It was time to get on with it. He couldn't bear to wait anymore. He'd followed through with his plan, waited a good long time to see if the Blue Fairy went back to his tower, but he never received any warnings that someone was in his territory, and he never felt anything from the spells attached to the Dark Curse. The only thing he was questioning at the moment was the location of his caretaker. And, of course, the questions he had for his mother. He had them all lined out in his mind and he's spent the last few minutes going over them in his head, one after another. Why did she create the curse? What was her anticipated result? Did he have to worry about anything? Would his plan work? Was there anything he should know but didn't?

He was ready. The sooner this was done, the sooner he could return the baby and find Belle. With a deep breath, he moved the child to the middle of the clearing. He could have pulled the paper Belle had written the translation on out of his pocket, but it was only two lines, lines he'd read so many times since he'd take it that he'd memorized it. Dagger already in hand, he looked up at the sky he could see through the patch in the trees.

"Let the night sky tremble, as the Dark Star shall fall. Awake, Black Fairy, and heed my call!"

Now that was the reaction he'd sought out the night he'd attempted to summon the Red Fairy. A stir of the wind but a rush of magic. His voice had echoed from it. And as he saw a violet light appear in the sky and buzz about like a firefly growing above him, his heart started to hammer so that he felt it everywhere in his body. He felt it beat in his neck, slam against his ribs, jump into his throat, and pulse in his fingers. Suddenly a thought dawned on him that he hadn't ever considered until now. This was the first time that he was about to meet his mother. This was the first time he'd be able to talk to her, the first memory he'd ever have with her!

All at once, as the light drew closer and bigger and flashed before him, the entire clearing suddenly felt smaller than it had ever felt before.

She was sparkling, that was significant. So long as she was sparkling she could disappear, see him, spook and leave. That was why she'd brought little Gideon to begin with. She was used to collecting unwanted children, probably alone and in the middle of nowhere or from their scared mothers. He didn't want to be the first thing she saw, not until she stopped sparkling. He raced quickly off to the side of the clearing, leaving a clear view of the baby in the basket.

And then she was there. The sparkling stopped and crouched on the ground in a black uniform that was perhaps a bit too risqué for the Blue Fairy, but still fairy-like all the same, was the Black Fairy. Fiona. His mother. Attracted to the sounds of Gideon's squeals, she looked right at him, smiled, and took a step forward.

And suddenly, he felt an unexpected tug on his heart, a pain as he realized that it was that easy without any idea why or how, without any rhyme or reason she would pick this child up and take it away with her. But she couldn't have been bothered to do the same for him? All those years with his father, years of wishing for something more, yearning for a mother, wanting someone to take him away…she'd shown up for hundreds of children, but never once for her own?

When he stepped forward, he felt like he could hardly breathe. "I'm afraid I can't let you get ahold of that baby!" he growled. "Not yet, anyway."

"Who dares summon me?" she demanded, but he was the one in control, he was the one who had questions, he was the one who deserved answers! He'd deserved them since his birth! For heaven's sake, he'd always been told that his father had named him…did she even know her son's name? Did she know anything about him?!

In a second, he withdrew from his pocket a small vial of something rare that would keep her here in this world, at least for a time, at least so he could finally get his questions answered. Immediately the magic within the vial moved over her in a cloud of black and purple. A small but visible shimmer around her made it obvious that it was working.

"Squid ink!" he announced, letting the vial drop to the ground. "Nasty stuff."

For a moment, there was nothing but silence between them as his mind struggled to grasp at the questions about the Curse he'd come armed with. But then she smiled at him, a sickening nasty smile that made him want to sneer until he realized…

He'd seen her face before! Not just in the drawing his father had done, he'd seen this face before! Pale skin, high cheekbones, black eyes, and that smile, that exact sneer! He'd seen it in the first vision he'd ever gotten from the Seer! This wasn't the exact moment he'd seen though. That smile had been in the day time, this was night time. He was going to meet her again. One day, beyond now, he was going to see her again. How? Why? And what was it the Seer had told him when he'd seen her face? Something about a final battle?

"Rumpelstiltskin…"

Her voice snapped him out of his memory. She knew his name. His father named him, but his mother knew his name.

"So, you know who I am."

"Oh, who hasn't heard of the Dark One?"

He felt his eyes swell, felt them water like they hadn't for decades. Was he truly tearful? Over her? Because she knew him by reputation but had no idea that at the moment she was staring into the eyes of her son? She didn't deserve tears. So why was he so willing to give them.

"And if you've heard of me, you know that squid ink won't hold me long."

No, not long at all. He had to ask his questions. What were his questions? What had he wanted to talk to her about?!

"Oh, I know," he muttered. He was stalling, searching his brain, circling her and finally walking away all in an attempt to clear his brain of that face. "That's why…I have this," he stated, flourishing his dagger.

"And how exactly do you plan on using that?" she questioned with interest. Interest...she'd never shown any interest in him.

"Well, that all depends on how you answer one simple question. You steal babies, steal them from their mothers' arms, so why, of all the babies, in all of the realms, why did you abandon the one child who was actually yours?"

That wasn't the right question. It wasn't anything like he'd come here to ask! Why had he asked it? Why didn't he correct it? And why did the sudden look of fear in Fiona's eyes make him feel like his heart was going to stop?

"No. No, it can't be."

"Oh, I'm afraid it can be…Mother."

Her facial expression hardly changed, but in her eyes, he could see shock and horror. Truly, she hadn't known? Hadn't even stayed around for long enough to learn her child's name? Instead, she'd rushed off, become a fairy, created a curse, and left him to become…this!

She should be ashamed. She should be horrified! He hoped her heart was splitting in two.

"That's right. Rumpelstiltskin is your son. Of course, you would know that…had you bothered to even give me a name. And now you are gonna answer my question," he growled, wondering how his legs had somehow dragged him right back to where she was so that she was looking deep into the bottomless pit of her eyes. "Why did you abandon me?"

He could feel everything. His heart beating. His lungs holding the air in his chest. The crawl on his skin, the dagger in his hand, the wetness moving into his eyes.

And then she laughed. High and breathy, it reminded him of his father when he'd been playing mind games with him. And that smile...he wanted to take his dagger and cut it right out of her face!

"Funny that the Dark One should ask such a thing. Sometimes you have to choose power over love."

He could feel everything, and he could hear everything too. Behind him, now there was another heartbeat, one that he hadn't accounted for. The baby cried, and when he looked over his shoulder, he half hoped to see the Apprentice come to help as he'd planned. But the person holding the baby wasn't a man in a red cloak, it was a woman in a cloak that he'd made for her.

Belle.

The sight of her was sobering.

She was in danger. She had no power to protect her against the Black Fairy.

The Curse, he'd meant to ask her about the Curse!

But Belle couldn't stay! And soon enough the ink would-

"Time's up!"

When he turned back to his mother, he was struck by a hand around his neck. Magic pulsed into him through that hand, Dark Magic, magic that made him feel like his own magic was on overload. Normally that kind of power made him stronger. Now, he just felt entirely overwhelmed. It was enough to keep him still, but as long as her focus was on him and not Belle…he prayed she'd take the baby and run.

"No more answers for you today," his mother taunted. "Guess you'll just have to keep on wondering…son!"

With a vile laugh, she tossed him across the clearing with so much force he landed back several feet. The pulse of magic gone, he was quick to try and get to his feet and chase after her. But she was gone. He managed to run a few steps, but stopped as the violet light he'd seen upon her arrival grew smaller and then disappeared altogether. Through a portal back to another land.

She was gone.

Gone…

And he was here, left alone in this world just like he had been since he was a baby. One parent had gone before he'd had a name, the other before he could begin school and read her name off a single drawing of her, and all of the sudden he had an urge to break into tears in a way he hadn't since he was a child! To sit by a window and stare at the sky and beg her to come back, apologize for anything he'd done, for whatever way he'd hurt her, if she'd just come back and take him away. How was it possible to love and hate someone all at once?

"I understand now."

Belle's voice across the clearing was crisp. It was clear and close. But it wasn't right. He didn't know what she thought she understood, but he knew she didn't. When he thought of all the times he'd observed her over the years and her father had been at her side, he knew that she couldn't possibly understand at all. Not a single bit.

"I mean…you didn't deserve what she did, but sacrificing the life of an innocent child is not the answer. No matter how much pain you're in."

He would have laughed if it didn't remind him so much of his parents. Foolish woman…he agreed with her, and that was why he'd never intended to give the child to her. He'd intended to get his answers and whisk the child away before anything bad could happen.

His answers…he'd never get his answers. He should never have brought up that he was her son, she might have actually given him answers to the things he needed to know if he hadn't let his emotions, his weakness get the better of him. Belle may have been foolish, but what did that make him?

"No one knows anything about my pain," he hissed over his shoulder at her. And then he left her there in the clearing as he went back to the castle. If she'd managed to get there and find him all on her own, then she could bring the baby back on her own as well.

This episode always seemed to me to be one giant contradiction. In general, when looking at this episode by itself, it was actually a really good episode! Really. It had mystery and intrigue, it had that last little twist to it and introduced the villain perfectly. It was a really good episode all by itself. The problem I always had with it was that when it was incorporated into the rest of the story it didn't make sense. Like I said before, it was like Rumple just woke up one morning and said "I think I'll try to meet my mommy today." My hope is that what this episode really needed to finally bring it all together is a chapter like this, a chapter that allows us to actually look at Rumple's internal thoughts, that allows us to see what was intended and then what happened. I wish we had some sort of scene in the show that could have done this so that it brought it all together beautifully, but alas, you are stuck with my writing.

Thank you to Jennifer Baratta and Grace5231973 for leaving such kind comments on the previous chapter. I'm curious about what you'll have to say about this one. Did it translate well, does it answer some questions, do the additions make this episode fit a little bit better? No matter what I hope you'll like it. We've got two more chapters before we're out of this episode so let's get to it, shall we? Peace and Happy Reading!