It had been an interesting night. He was glad he'd stayed to watch. In the end, Hyde had done exactly the very thing he'd wanted him to do…operate in the best interest of Dr. Jekyll while using all the traits that Jekyll did not have-or at least those he didn't show.

He'd walked in with nothing but his wits and a few very important details. He'd walked out with a membership to the Science Academy for Dr. Jekyll; a simple pin which Mr. Lyndgate had slipped into Hyde's fingers when he'd threatened to tell his wife about his very slippery affair with the younger lady.

It was a win for Dr. Jekyll's Serum, one that gave him such hope! The darker side had won out. Only one thing could have gone better…the issue of Mary.

He'd slipped the information about her being a threat to Jekyll in yesterday at their carriage ride and though he'd been subtle about it, he'd still expected the man to do something about it. He had rather hoped that while he was getting Jekyll his pin, he'd go a step further and banish the girl, approach her and tell her off, yell at her to keep away from the good doctor. Not only would that have been in Jekyll's best interests, or at least those he'd informed Hyde of, but it would have proved that this serum could cancel out feelings of love and even admiration.

But that hadn't happened. It seemed that yesterday Hyde had one goal and one goal only that was to get Jekyll membership into the Science Academy. That was fine. It was the easy target. He'd given him more than enough information to take down the father but only just touched on Mary. It might need a bit of…persuasion. There was only one problem. The oaf was currently sleeping the day away!

He'd returned to Jekyll's loft in the wee hours of the morning with his membership pin in his pocket. Almost as soon as the door closed behind him noted that Hyde was beginning to grow sluggish. He'd used random pieces of furniture to support his weight and make his way over to a bed, shattering countless beakers and vials along the way as he slipped and groaned in his path. He'd only just made it onto a couch similar to Belle's when his body was wracked with violent spasms. Suddenly the suit he'd given him was ill-fitting, his hair grew and lightened, the pallor of his skin brightened a bit as he transformed back into Dr. Jekyll, and there he'd been ever since, so completely asleep he was nearly dead to the world. And he was tired of waiting.

"Rise and shine!" he screeched with a laugh as the sun came up.

Jekyll jerked awake with surprise at his rude awakening and then groaned as he looked around and put his glasses back on.

"Well, well, someone had quite the night."

"I did?" he asked excitedly. "What happened?"

"Check your pockets," he laughed. The boy rushed to his feet and did as he ordered, pulling out the long slim gray box that Lyndgate had handed to Hyde only hours earlier.

"An Academy pin?" he shrieked with so much excitement he thought he might wet himself. "I did it! But how?"

Technically, the doctor had done it with a serum that he'd created so saying he was responsible was hardly true. However, he did owe the heavy work to his darker alter ego, so in a way…

"Well, it seems your other half can be quite persuasive."

"Oh, it really worked!" he exclaimed, stomping his feet like a child who had so much energy they didn't know what to do with it. "Do you know what this means? Everything's going to be different now...my...my ideas, my work."

"Just one thing missing," he interjected before he could get too ahead of himself.

"You mean Mary…" Jekyll assumed correctly. The pin might have been Jekyll's goal, but it was only one part of his experiment and considering the personal stake he had in it, it was the less important part. He needed to do a bit more prodding to get his answers. He needed to bring Hyde out again, and that meant convincing the doctor to take his own serum again.

"You know, that party was filled with suitors. You wouldn't want any of them scooping her up before you had the chance, now, would you, hmm?"

"She doesn't even know how I feel," Jekyll whined, using perhaps the worst argument he'd ever heard but one that suited his purposes.

"Why don't you tell her?"

"Well, I wouldn't know how."

"Just swig some more of that serum and let Mr. Hyde do the talking for you!" he suggested with a smile, mentioning the serum as casually as possible so that the man wouldn't think anything of the request.

"Mr. Hyde?!" Jekyll questioned almost angrily. "My other half has a name?"

"Yes. He couldn't very well walk around calling himself Dr. Jekyll, now, could he?"

Jekyll paused for a moment, his brows furrowed, and he gathered his breath in his lungs. "Wh-wh-why do you care if I end up with Mary?" he asked suspiciously. "You still haven't explained what it is you want."

"Well, isn't it obvious? I'm interested in that serum," he smiled, giving it a point.

"Why?"

"Because I need it!" he screamed. His own inner beast came roaring to life as he rushed forward and put his hand to his jaw. The boy tensed under his grip, automatically pulling his shoulders up to his ears as though he might save him from strangling. Fool didn't even take note that his hand was in the wrong place to strangle him. However, the way his heart beat and the sudden sweat that came over him certainly signaled that he'd gotten the message. That was good because he was tired of answering questions. He wasn't about to tell him about Belle, he wasn't about to share what he felt for her with anyone. All he needed was to test the serum on this one last thing, get the doctor to recreate what he had and then add the magic he had, and he'd have his answer, his cure for all her temptations. He needed to get this done!

"Now...one success proves nothing," he pointed out gently, removing his hand from his throat, straightening his suit jacket and putting a finger to his chest. "Two? Well, then we'd know you really had something. So, what do you say, Dr. Jekyll? Ready to let Mr. Hyde back out to play?"

Fearful, Jekyll stepped away from him. He swallowed hard as he glanced down at the box in his hand and then back up at him; a bold move taking his eyes off of him even for a second. Perhaps he was braver than he thought, but for the sake of his experiment, he didn't need to have that encouragement at the moment.

"Hyde got me this?" he questioned, holding the box up for him to see.

"It took only a few moments," he confirmed.

"And Mary…you think…y-you think he'll be able to say what I can't?"

Undoubtedly.

"Only one way to find out…" he tempted in a singsong voice, then summoned the serum in his pocket into his hand and tossed it at the doctor. He caught it. Then he drank.

Another straightforward scene that had too little information to assume what we needed to assume. I did my best with it. Any questions?

Thank you Alarda, Jennifer Baratta, and Grace5231973 for your reviews on the last chapter. I promise the next one is a bit more interesting as we wrap up this little experiment of Rumple's. Spoiler alert, it doesn't end the way he wants it to. Peace and Happy Reading!