This Doesn't Have to Be Love

by Snapegirlkmf

Once upon a time, the Dark One made a deal with Belle to be the caretaker of his son and his estate, and ended up finding the other half of his heart . . .see how things would have been if Belle and Bae had stayed with Rumple in the Dark Castle and ended up being cursed too. Prequel to Unexpected Surprise. Rumbelle, AU!

14. Finding Their Way Back

14

~ Finding Their Way Back ~

Bae was silent during the ride back to Gold's house but his mind was anything but. All he could see were his friends...being cut down by knives, bullets and grenades...family...gone forever like his papa and Isabelle...his stepmom.

The four he was closest to now lay in hospital beds fighting for their lives and there was nothing he could do. Had he been there...

He would've fought to the death beside his brothers and sisters because that was what family did...that had been drilled into his brain by his papa.

Gold glanced at the boy sitting next to him as he drove the few blocks back to his Victorian. The radio was playing softly, one of the classical stations he liked. He knew what thoughts must be going through Bae's head now . . .the same ones he had after waking up in a hospital bed and learning his son and fiancée were dead . . .why couldn't it have been me? And now . . . like then . . .he had no good answer . . . so he remained silent.

Now this complete stranger, one he tried to rob blind was willing to take him into his home. What would it be like? Would he be like his papa? He acted a bit like him now.

Gold pulled into his driveway and got out of the car and entered his house, Bae trailing behind him. "Let me show you upstairs, so you can get washed up and pick out a room, okay? I know, it's a little big but you'll get used to it."

"Okay..."

He was used to living in a warehouse...the house could've fit in into Shadow's kitchen. Thinking about Shadow brought tears to his eyes.

He wanted to be with them all now...especially Andi...

"Ummm...Mr. Gold...you really don't have to do this..."

"Yes, I do." the attorney said quietly. He couldn't explain it, but somehow he knew he and the boy belonged together. He was still getting odd flickers of memories . . .ones that he didn't understand . . .of himelf and the boy in a castle . . . He shook his head. He could sort it out later. Right now, he needed to get Bae settled. Gold showed him the large guest bathroom on the right, with its tastefully appointed cream and hunter green tiles and Italian marble tub and shower, countertop, and commode. "Uh . . . there's towels in this closet . . ." the attorney opened a small linen closet to reveal mounds of towels. "And everything else in the vanity here . . ." he showed him some shampoo and soap and a scrubby sponge. "Let me get you some clothes. I think you'll fit in my T-shirt and sweat pants."

Bae nodded numbly.

As soon as Gold shut the door behind him, Bae sat down on the commode and started pounding his legs with his fists. "Stupid asshole! You shoulda been there, you shoulda!" he yelled.

His legs ached from the amount of force he applied but he didn't care. The pain he gave himself wasn't enough compared to the pain the others endured.

Meanwhile, Gold hunted through his dresser for clothes, thanking God he was nearly the same size as the youngster. He would have to take the boy shopping later, he mused. Perhaps after he'd spoken to Hopper and maybe saw his friends.

Bae wanted to knock down the walls but he didn't want Mr. Gold to throw him out so he turned himself into his punching bag.

Several clumps of hair lay on the floor at his feet after he brutally yanked them out.

Robert returned with the clothes in his arms, tapping on the door first and calling, "Bae, may I come in? I have some clothes for you."

"Yeah..." he said hoarsely.

The attorney opened the door and set the clothes on the counter. "I can wash what you've got on now, just leave them outside the door and . . ." he trailed off when he saw the hair on the floor, obviously ripped out in a fit of rage. Concerned, he went and put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Hey . . . I know you're hurting . . .but if you need to hit something . . .I have a punching bag in my basement that's better than you beating yourself up, okay?"

"Why shouldn't I? What I deserve..."

"You don't. Just like I didn't deserve putting myself through hell all those years blaming myself for my family's deaths. What happened was a terrible tragedy,, son, but even if you were there, what could you have done to prevent it? Nothing. And you'd have died with them."

"It's...what you do...for family...fight to the death...my papa taught me that…"

"Yes . . .I would have done the same. But you ask yourself this-would your papa want you to be here, alive, or in the hospital dying . . . and I think you know the answer."

He would have wanted you to live Bae...to honor them...he thought.

People in the town saw them as thugs but the boy knew better...they had hearts as big as craters unlike the Dogs who had no hearts at all...and only he could make everyone understand that.

And every day he honored his papa and stepmother...in his room in the compound was a little shrine he built with two candles he lit on their birthdays.

On those days he let the candles burn most of the night...every other day he burned them for an hour in their honor, thinking of the good times.

Never once suspecting he'd been doing it for twenty-eight years.

Gold ruffled the boy's hair, an instinctive gesture. "Umm . . .when you're done, come downstairs . . . okay?" Then he realized what he'd done and muttered, "Sorry . .. it's just . . . " Gold, you idiot, he's not Neal! Stop acting like he is! "I'll make tea."

"It's okay...my papa used to do that too." Bae said softly.

And tonight he really needed it.

"All right," the pawnbroker replied, relieved the boy didn't rebuff his affectionate gesture. "Don't drown yourself. If you're not down in ten minutes, I'm coming back to check on you." He meant it, he was worried about the boy's mental state.

"I can't...I have to speak for them...now they can't..."

But it still didn't make the pain any easier.

"Yes . . .you're the only one who can . . . okay, get cleaned up." Gold said, then limped out of the room.

Archie walked out of the hospital feeling like a medic in a war zone and what he saw would haunt him for the rest of his life...children with bullet and knife wounds...so many of them dead, others clinging to life and the ones that had no physical injuries had their minds shattered.

He spent most of his time at the hospital with a young boy named Mikey who wasn't at the fight at all but his brother was among the dead. The boy was blaming himself for not being there though judging from what he heard; Archie suspected the boy would've met the same fate as his brother. He gave strict orders for him and all the other patients to be closely monitored for the next few weeks and he would make regular visits.

Along with seeing patients at his office, Archie made house calls...sometimes a patient felt more comfortable talking to him in their own surroundings. It was unconventional but if it helped a patient, so be it.

Though exhausted, he had one last stop to make, the home of Mr. Gold. He offered his services to the pawnbroker after the deaths of his fiancée and son but Mr. Gold preferred to cope with his loss alone despite Archie's best efforts. Now Mr. Gold had the other boy who wasn't at the fight in his home and though it was kind of Mr. Gold to take the boy in, he wasn't qualified to handle the boy's situation on his own.

He was relieved when Sheriff Swan informed him Mr. Gold actually wanted him to stop over. Even if he didn't Archie was not taking no for an answer.

He tapped on the front door with the tip of his umbrella and waited for the pawnbroker to answer.

Mr. Gold opened the door a minute later.

"Doctor Hopper...thank you for coming."

"I just wish it was under different circumstances...even rent day," the therapist confessed.

"Come in and sit down...Bae is in the shower and should be down shortly."

Archie frowned. "He's up there alone?"

"If I thought he would...I never would've left him alone. He's a strong boy, Doctor."

"A boy who lost people who were family to him, Mr. Gold," Archie pointed out. "Even the strongest person has a breaking point."

"I know. Would you like some tea?"

"That'll be fine."

Gold set a tray with a tea set down on the coffee table and handed one of them to Doctor Hopper while he sipped from another that was chipped.

"I take it you've seen..."

"I've never seen such horror in my life, Mr. Gold...not even on TV...and those kids were so young...fighting like soldiers on a battlefield!"

"Bae is...close to some of them...three girls and two boys...we know two of them aren't doing well..."

"They must be the ones they pulled out of the rubble after it was hit by a grenade and no they're not."

Bae finger combed his hair after he dressed in Gold's borrowed clothes, which though a little large on him, only required a bit of rolling at the cuffs so he could wear them. Gold had supplied him with some socks and boxers as well, and though he felt a bit odd wearing them, at least they were clean and not stolen. He took a breath and went down the stairs, hearing Gold talking to someone, and figured it was the therapist. He entered the kitchen to find the two men drinking tea at the table. Gold was drinking his from a chipped cup that Bae recognized . . . though he didn't know why he'd remember a cup like that . . .sitting on another table in what looked like a medieval castle.

Though he hadn't been in the fighting, the boy went through his own battle judging by the spot where it looked like he'd torn some of his own hair out.

"Umm . . . hello, sir." the boy said quietly, recalling the manners his papa had taught him before he was old enough to go to school. He held out a hand to the therapist.

"Bae, sit down and have some tea," Mr. Gold indicated a chair next to him and across from Archie. He indicated a third cup and the tea pot and sugar bowl and creamer. "Would you like cream and sugar or lemon and honey?"

"Uh . . .cream and sugar's okay," he said, and began fixing his tea, he liked it light and sweet. He sipped it and said, "This's Irish breakfast tea, right?"

"It is," Gold nodded. "I like my tea strong."

"So do I," Archie agreed.

"Me too," Bae said. "Can't stand weak tea. Tastes like dishwater." He drank some more before looking at the therapist. "Dr. Hopper . . .can you tell me about my friends . .. the ones who were hurt with the grenade? How are they?"

Archie sighed. "The girl you call Fury and Ewan...both have gunshot wounds...they just got out of surgery and we won't know anything else until the doctors see how their recovery goes. The other three...they're mostly bruised from having debris fall on them...

Apparently...they had some sort of line of defense going in the kitchen..."

"Wraith . . .Andi MacLeod and Bobby MacTavish and Kat Natale, only we called her Shadow . . ."

"Andi...has a broken arm and leg...and a concussion."

"How bad? Does she remember who she is?"

"She does thank goodness but they're monitoring it in case there are complications."

"And Shadow and Bobby . . .what's gonna happen to them now? And Mikey? That kid was a pain in my ass but . .. now where do they go?"

"We're trying to find any relatives they might have...Shadow and Bobby both have broken limbs as well but they should be released soon. Mikey...since he has no other family, I've recommended he be placed in foster care. Mr. Spencer argued for juvenile hall."

The doctor and the attorney got into quite a shouting match over that.

Bae stiffened. "That fat bastard!'

"Thankfully Mayor Mills supported my decision."

He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

"Umm . . .how about the Dogs? They all dead?" Bae asked then. They might have been enemies, but the only one he wished dead had been Pete for what he'd almost done to Andi.

"No...there were nine survivors and all of them are under guard."

They were facing multiple counts of murder.

"Watch 'em, Doc. They're mean sonuvabitches . . .they like to hurt you before they mug you . . . and they've killed people before. One of 'em . . .used to be one of us before we kicked his ass out for trying to rape Andi . . .he went over to them before this war went down . . .according to our mole . . .Chameleon . . ."

"Oh I know they are...I've had a few run ins with them."

Thankfully Pongo scared them off. The Dalmatian was like a lion when his master was being threatened.

Bae eyed him. "You're lucky they didn't hurt ya bad. They fucked up Moe pretty damn good."

"My umbrella is for more than just keeping me dry."

At least it had been since the gang problem increased.

"That's good. Like Mr. Gold's cane," Bae chuckled.

"If necessary," the pawnbroker remarked wryly. "You have stories about my cane?"

The former Scorpion smirked. "Yeah . . .it's like the cane of doom . . .you're like totally badass with it . . .we heard about the time you beat one of the Dogs so bad they had to crawl back home . . ."

Archie normally didn't condone violence but anyone who attempted to assault a disabled person deserved what they got.

Or when they tried to scare a little girl in the park who wasn't doing anything but playing with a dog.

That was how he met little Gisella Bordreaux.

He didn't want to think of what they would've done to her and Pongo had he gotten there too late.

"I had to . . .I was going to the bank with my deposit bag and one of them came and stuck a Bowie knife in my face and threatened to cut off my balls if I didn't give him my money . . . that and carve out my heart," Robert said. "Luckily he wasn't all that big, and he was holding that knife wrong, so I slammed my cane down on his hand. I think I broke his fingers, but he wouldn't back off, he came at me with the knife and tried to stab me . . .luckily he stabbed my deposit pouch instead. Which allowed me to get in a few good whacks with my cane."

"You sent him crawling home like a whipped puppy!" Bae grinned. "And after that . . .nobody wanted to tangle with you."

"At least you had a weapon...there's a little girl I see in the park when I take Pongo for his walks that they were bothering that I nearly blinded with my umbrella. Had I not gotten there when I did..."

"Those Dogs are pieces of shit . . .trying to hurt kids!" Bae eyes flashed. "Scorpions never did that . . ."

"You just robbed from the rich to give to the poor, right?" Gold teased gently.

"If you mean the poor being us . . . then yeah," the boy agreed.

"Bae, since you're still a minor with no family...you're also a ward of the state. I hate to bring it up but..." Archie trailed off.

Bae looked alarmed. "No! You ain't puttin' me in no home! Like hell!"

Gold shook his head. "Relax, son. He's not going anywhere. He stays with me."

"I was going to suggest that Mr. Gold file a petition with the courts to become your guardian if that's what you want to do," Archie said.

"I was going to do that . . .if you would agree to my becoming your guardian, Bae."

"Hell, yeah, Mr. Gold. I'd take you and your cane any day of the week over some group home."

"I'll have to make regular visits to make sure everything is going well of course."

"I would never harm the boy . . .my reputation notwithstanding," Gold protested. He looked at Bae. "You know that, right? I don't hurt children . . .that other time I was defending myself. I . . .I hardly ever raised a hand to my son when he misbehaved, if he were here he could tell you that."

"I'm not saying you would, Mr. Gold but you know the court will insist on it."

"Yes, of course. And better you than someone else," the attorney agreed. "When would I have to fill out the papers?"

"The sooner the better," Archie advised.

In his professional and personal opinion, the two of them would be a good fit for each other. The boy had no parents now and Mr. Gold would have a chance to be a father again.

"I'll make an appointment with Youth Services tomorrow. They're probably closed now."

"Actually no...they're working late to see if they can locate the parents of these kids. Mayor Mills insisted."

"Dr. Hopper . . . when can I see my friends?" Bae wanted to know.

"We can..go over now if you wish but Bae...it's not going to be a pleasant sight..."

"Please. And don't worry about that . . . I've seen a lot of shit out on the streets, man," the boy answered darkly. And some of it he still had nightmares about.

"I'll speak with Youth Services in the meantime . . .and come and pick you up if I have to in order to sign consent forms, Bae," Robert told him. "Unless you'd rather I come there first and then we can do the paperwork later?"

"It would be better if you went with us, Mr. Gold. This is going to be...difficult for him."

"All right," the attorney agreed. He had suspected as much, but didn't want to make the boy feel like he was crowding him or treating him like a little kid.

Actually Baelfire was relieved when he heard that. He was still wary of the adults in Storybrooke, yet he trusted Gold to have his back.

Also Mr. Gold would be able to give Bae the emotional support he would need.

Bae set down his cup. "I'm done. Can we go now?"

"If you're ready, Mr. Gold?"

"Yes. Let's go."

They took Mr. Gold's car which was larger and in much better shape than Archie's Chevy. Gold put his arm around Bae's shoulders as they walked down the hall to the rooms were his friends were being kept. They were told they couldn't stay long.

They went to Andi's room first. She was still asleep from the pain medications she'd been given. Bae leaned over and took her good hand in his, squeezing it tightly as he sobbed.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there, Andi..." he moaned. "You know I would have...no matter what we always had each other's backs. C'mon Wraith...you gotta get better..."

Mr. Gold wiped tears from his own eyes. What he would have given for Lacey and Neal to have survived the crash...he wouldn't have given a damn if they were disabled as he was...as long as they were ALIVE.

The young girl slept on, oblivious to his presence.

"You'll have to leave now..." the nurse said.

"Perhaps we can bring her something . . .a get well present . . ." Gold suggested softly.

"Butterflies...we gotta find something with butterflies..."

"We can do that . . .I may have something in my shop," the pawnbroker murmured. "Come, let's let her rest . . .sleep is the best medicine." He put his arm around his ward and ushered him from the room.

They would visit Shadow next. She was awake and sitting up in her bed.

"Shad!" Bae cried.

"Fire!" she grinned. "Thank God you were away when it all went down." She hugged him hard.

"What happened, Shad?"

"They drove a damn SUV through the doors and started shooting at us before we could get our own guns, Fire!"

"Aww fuck! That bastard Pete probably told 'em that the doors weren't reinforced." Bae groaned. "What about Remy?" That was Chameleon, their spy.

"They killed him, Bae...and..." She cringed. "They TORTURED HIM!"

Bae hugged her. "Those motherfuckers!" he swore, tears in his eyes. Remy had been like a brother to Shadow . . .and had been liked by everyone . . . he'd volunteered to become a spy because too many of them were getting picked off by the Dog packs . . .and he could get people to trust him easily, and he could also lie like Lucifer when he had to.

"Pete ratted him out."

"Course he did!" Bae spat. "Dickie shoulda let me kill him!"

"Or cut out his tongue so he couldn't talk!' Shadow hissed.

"Yeah. I hope he burns in hell!"

"He is. Dickie took him out. One shot right in the head . . .now he's singing with the devil!"

Gold and Archie looked at each other, both cringing.

"Who got Dickie?"

"Black Mastiff," Shadow said. That was the Black Dog's leader. "But Dodger took down a bunch of his pack before Mastiff got him. You know he was an Army brat, he knew how to shoot straight."

"What about Fury and Ewan?"

"They . . . they were with me, Bobby, and Wraith . . .we were all in the kitchen getting something to eat when the Dogs came and busted down the door. And you know where I kept the emergency guns . . .in the broom closet . . .in the back, just in case. So we grabbed 'em . . . but we only had so many rounds . . . and the Dogs had more people . . ."

"It's okay, Shad...I know you did what you could..."

She brushed tears from her eyes. "Bobby and I ran out first . . .and Fury told us to leave, but I wasn't gonna leave them alone . . .and Bobby wouldn't either . . . so we threw stuff at 'em. Andi ran out too . . . and then it was just Fury and Ewan left, they couldn't get past us . . .we made it so they could only come down the hall one at a time . . . and the Dogs were getting their tails whipped . . . till Mastiff threw a damn grenade the cheating bastard . . .!"

"They get him, Shad?"

"Yeah. Ewan did. I think. And the damn roof and the wall blew apart . . .I couldn't see, you know I'm blind without my glasses, they got knocked off . . .and Bobby . . .he threw himself over me . . ." she was shaking. "I thought we were all dead . . ."

"I'm glad you're okay..." Bae murmured.

"I just have a busted ankle. And Bobby broke his arm. We were under the table . . .Bobby shoved us under it before the grenade went off. I didn't even know about Ewan and Fury getting shot . . .till they told me after I woke up."

"I dunno if they'll let me see 'em..."

"They wouldn't let me . . .said they were too doped up and stuff," Shadow sighed. "Bobby tried to sneak in there, but in ICU they watch too close . . .made him go back to his room."

"Damn!" Knowing his friend as well as he did, Bobby would try again.

"Nobody will give me a straight answer about how they are," the girl said tightly. "So I've just been praying on my Holy Mother medal," she showed him her silver medal with the Madonna and child on it . . . it had been her mother's. She clasped it in her hand and put Bae's over it and began reciting the Hail Mary in Italian. "Ave Maria . . ."

Gold took his other hand in his and prayed with them.

Archie recited his from his place in the corner of the room.

Shadow looked up at the attorney. "You speak Italian too, Mr. Gold?"

"Yes...I don't know why...but I do...and a few other languages."

She smiled. "You take good care of Fire, you hear? And if he gives you any lip . . .you can borrow my wooden spoon," she said with some of her old spunk. She looked at Bae. "Cause my spoon survived . . .it was still in my pocket . . .I'd put it there when I was stirring the sauce . . ."

"You don't need to worry dearie. I can keep him in line," Gold vowed with a smile.

"Nothing stops the spoon of doom!" said a new voice from the doorway. It was Bobby, with his arm in a purple sling and his hair falling in floofy waves all over. "She already threatened to beat my ass with it if I didn't stay in bed."

"Then how come you're out of it?" Shadow mock scowled.

"You gonna tell on me?"

"Oh, just get over here!" she patted the bed. "Look who's come to visit!"

"Fire...and...Mr. Gold?!"

Bobby came and hugged Bae with his good arm and shook hands with Mr. Gold.

"You shouldn't be out of bed, lad, but Bae needed to see you so I'm not saying anything." Gold said.

"I didn't see anything," Archie said and whistled nonchalantly.

"Thanks. If it was up to those damn nurses, they'd tie me to it . . ." the boy admitted. "I'm so bored I'm climbing the walls . . . my TV's broken and I've got nothing to look at but some hospital wall chart."

"Do you read? I could have some books brought in for you?" Gold offered.

"Yeah. I do. Mostly suspense stuff, but right now I'd read the dictionary. I do word games too." He reached into the pocket of his hospital gown, which he wore over a pair of sweats, and pulled out two slightly crushed roses. "Here, Shad. The old lady next to me gets all these flowers and she told me I could take some. I put a blue rose on Andi before I came here.

"Thanks Bobby," Bae murmured.

"No prob, bro."

"They're lovely," Shadow said, and set them in her glass of water on the tray table.

"Do either of you have any family?" Archie asked Shadow and Bobby.

Bobby nodded. "Yeah. I used to live with my dad . . .my parents are divorced . . .till my mom made a stink about it and got her dick boyfriend to get custody of me . . .and they made me live with them . . .and the dick told me if I tried to go back to him they'd see to it he was put away on some trumped up charge. But I couldn't stand living with my ho mom and HIM anymore, so I ran off and joined the Knights. But I'm not going back to her . . ."

"What is your father's name?"

"Joe MacTavish."

"Shadow?"

"I used to live with my sister, our parents both died in a plane crash, and Angel was eighteen, but then the state said I needed a guardian that was twenty-one and wouldn't let me stay with her . . . so I took off and joined the Scorpions . . .and I still saw Angel sometimes . . . till it wasn't safe for me to anymore. The Dogs . . . they'd have hurt her if they knew she was my sister . . ."

"And her last name?"

"Natale. It means Christmas in Italian."

"Thank you, Shadow."

"You're gonna try to find em, aren't you Doc?" asked Bae.

"Will you help us get back with our families, Mr. Gold?" asked Bobby. "My mom's dick boyfriend said nobody'd ever take my word over his, but . . ."

Archie was writing down the details the teenagers had given them on a small notepad he carried with him. He might have some luck but Mr. Gold would have more.

Gold frowned. "Do I know this person, Bobby?"

"Yup. He's the DA. Albert Spencer," Bobby growled. "Thinks he's king of the hill. And my mom . . is his secretary. Marjorie."

Gold scowled. "That lying snake! He told everyone they sent you away to some prep school in Boston!"

"Right! The only school I went into is the school of hard knocks," the boy said bitterly.

Archie snorted. "Why am I not shocked?"

"My mom is a stupid ass for getting involved with him . . .and she only wanted me cause it'd hurt my dad, not cause she wanted me."

"I'll see what I can do about getting you back with your dad," Gold promised. He could always make a deal with Spencer and his woman. Money talked with them, and always had. Wave enough dollar signs in front of their face and they'd not protest Bobby's sudden return to Storybrooke and his choice to return to his father.

Archie would be willing to act as a medical expert on the boy's behalf if a hearing needed to be held. He wanted to see these kids placed in good homes.

And Gold was prepared to smear dirt on Spencer's name if he had to. The DA wouldn't like it known that he'd been lying . . . and his "beloved" fiancée's son had been running wild on the streets all this time in a gang.

"I'm going to go check on Michael," Archie said to the group.

He was in the psychiatric wing on another floor.

"I'd better be getting back to my room, before Nurse Ratchet comes and puts me in a strait jacket," Bobby said. He kissed Shadow lightly. "See ya later, babydoll."

"I'll bring you some books and puzzles," Bae called.

"And we'll let you know when we've gotten in touch with your father," Gold promised. It looked like he would be busy for the next week or two.

It would be worth it if he could reunite these kids with the only family they had left. As for Bae, the boy was his family now.

He knew Lacey and Neal would want it that way.

Everyone else thought he was a difficult man to love and for the longest time so did he until she walked into his life and showed him he could be loved by someone other than Neal.

He put his hand on Bae's shoulder. "Baelfire, we need to go now. We have to go over to Youth Services and sign those papers. We can come back again and visit your friends tomorrow. Perhaps Ewan and Fury will be awake then."

Bae nodded then said goodbye to Shadow. He made a mental note to bring something for them next time he came. Then he followed Mr. Gold out of the hospital.

It only took about fifteen minutes for Gold and Bae to sign the papers for the guardianship. Apparently Mayor Mills had given the Youth Services the green light to do whatever Gold wished in this matter . . .and so the papers were made available and signed . . .and regular visits scheduled by Dr. Hopper and also Gold agreed to set up sessions with him for counseling for Bae. His next project, besides finding the families of Bae's friends, was enrolling the boy in school.

They drove back to the hospital to pick up Archie, and then they were all hungry and went out to Granny's to eat some dinner.

To honor his friends, Bae ordered lasagna, which was one of their favorite meals. He knew it wouldn't taste as good as Shadow's, but then nobody cooked like Shadow. Mr. Gold ordered beef stroganoff and a glass of iced tea. Archie had a chicken basket with some soda.

The mood in the diner was a somber one. Several patrons glared at the former Scorpion. In their minds he was as bad as the Dogs.

Bae flinched at their stares. He wasn't in the mood to fight back right then, still feeling depressed.

Gold, however, gave them a steely fierce glare right back. Back off! he seemed to say without needed to utter a word. This boy is under MY protection . . . and you hurt him and you deal with ME!

Several pairs of eyes looked away quickly.

No one wanted to bring the wrath of Gold down on them, especially those who rented from him.

Ruby took their orders politely, seeming sympathetic to Bae. She had been wild as a kid too . . . and some would say she was still. In any case, she was the last person to judge someone by their actions.

"They don't get it...we weren't like the Dogs!"

"We know that, Bae but it's going to take some time for people in town to accept that." Archie said softly.

"In the meantime, we'll establish a normal routine for you and eventually people will start thinking of you as my son," Mr. Gold told him.

"That would be best," Archie agreed.

"What are we gonna do, Mr. Gold?"

"Well, first we're going to set up some sessions with Dr. Hopper here. And then we need to enroll you in school. I'll speak with the principal, Mr. Hale, about that tomorrow and see what kinds of test you'll need to take for placement. And then you and I need to go shopping for clothes, food, and other things you might like."

"But...I don't need to go to school!"

He was afraid everyone would tease him because he couldn't read properly.

When he tried the words were jumbled and he couldn't make sense of them.

Gold raised an eyebrow. "I'm afraid you have to, Bae. It's the law."

"And if Mr. Gold doesn't comply with that, he could be seen as an unfit guardian, and they'll take you away from him," Archie explained.

Not wanting that he agreed. "OK...I'll go."

Thinking he might be worried about his reception because of his past, Gold said, "And if anyone gives you a hard time . . . teacher OR student, you come tell me."

Bae could take care of himself in a fight...he had for a long time.

Mr. Gold's protectiveness however was touching.

"Because nobody hurts my son!" Robert declared fiercely.

"You...you really want ME to be your son?"

"I do, lad. Else I'd never have signed those papers," Gold said earnestly.

"Sorry it's just that nobody gave a shit about us before..."

"Well now . . .someone does," Robert told him.

Archie sat in his seat simply observing. He could only do so much to help the boy; the rest of the healing process would have to be done at home between the two of them.

Things were a bit calmer once Ruby arrived with their meals and the other diners ceased their staring but probably not their gossip.

Bae remembered to slow down this time and eat at something less than warp speed. Plus he really wasn't as hungry as he should have been, though he knew better than to waste food.

Gold ate his Strogonoff and kept a watchful eye on his new son. "How's your lasagna?" he asked halfway through the meal.

"Okay...my papa's was better though..."

"You'll have to try mine," Robert chuckled. "I think it's better than this overpriced frozen one. Although their Strogonoff isn't bad."

"You make yours from scratch? My papa did."

Archie frowned at his plate wondering who created the awful breading for the chicken he was eating. There was too much of it and not enough meat.

Robert nodded. "A client of mine was Italian. She gave me her family recipe."

"I think I'm going to order something else," Archie muttered, pushing his plate aside.

"Order a hamburger," suggested Gold.

"Ummm...maybe I'll just try grilled chicken."

He wasn't fond of the hamburgers either since they didn't use the same seasonings he did.

"Yeah, it's kinda hard to screw up that," Bae said. "And ice cream."

Ruby came over to their table. "Something wrong, Doctor Hopper?"

"I'll have grilled chicken instead, Ruby."

Ruby picked up his plate and chuckled knowing Granny would have a fit when the chili king of Storybrooke sent her new dish back.

"Is that a hint you'd like a sundae after dinner?" Gold teased.

"Uh . . .I ALWAYS find room for ice cream."

Archie excused himself to make a phone call while he waited for his chicken.

Robert stared. Neal had always said that . . .in just that same tone. It was almost like having his son's ghost in the room with him. And oddly enough, he again had these flashes of memory . . . of seeing a boy very like the one sitting across from him at another table, in a dining hall like that in a castle, and next to him was a beautiful woman in a blue dress that reminded him of his lost Lacey.

Bae finished his lasagna and garlic bread. Gold waited until Ruby returned with Archie's grilled chicken before asking to see the dessert menu. Ruby snagged one and handed it to him. "Here you go, Mr. Gold."

Gold took it, glanced at it, then handed it to Bae. "I already know what I want."

Bae took it and looked it over. Then he set it down. "So do I."

Archie returned to the table and cut off a piece of his chicken. It was much better but still a bit on the spicy side.

"Are you ready to get your dessert?" asked Ruby. "And how is your chicken, Dr. Hopper?"

"Ummm...fine..." he lied.

"I'll have a chocolate peanut butter cup sundae with hot fudge and a cherry on top," Bae said.

"And you, Mr. Gold? Your usual?"

"Uh . . . yes . . .a chocolate brownie sundae with walnuts." Gold said distractedly.

Archie looked up from his plate. "Is something wrong, Mr. Gold?"

"No. Nothing," he answered quickly. Except the fact that this boy has the same taste as my dead son. Though why that should be a problem I don't know.

Now the doctor was concerned. He was hoping Mr. Gold wasn't taking the boy in to try to make him into the son he lost. It was not healthy either for him or the boy.

"You're sure?"

"Yes. It's just . . .I'm thinking of a lot of things at once."

"It has been a difficult day."

It was going to be an even more difficult night as everyone adjusted to a town that was not the same anymore now that such a horrible act of violence occurred.

Bae enjoyed his sundae, but feared he would never sleep that night, being in a strange place, though the room he'd picked out from the three available was quite nice. He was afraid of the nightmares he would have . . .afraid the murdered faces of his dead friends would haunt him. So he stayed up flicking through the channels on the TV in the den, trying desperately to find something to hold his interest.

He heard the tapping of a cane in the hallway and Mr. Gold walked in, looking like he was restless too.

"Sorry . . .is the TV too loud?" Bae asked nervously.

"No, no...it's fine...I just...couldn't sleep."

"Me neither." He changed the channel again. "Dammit! There's nothing on."

"There never is this time of night." Robert picked up the remote and switched off the TV.

"The first few months after...flipping through channels was what I tried to do to fall asleep."

"Did it help?"

"No. Finally I was just so exhausted that I passed out but I never stayed asleep along...I kept seeing them..."

"I . . .that's what I'm afraid of too . . ."

"Now...I think it would've been easier if I had someone else to talk to."

Bae looked down at his socks. "Uh . . .maybe . . . then . . . you don't think I'm . . .stupid or something . . ."

"Why would I when I've been where you are?"

Bae swallowed sharply. "I dunno . . .I'm just . . .confused . . .and I feel . . .like everything's all upside down and . . .sorry . . .I must sound like a headcase . . ."

"Like nothing makes sense anymore?"

"It doesn't. I mean yesterday I was sleeping on a mattress with my brothers . . .and thinking about the best way to rob your shop . . .and Dickie was teasing me about making a quick getaway and now . . .I'm here and he's . . .not." He felt tears sting his eyes again.

Robert sat down beside him and put his arm around Bae. "That day we were going on a picnic...Neal and I were happy but not as happy as when Lacey came into our lives. And just like that...they were gone..."

"How . . . did you keep from . . missing them . . .?" Bae sniffed. He didn't want to fall apart again. He was supposed to be some tough street thief, not a weepy baby.

"I kept busy cut everyone off...and only made things worse for myself."

Robert was trying to hold back his own tears.

Then he couldn't hold them back any longer.

"Mr. Gold . . . don't . . " Bae cried. Then he was crying too . . .and hugging his guardian . . . as the two wept for what they had lost and would never have again.

They cried until they both fell into an exhausted sleep.

The day the funerals were held for the gang members killed Belle French stood outside her apartment building waiting for Mary Margaret to pick her up, a stack of posters her youngest reading class made for the victims in her hands.

Explaining to all of them what happened wasn't easy but there was no way to avoid it either because it was all over the news.

She was at Granny's the day it happened and left her dinner uneaten. Some of those children were the same age as the students in one of her classes...and a few of her students actually knew members from the Scorpions and the Purple Knights.

She offered what little comfort to them she could and asked her grade school classes to make little posters for them victims.

Having little problems with her apartment and calling to bother Mr. Gold about them didn't cross her mind anymore.

They all had more important things to worry about.

She was surprised Etienne Devereaux wasn't a member of the gang that attacked people...he was as violent. Once again he'd tried to make advances toward her and she told Mr. Hale that she wanted the boy removed from her class or she would file a sexual harassment lawsuit.

Mary Margaret pulled up in her jeep and honked the horn. "I'm not ready for this," her fellow teacher said sadly.

"I'm not either, Mary," Belle confessed.

"So many children...some of my students...they knew them."

"So did mine...most of the time we all just sit together in the classroom...and talk about the good memories they have. The two other gangs...they weren't like the Black Dogs..."

"THEY were animals! They beat up that poor florist...tried to hurt a little girl in the park and I heard one of them tried to stab Mr. Gold!"

"What? Mr. Gold was attacked? When, Mary?"

"it was before...the boy only got his deposit bag and Mr. Gold fought him off with his cane."

"I may have my differences with the man but he didn't deserve that!" Belle exclaimed.

"At least now the ones that survived are off the streets."

"With their families?"

"Some...but there were others who didn't have a home...Mr. Gold took one of them in."

"He did?"

"That's what I heard anyway."

"That was very kind of him," Belle said softly.

It seemed that the whole town was in attendance at the funeral. First they would hold the memorial service for the children followed by the memories for the slain deputies. As Belle and Mary were walking over to where their students stood they heard Merriweather Blue and Mr. Hale's secretary talking while they were staring at Mr. Gold and teenage boy at his side.

"He took in one of those riff raff...boy will probably stab him while he sleeps...what he deserves!" Miss Blue said bitterly.

"Or rob him blind," added the secretary.

"All these hooligans ought to be shipped off to juvenile detention centers in Boston!" Blue sniffed. "Not taken into people's homes like stray kittens! Humph! Gold must be going senile. And here I thought he had a few good years left in him."

"Well . . ." the secretary leaned over and whispered rather loudly, " . . .I heard Mayor Mills is only having all this . . .folderol to make sure she garners votes for the next election. Because really-who cares about these street rats, the murdering savages! I say they did us all a favor . . .ridding this town of vermin! Too bad they didn't finish off more of each other."

"Have you no respect for the dead?" Belle demanded.

Hale's secretary snorted. "They're just street trash . . .I have respect for the deputies they killed."

"What if one of those children was YOURS!? Would you STILL say that you insensitive bitch?" hissed Mary.

"Any child of mine wouldn't DO that!" flared the secretary. "Although I could see you'd have sympathy for them, seeing as you're no better than you ought to be, Blanchard!"

"It's so disgraceful, what children get up to these days!" Blue snorted.

Mary wanted to punch her but it was not the time nor the place to do so.

"I agree . . . it's so disgraceful . . . the way certain teachers in this town behave at funerals!" she shot back.

"And if they don't want to be respectful they should make like trees and LEAVE!" added Belle.

"Well! I never!" Blue glared at her.

"Come, Merri," said the secretary. "Let us go over there. I suddenly find the present company . . .stifling." She grabbed her friend's hand and they moved over to the other side of the podium.

"Good riddance!"

"Nasty hags!" Mary snarled. "They ought to find their broomsticks and fly back home!"

"Their homes don't want them."

"Probably not! Too bad they pay their rent . . . otherwise Mr. Gold could evict them."

"If he heard what they said just now he would and it would serve them right."

Mary nodded. Then she walked over to where her students stood solemnly. On the other side of the several caskets, were some of the surviving Scorpions who stood in a small knot, those who were ambulatory, and leaned on crutches or each other's shoulders. Shadow and Bobby stood with them, their arms around each other, and Mikey was with them also.

Regina Mills delivered the eulogy, tears streaming down her cheeks while she held her son's hand and Emma Swan and Jefferson Hatter stood on her other side in their uniforms, a black stripe covering their badges.

At the close of the service, Emma, Jeff, and their surviving deputies moved to a safer location and fired their guns twenty one times in the air for their fellow officers while Henry released a white dove in honor of the children.

"Are you going to Granny's for the wake, Belle?" Mary asked her.

"Maybe for a little bit."

For the first time in twenty eight years, the phone did not ring at 6am the following morning and Robert would have ignored it.

After that night the former gang member and the pawnbroker were as close as a father and son would be and everyone in town began to notice it.

They also noticed that Mr. Gold was no longer as aloof as he used to be and he smiled more, especially when he and Bae went places together.

They knew he once had a son and a fiancée and their deaths devastated him. They were forced to give the former gang member credit; he was trying to behave like a normal teenage boy.

Gold managed to reunite Bobby with his father and Shadow with her sister. And he got Spencer to make a deal with him to leave Bobby alone. The DA was only too happy to do so. He didn't want his lies to become known. The others were recovering slowly and Bae went to see them almost every afternoon after school.

He also had regular sessions with Doctor Hopper and sometimes the doctor invited Robert to sit in on them to make the boy feel more at ease. Archie's initial fear that Robert was making the boy into a replacement for his son was disputed after every session they had.

Once Archie even had Pongo in the office and as Bae played with the dog he had one of the strangest images flash through his mind...of being in a castle playing with a hassock...that acted like a puppy!

And also a pair of salt and pepper shakers . . . that had eyes and mouths and acted like little kids!

None of these things made sense to him and he didn't dare mention them to Gold or Hopper or they would think he was insane.

He was still having nightmares as well, of all of the dead Scorpions. He would wake sweating and shivering and once or twice screaming. THAT would always bring Robert to his room, and the brown-haired pawnbroker would make him tea and card his hair and soothe him back to sleep with his gentle voice. And Bae never minded . . .not much anyway. Though he did feel guilty waking up Mr. Gold and causing him to lose sleep over his night terrors.

"If losing a few hours of sleep myself means you'll be able to get a few without having a nightmare it's worth it to me Bae, so stop fretting about it."

"But . . .but you need sleep more than I do . . .you're old . . ." he began one night after a hair raising dream about Dickie's ghost trying to drag him into the afterworld to join his brothers.

Instead of being insulted Robert simply chuckled. "I'm not THAT old, Bae. I have a few gray hairs but I'm not quite ready for the retirement home."

"Sorry . . .I know that . . ." he sighed and looked around his room, which had been painted a cheerful light blue color and contained everything he'd ever wanted in a room including a large flatscreen TV, an Xbox 360, and a desk filled with art supplies, for Bae's passion was drawing. " . . .sometimes I wake up and . . .I look for . . . umm . . .well I was used to sleeping in a room with a bunch of my brothers . . .now I sound like a little kid . . ." he was disgusted with himself. You're fourteen, Cassidy, act your age!

"No you don't. You just miss them. That won't go away..."

"When I was in our hideout . . .I used to wish sometimes I had my own room . . .so I didn't have to listen to people snoring, or sneezing, or farting and stuff . . .and now that I've got one . . .I sound like a spoiled brat."

"We can't take anything or anyone for granted, Bae...we can lose them in an instant.."

"I know . . ." he leaned his head against the other's knee, and allowed the slender agile fingers to card his curly hair. How well he knew that . . who had lost a family twice now.

"Try and get some sleep. We have somewhere to go in the morning."

"Where?" Tomorrow was Saturday.

"If I tell you it will ruin the surprise," the pawnbroker said with a grin.

"Okay." The boy obediently closed his eyes.

When he was certain Bae was asleep, he returned to his own room. The surprise he had was for Bae to have a companion and there had to be one at the shelter.

Perhaps a dog or cat would help make the boy's transition from gang member to respectable teenager again easier . . . and assuage some of the guilt he felt at surviving when so many of his friends hadn't. They had buried their dead, but Bae still was haunted by their deaths.

Robert got into bed and lay awake for a few moments thinking about how he hoped Bae would like his surprise. He found he enjoyed doing things like this for the boy, things he'd done for Neal, he'd always liked giving his family gifts and watching the joy illuminate their face when they received them. And they weren't always expensive or material things either. Time spent with someone could be a gift too, or a kind word, or a loving expression. He knew that people in Storybrooke would be shocked if they could hear his thoughts right now-the hardass attorney, the sarcastic shrewd businessman, thinking about little things like that, about making people happy. But then they didn't know the man he was before . . .the man Lacey had fallen in love with, the man who was a loving father. That man had, in a way, died that day of the car crash. But Bae was, gradually, bringing that man back again. And Robert didn't mind that at all . . .not anymore.

Yawning, he closed the light beside his bed, he usually left a small nightlight on so he could find his way to the bathroom at night if necessary, and turned on his side. Soon he was asleep . . .but instead of dreaming of happier days, for some reason his mind chose to dredge up a memory he wished he could forget . . .

He had locked up the pawnshop and was getting in the Cadillac with the bank deposit bag in his hand when the Black Dog suddenly appeared like magic before him, clutching a Bowie knife, like those from an Army weapons catalog, in his hand. "Hold it, old man!"

Robert staggered back against his car, unprepared for this sudden assault. The young man looked to be about sixteen or seventeen, slightly smaller than Gold, with a prominent tattoo of a snarling black mastiff on his bicep and more tattoos of skulls and other grisly things decorating his arms. He had a red Mohawk and an eyebrow piercing and a nose ring and was dressed in typical punk clothing, leather vest, black pants, Army boots, with chains on his hips and a black spiked collar around his neck.

Gold was shocked. Normally the gang kids who roamed Storybrooke would never have dared to even approach him, much less try and mug him in broad daylight . . .since it was only twelve thirty and he'd been going to take this deposit to the bank on his lunch hour. "What do you want?" he snapped belligerently. "If you've come to fence something . . .I don't deal in stolen goods." he bluffed, hoping to throw the boy off. His hand crept towards his pocket of his Dolce and Gabbana jacket, where he had his phone.

"I said, freeze!" the Dog barked, pushing the tip of his knife up against Gold's larynx.

The pawnbroker obeyed. "What do you want?" he repeated, though he knew of course. It was what they all wanted. Money. He tried to keep from trembling.

If he couldn't get to his phone, no help would come. Which meant he was alone . . . one aging crippled pawnbroker against a gang boy known for viciousness and cruelty. He swallowed hard, the metallic taste of fear flooding his mouth.

The Dog laughed. "You're funny, old man! What do I want? That!" he poked the knife at the zippered pouch Robert was holding with all his cash deposits for the last two days. "Gimme it and maybe I won't cut off your balls!" The knife reoriented much lower, on his groin. There was a maniacal gleam in the boy's eyes, like he couldn't wait to start carving Gold up like a Thanksgiving turkey.

He . . .he really means that. . .the attorney thought, panicked. He went to give the boy the pouch, hoping it would be enough to deter the kid from violence . . .but as he did so . . .he felt a surge of anger roil through him. How DARE this . . . this lowlife street thief come and threaten him . . .threaten to take his life and his manhood over the money he had in this pouch? Money which he'd earned honestly by WORKING for it! He extended his hand with the pouch in it.

"Here. Don't hurt me!" he whined, acting like he was petrified. A part of him was . . . the part that wasn't furious.

As the Dog went to take the money from him, Gold gripped his cane and brought it up hard between the youngster's legs. "Like hell!" he snarled, yanking the pouch back.

The boy screamed and doubled over, but then he seemed to shrug off the blow and came at Gold again. "I'll cut ya up, ya fucker!"

Gold swung again, and the cane connected with the boy's hand, and he thought he heard something snap . .. like bones breaking.

But again the boy seemed to be oblivious to the pain . . . as if he were on some kind of drug or a pain inhibitor. He bared his teeth and stabbed the knife at Gold's chest.

It should have killed the disabled pawnbroker . . .except he'd been clutching the packet to his chest . . .and the knife caught it instead of penetrating Gold's chest.

The thug was startled, and Robert saw his chance. He lifted his cane and walloped the wicked child hard on the backs of his knees, a spot he knew hurt like hell from beatings he'd received as a boy from his abusive father.

"Little bastard!" he swore, as the boy screamed and fell on the ground, because even tripping on whatever he was on couldn't prevent him from falling down after a hit like that.

Robert raised his cane again and whacked the boy across the backside and the shoulders, yelling, "Get AWAY from me! Get outta here you piece of shit! Go home, you little fuckbag!"

The Bowie knife clattered on the pavement as his assailant dropped it, whimpering and cringing.

Gold walloped him again, snarling, "Go home, ye little beast!"

He was relieved that something was having an effect upon the crazed teen . . .and he tried to look as menacing as possible. "Nobody mugs ME, dearie!"

"M'sorry! Shit, don't hit me no more! Please, Mr. Gold!" the teen backed away, cowering, then got to his feet and fled, running like the devil himself was at his heels.

Gold watched the Dog run yelping back to wherever he'd come from, then he clutched his chest, panting and gasping for breath, tottering on unsteady legs. He had almost been brutally assaulted . . .

Bae heard what sounded like someone gasping for air and jumped out of bed, racing toward Mr. Gold's room. When he opened the door he found him thrashing around on the bed, struggling to breathe.

"Papa!" he cried. "Come on...it's okay!"

He grabbed the older man and sat him up trying to rouse him. "Wake up, Papa...you're scaring me!" He knew he sounded like a child but he didn't care.

Nor did he realize he was calling the pawnbroker Papa.

Gold's eyes popped open and he stared at Bae . . ."Huh? I'm okay . . .I just . . .nightmare . . ." His heart was still racing however.

"You're not dying on me too, you hear me!"

"Bae . . .Bae . . . no . . .no . . ." he soothed, trying to calm himself down. " . . .not dying . . .just . . ." he took several deep breaths, trying to reorientate himself.

Bae threw his arms around him and hugged him tight. "I don't wanna lose you again..."

"Shhh . . .you're not gonna lose me . . ." Robert murmured, and hugged the boy to him. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying right here . . . I just had a stupid dream . . . and it scared me . . ."

"They took you away...those witches...they took Mama away too…"

"Bae . . . calm down . . ." Gold couldn't make sense of what the boy was talking about. Witches . . .being taken away . . .and his mother . . .?

"I hate them! We were so happy...you were gonna marry her...and then people weren't gonna bother you to fix their problems anymore.."

The boy was crying. "We didn't need that stupid Charming girl to break the curse...WE could do it..."

The boy's mind was filled with so many jumbled images...past and present and he couldn't make sense of any of them.

Gold feared the boy had lost his mind . . . gone delusional . . . "I don't understand . . ."

Hearing the confusion in Gold's voice brought the boy out of his own confused state.

"I...heard you in here...not breathing and I got scared."

"I . . . had a nightmare . . . about the day . . . I was mugged . . .it scared me to death . . . that's why I was gasping for breath . . .I'm sorry I woke you," Robert began. "I think you thought I was having a heart attack or something."

"I thought you were gonna die on me...like my papa...like my mama..."

"No . . .I'm not gonna die for a long time . . .and by then you'll probably want me to hurry up and go . . ." he joked.

"I don't EVER want you to leave me!"

"All right . . .all right . . .sorry, that was a terrible joke . . ." he stroked the boy's hair. "Stupid nightmares . . .and here I thought I was going to dream of something nice . . .and instead I dream about when that scummy little prick attacked me . . ."

"Asshole...I woulda gutted him if I was there because NOBODY hurts my papa!"

Gold's eyes widened. "You just . . .called me . . .Papa . . ."

"I did...I don't want to call you Mr. Gold anymore...doesn't seem right...do you mind?"

Robert smiled. "No . . .I don't mind . . . at all . . ." Because Bae was right.

"I know...I'm not your real kid...but I want to be your son..."

"I want you to be too . . ."

"I'm gonna clean up and be better...but...I gotta learn how to read first..."

"Yes, your tests showed you seem to have diffculty there . . .yet you recall things easily. Can you not see the words well? Are they blurry?"

"They're all scrambled around...backwards..."

He was embarrassed to talk about his reading issues, no one in the gang knew he had them because he hid it so well.

"Backwards . . ." Robert looked thoughtful. "I think . . .son, you might need to get tested for dyslexia."

"Awww man! They're gonna think I'm an idiot!"

"You are not an idiot, Baelfire!" his father said sternly. "Just because you have a disability does not make you dumb."

"Yeah but that one...not being able to read...people get a lotta shit for not being able to do THAT!"

"Dyslexics can read, Bae. There are plenty of people who have that problem. Like Bruce Jenner. Henry Winkler. And they all lead productive lives. You can too. We just need to get you the proper instruction."

"I know but people in school already don't like me cause I was in the gang...they'll be on my ass even more now…"

Gold scowled. "Rotten bastards! They say anything like that about you and I'll get on THEIR ass!"

"Everybody's scared of you and that cane, Papa." Bae laughed.

Not him though. He knew his papa would never hurt him.

"Well, maybe that's not a bad thing . . .although it didn't help me that day. Still, I think that kid was tripping on something. I hit him right in the balls and he got back up and came for me again. And then I broke his fingers and he still kept after me. That's not normal."

"They did all kinds of shit...meth...coke...heroin..."

"It was probably something like that." He eyed his son. "Please tell me you never did anything like that."

"Hell no...a beer here and there but not that shit!"

"Thank God. Because then you'd have needed rehab . . .and drug addictions are hell to break . . .And no more drinking unless you're twenty one . . .that's the law. Unless it's a toast with family and I can see it."

"Okay."

"Oh, and while we're on the subject of things you shouldn't be doing . . . you better start watching your mouth . . .no more swearing, or else I'll be getting out a bar of Ivory. Clear?"

Bae made a face. "Awww, what IS it with my papas and Ivory!?"

He couldn't stand having that godwaful soap in his mouth.

Gold chuckled. "I take it that was a standard with your other father too?"

"Yeah...twenty seconds and it tasted like crap."

"I know . . .since I had to taste it too . . .actually my father made me EAT it . . .then again, my father was the world's worst example . . .he was neglectful, selfish, and excessively abusive . . .but back when I was a boy there wasn't a law against disciplining your son too harshly . . .so I suffered his belts and switches until he left . . ."

"He sounds like a real as...I mean jerk."

"He was . . .when he left some kind friends of my mother's took me in . . .and it's why I barely lifted a hand to my son unless he really deserved it .. . and then it was over in twenty seconds."

"My papa's father was a jerk too."

"Many people have similar stories to mine. You're lucky if you have decent parents. Your papa sounds like a decent man . . .wasn't overly harsh was he?"

"Nah...and if he had to spank me...he said he was sorry after and kept telling me not to make him do it again...then I felt like a jerk."

"I would do the same to Neal . . .but I could always make him mind with a Look rather than my hand."

"Not the Look of Doom! You too!"

"Like this," and Gold gave him one. "Neal used to call it the Wrath of Gold look . . .and it was usually all I had to do to correct him."

"Oh God...stop...it's a killer!" the boy moaned and laughed.

Robert laughed too. "Oh, I have a few more methods I use to keep rowdy brats in line that don't involve this," and he gave Bae a playful spank on the behind. "And I think they're much more effective."

"I'm almost afraid to ask..."

"I'll tell you more tomorrow. Right now I'm starting to fall asleep. And we really need to get some shut eye . . . it's . . ." he looked at his digital alarm clock. " . . .three-thirty in the morning."

Bae bid his father goodnight for the second time that night and then went back to bed. Both occupants of the Victorian slept peacefully until the alarm went off at six-thirty in Robert's room, which was when he would get up to go to the shop most days. He almost missed his 6AM phone call from his least favorite pain in the ass.

She's probably found someone else to pester that early, he thought as he showered.

Bae was already awake and waiting downstairs in the dining room, curious to see what the surprise was his papa had for him. That was another thing both of his fathers had in common...both of them liked to do little surprises for him.

Robert hummed as he went to put on the coffee to perk and then looked at his son, raising an eyebrow. "Can't wait, can you?"

Bae shot him a pleading big eyed puppy dog look. "Please . . .what is it?"

Gold smirked his trademark I-have-a secret grin. "That's for me to know . .. and you to find out after breakfast."

"Aww, come on! Papa, you're awful!"

"Yes, I'm a terrible, awful, horrible, grouchy old man," he recited in a singsong voice. "And if you don't eat all your breakfast-I'm not telling!"

"Okay! What are we having?"

"I'm making waffles," his papa answered.

Bae laughed.

"You sounded just like the donkey from Shrek."

"I liked that donkey," Gold grinned.

He got out the waffle iron and sprayed it and plugged it in. Then he went and put some sausage in a pan. "And sausage too."

"What kind?"

"Sage breakfast links. Unless you'd rather the maple ones?"

"No, that's good." At this point Bae would have agreed to eat liver and onions if it got Gold out of the kitchen sooner.

Soon they were happily eating their waffles and sausage and drinking their coffee and orange juice. Bae ate seconds of everything, lately he seemed to be starving all the time, then looked expectantly at his father. "Okay. NOW will you tell me?"

"Trying to butter me up, eh? No way dearie...still gotta wait."

"But . . . but you said . . ."

"And I'M not finished yet," he said pointedly.

Bae groaned. "Can you hurry up?"

In answer Robert deliberately took his time eating a bite of his waffle.

"Awwww quit the TORTURE!"

"You need to learn patience," Robert replied, now drinking his coffee.

"I already did! I was patient for DAYS 'fore I robbed your shop!"

"What a lovely example," the attorney rolled his eyes.

"Umm . . . well . . ."

Finally Gold was done and set down his knife and fork. "All right. Your surprise is this-we're going to the shelter this morning so you can pick out a cat or a dog to adopt."

"A DOG! You're the best!"

Gold's eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled at his son. He hadn't quite expected THAT reaction, but he was very pleased.

Bae jumped up and threw his arms around him.

"Wow! I never knew you wanted a dog this much," the lawyer chuckled. "Did you have one before?"

"Umm...I think so...named Gabby..."

"Well, I think you need a new one," Robert murmured. After he'd put the dishes in the dishwasher, they headed over to the shelter.

When they arrived at the shelter Archie was just leaving leading Pongo by them on his leash. He smiled. "Are you thinking of adopting a pet, Mr. Gold?"

"Yeah. A dog." Bae answered. "What're you doing here?"

"Oh, I'm just making my monthly donation," the therapist answered.

Gold went over to speak with volunteer David Nolan, and asked if they could see the dogs available for adoption.

"Right this way," the sandy haired man said, leading them into the back room where the dogs were kept. Each dog had a roomy cage and its own run. "Are you looking for a large or small dog?"

"That's up to Bae," Gold responded, peering at the papers taped to the cages which detailed the breed of dog (if known), its personality, quirks, vaccination history, if it was fixed, and how old it was (if known).

Most of the dogs got up and ran to their cage doors when they saw Nolan and the new visitors, barking, yelping, and jumping up on the wire mesh, wagging their tails.

"Pick me! Pick me!" they all seemed to be saying.

Bae looked at all the dogs carefully, unsure of what kind he wanted. He asked David about them instead of reading the papers, and petted a few and let them lick his hands. But none of them seemed . . . right.

He paused when he saw a happy-go-lucky golden retriever, thinking she looked like a nice dog. Maybe . . .and then he looked at the next cage over from hers.

There was a large black and tan German shepherd lying with his head on his paws in the next cage. He was a beautiful animal, with classic lines and a very intelligent look in his wise brown eyes.

The dog looked miserable . . . and bored. He made no attempt to come up and greet people like the other dogs.

'He looks like he doesn't want to be adopted," Bae said to Gold .

"He's depressed," Gold said quietly. "He was a police dog, according to what I've been told. He lost his partner in a shootout and wants nothing to do with anyone now he's gone. It's why he's here. He ran away from all the families they placed him with."

"How do I get him to like me?"

"Let him smell you first. And then wait. Let him make the first move. That's a highly trained animal, son. He's smart. If he wants to get to know you, he will."

"Okay..."

"His name is Major," David told them. He unlocked the cage so Bae could go inside.

The shepherd's ears flicked at the mention of his name, but that was all.

Bae approached the dog slowly and held his hand out. "It's okay boy...I know what it's like to miss somebody...but I found someone who cares about me...and you can have that too with me..."

The dog lifted his head and sniffed the boy's hand, a token sniff, like he was being polite.

Okay, I'll humor you.

And then something happened.

Perhaps the boy's scent reminded him of his partner's, or perhaps the dog sensed that here was another kindred soul, someone who had known loss and pain . . .and yet still had hope within him.

Major's eyes seemed to brighten, and he wagged his tail briefly.

"You want to go home with us, Maj?"

The tail wagged again, harder, thumping on the floor of the cage. And then the shepherd got to his feet, who had to be coaxed out of his spot against the wall except when he went out of his own accord into the run to do his business, and looked at Bae and barked.

Yes. I will go with you.

David gaped at them. "That's . . .incredible! Mr. Gold, that dog . . .he doesn't like anyone . . . he's very polite but . . .it's like he could care less about anyone . . .until now."

"Perhaps he's found something in common with my boy there," Gold murmured.

The dog whose world had fallen to pieces one night and the boy who had lost a family twice . . .yet together they would make each other whole.

"You seem to have a penchant for rescuing strays," David joked.

"Those in need shall always find each other," Gold answered. "Bae, shall we take him home?"

"Yes!"

"I'll get you his collar and a lead. You can purchase some supplies here too, if you'd like. All the proceeds go towards the animals' upkeep. And I'll need you to fill out some papers . . ."

David went and handed a red collar with the shepherd's name tag on it and a lead to Bae while Robert went and filled out the necessary paperwork and purchased a few supplies.

"We're gonna go home soon, Maj...you'll love it!"

Major panted excitedly as Bae put his collar on and snapped the lead to it. He came and heeled automatically on the boy's left, walking proudly beside him as Bae went out of the back room, leaving behind a chorus of barking canines.

"He's had all his shots and everything," David said. "The police force in Boston sent over his records and his achievements. Dog's been decorated for bravery. He took a bullet once, got a crease on his left leg from it, but he's fine. He knows all kind of commands . . .they didn't list everything, but the officer I talked to said Major was like RoboDog, smarter than some people he knew. But he'll only work with you if he likes you . . .it's why they retired him. Because he was depressed over losing his partner . . .and Officer Hanson had no family to give the dog to."

"Oh . . . and he's not fixed . . .because they thought about breeding him. You can too . . . or you can make an appointment with the vet," David added.

"Sorry boy...gonna have to be clipped," Bae said to the dog.

Major whuffed sharply.

"I know...I know...I wouldn't want to either..." Bae said sympathetically.

The shepherd licked his hand.

"We'll do that later," Gold said. "Right now, let's take him home and get him settled."

"Oh, and one more thing. He climbs . . . like a cat. He climbed a six foot fence and jumped over it. So be warned."

"My backyard is fenced, around that high. But if necessary I can add to it. Though I don't think he'll want to leave," Gold jerked a hand back to where the dog was happily having his ears scratched by Bae.

"Looks like you got yourself a new family member then," David laughed. "Must feel sort of weird."

"No . . . it feels very good," the landlord answered, and took Major's papers and stuffed them in his pocket. Then he turned and allowed his new "son" to smell him and his cane.

Major sniffed Gold all over, making an odd crooning noise in his throat. When Gold knelt a bit to pet him, the shepherd went and licked him under the chin.

"Well, I'll be damned! The dog likes you too!" David exclaimed.

"More than that," Gold asserted, stroking the beautiful head. "He's just declared me his alpha. It's how dogs show respect for a pack leader."

"How do you know that, Papa?"

"I watch the Dog Whisperer. And I had a sheepdog once named Molly."

His hands scratched Major in the good spot and the dog moaned happily. Then Gold stood up unmindful of the dog hair all over him, and said, "C'mon, boys. Let's go home."

Belle rose one morning at five-thirty and went into the bathroom to take her morning shower…only to find the door wouldn't open.

"Oh, come on! Dammit!"

She yanked the handle as hard as she could but it wouldn't budge.

"Oooh, open you stupid thing I am NOT bathing in the sink!"

The door refused to budge. Furious she stormed into her bedroom and dialed Mr. Gold's number, tapping her foot impatiently while she waited for him to answer.

The phone's familiar ringing in his ear woke Robert out of a sound sleep. He looked at his clock. 6AM. Without even looking at the caller ID he knew who it was. "Well, if it isn't my least favorite pain in the ass," he drawled. "What can I do for you, Miss French?"

"You can come over here and fix this goddam shower door that's what!"

"A little testy are we?" he chuckled.

"Oh you bet, you slumlord...I can't even open it now and I am NOT using the sink to take a bath!"

"Now, now, dearie, no need to get insulting," he clicked at her. "I'll see what I can do . . .later. I do have a child to look after, you know."

"Yes I know but you'd better come over and look at it otherwise I am calling the sheriff and reporting you for being a slumlord," she threatened.

Take that you arrogant ass! she thought.

"Well...when can I expect you?" she pressured.

Gold sighed. "Very well, dearie. I'll send someone over as soon as I can."

"What's the matter Gold, afraid to face little ole me yourself?"

"Hardly. But I need to get my son ready for school . . .and he doesn't always get up when I call him."

"All right but I want this door fixed...immediately!"

"I'll be sending Mr. Dove within the hour."

"Good!" She slammed the phone down hard hoping she deafened him.

Robert shook his head. Then he muttered a rather unflattering comment and dialed Dove's number. The phone rang and rang. Then he recalled Dove was unavailable because he was having surgery today on his arm.

Frustrated, the landlord hung up. Great! Now he was going to have to go over there himself! He debated on whether to wake up Bae now or wait till he came back.

Better do it now . . .before he oversleeps again, he thought, and went in to call his son.

Bae proved especially reluctant to get up that morning, despite Gold's shaking and telling him he needed him to wake up because he had to see a tenant. Or feed the dog, who was downstairs waiting patiently to be fed.

"Baelfire! I swear, if I have to come in here again, I'm dragging you out of bed and throwing you in the shower!" he threatened direly.

"Five more minutes..." grumbled the teenager.

"No! Now. I don't have time to argue with you. Just get up and get dressed. You can fall asleep on the couch till I come back."

"Don't wanna..."

"I'm not asking if you want to . . .I'm telling you-get up!"

"M'tired..." Bae threw his pillow over his head.

He hoped his father would just give up and let him sleep. And he couldn't get him in the shower anyway...

Or so he thought...

"Baelfire Gold...if you're not out of that bed before I count to three you are going in the shower!"

"Whatever..."

"Oh is that how ye're gonna play it lad. Verra well then...ONE!"

"Won't do it..."

"TWO!"

"Can't do it..."

"THREE!"

With surprising strength he yanked the teenager out of bed and into the bathroom, turning the faucet to cold and drenching him.

"YEEEEAAAAHHHHH! What the fu..."

"Finish that word laddie and ye'll be tasting Ivory too." Robert said from the other side of the stall.

"Papa! You froze my nuts off!"

"Maybe next time ye'll mind me, eh?"

"Yeah cause I am NOT going through that again!"

Gold slammed the door to his Cadillac when he got out in the parking lot of Belle French's apartment building wondering why Dove had to have surgery TODAY of all days.

Having to deal with that woman face to face was HIS job!

He rode the elevator up to the second floor and tapped his cane on the door to apartment 217, hoping he would get lucky and she wasn't at home. He could hear music playing and he wasn't sure which apartment it was in but one thing was certain, they needed to turn it down or he was going to increase their rent an extra ten dollars a month if he got a noise complaint from Sheriff Swan.

When no one responded after three knocks he used his passkey and entered, scowling when he discovered the noise was coming from the pain herself's apartment.

Then he heard a beautiful voice singing above the one on the stereo.

"So now I come to you

With open arms

Nothing to hide

Believe what I say

So here I am

With open arms

Hoping you'll see what your love means to me

Open arms..."

He wasn't much of a fan of modern music but he had to admit she did have a lovely voice and she sang the lyrics of love and loss with such passion that he had to wonder if she was singing from experience. He certainly knew how painful both were.

"Miss French!" he called out.

There was no answer.

Of course. How can she hear anything over that? he asked himself.

He heard a crash in the bathroom. He raced down the hall as fast as his lame leg could take him and thrust open the door…and the sight that met his eyes was not one he would soon forget.

A woman in her late twenties stood naked in the shower stall, a broken shower door in front of her.

Gold couldn't say a thing. He just...stared.

"Ummm...hello...Miss French..."

He'd been expecting a pock marked, grey haired spinster not an auburn haired, blue eyed goddess.

Belle gasped in horror and struggled to cover her vital areas with her arms and hands, her towel on the floor underneath a pile of broken glass.

It was a bit late for that...he'd already seen too much...

Gold cleared his throat. "Ummm...nice try, dearie, but putting yourself on display won't get me to replace your shower door."

She glared at him and pointed at it. "Well, you're going to have to now, won't you?" she asked sarcastically.

Flushing, he went and grabbed a towel from the closet and tossed it to her. "Godsake, will you cover yourself?" Then he turned away and punched in the number to Leroy the handiman. "Hello, Leroy? This is Mr. Gold . . ."

He told Leroy the problem and gave him the address and told him to charge it to his account. "And I need this fixed now!" he ordered.

"Finally!" Belle grumbled. "And you can add the air conditioning to that too while you're at it!"

"Whatever, dearie! Now if you're through putting on a show, I have to be going. Have a nice day!" he snapped.

"Asshole!" Belle hissed and retreated to her bedroom to dress.

Gold limped out to his Cadillac, now having the beginnings of a throbbing headache. What a morning this was turning out to be! First Bae drove him up a wall, and now Belle French! Jesus, Mary, and Joseph can it get any worse?

Apparently it could, he thought balefully, as he pulled into the school parking lot later that same morning.

As soon as Belle arrived at the school she was informed that a parent was stopping by early with a new student with dyslexia. Mr. Hale's secretary was supposed to bring her the file but she was running late and Belle hated not having the child's records to reference when she spoke to them or the parents.

It did not leave a good impression.

I'll just have to play it by ear, she thought.

Gold limped down the hall, his cane tapping gently on the tile.

"It's Mr. Gold!" hissed several students as he passed them.

"And his cane of doom!"

"Run for your lives!"

"Aww shut up ya dicks!" snapped Bae.

"Baelfire!" Gold snapped. "Just ignore them."

"Yeah but...I don't like them talking sh...crap on you."

Robert sighed. "Son, if I beat up everyone who said crap to me, I'd have a trail of bodies a mile long and lawsuits up to my ears. Consider the source, Bae. They're not worth starting trouble over."

He sighed. "Okay."

While she waited, Belle raced around her classroom like a madwoman trying to make sure everything was in order and she looked presentable.

"Good lad. Now, let's meet this reading teacher who comes so highly recommended by Mr. Hale." He had forgotten to ask her name, but Hale had assured him she was the best in the state. And the secretary in the office had given him concise directions to her classroom.

Belle heard footsteps out in the hall and sat down at her desk, clearing her throat.

Bae reached the door ahead of his father and entered the classroom first. As he'd been taught, he held out a hand to the woman behind the desk. "Hi. I'm Baelfre Cassidy, but you can call me Bae. Pleased to meet you."

"Hello Bae...I'm Miss French...Belle French," Belle said nervously. The boy looked familiar but she wasn't sure from where.

Until she saw the person accompanying him.

"YOU!" she yelled.

Robert looked up and almost fell over. "YOU'RE Bae's reading teacher?" he blurted. Holy shit! It's my least favorite pain in the ass! And her goddamn shower door!

Belle raised her hand and slapped him across the face...hard.

"Whoa! What'd you do that for?' Bae cried.

"THAT is for thinking I'm some sort of floozy like Ashley Boyd!"

Gold cradled his cheek in one hand, thinking the small schoolteacher packed a damn good wallop.

He blinked and suddenly he recalled a memory of her in a blue and white dress holding a birch broom and smacking him on the backside with it . . . only he wasn't as he was now . . . he was in leather pants and a gold shirt and he . . .had golden skin and curly hair and amber eyes like a . .. beast.

As they stood face to face an image came her mind of herself in an old fashioned blue and white dress swinging a broom and smacking a man's leather clad backside hard...with a broom. ...a man who looked a bit like him...

Only different.

I think she knocked a few of my wits out with that smack, he thought ruefully.

What the hell...I've never seen him before...must be all those damned romance novels about past lives I'm reading...she thought.

Or she'd just been watching Beauty and the Beast too many times because that dress looked like something the movie Belle wore.

He rubbed his eyes. He'd definitely been watching too much TV with Bae, especially those old swashbuckler movies like Captain Blood and Robin Hood with Errol Flynn, because the costume he was wearing . . . or his alter ego or whatever you called it . . .was like those from medieval times.

Bae looked from one to the other, totally confused. "Uh . . . do you two know each other?"

"NO!" Belle shouted.

"No . . . we just met . . ." mumbled his father.

"Huh?"

"He's my pain in the ass landlord."

"She's the tenant that keeps calling me at 6AM to fix things in her apartment. My least favorite pain in the ass." Gold said, lowering his hand. He wondered if he'd have a bruise. "I went to fix her shower door this morning."

"Papa, you told me she was an old maid!"

"More like you called someone else to do it! And he said...WHAT?! Oh, so I'm imagining that you were ogling me like a horny toad then eh?"

"I was not!" Gold sputtered. "I had NO idea that you were IN the shower when I came in there! I heard a crash and thought you fell!"

"Yes, well after you came in you did quite a bit of staring, you dirty pervert!"

"I beg your pardon, madam! I could hardly help looking . . .you were naked like Eve in the Garden of Eden!" he cried. "And how was I to know you weren't trying to . . .show off for me? The last time I went over Miss Boyd's apartment to collect the rent, she offered to bare it all for me in exchange for knocking off a hundred bucks!"

"Whoa! This is better than reality TV!" Bae whistled. "I shoulda got popcorn!"

"Well I am NOT Miss Boyd and you are the LAST man I would ever want to be naked around!"

She didn't want to be naked...or anything else for a man...unless she was married to him.

"I assure, you, Miss French, that was the LAST thing I wished to see this morning!" he said huffily. Though he couldn't help but admit he had liked what he'd seen. "I'm not in the habit of . . .ogling my tenants!"

"Good because you're not going to be ogling me anymore. Now then, shall we discuss Bae?"

"No! I wanna hear more of this other discussion!" Bae put in.

"Well I'd rather put that unpleasant subject to rest," Belle said, now every inch the professional.

"Fine with me, dearie," Gold said stiffly. "Bae, you mention one word of this and you're grounded, mister!"

"Oh, I won't tell, Papa. Wouldn't want to ruin your rep," his son assured him cheekily. Then he turned to Belle. "But . . . ya know . . .he ain't half bad with his shirt off, for an older guy."

Robert wanted to die. "Baelfire!"

"He's not my type," Belle mumbled. The trouble was, her type existed only in books.

Bae shrugged. "Just saying."

"Umm . . . back to the reason we're here," Gold cleared his throat. "I believe my son has dyslexia, since he cannot read without the letters becoming upside down and backwards. I was told you can test for this, Miss French, and determine what his degree of dyslexia is . . ."

"We can. I can schedule that this week."

Belle made a note on a pad on her desk. "I would also suggest that you start reading with him at home."

"What kinds of things should we read? Homework? The newspaper?"

"That's a start but if you also have books in your library, those as well."

"My papa has a library full of books!" Bae boasted. "And I think he's like memorized 'em all."

She looked up at him. "There are also some alternative lenses he can wear that can make what he is seeing more clear to him."

She opened up her laptop and did a search. Then she turned the screen so that father and son could see it.

"How do I get a pair? I want him to start reading more. His problem isn't comprehension . . . but I'd say more how the words appear on the page. I don't want him to fall behind any more than he already is."

Gold peered at it. Then he pulled out a pen and a notepad from his breast pocket and jotted down the website and the name of the lenses.

"Also you can have his computer if he has one, modified to help him read text on it as well."

"You mean I can get a laptop that I can actually read the screen and the keyboard on?" Bae asked.

"Yes. And Mr. Gold, this is not going to be an easy process but with time and patience, Bae will be able to read as good as any other student his age if not better."

"You really think so?" Bae asked doubtfully. "Papa says I'm not stupid . . ."

"Nor do I believe you are, Bae. There are many students who have disabilities in one area yet excel in another and I believe you do too."

"He can memorize anything he hears once. And do math problems in his head almost as quickly as a calculator," Gold praised.

"I like to draw," Bae admitted shyly. Then he pulled out a rather worn drawing from his pocket. "See? I drew this picture of Andi . . . my .. . err . . . girlfriend . . ."

"It's beautiful, Bae..." she whispered and another image flashed through her mind, one of her posing in a golden gown while Bae sketched her in a castle.

'It's just a sketch," the boy blushed.

She gestured to her walls, covered with artwork from her students. "Now we have another artist to add to our gallery."

"I believe he has a lot of talent," his father asserted. "He could attend a prestigious art school in New York if he has the grades."

"He'll get them...we just have to work at it...one step at a time."

"I'll do whatever I have to in order to give him his best chance," Mr. Gold assured her.

"As will I, Mr Gold. I want all my students to succeed."

The bell rang.

"Perhaps you could stop by after school today and we can discuss this a little more?" she suggested.

"Yes. Say . .. around three o'clock?"

"That's perfect." She stood up and shook his hand. "I'm sorry about this morning, Mr. Gold...and that I slapped you."

"Ah . . .I cannae blame ye, dearie. A woman alone cannae be too careful these days. I could have been one of those stalkers." He rubbed his cheek ruefully. "Next time I'll keep my eyes on the ground."

"Yes...well...ummm...until three then..." Oh my...that brogue...stop it, Belle! You are not going to turn into jelly just because he spoke with a Scottish accent. Get your head out of your books and BACK into reality!

"I'd better get to class, Papa, before I'm late," Bae said.

"Yes, go on with you, lad. I'll see you at home."

The boy dashed out of the room. An instant later he was back, grabbing his backpack. "Forgot this!" Then he dashed out again.

Students started filing into Belle's classroom.

"Lord help you, Bae. You'd forget your head if it wasna attached to ye," Robert muttered, then he nodded to Belle. "Good day, Miss French." Then he left the room, thinking it was a good thing he had ice back at his shop.

Neither of them knew that things in Storybrooke were about to change again as past and present collided.