I do not own Once Upon A Time which is a show on ABC where their sister channel has a movie called Descendants coming out where Belle is played by the actress who plays the Blue Fairy so no one who has read this story will be able to take it seriously. Sorry. Also, sorry I haven't gotten back to anyone, I've had a really busy week. I also don't own Frozen or anything else. Please let me know what you think and happy reading!
Last December
"You did not," said Beatrice.
"I did too," said Joseph.
Beatrice and Joseph has just gone to Augusta to see a movie. After their return, they had gotten frozen yogurt and were now eating it as they walked down the street and froze because Ashley had just gotten a job there. Joseph insisted he had seen the movie's plot twist coming at the beginning.
"How could you have known?"
"The clues were all there."
Beatrice rolled her eyes. "What clues?"
"He never took off his gloves. Before he tells Anna he doesn't want her to get hurt, he looks at the townspeople. He was clearly trying to win their favor. He pushed the thug to make the arrow cause the chandelier to fall. Not to mention the song. We finish each others sandwiches? Really? We're meant to believe he was thinking that?"
"The song gave it away?"
"The whole song is Anna just saying things and Hans agreeing with them. How stupid could she be?"
Beatrice glanced around the sidewalk to see that it was clear and leaned over. "Fairy tale characters are not known for their intelligence."
"As if that's a secret," said Joseph. "My little cousins love princesses. They can overlook a lot of flaws in favor of a sparkly dress."
"Well, they aren't all dumb."
"Alright, name the smartest fairy tale princess."
Beatrice shrugged. "Easy. Belle."
"Is that bias?"
"Hardly. She reads-"
"She goes off with a beast."
"For a good reason."
"Why? Because she knows he's really a handsome prince?"
"No, because she can see the good in him even when he can't see it himself. Besides, they're both weirdos, they just manage to find each other."
Joseph nodded. "Alright, dumbest fairy tale princess."
"Cinderella."
"Really? I was going to say Sleeping Beauty. Why is Cinderella dumber than Sleeping Beauty?"
Beatrice tried to think of a non-baby selling reason. "Well, why does she need her fairy godmother? Her stepmother and stepsisters have already left, there's presumably a house full of ball gowns, just put one on and go."
Joseph nodded. Just then Regina came stalking down the road.
"Beatrice. Mr. Gillette."
"Ah, Madame Mayor, perhaps you can be of help."
"Gladly," Regina said stiffly.
"Beatrice and I were just debating who the dumbest fairy tale princess was. I say Sleeping Beauty, she says Cinderella."
Regina grimaced and cast a wary look at Beatrice.
"As insipid as those two are, you're both wrong. It's Snow White."
"Really?," asked Joseph. "Why do you say that?"
"Why wouldn't I say that? She can't keep her mouth shut, she's so fixated on being good she'll let anyone bully her and won't do what needs to be done, her birdhouse fall apart, her husband is an even bigger moron, she hangs out with dwarves-"
"Nothing about eating a poison apple from an evil witch in there?," asked Joseph.
Regina leaned in to Joseph. "That was a brilliant trap."
"Okay, so we're going," said Beatrice.
"Right," said Regina, straightening herself. "Well, good night then."
Regina walked off.
"She seemed to take that rather personally," said Joseph.
"Yeah, she gets emotional about stuff like that."
"Why did you want to see Frozen anyway?," asked Joseph. "Aren't you a bit old for fairy tales?"
Beatrice threw away her cup and checked her phone. "I need to get home. Thanks for coming. I had fun."
"It wasn't bad."
Beatrice waved and left. Joseph looked up to see Merlin.
"Mr. Avalon," he said.
"Mr. Gillette," he said. "How was the film?"
"Alright."
"Glad to hear it. Look, I'll make this brief. At some point in the near future, Beatrice's father is going to ask to speak to you alone."
Joseph found this curious. "And what do you advise?"
"Go. Then come see me. You can usually find me at the library."
"And what might we discuss?"
Merlin shrugged. "I believe a topic of conversation will come to us at that time."
Merlin walked off leaving Joseph confused.
Which he never minded.
Last Summer, London
Joseph had been in his aunt and uncle's house in Westminster since the summer. It was the only way he could stay in London. His brother was off at school or army training. His sister wouldn't be bothered. This was the bargain his aunt and uncle had forced him into given his history. Stay with them in London or...
The countryside.
It gave Joseph shivers.
He could hardly complain about the accommodations. The house was rather large and they let him occupy the top floor with an en suite in the place where servants formerly would have lived. There weren't really servants. There was a cleaning lady and the mother's helper, Mariah Moristani, a student from Barcelona. When Joseph has taken residence in the top floor, she had suddenly decided it was drafty and switched to one of the guest rooms. It gave him space to conduct his experiments and play.
There was his aunt and his uncle and the children.
Children were troubling for Joseph. Their emotion and the lack of critical thinking sometimes, but they were forgiving with his lack of social etiquette. There were Kate and Chloe, seven-year old ginger twins and the baby, Will, who really Joseph found to be extremely pleasant company as he could only speak ten words, none of them irritating.
It wasn't a bad situation at all, but it did leave Joseph...
"Bored," he groaned, lying on the sofa. "Bored..."
The twins were laying on the floor, imitating their favorite cousin.
"Bored."
"Bored."
"You can't be bored," Joseph admonished. "You don't even know what bored is. Once someone puts in a DVD of The Lion King you're entertained."
"We are too bored!," said Kate.
"Really bored!"
His aunt, Nellie, walked into the sitting room with her arms crossed. She was in her forties, ginger. She had a successful career at some office job, but had left to have the girls and subsequently look after her sister's much older children after the accident, which mostly meant looking after Joseph.
"Aren't you three a sorry sight?," she remarked.
"We're bored," said Chloe.
"No, you're not," Joseph snapped.
"You know, someone once told me that no intelligent person should be bored."
"That expression was clearly coined by an idiot to make other idiots feel superior that they don't know the utter agony of the dullness of existence," said Joseph.
"My gran told me that."
"Precisely, my point stands."
Nellie scowled.
Joseph continued unabated. "She did excellent tea, serviceable biscuits, but let's be honest, not one of the towering intellects of the twentieth century. Not even one of the towering intellects of twentieth century Tottenham."
Nellie looked at Kate and Chloe. "You two. Go play."
The girls grudgingly got up and scampered off. Nellie leaned over the couch.
"You might not be bored if you found something to do," she suggested.
"There is nothing to do. Every time I try to find something to do someone says I'm breaking some silly law."
"You posed as a police officer."
"I never said I was a police officer. Why would I ever want to be mistaken for one of them?"
"You went through that poor woman's house."
"It was a crime scene."
"Joseph, she had enough to worry about with her son missing without you playing detective."
"And why doesn't that bother anyone else? Adil Rahim goes to bed, gone the next morning, no sign of a struggle, nothing but an open window, nothing on the roof, nothing on the pavement, no sign of a forced entry."
"Scotland Yard-"
"Are morons. It's not as if he just flew out the window!"
His uncle, Hector, came in. He was training for the marathon and Joseph noted he had been a few minutes late.
"Forget to hydrate, Hector?," asked Joseph. "It makes you sluggish."
"What's this?," asked Hector.
Nellie turned to him. "Adil Rahim again."
"Oh, so you heard then?"
"Heard what?," asked Joseph.
"They found him."
"What do you mean they found him? Scotland Yard?"
Hector shook his head. "No, he was in America. I read it in the Guardian."
"America?," asked Nellie. "All that way?"
"That's impossible," said Joseph. "His photograph was distributed to all major law enforcement agencies and customs authorities. He shouldn't have been able to leave Britain or get in anywhere else. A smaller country, maybe, where authorities could be bribed, plausible, but America? It doesn't fit."
Hector shrugged. "That's where they found him."
"How?"
"Maybe we should just be grateful that the little boy found his way home," said Nellie.
"Oh, wouldn't that be a cheery world?," asked Joseph. He got up.
"And where might you be going?," asked Nellie.
"Investigating."
"Joseph, remember your ASBO," said Hector.
Joseph stopped and groaned, not turning back to his aunt and uncle.
"No going near the Mrs. Rahim or her residence," said Hector. "I got you out of it last time, but I don't think a judge will be so kind next time. Even my skills have a limit. Though I suppose there's always an insanity plea."
Joseph hated that his uncle was right, though he couldn't just leave the investigation alone. He had to find out why.
He needed an accomplice to go to Adil and get the answers he couldn't.
Or rather two accomplices.
Two ginger-haired accomplices.
Last December
Joseph entered the pawn shop. He had never been inside. It was a strange mix of items, some seemingly worthless, some priceless. Mr. Gold stood behind the counter as if he had been waiting there for hours.
"Mr. Gillette," said Gold. "Thank you so much for accepting my invitation. You must be wondering why I asked you here."
"No," said Joseph. "When I received your invitation, I immediately concluded what you wanted to discuss."
"Well, then," said Gold, "then I suppose it comes as no surprise to you that I have already considered what your response might be."
"Naturally."
"Obviously, I've had the opportunity to think on that as well."
"And what might that be?"
Gold tilted his head. "That it would be best if you leave town, of course."
"Oh, I don't know. Things are just starting to get interesting."
Gold's face grew dark. "You see, Mr. Gillette, my only desires in life are for my children's happiness."
Joseph frowned. Where was Gold heading with this?
"Beatrice is beautiful and brilliant and talented and furthermore, she is mine to protect. I've done my research, Mr. Gillette and I don't care for what I've found."
Joseph stared as Gold pulled out a folder.
"Dropped out of Cambridge, three stints in rehab and multiple arrests..."
"I was never charged-"
"A fixation with violence." He motioned at the folder. "That's what your psychiatrist says, dearie. You are no more a photographer than-"
"Than you are a pawnbroker?," Joseph suggested.
Gold's face remained still as he closed the file folder. "You know, it really doesn't matter who I am, the problem is you. You need to stay away from my daughter."
"This is about Beatrice?"
"What else would I talk to you about?"
"I never meant her any harm-"
"She's smitten with you. The harm is done."
The door to the shop opened. Belle stalked in towards Gold.
"The backroom. Now."
"Belle-"
Belle ignored Gold, turning to Joseph. "You can go, Mr. Gillette. Mr. Gold has just made a mistake."
"I have made no such mistake-"
"Now, Rumple," said Belle heading to the back room.
Last Summer, London
It was a simple matter to discover what park Mrs. Rahim took Adi to every day after school. She was distracted while she chatted with the other mothers and it would be easy to send in his accomplices.
It was an even simpler matter to bribe the two ginger accomplices with trips to the park, ice lollies, a tenner to share, Cadbury Flakes and some Peppa Pig coloring books.
Though he wasn't certain it was paying off.
"Do you know the story of Rumplestiltskin?," Kate asked on their way home one day.
"Oh, just your standard fairy tale. Idiot miller's daughter, gives away her first-born for some gold, marries king."
"That's not how Adi told it."
"The miller's daughter was the Evil Queen's mother," said Chloe.
"The Evil Queen from Snow White?," asked Joseph. "Why do you think that?"
"Adi said so," said Kate. "Besides, it's in his book."
Joseph looked across the park. Adil was holding a leather-bound book with gilded letters.
"Where did he get that?," asked Joseph.
"He says he brought it back from America," said Kate.
"Did he?"
Joseph eyed the book.
He reached into his wallet and took out a tenner.
"See the ice cream van?"
"Yes," the girls said in unison.
"Take this with you and buy Adi the most sugary thing they have."
"Mummy says we shouldn't have a lot of sugar," said Kate.
"You get him loaded up on sugar and bring me the book."
The girls looked to each other for guidance.
"A tenner each," said Joseph.
"Twenty each," said Kate.
"Twenty?" They weren't budging. "Fine."
Last December
Joseph left the Golds arguing in the pawn shop and made his way to the library. Surely Mr. Avalon might be there. He walked inside to see a slender woman with her back turned to him.
"Pardon me, but I was looking for Mr. Avalon."
The woman slowly spun towards Joseph on her chair. "I'm afraid he's out this evening. Is there anything I can help you with?"
Joseph froze.
He stared at Mrs. Foley taking in every feature. His few memories of the time before the Watsons took him in were hazy, but those blurred visions had been played and replayed in his mind a thousand times. Slender build, dark hair. The fingers. He could remember the fingers as they flipped through books or used a quill.
Or a pen. It must have been a pen.
Or was it a quill?
"Are you alright?," she asked.
Joseph reached to feel his own nose which the woman sitting across the desk seemed to share.
"What was your name?," he asked.
"Lila Foley," she answered. "I help out when Belle and the others are busy."
Lila Foley.
Because of course it wouldn't be the other one.
Because the other one was ridiculous.
It would never be that one.
He turned around and rushed out of the library, eager to set his mind right.
Last Summer, London
"Joe, read to us," pled Chloe.
He grimaced. Somehow the twins had found their way into his sanctuary. He had been poring over the book for days and now was in the midst of forensics.
"Joseph," he corrected. "I'm examining this."
"But it's a book," said Kate. "You're supposed to read it."
"And what good would that do? I'm dusting it for fingerprints."
The girls glowered as he kept on with the brush.
"It's fairy tales. I wanted to read about princesses," said Chloe.
"There's some magazines on the tea-table. Surely one of them has something on the Duchess of Cambridge," he said, rolling his eyes.
Kate rolled her eyes. "Not her. A real princess. Like Belle and Cinderella."
"Or the Dark Princess," said Chloe.
"The Dark Princess?," Joseph asked mockingly.
"Princess Beatrice. Adi says she saved him."
Joseph stopped dusting. "He was saved by the Dark Princess Beatrice? How?"
Kate and Chloe exchanged looks. They turned back to Joseph.
"We'll tell you when we get our story," said Kate.
It had been ages.
Absolute ages.
Kate and Chloe sat on either side of Joseph in the pink tent erected on the floor of their bedroom.
He glanced at the twins as he finished the story.
"Cinderella called out for her prince. In the search for her Thomas, she only found his cloak at the well. She went running up to the wagon where Grumpy and Prince Charming were securing the dark sorcerer. She clutched the cloak and demanded that the sorcerer tell her what she had done with her love. He spoke-"
"Do a voice," said Kate.
"I'm not doing a voice," said Joseph.
"Daddy always does a voice when he reads to us," said Chloe.
"Then get him to read to you," said Joseph.
"Then you won't get to hear about the Dark Princess."
"I don't even know what he sounds like."
"Use your imagination," said Kate.
Joseph put on the most imp like voice he could think of. "I have no idea, dearie, but I did warn you: all magic comes with a price. And it looks like someone has just paid."
"Prince Charming tried to reassure Cinderella that she would find her princes, but Rumplestiltskin quickly contradicted him. 'No, you won't. Until that debt is paid, until that baby is mine, you're never going to see him again. In this world or the next, Cinderella, I will have that baby!'"
"Then what happens?," asked Chloe.
"Nothing. That's the end," said Joseph.
"Stories don't end like that," said Kate.
Joseph flipped through the next pages. "Yes, I would tend to agree, but that is where the story ends. Now, do I get my story?"
The girls looked at each other.
"Adi was kidnapped by Peter Pan's Shadow," said Kate.
"It took him to Neverland where he thought he would live with the Lost Boys, but they were mean," said Chloe.
"Neverland? Lost Boys?," asked Joseph.
"Yeah," said Kate. "Then one day Pan's Shadow kidnapped the Dark Princess, but she was magical. She could fight Peter Pan."
"Peter Pan's the villain?"
"Yes, and he's her grandfather," said Chloe.
"How is that even supposed to work?," asked Joseph.
The girls looked at each other and shrugged.
"Fine," groaned Joseph. "How did she fight him?"
"With her ice powers. She froze Neverland!"
"After she sent Princess Ariel to find Beauty and the Beast on the Jolly Roger!"
Joseph paused. "I think that's about four stories."
"Girls?"
Joseph looked up. His aunt and uncle had come in the room.
"Time for bed," said Hector, pointing at his watch.
"I haven't gotten my story," said Joseph. "The sun isn't even down."
Nellie crossed her arms. "Joseph."
"Fine," Joseph said with a grimace as he stood up. "I am keeping the book until I get a satisfactory explanation."
This cursed town.
This infernal small town.
What the hell did someone have to do to score some drugs?
Joseph briefly gave thought to robbing the local pharmacy. In these circumstances, a prescription opioid would do just as well. Those with a basis for comparison thought they might even do better. There were two problems. The little man that ran the place never let his eyes off Joseph and it was across the street from where the sheriff lived.
So he went to the Rabbit Hole.
The bar was crowded.
"Joseph!," said Ruby. "I can't believe you came. Did you want to shoot some pool?"
"I have no interest in socializing."
Joseph went to the bar.
"What can I get you?"
"Yes, what do you have that will get me drunk fastest?"
"Sorry?"
"You see, my mind is not working properly. I need to perform a reset on it. I usually prefer a selection of opiates, but these do not seem to be available in walking distance. I could drive somewhere, but since I wouldn't use drugs and drive, I would have to go somewhere, score some drugs, drive back and then use them, but that takes too long and I need to get back to work. What will result in my loss of consciousness first?"
The bartender paused before reaching under the counter. He pulled out a dusty bottle.
Joseph examined it. "Absinthe? Le Fae Verte?"
"Yeah, it's pretty strong-" The bartender watched in astonishment as Joseph quickly downed the first glass he poured. "Uh, well, it usually is..."
"Yes, this will do," said Joseph. "I already can't feel my toes. I'll have the entire bottle."
Beatrice looked at the clock. Her parents were usually extremely prompt and they should have been home by now.
She sat on the sofa with Martha and watched television. Then finally around eight-thirty, she heard a car outside. Her mother stalked in, her heels clacking against the hardwood floors.
"Hi-" Beatrice began. Before she could get much further with her greeting, Gold was inside, letting the door slam shut.
"I was not done yet," said Gold.
"Yes, you were, you just didn't know it," said Belle.
"Why is it you are so unwilling to accept my judgment on this matter?"
"Because you're wrong!"
"She is my daughter! I am more than entitled to a say in her life!"
Beatrice frowned. "What are we arguing about?"
Belle and Gold seemed to ignore her.
"She is a young woman, Rumple, nearly an adult, she has thoughts and wishes of her own! No one decides her fate but her!"
"Wow, we had to throw in that..." said Beatrice.
Gold was livid. "I showed you what I found!"
"This is just the sort of thing Maurice would have done to try and control me!"
"That's a low blow to compare me to him."
"Then don't act like him!"
Beatrice leaned in. "So, what were we saying?"
They stopped and stared at her.
"Nothing," said Belle, heading up the stairs.
"Nothing," Gold said, going in the kitchen.
"Right," said Beatrice, again left alone. "Because it sounded like nothing."
London, Last Summer
Joseph met Inspector Strand in the parking garage below Scotland Yard. The detective eyed him with his usual expression of annoyance.
"You got one hit on those fingerprints," said Strand, handing him an envelope.
Joseph quickly tore into it, pulling out the two sheets of paper.
"Belle French," Joseph read, looking at the black and white photo of what seemed to be a very attractive woman. She had kind eyes. For some reason he could picture them sparkle. "What did she do?"
"She doesn't have a criminal record, she was fingerprinted when she got her job at the New York City Public Library."
"She's a librarian?," asked Joseph. "In New York?"
"She's no longer in New York. It seems she moved away, off to some town in Maine."
"Where in Maine?"
"How should I know? I shouldn't be helping you at all. Consider yourself lucky you got that." He pulled out another piece of paper. "She might as well be a ghost for all we found on her."
"A birth certificate?," asked Joseph.
"Yeah, turns out she has a daughter."
"Beatrice Elizabeth French..." Joseph read. "Born October 23, 1996, Beth Israel Hospital, Manhattan. No father listed."
Strand was growing impatient. "What about we discussed?"
Joseph put the papers in his jacket pocket. "Your thief is clever, but also quite a disturbed individual."
"What?"
"Seemingly random targets with identical signatures, all committed in the same way? You had the answer the entire time sitting right in front of you." Joseph held up a map of red dot stickers with a blank hole in the middle. "He's filling in a grid. All his thefts are at roughly the same interval apart, just be waiting. Obsessive compulsive, makes him easy to catch if you know what you're looking for."
He handed Strand the map and turned to walk away.
"You could be the greatest detective at Scotland Yard, you know," said Strand.
Joseph scoffed. "That would hardly be an achievement."
Last December
Beatrice awoke to her phone ringing. Martha gave her a look of irritation as she took it off the charging dock and answered it.
"Hello?"
"Who are you?"
Beatrice frowned. "Who is this?"
"It's me. I'm me. Who are you?"
She furrowed her brow, trying to discern her caller. "Joseph? Is that you?"
"Maybe, but who are you?"
"Are you drunk?"
"Hardly. I'm still conscious, aren't I?"
"Maybe you should go to bed..." She glanced back at her clock. "It's three in the morning."
"Yeah, but who are you?"
Beatrice sat up, trying to collect her consciousness. "It's Beatrice Gold. Who did you mean to call?"
"I meant to call you, but who are you?"
She shook her head. "I don't know what you're asking."
"You don't make sense."
She scoffed. "Do you think that's the first time I heard that?"
"No, you really don't... Who are you?"
"Just Beatrice."
"Beatrix."
"What?"
"Beatrix, it means blesses in Latin, it derives from the feminine form of the late Latin name Viator which means voyager. Is that who you are? A voyager?"
Beatrice was silent.
Joseph didn't need her to respond. "Of course you must know the Shakespearean reference, but the poet Dante Alighieri, he held a courtly love for a Florentine girl called Beatrice di Falco Portinari."
"You care about Dante?"
"Yes, I often find myself on the mountain of Purgatory. Do you know what Beatrice does in the Divine Comedy? She is his guide in paradise."
"Wow," said Beatrice. "That's..."
There was a sudden crack in the air outside. Beatrice hurried to her window to see lights at play and the wind swirling not far off.
"What's that?," asked Joseph.
"Nothing," said Beatrice, thinking it was definitely something like a stronger version of a portal between realms. "Just the wind."
"Is it an east wind? It seems like an east wind."
"Uh, I'm not all that good at directions..." Beatrice said, opening her window to try to stick her head to peer out further.
"That's okay. You can still be my guide."
"Um, your what?"
The lights disappeared, the air stilled.
Beatrice quickly dressed and made her way out to the clearing.
It had been a portal. There was the telltale clear pit of dirt she had seen when Moe and the knights were sent packing.
Someone had taken one of the magic beans and used it.
Which was impossible because the magic beans were guarded by blood magic, so the only people who ought to have been able to use it...
She hurried to the pawn shop. The door was unlocked and she hurried to the safe behind the oil painting. She quickly checked the contents to see that the sack of magic beans was nowhere to be found.
The only people that should have been able to open the safe were Beatrice, her father and...
Neal.
Neal could have opened the safe.
"Beatrice, what are you doing?"
Feeling caught out, she turned to face her father. His face lowered as he approached to see the contents of the safe.
Or more specifically, what was missing from the safe.
Joseph awoke to the sound of knocking on wood which he took at first to be the pounding of his skull.
Upon closer inspection, he found that someone was in fact knocking on his door.
"Good morning," said Merlin, sipping on his coffee. He carried a paper bag and another coffee. "How's your head, sunshine?"
"Mr. Avalon..."
"Yeah, why don't you have a seat, sunshine?" Merlin sat the bag on the table. "It's an inferior bagel, but the smoked salmon is excellent."
Joseph frowned, trying to figure out what Merlin wanted.
"I heard about the discussion my son-in-law had with you. For such a clever man, he can be remarkably thick. Then again, that's because I haven't told him what to look for." He motioned at the violin on the table. "You play."
"When I work."
Merlin smiled. "Yes, yes, of course, your work. That's what's brought you to our little town, isn't it? That's what keeps you here. You can't make the puzzle pieces fit together."
Joseph held his tongue as Merlin sat down.
"The thing about puzzles is that they work best when you know what you're trying to make a picture of."
"I know what I'm trying to make a picture of. A kidnapping."
"Yeah, but that too is just another piece."
"Adil Rahim's mother might feel differently."
Merlin shrugged. "Adi stumbled upon something this world does not deem possible."
"And what would that be?"
Merlin sipped his coffee. "What my son-in-law missed is the most critical thing. That you were found by a young boy when you were equally young. You appeared out of nowhere and neither Scotland Yard nor Interpol has a record of a missing child of your description. No one ever came looking for you and you have wondered why all that time."
"And what does that have to do with Adil Rahim?"
"There's a recurring theme in both stories."
"And that might be?"
Merlin shrugged. "I'll get to that in due time. The answer to why no one came looking for you lies in the name you introduced yourself with that day. The name that the world has told you is impossible. The name that you won't even speak because it has power and you're afraid of losing yourself to the madness."
Merlin took a book wrapped in brown paper and put it on the table.
"What is that?"
"You're the one coming up with answers. You tell me."
Joseph didn't move.
"Or you could always open it, sunshine."
"You're trying to trick me."
"Why? I want you to stay."
"And why would I stay?"
"Because there was a mystery here you weren't quite expecting and it has to do with why you're so drawn to my granddaughter." He placed his hand over the wrapped book. "See, in this life, you ought to have met her long ago."
"I've read that book and there's no girl in it."
"You say that as if it matters," said Merlin. He stood. "Come find me when you're ready to know what the big picture is."
Today
Gold used a locator spell on the thawed monkey and followed it to a farmhouse on the edge of town.
Zelena was waiting on the porch as the flying simian went to greet ihis mistress.
"You found me," she said with a menacing smile. She came off the porch. "Well, Rumplestiltskin, what do you think of me now?"
Gold shook his head in amusement. "Really, dearie? I'm embarassed for you. One simple memory spell. You can do better."
"Oh, but I did," purred Zelena. "And I will."
"Planning something, are we?" He tsked. "I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you."
"What? Do you suppose anyone is powerful enough to stop me? Do you think your Dark Princess can?"
"You will stay away from her," Gold seethed.
"So concerned about her, but what about your son?"
Gold eyed her.
"What? Did something I say pique the Dark One's interest?"
"It certainly wasn't anything I'm looking at."
She ignored his jab. "I need a brain."
"Well, the first step is admitting it."
Zelena scowled this time. "I need a brain for my spell and not just any brain will do. It has to be a particularly clever one."
"Well, if you're looking for mine-"
"I think we can avoid that unpleasantness," said Zelena. "I want Joseph Gillette's brain."
That truly surprised Gold. What did she want with the stranger? "What's he to you?"
"What's he to you? All you need to be concerned with is that when I get my brain, you get your precious boy back," she said, edging closer to him. "Tell me, Rumplestiltskin, does that seem like a fair deal?"
"I never make a deal without knowing the price."
"Well, if you fail to deliver, your son dies," said Zelena. "That's the price."
Zelena stalked away, waving for the monkey to follow her.
"Come along, pretty!," she called.
