The Brave Thing

Come my love, I'll tell you a tale
of a boy and girl and their love story
and how he loved her oh, so much,
and all the charms she did possess.

Two weeks later, once he'd exhausted the amusement to be had by saying one thing and meaning another, he was again visiting the sheriff's offices to apprise her of his whereabouts for the afternoon and evening. She wrote it all down in a little log book she'd purchased especially for him. Really he supposed he should be flattered, and in a way he was, but he'd much rather she did something about Regina.

"Emma," Henry's voice had the Sheriff turning automatically towards it as her son ran through the doors of the office. "Hello Mr. Gold." He said perfunctorily as Rumplestiltskin's presence registered on him.

"Good afternoon young Henry." He swept the young prince a bow which never failed to make the child grin. This day was no exception and as was his habit, Henry bowed back.

"Does Regina know you're here?" Emma's voice was wary as she looked at the doors to her office.

"No, that's why I gotta be quick." Henry told her with a shake of his dark head.

"Is this about Operation Cobra?" Emma asked tilting her head. Henry's eyes followed the angle and hit Mr. Gold's face.

"I don't know." He shrugged. "It might be, but I can't tell."

"All right, gimme the lowdown and then scoot before Regina catches you with me." Emma commanded and with one eye on Henry and one eye on the door, began to listen to the boy's story.

"So I was walking home and I couldn't go to our spot and I was bored so I was walking around the back of the hospital." Henry began. "I know my mom always goes there on certain days so I was curious. The back of the hospital has these basement windows, the kind with wire an' stuff going through the glass so you can't get out."

"With you so far." Emma nodded seriously and Rumplestiltskin found himself sympathetic with both the boy and the woman. She was doing her best by Henry, and Henry trusted Emma. It was something he missed severely since his own son was gone.

"So I was walking along the windows and I really couldn't see in too well," Henry continued his words tumbling out in his haste. "But then one of the windows in the middle had a face in it."

"Henry basement windows are usually near the ceiling," Emma frowned, "How could a person reach to see out?"

The boy shook his head. "I guess she climbed or sat on something," He shrugged. "But she was the only face. She looked sad."

"Sad how?" Emma picked up a pad of paper and began to write. "Can you describe her?"

"Dark hair, brown I think. And she had dark eyes, they were probably brown too." Henry frowned. "Her face was pale, like she was stuck inside a lot," He thought some more. "She had a blue thing on, like one of the smocks we wear for art."

"Did she see you?" Mr. Gold watched as Sheriff Swan wrote down everything Henry had said, her blue eyes thoughtful.

"I was right outside her window, she had to have seen me." The boy seemed to think that was obvious.

"Not if she wasn't paying attention," Emma reminded her son, "If she was daydreaming she might not have noticed you unless you hit the glass."

"I didn't touch anything, but she might not have noticed me, she was drawing with her finger on the window, like in the car when the windows fog up." Henry frowned. "I wonder who she is?"

"If she's in the hospital there will be records." He wasn't certain why he was so interested but Rumplestiltskin felt his blood pump a little faster at the thought of learning something Regina didn't wish anyone to know. "The basement is where the psych ward is kept."

"So she's crazy?" Henry looked disappointed. "Is that why she didn't see me?"

"In this town, just because you're locked up doesn't mean you're crazy." Sheriff Swan said firmly.

"She's right," He deliberately tried to act more like Mr. Gold than himself, though the two were closely entwined. "Sometimes being locked up just means you've upset Regina somehow."

"Mr. Gold," The sheriff frowned at him. "She is still Henry's…"

"What? His mother?" He shook his head. "No, she's his legal guardian and she houses him but don't let's pretend the woman has a motherly affectionate bone in her body. Whatever heart she had she gave up long ago."

"You sound very certain of that." Emma tilted her head thoughtfully. Before she could push the matter further something caught her eye. "Shit; Henry she's here."

Henry looked slightly panicked and then resigned. Rumplestiltskin grinned, his wicked streak coming to the fore. "Here," he pulled out his gold watch, his name inscribed inside it, and handed it to Henry. "I lost this, you found it. You're giving it back."

Henry grinned up at him just as Regina entered the Sheriff's office. "Sheriff Swan, I don't believe you have permission to see Henry today." She told Emma coldly.

"Oh, I didn't come here to see her." Henry told his mother cheerfully. "Mr. Gold lost his watch and I found it on my way home." He showed it to his mother. "It has his name inside."

Regina's cold smile widened as if forced. "Why didn't you go by his shop and leave it there?"

"What if he needed it?" Henry frowned at his mother. "Besides, how would I get in his shop if he isn't in it? He always comes here at this time of the day."

"Well I do thank you Henry," Rumplestiltskin bowed. "I can't abide tardiness and without my watch, well, I'd be late through the day and night."

"No problem," The boy grinned up at him and hugged his mother's legs, "See ya Emma," He walked over to Regina and stood in front of her. "So should I go home or did you want to talk to me?"

"Go on home." He was told coolly. "Get started on your schoolwork. I only came by to speak with Sheriff Swan regarding the state of the road into town."

Gold watched as Emma slid the paper with Henry's description into her pocket and picked up a different notepad. "I'll leave you to it then Sheriff," he nodded. "Though if you do find anything regarding that other matter, I'd be interested to hear it."

"I'll see what I can find out." Emma nodded politely, a secretive gleam in her eyes. All in all he felt rather pleased as he limped out of the Sheriff's office, Regina deceived, a mystery to solve, it wasn't a bad way to begin the afternoon.

Emma was frowning over paperwork on her desk when Mr. Gold limped into her office. "Sheriff Swan," He greeted her.

She looked up at him with a frown that deepened when she saw his coat was damp. "Why don't you have a seat, this weather can't help your leg any."

"You would not be wrong in that." He sighed and took the seat offered, stretching the bad leg in front of him. "I came to tell you I'll be in the shop for the afternoon and then home in the evening. But you don't seem terribly interested."

Dutifully she pulled out his log book and wrote down what he told her. She looked up afterwards and rested her chin in her hand, staring at him. "I've been digging into the hospital, metaphorically at least, and there's something really odd with the psych ward." She flipped through her papers and pulled one out slightly. "Henry was right, there is a young woman there, kept in isolation, as are all the other psych patients, which is unusual unless they're violent cases. She's listed as having suffered abuse and attempted suicide, but they don't give any information on treatment."

"Perhaps that wasn't available due to patient confidentiality," Mr. Gold suggested rubbing his leg absently.

"I didn't get these in a strictly legal manner." She gave him a wry grin when his lips quirked up in a smile. "I thought you'd like that. Since it was for Henry and not a Sheriff's office matter I wasn't too worried about the legalities."

"So having obtained this information it should be complete regardless of confidentiality." He surmised. "Which would include patient treatment."

"Exactly. Near as I can tell this poor girl is just locked up. If she was suicidal when they admitted her how can being locked up without treatment help?" Emma shook her head. "It doesn't make sense."

"As I recall we both posited the theory that being locked up doesn't necessarily mean that the person is insane." He regarded the sheriff thoughtfully. "What about the others on the ward. Are they receiving treatment?"

"There's something in their files at least." She nodded. "Everyone has something but this girl, Bonnie isn't getting treated at all. She doesn't have visitors except for Regina once every couple of weeks."

"What did you say her name was?" He felt cold and then hot and then cold again and then burning with fury at the possibility.

"Bonnie," Emma looked at him closely. "Mr. Gold are you all right?"

"I—"He took a deep breath. "Do you remember saying that Regina lies with the truth?"

"I do." She nodded, blue eyes staring straight into his without flinching. "And I'll stand by that until my dying breath."

"Who do you imagine gave me the news that the girl I…lost was dead?" He clenched the handle of his cane tightly.

"Regina." The sheriff's voice was flat and cold. "And you believed her?"

"At the time…I had no reason to believe that she'd lied. But I was blinded by rage and pain from what I'd imagined was a betrayal when I heard the news. I didn't hear the lie. Only the truth with which Regina lied." He shook his head. "Can you tell me…in what condition was she, when she was admitted?" He heard his voice shake and didn't care that he was showing weakness.

Emma eyed him and pulled out the girls file. "Bonnie, no last name, was admitted with old and new bruises, those were taken as evidence of multiple beatings. She had wounds on her back, her buttocks and the back of her thighs that looked like a whipping. Her wrists and ankles were bruised and abraded, indicating she'd been bound. And she'd had her stomach pumped to get rid of the pills she'd taken." The sheriff frowned. "The type of pills are missing."

"So she was tortured," Rumplestiltskin heard the darkness within him show in his voice and he looked at Emma. She still regarded him without flinching and nodded slowly.

"The interesting thing to me?" She tilted her head, "If she was bound as the medical records indicate, how'd she manage to swallow enough pills to require a stomach pump? Where'd she get the pills? What kind were they? How does a victim of abuse and torture get pills? Slashing her wrists or hanging herself would be a more likely suicide attempt."

"You think she didn't try to kill herself." He said slowly. "It was an excuse to lock her up."

"Yeah," Emma scowled down at the medical records. "If she wanted to die, she could have just let herself fade away after one of the beatings. She was malnourished so if she wanted to die…she could have. Bonnie wanted to live, bad enough that she survived everything they did to her. So they locked her up and forgot about her."

"And what is…required to remove someone from that ward? Legally." He added almost as an afterthought.

"Regina is listed as a contact, isn't that a shocker, but not as her legal guardian." Emma scowled again. "We'd have to get a court ordered psychiatric evaluation so she could be proved sane. They'd want her to have somewhere to stay when she was released… A lot of hoops."

"All of which could be accomplished with enough money." Rumplestiltskin said with quiet menace. "And she could stay with me."

"You sure that's a good idea? If you threw her out once will she trust you to not do it again?"

He nearly snarled at the thought but controlled his instincts with an effort and sighed. "Tell me Sheriff, how do you know…when to be brave?" He gestured to her office. "How do you know when it's the right time to do something courageous and foolhardy and when is the time for intelligence and guile?"

"Well, usually if something scares the hell out of me…I try to figure out why." She straightened the files on her desk, stacking them and then concealing them inside a drawer. "Am I afraid because it's dangerous? Because I could get hurt? Is it something wrong, something right? I'm not the poster child for bravery, but that's what it is, doing what you should even when you're afraid."

"But you stayed in town for Henry when leaving would have been easier." He said quietly trying to keep his veneer of civilization over his rage at Belle's treatment. "How is it that you're brave enough to risk your feelings?"

"I don't know." She sighed. "Maybe it's not for me. I can get hurt. I hurt so badly when Graham died. But I can't stand seeing Henry hurt. And Regina hurts him."

"Regina murders happiness." Rumplestiltskin said in a slow quiet tone. "She hurts what you love by making you do the hurting. I was paranoid and foolish and believed I was being tricked into caring for a girl who would then try to take my power away. And I threw her out of my house and told her I didn't want her anymore." He shook his head. "She told me that I was throwing away love because I was afraid to take it. And she wasn't wrong." He touched his face, feeling the monster under his human mask and looked at Emma Swan. "I am a beast, a monster for all that I look like a man. But I have power. And I believed that was all I had or would ever have. To lose it… to be, I thought, tricked into losing it for love…a love that wasn't real."

"That would be terrifying, to have everything you want and fear all wrapped up together." Emma's voice sounded sympathetic. "You want my opinion?"

"I…yes." He nodded slowly. "I am a powerful fool and guidance is something I need."

"Go for it." She lifted an eyebrow at his confused expression. "Whatever power you have, if you think you can lose it by falling in love, it isn't worth much." She spread her hands. "I'm the last person to be taking advice from because, oh have I screwed up my life. But really, if your power is so precariously held that a girl can take it from you…is it really so great? Wouldn't you rather have the girl you lost and try to earn her love again than all your power?"

"That's the question isn't it?" He pushed a hand through his hair and looked at the Sheriff. She was a beautiful woman, tough as nails and stubborn with it. "It requires a bravery I've never known. I've been a coward all my life."

"And where has it gotten you? Everybody you love you've lost." She said flatly. "Risk it for once. What's the worst that can happen?"

"Well I'll make a fool of myself," He shook his head. "And maybe seeing me...isn't what she wants."

"If she can survive what happened to her, she'll survive seeing you again." Emma told him. "I suggest you call your lawyer and get the ball rolling to get Bonnie out of there."

"Sheriff, would you happen to have—"

"A picture?" Emma reached into her drawer and pulled out a small photo. "Here." She pulled the files back out of the drawer as well. "Why don't you hang onto these too. I won't need them and you might."

He took the picture, ignoring the files for a moment and gazed at the face of the girl he'd lost. Sweet still, even bruised, her mouth swollen from a fist instead of kisses, she was still his Belle. "Thank you Sheriff." He stood and bowed low from the waist, taking the files. "If you will help me to rescue her, I will count your debt to me erased."

She smiled slightly, "It's the right thing to do, but so was letting Ashley keep her child. So let's call it a clean slate and a step in the right direction."

"Sheriff, what if she…doesn't want anything to do with me?" Rumplestiltskin voiced the fear that had sprung to life the moment he'd known that Bonnie was his Belle.

"If you did wrong…" She sighed as she looked at him. "It sucks but sometimes we don't get forgiven. But if you're sorry, and you only want what's best for her… you ask for it and hope that she's…good enough to forgive you." Emma shrugged. "Just…try to be honest with her, about everything. It's easy to be selfish. It's hard to…give up what we think is our chance at happiness because we care more about the other person than ourselves."

"I'm not very good at being a selfless person Sheriff Swan." He said quietly. "For her though, I'll try." He looked down at the files he held. "I'll go through these and see what I can do."

She nodded. "I'm guessing that Regina has someone on her payroll at the hospital." Blue eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "Probably more than one someone. So if you want to visit, best to do it when there's no one around. I'm sure you could manage that."

He smirked and nodded, his wicked expression matching hers. "I do believe I can." He tilted his head. "Thank you Sheriff Swan."

TBC