"So, we are already going home?" Gideon asked, moody. "But I wanted to play swords with Neal and Henry!"

They were in the chambers Queen Snow had given their parents, with Mrs. Potts helping Belle to fill a giant chest with the clothes and jewellery they had brought from their castle, while one of the royal maids took care of Rose. The boy had surprisingly woken up there, snugged between his parents, both of them with arms around him, their eyes closed in their sleep. He didn't know why they had decided to bring him and his sister to their chambers, as they rarely allowed him to sleep in their bed, but he was happy that they did.

Now, however, he was just frustrated with the fact that his time to have fun with his new friends was over and they were going straight back home, where he had no one to play with but the adults.

"I'm sorry, Gid." His mother answered. "Papa have some important things to do and we will be safer in our castle."

Sighing, he sank into the mattress of the master bed. The door of the room opened and a man entered. He was tall, with brown hair, brown eyes and was wearing a cream and grey outfit.

"Belle?" The man called, making Gideon's mother look at him over her shoulder.

"Oh, hey. I'm packing for the travel."

"That's what I wanted to talk about." He said, pausing as she closed the chest's lid with some effort before fully turning to face him. "I'm going with you."

Surprise passed through Belle's face. She blinked and asked in her most accentuated accent: "You are?"

The man nodded, a little hesitantly and Gideon slip off the bed, coming to his mother's side, grabbing the fabric of her purple dress and staring mistrustfully at their companion. "Mama, who is this man?"

She kneeled in front of the boy, caressing the thick skin of his small hands in her delicate one's, a soft smile on her lips. "Gideon, do you remember your father's stories about his first-born son, Baelfire?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"This is him."

That wasn't exactly what he was expecting to hear. Baelfire's story had always been a good one, but he never seemed to be more than that, the hero of an old tale, and now his half-brother was just standing next to him, probably old enough to be his father. Things were confusing, but in the end, they always were.

Baelfire joined Gideon's mother, kneeling in front of him, with a grin. "Hey, young boy. It is very nice to meet you."

"I thought you were a child like me." Gideon pointed, because the half-brother of his father's stories usually was a fourteen-year-old boy, and he imagined that at age of fourteen, no one should look so old.

However, the Dark One's youngest son, didn't really got the track of time yet, for him the passage of the days didn't mean much a thing but the sun and the moon taking turns in the sky. He remembered how anxious his parents seemed with the time when his mama was expecting Rose, but that didn't make a lot of sense for him, everything Gideon knew, was that Belle was getting bigger and for him, it never seemed something to be cheered.

"Apparently everyone is surprised that time in fact passed." Baelfire laughed. "But well, I'm going to travel to the Dark Castle with you and your mama, so I hope we get to known each other."

Gideon wasn't sure if he liked that. Was Bae going to live with them now? Should him start to be jealous? Would his papa forget about him now that he got his loved first-born back? It took him a while to accept that his parents loved both him and Rose, and the fact that his little sister was a tiny squealing thing, made things easier, because she always looked so helpless that Gideon felt that he had the duty to protect her too. And he loved Rose very much, he just wasn't sure yet if he could do the same thing with Bae, when he was a grownup man and by now was probably the hero of his own story, while he was just a boy complaining about not wanting to go home so soon.

Belle rose from the floor, going to help Mrs. Potts with their traveling cloaks, but kept an eye in them. "Won't you like to stay with Emma?"

"We have a lot to discuss, but I simply can't let you take the road alone. I've been a thief around here before, I know how dangerous traveling can be."

"If you insist, it will be really good to have your company."

Touching Gideon's arm briefly, Baelfire also stood up and the boy felt a hundred more questions form in his mind. So, his brother was a thief? He needed an explanation about that.

"Where is my father?" Bae asked.

His mama straightened the cloaks, hanging them in little hooks near the fireplace, Mrs. Potts handing each one as she did. "Organizing his own trip."

There was a small cry coming from the other side of the room, where one of Queen Snow's maids was sat in a rock chair with his sister. The young blond girl, looked up with startled eyes at the baby's screams. "Milady Belle?"

"Alright, I'm going." Belle said, immediately stopping what she was doing to come get her daughter. "Can you take Gideon to the gardens, please, Neal? I - I need to feed Rose."

Gideon didn't understand why, but she blushed when she said that and Baelfire seemed a little embarrassed, as if he wanted to rush away from there. "Oh! Don't worry I'll disappear." The young man said, grabbing his half-brother's hand and dragging him out of his parents' chambers. "Come on, boy, let's give some privacy to your mama."

"Why did she call you Neal?" Gideon asked when they were crossing the hallway.

"That's the name I use now."

"Why? Didn't you like Baelfire?"

"I did, but in some realms, this is not a common name." He explained. "Neal is way easier."

"And how do I call you?"

"Whatever you want."

A giant smile filled the little boy's face. "Bunny!"

Baelfire rolled his eyes. "Not funny. Call me Neal."

The carriages were ready to leave Snow White's castle and the families were saying their goodbyes. Robin, Roland and Henry were leaving to Sherwood Forest against the royals' protests that Emma's son should stay with them. Baelfire, who had been introduce to the boy as his father during the night before was speaking to him alongside with the blonde princess, while Regina filled her baby and lover with kisses.

A little further, Rumplestiltskin had Belle in his arms, kissing her hungrily against the carriage, Rose almost smashed between them as their lips worked together, trying to compensate the time they were going to spend apart from each other. His hand fitter her neck and his tongue travelled her mouth in a rhythm that let both of them breathless, but they only broke apart when their baby attempted to cry, disturbed by her parents making out that way.

Forehead touching, Rumple rubbed his daughter's cheek while still looking inside Belle's gorgeous blue eyes. "Please, sweetheart, take care of yourself. If there is anything out of the normal, don't think twice before summoning me."

"Take care you too. I need you to come back to me."

"Will this trip take long, papa?" Gideon asked, approaching them.

The imp pulled away from his lover's embrace to mess his son's hair. "I have no idea, my boy, but I hope not. Be good to your mama, alright?"

"Okay. I'll miss you."

Gideon stretched his arms, silently asked to be picked up, and Rumplestiltskin did so, lifting him from the floor in a tight hug. "Me too."

He released Gideon on the ground and the boy followed Mrs. Potts to inside the carriage. Turning back to Belle, he fixed his gaze in the baby in her arms. Rose was wearing a small version of her mother's purple dress, matching perfectly with the Dark Lady. "And you little flower," he said, pressing a gentle kiss to the top of her head. "Will be also be missed. Papa loves you very dearly." She giggled, causing her father to smile widely, before asking his lover: "Darling, do you still have the dagger? I think I'll need it in my trip."

"Of course, I do." She answered, moving Rose to just one arm to reach for the dagger in the inner pocket of her cloak, taking it to give him. "Here, take it."

The imp grabbed the object from her hands, hiding it inside his own cloak. "Thank you, for keeping it safe for me."

"Whenever you need." Belle said with a smile.

Baelfire walked towards them, a serious expression in his face. "Time to go."

"Thank you, for doing this, son."

"No problem, I'm happy to help." The young man confessed, letting the smallest of the smiles appear in his lips. He didn't want to give his father much hope to fix their relationship, but he also couldn't help himself of having some faith in it when he was watching the Dark One being so lovely with his new family. "Maybe we can have a longer conversation when you get back to your castle."

Rumple blinked, sharing a quick glance with Belle. "Will you stay there until I do?"

"Yeah. Have a good trip."

"Bae - " the imp started, but Baelfire only nodded.

"We can talk later." He said before entering the carriage.

Every cold word from his son, killed Rumplestiltskin a little bit and knowing that he was the only one responsible for that, hurt even more. Belle sensed his heartbreak and moved back to his arms. "Give him time, Rumple. Maybe when you come back, Baelfire will have his heart open for you."

"I'm trusting that."

Her thumb came up to touch his lip and he sucked it, causing her eyes to close and a little whimper to leave her mouth. "Don't forget that I love you and that I'll be waiting for your return."

Letting her finger fall, he kissed her hand. "I'll rush back to you after I take care of this problem, sweetheart." His lips came to hers, brushing against that warm softness that he so adored. "I love you."

She entered the carriage and Rumplestiltskin watched as they all left, taking the road, to disappear in the middle of the woods. He sighed, praying for them to reach home safely, because inside that carriage weren't just some people, inside there was his family, his heart and all the reasons he had to be alive.

"Impressive, the Dark One has a weakness. A blue-eyed weakness and her wee one's." Zelena said from behind him, grinning. "You always seemed so cold that I never thought that you could still be a man under those trousers."

Oh, she had no idea of what a man he was behind those trousers and how he could make his sweet little Belle scream his name in pleasure, but he wasn't going to boast himself, he was too concerned about who they might be chasing to just start being all ironic with any of Cora's daughters.

"Don't bother me, Zelena." He replied with a frown. Because, truth be told, there was nothing in this world that could annoy him more than that redhead.

Emma folded her arms. "Yeah, it would be better if we don't kill each other before finding that evil woman."

The blonde was dressed for an adventure, wearing pants, boots, a blue waistcoat beneath her white shirt and having her hair up in a ponytail, exactly like she did when she helped Captain Hook after he attacked Belle. It wasn't a good memory for him, but Rumplestiltskin wondered for a moment where that sick pirate could be by now and if he and Emma kept any kind of contact after that day.

"Where does we start?" Regina asked.

"With the fairies." The princess answered as if it was obvious.

"That useless tiny things?" Rumplestiltskin inquired. "No way."

"They are full of light magic and I bet they must know something about this woman."

"Okay. There we go." Regina raised her hand, using her magic to take them all in a purple cloud of smoke.

It all happened in a brief second. The haze vanished them from the front of the castle, but when they reached their destiny, everything started to shake and they appeared back to where they were before, like they never left. Regina looked confused around. "What the hell just happened?"

"We can't enter there, sis." Zelena replied. "Or did you think that the fairies would just leave their door open for visitors?"

"Yeah, I think we need to summon them, somehow." Emma agreed.

A blue glow surrounded them and a woman took form, her silhouette growing from very tiny to a normal people's height. "Be quick, what do you want?"

The princess' jaw dropped. "How do you know that we wished to speak to you?"

Rolling her eyes, the Blue Fairy paused both hands in her own hips, stubbornly. "You tried to broke into my place. That's how I know."

"Great, start to speak, dearie." Rumplestiltskin interfered, not liking to be in her presence. Fairies. Well that was definitely something that annoyed him more than Zelena. "What do you know about the woman who is collecting ingredients for a freedom spell?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't talk about that."

"What?" The Wicked Witch gasped. "How can you not talk about that this woman is a danger for everyone and she just stole my baby!"

"I am really sorry, but all I know about her is part of the fairies' secret matters. And even if I could speak, I wouldn't, not to you all. You are as dark as her. Villains, facing villains."

There was no time to stop Zelena's movement, but even if they did have it, neither Rumple nor Regina would try. At one moment, they were all looking at Blue as she spoke, in the other one, the green woman had lifted her from the floor with her powers and was choking the fairy. "Listen to me your freaking winged thing, or you start speaking or you will know what wicked is."

"Zelena!" Emma protested.

"I'm not paying any attention to you, Princess."

However, Emma wasn't paying a lot of attention to what she spoke too. The blonde approached the Blue Fairy, hearing her desperate gaps for air and said in her most convincing voice: "Alright, you don't talk to them, but at least talk to me. I'm not a villain, Blue."

"No, but you're Regina's apprentice."

Regina sighed, frustrated. "We are not getting anything from her."

"Oh, we are." Rumplestiltskin muttered behind clenched teeth. "I lost a son once because of this useless fairy, I won't watch my children get in danger because she is being stubborn."

Even still under Zelena's invisible grasp, Blue mumbled: "It is a pity that someone so full of light like Belle had fell for you. She could have had a good live and her children would always be safe if she had married sir Gaston like she should've."

She was crossing a dangerous line. The Dark One pointed his dagger to her, holding himself not to kill the fairy just because he knew that she was probably the only one who had all the answers they needed. "You don't get to judge people's choices or decide what is better for them. Speak."

"No!"

Beside him, Emma jumped at the sight of a black silhouette walking between the trees. "She is there!"

Zelena lost her grip on the fairy and ran to where the princess was pointing with all her three temporary partners behind, but when they reached the spot where the woman made an apparition, she wasn't there anymore.

"Gone." Declared the redhead.

"She is getting stronger." Blue said, terrified. "I'll give you all an advice. Stop looking for her. Just hide yourselves and pray that whatever she wants, she gets it soon enough and vanish from this realm."

Them with a blue glow, she turned back into a small thing and flied away, leaving the princess and the villains behind.

"He got a good place." Neal said, when they entered the castle.

Mrs. Potts led the guards that had travelled with them upstairs to put the chests of the master and lady in their chambers. Gideon rushed to the spinning wheel, sitting on the stool as if it was his favourite toy. Both the imp's first-born son and the young woman took off their cloaks, leaving them in a hanger by the entryway before they followed the little boy.

"Make yourself at home if you want to explore, I just recommend staying away of your father's potion laboratory." Belle said while she played with Rose's tiny hands to keep them from gripping at her hair. "He keeps some dangerous things there."

Neal chuckled. "I'll make sure to never go there."

The guards came back, saying their goodbyes before leaving the Dark Castle, Mrs. Potts closing the front door behind them. She joined Gideon at the spinning wheel, asking if he wanted to help her to bake some bread. Realising that her son would be entertained for some time, Belle turned to Neal. "Come with me, I want to show you something."

She led him upstairs, to the same tower and floor where were set all the family rooms. They stopped by the first door in the hallway and she looked at the young man, a little uncertain. She wasn't sure if she should show him this, as her lover wasn't aware of what she was doing, but the lady only had the best intentions, so she took a deep breath, smoothing her daughter's back. "These are your chambers."

"My chambers?" Neal questioned, arching a brow.

"Yes." Belle opened the door, showing him the large place, with a comfortable bed, dark wooden furniture and a huge closet. "Your father always had this room set for you. I remember that, when I arrived the castle to be his maid and found it while cleaning, I got surprised, but I could understand how much he loved you just by taking a look."

Neal walked around, looking at every detail he could catch in his sight, feeling overwhelmed. He touched the wood of bed, thinking about all those years he spent apart from his father, resented of him and hating his actions. But during this time, all Rumplestiltskin had done was look for him and set a bedroom for Neal in his castle, even without knowing if someday they would, in fact, see each other again. "It's great."

"Open the chest." The lady instructed.

He opened the lid to find some pieces of clothing, those he used to wear a lifetime ago, when he was just a boy, afraid of what the Dark One's powers were doing with what had left of his family.

"These are - " he swallowed, fighting against the fresh tears that started blurring his eyes. "My old clothes." The young man mumbled. "He kept it during all those years."

"Yeah."

With a sigh, he ran his fingers through the white fabric of a shirt, before closing the chest. "Things could have been so easier if he had made the right choice."

"He is doing it now, Neal. I know it is hard to believe, but as someone who saw his best and his worst, I can assure you that your father is changed."

Lifting his gaze, he saw that the Dark Lady cradled Rose in her arms, the baby girl staring at him with the same deep brown eyes Neal had, as if she was understanding the conversation. She giggled, pointing her tiny hand at her oldest brother.

"I can see that he is. The man I saw in front of the carriage was certainly not the one who let me go through that portal. He treated you and the children with such tenderness that it couldn't be fake, but I still feel the scars of his betrayal."

He sat on the bed, glancing down at the floor and Belle approached him, cupping his cheek in her all motherly way that was too strong for a twenty-four-year-old girl, but that was too true and tender. His own mother didn't had that on her, but that lady did, like she was born a natural on this.

"Neal, look at me. If there was still a man behind the beast to be found by me when I made that deal with him, it was because his love for you kept him from giving completely into darkness. Hold onto it." Rose stretched herself in the mother's arms and reached to tap her hand on his head. The lady pulled the baby girl back. "I'll give you some time alone."

Turning her back to him and reaching for the door. He inhaled, facing the room full of twisted emotions. "Belle?"

"Yes?" She asked, looking back at him.

"Thank you, for everything, but mostly for not giving up on him. I'm pretty sure you are one of the motives that light still exists in my father."