear across the country in California, Raymond Bradford woke up in his bed to find a crying toddler at the end of it. "-Bobby?!" he gasped, hugging the boy close while taking the string with the weapon off. Eyeing the blade Ray breathed,

"Riley's in Trouble…"