Prompt via: AglaiaWar

Set in the Dancing In The Dark verse.

This is a scene mentioned in chapter 4 by Henry in regards to him finding out about his Mom and Gold.

Lately, Henry Noted, his Mom had been skirting around things. Such as when Henry found a sock on the stairs that would not be something his Mom would wear. Then there was the moment that they were out of Snickerdoodle cookies and she seemed to quickly note how she ate them all; when he knew she wouldn't have eaten the rest of them by herself unless she wanted to have the world's worst belly ache.

None of it really settled with him until he saw Gold's car outside one morning, however by the time he made his way downstairs — it was gone. That morning, his Mom smiled more often than usual and even made his favorite breakfast and allowed him to order pizza that night. Her mood had significantly changed over the past few months. Gold and his Mom, though? He wasn't sure what to think or if his assumptions would be correct. In fact, he could be completely wrong and instead they could be working on something instead of getting close.

Now, as he stood in the doorway of the kitchen in his favorite blue pjs, everything seemed to click into place. His original doubts were slowly fading into the background — so much so that he had to remind himself who exactly the man was; Rumplestiltskin. "Mr. Gold?" He crossed his arms over his chest as he gazed at the back of the man so many knew always had an agenda.

The man turned, hand deep in a bag of snickerdoodles, eyes wide. Somehow the boy couldn't imagine this version of him as evil. He stood there, sweets in hand, and in rumpled trousers with a very wrinkled dress shirt that was not tucked or as precisely done up as usual. "Henry..." Swallowing, the man crossed the space between the two of them and peaked around the corner of the doorway, satisfied with his findings he shot the boy a grimace. "Late night snack?" Handing him the snickerdoodle bag, he walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out a carton of milk before turning to him. "Milk?"

Henry nodded, placing the bag of cookies on the table before reaching for a plate to set them out on so that he could warm them up. "You..slept here?" The boy asked, brow shooting up in a questioning manner. Placing the plate on the counter, he began to dig into the bag and retrieve cookie after cookie as he set them against the plate. His eyes shot down to Gold's feet, noticing the same exact socks that he had found on the stairs. "Also, you left one of your socks here a bit ago."

"Couldn't sleep." Was his answer, regardless of wanting to skate around the question itself. "Wake up?" He retrieved two glasses and began to pour a generous amount of milk into each before deciding he wouldn't talk about the missing sock. In fact, he had noticed it missing and having to return home without the match had left his entire day off for the teeniest second. That was until he could remember he had many others just like it and hoped no one would have found the missing one. Turns out; they had.

"Yeah, had a nightmare." Henry remembered the feeling of falling and wondering how high up he must have been in order to fall for as long as he had. The birds were pecking at his arms and he wanted nothing more than to be back in the safety of his bedroom; only to fall from his bed the second he woke up.

"Are you prone to nightmares or is this a new occurrence?" Gold's idea of small talk seemed to make the boy smile, a look very warming to the heart from someone as dear as he was to the woman that Gold had very immense feelings for. He watched Henry slide the plate of cookies into the microwave, press two buttons then hit another in order for the glass plate at the bottom of it to start spinning.

"I don't know. What kind of question is that?" Henry asked, watching Gold's shoulders lift for a second and then slump, his own version of a shrug that looked more defeated than anything. He remembered the story of Bae and how Rumple had once been a father to a young boy before he chose power over his own son. "I can see that you're trying really hard here." He opened the microwave before the loud beeping could commence, afraid it might wake his Mom. Then pulled the plate out, shut the door as softly as he could, then brought it over to the island in the middle of the room where Gold was. "But; you're out of practice. And you don't know how kids these days are, so I'll cut you some slack."

"How gracious of you." The pawnbroker touched one of the cookies before pulling his hand back, settling on the fact that they were too hot to eat right now. So he took to grabbing his glass and bringing it to his mouth, using drinking milk as an excuse to not speak.

"Why are you here?" He probed, taking one of the hot cookies in hand and dunking it into his glass of milk before hesitantly nibbling. The milk had cooled it down slightly, though the middle of it still maintained it's heat.

"Midnight snack." He answered, not touching upon the actual meaning that the boy had meant. He would play the fool until he no longer could, because ripping the opportunity of telling her son about them was the last thing that he wanted to do. Regina had every right to be the one to break the news and had he not felt the need for more of these damn cookies, he wouldn't have put himself or Henry in this type of situation. Poor kid; he thought.

Sighing, he grabbed another cookie and dipped it into his milk, this time he held it there while his he shot a scowl at the man currently taking his chances with the hot cookie — dipping it into his own glass of milk. "You know that's not what I meant."

"I know, Henry." He stated his answer, voice not like how others seemed to speak to him. Instead, Gold was speaking to Henry as if he were his equal. "Your Mother should talk to you about this. Not me." This time he ate the cookie, happy with the decision of dipping it in the milk as it seemed to add a much better taste. Why did he only ever indulge in sweets like this at Regina's house? He could never find the need for such inside of his own manor.

"Well, she's not talking to me about it. She hasn't talked to be about it since it started, I wager. And by the fact that you're spending the night here.. It's been going on longer than I've been aware." The facts were easy to notice when he actually gave it more thought, but he couldn't just continue to guess regardless of if he were right or not. "So, that leaves you. You're aware that I deserve an answer. I can't just keep pretending like I don't see the changes. She's smiling, her cooking even tastes better and not to mention I've caught her humming while cleaning. That's something Mary Margaret does and not my Mom."

"You are one very perceptive young man." Sighing, he walked over to the counter and wiped his hands on a dish cloth, back to Henry as he spoke. "Your Mother must not know that I've told you. She deserves to tell you when she is ready and not a second before. Do you understand?"

"Yes." In truth, he did. Henry had always believed in the option to choose between knowledge or ignorance. Right now, he chose knowledge when until his Mom would be ready — he would fake ignorance. "I won't say a word until then." He could hear the clock tick,tick,tock as he waited, but quickly added in "I won't say a word to anyone." because in some ways he knew that was what Gold needed to hear before divulging what Henry guessed was true.

"We have been seeing each other outside of normal means. In truth, we have not hidden it — in the slightest. But no one knows it to be the truth yet. For now, it is a rumor and it will continue to be until Regina confirms it or I do. We did not want you to know yet, she's not ready and she believes you might think of her as stepping a foot in the wrong direction; so to speak."

"I'll think she's going back instead of forward." Henry used his words to paint the picture better, trying to allow the cogs in his brain to snag onto the emotions his Mom must be feeling. "I know I've been hard to convince before but she must know that if you two are really in this for each other and not for dark means — then I'm fine with it."

"Are you?" Now, Gold turned to face his grandson — awkward — and clasped his hands in front of himself as he waited for the young man's answer. If only Regina could see Henry now, looking as though everything had finally snapped into place and actually looking out for his Mother and her feelings.

"I am. She seems happy. She's humming when cleaning, I mean come on.." Shrugging, he continued nibbling at the cookies and dipping them into his milk. "How long?"

"A while." He admitted before deciding to make one thing clear; "Belle and I are no longer seeing one another. Just in case you were worried about my loyalty to your Mother." Shifting on his feet, he then moved back to where he had been at the island and began to drink the rest of his snickerdoodle flavored milk.

"I wasn't but the fact that you took that into consideration means more." He knew of the past between Gold and Belle, he also knew what Belle's reasons were for not allowing Gold into her life or the child's life for that matter and in most ways, he couldn't blame the woman. However; seeing Gold as he was now and how seemingly careful he had been to make sure Regina had all of the cards in regards to Henry knowing — he couldn't help but wonder if maybe Belle might be wrong about the pawnbroker. "So Mom won't find out that I know. I'll make sure of it. No one else will either, not until she's ready." He wrapped a couple of cookies up in napkin and turned to leave.

"Thank you." The grateful tone in his voice was not lost on him nor on Henry; because he truly felt gratitude towards the young man in ways he couldn't even admit to himself. The boy had changed his Queen, had allowed her to feel a void in her heart and indeed — made her into the one person Gold could never have; a good one with good intentions.

Nodding, Henry then headed up the stairs to his bedroom where he put the cookies on his nightstand and quickly got back beneath his blankets. As his eyes closed and his dreams began to swirl in the vast ocean of his mind, he smiled to himself hoping that if Gold could show this side of himself that maybe his Mom wasn't the only one happy by the pairing.