By the time morning came, Rumpelstiltskin had packed the still sleeping Prince away into a small basket with a golden blanket he'd made with his own gold thread, not out of caring, but simply out of boredom. It had been a late night. When he'd checked in with everyone he'd found them all in a state of unconsciousness. Cora and Henry, asleep. Regina, asleep. Snow White, asleep. David, asleep. Ruth and Robert, up talking and crying, but his interest in them was minimal especially since the reason they were still awake and grieving was sitting in his room.

Just before first light, he couldn't take the boredom of waiting anymore and summoned Theseus out of deep sleep and into the woods where he'd already hidden Prince James from sight. He had no concerns about the dove's loyalties, but he was smart enough that to keep things secret required as little knowledge to exist as possible. There was no need to bother Theseus with details he didn't need to know, especially now that his wife was pregnant, and he seemed interested only in returning to her side again.

"Find King George's room, wake him up, give him this note and see that he reads it before leaving…and these words, Theseus, they're for the King's eyes only!" he warned through clenched teeth.

Theseus didn't even wince. Looking into his sleepy eyes, he suspected he was too tired to do much of anything other than look at him with that irritated glare.

"That's all? Now?" he complained. "Couldn't wait until a decent time?"

Rumple shrugged. "There'll be a bag of gold waiting for you when you get home…for your troubles, of course," he promised with an enticing smile.

Theseus only rolled his eyes, and in the next second, what stood before him wasn't a dark-skinned man, but a pure white dove who landed on his shoulder. He offered the small piece of paper and the bird, and he snapped it up in his beak perhaps with a bit more fervor than normal. Then he watched as the bright bird get smaller and smaller against the lightening sky until he disappeared altogether into the castle. He leaned against a tree and watched that castle for several minutes until he saw a white bird flying away from it and back to the palace that he and Mary shared. And that was that. He retrieved the small Prince and together they went into the castle.

In truth, it wouldn't have mattered if Theseus had stayed to read the note because it said nothing of value. It was merely a note that King George should meet him at that moment in the room they had originally met in. When he arrived, he sat the basket with the baby on the table and-

There was something there, something that hadn't been there before. Something in the corner. His eyes moved to a large rectangular-shaped object that sat in the corner of the room. It was covered with a blanket, and it was humming, vibrating with magic. But…it was odd…the magic he sensed from it was neither good nor bad, neither Light nor Dark, it simply…was! He'd only encountered such neutral power a few times in his life, usually in infants, like Regina, who contained the power but didn't yet have the understanding to sway it one way or another. And everything he'd ever felt attached to an object always carried with it a signature of the one who had created, which was either Light or Dark. For an object to be neutral like this, it was odd. What on earth was under the blanket?!

The doors opened just as he was about to reach for the blanket and unveil it. It was King George. He was dressed though he did look a little bed ragged. The years since he'd last seen the King had not been good, he observed. He'd gone prematurely gray, and the crinkles around his eyes suggested stress. But as of this moment, those eyes were too busy searching the room. Wordlessly they landed first on him. He opened his mouth to speak, but then…

Then the morning sun hit the blanket that Prince James was wrapped in so that it glittered with light. It drew George's attention to the golden-wrapped bundle, and his jaw opened in wonder. He came into the room, staring wide-eyed at the child. When the doors finally closed behind him with a light thud, he gave a nervous swallow.

"That's him?" he questioned without taking an eye off of him. "That's our boy?"

He forgot whatever object was before him and instead moved back to the basket to push aside the gold blanket and reveal even more of his sleeping face. It was a good thing, if his spell was truly effective, he would wake up soon enough—what a lovely welcome into parenthood.

"King George, may I introduce to you…your heir, Prince James," he pronounced with the fancy voice of a ballroom herald.

The King let out a puff of air and blinked several times as if some kind of enchantment had just been broken. He took a small step back and finally looked at him.

"Prince James…"

"Or…whatever you like," he shrugged. "He's yours, so he may be George the Second if you are so inclined."

"No, James is…" George turned back to the child, looked him over again, and nodded. For just a moment, he might have had a tear in his eye, which was far more emotion than he'd expected out of this particular King. "James is perfect, majestic. It's …it's royal," he finally stated, straightening his back and shaking his head as if to dispel himself of whatever he might be feeling.

He fought back a snicker at such a suggestion and was certain that George would have too if he'd seen the child's humble beginnings. Royal those beginnings had not been, that much was clear. But the King could assume what he liked. Nothing of the child's past mattered now. It was only the future he was concerned with.

"The child's parents?" The King demanded of him suddenly.

"Well paid," he answered, understanding the true question he'd asked.

The King nodded. "He's of good stock?"

That time he couldn't resist the laugh. Stock…such an ironic word to choose.

"Well, he's healthy, but 'of good stock' wasn't part of the deal," he explained away. The parents are poor sheep farmers, Robert and Ruth, from the heart of your own Kingdom. No doubt you've clothes made from some of their fine wool. And well paid as they are, I still wouldn't threaten to take land from them or raise their taxes any time soon for their troubles."

"No, of course not!" he spat as if it was a completely unfounded expectation. But he knew this King, he'd been doing such things for years he doubted the reprieve the family got was eternal. "So long as they don't come meddling they can have their farm. I assume they know-"

"They won't come around looking to take back the boy," he answered immediately. "Not if they truly understand the arrangement they've just made."

The answer seemed to satisfy the King once more and after a moment of consideration, he nodded again. "Thank you, Dark One," he responded with a tone of finality that suggested they were finished when they both knew they most certainly were not. "The years have been long, but you have delivered just as you promised. You have my gratitude."

"Well, that's lovely, dearie, but 'gratitude' doesn't satisfy a debt," he laughed as the child began to twitch. Perfectly timed. He had only a few more minutes. "I need no gratitude, only payment, or else…no deal. That was the arrangement."

"Of course." George tore himself away from James and walked over to none other than the strange object in the corner. He grabbed hold of the blanket, gave a small tug, and when the covering fell away, he found he was looking into a mirror. If it had been humming while it was behind the blanket, now it was absolutely singing with power, strong magical power. But natural, neutral power. He knew even before he explained it that it would most certainly be an adequate payment.

"It's a portal," George explained. "To a realm called 'Wonderland.'"

His heart had momentarily stopped when he'd heard the word portal, but at the word of its destination, he fought to maintain his composure so the King wouldn't see how disappointed he was. A portal was precisely what he would have needed, but one to Wonderland, he was certain, would never get him to the realm he needed. It was here or nowhere else. Still, it was an impressive display of magic, and he'd learned that nothing was ever truly worthless. Perhaps this too could be useful, if only for its origins.

He let out a small lyrical laugh. "How ever did you manage it?"

"There is a man in my Kingdom, one who possesses great skill with opening portals to the other magical realms. He uses his gift to possess objects with the power. I'd heard rumors that you were looking to entries into other realms-"

"And wherever did you hear such a rumor," he inquired a bit more forcefully. That was a valuable piece of information the King found himself in possession of. A piece of information he very much so wanted to discover as there were only so few people in the world that knew that. Two, to be precise. If the King were a lesser man, and the Seer wasn't telling him to spare him, he'd have killed him over that information.

"My spies are my own," the King informed him. "And I think you'll find that information wasn't part of our deal."

He sneered. No. It wasn't. But he could guess. Cora knew, she probably would have been his first choice, but the truth was that he didn't think she would have told simply because that would have meant admitting to an affair she'd had behind her Prince's back. He'd seen how she was dealing with Regina, trying to move her up the ranks, pushing her to be more than she was. She wasn't likely to sully Regina's chances by letting anything about him slide, especially when she'd worked so hard to be sure his name was never uttered on their property. If Henry ever found out, she'd be fearful that he'd want to discuss it privately and that risked breaking the protective seal over their estate.

That left only the Blue Star. Yes, that was far more likely. The dealing of infants was a very dark trade indeed. No doubt the good King had first sought out the righteous path. There was a certain fairy that he'd often seen attached to the family, not the Blue Fairy, but rather another one of Gold. Probably he'd talked to a certain fairy of whom they were both acquainted, and she'd turned him down before he came crawling to him. Lucky.

"It's only a one-way ticket," George commented, bringing him out of his stupor and back to the mirror. "You can go through, but you cannot return. The maker said he didn't have enough magic for a two-way portal."

And there was the information he found himself truly interested in. The maker of such a fine piece of magic. Wizard? Realm jumper?

"And who is this man who has crafted such a gift?"

"A nobody, or at least he would be if not for this gift. He was born with the ability to make portals out of everyday objects, but he doesn't usually work with the gift. He calls it a danger and prefers to live a quiet life."

Was that so?

"Yet, you were able to convince him," he pointed out.

"He's an old man now," the King sighed as he looked the mirror over. "His son and his wife have only just passed, and he's come into possession of their child. He makes a decent living for himself as a clockmaker but add that grandson to his plate, and he was suddenly very agreeable to crafting me what I needed."

For the right price of course... It appeared that King George had been making deals of his own. It was no concern of his from here. Obviously, the King wouldn't give him a name as he hoped, but he'd given him enough information that he was certain he could locate this man and question his abilities himself. As for the mirror…it wasn't exactly a one-way ticket, for the right person it would be, and for the wrong person, it wouldn't be. It all depended on the traveler, that much he could feel. There was more to this magic than it seemed. Loopholes were always a wonder.

"I have decided the payment is sufficient, just as you promised," he declared, reaching his hand out toward the King. He hesitated, but eventually took it and shook it. With a wave of his hand, the mirror vanished, back to a spot in his castle until he could figure out what to do with it and as far as the King went…

"Our business is concluded. Enjoy your heir…summon me should a problem ever arise!" he laughed before he disappeared.

I wanted consistency in this fiction. And, I suppose I also wanted to make the Dark One a little bit humble, less "all-powerful" and more "cursed". There are places that Rumple does go while he's in the Enchanted Forest and then there are places that seem beyond his reach unless he had help. I didn't like that. And it did dawn on me that though he goes to other realms we never actually saw him get to any of them on his own. So I have created a little storyline that explains some of how he moves around from relam to realm in this fiction that carries with it consistency. Of course, we won't meet the person who is going to help him with that for another couple of chapters, but oh my...he's coming! Gee! I wonder who the grandson of a great portal maker could be?! And wouldn't it be strange if the portal maker saved the greatest most diverse portal he ever made for his grandson?! Oh my...I wonder who it is?! ;)

Thank you Grace5231973, Jennifer Baratta, and MissAmande for your reviews on the last chapter. This is the last we see of George and James for a little while. I hope it wraps everything up nicely. This was also a scene I could have sworn we'd seen but I checked and checked and couldn't find it so again, the fingers are crossed that you don't write me back and tell me I got it wrong. Only two more chapters left in this section (see, I told you it would be short). We're using them both to finish up a couple of open storylines before we move on. Let's move on to the next chapter to see how one character's "happy ending" turned out! Peace and Happy Reading!