In this chapter, the TARDIS crew continue with their adventures, Belle comes across something that reminds her of her husband, and we have a flashback of a time the Doctor did explain reverse the polarity to one person.

Note: Small scenes from people of Storybrooke but again focuses on the Doctor, Clara and Rumple.

Sidenote: I did not notice that the email address I had written down for Rumple did not show here on FFN, I have updated it with spaces to make it a bit clearer. Sorry!

Chapter 7

It wasn't because his mind kept going back to the town in Maine.

It wasn't because having his wife back was something he never thought would happen.

No, it was more his own gut feeling telling him that something was not right.

Robin turned to study his wife who was helping Roland eat his breakfast. She seemed nervous and unsure of herself but Roland had grown from the son she must have remembered.

"He's certainly grown," began Marianne as she carried the now empty plate to the sink where Robin had already begun washing the other dishes and cups.

"I'm sorry you missed some parts of his life," begun Robin as he offered her a small smile.

"Me too," replied Marianne, hugging him from the side. "But at least I'm here now...we're together and nothing else matters."

"Yes," replied Robin hesitantly the smile evaporating from his face as Marianne turned away. "Nothing else."

Robin tried to make himself live in the moment. What was there right in front of him was his happy ending. This was his family, back together again. What more could he ask for?

But more often than not, his instincts would tell him that something was amiss.

That he was missing something very important.

And not specifically a person back in Storybrooke.

"I would never imagine that I'd be spending a Friday night like this," declared Clara as he took the bowl of popcorn and headed for her living room. Rumple had taken the entire couch, laying down with his laptop over his thighs, looking over his emails.

"Popcorn, watching Disney movies with the real Rumplestiltskin and Beast," finished Clara, seating right next to the couch on the floor.

"I'd never imagined it myself," replied Rumple, his focus not on her though but still directed at his laptop. The Doctor had dropped them off a good two hours ago and Rum had taken a shower but then went to work immediately.

"What are you working on?" asked Clara, not bothering starting the movie when the person she was to watch it with was too focused on his work.

"Not really working," replied Rumple as he turned his laptop towards her. "Remember when I said that I have this American colleague who asked for my email address? Yeah well I may have regretted that decision as soon as I opened my laptop."

"Hmmm," began Clara, focusing on what was on the laptop screen and when she realized what she was looking at, Clara couldn't help but chuckle.

"It's not funny," whined Rumple as he shifted his laptop back to him. "I should have never given it to him."

"Oh come on," replied Clara. "I'm sure you can pass these on to some of your other colleagues in UNIT. They could sure use the extra money."

Rumple's inbox was suddenly filled with translation requests, all of them offering payment for his services but some of the translations were easy enough to do on the internet and weren't much of a challenge.

"Most of these are just doctorate students wanting to site someone for their own work," complained Rumple as he shifted through his emails, deleting them almost as soon as he opened them.

"Well who better than an Oxford professor," said Clara which earned her a glare from Rumple.

"Again, not funny, Clara," replied Rumple as he sent every email that annoyed him straight to the virtual trash bin.

"Have you emailed your American colleague then?" asked Clara as she got the movie to start, maximizing the volume to make sure Rum got the hint to stop working.

"Oh he's gotten a very long email from me," said Rumple as he finally closed his laptop shut to focus on the movie.

He was only talked into this Disney marathon when Clara suggested he could provide commentaries on what the movies got right and wrong and what were complete exaggerations.

To be fair, it was fun to dissect the animated version of his life and the lives of people he knew, especially when he saw how Captain Hook was portrayed in the Peter Pan movie, though he wasn't really keen on the characterization of his father.

"That's about it then," said Clara as the credits to Snow White played.

"I thought you said you had five movies you planned on watching?" asked Rumple, surprised. They had watched Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Peter Pan and Snow White...there should have been one more.

"No I'm good," replied Clara but Rumple saw past that and just gave her a hard look.

"Clara."

Clara looked at him sadly but sighed. "It was supposed to be Beauty and the Beast...it was my favorite."

Rumple should have seen that coming but at the mention of the tale, his heart sank and it must have shown on his face as well.

"We don't have to watch it," said Clara quickly. "I told you, I'm good. We should get some sleep-"

"It's ok," assured Rumple as he motioned for Clara to sit back down. "Really. I don't mind."

"Rum," began Clara, sitting next to him on the couch. "Stop punishing yourself…"

"I'm not," said Rumple but the hitch in his voice was noticeable and Clara just gave him one of her teacher looks. "Clara, really, it's ok."

"Well I'm not ok with it," said Clara, taking one of his hands in her own.

Rumple sighed and studied the cover of the DVD that Clara had...it was a poor representation of his own story with Belle, but at least this one had a happy ending, unlike his own tale...well that wasn't technically true.

"Why is this your favorite?" asked Rumple as he offered her the DVD.

"Well," began Clara, slightly embarrassed. "I could relate to Belle slightly...being talked about, called weird for wanting a life of adventure and not your ordinary, town life…"

"You and ordinary do not fit at all, Clara," offered Rumple with a small smile and Clara chuckled.

"Besides the prince is not your typical prince," continued Clara. "He's not just all looks and he has a big heart and is smart when he puts his mind to it."

Rumple blushed slightly. "I don't know about that...besides I'm not even a prince."

"Yeah but who said you were also a beast anyway?" countered Clara. "The man I met in the Enchanted Forest was more like a cuddly teddy bear who hid behind his pout.

He laughed and offered her a real genuine smile. "You know...I'm actually ok with it." He turned from the cover to Clara. "It'll be fun to criticize everything."

Clara rolled her eyes but gave him a small smile. "You sure?"

"Positive," replied Rumple. "Let's see how many things Disney got wrong with this one."

"Look Brian I've told you," Rumple practically shouted over the person on the other end of the phone. Clara hadn't been successful enough to convince him to buy a smart phone, the sorcerer still buying an ordinary flip phone for his own use. "Stop giving away my contact details!"

Clara smiled at the one part of the conversation she could hear. "I don't care if she seemed desperate or seemed to be a beautiful young woman."

Clara turned to see a very stressed Rum as he paced her living room. "How in the world could you even tell from an electronic message?"

Clara made sure that a good cup of tea was ready when his conversation ended, no use dragging Rum to all of time and space when he was a bit pissed. "Fine. But this is the last one. Next time someone emails me I'm forwarding all of it to you. Let's see you translate what was actually a fertility prayer."

This time Clara couldn't help but laugh as Rumple ended his call and planted himself on the chair next to her in the kitchen.

"Times like this that I wish I could just turn people into snails again," mumbled Rumple as he, not too gently, tossed his phone across the table.

"Oh I'd love to see you explain that to the Doctor," replied Clara with a smile. "What was that all about then?"

"My idiot of a colleagued phoning me that he has already given my email address again to someone," complained Rumple as he took a sip of his tea. "Apparently this woman came from a small library somewhere and needed help in translating some text or some sort."

"Why couldn't he do it himself?" asked Clara, not really as interested but still curious.

"Because it looked like a spell or ritual of some sort," explained Rumple. "And my colleagues, I honestly don't know how or why, seem to always give me those kinds of translations. Apparently I remind them of an old magician."

Clara almost choked on her tea as she turned to Rumple and bursted out laughing. "Gee, I wonder why."

"Anyway," began Rumple, glaring at her before draining his cup. "The woman, according to him anyway, sounded desperate. Maybe for a thesis or paper or something...and Brian didn't want to mess it up so he gave this woman my email address. Apparently this woman was very beautiful, have no idea how he could even tell from an email."

"Maybe he was saying beautiful heart or kind," pointed out Clara with a smile as she washed her and Rum's cup. "Some people can tell based on words used and all that. I'm pretty sure a linguist like him could do so."

"For all we know this could be a mad woman who wants to plan a serial killing with a good quote to put on the bodies," began Rumple.

Clara rolled her eyes and looked back at him. "You've watched way too much criminal drama. What would the Doctor say?"

"That you've been a bad influence," said Rum with a smile as he groaned and pocketed his phone. "I just hope my email address isn't going to be flooded again with this."

"I'm sure it's not a fertility prayer," teased Clara. "You never know. It might actually be something interesting if your colleague decided to get under your nerves and provide your email to this person."

"Well," began Rumple as they headed out to the small clearing next to Clara's building. "Stranger things have happened."

Belle found herself at a loss for words as she saw the email address that was forwarded to her. She's been having difficulty with a spell she found to release the fairies from the hat. It was in an ancient language that she had never encountered before.

She found one person that could help but he replied that the particular language wasn't his forte but he did recommend another person and that was the email address that made her heart skip a beat.

The email handle was 'rgold. smith ling-phil. ox. ac. uk ' and Belle had to remind herself that there were lots of people who had the name Gold as a second name and have a first name that started with the letter 'R'. Besides, the man (she assumed the person to be male) had the surname of Smith.

This was her optimistic self trying to give her hope that maybe, just maybe-

But no, even if Rumple had manage to get himself out of Storybrooke and who knows where, this person was a professor already, an expert in the field of Linguistics. Rumple himself would not have been able to have done that.

Besides, this person was living in another continent. Rumple didn't have any money to afford a trip like that...something that made Belle feel all the more guilty. Reminding herself that when she had banished her husband, he had nothing but the clothes on his back. He didn't even have his cane, and with no magic outside Storybrooke, Belle wished she'd at least talked to him before making any harsh decisions.

She sighed and started composing her email. There was no use in dwelling on that. She'd cry herself to sleep once again tonight, maybe even make another trip to the cemetery just to help her nerves.

Now she to focus on getting the spell translated and freeing the fairies.

"I'm seeing a pattern here," began Rumple as he and the Doctor ran from one room to the next, both of them shouting for Clara.

"Clara!" called the Doctor once again and then turned to Rumple. "What do you mean?"

"We take a trip," began Rumple, opening another room and closing it as soon as his eyes found no trace of Clara. "We find people in trouble or in need of assistance. We help, one of us gets separated from the group. We're in danger and just as we found ourselves facing our doom...you come up with a trick up your sleeve and save the day."

The Doctor glared at him as Rumple opened yet another day. "Are you saying I'm a magician?"

"Coat helps," replied Rumple with an impish smile that reminded the Doctor so much of the Dark One he had met in the Enchanted Forest. "Though I think it's recycled from one of your previous selves...I've seen it before."

The Doctor huffed in affirmation and shuddered at the thought of all those frill cups he used to wear. But the coats made up for that incarnation's fashion mishaps, and he did miss Bessie.

"Still can't sense her?" asked the Doctor as Rumple called out for Clara once more.

"No," replied Rumple. "Something's blocking my magic...well parts of it anyway." He tried again but sighed in annoyance when he couldn't sense Clara and turned to tell the Doctor when he found the Time Lord tinkering with whatever gadget he had found in one of the rooms. "I see some things really never change."

"What?" asked The Doctor and when Rum pointed to the contraption in his hand, The Doctor shrugged. "It looks interesting and it might lead us to where Clara had gone off."

"If she had gone off willingly," mumbled Rumple and dropped his hand in his pockets. His eyes lit up as he felt his phone and he glanced at the Doctor. "Maybe we're overthinking this…"

"What do you mean?" asked The Doctor as Rumple took out his phone and dialed Clara's number. "Well that-"

"Shush," said Rumple as Clara picked up at the first ring. "Clara! Are you-"

"Took you long enough," hissed Clara. "I expected the lack of technological gadget knowledge from the Doctor but certainly not from you, Rum."

"Sorry, I thought magic and the Doctor thought of alien technology," reasoned Rumple as he shifted Clara to speaker phone.

"Yeah what about Human and Earth technology?" argued Clara. "Just come get me."

After a few more explanations, the Doctor and Rumple soon darted through the halls, the Doctor still holding on to the contraption he found earlier.

"What are you going to do with that?" asked Rumple.

"Well it could be useful in the future," mumbled the Doctor. "And even if it's primary function is bad, I could just reverse it."

Rumple laughed, "I'm sure I've heard that before."

"I just have to check on someone Jo," called the Doctor a little irritably. "Just go and sleep since you've been complaining you lack it."

The Doctor shut the TARDIS after another mumbled conversation and turned to study his surroundings. He had just gotten his freedom again from the Time Lords and he wasn't go to risk Jo roaming around the Enchanted Forest and getting herself into trouble with her curiosity and rashness...which also could be said about him and his tendencies to get into trouble but nevertheless-

He spotted the small cottage and smiled. There seemed to be activity inside but he didn't want to surprise the trio living there especially since it has been a while since he had dropped by and checked in.

The fear was of course there. Would they recognize him? Should he have just parked the TARDIS closer to help in his identification? How long has it been since he was last here anyway? He just programmed the Enchanted Forest into the TARDIS. He didn't even bother with the time...

What if the people living in the cottage was no longer them? What if he had landed in the future and the ladies and Rumple were long dead? Oh this was a bad idea, stupid! He had just gotten his knowledge of time travel again and this is what he does? Stupid, amateur mistake!

He turned to head back to the TARDIS when he stopped dead in his tracks to see a young boy eyeing him strangely. He looked to have come from the market seeing the basket of crops he was holding. The boy was no more than 10 years of age...he may have grown but there was no mistaking Rumplestiltskin.

"Are you lost sir?" asked Rumple and the Doctor couldn't help but smile as he recalled the first time he had met the boy.

"No dear boy," replied the Doctor with a smile. "I was meaning to see three old friends who used to live in this little home." He motioned with his hand to the cottage.

"I don't know about a third," began Rumple. "But two ladies and myself live there-"

"Rumple!" came the call from the house and the Doctor turned to see a woman with short blonde hair walking over to them. "Oh hello good sir, what brings you all the way out here?"

The Doctor studied her and waited for the other spinner to emerge from the house but no one came. "Just the two of you?"

The spinner studied him and her eyes widened in recognition and the Doctor was astounded with how easily the two women could recognize him, no matter what the face. "Rumple, why don't you head inside while I help the good man out."

Rumple nodded, gave him one more curious look and headed inside, glancing their way every other step.

"Changed your face again, Doctor?" asked the spinner as soon as the door was closed. "Honestly, it's like you don't watch out for yourself."

"Enough about me," replied the Doctor quickly. "Where's-"

"Oh don't you worry," replied the woman with a smile. "She's off at the next town. Someone wanted to be taught spinning and it was a handsome fee we couldn't pass." She turned back to the house for a moment then back at him. "How long has it been for you?"

"Many many years, my dear," replied the Doctor, also looking at the house. "How is he?"

"Better than most boys from the town," she replied, motioning for him to take a seat on the nearby log as she did the same. "Though, some boys tease him about his father and he does the smart thing of ignoring them."

"He was raised by his real parents well," said the Doctor, earning him a smile from the woman. "I just wanted to check on him I'd best get on my way."

"You're not seriously going to leave without talking to the boy, Doctor?" asked the woman in shock.

"I can't always drop by and be here, you know that," began the Doctor. "I don't want the boy getting his hopes up."

"But-"

"Your his family, not I," began the Doctor as he stood. "I drop by whenever I can but that's it. It's better he lives his life focused on what he has."

"I suppose you're right," replied the woman sadly. "That's the opposite of what his father did and looked what happened."

They bid their farewell and the Doctor walked away towards the direction of the TARDIS, deep in thought. To be honest, he really did wanted a word with Rumplestiltskin...but things getting a bit complicated, he wasn't sure when he could come back and visit the boy again. He didn't want to disappoint the boy.

He was lost in his thoughts when he suddenly realized he'd been walking for quite some time now and had still not reached the TARDIS. He looked around and thought that surely he could at least get a glimpse of it already nearby but there was nothing.

He turned to head back to the direction of the cottage and maybe start again, but he seemed to have lost his way of direction because he couldn't really remember where he had gone from. He groaned, annoyed. That was what he got from thinking too much.

"Alright maybe if I…" he began out loud as he took his sonic from his pocket. The tool was useful enough and maybe he could gauge where the TARDIS was by scanning the area. It didn't work on wood but air and earth was still very much affected by it.

Only if it wasn't reversing the readings it was getting.

"Oh stop reversing!" complained the Doctor as he hit the thing with the palm of his other hand. "What? Have I used you in reversing the polarity that you've made reversing as your default action?"

He scanned his surroundings again but the sonic looked to not want to cooperate as it just reversed some wind directions, making him spin in the ground he was standing on. "This is what I get for always tinkering with things and trying to reverse the flow of anything I can get my hands on."

He tried again but same result. "Stop reversing-"

"What do you mean by that?"

The Doctor turned sharply to see Rumple standing a few feet from him.

"Um, what do I mean by what exactly?" asked the Doctor, lowering his hand with the sonic.

"Reversing," replied Rumple, walking closer to him with a small smile.

"Well the entire phrase is actually 'reverse the polarity of the neutron flow' but reversing is faster enough to say," replied the Doctor as he kept the sonic. "I seem to be lost."

Rumple titled his head to one side to study him and then smiled. "How could you tell?"

"Well, my…" he stopped short and looked around. "I seemed to have misplaced my mode of transportation."

"Or maybe the TARDIS didn't want you to leave without saying goodbye," replied Rumple and the Doctor did a double take from looking at the surrounding area before giving Rumple a deer-caught in the headlights look.

"How did you-" began the Doctor but he gave up and laughed. "Feeling?"

"Yes," replied Rumple as he slowly began walking towards him. "Besides, I don't think anyone from here could have said the things you just did while looking for the TARDIS. What's a neutron flow anyway?"

The Doctor laughed once again and swallowed Rumple in a hug, before releasing the young boy and kneeling down so they could be eye-level.

"I hear you've been a very smart lad, Rumple," began the Doctor.

"I just follow what the ladies have taught me," shrugged Rumple and that's when the Doctor realized that the boy was hiding something behind his back.

"What have you got there?" asked the Doctor with an encouraging smile.

"Well," began Rumple as he showed him the parcel in his hand. "The ladies have taught me how to spin and knit and I've wanted to give this to you for a very long time now…"

He handed the Doctor the small parcel and the older man careful unwrapped it to reveal a long colorful scarf. The Doctor recognized it as the scarf Rumple was beginning to make the last time he had seen the boy.

"I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to give it you but I'm glad I did," said Rumple with a smile which the Doctor returned and hugged the boy again. When they parted, Rumple chuckled and pointed behind him.

And true enough the TARDIS was standing in all its glory just a few feet from where they were.

"Sneak ain't she," began the Doctor as he straightened up. "Why don't I introduce you to a friend of mine and get you back to your house before sundown?" Rumple nodded excitedly as they entered the TARDIS. "Maybe I can even teach what 'reverse the polarity' even means."

"Oh that was one for the books," began Clara as she tossed her keys to the nearest table and all but collapsed on the couch.

When she didn't get a reply, she lifted her head to see Rumple just standing before the table where he had left his laptop. His back was to her so she couldn't see his face. "Rum? What is it?"

He didn't reply and this got Clara moving quickly to stand next to him. His laptop was open and he was reading his emails. "Rum?"

She was glad that his hair wasn't long anymore so he couldn't hide the look on his face and Clara was surprised by the confusion, surprise and bewilderment in them. "Rum, what is it?"

"The woman," Rum finally began, still staring at his laptop. "The woman Brian gave my email address to...it's Belle."