A/N I'm so happy you guys loved the last chapter and the whole link to Buffy and Spike! It's good to know people still appreciate those shows, I know I still love it. Anyhow, as promised, here is some Bailey/Gold development – enjoy!

Chapter 37: The Truth About Gold

The dawn of a new day seemed to make no difference to Bailey as he walked the docks of Storybrooke. The marina was quiet in the morning and he couldn't help but be calmed by the ocean. It might have had something to do with his mother, the notion that she'd left him for a life at sea. Surely there was something more to it than cold water and a salty aftertaste – why else would she have left?

The sun began its ascension into the sky, bringing with it the warmth of a new season. Bailey decided it was time to return to the little room he shared with his friend, dawdling as he retraced his path back to Granny's.

When he finally reached the room he shared with Neal, Bailey collapsed onto the bed. He was utterly exhausted. A door to his left opened and his roommate exited the bathroom.

"Are you still brooding over your Dad?" the damp man asked, drying his hair absentmindedly with one of the hotel's white towels. The man on the bed grumbled something akin to speech and was met with silence. He turned his head to the side, noting the way his friend's eyebrows were raised in question.

"I'm not brooding. I'm… trying to… I don't even know anymore. What about you? What's going on with the son and the ex? Still desperately trying to win her back and start the perfect family?" his words were slightly sharp, a clear indication of the earliness of the hour and his already bitter temperament.

Neal narrowed his eyes, dropping the towel and sitting on the lounge chair opposite the bed.

"The son won't talk to me because Emma and that freaking pirate are screwing and influencing him in the meantime. If I could just show her how… how… how not right he is for her. I'm the one for her."

"I heard you slapped her," Bailey muttered, immediately earning him a scowl.

"I didn't mean to… I just. She was just there and Gold told me they were screwing around and –"

The man on the bed sat up abruptly, "Wait. My Dad told you about them? Why would he… How did he even know?"

Neal shrugged, playing with his knuckles, "I don't know. I think he said something about an 'aura?' Oh well, I just got really angry and I couldn't deal with losing her – especially to that smug bastard. So I lost is and I slapped her and I feel bad about it but I'm pretty sure I put a big enough wedge between them. He came afterwards and was pretty pissed off and went on about always fighting for her and some other shit." At the mention of the previous day, Neal touched his nose where there was a white piece of tape and a bruise the size of Rhode Island. His cheek was also still a little red from when Emma had hit him.

He didn't remember her ever being that strong.

Bailey apparently wasn't processing his roommate's words because he was now staring intently at his hands, his dark eyebrows furrowed somewhere in his eyelids.

"So he just told you? Did you ask about her or…?"

Neal shook his head, "No. In fact it was kind of like he wanted me to know… but why?"

"Because he was using you to get to her – she obviously pissed him off one way or another and… Goddammit! He can't keep treating people like pawns in a game!" Bailey was standing now, pacing the room and shaking his head in anger. His friend watched curiously and refused to speak. Without a word, the pacing man left the room. Neal shrugged, standing up and checking the time before walking out the door behind his friend.

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The little golden bell above the door chimed roughly as he stormed into the pawnbroker's shop. He slammed the door behind him with excessive force, alerting the man behind the red velvet curtain to his presence. Gold emerged from the back room, irritation painting his features. The second he realised who was standing in his shop the indignant expression became one of alarm and concern.

"What's wrong, Bae?" the old man asked, limping forward. His son took a step back, pointing an angry finger at the Dark One.

"You want my forgiveness but you won't stop doing all the things that made me want to leave!" Bailey yelled, his face creased with a mixture of hurt and betrayal. Gold attempted to feign confusion, moving slower as he approached his son.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"Don't lie to me! You keep lying to me! You keep acting like you'll change; it's any wonder Belle hasn't left yet!" Bailey yelled, dropping his finger and staring at his father. The pawnbroker's face registered that the words wounded him and he stopped moving forward.

"Bae… I… I can't explain myself if you don't help me out here. What's wrong? Who have I used?" he asked, despite knowing the answer.

"Neal. You told him about Emma and Killian because you wanted to hurt her. What did she do to you? Why in the world would you need her damaged?" the man asked, throwing his hands up in exasperation. Gold was almost surprised at how much depth his son had gone into, clearly the boy had learnt to analyse his father's actions well.

"I was trying to force her to have an outburst of magic. She rejected my assistance and claimed she could control it but she can't. I was doing it to ultimately help her." His words were clipped and succinct.

"What is wrong with you? Why can't you just… why couldn't you just insist? Or wait for her to have a natural outburst? How do you even know she can't control it?" Bailey said, kneading the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger.

"Because I can't take the risk with you and Belle. If she loses control again and identifies me as a threat… I know enough about magic to know she would show no mercy. I need to keep that from happening," Gold replied, trying to garner some kind of empathy from his son.

The man opposite him looked up at the ceiling, sighing heavily as he rubbed his forehead.

"You can't keep using people like pieces in a game. I don't care if you're trying to protect me and Belle and I'm sure she would feel the same."

The wiry pawnbroker nodded and silence descended on the two men. They stayed like that for a moment before Bailey turned on his heel; stalking back out of the store and towards the building Neal had said held Emma's apartment.

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Emma woke up to the sound of someone knocking on her door. The person wasn't being light about it either; the short taps quickly escalated to all-out hammering. She lightly extracted herself from the pirate's arms, pulling on jeans and a shirt before walking quickly to the door.

As she opened it, the person who appeared was not someone she would have expected.

"Bailey?" Emma asked, taking in the sight of the man who was breathing quite heavily, "is everything okay?" He licked his lips and looked around like a nervous animal. As he looked up at the woman again he finally began to turn his thoughts into a verbal message.

"Neal slapped you because he knew about you and Killian and that's because Gold told him," he said in one breath. The blonde's face dropped.

"How did Gold even know?" she asked, crossing her arms and glancing back to the bedroom. The idea that the Dark One knew about her bedroom habits was disconcerting and she was suddenly worried for the reliability of the protection spell she'd erected all that time ago.

"I think he read your aura or something magic like that… I just thought you should know that he told Neal because he knew he still wanted to salvage your relationship and that he would be angry and it would throw you off and he was hoping you would lose control and you would have an outburst and you'd let him help you," he took a deep breath before continuing, "he was using Neal to get to you. It was orchestrated. I just… I thought you should know."

Emma nodded and noticed Bailey's eyes flick to the space behind her. She turned around to see Killian standing there. He was wearing grey sweatpants and he looked angry. He took a step forward, quickly placing his hand on the saviour's lower back.

"Hello Killian," the man in the doorway said, "I know what happened with my mother."

"Then you should know why I don't possess any sort of affinity for your father dearest," the pirate replied, biting the last two words.

"He took your hand too… didn't he?" Bailey asked, indicating the hook that protruded from the black device encasing Killian's stump. Emma turned her head to watch the man beside her nod indifferently.

"I'm sorry," he said to Killian, "I should go… I just. As I said, I thought you should know…" his words drifted off, looking between the couple in front of him. The crocodile's son turned to leave but stopped when he heard his name from the apartment door. The blonde watched tentatively as Killian walked toward the man.

"I would recommend you tell your father, and for that part Neal, to refrain from interfering with Emma. Although I'm sure your friend should have already received the message yesterday."

Bailey narrowed his eyes at the pirate once before walking down the stairs, the door to the apartment building opening and closing quite audibly. Emma watched Killian walk back into the apartment, his eyebrows furrowed. It occurred to her that she hadn't actually received and answer as to what had happened the previous day in reference to his bruised knuckles.

She turned around and eyed him cautiously; he was walking into the kitchen.

"What did you do yesterday that bruised your knuckles?" she asked, moving towards the kitchen. When she was standing in front of him, he looked up with what appeared to be amusement.

"I told you; something I should have done a long time," he said, stepping forward and putting his arms around her waist. Emma narrowed her eyes and reiterated her previous question, unfazed by his motion.

"What should you have done a long time ago?"

Killian looked down at her, sighing as he replied, "I warned him to stay away from you." She knew he wasn't lying but there was more to it, his knuckles weren't bruised through a match of verbal jousting.

"Killian," Emma said, the one word delivering the phrase, 'Spit it out, idiot.'

"I hit him," he finally replied, rolling his eyes. The woman in his arms' eyes widened.

"You punched him?" she clarified.

"Yes. And then your lovely bar maiden friend took a swing at his stomach."

"Killian, you can't just – wait, Ruby? Why did Ruby hit him?" the blonde asked, cocking her head to the side in confusion. The man embracing her waist looked down guiltily and understanding dawned on her face.

"You told her Neal slapped me? You realise she'll wolf out on him next full moon?" Emma said. His face registered incredulity and she was about to continue speaking when the buzzing of her mobile phone on the bench top distracted her. Shoving him lightly away from her, the woman picked up her phone and answered it.

"Hello?" the saviour answered exasperatedly, wiping her eyes tiredly.

"Emma, it's David," her father replied.

"Who is it?" Killian asked from behind her and she felt him move closer to her back, leaning over so his hand and hook were resting on either side of her on the bench top. She could feel the heat of his bare chest against her back through her shirt and tried to concentrate on the telephone conversation with her father.

"Emma? Who was that in the background? Was that Hook?" his voice was low and rapid, clearly worried about the prospect of his daughter being up this early with the pirate. In his mind, that would naturally equate to being in bed together. She bit her lip, unsure if she wanted to explain Bailey's impromptu visit. She decided she couldn't be bothered.

"Yeah David, that was Killian. He just got up. I was in the kitchen making coffee because I couldn't sleep and he's up now so… what's up?" Killian chuckled behind her, leaning his chin on her shoulder, his stubble tickled her neck.

"Yeah… okay. Well, you're sounding better… so I was calling to ask and see… did you want to come back to work anytime soon?" David asked awkwardly.

"Yes, definitely. How early can I start back?" Emma asked eagerly, desperate to return to her daily regime that included work. As much as the paperwork sucked, the blonde missed having something to do other than sit at home and twiddle her thumbs. She could hear her father laugh blithely into the phone.

"As early as you want. How about this afternoon? Start at like… three?"

"Great. That sound great, I'll be there at three. Can I ask what prompted you wanting me to come back? I mean, I've been begging for the last couple of weeks and you… well, you wouldn't let me."

David sighed and spoke quietly, almost ashamedly, "I think you're fine now and… Snow wants to spend some time together."

Emma flinched inwardly at the subtext to his words, the visual image of her parents getting it on was not something she really wanted ingrained in her head.

"Well, I should probably, um… get back to making my… coffee…" The line was silent for a few seconds before the prince returned the good bye and hung up. Emma dropped the phone on the bench top and leaned her head on her elbows. Killian's arms moved from the counter to wrap themselves around her waist and he nuzzled his face into her neck.

"So you don't want father dearest to know about Bailey's visit?" he asked against the soft skin of her neck. She shook her head, sighing.

"I really can't be bothered to explain it all. And if I told him about that I'd have to tell him about Neal slapping me and then I'd have a murder on my hands. And besides, I'm still kind of pissed that Gold was trying to make me relapse," Emma said nonchalantly, immediately regretting it as the man embracing her from behind stiffened. His frown could be felt against her neck and she turned around in his arms, pulling his face up so it was level with hers.

"Promise me you won't punch Gold," she said, attempting humour. He didn't laugh though, still aggravated by the reminder of his foe's involvement in their argument the previous day.

"Okay, clearly you aren't in the mood for joking so let me put it seriously. Don't you dare do anything that could make him want to retaliate against you because if that happens I will relapse. Do you want me to go all black-haired-monster again?" she asked, staring into his eyes.

"Even if you did I could stop you," he retorted bitterly.

"Not if Gold already killed you," the pirate was silent, "and anyway, since I'm starting back at my job today I would have to arrest you." When he refused to reply, Emma pulled him forward to place a kiss on his lips. He responded immediately, glad for the distraction from his dark thoughts. They moved in synchronisation, giving and taking based on what they needed.

The sound of footfalls on the stairs leading to the top bedroom made them pull apart and Emma quickly turned to watched her son just coming into view as he descended the flight. He looked at the two people in his kitchen and smiled, a sigh of relief escaping his lips.

Henry walked quickly towards them in the kitchen and, shocking both adults, hugged them. Killian was more shocked than the blonde opposite him, looking hesitantly at the child grasping his and her waist. Emma looked at the pirate and tried to restrain a smile as she put her arm around his waist as well.

Rolling his eyes, he tried to act like he was giving in to their demands as he placed his arms around them. In reality however, and Emma noticed as well, he looked suddenly pleased that the boy was showing him unadulterated affection. Something soft and pure and bright bloomed in his chest at the possibility he now possessed some form of a family.

Henry broke away from the hug but Killian's arm still remained around Emma's waist.

"What was that for, kid?" she asked, cocking her head to the side and looking down at him curiously.

"Well, when I left you guys alone I heard you fighting and I didn't know what to do so I read the book Mary Margaret gave me… I must have fallen asleep reading it," his mother looked at him expectantly, waiting for an actual answer to her question, "I just really hated you guys fighting. I'm just glad you're okay now," he said, smiling once more before turning to the fridge to get breakfast. The pirate shook his head, looking at the blonde woman in his arms and grinning.

So I've been on the internet (tumblr to be precise) and I saw some pictures and spoilers and I was wondering what all your thoughts are? Do you guys think Neal's going to die in the season final? What about Aurora and all them on the beach? And what was going on with the apparent fight scene with Tamara, Charming and Hook?

I've got to say this is the best Hiatus EVER!