He'd hidden the dagger out in the woods shortly after Emma Swan had arrived in town. He'd moved it into the woods by the cabin shortly after Graham's death. He'd done it because the Sheriff had stumbled along him hiding it the very day he'd died, and even though he was almost certain the Huntsman hadn't had the opportunity to tell anyone that he'd been out digging, he wasn't willing to take the risk.

As father and son passed by his cabin on their way into the woods, he moved to fetch the shovel he'd kept around back, the very same one he'd buried the damn thing with, but before he could get it himself, Bae ran ahead and fetched it for him casting only a glance at his cane and his leg.

"Your leg…you need a cane again here."

He nodded, glancing awkwardly down at his mangled limb. "There's no magic in this place to placate it, Bae. But I'd live with it a hundred years over if it means having you again." Bae looked as though he had nothing to say about that, so after a couple of heartbeats of silence, he directed him into the woods until they found the stream that ran through his property and trickled into the lake. They followed it up to the appropriate place. "Over here," he muttered before measuring out the distance with his strides. It was a bit of a guess in the dark, but finally, he hit the ground with his cane and drew a circle in the soil of about a two-foot diameter. "There…about two feet down."

Baelfire nodded and looked up at him. "You're sure."

Fairly sure. "Absolutely."

The ground was nearly frozen. Storybrooke at the end of February was still more Winter than Spring, even if they had had an abnormally warm winter. With the sun down, it was chilly out. He could see his own breath and Bae's, but he stayed with his son as he broke up the ground and dug deeper. He felt as though he were in shock. He knew he should have said something, talked to him, but hard as he tried, words didn't come out of his mouth. Hundreds of years of trying for this had led him to his apology and Bae's acceptance of it. What was there to say now. He had a million questions in his head, not just in regards to his past but to their future as well. Where would they go after this, he wondered. Should he take the lad back to his home? Let him sleep on the couch? Would he move into his house, or would he want to continue to stay at Granny's? Where would they go in the weeks to come? Once Emma broke the Curse and he was free to go, would they continue to live here? Would they live…where had Bae come from? Where had he been living before here? They hadn't even gotten to that part yet! And he wanted to. More than anything, he wanted to hear a minute-by-minute account of where his son had gone after he'd last seen him. The father in him had to know! But the questions never came out of his mouth. Instead, he just watched him in awe, digging and digging and digging...

"Grounds frozen…" Bae muttered before he could ask him anything important. "Odd place to keep the dagger. You always liked to keep it with you, in your boot."

His boots…he hadn't thought about those abominations in years. But he had to admit, he didn't particularly miss them. They were good for the Enchanted Forest, and they certainly helped to project the image he'd wanted but here, in Storybrooke? He'd take his business shoes any day. They took a lot less time to lace.

"Storybrooke's selection of menswear makes that a bit of an impossibility," he joked. "The Dagger was with me when the Curse was cast. It was in my shop, protected in the back even if I didn't know what it was. I realized I needed it away from me soon after I awoke. I found a place in November before Winter came on but was interrupted and moved it. I buried it here shortly after Emma came to town. Things were changing. Didn't want to take the chance of Regina finding it."

"Of course," he muttered, hunching over to dig some more. But as he looked into the hole, he realized there was no use in digging anymore. It should be easy to fetch at that depth.

"It should be right about here, son. Here. Look, look," he crouched down as Bae stepped away and all too easily identified the brown cloth he'd wrapped it in for safekeeping before burying it. He pulled the package free, unwrapped it there on the forest floor, and rose to show it to him, correctly spelled name and all. It was the difference between whether he could change or not. He remembered how it had gone the last time he'd given Baelfire the dagger. He remembered taking those memories from him and how that had started them on this downward spiral to where they were now. It was a gamble now, but with no magic to work it…

"I want you to take it," he offered it to him, holding it out completely for him to take. "Destroy it, the way I know you always wanted to. I found you, and I don't need it anymore. I chose it once. Now, I choose you."

Bae looked skeptical, perhaps even a little nervous at the thought of it. Yes, that was how he'd always viewed that dagger. It may as well have been the infection in their relationship as far as he was concerned. Never again! Finally, his boy stepped forward and lifted it out of his hands, looking it over as if he was seeing it for the first time. How long had it been for him? Had it seemed like the hundreds of years it felt like for him? Less? More?!

"It's remarkable," he muttered, looking it over. He nodded but felt something shift uncomfortably in his stomach. Remarkable. Bae hadn't used that word for it since he'd taken his memories. Perhaps…perhaps age had brought a newfound appreciation?

But then…then Baelfire stepped away from him, moved with the dagger in his hand as if to leave with it as he'd told him, but stopped. He clasped the handle with both hands and angled the point of the blade at him. Something was wrong. Something wasn't right. All innocence vanished from his face as he looked him over, and suddenly he began to think that maybe he'd been fooled, that perhaps Baelfire hadn't really forgiven him, perhaps he did want him dead. Considering the alternative…he hoped that was what was wrong.

"By the power of the Darkness, I command thee… Dark One."

His stomach twisted almost painfully. No. "You're trying to control me…" he realized.

Bae...Booth didn't want to destroy the dagger or to kill him with it. He wanted to control. Control…the one thing his son most certainly wouldn't want to do. The one thing his son most certainly knew that he couldn't do, not in this world. That was why he'd wanted to come here!

"I command thee, Dark One!" Baelfire shouted at him as if it would make a difference. It wouldn't. It wasn't Baelfire…only Booth.

"You're not my son," he exclaimed. "You're not Baelfire."

"Papa, why would you say that? I'm just trying to use your power to help us." Suddenly his face wielded a look of false shock, and in that one moment of clarity, he realized the terrible mistake he'd made. He'd done exactly what he'd feared he would do…he'd seen what he wanted. Not what was there. What was in front of him was nothing but a lie, a conman's clever acting. He knew because he'd seen those looks on his father's face when he was growing up. How could he have been so foolish?

"Enough!" he roared. "It's over, Booth. Or whoever you are! My son would never try to use me. And he would know that this knife cannot harness any magic in this world because there is no magic in this world. That's why he chose this place. He didn't want me…dabbling!" he yelled as he reached forward and seizing the dagger from his hands. Oh, he was lucky this had happened now, before he'd broken the Curse. There was no telling the trouble that might have come if he was subjected to such a charade.

"So, why bury a useless knife?" Booth questioned, holding his ground rather bravely. Bravery…perhaps he hadn't been a fool to think he was Bae. They had traits in common, but now that he looked at him…he lacked his features. He had been a fool. Not anymore.

"Oh, I wouldn't say it was useless. It still cuts through flesh rather nicely," he threatened, glancing up at him. His face darkened as he looked from the dagger to his face. Yes, that got a nice scare out of him. If he was going to get answers, then that was exactly what he needed at the moment. "It's about time you start answering some questions, sunshine. Why the theatrics? Why didn't you just come to me?"

"I needed you to work for it. I needed you to want it so bad, you would ignore what your eyes were seeing. Do I even look like him at all?"

He sneered, suddenly far angrier at himself than at him. Hundreds of years old, how had he fallen prey to such a man?! With a few details?! It had been a good con. The question was how did he get those details. And if he knew his son, then where was Baelfire? "How do you know about this knife?"

"I hear things."

He advanced on him expertly, backing him up against a tree. "Hears things" didn't cut it. The drawing of the dagger was detailed; it was in the same style Baelfire preferred; his name had been spelled right, he'd known how to use it-those were stories that were not heard in a cursed town! "No one here knows about this knife."

"No one here remembers."

"And, yet, you do. You're from there, aren't you? From my world."

"The fact that you're asking the question means you know the answer."

Indeed. But how did he know his son?! "Well, now that that's settled…" he lunged toward him then, gripped him by his jacket until they slammed against the tree, and made sure to keep the blade of the dagger to his throat. "How about my other question? Who told you about me and the knife?"

"A little fairy." Fairy. The Blue Bug. He couldn't determine if it was a lie or not. The Blue Fairy would know about the dagger and his true name, and if he was from their world, it was possible that he'd been told before Regina cast the Curse. But why would she deem him worthy of knowing when there were so many others so much more…qualified.

"Why did you want it? If you know who I am, then you know who I am. The chances of you surviving this little encounter are pretty slim. So, why take the risk?"

"Because I'll die anyway."

"What?" The news was a shock, enough of a shock that he found himself pulling away. Die? From what?

"I'm sick. I'm sick, and I need magic. I was going to get the Savior to believe. But that woman…I don't think I'm going to make it long enough to see that happen."

He was trying to get the Savior to believe. He felt his grip on the dagger loosen as he thought it through. He wanted to kill him here and now, for impersonating his son, for tricking him, for trying to control him, but…

Suddenly he found himself looking at him as though he was an ally. The Savior needed to believe. If Booth wasn't Baelfire, then that meant that Bae was still out there somewhere. His plan hadn't succeeded, which meant he still needed Emma to believe so that she could defeat Regina and break the Curse, and Booth…Emma trusted him. She'd told him that herself at the party. She trusted Booth more than she trusted him at the moment. That was…powerful. Henry was helpful. He could be an important part of getting her to the point of faith, but an adult! A man that she trusted helping her into that belief that could change the entire game. He wanted to kill the boy, but he'd lived too long to let something as silly as his emotions interfere when he had a good thing in front of him.

He tightened his grip on the dagger and angled it back at his throat, one last little bit of fun. "She trusts you...it might be enough. Try again…" he whispered before pulling away and hobbling over to the place he'd dropped his cane. He hadn't even noticed he didn't have it until he realized he could hardly walk.

"You're going to let me live?" Booth exclaimed.

"You're going to die either way," he explained. "This way, at least I might get something out of it, he smiled, a silent warning that if he ever spoke of this incident to anyone, he surely wouldn't, but yes…for now, he lived.

"Try again? That's it? That's all you can say?!" Booth called out into the night, making him pause in his tracks. "I'm the only one who can get her to believe! I'm the only one who can get her to break this Curse, which makes me the only one who can get you back to your son, the real Baelfire. You are the greatest trickster in all the realms, you've been making plans to see your son again since before I was made, and all you can say is 'try again'?!"

He bit his tongue. If it weren't for that last comment about finding the real Baelfire, he probably would have killed him outright. But the truth was the boy was right. He needed magic to find his son, and if Booth was telling the truth about being sick, he needed magic to be healed…they both needed an ally. It wasn't much, but it would do to buy him his life, at least until he calmed down enough to give him more than what he was going to give him. In the future, he might be capable of giving him more information, of working together. But for now, while the sting of betrayal still hung in the air…

"Keep trying."

In the last chapter, we talked about how August knew certain things about Rumple, like the dagger and that he called him Papa. In this chapter, we look at the natural question that follows, the one that we never actually got in the series. How did August know about Baelfire in the first place? They lived in two completely different times; they would never have interacted. He's on the hunt not for Baelfire when we meet him but for Emma. Yet when he lifts the lid on his typewriter, it's not something about Emma that we see, but the simple statement that he knows he's Baelfire. How? How does he know about him? Just like Neal and August in the diner, this is one of those "I have a theory" moments that is headcanon for me, but I never really worked it into The Dark Curse fiction, and so it has only ever remained headcanon. Simply put, I think the Blue Fairy is responsible. She's really the only link from Rumple to August, the only one, other than Rumple, who really ever knew anything about Bae and could potentially tell. Somehow I got it into my head that in his desperation for a child, Geppetto would want to go to the Dark One for a child. But unlike others who make deals with the Dark One, Geppetto had Jiminy, who, after his own dealings, would have talked him out of it. Jiminy might have suggested the Blue Fairy, and in talking about making a deal with Rumple, I think it's possible that she let the information slip and whether August heard it from her or it was something that Jiminy or Geppetto passed on, that was how he knew that Rumple had a son who had gone into a non-magical world. It's just a guess, just headcanon for me, but the Blue Fairy seems close enough to that family that I feel like I could see her sharing that information with them either on purpose or on accident/heat of the moment. And August does say indicate that a fairy is the source of his knowledge. I think it all fits.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Alarda and Grace5231973, for your reviews on the last chapter! I'm so thrilled that you liked it. I know this chapter isn't any more enjoyable than the last one was, but I do hope you'll enjoy the beginning of something starting here at the end. You'll read more about that in the chapters to come. The next chapter is...well, it's a bridge chapter, filler in its own way, but I really like the kind of filler chapter that we have up next. It takes us from this moment to Rumple really putting the pieces together and figuring out who August is. I think you'll enjoy it. And hey, if you think I'm completely off base on my Blue Fairy theory, then drop me a review, leave me a message. I'd love to hear your thoughts! Peace and Happy Reading!