Author's Notes: A special thank you goes out to BizarreBard. She has been helping me by Betaing this story and giving suggestions on where to take things. I'm very appreciative of her help.
Chapter 21: Skin Deep
"Who are you?" Dawn asks.
"Your mother," Regina says.
"Joyce Summers is my mother." Dawn said.
"In this world maybe. But not back home. Not in the Enchanted Forrest." Regina said. "I gave birth to you. And then you and your sisters were snatched from me. I am your mother, Dawn."
Dawn shakes her head, "How can that be true? Henry said you cast the curse. If you are my mother what would have made you cast the curse." She turns and runs out of Regina's house not looking back, tears in her eyes.
Regina lets out a sigh and shakes her head, "Maybe she wasn't ready to learn the truth."
The next day Mary Margaret and David are both at Granny's diner, but are sitting at separate tables. David is reading a book while Mary Margaret drinks coffee.
"Oh, you got the book." Mary Margaret says.
"Yeah. Yeah, I just started it. It's great. Can't wait to see how it ends." David says.
Ruby comes over to refill Mary Margaret's coffee. "Uh, I can push the tables' together if you guys-"
"Oh, no. We're not together." Mary Margaret says.
David shakes his head, "No. No, that's-"
Ruby leaves as Buffy and Emma enters. They sit down across from Mary Margaret.
"Hey, David." Emma says.
"Hey." David says.
"Mary Margaret." Emma says. "So. How's your day going?"
"Henry's fine." Mary Margaret says.
"That's not what I asked you. …You sure?" Emma says.
Mary Margaret nods, "Really – he's his normal self. Regina won't keep you separated forever. When people are supposed to be together, they find a way."
"Yeah. So, he's his normal self? He's fine? He's happy?" Emma says.
"Yes. No! He misses you – a lot. Trust me – I'm with him, like, six hours a day." Mary Margaret says.
"Mary Margaret," Buffy said. "Did you see Dawn at school today. When the doctor's released me she wasn't home. Faith called the station a little bit ago and said she hadn't seen her all day."
Mary Margaret shakes her head, "No, she wasn't at the school today either. I wonder if she's alright."
"I'm sure she is." Buffy said. "She probably just had some errands to run and forgot to check in." 'At least I hope that's what it is,' she thought.
Ashley enters the diner with her baby. She hands her to Granny and joins Mary Margaret, Buffy and Emma at their table.
"Six hours? You take newborns? Cause I'd love six hours off." Ashley says.
"Ashley! I didn't… I didn't even recognize you." Mary Margaret says.
"Baby on the outside?" Ashley asks.
"How's it going?" Emma asks.
"It's, uh… It's, uh… I mean, baby's great, but we really haven't had time to do the whole getting married thing. So, that's been rough. And Sean's been working double shifts at the cannery." Ashley said.
"Well, he has to work." Mary Margaret says.
Ruby comes over to give Ashley her coffee.
"On Valentine's Day? Yeah. He couldn't get out of it." Ashley says.
"I'm sorry. That sucks." Emma says.
"Yeah it does, suck." Buffy says.
"It doesn't have to. Come out with me. Let's have a girl's night. We can all go. Mary Margaret – Emma and Buffy, too. If you two leave the badges at home." Ashley says.
"I'm not really in the party mood, but you guys can all go and have fun." Emma says.
"I'm kind of not in the mood either." Buffy says.
Emma's phone vibrates.
"What's that?" Mary Margaret asks.
"It's the station – something's up." Emma says.
Later Mr. Gold walks up the walkway to the front door of his house, where he sees that the door is ajar. He pushes it open and enters the house. Inside, he draws and gun and slowly moves farther into the house. The floor creaks behind him. When he turns around, he sees Buffy and Emma, who has her gun drawn and pointed at him.
"Sheriff Swan." Mr. Gold said. "Deputy Summers."
"Your neighbor saw your front door open – they called it in." Emma said.
"It appears I've been robbed." Mr. Gold said.
"Funny how that keeps happening to you." Emma said.
"Yeah, well, I'm a difficult man to love." Mr. Gold said. "Sheriff Swan, you and your Deputy can go now. I know exactly what was taken and who did it. I've got it from here."
Buffy shakes her head, "No, you don't. This was a robbery – a public menace. And if you don't tell us what you know, we'll have to arrest you for obstruction of justice."
Emma nods, "I have a feeling you don't want to be behind bars."
"Indeed not. Alright, his name's Moe French. He sells flowers. He recently defaulted on a loan. A short time ago, we had a little disagreement over collateral." Mr. Gold says.
"Okay. We'll go get him – check him out." Emma says.
"I'm sure you two will – assuming I don't find him… Let's just say, bad things tend to happen to bad people." Mr. Gold says.
"Is that a threat?" Buffy asks.
"Observation. Good luck." Mr. Gold says.
Buffy and Emma turns and leaves.
Later after searching Moe's house, Emma and Buffy are back at the station with Mr. Gold.
Emma pulls back a sheet, revealing several items on her desk to Mr. Gold. "You're welcome. You were right – your man Moe ripped you off. It was all still at his place."
"And the man himself?" Mr. Gold asks.
"Closing in on him." Buffy says.
"So, job well 'half-done', then." Mr. Gold said.
"In less than a day, We got everything back. Is something wrong?" Emma said.
"You've recovered nothing. There's something missing." Mr. Gold said as he goes to leave.
We'll get it when we find him." Emma says.
Mr. Gold shakes his head, "Not if I find him first."
Later Mr. Gold has found Moe and is driving a van. In the back, Moe is tied up and gagged with duct tape. He drives the van to the cabin in the woods. He gets out and opens the back doors of the van. He draws his gun and points it at Moe. "Walk." He leads Moe to the cabin and they go inside. "You see, here's the thing – I don't normally let people get away."
Mr. Gold takes the duct tape off of Moe's mouth and sits him on a chair.
"Let me explain, okay? Let me explain." Moe says.
Mr. Gold grabs another chair and sits in front of Moe. He pushes the end of his cane into Moe's neck, cutting off his air. "Oh. Well, that is…fascinating. Truly fascinating. I'm going to let you breathe in a second, and you're going to say two sentences. The first, is going to tell me where it is. The second, is going to tell me who told you to take it. Do you understand the rules? Good. Let's begin." He pulls the cane back from Moe's neck.
"I needed that van!" Moe says.
"Now, you see, that is not a good first sentence." Mr. Gold says as he hits Moe with his cane.
"Ow! Gold! Listen!" Moe says.
"Tell me where it is!" Mr. Gold says as he hits Moe with his cane again.
"Ow! Stop!" Moe says.
"Tell me where it is!" Mr. Gold says as he hits him again.
"Ow! Stop! It wasn't my fault!" Moe says.
"'My fault'? What are you talking about, 'my fault'? You shut her out. You had her love, and you shut her out!" Mr. Gold says as he hits him again.
"Ow!" Moe says.
"She's gone. She's gone forever – she's not coming back. And it's your fault! Not mine! You are her father! Yours! It's yours!" Mr. Gold says as he starts to hit Moe with his cane repeatedly. "It's your fault! It's your fault!"
As Mr. Gold draws back to strike again, Buffy appears behind him and grabs his arm.
"Stop." Buffy says as Emma steps up beside her.
Emma takes one look at Moe and pulls out her cell phone and calls an ambulance.
30 minutes later Buffy, Emma and Mr. Gold are standing outside the cabin. Moe is on a stretcher and is being loaded into an ambulance by paramedics.
"So, we heard you managed not to break anything he needs. You're lucky, Mr. Gold." Buffy says.
"You got a funny definition of lucky." Mr. Gold says.
"You have a funny definition of justice. What did he really do?" Emma says.
"He stole." Mr. Gold says.
"That reaction was about more than taking a few trinkets. You said something about how he hurt her – what happened to 'her'? Who was that? What did he do? If someone needs help, maybe Emma and I can help." Buffy says.
Mr. Gold shakes his head, "No. I'm sorry, Deputy. I think you heard that wrong."
"I heard it also." Emma says. "So you really don't want to cooperate?"
"Look, we're done here." Mr. Gold says.
Emma shakes her head, "Actually, we're not. You're under arrest."
Buffy takes out a pair of handcuffs and starts to cuff him.
Later Mr. Gold is sitting in a cell at the station. Emma watches him, while eating lunch in her office. Buffy is on the phone.
"Pastrami – you want half? You know, I still owe you that favor. Nice, fatty pastrami. Delicious way to clear the books." Emma says.
"She still hasn't come home, Faith?" Buffy asks.
"Well, I don't need a reminder that you and Miss Summers owe me a favor. And when the day comes that I make my request, it'll be for more than half a sandwich." Mr. Gold says.
Regina and Henry enter.
"Alright I'll go see if Mary Margaret has seen Dawn. Thanks." Buffy says as she hangs up.
"Sheriff Swan? I'm letting you have thirty minutes with Henry. Take him out – buy him ice cream." Regina says. She looks at Buffy as she thinks to herself, 'Buffy hasn't seen, Dawn? Did my telling her that she, Buffy and Faith are my daughters do some damage?" She then spoke out loud, "Maybe you should take Deputy Summers with you. Maybe the three of you can find Miss Summers?" Buffy turns and looks at her. "I couldn't help overhearing."
"You want us to leave you alone with a prisoner?" Emma asks.
"Twenty nine and a half minutes." Regina says.
"Hi, Emma." Henry says. "Hi, Buffy."
"Hey." Emma and Buffy says.
"You know what." Buffy says. "Maybe Regina is right. Maybe Henry knows something about Dawn that could help me locate her."
Emma nods.
"Bring me back a cone?" Mr. Gold says.
"Just this once. Come on – let's go." Emma says as she grabs her coat and she and Buffy leaves with Henry.
"Well, you really wanted that little chat, didn't you?" Mr. Gold says.
"Apparently, this is the only way I could do it." Regina says.
"Please – sit." Mr. Gold says as Regina walks over to a couch near the cell and sits on the edge. "Now, when two people both want something the other has, a deal can always be struck. Do you have what I want?"
Regina nods, "Yes."
"So, you did put him up to it, then." Mr. Gold says.
"I merely suggested, that strong men take what they need." Regina says.
"Oh, yeah. And you told him just exactly what to take, didn't you?" Mr. Gold says.
"We used to know each other so well, Mr. Gold. Has it really come down to this?" Regina says.
"It seems it has, yeah. But you know what I want – what is it you want?" Mr. Gold says.
Regina nods, "I want you, to answer one question. And answer it simply – what's your name?"
"It's Mr. Gold." Mr. Gold says.
Regina shakes her head, "Your real name."
"Every moment I've spent on this earth, that's been my name." Mr. Gold says.
"But what about moments spent elsewhere?" Regina asks.
"What are you asking me?" Mr. Gold asks.
Regina smiles, "I think you know. If you want me to return what's yours – tell me your name."
"Rumpelstiltskin. Now give me what I want." Mr. Gold says.
"Such hostility." Regina says.
Mr. Gold nods, "Oh, yeah."
Regina pulls out the chipped cup from her purse. "Over this? Such a sentimental little keepsake." She dangles it in front of him until he grabs it from her.
"Thank you… Your Majesty. So. Now that we're being honest with each other, let's remember how things used to be, shall we? And don't let these bars fool you, dear. I'm the one with the power around here. I'm going to be out of here in no time, and nothing between us will change." Mr. Gold says.
"We shall see." Regina says. "One other thing. You knew Elizabeth, Faith and Dawn were here didn't you? You sent them here, not Snow White. You would have been the only one to have the power to do so."
Mr. Gold nods, "That I did."
Later that evening at the Summers/Lehane mansion Dawn walked in through the front door.
"Dawn is that you?" Buffy called out from the living room.
Dawn sighed and walked into the living room, "Yes, Buffy."
"Where you been? You had me worried sick." Buffy said.
"I had some stuff to do." Dawn said. "Sorry if I worried you."
Buffy nods, "It's okay. Are you hungry?"
Dawn shook her head, "No just a little tired." She turns and goes upstairs to her room closing the door behind her. She sat on her bed and let out a sigh. "I need to find out if what Regina said is true before I tell Buffy or Faith."