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Chapter 5
As the months went by, Lee never failed to surprise him.
This situation with Ashley and her baby seemed to worry her only because he had gotten hurt when Ashley broke into his shop to steal their signed agreement.
"I wish you wouldn't get involved in things like this, Kyle. Nothing good ever comes of it. Everyone knows that a contract to adopt a child will never stand up in court if a mother wants to keep her baby no matter how much money she accepted for her medical care."
Lee happened to be in back of the shop when Emma burst in the door and accused him of starting the fire in city hall to help get her elected sheriff. After Emma finally left, she slowly came through the curtain to stand by his side behind the glass counter.
"Lee, I can explain" he turned and placed a hand on her upper arm. He did not expect her to come into his arms and begin to slide her hands up and down his back.
"It sounds like Emma is angry with you."
Her lips and tongue placed small kisses and licks on his neck while her fingers undid the top buttons of his shirt.
"Are you angry with me?" He held her close and messaged her back in return.
"Somehow a harmless fire between friends where no one was seriously hurt does not make much of blip on my anger radar. I trust you to know what you are doing."
He wanted to take her back home, to make love to her properly in their bed. However, sensing that neither one of them wanted to wait, the couch in the back of the shop served their purpose just as well.
He wondered how she would react when Emma exposed him for setting the fire in public during her speech. Yet again, Lee remained unfazed and dismissed the situation with mild amusement.
"I don't think anyone was too surprised. Everyone in this town is already afraid of you and probably thinks you are capable of much worse."
She did not seem at all worried that the town would ostracize her even more for her association with him and as all such things usually did the whole thing blew over in a couple of weeks after Emma was elected sheriff.
Mary Margaret's incarceration brought on a rather unexpected response. After Kathryn was found and Mary Margaret exonerated, the look in Lee's eyes almost made him think that she had somehow woken up from the curse and remembered.
"Why did you abduct that woman, Kyle?"
"I don't know what you are talking about Lee. I have no idea what happened to Kathryn or how she got back?"
"Please, don't lie to me. Now, I will ask you one more time, why did you kidnap that woman only to release her right before Mary Margaret was convicted of murder."
Standing there in her long sweater dress belted around the waist, she only needed a sword at her side to look like the fighter-for-hire she had been in the Enchanted Forest. He knew that to lie to her now was useless.
"Because if I didn't make Regina think that Kathryn had been murdered she would have hired someone to really kill her."
That revelation made her sit down and run her hand through her hair.
"You are saying that our beloved mayor is capable of murder?"
"Oh, yes."
"I wish you would have told me. I know I probably can't make you understand but if you are dealing with a murderer, I have the skills to protect you in ways you cannot protect yourself."
"Lee, you can't seriously ask me to put you in danger?"
"Kyle, listen to me, please. You never questioned me about the way I run my business and I truly appreciate that but there is something you need to know. The men who come here from Boston first came because of the advanced technology I invested in for those rooms in the building. Later, when they saw that I knew something about hand-to-hand combat, they began to teach me. They taught me other fighting styles, the use of heavier weapons, suggested I practice fighting with heavy swords to build up body strength. I learned quickly. I guess I have a talent for such things. What I am saying is that in a physical confrontation I can protect you better than you can protect yourself."
He sat down on the couch beside her and smoothed back her hair with his hands.
"You would risk your life for me?"
"Of course I would. I love you."
It wasn't until after August pretended to be Bae that he broke down and told her about his son. When she held him in her arms that night, he realized that when the curse no longer held them captive, he would lose the one person who had stood by him through everything. He would lose the one person with whom he could ever truly share his life.
Gold was surprised when Renik did not seek him out again or interfere with anything he did to manipulate Emma into breaking the curse. Gold of all people knew how long that spider could bide his time sitting quietly in his web and waiting for just the right moment to strike.
His first hint of Ward's involvement came when he noticed that Lee seemed somewhat preoccupied. All of a sudden he would find that she wasn't paying attention to a conversation they were having. Other times she would simply sit and stare into space. When he asked her about it she simply said that she was tired from once again helping Ward with a surgery, this one more intense and difficult than the puppy with a ball in his tummy.
It was the night he placed Charming's sword on the glass counter in front of Emma and Regina and started explaining how Emma had to fight Malificent in her dragon form in order to save Henry, that Renik walked into his shop.
"Excuse me for interrupting but let me assure you that all this effort is quite unnecessary." His deep voice resonated through the small space.
"What do you mean?" Emma whipped around to stare at the tall newcomer.
"Yes, what do you mean, Renik?" and in all the years she's known him even Regina had never heard such venom in Rumplestilstkin's voice.
Looking directly at Emma, the man simply continued to speak, "I mean all you have to do to save Henry is what your father did for your mother when he woke her from the sleeping curse. True Love's kiss will wake the boy just as it did his grandmother."
"Who is that man?" were the only words Emma had time to utter before Regina grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the shop.
"Do you have any idea what you just did?" Gold whispered through clenched teeth as he slowly limped toward the man in front of him.
"I believe I just told Emma how to wake her son from a sleeping curse."
"Do you have any idea why I wanted her to fight the dragon?" Gold continued moving toward the man.
"I think I have quite a good idea, actually" was Renik's nonchalant reply as he reached into the pocket of his full length wool coat, pulled out the egg with the True Love potion locked inside, and handed it to Rumplestilstkin who now stood frozen on the spot.
"Did you have the potion all this time?" Gold now spoke quietly.
"Oh, no, not at all, not at all." The man had the nerve to sound almost amused. "The potion came into my possession only a few of days ago."
"How did you get it from inside the dragon?" The anger in Gold's voice was unmistakable.
"How I got it is fairly simple. Leena and I surgically removed it." When he saw Gold's face pale, Renik continued speaking. "You see, Malificent owes me a favor and I can't very well collect on that debt if she is dead."
"You took Lee down into that mine. You risked her life bringing her near that thing." Gold 's grip on his cane tightened as he stood in front of the taller man. His desire to bring the cane down on Ward's shoulders plainly obvious.
"The dragon wasn't about to fight anyone. She was sick. I've checked on her over the years and a short while ago that thing inside her body started to cause an infection. I waited as long as I could to remove it and, unfortunately, the surgery was a two person job."
"And you just decided to ask Lee to help you."
"Who else could I trust to keep it together after seeing a dragon without having their memories back? It was obvious that the fight between Regina and Emma was coming to a head so I knew it wouldn't take long before the curse broke. I simply asked Lee to give me a few days before asking for an explanation."
"And she was OK with that?"
"Of course she was OK with it. Deep down she is still a Farini warrior who knows she can trust the patron Wizard of her people."
"Trust! That's a laugh. You used her…"
"Don't you have a potion to throw in a well?" Ward waved a hand to dismiss Gold's indignation. "And perhaps someone to keep you company while you do it?" He turned as Isabelle French walked inside. "I believe that's my cue to leave" were his parting words as he exited the shop to the tinkle of the bell above the door.