Chapter 6: Taking Care of You

The following day Gold took a deep breath as he held his index finger near the door bells of the apartment. He had given his son an ample amount of time, at least he thought, and now he felt it was time to try again. It didn't matter if Bae had said that he was letting him go, two days had been plenty to let the air settle.

Just as Gold pressed the button to apartment 407 he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Going somewhere crocodile?" Hook said smiling when Gold turned to face him.

Before Gold had a chance to react on or say anything he felt as the metal from Hook's hook stabbed through his chest.

"Now we're even," he said to Gold as he stumbled backward, the hook still holding on in his chest. Hook moved forward with it. "And trust me, I'm doing that boy of yours a favor," he said with a smile. He dug deeper once more, "but I won't be around to watch."

Hook yanked his hook out and Gold did his best not to scream. He then retreated as discreetly as he had appeared, hearing footsteps make their way to the stairs, definitely not a visit he wanted to have.

Emma quickly opened the gate to find Gold leaning against it his hand clutching his chest.

"Forget me," said Gold, "Go after Hook."

Emma looked at Neal and then back at Gold, "Not a chance."

"I'm telling you to go after him, I can wait."

"And I'm telling you I don't do what you want anymore. We're taking care of you."

"We have to get you to a hospital," said Neal.

Gold looked up at Neal surprised by his son's concern. "No, no hospitals."

"But if we don't-," Neal protested.

"No he's right," said Emma.

"You're agreeing with him," Neal said feeling offended that she was siding with his father.

Emma looked up at Neal. "If we take him to a hospital they're gonna end up running all sorts of tests and who knows what they can find in his blood or his cells."

"So what, we just let him die down here in the open?"

"No, we take him upstairs. Help me get him up."

Neal shook his head but he didn't dispute Emma. He grabbed his father's left arm and wrapped it around his shoulder. Emma picked up Gold's cane and helped him with his right side.

Gold looked at Emma, "Thank you," he whispered to her.

"I'm not doing this for you," Emma shot back. "I'm doing this so we don't risk exposure."

"All the same," said Gold.

As they reached the door to the apartment Henry opened the door for them and Neal and Emma ushered Gold into the apartment gently placing him on the couch.

"How did Captain Hook even leave Storybrooke," Henry asked. Though he was concerned for Gold he also had a dozen questions in his head.

"Cora protected part of the enchanted forest," said Emma, "So some of them weren't affected the way Mary Margaret and David were. Henry, go to the bathroom and get me some towels."

Henry nodded. There was silence until the kids' return. He handed some towels to Emma, one of which was wet.

"This might sting a little," Emma said to Gold as she pressed the towel on his wound. Gold winced in pain. "Sorry."

"You're doing fine," said Gold.

Neal had his arms crossed. "Emma why the hell are you doing this," he asked.

"You think we should let him die," Emma said not looking at Neal, paying more attention to her current patient.

"He's been dead to me for more years than I care to count," said Neal.

"Yeah well he's not dead now, not physically anyways. And like it or not he's still your father." Emma moved her head to the side slightly, "Not to mention Henry's grandfather."

"You still didn't answer my question, why are you helping him?"

"I just answered it."

"No you side stepped it. It doesn't mean anything that he's my father and considering how he threatened you a few days ago and how many other times I've imagined he's threatened you, I'd think you'd hate him at this point. Why are you really helping him?"

Emma took a second towel and matted Gold's head. He was starting to sweat. She then removed the towel from his chest to check his wound. The bleeding seemed to have stopped but for how long she wasn't sure.

"You really want the answer to that?" Emma asked.

"Yeah I do."

Emma looked at Neal and then at Gold. "Sometimes being the savior means saving people you don't want to save."

Neal looked at Emma like he was looking at her for the first time. Gone was her carefree attitude and in place was a strong and independent woman. She had always been so but now she seemed so much more than that. She had a cold exterior but deep down she still cared about people regardless of who they were. His father was the most despicable man in all the realms and here was his ex taking care of him as if he were just like everyone else.

Emma could feel Neal's eyes on her. She didn't want to but she turned anyways.

"What," she asked.

"Nothing," said Neal, "it's just nice to see something's haven't changed."

"Neal, don't."

"Don't what?"

Emma shook her head, "Don't go down memory lane."

Neal gave Emma a look, "So you're allowed to take care of a father I haven't seen in over two centuries but I'm not allowed to bring up our life together?"

"Pretty much yeah," said Emma. "Wait, did you say over two centuries?"

Neal felt like he had been caught.

"Just how old are you?"

"That's kind of complicated," Neal replied.

"Try me," Emma replied. "Is that how you know Hook? You kind of got paralyzed when you heard his voice on the intercom."

Neal took a deep breath. "Let's just say our paths have crossed. This world wasn't exactly the first one I arrived at when I left home."

"No?"

Neal smiled, "If it was I'd be dead by now, either that or a very old man."

Emma looked to the side for a moment trying to let that sink in.

"Cool," Henry said breaking the silence with a smile.

Emma rolled her eyes and smiled at her son. Of course he would find Neal's history interesting.

Henry studied Neal, "So do you have a lot of stories?"

"Yeah Henry, I do," said Neal. "What do you want to know?"

"How did you meet mom?"

Emma's heart skipped a beat. She had just told Neal that she didn't want to go down memory lane but now she wished she had made that statement broader.

"Kid," she said, "maybe we can table those stories for later while we work on getting Gold better okay?"

"Fine," said Henry. He then looked at Gold. "So what exactly do I call you? Do I call you grandpa or Mr. Gold? Do you even have a first name other than Rumpelstiltskin?"

Gold managed out a small smile, "You can call me whatever you like Henry."

Henry nodded as Emma checked the towel and the wound.

"Well the bleeding's stopped," she said to him, "but I can't be sure of the damage."

"It's fine," said Gold.

"It's not fine," Emma said pushing her authority. "Just because the bleeding has stopped doesn't mean he didn't leave any internal damage."

Before anymore could be said or done, there was a knock on the door. Neal went to go answer it. He opened the door slightly so whoever was on the outside could not see in.

"Tam," he said, "What are you doing here?"

"I've been thinking," she said. "And I thought that we could talk."

Neal looked behind him and Emma did her best to be distracted. He then turned to face Tamara again.

"Yeah now's not really a good time."

"Why because Emma's staying here, yeah you told me that and I don't have a problem with it, really I don't. I mean it's not like you two are gonna get back together or anything so I'm not worried."

"You sound worried," Neal said.

"You're deflecting, are you gonna let me in or not?"

"Like I said now's really not a good time. Maybe we can talk later?"

"Neal what's going on?"

"I just have an unwanted situation that's all."

"One that you can't tell me about? After everything you told me a few days ago you can't tell me what's going on right now?"

"I'm sorry. Look let me just deal with this and when it's over I'll tell you everything. The less you know right now the better, plausible deniability and all that."

Tamara nodded, "You don't trust me. Fine I get it. Call me when you're ready but Neal just so you know, I'm not going anywhere. That's what I wanted to talk about. I love you. You can't get rid of me easily."

Neal nodded, "Me too," was all he said.

Tamara just smiled knowing she wasn't going to be getting the words out of him. That was fine by her for now. She began walking away down the hall and down the stairs.

Neal quickly closed the door.