Chapter Twenty-Five

The porch was empty when Belle and Emma got downstairs, but they spied Pete and the kids at Granny's restaurant in a booth for four. Henry and Leonora were in deep conversation and Emma motioned to Belle to join her at the counter instead. "I'll talk to him later," she said in an undertone. "Right now, the only thing that needs grilling is the cheese sandwich I'm ordering."

Belle smiled at that.

"So," Emma said, after Ruby had taken both their orders, "How much do you know about these hearings? Are they like trials, or…?"

Belle considered. "They can be," she allowed, "but in a situation like this one, where there's no question of the defendant's guilt, it's really just to determine the sentence. Zelena probably won't be present until that's settled, and then, it'll be just to hear what's been decided before it's carried out."

"So, what, we all just sit around and discuss it until we agree?"

Belle nodded. "Generally, there's a certain formality to it. The level of decorum really depends on the participants, though. I know that when my father held them, those involved tended to be elderly," she giggled, "usually stuffy nobles who enjoyed the sounds of their own voices rather more than the task at hand. They loved protocol and could spend close to an hour just determining the seating arrangements. I… have the feeling that there'll be less of that this outing."

Emma considered that. "Anything else?"

Belle shook her head. "Not really. Rumple knows the actual laws, but I have the feeling it's rather like the town charter, in that people don't look them up very often and, over time, certain procedures have probably been streamlined or abandoned. Mostly, people just sit and discuss what needs to be done. Sometimes, one person is chosen to start and then it proceeds clockwise, with everyone having their say. Sometimes, it goes by ranking. Sometimes, there's no set order and people jump in when they have something to say. If things get too out of hand, there's usually someone designated to call for order and get things back on track. Normally, it would be your parents, but Rumple told me that they mean to recuse themselves?"

"Yeah," Emma nodded. "Unless the council's deadlocked."

Belle frowned, thinking. "In that case, I'm thinking that it probably would be someone non-partisan and generally well-liked. Probably, someone like Archie. He's been on previous council meetings. He wasn't personally affected by anything Zelena did, I don't think—though he'd be aware, of course."

"That's true," Emma agreed. "With the damage she caused on Main Street—and Regina told me what happened at that first duel, too—a lot of people probably got shaken up. It wouldn't shock me to hear that Archie's counseling schedule recently got a lot tighter and that he's been getting an earful from people who were more directly impacted."

"You're right," Belle sighed. "But he's still the closest to neutral we're likely to find."

Emma frowned. "That means that if I want to talk to him about what we were discussing earlier, I should probably do that soon. I mean, if my parents needed me to move out so it wouldn't look like I was trying to influence their decision, then once the hearing is scheduled, I'm betting that if I'm spotted going to and from the office of the… what? Moderator?"

Belle nodded. "Close enough."

"Moderator," Emma repeated, "then that might also look as if I'm trying to sway him over to my line of thinking."

Belle nodded again. "It wouldn't be quite as serious. The council exists purely in an advisory capacity. Your parents are choosing to accept whatever recommendations it might make, but they can change their minds and take over at any time. While that doesn't happen very often, it has before. Now, if you were to approach your parents privately and convince them to halt the proceedings and rule according to your advice, it wouldn't be… well-received." She smiled. "Once the wheels are set in motion, it's expected that the council will see matters through to the end. The moderator's powers really just extend to making sure the whole procedure runs smoothly. If, for example, all council members are given a certain number of minutes to express their views, I suppose that, at the moderator's discretion, that time could be lengthened or shortened. If rules are being disregarded, or unevenly enforced—say, Archie were to give you twice as long to speak as any of the others—it would be noted, and not favorably. But it still wouldn't be as bad as if you tried to influence the final arbiters—in this case, your parents."

"I understand," Emma said. "Okay. Gold is going to be coming by the motel this afternoon to teach me a bit more about this. If you want to get involved, I'll take all the help I can get."

Belle smiled. "That's probably a good idea. Rumple may know the rules, but… he never sat on any of those meetings. Not today, though," she added. "The elementary school wants to introduce the younger grades to the library and I'll be taking them on a tour this afternoon."

Emma nodded. "Have fun," she smiled. "I'll talk to Archie this morning, while things are still quiet."

Dr. Archibald Hopper listened patiently while Emma talked, filling in her pauses with "uh-huhs" and "mm-hmms". Several times his professional demeanor fell away enough for her to register surprise and once, she even thought she'd stunned him. When she was finished, he smiled.

"It sounds as though you've learned a good deal," he said. "I hope you know I'm not only referring to your magic."

Emma nodded. "The thing is, I'm terrified of saying the wrong thing and messing this up. I've been going with my instincts, trying to put myself in his shoes, and every time I get through to him, I'm left thanking my lucky stars that something I said somehow struck the right chord. Next time, I might not do as well. So, I was wondering if you had any tips, or if there was some textbook…?"

Archie cleared his throat. "Um… well… Emma, you know this is a little awkward for me since, well, as you're aware, my medical qualifications were given to me with the curse. Now I do have memories—false memories—of going through college, and medical school, followed by a four-year residency in Portland, before opening my practice here. However, as you well know, I don't actually have those credentials. So, my telling you that if you have an interest in psychology, the best thing I can recommend is that you enrol in courses—and you can take many of them online these days, I realize that it... um... might sound a bit hypocritical—"

"Yeah," Emma cut him off, "but that's going to take time. I need to know how to help Gold now. I was looking for a few pointers or some kind of self-help book or…"

"Something that might teach you, in a couple of hours, how to be an effective therapist?" Archie asked, smiling. "I'm sorry, Emma. There's nothing like that. But then, I don't think that's what Rumpelstiltskin needs from you."

Emma blinked. "Sorry?"

Archie was still smiling. "If Rumpelstiltskin wants a therapist, he knows where my office is. Like anyone else in town, he's more than welcome to call or stop by to schedule an appointment, if that's what he chooses. But I don't think he's looking for you to fill that role."

Emma frowned. "He's… opened up to me over the last little while. A lot. Not just about Neal. About his past, and… and managing fear and… Isn't that, sort of, the kind of stuff you talk about in therapy?"

"It can be," Archie nodded. "But those are also topics that come up with people we trust." He paused for a beat. "With friends, Emma. And I don't believe that Rumpelstiltskin has had many of those in his life. Obviously, without my sitting down and talking with him, I can't say for certain that that's what he wants from you, but I'd think it seems likely."

Emma closed her eyes. "I'm just… so afraid I'm going to mess this up."

"That's understandable. In fact," he added gently, "as you're no doubt aware, it's a pretty common fear whenever one is about to venture into new territory."

Emma's eyes opened wide and she smiled ruefully. "Like I told him last night."

"I think you also mentioned that you let him know that there was a good chance you'd continue to make mistakes in the future."

"Yeah," Emma admitted, "but I was sort of hoping not to."

"Hope," Archie grinned, "is a wonderful thing, Emma. But it's a wish for the future. Meanwhile, you're here in the present. It sounds like you've been giving Rumpelstiltskin a certain amount of slack. Spare some for yourself. You're allowed to make a few wrong choices, too."

Emma let out a long breath. Then she stood up and extended her hand for Archie to shake. "Thanks," she said.

"Stop by any time, Emma." Then he frowned. "Well, probably not during the hearing, unless it's a real emergency."

Emma grinned.

She was walking up the steps to the motel's front door, when she heard her mother calling her name. She turned to see both of her parents headed toward her, with Regina a half-step behind. All three wore serious expressions.

"Mom? Dad?" she asked. "What's happened?"

She'd seen her parents angry before, but their ire had seldom been directed toward her. "When were you going to tell us about last night?" David demanded.

Emma blinked. "Sorry?"

"The hospital security cameras showed something interesting on the lower level, at around ten o'clock," Regina said, almost too calmly.

Emma exhaled. "I can explain."

"We're all ears," David replied tersely.

"Things got intense last night, after the party. It could have been worse, but… Belle and I talked him down before it did. I don't think it'll happen again."

"You don't think…?" Regina repeated. "As I understand it, Rumple gave his word that he wasn't going to take matters into his own hands with Zelena. And not even twelve hours later, he's breaking into the hospital's secured wing to get to her? How can you expect us to trust him after that?"

Emma closed her eyes. "I know," she admitted. "I can't expect it. But I'm still going to ask. Whatever it was he went there to do to Zelena, he didn't do it. He didn't break his word. I know how bad it looks, but…" She opened her eyes very wide as a new thought struck her. "Hold on. How long was he with Zelena before Belle and I got there?"

Her parents looked puzzled at her question, but they glanced back at Regina for the answer. Regina hesitated. "From the timestamp on the footage," she said, "it was something on the order of fifteen minutes."

Emma broke into a smile. "Fifteen minutes," she repeated.

"I don't understand why you look so happy about it," Snow said.

Emma's smile grew wider. "Don't you get it? The staff was unconscious. Zelena was powerless. If Gold had really wanted to do something to her, he would have done it and been long gone before we showed up." She took another breath. "I don't think Gold went to the hospital to kill Zelena. I think he went there looking for a reason not to."

"Our pact wasn't enough?" David asked.

Emma sighed. "I think it almost was." She looked at the ground for a moment. "Sorry. I was just remembering something I told Belle last night when we were driving to the hospital. I…" She sighed. "I don't know if there's anything that we could have, or should have, done differently yesterday. But when you go through life with a certain self-image—rootless drifter, Dark One," she cast an apologetic glance at Regina, "Evil Queen… it's… not so easy to walk away from it, even when people are trying to give you another chance." She sighed. "When I was eighteen and just out of prison, my parole officer helped me find a job. It wasn't much—just waitressing in some greasy spoon on the outskirts of Phoenix—but, with tips, it paid enough so I could rent a small place and barely cover expenses. I wanted to make a fresh start. And for about eight months—two months after my parole ended—it worked. Then my boss told me she wanted to make me an assistant manager, because I was, quote, 'the most reliable worker she had'." Emma sighed. "That evening, I got into my car and started driving. When I stopped, I was in Carson City, Nevada. I never gave notice. Never even called to let my boss know I'd left town."

"I don't get it," David admitted.

"I do," Regina said. "Your boss's perception of you didn't line up with your self-image and you… took it upon yourself to correct her thinking, rather than change yours."

Emma nodded. "I think that's what happened last night. Maybe it was too much, too fast. Maybe over the last couple of weeks, after everything that happened to him, after losing Neal, when I found him in the woods and got him out of town, Gold's… walls… were down enough for me to see another side of him. I don't know. Maybe things were just… going a little too well and he got nervous."

"So, he had to remind us that he's the Dark One," Snow said.

"I…" Emma blinked. "Wait. No. If that's what it was, then he had plenty of time to prove it before Belle and I got there." Her eyes opened wide. "What if I guessed wrong? What if he didn't go there to prove that the Darkness still controlled him, but to test if maybe it didn't?"

Emma wasn't surprised to see Belle standing next to Gold behind the counter when they marched into his shop. She'd texted both of them to let them know what was happening. What surprised her was the weary resignation in Gold's eyes. Always before, he'd managed to appear in control in these familiar surroundings, even when they were sure they had him dead to rights. At David's abrupt, "We need to talk," he seemed to shrink behind the counter.

"Yes," he admitted. "I imagine we do."

"That is you on the hospital security cameras, right?" Snow asked. "Not someone else under a glamor spell?"

Gold shook his head. "As much as I wish I could make that claim," he said bleakly, "no."

"Wait," Snow said. "You mean… that's it? You're not even going to try to explain?"

"I can't refute the evidence," Gold admitted. "Any explanation I could provide would ring hollow."

David started forward. "I don't understand," he said furiously. "We made a pact. I thought your word meant something."

"It does!" Gold shot back with a bit of his own heat. He drew a shuddering breath. "It… does."

"Doesn't seem much like it to me," David muttered.

"Why did you go there anyway, last night?" Regina asked curiously.

Gold regarded her for a moment. "Isn't it obvious?" he demanded.

"No," Regina shook her head, sparing Emma a sidelong glance. "Not really. Not when you essentially stood facing her for close to fifteen minutes without doing anything more than casting a silencing spell. It's… if I didn't know better…" She took a breath. "Actually, I do know better, Rumple. I don't know what you were doing there, but you weren't looking to kill her. You were waiting for Belle and Emma to show up."

Gold closed his eyes. For a long moment, he said nothing. Then, softly, he admitted, "Not specifically. But their arrival was neither unwelcome nor unexpected." Belle clasped his hand in hers and he took another breath, opened his eyes, and locked them with David's. "I gave my word to you yesterday," he said. "And I had every intention of keeping it. But after what she did to me…" He covered the back of Belle's hand with his other one, sandwiching it between them. "I wanted to see her caged and powerless, as she'd had me. That was all I intended to do last night. Watch her through the door for a moment and leave. I knew that my presence would evoke your questions and suspicions, so I stunned the staff on that level before they could detect me. I didn't think about the cameras," he sighed. "An oversight."

David blinked. He and Snow exchanged a quick glance. "What happened then?" Snow asked gently.

Gold took another breath. "I slid back the panel in the door and she looked at me. Recognized my eyes through the slot. And…" His voice broke. "She started laughing. Taunting me. I-I told myself it was bluster, that it meant nothing, that she was in there and I was outside. And then… she mocked Bae's sacrifice."

Emma sucked in her breath. Belle brought her free hand to Gold's shoulder. Regina closed her eyes, while Snow and Charming shook their heads.

Gold leaned heavily against the counter. "I made a deathbed promise to my boy that I'd make the witch pay," he whispered. "But I also gave my word to you. I didn't want to go back on either. I should have just walked away, I-I know that," he admitted. "Part of me wanted to. But," his voice turned cold, "not with her taunts ringing in my ears. Not when she had me thinking that even without the dagger she still had power over me." The menace in his tone seemed to drain away. "I couldn't." His shoulders slumped. "I don't remember opening her cell. I don't know why I bothered. I could've just transported myself inside. I didn't want to hear her anymore, so I cast the silencing spell. And then…" He glanced at Regina. "I don't recall how long I stood there, debating. You say it was fifteen minutes. It felt like longer, and yet, like no time at all. I was trying," he took a breath, "to find some way of keeping both oaths, even though I knew there wasn't one. In the end, I told her that she would decide her fate when the spell wore off. If she pled for her life, I would take satisfaction from that and wait for the council meeting. If she asked for death, I would cheerfully oblige." He looked from Belle to Emma. "The two of you arrived shortly afterwards."

"But you walked away in the end," Snow said. Emma blinked. There had been just a hint of a smile in her mother's voice.

Gold nodded. "Your daughter reminded me of the one thing I'd lost sight of in all of this. Bae would never have countenanced what I wanted to do. He would have seen it as disgrace, not honor. I… wouldn't do that to him," he gulped. "I hurt him enough while he was alive."

Emma's eyes burned and she wiped them on her sleeve. Something soft pressed into her free hand and she realized that Regina had just passed her a tissue.

David brought his hand up to his eyes and massaged his brow. He let out a long breath. "All right," he said finally. "This afternoon," he looked from Emma to Regina, "you'll be placing a protection spell on Zelena's cell." He turned to Gold. "It goes without saying that from this point onward, the lower level of the hospital is off-limits to you. I'll be preparing a restraining order to that effect, which I'll deliver into your hand later today. As a suggestion, if you don't have business at the hospital, avoid the building altogether. And Gold," David sighed again, "if you do feel a need to confront her again, talk to one of us. We can set something up. With supervision, to make sure things don't get out of hand on either side. Clear?"

Gold gaped at him. "Is that… everything?" he asked faintly.

David took a step toward him. "It doesn't appear as though there was any real harm done last night. In fact, from what you've told us, it might have been the opposite. Your oath is intact and… it sounds as though there was some provocation for your actions. Let's just say that some errors in judgment were made and, so long as they won't be repeated, I don't see a need to take things any further." He glanced at his wife. "Snow?"

Snow shook her head. Regina lowered hers in acknowledgment.

"One other thing," David continued. "If anyone here learns of something like this happening again and doesn't report it, I'm stating it now for the record: they will be held to a degree of culpability for anything that might transpire as a result of their silence."

"Got it," Emma murmured, feeling her cheeks grow hot.

"Then if nobody has anything further to add," David smiled for the first time since he'd entered the shop, "I think we're done here."

Gold was examining a sheet of paper when Emma returned to his shop later that day. It bore the embossed logo of the Storybrooke Sheriff's Department at the top, but there was a wax seal at the bottom—a rhombus superimposed on a rectangular background. In the center of the rhombus, two small birds faced each other, perched on the blade of a longsword. "Is that…?" she ventured.

"The restraining order," Gold nodded. "While, as I understand it, in this land, such would typically be issued by a judge, I imagine that a reigning monarch can fulfill that role—particularly since your parents appear to be the final authorities in any form of judicial hearing here."

"I'm sorry about before."

Gold smiled faintly. "Don't be. It's not just magic that comes with a price, dearie. And… I think we're both aware that your parents would have been within their rights to have exacted a far heavier payment than they chose to."

Emma nodded, knowing what he meant. They could have decided that Gold's actions had voided the pact and let Regina release her sister. They could have insisted that Gold surrender his dagger, or wear one of Pan's cuffs, or go back to that spot in the mines over the town line and had the dwarves build some sort of barrier to keep him there. She remembered how she'd initially thought that the area had looked a lot like his cell in the Enchanted Forest. All it had been missing were the bars. "You okay?"

Gold started to nod. Then he caught himself. "Well," he admitted, "I imagine I'll get there. Now," he bent down and pulled out a large sheet of paper from beneath the counter, "while I enjoyed catching up with my grandson yesterday, unfortunately, we didn't get the opportunity to examine the procedures for the hearing. So…" He quickly sketched a large circle. "Your parents favor informal round-table discussions. While this will be my first time attending one, in the past, I've found ways to keep abreast of the proceedings, so I've a fair idea of how things will work. One advantage to your parents having spent a fair amount of time outside more regal settings is that they haven't quite mastered the skill of speaking for thirty minutes and saying nothing. While it may render them unfit for political careers outside Storybrooke," he added, straight-faced, "you'll find that it will help things move along at a more rapid clip."

"I thought they weren't going to be present for most of it," Emma said.

"They won't," Gold agreed. "But they will call the council to order and their behavior will set the tone. Also, I think you'll find that most of the other people at the table will be quick to speak their minds without couching their words in flowery language and metaphor." He sighed. "While getting at the heart of the matter is to be lauded, one can't help but lament the loss of a certain elegance to the proceedings. Ah, well. "Now," he continued briskly, "as far as how to present your views…"

The bell over the shop door rattled and Leroy burst in. "I bring news!" he bellowed.

Gold's eyebrows shot up. "What?" he asked mildly. "No indication as to whether it's good or terrible?"

For answer, Leroy held out two legal-sized white envelopes, their flaps sealed in red wax with the same emblem that Emma had spied on Gold's restraining order. "Guess it depends on how you feel about long meetings," he replied, taking no offense. "Council meeting, one week from today, town hall, ten sharp." Seeing Emma frown and check whether the seal on her letter was intact, he scowled. "I didn't read yours, sister. I got one, too. Hey, is Belle here?"

Gold shook his head. "She's at the library. I can take that for her," he said, holding out his hand.

Leroy took a rapid step back. "I got to give it to her in person, Gold. Just like I'm doing for you. See you next week, if not sooner." The bell tinkled again as he raced out.

Gold took a deep breath. "Well," he remarked, tapping the paper with his fountain pen, "it appears we've just received further incentive to master this material."