Dove was working for him again. Not happily, but he'd take what he could get. The man had appeared in his shop the morning after he left the message with a grimace on his face that said he'd rather be anywhere else in the world but a stance that suggested he was ready to work. That was convenient for him because he had a job for him. He'd kept Smee overnight, but now he'd overstayed his welcome. He had a plan for letting him go back out into Storybrooke, one that would ensure that if Hook was here and he knew where he was, then he'd find him. But that plan had hinged on the dove before him standing there. How lucky for him that his accomplice knew how to use his brain.

"It's good to have you back in my services, Mr. Dove."

"It's not like I have a choice, as you so kindly reminded me."

That was true. During the Curse this had been Dove's only job, and he, and his family, had profited greatly from it. He could have found another job now that the Curse was broken, but one that would pay as handsomely as he did and come with a rent-free lifestyle for himself and his parents? Doubtful. Very doubtful. So here he was, taking instructions once more. In five minutes, he informed his employee, a man in a red hat would come around the corner of his shop. Dove's job was to follow him for a couple of days. He wanted to know where he was going, who he was seen with, and he especially wanted to know if he was ever seen in the company of a man with a hook for a hand.

Dove agreed for his usual reimbursement and when the man stepped outside he saw him take a step, then fall into the air as a white dove soared away where the man had once been. He'd smirked. Dove wasn't pleased to be back with him, but he imagined that being able to do that again, to fly off in a different body and perch on a roof, certainly worked in his favor.

He released Smee a few moments later. The man was alert but obviously exhausted from a night in his basement. He smelled of sweat and piss and fear as he untied his bonds. "Now you listen to me," he growled menacingly as he worked. "I'm gonna let you go now, and you are going to go tell any of your old friends and crew mates that the girl you tried to take is off-limits. She's under protection of the Dark One. She's not to be touched, harmed, or even gawked at from across the street. Stay clear of her, stay clear of her library. Do we understand each other, Mr. Smee?"

The man had nodded vigorously and the second he motioned toward the open door he was up and out. He ran for his freedom like it might disappear if he wasn't fast enough, but he had no idea that he wasn't free. Not truly. Dove was watching. He was certain of this because twenty minutes after he'd freed him, he received a call from him.

"You want me to follow Barrie Kensington?"

Barrie Kensington…was that who he was here? The name didn't ring a bell, no property leases came to mind, no history. But Dove had said the name so easily…

"You know him?"

"Who doesn't?"

"How do you know him?" he questioned. "What does he do?"

"He gets things," Dove answered as if it was obvious and he should have known, like he was surprised he needed to tell him. "Guy's a mouse, but he's resourceful. Half the time you've wanted me to find you something, it's because I've gotten it from him."

William Smee, procurer of hard to find objects, was Barrie Kensington, also a procurer of hard to find objects. Sometimes he thought the Curse outdid itself.

"Have you ever seen him in the company of a man, tall, one hand?"

"Can't say I have, but he works with damn near everyone, and I've never followed him before."

"Your friend Scarlet, he's known for some of the same things, can you see if he has knowledge of him and a friend he might have with a hook?"

"No can do," he answered. "Scarlet has been missing since the Curse broke, no one has seen him and he's not answering his phone."

Shit. He'd never particularly cared for Scarlet. He had kept him on his payroll during the Mary Margaret situation and he knew that the boy was good for giving information to Dove when he needed him to. He hadn't a clue where he'd disappeared to and he didn't really care. But he did lament not having the information he needed.

"Where is Smee now?"

"Home," the Dove answered. "He went right to his apartment." No surprise there, after a night in his basement he'd probably need to shower, sleep, and eat before he went about his way. He could allow him that concession.

"Stay on him, Mr. Dove. If he meets a man with one hand call me immediately and if he goes anywhere near the library…don't let him get in the front door."

"Fine," he agreed in an unfriendly tone.

"Hm…no 'got it, boss'? Even for old times?"

There was nothing but silence on the other end. It only made him smirk.

"I see you've learned to fly again," he mentioned idly, as if he was trying to initiate chit chat, a habit he never engaged in without reason.

Dove promptly hung up the phone without answering. He chuckled as he put his phone back in his pocket and returned to his own work. He had to admit, he enjoyed people who knew their place in their relationship but refused to accept it, refused to be frightened or scared of him. Those who were weaker standing up to him left him amused and intrigued. Belle had been one of those people; Jefferson and Ruby were like that too. Now it seemed that Dove would be joining their ranks. He was rather looking forward to the entertainment that would bring. He needed entertainment, considering the dull hole not having Belle at home had left in his life.

He hadn't been back there, not to stay, not really. That first night he couldn't bring himself to go when she was in the library, alone and vulnerable. So, he'd stayed in the shop that night and over the course of the next few days he'd begun to make a habit it out of it. During the day he worked in the shop like he normally would, taking calls and text messages from Dove who reported that Smee seemed to be following instructions. The docks, the bowling alley, The Rabbit Hole Bar, Granny's, even the Middle School…Smee paid visits to all of them after he was released, it was the same story each place.

"I don't know what to tell you," Dove informed him on one call. "He goes in, he talks to someone, he leaves, he goes to the next place and does it all over again. So far, no one has had a hook for a hand."

Dove was confused; he saw it with clarity. Smee was simply doing what he'd asked him to do, going to his old crew mates and friends, delivering the warning he'd told them to. He was aware that doing that could potentially put Belle at risk, but he also knew that no one without a substantial amount of power would dare to attack a woman under his protection. With the protection spell he'd placed on the library, he'd know if anyone like that tried anything. Fortunately, few people came and went at the library, and he could feel that no one with power greater than Ruby dared to enter. Belle was safe, but that didn't stop him from spending every night in his pawnshop. Just in case.

It wasn't entirely bad. During the day he could do his usual work and during the nighttime, that was when his real work began. At night his work room transformed into his own little workshop, just like he had in the basement, only he found himself forcing himself to take a break from his spell for the town line. There were other things he needed to do.

Smee's attempt, futile as it had been, had scared him. There were so many, many dangers in this world, so many enemies, he never wanted to be caught off guard again. For the first night, he tried to find as many as he could. He didn't have a crystal ball, but he could pour water into a cauldron, add the proper ingredients, and ask it for images. The first he pulled up, his test image, was of Belle. She was in the library, sitting in a chair with a book in her lap, clearly asleep. She was safe. But only if he could keep her that way.

He tried searching for Hook next, but nothing came into the cauldron. He tried to summon an image of Zelena only to experience the same results…nothing. Smee had said that Hook wasn't here, that he wasn't in this world. That would make sense. The cauldron could only summon images of this world. To test that theory, he requested an image of August Booth. This time the cauldron gave him an image. There he was. A man made of wood, sleeping in a bed located in some kind of cramped and messy room. But where that messy room was…he couldn't tell. That was the problem with the cauldron, it could summon images, but it couldn't tell him the location of individuals, he would only know where they were if he recognized the place and unfortunately, he hadn't a clue where that room August was in was, and his magic kept taking him into the forest.

But there was another way, an old-fashioned method used for location…scrying. It was old and it involved maps. For that reason alone, it was complicated. The magic could work, but if it didn't have the right map, then it would be useless. And scrying could be done with crystals and head magic…but it was stronger with blood and heart magic. Still, he had to try. For Belle's sake.

He retrieved a map of Storybrooke, it was small, and not nearly as detailed as he wanted it to be, but he tried. With a crystal and by concentrating on August Booth he sat down and watched the crystal hover and sway and swing…and then circled a section of Storybrooke forest. The place he'd already checked. That was convincing but also devastating at the same time. Everything he'd seen, every sign, every piece of magic indicated that Booth was there! But when he'd gone, he couldn't find him. It was magic. No doubts, no assumptions, he was certain. He was using magic to hide. So, until he figured out a way around that…

He didn't stop searching at Booth. He continued his work, knowing that while Booth was important, he also needed to know the location of his enemies. Via scrying he found Smee sleeping in his apartment and Belle in the library and Regina in her home. There was nothing when he focused on Cora. That made sense. Regina wouldn't have wanted her here and claimed to have killed her in the Enchanted Forest. He still doubted that, but for now, he'd accept it, given she was no threat. Zelena and Hook also yielded no results, but now that he was thinking things through, he was curious about something else. Well…two someones was probably a more accurate description.

Cruella and Ursula. He'd watched as the Apprentice had opened a portal for Maleficent's child that they'd fallen through. He suspected it was to this world. He hauled out his globe and made an attempt but had no results when searching for the child. He expected that. There was no bond between them, nothing but a single image of a hand poking through an egg for him to recall and use. Scrying was already very weak magic; it needed a strong memory to work. Besides, he suspected the child was outside of Storybrooke, there was no telling what the magic would do with those outside. So, he tested it on someone he did have a better connection to first. He closed his eyes, focused on Ursula, the sea witch, the woman who had once taken Belle, and let the crystal roam over the globe. He spun it gently when he felt the need to, let it move over, up and down, until he felt a tug on the string of gold holding it. It had landed.

New York City.

He scrambled to the place he kept his maps and guidebooks, the places that he'd imagined going to search for Bae. One was for New York City. He opened the map, spread it wide on his table, and let the crystal do the work that it couldn't do on a globe. This time he felt the tug quickly. He looked down at the tourist map, and suddenly there wasn't a doubt in his mind the magic was working. It tracked the sea witch to an aquarium in New York City. Like always did call out to like. The former sea dweller would have gone somewhere she felt comfortable, working side by side with her fishy friends made sense. But then…where was her other friend.

He couldn't locate Cruella in the city, a surprise since he could easily see her fitting in there running a gallery or jewelry store. But no, he used the globe again and instead found her in upstate New York, of all places. Unfortunately, he couldn't pinpoint her. He didn't have any large maps of upstate New York to point him in any specific direction. However, he was satisfied that they both lived far enough away from Belle that he didn't care.

But doing all this…it did give him another idea.

He took a deep breath, moved the globe closer to him, closed his eyes and focused one more time…on Baelfire. For a brief moment, when he felt the crystal pull, he dared to hope, dared to dream that he didn't need August or Emma, that he might find his boy here and now all on his own. But then he opened his eyes. The crystal hadn't settled. It was hovering, swinging in a circle just as it had with Booth out in the woods only this time it circled parts of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and even a little bit of Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.

He took a deep breath and clenched the crystal in his hand until it hurt. He hunched himself over his table and swallowed hard, anything to keep himself from overturning the table in anger. He held on to what was good. He had been right. Baelfire was close. Somewhere in the Northeast, south of here. It was still half a dozen cities to explore, but now he'd learned roughly where he was. It was better than searching the entire United States. And he'd learned something else too. The crystal had circled for Bae just as it had with Booth. It had circled out there for Bae when it hadn't for Cruella or Ursula. Not just one other thing. Two other things.

First, if it had the same reaction as it had for August and he'd concluded that it was because August had magical protection then logically, he had to make the same conclusion for Bae. He, too, was using magical protection.

Second, if he was using magical protection out there, then that meant August had been right. There was magic of some sort, beyond Storybrooke, unstudied magic…

The implications of that were terrifying.

It meant there was a possibility that he was going to need more than just one spell to get him over the barrier.

Welcome to 2x05, and the name of the game is: set up. So much set-up. I'm sorry, I know this chapter is not the most exciting, but I needed it badly. In fact, die-hard fans will probably realize that I need it badly, not just for this fiction, but for others to come as well. Not only does this chapter have Dove and Smee setting up what will come with Hook later on, but there was also a mention that Scarlet is gone. And, yes, I know that's not really something that affects Rumple or his storyline, but for me, if I at least keep him in view of some of our characters, it makes his sudden appearance in season four a bit less random. Let's see...this chapter also features a mention that there's a protection spell on the library, but that has a flaw in it, a loophole, that can be exploited later in this fiction. There are further hints too that Booth is hiding in the woods with the use of magic and, of course, a hint that Baelfire might just be using a bit of the same magic to hide. And then, naturally, Rumple locating Ursula and Cruella. Because really, if I didn't find a place to put that in, then it was just going to make certain aspects of season four really dumb. Hunting those two down while Rumple hunted down the rest of his enemies, that seemed like a good place to insert it.

Thanks for continuing to read, Grace5231973 and Alarda. Up next is the last bit of 2x05. It's a scene that I think you all know well as it too had its set up several fictions ago. Peace and Happy Reading!