Gold desperately wanted to leave the strange grey Storybrooke and return to Belle but for the life of him he didn't know how. Donny had tried everything he could think of; walking to the town line, which had been relatively easy since he didn't need his cane, in search of some sort of magical portal, stood in the very spot he'd been shot, tried to talk to Belle again but she didn't respond. Donald Gold was trapped. However, when he ran out of ideas Gold went back to Granny's diner and did something he'd only done once before; he prayed. The pawnbroker stood there for what felt like hours begging anyone who'd listen to let him go back to Belle, his eyes were clamped shut and his fingers laced together.

"Hi, Papa."

Gold's eyes flew open to find a man in his thirties with dark hair and familiar chestnut eyes looking back at him from the middle booth. He wore black jeans and a grey v-neck paired with a grey hoodie that was only a single shade darker than his top, there was an easy smile coating his lips and the man had his elbows rested on the table.

"Bae?" Those dark eyes were so familiar, it had to be. "Is that you?" Gold asked in a whisper.

"Yeah. It's me, Papa." The man answered slightly enjoying the look of astonishment on his father's face. "Well, who I'd have grown into. Don't worry though, I still have your eyes and bad boy smile." Bae breathed out a laugh.

"This is what you'd have looked like?" This man was really his son, the son who had died a child.

The younger man nodded giving his father time to adjust to the idea.

"Yes." He answered simply. "Come and sit down, would you?"

Bae gestured to the seat opposite him and Gold took it quickly, mainly because he thought his legs would give out from shock. With his back to the large glass windows Donny gave his son every bit of attention he had.

"Why are you here?" He managed to ask, accent thick. "How are you here?"

"The afterlife isn't quite as straightforward as the living believe. This place." Bae gestured to the world around them. "I guess you'd call it Purgatory. The place between. Some call it The Veil or The Fade, personally I like No Man's Land. It's different for everyone, Papa. Mine was that log cabin you used to take me to before I got sick, it was in color though. You like to be different, Papa. All black and white, very dramatic."

Gold actually laughed at that, he was still trying to process that this fully grown man was his deceased ten-year old. He opened his mouth to speak but Baedan beat him to it.

"You want to go back to Belle." It wasn't a question.

Both men looked over to the still crying form of Donny's true love, the only thing in color other than themselves.

"Yes, but you're here." How could he leave his boy now he'd found him?

"This is the problem." Said his son. "You're mind tells you to go back to the woman you love but your heart is torn between the two realms; life and death. You want to live and be with her but you also want to die and be with me. That's why I'm here, Papa. To help you make a choice."

"So what? You're my guardian angel? My Reaper?" Donny asked with incredulity. Baechuckled.

"No. No, I'm just a son who wants what is best for his father." There was a moment ofsilence save for Belle's tears. "And what's best for you is Belle. You love her and she loves you. Jefferson loves you too." Gold's eyebrows rose. "Before you ask, no, I have no problem with 'that'. You have Grace as well, she's beautiful."

"She is." Donny agreed. "And just as conniving as her father." He shuffled in his seat. "My boy, how can I possibly leave you now I've found you? You're my son." Tears started to well in Gold's burnt honey eyes.

"Papa." The younger man began with a sigh. "We may not be able to call each other or meet for breakfast on weekends, but we never left one another, not really." Bae smiled softly. "How else would I know about Belle, Jefferson and Grace?"

His son raised a valid point but it didn't change how he felt, still Gold tried to make his boy laugh again; he'd missed that laugh.

"Maybe you're a figment of my dying imagination conjured up as a comfort as my mind shuts down?"

Bae snorted.

"Maybe. But wouldn't you rather believe in the supernatural option? That everyone gets to see their loved ones again?"

"Everyone would." Donny told him honestly. "That's why my dying mind imagined you."

"And thus starts the theosophical debate of humanities entire existence."

"I can argue with the best." A half smile coated Gold's lips.

"That you can, Papa." Bae took a breath. "No matter if I'm a spirit or just something in your head, the fact remains that I'm here to help you."

"How?"

"You want to go back to Belle, but the guilt you feel pulls you to me, to death. Doctor Whale worked hard to keep you alive, you're not dying, not physically anyway. What happens now is all up to that brain of yours. You have to forgive yourself, Papa. My death wasn't your fault."

"I should have found a way to stop it, to save you." Tears rolled freely down Donny's cheeks and his voice broke in places.

"There was nothing you could have done. You took me to every specialist you could find. Papa, I was in pain, so much pain and it was killing you to see me like that-"

"But I gave up on you!" Gold could hardly see through the waterfall of tears he'd kept hidden for so long.

"No you didn't. The day you told the doctors to stop wasn't giving up. Fathers do what's best for their children and making them stop was what I needed, I was ready to die, Papa. You knew it, I knew it, the doctors knew it. I needed the pain to stop and you let it stop. No one could cure me of the cancer, there's a difference between giving up and not being able to do anything. You stayed, every single day for two years you were there, Mother left. When you agreed to let me go you didn't do it because you gave, up you did it because you loved me and couldn't stand to see me in agony any more. I don't blame you, I'm grateful."

Silence hung in the air for a long time, neither knew exactly what to say next. Gold's breathing was heavy as he forced his tears under control and finally managed to speak.

"Bae-" The younger man cut him off.

"All that guilt and self-hatred you feel isn't needed, Papa. I died, I didn't have to suffer any more. Please forgive yourself, because it's the only way you'll get back to Belle. Look at her." Both men turned to face they crying girl across the diner, her tears had become asort of background noise. "She's sat in your hospital room praying to everyone and anyone that you'll live. Jefferson is there by your side as well; they want you back. What you can see is Belle's emotions manifested, that's why she wont look at you or respond. Her heart would break if she lost you. You took her in when she had nothing, cared for her and eventually fell in love with her, don't leave her now. Don't do that to her." There was a pleading in Bae's voice.

"I want to be with her but-"

"No buts, Papa." Baedan slid a hand across the table to hold his fathers. "It's not about choosing your son or the woman you love, I'll always be here and now you know I'm here. Belle would be alone."

"You said it wasn't about choosing between you both, what is it about then?"

"Realising you're not a monster." The younger man told him truthfully. "Give up the guilt?"

Gold took a deep breath, chocolate eyes cast down to the blood still dripping from the open wound in his chest and over to Belle before back to his son.

"How?" The question was no more than a whisper.

Bae gave a sad smile and stood, he stretched out his arms inviting his Papa into a hug that Donny filled almost instantly. Father and son gripped onto each other tightly, Bae smelt the same all warm chocolate and something that was innately Baedan Neal Gold. After a few moments Bae spoke again.

"That's how. Goodbye Papa."

A sting of pain pushed its way into Gold's chest and grew, it took him a moment to realise it was the gunshot wound, his leg was the next thing to ache but Donny pushed it away and remained standing, holding his boy in his arms for as long as possible.

"I love you, Papa."

"I love you too, Bae."

Then everything faded to black and the world returned to him with a sharp pang.