The day before he left to make his deal was busy and sad, slow and painful, happy and relaxing all at once. He walked his home, walked the halls of his castle, the one he'd always intended for Bae to share with him. He walked with the potion to call items to him in one hand but looked around with the eyes of a stranger. This was the last time he'd be in this castle, maybe forever. But his trip with Zoso so long ago to his former home reminded him that nothing was permanent. Just because he wouldn't be returning here didn't mean that others wouldn't. So he made it safe. When he stumbled upon an item he knew he wanted in the other world, he anointed it with his potion and then made the decision whether to hide it or to leave it for whoever might venture into his home between now and the curse. Belle's chipped cup and her teapot, the only surviving pieces of her tea set, aside from the saucer in the cabinet, he put in her dungeon cell. Pandora's box was safe where it was hidden in the kitchens, but the idea of anyone walking through the dungeons and kitchens she'd once called her own made him want to vomit. So he placed the tea cup's plate back in the stack by the door and then sealed them. He used Heart Magic, a kind of magic he rarely used because of how easily it left him drained, but after tonight he wouldn't be using his magic for quite some time. He may as well use it for this. Using Heart Magic to seal the lower levels ensured that the doors and windows disappeared, never to be opened again unless someone who loved him touched them. Someone…with Belle gone, that was only Baelfire. He couldn't use blood magic because he didn't have Bae's blood, and anyway, heart magic was deeper and far more powerful. It would keep the world sealed away, freezing those things in time so that even if his castle was invaded, they'd never find the things he truly cherished.

The Saxony Wheel that he'd learned to spin on as a child he stashed in Baelfire's room along with all of Bae's clothes and possessions. Then he sealed that room as well. He put the flower Belle once sat upon Baelfire's altar into his room along with the Great Wheel his aunts used, then he followed the same procedure and sealed it all away. Books, a few other special items he didn't want anyone touching, like his dagger, he hid in Belle's library, in some of the stonework by the fireplace. If his captors were smart, they would search him before they placed him in his prison. He couldn't take his dagger with him. Sealed away in Belle's library, it was safest there.

He spent his last few hours in his tower, the place he'd felt most at home when Belle and Bae had gone. He didn't cast spells or work magic. He spun. Not straw to gold or string to gold. He just sat before his wheel, pulled wool in one hand, moved the wheel with the other, and watched as wool became thread. Then he double spun the thread and watched as it became yarn. He worked it the old fashioned way, the slow way. A flick of the wrist here and there, two steps forward, three steps back, just like his aunts taught him.

He nearly wept when the sun set. It wasn't like him to feel nostalgic or possessive of a place, but he felt that about this one. Or maybe it was just his mind playing tricks on him. Maybe if there weren't the threat of leaving it, he wouldn't feel the way he did. He was slow to coat a flask in the potion he'd crafted the night before so that when his hands touched it, he could transfer the potion to Cinderella. He stuck it in his pocket, gave his Tower Haven one last look, then took a deep breath, walked down the stairs, and sealed it as he had the other important places in his castle. He walked one more time through the quiet castle, double-checking that everything he wanted on the other side was prepared, then seeing it was, he walked out the front door. He considered, very seriously, concealing the entire thing. But he couldn't shield the castle for everyone. And a castle standing with no windows or doors would look suspicious and tempting. He had to leave certain parts open as bait, allow the unimportant parts to be plundered and used so that the important parts would stay safe. This way, if Baelfire ever returned, he'd be able to truly have a home of memories to come back to.

With that resilient thought…he was ready.

On the night in question, he arrived right on time, and his senses expanded. She was there, looking lost and frightened as she properly should have, but he was no idiot. He knew she wasn't there alone. There were men all around them, talking over in the trees. In the woods, there was the stamp of horse hooves and the creak of wood and iron. He smelled Charming and Thomas somewhere close. One, two, three, four, five...five heartbeats, not counting those of Cinderella or her child. There was no escaping this moment. And he didn't want to. He pulled out his flask and rubbed his hands over it, absorbing the magic he'd left there.

"Well, well, well!" he droned loudly, announcing his presence to her as well as the others that were around. Their heartbeats all fluttered noticeably. And Cinderella, she wrapped her cloak around herself, trying to conceal her growing abdomen, as if that was going to help her. "You're starting to show. A little bird told me you wanted to speak?"

"Yes," she exclaimed, taking steps closer to him. "I'd like to alter the bargain."

"That's not what I do," he stated, purposefully playing hard to get. He had to maintain appearances.

"I think you'll want to…I'm having twins."

He choked down the urge to laugh. Instead, he imagined himself putting his laughter inside the flask and tossed it away. So that was how they were planning to do this, convince him it was twins, and then he'd want both as if he couldn't hear how many heartbeats there were for himself. Still, it did give him an opportunity.

"Is that so? Oh, let's have a look!" he announced, stepping forward and putting his hands on her stomach. His hands, and something more…

He touched her stomach, allowing his hands to smear the potion he'd developed over her belly. It would take some time to seep into her clothes, but not too long. He had to keep the conversation moving so that by the time it hit Thomas was out of hiding and would touch her stomach as well.

"And you would, what? Give up both?" he questioned of the girl. One heartbeat…not two. Oh, how he longed to call out her lies and expose the plan and show them all just how undefeatable he was! But for Bae, he kept quiet.

She nodded.

"Why is that, I wonder?"

"My husband, he's…he's having a hard time," she explained as she circled around him. Avoiding eye contact-proof of lies, as if he had any doubts. "Our kingdom is poor, we're losing money, our crops are dying…we can't support ourselves or our people."

More lies. Did they think that he had no idea what was happening in the world, that he didn't watch the Kingdoms just as avidly as he watched Snow and David? This was what they expected him to fall for?

"And you would trade your other child for…comfort?" he questioned, playing along.

Cinderella smiled a grin that made her look sinister. It would have been convincing if he didn't know every part of her tale was a lie. "I can always have more children, but I can't make crops grow where the soil is dead. In exchange for our other child, you will see to it that our land is once again fertile. I think it's more than fair," she stated, pulling out a long piece of paper titled "Contract."

That was suspicious all on its own. Was this how they were planning on catching him, with a phony contract? Was the magic to trap him written into it somehow?

"Yes!" he snapped eagerly. "Yes, yes, it is…if what you're saying is true."

"It is!" she insisted as he inspected the contract, trying to find the link in it that would remove his magic long enough for them to "capture" him and take him away. He could find none. Not at a glance, at least.

"And all you have to do…is sign on the dotted line."

Ah. Not the contract…the quill. It reeked of Fairy Magic. Too much fairy magic along with a concealment spell. Someone had bewitched it, some fairy, that was, and they'd gone through a lot of trouble to hide the fact that it was bewitched.

"What a lovely quill!" he laughed, snatching it from her hand. There was so much Light Magic on it that it practically burned his hand. "Wherever did you get it?"

"It's from our castle." An unlikely story…

"You know," he sighed, staring her down, "the only way to stop me is through magic."

"I'm not trying to stop you."

"Of course, you're not. Because, as we all know, all magic comes with a price," he announced, making the same physical comparisons he had on the day that he'd first met her. "And if you were to use it to, say, imprison me, then your debt to me would only grow. And we wouldn't want that, now, would we?" he threatened, knowing that she wasn't going to give into his threats.

The Princess only sneered at him. "Just sign the contract, please."

"Are you sure you're happy with this new arrangement?"

The girl took a breath…then two, then pushed the contract into his face again. So that was that. He took the contract in one and held the quill in his other. It was almost ironic, unfathomable in a way, how simple it all was. A stroke of the quill and he wouldn't see freedom, true freedom for until the Swan was twenty-eight. After more than a hundred years of this…it was going to be like a vacation.

"Then so it shall be."

He signed the contract.

Immediately he felt magic, Light Magic, spread over his body and hold him in place as the contract fell to the ground.

"Thomas!" Cinderella cried.

"No one breaks deals with me, dearie. No one," he growled just for show as the troops came rushing in. "No matter where you are, no matter what land you find yourself in, I assure you–I will have your baby."

"Never," Thomas said, coming out of the carriage. And then he did exactly what he wanted him to do. He tucked his Cinderella under one arm and placed his hand over her belly and rubbed, his skin soaking up the magic he had placed there, magic which would still be effective even if his own currently wasn't. He couldn't perform magic now, but he could still feel it, and the second he did, he felt the magic he'd placed on him and her as well join together and activate. He could feel it mingle in the air even as David and Grumpy came along, grabbed his arms, and fit him into the back of the jail carriage.

"After all, I've done for you…" he sneered for good measure.

"Quiet!" Grumpy snapped.

"Did we really win?" he heard Cinderella ask her Prince as the doors to his temporary cell closed.

"Yes. I told you we would."

"I was so afraid," she whispered as she placed her hand over his cheek and rubbed his skin as though she was clawing it. "I was so afraid that we'd fail. That…that I'd have to go back to that life, that…that terrible life. I was…I was afraid that I would lose you and that nothing would have changed."

"As long as I'm alive, you will never go back to that life," Thomas assured her before the pair kissed. "Now. How is our little Alexandra?" he asked when they broke apart. Magic filled the air again, and he glanced over to see…he was touching her belly again. The magic was working, on both of them…any second now…

"Alexandra?"

"Did I not mention that I picked out a name?"

"A name? That's more like a prison sentence."

"Well, I like it."

"Mm, men. You really know nothing of ch-" And then it happened. The child stopped mid-sentence, and her mouth dropped open. She let out a groan and then another one as Thomas pressed forward. "Ella, what is it?"

"Oh, it's…it's the baby," she stated, hunching over in pain. "Something's wrong."

"No, no, no. It can't be. It's too soon. It must be the stress. The excitement."

"Oh, I'm dizzy."

He smiled. Right on cue.

"Sit, sit. I'll go get you water."

"Okay," she breathed as Thomas launched off into the woods to a nearby well. Launched off for the last time. The magic he'd planted had been coming to fruition as he'd run. In no time, the Dislocation Curse would take him; it would send him far away with rags for clothes, a beard, no money, and no means of getting home until the Dark Curse was cast. They wouldn't be together for a very long time, not until after the Swan returned. Not until he was free. This had been a good deal.

All of a sudden, just as quickly as it had come on, the magic he placed on Cinderella passed. He hadn't meant it to do damage, just suggest damage. Unlike the Charmings, he had no desire to take a child from its mother. All he wanted was a favor from the Swan…and his reputation upheld.

"Thomas!" Cinderella cried out with a smile on her face. "It's okay! It's passed! Thomas?" She rose from her seat and followed after her husband. She walked into the forest. A few moments later, she returned in a fury. "What did you do?" she cried as David locked the door appropriately. He was able to move on his own again, stiff and not very well, but if they wanted him captured, then he needed to be locked inside.

"Ella, what's wrong?" David asked.

"Your Highness, what happened?" Grumpy wondered.

"What did you do to my Thomas?" Cinderella cried, throwing herself at the bars.

"I haven't done anything. In case you haven't noticed, I've been otherwise engaged."

"Something's happened to him. You know. Tell me!"

He turned to look at her with a sly smile. It was all about appearances. "I have no idea, dearie. But I did warn you–all magic comes at a price. Looks like someone has just paid."

"Don't listen to him!" David insisted. "We'll find Thomas."

"No, you won't," he interrupted. "Until that debt is paid, until that baby is mine, you're never going to see him again."

David tugged at Cinderella, dragged her away from him as if retreating to safety, a strange thing to do if one had such faith that he was truly captured.

"In this world or the next, Cinderella," he yelled after her. "I will have that baby!"

Or a favor from the Swan to get him back to his baby.

No, literally, the chapter is called "His Grand Finale." And you thought I was being all dramatic in the last A/N. Well, here we are, Rumple's capture. These scenes were actually pretty fun to write. I know they're word for word what we saw on the show, but the in-between stuff allowed me to add some character to Rumple and to his plan, to display his craftiness. The beginning bit allowed me to properly set up season 3 when Belle and Bae get into the castle; I liked getting to write the backside of that. And I sort of like his running commentary throughout the deal.

Thank you, Jennifer Baratta, Grace5231973, and Alarda, for the review you left me! I'm so glad you have enjoyed it! From here on out, we're going to be in that cell. And I know that seems boring but, trust me on this one, I did a little something special with those scenes, and I think, I hope, you'll like it. Just a hint for those scenes, when you start to read them, you might think that I've messed up. You might think I've put the wrong chapter in by accident. I suggest you just go with it. Keep reading. See where it leads you. You never do know where it'll take you! Peace and Happy Reading!