Regina was a tricky little devil. He was partly to blame for that, but he wasn't willing to excuse the fact that Cora was her mother or that she'd been brought up as a spoiled little girl by her father either. When he'd first met her, she'd been innocent and naïve. Now that she knew what the world around her was capable of, he knew there were times to excuse himself from her presence. After the fiasco with Count Edmund, for example, he found himself purposefully staying away from her to the extent that when she'd come to his castle one night, screaming his name, demanding to know what he'd done, he'd made himself invisible and stood in a corner, tolerating her destruction of his things, knowing full well that the important things were safe from her. It wasn't that he was scared of her, not by a long shot; no, he had more power than Regina ever would. But he recognized that from now on, he had a tricky role to play in her life. After what happened with the Count and Charlotte, he had appeared before her as an enemy, but he was ever aware that there was time she would need him to be her mentor, still, and other times that she'd need him to be her friend. He'd hidden from her that day because he knew that if she found him, that might be the end of it. When the Count hadn't shown up, and Snow and David continued to live, it hadn't taken her much to put two and two together, and she was so furious that if she got her hands on him, she would have severed their bond so that he would never have been able to appear before her as a friend again. By hiding and letting her take out her anger on his objects, he allowed her to vent her rage towards him at having failed, then go home to wallow in her despair, a place that he would still be able to reach her.

Soon enough, he'd sensed, probably from the Seer, she would let him into her world again. This time when he explained the loophole to the protection spell he'd placed on the Charmings, she would be receptive. She would listen. And the divide would be crossed once more. So he kept up his watching, kept himself fully tuned into the future in his head, and waited to be called to go to her. But he didn't expect it would happen as it had.

In the early morning on the day Snow and David were to be married, he received a summons, one he probably would have answered out of boredom even if the Seer hadn't pressed him to go, but it hadn't led him to Regina, at least not directly. Instead, it took him out into the courtyard where the former queen kept her apple tree, to a man he'd seen several times in his life, who practically had haunted him, and yet he'd never had a conversation with.

Henry.

Cora's husband.

Regina's father.

He wasn't ashamed of his past. He simply preferred not to acknowledge it. Everything he'd ever done, good or bad, was to get back to Baelfire. If he let himself wander too far from that truth, his past sins might kill him. But Henry…

Henry always made him uncomfortable. The idea of talking with him now, standing before him as he was, made his heart race, and he struggled to keep the mask of the Dark One in place before him. Sometimes he thought it might have been the old man's age. He'd already been well over one hundred by the time he'd pursued Cora, and he hardly ever felt his age or even felt like all those years had gone by as they had, but when he looked at Henry, he felt like he could feel every last year he'd ever lived. He was white-haired and wrinkled, a far cry from the handsome young Prince he'd once been in so many ways. When he looked at Henry, he felt like he should have been food for the worms, old and buried by now with his son next to him as his grandchildren brought them flowers for their graves. He'd tried, ever since his indiscretion with Cora, never to pay Henry much attention for that reason. Why he'd summoned him for a face to face meeting now, after all these years…it was a mystery to him.

"You?" he laughed, trying to pretend like he didn't care. "Well, there must be a mistake. Surely you wouldn't summon me. Your daughter could give you all you want!"

"It's not about what I want; it's about what she wants. What can you do for her?"

"I'm sorry, who?"

"Regina!" he stressed, stepping closer to him. There was an old weathered piece of paper in his hands. He kept running his fingers over it, pinching and releasing it, changing his grip on it over and over, nervously. What was it? "I know I don't look like much, but I'm smarter than I appear. I know about you and Cora, just as I know you've taught Regina to be as her mother," he admitted extending his hand so that he might take the paper.

Damn it. It was a letter, one that he'd written to Cora long ago. It had started with "My Love." He regretted those words now. Looking at them made him sick, especially when he thought of what he still felt for Belle. How could he ever have confused what he felt for Cora as love?

"I don't care who you've taught her to be. All I want is my daughter's happiness, for her to live in peace. If you can do something to help her, I'll gladly pay the price."

He believed that. Truly he did. But this wasn't something that involved him. At least not until it came time to cast the Curse.

"I've already done something to help her," he explained, folding the paper and sticking it into his pocket. "She wouldn't take my help."

"Then convince her!" Henry begged. "I fear for her if she doesn't find help. Cora belonged to you, no matter what she said-"

"-Cora belonged to her magic-"

"-but Regina is all I've ever had in this world," he stated, ignoring his correction. "She's all I ever wanted and all I've ever had to be proud of. I can't stand to see her in this state."

He smiled and took a step closer to dear Henry. It was ironic. He couldn't stand to see his daughter in this state. He didn't have much of a choice. If his vision of the future was right, his sacrifice was going to be what it took to get her out of this state.

"And…you would be willing to…die for her...if that were the cost of her happiness?"

Henry's eyes went wide as dinner plates, and he flinched, considering his words and what he'd just said. If he truly was smarter than he appeared, he would know what those words meant. But would he be willing?

Henry nodded. "If that is the cost," he vowed.

Poor old man.

He laughed and tapped his fingers together. "Well then…let's go see, Regina!" he declared.

With another nod, Henry turned to lead him to wherever Regina was.

Oh, he could see what he meant. When Henry walked into her chamber and proclaimed, "You have a visitor," he made quick work of the situation and appeared behind her so that by the time Regina snapped "who?" and her father turned to usher him in, he was already there, watching Regina stare into her mirror.

"You need to ask?" he questioned, drawing her attention away from the mirror. His appearance didn't change her mood, not that he'd really expected it to. It was a perfectly lovely day for a wedding. He doubted that she'd see it that way. Perhaps this wasn't such a bad idea. There was, after all, one little thing in his plan he didn't always account for. Whats and whos and whys were important, of course, but when manipulating a situation, when trying to force the hand of someone who didn't want to be forced, whens could also have their own power. "What other friends do you have, dearie?"

"You're no friend," Regina snarled as her father made his way out of the room. "Have you come to relish my suffering?"

"I thought you'd want someone to help raise your spirits. Especially on a day like today!"

"What's so special about today?" she questioned as he got to his feet. He beamed…as if she had no idea.

"Snow White and Prince Charming's wedding, of course. Didn't you get an invitation? Me neither." Which was sorely unfair considering how much of a hand he'd had in their union. He'd go so far as to say that without him, none of this would be happening. Such gratitude… "Still, nice to be able to see them declare their twoo love in front of their entire kingdom. A happy ending after all."

"And, because of you, there's nothing I can do to stop it," she spat back at him before heading to her vanity. "'No way to harm them in this land ever again!'"

He fought an urge to roll his eyes. She thought she was so brilliant, and yet she hadn't figured out the biggest loophole of all, the only chance that she had for revenge. She just had to be humble enough to follow the plot that he'd laid for her.

"Yes. Yes, I suppose that's true…in this land," he said carefully, emphasizing the last bit so that she would hear a hint of hope in his voice. He'd told her this before, he'd told her about taking them elsewhere…but she'd been stubborn then, filled with hope that the Count could do what she could not. He hoped she just needed reminding.

It worked. The Evil Queen stopped where she was and turned. "What?"

"The deal I made was explicit. You can never harm them in 'this' land. Now, were you to bring them to another land…well…" he smiled at her and watched as understanding finally perked her up. Her chin raised, she smiled, and a spark of light lit up the black behind her eyes. Amazing what the brain could forget when revenge ran wild, amazing how just one little reminder could bring it all back.

"Told you I was your friend," he muttered before disappearing. He had a wedding to watch after all…and Regina had a curse to usher in.

Ah, Rumple and Regina before the Snowing wedding. This chapter seemed really straightforward when I prompted it. And then I watched it and realized something...there was a small minor little detail in the actual scene that has some big implications, and I wasn't about to let that go. The detail? Regina's father announces Rumple's arrival. Yep, that bit is part of the actual scene. Unlike the other times when Rumple just sort of appears in the room with Regina, Henry tells her, "you've got a visitor." And when Rumple appears, he doesn't exactly appear surprised that it's him. To me, that meant that Rumple and Henry had to have at least talked. What's so special about that? This is the first and only time Rumple and Henry have or will talk in this fiction. During Regina's life, all through Cora, and when they were training, he's always tried to avoid him, and now here they are face to face. It's a little thing, but I had to write it in.

Thank you so much for your review of the last chapter, Jennifer Baratta, Alarda, and Grace5231973. I really appreciate that! I hope you'll appreciate the conversation added to this chapter and won't see it as too presumptive. Henry is an interesting character to me. He bothers me sometimes because I think he lets Cora and Regina get away with a lot of what they do, but at the same time, I feel sorry for him. I think at the heart of it, he is a good man who loves his family probably more than they love him, and I think that he knows he's powerless against them. I did enjoy using a letter, though, to let him show his hand, to reveal that he's not stupid. He knew Cora had other relationships. He just continued to love his family. I'm really excited to hear what ya'll think of this! And, of course, if this is the morning of the wedding, then you must know what comes next! Peace and Happy Reading!