After Rapunzel announced that she was going to go, Flynn made a call to his sister and told her to pack a bag of clothes and essentials as quickly as possible. She assumed from the conversation that she heard Ayana was confused and couldn't figure out what was going on to demand such an action but Flynn kept her calm, promising that everything was going to be okay and they'd be there shortly to explain. Rapunzel packed a bag too, but it was mostly knick-knacks around the apartment, a picture of her parents, a couple of necklaces from the jewelry box, some slippers, and her frying pan.

"For eggs, right?" Flynn questioned looking at her.

Rapunzel only smirked as she twirled it expertly in her hand. She shrugged as she settled it into her bag. "If you say so."

The rest of what Rapunzel would take, the clothes she wanted, were already at Flynn's. When they got home, they would pack, talk to Ayana, and be on their way. The cabins weren't far, and it wasn't late. She was hoping they would make it there by midnight.

"When you are ready, call this number," Rumpelstiltskin explained to them in front of the circulation desk. He handed them what looked like a business card of some kind.

"Dove?" Flynn questioned.

"He's an associate of mine. He'll meet you at the campground and let you into the cabin when you arrive. He'll provide you with food, clothes, anything you'll need to stay comfortable. He'll be checking in periodically. You'll be safe so long as you're on the grounds. The only other occupant will be Belle's father; he'll be in another cabin."

"I don't imagine he'll bother us too much," Rapunzel inserted looking over at her. Rapunzel knew what it was between her and her father, and knew that she hadn't spoken to him since she'd returned from the Underworld. She knew that Rapunzel was well equipped and prepared for anything her father might do to get information or not while they were all there.

"You'll be fine," she assured her.

"And you'll call us?" Rapunzel questioned stepping up to her. "Once you've helped Gideon, you'll call us back?"

"As fast as I can," she swore, grateful that her friend hadn't used uncertainty, but confidence. It wasn't 'if' they helped Gideon, it was 'when'. In her mind, they were going to be successful. She needed that. Rapunzel held her in a tight hug for a moment longer and whispered in her ear that she should call if she needed anything and she'd be right back here to help in heartbeat. Knowing it was true, she nodded and only let her go when Flynn placed an arm at her back.

"We should leave out the back door, in case he's watching."

"We'll leave at the same time as you, just in case. With any luck he'll be more interested in our departure to notice your exit," Rumple added.

Flynn nodded in approval and urged Rapunzel forward, but before they got two steps, she turned back to them. No, not them. Not even her! Before she knew what she was doing her friend was toe to toe with Rumpelstiltskin, looking him in the eye as she'd seen only a few do in her lifetime.

"If you hurt her…I'll find that dagger and kill you myself," she threatened with tears shining in her eyes.

There was absolute quiet and stillness from everyone in the aftermath of her words. She was so shocked and unprepared for what she'd said she didn't know what to do! Chastise her friend for what she'd said and denounce her words in front of the man she didn't trust? Stand between them knowing she couldn't stop Rumple if his anger flared?! Flynn seemed just as confused. A non-magic princess making a threat against the Dark One…who could prepare for that?!

"Call me if you need me," Rapunzel finally muttered, stepping away from Rumple and breaking her own silence to grab her hand. It was still limp with shock when she squeezed it, before grabbing Flynn and heading for the back door as if nothing had ever been said.

She watched Rumpelstiltskin carefully after her departure. But she was surprised to find there was no malice in his eyes as he watched the pair go. His face was stony, carefully concealing whatever it was he was feeling, but she was certain it wasn't anything bad or homicidal. In fact, he watched them with something like reverence in his eyes.

"Protective," he finally muttered once they were out of earshot.

She nodded. "She's my best friend," she admitted, hoping that it might quiet any terrible thoughts he had inside and was concealing after that comment. "After tonight she might be my only friend."

She wanted desperately to hear a response from him, but the sound of the back door being unlocked echoed through the walls of the library and before she really knew what was happening Rumpelstiltskin had wrapped an arm around her back and propelled her forward.

"Let's go."

He led her out of the library, and she turned to lock the door before questioning where they were going to go.

"The shop. We can talk about what to do next before coming back here."

"What makes you think we'll come back here?" she questioned as they crossed the street and caught a flash of Rapunzel and Flynn walking down the street and away from the library out of the corner of her eye.

"Books, Belle…you will always need books."

"Not this time," she muttered as he pulled out his keys and unlocked the shop for them.

Rumple only sighed as he let her in and she turned on the lights. "Never trust a librarian who doesn't need books," he muttered under his breath.

She snorted in irritation. "That's not the only reason you don't trust me, and we both know it."

"Belle-"

"I want to talk to him Rumple," she inserted before he could finish his thought. "I need to talk to him."

"And tell him what?"

"That I was wrong. That I shouldn't have tried to use the scissors on him. That neither of us should have."

"You think admitting that will make any difference?"

"He wants to put his family back together, doesn't he?! The one thing we both have agreed on is that we shouldn't have done what we tried to do. If we hadn't…" she shook her head and looked out the window of the shop seeing only her own reflection, her throat too thick to continue. Words failed her. If only...

She wondered what life would be like if neither of this had tried to use those scissors. Probably very different than now. If she'd never found out about those scissors she'd probably still be living on Hook's ship, probably still be pregnant, probably stewing as she wondered what he and the Evil Queen were doing in their spare time.

Instead, she'd sent her baby away to protect him and then tried to use the very weapon she'd wanted to protect him from against him. She didn't want to. She truly didn't want to hurt him, but she didn't want this life for him either and now…now all she wanted was to explain her actions and take it all back. Her son had come in search of them when he first got to Storybrooke for a reason. And she had chased him away…perhaps just like she'd chased Rumpelstiltskin away. Her father, Samuel, Hook, Ruby, even Rapunzel just now…everyone she knew left her eventually because she chased them away. What was wrong with her?

"Belle-"

"No!" she squawked when she felt hands on her elbows. She stepped out of his touch and wiped her eyes, swallowing back tears. They'd been screaming viciously at one another only hours ago. Giving and taking comfort from one another was an intimate step they were not ready for and in this situation, it was something that she was undeserving of.

"Please…I just want to talk to him. I need to see him. To do this the right way, as his mother without magic!"

"I very much so doubt he'll be easy to find at the moment," Rumpelstiltskin suggested. "He believes he has a purpose and I'm sure he sees everything that is not that purpose as hindrance."

"But we have to try," she cried, letting her tears fall. "We have to do something to find him and talk to him, guide him, stop him from doing this! I…" Images began to flash before her of only hours ago, when they'd last been in this shop looking for him and found him. Her hands had been full then. They were not now and the reason was heartbreaking. "I lost his teddy bear. I dropped it outside when we found him and-"

"Belle…things that are lost are not always gone." Rumple stepped closer to her and pushed something soft and warm into her hands. She stared down at the bear and struggled to see through the tears in her eyes all over again. She was happy it was back, even if she hadn't seen him summon it…but the magic was gone. The pull that had been there the last time they stood in this shop was no longer there.

"Please!" she begged, pressing it back into his hands. "Enchant it again…let's find our son."

Rumple stared at the offering in their hands for a long moment, looking hesitant. Then finally took it and waved his hand over it. He shook his head.

"It's still got magic in it," he muttered.

She took a deep breath as she looked it over. That didn't seem possible. "But I…I didn't feel anything when I touched it this time."

"Because he's blocking himself, Belle."

He meant to say the words so that it would kill the idea that she had, but he'd done the opposite. He'd given her a new idea.

"We have to go back to the library."

"Belle!"

"I have an idea!" she hollered over her shoulder as she walked out the door. Eventually, she heard his footsteps on the street behind her. When she unlocked the library it was so soon after they'd left that the lights were still buzzing. She barely took a breath, merely headed back into another room, her mind set on only one thing.

"Belle, what are you-"

"When you were with Emma you were blocked!" she explained. "We couldn't find where she was hiding you no matter which tracking or locator potion we used so I came up with another idea I was about to use when you came to me in the elevator." She pulled a big map out of storage and lay it over a table. "Blocking spells use head magic, they ward off spells that work through time and space, but if you use heart magic, and seek it using something that doesn't travel through time and space, something like a map-"

"He might just appear…"

His eyes were wide. Wide enough for her to know that even though he'd said it wouldn't do any good, he was interested in finding their son too. And why wouldn't he be? He wasn't the one who had committed such a terrible crime against him in his lifetime.

"This could work, Rumpelstiltskin. We can find our son."

"Perhaps," he muttered, his voice no more than a whisper before he picked his head up and looked around the library. "Wait here."

She did as instructed this time and looked the map over as he excused himself. Out in the lobby, near the circulation desk, she heard fumbling and sifting. Noises rattled on and on for minutes, and she was just about to ask if he needed help finding something when he walked back into the room carrying a bowl of gray dust. It was fine and soft, powdery. And when she touched it, the substance stained her fingers with shiny silver just like something else had once before.

"That looks like the stuff I used to bring back the writing in the books when Elsa was here.

He nodded as he looked over the map. "Same basic spell. Is this the best map you have of Storybrooke? All of it?"

"The only one. Everything else is smaller and sectioned off."

He nodded and spread the map out flat before sprinkling the dust on the top corner of it. Same basic spell, but clearly different. Immediately the powder began to move and pulse, bubble as if it were liquid and not solid, like a wave it began to roll over the map, but it wasn't even hardly out of the corner when she saw a black dot form. Her heart leapt as she moved closer to inspect it. The woods.

"He's on the edge of town!"

"Belle."

"He might have moved into the campsite the merry men left behind."

"Belle."

"Rumple that's not far from here we can be there in-"

"Belle look!" he demanded finally drawing her eyes away from the spot and over the entire map and her heart fell.

Black dots.

Everywhere she looked there were black dots! One dozen, two dozen, three, maybe four and the black mass still wasn't finished sweeping the map. If the spell was done right, then he wasn't in a single fixed spot.

"He's everywhere…"

So Rapunzel goes out with a bang, right! I wish I had words to tell you just how much I love that last comment that she made, but I don't. I do however have a good reason for it, so before you think that I'm making Rapunzel into a terrible Rumple hating person, give me two seconds of explanation. As previously mentioned, Rapunzel is going to be around for a while to come, but I didn't want this relationship to echo that of Ruby and Belle, I wanted Rumple, in the future, to like her. I'm not going to make them besties, but I do want Rumple to consider Rapunzel a "friend of the family". The best way to do that was to get him to respect her first. Now, I'm sure you are wondering, how does threatening his life make him respect her. Two reasons. Well, for one thing, she's not threatening him because she hates him or because she wants his power. She's doing it for Belle. We've all seen, if you want to get to Rumple, you have to go through his family. To make a threat like that shows that Rapunzel cares deeply for Belle and I think Rumple is the kind of man to distinguish that. Second, what she said and how she said it, takes some serious balls. She's not just threatening anyone, she's threatening the Dark One, who could quite easily kill her in a heartbeat, and to look him in the eye while she does it...that takes guts. No...that takes balls! And I've always thought that Rumple admires courage like that. Personally, I think that saying what she said, in defense of his wife, is what would make him admire her a little and that creates a foundation for respect and the relationship that is to come.

Thank you so much, Grace5231973 and Fox24, for your reviews on the last chapter. I'm super excited to hear what you have to say about this chapter! Believe it or not we're just a couple of chapters shy of being a third of the way through this. How do we like it so far? I think this third is easily the hardest because of 6x11/6x12, but I'm excited for the chapters to come, lots of development, good development. The chapters we encounter in the next third have some of my favorite chapters as well as the favorite chapter. I hope you are just as excited as I am. Peace and Happy Reading!