When Rumplestiltskin woke up, Cruella was already gone and he was basically spooning air. He didn't sleep well that night. Everything was starting to suffocate him. He was worried about his wives near Hook and Ursula, he was constantly worried Lily might run off. He was worried about Belle and the baby. Something was bothering Regina yesterday. Perhaps it was stress.

He was terrified his family was heading towards some sort of destruction. Anything could lead it to shattering apart.

Cruella running to Ursula was going to be a problem, he just knew it.

He heard the door open and sat up to see Belle coming into the room with two cups of coffee. That wasn't good for their child! "Belle!"

"It's alright, one cup won't hurt," she crawled into bed with him, "Hook's gone."

He jerked over to her and blinked, "What?"

"The ship's gone, he's gone….the harbormaster said he just...sailed away"

That made no sense. The pirate wouldn't leave unless he knew he'd destroyed Rumple's family once and for all. Why would he leave so soon? What happened? Did Emma say something? Did she do something?

Did Bae do something?

He didn't want to think about it really. If the pirate was gone, what did he care in how the pirate was driven away?

"Good riddance," he pulled himself to a sitting position and took a drink of his coffee. He never liked the taste but it did wake him up.

Belle was quiet for a few moments, "Do you regret what you did? To Milah?"

He froze. It had been years before Rumplestiltskin could understand what Milah had put him through in terms of verbal abuse and making him feel guilty for one decision in which he didn't go off and die. He'd spent years, even centuries believing he was a coward who deserved it.

But then it was revealed that she was alive, and he realized she'd left their son behind and never looked back. THey let him think she went through a horrific experience just to be killed afterwards and he'd been too scared to fight for her.

Killing her had been spur of the moment, her leaving them, her claiming she never loved him after years of claiming she did before things got hard...he couldn't stop himself. He lashed out and he could never take it back.

"I regret it every day," he told her, "I loved her once. She was my wife. I made vows and then she was dead because of me. She did her own things that made the relationship toxic but that was no excuse for what I did. And I know I am extremely lucky to have you all know about it and marry me anyway. I"m sure there was a lot of hesitation."

He was a very fortunate man.

Belle was quiet and rested her head on his shoulder, "I love you."

He kissed her hair, "I love you too."

"It's our night tonight"

"Indeed."

"Will you spend time with me in the library today?"

He gave a small smile, "I'll spend all day with you in the library if that's what you wish."

She was his true love, none of the other wives had that title or that speciality with him. And while he loved them passionately, he recognized that Belle was that one that wanted just him and could be happy. She saw things in him that the others took awhile to see.

And he loved her so much for it.

"Perhaps the library should be closed," she teased.

"I think I like that way better," he grinned.

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Emma was already scarfing a pop tart down when her husband came to kiss her goodbye for the day. She gave Belle a hug, worried over the coffee that Belle swore was good if drank sparingly and got Henry up. By the time he rolled out of bed and got ready for school, they were starting to run late. Emma pulled on her jacket and sent Henry outside while she turned everything off and locked up. Henry waited on the porch and nudged her when she locked the door, "Mom."

Emma turned around to see her father leaning against his truck, waiting.

Emma felt tense as she recalled everything that happened with Lily and how they viewed her new life and she sent Henry to the car. Henry waved at his grandfather. Emma walked down the stairs and slipped her keys in her pocket, "Hey."

"Hey," he greeted back and looked a little awkward, "Must be Belle's day, I saw her leaving with Rumple."

"Yeah."

"Is yours next?"

"No, regina's is next then mine."

"Oh," he looked down at his feet, "Emma, words cannot express how much guilt we feel for what we did to Lily. and while we don't understand...all this , we don't want you to feel like you should defend it"

Emma almost felt defensive, they were doing a poor job of it so far but ultimately Emma could understand a bit. It was a hard thing to get and if Hook was right, it might not even be real.

IF he was right.

"I know," was all she said.

"We want….we want to try dinner again on your night. We want to be a family, Emma. All of us."

It was words that Emma hoped to hear all her life but they were also words that backfired really quickly.

"I have to talk to the others"

"I understand."

"I want to be a family too," Emma told him quickly. "But Maleficent and Lily are my family as well. I can't just forget what happened, that's disrespectful to them."

"I don't expect you to," he said quickly, "We just hope that one day...you'll forgive us. We don't want you to forget it. we just want you to forgive."

Emma was quiet, "I hope I can."

"So do we."

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Lily had barely gotten dressed when Baelfire sent her an address and asked her to meet him. It was a bit of a walk. Lily grumbled and moaned as she finally arrived and gave a glare to her brother as he walked down the stairs to the abandoned house, "You could've waited for me to get my coffee."

"I didn't stop you," He bounced a bit.

"You could'be given me a ride too."

"It's in the shop. I tried to bond with Henry by teaching him to drive and he found the ditch. I was surprised, it was hidden pretty well and he still managed to find it."

"That's why you got me up?"

"No!" He scowled, "I was out walking and I found this!"

He turned and gestured to the house. It was a small one. Didn't even have a garage and it was in need of a bad paint job, "This is….?"

"Dad and his wives have his home and they've offered to open it to us but there's a billion reasons why I don't want to hear the woman I love having sex with my dad or my stepmom. So that's out. So do I live at Granny's from here on out or do I save my handyman money and move out."

"So let me guess…"

"I know you wanted a job here….you were thinking the diner," he shuffled his feet a bit, "I was thinking maybe you could move out too."

Lily was quiet as she realized what he was asking. He wanted her to make a home with him. Not just a place to live, she had Granny's for that. But a home? That was different. She was cautious though, she'd had a home once. She had it for years. then she met Emma and she lost all that, "You don't want that."

"I do! We can leave and go get our stuff, bring it back and make a home."

"I'm a screw up."

"I'm the older brother of screw ups."

"Everything i do turns badly."

"I think you look down too much on yourself, you're hardly as bad as you think. I'm probably worse."

"I'm the dark side of whatever. The apprentice told me."

"The apprentice said you'd have to work very hard to do good. That's not so different from any of us. We all have to work at it."

Lily was quiet. She supposed he had a point there, but she was still reluctant, "People will talk."

He shrugged, "I'm used to them talking about me and my family. I don't care. You're my sister. That's all I see you as. I'm not asking for any more than that."

She looked at it, "It's sort of run down."

"We can build it up, make it ours."

"What if it goes wrong?"

"Then you can keep the house."

"I couldn't afford it."

"Our dad is the landlord, I think we can work something out."

"And what if he doesn't want me?"

"That's not dad."

"I had a family for about 15 years before they decided they didn't want me. I had years with them, it wouldn't be long before this one gave up on me too."

"Trust me, that's not dad. WHen he loves, he loves with everything. Look what he did to get you all here for me."

Lily frowned, "It wasn't your fault."

"Wasn't it?" he asked with a bit of bitterness in his voice.

"No it wasn't," Lily told him stubbornly.

He was quiet, "Do you want the house or not?"

She shrugged, "Give me a day to think about it?"

"Sure."

"Thanks," she looked at her phone when she got a text, "Huh. Belle says Hook's gone."

Bae looked up and then went to check his phone as well, "Well good riddance but I'm going to have to call dad back and let him know "I" didn't say anything to him."

"He thinks you did?"

"Trust me, I wanted him here less than anyone else but I didn't' do anything to get rid of him."

"Weird," Lily pocketed her phone, "maybe he didn't think it was worth the fight."

"Who knows what goes on in his head, I'd have thought he'd stay to prove he was right ."

"maybe he was lying and he realized no one was buying it."

"I'd think he'd try harder, that book felt practically authentic."

"Does it really matter?" Lily asked and shrugged, "Wanna go get breakfast?"

"Yes, I'm starving," he walked down the stairs, "You know ,if you get a job there, maybe you'll get me a discount."

"Don't push your luck."