He'd never really been one to drink away his problems, but Mr. Gold kept a bottle of whiskey in his shop for difficult and stressful times, and the last couple of days had certainly required him to crack open that bottle finally. There was a time in his life where he felt like the voices of the Dark One and the Seer were a constant buzzing in his head. Nowadays, the only voice he heard was his own, but he was thinking enough thoughts to make up for at least half a dozen of the Dark Ones. The whiskey helped to dull the voices a bit, but there was no hope for his headache, and he'd come to the conclusion that until the "trial" ended today, there wasn't any amount of medicine or magic that would help that.

There were so many pieces to manage, so many players to keep moving but separate! He was certain this was more difficult than orchestrating the Curse in the Enchanted Forest. Then, he'd had the gift of time. He'd had to be patient. Now, it was a different story. With Emma here, he was eager to move forward, and so were Regina and Spencer, which meant that he had to play his little game on their timetable, not his own. So far, he'd done well.

After the interview with Spencer, Emma was angry, a perfectly acceptable and expected reaction. It was what he wanted. After they'd concluded and Mary Margaret was locked away in her cell, Emma had exclaimed that she needed "air" and left the building. He had volunteered to stay behind and "speak" with Mary Margaret while she was away. Regina and Spencer left shortly after she did. Regina was grinning madly at the turn of events, and Mary Margaret was so upset by them that she'd withdrawn. No amount of telling her that it wasn't her fault and it was clearly sarcasm she'd used seemed to help. He stationed himself in Emma's office as he'd waited for one of his spies to return to him with the request he'd made earlier. Just before Emma returned, he met the man in the hall where he quickly placed one of Sidney Glass's infamous bugs into his hand. While Mary Margaret cried into her pillow, he placed the thing into the plant Sidney had brought earlier himself.

No, it wasn't perfect. Yes, Emma would think that Regina was setting Glass up. But it would be enough that Emma would have no choice but to pursue Glass, and when Regina offered him up as a sacrifice to save herself, it would only make Emma angrier. Of course, it would be all the better with a confession, but he could get to that part later if need be. For now, he needed to see this play itself out.

It was well after dark when Emma returned to the station. She wasn't herself. Her face was set, her eyes wide looking almost crazed.

"That was a rather large gulp of air, Miss Swan," he commented.

"Get out," she ordered in an unfriendly tone. After what he'd put Mary Margaret through in the interview, he didn't blame her for that attitude. "I have to wake the judge," she explained, getting on the phone immediately and pulling a bag out of her pocket marked "evidence." "I think I might have just found the smoking gun."

Inside the bag, there was something very familiar. It was the shard from the shovel he'd cut off himself. Perfect. He'd always assumed that she'd go out and find it, though lately, he'd thought he'd have to give her a hint of some kind. But seeing that she'd done just that all on her own was a sudden relief, even if it was cutting it close. Still…it didn't end there. He called Stan the moment he left the station, asking for a full update of Emma's movements. Apparently, Emma and the new stranger had not only found the shovel shard, but they'd staked out Regina's house and snuck into the garage already, which meant that with or without the search warrant, Emma already knew the shovel that matched it was there. He hated what he was about to do next, it was a risk, but it was a risk that had the potential to pay off greatly. If he wanted Emma angry at Regina by the end of all this, then he had to make sure she felt like Regina was just scraping by, like she was smarter than her, like she was blatantly breaking the law, hiding it, and getting away with it. He knew from experience that pissed her off.

So he did what he had to do. He told Stan to quietly replace the shovel in the garage with a new one. He was confused at the command but did as he was told. The next afternoon, when he called Emma for an update, he heard exactly what he wanted to. Anger. Hurt. Betrayal. Emma had gotten the search warrant and served it to Regina that morning, but he listened as she angrily suggested that somehow Regina knew they were coming and had switched out the shovel. He had a smile on his face as his voice expressed disappointment. He encouraged her to keep going, to find the truth because Mary Margaret's life depended on it. It was a half-truth. Getting rid of the shovel was bad for Mary Margaret. It was risky…except for the fact that he had a trump card in his hand, a "get out of jail free" card for the schoolteacher. So while Emma had spent the majority of the day before the trial running around doing…whatever it was she thought might help, he was making the final arrangements that would really get the job done.

Earlier in the day, he'd had Stan fetch a very special package from his cousin at the hospital; a few pills and a syringe. He'd had the boy wait until dark to put it in the mailbox where Dove and Kathryn were staying. Once he had confirmation that it had been done, he called Dove from his home as he sipped down more whiskey.

"The time has come, Mr. Dove."

"Time for…"

"A vacation. Out in the mailbox, you'll find a syringe and a couple of tablets from your cousin: nothing harmful, just powerful sedatives. Give the pills to Kathryn in her food. Once they take effect, give her what's in the syringe. Then, just before daybreak, let her go."

"Let her go? Just like that?"

"Just like that. Make sure she doesn't see your face, of course. Drive her out to the town line and let her go where you found her. She'll make her way into town, and you can come back just in time for rent collection. After that…take a drive up to the cabins…take a couple of days off for your service."

The rent was due tomorrow. He'd never once given the boy time off from that duty, and he wasn't about to now as it would work in his own favor in case he'd slipped up, and Kathryn did see something. As for the vacation, he knew it was like offering water to a man in the desert. Dove had been working hard all this time, and there wasn't any chance he was going to argue with his orders after that suggestion was on the table. He'd take it gladly. And after Dove collected the rent and they'd debriefed the situation, he'd be needing less of him and his cousins anyway. If this worked, he could go back to watching Emma and Regina. The rest could do as they liked so long as they didn't interfere in his plans to pit Emma and Regina against each other.

That morning, when he arrived at the station for Mary Margaret's formal transfer to the trial, he could feel that both she and Emma were angry at him. But he brushed it off, unwilling to let it get to him. He was confident that Regina was about to lose an ally, and Mary Margaret was about to go free. Why? Because someone couldn't go to prison for a murder they didn't commit.

"Mary Margaret…" Emma whispered as a despondent-looking Mary Margaret was cuffed and led away. She didn't respond. So, naturally, the Savior turned on him.

"You told me you could fix this. That's why I came to you. So that you could make sure Regina didn't win."

"She hasn't, yet," he assured her. Her look didn't change. She didn't believe him.

"Well, she's going to. And now, my friend is going to pay for me trusting you."

"Look, Sheriff. I know this is…emotional," he commented, "but it's also not over. You must have faith. There's still time."

"Time for what?"

"For me to work a little magic," he smiled before leaving. As he got to the door, he heard something crash. The vase with the bug under it. When he looked back, Emma was picking something out of the debris. Perfect.

If he's controlling one thing, then he's controlling it all. The shovel, the bug, if we follow the logic that it's Rumple, then he has to be the one behind those things. And truly, Regina never does admit that she's behind either of them. She just gives knowing and taunting smirks, victorious little smiles that signal she knows she's about to win. On the contrary, in an episode when everything all shakes out and Rumple's plan is revealed, Regina looks shocked to realize just how much everything is going to point back to her as if she has no idea what's been going on up until that point. Regina thinks Rumple is working for her against Mary Margaret and so she has no reason to distrust him and assumes what's going on is Rumple at work. In the same way, Emma thinks Rumple is working for her to free Mary Margaret, and so she's got no reason to think twice that all the little goings-on are Rumple and not Regina or Sidney. He does cover his tracks well, our clever little Dark One. I think that's one reason I liked writing this, as Rumple being the one in charge of everything. It does show just how clever he is; to set someone up for setting someone up for murder is a lot harder than it looks.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Alarda and Grace5231973, for your latest reviews on the previous chapters! It's nice to know I've still got some readers out there! We've only got one more chapter in this episode before we move on to 1x19. I must admit, I'm rather fond of the next chapter, and I'm hoping you will be too. It's certainly an unseen but very clever moment for our Rumple that you might not be expecting, but probably should after the above message. He's orchestrating it all. Stands to reason, there would be one more thing that he'll help Regina secure to ensure his plan. Peace and Happy Reading!