Once Upon A Time
Rumpelstiltskin had agreed to Bae's deal.
Dagian wouldn't have believed it if she hadn't been sitting next to her husband at the supper table but he'd agreed to it. They'd shook on it and as she looked at her husband gazing fondly at their son. She knew that Rumpelstiltskin was only concerned with Bae's happiness. It was the reason that she was there and her husband had always claimed that he wanted to give his son everything they never had.
But she also knew that he was lying. That he was humoring Bae, but judging by his son's hopeful expression, he thought his father would be willing to help him.
What were they going to do? Go to the nearest archives and look up scrolls for the 'dark one'? Had Bae even thought this through?
No, he was just happy enough to think that his father would willingly give up his power.
He wouldn't. If the normal Rumpelstiltskin had power, then maybe. But this wasn't just him. Whatever had ahold of him now wouldn't release him as easily as Bae thought it would.
But for the look of joy on Bae's face….she had never seen him look that happy. Just for that look, Rumpelstiltskin tell their boy anything he wanted.
She smiled at her him and took her husband's hand. He gave her a sideways glance but the small smile on his face as long as the affection in his eyes was enough.
She took his hand. Just for a minute their boy was happy.
Just for a minute, they were a family again.
It all came crashing down later that day though. Just like it always did, any semblance of happiness and normalcy was interrupted by Rumpelstiltskin being…himself.
She was trying to knit when the door opened and her son stormed into the room, "Bae?"
He was upset. He was disturbed, "Papa killed the maid."
Dagian felt her blood run cold. Enora was practically a child, and she wouldn't hurt a fly. Why on earth would he try and...
"She knew about the knife," Bae said on the verge of tears, "Things are supposed to get better. He said they'd settle back to normal but things are only getting worse."
"Oh Bae," she said in horror and wrapped her arms around her boy. She prayed to whatever gods still heard her that he at least didn't murder Enora right in front of their son.
"But…but it'll be okay though, he won't be able to do this anymore."
She raised her eyebrow, "Bae, what're you-?"
"Morraine told me," he told her excitedly, "She said something about how the Rhuel Ghorim might be able to save him."
Dagian tilted her head, "The blue star?"
"You've heard of it?"
"It's an old fairy tale that my mother used to tell me. She used to tell me that if I behaved then the Rhuel Ghorim would protect me."
"Is it real?"
"I don't know Bae. The so called Blue Star hasn't exactly lived up to its reputation."
She watched as his jaw set and she knew that he was going to do what he'd set his mind to.
"Well if you're going to go wandering in the woods searching for ancient beings with unlimited power then I'm going with you."
"You can't."
"Yes I can. Watch me. I'm your mother."
"You can't because you have to make sure that papa won't come looking for me."
"Yes, because if something happens to you, I want to explain to your angry violent father why I was making sure he stayed in the cabin."
"Mother," he put on his puppy face that he knew would work, "Please. The Rhuel Ghorim might not even talk to me if your there. You said you will back me? I want to go alone. I need to do this. It might not even…it might not even be real."
Her maternal instincts screamed that letting her son wander in the woods by himself was a stupid idea. People had tried to kill them before and letting him out by himself without his father nearby to protect him could also lead to some bad consequences from the village as well.
But Rumpelstiltskin had gotten rid of the king and his court who wanted them under his control or dead and the villagers were terrified. . And besides, Bae had been in the dark outside before. He was almost a man now; she couldn't coddle him forever even though she just wished she could make up for lost time.
And it wasn't like the Rhuel Ghorim existed anyway.
"You have until eleven," she said, "If you're not home by then, I'm going to come looking for you."
Bae nodded, "Yes mother."
She tousled his hair affectionately. Oh she'd missed out on so much that she'd never get back.
Bae's face immediately darkened and she knew that he thought of something that he really didn't want to think about, "If it's able to turn papa back into what he used to be…will you stay?"
She didn't even have to think about it, "Yes."
"You don't have to," he told her, "You won't owe anything to me. I know that you don't want to be here anyway, but dad forces you to. I know that you regret leaving us but I don't want you to feel like you have to stay because of some vows you made years ago-."
"Baelfire," she said and grabbed his face so that he was looking at her, "I'm not going to leave again. You don't understand, I want him back too."
When Baelfire left for the woods later, Dagian couldn't sit still. She adjusted things in the cabin, cleaned the cabin from top to bottom, cooked dinner, and cleaned the cabin again.
It could be done tonight. Her husband could be back to normal. She wasn't getting her hopes up but the idea that she could go to bed tonight sleeping by her husband…her real husband for the first time in years excited her.
If he forgave them. And if they didn't have to leave the village as soon as he turned which was more than likely.
She should pack some things up. Just in case.
Just as she stood, the door opened and her husband stepped through, "Hello darling,"
She was quiet as he kissed the side of her face, so he continued, "You wouldn't believe what I saw today."
" "I can only imagine," she said. The lifeblood of the maid surrounding his boots perhaps?
"I saw Morraine talking to our boy," he kissed her shoulder, "Perhaps we'll be seeing a marriage in a couple of years. I know they've had their eye on each other since both of them were five."
"Where were you?" she asked.
"Dealing," was all he said.
"Oh," she replied. Her anger flared in her chest, "I just thought that maybe you were murdering potential maids because you were paranoid they might know what pant size you wear."
He glared at her, "She heard me talking about the knife."
"And?"
"Have you forgotten why Zoso manipulated me into murdering him? How easily it is to get control of this knife and to get control of me."
"Then hide it in a better place than your cloak!" she snapped, "You don't murder people on what MIGHT happen. Especially an innocent girl that you forced to come here in the first place."
"Oh Dagian," he said, "She would've eventually died anyway."
Dagian shook her head, "I can't believe you're trying to justify this."
"I shouldn't have to justify anything. This is our life now," he said, "You want a husband that can protect you and who isn't a coward and now you have one."
"Oh no no no," she sat across from him, "Don't you dare try and use that as a weapon. You know very well that I never cared if you were labeled a coward or not. I stayedwith you. I stayed by your side until the dark one drove me away-."
"It doesn't matter why you left," he snapped, "Just that you left. Because I couldn't provide the stability that you needed. Well now I can and you may not like what that may entail sometimes, but at the end of the day you and Bae are safe. Which is all I care about."
"If hurting innocent people is the sacrifice that has to be paid then I'm not willing to pay it," she said as he sat down at the spinning wheel.
"No one's innocent in this world, Dagian," he said and started working, "Not completely."
She shook her head and went to sit by the fire. What was the point of fighting with him if he was going to justify it? If he was going to bring up her past to defend himself? He wasn't going to listen to her. She wasn't going to sway him.
The only thing that could be heard was her husband's wheel. The same wheel that she used to sit with him at when she was recovering from the attack. The same one that she used to sit with him at when he was recovering from the war.
And now he was using it as a barrier.
That figured.
She wondered if maybe she could push him down and take the knife and control him to get rid of the curse. But she knew she had to sleep sometime and gods help her if he found out where she hid the blade.
The door flew open and Baelfire rushed in. She looked over her shoulder and tried to study his face. Had he done it? Had the Rhuel Ghorim actually listened to the one person a decade that it probably helped?
"Papa! Papa. I found it," Baelfire sat down, "I found a way for things to be like they were. I want you to come with me. I can make things right."
Dagian refused to let herself get excited at this prospect. Especially with the expression on her husband's face. She couldn't really describe it but she knew that Bae was about to get his hopes crushed. Rumpelstiltskin wasn't going to make good on his deal. She could see it from her place by the fire.
"Bae-," she whispered but it came out a lot quieter than she thought. Maybe it was for the better. Baelfire could convince him of things when she couldn't. But even their son's influence was starting to wane.
"Have you heard of the Rhuel Ghorim?" Bae asked.
IT was then that Rumpelstiltksin stopped, "The Blue Star. The Blue Fairy? Oh son, please tell me you didn't. Fairy magic doesn't mix well with what I am."
Baelfire refused to let his father's argument sway him, "But you promised. She can help us. Us. To take us to a place without magic."
"A place without magic," Rumpelstiltskin scoffed. Dagian had to admit that her husband might have a point. What kind of a land was without magic? None that she had ever heard of. How did they even function? How did true love work? How did wishes come true? How did miracles happen?
Rumpelstiltskin stood and moved away so that he had a break from looking at his son's puppy eyes. "I'd be powerless. Weak."
"Like everyone else, it wouldn't matter," Baelfire argued. He'd obviously been practicing this on the way home, "We'd be happy-."
Rumpelstiltskin spread his arms, "We could be happy here."
"Father please," Bae pleaded, using the term father for the first time that Dagian could ever remember, "You're getting worse and you promised. This can work. It can. You made a deal with me. Are you backing out?"
Dagian looked at her son. He was such a child still, still believing in promises and deals but his…refusal to budge and the way he confronted his father made him more adult than most men she knew.
He looked like such a man.
And she knew from her husband's expression, he saw it as well.
"No," was all Rumpelstiltskin said.
Dagian breathed a sigh of relief and nearly started crying. They were getting him back. IT was going to happen, she'd been wrong, "I'll get us some things."
Dagian laid out a piece of cloth and started packing some food. Bae was waiting for them outside.
She felt her husband move in behind her and lay her cloak across her shoulders, "Did you know that he was going to do this?"
She looked at him, "Yes."
His expression was unreadable, "If this happens…I'm not going to be able to give you anything anymore."
"I don't care," she whispered, "I don't want anything anyway."
He brushed some stray hair from her face, "If this works are you going to leave me?"
She turned and kissed him, "I won't leave you. But there are several things that we'll have to work on before we're at the place where we should be, I think."
He nodded and embraced her.
She pulled back and adjusted her cloak, "What kind of a land is without magic?"
He shrugged and took her hand, "I suppose we're going to find out."
Present Day
Dagian expected something different as opposed to what happened.
She expected anger. She expected screaming and…probably some shooting but she didn't expect what had happened in the car. She didn't expect how calm he was. HE was still cordial; he still opened her car door for her and helped her up the stairs. She was surprised but she did nothing to give it away.
And when they got inside he took her coat. Maybe she expected the burden to lift from her shoulders but it didn't. Instead it just crushed down on her chest even more now that it was out in the open. Now the hiding was over, they had to deal with what they were going to do.
He was going to hurt her, he was going to hurt her, he was going to hurt her…
"Here," Gold or Rumpelstiltskin or whatever he was calling himself now led her into the living room, and moved some things off the couch and helped her sit down, "Sit down here."
"Thank you."
"Well, I suppose," he said and sat on the coffee table, right across from her, "That you're going to want to talk."
She averted her gaze. Well here it went. She could either bottle it in like she always did or let it out like he deserved.
"Dagian," He reached for her hand but she pulled it away. He hesitated and then sighed.
"What do we do?" she asked, her voice without emotion. She saw pain come across his face. This wasn't the first time that she'd used this voice. She's put her wall up and he was quite aware that she was blocking him, "Are you going to continue keeping me here?"
Now he really looked hurt, "Well, you promised me once that you'd stay."
"That was before-," she trailed off and stopped. She didn't want to say it. AS if saying his name would open those old emotions that she was desperately wanted to hold back.
He closed his eyes tightly and then looked down, "Dagian, I had no choice. I had to keep you safe and when you really understand who our enemies are then you'll know that you were safest with me."
"And doing this to me," she nodded to her stomach, "Getting me pregnant with no idea who I was. Was that keeping me safe or was that just a perk? Or was it your own special brand of humiliation?"
"No," He shook his head, "It wasn't. I give you my word that when we were…together it wasn't when I was ever angry with you."
"Somehow that makes it seem worse."
"Well our relationship is what its' always been, dear. One of us seeks comfort. The other gives it. The way I see things, it hasn't changed from what it was. IT's not so different," He
"Yes, I believe the term calls it 'friends with benefits' in this world."
"I'd like to think that we were more than that," he said, "Not true loves but not something so…forgettable either."
"If we were more than that then you wouldn't have done what you did to me," she said angrily.
"What else was I supposed to do? Let you have your memories? Let you live with everything we've been through? Refuse us both a new start?" he demanded, "After what you did…you didn't give me many options to what would happen to you when we arrived here."
"Maybe because you didn't give me many options," she said.
He stopped, "You didn't give me a chance."
"You lost any chances you had after you dropped Bae in that vortex." She snapped, "You brought me with you as a sign of goodwill to Bae. And now that he's gone…our deal is null and void as far as I'm concerned."
"So then you're leaving me," he said in resignation.
She looked at him in surprise. How long had he been waiting for this? Anticipating it? Since they got there? Since before that?
"Not yet," she told him. Despite the fact that she would LOVE to run out of this house right now, she couldn't. She knew about Regina and what she might do if she knew Dagian remembered. She may not exactly like her husband but she was certain that he wouldn't hurt her or the baby. At least not physically. But she didn't have the same hopes about Regina.
No, as much as she hated it, she knew that staying with him would be the safest option. At least it would be for now. But when Regina was no longer a threat…or when the baby was born…all bets were off.
Her daughter kicked her and she subconsciously put her hand over her stomach. Rumpelstiltskin reached out to place his hand over hers. It was just something that they'd always done. IT was just a small touch that bonded both of them with the baby at the same time. But now wasn't the time and he stopped his little habit immediately, his fingers brushed against the back of her hand before he pulled it away.
"Dagian," He pleaded, "Give me a chance to make this right. For you, for Bae, for our child."
"Why are we here?" she asked. She knew the answer, and she knew where Bae was. But she knew that he would think it was suspicious
He looked down, "Bae is here."
She tried to feign surprise and thought she pulled it off quite well, "What?"
"I spend all this time…," He stopped and smiled fondly, "I brought us here for him, Dagian. You can hate me all you want. It doesn't bother me; in fact I know I deserve it and worse for everything I've done."
"That would be better coming out of your mouth if you hadn't spent 28 years doing everything you've done." She said and stood.
"That's fair," he agreed, "Where are you going?"
"It's getting late. Just because we're sharing a roof doesn't mean we're sharing a room. I'm going to gather a few things and for now I'm going to be sleeping in the guest room."
"Dagian, you don't need to do that."
"Rumpelstiltskin, the only reason I'm staying is because I'm pregnant. Not because I have any lingering feelings for you," she said, "For now just leave me alone."
