29

Missing!

It grieved her that she had to take such drastic steps but Melanie realized she had no other choice. Sapphira continued to be difficult and she couldn't risk her leaving the house to harm the others while she was occupied. She set wards up that would alert her immediately if the girl tried to leave the house while she retreated to her study to read through some books on child rearing that she'd purchased for the odd looking device Nova informed her could hold an entire library of books. Also she wanted to get to know other mothers in the town to ask for their advice on how to handle such a difficult child.

Sapphira, on the other hand, had no intentions of just sitting in her room. Her first attempt at revenge failed and she was eager to try again now that she knew the little brats next door had one very big weakness in the form of a mangy mutt.

She left her room and went downstairs to the study and found Melanie reading, asking her politely though it left a bitter taste in her mouth if she could sit in the living room and read one of her new books, relieved when permission was granted.

The living room window had a better view of the Gold backyard. She didn't know where they were but it didn't matter. They had to return sometime.

An hour later she heard someone knocking at the door. "I'll get it!" she called out before Melanie came into the room. The less she had to see her, the better. She opened the door and found one of the convent's students, a girl named Keira on the stoop, wearing a Girl's Scout uniform.

"Hi…ummm….I'm selling Girl's Scout cookies and I was wondering if you'd like to buy some?" Keira was nervous. She'd overheard her mother Tiana telling her father how the Blue Fairy was turned into a child but she didn't know what for and now she was being raised by Maleficent herself. She found it odd but figured it was none of her business.

"Ummm…I can't and…I'd ask my….mom…but she's kinda busy right now. But hey…..umm….can you do me a huuuggeee favor?" she asked, smiling sweetly.

"What?"

"You see that house behind us…the pink one. Well….they've got a dog and they're really not treating it right and it's cruel! They leave it outside all the time, even in the rain, they don't feed it…and they beat it!"

"That's awful!" Keira cried. "But…isn't that Mr. Gold's house?"

"Not anymore….some family moved in but they're not much of a family if they're cruel to animals, are they?" the devious former fairy asked.

"No! They belong in jail!" Keira cried. She had a dog of her own and loved it dearly. It was part of the family. She couldn't understand how this family could be so cruel their own dog. "But…if you know what's going on, why don't you tell someone like Melanie?"

"I did, but she doesn't believe me. She's Maleficent after all and she has a spell up on the house so I can't leave. I was going to let the poor thing out so it could find a better home!"

"I can do it!" Keira exclaimed.

"Are you sure? I mean, I don't want to get you in any trouble…"

"I don't care what trouble I get in. The poor thing deserves its freedom."

Sapphira grinned. "You don't know how much I appreciate this."

She watched from the living room window while Keira crept into the Gold backyard and opened the gate, admiring the girl's cleverness in luring the dog out with a bag of treats it appeared she had just purchased from the grocery store. Once the dog was out of the yard, Keira locked the gate, gave a thumbs up to the smiling girl looking out her window and took off down the street while the dog followed her until the last of the treats were gone. Keira wanted to take the dog home herself but her parents were firm…there would only be one dog in their house.

"Who was that at the door, Sapphira?" Melanie inquired.

"Oh, just some girl selling cookies. I told her to come back later when you weren't busy."

"I would have gladly purchased some. Next time, please come and get me," Melanie said gently.

"I'm sorry."

"It's all right." She walked over to the shelf and took out a Scrabble game. "I've been told this is a very good game to play and very educational. Do you know how to play?"

"Sure. I'll teach you." She'd managed to trick a stupid Girl Scout into letting the babies' dog out and now she would beat the snot out of Maleficent at Scrabble. A day that started out miserable was shaping up quite nicely. The icing on the cake would be hearing the crying next door when the brats discovered their precious mutt was missing.

"….I finally gots to eat with two hands!" Killian was still excited when the group returned home later that afternoon. "An wasn't it neat how Ruby an Granny let me hold stuff from the kitchen to help me practice? A lot of it was real heavy and I thought they were gonna get mad when I broke a coupla plates and glasses." Neal was carrying the excited little pirate into the house while Rumple held his other hand.

Everyone went out of their way to make Killian feel special that day and to the child it was almost like his birthday or Christmas. They'd taken at least a dozen pictures of him holding objects with his new hand that Henry would put into the scrapbook he was making on his computer called the "Many Adventures of the Nevengers" that he planned to give to each of the members once they were adults again.

"Nah, I knew they weren't gonna get mad, "Rumple insisted.

"Ruby's really pretty too," the pirate added with a grin. "An she's not married!"

"She's old enough to be your mom!" Regina giggled.

"Still pretty."

"The gigolo strikes again," Emma said with a chuckle.

"You'll have a girlfriend someday Killian," Neal assured him.

"Bae, I'm gonna go bring Gwen in," Rumple said to him.

Neal set Killian on his feet. He followed Rumple outside and found him standing in the backyard, frowning. "What's wrong, mate?"

"I can't find Gwen!"

"You check her doghouse?"

"Uh huh….she's not there...and the fence is closed so she can't get out. Gwen!" he shouted.

"Gwen!" Killian yelled. The two toddlers raced around the yard; looking everywhere they possibly could for the dog but couldn't find her and were getting upset.

"The Butt Muncher!" Rumple growled. "She did something to our dog! I know she did! Gwen couldn't get out herself. She let her out. BAE!"

"What's wrong, boys?" Neal asked worriedly.

"We can't find Gwen. Bae, the Butt Muncher did something to her…I know she did. You gotta make her tell you what she did and where Gwen is," Rumple pleaded.

"And I hope Miss Melanie smacks her butt good!" Killian added.

The others heard Rumple screaming for his son and came out to the backyard to find out what was going on. The girls agreed with Rumple that Blue was somehow responsible.

"Emma, keep an eye on them. I'm going to talk to Melanie," Neal said angrily. He was tired of that damned former fairy's antics and were it up to him she would have a very sore backside too. He took a few minutes to calm himself down then walked over to the Magestrix house to speak to Melanie. Fortunately she answered the door instead of Blue, now called Sapphira.

"Neal? What can I do for you?" Melanie inquired softly.

"I really hate bothering you but our dog's missing and unfortunately there was an incident today involving your daughter. She denied being involved but I'm certain she was but I let her off with a warning."

Melanie frowned. "She was guilty and was punished. Sapphira! Come here. I have a question for you."

Sapphira could hear Neal's voice in the kitchen while she was in the living room and knew there was only one reason why he was there but she wasn't worried. She didn't let the dog out and when Melanie questioned her she would know she wasn't lying about it. This time she wasn't going to get caught.

"Yes?"

"The Golds' dog is missing. Did you let her out?" Melanie asked.

"No," Sapphira answered.

"You're lying!" Neal accused.

"I'm afraid she's not. You see, one of our gifts is that we are able to tell when another of our kind is lying and she is not. She did not let Gwen loose. I am sorry, Neal, and I hope you find her." Melanie said sincerely.

"So do I. My kids love that dog. Thank you, Melanie."

When he got back to the house, Henry and Emma had just finished printing MISSING flyers. They would split up into two groups and distribute them all over town, hoping someone would find their dog and bring her home to them.

Emma, Belle, and Regina set off in Emma's squad car in one part of town while Neal took the boys to the other side of town in her Bug. They stapled and duct taped the flyers on every pole and business window on their section of town, being assured by everyone they spoke to that they would be contacted if the dog was spotted.

Seeing his little father searching frantically for his lost dog made him remember the time when he was a child and the sheepdog he and Rumple had taken in disappeared one night. The two of them searched the woods for days looking for it but they never found it. He'd been so upset that he couldn't eat and barely slept.

It can't just be coincidence that Papa's experiencing a lot of the things that happened to me as a kid, Neal thought. He's the one that always says everything happens for a reason but dammit, why do most of these things have to hurt him? Hasn't he been hurt enough? Haven't any of them been hurt enough? "We should be getting home…it's close to your bedtime," he said to Killian and Rumple.

"I don't wanna go home yet. Gwen's still out there! She's probably hungry and cold!" Rumple insisted, tears in her eyes. "Why'd she leave, Bae? Doesn't she like us anymore?"

"You think she's mad at us 'cause we left her at home while we got me my hand?" Killian asked sadly, no longer enjoying having his new appendage now.

"No, I don't believe that. She's probably lost, that's all."

"She's real smart Bae and could find her way home…if she really wanted to. She doesn't like us anymore!" Rumple wailed.

Killian began crying too.

Henry picked up Killian and hugged him while Neal comforted his father. They didn't want to quit their search either but they had little chance of finding her now that it was dark out. The two boys cried all the way home and when they returned to the house; Emma was comforting Regina and Belle who were crying too.

"Nothing?" Neal asked her.

"Nothing," Emma said sadly. "We'll try again in the morning."

"This really sucks," Henry said to his parents after they tucked the heartbroken children into bed. All of them had cried themselves to sleep. "It feels like I'm having my heart ripped out seeing them like that."

"Yeah…and now I know how Papa felt when I was like that. I still think that little brat next door had something to do with this and she's managed to pull the wool over Melanie's eyes," Neal said angrily.

"Neal, what are we going to do if…."

"Don't even say it, Emma!" he cried.

"I don't want to but we have to prepare for the possibility…"

"I'm never going to be prepared for it." They went to bed themselves, neither of them able to sleep, worried what it would do to their children if Gwen never returned or was dead. In the short amount of time she'd been with them, she became part of the family and protected the children like they were her own.

Page~*~*~*~*~Break

Several hous previously:

Gwen, after eating the treats some kind girl had given her, would have turned and gone back home, but she became distracted by a squirrel crossing the street, and chased it into the park. Being a tricky meddlesome creature, the squirrel did not play fair and climbed a tall oak tree, leaving the big dog unhappily scrabbling at the bark and panting and growling below, denied the chance to rid the world of its annoying and destructive presence.

Disappointed, Gwen trotted into the woods to get a drink from a stream she recalled being nearby, and after drinking her fill, decided to take a nap in a glade she knew of, dappled with late summer sunshine.

When she awoke, several hours later, she was hungry again, and spent a long time hunting, at last pursuing and catching an unwary fat woodchuck and devouring it.

Afterwards, she realized she had been away from the pups and their adult caretakers for quite some time, for the sun had sank below the horizon and the moon and stars come out to play. Knowing she had to return to them, the big dog headed out of the trees and back into town.

But since they had just moved into the house, her sense of direction was muddled, and made even worse by all the myriad odors of gasoline, exhaust fumes, cars, and people who had crisscrossed her earlier trail. She headed in what she thought was the right direction, only to find herself back at the familiar apartment complex on the other side of town.

Confused, she whined and scratched at the door, but no one came to let her in.

She lay down and waited patiently . . .but was woken from her doze by something creeping by the dumpsters on the side of the building. Her ears pricking, the big dog trotted over to investigate, and saw a pair of beady eyes in a masked face.

A raccoon!

Crouching, Gwen leaped at the pesky intruder . . . and it screeched and scampered away.

The chase was on!

Gwen chased the mangy critter all over Storybrooke, in and out of backyards and up and down fences, off porches, and several times the clatter woke people up and she was screamed at and a few times had objects, like an old sneaker or a piece of wood, thrown at her from an open window.

Her old caution returned to her, and when she had finally treed the raccoon, she was exhausted, panting and her paws sore. She was also hungry.

Sniffing the air, she followed a strong scent to the back of a long low building, one that was filled with a tantalizing aroma, and also the scent of many other dogs and cats.

Warily, she crept from the cover of the scrubby brush, and slinking low to the ground, she came across the grass to a concrete slab where there were five large metal cans with lids.

Drooling from the aroma of beef and other tantalizing smells, Gwen reared up and pushed a can over.

It fell onto the concrete with an abnormally loud clatter, waking the volunteer on duty inside the building.

Page~*~*~*~Break

Four-thirty AM:

Rumple awoke from a dream where he found a limp Gwen lying in the road, run over by a car like Regina had told him she ran over Bambi's mom by accident one day before coming to live with Neal and Emma. He was so upset by this nightmare that he started to cry into his pillow because he didn't want to wake Killian, who was sleeping next to him, his new hand flung out atop the covers.

His tears soaked the pillow, and sniffling, he also realized he needed the potty. Grabbing his cane, which was always right beside his bed, he scrambled out of bed.

He padded down the hall, which Emma had left a night light on so they could see to find the potty, a large tiled room with a sunken bath and two sinks done in warm beige and blue tones, and flicked the light on inside it. Bae had put a stepstool beside the sink counter so the toddlers could reach it easily to wash their hands and brush their teeth.

Regina had left the cap off the Crest Kids toothpaste and some of the pink and white stuff had fallen onto the counter.

After using th potty, Rumple climbed on the stool to wash his hands and noticed the mess.

He spent two minutes wiping it up with a damp washcloth, muttering about slobs as he did so.

Upon coming out of the potty, he recalled the terrible dream he'd had of the missing Gweniviere and suddenly he didn't want to sleep in his new room anymore.

He paused, then recalled that Bae and Emma's room was right down the hall.

Neal woke to a little hand patting his face. "Huh? Whatsamatter?"

"Bae . . .Bae . . . I dreamed Gwen got run over . . .!" Rumple sobbed in his ear.

"Ahh . . ." he groaned muzzily. "Okay, buddy . . .c'mere . . ." he pushed back the covers for Rumple to climb in bed with him.

The little boy did so, but instead of snuggling down to go to sleep, said, "Bae, what if . . . I could find Gwen with my magic? I could try . . .I could search for her . . ."

"Rumple . . . it's the middle of the night . . ." his son groaned. "Go to sleep . . ."

Neal buried his face in the pillow. He felt terrible that they couldn't find their missing dog, but he was exhausted after the long day of moving, unpacking, getting Killian's new hand, and all the hijinks the kids had put them through.

But Rumple couldn't sleep, the thought that Gwen might be somewhere starving and freezing, or hurt, obsessing him, as was the new idea that he could find her with magic.

"Bae . . . wake up . . . didja hear what I said?" He shook Bae's shoulder.

A rather annoyed Neal opened one eye and growled, "Rumplestiltskin, you quit waking me up! We'll look for Gwen when it's light out, now go to sleep, or you can go sleep in your bed, y'hear?"

Scared by the harsh tone, Rumple started shivering and crying.

That woke up Emma, who sat up and elbowed her boyfriend. "Hey, what're you yelling at him for, Cassidy, you jerk? He's had a nightmare and you just scared him!"

Neal made a noncommittal noise and snored into the pillow.

"M'sorry!" Rumple sniffled into his hand.

"C'mere, kid," Emma held out her arms to him. "Neal's being a jackass, you can sleep by me."

Rumple crawled over Neal and into Emma's arms. "Emma, I know how we can find Gwen before somebody runs her over," he babbled, hugging her.

"How?"

"I can use magic!"

Before she could say anything else, her phone rang.

"Oh God! What now?" she sighed, and reached over to anwer it. "Huh?" she frowned at the caller ID. "What's my dad calling me for at this hour?" She answered it. "Dad, what's wrong? Are you okay?" There was a pause as she listened to what he was saying. "Oh . . . oh that's great! Yeah . . . we'll come over later and get her! Thanks so much! The kids are gonna be over the moon! See you later, bye!"

As she put her cell back on her nightstand, she turned to Rumple and said happily, "Guess what, sweetie? My dad was working the graveyard shift at the shelter and he heard something outside and went to check and he found Gwen!"

"Is she okay?" Rumple asked, a big grin spreading across his face.

"Well, she was wet and hungry, but he fed her and she's with him now at the shelter. He says we can pick her up later on, or he'll bring her home when his shift's over, whichever comes first," Emma told him.

"Can we go there now, Emma?" he pleaded.

"Kid, I'm too tired to drive. I need sleep. But in a few hours we can pick her up. She's okay, and that's the important thing," Emma reminded him. "Now let's get some sleep, okay?"

Rumple nodded and curled up with his mom and soon both were asleep, happy that their missing family member had been found safe and sound.

A/N: Now what do you think should happen to Sapphira? And how will the kids discover what really happened?