Gold's Pawn Shop

Dean, Emma, and Regina walked into the pawn shop, Emma leading the pack. Dean had already had a bad suspicion about Rumplestilskin from Henry's story and the book, so he wasn't very happy about coming here and asking for his help. He just wanted Sammy to be ok; to wake up. And Henry, too.

"Do my eyes deceive me?" said the man on the other side of the counter in a foreign accent. This was the first time he'd seen this guy around town. "Or is that the look of a believer?"

"We need your help," Emma said bluntly.

"Indeed you do. Ah, Mr. Winchester – the older brother," he turned his attention to Dean. "We haven't been properly introduced."

Dean shook his head, "Save it, Rump. We've got bigger problems to worry about."

Mr. Gold sighed. "I see. It seems quite the tragic ailment has befallen young Henry and Sam. I told you," his attention turned to Regina, "magic comes with a price."

"Henry shouldn't have to pay it," she replied.

"Or Sam," Emma interrupted.

Mr. Gold's attention never left Regina, "No, you should. But alas, we are where we are."

"Enough with the crap," Dean interjected. "Can you help us or not?"

"Dean," Emma tried to calm him down. It was her turn to be the level-headed one.

Mr. Gold smiled, "Of course. True love, Ms. Swan," he quickly looked between the blonde and Dean. "The only magic powerful enough to transcend realms and break any curse. Luckily for you, I happened to have bottled some."

"You did?" Regina's voice broke, she sounded surprised.

Dean held up his hand. "Hold on. How can you bottle true love? Isn't it, like, a feeling? How did you turn it tangible?"

"Mr. Winchester, I sense that you've seen quite a lot in your time. More than the average person from this world. Why do you seem so small minded to the idea of magic?" Mr. Gold said, almost threatening.

"I don't deal with magic, Rump. The things I fight, I see them. I know they're there. I don't play with true love, bottling it up and what not. The way that you two use magic - it's enough to make me despise the very thought. You say magic comes with a price and yet you both use it to cast curses and manipulate hundreds of lives. You two brought this town here and now my brother and Emma's son are paying the cost," Dean could feel his blood pumping through his veins. He'd been holding all of this in for far too long. He hadn't meant to explode like this – but when would he get this chance again?

He felt a hand on his shoulder and his entire body relaxed. "Dean," Emma said calmly. "Now is not the time. Henry and Sam are in trouble." She turned her attention to Mr. Gold. "How did you bottle true love?"

Mr. Gold looked between Dean and Emma again, his eyes lingering a tad longer on Dean than he felt comfortable with. "From strands of your parents' hair," he pointed to Emma, who cocked her head and rose her eye brow, "I made the most powerful potion in all the realm. So powerful that when I created the Dark Curse, I placed a single drop on the parchment. Just a little safety valve."

Emma's mouth dropped, "That's why I'm the savior. That's why I can break the curse."

"Now you're getting it," Mr. Gold nodded, a sly smile spreading across his lips. Dean cringed as he thought about how Emma must be feeling about the entire thing. A pawn – that's all this man saw Emma as. But Dean knew better; she was more than just that.

"I don't care about breaking the curse. All I care about is saving Henry."

"Which is why it's your lucky day," Mr. Gold smirked. "I didn't use all the potion. I saved some for a rainy day."

"Well it's storming like a bitch. Where is it?" Emma asked.

"Where it is isn't the problem." Dean rolled his eyes and groan. "Getting it is what should worry you."

Regina finally spoke up. "Enough with the riddles." Dean had been watching her from the corner of his eye while Gold had been talking. She'd seemed surprised to hear about the potion and the reason why Emma was the savior. He began to wonder how Regina had ended up with Gold's Dark Curse to begin with. If he was the one who created it, how come she was the one who cast it? "What do we do?"

"You do nothing," Mr. Gold pointed at Regina. Dean felt the tension; there was something off about the two of them. "It has to be Ms. Swan."

"He's my son; it should be me," Regina rebutted.

"All due respect, but it's her son. And it has to be her. She's the product of the magic," Dean didn't like the way he looked and talked about Emma. Like she was just a thing; a means to an end. "She must be the one to find it."

"I can do it," Emma said.

Dean spoke up, "You're not doing it alone. Whatever it is, I'm coming with you."

"Don't trust him," Regina said, tears appearing in the corner of her eyes.

"What choice do we have?" Emma replied.

Mr. Gold sighed, "That's right, dearie. What choice do you have?"

"Enough with the villain-to-villain stand off. Where is the magic?" Dean interrupted.

"Tell me, your majesty; is our friend still in the basement?" Mr. Gold asked Regina.

Dean's eye brows creased as he watched them in this strange exchange.

Regina cringed, "Oh, you twisted little imp. You hid it with her?"

"Oh, no. Not with her. In her. I knew you couldn't resist bringing her over."

"Who is her?" Emma asked, growing impatient like Dean.

"Someone you should be prepared for," Mr. Gold began to wipe down the case sitting on the counter in front of him. "Where you're going, you're gonna need this." He opened up the case.

Dean looked down at the case and then to Emma. "What is that?" she asked.

"Your father's sword."

Dean watched as Emma took a deep breathe.

"Now you, Mr. Winchester – I would advice you to allow Ms. Swan to take on this quest alone. But I fear my words would fall upon deaf ears. So if you insist on getting in the way, I think you'll find your weapon of choice down with our friend," Mr. Gold said.

Dean pulled out the gun he had, "I'm good. I've got this."

"I think you'll find that a bit useless."

"Then what are you suggesting? You got a spare sword you're gonna whip out from your back pocket?" Dean asked sarcastically.

Mr. Gold smirked, "I was thinking something more grounded. Like a rock."

The Hospital

Emma's finger trembled as she lightly ran it across Henry's forehead. She had to reach out to him, somehow. "Henry," she whispered, "you were right about the curse. I should have believed you. I'm sorry," the words died as she tried her hardest to hold back the tears. Tears weren't going to help right now. She had to fix this. She had to make this right. She clenched Henry's book in her hands as she slid it under his pillow. "For when you wake up," she whispered.

Dean could barely hear Emma talking to Henry on the other side of the room. He looked down at Sam laying on the bed. "Sammy," he whispered, much lower than Emma's. He felt silly just talking to him, but he had to try to reach out in there.

But Dean was breaking. He knew Sam was awake somewhere in there – but the state he was in was all too similar to the way he'd looked two years ago: when he was laying on his back on a flimsy old mattress with his hands folded one on top of the other, his head laying on its side. There were so many emotions racing through Dean's body.

He had let down his brother, again. Look out for Sammy, his father's words resonated through him, just like they did any time Sam was in trouble. Dean could just see his father watching him from where ever he was and shaking his head in disappointment. This was just supposed to be a case; a regular apple pie case. Break a curse. Dean never thought that one of them would actually fall under a curse.

His sadness was mixed with anger. Anger towards Regina for planting her damn poisoned turnover on them. How dare she try to curse either him or his brother.

"I'm sorry Sammy. I can't – I don't know how exactly we're gonna break this damn curse. But we aren't giving up. I am not gonna let you down. I'm going to fix this. That's my job, right? Big brother to the rescue," he chuckled quietly. "We're gonna save you. You and Henry, both."

Dean looked up when Regina walked through the doors.

"Say what you've gotta say. You've got ten minutes," Emma said as she walked past her. She looked at Dean; his cue to follow.

He got up and glanced back one last time at Sam.

"You know where to meet?" Regina asked plainly.

"Yeah, don't be late." Emma and Dean walked out the doors and through the waiting room, giving a silent nod to Mary Margaret and Ruby who had promised to stay with Henry and Sam. Emma waited until they got outside before she spoke again, "I'm going to go see August; I owe him an apology and we need all the people on our side we can get. Do you want to come?"

Dean sighed, "To be honest Emma, I don't think you owe that puppet anything. And I'd have a really hard time not punching him in the face for all the crap he's put you through. But I have a feeling you're going to go anyway – and you're right. We do need all the help we can get. That's why I'm going to call Cas. See what he has to say about all of this. Maybe he knows some holy spell or voo-doo to help Henry and Sam." He could have sworn that Emma looked almost disappointed when he declined her offer, but she stoned up really fast.

"You know when and where to meet?"

"I promise I won't be late. But just in case something happens or we find something out, will you please let me give you my damn number?" he said with a much needed chuckle at the end. She smirked, though he could tell how hard she had tried to force her lips not to. She pulled out her phone and handed it to him; he did the same.

"Don't be late," she whispered, her voice dying at the end. When they exchanged phones again, their hands grabbed for each other's. He squeezed her hands and she dropped her head. She was breaking down but everything in her body was forcing her not to. When she finally looked up at him, a few tears broke through and had fallen down her cheeks. "I'm so scared, Dean." He knew how much it meant to have her confess this. He pulled her into him and she immediately clung to him. He heard her trying to catch her breath as she let out a few more tears. He held on tight to her, running his hand along the back of her head in an attempt to be comforting.

"I know," he whispered, a single tear ran down his cheek. He kissed the top of her forehead, "Me too."

This chapter broke my heart. I really do feel for these characters! I know I just posted a chapter earlier today; but I couldn't help myself! It was really hard to stop writing when I finished Chapter 20, so I just kept going. I hope you don't mind!

"Dede42: Oh, I was hoping that Dean would get to slug Regina, but I guess he'll get a chance later, and I wonder if Dean will get to fight the you-know-what after visiting Mr. Gold? I hope Ruby kisses Sam soon and wakes him up right before they get back, I bet it'll give Dean to tease his little brother." Dean would have so much fun teasing Sam! Lol. And yes, Dean had to sit back and let Emma take the lead. I thought about making Dean get physical with the mayor, but I thought that the actual scene itself was a very emotional and intense scene that I didn't want to take away from that. Emma needed to be the one to confront Regina about poisoning Henry to kind of wrap up her whole starting to believe thing. Besides, I'm sure Dean was proud of Emma for handling the situation herself! Lol.