A/N: Just a heads up, the name you might run into trouble with is pronounced Fway-lin.

Possible spoiler, haven't decided yet. If it is, it's a long way off (as you'll figure out by the setting).

First up in For the Sake of Family's extras. Hope you enjoy.

An Imp's Best Friend

Mr. Gold was a feared man around Storybrooke. Owning most of the buildings in town meant that he had power over most people; even though it hadn't happened so far, it was an unspoken rule that someone who got on his bad side would suffer some consequence-from an increase in rent, which was most likely, to the much more drastic but still possible chance that they could and be evicted from their place of dwelling and banned from most stores and establishments.

The other reason Gold was feared was because of the giant dog that never seemed to leave his side.

Gold wasn't an overly tall man, but a dog whose head came halfway up his torso was still extraordinarily large by any standards. Most people thought it not even a dog; it was much too large, it's eyes the color molten gold instead of a dog's orange-brown, and it's features were too close to a wolf's. Alot of people assumed that, because of this, the animal was a half-breed, the result of a dog crossed with it's larger cousin. A small group of citizens whispered that it was actually a wolf, somehow tamed enough to be kept as a pet.

Though there were different theories on the subject, neither of these minorities could explain the beast's coloring. It's coat was roan, almost red in some light, and was accented by black along its spine, eyebrows, tail-tip and paws. That shut up the ones who thought it was once a feral wolf; no wild canine had that color without some amount of dog crossed in, and no wild wolf was ever known to grow that big.

The reason that people were wary of the beast was not just it's looks; the she-wolf had the personality to match. Among other things, it was extremely protective of it's owner. Anybody who got too close to the pawnbroker got a warning growl, a sound that would put a pitbull to shame, and if some senseless fool ignored it, a snap of those mighty jaws dangerously close to a finger would get the message across. Very few people had yet been unwise enough to push the animal's patience beyond that.

This sequence did, however, vary depending on the person; some got an angry growl when they approached Gold, while others got nothing more than a bored, irritated woof. With certain people, the beast went right to snapping; one example of this was Mayor Regina, who, without fail, always got a savage snarling growl and barred teeth when in the vicinity.

Besides being overly territorial of it's human companion, the wolf-dog was a terror in general. One of it's main joys in life seemed to be scaring the citizens of the small Maine town. This was usually accomplished by jumping out at passersby, lunging at them and barking loudly. Though the dog never jumped up on anyone or caused them serious harm in this, the target almost always jumped, sometimes quite dramatically, and many things were dropped over the years (including dignity; several men gave high-pitched squeals during this little game). Often, after having succeeded in terrifying a victim, the wolf gave yipping barks that sounded oddly like laughter, and that didn't help to quiet the rumors about her.

At Granny's, Faolan-the name meant "little wolf", though there was nothing small about her- would occasionally sit next to Gold's booth, guarding him and refusing to let Ruby or Gran deliver his hamburger without first giving her a chunk of food, (much to the amusement of the other patrons). Once, Gran had grown tired of the game and come to the table with the plate of food in one hand and a broom in the other. When Faolan mirrored the woman's movements, baring her way to the booth, the elderly woman had wound up and whacked the gigantic dog right in the face with the bristles. The animal had froze in place, an astounded look somehow painted on it's face, before laying back it's ears and growling it's Regina growl, fangs bared. Gold was quick to order it down, and the wolf had glared at him, but grown silent.

However, when Granny extended her hand to place the plate on the table, Faolan retaliated by head-butted the limb, sended the plate clattering to the ground where she consumed her master's hamburger in one bite. Some of the other customers laughed, and received a sharp look from Gold, quieting them the way the command had for the wolf.

This example of disobedience was another thing that worried the townspeople about the beast: that Gold seemed to have only a little bit of sway over Faolan's actions. There were times where she would obey his orders instantly and without question, but there were also times where they were ignored completely, or when the animal would giving that laughing yip and do the exact opposite. It wasn't even unheard of for the pawnbroker to give a command that was met with no action other than an irritated growl. Which one of these reactions was received was a toss of the dice, and it didn't calm anyone's fears about just how safe it was to have Faolan unleashed and in public.

There were a handful of reasons why no one voiced these opinions. One was that the animal had, despite it's tendency to growl and-or snap, never harmed an innocent citizen of the town. Not to say that she had never harmed anyone; once a drunkard had come stumbling into Granny's, (eliciting a low growl from Faolan) waving a beer bottle and demanding food and alcohol despite the fact that the diner had a "No Shirt, No Shoes, No Common Sense, No Service" policy, and despite the fact that he didn't seem to have a way to pay for any of it.

His ranting and raving hadn't sat right with most of the other patrons, but seeing as how the angry drunk was nearly six foot tall, no one saw in their best interest to intervene. After several minutes, though, with Faolan's growls growing ever louder, Mr. Gold was thoroughly annoyed.

His cold, calm voice cut through the air. "You may not realize this, dearie, but some of us are trying to eat."

"Shtay outta it, old man." The drunk had snapped, and Faolan's growls had crescendoed as she rose to her feet.

Gold had stared at the man with ice cold eyes. "Faolan, remove him." he had said simply, and it seemed the wolf-dog had been waiting for those words, because the second they were uttered Faolan was across the room, taking a flying leap and bowling the man over. Before anyone could react, the dog had clamped its jaws around the man's wrist and was dragging him towards the door. Mr. Gold, calm as ever, strode over and held the door open for his companion, as though this was the kind of thing that happened every day. Sheriff Graham had arrived to find a man passed out on the sidewalk in front of the diner, wrist bleeding, and Faolan calming guarding the doors to the building.

The only other time that it was known to the public that the wolf actually harmed anyone was the case of the unfortunate soul who tried to mug Mr. Gold. Not much was known about that particular incident, other than that the pawnbroker said he was held up by a young man with a knife while crossing from his shop to his car, and other than the fact that said young man was emitted to the ER and had to have ten stitches in his arm.

Despite those events, no effort was ever made to ban the beast from any public place. If anything, the animal's intimidation factor helped to keep the peace; not many people would stir up trouble with the raucous-hating wolf nearby. Acouple people were concerned about how safe the dog was around children. After all, a dog who growled at grown-ups simply for being near it probably wouldn't have the patience for intrusive and rough children. This was one common fear that was actually soothed.

It was a real shock to the people. One day that was unextraordinary from all the others, Faolan was napping outside the pawnshop, when a toddler got too far ahead of it's mother and stopped to pet the "doggie". The mother was horrified, and rightly so; only three people in the town had ever pet Faolan and gotten away safely- Graham, Henry, and Gold- and even these were allowed only a companionable pat on the flank, shoulder or head.

So she had dropped her diaper bag and ran to the child, only to find that Faolan (who was taller than child, even laying down) was allowing the small human's fumbling and not-so-gentle attempts at petting. Gold emerged onto the sidewalk just as a the toddler was tugging rather roughly on Faolan's ears, and whilst Faolan was shooting the astounded mother a pleading look.

"She's… she's actually doing quite good with him." The mother had mumbled to Gold after a second of watching the pair.

"She has a soft spot for kids." Gold had replied softly.

"She won't bite him, will she?"

"There's nothing the lad could do that would lead to that."

It seemed 'the lad' was going to test this theory, because he climbed onto Faolan's back and kicked her sides like a cowboy on a horse. "Giddy-up, doggie!"

"Richard sto-" the now-panicking mother had began, but stopped short as the dog gave what could only be described as a long-suffering sigh and rose to her feet. She slowly walked to the end of the block and back, careful not to move or turn overly fast and knock the boy off, much to the shock of everyone in sight (many of whom immediately took picture or video on their phones).

It was one of the short side-stories in the paper, and when Faolan had seen one of the pictures on the Sunday paper of one of Granny's customers, she had ripped the tabloid from his hands and promptly shredded it, to the great amusement of Gold. For months after, the huge wolf-dog never failed to give Sidney the Regina-growl whenever he was in sight.

One of the things the townspeople didn't know was how much the dog helped Gold's mood. They thought Gold was grumpy and unsocial as he was, but very rarely had they ever seen him as grumpy and unsocial as he was capable of being, and this was largely due to Faolan. When he was frustrated and angry, on the verge of throwing things just to release pent-up emotion, he would feel Faolan leaning slightly against his good leg, and he would look down to see a patient, expectant look on the animal's face. If that didn't calm him down, though, she would go and lay in front of the door so no one would open it and walk in on the little display. In moments where a thought of Bae or Belle popped into his head, pausing him as he sat on a stool behind the pawnshop counter, she would put her massive head on his lap or lean back against his good leg simply to comfort him. At night when dreams had him tossing and turning, or when he would wake up shaking from a nightmare, a gigantic lupine head would rest on his shoulder, giving him some sense of contact with another living thing to help soothe those irrational fears that one faces in times like those. No one ever knew any of this, however, so public opinion of the wolf didn't have the chance to improve because of it.

Nor did public opinion improve when the curse was broken. Some time after Emma had first broken it, a conversation took place; the likes of which no one else in the world was likely to have ever had.

A woman was lounged in a rocking chair near the front desk of the pawn shop. She was dressed in a blue-black overcoat that came to her ankles, with silver-rimmed dark blue clothes underneath and a howling-wolf-shaped pendant swinging from her neck. She had dark, almost black eyes, light brown hair, and a haughty expression on her face, and was decidedly unhappy with the sharply-dressed man behind the counter.

"Purina, Rumple!" she grumbled, as she had been for several minutes now.

"I know." the ex-spinner responded tiredly.

"Twenty-eight years, Rumple!"

"Yes, I know."

"Purina! For twenty-eight years!"

"How many times must I say I know?

"You couldn't even bother to get that fancy FreshPet crap!"

Gold sighed heavily. "Yes, I am aware. What must I do to make up for it?"

Ellyn Jones studied him for a second. "Get your wallet. You're buying me lunch.

"Fine."

"For a week."

"Yes, yes, as you wish."

Rumpelstiltskin retrieved his wallet from the countertop and held the door open for his companion. He was just starting to think she would give him a break from mentioning the eating arrangements of the last almost-three decades.

Then, she scoffed to herself, "Purina."

Gold rolled his eyes. "Ellie, I know."

Despite his tone, he was smiling.