New York was a lot bigger than Storybrooke. The blocks were longer, the noises were louder and it just felt odd and wrong as Baelfire made it his goal to show his son some of this city that he had somehow found himself in.

Bae didn't talk to them though. The betrayal was still too painful for him. But at least he was allowing them to accompany him without protesting. Dagian wondered if perhaps that was progress.

Lily looked around in the stroller and coughed. Rumpelstiltskin kept the pace next to Dagian and looked concerned for his daughter, "I understand your problem completely, child."

Dagian looked at Emma, who had been quiet as she watched her son and their son bond, "How can one breathe in all this?"

"You get used to it after a while," Emma muttered and watched Baelfire and Henry walk into a pizza place without a backwards glance to them. Emma looked alarmed when her son was out of sight and turned to them, "Do you think we should…"

"If we were welcome, I feel confident an invitation would have been extended," Rumpelstiltskin told her simply, "It's a sad truth that the people closest to us are the ones capable of causing us the most pain."

Dagian cringed at those words. Oh that was a true problem that both of them suffered through because of each other.

"Guess my lying caught up with me," Emma muttered.

"Ah, give him time, he'll forgive you," Rumpelstiltskin tried to comfort her.

Emma caught on immediately, "Is that you projecting your own hopes?"

"My son and I have some way to go," Rumpelstiltskin said casually. He tried to wave off what she said but there was still enough pain in his voice to let them know how he felt about Bae's rejection.

"I can see that," Emma muttered.

"I need you to speak to him," Rumpelstiltskin began.

Dagian edged away from the conversation to give them privacy and moved to look at the people filing past her. They looked so tired and miserable. If they even had a hint of what Rumpelstiltskin was…what Emma was and what truly existed out there beyond their scope of imagination…would they be this world weary? They had no idea what lay out there. What would happen if they did?

There was no doubt in her mind that if they knew about magic, there would be a lot more Rumpelstiltskin's than what humanity could afford to have.

But it was a bit sad though. There were thousands of worlds out there with thousands of possibilities and these people could barely tolerate the ones that they knew for sure existed.

Honestly Dagian couldn't say whether or not she liked it. Being transported to this world had given her the kick she needed to wake up after 400 years. And thus far it hadn't burned her as badly as the Enchanted Forest had…maybe Red was right. Maybe Regina's curse wasn't all bad.

It did give her Bae back and it gave her Lily. Perhaps it had potential when she got over how…just mind numbingly dull it was. But then again, some of her annoyance with it was because she had been trapped in the same mind frame and town for 28 years with a personality and mind that wasn't hers.

"Mother," Neal came up behind her and touched her back. It was gentle but she cringed in pain and earned a concerned look from him, "We're going to the apartment and then going to the museum. Would you like to come?"

"Yes," she said and tried not to let her voice break as she stared at her boy. None of what she ever wanted to say to him found its way to her voice. She wanted to tell him how much she loved him and beg for him to come back but it might make things worse. It might terrify him now that he was a grown man, "This world has several fascinating cultures…it would be nice to see some before we're trapped again."

Baelfire looked confused but he didn't question it. He glanced at the belt and the scarf they'd fashioned out of the cloak and seemed to put enough of it together to realize they needed it.

"W-would you like me to take the baby?"

"Oh no," she looked down at the stroller, "You don't have to-."

"I don't mind," he drew a breath and she could see that he was at least trying, "After all, she's my sister, right? And you're hurt."

"I'm not hurt so bad."

"Mother…don't lie to me," he looked back at his father, "I can tell how much pain you're in."

Dagian saw a brief flash of concern in his eyes. Without further argument, she pushed the stroller towards him and he grabbed the handles reluctantly.

"Try not to-," Dagian steadied the stroller, "Try not to jar her."

"I know not to jar her," Bae said patiently.

"It's just that…this is a new world for her and she'd fussy as it is."

Bae smiled, "Were you like this with me?"

Dagian gave him a wary smile back, "Worse actually."

He had been born premature, much like Lily had. But he had also been carried through a war and a stressful separation when Rumpelstiltskin was called to the front. In that world, they didn't have the medical advances they had in this one so Bae was nearly lost several times that winter.

Bae cleared his throat, "Well, we should get going then."

Rumpelstiltskin came up behind her, "It appears I put my money on the wrong horse."

Dagian shook her head, "We're just doing a dance now. That would be destroyed if I told him I wanted him to forgive and forget enough to want to come home with us."

"I see," Rumpelstiltskin said without hiding his disappointment, "Well our Ms. Swan promised she'd talk to him but given their past, I honestly don't trust to hope on that either."

"He'll come back," Dagian said but she was telling herself it more than him, "We'll convince him to come back."

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"So can I call you grandpa and grandma now?" Henry asked. Dagian smiled at the excitement in his voice. Of course he would think of this as a game and adventure. He didn't know or understand what all this meant as far as new family relationships went. He didn't understand that there would be consequences to this.

For instance, Dagian really wasn't sure Regina was going to like the idea of them being Henry's paternal grandparents. And she was going to HATE having Bae there as his father.

Rumpelstiltskin shot him a glare before he walked ahead, "Call us whatever you like. "

Dagian blinked, what on earth? Here he spent ten years liking the boy and having a soft spot for him and now he was acting like this? Why? Was the stress getting to him.

Dagian put her hands on Henry's shoulders, "As long as you don't call me 'Grams."

They walked inside the lobby and watched as Bae and Henry ran up to get the camera.

Well, at least someone was enjoying themselves.

Rumpelstiltskin didn't waste any time when they were out of sight, "Did you talk to him?"

Emma looked reluctant, "He said it's complicated."

That was as good as a no. Dagian felt her eyes fill with tears and Rumpelstiltskin didn't bother to hide his own hurt and disappointment, "Oh I see."

"Well, maybe he just needs some time," Emma said as the door opened behind her, "I don't know."

"To what?" Dagian asked, "Talk himself out of I-."

She stopped as a familiar face raced in. He shoved Emma aside. Instinctively Dagian recoiled in fear from the man and watched as he shoved Rumpelstiltskin against the gate. Dagian got ahold of her senses and rushed forward to stop him. He only slowed down to backhand her. The rings on his hand stung worse than the actual blow. She felt her neck pop as her head was snapped back and she lost her balance. She fell and felt her back hit the floor.

Gods, she hoped she didn't break her stitches.

Rumpelstiltskin grabbed the lapels of the pirate's coat but Hook turned and shoved Rumpelstiltskin back against the cage and slammed his hook right into Rumpelstiltskin's chest.

"Tick tock crocodile," he hissed, "Time's up. You took my family. And for that, I now take your life."

Dagian thought he meant to stab Rumpelstiltskin again and she forgot her pain, stood up and grabbed the arm with the hook at the end to keep him from hurting her ex-husband again.

He cursed and shoved her away again. Emma pulled out an umbrella stand and slammed it against Hook's head, knocking him out immediately.

How many times was that now?

Dagian didn't let herself have time to think about it as she knelt beside Rumpelstiltskin and put her hand on his chest right above the wound, "Rumpelstiltskin-."

Emma knelt beside Dagian and checked the wound as well.

Baelfire ran down the stairs, "What's going on?"

"One of your dad's enemies found us," Emma explained.

"Hook," Bae breathed when he looked at the unconscious man sprawled on the floor. Lily started screaming in the stroller. At Dagian's nod, Henry went to go pick her up. She calmed down as soon as he lifted her up.

"You know him?" Emma asked.

"Yes, it seems to be a family thing," Dagian muttered but she felt as confused as Emma did.

Bae knelt beside his father, he pulled his hand away and there was blood on his fingers. He looked into his father's eyes and he almost looked like a lost terrified child again, "Papa?"

There was a yellow tint in the wound and Dagian's eyes widened as a slightly metallic smell reached her nose.

Poison.

Her eyes met Rumpelstiltskin's and he knew it too.

Bae looked at his mother, "Help me."

"No," Rumpelstiltskin said quickly, "She might…transfer it to the baby."

Bae took his father's arm and wrapped it around his neck and helped him up, "Transfer what?"

Dagian swallowed nervously, there was no cure in this world. There wasn't even a cure in the Enchanted Forest, Hook got the plants from another world that was the antidote.

"Just get him upstairs," she whispered.

Not this. Gods, not after everything.