Dawn rested her hand on her slightly swollen stomach and watched her husband come through the door.

"Hello darling," he said before he moved to the staircase where she was sitting and waiting for him, "I expected you to be waiting at the top of the porch stairs."

"I don't want every neighbor up and down the street seeing the events of what's going to happen."

"And what do you think is going to happen, dear?"

"I don't know," she muttered, "But we need to talk about this."

"Can it wait until I rest? I've been sleeping on what amounts to a cardboard box with a blanket that smelled like all kinds of bodily fluids. And on top of that, I didn't even have a decent bathroom in that cell. I need a shower, I need a change of clothes and I just need a bit of rest. Please darling, I promise we'll talk but I need to rest."

"Of course," she said in resignation, "Us sorting out whatever's going on with you…and whatever the consequences are going to be for you nearly a man to death for taking a cup can wait until you've had your little nap."

"Dawn-," he started and sighed when she stood up and walked around him, "Dawn!"

"Just get what you need done," she said angrily, "Dinner will be ready at 6:30, you better be down here."


Once Upon A Time

Rumpelstiltskin smiled at his son when he sat at the breakfast table and handed him a plate, "I have a surprise for you, Bae."

Baelfire looked at him with resignation. He knew the boy didn't trust the magic, nor did he trust his father anymore. He loved his son and he knew his son loved him back. But he could also see the fear and pity in his son's gaze as well.

He needed to bring the boy back. He wanted to let him know that this would all blow over and he was still his father and this would all be alright and he could still be himself with these abilities.

"I don't want anything, papa," Bae said for what felt like the 100th time since he'd gotten his power. He wished his son was a bit more materialistic sometimes, he felt at a loss for what to do otherwise.

Except for now.

The door opened and he was able to fake a warm smile for his son's sake as his wife walked in the room, "Bae, this is your mother."

The boy's eyes widened as he took her in and he looked at his father. The blood drained from the boy's face, "Papa, what did you do?"

"Bae-," he said and stood when Bae rose from his chair and walked out the door, "Bae!"

He followed his son out the door.

"Not going the way you thought, is it?" Dagian asked as he passed her.

"Don't you dare leave this cabin," he said and walked out the door.

He found his son sitting on one of the benches outside with his arms folded in his lap. The boy kept his head down so his father didn't know that he was crying. Rumpelstiltskin didn't care that his son was doing so, but it was considered 'weak' in their little society.

"Bae, I want you to listen to me."

The boy wiped the tears off his face, "You told me she was dead. I was eight before you finally said her name for the first time. And then I found out that she left and now she's back? Papa, please tell me you're not going to hurt her."

"Bae," he started, "Your mother was in trouble when I found her. There are men that are looking for me because I'm the new dark one and they were using her to find me. I have this ability now, Bae. Don't you see? I can make our family whole again. I can heal it."

Bae looked at him, "Does she even want to be here?"

"She has nowhere else to go."

"You're not answering my question, papa," Bae looked hurt as if he was dreading asking this next part, "Does she even want to be with us?"

"She'll want to stay when she gets to know you."

"Papa, if she doesn't want to stay then it's wrong if you force her to do it."

"She doesn't have anywhere else to go, son," he repeated.

"But forcing her to stay here isn't going to make her like us any better. If she doesn't want to be here then I don't want her here either. It's not fair to anyone."

Rumpelstiltskin didn't say anything as his son stood up and walked off.

Dagian looked up when the door opened and her husband stepped through, "From the look on your face I can guess that it didn't go well."

He noticed a small sheen of sweat on her face. Malnutrition and lack of sleep as well as stress were contributing to this, he needed to get her healthy soon or she was going to be ill. If anything she needed to stay here in one place if she was going to survive the end of the year. She worked too hard and rested too little.

Bae would forgive him for bringing her here, and he'd get used to her. Because Bae didn't know that the dark one had manipulated her into leaving. She still left and that was her fault but he knew Zoso had played a part in it too.

"Did you sleep at all?" he asked.

"No."

She was pitiful now. At least when they were poor and had nothing she still had a vibrant beauty about her. Now she was too tired, too gaunt, too damaged. This wasn't what he imagined when he remembered her.

What had the years taken from her? She was only 35 for the sake of the gods. If she stayed in one place, if she rested then maybe she could get some of that old beauty back but she would never be the same.

Why did he care anyway? Just thinking about what she'd done, how quickly she'd hightailed it out of there made him sick.

He was doing this for Bae. Bae needed someone human that he could talk to and unfortunately Dagian was the closest thing he could trust.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Rumpelstiltskin promised her, "But I need you to stay here. For your health as much as for Bae."

"And what if I don't?" she asked tiredly.

"IT would be your choice," he said, his voice dropped to a threat, "But if you run away, I will drag you back here and if my enemies find you first then I'm not coming for you again. They'll kill you or worse in an effort to draw me out. Like it or not Dagian, I'm the lesser of two evils. Get some sleep darling; I give you my word that I won't hurt you so that should ease some fears."

He walked out of the house. Bae would adjust to her; he knew that a mother was what Bae needed.

And if that didn't work then he was at a loss.


Present Day

Dawn kept her back to her husband as she chopped the celery for the chicken casserole that they were having for dinner that night, "See you're up

"Are you in the mood to talk?" he asked.

She glanced over her shoulder and resumed making dinner, "Not really, but I have a feeling that you're going to talk anyway."

He crossed the room and leaned against the counter. She noticed that he was favoring his leg. He wasn't doing it to gain sympathy from her; she knew exactly when he did that and she stopped falling for it after their 3rd year of marriage, "Do you want me to pull up a chair for you?"

"I'm fine," he lied.

"Your choice," she put the celery in the pan and turned to her husband, "You have my attention; I'd like that explanation now."

"Dawn…um…The woman who gave me that cup was very important to me. It was a point in my life where…where I needed someone to see through the wall I had set up and see the man that was still hiding behind it."

Dawn saw the hurt in his eyes and stared at him, "Should I be worried?"

"No," he told her honestly, "She died a long time ago."

Dawn drew a shaky breath, she didn't know if it was in relief or something else but if it was relief then she hated herself. She knew what a lost love felt like, "I'm sorry."

He grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her gently to face him, "I know what you're probably thinking."

"You've never worried about what I thought about your past before-"

"What we have isn't a rebound. I don't think of her when I'm with you and my relationship with her happened years ago."

"I don't think that," she told him honestly, "I really don't. I would just like some confirmation that you have at least some of the feelings that I have for you."

"Oh really? And how do you feel? Because I would like to know so that I have something to work off of."

The words froze in her throat and she looked down, she didn't want to scare him off now that they were actually talking and she was having enough of a problem coming around to it herself but things had to change now that she was pregnant, "I think that maybe…hypothetically, I might love you."

He froze, "Dawn-"

"I know, we agreed that love was off limits but I figured that I love you, and being in love with you are two different things and so I thought the latter was more on what we agreed to stay away from."

She watched him digest what he told her.

"I don't need an answer now, and I don't want to hear your feelings, and I don't want you to lie to spare mine. I don't think you would do that anyway, but just in case…"

He grabbed her by the back of her neck and kissed her, cutting her off mid-sentence. She dropped the knife that she was still holding and placed her hands on either side of his head.

Finally he pulled back, "You need to understand something-."

She tried to soak in that he'd just kissed her in a way that he never had before.

"Dawn, There are people who have told me they loved me before…and yet I always seem to end up alone."

"I'll be different."

"You realize that I'm quite a difficult man to love and I may just end up hurting you?"

She smiled and took his hands, "I've been married to you forever, and I don't think there's anything you could do now that would surprise me."

"Well dear, you have every opportunity to back away now."

"And I'm not going anywhere. I think we can do this…things are going to have to change and I don't know how to go about that, but-"

He placed his lips on hers again. He shouldn't do this; they were going to hurt each other again like they had so many times, "I imagine we'll figure something out."

"I don't think Archie could handle the kind of counseling it'd take to make us a normal working couple."

"Our dysfunction is the main reason I was drawn to you," he placed his forehead against hers, his face filled with unabashed elation that she had never seen him have before, "We're going to have a baby."

She nodded and smiled through tears, they'd been trying for forever but since it wasn't working she'd all but given up on having one. Sure science had its ways now but any chance of that happening went away with all the scandals it received when specimens were mixed up or the heads of clinics would replace a father-to-be's sample with their own.

She didn't bring up the idea and her husband didn't propose it to her. Besides, it was much more fun if it was a surprise. When it hadn't happened she'd just accepted it and lived her life. She didn't need a child to make her happy. And she certainly hadn't minded all the trying.

She felt her heart melt at the boyish look in his eyes and she kissed him, "We're going to have a baby."