A/N: Well, I said less than 4 months... it's been less than 4 months... heh, heh. :/ Sorry. Please read and review.

Rumpelstiltskin stood by Belle's bed, wishing she would wake up. Then again, she might not want him here.

"Papa," Bae said, coming up behind him.

He whipped around, seeing his son standing there, shawl in hand.

"Bae," he said with a small smile.

"Papa, I... I was talking to Emma, and she thinks I should give you a chance. So I've decided I will listen to what you have to say."

"Thank you, Bae. It's more than I deserve."

"I know."

"Bae, when you went through the portal... I wasn't strong enough to pull you up. I tried, but I couldn't. And I was too afraid to go with you. I made a decision, a split-second decision, that I regretted for centuries. I regretted it immediately after. I tried... I tried to dig up the portal to get to you. I begged the Blue Fairy to get me to this land. And she couldn't. So for the next couple of centuries, I spent all of my time trying to create the curse to get to you. I made deals of all sorts, just to get people where I needed to get them so I could get to you. And yesterday, I was going to cross the town line with you to show you that you are more important to me than my magic."

"But how do I know you've changed at all?" Bae asked. "How do I know you won't just choose your power over your family again."

"Because, Bae, you have always been more important to me than power. It just took my making a mistake to see it."

"I love you, Papa."

"I love you too, Bae."

"Is Belle going to be okay?"

"I hope so."

"Do you really love her?"

"Yes, Bae, I do."

"Okay, what is the problem?" David asked.

"This dude is an outsider, but I heard him talking about magic. He must have seen or heard something. And the girl he's with... she was conscious for the whole crash, she saw them hit Hook. She wants to see him."

"Well, she can't," he said immediately. "Hook is a dangerous criminal."

"Yeah, that's what we told her; she still wants to see him."

"Tell her 'Too Bad'!" he exclaimed. "Has the sheriff spoken to him yet?"

"Yeah. He's going to jail. There's going to be a trial, but he can't win."

"And the outsider? What do we do about him?"

"We'll figure something out, I'm sure."

Tamara looked around the room she was in. Looked like an ordinary hospital. But she knew there was magic here; her husband had told her, and she knew he wouldn't make something like that up. But she needed to talk to some locals. If they were going to find what they needed to destroy magic, they needed help from someone on the inside - someone so self-centered that they would sell out the whole town to save their own life. The kind of person who would shoot an innocent woman. Greg may not have noticed, but she sure had. And she was going to talk to this guy.

"Kelly!" Emma called. "Time for lunch!"

"But I'm busy," Kelly said.

"Henry, go get your sister."

Henry nodded and went after her.

"Jessie, can you set the table?"

She nodded and began. Andrew waved his hands impatiently from his high chair. Ana sat in the corner reading a book.

"Ana, you can come and sit," Emma said.

Ana shook her head. "I'll just be over here. I'm not very hungry anyway."

"Thinking about your mom?" Emma asked.

Ana nodded. "She could be anywhere in town. She has magic to conceal herself."

"We'll find her," said Emma. "We'll let her know that we know she's innocent."

"Ok," said Ana.

Kelly came running in. "Mommy, can we get a cat?" she asked.

"No," said Emma.

"But mommy!"

"Kelly, we live in a hotel room."

"Then let's get a house!"

"A... a house, here?" Emma asked.

"Yeah!" Kelly nodded eagerly. "Why not?"

"Well..." A house is so permanent, Emma thought to herself. Then again... she supposed they were here to stay. It had already been a year. They had already made a life here. She had told herself they would break the curse and leave, then they hadn't... they had subconsciously decided to stay here forever. Why was she so afraid to make it official?