Chapter 2: A Foreign Theif

Present Day

"Oh my god it's so different seeing it in person!" Gideon exclaimed excitely as he ran towards his bike which was locked up against the wall.

"I still can't believe you've never been to a cinema before" his friend replied as he caught up behind him.

"Well before you, there really wasn't anyone to go with" he looked down as he tried to unlock his bike, using his phone for a flashlight. "Besides, in my defence, the cinema was only recently added a few years ago."

"I'll give you that one" Neal smirked, grabbing his bike.

"Thankyou for letting me come by the way, Princey. Out of all your friends, you wanted me to hang out with you on you're birthday, so thankyou."

Gideon and Neal had not been friends for that long, despite being basically family. They had always known each other, even as babies, but since the Charmings were never close with The Dark One it made friendship very difficult. Neal was always very popular. He was kind, he was good looking and very extroverted. Gideon, however, was a lot more reserved than his friend. And it didn't help that a lot of people were prejudiced against him for being the dark one's son. He always tried pointing out that Henry was his grandson, but people claimed that was different. His sister, Ella, shared the same judgement, and she ended up deciding to be homeschooled instead. Neither were bullied, because people were not stupid enough to bully the darkone's children, but they were excluded and judged by both teachers and students and that was enough to make Ella want to leave. Gideon stayed however, though he did often skip and would get away with it since teachers were terrified to call home and inform his father.

It wasn't until, one day, when Neal was off school from a dentist appointment, when he happened to bump into him at the park. Neal, being the empath he was, came up to Gideon and asked if he was alright. Most other kids may have got him in trouble or more likely, ignored him, but Neal was the first one to notice him. They hadn't spoke much before that day, but after a while of speaking they noticed they had quite a lot of common interests. Gideon was Belle's son and naturally grew up having a love for books, but he was always into more horror or action stories. Neal, although not much of a reader, had see a lot of those genres as films, which was then when Neal decided to invite him on a cinema trip for his birthday. He was especially insistant when Gideon mentioned he's never been to the cinema.

"You need to stop thanking me, seriously" The Charming's son stated "Honestly it was fun, even if I fell asleep half way through.''

"How can you fall asleep at 5?" Neal asked in a disbeliefing tone.

"I don't know, ask my brain" Neal laughed as they finally started to make the journey home.

"Your brain is you, so I did" Gideon smirked

"Ah, shit true."

After a pause, Gideon realised that he didn't know where they were going. "So, where are we going now?" he slowed his bike a little so Neal could catch up to him.

"I'm going home, I don't know about you?"

"No way, it's only seven!"

"Yeah, and I have school tomorrow." Neal stated matter of factly.

"You're 15 now and you still have a curfew"' The younger boy questioned, raising his eyebrow "Dude, and I thought my dad was strict and I'm younger than you!"

"Don't you have a curfew too?" Neal chuckled

"Yeah well, at like, eight" The truth was, Gideon never really had friends to hang out with so his parents never establish a curfew. However, when he told them he was hanging out with Neal tonight, all they said was to be home before it's too dark outside, so since it's summer, he shouldn't need to be home until around eight o'clock. "My point is, you're practically an adult now, Princey. If my dad, the dark one, is letting me stay out longer than you, then your parents have trust issues."

''There is no convincing them, trust me."

"That's because they haven't met me yet!" Gideon smirked "Well they have, but, yanno what I mean."

"So you're going to try and convince them, how do you plan on doing that?" The older boy asked with a chuckle, clearly disbelieving him.

"I'm a great manipulator" Gideon simply stated, grinning at his friend.

"Ah, I get it, run's in the family."

"Being the dark one's son comes with perks."

Gideon felt his gut drop as they started to approach The Charming's house. Their house was not too far from his father's pink mansion, since they moved out from their little apartment when Neal stated to get older and they needed more space. Despite them being about a 10 minute walk away, he'd never actually spoken properly to the royals, so he had no clue what to expect. Would they treat him differently like everyone else had? Gideon figured that since they let their precious son come hang out with the dark one's son unsupervised, so that must mean they at least didn't fear him.

He watched as his friend placed his bike in the garage. "You okay?" Neal asked, giving him a worried frown "You look a little out of it?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine don't worry" Gideon forced a grin, he would fained confidence.

"Are you sure?" The worried look on his friends tone almost made him cave, but he wasn't going to look weak infront of him and he certainly wasn't going to show weakness in front of the Charming's.

"Of course!" Gideon gave a more convincing reply as he put his arm around his taller friends shoulder. Neal was almost twice his height at 15, where as Gideon was bearly taller than his mother. "Now, lemme convince these old hags that ya old enough to stay out past seven."

Neal laughed "I wouldn't call that when you meet them.''

"Well I certainly don't have a death wish Princey" Gideon retorted to which Neal laughed.

"Common, let's go convince my parents."

14 Years ago

It was about 6am in the morning. Rumplestiltskin had decided to come in earlier before opening the store as he needed to tidy it up. Since Gideon was born a few months ago, both Rumple and Belle's main priority had been on their son. He couldn't believe he was finally a parent again, and knowing this feeled him with both so much joy and grief. Joy for being a father again, but the grief for his first son, Baelfire, who he had failed. He would also hate himself for not being able to save is son, and hoped that he could do better by Gideon. He knew though that unlike Milah, should Rumple ever fail that he could rely on Belle to be there for him when he wasn't, and he took comfort in that knowledge.

Since Gideon was now 5 months old, Belle had insisted on going out with Gideon and Ruby. She wanted to have girls time but also she wanted to bring Gideon off and show him off to her friends. They hadn't been out much since Gideon was born, mainly due to Rumple's paranoia of something happening to him. He mainly feared that someone would try and capture him and use him as as blackmail agaist the dark one and whilst Rumple was certain he was powerful enough to protect Gideon should this happen, he didn't want to take any chances. Baelfire was dead, he already failed as a father once, and he wouldn't let it happen again. However, Belle was very persistant with the idea, reasuring Rumple that nothing would happen and that she could protect Gideon. He explained how it wasn't her he didn't trust, but any possible enemies he may have who would want to target them. After some back and forth, Belle fianlly managed to persuade him, but only because she agreed to allowing Rumple to casting a spell on them both which will alert Rumple should they come into any danger. Despite this, he was still very anxious, so with nothing to distract him, he decided working at the shop would be the best form of distraction. Because he loved it when people showed up unannounced at 6:30 in the morning, clearly ignoring the useless closed sign.

"You need to help us. Now." Regina came barging in along with Robin trailing behind her. Rumple had no clue how Regina knew to look for him in the shop since it had not been open since the birth of his son, but he figured that his old student did some form of location spell to quickly track him to the shop. However, he didn't care how she found him or why she was here, all he knew was he wanted a few hours of peace and quiet.

"Can't you see dearie, I'm closed. Or was reading not part of your royal education?" Rumple snapped. He was never known for his patients, but having gotten a total of 3 hours sleep each night for the past 5 months doesn't do good for someone's tolerance.

"You're in here, arn't you?" The ex evil queen retorted, clearly she seemed more distressed than usual "Look, we need to get to Oz."

"And why there of all places?"

"Zelena." The fomer theif spoke up, looking directly at Rumple "She stole her. She knew I was powerless and took her. She had the wand. She left with both her and my daughter" Robin said as he tried not to cry, the desperate waver in his tone clearly evident, Regina took his hand and squeezed it as Robin looked down to the floor.

"You managed to get here, clearly hopping realms is you're forté. We need to get to Oz to bring her home. You need to help us" Regina continued hen Robin clearly no longer could. She knew how much Robin blamed himself for his daughter's disappearence, but Zelena knew what she was doing, targeting Robin when he was alone and least expecting it.

"I see" Rumple sighed after a pause. He wasn't create with words but he definitely empathised with Robin's situation, though he'd never admit it. ''The easiest way is, as you know, the dark curse, but I assume neither of you are killing each other?"

"Obviously not" His former student snapped back, her patients clearly getting smaller and smaller by the minute, unsurprising considering the situation. "Are you telling me there is no other way?"

''Do you think I waited 300 years to find my son for the fun of it?'' Rumple shot back, raising his voice, the slight waver in his tone was small but definitely noticeable. ''Yes, there are other ways. Magic beans, portals and wands. But since all the giants escaped the second curse and the only wand we had was taken by your dear sister, there are no other quick and easy options''

''So what do we do? Just give up and let that psycho green witch play loving mother?''

''Look, you're a father'' Robin spoke up again, again looking directly at Rumple, knowing all too well that they finally shared a similarity 'She maybe the mother biologically but we can all agree she's unstable and not fit to be a parent. Please, I will pay you anything, anything you want, I just want my daughter back' Robin pleaded, almost in tears. ''I couldn't save her, but you can.''

Rumple was not known for his empathy, most people thought he didn't have any, but was all too human even if he didn't want to show it, and all the emotions of losing Bae to ironically the same woman came bubbling to the surface in that moment as he watched the same lost eyes looking back at him as he saw in the mirror every morning. If he had never been brought back to life, if Belle and Bae decided to leave him dead like he should've been, then Bae would've been happy, possibly married to Emma or building his relationship with Henry. But instead, some cruel fate decided he got to live. All because Zelena needed him in her sick, twisted plan. If only he had ensured she was indeed, dead, then maybe Robin wouldn't be suffering a similar, although less final, fate with his child.

He sighed as he made eye contact with Robin directly "It isn't wise to promise 'anything' when making a deal, dearie" He smirked. Afterall, he had to keep up appearance. No matter how much he could relate to this man, he wouldn't let them know how close this situation hit to home for him.

''We don't have time to play games. Come on Robin, let's go.'' Regina snapped as she grabbed Robin's hand and headed for the door.

''Wait.'' Rumple spoke up, placing his hands on the counter ''There is a way to get to Oz. I mentioned three ways, didn't I? Magic beans are impossible without giants, and the apprentice's wand is obviously in none of our possession. But creating a portal can, indeed, be done.''

''And what is the catch?'' Regina asked impatiently.

''The catch is, dearie, that it requires a lot of ingredients to make. Some, the dark one doesn't have access to. For this reason, it is almost impossible to make. Almost.''

''What are you saying?'' Robin questioned as he and Regina walked back to the counter.

''What I'm saying is that it can be done, but will need a lot of planning and will, unfortunately, take years to make. Not 300 years, but maybe a decade or two.''

''A decade? She'll be basically be an adult by then!'' Regina stated angrily.

''Is there no other way?'' Robin asked, this time being the one to squeeze Regina's hand. He knew that Regina felt like his daughter was her own too, and that ment she was feeling the same way he was.

''If there was I would've suggested it. Like I said, I spent 300 years to find a way to get to the land without magic. Magic beans are quickest way but we have no access to them, so this is the next best option unless you want to cast the dark curse and sacrifice one another.''

''How are we supposed to create a damn portle then?'' Regina asked.

Rumple looked over to the far wall, trying to remember what he had studied about portles. He remembered how, back in his earlier days as the dark one, he used to read up on portles, specifically ones that led to the land without magic. A lot of the magic and the materials used to create it were out of reach for him, being the dark one, since they were heavily guarded by the sorcerer's apprentice, meaning it was impossible for him to obtain. The dark curse at the time seemed like a far more easier option, especially since he had visions from being a seer of the dark curse being cast and that eventually leading him to his son. He wished now he did more research on portles, since he was now embarrassed to admit that he didn't have much knowledge on them.

''Well, Gold?'' Regian spoke up, shaking Rumple out of his thoughts.

''Honestly dearie, I never had a need for portles and for that reason I never studied them.''

''You're wasting my time!'' Regina was again, about to storm out with Robin, until Rumple spoke up.

''But, I do know where to find the information.''

Present Day

As Gideon left the charmings house, he got on his bike and started heading home. He hoped that he had managed to convince the charming couple to let Neal stay out a little longer. Their curfew was ridiculous Neal was 15 now; almost an adult, meaning he could take care of himself. You knew you were too protective when Rumplestiltskin the dark one allowed his son more freedom than you do.

In the midst of Gideon's ride home, he decided to take the short cut through the dark allyway. Noticing it was pitch black, he hopped off his bike since the pavement was too narrow and bumpy to ride through and turned on his flashlight. The only light being the street lamps located at the end of the trail.

Making his way through the alleyway, Gideon passed another short alleyway that led back onto the main street. Soon after passing it, he heard foots steps suddenly quicken behind him. Turning around, he saw someone darting towards him. With a swish of their hand, Gideon felt a force push him towards the ground. After a few seconds of processing what had happened, he quickly stood back up; noticing the person had grabbed his backback. When he finally came to his senses, Gideon used the magic skills that his father had taught him to push the thief agaist the brick wall; not too hard has to knock them out, but hard enough as to make them a little dazed. He used his other hand to grow vines already covering the wall around them. If there was ever a time he was greatful his father taught him magic, it was now. His mother was originally agaist it of course, but Rumple had instead it would be necessary, and today was proving his father right.

''What did you need my bag for?'' Gideon asked, quickly picking up his bag now that he trusted the person was fully detained. As he stepped closer, he saw it was a young girl who looked to be around Gideon's age. She had long, wavy strawberry blonde hair that was mattered and looked like it hadn't been washed or brushed in days, and she was wearing a long, brown dress which was covered in tears and was extremely filthy. What supprised him the most about the dress though was that it clearly wasn't like anything people wore in Storybrooke. It was similar to women's clothing he saw being worn in Henry's storybook. He figured the girl mustn't be from this realm, clearly she was from else where, and she also had magic.

''I'm not known to be very polite when being kept prisoner, boo. Maybe let me go and we can talk?'' Her voice was soft, but had an annoyed edge to it as she strained agaist the vines containing her.

''I think you're homeless. And I'm definitely certain you're not from this realm.'' Gideon smirked as the girls expression quickly became fearful ''Tell ya what, assuming it's money your after? I'll make you a deal. You answer my questions, I give you a dollar or two, depending on how many questions you answer. Quite generous considering you tried to rob me, don't ya think?'' Gideon would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy the idea of winning this fight, and he'd definitely would not be telling the truth if he said he didn't enjoy having something over this girl. But he'd also be lying if he said he wasn't concerned for her, too. This girl clearly had no where else to go, and the fact she was desperate enough to go as far as stealing a bag she didn't know the contents of showed him how desperate she was. But she did try to rob him, so he figured he wasn't obligated to be nice.

''A deal? How very dark one of you. Who are you? Rumplestiltskin's son or the dark one in disguise?'' The girl mocked.

''The former, actually'' Gideon replied as he noticed the color drain from the girls face. He was used to this expression, of course, but something told him there was more to this than just bed time stories of the dark one kidnapping misbehaving children. ''So, girl, let's start with a name, hmm?''

The theif scoft ''How will you know I'm telling the truth?''

''Well, I could use a lie detector spell but that defeats the whole purpose of a deal, doesn't it?'' The truth was, Gideon had no clue how to cast such a spell, but he hoped the girls desperation and the knowledge of Gideon being Rumplestiltskin's son would give her enough reason to tell the truth.

The girl smirked once more, leaning back agaist the wall as much as she could with her already being pinned agaist the wall thanks to Gideon's vines. ''Esmerelda, and yours boo?''

''Gideon. Good, and where are you from, Esmerelda?''

Smirking again, the Girl responded ''The Enchanted Forest.''

''Really?'' For some reason, Gideon wasn't convinced with her answer.

''Of course. Now boo, we made a deal.'' Esmerelda stated, extending her hand and gesturing to his bag.

''A deal for answers that are true.''

''Ah, but you never said that. Did you? You asked for me to answer your questions, not how I'd answer them. Surely, as the dark one's son, you should know the importance of specifics before signing a deal'' Esmerelda was again smirking as she realised Gideon's mistake.

One of the main things his father taught him was being clear about what you want, and he forgot that most important part. Of course, he could simply change the deal, it wasn't as if she had anything over him. But this girl was clearly homeless and in need of money, and the compassionate part of him (despite the girl robbing him) won out.

''Here.'' Gideon said, handing the fellow teen a 20 dollar bill.

Esmerelda stared at it, she clearly didn't know how much 20 dollars could buy and probably assumed it was just enough to buy one meal.

'"It's a 20, probably buy you a few meals.'' Gideon explained to her.

"How very generous'' Her voice once again soft, she also now a little quieter, as if she didn't expect to get this far.

''Yes. And there's more, if you need it. Though for more, it will require a price. And for specifics this time, the price is for you to answer my questions with truthful answers'' Gideon emphasised on the last part, wanting to ensure he didn't make the same mistake.

''I don't need you, boo. You gave me money and that's enough. I won't come begging for more, certainly not to answer your dumb questions.''

But they both knew that she did. She had magic, that much was clear. But how powerful he couldn't tell. And even so, it was clear tonight that she could still be defeated. Despite being the dark one's son, magic was never something Gideon had patients for in learning. He was good at combate spells and quick thinking, but more complexed magic that required more attention was not something he had patients for, unlike his sister Ella, who always enjoyed more complext spells and figuring them out. For this reason, the fact that Gideon, someone who was not that skilled in magic, managed to defeat her, proved that this girl was untrained too and therefore, could easily be attacked or worse during the night.

''You can't be out here all alone'' Gideon shrugged ''You sure you don't need me, it might be cold out. Ya wanna come back with me?'' The last thing he wanted to do was invite the girl other to his house, but he couldn't let himself leave her out all on her own either. He figured that once he got home his mom and dad may be able to help her and also, find out what she's hiding.

''Ha, and sleep in the same house as daddy dark one? I'm not crazy.'' Esmerelda laughed, clearly not entertaining the idea. ''I've survived a week, why not another?'' She gave her small smile, before her expression turned, once again, serious ''Now, are you going to let me go or keep me here all night?''

As much as Gideon wanted to talk more to the mysterious girl, since he still definitely had questions, he knew it was late and realising there was no convincing her, he released the spell on her. As the vines pulled away from her, he was about to try and once again convinced her to come back with him but he got another word out she teleported away.

14 years ago

''I believe I must have placed it somewhere in this section.'' The librarian exclaimed as she search frantically through the books, the carefulness she'd normally have gone as she tossed each book to the side that wasn't the one she was looking for. During the conversation with Robin and Regina, Rumple had remembered back in the Enchanted forest when he first gave Belle the library that she took an interest in a book specifically written by Merlin himself about portles and how to open one. It was a book Rumple had no idea how he came into possession with, and again had no idea where it went since. But if anyone was going to know the location of the book, it would be his wife.

''Well bookworm, we don't have all day!'' Regina piped up, she too looking through the stacks of books but in a less organised manor than Belle was.

Baby Gideon was off to the side in a little crib that Belle had set up for him in the library. Ruby stayed there with the child, soothing him as he slept. Roland was there too. When Regina and Robin went to visit Rumple that morning, they dropped him off with Emma and Hook since they didn't want him to come with them to interrogate Rumple and the certainly weren't going to leave him alone in the house after what happened last night. They hadn't wanted to explain much in detail to the pair of them since they already wasted the night griefing the loss and waiting until morning where people would awake and able to help, so they just gave a brief explanation and were thankful Emma at least understood this wasn't a time for questions. But then some robbery happened on the other side of town which brought Emma's attention and since Regina did not trust the one handed pirate in the slightest to watch over Roland, they decided to bring him with them.

''I found it!'' Belle said as she quickly scanned through the pages of the book.

''Wait, really?'' Robin asked as he, Rumple and Regina quickly walked over to her.

"Yes. It's this page here.'' Belle pointed to the words. ''It says how we, we need-'' Belle stopped as she scanned the page again, a defeated frown forming on her face ''We need Merlin, or his apprentice, or someone chosen by Merlin, to open one. And of course, no one has seen the apprentice since he tried to free Rumple.'' When Rumple colapst after everyone was freed from Isaac's story, the apprentice tried to remove the darkness from Rumple to stop it from taking over his sole. He managed to temporarily place it into the hat, but this only last a matter of a few seconds before it escaped the hat and it escaped, seeking a new host. The darkness eventually tethered it self back to Rumple, waking him up, but no one had seen the apprentice since.

''So we need to find him then.'' Robin said as he headed for the door.

''We have know clue where he went though!'' Belle stated.

''Yes, but I'm certainly not waiting around.'' Robin slammed the door as he stormed off.

''Robin, wait!'' Regina called after as she followed behind him. She finally caught up to him as they approached the front doors. ''We need a plan, you can't just go gallaping off into the woods!''

''Well what else am I suppose to do, Regina?'' Robin bawled out, turning around to face her. ''Sit down while everyone makes plans? I'm tired of being a clueless pawn in everyone else game!''

''You're not that!''

''Arn't I?'' Robin retorted, staring directly at Regina ''Your sister needed me for her revenge on you and then she needed me alone so she could steal my daughter, I couldn't do anything. I couldn't save her and now-''

''None of that is your fault, Robin'' Regina quickly interrupted, grabbing his hand. ''You hear me? This isn't your fault. And I will tell you a million times until you believe it. She planned it this way, she knew what she was doing. I used a similar tactic when I was the evil queen, it was never my victims fault and it certainly isn't yours now.''

''I'm sick of being a victim.''

''I know, I'm sorry, we'll do everything we can to get her back.'' Regina pulled him into a hug.

''I'm sorry for rasing my voice.' Robin said as he leaned his head on her shoulder. ''I'm just so worried.''

''Don't apologise!'' Regina quickly cut him off again, pulling away from the hug and looking at him directly. ''Like I said, this wasn't your fault then and it isn't now, but if there is anything I've learnt from these hero types, we need a plan before taking action.''

Robin heard her words, but he wasn't listening. Regina could tell him all she wanted how it wasn't his fault, but this was twice now he fell for her plans. Sure, Zelena was the one who made the choices she did, and he had enough self awareness to admit that she did catch him at a bad situation and there wasn't much he else he could've done in the moment without possibility endangered her, himself, or even Roland. But he should've planned better. He shouldn't have let his guard down when there was no sighting of her for months. He was naive, stupid, and his daughter shouldn't have to pay the price. He was tired of being a victim to Zelena.

''Come on, Emma just messaged me saying she's done with whatever she needed to do, so we can all come up with a plan together. We'll find her, I promise'' Regina tugged on his hand as she lead him back up to the library. Robin just followed, bearly paying attention to his surroundings. He lost his daughter, and there was nothing he could do.

"We're here!" Emma called as she entered the library with David and Hook following behind her. "Nothing serious, but someone stole all the money from Grannies till and we had to investigate."

"About time!" Regina came over to them "Where's Henry?"

"He's fine." David spoke up "He's helping Snow out with Neal."

"So, what have we found out so far?" Emma asked as Belle handed her the book.

"Not much." The librarian said as she pointed to the page she just read out to the rest of them "The only way we can get to Oz, is through a portal, which we obviously need the apprentice for that."

"Who isn't here." Hook chimed in which brought a glare from Regina.

"Well thankyou, Captin Obvious."

"Just pointing it out, Love."

"I might be able to find him." Emma stated as she turned to face Regina and Robin. "It was my job, of course, as a bails bonds person."

"Or couldn't we do a locator spell?" David asked.

"We have nothing of his" Rumple finally brought attention to himself as he stood up from his seat.

"The only thing left, Regina's dear sister took, so we'll have to rely on Miss Swan's finding skills."

"And if you can't?" Robin asked with a slight waver to his voice, looking directly at Emma.

Emma placed a hand on his shoulder, "I promise you, I'll try everything I can to help save your daughter" She glanced at Regina too as she said this.

Present Day

It had just gone 8 oclock when Gideon finally got home. The lights on the ground floor were all turned off, meaning his parents had probably already headed upstairs or they were located in the living room at the far end of the house. He didn't know if he wanted to mention his little encounter with Esmerelda. On one hand, he knew that he couldn't keep it to himself, for the girls sake more than anything. She was probably not much older than him and clearly not from this realm, and it was unsafe for her to be out alone at this time of night. However, he also didn't want to mention what happened to his over protective father, who'd probably not let him go out ever again until the girl was found.

Gideon kicked off his shoes, already smirking at the predicted lecture he was gonna get tomorrow about putting his shoes on the shoe rack, and headed down the long corridor towards the back of the house. He figured the truth would come out eventually, and he hoped that the fact he managed to defend himself would convince his dad he was capable of taking care of himself.

When he entered the living room, he saw that only his mother was sitting there in the far corner. Her head was berried in a book, and she clearly hadn't realised he had come in. He had no clue where his dad was, but he was thankful because this conversation would be so much easier with his mom.

"Mom" Gideon spoke up, causing his mom to finally raise her head.

"Gideon, you're home already?" Belle questioned, looking at her phone "Oh, I didn't realise the time, how was it?"

"Yeah, it was fun! I really enjoyed the film." Gideon exclaimed to which Belle smiled. He slowly made his way to the living room, sitting on the coach next to his mother "Mom, where's dad?"

"He's upstairs I believe, why?"

"Well, something happened" Gideon started as he watched his mom's expression become concerned. "Nothing bad, I'm fine. Just something that dad would probably overreact to, yanno"

"What happened?" his mom asked after a pause, placing her book down on the end table next to the couch.

"I was almost robbed by a suspicious teenage girl and before you get worried and call the police, I totally handled it" Gideon quickly continued before his mom could intrupted. "She had magic, and tried to knock me down but I managed to stop her. Clearly she didn't plan on me being able to defend myself."

"Do you know who it was?" Belle asked him, still showing concern, which was understandable he supposed. But he was thankful that this conversation only needed to be had with one parent because his dad would probably be putting the house on lockdown until the girl was found.

"Oh, here's the thing, I don't know. But she was clearly not from Storybrooke. She had ragged old clothes that looked like fashions seen in the Enchanted forest or something. But she lied when she said she was from there?"

"How do you know-?"

"That she was lying?" Honestly, he wasn't sure what made him doubt the girls answer int the moment. Maybe it was the smirk or the uncertain tone in the girls words, but whatever it was, she was certainly not being truthful. "She basically confirmed it when I called her out for it. Either way, I'm concerned for her. She's a teenage girl, clearly not from this realm, roaming about at night."

"Yeah, it's a little unsettling, knowing a girl so young is wandering the streets alone at night" she agreed "There isn't much we can do though, especially since we don't know where this girl has gone. I may be able to speak to your dad and see if he'd be able to find her. Then we can make sure she's safe and also, not a danger to others."

"Well if you do tell dad, please mention that I handled it." the dark one's son pleaded "You know what he's like."

"Don't worry, he'll be informed" Belle said with a smile.

Once Gideon was comforted that his mother had listened to him, the conversation went on from him talking about the film and joking about how Neal fell asleep half way through. It was nice to have alone time with his mom and to talk about something other than be scolded for not doing something like school work. He admittedly didn't spend enough time with her. When Gideon was younger, he found himself a lot more closer to his mom but in recent years his relationship with both his parents had drifted, especially after the bad patch their family had a few years ago. But a lot has happened since then, and he hoped that maybe, now that he had a social life, he could build back his relationship with his parents too.

'Mom?'

'Yes, Gid's?'

'I love you'

'I love you too, my son'

And there it was. Words that be hadn't said to either of his parents in a long time. Maybe things will finally start to look up.

A/N:

Hello guys, I am sorry for the month long wait! I've been busy with college and work, and honestly, had no clue how to write this chapter. It was just a gradual write over time. I'm still not 100% happy with it, especially the ending, I just struggle leaving chapters without them sounding unfinished.

Like with the last chapter, I've done spelling and grammar checks but I am sure there are still some since these they have never been my strong suit, so please bare with me!

I wanna say a huge thankyou to those who have reviewed! It gives me the motivation I need, knowing people enjoyed it. I'm new to this sight and writing fanfics in general, so I'm glad to see it was genuinely well received.

I hope everyone has a great day! :D