Dagian watched as Rumpelstiltskin laid the salad in front of her and smiled slightly. This wasn't as awkward as she thought it was going to be. She had to admit that she felt far more relaxed now that she wasn't legally bound to him and from the look on his face he seemed a bit more at ease as well, "I can cook you know."

"Don't be silly;" He said and put the salmon in front of her, "You're pregnant."

She smiled as memories of how fussy he could be when she was pregnant came flooding back and she started cutting her salmon, "Yes mother."

He glared, "Woman-."

"You're still wearing the wedding ring."

He frowned and looked down at the ring on his right hand. IT was tradition, at least in their time period, to wear their wedding rings on their right hand as opposed to their left. To signify that their spouse was always at the right hand; a place of honor, "It's for remembrance Dagian, nothing more."

She looked at it, "Oh."

"Besides, when we find Bae again, and if he forgives me and I can redeem myself then perhaps he'll give it to some girl that he'll pick for his wife."

Dagian smiled in amusement, "Family heirloom?"

"Well, it was the best thing you ever bought for me; of course I'm going to keep it."

Dagian wiped her mouth with the napkin and remembered fondly. After she had healed and they were married, and before the Ogre War, Dagian had gone back to her abandoned village. Everyone either died in the slaughter on that road that day or they moved on. She had gotten what she needed from her home and sold what she didn't need to merchants and traded until she could get him that ring with that little piece of rock. It was worth everything she'd paid to see him smile like he did when she presented it to him. It'd been her wedding gift…just a bit belated.

"So what happens now?" Dagian asked.

"For us? I thought we discussed that."

"No," she shook her head, "For this curse."

"Well, only an act of true untainted love can break the curse."

"And we're just going to sit by and wait for that to happen?"

"Nothing else better to do," he replied and took a bite of the salmon, "And you will give birth and we will find Bae."

"Will we return home?"

He was quiet for a few seconds, "I don't know."

"Wonderful," Dagian said."

"We sacrificed our world for this one Dagian. Some texts say that it's possible and some say it's not but they all said one thing. That we could cross over, that we could be reunited with our son. Whether or not we can go back or not is irrelevant because we'll have our children and we'll be together. Well not together but you understand what I mean."

"Of course," Dagian said and looked down awkwardly.

HE immediately sensed that he was going into uncomfortable territory and cleared his throat, "I like what you've done so far with the house."

She nodded. She'd barely moved anything; Gold's constant fussing over her meant that he sent his bodyguard Mr. White to move her things around the new house. She didn't mind it; Mr. White had always been respectful and never complained.

"Thank you," she said. "I'm still not happy with the arrangements; I think that when I give birth then I'll change it around more to my liking."

"What's wrong with it, I'll let you have Mr. White for another day."

"No," she shook her head, "No, it's nothing that needs priority. I'll just need to mess around with it a little more before it's mine."

Rumpelstiltskin noticed that she put her hand on her temple, "Are you going to have one of your migraines?"

She nodded, "I thought they'd go away after I Remembered but…."

"It's a side effect of the potion that you mixed," he said and took a sip of his water, "Of all the sleeping curses you picked, you had to choose one of the messiest in terms of after effects. You will have it with you for the rest of your life."

Dagian sighed, "Well, just my luck, hm?"

"Well if you'd told me that you wanted to take a sleeping curse dear, I would've set aside a nicer one for you."

Dagian laughed and shook her head, "Such a considerate husband."

He smiled back at her and they settled into an awkward silence.

"How long have we been alive?" she finally asked.

"Well," he said and looked thoughtful, "I was about fifty and you were thirty-five when I turned. And then those eight months you were with me and then the four hundred years after that…followed by the 28 years we were here. I'd say…old. Don't worry darling you don't look a day over thirty and you still look as radiant as the day I married you. I can't say the 'day we met' because you were bloody and dying then. I was afraid you'd take that as an insult."

"Well you look the same as the day I married you as well," she smirked, "And considering what you looked like before, you'd better take that as a compliment as well."

"Certainly wasn't a deal breaker for you though," He reminded her, "I seem to remember you being a lot more passionate after my change."

"What can I say?" she said, "Your new taste in wardrobe was…very arousing."

"Mm," he raised his eyebrows, "See, you want to know what you missed when you were asleep for those 400 years? For a while leather pants were the fashion. And not the kind of waterproof leather that we wore when we were working I Mean like…leather that they wear here in this time."

Dagian almost spit out her drink, "What? Did you wear them?"

"Dear, I started that trend."

Dagian burst out laughing and rested her hands on the small of her back when it started aching, "I…have seen you wear peasant clothes, I have seen you wear the dark one's clothes and I have seen you wear suits, but I swear that I could never imagine you like that."

She had to stand up, her sides were killing her and she was afraid that she was going to end up going into early labor if she didn't stop laughing and she didn't want the cause to be the image of her ex-husband, in his old skin, prancing around in leather pants.

Dagian stood up and walked to the living room. Rumpelstiltskin followed her and when she was confident that she was done laughing, she sat next to him on the couch, "Please don't tell me anything more about your wardrobe when I wasn't awake to shop for you."

"I looked amazing."

"I'll bet you did," she said and started rubbing her feet. They were so swollen.

"Here," he took her feet in his lap, "Let me."

She smiled slightly as he began massaging her feet. He was always better at it than her. Before she was pregnant and he would come home and she would help him relax by massaging his back but when she was pregnant and after he came home, her feet would swell so badly that she could hardly walk on them sometimes and so sometimes before they went to bed he would take her feet and try to give her some comfort as he massaged them."

"Tell me some of your stories," Dagian said.

He looked up, "No stories to tell."

"Oh come on Rumpelstiltskin, you were alive for four hundred years, you have to have some tales."

Rumpelstiltskin hesitated. He had his ex-wife here. Trusting him more than she ever had since Bae was a baby. He could not tell her and she would respect it. But why couldn't he? What was holding him back? He could talk to her, the time for manipulation and secret keeping was over. At least for the both of them.

"It's a long tale dearie," he said, slipping into his old high pitched voice just for nostalgia's sake.

"I'm not going anywhere," Dagian smiled, "And it's still early yet and you have a lot of work before my feet feel comfortable."

He sighed, "It's not a nice tale all the time."

"I don't care," Dagian whispered.

"Alright dear," he said, "You'll get your story."

And so he told her everything. About his early struggles to understand, about his anger towards her and his refusal to even think of people as more than pawns after she left. He told her about setting everything in place so they could get here and his rivalry with Regina.

And then he told her about Belle. That was the hardest one. Not because he was talking to one woman he loved about the other but because the memories were always so hard. She was dead because of him. Because he knew there would've been no good choices. He literally had to choose between his son and his true love. If he'd chosen Belle then he would've lost his powers, they would all still be separated, Dagian would still be trapped in her sleeping hell. And then there was the possibility that he would be dead because he knew Regina would've killed him.

And because he hadn't chosen her, she was now dead. He'd killed his true love. He didn't lie to himself and he didn't deny it like he had when he brutally beat Moe French. Why would he? IT was just them and they knew each other better than anyone ever could.

Dagian was especially silent when he told her about Belle. She kept her face unreadable but she knew his pain. If anyone could understand about wasted opportunities and the loss of a true love then she did.

Dagian took his hand and he held it in both of us. His darker more tanned skin such a contrast to her paler hands.

Silence passed as they held each other's hands. Not the uncomfortable one that seemed to haunt them since she got her memories but the kind of silence that passed the many times she and Rumpelstiltskin sat side by side at the spinning wheel when they were human, watching it to forget.

"It's almost midnight," he said at last, "I have to go."

She nodded, handed him his cane, and then helped him up so that in turn he could help her up.

"Try to stay away from Regina," he advised as they walked to the door, "News of your moving out has already swept through the town twice. They all think you cheated on me with August due to your beating down his door and then me picking you up right in front of the inn. If Regina is an idiot and looking to use us against each other then she'll come sniffing around."

"I'll avoid her; I made a habit of that when I was Dawn so it should be easy as me."

He turned to face her, "Now listen because this is important. Magic isn't in this land naturally but that doesn't mean that it can't cross over. I doubt Regina would waste it on you but you need to be careful. Only eat and drink what you're sure hasn't been tampered with. Sealed containers, never let your food out of your sight. Regina knows how much of a danger I am and so she'll either run away from that or attack you. Be cautious. I said I'd protect you but I can't protect you all the time."

"I know."

He pulled her close and kissed the top of her head; Dagian returned the embrace and opened the door for him.

"I'll see you later."

She nodded and shut the door behind him.

Aw, they'd forgotten all about dinner.

Dagian started putting the dishes up and sighed in exhaustion.

She rather liked being his friend a lot more than being his wife.