"Ana! Ana wake up!"
Rough hands were shaking Anastasia awake. She jerked up, pulling his hands off of her.
"Calm down, it was just a dream," her husband Jamie told her, his expression moving from concern to irritation.
"It's always that same dream," Ana said, flopping back onto her pillow. "A strange room filled with computers from the 70s and that man with brown hair...it's...it's just so vivid."
"It's just a dream," Jamie repeated sleepily. "In the morning you should call the doctor and do something about it."
Ana rubbed her eyes. "Yeah. Yeah, I will."
"What are you doing?" Killian hissed from behind Ana. She had snuck over to the caves early in the morning and was rifling through the doctors supplies.
"My head hurts," Ana said immediately, jumping back. Killian reached around her and grabbed an aspirin bottle.
"Here you go," he said, pushing it into her hand. "I don't trust this lot any more than the next man but it won't do you any good to get caught stealing."
"Right," she agreed softly, looking down at the bottle. "You're right."
"Something you need to talk about?" Ana shook her head.
"No. Just a bad headache. Come on; let's go back to the beach."
Killian watched her closely for a moment before nodding. "After you, my lady."
Belle was up early, trying to finish her shelter. She had briefly considered staying with Gold and although he had never offered she knew he would let her. Ultimately she had decided against it. She had spent her whole life living with someone and this was her new start. She wanted to be independent.
As she slung the tarp over the top part of her shelter she saw Ana and Killian walking back to the beach. Ana looked exhausted and Killian was scowling.
"She doesn't seem his type," Gold commented from behind her, causing Belle to jump.
"You startled me," she said, her hand on her chest. "And what do you know about someone's type?"
He frowned at her. "I'm a man, Belle. I know a little bit about compatibility."
"Hm."
"What? You think I don't? I was married once," he said irritably.
Belle turned, stunned at his confession. "Seriously?!"
"Belle!" Jefferson came jogging up to Belle from the same area Ana and Killian had just slunk out of.
"Jefferson," Belle smiled, tucking the knowledge of Gold she had just learned away for later. Nick, for his part, scowled at Jefferson and walked off, leaving Belle and Jefferson alone.
"Do you have plans today?" He asked her seriously, eyeing her hut.
"Well I was thinking about doing some shopping but I guess I could do that another night. " She joked.
"We're going to triangulate the Irish man's signal and I was hoping you would help."
"Didn't we try this once?" Belle asked skeptically.
"Not like this. This will tell is exactly where thr signal is coming from and locate it's radio tower so we can make contact off the island. Come on, just me, you, and Emma. No one else is interested in helping."
"Oooookay," Belle smiled sweetly. Jefferson was beaming but in that moment Ana caught Belle's attention again. The pretty brunette had left her camp with Killian and Magnolia and was walking quickly into the jungle again.
"Hey," she interrupted Jefferson, drawing his attention back to Ana. "Have you noticed anything strange about Ana?"
"She's in withdrawal," Jefferson said without missing a beat.
Belle shook her head. "Withdrawal is ugly. This is something else."
Jefferson regarded her closely for a moment before watching Ana retreat back into the jungle. "Some people hide it better than others."
Ana found herself alone in a psychiatrist's office after medication hadn't stopped her nightmares. Her doctor had recommended a psychiatrist to try and get to the root of her dreams.
"Tell me how they start?" Dr. Barge asked pleasantly, relaxing back into his chair. Ana fidgeted nervously, looking down at her fingers.
"Uh...well, lately it starts in Australia. Just normally, I am there on vacation."
"Are you happy?" He prompted.
"I'm nervous. I am about to miss my flight."
"Then what?"
"Uh...well, then I am in a jungle and there is a door hidden behind these long strands of leaves. Inside it's like a compound, the walls are concrete and there is music playing. It looks like something out of a 70's movie. There is a loud noise and a man, a brunette man is typing something into a computer and it stops. He's alone, and his whole life is about this computer and then I wake up."
Dr. Barge scooted forward in his chair, his fingers steepled in his lap. "Anastasia, your dream is very telling, and I think, personally, you will not find closure until you get to the root of your dream."
"What's that?"
Dr. Barge smiled softly, his blue eyes twinkling.
"You tell me."
"You want to tell me what's going on with you?" Killian had caught up with Ana again.
"Leave me alone!" Ana snapped angrily. "Stop following me, just stay away from me!"
"Do you even know where you are?!" Killian demanded. Ana looked around and for the first time realized she was lost. "Why don't you tell me what's going on?"
"It's my dreams! I have been dreaming about this place for months and I have to know why!"
Killian raised an eyebrow suggestively, disbelief etched on his handsome face. "The caves are this way. Want to tell me about this prophetic dream?"
Ana sighed in defeat and began to follow Killian back towards the caves.
"You'll think I'm crazy."
"Everyone's a little crazy, hm?" He glanced at her sideways."Why don't you try me?"
"I think there is an unground bunker buried somewhere around here...and a man is living in it."
Killian's step faltered. "A man...living in an underground bunker...on a deserted island?"
"I know it's crazy," Ana ducked her head, letting her brown hair shield her face.
They reached the caves, allowing Killian to pull Ana into an empty cave.
"It does sound crazy. Ana. No one else is here."
Ana felt her blood pressure rising. "Oh I'm sorry; I forgot you were the island expert! How do you know there isn't a man here? You never leave the beach unless you're following me or stalking Emma Swan! I didn't ask for your opinion! In fact, I asked you to leave me alone!"
Killian opened his mouth to retort when he heard rumbling from around him. He jumped back and Ana did the same in an attempt to avoid the tumbling rocks.
"Killian!" Ana screamed, having made it out safely.
"What happened?" David came running over as Ana continued screaming in horror.
"We were arguing and the cave collapsed and oh my God I've killed him and he was just trying to help!"
"Calm down," Mary Margaret told Ana, putting her arm around Ana's trembling shoulders. "Come sit with me."
"Someone run down to the beach and get me Jefferson," David instructed and Sean, ever faithful, took off running.
Sean found the beach unusually quiet that day but he found Nick working on Belle's shelter.
"Where is Jefferson?" Sean panted. Jefferson had told David he was going to the beach to visit Belle before leaving that morning.
"Do I look like his mother?" Gold asked irritably, tying another row of leaves to the top of her tarp.
"Killian is trapped in a cave, David needs Jefferson!" Sean tells him quickly.
"They went into the jungle," Gold continued his work, obviously unconcerned with the drama at hand. "They didn't tell me where and I didn't ask."
Sean turned heel to run back to the caves, leaving Gold alone with his thoughts for a moment. He could go and find Jefferson, or he could stay out of it. Staying out of it was immensely appealing to him, but the secondary idea that Belle would be disappointed in him if she found out he had known and hadn't tried to help.
Cursing under his breath he took off for the jungle in the direction he knew they had gone. Before he could leave Emma Swan jogged up to where Gold was standing.
"Did he say Killian was buried in a cave?"
"Yes. Going to rescue him?" Gold sneered. Emma scowled and took a step back. She looked like she wanted to say something but instead turned on her heel and went to find Magnolia, who was working on a garden.
"Can you do something for me?" Emma asked her quickly.
Magnolia looked up from her vegetation, wiping dirt and sweat from her brow. "Of course."
"In the distance someone will shoot off a bottle rocket. When they do, can you light mine?"
"Of course, but why?" Magnolia asked but Emma was already running off in the directions of the caves.
Sighing Magnolia left her secluded garden and wandered down to the beach where she found Emma's abandoned bottle rocket and a book of matches. She looked up into the sky line.
"Okay. I can do this. No big deal."
Back at the caves David, Sean, Archie, and now Emma were attempting to dig a hole into the rocks in an attempt to get Killian out alive.
"I don't think we can make this any bigger," Archie said, gently setting a rock back. "Not without bringing the whole thing down."
"Can you fit through that?" David asked Emma. Emma judged the size of it before shaking her head no.
"I can," Ana stood up, wiping her eyes with determination.
"I don't think that's a good-"
"I need to do this," Ana said. She wiggled her way in with some help from David. It took her eyes a minute to adjust but she found Killian alive, huddled in a corner and clutching his shoulder.
"Killian!" She moved as quickly as possible to his side. "Oh my God, Killian, I'm so sorry."
"It's fine," he grunted. "Not your fault. Ana, I need you to pop my shoulder back into the socket."
"I can't," Ana said tearfully, shaking her head.
"It's bloody painful, you have to do this."
"I can't, I can't," she cried, putting her hand on his shoulder.
"Hey," he said gently, lifting her chin with his good hand to look at him. "You can do this. Do this, and then let's go find your underground bunker. Okay. Just one hard push."
Ana nodded, took a steadying breath, and then pushed. There was a sickening crack and a moan of pain from Killian.
"Good job," Killian told her, pulling her into his arms for a strong hug. "No, how are we getting out of here?"
"Hold tight!" David shouted from the tiny hole Ana had crawled in through.
"We found a place to dig you both out!"
Gold found Belle lying belly down on grass, her chin propped up on her hands and a dreamy look on her face.
"Penny for your thoughts," he said softly, sitting in the grass next to her.
"Nick!" Belle smiled as she rolled onto her back, setting her head in his lap. She looked up at him. "What are you doing here?"
"Looking for Jefferson," he told her, playing with a curly strand of her chestnut hair.
"Oh," she looked back out at the scenery. "I'm not entirely sure where he went to, somewhere that way," she pointed vaguely to the left.
"Ah, well...no point in chasing after him now," he said as Belle smothered a smile. "Killian is trapped in one of the caves."
"Oh my gosh. Is he okay?" She lifted her head up slightly.
"I am sure David will get him out safely and soundly."
"Good thing we didn't move into the caves," she said a little smugly, setting her head back down in his lap.
"I told you."
They lapsed back into silence, Belle watching the sky and Gold playing with her hair.
"Nick?"
"Hm?"
"What was your wife like?"
He looked down at her, surprised. "She...she didn't love me. She..."
"I'm sorry," Belle said quickly.
"It's fine. In truth she was...is...nothing like you."
Belle sat up suddenly so she could look in his eyes. She was surprised by his confession, almost as much as he was.
"I'm sorry," he said softly. "I shouldn't have said that."
Belle tucked a piece of hair behind her ear nervously. "No...no, it's okay..." She was leaning towards him when she heard the crack of a bottle rocket in the air. Jefferson had lit his rocket.
Belle scrambled for her rocket, making sure her antenna was in place. Emma's bottle rocket from the beach went off and with a quick strike of her match, Belle's went whistling through the air. She stood up and watched it explode into the sky with a burst of yellow stars. She turned around, her face bright with excitement and Gold couldn't help but smile back.
"We did it!" She laughed, throwing herself into his arms. He hugged her tentatively back.
"Come on dearie. Let's go back to the beach. Find out if Killian lives." Belle nodded and the pair made their way back to the beach.
Australia was a bust for Ana. The foliage looked nothing like the jungle from her dreams. She hated that she was in a beautiful country without her husband chasing down a phantom dream.
She was walking through the airport to board her flight when something caught her eye. A brunette man, holding a black box, his green eyes watching her.
"Hey!" Ana shouted after a moment of stunned disbelief. It was the man from her dream, standing in front of her. He turned to walk away and without questioning on whether she was hallucinating or not, Ana left her luggage next to a chair and took off after him.
"Stop!" She shouted.
No matter how quickly she made her way through the crowd, he always managed to stay just ahead of her. She was desperate, she had to talk to him, touch him, anything to prove he was real.
He turned a corner and Ana followed, but he disappeared. Ana let out a scream of frustration, making the long walk back to her luggage. Dejected, she slowly meandered to her gate only to discover she had missed her flight. A girl was standing behind a podium, typing at a computer.
"Is there another flight today?" Ana asked her once she had been informed of her missed flight. The tall agent typed into her computer for a moment.
"Oceanic 815 leaves for L.A. in two hours."
"Thanks," Ana mumbled, heading to the front to switch her flight. When she got home, she decided, she was going to get serious about stopping these dreams.
It had gone on long enough.
In the end David got Ana and Killian out of the cave safely. They thanked them and Ana, with Killian at her side, confessed to David and Victor about her recurring dream. They both appeared sympathetic, and Victor prescribed her something to help her sleep at night. Killian promised to search the jungle with her to find her underground bunker. He personally didn't think they would find anything but trees, but even he had to concede that there was something special about this place.
"This will be your last night here," Gold told Belle as he got into his mat to sleep.
"I know. My first time living on my own. Plus, I'll bet you'll be glad to have your own space back."
He hummed non-committedly, his mind wandering back to their moment in the jungle. He had been sure she was going to kiss him and wanted to ask her about it, but was too afraid. He didn't want to make their easy friendship awkward, or worse, but her in a position where she would have to reject him. He contented himself to lay awake long after she had fallen asleep replaying the feeling of her head in his lap, her breath on his face. That was good enough for him.
Jefferson woke up alone in the jungle, surrounded by darkness. The transceiver was near his hand. He rubbed his head, trying to remember what had happened. He remembered lighting his rocket and seeing Emma and Belle's rockets light up the sky. The lump on the back of his head filled in the rest. Someone had followed him and knocked him out.
Jefferson looked around for a moment. Who didn't want them to leave the island? Who had knocked him out?
