Chapter Fourteen: AHA!

Rumpelstiltskin was not sure if the exhale after his little speech to Bae, or rather more to himself, was supposed to feel like a large weight had just left his chest. Shutting his eyes abruptly, he ceased the flow of tears, instead feeling like the wind had just been knocked out of him. He grasped the side of Bae's hospital bed, breathing slowly for a few moments.

There was something wrong, and Rumpelstiltskin could feel it. Inside of him, he felt something die. Baelfire was not responding to anything, and Rumpel hadn't used any magic, he simply prayed that his words were good enough. They were all he had left to offer.

Belle put her hands on his shoulders, asking him if he felt okay.

"I'm fine," he lied, turning to her, pulling her into him. She needed the hug too. Snow wiped her eyes at the sight of Bae, and Doc joined her side.

"I should probably go in and disconnect him," Doc told her, but she held him for a moment.

"Let them be for a few moments," she begged him, and Doc figured he could give them a few moments. But he knew that the longer they waited, the harder it would become to let the kid go.

A cry of agony swept through the air like dust. Ruby was in some serious trouble. Emma fired her weapon at Regina, but the bullets, as with the dragon Malificent, seemed to do nothing. What is with magic and repelling bullets? It was quite annoying. Ruby was getting weak; at least, her energy was depleting. The wounds took there time healing but they did eventually. This was lasting far too long.

Charming took his sword, trying to get in close, which he managed when Emma wasn't being thrown at him. She'd hit the ground near him, but Ruby bounced back just enough so James had a shot at getting close to her. Regina summoned a staff, an icy light fog flowing over the top of it. That was her weapon against him.

They fought for a while, the whole game seeming like a fencing match. Ruby dragged her body towards Emma.

"Here," Red said, offering Emma the vile around her neck. "I need you to take this to Gold."

"What is it?" Emma asked, though she had a pretty good guess.

"It's Regina's blood. Hurry, and please don't drop it."

"Why should I leave you?" Emma asked in offense.

"Well, no offense to you, but you're really not helping here. Your gun is worthless and you have no other weapon," Ruby mentioned. Emma couldn't believe this, but she knew it to be true.

Grumpy was trying to get behind Regina to stab her with his pickax as Charming over there was backing her up. It was useless, and Grumpy knew better than to throw the ax. She rose herself high in the air, and Emma took the vile from Ruby's neck, feeling that her wounds were actually slowly healing.

Now what? Regina was high in the air!

Emma watched, placing the vile in her pocket and pulling her gun again. Ruby couldn't jump that high and Charming or Grumpy weren't going to throw their weapons, so what could they possibly-

"AHRGH!" Regina shouted, hitting the ground with a loud THUMP. Ruby wasted no time, her animal instinct led her to attack Regina by the throat. Grumpy looked in the trees around them.

"HAHAHA HA! Take that, witchy!" It was Dopey, shouting from the sidelines. Grumpy rose one of his eyebrows as he attention averted back to Ruby. How did Dopey manage that one? Of course, then he had to give away his position by shouting at the top of his lungs.

James went to the Evil Queen, holding her by the throat after Ruby let go, and put his sword to her back.

"Give him seven, no eight, good reasons why he shouldn't run you through!" Grumpy yelled.

Regina just laughed, and Emma found this the perfect opportunity to slip away, so she ran, never looking back. The Evil Queen used her dark magic to throw James off of her and when Ruby tried again, she threw the wolf back, but Grumpy was quicker this time around.

The pickax was thrusted up, and she didn't move out of the way to be completely unharmed. The dwarf left a gash in her side, but Ruby was too tired to strike again, and James just couldn't get leverage over her to pierce her heart and kill her. She slipped away, again...

Clearly, this wasn't working.

Doc thought he'd given the two long enough, and the difficult yet undeniable question had to come out now. The dwarf entered the room, and Rumpelstiltskin released Belle, both of them still in obvious distressed.

"Mr. Gold, I hate having to ask this, but apparently it's procedure these days," Doc said. "I need your permission to pull the plug, so to speak. I'll disconnect Bae from oxygen and the IV."

Rumpelstiltskin didn't say anything for a few moments, but he was going to refuse this. He'd just promised Bae he wouldn't let him go.

"No, not yet," he said, and as much as Doc disapproved of his decision, he stood back.

Rumpel looked at his son, and what followed nearly made Doc have a heart attack.

There was a beep...and another, and then another. Belle and Rumpel's heads jerked up, seeing what was on the machine. Bae...

Baelfire was breathing!

"Oh my gods!" Doc said, startled at the first beep, and then staring at the monitor. "Impossible."

Belle's eyes widened, a smile came to Rumpelstiltskin's face, and he ran to the edge of the bed.

"Be careful!" Belle warned, holding out a hand as if to stop him.

"Bae!" Rumpel said in a quiet voice, collapsing into a chair out of shock. A smile came upon Doc's face, as a scientist's would the moment he realized he could prove his theory, and then a loud, single laugh escaped his lips.

"Ha...AHA!" Doc exclaimed, unable to hold his excitement. "He's alive!"

Snow lifted her head as soon as Doc shouted with glee and thanks into the air, finding his words to be nothing but true. Bae's heart was beating again, and his lungs began to function as normal.

Belle went to Rumpelstiltskin's side, smiling at the sight of the boy actually breathing again, but her wave of relief was nothing compared to the monstrosity of his emotion.

Quickly, Bae's heart rate jumped to 89, making them all excited. Doc ran out of the room, saying the kid was alive, which made everyone in the hospital relieved that he was okay. Katherine, Happy, Bashful, Sneezy, Sleepy, Granny, Ashley, and Jefferson talked amongst themselves. Snow went back to the group, explaining that the child in that room was Rumpelstiltskin's son.

"He had a child with Belle?" Jefferson asked.

"No, he's not Belle's," Snow replied. "But that boy is Rumpelstiltskin's son..."

At that, people began to talk quietly again, but Snow made sure to tell them that Rumpel was just like the rest of them, though some of them weren't buying that statement at all. A few nuns just walked in, ready to hear the latest gossip around...rather, the latest truth.