Author's Notes: Although some of the dialogue from 'Manhattan' and later episodes appear, they are in a different order to fit the scenes I have rewritten.

Friends are "annuals" that need seasonal nurturing to bear blossoms. Family is a "perennial" that comes up year after year, enduring the droughts of absence and neglect. There's a place in the garden for both of them. – Erma Bombeck

Storybrooke, Maine

Nine days prior to the Final Eclipse

It had been two days since Archie's funeral and no one saw hide nor hair of Regina. It should've made them breathe easier, but Emma knew it was just a matter of time before she returned with a vengeance and she and Charming were working round the clock searching for a way to capture her and lock her in a prison she could never get out of. The townspeople were impatient to see justice done, Archie's brother ever more so and the last thing she needed was him trying to capture the former queen himself.

"You picked a crappy time to go AWOL Gold," she grouched when she drove up to the pawn shop and saw the closed sign hanging on the door for the second day in a row. Moments later Charming drove up in his truck.

"Emma! We gotta get to the town line right away. There's been an accident."

"Anybody hurt?"

"Don't know. Hildy and Terry are on the scene, but they radioed that both vehicles have out of state license plates...New York and Pennsylvania. Outsiders, Emma."

"Okay, I'm comin!" she hopped into the passenger seat of the truck and Charming gunned the engine.

At the town line trying to control four angry people while investigating the scene of an accident was proving to be a difficult task for Hildy and Terry. Three of them were injured and they were all mad as hell. They were relieved when the ambulances pulled up along with Emma and Charming in his truck.

"What's going on here?" Charming demanded.

"This bloody idiot sped past me like he was racing in the Grand Prix then stopped right in the middle of the bloody road and I ran into him because I couldn't stop in time!" Zelena ranted, pointing at Greg while she tried to tend to her bleeding husband.

"Why weren't you paying attention?" he countered.

"You'll pe paying attention when I shove my cane up your ass!" Angelo shouted, waving his cane. Terry got between them and held Angelo back.

"Whoa, whoa, settle down y'all!"

"What the hell are you even doin' here, Mendell?" Bae snapped at Greg. Zelena started laughing.

"THAT is who the putana is sleeping with? She must have to put a bag over his head."

"Bitch!" Greg hissed and tried to lunge at Zelena only to be dragged back by Hildy.

"Hey! Cool it or you'll be cooling it in a jail cell."

'All right everyone settle down or….NEAL!" Emma exclaimed, feeling as if the ground were collapsing under her feet. It had been ten years but little about her former lover had changed, except he had a few more grays in his hair. "What…what are YOU doing here?"

"Emma," Bae whispered. She was still as beautiful as he remembered her only she no longer wore her glasses and the dresses she loved to wear had been replaced by a red leather jacket, tank tops and jeans with boots. She glared at him.

"How the hell did you find me, you son of a bitch?" she demanded angrily. "And why the HELL are you here NOW?"

"You know this guy?" Charming asked her.

"Yeah. Too well," she said through gritted teeth. "Arrest him."

"What!" Bae exclaimed. "For what?"

Emma smirked. "You've got a record Cassidy and I'm the sheriff in this town. Deputies make sure the EMTs have a look at him and if he's well enough to walk take him to the station and lock him up!"

"Emma, please, let me explain."

"I don't wanna hear SHIT outta you right now!" she screamed at him.

"You can't arrest him! He hasn't done anything!" Zelena protested.

"She can arrest him for being an asshole," Hildy joked. Terry chuckled. She'd used that line on one of their murder suspects back in San Francisco.

Bae continued to protest while Charming cuffed his hands and the EMTs examined him. After he was judged to be unharmed, Charming escorted him to the back of Hildy and Terry's squad car and locked him in the backseat.

"Oh, very funny," Zelena snorted. "I'm fine! Take care of Angelo!" she snapped at the EMTs.

"You and your husband will have to come with us," one of them said. They would also be taking Greg in after he began to complain of neck pain.

"You can take my truck back to station when you're finished," Charming informed Terry and Hildy. He and Emma got into their squad car to drive Bae back to town.

"Emma, look, I know you're angry…"

"You're damn right I'm angry and if you have any common sense at all you'll just shut the hell up until we get back to town!"

She gripped the hand rest, fighting the urge to have Charming stop the car and get out so that she could show Cassidy just how angry she was by either blasting him into the trees or just beating him to a pulp. Having him in town was the last thing she wanted to deal with and if he thought he was just going to breeze in and take up where he left off, he had another think coming.

Charming glanced over at his daughter, frowning. There was only one reason why she would be so hostile with this man. He'd have been blind not to see the resemblances to his own grandson. This Neal they'd just picked up was Henry's absentee father, not dead as Emma claimed but apparently a man with a criminal record.

"…Outsiders!" Leroy bellowed when he walked into Granny's a few minutes later. "We've got OUTSIDERS at the town line!"

Granny grabbed her crossbow from underneath the bar counter. "You sure Leroy?"

"Saw Tillman bringin' their wrecked cars in. From New York and Pennsylvania."

"David is it true?" Beth whispered to her husband at their booth while they waited to pick up their order. He gazed down at his phone and nodded.

"Hildy and Terry saw them driving in and one plowed into the back of the other and just told me Leroy's right. Plates are from New York and PA, but the PA driver isn't from your adopted family. They're searchin the cars now."

She tensed. "Do you think it's them, the Home Office?"

"I hope not." He took a wad of cash out of his wallet and handed it to her. "Can you pay for this stuff and take it home? I gotta find out what's goin on."

"David, you're supposed to be on bereavement leave."

"I can't afford to sit around if they're here sweetheart." He got up and hurried out of the diner

"How did they find us?"

"Isn't the town warded?"

"Maybe they killed Archie and not Regina!"

Ruby and the other waitresses began having checks thrust at them along with wads of cash as the patrons raced out of the diner in a panic.

"Lock it up Ruby," Granny ordered her granddaughter while she took all the cash and checks out of the register and shoved them in the safe along with the money and checks her staff was giving her. Ruby turned off the open sign and the lights. The same was happening with all the businesses and homes all over town, doors locked, lights extinguished while the residents prepared for battle. The same panic was spreading like wildfire at the hospital and suddenly Dr. Whale found himself trying to wrangle difficult patients and terrified townspeople.

"Everyone out and let us do our jobs. NOW!" he bellowed at his fellow townspeople while Zelena and Angelo were being brought in followed by Greg Mendell. He sprinted down the hall to the ER, thankful he'd gotten plenty of sleep on his day off. It was going to be a long night.

Mills Mansion

"This world has so many wonderful things!" Cora exclaimed. "I love these moving pictures and your home…it's like a palace…only smaller."

Regina picked up the remote and paused the movie they were watching.

"Mother, you promised me we would go to the station."

"Oh, let's finish watching this moving picture you call Beaches first! I do hope that CeCe woman takes care of her friend's child now. And I cannot believe how much that woman you call Barbara looks like me!"

I guess that's why I love this movie so much, Regina thought. Hilary Whitney was the kind of mother she longed to have even if she did die young.

"All right but after this we're going to the station. No more excuses."

"If you wish dear." Cora picked up her glass of wine and smiled, silently thanking her counterpart in the other Wonderland. Elizabeth Heart's teas were indeed the wonder of all wonders, capable of draining one's emotions allowing them to be easy manipulated. She'd taken a drop of Clear Conscience, a drop of Pure Innocence and combined them with several drops of the most useful teas to make a concoction that would ensure Regina's full cooperation in her mission. She could have used the vapors Bastinda was so fond of in the OZ, but the tea effects lasted longer and were more potent, even against the strongest mage.

Regina finished her cider and set her cup down.

"It's late Mother and we should get some sleep. Come on. I'll show you your room. It's not as grand as what you're used to but…"

"It doesn't matter," Cora said softly. "But didn't you say you wanted us to do something after the moving picture was over?"

"Did I? It must not have been that important. I'm so glad you're back Mother. I missed you."

"I missed you too dear." She followed her daughter upstairs to a room that was no bigger than one of her closets, but it would do for the time being. Regina gave her a brief tour of the room and explained how the lights worked and gave her a nightgown to sleep in. "Will I be meeting my great grandson tomorrow?"

"I hope so. Emma and the two idiots have been trying to keep me away from him."

"They won't be able to keep him away from me. We'll get him back, Regina. I can promise you that."

Regina kissed her mother's forehead and turned off the light. Once she heard Regina's bedroom door close Cora summoned a mirror and waved her hand over it, the image of another woman appearing in the glass.

"The tea worked."

"Of course, it worked." Elizabeth Heart boasted. "And soon we'll be able to make pills from them and give our economy a boost. But first I need to find out where that damned son of mine took the Stone of Wonderland! He's in that world."

"Oh, not to worry dear. If he's here I'll bring him back to myself…minus his heart of course as my fee."

"Our children have been such a disappointment to us, haven't they?" Elizabeth said sadly.

"Perhaps you should use some of your teas on your son."

"I will when I get him back."

"I'm confident we'll both get what we want," Cora said with a smile and the mirror vanished.

Emma stood out in the hall gazing at Bae as he sat handcuffed and alone in the interview room.

"He's Henry's father, isn't he?" Charming asked her.

"Yeah. I met him in Portland when I was eighteen," she said.

"You loved him."

"Until he ran out on me and got me thrown in prison," she said bitterly.

"You wanna talk about it?"

She nodded and began to tell him about those painful months back in Portland when she'd been so close to having her dream of a normal life come true, fighting back the tears. She'd promised herself years ago that she would never cry over her lost first love again but once she finished the armor and the walls she'd built up over the years shattered and she sobbed in her father's arms.

"I loved him so much!" she moaned. "I was willing to do anything for him and he left me! He left me with a son I couldn't take care of and an eleven-month prison sentence. I hate him! I wish he'd never come here!"

"But he is here honey and we need to find out why." He sighed. "And he's not the first outsider to come here."

"He isn't?"

Charming shook his head. "The first ones came the day we arrived here. A man and a boy. The boy escaped but the man…he has to be around here somewhere unless…."

"Unless Regina killed him like she did Archie. It looks like our queen's got more than Archie to answer for if we find her."

"When we find her," he corrected. "We always find each other and we always find her. You want me to talk to this Neal for you?"

"No. I got this. He was with two of the people who crossed the town line which explains why they're here but I wanna know who the guy in the other car is. Go down to the hospital and see if you can get anything outta him."

"Okay but Emma, give him a chance to talk before you go full Snow on him. Outsiders aren't supposed to be able to find this place but somehow, he has. Don't you find that odd?"

"You think he might be from there? From our world?"

"Look what happened with Archie. He didn't come here when everyone else did."

"Wish he were here now. He'd be able to make sense of all this or maybe Gold can though I really hate having to go to him for anything since I already owe him a favor."

"Just talk to him Em," her father pleaded. "I'll call you if I find out anything at the hospital."

They heard a throat being cleared behind them and turned to face David. Emma scowled when she noticed he was wearing his uniform.

"You're supposed to be on leave, Deputy Molk."

"I can't be. Not now. Has anyone had a chance to question our newcomers yet?"

"I'm going to be talking to one of them. Nolan's going to the hospital to interview the other three. Why?"

"Because I think they're part of a cult we were investigating in San Francisco."

"What kind of cult?" Emma demanded.

"One that finds and kills people like us…people from other worlds. Magical words." He sighed. "I think…I think one of them might be responsible for my brother's death."

"David, it was Regina. We saw it through Pongo's memories."

"Have you considered the possibility that she might've been framed?"

"We did but too much of the evidence points to her. Why are you thinking…?"

"Because she was framed."

Emma spun around, her eyes wide with shock to see Archie standing there, or at least someone with facial hair that looked like him.

"What the hell…?"

"We'd better go into your office," Archie suggested, and a numb Emma followed them down the hall. Archie waved his hand and cast a protection spell once they were inside.

"….Now let me get this straight. Nearly half this town, including my son, knew you were alive, and you kept up this charade to try to trap Cora and Hook?" she asked once Archie was finished speaking.

"Hook has been taken care of."

"Has he?"

"He was executed in the OZ yesterday. Unfortunately, one of the new Dark Ones decided to have a little fun and enchanted the executioner's axe to quarter him before beheading him."

"So, Rumple isn't the Dark One anymore."

"He is but the curse is weak on him now. The other two are in the OZ and if they come here Cora will be the least of our worries. Have any of you been intelligent enough to keep an eye on Regina or have you just left her wandering around thinking she's going to be convicted for my murder?"

"We've been working with Blue on a way to trap her," Charming informed him.

"The I suggest we make some statement that she's innocent and find her. You've dealt with Cora, Emma so you know how manipulative she can be. The only person who can defeat her is Rumple and we have a plan to lure her in."

"Your last one hasn't worked out too well if she's got her claws into Regina."

"Regina is changing so it would have to take some powerful dark magic for Cora to lure her back."

"Archie, I know we have a lot on our plate, but we do have to find out if these outsiders are from the Home Office or not," David reminded his brother. "I have a call in to one of my contacts in San Francisco. She's one of the Twelve Dancing Princesses and works at a strip club called The Invisible Hand."

"See if your girl has any information on a guy named Neal Cassidy," Emma instructed. "That's the man I have in custody right now. "Hildy and Terry just sent me the IDs on the other three…Zelena Strogoff Sabitini. Angelo Sabitini and Greg Mendell."

"Strogoff!" Archie exclaimed.

"That name familiar?"

"Yes. It's Rumple's real last name. It can't be a coincidence." We might need to bring him in on this."

"Let's see what we can find out first," Charming suggested. "I'm gonna go talk to the Sabitinis and Mendell."

"I'm going with you," David said firmly. "Mendell has two homicides to answer for because I'm not so sure Beth's ex was involved in them."

"I'll see if I can find Regina and I've gotta go talk to Henry," Archie said and vanished.

Emma took several deep breaths before she walked into the interview room where Bae waited, his cuffed hands on the table.

"You played me. You're from there, aren't you? You played me. Did you know who I was, where I was from the whole time? Was this just some sort of sick twisted plan? Did…did you even care about me at all? I wanna know! I want the truth, all of it!" she yelled.

"Okay…but maybe we better have a beer. Or two. Or three."

"I am not drinking with you! Whatever you're gonna tell me, tell me now!"

"Trust me, you're gonna want a beer Em."

"Don't you DARE call me Em! My name is Emma. Sheriff Swan. Get it?"

"Yeah, I get it but trust me, you're really gonna need that beer."

"Fine!" she growled and gestured a bottle of vodka, orange juice and two glasses appearing on the table before them.

"You remembered," he said softly, the fact that she had magic not bothering him as it would have in the past. He'd been told to expect it.

"Yeah. You were the one who got me my first illegal drink," she said bitterly. "And eleven months in jail with nothing but an old car to start my life with," she went on while she mixed up a screwdriver and slid it over to him then made one for herself.

"What are you talking about? I left you the car and twenty-thousand. Are you tellin me that son of a bitch August took off with the money and just left you the car?"

"Wait a minute. Wait just a goddam minute. August? You saw August? When?!"

Bae exhaled slowly. "When I went to fence the watches. I thought he was an undercover cop, but he told me you were a friend of his and he had something to show me. So, I followed him back to his bike and he had a box on it. There was a typewriter in it and there were four words typed on a sheet of paper. Just four words. But they were enough to scare me."

"What four words?" Emma asked through gritted teeth.

"'I know you're Baelfire.'"

"Baelfire….oh my God…" she moaned. "You're his son. Gold's. Rumplestiltskin's. Did you know who I was when we met?"

"If I had, I wouldn't have gone near you."

"Come on!"

"Come on?" Come on, what? I was in hiding. I came here to get away from... all that crap."

"So, if you didn't know, then you were just using me. You just needed someone to take the fall for all the watches that you stole."

"I wasn't using you. When we met, I didn't know. Not until I met August."

"You left me... and let me go to prison because Pinocchio told you to?"

"Emma…"

"I loved you."

"I-I was, um, I was tr... I was trying to help you."

"By letting me go to jail."

"By getting you home."

"Oh yeah I got home alright. I took the long way home and if you start singing that damn song I'm gonna smash this glass right in your head. Are you telling me that us meeting was a coincidence? How the hell did that happen if it wasn't in your plan or your father's?"

"Think about it. He wanted you to break the curse. Us meeting, that could've stopped it. Maybe it was fate."

"You believe in that?"

"You know, there's not a ton I remember about my father that doesn't suck, but he used to tell me that there are no coincidences. Everything that happens, happens by design, and there's nothing we can do about it. Forces greater than us conspire to make it happen. Fate, destiny, whatever you want to call it, the point is, maybe we met for a reason. Maybe something good came from us being together."

"No. Not that I can think of. I just went to jail. That's it. Doesn't matter now, I'm over it. And you." She gulped down the rest of her screwdriver.

"Why do you wear the keychain I got you?"

"To remind myself to never trust someone again," she said and ripped it off her neck. "Come on. I made a deal with your father I'd help him find you."

"You made a deal with him?"

"Yeah, and I'm upholding my end; but I have a few more questions for you first. Those people you were traveling with. Who are they?"

"Zee…Zelena, Angelo and I own an interior design firm in New York City and Zee….she's a distant relative of mine through Papa's side. When I found out the curse was broken I came here wanting to see you, not him but Zee thinks I should try to patch things up. Patch things up." He laughed harshly. "That man abandoned me when I was still a child so he could keep his power. He's still the Dark One, isn't he?"

"Yeah. And you abandoned me. Funny how the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!"

"Em…"

"Don't. Just don't! Don't even try to justify what you did. How do you know being with you would've stopped me from becoming the Savior? You don't and neither did August. You decided my life for me and never gave me a chance to decide for myself! You left me to rot in jail with nothing but an old car and a baby I had to give up…"

"What!" Bae gasped.

"Nothing! Nothing."

"You were pregnant, and you gave the baby up?!"

"Hey! I am the only one allowed to be angry here! What did you expect me to do? I was eighteen years old and still in jail. I couldn't….I couldn't be a mother like that. All I could do was give our son his best chance."

"I have a son," Bae whispered.

"You don't have a son. I have a son and all he knows is that his father was a fireman who died. It was better than telling him the truth."

"You know where he is. Tell me!" Bae demanded, standing up. Suddenly he found himself being forced back into his chair. "I have a right to know Emma!"

"I am NOT gonna let you break his heart the way you broke mine you bastard. You stay away from my son."

"Does my father know?"

"Yes, he knows."

"You think he's gonna let you keep him away from me."

"No," she admitted. "But I'm warning you; if you hurt Henry the way you hurt me I will rip your heart out. I don't give a damn whose son you are. I will rip your heart out! Now get up! I'm taking you to your father."

Bae stood up, his heart beating with dread. He'd spent a lifetime running away from his father and facing him again terrified him. He knew the power Rumple wielded as the Dark One and how he hurt anyone he perceived as a threat and Emma with her magic was a definite threat. She may have wanted him out of her life, but he would never stop loving her or try to protect her.

You did a bang-up job of it last time, didn't you Cassidy? he scolded himself. She led him outside to the parking lot. He smiled when he saw the familiar yellow Bug in the lot. The paint was peeling but other than that it appeared to be in good running condition.

"Thought you would've junked this old thing by now."

"I didn't. In," she barked.

The interior was still the same and he could still see the stains from the candy bars they'd stolen during one of their convenience store jobs, candy bars they'd allowed to melt in the hot summer sun when they forgot to take them out of the car. He turned his head to look at the backseat, seeing the tear in the fabric that reminded him of the first time they made love.

"What's his name?"

"Whose?"

"Our son's."

"Henry."

"Who named him that?"

"His adopted mother. The Evil Queen."

"Our son is being raised by the Evil Queen? The same Evil Queen that cast the curse? Are you crazy?"

"I didn't know he would end up with her!" Emma protested, slamming on the brakes when she arrived at the pawnshop.

"You gonna leave me in these?" He held up his cuffed hands.

"Your father can let you out," she muttered.

Rumple and Belle were in the backroom with Archie and Az monitoring the Mills Mansion through Rumple's seeing globe, greatly disturbed by the recent turn of events.

"How long does it take for this 'tea' Cora has given her to wear off?" Rumple demanded of the couple.

"If she's had too much it could take a while," Az confessed.

"It's like detoxing from drugs or alcohol," Archie added. "And when she crashes, she's gonna crash hard, harder than anyone else who's had it because she's a mage. Cora has the house warded but not strong enough that we can't get in. We get in, grab Regina, swap her out for the construct and get out. Then we take her somewhere Cora can't track her."

The bell tinkling above the shop door made them all tense. Rumple sent the seeing globe back to its place on the table and walked out onto the salesfloor to see Emma escorting a handcuffed man into the shop.

"Sheriff Swan, did you get lost? The station's that way."

"This…belongs to you!" she shoved Bae at him. "And consider my debt to you paid in full."

"Bae…" Rumple whispered. "Is it really you?"

"I think we'd better leave you alone to talk," Belle said softly. "Emma, would you come to the backroom please? There's something we need to discuss with you."

Father and son stood face to face. Rumple reached out to try to touch Bae's cheek only to be disappointed when he backed away.

"Bae, please…..let me talk."

"What do you wanna talk about Papa? How you abandoned me? How you left me in this world to fend for myself while you lived in the lap of luxury back there…and still do here? Nothing, nothing you say will ever excuse what you did to me!"

"But you're here. You came back for me."

"I didn't want to. I came back so our cousin could meet you and if you hurt her the way you hurt me, you're never gonna see either of us again."

"Bae please, you don't understand. I didn't want to let you go."

"But you did. You did!" Bae slammed his cuffed hands down on the counter and shattered it, shards of glass slicing into his hands.

"Bae!" Rumple cried and gestured, releasing the handcuffs. He reached out to take his son's injured hands in his. "Let me help you."

"Not with magic, you bastard! I'll take care of it myself. Just tell me where the damned medical kit is…if you even have one."

"It's on the wall. Bae, please…"

"Don't touch me!" Bae walked over to the medicine cabinet and opened it, taking out a bottle of peroxide, cloth and some bandages. He cleaned out the wounds and wrapped his hands up.

"I know you came with Emma, to be sure that her bargain with me would be fulfilled but it won't be…until we talk."

"You never give up, do you? You're gonna use her against me, just like you use everyone else. Are you holding our son hostage too?"

"No! I would never hurt Henry."

"I'm gonna hold you to that Papa because the first time, the FIRST TIME you hurt Henry I'm gonna use that dagger you care so much about against you! You've got three minutes. Start talking."

"Losing you was the greatest mistake of my life, one I have spent so long trying to make right. I thought the only way I could get back to you was a curse…so I created one and made certain someone could break it."

"Emma. Was us meeting part of your plan?"

"No. That was a coincidence. A happy coincidence because the love you bore for each other gave me my grandson. You will be proud of him Bae. He is a bright young lad. He is the reason why the curse is broken. He…" Rumple sniffled. "He is so much like you."

"Funny isn't it? I abandoned him the way you abandoned me, and your father abandoned you. Is that gonna be our legacy Papa? Abandoning our children?"

"No, because we will stop the cycle now!"

"Two minutes."

"We can't change the past, but we can make a fresh start. You, me, Belle, Emma and Henry. We can be the family we should be."

"Who's Belle?"

"The young lady you just saw. I met her just before the curse was cast."

"You love her?" Bae's eyes widened.

"I lost myself when I lost you but Belle…Belle saved me. She brought out the man behind the beast, the man you knew before the curse consumed me." Rumple summoned his dagger and threw it on the broken counter. "But I am freeing myself of this burden because I will not let it tear our family apart again." He sighed. "But to do that I must face the one person whose heart is darker than mine. You don't believe me, do you?"

"I want to. I really want to. Us at that portal's been the source of all my nightmares for years and I hated you for so long for leaving me here alone but now you're telling me you've spent all these years trying to get back to me, that you had the Evil Queen rip everyone else out of their world to do it?"

"Yes."

"There was no other way?"

"No. There are greater forces at work than ours Bae." Rumple sighed. "Do you remember how I used to tell you everything happens for a reason." Bae nodded. "Everything that has happened with you…with us….has been to serve the will of those greater forces and defying them comes with a price. My price was losing you. Yours was to set Emma on the path to becoming the Savior."

We could've gotten her there together!" Bae protested.

"No, son. You wouldn't have. Emma had to endure those hard times to become the woman she is now."

"Yeah…one that hates my guts."

"But you can change that, Bae. Be the man she fell in love with again. Be the father to Henry that you couldn't be before. I…I can't let you make the same mistakes I did….that my father did. Let's end this cycle together. We need to be a family again, Bae. It's the only thing that can save us."

"What are you not telling me?" he demanded.

With a heavy heart, Rumple began to tell all; the prophecy that forced him to hobble himself in the Ogre Wars, the constant battles he fought with the evil force that had taken possession of his soul and of the horrors yet to come.

"Aramon's Prophecy. I've heard that before."

"How? Everyone fears it."

"Not Pan."

Rumple's eyes narrowed to slits. "When did you see him?"

Bae's voice trembled as he recalled his years on that desolate island among so many innocents that had been seduced away from their homes and families to become Pan's slaves, including the Darlings.

"But there's one boy in particular Pan's looking for," he finished.

"The Truest Believer."

"Yes. Do you know why?"

"Oh, I do Bae, and Pan will get him over my dead body! It's Henry. Pan is after Henry because he is a direct descendant of the Ozian Guardians Lurline and Aramon and the Greek gods Hades and Persephone."

"Emma is descended from the Greek gods?"

"No, son. We are and in one hundred years Henry will inherit all of Lurline's powers and become the most powerful mage in all the realms. If Pan gets ahold of Henry's heart, he will absorb all of his powers and kill him."

"Why?"

"Because that's the only way he can stay young forever and the magic keeping him young is running out. And now…now it's time for me to tell you the full truth about him…why we became enemies."

"You said he betrayed you."

"He did. Before he became Peter Pan, he was Malcolm McDermott, a drifter and con man from a long line of Scots-Irish warlocks that crossed over into Nonestica centuries ago. He took his new name from the doll he made for his son." Rumple walked over to the counter and opened a small wooden case. Inside was a straw doll with a little blue coat. "You have your nightmares of my abandoning you at the portal….mine are of being dragged out of Neverland by the Shadow and watching the old bastard that begrudged every breath I took change back into a child again because…'a child can't have a child, Rumple.' I SWORE I would never become him and I did….I did the day I let you go!"

"Pan is my grandfather?!" Bae exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me after he first came for me?"

"Because you were already starting to see that he and were the same….terrible fathers."

"No, you're not the same. Pan's not being possessed by Alemedia Demonia. You are."

"Freeing myself from her comes with a price, Bae. A price I'm willing to pay to keep my family safe."

"All these years you thought the seer meant the boy that helps you find me would kill you. Henry."

"Because I didn't know I was Lilliana Strogoff's missing child. My mother sacrificed herself to protect me from the curses that cast a pall over our family, but it was the Will of the OZ that I take the Dark One curse and break it. It must be done before the Final Eclipse."

"What's the price, Papa?"

"It's mine to pay."

"No, don't do this to me again. No more secrets. You tell me everything or we're done!"

"'The darkest of curses by a Strogoff was taken and through his sacrifice in the names of those he loves, this curse and all those created by it shall it last be broken'." Rumple recited.

"You're not dying Papa! There has to be another way," Bae protested. "Dammit, you're the king of loopholes!"

"There are no loopholes this time Bae. Unless I and my Ozopov cousins do what must be done our world will be destroyed and Alemedia Demonia may be free to walk the mortal realm. But I want to spend my last days with those I love most."

"Belle, this woman you're with. She doesn't know does she?"

"She may now that's been learning how to use her magic. Look after her for me, please."

Bae shook his head. "You're not dying, Papa."

"Do not defy the will of the OZ Bae. The price is too high and it's not yours to pay. It's mine."

"I can't lose you now, Papa. I just can't…" he croaked.

Rumple placed his hands on his son's shoulders and gazed into his eyes. "Listen to me Baelfire: you have a chance to make a fresh start, to succeed where I failed. You still have time to be the father Henry needs, the man Emma wants."

"Emma and I…we talked about going to Tallahassee and starting our lives over until I let her go." He sighed. "She still hates me Papa."

"It's not going to be easy, but you need to try Bae. For Henry. He needs you. He needs all of you; you, Emma and Regina. You need to find a way to be a family together."

"Speaking of family, we need to go to the hospital to visit the couple I came with. Their names are Zelena Strogoff Sabitini and her husband Angelo. Zelena says she's our cousin Papa, and she knows magic."

"Then she must be descended from Aramon's sister."

"She's protective of me Papa, so don't expect a pleasant reception."

"I would be disappointed in her if she was. We will go to this Zelena and then you, son, need to go talk to my grandson."

Rumple gestured and they vanished in a puff of smoke.