Jefferson and Emma talked well into the night about what they were going to do. They brought up several plans that could work and then spent more time poking holes in what could be wrong. The entire time, they talked, they kept their son in their lap and transferred him over to the other as he slept. It was a small source of comfort having him there, protected by both of them

By morning, they had decided what they had to do. They couldn't leave town and live elsewhere past the border. Jefferson couldn't cross the line. Emma didn't want her son to be raised without his father. She couldn't separate Jefferson from another child.

But they couldn't stay there. Regina couldn't stop sniffing around, she'd figure out who Emma was sooner or later and then Emma would have to leave.

They had to settle it the only way they knew how. They had to leave together in the only plausible way. The idea devastated both of them, Emma was leaving behind the parents that she finally found, he was risking leaving behind his daughter. Regina could do anything she wanted to them while they were gone. Both had to come to terms with the fact that her parents and his daughter might not be there when they got back. They spent most of the morning holding the other and crying.

At least that's what Emma believed the decision that they'd come to was. He couldn't bring himself to actually follow through on it even by agreement. He couldn't leave Grace …but if he didn't do something, he could lose his whole family by staying.

If he did do something and left her, he lost the one thing he had to live for years.

And as he drove to the pawn shop, he knew that he couldn't do that. He couldn't leave his daughter. That was his baby whether she believed it or not. He didn't care what it was going to take; he was going to get her out before Regina did anything to hurt her. Rumpelstiltskin could protect Mary Margaret and Charming just fine. He didn't trust him with his daughter

Rumpelstiltskin was standing by the display case when he walked in. Jefferson eyed what Emma had figured as one of the seven dwarves as he walked by. Rumpelstiltskin looked up and then back down ,"Mr. March, what can I do for you?"

"I need a favor," he muttered.

Rumpelstiltskin didn't look back up, he was playing a part. Jefferson could see that it was an act, "We're running low on those at the moment. I don't give favors, I don't extend loans, and I don't negotiate the deadline for rent."

The door dinged behind him. He didn't have to look to know that the other customer cleared out. Rumpelstiltskin's visible relaxing gave it all away, "I need my hat."

"Why?"

Jefferson scoffed, "Why do you think?"

"You're going to take her and run," he said levelly. Bur Jefferson could see the panic in his eyes.

"We'll come back."

"You'll have to, for your daughter," at Jefferson's look of guilt, he scoffed and gave a sneer, "What are you planning?"

"Nothing."

"Take her from her family and run off? As if that won't panic her? You want that on your hands?"

"She's not their daughter."

"She's spent almost nineteen years being their daughter!" he reminded Jefferson, "You're going to traumatize her by ripping her away from what she thinks is normal?"

"If it keeps her safe, then yes."

"I can keep her safe."

"She's my daughter; it's my job to do it, not yours. Regina has her little minions everywhere; if she doesn't hurt Grace directly then she can use any of them to do it. Can you really protect her all the time?"

His façade crumbled just slightly, "And taking her from her family that she's known into…whatever it is that you plan to take her? That's keeping her safe?"

"From Regina? Yes."

"She'll hate you."

"She'll forgive me when she believes or she wakes up. Whichever comes first."

"Emma might hate you too for taking someone else's child and not talking to her beforehand."

Jefferson knew that. Emma would understand though. Once the shock wore off, she'd understand more than anyone, "She'll forgive me too."

"Don't think I won't see how this is going to go," he told Jefferson. Jefferson could hear the anger in his voice, "You'll have everything you need over there. You'll have your wife, your son, your….daughter. You'll be away from Regina as a threat. I suppose my question is…when Emma's ready to come back, will you help her? Or will you get in her way?"

Jefferson's blood went cold. He hadn't thought about that. He knew Emma would have to come back, he'd have to support her. But for a few moments there, he forgot that meant returning when the battle heated up, it meant bringing his children back here."

To this.

It made him sick just to think about it.

Rumpelstiltskin checked his watch, "Very well, I'll get your hat from the queen. It's a shame that you don't trust me to keep you all safe, Jefferson. After the support we've had to the other."

Jefferson refused to feel guilty. "I'll bring her back."

"Oh, the destiny's decided she'll be back when she's 28, whether or not it's you that brings her is irrelevant. Eventually she's going to be here .Now the question is, will she bring her family back into this mess?"

Rumpelstiltskin turned to go to his back room, "Though I do hope she does. I want to see the little ones when they're older."