With Belle safe inside Granny's, certain to have a night with her friend, he met Dove just down the street at the Rabbit's Hole. Down the street or not, he drove his car. There was a parking lot just outside of the Hole that would be ever so convenient for the plans he had cooked up for the night.

"He's inside?" he questioned of the bird.

"Yeah…been there for the last few hours."

"Bring him out for me."

"How?"

"Well…he has a reputation for finding things. Tell him there's a deal you'd like to discuss."

"Deals are your area of expertise."

He glared at the man, silently communicating that he didn't appreciate being questioned. Dove had balls, he'd give him that. And he could find respect for a man like that, but tolerance for it only extended so far. He had somewhere to be, something he needed to do. He didn't have time for this.

Dove got the message. With a sigh, he got out of the car, slamming the door as he did, and went down into the bar. He went to his trunk, opened it up in preparation for a quick exit, and waited for Dove to return. Ten minutes later, he appeared with Smee in tow.

"Hello, Mr. Smee," he greeted almost cheerfully. It was wildly inappropriate for what he intended to do with him tonight and considering their history. Perhaps that was why Smee gasped, shifted his eyes, and then turned to run. He had ropes on him before he could get far. "Why so unhappy to see me? It's been so long…" he muttered before turning to his assistant. "Thank you, Mr. Dove. I'll take it from here."

"I assume I'll be compensated for my time, silence, as well as the beers that I had to buy."

"Have I ever not compensated you handsomely?" he spat back at his pathetic questions.

Dove seemed to find that answer satisfactory. They watched as the man wordlessly got into his car and drove off, leaving the pair of them alone.

"Now…" he used his magic to gag Smee as he opened his mouth to shout for help. "We're going to go on a little ride. And I can't have you arousing suspicion or interrupting my good thoughts now, can we?" he snarled, leading him to the back of his car. With a small kick, Smee tumbled into the trunk, and he closed the door on him before he could try to escape. Barely thirty seconds later, he was driving him to the outskirts of town.

He parked safely down the street from where he saw the "Leaving Storybrooke" sign, a fair distance from the orange line drawn in the road. That was where he popped the trunk of his car and found Smee staring back at him, bound gagged, and terrified. That wasn't exactly how he'd left Belle in the tunnel, but it was close enough. She'd been terrified and trapped with handcuffs but not gagged. Although now that he thought of it, down in those tunnels all by herself…she could have screamed as loud as she wanted, if they hadn't shown up, no one ever would have heard her. That made this fitting enough.

Still, he offered him a hand and smiled, looking down into his terrified eyes. "This will only take a moment."

Smee refused his hand. Instead, he managed to shift his body and get out on his own. He supposed that was necessary with his hands tied. On his feet, he gave him a little push toward the ominous orange line on the ground, his nemesis, and felt Smee's heart race faster as he grumbled, trying to say something. Well…seeing as how he had a question to ask him…

He pulled the gag out of his mouth, and immediately the man turned back to him, hands raised in defense.

"Don't…push me over," he begged as he took menacing steps toward him, forcing him one step at a time closer to that line. "If I cross the line, I'll lose my memory," he glanced back as if judging the distance before returning his gaze to him. "It's a cruel fate."

"A fate you were more than willing to bestow upon Belle," he pointed out before sending his cane up between the man's legs. He gave a small "oof" of pain before falling to the ground. It was a cheap shot but effective. The second he was down, he reached out to take his hat, the one that he always suspected Odie, his grandmother, had knit for him. He was hoping that made it special, sentimental perhaps.

"You've had this rag since the day we met. Why is it so important to you?" he asked, uncorking his bottle of magic and pouring it over the thing so that it glowed blue, the same color all magic that went over the town line had glowed. He hoped that was a good thing.

"My grandmother made it for me when I was a boy. It's always brought me good fortune. What difference does it make?" he explained. Perfect. That was exactly what he wanted to hear.

"Oh…all the difference in the world," he chuckled. "It's your only chance."

He threw the hat at Smee, who caught it in his hands and quickly put it on his head before rising to his knees. Beautiful.

"What do you mean, my only-"

He kicked the man over the line before he could finish his question and watched. Carefully he took a step forward to where Smee had been kneeled in front of him and watched. There it was, the same surge of blue magic he'd seen in all his experiments shot through his body. He lay on his back and let out a breath as he stared glassy-eyed up into the night sky, hands bound at his face as if he wanted to scream, and then…it stopped. On the other side of the line, Smee was still for a moment, his heart still fluttering with fear as he picked his head up to look around, confused for a moment. Confusion was understandable no matter the outcome of this experiment; the question was what was he confused about.

"What's your name?" he asked.

His eyes shifted to him on the other side of the line as he opened his mouth.

"William Smee."

He held back a smile, a rush of excitement.

"And who am I?"

"Rumpelstiltskin…" he muttered in amazement, shifting to his knees. "The Dark One." Smee smirked, and he tried to keep his face hard and unfeeling as he looked at the man before him, even as he broke out into a smile that showed he was nearly as happy as he was at the outcome. "I remember everything! How can this be?"

"Well, it seems our little experiment was a success…"

And wasn't he lucky that his little experiment with Belle had been a failure. He reached out and yanked the man over the line, stared him down as he watched fear infiltrate again. After he found Bae, he could put the protection spell up, which would have prevented Smee from doing exactly what he'd just done, but that was after he finished his work. Next, he had to test his potion on himself, then locate August, get the location of his boy, claim his favor from Emma, and then…

"Now go," he snarled, shoving Smee away from him, in the direction of the town.

Smee didn't waste time; he took off, moving back into the town and sprinting down the road. He considered, briefly, doing something else, taking revenge on him in some other way for the role he'd played in nearly snatching Belle away from him. It would have been lovely to let him get down the road only to snap his neck. But for Belle, for the person he wanted to be for her and Bae…he let him go. He had no intention of driving him back to town, but he'd let him spend the night getting there on his own. Besides…he had better things to do with his time.

He glanced down at the town line and then out at the road that led far away from Storybrooke to Baelfire.

"I have a trip to plan."

Short, sweet, nothing we haven't seen before, and a lovely introduction into 2x11. While Belle's off at Archie's remembrance thing, Rumple is getting his answers and seeing that all his hard work has paid off! It may not be much, but I hope that you'll like it!

Peace and Happy Reading!