Rumple was no stranger to being hurt by women he loved. First Milah, and then Cora. He knew one way or another he would meet Cora's baby someday though. That baby girl should have been his, as part of their deal or in blood. He had never altered a deal since then. Cora had been clever enough to use the exact words of the deal against him. He knew better than that! He'd let himself be blinded by the chance that there might be someone who could love him.
He was able to look into the future and see how the baby, Regina, would progress. He knew they would meet eventually. The years until then were nothing to an immortal. He hadn't expected Cora to actually bring the baby to see him. He had long ago surrounded his castle with magical alarms that alerted him when someone was close. He sensed the alarm and went to the window to see Cora. His visions of the future hadn't prepared him for this.
He transported himself to the main entry hall but didn't answer immediately when he heard her knock. Let her wait. She didn't look annoyed when he did eventually open the door. She didn't expect him to act differently. She knew him too well. She merely shifted Regina in her arms to make it all the more obvious she was holding a baby. As if Rumple's eyes had left Regina since the door opened.
"Well I can't say I see much of you in her," Rumple said coldly. "She'll have that much in her favor."
Cora gave him a smile that held no warmth.
"I thought you might like to see what you helped me have, Rumple. It was your lessons that helped me climb up from being the Miller's daughter. And it gave her her best chance. She'll be queen one day. That's why I named her-."
"Regina," he cut her off. "Yes, I know."
He thought now how he should have realized back then. Cora would never be satisfied with less than being at the top. Had he never become the Dark One, had she known him all those centuries before, the miller's daughter would never have been contented to be the spinner's wife.
"You can hold her, you know," Cora told him. He debated whether to take her up on that offer or not. It was a taunt of hers. He knew it. She was heartless, in every sense of the word. He decided the best thing to do was not let her taunt bother him, and the best way to do that was to go ahead and hold the baby. He held out his arms for her. Strange how it seemed so natural, the feeling of holding a baby again.
Cora was taking a risk. He could have disappeared with the baby into oblivion. He hadn't taught her everything he knew. It would be a simple matter to take her. The baby was so small. So- portable. The original deal with Cora said this baby belonged to him. That deal had been changed though. And for all he had done, he had never stolen a baby. Every baby he'd ever taken had been in trade for something else, by the parents' choice.
Besides, there was a voice in his head, one that sounded like who he used to be. That voice reminded him that this baby would one day grow up to cast the curse that would reunite him with Bae. Bae had to come first, before a heart broken by that heartless monster Cora or his desire to take care of this baby. No, he would not steal Regina. It had to be this way.
She'd be infinitely better off if he took her. Cora would do her no favors. He looked down at the baby and saw she was smiling up at him. Actually smiling. Hard to believe this innocent little thing would one day be known as the Evil Queen. She was so pure hearted now. And she would suffer so much. But for now, he couldn't help smiling back at her. He began to rock her gently, and Cora smiled.
"You'd have made an excellent father to her, Rumple."
"And I'm sure you'll make- well, some sort of mother anyway," Rumple told her. He never let on how much her remark stung. Instead, he made a choice to protect Regina, at least in part. It was a movement too subtle for Cora to notice, as familiar with magic as she was. He traced a symbol on Regina as he held her. It was a symbol for protection and strength. Cora's magic would not harm her as strongly as it might have, and she would find the strength to endure what was to come.
I'm sorry I can't do more for you right now, Regina, he thought as he handed her back to Cora. But we will meet again. Then, you will learn what you need to know to help both yourself and me. You'll make it through all that's to come, little bairne.
He was startled to realize he thought of her using that wokd. He'd always loved that poem. He must have recited it to Bae a million times. And Regina would have been his daughter if things had been different.
"I'm sorry it had to be this way," Cora told him. "We were good together, Rumple."
"It would have been so much better for Prince Henry," Rumple told her. "Poor Dearie. I wonder if he knows what he's gotten himself into."
Cora had a strange reaction to the remark. She leaned in to kiss Rumple, who magically blocked her.
"You brought Regina here to show me what I could never have. I want to thank you, Dearie. I want to thank you for refusing me and sparing me what might have been. Now, you've shown me what you wanted to show me. Take your baby and go."
Cora actually had the nerve to look offended.
"And here I thought you'd want to see her and hold her. Well, your loss, Rumple. She's destined for greatness."
With that, she left. When she was out of hearing range, Rumple voiced his thoughts.
"Yes she is. But in spite of you, not because of you."
He would keep an eye on her, although he knew he would not see her in person again while she was a baby. She had a destiny to be shaped. In that moment he hated himself, knowing he would give her that last little push into darkness. Thanks to Cora, and the princess that would be born in a few years, she would have ended up making the choices she would make anyway. He would just give her that last little shove.
But he could not be the one to help her back to the light. Not yet. He had to find his own way back first. He would try his hardest to do that, for Bae's sake. Perhaps someday he could do something to help Regina too.