The woods on the edge of King George's land were vast. Hiding himself within them was not exactly an ideal way to locate the child, but he hadn't wanted to simply appear before the boy and startle him. It wasn't ideal, but he had a plan. From within his pocket, he pulled out the scrap of cloth that he'd cut from the boy's blanket as well as a tracking potion. He poured it over the blanket and watched as it glowed dimly. He was close, but not very.

He spent the morning hiking through dense brush, watching the cloth in his hand fade and then glow again as he got off track and then back on again nearly half a dozen times. It was well past afternoon, right around the time that he would have sat down with Belle for tea time when he saw the forest ahead of him begin to clear and heard voices. The blanket glowed strong in the palm of his hand. He was very close. So close that when he pulled back the limb of a tree in front of him, he saw what he'd hiked miles for.

A campsite. Not a portable or temporary one shared by dozens of people and hastily thrown together for a single night. No, this was a legitimate, livable campsite; nothing fancy, a campfire, a few tents for parents and child, pots, pans, tools, wooden crates that held all the family owned now. It reminded him of the site he and his father had when he was a boy and the roof had caved in. He wouldn't have wanted to live in it forever, but it was acceptable for a length of time.

The boy's family had purchased land. How much of this field actually belonged to them now he couldn't tell, and it wasn't his problem. But for the next few months, potentially a year, the family was bound to use resources from this forest to build a permanent home and start their lives. That meant months sleeping outside in tents, in the elements. Was he to trust a child to take care a book that long? Not in a million years.

He located the family. They stood a fair distance from him. Mother and father were holding a conversation with a familiar man who stood by a familiar cart. Clopin. They must have been the last he delivered. Thus why they were taking their time…

The boy was the indicator, he stood by his parents, shuffling and wiggling about as small children often did. The book was in his hands. He watched as the boy tried to get his parent's attention, tugged at their sleeves, whined at his mother, started to run circles around them as they talked on and on until finally his father put a stop to it.

"Jake, mummy and I are talking, go play in the woods," he suggested with strained patience. The boy whined but listened to his father. And he prepared to set his trap.

Deal making was all about making himself into what the individual wanted. He'd made deals with people of every age, gender, and race in his time, though he would openly admit that those deals he'd made with children were few; deals concerning children he had in abundance, but with children…his experience was limited to a handful. Still, he had enough experience with children that he felt confident about what he was about to do. He'd given himself until tomorrow morning to fetch his book, but as he saw little Jacob enter the wood, book clutched to his chest as he looked behind him at his parents, he was suddenly excited that he might be home by dinner. Perhaps this time around Belle would eat with him.

He sat down on a log a short distance away from the boy, one that he would see any moment now. He made sure that he sat at the lowest part of the log, putting himself as eye level to the child as he could be, and he made sure to relax his legs and his back. He slouched a little, giving the impression that he was tired. He let his elbows rest on his knees and let his hands hang together, giving the impression that he was approachable. He did consider, briefly changing his appearance, using a glamour to hide the curse of the Dark One. But the boy had already seen him once before. There was little point in pretending to be someone he wasn't.

The boy gasped and froze the moment he rounded the corner and saw him sitting there. This was the most delicate of all his meetings. The boy was obviously scared and surprised, but he couldn't let him become fearful and run back to his parents. This was the third time they'd encountered one another. Any other attempts to get the book wouldn't be as clean as this.

"At last, I see a friendly face. One that I recognize," he stated in a low hushed tone so that he wouldn't scare him. He hadn't hidden his face, but he wanted to seem as normal and sympathetic as he possibly could. He wanted to appear as a father figure, someone welcoming and trustworthy.

The boy swallowed, he hadn't wanted to scare him, but he was shaking. Still, he didn't run away. Brave boy. "You…you know me?" he asked in a small voice. "I'm not supposed to talk to people I don't know."

"But you do know me. Don'tcha, lad?"

The boy's eyes filled with tears, and his chin trembled. The grip he had on his book was suddenly so tight his fingers turned white. Fear was bad. he didn't want fear he wanted trust.

"Oh, there's no reason for that. No reason at all. I'm here because you have something I want, child."

"The…the way to help you," he said in a small voice.

"That's right," he smiled. "That's exactly right. You're a smart boy, to figure it out all by yourself. And brave too. Most little boys would have run away by now, but not you. No, you're different, aren't you?"

He watched as the boy swallowed, never taking his eyes off of him, but he did notice he seemed to stand a little taller. "My book…it says you're a bad man."

"But that's not all it says, is it lad?"

The boy loosened his grip on the book a bit. He looked down at the cover, and when he looked back up at him, he shook his head.

"What a smart boy you are. Tell me, child, what else does your book say?"

"It says…it says you can be good again."

"Does it?" he questioned. He'd meant to sound curious, but in the end, it wasn't hard to try. He was curious. Very, very curious about all the secrets that lay in that book of his; especially when the boy nodded in response. He smiled again. "Well that makes me very happy, young man, very happy indeed. You see, your book is right. I am a bad person, but…I've wanted to be good again for so long."

"You can be!" the boy exclaimed, his eyes widening with a new interest that reminded him of Belle. He took a step closer with the book in hand. "It says right here that you can!"

"But not if I don't know how…"

He was a smart child indeed, for the moment he'd said those words he swallowed whatever words he'd meant to say to him and looked down at his book. He knew what he wanted. He just had to get him to hand it over. And he was quiet certain he knew the way. One that didn't involve thievery or bloodshed, one that might let the boy keep a sense of pride as he grew. Not to mention one that would leave him feeling like a hero for years to come.

"Yes. You have all the secrets, secrets I need to be good again. And I have something that your family needs. Take a look…"

He stood up slowly, making an effort to keep his back hunched and his gate considerate so that the boy could follow him to the edge of the tree line. He did follow. And when he did he pulled aside a branch and the pair of them looked out over the green fields that his family had just purchased and would call their home for the next few years until the curse struck. He might not have a lot of time here, but he could make sure that whatever time he did have was good.

"You see, in this land value is not in knowledge, but in gold. Here, take another look."

He knelt down on one knee, coming down to his level once more just as he used to do with Baelfire and pulled a small leather satchel from his pocket. He opened the drawstring and let the golden coins fall out into his hand. He wiggled his fingers beneath them so that they would catch the little light they had and shimmer. The boy was mesmerized.

"Do you know what this could do for your family, lad? There's enough here to buy a house, some toys, a few sheep-"

"Or a pie?!" he asked, suddenly very excited. Children…

"Even a pie, yes!"

The boy sighed and looked down at the coins longingly. "I've always wanted to taste plum pie."

"It can be yours…but I need that book."

The boy stared down at his book, then looked back at the gold he held out for him. He made a motion that had his heart racing, for a second he was sure he was going to hand the book over! But then the boy pulled away, and took a step back with a small gasp. If it wasn't for the fact that the only heartbeat he could hear in the wood was the boy's he'd have thought his parents stumbled upon them.

"Is this a…deal?" he asked, looking down at his book. "The book says you make deals and it's bad."

"Oh, no!" he assured him. "No, deals aren't bad. You know what a deal is, don't you?" The boy shook his head. "A deal is an agreement. When two people both have something the other wants, deals can always be made. Now you…you've always wanted to taste a plum pie. And I…I want to be good again so badly. I want the secret your book has. So we'll make a deal. I'll give you the coins for your pie, and you'll give me the book so that I can be good again. If we agree to those terms, then we shake hands like men. You'll give me the book, and I'll give you the coins. So…" he reached out his empty hand into the space between them. "Do you agree? Do we have a deal?"

He would have been happy if he'd agreed a little faster, if he hadn't stood there and stared for as long as he did. But all that mattered in the end was that he stepped forward, timidly put his small hand in his own, and shook it.

"My oh my what a good boy are you," he muttered excitedly. "Good lad." When he let go he hustled the coins in his hand back into the small bag that he'd brought and tossed it at the forest floor, the empty space between them, almost directly below the spot that they'd just shaken hands. "That's for you. Now, you set your book down…that's very good," he smiled as the boy set it beside the bag of coins and then reached out to take the satchel. "Good. Perfectly handled," he whispered. The moment the boy stepped back he scooped the book up into his own hands. "Good boy, very good. Now we go our separate ways with our prizes. I can't thank you enough for being willing to trade with me. And I hope you get your pie, Jack."

"I hope…I hope it helps you."

"It will. Thank you, dear boy."

"You're welcome," he smiled just as he heard a female voice begin to call out.

"Run along and see to your parents now, eh?"

The boy nodded, a second later he turned and dashed away. The second his back was turned he went to the spot the boy had been and retrieved his book.

This was a fun chapter to write for Rumple because it was all my own and I felt like I really got to get back into his head like we haven't for a while now. I think I said at the beginning that with 219 chapters I can't write every single deal that he makes every single day. I have to touch on the important stuff. Of course, he's making deals like this in the background, but right now the important stuff in this section is the Rumbelle stuff so that is where we end up a lot of the time. But this chapter, this deal and this book, they are all really important to the future in a big way that will soon be revealed. So we got to go into Rumple's head. We get to see how he analyzes every single deal. How to sit, how to posture, how to sound, how to look, and that is fascinating to me.

Thank you Grace5231973, Alarda, and Jennifer Baratta for your reviews. I know this pulls away from the Rumbelleness, but I did tell you there were a few chapters that would do that. This is the last we see of Jack Horner. At least for now. I don't have any plans for him at the moment, but you never know when I need a character in a later fiction so never say never. I hope you liked the little references to his poem and I hope you like getting to see Rumple in "experienced parent mode", as I like to call it. The Rumbelle is back in the next chapter and we'll see the conclusion of Truth and Daggers as well as the last chapter to this storyline with the book soon enough. Peace and Happy Reading!