A/N: It's been a little while since I last posted and have been pretty busy and wasn't going to be able to finish this until the weekend at least but I got suspended from work for the remainder of the week for something really silly, nbd, so I had a bit of free time today and finished up chapter five for you all. This is pretty much like a re-write of the finale...like a lot of the dialogue is taken directly from the episode but I've tweaked things here and there to suit the differences in what I'd already written and what happened in the last few episodes and also to fit my Golden Swan storyline. I think it's a bit longer than my other chapters but I figure that's probably a good thing after not having updated for a while. Anyway, I'm rambling now, so I'm gonna stop. Please read, review and as always, ENJOY! But like definitely review too!
"Let's just get back to my apartment and talk to Regina. We'll figure out a plan there," Emma replied.
The two then headed back to David's truck. David drove, Mary Margaret riding shotgun, with Emma, Gold and Henry riding in back. Henry took the seat in the middle separating Emma and Gold. Once Emma was in the truck, Henry leaned into her for comfort, eyes still shimmering with tears. She wrapped her arm around him in a comforting gesture, much like she had done to Gold earlier that very same day. Then much to Emma's surprise Henry reached out with his free hand to grab for Gold's.
When Gold felt Henry's hand grab his own he looked down at it in surprise. He then brought his eyes up to meet Emma's. She inclined her head at him slightly, encouraging him to return the gesture. His expression softened as he looked back down at his hand and took Henry's in both of his, grasping it firmly. He looked back at Emma once again and she gave him a small smile before turning to look out the window.
They were all silent the entire ride back to Emma's apartment. When they arrived they quickly headed up to go speak to Regina. As soon as Henry got through the door he ran towards his mother.
"Mom!" He cried, wrapping his arms around her in a fierce hug.
"Henry!" She cried back. Then suddenly, the ground around them shook violently. All eyes turned to Regina.
"That was the trigger, wasn't it?" Emma asked.
"Yes. It's been activated," Regina replied.
"But that means we're going to die," Henry said.
"You were born here, so you'll live," Regina said lightly combing her fingers through his hair.
"But…but I'll be alone," he said looking around at everyone.
"I'm not going to let that happen," Emma vowed. "You did this now make it stop," she said rounding on Regina.
"I can't. There's no way."
"Well figure it out!" Emma shouted.
"Stop!" Henry shouted at the both of them. "I already lost my dad today, I'm not losing anyone else. We have to work together; we can figure this out. We can save Storybrooke," Henry said in the tone that held no question that he was the grandchild of Snow White and Prince Charming.
"Fine. Come on there's got to be a way to stop it," Emma said rounding on Regina once more.
"It can't be stopped. The best I can do is slow it down, but that will only delay the inevitable," she replied raising her eyebrows.
"Or give us the time we need," David chimed in.
"The time for what?" Mary Margaret asked.
"To steal back the beans. We can get everyone out of Storybrooke and back to the Enchanted Forest before the trigger destroys the town."
"How, we don't even know where Greg and Tamara are?" Emma asked skeptically.
"Hook probably does. I'll head down to the station to get him and force him to help us," David replied.
"I'll go down to the mine with Regina to slow down the diamond and give you guys time. Mary Margaret, you gather everyone and make sure they're ready to go as soon as we have those beans," Emma ordered.
Everyone except for Gold and Emma began to head out of the apartment. Emma waved them all on, silently telling them she'd be along in a moment.
"What can I do to help?" Gold asked, seeming to be genuinely concerned and interested in helping.
She looked him in the eyes for a long moment before speaking. She regretted what she was about to tell him, but it needed to be done. She couldn't be selfish at a time like this, no matter what her feelings for Gold were.
"You should go to Belle…and I mean Belle. You should try one last time to get her back just in case we can't hold the trigger off long enough and we all die. She deserves to die as herself, not Lacey."
"Emma…" Gold began but she held up her hands to stop him from continuing.
"I've gotta go, Gold," and with that she headed out trailing after Regina and the rest of them.
Gold stood for a long moment just inside the apartment listening to Emma's fading footsteps. Emma was right of course; Belle did deserve to die as herself rather than Lacey. She would want to be herself even if just for a short while. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that and they would all be able to make it out of Storybrooke, but still, just in case. He needed to try one last time to get her to regain her memories. He had to have something back in his shop that could work, so he decided to head over there. He called Lacey first, asking her to meet him there.
"What do you think you're doing here?" Mr. Gold asked upon entering his shop and finding Leroy and the other dwarfs poking around inside, clearly looking for something.
"We've come to get Sneezy's stein. The Blue Fairy has finally come up with a way to get people's memories back. All he has to do is drink this," Leroy held up a bottle of shimmering blue liquid "from his stein, something important to him and his memories will come back."
"So the great Blue Fairy managed to come up with this magical solution today, just in the nick of time?" Mr. Gold asked his tone suggesting that he didn't believe that one bit. He suspected she'd had the solution long before then and had decided not to divulge that information. He didn't trust the Blue Fairy one bit. Occupational hazard of being the Dark One he supposed.
"She's been working on it all along. Something to do with a strand of Pinocchio's hair; someone who returned to he should be, someone who wasn't cursed."
Gold just looked back at him skeptically, not daring to hope that what he said was true, in case it wasn't. But then again, why would Leroy lie? He wanted his friend back; he had no reason to be lying to Gold. There was nothing he could gain from it.
"I asked her to make a second dose," Leroy added when Gold didn't respond.
"Why?" Gold asked, again not daring to hope Leroy was actually offering him a solution to Belle's memory problem.
"Belle once helped me remember who I was; it's time I returned the favor. Don't let her die as Lacey." Leroy then handed him another bottle of the shimmering blue liquid and turned around and left the shop with the others in tow.
Lacey walked in just as they were all leaving.
"What was that all about?" She asked motioning to Leroy and the others.
"Nothing, don't worry about it. There's something I need to tell you."
"Okay…?" Lacey said looking a bit worried after noticing the way Gold was looking at her. He looked like he was visiting someone on their deathbed.
"You remember when you said to me that you thought I had healed you the day you were shot?" Gold asked.
"Yes," she replied tentatively.
"Well you were right, I did heal you. I know it doesn't make any sense and you won't understand right now but you have to believe me, there is such a thing as magic and I dabble a bit in it. No, don't interrupt; just trust me. Please." Gold pleaded.
Lacey simply nodded her head, staring back at him intently. Gold then turned to reach into one of his cupboards. He fiddled around in it for a minute before pulling out a small bundle, which he placed on the counter in front of himself and Lacey. He unraveled it to reveal the shattered remains of the chipped cup that was so dear to him, to them.
"That cup again, what's with that thing?"
"I don't want to go into a long explanation about it right now, you'll understand in a moment." He then waved his hand over the cup. A puff of blue smoke encompassed the shattered bits, the broken cup reforming in an instant.
Lacey looked completely bewildered. Gold then poured the blue liquid into the cup and offered it to Lacey.
"Drink this. I promise it'll all make sense in a moment."
Lacey did as Gold asked, tentatively taking a sip of the potion. A wave of magic coursed through her and once it subsided, she looked up into Gold's eyes.
"Rumplestiltsin," Belle whispered.
"Belle?" Gold asked quietly to confirm it had worked.
"Yes it's me," she then flung herself at him and hugged him tightly.
He hugged her back, just as tightly but something about it just didn't feel right anymore. He cared for her deeply, but after the events of the day and Emma's startling confession and their preceding conversation he couldn't very well say that his feelings towards her were love anymore. It pained him to even have that thought after everything he and Belle had been through to get back to one another but it didn't stop the thoughts from coming.
"You've missed a few things," he stated morosely. "It's a bit of a long, sordid tale but what it comes down to is that the town and everyone in it is in danger. A trigger of some sort has been activated and is going to destroy the town. Emma and the rest of her family are trying to get everyone out of Storybrooke using magic beans to create a portal back to the Enchanted Forest but if their plan fails, everyone here will die. I didn't want you to die as Lacey. I'm sorry."
"No, don't apologize. Even if we don't survive, I'm just happy to be back spending my last moments with you," Belle said through tears as she wrapped her arms around him once more.
As Gold hugged her back, the ground around them shook violently once more. He quickly let go of Belle heading to the door of his shop, peering out of it to see what was going on. The vines that had cropped up covering the streets and storefronts of Stroybrooke were starting to recede. To Gold, this could only mean one thing; the trigger had somehow been stopped. Perhaps they weren't all going to die after all. He needed to find Emma and the others to figure out what was going on. He decided to head back to the docks, figuring they had returned there to confront Tamara and Greg.
Gold explained a bit more of the day's events to Belle as they both made their way to the docks, leaving out the bit about his and Emma's earlier car ride. He arrived to witness a frightening scene. Emma's father was forcibly restraining her and she looked as though she were trying to dive into the harbor.
When he got close enough to hear them, Belle trailing along behind him, he heard Emma say, "We can't just let them take Henry," and his blood turned cold, his breath catching in his throat. He had to have misheard her. He couldn't bear to think that he'd lost his son and his grandson in the same day.
"They've taken Henry?" Gold asked, trying and failing to keep the fear from his voice.
"Yeah, you're the Dark One, do something," David commanded in his princely way.
"Gold, help us," Emma pleaded, locking eyes with him. She looked completely broken, a look he had never seen on her before and one he hoped to never see again. It tore at his heart to see her that way. He knew better than anyone what it felt like to lose a son.
"There's no way," he began, shaking his head forlornly. "I spent a lifetime trying to cross worlds to find my son. There's no way in this world without a portal."
"So that's it, he's gone forever?" Regina asked. "I refuse to believe that."
Suddenly, Belle stepped forward walking through them all looking out into the horizon. "What's that?" She asked. Everyone turned around and followed her gaze to see what she was looking at.
"Hook," Emma sighed.
"I thought he was with you all," Gold replied.
"He was, but he tricked us and took off with the last bean."
"That sounds like the Hook I know," Gold muttered under his breath.
When Hook and his ship reached the docks they all walked over to him. Emma was the first to speak up.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
"Helping," he replied simply.
"Well you're too late."
"Maybe not," he said pulling the bean out of his pocket.
"Enough waiting around let's go," Regina demanded.
"Go, go where, I thought we were saving the town," Hook asked, raising a brow in question.
"We already did that," David replied, not bothering to elaborate.
"We need to get Henry, Tamara and Greg took him through a portal," Emma explained.
"Well my ship happens to be a realm jumper, so I think I can help with that," Hook said with that winning smile of his.
"Well that's wonderful, but how will we track them?" Regina asked.
"Leave that to me," Gold chimed in. "I can get us where we need to go." Everyone but Emma and Belle looked a bit surprised at the sincerity in Gold's tone as he offered his help but went along with it just the same.
They all then began to board the Jolly Roger. As Belle headed toward the ramp to board, Gold pulled her back. "Belle I have to go, but you have to stay here," he said.
"But I want to go, I want to help."
"I know, dearie but the town is no longer safe."
"What?" David asked, overhearing that bit of their conversation.
"Well Greg and Tamara weren't working alone, more will follow. After we've gone, follow these instructions," he held out a small roll of parchment to her. "It's a cloaking spell, it will hide Storybrooke again just like when it was cursed."
"Then how will you find your way back to me?" Belle asked, a hint of tears beginning to form in her eyes. When she saw the look he was giving her she said, "You're not coming back are you?"
"The prophecy said that boy would be my undoing but he's still my grandson. I have to save him to honor Baelfire. He's gone and I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye."
"I understand," Belle chocked out through her tears. "But I also know that the future isn't always what it seems. I will see you again," she vowed as she reached out to him and pulled him in to kiss her.
As with when he had hugged her earlier something about kissing her just didn't feel right anymore. He kissed her back all the same, still clinging to the feelings he had for her regardless of the fact that he wasn't sure they were love anymore but still believing it was as close to love as he was going to get. He still hadn't had time to sort through what he felt for Emma nor the opportunity to discuss her feelings for him. Though, had he noticed Emma watching as they kissed and the nearly heartbroken look she was sporting, he may have had more of an idea just how deeply Emma's feelings for him ran.
When they parted, Gold looked into Belle's eyes. She certainly looked like someone who was in love, but then again here he was being the hero, the only part of him she seemed to love. As that thought popped into his head he made the decision to stop being a coward and stop settling for unhappiness; he'd lived lifetimes of unhappiness, he wasn't going to anymore; and he wasn't going to let Belle pine for a man that she never truly loved and never truly would. He owed it to the both of them to end this here and now before they got so invested in it that there was no turning back and they'd end up resenting one another.
"Belle, listen to me, there's something I need to say to you. I can't let you stay here waiting around for me. For one, I may never return, but more importantly, you deserve better than me. Please don't interrupt," he added, as she looked ready to counter him.
"I'm never going to be the man you want me to be Belle, regardless of how much I'd like to. And as long as I have both a dark and light side to me, which I always will, you can never truly love me. It would be selfish of me to keep making empty promises to you that I'll be a better man someday, when we both no that's not going to be the case. I will always go to desperate measures to get what I want and that will continue to take me down dark paths. I'm very sorry," he ended, truly looking it.
"Rumple…" Belle nearly pleaded through her tears.
"Please," Gold pleaded back. "Don't make this any harder on me. You know how much I love you Belle and that's why I have to let you go. That may sound absurd and cliché but I owe that much to you for all you've done for me in the past. I have to go now."
Belle let out the tiniest of sobs and pulled him in for one last kiss. "Goodbye, Rumplestiltskin."
"Goodbye, Belle." Gold then turned away from her, not looking back for fear his resolve would break and he wouldn't be able to leave without her and boarded the Jolly Roger.
Emma had long since excused herself to the lower decks for a moment, not catching any of Gold and Belle's final exchange.