4
Rebirth
"That was delicious, Belle," Rumple praised his wife's cooking, though Rhee had helped. "But now I feel too full to eat dessert. Perhaps I'll feel better after I take a little walk."
"I think I'll come with you, Papa. I feel like a stuffed Christmas goose," Bae agreed.
"Do you want us to take Carina?" Rumple offered. "Sometimes pushing her in her stroller makes her fall asleep."
Belle knew that was so, and she still had to clean up after dinner, and make the coffee, even though Henry and Rhee would help and Archie offered also. "Yes, that's a good idea. If she's sleeping, we'll be able to play rummy after dessert."
Rumple smiled. "Then we'll go for a walk after we help clear up the table."
"No, Grandpa," Rhee disagreed. "Me and Henry got this. You go for a walk with Dad and Carina." She sensed that her grandpa and her dad needed some time to themselves.
"Looks like the princess has spoken," Bae laughed. "C'mon, Papa. I could use some exercise after being in a classroom most of the week and the rest in my studio."
After Rumple had put Carina into the stroller, and made sure a blanket was tucked about her, even though the weather was mild for the beginning of April, Bae pushed it out the door and onto the street.
As they perambulated along, Bae wheeling the stroller slowly enough for Gold to keep up with his cane, they noticed that there weren't all that many people out shopping on this Easter Sunday. Then again, it was still early afternoon, since they had opted to eat before three o'clock, and people were probably still home celebrating with their loved ones and friends.
The wind blew quietly from the west, and the sun made the sidewalks sparkle slightly, as they passed the various buildings, some old and some new, but all of them together giving the city a unique character, like an aging actress who still has the vim and vigor of her youth.
They walked the few blocks to the park without speaking, content to just be in the other's company. In the stroller, Carina smiled and fell asleep, tired after her long day meeting Percy and using her magic. As the baby dozed, the two meandered down paths by the lake and when Bae paused beside the water, recalling the first time they had been here, back when his papa had just arrived in the city, and then been attacked by the two fanatics of the Edwardian Society, witch hunters who hated him and who had killed his wife that long ago day in Scotland, who had tracked him down so they could kill his daughter and anyone else who got in their way.
Bae shivered and rubbed his arms through the sleeves of his jean jacket.
"Cold, son?"
"No, not cold, just . . . remembering what happened here when we . . . you know with those fanatics that almost killed you . . ." He gave his father a guilty glance sidelong. "I'm sorry, Papa, I should have told you, warned you . . ."
"It wouldn't have made a difference, Bae. None of us were prepared for someone to attack us—especially me. Though perhaps I should have been. We thought we were safe."
"I know, but . . . you'll never know how much I regretted that you got hurt because of me . . ."
Rumple touched his shoulder. "I never blamed you, son. Never. I did what I did to protect Rhee, and I'd do it again, a thousand times over, if necessary. No one hurts my granddaughter. Or my son. Not while there's breath still in me."
Bae glanced out over the water, lapping gently in the breeze. A few ducks circled and landed upon the pristine surface. "That's something I never truly realized about you . . . until I got lost. When I was a kid, living with you in the forest, we never had much materially but I had everything emotionally, Papa. I always knew I was loved, that you cared, that you'd watch over me. I thought after you took the curse, you changed, and some part of you did—but never that part. No matter how the darkness tried, it could never take that from you. I was just too . . . scared and immature to see that then. But once I was on my own . . . I realized after three days how much I took you for granted."
"I'm sorry, Bae. I never meant to break our deal—"
"I know. I was an idiot to blame you. It was Blue's manipulation that led to our separation. I also know that you didn't let go—the portal sucked me from you. But I guess it was so much easier to blame you for everything rather than admit I'd been a sucker. It was only later . . . when I was with Sorcha, that she Showed me what she Saw in her scrying bowl . . . and I was forced to admit the truth I hid from. You never truly abandoned me, Papa. Or else you'd never have looked for me all those years. I ran away . . . but you found me. And found the family you'd lost." He gazed out over the water again. "Sorcha always told me that what's loved comes back to you. She was right. It does."
He thought then of his lost wife, whose love was so powerful it transcended time and space—and she still came to him in dreams and occasionally in spirit other times as well, such as at Rumple's wedding.
Rumple caught the longing on his son's face and murmured, "You'll always miss her, Bae. But you'll also always treasure the memories. Sometimes . . . when I was alone in my castle . . . I would sit and remember you and me together . . . and the walks we used to take and the way you'd help me gather the wool from the sheep to spin . . ."
Bae's eyes crinkled. "Yeah, remember the time that nasty tempered ram knocked me down? Hit me right on my rear end and knocked me in the mud. I think I was like eight or something. And while I was lying there hollering and crying, sure I was gonna be trampled, you came rushing round the corner of the pasture and walloped that cranky old thing right over the head with your stick and yelled, "Get away from my son, you devil spawn!" And that ram turned around, I thought for sure he was gonna go for you, but you shook your stick in his face, and he backed up and ran off like you were a wolf! And I thought you were the bravest man I ever saw, even if nobody else did."
Rumple chuckled. "I remember being terrified you were gonna be killed. And I didn't stop to think, I just went for that bloody ram and all I wanted was for you to be safe. I was so mad I forgot to be scared. It was only later, after I'd given you a bath and put some salve on your bruises and tucked you in bed, that I got the shivers and shook like a willow in a windstorm."
"I remember I couldn't sit down too well for almost a week. And you sold that troublemaker to the butcher after the spring lambs were born," Bae recalled, smiling.
"Better he became mutton than I had to worry about you getting hurt again," Rumple remarked.
"Yeah I didn't miss him," his son admitted. "And I'd have done the same thing if it had been Rhiannon." He paused and then said, "You know, it was only after I became a dad that I realized—I mean truly realized—just how much energy and effort it must have taken you to raise me after Milah left. After I lost Sorcha . . . I was so adrift . . . but I had to get myself together because I had a little kid relying on me for everything. And it was hard, harder than anything, but I . . . I remembered what you did for me and I guess I tried to do that with Rhee. And it was only then I really understood what you'd done for me when you took the dagger curse, Papa. You didn't do it for power, like I convinced myself once I fell through the portal. I was wrong. You did it because you were desperate to save your child, the one thing you had that mattered more to you than anything. You did it for love. I didn't understand that then . . . and didn't let myself understand it even when Sorcha told me that I was mistaken, that a sacrifice made out of love was never truly a bad thing . . .but after I was here with Rhee, and worried every time she hurt herself or some bratty kid teased her about her hair or her eyes . . . I knew that if I had to make that choice—I'd do whatever I had to in order to save my baby girl. Whatever I had to. I know a lot of people would say they'd give up their own life for their kid—well you did do that—and something more—you gave up your soul, your very essence."
"I'd do it again, Bae. You're worth every bit of trouble."
His son looked stricken. "Papa, I never wanted . . ."
"Ah, Bae. Don't you see—it was never about wanting. Neither of us wanted what happened. But it was the best of two bad choices . . . and I chose the one I thought I could live with. Where at the end of the day, I still had my boy."
Bae hugged him abruptly. "If . . . you hadn't, I would've tried to come home. If I could."
"I doubt you could have. They treated those kids worse than animals, Bae. And it's why so many died. It's why I couldn't bear it if you had gone. Because I knew the odds . . . and they weren't any better than when I had left to fight. They never improved. We were fighting a war we couldn't win. We were outmaneuvered, out fought, and outnumbered. There was only one way to win—with magic."
"And you won it for us, Papa. Only nobody appreciated it except the parents of the children who came home." He didn't say it but he thought—not even me. Morraine reminded me how you saved all those kids—but all I could see was how my papa was a monster. I wasn't looking with my heart, just my eyes."
"I did it because it was the right thing to do. No child should have to die alone and afraid in some war far from home. No child should have to fight in a war at all." Rumple declared softly.
"You were never a coward, Papa," Bae said adamantly. "You just thought you were because other people told you so and you believed them. But a coward would've never done what you did for me. They'd have run off, like my grandpa did."
Rumple smiled. "I . . . always hoped you'd understand why I did the things I did, Bae."
"I do now, Papa. I understand more than you know." Bae said feelingly. Together they looked out on the lake. As the sun struck the water it seemed to blaze up, as if it had been set afire, and Bae murmured, "You taught me the meaning of true sacrifice, Papa. Fitting on this day, when you think about it. And you too were reborn—when you died and were revived—into Mr. Gold the antique dealer and spinner."
Gold flushed. "Bae, you shouldn't compare me to that one. I'm nowhere near what He was."
"None of us are, Papa. But you tried . . . and that's what matters," Bae answered. He put his arm around Rumple and together they watched the ducks swimming through the motes of sunshine dancing upon the water and let the peace and serenity of this Easter afternoon surround them, and they basked in the joy and love it promised.
Back at the house Archie paced the floor nervously. He was due over at Sharon's in two hours but he didn't want to leave until he found out whether Rumple could change Gepetto's parents and Henry's father back. Gepetto was desperate. He's called his friend that morning to tell him he would pay any price the sorcerer asked to have his family back.
The familiar chiming of the Golds' alarm system whenever anyone opened the front door, though the system was not armed, echoed through the house as Bae held the door open for Rumple to push the stroller with the slumbering Carina into the house. "Honey, I'm home!" he called softly to Belle.
Belle smiled and kissed her husband. "Good, now please tell Archie to stop pacing before he wears a hole in the floor!"
"Okay. You put the little dearie to bed and I'll see why Dr. Feel Good is having an anxiety attack," her husband said with an impish grin.
"Dad, we're watching Peter Cottontail," Rhee called from the den. "Come and see it. We got popcorn!"
Bae laughed and made his way into the den, where the popular cartoon was playing, and his daughter and Henry were ensconced on the couch, sharing a huge bowl of buttered popcorn and drinking iced tea.
He sat down by his daughter and helped himself to some popcorn, saying teasingly, "Sure you don't wanna sit in my lap? So you can hide your face in my shirt when some scary parts come on?"
"DAD!" Rhee gasped, scandalized. "I was five, Dad! FIVE!"
"I used to do that with Mom," Henry confessed.
"She did that in the movie theater once. When we were watching the Little Mermaid," Bae grinned. "Spilled popcorn all over."
"What was so scary 'bout that?"
Rhee looked at him. "I was terrified of Ursula. I was five and Dad took me to one of these matinees where they showed classic Disney films."
"Archie took me to the movies all the time, didn't you, Archie?"
"When your mother allowed it."
Rumple looked over at him. "So . . . what's got your tail feathers in a knot, dearie?"
"May I speak to you in private?" He picked up Henry's backpack.
"Certainly. Let's go up to my study."
He led the way to his office and silently shut the door once they were inside. He gestured to a comfy chair beside his desk. "Have a seat."
Rumple went and sat in his red leather executive chair, which Belle jokingly called the "president's chair".
Archie unzipped the bag. "Ummm...along with keeping Henry safe from Cora there was another reason why we came here. We needed your help...to try to reverse spells cast on people close to us."
"What do you mean?" asked the former Dark One. He leaned forward intently.
Archie took the dolls out and set them on the desk. "These are...Gepetto's parents...and August."
The two dolls Rumple already recognized. He had them in his shop in Storybrooke all during the curse. But August was now a little wooden puppet.
Rumple blinked. "Who turned August into a puppet?"
"Cora."
One eyebrow went up. "Why? He tick her off with his rascally manners? Or did he attempt to pick her pocket?"
"We're not sure but we think it had something to do with the Once Upon a Time book."
Archie lowered his head. "Gepetto's lost almost his entire family...I'm partially to blame for that but I've been told his parents can't be brought back."
Gold shook his head. "Not so, dearie. All magic has a counter. I brewed this potion for you . . .but not for those it was used upon."
"You can reverse it? But...what do we tell them?"
"The truth, Archie. They were under a spell by mistake and only now-when I have the power of white sorcery-was I able to reverse the enchantment." Rumple replied. "I'll need to prepare a slightly different antidote for them than the one I'll need for August."
He nodded. "Do you need anything from me...or Henry?"
"Yes. From you I need a single drop of blood. Blood of the penitent, mixed with . . well, you don't need to know all the boring details," the sorcerer stated, for he was always wary about revealing his secrets. "Henry needs to give me a hair. That's a strong connection to August."
He held out his hand. "Whatever you need."
"I'm not a vampire, dearie," Rumple joked, and he unlocked a small drawer of his desk with a key he had around his neck, withdrawing a small black case. He flipped it open to reveal a small glass phial, and a rather sharp looking lancet, similar to the one a diabetic used.
"This has been sterilized, so you won't get tetanus," he quipped. He removed the lancet from the purple velvet lining. Then he picked up the phial and spoke a soft word of magic to hold it upright on the desk. "Now . . . this won't hurt much-just a prick," he said, and took Archie's finger and gently pricked it with the lancet.
"I don't care as long as it works."
Rumple took his pricked finger and squeezed until a drop of blood emerged, then held the digit over the phial until it fell into the tube. Then he capped it and stuck it back into the case. "There!"
"Once Henry gives me his hair, I can start brewing these. They'll take a few hours, but once they're done, the dolls shall become real again."
"All right I'll go ask Henry."
"Thanks." He removed another empty vial from the case.
Archie went into the living room. "Henry, we'll need a lock of your hair please."
Henry went and plucked a hair from his head. "How come?"
"So we can turn August, Donna and Stephen back. The hair will help change August back."
"Really? Is he gonna do it now?" Henry asked eagerly.
"Yes."
"Can I watch?"
"If Mr. Gold wants you to."
"I'll ask him," the boy said, then rose.
Rhee looked curious. "What's Grandpa doing?"
"Changing my parents and great grandparents back," Henry replied.
"What were they changed into?" she wanted to know.
"Rhee, don't be nosy," Bae began.
"Inquiring minds wanna know!" she shot back.
"Puppets...my great grandparents were an accident but Cora made my dad one on purpose."
"That's terrible!" Rhee said sympathetically.
Then she got up too. "Maybe Grandpa will let us observe him."
"I don't know, maybe," Henry murmured and followed Archie into the study.
Rumple looked slightly surprised when he saw both children. "I only needed one hair, Henry, not your whole head," he joked.
"Mr. Gold, I wanted to know if you'd mind if I watched," he began.
"Well . . . there's not much to see till I start brewing, lad." The magician said modestly. He eyed his granddaughter. "Would you like to see also?"
Rhee nodded. Then she elbowed Henry. "This is better than Harry Potter," she whispered.
"Well, I should hope so, since this is real," Rumple giggled. Then he took Henry's hair and put it into the second vial. Snapping the case closed, he touched a series of books in his bookcase and it swung open to reveal a set of stairs.
"Cool! A secret passage!" Rhee cried.
"How did you do that?" Archie asked, shocked.
"Why, Archie, don't you know? I'm a wizard, dearie!" Rumple smirked.
"Sorry, I forget sometimes."
"Maybe next time I ought to wear a blue hat with moons and stars on it to remind you," sniffed the warlock. "Come on, if you're coming. The passage shuts in two minutes and nobody can open it except me."
They all followed him down the steps to a circular room of stone. In recessed shelves along the walls were many bottles and small boxes labeled with a neat script. On a table were sets of knives, beakers, pipettes and things which could have been in a standard chemistry lab. In the center of a pentacle etched in the stone floor was a large cauldron, which Rumple had some water pour into and then lit with a wave of his hand. The air was cooler here, and smelled of herbs and spices. Smaller cauldrons stood stacked along the wall, and a sink with a container of soap and a cloth was near the table.
"Now, you all stand here," he pointed to the wall by the sink. "Don't move, and try and be quiet, since I have to concentrate. You can save your questions till after I'm done." He instructed.
He moved to a small niche in the wall and removed a pair of glittering silver gloves and put them on. "Dragonhide," he said, wriggling his fingers. "This way I don't burn myself."
"This is so cool!" Henry whispered.
Then he lifted his hands above his head, and with a flourish, began calling out ingredients. They flew off the shelves and onto the worktable and he began to measure and chop and grind and stir the cauldron with precise economical movements.
Rhee watched in fascination, thinking her grandpa moved with such confidence and grace, even with his limp. It was truly magical.
Rumple uncorked a vial filled with silver liquid. He measured a drop into the cauldron, which began to hiss and bubble. He gestured, and the flame burned very low.
He used the mortar and pestle to grind some purple flowers and then carefully blew them off his hand into the mixture, stirring quickly.
A strange fruity smell drifted up out of the cauldron.
Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out the drop of blood in the phial. He carefully added it to the cauldron, and the solution turned a vibrant pink.
"There. Now we let this simmer for two hours," he announced, and a large clock appeared on the wall and began to keep time.
He then took a medium sized cauldron from the wall and began to measure more ingredients out.
"I'll call Sharon and tell her I'll be late."
"No need, dearie. This will keep," Rumple said. "Once it's brewed, it can stay until used."
"I'll see what she says."
"All right. Go upstairs then and call, you won't get reception down here on your phone."
He flicked a wrist and a large book came and hovered in the air beside him. It turned a page when he asked, and he began to read.
Finding what he sought, he called out several more ingredients, including the root of a mandrake and the tooth of a chimera.
He chopped up the mandrake, which made a weird shrieking sound.
"Oh my goodness! Is it alive?" Rhee hissed.
"No, it's not. But it's thick with juice and cutting into it makes that sound," answered her grandfather.
He placed the pieces of root into the cauldron. They made it bubble and gurgle and emit a sound rather like a steam whistle.
He took the tooth and put it in a small brazier, took a medicine dropper and a vial of green liquid and extracted a drop and threw it on the tooth. The tooth hissed, fizzed, than liquefied.
"Basilisk venom," Rumple said in answer to Henry's unspoken question. "It's more potent than acid. Has to be kept in a special container-and this is made from it also," Rumple indicated the medicine dropper.
He added the liquefied tooth into the cauldron, then stirred it.
The cauldron seemed to quiver . . . then it emitted a sound rather like a belch.
Rhee giggled.
"Sounded like the Bog of Eternal Stench in Labyrinth," Archie said when he returned.
"This mixture is rather gassy," the wizard snickered. He patted the side of the cauldron with a gloved hand. He then pulled out the hair with a set of tweezers and threw it in.
The mixture now gave off the scent of fresh cut grass, ink, and cinnamon.
"Simmer," he directed the cauldron and the flame lowered.
He waved a hand, and the book swooped away and put itself into the bookshelf above the ingredients. Then he sent all the ingredients back to their shelves and cleaned up his table. Lastly he removed his gloves and washed his hands.
"Okay, dearies. Now we leave this to simmer for a few hours. The clock on the wall will tell me when it's done." He beckoned them upstairs.
"I hope it works," Archie whispered to Henry.
"If anybody can restore them, Mr. Gold can," Henry said confidently.
"It should've been done years ago and had I not been so foolish never happened to begin with."
"We all make mistakes. The important thing is to learn from them," Henry said.
"And I'm nervous about this evening ...it's been a while since I've been on a date and eventually I will have to tell Sharon...who I am."
He feared she would have him locked up at Bellevue.
"Not everyone in this world believes magic is fake," Rumple said as he caught up to them.
"I haven't asked...I suppose I should." He sighed. "But not in a way that will make her think I'm insane."
"Why don't you take her somewhere you can bring up the topic?" suggested Rumple.
"She said she wants to stay home this evening with me and Bella...that's her Boxer. Her parents are visiting her sister."
"Then perhaps you can watch a movie with magic in it."
"Hmmm maybe Labyrinth."
"There, and that can lead into a discussion-like do you believe other worlds exist?"
"I already have the flowers and candy...do I need anything else?"
"No. Just relax and . . . act natural."
"I'll try."
"You could kiss her too," Rhiannon spoke up.
"Would that be appropriate? I mean..." He blushed.
"If she wants you to." Rhee said.
Belle approached them holding Carina who had her arms outstretched for her papa.
Rumple took her, crooning, "Did ye have a nice nap, alanna?"
"She did but started crying as soon as she woke up and couldn't see you."
"Sweetpea, Papa will always come for you," he said to his baby, and kissed her little nose.
"Did the potion work?"
"Don't know yet, Belle. They're still simmering, and will be for awhile yet. I have them on a timer for two hours."
"I hope so. Henry needs his family..."
"I'll do my best," he said modestly. He carried Carina into the den, where Bae was still eating popcorn and drinking ginger ale.
"And I got a call from Emma while you were busy. Cora was in your old shop and the cemetery...they think she's trying to resurrect those buried there for an army!"
Gold looked alarmed. "Resurrecting the dead is forbidden! Especially here . . ."
"Can she do it?"
"Maybe. Unless she's stopped. This world's magic will resist her, but . . . if she performs a great enough sacrifice . . ."
Belle blanched. "She will kill someone?"
"Someone . . .most likely several someones," Rumple said darkly. "Unless Regina knows where Cora's heart is and uses it against her."
"Didn't you tell me she removed it when she was with you?"
"She did and kept it in a box," he nodded. "If Regina knows where that box is and can access it . . . she can cast the Innocent's Curse upon it and render Cora harmless."
"You would have defeated her easily." Belle said confidently.
"Probably. But it's out of my hands now. I am the Guardian of New York. My responsibility lies here."
"And the only chance Regina has of proving she can be better is if she and Emma defeat Cora together."
"Yes. If they wish I can instruct them via texting about the Innocent's Curse. It's a spell most dark practitioners wouldn't know."
"It may help." Belle had her issues with the queen but she also knew how devastating it would be for Henry to lose both of his mothers.
"What is that spell, Papa?" Bae queried, one eyebrow arched questioningly.
"The Innocent's Curse is a spell designed to render a dark mage harmless-by a means other than killing them. Any magician can kill, just like any man can pick up a gun and shoot someone. But have you ever heard the expression "I can do worse than kill you?" Well, that's what this spell does to a dark practitioner. When cast upon the dark mage's heart, and then the heart is placed back into their body, it makes him or her an innocent again-with all the traits of an innocent, including an extreme reluctance to hurt anyone with magic. Necromancy would be abhorrent to her then, as would torturing and killing people. In fact, in light of her crimes, she may very ask for her magic to be bound as penance or take a vow to never harm anyone again with it-and such a vow made binding with magic-is forever."
"And it would work on someone like her?"
"If the one who casts it is stronger than she is-yes."
Then he added, "Or ones-because two mages together may cast that spell."
"And hopefully we can get Henry's dad back."
"That isn't as hard as you think," Rumple said. Then he took out his phone and began texting while Carina sat in his lap and played with her new Easter plushie Percy brought her.
Rhiannon turned on Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire to keep the others entertained, often making comments about the differences between the books and the movies.
Gold hit send and then began to text a new set of instructions. Carina, bored with playing with the bunny, got attracted by the buttons and icons on his Samsung Galaxy, and suddenly put her hand out, touching several buttons at once.
"Carina, you sassy minx!" Gold gasped in dismay. "Ah, I hope Regina understands babble."
Moments later a text came back from Regina.
Gold, what is this crap? Is this your idea of a joke?!
Sorry, dearie. Carina decided to say hello.
Oh...can you please have her do it when you're not sending me a spell. How is our son?
He's right here, watching Harry Potter with Rhiannon.
Carina reached out a hand. "No, imp. Not Papa's phone," Rumple gently pushed her hand away.
The baby glared at him and let out an angry wail.
Good. Rumple, Mother's taken every heart in the cemetery and those in my vault. Can she summon a corpse army from our world too?
It's possible. But only if she makes a huge sacrifice. Do you know where her heart is? You're going to need it for the spell I just sent you.
He winced as Carina sobbed angrily in his ear.
Bae went to pick her up. "C'mere, bugaboo. You can touch this all you want." He gave her the baby play cell phone he'd gotten her for Easter.
She eagerly began to press all the buttons and smiled as the phone talked and chimed.
"Rhee always wanted to play with my phone too," he said, then winced as Carina hit him in the chin with her phone. "Hey, baby girl, let me show you how it's done."
I think it may be among her things...on the Jolly Roger but she would have hidden them with a cloaking spell.
You can break it, Regina, I taught you how to do so.
Emma is complaining I'm too strict a teacher.
Rumple rolled his eyes. Ha! She's lucky she didn't have me there to hear that. Magic is all about discipline and control. Without it-you fail.
That's what I told her. I would teach her as you taught me...and you didn't suffer fools gladly.
No, I didn't. Because the magic is an even harsher master than I am.
She singed her hair trying to summon fire.
Oh dearie dearie dear! I seem to remember YOU set MY pants on fire! And I'm still not sure it was an accident!
It wasn't. I wanted to fry your ass after all the grief you gave me that day.
Thought so. But that's a master's job-to give a student grief-payback for how much I had to put up with. Tell Emma she's lucky she didn't have a worse accident-like the student who set his face on fire.
I did and it scared her straight.
Good. The Masked One was spit on and feared all his life-for playing with a spell his master told him not to. The magic doesn't suffer fools ever.
We'll call Henry before he goes to bed tonight.
Okay. I'll let him know. Be careful.
We will.
Henry kept glancing up at the clock, eager for the potion to be ready.
Gold cocked an ear, knowing the magical clock would send a chime in his ear when the potion was ready.
"Henry, you're not watching this!" Rhee cried.
"I'm sorry...I just want to see if we can get my dad back."
"In another four minutes the potion will be ready," Rumple told him.
Sure enough, the chime went off in his ear almost five minutes later.
"Is it time?" Henry demanded impatiently.
"Go to my study and wait." Gold vanished from the couch and down to the lab to shut off the timer and decant the potions. He returned to his study and sprinkled the first potion on August the wooden puppet.
The potion shimmered over the puppet and caused the wood to glow with an eldritch light.
When the light vanished, there stood August, blinking woozily. "Huh? Where am I? Where's that wretched Queen of Hearts?"
"You're in my study, dearie. In New York."
"How did I get here?"
"Your son brought you here, so I could change you back," Rumple said quietly.
"Henry!? Is he all right?"
"Did it work?" Henry cried, running into the study. "Mr. Gold-is-Dad, you're back!"
"Henry! Thank God!" August threw his arms around his son. "You're all right? Why are you in New York? Where are Emma and Regina? Did you come here alone?"
"No. Archie came with me. Mom and Emma sent me here for vacation and so . . .I'd be safe away from Cora."
"So she's still in Storybrooke?" August's eyes narrowed to slits.
"Yeah and she's resurrecting an army-like in the Walking Dead!"
"What? Is she insane...wait no…never mind I know she is. All right, we'll stay here. I don't want to be anywhere near that witch again."
"Can't say I blame you." Gold said approvingly. "You can take the other guest room down the hall." He picked up the other potion. This was the one he was unsure of. "Where's Archie?"
"I'm right here," Archie said from the doorway.
He held out the vial. "Would you like to do the honors?"
Archie walked over to the puppets, his hand shaking slightly as he held the vial. He counted to ten and took a deep breath before he sprinkled the contents onto them.
A soft blue glow surrounded them.
When it disappeared, a man and a woman close to the age he was now appeared in the room.
Rumple grinned. "Jackpot, dearie!"
The couple blinked several times. "Where...oh! Hello! Your name is Jiminy isn't it? Where are your parents?" Donna asked Archie.
He paled. "Ummm...they're...they're not here."
They looked around, not recognizing their surroundings. "Where are we? We were taking this tonic to prevent the plague...how did we get here...and where is our son."
"Why don't we all sit down and explain things?" Rumple said, and waved a hand and more chairs appeared. "To start with, you're in my study in a city called New York. I'm Mr. Gold here-though you might know me better as Rumplestiltskin."
The couple backed away in fear. "The Dark One!"
"Don't call him that!" Rhee said angrily. "He's not cursed anymore. He's my grandpa!" she came to stand beside her grandfather, her amber eyes flashing.
"It's all right. He's not the Dark One. He won't hurt you," Archie added.
"A...Are you certain?"
"Yes, Please, sit down and we'll explain everything," Archie pleaded.
Rhee frowned. "My grandpa isn't cursed anymore, honest. I'm a swanmay, and we don't lie. Look," she spread her hands and a glowing green and silver aura emerged from them. "This is me. And this-is my grandpa."
She gestured and he glowed also-gold and green and blue-colors of Light.
"See? He's a Guardian."
"We don't understand much about magic," Stephen confessed.
"We stay away from it," Donna added. "Please, where is Gepetto?"
Rumple looked at Archie. "I think you'd better field this one, Archie."
His voice was shaky while he spoke, reminding the couple of that fateful meeting long ago when his parents sought shelter in their home only to rob them of some of their goods and to give them their fake tonic which was switched for the transformation potion that turned them into dolls.
The couple was stunned to hear that so many years had passed and their son was now an elderly man with a son and grandson.
"I never meant for any harm to come to you," Archie said sadly.
He looked to Rumple for guidance as his courage faltered.
"He was tricked by some very good con artists," the elder wizard said. "And once the transformation occurred, he begged the Blue Fairy to help him right the wrong he had done. And she changed him into a cricket, so he could be by your son's side and offer him guidance. He became his conscience."
"How could you change us back and she couldn't...why did you wait so long to do it?"
"The Blue Fairy said it couldn't be done," Rumple replied. "As for why he waited . . . he didn't trust me when I was the Dark One. Only now-when I am a master of the Light path."
"Would you have changed us back had he asked you then?"
"I would have. But he never asked me," Rumple said calmly.
"And I regret that every day."
"But you're here now . . . and what matters is that we're all together again-as a family," Henry put in. "My name's Henry. I'm August's son . . .and your great-grandson."
The couple embraced them. "We have a grandson...and a great grandson! How wonderful!" Donna exclaimed.
"Do you have anything to drink around here?" August asked Rumple. "Not like alcohol. But some water or soda?"
"That we can fix," Rumple said. "Come downstairs and meet my wife, my son, and our newest addition, my baby girl."
"This home...it's beautiful."
"And life seems a bit easier in this world," Stephen added.
"It is-in a way. But there are dangers here as well," Rumple said. "Thank you."
Carina was excited to meet her papa's new guests.
She waved and giggled excitedly from Bae's arms, her eyes bright with curiosity.
Please don't let her turn them into chocolate, he pleaded silently.
"Wave hi, Carina," Bae said, then he handed her a chocolate cookie.
She waved with one hand and shoved the cookie into her mouth.
"Please, won't you sit down and have some tea and cookies?" Belle invited.
"They look delicious! And your daughter is adorable." Donna praised.
"Thank you. She's our little ray of sunshine," Belle beamed. "Her name is Carina. I'm Belle, and this is Bae, my eldest."
"Papa was married once before, but my real mother is gone now," Bae explained. "So Belle is my stepmama, but we don't differentiate like that in this family."
Henry went and got August a Dr. Pepper from the fridge. "Here, Dad."
August took it, then said, "Shouldn't you ask before you go-err-taking things?"
"Mr. Gold said I could eat or drink whatever I wanted," Henry replied cheerfully.
"As long as you clean up afterwards," Rhee reminded him.
"I always do."
"You take after your mom, then," August said ruefully. "When I was your age I was a slob."
Archie laughed. "I can vouch for that. Your papa was always after you to clean up your messes."
"That's cause you never lived with my papa," Bae said. "Papa invented the phrase so clean you could eat off the floor," Bae smirked. "But he should have added after I cleaned it."
"Dad, we need to take Great Grandpa and Grandma around New York!" Henry said excitedly.
"Where will we stay?"
"You can stay at my apartment," Bae offered.
"It won't be too crowded?"
"No . . .it's just me and Rhee." Bae told them, thinking he could spend a night on his couch and let the couple have his room.
"Would Henry and I be able to stay too?" August asked him.
"Dad, we have a room here," Henry reminded him.
"You do?"
"Uh huh. I'm in the blue guest room."
August doubted there would be enough room for him.
"I can conjure up another bed-and enlarge the room so you're not packed like sardines," Rumple offered.
"That'll be great."
"I could always sleep in the nursery with Carina," Henry said.
"Thanks, but you'd never get any sleep," Rumple replied.
Belle laughed. "No, not when she's waking you up at all hours."
"She's my little night owl," her husband said.
"Geppetto was like that too," Donna reminisced.
Carina reached out a hand and promptly patted her papa's arm, covering it with cookie crumbs and baby drool.
"Thank you, dearie. My shirt needed that . . . extra coating of chocolate," her father said ruefully.
"You should try the chocolate here. It's addicting," Belle suggested to the couple.
"Spoken like one who needs chocolate rehab," Bae joked.
"She'd bust out in a week," Rumple snickered. He began to blot his shirt with a napkin, and then went to wipe off his daughter's sticky fingers. The baby fussed. "Ahh ahh, Papa doesn't like sticky hands."
"I wish my moms were here," Henry said wistfully.
"Maybe someday, Henry," August said comfortingly.
An hour later Archie excused himself. "Rumple, I'll try not to be back late "
"Say hello to Sharon for us!" Belle called.
"I will...and thank you, Rumple."
He wanted to give Donna and Stephen time with their grandson and great grandson.
"Have fun, dearie!" Rumple waved.
A/N: Next up Belle and Rumple's flight around the Big Apple!