Chapter Eighteen.

Rumplestiltskin had expected his son to be delayed once he knew his grandson's plans. He'd done his best to stay out of it. He was no stranger to secrets and lies, but something he'd learned since reuniting with Bae was that their relationship did not have room for that. After everything Baelfire had been through he needed the truth from those that he held close or he'd cease to trust them. If he no longer trusted them, he wouldn't have any reason to hold them close, and while he knew that Bae would never purposefully or consciously push Henry away, fear is a powerful enemy and it could very easily put unneaded strain on them.

That was why he startled when his bedroom door opened not too long after Henry had left and instead of his grandson coming in for a second-round peptalk, Bae came barreling in. If he meant to set the plate he was carrying down on a table to the side, he did a poor job of it, and it went sliding, spilling bits of its contents and he turned his aim on his father. "Did you know?" he demanded, voice sounding less angry than it did terrified.

The former Dark One shifted in his place. He'd been in bed more than he hadn't since coming back from Thomas' castle the day before. His ankle made it difficult to move and with the way Belle had fussed every time he tried to rise he thought it was just better in the end. The way Bae was coming at him, though, he really did wish he had a better route of escape. Perhaps a quicker one too. He could feel the walls of a question that he didn't really want to answer closing in fast.

"Did you know about Henry, Papa? Have you been teaching him? You promised-"

That finally sparked a bit of fight in him. "I did promise you, Bae, and you shouldn't have to ask if I've been teaching him or not because of that. You already know."

His son bristled at the statement, his expression tight. "How long have you known?"

"Since the morning after it happened. He came to me for advice."

"What did you tell him?"

"That he'd be fine," Rumplestiltskin huffed. "And that he shouldn't be afraid to tell you."

Bae sighed and sat heavily on the edge of the bed. Rumple watched him carefully and finally reached a hand out to his shoulder. "What happened, son?"

"He told me."

"Did you talk about it?"

"I told him we would later." He held up his hands defensively. "I didn't know what to say, Pop."

"You just talk to him. You listen to what he says and you tell him what you're thinking. You talk, Bae, like you and I are doing now."

"He's twelve."

"He's clever. If you say nothing, he'll know something's wrong. You would have at that age."

"I always knew when you weren't telling me everything," Bae admitted softly.

"See?"

Baelfire turned towards him and he looked utterly miserable. "What am I supposed to say? It's not… It's not like I'd ever want him to get hurt. I'd do anything to keep him safe, but the idea of him using magic freaks the hell out of me, Papa."

Rumple sighed and shifted. "I know, Bae," he said softly. What else could he say? He couldn't tell him not to be afraid. Being a parent was frightening. For normal people there were dangers around every corner. A car accident in the Land Without Magic or an out of control cart there in the Enchanted Forest. One moment they're playing and the next they're lying injured in the street. He knew. He'd had those visions since the moment he laid eyes on Bae and he didn't need his Sight for them to come. He couldn't tell his son that this was normal. It was rare, in fact, to have any child show that level of power so abruptly, but Henry was the product of True Love that reached back two generations. He was a rarity.

"I just don't want him to get hurt, Papa. What if… I don't know."

"Sure you do," his father murmured. "What if he turns out like I did when I gained my powers? That's what you're thinking, isn't it?" He waited a moment and the look on Bae's face affirmed what he already knew and he offered him a tired smile. "Henry is not me. These are his powers, born of his soul, not some demon clawing to get in and control."

"But why? I mean, I get Emma. She's the child of True Love and all of that-"

"So is Henry."

"What?"

Well that was something the boy had left out. Rumplestiltskin blinked, knowing that he was wading into dangerous territory, but facts were facts, even if people didn't always know how to read them. Some True Love couples were easy to spot, but others were quiet and understated. Even others fought it when they'd been hurt too often. He had long ago and he knew Emma had a tendency to fight anything that crossed her path. "Henry is the product of True Love twice over. He's directly affected by yours and Emma's, and then again by Snow White and her charming prince. It's not surprising that it came about in such a way. Magic is emotion. Though, from what he told me, even though it did damage to her, it was pure light magic."

Silence filled the air between them for a long stretch and Rumplestiltskin forced himself to relax. It was a lot to soak in and while he knew that Henry was likely upset at some other part of the castle, feeling as if he'd said the wrong thing at the wrong time, Bae would do him no good trying to mend that until he was ready to do so correctly. Much like his ankle, the quick fix was not always the best in the long term. Those were life lessons he was still learning.

"Can you teach him?" Bae asked hesitantly. "Since it's light magic, I mean. Do you know how or would he have to be taught or would we have to find someone else?"

Rumple chuckled. "I can teach him, if that's what you decide. I'd be happy to teach him."

"But it's light magic."

"As is healing, and I'm perfectly capable of that." The former Dark One pulled in another breath and met his son's hesitant gaze. "I tend towards dark magic, this is true. My curse lent its power much more easily to it. Even so, I spent many years educating myself on all types of magic and even magic that I have not spent a great deal of time practicing due to the way it would affect my curse, I know it inside and out. Now that the curse is broken, I can most certainly teach and demonstrate alike."

"What's the difference between them?"

"Intent, mostly, and where you pull from. Dark magic pulls from those most hated moments in your life. You find them and you let them dig into your soul, fueling you, and it gives you power like you can't imagine. Light magic is often not so potent, but it can be, if the sorcerer is strong enough. Given time and training, Henry will be."

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"I… We can't just ignore it, can we?"

"It wouldn't be wise."

"Then okay. I want you to train him. I mean… I should probably talk to Emma and maybe even Regina, but I think they'll be okay with it as long as you promise not to teach him to rip people's hearts out or something."

Rumplestiltskin grimaced. "No, I should say we'll skip that lesson, as well as quite a few others that Regina had in her time as my student." Regina would come around. She had refused to study light magic along with dark and would never be able to school her adopted son in it now. She'd pitch a fit, as was her way, but then she'd come to reason. A brief glimpse into the future affirmed Emma's agreement as well and he moved to take hold of his cane, easing himself off the bed.

"Where're you going?"

"I don't know about you, but I'm going to go find Henry. He's likely to be very put out if the conversation went half as poorly as it seems to have."

Bae flushed at that and stood. Rumple reached out and offered him a smile. "We'll just have a chat this evening. Henry can ask the questions I've been putting off and you can ask any further ones that come to mind."

His son nodded slowly, his expression easing just a little. The started for the door together and Bae reached to to steady him as he leaned heavily on the old cane and set off to find the boy that had reunited them.

"You didn't get an invite either?"

Belle had been on her way to the Grand Hall for a book she was certain she'd left there when Emma's voice caught her by surprise. The blonde princess was seated on a windowsill and looked to be doing more daydreaming than reading the huge tome that she had in her hands. Regina must have needed a distraction for her reluctant student to keep her on track even if she didn't have time for an actual lesson that day. "Invited to what?"

Emma frowned, setting the book aside. "Blue showed up about half an hour ago and demanded to speak to David, Mary Margaret, Thomas, and Philip. Apparently I didn't make the cut. I would have thought you did though."

"No, I haven't heard anything about it." Had the Blue Fairy not been the instigator, Belle would have thought that her bubbling suspicion was simply Rumple wearing off on her, but she'd heard enough about their history to know that there was no love between them - and Rumplestiltskin was not wholly at fault for it - and seen enough with her own eyes to know that Blue manipulated people just as much as Rumple did, though perhaps she was a little less truthful about it. Belle knew she'd been left out for a reason and that reason could not possibly bode well for them in the end. Blue was trying to keep information away from Rumple, which meant it was likely information he'd prefer to have.

"Do you ever get the feeling my parents put a little too much faith in Blue? She always seems to be very careful about what she says."

"And who she says it to," Belle agreed, not missing the glint of mischief in Emma's eyes.

"It'd be a shame if something was said that we should know about, right?"

"Now, Emma, you wouldn't be suggesting that we eavesdrop on your parents' meeting with the Blue Fairy?"

"Oh, come on. You know she's hiding something too."

This brought a small laugh from Belle. Emma really was much sneakier than anyone gave her credit for. Poor Henry really had no hope with it coming down both lines as it did. "We'd certainly be remiss if we didn't investigate, wouldn't we?"

"And I can try out that new cloaking spell that Regina said would take me weeks to learn. Time to prove her wrong."

Belle grinned at this and they set off down the hall towards the small room that David had taken for the meeting room. Voices drifted out, indicating that there was some sort of meeting going on within and they leaned against the wall, listening carefully.

"… willing to help," Blue was saying, "but she fears for the alliances that have been made, as I can well understand."

"I'll admit our alliances are not traditional in this fight, but what has been?" Philip asked. "They've proven productive to everyone involved."

"Regina is not a threat to us anymore," Snow White said firmly.

"You have been misled by her before, child," Blue answered, her condescending tone likely lost on the dark haired princess. "Though Regina is not the one I'm referring to."

Belle and Emma exchanged glances and Emma rolled her eyes as if to say here we go again. She might have been swayed early on by the fairy, but she'd had little patience for her since. Mostly, Belle thought, because Emma had been pulling her weight while Blue had been fluttering about, only popping by when it suited her. She would not be one to lead an attack, but she'd certainly encourage others to do it. All the while she would likely sabotage one of their strongest allies in her attempts to reach for some unattainably good goal that she had set somewhere up in the stars. Belle believed it goodness, and she strove to do things right in her own life, but depriving others of free will was just as terrible any darkness that she'd come across.

There was a sigh loud enough from inside that the women listening could hear it before Thomas spoke up. "You know how I've felt about Rumplestiltskin in the past," the young prince said, hesitating only briefly before saying the name, "but after what happened at my home… even I think we can trust him for this. Maybe the curse breaking did do something, I don't know, but he could have left us to die and didn't."

"I understand King George did not get that treatment," Blue answered.

"George set up the attack," Phillip argued.

"Rumplestiltskin does not have the right to play judge and jury," the fairy snapped back. She obviously had not received the welcome that she had expected.

"Listen," David's calm voice cut in, "what he did was probably not the best action that could have been taken, but he was injured and at the end of his abilities-"

"So he says."

"- and he did what he could to protect the rest of us. What's done is done, but the situation with George does not warrant cutting ties with and splitting our alliance up. He attacked us and sided with Zelena and Pan. I'm willing to do what you asked and send Snow and Emma - if she'll agree to it - with you to break Glinda's banishment."

"Emma should be able to wield enough light magic to do this," Blue agreed. "Thank you, David. Snow. I still think it best, though, that Rumplestiltskin is not made aware of this until she is free, for Glinda's sake."

"What makes you think that he's going to hurt her?" Snow asked.

"I have known him much longer than any of you have. To get what he wants, Rumplestiltskin will go to any length, or need I remind you that it was his curse that Regina cast?"

"You going to tell him?" Emma murmured.

"Yes," Belle answered in a breath.

"Good. One of us was going to. I'll keep an eye on the fairy if you and Gold promise to keep Henry safe while I'm gone."

"Between the lot of us, I think we can manage that," Belle answered with a smile.

Killian Jones was becoming increasingly less and less comfortable with the arrangement he'd been put into. The Dark One had said that he'd set the spell up so that it would deliver him out of harm should anything threatening happen, but he'd also said he was going to give him his free will back. Hook was more inclined to believe that the elder man had put on a show of missing that part of the spell for his son and grandson's sake rather than the the oversight that he'd said it was. The pirate was fairly certain that he'd been left to die by his foe.

He'd seen the glint in Zelena's eye when he delivered the fake stone to her, though he couldn't have been sure that she knew that quickly. Even so, it was only a matter of time before she figured it out and that he was called back to face his own destruction. The fact that she'd waited nearly a week to call him could only mean she'd been distracted. She hadn't bothered to simply call, either, but had teleported him there herself. That was the only reason Hook found himself shifting his weight from foot to foot in front of her, the massive wings that could carry him across the land flapping rather uselessly behind him as her spell worked in and around him.

"Hello, dear," the witch said pleasantly enough. Behind her hovered Pan, grinning like an imp that knew he was about to witness something gruesome.

Hook watched them both carefully and there must have been something in his expression that told his captor that she was right. Hook thought himself a decent enough sneak when he needed to be, but he always had control of when to leave the situation. Now he was the playtoy being tossed between two powerful sorcerers.

"Well now, you've been quite a poor pet, haven't you?" Zelena purred, patting him on the head. "You've been unfaithful."

He was in trouble and the spell Rumplestiltskin had supposedly worked in to pull him away was doing nothing. If he died in this place, he was going to haunt that damn spinner until he went mad and threw himself from the tallest tower of his own castle with no magic to catch him.

One green hand was under his chin now, forcing him to look up at her. "Rumple has left you to rot, pirate. You chose the wrong side. You understand that, don't you?"

Oh, he understood that, certainly. He tried to scurry back but she had frozen him and he couldn't move an inch. He really had pictured his death a bit more grand than all of this.

"Not sure he does," Pan said as he lighted and walked towards the pirate he'd once made a deal with. "I think your loyalties don't lie with Rumple at all. They lie with the little blonde savior."

"Well that just won't do at all. Can't have my pets splitting loyalties, Hook."

He felt the magic start to sink into him and he was done for. He knew he was. He'd never see Emma again or anyone for that matter. Rumplestiltskin hadn't lived up to his end of the bargain.

Those were his final thoughts as he squeezed his eyes closed and felt like he was falling, Zelena's infuriated scream fading away as a whole different style if magic tugged.

When Baelfire had escaped Neverland some two or three centuries after he had arrived, he'd been more than a little bitter. He'd spent his days either running from Pan or trying to find a way to break from his camp. His dreams had alternated between the nightmares of his papa letting him go and the ones where Rumplestiltskin came and saved him. The nightmare began with that one when he woke, often to a poison-tipped spear in his face and the games would begin again with no end in sight.

The shadow had not been happy to take him back to the Land Without Magic, but Bae hadn't cared too much at that point. He made it a deal: his freedom for the shadow's. If it didn't abide by it, it could make a home in its little coconut shaped prison for the rest of eternity. It had chosen it's freedom, of course, but that didn't mean it exhibited anything akin to gratitude when it dropped Bae off in New York City on the edge of a new century. Time might move slower in Neverland, but not so slow that time in the Land Without Magic hadn't kept ticking away, and, as with Neverland before it, his father hadn't been there to rescue him. As Baelfire slowly learned to become Neal, Rumplestiltskin faded as much from his mind as he could make him and the bitterness had settled there, corrupting the good memories that should have outweighed the bad. That's when he'd truly learned to hate his father.

Or so he'd thought. Now, as he glanced over to the side, he saw the face of the man that he'd once loved and, while he'd changed, he was still the same at his core. He loved his son and he loved his family more than life itself. Bae had been too young to fully grasp what all had happened, but now, looking back, he knew his papa had always sacrificed everything for him. It was because of that that he could face the idea of his own son learning magic. He didn't know how well he'd face it, but he could face it.

Henry was seated out in one of the side gardens, knees pulled up to his chest and he was watching a ladybug crawl over his fingers with so much intensity that he didn't hear the two men approach. The boy startled as the sound of his grandfather's cane became impossible to miss against the stones and he turned. The expression on his face broke Bae's heart.

Rumplestiltskin eased himself down on a bench and not for the first time Bae realized just how good he was with Henry. The elder man was smiling as he spoke with him, though Bae's own son had yet to offer him any sort of greeting. He hadn't realized how much damage not saying something would cause.

"I know I haven't been very forthcoming in answering your questions as you'd like me to be," Bae's papa was telling his son and Henry shrugged in return.

"That's okay. Dad probably doesn't want you to teach me." Now he risked a hesitant glance at his father and his voice sounded so small. "Right, Dad?"

Bae pulled in a long breath through his nose and took a seat next to his son on the garden stones. It was quiet, the evening air only cool despite the winter that was quickly descending outside the gates. "We're going to talk to your mom and Regina about it before anything definite, but Papa's going to answer any questions that you have… and any I have."

"I told you that I would when your father gave the okay," Rumplestiltskin said softly.

Henry seemed to brighten just a bit at this. "You're okay with it, Dad?" he asked, and there was so much hope there that Bae just wanted to wrap his arm around him and never let go. His papa had often told him when he was young that someday he'd understand what it was to have a son and everything that came with that.

"Well, you obviously have a talent, and if it can keep you safe, then I'm willing to give it a go."

"Thanks, Dad." He turned to his grandpa. "Can I ask anything?"

Rumplestiltskin chuckled. "Well, you can ask."

Henry shot off questions in rapid succession to the point that his grandfather had to speak quickly to keep up, and Bae just listened in amazement. He'd expected to have more questions than Henry, to be honest, as he'd had more experience when it came to magic over the years. He had thought he knew what to ask, but his boy was intuitive about so much and magic was being added to that list. As they went on the questions became more complicated and Rumplestiltskin's expression grew more and more proud as he finally eased himself to the ground with his son and grandson, injured leg stretched out in front of him and Bae didn't even want to think about how he was going to get back up. His papa wasn't thinking on that, though. He was entirely focused on the challenge set before him.

"So what made her sort of steam like that?"

"Likely the light magic. Zelena pulls entirely from dark magic, so only light magic will do her any lasting harm."

"Did I hurt her? I mean… Really hurt her?"

Henry's voice almost seemed worried and Bae watched his father offer a reassuring smile. "Likely not. Reactional magic that has never been trained rarely will do a great deal of lasting damage. It likely stung rather harshly though."

"Will I be able to heal people? Like when you healed my arm after I came out of the Netherworld?"

"Yes, I should imagine you'd be quite talented at healing, Henry. You have the heart for it."

"See, Dad? I can do really good things with it," Henry said, looking at Bae.

Baelfire felt a surprising grin take hold and he wrapped an arm around his son's shoulders. "I know you can, buddy. I have total faith in you."

Henry's response was cut off by the terrible crashing sound around the corner and towards the front gate. Bae was on his feet instantly, his son following. Rumplestiltskin, though, was a little slower, trying to balance himself without putting too much weight on his injured ankle.

"What the hell was that, Pop?"

"Someone's at the gate," his father answered, expression dark. Bae knew that look and it meant that his father wasn't sure who it was and that he didn't like it one bit.

"Stay here, Henry," Bae ordered and after a moment his son raised both hands palms outward as if to say that he gave and would be right there when they returned.

"Stay with him," Rumplestiltskin tried, but his son just rolled his eyes.

"That hasn't worked since I was Henry's age."

"Enjoy it while you can."

Bae resisted the urge to reach out and help his papa as he limped forward, pain etched into his features. He needed to be on his own two feet for whatever they were about to face, but he wasn't one to ask for help. He never had been.

As they moved around towards the front of the gate a voice could be heard on the otherside. It was impossible to tell who it belonged to at first, but as they neared it, Killian Jones' voice became clearer. "Damn it, crocodile! You swore! You swore!"

Rumplestiltskin raised his left hand and the gate opened just a little, allowing the pirate to tumble in, blue eyes wide and he looked like he'd seen hell.

"What happened?" Bae asked, kneeling down to help his sometimes-friend up.

"She knows. Zelena knows about your damn switch," he growled out at Rumplestiltskin.

TBC

Notes: This is likely going to be a two-update week, just to give you fair warning. I was weighing it back and forth if I should wait to update tomorrow and then update on Thursday or just go ahead and skip Wednesday, and I think that's likely what's going to happen. Who knows though, half the time when I'm certain I won't make an update, that's the time when my muse kicks in and somehow my time frees up and suddenly I'm four chapters ahead of where I'm posting lol!

Next time - Plans are made to storm Regina and Snow's castle, Regina finds out that Henry can use magic, and Rumplestiltskin receives a very interest visitor.