Chapter 29

A/N: In this version, Moe went off to steal from Gold right after he took his truck. And yes, I did change it up for my own convenience.:-) And the flashback is set before all the fiasco in the Enchanted Forest that Ris caused. Hope you enjoy!:-D


Valentine's day sucked. It had always been Ris's least favorite day of the year. Something about the so called 'romantic' atmosphere and the way it made people act like, which was all 'lovey dovey', was a major turnoff that always highlighted that dreadful day. And it wasn't even there yet. But everyone was talking about it everywhere she turned, as if they had never celebrated it before. That was the main reason why Ris had taken her order from Granny's at hand and left the diner immediately. She was in for about five minuites, and it still felt like Ruby had been talking about her 'romantic' plans a whole lifetime. Sitting at home all day doing nothing suddenly sounded like heaven, so that was exactly what Ris was planning on doing for the next 48 hours.

"You are the lowest!" she heard someone scream from the opposite sidewalk. Ris took her eyes off her phone for a moment to see what was going on. It was Moe French, the guy that owned the flower shop. He was screaming at someone, but his truck was in the way and she couldn't see who it was. Naturally, she was curious about Mr French's frustration. She had met the guy and spoken to him once or twice during her stay in Storybrooke, and from what she had made of him, he was always pretty calm.

She made her pace a tad faster when she began to cross the road.

"What in the world is going on?" she asked Moe. Moe looked at her as if she was the last person he wanted to see at that moment.

"Ask him." he simply said, pointing at behind the truck. When the vehicle moved out of the way, Ris was not surprised to see Mr Gold standing behind it, with a satisfied look on his face.

"Let me guess. You couldn't pay the rent." said Ris, sending a glare towards Gold, who was beginning to leave.

"Isn't that always the case with that guy?"

"From what I've witnessed during the time I've been here, my answer has to be yes. And I'm guessing this wasn't the first time he's done something like this."

"He's been terrorizing the whole town for... As long as I can remember. He's done even worse." replied Moe. Ris kept glaring at Gold, even though he was distracted by the big bad mayor, who looked less than displeased about speaking to him. She just couldn't quite understand him or his motives. He always seemed to have a grand plan for everything that would somehow benefit him, but how would any of the things he had achieved help him? He was already the richest and most feared man in town, what more could he possibly want?

"I'll get him some day. You can mark my words, he's going to pay for this and everything else." said Moe, determined. Ris really doubted that. No matter what happened, Gold would always be able to keep it cool and get out of it, or use it for his own advantage.

"Well, while you keep on dreaming of the impossible, I think it's time for me to give that bastard a piece of my mind." she said, and she pushed past Moe, heading to where Gold and Regina were conversing.

"Gold!" she yelled before she reached the sidewalk. Both him and Regina looked at her, Regina furiously, as always, and Gold appeared to be just downright annoyed. "Congratulations. You've just ruined Valentine's day. And here I was thinking that only the Grinch could destroy holidays."

"I most certainly have no idea what you are talking about, Miss Silver. How can one man alone ruin an entire day for you?" he asked, pretending to be totally clueless.

"Oh you didn't ruin it for me, you actually did me a favor. But you know what they say about the needs of the many. Now every guy in town is gonna get dumped because the only flower shop here will be closed."

"I don't think any self respecting woman would ever do that. And if you'd excuse us, I was having a converstation with Mr Gold. You'd best be on your way." said Regina.

"Actually, no, we were not having any type of converstation, madame mayor. The moment you have something I want to discuss, we'll have that little chat." replied Gold.

"No, we're going to do this now. It'll only take a moment."

"Is there something eating you, dear? Something you need to get out in the open? Cause it's going to have to wait. Please." replied Gold, rudely.

"He'd actually rather listen to my ranting than what you have to say. This is quite amusing." said Ris teasingly.

"I would much rather to be left in peace. For once." said Gold, calmly, before walking past both women.

"Well, too bad cause I don't take orders from you. I'm not done ranting." said Ris, quickly catching up to him, leaving Regina behind.

"If this is about Mr French, I did what I had to do according to the law." said Gold.

"Yeah right, keep telling yourself that. We both know that you only took his truck so that he can't sell the flowers tommorow and pay your damn rent."

"Why would I want to do that? The fact that February the 14th is tommorow is a mere coincidence."

"Bullcrap. Admit it, you took the truck just because you wanted to be a jerk."

Gold couldn't believe that she actually kept going on and on about the subject, even when they reached his home. Since they had walked all the way over there, it took them about twenty minuites that felt like a lifetime. The girl just wouldn't stop yelling at him about pointless reasons.

"Are you planning on following me inside as well, Miss Silver?" he asked, sarcastically.

"That's where you live? Well, at least I now know where to throw the eggs at." she replied.

"Have a good evening." said Gold, and he walked up the walkway to his house. Where thankfully the girl wouldn't follow him.

"I don't think it will be all that good for you. Unless you purposely left your door open." she called from behind, more seriously, pointing at Gold's front door. Gold looked up, to see that she was actually right. The door was half open, and he surely hadn't left it that way. It appeared that someone had broken in while he was out.

"It appears that this is the appropreate moment for you to leave." said Gold, not wanting to have to deal with her as well as the robbery.

"Hell no, things are getting interesting here. Besides, the thief might still be inside and your only weapon is a cane for your very broken leg." said Ris, and she quickly ran by his side, ready to enter the house. Gold decided that arguing for any longer would be pointless, so he cautiously entered his home. He opened the first drawer he had on the left and drew out a gun.

"Whoa there. I take back what I said about the cane..." said Ris. Gold shushed her, getting annoyed at the pleasure she took in his robbery.

"Stay behind." he said as he moved further in the house.

"As if..." muttered Ris, and followed behind him. "Whoever broke in must have gotten away already. I don't think he would've left the front door open if he was still here, that would alert neighbours and he'd be busted."

"Trust me on that one, the person that did this is that foolish."

They both heard the floor creak behind them, and they turned around simultaneously. Thankfully, it was only Emma, who was pointing a gun at them.

"Ris?" said the blonde upon seeing her friend at the last place she thought she could be. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"What are you doing here, Sheriff Swan?" asked Gold.

"Your neighbour saw your front door open – they called it in."

"See? It's always the nighbours."

"It appears I've been robbed."

"Funny how that keeps happening to you."

"Yeah, well, I'm a difficult man to love."

"That's an understatement..." commented Ris.


Neverland

A Long Time Ago...

Baelfire felt relieved when he heard small footsteps outside his cave. She had never been gone for that long and he was afraid that Felix, or worse, Pan had gotten to her. He felt even more relieved when he heard three sharp knocks on the cave's entrance. He was quick to push the rock blocking the way aside, allowing his sister to enter, carrying a bunch of firewood.

"You big idiot." she said, handing Bae everything she was carrying as she tried to move the rock back to its place.

"What did I do?" he asked, giving her a hand. She might have lived in Neverland for many years, but no child ever grew up there. So she was still inside her eight, almost nine year old body. If anyone would listen to the way she spoke and acted, they would know that she really wasn't anywhere near an eight year old girl. The same thing applied for him as well. He looked fourteen, but had survived so many things and he had seen so much, that his experience reached one of an old man's.

"You forgot about the password. Again." said Rissy when they finally closed the entrance.

"I didn't forget about it, but who else could it be other than you?" said Bae.

"Felix. Pan. Rufio. Need I go on?"

"They haven't found us in years. They've probably even lost interest in finding us."

"Or maybe that's what they want us to believe. So that we will lower our defences and give them the opportunity to get to us and make us part of the... 'Lost ones'." said Rissy, her tone revealing disgust while mentioning the lost ones. It was no secret that she hated each and every last one of them, especially the brothers, Felix and Rufio. Not to mention their leader, Pan.

"Or, maybe you are just being paranoid." said Bae, as calmly as possible. He was used to calming his little sister down when she was losing her temper. Which happened at least three times a week.

"Or, maybe you are being too naive." she replied. Bae really hated the 'or maybe' game.

"How am I naive? I've experienced the same as you have."

"Yes, but you at least had a family for one year. The Darlings. I didn't have the luxury. After you disappeared in the stupid glowy green hole..."

"You had to live one more year with papa, who was growing more and more mad each day that passed." said Bae, as he had heard the story multiple times.

"And not only that. He also never allowed me to leave the house. Ever. He sealed the windows with magic so that I wouldn't sneak out. He called that protection. I called it imprisonment." said Rissy, and she tried to calm down. She ran her fingers through her hair, in a way that reminded Bae of how many times he had done that himself, and she sat down on her makeshift bed. Bae sighed in regret. He really did not mean to upset her. But Neverland was always so godamn stressful that the anger just kept building inside him, making him feel the need to release some of it from time to time. Unfortunately, his only option was his sister, the only person he ever saw appart from the fairy Tinker Bell. But then again, that was very rare.

He tried to comfort her by placing his hand on her shoulder. She quickly shook her shoulder and forced his hand away.

"Sorry, I just want to help you." he said.

"I don't need your help or your pity. You are in the exact same position as I am, stop acting like you are handling it better." she replied, and she quickly got up from her bed, heading to their cave's entrance once more.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"Tink. Even she will be a more alive company than you are right now." she replied. Bae felt relieved when he spotted some humor in her voice. Even if she had practically called him a zombie.

"You can't go alone, it's still nightime."

"Almost always it's nightime here, Bae."

"Good point. But still, you are not going alone again. I'll come with you. I've quite missed Tink."

"I'm not sure whether she has missed you..."


Storybrooke

Present Time...

"Sheriff Swan, you can go now. I know exactly what was taken and who did it. I've got it from here." said Gold after Emma had inspected the house along with Ris, who was willing to help because of the deputy title she still wanted.

"No you don't. This was a robbery, a public menace. An if you don't tell me what you know, I'll have to arrest you for obstruction of justice." said Emma.

"You can actually arrest people for being secretive?" asked Ris.

"Those are the basics of the law inforcement. Not that you'd know."

"Hey, I'm still learning. I know this though, I don't think Gold would like to spend his next week behind bars." said Ris, throwing a look at Gold's direction.

"You're quite right, Clarissa. Although I'm pretty sure you already know who could have done this."

"I don't know. I think that plenty of people would like to steal from you."

"Think deeper."

"Well, my first thought would be Moe French, but he was with me a while ago and he doesn't have a truck anymore."

"You are underestimating the man. Never judge by what he appears to be."

"Who is Moe French?" asked Emma.

"He is the guy that owns the flower shop, but as I said, it couldn't have been him." Ris replied.

"Well, it is a place to start. You see, Sheriff, we had a little disagreement today, and he probably did not take it well. Who's to say that he doesn't own another vehicle?" pointed out Gold.

"But how would he get out so fast?" asked Ris.

"He knew exactly what to take, and that wasn't a lot."

"You are pointing fingers at people way too quick."

"They shouldn't have been so predictable."

"Good point." said Ris, and she turned her attention to Emma. "Shall we go and check him out?" she asked.

"Yeah. It's the only cue we have. We'll report back soon." said Emma.

"I'm sure you will, assuming I don't find him..." said Gold, letting out a humorless laugh. One that revealed his anger. "Let's just say, bad things tend to happen to bad people."

"Is that a threat?" asked Emma, in the same intimidating tone.

"Observation." he replied, faking to have taken offence. Emma still did not like where this case was going, but dealing with that man for longer than a day would be unbearable, so she might as well get it over with. "Good luck." said Gold, as Emma exited the house. Ris remained for a few more moments.

"You know, your 'good lucks' always sound more like a 'go to hell' wish. Would you care to explain that to me?" she asked, crossing her arms and glaring at the man across her.

"I apologise that you view things that way. But please, if you want the deputy title, you should follow your friend."

"That also sounded like you are kicking me out of your house."

"You are making way too many assumptions."

The more he talked, the harder the glares towards him were getting. Ris said nothing more, and she did as she was told. She was not done with him though. That man always tended to get away with everything when he clearly had a lot of skeletons in his closet. Ris would get to the bottom of this no matter what.


A/N: Again, short chapter, long wait. I wrote it in a hurry because it's been a month since the last update, but it's still better than just an author's note. Next one will be bigger, I promise.

1.) Bae in a flashback! Yay! The Wonderland option has won, but it starts from Neverland. We'll get to Wonderland soon enough.

2.) SPOILERS: OMG! NEAL WILL FREAKING COME BACK! I REPEAT! NEAL IS COMING BACK! I LOVE ADAM AND EDDIE AND I'LL LOVE THEM EVEN MORE IF THEY RESURRECT HIM! JKDHFBLSYERBVWYR! FREAKING OUT!

Alright, fangirling over. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the update, again, I'm sorry for being late. What do you think of the flashback and her relationship with Bae? Thank you for reading/favoriting/following/reviewing, and until next time!:-)

P.S.: Thanks to the guest reviewer for the grammatical correction. I'll make sure to fix it.:-)