Mrs. Gold stood right at the town line, unsure of herself. "What am I doing?" she cried. She looked at the road beyond the line, then paced back and forward, before sitting on the dented 'Leaving Storybrooke' sign. The agitated woman sat with her head in her hands. "What am I suppose to do? Give me sign!" She shouted to the sky.

"Hello?" an old woman approached from the woods, and when she saw her Mrs. Gold stopped breathing for a moment or two.

"Mom?" she asked with her eyes already filling with tears, and she ran to the older woman quickly embracing her.

"Oh. Um. Excuse me? I don't really think we've met." the older woman said stiffly.

"You don't know me?" Mrs. Gold asked taking a step back, and the woman shook her head no. "But why are you here?"

"My husband and I, we keep the woods clean, and make sure the plant and wildlife are healthy. That's uh... why I'm here." she explained. "Why are you here?"

"I'm... I got some bad news... I'm just trying to figure out what I should do." she said trying to overcome her surprise. "You're here to help me! Tell me what to do!" Mrs. Gold deluded herself.

"Oh no. Sweetie, I can't do that. I mean its your life, and I don't know what's going with you.

"Right right, I'll tell you." She was so excited to see her mother she could barely speak at all, but took deep breaths and tried to explain. "I'm dying, and I don't know if I should leave, or stay."

"Well do you have any family here?"

"I'm married."

"Well have you talked to your husband about it?"

"He wants to... Cure me... I guess. He wants to find a way to stay here, and have a family, with kids and-"

"Kids? Ha! Run!" the older woman said smiling.

"What?" Mrs. Gold asked baffled.

"Kids are awful. I'm so happy I never had any! Kids suck the youth right out of you. If your husband is trying to saddle you with a bunch of brats, then you need to run as far away from this town as possible. Just go enjoy your youth while you have it."

"... What?..." she asked now with her heartbreaking.

"I wish there was a way to stay young forever, but you shouldn't waste the best years off your life on children, especially children that you didn't want." the woman took Mrs. Gold's shoulders. "I hope that helps."

"Yeah." she answered weakly.

"I'm Mrs. Wellings by the way."

"Nice to meet you." Mrs. Gold said dazed.

"Who are you Dear?" Mrs. Wellings asked chipper.

"What?"

"What's your name?"

After some pause she finally pulled herself together just enough to say. "Here, I'm Mrs. Gold." Mrs. Wellings smile dropped, and Mrs. Gold walked away from the woman without so much as a goodbye, or any kind of acknowledgement. She couldn't believe what she had heard, and couldn't understand. 'Was she the sign? What did she mean? She always said children were what made a family. What am I suppose to do now?' She went back to her husband's shop and ignored his closed sign, going through the entrance.

"I'm sorry but the shop is closed!" she heard him shout from the back room.

"Mr. Gold!" she called to him, but he didn't recognize her voice.

He began to make his way to the front yelling, "For Christ's sake! I said the shop is-" he stopped when he saw who it was. "You came back?"

"I don't have anywhere else to go." he hobbled over to her pulling her into a hug.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't of tried to hide that from you. I just didn't want you to worry about time. I didn't want you to lay around staring at a dying rose again."

"I don't care about that anymore."

"Is something wrong?" He asked pulling away.

"I saw my mother today."

"Where? Did she remember you?"

"She's... I don't... I don't know. She seemed wrong. She isn't like how I remembered her."

"Could it be the curse?"

"No, she was just...so... happy. Happier than I've ever seen her."

"I thought you said your mother had died?"

"I thought she had."

"Maybe you just didn't really notice how many years past?"

"No I know for sure. I lost track of life times. It took generations before I lost track."

"Do you think she found a new way to stay young?"

"She must have."

"Dearie?" He said getting her attention. "Emma Swan is here to break the curse. When she does, you need to ask your mother how she stayed young."

"No."

"Why not?"

"That woman abandoned me! I don't want anything from her." She shouted walking away from him into the back room, she sat at the desk and stared at Belle's rose.

"Rapunzel!" He followed her, but stood in the door frame. " Rapunzel, whatever she has could give us more time." he reasoned.

"I don't want what she has. I want what I had!"

"What if we can't get it?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I mean what if the heart isn't here? What if it got left behind in the curse, and I need more time to retrieve it?"

She sighed, realizing he could be right. "Fine. If you need more time. I'll go ask her." Mr. Gold walked over to her and took her hand.

"Did you still believe in me?"

"I'm not sure what I believe."