She wished she could move faster. She wished she was bigger and stronger and that this old wooden cart the soldier had set in her hands when she'd proclaimed she could take Samuel was a bit more sturdy so he didn't feel every little bump and dip in the road as she hauled him up the mountain. She wished that it didn't take as much time as it did to get up the mountain. On a normal day, with just a basket load of food it would take her two or three hours, it was enough time to get back and make dinner before the sun set but today, between her early morning delay and unexpected load, she'd be lucky to make it back before dark.

She could summon him. It was a stray thought that she had each time the path to the castle got steeper or narrower. He'd told her that just by saying his name three times he would come to her side, no matter where she was, no matter where he was! But no. She quickly decided that she couldn't do that. She was bringing a stranger back to his castle for him to heal! She had no idea what he'd think of that! And while she was certain that she could convince him to help Samuel once he was on the property she didn't want to risk having him deny her request before then and forcing her to abandon Samuel to die in the middle of the woods. Giving him little choice was always going to be better than giving him multiple choices.

So she trekked on, each hill making her reconsider calling him to help her take him up before her senses came back and she continued on her trek. The sun was setting by the time she caught sight of the castle doors again and she sighed in relief only to hear Samuel give one of the familiar groans he'd given throughout their journey. She wished it wasn't such a great distance.

"We're almost there Samuel," she assured her friend as she trudged onward. She'd have to face Rumpelstiltskin sooner or later over this, Samuel needed it to be sooner. The wooden doors that led inside the wall were heavy, but after hours of pulling over a hundred pounds they felt light as a feather. For a few brief moments she thought that her next obstacle would be simple, figuring out how to get the cart up the stairs that led inside, but just as she'd resolved to force her friend awake long enough to walk up them for her she saw the door to the castle open, and Rumple step outside with a scowl on his face. Sooner had just arrived.

"Rumpelstiltskin," she cried, there was no use in pretending or trying to hide him now, "I need your help!"

"Please tell me it doesn't have anything to do with the cart of rotting flesh behind you," he sneered looking down at her with a mixture of disgust and disbelief. She stopped the cart at his feet and ran to Samuel's side to make sure that he wasn't any further damaged than when she'd last seen him. He wasn't. Just more sickly. She had to get him up and into a clean bed. Quickly. Now.

"Rumple," she gasped, wrapping her arms around him, trying to rouse him, sit him up, anything to help her help him! It worked, but only barely. He didn't hardly open his eyes, didn't say anything, only stumbled beside her and made it up a step or two before his legs gave out and he collapsed back down onto the steps. She only just barely managed to catch him before he could split his head open from the impact. He'd never make it on his own. She needed help! And when it came to magical wounds, or anything magical for that matter, she knew exactly who to go to for help. Rumpelstiltskin could save him. "He's badly wounded," she exclaimed, "he may die!"

Nothing changed. He didn't move a muscle, just continued to watch her with that strange look. "I seem to remember that you went out to buy food," he pointed out angrily as she struggled, "yet you return with a stranger. Do you expect me to eat him?"

This was what she'd been afraid of. Bringing him back here. They'd made so much progress over the last few months and she'd done so much in the castle…it was easy to forget the castle wasn't home for her. It was her prison and his home but it hadn't felt that way recently! She could convince him to help him! If magic had done the damage perhaps magic could fix him! At the very least she knew she could get Rumple to allow her to help him! But that was only if he didn't himself. He cared for her. He didn't always act like it but she knew that he did. He'd saved her, caught her, he'd brought her a gift just because he'd thought of her! He'd do this for her if she asked. Wouldn't he?

"He's not a stranger to me!" she corrected. "And your magic is the only thing that might be able to heal him. Please," she begged glancing back at him before turning to him again. He'd help her to get his privacy back. Their privacy. "We can send him on his way as soon as he's better."

"And why should I assist this?" he questioned with a higher tone and a flamboyant gesture. "What do I get out of it?"

"Nothing," she whispered. Behind her Samuel gave a pathetic groan, she felt her eyes water because she knew that she was running out of time. She quickly raced back down the stairs and picked up the rag that the officer had given her along with bandages and Samuel's belongings, only a knapsack, and quickly wiped his forehead clear of the sweat that she found there just as she had while she'd climbed the hill. "But it's the right thing to do," she commented looking down at him. She had to convince him to let her help. She just couldn't loose him again! And-

Suddenly the hand cleansing Samuel closed over nothing but damp skin and when she opened her palm she saw the remnants of disappearing purple smoke. Magic. "What have you done to this rag?" she questioned before looking up and finding it in his own hand.

"I was just trying to make a point!" he snapped looking it over with a disgusted shiver. "Already my belongings are being rendered into filthy wrecks!"

Her jaw hung open and she felt something inside of her snap at his words. She hated when he made deals instead of just doing the right thing because it was the right thing to do! She didn't know exactly what they were but she knew that they were more than just master and servant and she knew that he was more than the Dark One. She was giving him the opportunity to do something great and he was just…he just…he was…

She felt herself storm around the cart and up the stairs, fire roaring in her chest. "You are being awful!" she yelled at him. "I won't just stand here and do nothing while you play games and let him die!"

"All right!" he shouted back at her, taking a little step away from her. It was the step. The way he moved away from her. It was so different than how he'd reacted the last time this had happened before the winter struck. He was acting as if she'd struck him and stepping away from her, for some reason, the way he stepped away from her…it sobered her. She'd meant to convince him, but not like this and it left her feeling…strangely guilty.

"Bring him in then," he sneered from his place inside the castle. "I won't help him, but I won't snuff out his breath either. If he dies, he dies, we'll let fate decide, shall we?"

It worked. But there would be time for feeling guilty over it later. There would be time to properly thank him later as well. For now, Samuel needed caring for and as she placed her arms around his body again, doing her best to try and pick him up and get him inside…she just couldn't do it!

"Rumpelstiltskin wait!" she cried out before he could disappear into the depths of his castle. So, he wouldn't heal him. That was…well, it was less than ideal but she could figure it out without him. Moving him on the other hand… "Please," she cried when he glanced over his shoulder at her. "I can't move him. He needs a clean bed and rest and I can't-"

Before she could finish her sentence the weight in her arms disappeared in a plume of smoke. Samuel. He was gone and…his things...it was all... She glanced up at Rumple, standing there in the doorway, her stomach twisting and turning. He'd said he wouldn't hurt him. But he hadn't said that he wouldn't send him away. He wouldn't have…he hadn't…

"I believe you'll find him in one of the second floor bedrooms you've insisted on cleaning out," he snapped from the doorway. She sighed with shameful relief. Maybe he wasn't the only one that needed to learn trust. If she trusted him, trusted the time they'd spend together, trusted what he'd done for her and how she knew him, she would have known that he wouldn't harm him, that he'd keep his word, and allow her to care for him.

She nodded and hurried up the steps and back into the castle. The second floor. She had to find him on the second floor so she could-

He silenced her thoughts with another touch, this one stronger than the one he'd given when he secured her cloak. He caught her elbow and although it was a rough grasp it didn't hurt her, it just made her heart jump into her throat as he took a step closer to her. "Use your time to nurse the lost puppy wisely. I'll still expect your chores to be done, including dinner at its appropriate time," he whispered in her ear.

Her mouth was dry again. She didn't know why he was whispering or why he was standing so close when they were the only two on this mountain. Three. There were three of them now. Two in the room. And Samuel…

She felt herself nod next to him, acknowledge that she understood but before she could pull away from him and make her way up the stairs another burst of magic caught her eye and before she knew it he'd bent her arm and slipped her basket onto the crook he'd made. "You left this in the cart," he whispered. She needed to move, to walk, forward, upstairs, anything but somehow all she could feel were his fingers on her arm.

"It…it'll be ready in time," she muttered. "You'll enjoy it. I promise." She risked a glance up at him when it got too quiet between them, when she could hear her heartbeat in her ears and felt like she could hear his. No. Not hear it. Feel it. From where his chest was pressed against her shoulder-

"I have to check on Samuel," she muttered somehow finding her legs and pulling away from him to the place that she felt like herself again, the place where she felt her mind working again. "Thank you," she sighed. "For letting Samuel stay…thank you." And before she could begin to contemplate what had just happened between the two of them, why she felt and acted the way she did she moved quickly up the stairs and began to search for her friend.

More touching! The more and more I thought on it the more I felt like this was a great addition to the story line because it allowed me to insert something that I hadn't had before in the story. Touching. Before OotP came out I had always had the first time they touched be at the spinning wheel, which was fine, it worked well enough but after this came out it worked better to work up to it. Now don't worry, touching his leg is still a little bit more intimate than what they're doing here and I totally get that. But at least it flows a little better this way and doesn't feel like go from 0 to hello upper thigh in no time at all. It just becomes a very natural motion by then, anything a friend might do!

Peace and Happy Reading!