His newspaper was held up in front of him, reading through all the local stories, while Rumald waited for his son to arrive at Grannies. Neal had rung when he was an hour from Storybrooke, giving Rumald plenty of time to walk from his home into town and claim a table for them to have their lunch at Grannies. Neal always had a soft spot for Grannies food and had spent a lot of his high school years, hanging out in Grannies with his friends. He knew his son would appreciate meeting there and voiced as much when Rumald had told him he would meet him at Grannies. Some would argue Grannies was the centre of Storybrooke. Rumald was not in favour of this argument, but he had to agree, most of the residents did partake in socialising at Grannies. Which was why, at Saturday lunchtime, the place was heaving with most of Storybrooke and Rumald had been lucky to find a free table.

Letting one side of his newspaper droop, Rumald reached for his coffee on the table and drank from it, blissfully ignorant to the whispers about him from the other tables. He placed his coffee cup back onto the table and snapped his newspaper back up in front of him, blocking out everyone else in the diner. It was unusual for him to stay at the diner to eat. Normally, he would order his food and take it back to his shop, happy to be shut himself away in the back of his shop. This was one of the reasons why. It was old and tiring to hear everyone gossiping about him, even if he did not care what they said.

The door the diner opened and Rumald peered over his newspaper to see it was not Neal. He shook his head slightly, returning to an article about the lack of fish and how another fishery was possibly closing after seventy-five years in business. At the same time, Rumald smirked at the opportunity for a deal to be made and the door to Grannies opened.

Dropping his newspaper down to see the door, Rumald smiled genuinely at seeing his son enter Grannies and folded his newspaper as he stood to greet his son with a hug. "It's good to see you, son."

"You too." Neal returned his father's hug, clutching at the back of Rumald's white shirt. "Traffic was hell."

"That's one of the reasons your mother and I moved away from the city." Rumald waved for his son to take a seat and retook the bench he had been sat on, and discarded his newspaper to the seat beside him.

Neal removed his coat and put it next to him on his seat. "So strange to be here." His son was scanning his eyes around the room. "Hasn't changed a bit."

"Neither has Grannie." Rumald commented dryly, eyeing Grannie out of the corner of his eye behind the counter.

"No," Neal chuckled. "She doesn't look like she's aged a day."

"Must be that famous lasagne of hers." Rumald pulled a dissatisfied face, sure he could taste her lasagne as he thought about it.

Neal made a satisfied noise before he said. "Now, I want her lasagne."

"Oh, no." Rumald shook his head at his son. "Don't. I don't even think I could stomach the smell."

"Well, if it isn't the young Mr Gold." Grannie said approaching their table and offered menus to the two occupants.

"Hello Grannie." Neal smiled at the older woman, taking one of the menus from her.

As Rumald reached to take the other menu, Grannie tossed it into Rumald's lap, saying to Neal. "How are things in the big city?"

Rumald picked the menu up from his lap, glaring up at Grannie, as Neal sweet talked her. "It's good, Grannie, but I can't find anywhere that does food like you."

"I doubt you ever will." Grannie said to him and turned her attention to Rumald, gesturing to his son. "You could take a leaf out of son's book."

"Can I order some food?" Rumald ignored her comment.

"You can, if you say 'please'." Grannie told Rumald, smiling at Neal.

Letting out a small growl, Rumald rolled his eyes and said. "Please."

Knowing she had won this battle with Rumald, Grannie reached into her apron and took out her notepad and pen, requesting their order. "What would you like?"

"Hamburger and fries, extra gherkins and another black coffee." Rumald held his menu for Grannie to take and caught the evil look Grannie gave him. "Please." Her glare turned into smile again as she took the menu from Rumald.

Neal offered the menu to Grannie, placing his order. "I'll have same as my dad, but no gherkins and a strawberry milkshake."

Grannie took his menu from him giving Neal a smile and turned to walk away, sparing a moment to give a glare to Rumald. Holding his hands up to drop onto the table, Rumald was confused as to why Grannie always felt the need to give him a glare before she walked away. It was like she needed to get the last word or look in, one upping him. He had never really had a disagreement with Grannie. She paid on time, never gave him problems, yet she still treated him like the enemy. Although, Rumald had to admit to himself, to many in Storybrooke he was the enemy.

"So, how's the shop doing?" Neal inquired, resting forearms onto the table.

"The same as usual." Rumald turned his attention to Neal. "You know me. I'm always keeping myself busy."

Neal smiled knowingly at his father, nodding his head at what his father had said, and said. "I've heard about you keeping yourself busy."

"Heard what about me?" He asked his son.

"I'm on the Storybrooke Facebook page." Neal explained to his father. "Someone put a post on there about you teaching dance again."

Rumald waved his hands at Neal. "I'm not teaching dance again." He stopped and corrected himself. "No, I was teaching dance, but it was a favour for Regina. I haven't started dancing again. I swear."

"Dad, I think it's great." Neal reached across the table and grabbed one of his father's hands.

"You do?" Rumald was surprised to hear his son say that, seeing as dance was partly to blame for taking him away from Neal.

"You loved to dance." Neal began to say, letting go of his father's hand. "You with Cora was the problem. Not you dancing."

Feeling guilty, Rumald bent his head down and retracted his hands down into his lap. Not being there for his son, abandoning him, still sat heavy in Rumald's heart. Nothing he could ever do would make up for his absence from his son's life. He twisted the silver ring on his right ring finger back and forth, needing something to work the tension out of him.

Neal could see the guilty thoughts of his father on his face and said. "Have you been enjoying it?"

"Enjoying what?" Rumald asked, nearly forgetting what they were talking about.

"Teaching? Dancing again?" Neal elaborated, smiling at his father.

"A little." Rumald told him honestly, while holding back some of the truth.

The group classes had been fine and he had some enjoyment. His enjoyment had mostly come from terrorising the students. Making comments to them, which left them wondering whether they were compliments or insults always left him a smile on his face. Of course, the main class he had enjoyed was his private lessons with Belle.

Neal's smile grew seeing the huge smile on his father's face. "What are you smiling about?"

"Nothing." Rumald drew his lips into a straight line, trying to remove all traces of his smile and pushing all thoughts of Belle away.

"Here you go." Ruby balanced her serving tray on the edge of the table and placed their order onto the table. "Nice to see you, Neal."

"Ruby." Neal raised his eyebrows at Ruby. "How are you?"

"I'm good." She smiled at Neal, lifting her serving tray off the table. "You?"

"Never better." Neal told her, picking a fry off his plate to pop into his mouth.

Rumald ignored the interaction and grabbed the bottle of ketchup from by the napkin dispenser, and squirted an unhealthy amount onto his burger after lifting the bun top out of the way. The pair were still chatting as Rumald collected his burger from his plate and bit into it. While they prattled on about school and where friends were now that they knew in school, Rumald looked outside onto the patio area. He would not begrudge his son the chance to catch up on things, although he did feel his time with his son was precious. What gave him some comfort, was the fact Neal was planning to spend night at his father's house, so they had time on their side.

"I'm sure that you'll run into Emma, if you're going to the fun fare today." Ruby commented, shifting her weight on her hip. "She's there with her mum. Candle stall, I think."

"Oh, really…?" Neal mused over the small bit of information, picking another fry from his plate to eat.

"Anyway," Ruby glanced over her shoulder. "I better get back to work." And then left them to their meals.

Holding his burger in one hand, Rumald selected a gherkin from his plate and said to his son. "How are things at work?"

"They're okay." Neal was very unenthusiastic. "Just a bit boring designing apartment building after apartment building. Would be nice to do something else for a change."

"Anything I can do to help?" Rumald inquired after finishing his gherkin.

"No, thanks, dad. Just got to work my way up and let my work speak for itself." Neal told his father, picking his burger up from his plate.

After finishing his mouthful of his burger, Rumald said. "It wouldn't be any trouble."

Neal gave his father a pointed look. "I don't need any help, dad."

"Okay." One side of Rumald's lips pulled back into a slight smile.

The fact Neal had gotten to where he was today all on his own, made Rumald's the proudest father in the world. Yes, Rumald felt guilty because he had not been there and had been disowned by his son for many years. He also felt guilty, because Neal's mother had upped and left him as well, choosing someone else over their son. Many people probably would have drowned their abandonment issues, knocking back as many bottles as they could find. Possibly even snorting and injecting their troubles away. However, Neal had used the downfall of his parents to drive him through high school and college, coming out on top of both of his parents.

They finished their meals and left Grannies. Rumald followed Neal down the steps from Grannies porch area as he put on his overcoat and turned up the collar around his neck. With his hands in his overcoat pockets, Rumald held his overcoat closed and joined Neal on the sidewalk.

"Have we got anything planned for this afternoon?" Neal asked his father, delving his hands into the pockets of his coat.

"Not really." Rumald said to him. "I was going to suggest we grab some beers on the way home, but apart from that, nothing else."

Neal smiled at his father. "Fancy going to the fun fare?"

A groan escaped from Rumald. Did he want to go to the fun fare? Hell no! Anything to do with the nuns or aided the nuns to repairing their roof, from far from being of interest to Rumald. His distaste for the nuns had come from attending Catholic school back in Scotland. They had been the vilest women he had ever met. Dishing out punishments for any God given reason or any reason they felt deserved a punishment. When he was younger, he blamed his aunts for the hell the nuns gave him, but with age came wisdom and he understood now, they had only sent him there because it was the best school in the area.

"Not really." Rumald was honest with his son.

"Come on, dad." Neal slung his arm around his father's shoulders. "It'll be fun."

"Fun and nuns?" Rumald questioned aloud, letting his son lead him down the sidewalk.

Neal leant into his father, saying. "No, fun with your son. Think about it like that."

"Nuns, Neal." Rumald really wanted to refuse his son, however, Neal knew he owned his father with the amount of guilt harbouring in his father's heart.

"I swear I won't leave you alone with them." Neal promised his father, squeezing his father into his side.

The nearer they got to where the fun fare was being held, the more residents they came across, who were also heading towards the fun fare. Neal kept showing a smile to Rumald, whenever he caught his father looking at him, trying to gauge whether he could persuade his son into chilling out at home with his father. There was something in his son's eyes. A sparkle of hope, maybe? Rumald did not know, but if it made his son happy that was all he cared about.

They followed a group of teenagers into an alleyway, cutting through to the high school sports field where the fun fare was being held. A few of them glanced back at him, whispering and gossiping about Mr Gold and the unknown man. More gossip that would be passed around Storybrooke. It used to be quite entertaining to hear the gossip being spread about him. These days, the gossip circulating around town was very tedious and very unoriginal. The latest he had heard was he must have been gay, now word had spread that he could dance, which was possibly why the kids in front of them kept glancing back at them and giggling. Rumald rolled his eyes and chose to ignore them, not wanting to ruin his time with Neal over some spotty kids.

"Come on, dad." Neal sounded excited, slapping his father on his back.

Through the corner of his eye, Rumald looked at his son and shook his head in disbelief, not seeing a grown man but his ten-year-old son. He could not help the smile on his face, loving the look on his son's face. How he would give anything to go back in time and make things right with his son, refusing to miss out on so many things.

Neal urged his father as they came out of the alleyway onto the field, seeing all the stalls and fun fare rides spread out on the field. "Hurry up, dad."

"I thought you were nearly thirty." Rumald hurried his step slightly, only because Neal's pace had increased and his step was longer than Rumald's.

"That's two years away." Neal admonished his father.

"I'm still right." Rumald mumbled under his breath.

Neal slowed his pace and pulled his father along with a hand on his shoulder. "You're getting slow, old man."

"I'm trying to prolong the inevitable." He told his son, allowing himself to be dragged by his son.

Falling into step with his son, they wandered by some of the rides and excused themselves through the crowd. Rumald was not sure, what exactly Neal had planned for their little jaunt around the fun fare. The further they went by the rides, which Rumald was sure would peek Neal's interest, he was sure there was an alternative motive for visiting the fun fare.

"Are we looking for something?" Rumald asked his son.

Neal glanced at his father. "No. Just thought it would be fun."

"Ah…" Rumald smiled knowingly. "So, we're looking for someone."

"I didn't say that." Neal tried to reject his father's reasoning, spying over the heads of the passer-by's.

Rumald let it go, shaking his head from side to side. "Whatever you say, son."

They became surrounded by the stalls and Neal's attempts to spot someone or something in the crowd became more urgent. Rumald observed his son, pondering whether he had ever behaved in such a manner. He doubted it. Keeping control over himself and what he wanted people to see, was instrumental to his business dealings. Showing people his hand or his weaknesses would be bad for business. Thinking about it, Rumald went on to think about how Regina had seen his interest in Belle. For a man who was good at hiding his feelings, a reason Milah had thrown in his face, he was still confused as to how Regina had seen his secret. He did not want to believe it was because Regina knew he so well. He did not want to think it had anything to do with Belle either.

Neal grabbed him by his arm and hauled him over to a stall. "This way."

Baffled, Rumald went with his son, though he had no choice, and came through the crowd with Neal to find they were approaching the candle stall. Realisation dawned and Rumald looked at his son. He should have known after Ruby had told his son where to find Emma. Neal and Emma had dated in high school and had always been thick as thieves. Rumald did not know why they had broken up. He had put it up to going to different colleges for the reason for their break up.

"Really?" Rumald nudged his elbow into his son's side.

"I like candles." Was his son's only response as they came to a stop in front of the stall.

"I like books." Rumald responded sarcastically.

Neal dug his elbow into his father's side, as Mary-Margaret spoke to them, sounding far from pleased to see them. "What a pleasure to see both of you."

"Mrs Nolan." Neal pleasantly greeted her. "You're looking as lovely as ever."

Mary-Margaret wave a hand over the display of candles. "I'm sure you both would like to help the nuns by buying a candle."

"Sure." Neal said perusing the selection of candles.

Abstaining from supporting the nuns, Rumald slipped his hand inside of his overcoat and removed his new sunglasses to put on, scanning the people passing by them and at the surrounding stalls. He recognised everyone walking by him. Near enough all of them were tenants or owed him money.

"Dad," Neal said to gain his attention. "Can you lend me some cash? They only accept cash."

Rumald flicked his overcoat to one side and shoved his hand reluctantly into his pocket to retrieve his money, giving his son the most scathing look he could. He yanked a hundred-dollar bill from his money clip and gave it to his son.

"Thank you." His son smiled as Rumald shoved his money back into his pocket and snapped his overcoat around himself.

"I'll just go and get you some change." Mary-Margaret excused herself and shouted to someone else. "Henry, can you watch the stall for a minute. I'll be right back."

"Okay." Came this young voice.

Rumald paid no attention to Mary-Margaret's grandson as he slipped through the cover at the back of the stall after Mary-Margaret went through it. The young boy skipped happily to man the stall, smiling warmly at both Rumald and Neal.

"Hello, Mr Gold." Henry greeted him pleasantly.

"Henry." Rumald said out of a courtesy, keeping his gaze on the crowd.

Neal frowned. "Henry?"

Rumald turned his head to look at his son as he spoke to him. "Emma's son."

"Emma's son?" His son questioned, staring openly at the young man behind the stall.

"Yep." Henry smiled at Neal, while giving him an inquisitive look.

The cover at the back of stall opened and Mary-Margaret slipped through, holding out her hand to put the change into Neal's hand. "Here you go."

Neal held his hand open for Mary-Margaret taking his change, his gaze focused on Henry. "Thank you."

"Can we go now?" Rumald asked, holding his overcoat closed with his hands in his pockets.

"Mrs Nolan," Neal pocketed the money as he queried Mary-Margaret. "Is Emma here?"

"She was earlier, but she and my husband got called out. She's my husband's deputy." She answered Neal, forcing a smile onto her face.

Rumald slipped his hand out of his overcoat and tugged on his son's arm. "Come on, son."

Reluctantly, Neal moved on from the stall and fell into step with his father, though his attention seemed to be somewhere else. Rumald did not mind, using his son's distraction to steer his son out of the fare and back to Grannies, where they had left Neal's car. He placed a steering hand on Neal's back and guided his son through the crowd. Passing by some more stalls, Rumald let his gaze wander for second and missed his step, tripping into the side of his son.

"You okay?" Neal asked concerned, catching a hold of his father.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just…" Rumald did his best to hide the small smile from his face. "There's a stall over here that looks interesting." He told his son, already starting to excuse himself through the crowd to the stall.

Emerging from the traffic of people, Rumald could no longer stop himself from smiling, now that she was in front of him. "Miss French."

Belle jumped up from being bent over, moving some things under the counter, and held her hand over her chest, whilst she smiled at Rumald. "Mr Gold!"

"Helping your father out, I see." Rumald indicated to the stall with his hand.

Neal brushed up against his father's side as Belle said. "He wanted to do his part to help the nuns, but he can't be in two places at once."

Remembering his son beside him, Rumald shifted to present his son to Belle. "This is my son, Miss French."

"Hi." Belle offered her hand to Neal over the counter.

"Neal." He took her hand and smiled at her.

Belle returned his smile. "Belle."

"When have you ever found flowers interesting, dad?" Neal questioned, giving his father a strange look.

Rumald smiled awkwardly at Belle, while wanting to slap his son around the back of his head. "I meant that stall over there." He pointed randomly to the stall next door. "I just saw Miss French and wanted to say hello."

Neal looked to the stall beside Belle's. "Wooden name plates?"

"No, the one after that. The one with snacks." Rumald gestured wildly to another stall down the line. "Why don't you go and buy us some snacks for tonight?"

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" Neal smiled at Belle, who was holding a hand to mouth to stop her giggle from escaping.

"Neal, go." Rumald gave his son a pointed look.

Neal held up his hands in surrender. "Geez… Not very subtle." Before he left, Neal gave a small wave to Belle. "Pleasure to meet you, Belle."

"And you." Belle said through her giggle.

Rumald watched his son amble away from Belle's stall and waited until his son was inspecting the snack store before turning his attention onto Belle. "Sorry about that."

"There's nothing to be sorry about." Belle smiled.

"While I'm here," Rumald began to say to her, parting his overcoat to remove his money clip from his pocket. "Do you have any daisies?"

"Oh, sure." Belle spun round, looking at the various buckets around her and plucked a prewrapped bunch of daisies from a bucket.

Rumald took the offered bunch from her and queried. "Any red roses? Singles?"

"Erm…" She swept her gaze to the different buckets and let out an 'Aha' before picking a single rose from the bucket, and held it out to Rumald. "There you go."

"How much?" He asked with the daisies and rose wedged into the crook of his left arm.

"Eight for the daisies… Four for the rose… Twelve dollars." She requested from him.

Smiling, he unclipped his wad of money and counted out thirty dollars in tens, and handed them to her. "I'll double it for you."

"You don't need to do that." Belle said taking the money from him, while a blush crept up her neck to her cheeks.

"No, I don't. But I will for you." Rumald told her as he returned his money to his pocket.

"Thank you." Belle shyly avoided his gaze, the blush on her cheeks deepening, whilst she put the money into the apron tied around her hips.

Rumald smiled at her when she looked up at him and faked taking a step away from stall. "Oh, Miss French."

"Yes." She said to him.

"This is for you." He presented her with the rose.

Belle's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh!"

"If you'll have it…?" Rumald stood waiting for her to take the rose from, smiling crookedly at her as his confidence wavered.

Her hand slowly extended out to take it from him, her gaze split between the rose and Rumald's face, and said quietly. "Thank you."

Rumald moved on from her stall, keeping himself from glancing back at her, even though he really wanted to, and went to join his son at the snack stall. His fingers played with the stems of the daisies, protruding from the bottom of the wrapping. He was sure, he was having a heart attack with the pace of his heart, racing painfully in his chest. Taking in long, deep breaths, Rumald tried to calm himself by the time he reached his son's side.

Neal thanked the seller as he picked up a plastic bag full of snacks and turned in time to greet his father. "That was certainly interesting."

"What was?" Rumald unsurely questioned.

"My father buying flowers." Neal nodded his head to the bunch of daisies, cradled in his left arm.

"I do from time to time." He lied. "Brightens the house a bit."

They joined the flow of the crowd with Neal added. "Also, my father giving a woman a rose."

Rumald remained silent and poked his sunglasses further up his nose, avoiding the smile on his son's face, as Neal said. "I take it, you like her then?"

"I like a lot of things, son." Rumald tried to avoid answering his son's question.

"Dad," Neal wrapped his arm around his father's shoulders and brought his father closer, so only he could hear his words. "There's nothing wrong with you liking a woman."

Slowly, Rumald let his eyes travel up to Neal's face, knowing what his son said was true and was grateful his son was not against the idea of his father being with another woman. Seeing as the last time, Rumald was involved with a woman, it had cost Rumald his relationship with his son. Admitting his feelings out loud was not easy. Especially as anyone could hear them and could inform Gaston he was right about Rumald. Instead, Rumald showed his son half a smile and looked away, pondering over Belle and the look on her face when he gave her the rose.