AN: I honestly thought they wouldn't leave. This is certainly an exciting time to be an American campaigning in London, but it's over now, so on with the story. Thanks to my beta, LMPsisterhood. Apparently I've been spelling Rumpelstiltskin wrong this whole time.


2038

Doctor Whale looked grim.

Henry and Regina barely noticed him as they pushed past him to see their daughter.

"Sam," Regina whispered brokenly as she held onto the little girl's ice cold hand.

"What's wrong with her?" Henry demanded, looking between Regina and Doctor Whale as if one of them would know the answer.

"As far as I can tell, nothing," Doctor Whale said solemnly. He stood with his back straight and hands clasped in front of him. He was just waiting for the inevitable fight that was sure to come when he told them the news. Why they'd received a call.

"But?" Henry asked even though he dreaded the answer.

"She's dying," Doctor Whale said, confirming what Henry and Regina already suspected. "Something magical is at play here. Her vitals look normal, but her body is showing signs of decay. If you do not stop this soon, she will likely die."

Regina nodded her head. Whatever she had encountered in Sam, that dark presence still had a grip on her daughter. She held her hands over Sam's heart, preparing to cast a stasis spell. If she could still the spread of the dark magic, and perhaps isolate it from Sam's body, she could buy the girl more time before the darkness fully took hold and killed the child.

Her magic flowed downwards, but as it connected to Sam's body, she saw something, but unlike the last time, it was no longer visions involving herself and her own demons.

Pictures were swirling so fast in front of her face she could not identify them all, and the words the people said so fast she could not grasp onto them. It was as if she understood the words but together they were fleeting and had no meaning. There was a woman, dark skinned and with curly black hair. She was beautiful, but she looked sad. And then there was a man, the stereotypical tall, dark, and handsome.

The next face Regina could identify: Rumpelstiltskin, the Dark One. He was not alone, for the other man was next to him. Regina heard sounds coming from the two men but she could not understand the words. They were speaking in a language she understood for each individual word she recognized, but one she could not comprehend the string together. It had no meaning. The darkness prevented her from understanding it. But what she could not understand, Regina knew the look that crossed the Dark One's eyes, the glee and mirth as he rubbed his hands together and smiled wildly, and the look of apprehension on the handsome man's face. A deal. The man had struck a deal with the devil.

The woman reappeared again, and she appeared happier. No words were spoken this time, for she was with someone. It was another woman with pointed ears and white blonde hair. The two women were locked in a passionate embrace. No speaking was necessary. There was a frog on the bedside table. It disappeared.

The handsome man again was with Rumpelstiltskin, but they were wearing different clothes than before. A different day. A different deal. A poof of smoke and a frog remained on the floor in place of the man.

Regina recalled her magic, and once she was removed from the dark magic, she gasped. "The frog," she said confused. She knew what she had seen was some kind of clue as to what happened.

"What frog?" Henry asked confused.

"The frog Sam had. I think it's the frog prince, and whatever magic is in Sam has something to do with that."

Henry frowned in confusion for a moment, but then a look of understanding overcame his face. "Take us home. I need to look at something."

Regina trusted Henry, so when she said he needed to go home, she complied. Now in the living room, Henry ran to the study, Regina hot on his heels.

"What are you looking for?" Regina asked.

"I was reading over the stories I've recorded, and I remember something about the frog prince. I think if I can find the story, it will give us a clue as to what happened." Henry shuffled through piles upon piles of paper. He vaguely remembered the story he was looking for. He remembered none of the details, for he had not thought the story particularly important when he was first reading through his records, but now. Now it was the one clue they had to save Sam.

"Is this it?" Regina asked as she flipped to a page in one of the Storybooks that displayed a picture of the handsome man she recalled from the darkness induced vision.

Henry glanced at the page, and Regina knew it was the right story even before he could say anything, for she could see the hope on his face.

Bending over the page, they read,

The boy had fallen in love with the Princess, but he knew she did not love him in return. He watched as she found comfort in the arms of her lover, Rapunzel and wondered why she could not love him instead. Each day at her side tormented him, for she tormented him with her lack of affection, but she was his sun and he orbited around her, and no matter how much he tried to leave her he could not bring himself to do it in the end. So when the Princess came to him one day, he could not deny her anything she would deign to ask of him.

'I want a child,' the Princess said, 'I want a babe to call my own. But Rapunzel and I cannot have a child naturally.'

'I will do whatever I can to help you, Princess,' the boy foolishly promised.

'Good,' the Princess said, and the boy should have known then and there how foolish he was to agree to help her. 'I have heard of a man, Rumpelstiltskin, who can grant any wish. Go to him and convince him to bless us with a child.'

'It will be done, Princess,' the boy said with a bow before he set off to find the Dark One. The one called Rumpelstiltskin.

'My love wishes to have a child,' the boy told Rumpelstiltskin.

The crocodile looked gleeful.

'I don't see why you need my help,' Rumpelstiltskin lied, for in truth he knew the reason the boy was there. And Rumpelstiltskin already knew what he wanted from the boy in exchange for the child.

'She and Rapunzel cannot conceive a child on their own. What must I pay you to give them a child?' the boy asked, for he knew the Dark One only made bargains. Magic always comes with a price.

'You will do something for me,' Rumpelstiltskin said, and the boy agreed before he even knew what it was he must do.

With a wave of the Dark One's hand, the boy was engulfed in smoke and as it cleared the boy was no longer. A frog replaced him on the floor. Rumpelstiltskin smirked. 'Your princess's lover is pregnant,' the Dark One told the frog. 'And you will live the rest of your life as a frog.'

'But why?' the boy croaked indignantly. 'How can this be the price of a child?'

'It amuses me,' Rumpelstiltskin said vaguely and laughed at his own inside joke.

'But what can I do to be human again?' the boy asked desperately, for he could never again be with his Princess if he was forever trapped as a frog.

'Ah a deal's a deal, dearie,' Rumpelstiltskin taunted and with a whirl of his finger the frog was rising up to eye level. 'But if you should ever bite a child, the child shall take your place.' With one last laugh, Rumpelstiltskin disappeared and the frog fell to the floor.

They read silently over the story, and once they finished, Regina blinked up at Henry. "I think I know what to do," she said. She was uncertain if it would work, but it was a chance, and better than anything else they could try. At least they knew why Sam had suddenly taken ill.


Natacha Paredes: Thanks! And I have to ask, what does DR mean? (Google wasn't helpful.)