Given the circumstances, the last person he expected to hear calling out "hello" in his shop was David Nolan.

It had been well over a week since his little chat with Dove, and since that moment, the bird had been a wealth of information. He'd informed him that David's physical therapy had been complete, and he was due to return home yesterday. This information was apparently quite easy to obtain as there was a "welcome home" party planned for David with nearly everyone in town who meant something involved. But Dove had gone above and beyond to provide him with proper information. He'd wandered into the party on his own. It wasn't difficult, he'd told him in a message. With so many people coming and going and with the guest of honor having no memories of who was and wasn't a friend, no one seemed to notice Dove when he crashed it. Emma Swan and her son were attending. It seemed he'd learned his lesson as he admitted that going allowed him to keep an eye on Emma at the same time he did David.

But it was the oddest thing, he'd told him later that night. He hadn't seen David at the party. Not at all. By all accounts, he'd certainly been there at one point, but he'd left by the time that Dove had arrived. Where to? No one seemed to know. He hadn't returned, and his wife, Kathryn, appeared to have not made much of the sudden disappearance. Throughout the day today, the reason why seemed to be obvious. Word on the street was that David had left his wife. Rumors seemed to swirl as they always did in this small town. Some people said that without his memories, he was having a difficult time adjusting and had left her, spent the night at Granny's. Others said that he was only pretending not to remember because he always had wanted to leave Kathryn. There was even one that stated that he had been seen with none other than Mary Margaret throughout last night and today. That particular rumor was his favorite. But with no evidence to back it up, he had no reason to believe it was any more believable than the other rumors.

He went about his day as he normally would, as Mr. Gold normally would, getting messages from Dove about Emma and questioning him on David when he could. It was evening, close to closing time when he heard his shop door open and close, and to his shock, the voice of one David the Shepherd turned False Prince James turned David Nolan call out "hello." He felt his heart jump. David was here. In his shop. Again. Of course, if he did his job right all those years ago, he shouldn't remember that last part, at least not right now. He shouldn't be able to remember the way he'd stormed in here years earlier demanding his daughter. He shouldn't remember stealing his own sword or waking him up after the first time. But of course, if Regina had done her job right, he also shouldn't be completely without memories.

He didn't know what he thought of all that. He had his own theories surrounding David's lack of memories, theories just like everyone else seemed to have; some of them thought he was faking, but he didn't believe it for a second. He was convinced it was part of the Curse breaking, Regina's mistake, or simply a fluke. He had theories galore but no way to prove any of them. He should have had something. So, who had done their job wrong? It was his first interaction with him for well over a decade. He was curious. He was curious about a number of things, and he wondered if it was possible to discern anything for himself.

"Hello?" he heard the False Prince call out again. The sound of it made him sigh in relief. The real David wouldn't have been so polite with him as to call out gently or even wait in the front. He'd done his job right. Regina…he didn't know what David's lack of memories meant. He also didn't know what would drive the Savior's father in here, to begin with. With that in mind, he palmed his cane and shuffled out to the front of his shop.

David didn't notice him enter. He was too busy noticing something else. The tiny glass unicorn mobile. He was staring at it as though mesmerized. It unsettled him. If he didn't know any better, he'd think that he recognized it from somewhere. Interesting. As David reached his hand out to touch it, he took a deep breath and held his ground, prepared to find out once and for all what he knew.

"Charming," he called.

David pulled his hand away and glanced over at him.

For a second, his breath hitched as he looked into his eyes to see if the look he saw was a response to his name. But closer examination proved there was genuine confusion in his eyes at the word.

"I'm sorry?" Charming…the word meant nothing to him. Which meant he returned to his original conclusion. He didn't remember the first time they'd met.

"The mobile. Isn't it charming?" he explained, using Mr. Gold's salesmanship to cover the test. "Exquisitely designed, masterly crafted… I can get it down, if you like."

"No, no. I mean, it's…it's very nice," he explained, coming over to him with a face of complete innocence. He didn't bother trying to feign being hurt. He'd known from the beginning, whether it was Prince Charming or David, that he didn't want to buy anything. "But actually, I'm looking for the Toll Bridge. The Mayor said there was a fork in the road by your shop, but-"

"It seems Miss Mills has led you astray." The question was why. Where was he going? Did she know something he didn't? He had Dove watching Emma; perhaps he needed to get one of his cousins to keep an eye on David.

"Yeah, yeah, you would think the Mayor would know her own town."

He smirked. What Regina didn't know about this place and how they'd all gotten here…he could fill entire volumes of books with that information. "One would think…out of the door, turn right, two blocks you'll find a trail. Can't miss it."

David smiled. "Thank you!" Without uttering a good-bye, David turned, but he hadn't made it to the door before something had stopped him in his tracks, caught him off guard. He swallowed as he followed David's gaze. The windmill. He was looking at an old wooden windmill. He was staring at it. Intently.

"See something you like?"

David took a step closer to it. "Where did you get that?"

"That old thing?" he managed to ask quietly, even if his heart was thudding wildly in his chest. "That's been gathering dust for…forever." Or just the last twenty-eight years. It was one of those things he'd acquired in the Curse, something that Mr. Gold had memories of purchasing, but he knew the memory was false. That wasn't a big deal. Most of the items in this shop had that kind of history. What was making him nervous, however, was the memory that went with that particular item.

David took another step forward and spun the windmill around, watching the blades of the fan turn and turn, nearly as mesmerized with it as he had been with the mobile. "I think…this belonged to me."

"Really?" he swallowed. "Are you sure?"

"Yes…I remember."

Fuck.

He'd seen so much good since Emma Swan arrived, so many promising signs that the Curse was breaking and all was going the way he planned. And then, right before his eyes, it had happened. A step in the wrong direction. A less than promising development. The windmill David had spotted, he knew its history. It's false history, of course. But David hadn't known it. He shouldn't have known it. And yet, something about that windmill caught his attention. It drew him forward it urged him to reach out his hand and twirl the old wooden blades around, staring at it like it was some sort of hypnotist's tool. A part of him had been tempted to interrupt, had recognized he was getting somewhere, and distract him before anything could come of it.

But before he could put a stop to it, David declared, "After I bought our house, I hated this windmill, my wife sold it to you…Kathryn." David had turned to face him then, his eyes round and filled with tears but not tears of joy. They were tears of regret. "I'm right, aren't I?" he asked almost sadly.

Sadly…where exactly had he been going tonight? He had his suspicions. And if those suspicions were correct, he would much rather have told him that he was wrong. But that was dangerous. Regina was close to this situation, befriending Kathryn, encouraging David in the wrong direction, he could lie, and it would be all too easy to trace it back to him, and then what? He'd have no reason for doing it other than wanting David to continue spending time with Mary Margaret, and everyone knew that Mr. Gold did not goad on relationships. Lying was too risky. Which meant…

Fuck.

He grit his teeth together as he went to the place he kept his inventory cards. After looking through them for a moment, he pulled one out, but it was just for show. The card he'd pulled out was actually for a diamond ring. He didn't need to read the one that belonged to that windmill to know it was true. His false memories told him all he needed to know.

"Amish made wooden windmill, late twentieth century, weathered but otherwise good condition. Recommend repainting. Purchase cost fifty dollars store credit, estimated value once repaired, eighty dollars. Original seller…Kathryn Nolan."

David swallowed, his throat bobbed with obvious emotion. Which emotion and why, he wondered. "It's true," he sighed, looking back at the windmill. "Ah…" after a few seconds, David reached up to wipe at his eyes. Now there was no denying that he was crying.

Fuck.

"Toll bridge is two blocks and to the right, you said…there's a path?"

"Can't miss it," he confirmed. And just like that, David Nolan left his shop, turned right just outside the door, and walked away. He slammed his hand down onto the glass case in front of him, anger ripping through him, urging him to hit something, destroy, break, smash. But again, he resisted. He'd only just barely finished having his back door repaired, and this time there would be no way to explain that kind of reaction or the damage from it. All he could do was brace himself, finish his work, go home…and do a lot of internal cursing.

Fuck!

I'm only really "meh" about this chapter. It's what we saw with just a bit of framework to put it in place properly, and the episode itself was good, but I fear that this scene, in particular, falls prey to the fact that Rumple is still at arm's length in the midst of this situation. He's aware of things but only really hearing about them via Dove. But the good thing about this chapter is that it starts to open his eyes to how big this really could get. This is the first time that it dawns on him that he might need to have people beyond Emma watched to keep up with people. Later on in this fiction, much later, Rumple has Dove's family, his own personal spy network, everywhere. He's sort of like the godfather with his own little crime family; only they're not really his family, and other than spying, they're not really committing crimes. Still, it's impressive, and I can't wait to get there with you, so hang on!

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Jennifer Baratta, Grace5231973, and Alarda, for your reviews on the previous chapter! I'm glad you liked it and felt that it was believable. And I love that you really like Dove and his relationship with him in this fiction. Of course, you can expect it to change over the course of the series, but looking back, I can't tell you how happy I am that I decided to create that character. He saves me a ton in this fiction, and so I'm sure he'll do the same in several others. Peace and Happy Reading!