Rumpelstiltskin held his daughter close to him as Thanatos raced back towards the main part of town but instead of heading towards his shop, he saw Thanatos take a different path and he soon found himself standing outside of his house. Rumpelstiltskin glanced down at Rosalinda who was just beginning to dose off and he very carefully dismounted and turned to head into the house when he paused to look back at Thanatos who remained standing there.

"Yes Dark One?" asked Thanatos.
"Remain here, I'm going to put her to bed and then you and I need to talk," stated Rumpelstiltskin his voice carrying just a subtle hint daring the horse to move from where he was standing.

Thanatos said nothing as he moved his head in what Rumpelstiltskin could assume was the closest thing to a nod that as a horse he could. Rumpelstiltskin made his way into his house and began heading towards his daughters old nursery but stopped half way there when he remember that he hadn't been in the room in years and thus he knew not only did the room need a good cleaning but it would also need to be changed to fit his daughter current age since he hadn't even bother to even get rid of the crib.

Turning he decided to make his way to his room since it wasn't like he really needed sleep and headed over to his bed and pulled back the rich satin sheets and placed his daughter onto the bed, before proceeding in covering her up with the blankets so she was tucked in. Rumpelstiltskin looked at his daughter who eyes were now heavy with sleep, and he could only assume with all that had happened today, it was amazing she still had the energy to fight sleep. Rumpelstiltskin found his mind flashing back to Belle and how stubborn and defiant she could be when she wanted to and when you combined that with his genes, he was glad he was immortal because he shudders what she would be like as a teenager.

"Okay princess," began Rumpelstiltskin keeping his voice soft and quiet so not to scare her. "Bedtime."
"Okay," muttered Rosalinda as she held her doll close to her. "Papa…"
"Yes?"
"Can you read me a bedtime story?" asked Rosalinda with so much hope in the question that it made Rumpelstiltskin wonder if the person who had taken her had ever read to her.
"Of course," stated Rumpelstiltskin as he remembers her books he shrunk and removed them and returned them to their full size.

He placed them on the bedside table before taking the top book which was called goodnight moon and he opened the book and began to read the pages. Rumpelstiltskin began to read, however he wasn't even though the entire book before he saw his daughter eyes were closed and she was fast asleep. Very quietly he placed the book on top of the pile and exit the room after placing a simple spell that would alert him if either a) his daughter woke up or b) someone beside him enter the room.

Once Rumpelstiltskin was sure that his magic was secure and that Rosalinda would be safe, he made his way back outside where he saw that Thanatos had indeed remain where he was but it was clear he wasn't keen on it. He looked like a cage animal with how he seemed to be swaying back and forth with his head.

"I see you choose to remain," stated Rumpelstiltskin moving so he was closer to Thanatos but at a safe distance sine he was now knew how fast Thanatos could move and if he charged him while he would survive, it would certainly make the next few days extremely painful.
"You said we needed to talk," stated Thanatos his voice now sounding both bored and clearly upset, almost like a teenager who parents had grounded him and he wasn't happy about it.
"Yes, I did," began Rumpelstiltskin only to be interrupted.
"How is Rosalinda?" asked Thanatos.
"Exhausted but otherwise appears good," stated Rumpelstiltskin. "Speaking of my daughter, what do you want from her?"
"What?" asked Thanatos clearly taken back from the question? "Nothing."
"You don't even want her to break your curse?" questioned Rumpelstiltskin his tone clearly showing he didn't trust Thanatos.
"No, all I care about is that she is happy and healthy," stated Thanatos. "I can live with this curse; I've been doing it for years now, so returning to my human form permanently doesn't matter to me anymore. The truth is I feel more like me when I am in this form, then the other now. All I want is to help you protect her. The people who took her are more dangerous than you could ever imagine."
"I can assure you I can protect my daughter," stated Rumpelstiltskin. "I don't plan on losing her again."
"So you're planning on locking her up as well?" stated Thanatos.
"HOW DARE YOU!" yelled Rumpelstiltskin his tone turning very dark and dangerous showing the beast that everyone feared. "I WOULD NEVER HURT HER LIKE THAT!"
"Then you are going to need help because eventually your daughter will find a way to be away from you eventually. Either she will go off with one of her friends or she will sneak out, trust me on that. She's already proven when she wants something, not much can stop her. There is also her magic; it's not like other magic you've seen. She is magic itself. As long as she can think it, it's a possibility. You're going to need help and I'm willing to help. I'll be her friend, a person or horse whatever you want to call me for her to talk to when she can't talk to you. I can also use my magic to keep an eye on her until she is strong enough to defend herself."
"And how do I know you won't just use her?"
"I could ask you the same thing. I know how addicted you are to your powers and as your daughter gets older her magic will be far more powerful than yours, and I also know you aren't too keen on not being the strongest magical being as well," began Thanatos moving slowly towards Rumpelstiltskin who stood there ready for anything. "However, I also know that you do have a sense of loyalty to your family and while you might not have always made the right decision, you do act out of love. So I'm going to give you my trust and you will have to trust me, because something tells me you are going to need my help."

Rumpelstiltskin thought over what he had said and while he didn't want to admit it, he couldn't deny any of those comments. Rumpelstiltskin moved closer to Thanatos until they were standing almost right next to each other and they stared deeply at the other, almost as if they were searching for any sign of deceit in the other person, but saw nothing.

"Okay," stated Rumpelstiltskin. "But trust me dearie, if I ever see so much as a single scratch on her because of you, you better hope I don't catch up with you because I swear I'll turn you into glue faster than you can run."

Thanatos said nothing as he nodded and turned to leave, pausing only a second to smack Rumpelstiltskin with his tail, before quickly bolting from him at top speed. Rumpelstiltskin glared at Thanatos until he was no longer in sight before making his way back inside the house and walked over to his liquor cabinet and quickly poured himself a small drink just to help him relax after today and sighed.

Rumpelstiltskin carefully removed his wallet and pulled out a slightly warn out and faded photo of Belle moments after their daughter was born. He stared at the picture of his wife as she held their daughter in her arms so content and happy. For the last four years this had been a small reminder of his family and how he lost it. So many times he consider giving up searching for his daughter when one search after another seemed to end in failure but all he would have to do is removed this photo and he would find whatever faith was left to give it one more try and now finally he had his daughter back.

Rumpelstiltskin returned the picture back to its pocket and looked at his still full drink and began to pour it back into the bottle. He smiled as he placed the liquor back into the cabinet, which he quickly secure using his magic from his daughter just to be safe and placed his glass into the sink before making his way back upstairs and made his way back to his room where he saw his daughter was still fast asleep but had somehow managed to push most of the blankets off of her. He gave a small smile as he walked over and tucked her in again before quickly leaning down and placed a small kiss to the top of her forehead like he had done all those times he used to hold her as a baby.

Rumpelstiltskin sat there for a minute just watching his daughter sleep before he pulled himself away and headed into his study where he sat at his computer and began making a list of all the things he would need to buy. Once he was satisfied he had everything that he could think of on the list, he folded it up and reached into the desk grabbing his chequebook, since he was almost certain to be writing a lot of checks tomorrow when his eyes landed on a frame that was turned over sitting there.

Rumpelstiltskin pulled the frame out and turned into over and saw the photo of his wife and him on their wedding day that he had used his magic to take, and while seeing his wife still caused his heart to ache in memory, he did find that for once he could look at the photo and not feel as if someone was crushing his heart over and over again, yet he still remained alive out of pure torture.

"I promise Belle," mumbled Rumpelstiltskin starting at Belle. "I'll keep her safe. I won't let anything happen to her ever again, and this is one deal I promise I won't break."

A/N: Okay I know I promise this chapter would have Rosalinda settling into her new home, and that how I planned for it to happen but I felt like this was a better place to stop. Rosalinda home and Rumpelstiltskin has made an uneasy ally for the time being but will that remain?

Next chapter: Rosalinda settling in and Rosalinda finds out what happened to Belle. I'll try to update soon.