Author's Notes: I do not own Once Upon A Time which is a show on ABC where no one really dies. Apparently, but hey, who am I to judge? Anyway, thank you so much for your reads and reviews. I need too get back to you guys, but I really appreciate them. Please let me know what you think and happy reading!


There- The Dark Forest

Joseph, as a former resident of several treatment centers, was very familiar with comfortable cages, but he never found them comfortable.

Lady Adler's villa was no different. She had been sent away by King Niall in the wake of the fallout that hunting down his grandson and associates had caused. It seemed there was something of a power struggle in the Dark Forest, the failed Death Curse had just coalesced his opposition.

So Lady Adler was looking to get out.

"Good morning, sleepy," she said.

Joseph opened his eyes. She was standing over his bed in a gown that he thought was better suited to a lingerie shop, but she seemed to think was a day frock. No matter. He wasn't here to criticize the dress sense of his hostess.

"No, I believe you've mistaken me for someone."

She sat on the side of the bed and drew her finger along his chest.

"The other two are having breakfast. You can join them unless you have an appetite for something else."

Joseph shook his head. "I'm afraid my tastes are quite specific."

"How do you know you don't like something unless you try it?"

"I'll take the risk."

Irene sighed. "Do come to me if you change your mind."

She left to Joseph's great relief.

The sooner he was back to Beatrice the better, really.


Here

"I'm calling it," said Beatrice.

"What?," asked Belle. "No."

Beatrice motioned at the table of untouched snacks for her morning constituents' meeting.

"No one's coming. I might as well pack it up and take it to the soup kitchen."

Belle walked over to help Beatrice put lids back over the trays.

"How's that going?"

"It sucks."

"I thought Remy was helping you."

"Remy is helping me, but no one else gives a crap." She shrugged. "It's not like I can change that. I don't know why I bothered."

"Because you care about people." Belle squeezed her. "You always have. That's who you are. You have such a good heart."

"Nobody cares if you have a good heart."

"But, Beatrice, I've known you were good since..." Belle's mind suddenly blanked. "Since..."

Beatrice raised an eyebrow. "Well, this is convincing."

Belle tried to recover. "You have always had a good heart."

Belle saw Beatrice off and left Aurora in charge of the library. She quickly darted over to her husband's shop.

"Rumple?," Belle called. "Rumple?"

Gold emerged from the backroom.

"Sweetheart, what's the matter?"

"How did I tell you I was pregnant?"

"What?"

"With Beatrice. How did I tell you?"

Gold shook his head. "I don't remember."

"Doesn't that seem odd to you?"

"Yes," Gold admitted, his face growing dark.

"I don't remember," said Belle. "How can that be?"


There

"Are we sure about drinking this?," asked Jenna, staring down into the cup of tea.

Lady Adler's servants had laid out the morning breakfast. It seemed being the king's mistress had many advantages, not the least of which was the catering in addition the huge villa and never-ending supply of slinky gowns. The sisters sat next to each other at the huge breakfast table.

"Well, if she kills us, he'll know it's her," Louise suggested. "That can't fit in with her master plan."

"What is her master plan?"

"To be Sherlocked?"

Jenna shook her head in disgust. "Don't go there."

"Come on. You know he won't."

"Actually, you don't know that."

Louise stared at her aghast. "True Love."

"True Love doesn't mean you don't have a life. Hello. Cora?"

Louise scowled. "It's not happening on my watch..."

Jenna snorted. "How are you going to stop it?"

Louise paused as her sister picked apart a pastry.

"Do you want to talk about it?," asked Louise.

"No."

"Because I think we should."

Jenna sighed. "I don't really think there's anything to talk about."

"You said you saw him get shot in the head."

"I presume you mean Moriarty."

They looked up to see Joseph standing above them.

"How long have you been standing there?," asked Jenna.

Joseph picked up a pastry.

"Dead. You thought he was dead and judging from your reaction- by which I mean the fireball..."

"Noticed that, did you?," muttered Jenna.

"He was a lover."

"I am in a nightmare..."

Joseph sat down. "What do you know about him?"

Jenna sighed. "Apparently nothing."

"Where did you meet him?"

Jenna looked to Louise for support. Her sister shrugged at her.

She gathered her courage and turned to Joseph.

"I was in college."

"Physics?"

"Linguistics, but yes, he was in the physics department."

"And did he take you to bed right away?"

Jenna turned red.

"There's really no need to be embarrassed. I haven't the slightest interest in your love life beyond enhancing my own knowledge of Moriarty."

"I wish you wouldn't..." Jenna muttered.

"So? Was it very long?"

"It was fast," she begrudgingly admitted.

"And how did he approach you? Was it because of your magical talents?"

"He didn't know I had magic. At least, I thought he didn't..."

"Is there a reason you're being so withholding?," asked Joseph.

"Who said I was withholding?"

"Moriarty could be with Beatrice right now. I need to know everything."

"It's not as if she can be so easily manipulated."

"Yes, but Moriarty obviously has a plan. I need to know what it is."

"Well, it's not as if he asked me to join him in taking over the world. I thought he was a perfectly ordinary, regular, non-magical, not a storybook character person, okay

Louise spoke. "We should try to reach Beatrice again."


Here

"This is a waste of time," said Ashley. "Trolls don't work."

Beatrice took a deep breath.

This was a stupid idea. Almost everyone had been against it, but Beatrice had found some article on the internet and once again mistakenly applied the rules of the real world to Storybrooke. She had enlisted Chef Remy to give some of Storybrooke's homeless cooking lessons and then they could learn to run the soup kitchen themselves and then maybe get jobs. Unfortunately, while she had been away Ashley had been looking in on the project.

The former trolls didn't really like Ashley.

"Ashley, I think maybe over thirty years of being out of the job market requires some adjustment-"

"Adjustment? I cleaned up after my stepmother and stepsisters until I met Sean. I didn't get to adjust."

Beatrice bit back, "Until you sold my dad your baby." She took another breath. "It takes time."

"Well, you're running out of time. Mr. Drury already dropped out of the program."

"Mr. Drury? He said he would take Toby as an apprentice. Why did he change his mind?"

Ashley shrugged. "Maybe he just realized what a bad idea this was."

"Maybe you ought to shut your gob, you ignorant, self-absorbed, whinging, simple-minded-"

Beatrice could hear an English accent insulting Ashley, but the blonde wasn't moving. She stood placidly with her arms crossed at Beatrice.

Beatrice turned to her right where a young man in a black suit was standing.

"What are you looking at?," asked Ashley.

"You don't see anyone?," Beatrice asked carefully.

"No," Ashley answered with disgust and walked away.

"Oh, right, she can't see me, I suppose."

Beatrice turned to face the man.

"Or hear me, but what about you? Why don't you go insult her?"

She froze.

"Beatrice?"

"Yes?," she said tentatively.

"Can you see me?"

"Yeah..."

"Did you want to ask how?"

"Not really..."

"Right..."

"Why are you acting so strangely? What's the matter? You didn't think I was dead, did you?"

"Well, that's one possibility..."

"I'm not dead."

"Okay."

"It's me? Joseph..." He paused. "You have no idea who I am."

"No," said Beatrice, picking up her bag. "Please leave me alone."


It was after high school let out that Merlin finally arrived at the pawn shop to answer the mystery.

"How did you tell Rumplestiltskin that you were pregnant?," he asked with a raised eyebrow. He motioned between them. "Do you think I listen in on all of your personal conversations?"

"So you do listen in on some of them," remarked Gold.

"I tried to give you some leeway in that particular era of your relationship. You can imagine how it might have been awkward for me."

The bell on the front door rang again. Regina stalked in.

"You son of an incubus, we need to talk," she snarled.

"Well, what sort of day would it be if you didn't insult my parentage?," asked Merlin. "Shall we take turns, you daughter of a heartless witch?"

"Don't make this about my mother. I don't have the time for a fight."

"You mean you're afraid you would lose."

Gold cleared his throat. "As terribly interesting as this is, Regina, we have our own problems so if you would be so kind as to wait-"

"What did you do to my memory?"

"What do you mean?," asked Belle.

Regina took a breath and turned to face the other woman. "You know I've been trying to find the Author."

"A fool's errand," scoffed Gold.

Belle glanced over at Gold with a tinge of guilt, then back at Regina. "Yes, what about it?"

"I've forgotten half the things I've learned or I don't know why I know the things I know." She turned to Merlin and smiled tightly. "So naturally I thought of you."

Merlin scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous."

"Actually, Regina," said Belle, "we're having some gaps in our memories as well."

"Like what?"

"Like telling Rumple I was pregnant."

"It really ought to have been obvious," said Merlin.

"Father," said Belle. "Please. What do you remember?"

"Well, first off, I didn't need you to tell me you were pregnant. The title of the book changed. You chose her name, that was how I knew the hour of the Dark Princess had arrived."

Regina eyed Belle. "You really can't remember telling him?"

"Well, let's think of what was happening around then," suggested Merlin. "Beatrice, the Savior and the one-handed pirate had just traveled back in time."

"Right," said Regina. "As part of my half-sister's time travel spell."

"Just a moment, dearie," said Gold. "I think we're missing something else."

"What?," asked Belle.

"As I recall Zelena cast two curses. One to bring her to this world, one to take away our memories."

"So?," asked Belle.

"So if curses were cast and we're not cursed now, how were those curses broken?," asked Merlin.

"Well," said Regina, "it appears I was wrong."

Merlin snorted at Regina. "Is that what passes for an apology with you, Your Majesty?"

"What are you talking about?," asked Belle.

"There's only one person who could have done this. The Author."

Gold rolled his eyes. "Don't be ridiculous."

"Is it? I get one step closer to finding him and suddenly there are blanks in our memories?"

"At the very least it's bad writing," said Merlin.

"You all seem to be accepting the idea that some mysterious author is out there writing our fates," said Gold.

Regina and Belle looked at Merlin.

The elder sorcerer cleared his throat. "Right, sunshine, I may have neglected to mention this to you, but there is a mysterious author out there writing our fates," said Merlin.

"Is there anything else?," asked Gold.

Belle finally spoke.

"One time. Maleficent, Ursula and Cruella kidnapped me."


There

Joseph once again found himself in Lady Adler's chambers.

"How'd it go?," asked Louise.

Joseph sat up. "Not good."

"What do you mean?," asked Jenna.

"I don't think she knew who I was," said Joseph. "She looked at me as if I were a total stranger."

"Well," remarked Irene, "that is some powerful True Love there."

"How much time had passed?," Jenna probed, ignoring the woman. "Think about it. Use your mind palace."

Joseph closed his eyes. Snow. He had seen it through the window, probably winter though one could never tell in Storybrooke. Beatrice, though, she had looked different. Her hair was in need of a trim, her manicure was ragged and she looked thinner. Her makeup was different, her go to eyeshadow had been replaced by an almost the same shade as often happened when colors were discontinued for one reason or another.

He looked back at Jenna and Louise.

He was missing something, but he had decided this.

"No, I think it's been over a year."

"So, she thinks you're dead. Great," said Jenna.

"But she didn't recognize him," said Irene. "She's forgotten all about him."

Louise's eyes brightened. "She has forgotten all about him."

"You look like that's good news," said Jenna.

"Remember Snow White?"

"What about her?"

"Does everyone know her?," remarked Joseph.

Louise looked at Joseph. "Snow White had fallen in love with Prince Charming, but they couldn't be together."

Irene groaned, throwing herself onto a chair. "I can already tell this is going to be nauseating."

"So," Louise continued, "she went to the Dark One to help her forget Charming so she wouldn't have the pain of living without him."

"And did it work?," asked Joseph.

"It worked, but it took away her love and she became mean and yelled at the dwarves."

Joseph shook his head. "I already saw Beatrice do that when Dopey stared at the Starbucks menu for ten minutes before ordering a strawberries and cream Frappuccino."

"She's a descendant of generations of True Love, it would be harder to take that away," said Jenna.

"How did you know that Beatrice was a descendant of generations of True Love?"

Jenna shrugged. "I'm a fan of True Love. Everyone knows that."

"So, she's chosen to forget you," Louise announced.

"This sounds like a genuinely stupid plan," Joseph decided.

"Love makes people do stupid things..." mused Jenna. "So, if her love's not been taken away, what has been taken away?"

"How do I break the spell? True Love's kiss?"

"What? A non-consensual kiss from a man she doesn't remember in another realm? In what way would that work?," asked Louise.

"We've got to get her to remember you," said Jenna.


Here

Belle walked into the kitchen. Martha and Lady padded around Gold's feet as usual. They hadn't spoken much after the visit with Merlin and she was hoping to change that.

"Dinner smells delicious," Belle remarked.

Gold glared up at her.

"I'm sorry you're upset, but please, don't pout as if you've never kept a secret from me."

"Why would I be upset? That you've had some insight into our daughter's destiny since before she was born and you chose to keep it from me?"

"Father thought you would worry."

Gold's eyes shot up. "Why should I worry when my daughter is caught up in a battle with a powerful sorcerer who controls all our fates?"

Belle straightened. "There's nothing we can do, Rumple. Just help her and believe in her."

"Well, we'll see about that..."

There was a knock at the front door. Belle went to open it and found Regina and Henry.

"I hope we're not disturbing you, but Henry found something," said Regina.

"Of course you're not. Come in."

Gold joined them in the living room.

"Hi, Grandpa."

"Henry." He looked quizzically at Regina. "What's going on?"

"Mom told me about your problem, how Belle couldn't remember telling you about Beatrice, but I know how."

"You do?," Belle asked in surprise.

Henry reached into his bookbag and pulled out his storybook. "It's in here. It's the same story about when my mom, Beatrice and Hook went back in time to the Enchanted Forest."

Belle frowned. "Right, you showed us at the prince's coronation party."

"That memory seems muddled, too," said Regina.

Henry opened the book as Belle, Regina and Gold looked on.

"Someone called the Master told you about Beatrice and said you had to save her from a terrible curse."

"What sort of curse?," asked Gold.

"It doesn't give a lot of details," Henry said apologetically.

"And what about this Master?," asked Belle. "Does it give any more about him?"

"This is the only picture," Henry pointed out.

Belle took it closer to peer at the illustration which was almost a silhouette, the Master was a tall man with elegant manners, a long coat and an interesting hat.

"So we're looking for someone with bad taste in hats," said Regina.

"Why would this Master care about Beatrice?," asked Gold.

"Well, he's in the other story where he and his friends help Prince Charming and Snow White get together."

"So he must have traveled back in time with them," said Belle.

Regina nodded. "That means he was here when Zelena was."

"Of course those memories are a mess."

Henry looked at Regina. "Mom, what about the rough drafts?"

"What rough drafts?," asked Gold.

"We found the Author's house. He has a secret room full of blank storybooks, but there's also storybooks of Beatrice, different ways her life might have turned out. If the Master is important to her, maybe he's in the other drafts."

Belle looked at Regina. "And you didn't think you should tell us?"

Regina grimaced. "Most of them don't have happy endings... or happy middles."

The door opened.

"Home!," Beatrice announced as Martha bounded up to her. "If Storybrooke's homeless starve, well, blame Ashley for not signing for a delivery..."

Beatrice paused seeing Regina and Henry.

"Hey," she said. "Were we having dinner?"

"Yes," Belle answered quickly. "We thought it might be a little easier to not have the whole family over every time so it's just Henry and Regina tonight."

"Oh," said Beatrice. "Okay. Let me put my stuff up?"

She ran upstairs. Regina turned to Belle.

"What was that?"

"Rough drafts of her life? If you thought they were bad, I certainly don't want her to know, especially not with how things have been."

"She seems better," Henry remarked.

Belle shook her head. "I'm not taking the chance. Tomorrow we'll go to this Author's house and you can show me the rough drafts."


There

Louise came out of the bathroom in the chamber she and Jenna were sharing to find the woman sitting on the bed.

"You and your sister have such powerful magic."

Louise sighed.

"What's the matter?," she asked.

"Nothing. I just suppose someone owes Steven Moffat an apology."

"Don't like what you see then?"

"Not particularly..."

"It's a shame when people feel the need to limit themselves..." She shrugged. "Shall I try my luck with your friend again? Perhaps he likes to play hard to get."

"I wouldn't count on the outcome changing."

"Right because this True Love is so important." She sat up. "You're just using Joseph, same as I am. Why don't we work out something?"

"Such as?"

"We get out, he stays behind."

Louise narrowed her eyes. "Sorry, no deal."

Jenna entered and looked from Irene to Louise.

"Sorry, am I interrupting something? Please, for the love of God, tell me I'm not even if it's a lie."

"You weren't interrupting anything."

"Good, well, good, because Joseph thinks he's thought of something."


Here

Beatrice stared down at her lunch which seemed very unappetizing, wondering at why she had ordered it.

"Hey."

She looked up and saw Emma.

"Want some company?," she asked, sliding into the booth.

Beatrice shrugged.

"My mom told me about the soup kitchen thing. It's a really cool idea."

"It's on the brink of disaster. Ashley wants it to fail and she's going to succeed."

"You've won against her before."

"And I win this time and then I have to do it again and again, what's the point? Do you know what it's like to have everyone be against you just because you woke up you?"

Emma snorted. "Have you met Regina?"

"Granted, but she's one person and people don't like her. Well, they didn't like her."

"Swan."

They looked up to see Hook. He sat himself down in the booth next to Emma.

"Mind if I join you?"

Ruby was over. "Emma, can I show you something? I think somebody is messing with the fire exit again."

Hook let Emma out.

"So, that leaves us, your highness."

"Oh, goody," Beatrice heard.

She slowly turned to see the man standing nearby.

Joseph waved. "Hi."

"Something wrong?," asked Hook, glancing over in Joseph's direction, but obviously not seeing him.

"He's taking your onion ring."

Beatrice snapped her head back.

"Buy your own onion rings."

"What can I say? Pirate."

"Which is just another word for someone who obviously doesn't understand the concept of personal property," Joseph remarked.

Hook reached again. Beatrice smacked his hand back.

"You're not even eating them."

"You tried to rip my heart out, you don't get my food."

"I did come to Neverland."

"So did a lot of people, but they're not trying to eat off my plate."

"Your father-"

"Oh, good," said Joseph. "We're going to go over the ways that your father has wronged Hook. That never gets old."

Beatrice just shook her head. "Don't even start."

"This is frustrating that he can't hear me..." mused Joseph.

"What's the matter with you?," asked Hook.

Beatrice tried to shake off the voice. "A lame pirate won't leave me alone."

"Lame?"

"Yes, you Captain Jack Sparrow ripoff-" Hook opened his mouth to speak and Beatrice raised her hand. "If you know him, please don't start. I don't want to know."

"Swan doesn't seem to mind."

"Try leaving her alone for five minutes. She turns, boom, there's Hook. Oh, look, there's Hook the other way. Oh, what's that? It's Hook."

"What would you know about love?"

Beatrice paused and got up. "Yeah, whatever."

"Beatrice, don't go," said Joseph.

Emma returned. "Where did Beatrice go? I was going to have lunch with her."

Hook shrugged. "Just you and me, love."

Joseph spoke. "He asked her what she knew about love which was such a brilliant way to prove you're not a wanker pirate."

Emma scowled. "What did you say to her?"

"Just that she doesn't know anything about love.'

"Which was oh so helpful," Joseph snapped.

Emma turned, looking straight at Joseph.

"Did you hear someone talking?"

"No..."

"Emma, can you hear me?," asked Joseph.

Emma shook her head and turned back to Hook.

"There's no need to be a jerk. She's having enough of a crappy time as it is."


There

Joseph found himself back at Lady Adler's chambers.

"No luck?," asked Jenna.

"None." He sat up. "I thought Emma could hear me for a moment."

"She's a product of True Love," said Louise.

"So?"

"Imagine we're broadcasting on a radio station that's tuned to True Love," said Louise. "We're trying to reach your specific True Love, but anyone who is born of True Love can hear the station, but there's static."

"I thought we were using your magic to transmit," said Joseph.

"Yeah," said Louise.

"So, you two are products of True Love?"

"This is all fascinating," said Irene, "but I thought someone was going to help me get out of this realm."

"You needn't worry on that account," said Joseph.

"Good boy," said Irene, caressing his cheek.

Rolling her eyes, Jenna looked at Joseph.

"We're doing this all wrong," she said.

"How?"

"This is Beatrice. She needs some proof. Even if she's cast a spell to forget you, there's got to be a bit of you left somewhere. Lead her to it."

"We won't be able to do this outside Storybrooke," said Louise.

"So we need something you left inside Storybrooke."


Here

"It's where we stayed for our honeymoon," said Belle, getting out of the Cadillac.

Regina walked over from her Mercedes. "Please don't get any ideas."

"Just show us what we came for," said Gold.

They walked into the secret room. Regina motioned towards the huge stack of books.

"There they are."

Belle hurried over. "They're all Beatrice?"

"Enchanted Forest Beatrice, Ice Princess Beatrice..."

Belle went to pick up one. Regina snatched it from her.

"Regina, what are you doing?"

"This is one of the not great ones..."

Belle narrowed her eyes at Regina and took the book from her hands. Gold stood looking over her shoulder.

Belle opened it up to reveal illustrations of Beatrice, but with thick dark-rimmed glasses against the skyline of Manhattan.

"I don't understand," said Belle.

Regina backed away, sitting on the chair next to the table.

"The Blue Fairy and Moe, they wanted her dead," said Belle, looking at the pictures.

"Nothing new there," said Gold.

"But in our lives they never laid a finger on me. In this one they blinded her with some kind of potion and I was put under a sleeping curse."

Gold took the book. "Oh, look, here's where Her Majesty comes in."

Regina crossed her arms. "You can hardly blame me for something I didn't do."

"But you would have, if you had the chance."

"I was a different person, that was a different life."

Belle shook her head. "Let's not argue about this."

"They're all like that," said Regina. "All the books. They're always after her and it sounds like the backstory of a villain."

"The Author wants Beatrice to be a villain," said Belle. "Do any of the books say why?"

"No, they never get that far. Merlin thinks he cast these aside when Beatrice derailed from his narrative."

"There could be clues in them. Maybe the Author's laid out what he wants from Beatrice. Is there anything about the Master in any of these?"

"I'm afraid not."

"So we are nowhere," said Gold.

Belle looked pointedly at her husband. "We are not nowhere. We have books of clues."


Beatrice came out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel.

And the man was there.

She screamed.

"Sorry, sorry!," said Joseph. "Please, please don't scream."

The door opened and Pamela entered looking frantic.

"Beatrice, what is it?"

"Nothing," she announced.

"Dinner's in twenty minutes."

"I'm not hungry."

Pamela gave her another severe look. "Dinner's in twenty minutes."

The door shut.

Joseph eyed Beatrice. "You didn't tell her?"

She tightened the towel around herself. "Not real."

"You think I'm not real?"

"Of course you're not real! Hot guy with an English accent in my bedroom?! You're as not real as they come!"

"So, your theory is?"

"I'm schizophrenic."

"Really, Beatrice?"

"I took a quiz."

"Oh, well, you took a quiz you googled. You know the question about magical powers doesn't count if you do in fact have magical powers!"

"Of course you would say that, you're not real!"

"I am and I can prove it."

Beatrice rolled her eyes. "There's no flaws in that plan. The delusion trying to prove he's real."

"Downstairs, in the library, there's a box in white paper."

"What?"

"I gave it to you for your eighteenth birthday. You hadn't opened it when we left for the Dark Forest. I know you and if there's one thing I know, you're a miser."

"Excuse me?"

"When you binge watch a show, you won't watch the final episode until a week after you watched the one before. You stockpile seasonal candies and parse them out for weeks- though I have noticed the plan falls apart once a month, you probably don't want me to comment on that- and you hate to use the last of anything. You have at least a dozen bottles of nail varnish on your vanity with only enough left for one more time. Presents. You hate to open presents all at once and if I had to bet, the last present I gave you, you would never open it. You wouldn't dare move it. You would keep it wrapped up on the table where you left it until the day you died. I know you, Beatrice Elizabeth Gold, the Dark Princess and Heiress to the Far North Kingdom and I can prove I'm real if you just go downstairs and open that box."

"So what if there's a box?"

"I'll tell you what's in it."

Beatrice paused. "I have to get dressed."

"Okay."

"Turn around!," Beatrice snapped.

"Oh, right." Joseph turned around.

"God, stupid delusion won't do what I want..."


Beatrice dressed and Joseph followed her down to the library.

"You haven't been taking care of yourself."

"What?"

"You've missed some trips to the salon."

"Multiple mental illnesses will do that to a person."

"You don't have multiple mental illnesses."

"Check again. The only thing keeping me out of the asylum is... well, it's probably going to be my dad and he'll go all Dark One and people will freak. As usual."

They entered the library. Joseph motioned at the table and the box.

"There it is. As promised."

Beatrice picked up the box and glared.

"If this is a trick-"

"It's not a trick. Open it up and you will find a pale blue enamel bracelet with a gold bee."

She rolled her eyes. "A gold bee. Is that supposed to be a joke?"

"A joke?"

She motioned at herself. "Bea Gold?"

"Well, obviously, I would never think of that because I always say your entire name. As do your mother and father, but not your brother. No doubt some Americanism he's attempted to give the impression of closeness with you. No one else in town does it because no one else in town wants to risk offending the Dark One by calling his daughter a nickname."

Beatrice stared at him. "You spout out a lot of stuff at once."

"So I've been told. The box if you would be so kind."

Beatrice took of the wrapping paper carefully. Joseph looked on in frustration.

"Hey, relax."

"Are you saving the paper? Your father can spin straw into gold, I'm sure you can get more."

Beatrice put the paper aside and opened the box, astonished to see that there was in fact a bee bracelet just as the man had described.

Joseph smiled with satisfaction. "As promised."

Beatrice picked it up and began to scream.

"Beatrice?" Joseph's pulse quickened as she fell to the floor, writhing in pain. He knelt beside her in panic, unable to touch her or wrestle the bracelet caught in her grip. "Beatrice? Let go of the bracelet, for God's sake..."

It seemed like an eternity before the door opened. Gold raced in, with Belle only a footstep behind him, Pamela soon on their heels.

"Beatrice?," said Gold. "Sweetheart? What's the matter? Eh?"

"Beatrice, Beatrice, what's wrong? Rumple, what's wrong with her?"

"I don't know..." Gold leaned closer, cradling her head. "Papa's here. Papa's here."

That did nothing to stop the fit as she flailed, Pamela grabbing her legs to keep her from kicking.

Joseph was crouched next to Belle, helpless.

He had to try something, so he leaned next to Belle.

"Belle. Belle!"

She flinched, unnerved just as much as her daughter's suffering.

"She needs to let go of the bracelet! Get it out of her hands!"

Joseph wasn't certain if Belle had heard him or just acted out of maternal instinct or just got lucky. Belle leaned over her daughter to pry the bracelet from her hands, holding it up for Gold's benefit.

Beatrice's screams and seizing stopped. She panted heavily.

"Beatrice..." breathed Belle, cradling her daughter's body as her daughter stilled.

Joseph finally felt himself exhale.

"My sweet Beatrice..." Gold sighed, leaning down to her,

"I'm sorry," said Joseph. "I'm sorry. I didn't know..."

Beatrice stared at her broken delusion.

He shook his head. "I am going to find another way back. I promise. I will fix this."

"Not real," she whispered.

"Beatrice, what are you talking about?," asked Belle.

"I am real." Joseph tried and failed to put on a brave smile. "I love you."

Her delusion vanished. Gold cupped her cheek.

"Sweetheart, what's not real?"

"Him," she said hazily. "He's not real."

"Who?," asked Belle.

Beatrice avoided the answer. "No one could ever love me."


There

Joseph awoke back at Lady Adler's chambers.

Jenna and Louise took one look at him, then at each other.

"What's wrong?"

He took the stone away. "We can't do this anymore."

"The stone?," asked Jenna.

"Whatever spell she's done to herself, actually remembering me... it hurts her. I thought it was going to kill her. We can't use the stone anymore."

Jenna looked at Louise. "What did she do?"

"Maybe she didn't lay out the price correctly. You have to manage those things. She was probably just hurting and took the quickest path through."

"Well, that sounds like a personal problem for the three of you," said Irene.

"Excuse me?," said Jenna.

"I've given you my protection in exchange for a path out of this realm. Now you said the Dark Princess could do that for me. If she suffers a little, that's not my problem, so either, you make contact or I turn you over to the Royal Guard."

Joseph slowly smiled. "You've misjudged me, Lady Adler."

"Have I?"

"You seem to think I care more about myself than I do about her, which would be completely wrong. I care nothing about myself when it comes to her. Even if it meant I was stuck here, pretending to be flustered by your frankly pathetic advances for the rest of my life, I would never touch a hair on her head."

Irene glowered. "You can leave."

"Yes, I expect I can." He turned to the twins. "Jenna, Louise, I realize you must have your own agenda and there will be no hard feelings if you have some other way of using Lady Adler to get to your home-"

"No, let's get the hell out of here," said Jenna, picking up her jacket.

Joseph and Jenna left. Irene stared at Louise as she zipped her motorcycle jacket.

"What can I say? Bealock lives." She walked out. "Afternoon."

She found Jenna waiting.

"Did you seriously just refer to them as Bealock?"

"It's not like I came up with it."

The trio soon found themselves reunited at the front step of the villa with Joseph.

"You two aren't holding on to a magic bean or something, are you?"

They began walking out.

"Sadly, no," said Jenna. "No enchanted tree. No Dark Curse. No doorway to Arendelle."

"Arendelle? Wasn't that the kingdom in Frozen?"

"Never mind," said Jenna.

"Beatrice has a snowman called Olaf."

"Oh. Really?," asked Louise.


Here

Gold looked up from the table as Belle came in.

"How is she?"

"She's sleeping," said Belle, getting a cup of tea. "Pamela is going to watch her for three hours, then we're going to switch."

"You don't have to do that," said Gold. "I can stay up and watch her. I don't mind it."

Belle raised an eyebrow. "Do you think I'll sleep?" She nodded towards the bracelet. "What sort of magic is that?"

Gold looked up at her. "It's not."

"But we saw what it did to her..."

"It's not magical."

"Could an enchantment just vanished?"

"Enchantments don't vanish, not by me. Residual magic always remains. This object is not and never was magical. What's more, it doesn't come from Storybrooke so whoever bought this got it from the outside world."

Belle took the bracelet from him. "A bee?"

"I don't know anyone who uses a bee."

She frowned. "It's not exactly Beatrice's taste, either."

"But it was bought by someone who spent a respectable amount, probably a hundred dollars. Not enough for a wife, but certainly a respectable amount for a young lady on her eighteenth birthday from a young man."

"How are you..."

"Read the inscription on the inside of the cuff."

Belle looked. "BG from JG. 22.10.14. That's Beatrice's birthday."

"Obviously JG is not big on sentiment."

"You think JG is Beatrice's boyfriend? Beatrice doesn't have a boyfriend."

"That we remember. We also don't remember who the Master is or how Zelena's curses were broken."

"JG? You think Beatrice was in love with JG?"

"And someone doesn't want them to be together, so much so that they've erased every trace of him, to make her suffer if she remembered," said Gold, taking back the bracelet. "And no one takes away our daughter's happiness."