Once Upon A Time

Dagian didn't make it as far from the village as she would've liked but with no moon out and no stars, Dagian only had the light of the torch to lead her past the forest. And when that burned out and she was too emotionally and physically exhausted to even take another step, she found a spot under some foliage and drifted off into a fitful sleep. She prayed to the gods that she wouldn't ache in the morning and the stiffness in her joints wouldn't slow her down.

When she opened her eyes that morning, she found that the gods might've answered her prayers but not in a way that she really would've wanted.

She woke up to find herself in a strange room in a large bed. Fear shot through her as she surveyed the unfamiliar surroundings and scrambled out of the bed. She wasn't wearing her old clothes, but an embroidered nightgown that was so white that it looked new.

"Welcome home."

She jumped at the sound of the voice and saw her husband sitting in front of the fireplace facing away from her.

She breathed a sigh of relief. Well at least she knew this enemy. She pulled together what was left of her dignity and stood, "What is this?"

"Home."

She looked around. The room was a deep red color with golden etchings carved into the walls and ceiling. The bed was the same color and the wood was a dark reddish brown mahogany. The golden embroidery on the comforter looked hand stitched on but she doubted it was.

She took a step and her foot brushed against the rugs that were spread across the ground.

She looked to her left and there was a large stained window with no way visual way of opening it.

Her husband sat in a large comfortable looking chair facing the largest fireplace that Dagian had ever seen.

Dagian spied a shawl that she recognized it as one of the ones she had made and quickly wrapped it around herself, "Where are we?"

"I've already told you twice," he said, annoyed.

"No," she shook her head, "No, this isn't home."

"Is there something you're unhappy with?"

"Oh, there are a number of things I'm unhappy with," she said angrily, "One being that Bae is gone."

She saw pain in his eyes, but she didn't care. The hate she felt towards him crushed her chest and she wanted him to hurt as much as she herself was hurting, "And you won't let me go and on top of all things you took us away from the house that our son grew up in. Because you don't want to be reminded-."

"Being the dark one comes with certain responsibilities and conflicts that put the lives and freedoms of myself and my family in danger. Isolation is the best solution-"

"Oh don't give me that. You just don't want to be surrounded by memories of what you lost."

"Don't pretend that you cared for our son because you left Dagian. You left fourteen years ago. You broke your vows to me and you abandoned your son as soon as it was hard."

"My gods, are you really going to hold this over my head in order to make yourself feel better that you dropped our son down a vortex into a world that he won't recognize because you broke your word? Don't talk about how I failed him when you've failed him just as much I as I have. Maybe even worse since he was supposed to trust you!"

He stood angrily but she held her ground and gave him almost a look as seething as the one he was giving her, "I'd be careful what you say next."

She held his gaze, "Let me go."

"I can't." he said, "You're a weakness and they'll come after you. Or did you forget two times they tried to kill you?"

"And is this the punishment that you've decided for me?" she demanded, "The punishment of me leaving all those years ago is to force me to stay now in a place I don't recognize with nothing holding us together anymore? Or is this how you're going to punish yourself? To lock yourself up in a stone castle full of everything you could ever give me, except for our son?"

"There's a way that we can get him back and this is the perfect place to start," he said, "There's a library and a-"

"And what will this curse take?" she asked.

He was quiet, "If I don't find a way to make you ageless then you could very well be dead for decades before I perfect it."

"That's not what I mean, what's the price?"

"We'll have to sacrifice this world to move on to his."

The weight of the words settled down on her. She knew about curses, not a lot but she felt that she had some knowledge considering she was married to a walking one. She knew that he didn't mean that they were going to sacrifice this world; he meant that their home…this place would have to probably be destroyed to get there. Lives would be torn apart, the price would be astronomical.

But this was their son that they were talking about. Dagian was not a good person; she'd accepted that a long time ago. And her mistakes were ones that she would never be able to live down and that haunted her every day. But her son was the one good decision that she'd made and she wanted him back, "Do it."

He looked up at her, "Do you understand how far we'd have to go to get this done?"

"Don't pretend like you're asking for my permission or assistance because I know that you've already decided this was the route you were going to take with or without me," she said, "But whatever you have to do…whatever decisions you have to make, if it brings us back our son faster then do it."

"People will get hurt."

"I don't care."

"Oh," he said in recognition, "That's certainly a different tune than what you've sung in the past."

"Because it's our son," she said simply and turned.

"I would have to leave for days at a time to find the information that I need. How do I know that as soon as I'm gone, you won't find a way over the wall and escape?"

Yeah, as if he'd let her go for a long period of time. She was quite surprised he was even bringing this up; she figured he'd just lock her in the castle.

But she knew what he was doing. He was trying to get her word that she wouldn't run off if he looked for their son so he would have something to hold her to.

Very well, she would humor him and find a way to escape later. She had stayed with him long enough to learn about loopholes. If she had his trust then she could find a way to escape.

She looked at him, "If you find a way to get our son back, then I won't run away."

"Good dear," He sat back satisfied, "That's all I ask."

And while he and Dagian watched the fire, she kept her calm demeanor.

But inside, she was clamoring for a way out of this.


Present Day

The 'no touch' rule only lasted about till two in the morning. Dagian woke up sometime during the night to find her husband's arms around her while he slept. And she might've pulled away if she wasn't tired and didn't find comfort in the touch. His hand rested protectively on her stomach like he was shielding the baby. He'd done that when she carried Bae as well. Even before he'd been dragged off to war they'd slept like this.

He didn't do this with Dawn though

And she pulled the blanket over her shoulder and dropped off to sleep a little too easily than she would've liked.

When she woke up again and the sun was starting to rise and her husband's arms were still wrapped around her and much to her annoyance sometime during the night she had turned over in her sleep and tucked herself into his side.

Not the worst way to wake up but definitely far from the best.

She shifted to sit up and her husband's eyes flew open and looked around, "Sleep well darling?"

She didn't answer but her silence was affirmation and his eyes danced gleefully. A smug smile played on his lips.

"I suppose we' should start talking about where we stand."

"I thought I made that clear," she said.

He looked a bit hurt, "Are you really that unhappy? You don't seem that willing to leave, I have to admit I'm getting mixed signals."

"I'm only staying because from what I understand Regina's quite dangerous. And I know what she did to Graham."

Dagian stopped and cursed herself when she gave that away, her husband looked at her confused. He'd never hinted that Regina had killed the sheriff to her. Bae had done that.

"You didn't answer my question," He pointed out.

"And what question would that be?"

"Are you really as unhappy as what you say you are? You have a roof over your head, food, safety and security, a baby on the way which is what you wanted, and I could give you anything you wanted-"

"And do you love me?"

"In my own way; yes. It may not be the completely pure sacrificial overrated love that defines everything and everyone here but I do love you."

"I Hope you'll understand why I don't find that comforting."

He rubbed her arm and pulled her closer; she didn't pull away from him. She wondered if it was because she actually found comfort with him or because of the hold that he'd had on her since he was the Dark One.

"Dagian, you have to understand that there was very little I could do to ensure your protection these past 28 years."

"The fact that we stayed married isn't what angers me Rumpelstiltskin, it's the fact that you didn't trust me enough to leave me awake while you played house with another woman's memory and personality in my body."

She saw shame in his eyes and she knew that he finally started to understand what he'd done to her. Wordlessly, he rested her hand on the side of her face and brushed a tear away from her face.

"Dagian, forgive me," he whispered and she saw his walls start to crumble, "I'm sorry."

Dagian knew what he was probably telling her what she wanted to hear in order to manipulate her. She knew that most of the time he looked at her like he looked at everyone else. A diversion. Something of a toy and a pawn and the only reason he was probably fighting for her now was because he didn't like losing things that he thought belonged to him.

"Simple words aren't going to work this time Rumpelstiltskin," she said, "If you're going to win me back then you're going to have to work for it. And no bullying, controlling, or material wealth is going to work this time. You won't be able to buy my love."

"And you'd take me back?" he asked. His implication was clear. What better way to get her revenge by making him bend over backwards to get her back and then refusing him?

"I don't know," she said, "I haven't decided yet."

In truth Dagian had considered his offer many times these past couple of days. Neither really belonged in either world, both had the same goals. If he truly cared about her like he claimed he did then he would keep her safe. And why wouldn't they try again? They knew each other almost better than they knew themselves. Or at least she thought she knew him. Frankly, from what she'd seen thus far, he hadn't seemed to change that much personality wise since she last saw him.

But he gave her a different personality and memories at got her pregnant. That was something that she just couldn't ignore.

Just for that she should just pack up and leave but there were other wolves about that were greater threats.

"A courtship?" he asked with raised eyebrows, "Well at least it'll be something to do while I wait for everyone to get in place. And since you've decided to take all the fun out of this, what exactly are you looking for?"

Well a courtship wasn't EXACTLY what she had in mind, but she supposed she could just go with it. She and the baby had been feeling the effects of the stress she'd been under these past few days. Maybe this would ease some of that. She couldn't spend the next three months completely hating him for what he'd done to her. Well, she could but she didn't want to risk her daughter's health. She'd had enough problems with this pregnancy. If anything him trying it win her back might result in less fighting, "Well, you're smart Rumpelstiltskin. Figure it out."

"Aw, you're really not going to make it easy are you?"

"Well you did it once; I think you can do it again."

"Only once?" he asked. He was feigning hurt, but she knew that she what she was probably about to say would definitely twist the knife.

"Well you didn't expect me to fall in love with you when you turned into the dark one and forced me to stay as a gesture of goodwill to Bae, did you?"

"You told him you'd stay for him."

"I did," she confirmed, "But I also didn't expect you to let me leave."

"Well things are different now," He said.

She doubted that but she let him continue.

"I suppose I'll have to get back to basics," he said and kissed her temple.

"There's just one thing," Dagian said, "IF it doesn't work out then you let me walk away."

He stopped and tried to decide what his best move would be, "Well if we go this way dear, I'm not going to be the only one working at this. You have some redemption to do as well."

She raised her eyebrows, "Ah, so you want me to try and seduce you to my side."

"Of course dear," he said with a smirk, "You left your claw marks in me as well."

"Hm," she returned the smirk, "Well if this doesn't work out at least it'll pass the time."

"Oh, now how will we succeed if you have that attitude?" he asked and kissed her cheek.

She cringed, it was a bit too early for those kinds of gestures, "You better get dressed darling, you're going to be late for work."

"Wouldn't you rather us just spend the day in bed, darling?"

"No," she said, "I have things to do. Mary Margaret's invited us to her little party tonight to celebrate Kathryn's return…which I'm guessing you had something to do with."

"You want to go to their little party?" he asked in amusement.

"Well you were her lawyer," she said. In truth she didn't care about most of the people there. She just wanted to see Bae. She hadn't really seen him lately and they needed to figure out their next plan.

If this didn't work out with Rumpelstiltskin (and to face reality, it never had), then she would need a place to live. She couldn't take that house; it had far too many memories.

From how Bae acted, he hardly wanted anything to do with his father right now. And it would probably be that way until they worked on their relationship.

"If you wish it darling, I suppose I can force myself," he said, his voice held hints of irritation which shouldn't have pleased her as much as it did, "This isn't winning any points for me in your favor though."

"Really?" she asked, "Hm. That's too bad. You're winning points with me."