Author's Notes: I do not own Once Upon A Time which is a show on ABC which we will be diverging from. Anyway, thanks for the reads and reviews. I really appreciate them and will get back to you soon as I've been sick. Please let me know what you think and happy reading!


A Long Time Ago In The Enchanted Forest

Belle held Beatrice close to her. She closed her eyes as she heard the sounds of the dungeon below the castle.

Mostly the screaming.

Mary snapped her fingers. A music box sprung to life, a tune being the only sound in the nursery.

Belle looked to her grandmother. "I need to know what's going on."

Catherine shook her head. "No, you don't."

"This is my fault!"

"Dear Belle, how is it your fault? Your fault for what? Falling in love, bearing the child of your True Love, loving that child?"

Belle shook her head and handed the baby off to Catherine.

"Belle..."

"I can't let him do it."

As soon as Belle left the nursery, Maurice's screams filled the castle. She hurried down to the dungeon. She took a breath as she opened the door.

"Rumple..."

Rumplestiltskin stopped and turned.

"Please, Rumple, stop."

"Please, Belle..." Maurice gasped.

Rumplestiltskin took the man's chin.

"Two hours ago you stood in my Great Hall and tried to poison her baby! The child of the Dark One!" If some saliva was landing in Maurice's face, Rumplestiltskin didn't care. "And you dare beg for her mercy!"

"He doesn't have to beg for it," said Belle. "Please. He's my father."

"But he's not," said Rumplestiltskin.

"I know and that's a mystery I would like solved some time, but he was the man who raised me. I can't change how I feel about him."

"He is unworthy of such mercy."

Belle dragged him to the corner as Maurice looked on.

"Please..." she whispered.

"What is it you expect will happen if others hear someone took on the Dark One and lived?"

"You spared Robin Hood."

"I didn't know him." He pointed at Maurice. "I know him and I don't like him."

"Don't tell me you can't think of some other solution." She glanced at Maurice and leaned in closer. "You said we'll all be leaving soon anyway, he won't even remember us. Surely you can bind him or something."

"He called you my whore. He said our sweet daughter was-"

Belle placed her hands on either side of Rumple's face.

"I don't care what he says because it's not true. You're a good papa but there's got to be a way other than killing him."

Rumplestiltskin walked back over to Maurice.

"She is so much better than you deserve but she's saved your sorry skin. I will bind you so you never return to this castle, but should you ever manage to break through those binds and hurt so much as the tiniest hair on my daughter's head, I will take your life."


Now

Belle followed Beatrice towards the door. She watched as she said goodbye to the dogs.

They still hadn't told her about the Snow Queen. She hoped they wouldn't have to, but there was still the matter of the townspeople blaming Beatrice for the ice wall. She had even had to send Pamela to take some of Beatrice's town council related appointments, but the Snow Queen was partially the reason behind that.

"Just be careful. Please," said Belle.

"Mom, I've been the town pariah before. Actually, it'll be better to be back to normal. The whole people being grateful to me thing was starting to get weird."

"You know you can call us if you need anything. One of us will come get you."

"It's just school, Mom. I'll be fine."

Beatrice gave her mother a kiss on the cheek. She then gave Gold another one as he came in. She picked up her messenger bag and left.

"Don't worry, sweetheart," said Gold. "Your father and I will have dealt with this before lunch."

"I'm coming with you," said Belle.

"That's really not necessary."

"I don't care. I'm going."


Joseph had hardly slept, pondering what the woman's motivation was, then probing the strategic weaknesses of the ice cream shop while Lestrade slept. Unfortunately, the strategic weakness seemed to be that Sara Fisher was still there.

"Sherlock?," asked Lila.

Joseph turned. His mother was standing behind him. He wasn't sure what to call her. Mummy seemed an age ago. Mrs. Foley was too impersonal and Lila was just weird.

"Lila," he said with no better option.

Affronted, she looked at Lestrade. "We haven't met before."

"Lestrade, Lila. Lila, Lestrade. I'm on a case."

"Yes, I know," said Lila. "I was hoping to speak to you about a personal matter."

"Oh," said Lestrade. "In that case, I'll be over there."

Lestrade walked to the counter and Joseph was left with his biological mother.

"I wanted to ask you over to the house. We could have dinner."

"What about last night?"

"What about it?"

"Mrs. Gold said she invited you to dinner at her house."

"We were busy."

He shook his head. "Blast."

"What?"

"Mycroft once told me he could tell when you were lying. I just realized how simple it was."

"Are you serious about Beatrice Gold?"

"Serious in that we seemed to have shared True Love's Kiss two or three times? Yeah... pretty serious."

"Surely you can appreciate how irrational that is."

"Yes."

"Then why pursue it?"

"Because I want to. Why don't you want me to?"

"I have no problem with the Golds-"

"Sounds like you do."

"Bad things happen to everyone who ends up around that girl. Do you know her grandmother was killed by the Blue Fairy? The same one that sent you through a portal to another realm."

"That's not Beatrice's fault."

"But perhaps it's enough reason to stay away. I don't want you to get hurt."

"I'll be back to my case."

"Sherlock-"

He stopped and turned back around. "I am not three."

"Don't you think I realize that?"

"You had no intention of abandoning me, I recognize that, but the end result was the same. You did not raise me. We are strangers and I don't seriously see how I can be expected to give up Beatrice based on the opinion of someone I just met."

"I know you better than that. You think yourself a knight and what they never mention in fairy tales is that knights get killed."

Joseph walked away. "Lestrade, we're going."

Lestrade followed with a to go cup, acknowledging Lila with a nod of his head.


Storybrooke, 2012

"Happy Valentine's Day!"

Beatrice awoke as her dog, Lady, growled. "Mom..."

"Don't argue with me, I just wanted to make my favorite girl know how special she was."

Beatrice looked over. There were balloons. Belle held a bag and handed it over.

"Cards. Reese's hearts and Valentine's M&Ms."

"Thanks, Mom."

"That's not all."

Beatrice looked inside the bag. Her mom had gotten her a sweater. A Valentine's Day sweater. It could have been worse. Belle had chosen black with a red heart. On a normal day, Beatrice might have even liked it, but today was Valentine's Day and it might give the impression that she wanted to be included in the holiday which she definitely did not.

"Mrs. Gold?"

"Yes, Pamela?"

"Mr. French is on the phone."

Belle grimaced. "I'll be right there. Sorry, sweetheart. I have to take this, but Dad is making you a special breakfast and I can't wait to see how that sweater looks on you!"


Seeing no way out of leaving the house in the sweater, she paired it with her gray jeans and black boots. Maybe she could just hide the heart under a scarf.

"Pa- Moe..." Belle was exasperated. "I can't interfere in this for you. He's my husband. If there's business to be discussed, you need to discuss it with him."

Beatrice waited. Word had spread throughout town about Mr. Gold taking Moe French's van the day before. Add that in with the whole arson thing and it was getting harder and harder to be the daughter of Storybrooke's most hated citien. Beatrice hardly knew her step-grandfather, she only saw him when something went wrong and he needed money from her mom.

"Beatrice, go get breakfast."

She walked towards the kitchen, but could hear her mom continue.

"No, I can't. I won't get into an argument with my husband over that much money, I can't just give it to you."

Beatrice walked into the kitchen and towards the counter. She took her usual spot as her dad finished making pancakes.

"Almost done," he said, placing them on a plate and topping them with a little whipped cream. He put them in front of her. "Happy Valentine's Day, sweetheart."

"Thanks."

"Is something the matter?"

Yes. I live in a weird town, probably some government experiment, better than Henry's crackhead theory. You, for some reason, decided it was a great idea to burn down City Hall because you really wanted Emma Swan to get elected.

"No."

Belle came in.

"Did you tell him?," Gold asked.

"I told him, but you could at least let him get the flowers-"

Gold looked up at her. "After what he's done, Belle?"

"This is petty."

"He knew the terms when he asked for the loan."

"You don't even care about the money!"

"You don't?," asked Beatrice.

Belle and Gold then remembered the audience.

"Never mind," Gold said abruptly. "What have you got planned for the day, Beatrice?"

Beatrice shrugged. "Algebra quiz, handing in my essay."

"Nothing special?"

Belle chimed in. "They're having a dance at the school this evening..."

"A dance?," asked Gold. "Who are you going with?"

"She won't go without a date," said Belle.

That wasn't entirely true. Not having a date didn't bother Beatrice. Not having anyone in the whole school who cared to see her did bother her. Storybrooke High was an especially harsh place, but she didn't want to tell her parents that. Every time something went wrong for Beatrice they seemed to take it so personally. Her mom cried. She hid it, but Beatrice knew.

She really couldn't stand to see her mom cry.

"Actually," said Beatrice, "some girls from class are going as a group thing. They asked me to come, but I think they just felt sorry for me because I was sitting right there."

In a moment, their countenances had changed. Belle's face lit up.

"No, of course you should go," said Belle. She looked hopefully at Gold. "That would be great."

"Yes, of course."


Now

Merlin glared as Gold and Belle emerged from the Cadillac.

"Sunshine..."

"Don't blame Rumple. He tried to talk me out of coming."

"Was Catherine able to shed any light on the Snow Queen?," asked Gold.

"Nothing more than we knew."

Belle stood outside the door to Any Given Sundae.

"What do we do?"

"She does not appear to be in..." said Merlin.

"Not a problem," said Gold. He took a small toolkit out of his pocket and worked at the locks.

"Why don't you just use your magic?"

"Because the Snow Queen would sense that." Gold paused. "Someone is in here."

They tiptoed inside.

"Is it her?," Belle whispered.

"We would sense her magic."

Joseph came out of the backroom. "Oh, good, it's just you."

"What are you doing here, dearie?," Gold asked.

"Obviously I wanted to investigate Ms. Fisher further," said Joseph.

Lestrade emerged from the backroom.

"Hello."

"Lestrade, you remember Mr. and Mrs. Gold. This is Beatrice's grandfather, Merlin."

It was Lestrade's turn this time. "Really?"

"I see my reputation precedes me."

"You might say that, yeah."

"Right," said Joseph. He held up a round piece of clay with a small handprint in it. "Anyone recognize this?"

Belle hurried over and took it from him. "Beatrice made that for me in nursery school."

"There's more in the back," said Lestrade. "Drawings. School papers."

Belle turned to Gold. "How did she get in our house?"

"Like this."

They looked up to see the Snow Queen. Before Belle knew what had happened, the handprint was out of her hand and back in the Snow Queen's.

"Give that back!," Belle shouted. "That was a gift from my daughter!"

"Never get between a mother and her arts and crafts projects," warned Merlin.

"The daughter you don't understand," said the Snow Queen, moving towards Belle. "People like you always turn against people like us and you're the worst because you actually have the potential to be so much more than you are, but you choose not to."

"Watch yourself," Merlin growled. "Belle needn't lower herself to impress you and perhaps you ought to be afraid of those who surround her."

"Is that a challenge?"

"No challenge. You couldn't possibly take me on."

Gold sneered. "Check again, dearie."

Lestrade looked at Joseph. "You might want to get out of the way."

"What? Why?"

"Sorcerer fight."

Joseph looked. Lestrade was correct. The Snow Queen had something in her hand while Gold and Merlin had something sort of fire ball things in theirs.

Joseph stood back shooting confused looks at Gold and Merlin. The Snow Queen made some sort of motion as a small storm cloud appeared. Gold and Merlin lobbed fireballs as the room became a total white out.

Joseph and Lestrade fled out the backdoor.

"What now?"

Then the storefront of the ice cream shop blew off, knocking them back. Belle landed on her rear on the ground in front of Joseph.

"See, this is why you don't trust ice witches!," said Lestrade.

Joseph hurried to Belle's side.

"Belle?"

"I'm fine," she said, dusting herself off.

Merlin and Gold emerged from the building.

"I admit that's not gone well," said Merlin.

"Where is she? What happened?," asked Belle.

Gold shook his head. "She vanished."

"What does she want with Beatrice?," asked Joseph.

"She tried to take her from us once," said Belle.

"And now you don't remember her being in Storybrooke. It sounds as if she's still at it," said Joseph. "This all would have been good to know."

"Call her," Gold said to Belle.

It was then that the sheriff's patrol car arrived. Emma and David leapt out.

"Seriously?!," asked Emma. She turned to Joseph. "And you! You were supposed to come to the station and tell me what you know!"

"I know the woman who runs the ice cream shop has ice powers. Also, Beatrice did do the ice wall around Regina's vault, but not the one around town, though I am fairly convinced she doesn't remember it."

"What?," asked David.

"She's called the Snow Queen," said Belle. "She's wanted Beatrice since back in our land, but we don't know why."

"Well, what does putting up a giant ice wall have to do with it?," asked Emma.

"I am sure it has something to do with the townsfolk. After all, they've always had such a welcoming and loving attitude towards her," said Merlin.

"We've got to do something before people panic," said David.


Now

Beatrice came home that afternoon to find a garment bag sitting on her bed. It seemed Belle had decided at some point during the day it was unacceptable for Beatrice to go to her first school dance without a new dress. At least it didn't scream Valentine's Day, a silver sequined bodice with a pale pink skirt, it actually went nicely with Beatrice' pendant.

Belle lent her a pair of shoes and Beatrice struggled to get down the stairs. All she had to do was wait for her parents to go off on their date.

"Oh, you look beautiful," said Belle. "Doesn't she look beautiful?"

"She always looks beautiful," said Gold.

Beatrice smiled. "Right, well, you'll be wanting to get to dinner."

"We want to wait for your friends to arrive," said Gold.

"You said they were meeting you here."

Beatrice blanked. There had been a flaw in her plan. Of course. They would want to see these fictional friends.

Time for more lies.

"Actually, we were just going to meet at the school. I can walk."

"Nonsense," said Gold. "A princess can't walk to a ball."

"We'll drive you," said Belle.

Okay, so now she was stuck in the car while they drove her to school. All she had to do was walk home and then she could just say somebody's mom had given her a ride.

Easy.


She walked into the school. She could hear the music from the door. She looked through the window and watched the Cadillac as it left.

The music started toying with her.

Maybe she could just take a peek at the dance. After all, who would notice?

Beatrice tiptoed to the door of the gym. People seemed to be dancing and talking and laughing.

"Oh, look at the dork."

Beatrice looked up to see Artie. His sister, Morgan, was there as usual.

Morgan snickered. "Have you come to see what normal people do?"

Beatrice bailed.

It was a long walk back to the Gold house. Beatrice tightened her coat around her and seriously regretted accepting her mom's offer to borrow shoes. How did she walk in these things?

She looked up to see Moe French had stopped next to her.

"Need a ride?"

On the one hand, they were really tall shoes. On the other hand, her grandfather had warned her not to trust the man.

Moe was out of his car, though and suddenly Beatrice had the sense that something very bad was about to happen.

"I'm fine, thank you."

Beatrice decided to start walking. Moe grabbed her arm.

"Moe, what are you doing? Let go of me." She struggled against him. "Let go of me!"


Now

Mrs. Edwards stopped at Beatrice's desk.

"Miss Gold."

Beatrice stiffened.

"Are you on the internet? You're supposed to be writing your essay."

"I am researching the Great Gatsby."

"She's looking at that stupid British show again," Artie offered.

Beatrice shot him a glare then looked back up at her teacher.

"I am drawing parallels between Carey Mulligan's portrayal of Daisy and her portrayal of Sally Sparrow in Blink."

"Such as?"

"I was researching that."

The woman glared.

"Okay," said Beatrice, "let's just level here. What do I have to do to not read this stupid book any more?"

She snorted. "Are you trying to make a deal, Miss Gold?"

"Yeah, I thought that would be obvious."

Mrs. Edwards straightened herself. "Miss Gold, you are not special."

"Okay, I think you might be wrong just on empirical evidence alone..."

"You are a student in this class and while you are a student you will do the assignment or fail. Write the essay on the topic I assigned and turn it in on time or else."

"Or else what?," asked Beatrice.

The ground began to shake. The students looked up in alarm.

"Miss Gold, your magic tricks do not amuse or frighten me."

"I'm not doing that."

"Don't toy with me, Miss Gold."

Artie spoke. "Mrs. Edwards, there's a snow monster in the parking lot."

All eyes turned to Beatrice. She got up and walked to the window.

Looking out, she saw a huge ice monster that towered over the trees. He held a shield that he banged with a club.

Beatrice looked back at her scowling teacher and classmates.

"Just to clarify, that is not my snow monster."

"Really?," asked Artie.

"Yes, really. Mine is called Marshmallow and he just throws things."

The ice monster roared.

"Please excuse me," said Beatrice.


Then

Emma walked into the apartment she shared with Mary Margaret.

"Hey," said Emma. "How was girls' night?"

Mary Margaret held up a wine cooler. "Still going."

Emma snorted. "That fun, huh?"

"Care to join me?"

Emma was about to answer when there was a knock at the door.

"Who could that be?"

Emma walked over, ready to tell whoever it was to buzz off, but waa somewhat surprised to see Mr. Gold and the pretty brunette with him.

"Mr. Gold."

"Sheriff Swan, I'm afraid I have some rather urgent business. My daughter is missing."

"Missing?"

Mary Margaret stood and walked over. "Isabelle? What's going on?"

"Beatrice," said Belle. "We dropped her off at the school dance. She's not there. Pamela says she's not at home. My father's looking everywhere in between."

"Who's Pamela?," asked Emma.

"Beatrice's nanny," said Gold.

"Sorry. Beatrice. Dark hair, brown eyes, red leather bag, Beatrice?"

"Yes," said Gold.

"She still has a nanny?"

"She still had a nanny, because I want someone to look after her when her mother and I cannot which I think is illustrated by our present circumstances."

"Have you tried her phone?," asked Emma.

"Really, Sheriff?"

Belle squeezed Gold's wrist. "We tried it. She didn't answer."

"Boyfriend? Maybe her mom?"

"Her mom?," asked Belle, now being the one to sound irritated.

Emma looked Belle over again. She also caught Mary Margaret's expression of sheer disbelief.

"Right... Does she have a computer?"

"A Mac and an iPad in her room," said Belle.

"Okay. I'll meet you back at your place. We'll go from there," said Emma.

The Golds left. Mary Margaret quickly invited herself and changed clothes joining Emma in the patrol car.

"Her mom?," asked Mary Margaret. "What was that about?"

"Sorry. I just didn't think Isabelle Gold was her birth mom. Was she ten when she had her?"

"Emma!"

"Seriously, what products is she using?"

"Maybe you could focus on the missing teenager."

"Do you know them?"

"Beatrice was in my class. I used to be friends with Isabelle."

"Anything you can tell me about the family? I mean, how are they? The kid's fifteen and she still has a nanny? That seems kind of weird."

Mary Margaret nodded. "I know Mr. Gold can be a little... scary, okay, terrifying, but I know he loves Isabelle and they both adore Beatrice. They were the most involved parents in my class."

"And what about her? Do you think she'd run away?"

"Not a chance. She's quiet. Smart."


The Golds were waiting and Emma met the nanny, Pamela. The house was staid, dominated by books and antiques until they led her to Beatrice's room.

There was a white bed with a teal ruffled bedspread. The walls were covered in posters from British TV shows. The shelves were lined with what seemed to be action figures and toys. Some sort of robot with a whisk and a plunger? Whatever it was, Beatrice seemed to share her parents' hoarder mentality.

"Her desk is over here," said Belle, leading Emma over to a white wood thing facing the window.

Emma sat awkwardly in the faux fur chair. Emma looked at the Macbook.

"Oh, here," said Belle, quickly typing in a password.

"You know her password?," asked Emma.

"Yes."

Emma started looking through the web browser. There weren't any chat sites or anything, just a lot of stuff about TV shows.

"Does Beatrice have any friends?," she asked. "Anyone she might be with? Boyfriend?"

Gold scoffed. "Beatrice does not have a boyfriend."

"Dads aren't always the first to know."

"Sheriff Swan, I know what's going on in my daughter's life. She is not the type to run off."

"It doesn't seem like she gets much of a chance."

"Is that a criticism I'm hearing?"

"Look, if kids don't get any freedom sometimes they have to break loose."

"Is that why you had such a rebellious childhood? Because your parents didn't give you any freedom?"

Belle glared at him now. He made no verbal acknowledgment to Emma, but seemed to acknowledge her reproach.

"My husband is being rude, but he's right. Beatrice would never run away."

Emma looked back at the computer. "What friends was she meeting? I can't find any contacts on here."

Emma got up. "Okay. I'll start asking around town between here and the school."

"I'll help," said Mary Margaret.


Now

Beatrice walked out to the school parking lot where the Ice Monster was making quite a mess. The kids from the PE class were ran away, narrowly escaping the creature's swath of destruction.

"Hey!," she shouted. "Hey!"

The monster stopped and looked down at Beatrice. It bent over and she could feel the cold coming off its face as it was inches from her.

"Hi..."

She hadn't really thought through this part of the plan.

"Could you possibly stop?"

The creature roared, blowing Beatrice on her back. She looked up just as it began walking towards Main Street.

"Not good."

"No, it's not."

Beatrice grimaced as she looked to see Moe French and the rest of the Knights of the Round Table.

"Hey, guys..."


Then

Emma spent all of Valentine's night out in the cold looking for anywhere that a fifteen year old girl could be hiding.

She walked into Granny's surprised to find Mary Margaret.

"Shouldn't you be at school?"

Mary Margaret shook her head. "I decided to take a sick day. You need all the help you can get."

"Thanks."

Ruby poured Emma a cup of coffee. "Beatrice Gold finally ran off, huh? Good for her."

"Ruby!," exclaimed Mary Margaret.

"What?"

"Why do you say that?," asked Emma. "Is there something I don't know about Gold?"

"Nothing. Just everyone knows Gold's a bastard," said Ruby.

"And she's weird," added Ashley. "Just like Isabelle. Of course we all know what she did."

Emma shook her head. "Somebody is going to have to connect the dots for me."

"Everyone knows she only married Gold for the money."

"Of course she didn't," said Mary Margaret.

Ashley snorted. "Why else?"

"They're in love."

"That bastard doesn't love anyone."

Emma shifted uncomfortably. "Ashley, don't you think you're maybe letting your own feelings cloud your judgment?"

"She's right. Shut up."

Emma looked up to see a tall man had joined them.

Ashley looked at him. "You know I'm not in your class anymore. You can't tell me what to do."

He frowned. "Of course I can. Shut up."

Ashley walked away. Mary Margaret turned to Emma.

"Emma, this is Colin Avalon. Isabelle's father. He teaches Physics at the high school."

Emma shook hands. "I'm still looking for Beatrice. So far no one's seen her-"

"Moe French."

"Excuse me?"

"Two days ago, my son-in-law repossessed his van and this morning he is not at his shop or his house. Perhaps you ought to look there or perhaps I ought to."

Emma looked at Mary Margaret.

"He didn't take it well when Isabelle married Mr. Gold," she said.

"Listen, I thought I would just tell you and try to save my daughter and granddaughter the trouble of jailhouse visits."

"Jailhouse visits?"

"Because my son-in-law will kill him."


It was a pretty quick matter to locate Moe French's car. It was poorly disguised in the carport in front of a house with a giant foreclosure sign on it. Colin had followed them over in his Land Rover.

"Hey," said Emma. "I'll handle this."

"You and what backup exactly?"

"I get that you have issues with the guy."

"Issues is a term that does not begin to appropriately cover what has transpired between that man and myself."

Emma left Mary Margaret and Colin behind, then headed for the front door. She drew her gun.

"Moe? Moe, are you in there?"

Emma heard some rustling in the house and moved to kick the door down. As she did, the engine revved from the car. Moe backed out of the driveway, nearly running over Colin and Mary Margaret in the process.

Lying to her parents was looking like less and less of a good idea.

Beatrice had spent the night tied up and blindfolded in a car trunk. She was scared of the dark, she always had been, she just never knew why.

At one point she did get the blindfold off enough to discover that Moe did not have the kind of car with the handy trunk popping thing in it.

This had been a bad idea. Why hadn't she fought harder? Why hadn't she stayed home and just told her parents she was a friendless loser? They already knew it.

Better yet, why hadn't she been the sort of girl who had friends? Or the kind of girl who boys actually asked out?

Tears threatened for not the first time when they were halted by the sound of an engine revving. The car was driving somewhere. Fast.

Out of town? How far did Moe expect to get with this? Worst off, he wasn't exactly driving carefully and Beatrice got bounced on every bump in the road. She tried to use her bound hands to buffer between the metal of the trunk and her skull, but it was useless.

Then it spun, her head smacked against the car and everything went really, really black.


Belle and Gold hurried into the emergency room.

"Mr. and Mrs. Gold, you can't go back there!"

They didn't bother waiting for further reproach, instead Belle swung the doors open.

"Isabelle," said Mary Margaret.

"Where is she?"

Her father had her by the arm. "Belle..."

"Where is she? I need to see her."

Her attention immediately went to the door Emma was standing in front of. She pushed past the sheriff and went inside.

Beatrice lay on the bed with the machines beeping. Belle gasped and covered her mouth.

"Beatrice?"

Colin had her. "Come away. They have her."

Gold seethed. "How is she?"

"A concussion, a broken wrist, a lot of bruises. She'll get through it." He looked at Belle. "She's strong."

Belle crumbled.

Gold turned to Emma. "Where is he?"

"Who?"

"You know who. Moe French."

"He's in another room. He only got a little banged up during the accident. He'll be under arrest as soon as he's discharged."

Gold tore past her. Emma turned around to see Moe being wheeled along. That's when Gold moved faster than any man with a cane had a right to. She had just gotten going when the first blow of the cane landed on Moe's skull.

Moe was a pretty bloody mess by the time Emma and two of the orderlies were able to pull Gold off of him. Everyone in sight stared at Gold in terror. Emma didn't. While she couldn't let him beat Moe French to death with his cane, her time with Henry had certainly helped her to understand the instinct.

"Come on, Gold. Just walk away. Your daughter needs you."

That seemed to snap him out of the trance he was in.

"Sheriff Swan."

Emma looked up to see Regina.

"Aren't you going to arrest Mr. Gold?"

Gold smirked. "Just in time, aren't you, dearie?"

"Sheriff, do your job."


It wasn't a straight waking up. Beatrice first became aware she was out of the car trunk, but she wasn't warm.

"Cold," she muttered.

"Okay, okay." She was suddenly aware of her mother at her side. Belle kissed her on the forehead. "I'll get you another blanket."

The next time she heard her mother and grandfather speaking in hushed whispers.

He was first. "Well, Her Majesty seems to take a perverse pleasure in having him locked up."

"Why did Rumple have to do this?"

"You know why. His bargain to save his life-"

"Which he doesn't remember."

"Like he cares."

"Mom?" Beatrice tried. It hurt to move.

Conversation ceased. Belle rushed to her side.

"Hey, baby. I'm here."

It seemed to be a while later when Beatrice fully rejoined the conscious world. She could now fully appreciate her situation: she was in a hospital room and her mother was at her side.

"Oh, baby," said Belle. She squeezed as much of her daughter as she could around the tubes and wires. "I'm so glad you're awake."

"Where's Dad?," she asked weakly.

Belle bit her lip. "Dad is not here."

"Where is he?"

"He's fine."

"Mom."

Belle combed her fingers through Beatrice's hair. "Dad is currently in jail-"

"What? Why?"

"He assaulted my stepfather. It's fine. He'll get out."

"How is that fine?"

"He'll take care of it."

"How's he going to take care of it? He's the one in jail."

"He has his ways."


Now

Running was not Beatrice's favorite thing. It was something she did to appease her mom.

Running in her ankle boots was also not a favorite thing. Moe and his knights really weren't allowing her a chance to text someone to come help her.

She finally arrived at the junction onto Main Street out of breath.

"Okay, guys, guys, really..."

"Enough, demon!," shouted Moe.

She threw her hands up.

Then something unexpected happened. A bolt of ice landed in front of them.

Beatrice looked to her hand. She hadn't even felt it.

It just...

Another one flew out.

"Monster!"

The men joined in Moe's shouts and held up their bats and such.

"Honestly, guys, time out! I don't even know why I'm doing that!"

Another. Another. Bolts of ice landing on the ground.

"Everyone just get back!"

Beatrice threw her arms out. Bolts of jagged ice landed in the road.

"Just get away from me! Please!"

Belle hurried towards them. Joseph darted towards Beatrice, a piece of the ice landing just ahead of his feet. He stopped quickly.

"Beatrice, it's alright, we're here!," said Joseph.

"Stay back if you value your lives!," warned one of Moe's cronies.

"Shut up!," snapped Joseph.

"Beatrice-" said Belle.

"Mom, stay back! I can't control it! I-"

Another bolt of ice landed in the road just in front of Belle.

"Beatrice," Belle said softly, toeing around the ice, "it's alright."

As she did, Moe made a lunge for her. Bolts of ice shot from Beatrice's hands. As Belle stepped in front of Beatrice, the ice pierced her heart.

Joseph was the one to catch Belle as she fell. He looked up at Beatrice whose eyes were wide with horror.

"Look at the monster! Look what she did to her own mother!"

Beatrice wasn't sure who had said that, but she couldn't disagree as she watched her mother clutch at her chest.

"I'm sorry."

"Sweetheart-"

As Joseph looked up, Beatrice was gone. It was about this time Merlin and Gold reappeared with Lestrade. Wordlessly, he handed her off to Gold and hurried after Beatrice.

"Belle..." Gold breathed in a panic.

"Where was it?," asked Merlin.

Belle didn't answer. She looked at Gold. "Go get her."

"What about you?"

"Rumple, go get our baby. Now."

"I've got this," said Merlin.

Gold kissed Belle and hurried down the icy path Joseph had followed.


Then

Beatrice was looking at two weeks at home, not that she was that upset about missing school. It wasn't like anyone would miss her. Pamela was just putting down a glass of water when her parents walked in.

"Mr. Gold, welcome home," said Pamela. "Can I get you anything?"

"No, thank you, Miss Lyndon. We were just hoping to speak to Beatrice alone."

"Yes, of course. I'll be downstairs washing up."

Pamela left and Belle shut the door.

Gold kissed Beatrice on the forehead. "How do you feel, sweetheart?"

"Sore."

Belle looked at her watch. "It's time for your next pill. Do you think you could hang on a little so we could talk?"

Belle sat on the other side of the bed. Beatrice got the sense that whatever was about to be discussed was not great.

She looked at her dad. "Are you going to jail?"

"No, of course not, sweetheart. I'll get this sorted in no time. This is about something else entirely."

"What?"

He looked to Belle and back to Beatrice. "Do you remember when you were seven and you realized that none of your friends had changed classes at the beginning of the school year?"

"Do I remember how no one in this town seems to be aging except me and Henry? Yeah, kind of."

"And we told you that you were right, but there was nothing that we could do about it," said Belle. "That it was for the best."

"Uh-huh..."

"Sweetheart, you were young and we didn't want to burden you with the knowledge of things we weren't in a position to change and now we are. You need to know what's happening."

Beatrice frowned. "Is it a government experiment?"

"What?"

"For a while, I thought maybe this was like The Island. Or Lost. Neither of those really panned out."

Belle shook her head. "It's not a government experiment and it's not like Lost."

"Henry Mills has a theory, does he not?," asked Gold.

"Well, yeah, that his mom is the Evil Queen and Mary Margaret is Snow White and Doctor Hopper is Jiminy Cricket, but that's..."

"Correct," said Gold.

"I'm sorry?," said Beatrice.

"We're from a land called the Enchanted Forest. Regina was a pupil of mine. She blamed Snow White for taking her happiness and cast the curse to come to this land where we would be locked in time, where she would be the only one to have happiness."

Beatrice was silent.

"Sweetheart?," asked Belle.

"I don't get it."

"Don't get what?"

"The joke."

"Sweetheart, there's no joke," said Belle.

Beatrice continued her silent staring again.

"I don't get it. I was thinking it was a Doctor Who thing, like there was a break in the time space continuum or hey, we're inside CAL. Wait, maybe we are in CAL. Maybe this is the Library."

"This is not a Doctor Who thing," said Gold. "We are from the Enchanted Forest."

"Fine. My fourth grade teacher is Snow White and you people are who?"

"Rumplestiltskin."

"Oh and I guess you're the miller's daughter? Grandpa doesn't really strike me as a boasting miller."

"Your mother is certainly not the miller's daughter," said Gold.

"I'm Belle."

"Yeah?"

"Beauty and the Beast, Belle."

"Then Grandpa's a hopeless inventor?"

"No, your grandfather is Merlin and he is the only one besides Regina who has been awake this whole time," said Gold.

She motioned at the cocker spaniel on her bed. "Right and I suppose my dog is actually Lady from Lady and the Tramp? And Merlin is Beauty's father now? How many crossovers are there supposed to be?"

Belle looked to Gold. He seemed equally stymied.

"Beatrice, we only wanted to tell you the truth," said Belle.

"Oh, yeah, that's the truth," Beatrice said. "We're all fairy tale characters. Why did you even bother if that's what you were going to tell me?"

"It's all true, though."

"Could I please have the drugs now?"

Belle frowned. "Yes, of course."

"I'm going to make you dinner, sweetheart. Eggplant?"

Beatrice nodded. Even if her parents were terrible liars, she was still going to get hungry. Gold kissed her forehead.

He followed Belle back to their bedroom.

"She doesn't believe us," said Belle.

Gold shrugged. "I admit that I never considered that as a possibility."

"What if we told her about Bae?"

"Do you remember what Sherlock said? That she was convinced she was second place? I'm not going to invite that yet and certainly not while she doesn't feel well."

Belle nodded. She so wanted more of the truth, but maybe now wasn't the time.

"You're right."

"The only way to deal with this is for her to believe."


Now

"Beatrice!"

She got the feeling that Joseph had been following her a while. She finally stopped, holding her hands behind her back as she turned to face him.

"Why are you running?"

"I can't control the ice, you saw."

"It was an accident."

"What? So I can hurt you, too?!"

"Come back. We'll sort it out."

He stepped forward.

"Don't come closer!"

"Beatrice, we both saw the film. You run off into the woods, leaving a path of ice in your wake-"

"What? What path of ice?"

Beatrice looked down. Sure enough there was a long path of ice.

"I am so not coming back. I didn't even know I did that."

Out of habit, she pointed and another bolt of ice landed near Joseph.

"Why won't this stop?!" A wave of her hands in the air had an ice bolt knocking down a tree branch.

"Beatrice, you and I both know you are not about to spend a night in the forest!"

"No, I'm going to go build an ice palace and sleep in that."

"Right, the film," said Joseph.

"Just go back and tell my mom I'm sorry. Don't follow me!"

"Beatrice-"

"Do not follow me!"

Concentrating, she waved her hands. Chains of ice appeared on Joseph's wrists, tied to stakes in the ground.

"Beatrice..."

"You're not following me."

"You can't just leave me out here alone."

"No."

Beatrice left.

"Beatrice!," called Joseph. "Beatrice!"

He heard footsteps behind him and then a snowman appeared in front of him.

"Why did you chain yourself to the ground?," he asked.

"You can't be serious."

"What do you mean? You have chains right there and there."

Joseph closed his eyes. "What's your name?"

"Oh, right. You don't remember me. My name's Olaf and I like warm hugs."