It was with shock and a little bit of mortification that he watched Ruby inhale the sweater Belle had left his home with. He made sure to keep the blood from his cheeks as she glanced over at him, and he wondered exactly what she was smelling.

As the Dark One, he had sharp and enhanced senses, he recognized Belle's smell as lemon and roses, but in these last few weeks, he'd grown proud at home when he'd realized that she was beginning to take on his own scent, and he hers. They'd absorbed it as if through osmosis the more time they spent together. But still, he didn't have the smell of a wolf, and he wondered exactly what she smelled with every inhale, exactly how much of their life together she could pick up. Her scent? His? Theirs? Could she smell the woods from the cabin they'd gone to? The lake? Could she smell the dust that Belle had purged his home of in her time there? Could she smell things like anger or joy or lust?

She inhaled again, and this time the wolf eyed him suspiciously as he fought back a blush. Could she smell more than their mutual scents? Could she smell sex, even if it had been a few nights? He thought back to a conversation he'd had with Belle about birth control, to the point he'd considered going to a drug store for condoms. When she'd turned him down, he'd been rather happy he wouldn't be subjected to that kind of suspicious curiosity and town gossip. With the way the wolf glanced at him now…so much for that idea.

But what precisely the wolf could smell on his sweater was wiped from his mind a minute later when she suddenly grabbed a hat from behind the counter, shouted at Granny that she'd be back later, and turned to the door. Outside she inhaled again, not the sweater in her hand, but the air itself. One sniff, then two. A second later, she descended the stairs and took another inhale of the sweater, then the air again before declaring "got her."

He and David glanced at each other, but before they could say anything, Ruby was off. She didn't wait for them. Like a dog sniffing out dinner, she walked, head barely turning this way or that except when she came to a crosswalk or corner. He and David followed behind in silence; street after street, shop after shop, watching until-

Suddenly she stopped. In the middle of a sidewalk, she turned this way and that, suddenly looking surprised. He wished he could share the sentiment. While Ruby looked surprised, walking aimlessly according to smell alone, he'd been keeping track of where they were. In an instant, he knew exactly what was going on.

"What's wrong?" David asked.

"I had her, but, uh…I lost her trail." Suddenly the girl let out a sneeze and glanced at the shop she'd stopped at. Game of Thorns. That wasn't a coincidence. "It must be the flowers. I…I can't track her anymore. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. This is her father's shop," he knew where she'd gone to; the deal he'd made with David was complete, and therefore, so was his compliance. He moved around Ruby and David, unwilling to let the latter do the "talking" anymore. Moe had lied to him. How he didn't know, but he refused to believe that Belle's scent ending at her father's shop was a coincidence. How he'd planned it, how he'd gotten Belle, how he'd found her, he wasn't sure, but he'd promised her that she never had to come back to this life. He was going to keep that promise.

"You again. Out!" Moe screamed when he came in, the others following on his heels. "This is a private establishment–you're not welcome."

He was a lawyer, he could think of a dozen arguments around his own, but only one thing was important to him. "Where's Belle?"

"I won't let anything happen to her, Moe," David assured in a calming for forceful tone.

"We're just worried," Ruby added in a voice that was far too friendly than what this man deserved.

"Don't be. She's safe. So, you can stop looking."

He nearly lost his breath. Safe. She was safe. With this man? He'd believe that only when he saw it, when it came from Belle's mouth. If this was what she truly wanted, then he'd accept it, but until he heard her say the words for himself, saw her look him in the eye after all she'd told him her father had done in her youth, and said she wanted to be here, then he couldn't be assured of anything. He'd tear this shop apart brick by brick if he had to find her and get that assurance for himself. But if Belle was really here, if she was angry with him…best behavior.

"Look, if I could just have the chance to talk to her-"

"You will destroy Belle like you destroy everything else. Well, I won't let that happen."

Those words. Such certainty. They reeked of power and possession, things Belle hated and would never agree to. And the smell of fear and sadness wafting from him…

"What have you done with her?" he growled.

"There's only one way to get her-"

"What have you done with her?" he shoved.

"I have to make her forget about you. No matter the cost. Even if it means she forgets me, too."

Ice-cold fear trickled down his spine at his confession. Forgotten, the nightmare that woke her each night, screaming out of fear that she had no name, no memories! His Belle would not willingly ask for that. She wasn't here on her own. And she wasn't about to go where he was sending her of her own accord either.

"He's sending her across the town line," he whispered as Moe smirked in timid triumph. Victory. He was ready to proclaim victory at the fact that he was about to make his daughter's worst nightmare come true!

"You coward! You evil wretch!" he cried, shoving him to the ground with all his strength. He raised his cane over his head as the shop erupted in noise and screams. One moment he'd been poised to attack Moe French; the next, Ruby was in front of him, telling him to stop. Moe was on the floor, whimpering, crying for help, and whining that he was about to be beaten again as David knelt beside him and shouted, to his shock, "you're lucky I don't let him. Tell me where the girl is!"

"Protect me. Protect me, you have to protect me," Moe cried as he sat up and moved away from him. That was useless, staying away from his cane was useless, with one could turn of his hand he could snap his neck, or close his windpipe, or-

"Tell us where your daughter is, and no harm will come to you," David bargained, a foolish novice at the game.

"Losing her memories again is her greatest fear. She'd never agree to this!" he screamed at David, trying to make him see the urgency in the situation. And maybe if he could pull on Moe's heartstrings a bit.

"That's why I hired a man to help her across! To see her across and back! She'll reset. She'll become who she was before! I'll explain everything to whoever she is then!"

"You're a damn fool!" he growled. "She had no memories at all before the Curse broke, courtesy of Regina! She'll be nothing but an empty shell!" All the progress she'd made in this world, all the learning she'd done, it would be gone if the goon he'd hired managed to get her across the line!

But Moe said nothing to his comments, only stared at him and struggled to his feet. The keys to the van fell out of Moe's pocket, and David grabbed them and tossed them to Ruby before he got to them.

"Moe! I'm a father. I have a daughter I've been separated from for a long time too. I know you don't want this for her. Tell us where she is. Call it all off."

Still nothing from the former King. Nothing but hate and fear and distrust of this entire situation and him.

"Here, come with me. All of you!" David growled, marching Moe past him and out into the sun. Outside? Did he think outside was going to save him? Not one bit.

"Where are you sending Belle across?" David demanded as he walked him outside and to the van. His voice had suddenly lost its friendly, helpful, father-to-father tone. Now he was serious and aggressive with him. "You know we have patrols on the town line to make sure no one crosses accidentally. So, how are you planning to pull it off?"

Still, Moe refused to talk. Why would he? This wasn't how deals were made. David had nothing the man wanted that was better than what he stood to gain if his daughter went across the line: a mindless ward dependent upon her father for everything. It was exactly what Maurice had always wanted out of his daughter. He believed he was doing the right thing, and so long as David had nothing to offer, so long as he was nothing that Moe feared, he'd never tell them anything. He, on the other hand…

He lunged as David moved to turn the man, and he pinned him against the truck with his cane, getting it up under his throat as it once had been to induce fear. If he wouldn't talk for David, maybe he'd talk for his life. He'd sacrificed his daughter once before for that!

"Where? Where are you sending them across? Tell me!"

"Stop it! You're going to kill him." David roared, suddenly pushing him away. He was about to move back, to rear up and use magic to back him off when he saw David staring at Moe's hand, rotating it this way and that way, looking at something.

"You've been down in the mines," he announced. "The tunnels–they lead out of town!"

Moe didn't deny it.

In an instant, the four of them were loaded into the truck, Ruby started the engine, and they drove faster than he remembered the truck could move.

Another melding of two scenes that I really felt went together at the end of the day. This time, it was really the middle part that was hardest; the process of getting them from Moe's shop out into the world was difficult. I hope that I got it right.

Many thanks to Alarda for your reviews on the last chapter! I know that this is a lot of stuff we've already seen, but I still hope you'll enjoy this new, fresh look at it. Peace and Happy Reading!