Rumple brought Rose up to his tower where they could talk and wouldn't be interrupted. Belle and Quasi knew never to enter his tower unless allowed by him. For now, he needed some time alone to explain some things to his young daughter. He sat her down on the couch and sat next to her. He had no idea where to start. Since that nosy fairy talked to Rose, there was a lot he needed to tell her. She had a lot of questions to ask.

"Papa, is it true what the fairy said?" He figured that was a good place to start.

"I don't want you talking to anymore fairies, flower. They claim to be good, but they are not to be trusted. Do you understand me?" Rose was confused. Why weren't fairies to be trusted? She had been told many stories where fairies were good and helped people. Why didn't he like fairies? She would wonder all she wanted, but she knew better than to question her father when he got all serious.

"Yes, Papa." Now that it was out of the way, he could continue.

"And yes, she was telling the truth. I did have a son."

"When? Where is he? How come I never met him? How old is he?" He couldn't help but chuckle at her many questions. He raised his hand to silence her.

"Patience, flower. I will explain everything, but it's quite a long story."

"Okay. I like long stories." He chuckled again.

"Alright. It started many years ago, before I was the Dark One. I was a spinner. I was raised by spinsters and I had a natural gift for it."

"And that's why you still spin?"

"Yes. I enjoy it very much. Anyway, back then, I was married. My wife's name was Milah."

"Was she pretty?" Rumple hadn't thought about Milah in a positive way in a long time. Recalling her, he could admit she had her attributes.

"Yes, she was."

"Prettier than Mama?" He laughed at the thought. Milah could never match the beauty and grace of Belle. Her name did mean beauty after all. No woman would be more beautiful than his Belle.

"No, but she was attractive. We were married for, perhaps, a year or two when I got a summons. It was for the Ogre's War. I was called to the front to train to fight. We were both excited for it, but when I was there, I saw horrible things. Things I won't tell you about. A seer told me that Milah was pregnant with my son and that my actions on the battlefield would leave him fatherless." Rose gasped.

"Did that mean that if you fighted, you would die?"

"I thought so at the time. I needed to be with my son, so I did something cowardly. I injured myself so that I would be sent home. I was labeled a coward throughout my village, but I didn't care."

"Because you wanted to be with him?" He smiled. For one so young, she understood.

"Yes. He needed his father and I wasn't going to leave him. I returned home and found that Milah had the baby. She named him Baelfire and he was perfect, but life after that wasn't. Down the line, Milah grew angry and bitter. She wasn't happy with our marriage or her life. She didn't want to be the wife of the village coward. When Baelfire was eight, she left us. She went on to start a new life with a pirate."

"What's a pirate?" He could go on a rant about how a pirate was a low life scoundrel. How a pirate was a filthy ingrate who sailed around on a ship stealing and pillaging, but she was too young to hear any of that. Without anyone to stop him, he would go even farther than that and probably traumatize the poor child.

"Someone you never want to associate your self with. You can't trust them."

"I thought you said you couldn't trust fairies."

"Well, pirates are much worse than fairies and neither are to be trusted."

"Okay, but why would she leave? If I had a son, I would never ever ever leave him!" Rumple smiled. Of course she wouldn't. She loved too much.

"I'm sure you'll make a great mother some day, flower."

"I hope so. So what happened next?"

"Well, Bae and I were on our own. I made us money by selling the wool I would spin. More trouble started when Bae was almost fourteen. With the war still going on, they needed soldiers to fight. The Duke of the Frontlands sent summons all around the village for any able bodied citizens. We were losing people everyday. The Duke started to lower the age of people who were to be sent out. He ended up lowering the age to fourteen. Children were being taken from their parents and sent to the battlefields."

"Why did they go? Why didn't they stay home?"

"They didn't have a choice. It was the law. I saw what the war did to grown men. I couldn't imagine that happening to a child. When the age was lowered to fourteen, Bae was approaching his next birthday. They would've taken him away from me. He was all I had left and I couldn't let them take him. We decided to leave before they found him, but we were stopped by soldiers and had to return home. On the way, I met an old beggar that told me that there was a way to keep the soldiers from taking Bae. He told a story..."

"Another story? A story in a story! This is fun!" He couldn't help but chuckle. Only she could find the silliness in a serious situation.

"Please try to stay focused, flower." She giggled.

"Sorry, Papa."

"It's alright. Now, where was I?"

"A beggar and a story."

"Of course. He told me about the Dark One..."

"I thought you were the Dark One."

"There is more than one Dark One. There were many before me. He told me about a magical dagger that controlled the Dark One and the Duke of the Frontlands had it. He had the Dark One do his bidding for him. He said if I had the dagger, I would control him. If I were to..." He saw her big curious emerald eyes staring at him. He couldn't tell her that he killed a man. She wasn't ready to hear that just yet. "Let's just say I ended up taking his powers and became the Dark One myself. With them, I was able to not only protect Baelfire from the war, but ending the war all together. I was able to bring all the children back home to their families."

"Wow."

"Yes, wow. Things were good, but Baelfire wasn't happy. He thought my magic had changed me and turned me into something I never was. He wanted me to get rid of my powers, but there is no way to rid me of my powers. He believed there was a way. All I wanted was for him to be happy, so we made a deal that if he could find a way to rid me of my magic I would do it."

"Why? I like your magic, Papa. It's fun."

"Well, he didn't see it that way. He went to see a fairy, the very fairy you spoke with you earlier. She gave him a magic bean that could take him to any other world he wanted. He wanted us to go to a world without magic."

"Are those real?"

"Yes. There are many worlds that don't have magic and that's where he wanted us to be. When we used the bean and opened a portal, I was afraid of what would happen when we got there. Without my magic, I wouldn't be able to protect him. I would be weak and powerless. I tried to hold onto him before we fell through, but I let him slip. He went through the portal without me. And now he's lost, because of me."

"So, where is he?"

"I don't know, but I know he's alive. The seer that told me of my fate said that I would be reunited with him, but it would be many many years until then. And when I am reunited with him, I will do everything I can to right the wrongs. I will have my son back." Rose saw the hope in his eyes. He missed his son so much and he wanted him back badly. He would be happy then. Rose's face slowly fell.

"Then you won't want me anymore." Rumple looked to her in shock.

"What would ever make you think that, flower?"

"In stories, the papas always like the boys better than the girls. And he was first and he's the only boy, so you like him even more. I won't be your flower anymore." Rumple couldn't believe what was coming from his five-year-old daughter. Did she honestly believe that he wouldn't love her once Baelfire was back in the picture? He didn't even know it was possible for her to think such a way about his love for her.

"Hey, don't say that." He pulled her into his lap. "Just because Baelfire is my only son doesn't mean I won't love you anymore. You will always be my little flower no matter what. I don't love him more than you and I don't love you more than him. I love you both equally the same because you are my children. Nothing can ever change that."

"But he's your real son. You found me. He's better than me."

"No, no, no, flower. No one is better than anyone. He is my son and you are my daughter. Had you been my birth daughter and he'd been found in the woods, it wouldn't make a difference. I would not prefer one over the other. I love you both the same." She stayed quiet, but her emotions were going crazy. She partly believed him, but she still had her doubts. He held her closer to him. "Did I ever tell you...about the night I found you?"

"No."

"Well, it's a night I can never forget. I remember it was autumn and it was a very cool night, almost cold. I decided to walk home that night. I didn't know why, but I did. I was lost in my thoughts. I was thinking of the night I lost Bae. I was regretting letting him go. I was thinking that nothing would ever ease the pain I felt for my lost child. Then I heard a sound. A pained sound, like it was crying out for help. I then found a small basket by a large tree. Do you know what was inside it?"

"What?"

"I saw a small child wailing and crying. She was no more than a month old. I remember thinking 'Who would leave their child in the middle of the forest?' I picked her up and examined her. Her bright red cheeks were cold to the touch and she looked like she hadn't been cared for in days. It was a miracle she was still alive. I brought the fragile babe here to the castle. When I gave her a bath, she had stopped crying and I saw she had the brightest and most curious emerald eyes I had ever seen. Not only that, but she wasn't afraid of me. She looked up at me and just starred as if she was trying to solve a puzzle. After her bath, I fed her and gave her a comfortable warm crib to sleep in under the light of the moon. As I put her down, I said to her, 'Goodnight, my little Rose. Sweet dreams.'"

"The baby was me!" He smiled.

"Yes. The baby was you. This is about the night I found you after all. After that, I had feared that you weren't real. That my mind was playing tricks on me because of what happened to Baelfire. I thought I couldn't possibly be giving a second chance to be a better father. I thought that one day I would wake up and realize you were nothing but a dream. I was fearful of that, but everyday I woke up, I found you in your crib under the window. You don't realize what you mean to me, flower. I was unhappy ever since I lost Bae. When I found you, I was happy again. Of course I still miss Bae, but he's not my only child anymore. I now have a responsibility to both you and him. It will still be a long time until I find Baelfire, but until then I still have you to care for and love. And once I find Bae, we can all be a family. You, me, Baelfire, and Belle. All of us will be completely happy." She looked up at him.

"You promise?" He smiled.

"I promise. And I will never, ever break that promise." She smiled and hugged him. He hugged her back tightly. "I love you, flower."

"I love you too, Papa." They broke apart and sat there for a moment. Rose was now convinced that Baelfire wouldn't replace her. She was now happy of the idea of an older brother. She had never had a sibling before and she felt it could be fun. "Papa?"

"Yes, flower?"

"What does Baelfire look like?" He knew exactly what he looked like. He thought about his son everyday to remember ever little detail about him.

"Well, he has short brown hair and brown eyes. He was a bit on the tall side for a fourteen year old boy. Five feet and four inches and he was very playful. He didn't have many friends, but he would always go out and kick around his favorite leather ball." Rumple still had that ball locked up with the rest of Bae's things. He waved his hand and a brown cloth appeared in his hand. He gave it to Rose. "Here."

"What is it?"

"Your brother." She unfolded it and saw there was a picture drawn onto it. It was a young boy with brown hair, brown eyes and a hood on. Rose studied the picture and grew confused.

"Papa, I think I know him. I saw him before." Now Rumple was confused. Baelfire had been gone for over 300 years. How could she possibly have seen him before?

"That's impossible, sweetheart. You couldn't have seen him before. He's been gone since before you were born."

"But I know him." She touched the picture of his face and random images started to flash into her mind. She saw Baelfire holding a ball, then she saw him falling into a green vortex, then she saw him flying through the sky. The next image was of a much older man with brown hair and eyes. He was with a woman. She couldn't see her face, but she saw the woman had blonde hair. The next image was of him by an window overlooking an odd looking city. The last image she saw what of the word 'Broken.' Rose jerked her hand away from the picture and was breathing hard. The images had stopped, but she couldn't make sense of anything she saw. She heard Rumple's voice near her.

"Rose! Are you alright?" She blinked a few times to clear the stars in her eyes. She remembered she was with her papa in his tower. They were just talking about her brother. She looked up to Rumple.

"Did you see that, Papa?" His eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

"See what, flower?"

"I saw Baelfire. He was holding a ball, then he was falling in a green hole in the ground and then he was flying."

"Sweetheart, what are you talking about?"

"It's like my dreams. That's where I saw him. I dream about him sometimes." Rumple was intrigued and confused by this. She dreamed of Baelfire before she even knew who he was? It didn't make any sense.

"Flower, how often do you dream about Baelfire?"

"Not a lot. I have dreams about a lot of people. I dream about you and Mama and that Snow White lady that came here and that mean lady that chased me and that prince and a lady with green skin..." He stopped her before she continued her list.

"Hold on, flower. A woman with green skin?"

"Yeah. I hope she's not real." He wished she wasn't real. The only green woman she could possibly be talking about was Zelena, the Wicked Witch from Oz. He still wanted to ask.

"Why not?" Rose didn't want to talk about it, but he really wanted to know.

"Because I have bad dreams about her. Sometimes you don't look like you. You look like you did when we went to the fair." Rumple took note of that. If his hunch was correct, that would be once the curse hit.

"Go on. What else? What happens in these dreams?" She shut her eyes and tried not to cry.

"She keeps hurting you. One time, she had you in a cage...in the Great Hall. She had a long curvy knife with her. She always waved it in your face. She wouldn't let you out and she keeps laughing at you. She laughs and laughs and I can't make her stop. She won't stop!" Rose's eyes were full of tears and she held her hands over her ears as if trying to block out the laughing she heard in her head. Rumple held her close and tried to soothe her.

"Shh, shh, it's alright, flower. It's okay. It was only a dream." Rumple now saw why she never wanted to talk about her night terrors. She saw unspeakable things and it made his hunch worse. She dreamed about a woman she had never met or seen before. That wasn't possible unless she had the power of foresight. He could only imagine what else she would see when she closed her eyes at night.