He had to hand it to his client, Alexandra; she had the gift of patience. He wouldn't have assumed that from a woman who had demanded a painful, revenge-filled death for the man who had made her life a nightmare after his indiscretions. A month later, when her husband was obviously still up and walking around, he had expected to be summoned by her to provide a timeline. But she hadn't done that. Either she had complete faith in him and the contract, or she'd come to regret the decision she'd made and wasn't contacting him in hopes that he'd forgotten. But Rumpelstiltskin never forgot a deal, the contract was signed, and the fact that in the last month he'd had no breakthroughs with the teacup he felt so attached to made him eager to collect the rest of the tea set so he could begin to put together this mystery.

One month after his first encounter with the wolf, on the last night of the full moon, he returned to her. The young woman he'd ironically come to refer to as "Granny" in his mind had never actually given him her name. But the cloak was full of his magic. The second he reappeared in the woods he'd last seen her in, he felt the pull of his magic. It wasn't difficult to track from there.

The woman lived in a small house that sat atop a little hill in a large clearing. Smoke rose from the chimney, and as was typical for this time of the year there was a fresh blanket of snow on the ground, which made it very easy not only to know what had happened during the nights of the full moon, but also track the girl now. The footprints on the ground were human only. Not a single paw print. This meant that unless Granny had transformed outside of the house last night, she hadn't shifted at all. And the single line of tracks that went from the front door of the house to the little chicken coop close by told him that she was inside.

Opening doors was beyond him. It was a simple thing that humanized him. Over the decades, he'd learned that the best way to separate himself from those that he helped was never to do simple things like open and close doors. It was best to use magic, or, when introducing himself, simply use the art of surprise to appear far more menacing than he actually was. He positioned himself in the path between the house and the chicken coop, and a few moments later, the door swung open.

"Jeez!" Granny jumped in surprise and nearly dropped the eggs she'd collected in her basket as she grabbed at her chest. He was pleased to see his red cloak draped over her shoulders.

"Well, well, well…we meet again."

"How the hell did you find me?!" she demanded as her heart rate settled.

He opened his mouth to simulate a scoff. "Oh, such language from a lady! How inappropriate!"

"You scared me half to death, you're lucky that's all you heard! How did you find me?"

He grinned. He'd forgotten how much he liked Granny in the month since they'd met, just how unafraid and unyielding she was. It was attractive. Were he a younger man he might have acted on that attraction…but he wasn't younger. He was the father of Baelfire. And nothing mattered except finding his son.

"You have something that belongs to me," he admitted. "And I did promise I'd be back after the full moon. Tell me, was the cloak to you…satisfaction?" he questioned without a doubt in his mind that it had been. Not only was he confident in his magic, the look that accompanied the sigh she let out told him all he needed to know. But hearing the words wasn't too bad either…

"It does as you say," she admitted leaning over to set her basket of eggs on the ground. She reached out to grab the fabric behind her and pulled it around herself as if it helped to shield her from the cold. He knew it didn't. The material was thin, meant to be worn summer as well as winter. Whatever it was protecting her from now wasn't the cold. "It was the first time I haven't blacked out during the full moon since I was twelve. I stayed human," she confirmed before glancing up at him with a curious gaze that was clearly wondering how he'd react.

"So, we have accepted the truth about what we are then, have we?"

"There is no 'we'," she stated boldly. "It's me. Only me! And…I think I always knew, I just…I never wanted to admit it before. But that doesn't mean that I'll ever accept what I am, or embrace it as you said!"

That was fine. It was a shame, as far as he was concerned, but for his purposes right now, despising herself worked in his favor.

"Then I suppose you'll be needing that cloak to keep the beast at bay."

There was a pause, a very audible pause where words were meant to be. And a look, a sharp piercing one as she narrowed her hawk-like eyes at him in a different way. It was as if she was seeing something for the first time rather than this being their second encounter. It was unsettling, not knowing exactly what was going on in her bloody mind!

"I've done some research on you Dark One…all magic comes with a price," she finally spoke. His mind began to race at the mere suggestion of research. What exactly did she know about him?

"Indeed it does. And the price for this magic we have already discussed," he reminded, trying to steer the conversation back to the task at hand. "Simply help me with my little pest problem, and the cloak is yours!"

He watched as she diverted her eyes away from him, looking off into the distant forest though the smirk on her face told him that she wasn't really looking at anything in particular and wasn't even really thinking. She was considering. She was going over the details again in her head, and it left a sour taste in his mouth. Deals were best made in the heat of the moment when an individual had no time to think. In this case he'd wanted her to use the cloak during this full moon and become so attached to it the idea of losing it would make her do anything he asked, but he was beginning to think that he'd made an error. Perhaps he should have approached her three days ago instead of a month ago, he should have let her have it for three days, using it each night, let her think it was more useful than it was, rather than giving her the opportunity to think. By the time she finally reached up to unbuckle the cloak from her neck, he wasn't surprised, and when she held it out between them and let it pool against the snow, he was already preparing his back-up plan.

"No," she stated firmly. "The cloak is…truly astounding. It'll keep me from being a monster a few days a month, but if I agree to this, if I help you murder this man, pest or not, then that will make me a monster forever, no matter what form I take."

"You are making a mistake," he growled, looking down at the red cloth against the snow. It looked like a pool of blood, perhaps that was why it had assumed that color.

"No," Granny responded, shaking her head with an outwitting smirk on her face. "Everything inside of me screams that making a deal with you would be the mistake. The cloak is amazing, but I won't kill to have it. If that means chaining myself up night after night after night to be sure I can't hurt anyone, then that is the way it will be." She reached down then and picked up her basket of eggs. "I make no deal with you, Rumpelstiltskin. Find another fool to take advantage of." And with that dismissal, she marched boldly around him as she left to go back inside the house.

She truly had done her research. She'd said the magic words. By stating no deal with him, she'd ended their association so undeniably he felt the very magic inside of him rebel at the thought of her. Ordinarily, with no further use for the girl, he'd have killed her, and as he turned to watch her walk back into the house, he had to admit the anger inside of him made it a temptation. A simple snap of his fingers would yield a snap of her neck, and a wave of his hand could blow a gust of wind that would wave a branch right into her head, and it would be all over. It was tempting, but he was smart enough to know it would also be wasteful. There was more than one way to get what he wanted, and with a genuine werewolf within his grasp, he saw one advantage to her blissful refusal to embrace all that she was…ignorance.

Plot twist! Oh, come on! This is Granny we're talking about! You didn't think she'd say "yes" and keep the cloak now, did you? Too easy! So, if she refuses the cloak, how does she end up with it? Why would she lie to Ruby later and tell her that she got it from a wizard? What role to Stephen and Donna play in all of this? Well...it's complicated. At the heart of it all, I wanted to give Granny and Rumple the complicated relationship he spoke of and that is something we will see in the next chapter!

Thank you Grace5231973 for your review on the last chapter. I'm so happy that little surprise with Granny went over well. I'm happy you like it and I hope you are going to continue to like these last few chapters in this section. Granny finishes out the Beginning Section so once we're done with Granny's story we'll be on to section two! Peace and Happy Reading!