A/N: I do not own OUAT/Oz/Grey's Anatomy/Lost/Tron... bonus points for everyone who catches all the references! Did yall hear about the "mystery" character next season? … kinda hope it's Bae! Anyway back to the story...
Baelfire leaned against the old wooden door. He could hear the television coming from the living room. He thought about opening the door and leaving again, but then he caught the sound of his father's voice in his ear. He listens to the sound coming from the other room, it sounds like home.
"Five medical surgeons and not one can make a fire?" Mr. Gold can be heard arguing with Belle. Baelfire thinks he needs to clean his ears because it sounds like they are arguing over television. It made him smile a bit every time he caught them doing something worldly normal here. A normal Thursday night.
"Not all of us can snap our fingers and start a fire" Belle said coming around the corner "Bae." She walked over to Gold's son seeing he looked in pain. She stuck her nose up at his smell, wet dog and burnt ash. "What happened today?" she asked lowly.
Bae ran his hands through his hair, closing his eyes a moment he tried to process just what did happen today. "I was in the woods finding the dagger and there was a storm"
Belle looked out the window a moment seeing the lights of the sheriff's patrol car as it pulled away "with Emma?"
She saved me he wanted to say, but instead he simply replied "she invited me to breakfast. Hot chocolate with cinnamon?" Baelfire questioned leaning his head against the door. He would rather talk about her than what happened today. The dagger giving him an uncomfortable feeling resting against his back reminded him of just what he still had to do.
"You'll learn to love it" Belle's forget-me-not blue eyes sparkled and she smiled inspecting the man over; she could not see any open wounds but still was worried about him. She knew the dagger was trouble but hoped for now it was at bay.
"I think I already do" Bae gave a small smile back at Belle as the two exchanged glances of understanding that this part wasn't about the cocoa at all. He was glad he could confide in her. She pushed him away from the door wanting to get him out the wet jacket. Belle's touch was forceful but comforting, very motherly or sisterly unlike Emma's touch that made him feel electrified with excitement.
"The only way it could be more real is if they had all crash landed on a magic island and there was a smoke demon..." Gold came into the parlor clearly perturbed over the drama they were just watching. "Baelfire" he said seeing the man at front of the door. He looked like hell.
"I'll go run you a bath" Belle said hanging Bae's jacket up. She walked by Gold giving him a sweet gentle kiss on the cheek as she passed by him.
"Are you alright son?" he asked coming towards Baelfire.
Baelfire nodded "I did it." He felt a spark of anger from somewhere deep inside him as he pulled the dagger from behind his back. It was his father's fault, wasn't it? He turned quickly shoving his father against the door. His whole body screamed in pain as he brought the dagger up to his father's neck. He should not be fighting. He should be resting but he couldn't let it go, not yet. "Here it is papa, your curse. I could finish our deal right now" Baelfire spoke hastily scared of the consequences of his actions.
Gold held his breath as the metal danced next to his throat. The dagger called his name, sparkling silver metal against his skin. "Do it lad" he hissed. "I'm a monster, I deserve it." He knew his fate. He would regret not being with Belle more and not getting to know his son again. He truly did not know the man in front of him right now but he would like to have gotten to know him.
"I can't. I'm so angry at you and yet, I can't do it!" Baelfire growled as he pulled the dagger away from his father's throat. He knew their deal so long ago, but a new deal had been made. "Does that make me the coward? I can't release you"
Mr. Gold ran his hand over his throat as he stared at the dagger, entranced by its power. "No lad, that makes you more of a man that I ever will be."
Baelfire put the dagger on the mantelpiece above the fire place for the world to see. "I'm going to save you somehow." The dagger reminded Bae of the long road the two men had ahead of them in forming a relationship again. He was the coward for not ending whatever darkness his father kept inside of him. And his father was the coward for putting that burden on him.
"Go get clean lad, we have time to talk" Gold said after glancing for a long moment at the dagger. He hated the thing that tied to his life line, but he would have no one else but his son tied to the deal.
Emma could hear laughter between Mary Margaret and Henry as she walked into the living room and saw them in the kitchen. "Hey guys! What is going on?" Mary and Henry looked as if they were just finishing up the dishes.
Mary handed Henry the last plate to dry "just telling Henry about the time the dwarfs tried to make the cake for my birthday and it didn't go so well"
Emma smiled a bit walking over to the fridge she grabbed a bottle of water not realizing how thirsty she had been. "Yeah, I can see where that would be funny. I can't see Leroy baking a cake" she said gulping down the drink. She wanted to wash away the day. The bad part of the day anyway. The taste of woods and wet chapped lips on hers as she puffed air back into Baelfire's lifeless body. Emma wanted to keep the safe feeling of his arms around her at the back of her mind for now; she took another drink of the water.
"Grumpy" Mary and Henry chimed in at the same time.
"Grumpy" Emma replied ruffling Henry's hair as she put the empty water bottle in the recycling bin.
Henry could tell something was off with his mom. He traced behind her wanting to know the adventures of the day. "What happened?"
Emma bent down and gave him a hug reassuring him everything was ok. "It was nothing. Baelfire and I just had a little trouble in the woods. But, we found what we were looking for."
He hugged his mother back, knowing something big must have happened if she was acting this way. "You found Rumplestiltskin's dagger didn't you? The one from the book?"
"Yeah, we did. But don't worry it's in a safe place." Emma said releasing her son from the hug. Safe as in the belly of the beast itself. She regretted not taking the dagger from Baelfire and could only hope their wasn't a murder or two tonight. "Go get cleaned up for bed"
Henry turned going down the hall he could hear his grandmother start to question his mother.
Mary Margaret had not met Baelfire yet but she was under the assumption if he was Rumple's son he was trouble no matter what Henry had told her of meeting the man at Granny's. "You were in the woods with Baelfire, alone?" She felt the words slip out her mouth before she could stop herself, pot-calling-the-kettle-black moment. How many times had she been alone with David in the woods? Even if this life was just a curse and it had been fake; she had been with a married man in the woods, alone. Mary did know she did not want to deal with Gold let alone his son. "You never had to deal with Rumplestiltskin in our world, he's a snake only out for himself"
Emma hung her jacket up and started to take her shoes off. Sitting down she stared up at her mother, her friend. "Baelfire is different."
"He came to town to find his father, now he has this weapon, he could kill him or kill half the town. He should be stopped and you are helping him?"
"He's innocent" she replied calmly. She had not known him for long and knew there could be malice in him, but she found none. His eyes had not been the eyes of a cold blooded killer, but the dark hurt eyes of a lost soul.
"Looks can be deceiving" Mary warned her. How many times before had Rumple made a deal with her or Charming to get what he wanted?
Emma stood up and walked over to the counter "I would trust him with my life."
Henry finishes brushing his teeth and changes into plaid pajama pants and a Flynn's Arcade t-shirt. He creeps down the hall and stops at the end watching the two sheepishly from the corner of the hall. It looked as if they were in the middle of some sort of discussion.
Mary Margaret and Emma's friendship had been strained they were still trying to figure out the balance between mother/daughter and friend relationship and sometimes those lines got crossed. Mary took a deep breath. "I'm just... " she paused a moment feeling she slipped into mother zone "worried about you." She puts a hand over Emma's and squeezes. And the two suddenly smile and chuckle a bit. They were still getting used to their new relationship and it was taking both of them a while to believe.
Henry joined the pair of women to say goodnight. "See you at breakfast" He gave his grandmother a hug.
Mary smiled and hugged him back as she said her goodbyes to the two.
"Goodnight mom" Emma smirked as she closed the door behind Mary.
Henry holds the Wonderful World of Oz book out to Emma. This was his new favorite time of the day and he wasn't about to let her get away tonight.
Emma raised an eyebrow at her son. Still not sure where he got his love of books from. "Are you sure we are related?"
"Positive" he smiled as he held the book out to her again.
Emma took the book with a small sigh. She thought he better be glad he was so charming it was hard to say no to him. "Wouldn't you like to play Space Invaders instead?" Emma asked in a last ditch effort to get another high score. She had played the game several times since Regina gave him the game months ago and she was getting quite good at it.
"No, that's you" Henry giggled as the two walked to his room.
Emma gave a small sigh, the video game rejected for another day. "So, the story of Oz it is"
Henry shook his head. "It's not a story, it's real." Fairytale land had turned out to be real. He stuck to his instinct in believing there were other worlds out there, and he wanted to explore them all.
"If you say so kid." Emma sat down on Henry's bed and leaned back against the headboard. Her son crawled up next to her as she opened the Wonderful Wizard of Oz book and wrapped one arm around Henry as they snuggled into begin reading the story.
"Oh, I see; said the Tin Woodman. But, after all, brains are not the best things in the world. Have you any? inquired the Scarecrow. No, my head is quite empty, answered the Woodman; but once I had brains, and a heart also; so, having tried them both, I should much rather have a heart. Huh" Emma paused a moment thinking about the story and about fairytale land. "With all those hearts the evil Queen has in boxes; she could help the Woodman out give him one"
Henry lifted his head from his mother's side and smiled widely. "I thought you didn't believe Oz was real?"
"Let's just say I'm open to the idea" Emma said with a small smile, she was not going to deny her son's imagination.
Henry closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep with the sweet sound of his mother's voice reading softly to him.
Baelfire came back downstairs in a black t-shirt and sweat pants. He walked past the library where Belle was and walked down the hallway to the kitchen hearing the clank of a glasses. His father stood near the liquor cabinet.
Gold took the bottle of MacCutcheon whiskey out and gestured for his son to sit down at the table. He poured two glasses and slid one of to his son. He sat down across from Bae "this world is very different from our own. Their spirits are something to be desired."
The two sat there sipping their liquor long into the night. Silent at times, but both pondering about the future and if they had a chance? Baelfire put the glass up to his lips, the pungent smell of the liquid filled his nostrils. This would be the start of redemption or the death of them both.
A/N: Thank you so much for all the reviews and story alerts! Please keep them coming!