II
Chapter Thirty-Five
II
Present day
II
It is slightly awkward to have slept with the boss, Emma finds. It is even more awkward to have slept with the boss and having been caught by her newly-found-perhaps-overcompensating parents.
It is most awkward of all to have said parents come to work with you (after having followed Henry to school, as if seeing one child off is not enough) to face said having-slept-with boss.
Oh, hell.
"You saved my life once," David says to Graham, looking every inch a father. "You saved Snow's too, she told me about it. Even so, if you hurt my daughter..."
"Understood," Graham simply says and Emma can almost see a sort of understanding pass between them.
Mary Margaret just gives Graham a look, but it still manages to be equally threatening. It makes Emma want to hide her face or just hide full stop, but at the same time she feels a strange urge to smile at it too. They care. They care enough to threaten Graham, they care enough to nearly stalk her.
"We'll be heading to the town hall," David informs Graham. "Ruby and the dwarfs have set up some posting boards there. There are a lot of people confused and trying to find each other now, we'll see what kind of system we can work out. We have to figure out why we didn't return to our land as well."
Graham nods, slipping into sheriff mode rather than deer-caught-in-the-headlights mode. "I think it's better if..."
They all pause as Mr. Gold walks in, pushing a rather nervous-looking bloke ahead of him. "This man has come to confess to the kidnapping of Mary Margaret."
David steps forward, and Emma puts a hand on his quickly. He looks at her, anger all over his features, and she silently tries to tell him to calm down. He seems to get it, nodding slightly and lowering his shoulders.
"It's true," the man says. "I kidnapped Mrs. Nolan. Apologies, your highness."
Mary Margaret just tilts her head, looking curious more than concerned and Emma thinks that the guy may have managed to abduct Mary Margaret Nolan – but this version of Mary Margaret he might have had far more trouble with.
"Who are you?" Emma asks.
"Smee, your... Royal princess saviorness."
"Emma will do," Emma says, feeling a jolt at the princess title. She's the daughter of Prince Charming to all these people. She's royalty too. Oh, hell. "Why did you take Mary Margaret?"
Smee just hangs his head. "I wanted her for myself."
David makes a low sound in his throat, but this time it's Mary Margaret who puts a hand on his. After a moment he squeezes it and they look at each other in a way that makes Emma half want to stare and half want to look away.
"You've had your reason and your confession," Gold says authoritatively. "I trust you can take it from here, sheriff?"
As he heads out, Graham has already moved to lead Smee against the cells while Mary Margaret and David whisper together in a low voice. Taking the chance while the others are busy, Emma slips out.
"Gold, wait!"
He pauses, turning with a smile that feels almost reptilian. "Miss Swan."
"Why?" she asks, striding up to him and folding her arms.
"Did you not hear him? He clearly had a thing for Mrs. Nolan – and who could blame him, for she is truly the fairest of them all - and acted inappropriately on it. Foolish, but he will pay the price for it."
"Cut the crap, Gold," she says. "He works for you. I ask again, why?"
"If you are implying I had something to do with this..."
"I am not implying, I am saying."
He looks amused. "You have nothing that would hold up in court."
"But I am right," she says and his gaze makes her even more sure of it. He did this. He did all of this.
"Perhaps your presence was desired here in Storybrooke," he suggests.
"I stayed here to find Mary Margaret," she fills in. "You wanted me to stay so I could break your curse. Why, when you were the one to cast it in the first place?"
"Certain things or curses are just means to an end," he says simply and she balls her fists.
"I should punch you in the face," she says and he just looks at her. "Do you know what you've done to them?"
"Better than you may think," he says darkly. "Miss Swan, one day you may give me that punch to the face and I won't fight it. But until then..."
She watches him walk off, feeling the urge to chase after and give him the punch then and there. But he isn't done with her, she's pretty sure. He still wants something from her. She can feel it in the way he looks at her, sizing her up.
She turns to see David and Mary Margaret standing behind her, hands folded and looking stern. They must have been out there at least for the last half of her conversation with Gold, Emma realizes, silent but backing her up.
"You better head to the town hall," she says awkwardly. "Graham and I have to take Smee's utterly useless confession."
"Yeah," David says. Mary Margaret gives him a look as if to prod him and he clears his throat. "Sno-Mary Margaret and I were wondering if you'd like to move into the apartment with us. We can make room upstairs next to Henry's room. He would love it."
"I don't know..."
"Just think about it," Mary Margaret pleads, and Emma only nods, not trusting her words.
They smile at that, clasping hands as they walk off. Emma watches them until they're gone from her sight and only then does she step inside.
II
August watches his father hang up posters; all of them carrying the likeness of Pinocchio. The child he was. The child he has gone so far from being he can't even step up and claim to be him.
He cannot face his father. Not yet.
The crowds stir a little as Snow White and Prince Charming arrive, then flock to them and almost seem to swallow them. He watches them and remembers how they were back then and how they are now. How they are still. Emma's parents. She lost out on being raised by one of them because of him.
Perhaps that is how he can redeem himself, then. Through them.
II
The crowds part before her as Regina walks into them. She can see the fear on some faces and the curiosity on the others. They all know her, of course. Know her twice over now.
She stops as she reaches David and Mary Margaret, who both look a little overwhelmed by pleas and questions.
"Regina," Mary Margaret greets her with. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to help," Regina replies and David gives her a look. "I have been a principal for 28 years. I am used to making order out of chaos."
The crowd watches Snow and Charming who watch her, then exchange a glance. As always, something silently passes between them and David finally nods.
"Very well," he says, tearing his gaze away from his wife and meeting Regina's. "Let's see what we can get done then."
II
The town line. Belle stares at it, knowing that if she takes just a few more steps she will be as she was, heartless Belle the barmaid. No memories of what she has lost. No memories of having a heart and loving. No memories of him.
Just a few more steps.
She wanted to be brave, she remembers. Belle, the Belle of that other land. She wanted to be brave so much she went willingly with the Dark One to save her people.
Just a few more steps.
The coward's solution.
She takes a few steps backwards, exhaling and shuddering. No. She may be heartless, but she can still be brave. She will be brave.
She turns to see Gold standing there silently. She didn't even realize he was there and she lifts her chin defiantly.
"Come to stop me?"
"No," he says. "Your choice, sweetheart. I simply came to see what it was."
She feels something at that. Maybe it is his heart that feels something at it, reverberating into her too. Either way, it fills her with warmth.
"Killian was sure you'd stop me," she says and Gold goes very still. He blinks slowly once, then looks at her.
"Killian?"
"Just a friend," she reassures, but it seems to have no reassuring effect at all.
"I would dearly like to meet him," Gold says pleasantly.
II
As the gathering of people becomes more organized, David slips his hand into Snow's and walks into the quiet of the town hall itself. The lights are off – there will be no meeting here today, but one is scheduled for later in the week to debate what to do – and so it's in the dark she leans into him and he holds her.
"Regina is pretty good at this," she observes after a while. He makes a non-committal sound, though truthfully he agrees. "So many separated families out there..."
"They'll find each other," he says, breathing in the scent of her as she presses herself even closer.
"Like Emma found us," she says.
"Yes," he says, thinking of their brave, caring utterly confused daughter. "Like Emma found us. In this family, we always find each other."
II
Killian looks up as Belle enters. The expression on her face is slightly odd, but he still smiles. "Hey beautiful, did you..."
He pauses as another walks in behind her. One he knows all too well, one who took all that was beautiful from him. The Dark One. The crocodile.
He can't help himself, he lunges at Rumpelstiltskin. He gets only halfway before the magic slams into him, pressing him against the wall.
"Rumpel, what are you doing?" Belle asks.
"This man stole my wife," Rumpelstiltskin says darkly.
"She came willingly and you still killed her!" Killian protests. Milah. Oh, Milah.
"My mistake. I should have killed you instead."
"Then go ahead!"
"NO!" Belle calls. Her voice pauses Rumpelstiltskin as if by magic. "Rumpel, please, not like this..."
The Dark One hesitates. Then he presses something hard into Killian's hand. It burns and is then gone. The magic holding him up lets go as well and Killian falls to the floor. It hasn't become softer since he last tried it, he observes.
When he looks up, Rumpelstiltskin is gone, but Belle is standing there. She looks conflicted, but finally steps closer to him.
"He let you live," she says, trying a smile.
"Like hell he did," Killian says and holds up his hand. The mark glimmers darkly and she watches it in horror. "He just prolonged my death."