His son wasn't in this world.

No. This couldn't be possible.

But could he trust what this man was saying? Then again, he had shown up with the woman who was supposed to break the curse and knew who he really was.

Still… a little minor interrogation wouldn't hurt much, would it?

"If you say that this boy was my son, and that you were indeed in Neverland… what did he say about me?" he asked, the can now pressed against Neal Cassidy's chest, to prevent the man from being able to get up.

The man gasped, then began to speak. "He only told my twin brother and I about you. He was the first Lost Boy in Neverland… became our leader when the rest of us arrived. He told us that you broke a deal with him, and that he fell down a magic portal that was supposed to take him to a land where he grew up…"

"A land without magic," Rumpelstiltskin said.

Neal Cassidy nodded. "He said he… he still cared about you. Still loved you."

Rumpelstiltskin stared. "Really?" Bae still cared for him, after he'd… broken their deal and… lost him for three hundred years?

The man nodded again. "Yes."

"Was he… happy?"

At that question, the man frowned a little. "As happy as he could be. I think he used the magic of Neverland to try and forget the pain of… what you did. There was a man there – Captain Hook – who would constantly be after him."

Hook.

"Hook is in Neverland?"

"Yes… but he disappeared before my brother and I left to come back to this world. I don't know where he went."

"So my son should be safe from him."

"Yes, he should be. Providing he didn't come here once he realized all of the Lost Boys were ready to… grow up," Cassidy explained.

Rumpelstiltskin's heart jumped. So he could be here after all. Bae could still be here. He might not have been wrong after all.

Slowly, he moved the cane off the other man. Cassidy sat up, breathing heavily.

"So. You know who I am, and I know who you are. We are in quite a pickle, aren't we, Mr. Cassidy?" Rumpelstiltskin said, leaning against the damned stick. He couldn't wait to get back to the Enchanted Forest so he could get rid of the limp.

Cassidy stood slowly, looking at the man with the same look he got many, many times over his hundreds of years as The Dark One.

"So…" Cassidy said. "Where do we go from here?"

Rumpelstiltskin tapped his finger against his cane. "Well… how is Emma doing with her belief of the curse, and all of… this?"

Cassidy sighed and shrugged a little. "I think she realizes that something isn't quite right with the town, and I think the book freaks her out because of the eerie… coincidences in it… but she's not believing in it. She thinks she's crazy every time she mentions it to me."

"So she is mentioning it to you." That was a start. He knew that people raised in this damned world wouldn't believe in magic as easily as those from the Enchanted Forest. The memories of 'Mr. Gold' didn't believe in fairytales and magic.

Frustrating, considering who he actually was.

The man nodded. "Yes, she is."

"Hmm…" Rumpelstiltskin said. "That is a start."

"I want to ease her into it, you know? Emma didn't have the best life, and she's pretty hard."

"So I gathered. She's… a troublemaker isn't she?"

"How do you figure?"

Rumpelstiltskin laughed a little. "Anyone who makes a deal with me is a troublemaker."

"Considering the book, I guess I can't argue with that."

"That book is a troublemaker too. Though it is useful in getting Emma to remember," Rumpelstiltskin said, leaning against the can. "I suppose certain things will have to be… nudged a little."

"Nudged? Nudged how?"

"Make things happen. Things quite out of the ordinary… well, more so than what she has seen already. The fuzzy memories in the other townsfolk are probably something, but we need something more. Of course, I don't have magic, so we'll have to be creative."

"We'll think of things…" Cassidy said. "And who knows what else might go on now that Emma's here."

"Indeed…" Rumpelstiltskin said, looking out the window. "The clock tower, for example, has been frozen as long as we've been here."

Cassidy's eyes widened. "So… her parents…"

Rumpelstiltskin nodded. "Are now only ten years older than her. We have all been frozen in time."

"Where is her father? We met Snow but…"

Rumpelstiltskin looked down. He didn't particularly care about the Savior or her husband, nor her parents, but Charming did not deserve the fate that Regina gave to him in this world. Charming had helped him tremendously, and Rumpelstiltskin wasn't afraid to admit that.

"He's a coma patient at the hospital. He has no identity that we know of."

In fact, Rumpelstiltskin had seen him today, at the hospital, when he'd run into Emma.

Cassidy sighed. "So… could it be possible to nudge him awake?"

Rumpelstiltskin shrugged. "I suppose… but if we do, who knows what he might remember – if anything."

The man-turned-imp-turned-man again didn't know how this would go.

"Him awakening will set Regina off, won't it?"

Rumpelstiltskin nodded. "She created the curse to make Snow White unhappy… if her Prince Charming wakes up and they're reunited… then Snow White is far from depressed."

Cassidy leaned against one of the cabinets. "If he wakes up and remembers who he really is, Regina will try to hurt him… and I can't put Emma through that, whether or not she believes in the book."

"Ah, protective. Naturally, coming from a Lost Boy. We'll make sure that Regina isn't able to get what she wants."

He had an impish grin on his face. Yes, Regina had given him what he wanted, but damn if she wasn't a pain in the ass to his 'counterpart'.

Plus it was fun to watch her squirm. He didn't know why he felt it so much more fun to watch Regina squirm over say, Snow White, but it was.

"Do not worry Mr. Cassidy," Rumpelstiltskin said. "We will figure something out since you work for me now."

Cassidy nodded. "Alright… thank you sir."

Rumpelstiltskin nodded. "Good luck."

The sooner the curse broke, the sooner he could find Bae… and he had a feeling that Mr. Cassidy and Mrs. Swan-Cassidy would be a big help.

Mary-Margaret Blanchard walked into the room with John Doe inside it. It was strange, but she felt drawn to the man. Ridiculous really, considering he was comatose and probably had some sort of family… even though no family ever showed up to confirm who he was.

"You know what my favorite story is?" she asked, knowing she wouldn't get an answer. "Snow White… and my friend Emma has shown me a different version that I can't help but like better…"

So Mary-Margaret, with nothing to do at home, sat next to John Doe and began telling the story from Emma's book.

When she got to the end, where the prince kissed Snow White to wake her from the sleeping curse, she felt a warm hand on hers, and she gasped.

He'd moved.

Well, now what did she do? Go to Whale? She knew she should, but she somehow felt like she shouldn't. Instead, she bit her lip, leaning closer to him. "Wake up…" she whispered. "I know you can wake up…"

She had to leave, she knew she did, but she didn't want to. "I'll be back tomorrow…" she whispered again before standing up, managing to drag herself away from the mysterious man in the hospital bed.

Neal awoke the next morning to a text from Mr. Gold.

He's awake.