Once Upon A Time
A month passed in this bloody castle and Dagian thought she was going out of her mind.
The stone walls and floor and glass were beautiful and Dagian wondered how long it had taken Rumpelstiltskin to even think about all this and conjure it up. But the only thing it made her feel like was that she was living in a beautifully decorated tomb.
It was so cold here and so isolating. When she was growing up, her father had been able to afford wooden floors as opposed to the dirt ones that most of the village had. She'd grown up with the smell of wood and stone and when she married Rumpelstiltskin and even after she left him and went out on her own she had grown accustomed to the feel and smell of the dirt and straw under her feet.
But the only wooden floor was in the dining room, the rest was stone on stone which enforced the feeling of isolation and loneliness. No feel of rough wood under her feet or dirt and straw the latter of which had stuck her feet sometimes. No, she either walked on rich carpets that didn't feel right for her to step on or the cold stone floors.
So Dagian spent most of her time in the garden. She tried to tend it but she couldn't make anything grow. Rumpelstiltskin had to conjure everything since it wouldn't grow naturally with him around.
Just another thing that wasn't hers.
Even the clothes were constricting. Rumpelstiltskin had destroyed her old ones and now she dressed as a nobleman's wife and she hated it. Dagian swore that she never wore so many underclothes at one time in her entire life and it restricted her breathing and freedom of movement.
She didn't complain to her husband though. She didn't want to talk to him and if there were words exchanged then they weren't going to be ones of complaint. She still had some of her pride left after all. And besides, it felt like the showers of gifts were somehow his attempts to atone for what she did. It felt wrong to rob him of that.
She didn't complain because at least he was trying. She watched him in his library as he poured over books on curses, and he worked on perfecting one that would get them to their son. And Dagian would endure corsets nearly suffocating her and breaking her ribs if it meant she had at least a hope of seeing her son again.
"I'm leaving."
Dagian was pulled out of her thoughts and looked over her shoulder while her husband was spinning at the wheel. She wasn't surprised by this little revelation. In fact if he didn't tell her himself, then she wouldn't know when he was there and when he wasn't. Their interactions were nonexistent, the days were so silent. Rumpelstiltskin had tried to talk to her after he brought her here but when she wasn't giving him looks of seething hatred, she was catatonic. So, he had given up and left her alone.
And while she appreciated that because she could hardly look at him anymore, it was a very lonely life to lead and she hated him for it.
She didn't mind the silence as long as it was around him but she was in need of some kind of company. The month that she spent up here felt like an eternity. And there was a town at the bottom of the mountain, but she knew Rumpelstiltskin would think that was leaving and try to lock her up even tighter and with the argument that she broke her deal.
She stared ahead into the fire. He was leaving. Good, that gave her more time for what she had in mind, "How long?"
"A week."
"Oh," she replied, "What are you going to do?"
"Make alliances, make deals. There's some research I need to do for the dark curse that they can give me."
"Why can't you just go in there and take it."
"Now darling, what kind of guest would I be?" he said with a sneer, "Deals are far more fun anyway."
Until you break them when it gets too threatening, she wanted to say but she kept her mouth shut. She wasn't in the mood to fight with him.
Dagian stood, "Goodnight Rumpelstiltskin."
She walked towards her chambers, her husband wouldn't follow her. He didn't even touch her anymore. He didn't need to sleep so he hardly went to his own chambers unless it was to change.
Dagian went there once and she'd seen a reason why he didn't go in there often. Mirrors, tables, things that had once been in their small cabin lay scattered and broken as if he couldn't bear the sight of them but he couldn't bear to throw them away.
But Bae's things and clothes were put away. Dagian knew that Rumpelstiltskin did go in that room to remember but Dagian couldn't bring herself to do it. She could hardly sleep without remembering her son's screams as his father let him go, being in the same room with his things would probably make things worse instead of helping her to heal. Besides, she didn't have time to sit in that room and mope, she had to get things together.
Because Rumpelstiltskin had taught her far more than he realized. He wasn't the only one that understood loopholes and ways to get out of a deal and if all went well then Rumpelstiltskin was not going to get his way in this little deal they'd made a month ago.
Present Day
Gold stood under the staircase of Mary Margaret's apartment and watched his wife make awkward small talk with the other guests.
She hated these bloody social gatherings. She always had, even when they were first married she had wanted to get married as soon as possible, and she didn't care about inviting anyone else in the village.
Well, he mused with a small secret smile, avoiding a large crowed was ONE of the reasons Dagian wanted to get married before morning.
But she insisted they come much to his displeasure. She told him that it was their duty since he was Mary Margaret's lawyer and she wanted to learn how to socialize since she'd been stuck with these people for 28 years.
That was a lie; she dragged him to this to spite him.
He looked to the biker sitting at the table with the Mills boy and struggled not to throw up. August Booth, what a pretentious ridiculous name. Did he honestly expect anyone to buy that?
It was one thing to invade Gold's privacy but it was another thing entirely to drag the boy into it. The Mills boy didn't have a strong male role model in his life thanks to his adopted mother; Gold didn't exactly feel comfortable with the fact that August used a ten year old in his plan to get what he wanted.
At least Gold had the decency to use full grown adults who had a choice and knew somewhat of what they were getting into.
And then there was the relationship between the biker and his wife. He didn't understand what was going on between them but he didn't think it was sexual or intimate. Dagian wasn't that way. She'd seen the recruiter off and on for the fourteen years that she'd left him and she'd told him they never consummated it because of her guilt of leaving him and Bae. He doubted she'd betray him while she lived in their house and carried his child. If that was the case, he had no doubt she would've packed up and gone to the inn with him when their marriage hit the rocks.
So then what was it? Friendship? No, it looked like it was something more.
So if it wasn't romantic or friendship then what was it? He figured he could ask Dagian but he wasn't in the mood to start up a fight, he'd just prevented another break in today.
He watched the biker walk over to his wife and start talking to her and Mary Margaret.
Whatever they were sharing together, Gold didn't like it. The man knew something and he didn't like the idea of someone else knowing something he didn't while trying to meddle in his business and trying to make connections with his family.
He watched as Emma kicked that idiot husband of Snow's out as politely as she could while sending her son to walk him home so he didn't get lost or something.
August made a deadly mistake by including him in whatever plans he had.
Tomorrow he was going to follow him. Whatever agenda the man had he was clearly starting to put it in motion.
Besides, he wasn't just doing this for him. HE was doing it for Dagian. The only reason she was still living with him now was because he was keeping her safe. He'd be breaking his word if he let her newfound friend or whatever he was hurt her.
Perhaps Emma would give him the answers he wanted. He started walking toward her and noticed his wife put her hand on her stomach slightly as Mary said something pertaining to the baby. He felt a surge of protectiveness surge through him.
No, he was going to stop this now. This man wasn't going to hurt his wife; Gold had done that too many times himself. Whatever he thought of his wife and whatever she thought of him and herself, she at least deserved an easy pregnancy.
And he was going to ensure at least that for her.
And if it meant cutting this man's throat and leaving him out in the woods if he didn't like the answers to his questions then he was more than willing to do that.
"Hard to let him go isn't it?" he put up his wall and put his energy on reminding Emma of her loss so he wouldn't focus on his own, "Your son…"
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Dagian put her hand on her stomach and walked to the master bedroom that night. Her husband looked up from the book he was reading and smirked, "Well I didn't think you were ever coming."
She scowled, "Don't get your hopes up, I just want to sleep."
Without looking up from his book, he pulled back the covers, "I kept the pillows fluffed for you."
She sat back and placed her hand on her stomach. He put his hand on her back to keep her steady, "You overdid it, didn't you?"
"My feet are just a little swollen," she said but he could hear the exhaustion in her voice.
She lay down and he wrapped his arms around her. She tensed slightly but relaxed when he put his hand on her stomach. The move wasn't to make Dagian uncomfortable and angry but while she couldn't sleep unless he was nearby, he couldn't sleep unless he knew that his wife and baby were right next to him.
Rumpelstiltskin thought Dagian had fallen asleep but just as he was dropping off himself, Dagian put her hand on his, "Would Regina really hurt our baby?"
"She sent countless children into the home of a blind witch to retrieve an apple to torture a girl that she held a grudge for since the girl was twelve. I'm sure murdering our baby because it could mean our happy ending would be nothing to her."
Dagian was quiet and so Rumpelstiltskin moved his hand so he could feel his daughter kicking, "You should've seen her face when she saw you and I walking down the street when he first woke up here though. She about had an aneurysm over the idea at me having a wife and she just had a horrible time of figuring out who you were.
Despite herself, Dagian smiled and snickered and he laughed as well and buried his face in his hair.
She turned over on her back and placed her hand on his chest, "Rumpelstiltskin there's something I need to tell you."
"Hm?" he asked and tilted his head. Oh, they were going to be honest with each other were they? That was certainly something different from the normal.
Dagian almost told him about Bae and then hesitated. He had asked her not to tell her husband. He'd told her that he wanted to reveal his identity himself.
Then why was he taking so long?
But Dagian couldn't betray Bae's wishes. Not like this. She's already failed him so many times that she couldn't just tell her husband that his own son stared him in the fact today and he didn't even know it. Bae had taken her aside and promised her that he'd tell him soon, she didn't have to carry this secret any longer. He'd brought them here because he wanted to find his son. Dagian didn't know the extent of his sins, but he'd done all this for their son. It just felt wrong that they were dangling a carrot in front of him. Expecting him to walk but he could never reach his goal.
So she didn't. why was that surprising? She was a coward just like him, "I think we should name our daughter Lily."
He frowned for a second, obviously disappointed but he rested his hand on his wife's face, "I think that's a lovely name."
