The tension was so evident in the Dark Castle's dining hall that even the children and babies seemed to be holding their breaths, just waiting to see what was going to happen next. Gideon looked up at his mother, trying to understand why everybody was suddenly so quiet, but Belle appeared to be frozen in place and he didn't understand why since that man had been there before to make deals with his father.

"Is this an intrusion, King David?" Rumplestiltskin was the first to speak.

Blinking, the king seemed to wake from a numb state. "No, it actually was a business visit, but apparently you found a way to betray me."

"I didn't betray you. I make deals, dearie and I never stand by anyone other than my own family."

The expression in the king's face wasn't surprised, but even so, he looked angry and Gideon was afraid of how this could end. He knew that his father was a powerful sorcerer who could easily defeat David's sword, however he didn't want them to fight and without knowing what to do, he let one of his hands grip at the fabric of his mother's dress, receiving back a gentle run from her fingers in his hair.

"I see." King David laughed coldly without any humour. "So, you knew where she was during this whole time?"

"No, he didn't." It was Regina who answered, before Rumplestiltskin could even think about doing it himself. "You are underestimating me if you think I would let anyone be aware of my location when you clearly started the witch's hunt."

Snow White's eyes landed in the taller boy near Gideon and she stepped forward. "This is him?"

Like a summer storm, Regina crossed the hall to put herself in front of Henry, a fireball appearing in one of her hands as the other grabbed at her son's arm, pushing him behind. "You are not coming any closer!"

"What about me?" A new voice asked and a blond woman bypassed the king and the queen with a hesitant smile in her lips.

"Emma!" Regina exclaimed, fading he fire and opening her arms to receive the hug that the blond was about to give her.

Gideon wasn't understanding a thing, but he thought that they should be good friends, for the long time they rested in each-other's arms, with everyone staring at them.

"Long time, no see, huh?" Emma said, pulling away. "I've missed you, Your Majesty."

"This must be a joke." Snow complained.

While the two ladies smiled secretively, Henry came to stand between them looking up at Emma with bright eyes. "Mom?"

"Henry!" A happy laugh came from her throat alongside with some tears that left her pale face a little reddish. "Come here, kid."

Mother and son hugged under the attentive watch of all the people in the dining hall, muttering words for each other that they couldn't hear and Gideon couldn't help but smile, because he was happy that his friend Henry now had his two mamas with him. The boy had a very lovely family and wished that all the other children in the world could have that too.

A cry startled them and Mrs. Potts turned to see the babies inside the crib. From the head of the table, his father sighed. "This hall is too crowded."

Belle stood up, from her place, already knowing that it was Rose who was fussing. She got the little girl and came back to sit by the table, where Rumplestiltskin stretched himself to smooth his daughter's back, seeming irritate with the guests for having awaking his precious baby.

"Hey, calm down, little flower, everything is alright." Belle whispered in her motherly voice. "You are just waking Roland too."

It was true, the second baby started crying in consonance with Rose and suddenly there was too much noise in there. Gideon stared at his mother hoping that she could make his little sister calm down, but when it didn't work, his father took the girl from the mother's arms and walked with her to one of the windows, mumbling a lullaby until she stopped screaming.

The former Evil Queen walked towards the crib, picking Roland up, swinging him until he was quiet to, sucking his own thumb while looking around with his dark eyes.

"Oh, is that him?" Emma asked approaching them. "He is beautiful."

"Thanks."

King David cleared his throat, making the blond lady look back at him. "That shouldn't be a friend's encounter."

"Dad, please, I've told you a hundred times that you are doing everything wrong. Regina is my friend and as much as I want to be with my son, I don't want to take him from her. She is his mother too."

"And I've told you that you are grounded, young lady, for every wrong thing you did behind our backs."

Emma narrowed her eyes, folding her arms. "I am not a child!"

"I just wanted to have dinner in peace." Rumplestiltskin complained, coming back to the table now that Rose was calm again.

"Why is everybody so angry?" Gideon finally found courage to ask, causing everyone to stare at him. "We can bring more plates and eat all together."

The look his father gave to him told that the imp definitely thought that his son had went crazy, but the whole rest of the people only seemed to be mesmerized by the idea. Robin Hood raised his glass of wine. "This is the best idea I've heard the whole day, boy."

"I could eat." King David said.

"We can't eat at the Dark One's castle!" Snow White replied, shocked with the fact that her husband was really considering joining them for dinner.

"Why not?" Regina asked. "He doesn't serve poison."

Snow laid both hands in her own hips. "You can't be sure."

"I wouldn't be eating if I wasn't."

By Gideon's side, Belle was feeling tired of all those stupid disagreements and the mistrust those people were showing around her family. She had never known the Charmings very well, but as high-born she knew how the royals used to be stubborn and never easy-going. "Relax, I'm not letting Rumple kill anyone in front of my children."

The Queen blinked like she was seeing her for the first time since they entered her home. "You are Belle, right?"

"Yeah."

"Is he keeping you captive?" Snow White asked, pointing at Rumplestiltskin.

She didn't know if she wanted to laugh or punch something. What was these people's problem? What was everybody's problem with the way she chose to live her live? Was that so difficult to see that she was truly happy? For all the gods' sake, Rumplestiltskin was holding their baby and their son was just sat right by their side, wasn't that proof enough that she was fine?

"I once told this to your husband and now I tell you that being here is my choice. As you can see, I have a family." Belle said placing a hand on Gideon's shoulder as if to emphasize her point. "One that I've also chosen to start."

The little boy always got confuse when his mama started the same old speech she appeared to have the necessity to do to every guest they received in their castle. He asked himself why people thought that his papa could be holding her captive there, because even knowing that she came to live with him because of a deal they had made many years ago, Gideon also knew that his parents loved each other very much and love couldn't be faked. Family couldn't be faked, what also made him wonder why people used to look at him and his sister like Queen Snow was doing now, like they weren't supposed to be there.

"You have - " the queen swallowed and smiled forcefully. "Beautiful children."

Looking up at his mother, Gideon saw that Belle was clenching her teeth a little. "I do."

Rumplestiltskin passed Rose to Mrs. Potts who also took Roland from Regina's arms, laying the asleep babies back into the crib. With a wave of the imp's hand more food and dishes appeared in the dining table, the royals taking a seat and joining them. For a moment, they all just served themselves in a comforting silence, before princess Emma decided to break it. "Now that we are here, can we please discuss what I am trying to say for days?"

"And what would that be, Princess?" Rumplestiltskin asked.

"I discovered that a great evil is coming to this land."

"A great evil?" The King asked in tone mockery, then pointed at Regina. "Emma, the only evil we had to face was her!"

"That's enough!" Robin screamed, standing up for his lover. "Regina is not who she was before."

"She kidnapped our grandson!" Snow White said.

"I didn't!"

Emma's jaw dropped. "She didn't!"

Once again, Rose started cry, waken by all that disorder, her screams filling the hall and making the argument fade. Belle pushed her chair back and stood on her feet, an angry look of annoyance in her face, she glanced at the people in the table like she was capable of killing them with her bare hands for disturbing her baby's sleep. "I am sorry, but if all want to stay here and have dinner, then I suggest you stop yelling at each other, because you are scaring my children!"

Mrs. Potts brought the screaming little girl to her lady, muttering if she wanted her to take the children to the nursery but she denied, rocking Rose to make the cries cease.

Queen Snow sighed. "We are very sorry, Belle."

"My lady is right." Rumplestiltskin said, taking the baby from her arms to let Belle eat her food that was still untouched in her plate. Gideon watched as his father covered his sister's head with one of his big hands, caressing her cheek with one thick finger. "The next person who yells is going to be out of this castle flying." He threatened without taking his eyes from Rose.

"It's difficult to take this serious while the fearful Dark One is holding a baby with tenderness." King David laughed.

That had definitely been the wrong thing to say to someone like Gideon's father. His mother always said that the imp was an unstable person, mainly when it came from people he didn't care a thing about, what meant that the devilish voice that his papa played next, came to let it clear that he should always be taken seriously. "Tenderness ends when I hand my daughter to Belle and choke someone."

"He is sorry for that." Snow White hurried to say. She shared a glance with her husband and added lower: "Shut up, David."

"You were talking about a great evil, Princess Emma." His papa continued as if nothing had happened, taking his seat in the head of the table again, with Rose laying her little head on his chest.

"Yeah, I've heard about all kinds of terrible things happening in our villages and the people are relating them with a woman's shadow they have seen, but she never stays anywhere long enough to be caught." Gideon felt a shiver of fear pass through his body. It seemed bad. "She is darkness, Rumplestiltskin, she is like the very darkness itself."

"Tell me more about her. Do you have a description?"

"No. Everybody who did saw her only talked about a shadow and a cruel laugh."

Belle stopped eating and looked right at Emma. The memories of her too real nightmares coming up to her mind and filling her with those horrible images of the Dark Castle burning to the ground while she tried to reach for her children, weak and bleeding until the mysterious woman appear, making her wake always in the same point of the dream. It had been months since the last time she had that nightmare, but it still tormented her sometimes and now it made her heart race with the less possibility of it in fact been a vision like she had once considered. "A laugh?" She asked.

"So, it seems."

"We need a name." Regina said.

"We?" King David cut out. "There is no we!"

The dark-haired woman rolled her eyes. "Don't be so dumb, if there is a danger in this land it will affect us all. If we work together, maybe we can cut its root before the problem grows."

From where he was, staring at his daughter's peaceful sleeping face, Rumplestiltskin intervened. "I hate to say that, but she is right."

Even for Gideon, it was a surprise to hear his father admitting that someone other than his mother was right about something and even more, proposing a team-up. He never did that before.

Raising an eyebrow, the king took a sip of his wine. "I thought you liked to do things alone."

"Indeed. But that doesn't mean she isn't right."

"Rumple - " Belle tried to spoke, but her words were trapped in her throat by the fear that she was feeling.

Reaching to grip on her hand, Rumplestiltskin gave her a glance full of love, the only glance in the world that could keep her from falling into tears in front of everyone in the hall and still give her hope that the things could be fine in the end. "Don't worry, sweetheart, no harm will ever come to our family."

Accommodating the last dress inside the chest, Belle closed the lid, finally having the chance to fall on her knees in front of the fireplace, stressed with the events of the night. Rose was now sleeping in the nursery with Roland in a second crib by her side and Gideon had already been put to bed, after a short chapter of a book. Henry was sharing a room with Princess Emma and the two couples had been lead to comfortable chambers in the other tower. She felt exhausted and shaken, having not even strength enough to move herself to bed.

"Tell me again why I agreed with this madness." Rumplestiltskin said when he entered their chambers.

"You thought that accepting King David's invitation was the wiser choice since now we apparently have an enemy in common." She said without turning to face him.

The imp walked towards his lady, sitting in front of her on the floor. "I wouldn't say enemy as we don't know yet who this mysterious woman is, but yes, you are right."

Belle was feeling like her heart was about to burst with worry. Gideon had noticed her fear when the princess started to talk about this great evil she had found out about and asked his mother if she really thought that they were in danger, when she was straightening his blankets before leaving his chambers. For a long moment, she didn't know how to answer, because she was really afraid for their safety, but she didn't want to startle him, so Belle ended up saying that no matter what kind of danger it was, his papa was going to erase it from their land.

Satisfied in knowing this, Gideon had fallen asleep and she left the room. But now, while looking at her lover's reptilian eyes, she couldn't hide her fear anymore. "Rumple, I'm scared."

He leaned to touch her cheek. "You don't need to be, sweetheart. I have already told, I'm not letting anyone harm you or our children."

Shooking her head, Belle denied herself that illusion. "Do you remember about that nightmare I had when I was expecting Rose?" She asked and he nodded to confirm. "The description Emma gave us about this woman matches the one who I saw."

"It can't be."

"I know, but it is." Belle's voice was full of despair, her hands gripped at the fabric of her own nightgown, nervously. "What if she reaches us and really burns the castle with all of us inside?"

"Belle, this is not going to happen." Rumplestiltskin assured her, she knew very well that even now, he didn't believe her theory of that dream being a vision, that the fact that she hadn't magic collaborated to reinforce that idea, but wasn't willing to let her spend the next few days, or months, or the time that was needed to erase that woman's existence from the Enchanted Forest, worrying if their home was going to burn to the ground at any time. So, he reached both hands to stroke her arms. "Look at me. Do you trust me?"

"With my life."

"Then believe that I won't let this happens."

Biting her lower lip, Belle drop her gaze to the floor, wanting that the feel of his fingers rubbing against her skin so softly could be enough to take everything else away, but it wasn't. "In the dream, I summoned you, but you didn't come."

"Sweetheart, it was only a bad dream and strange things happen during nightmares. Whenever you summon me, I come to you, no matter where I am or what I'm doing, alright?"

"Alright."

Standing up he went to his safe in the wall and took something from there. Something that she had only seen once or twice during all the time she spend in the Dark Castle. He brought it with him as he kneeled in front of her again, laying the precious object in her pale hands. "Here, get this."

"Your dagger? Why?"

"Because we are going on a trip and I don't trust in any of those people. The only one who is ever going to hold my heart and my life is you." Rumplestiltskin closed her fingers to hold the cold silver metal of the dagger. "Keep this with you all the time, Belle."

"No," she immediately said, pushing it back to him. "I - I can't!"

"Please, sweetheart." The imp insisted. "If anyone is willing to look for it while we will be in court then they will look with me, not you. Can you do me that favour, just for now?"

Thinking about the great responsibility that would be carrying that dagger around, Belle thought about denying again, but his pleading face, made her hold the answer longer enough to change it. "Yes."