Belle was certain none of the boys slept at all when she got up the next morning. The kitchen was a disaster though still standing. Bernard was standing in the middle of it with a look of desperation on his face.

"A maid. We need a maid," he said, looking at Belle.

"I got this," she assured him as she poured a glass of orange juice.

"Is Mr. Gold still asleep?" Bernard asked her, sitting next to her and reaching for the paper.

"Yeah, it's unusual,unusual; he's almost always up before me."

"He was out late," Bernard remarked as he read the headline. His words didn't register with Belle as she began cleaning up after the boys, determined to get the kitchen presentable before he woke up.

"Hey," Bae yawned, walking into the kitchen.

"Hey yourself. Just be glad your fatherFather didn't see this," Belle reprimanded but Bae didn't seem too concerned. He grabbed a bagel and shuffled back to the living room. Belle was certain he would be asleep within the hour.

"Boys," Bernard commented without looking up from his paper.

"Boys indeed," she agreed.

"What about boys?" Gold asked her, coming into Belle's clean kitchen in an impeccably sharp suit.

"If I ever have children, I want daughters," she said as she tossed a dish rag into the sink.

"Are you trying to tell me something?' He asked her archly as he grabbed for a bagel, just as his son had. Belle shook her head before she realized what he was wearing.

"Are you going into the office?"

"Every day. Somebody has to keep us living in this run down shack."

Belle crossed the room, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him. "Try not to be too late tonight,tonight; I would like another quiet night like we had last night."

His eyebrows shot into his hair. "I will not disappoint you," he promised her before walking out. Belle smiled to herself, pleased at how easy things had become between her and Gold. It had been a long road to get them to where they were and it never ceased to amaze her when she looked back on it.

She decided to go downstairs and see what Ryan was doing and if he would talk to her. She was certain that she could make progress, even if it took her a year.

On her way down she was surprised to see Ana standing there looking bewildered.

"Belle?" She asked, brushing her tangled brown curls out of her face.

"Ana? What are you doing down here? How did you get inside?"

Ana's mouth opened and snapped shut before she finally spoke. "I don't know. I was in my home reading and then woke up and I was here. I don't know how it happened."

Belle stared at her for a moment, unsure of what to say.

"Ana...what were you doing down here...?" Both sher and Ana knew what was concealed down here.

"I can't remember," Ana whispered, terrified. Belle pushed past her to get to the room that Ryan had been kept in.

"Oh God," she said, staring at the empty room. Granny and Graham's were also empty. "Ana, what did you do?!"

"I don't know, I don't know, I'm so sorry!" She exclaimed. Belle stared at her in horror before running up the stairs and out the front door, completely forgetting about Ana. She searched the grounds visually but couldn't see anything. She ran back in, grabbed her keys and her phone, and drove off, determined to find them. As she looked she dialed Emma's number.

"Emma, I need your help," Belle told her frantically.

"Whoa," Emma said sleepily, "What's going on?"

"Ana let Ryan, Graham, and Granny out!"

"What? How is that possible? Ana has been here all night while looking for an apartment."

Belle paused for a moment, confused. "Is...is she there right now?"

She could hear the muffled sound of Emma talking to someone and then, "Belle? Is everything okay?"

"Son of a-" Belle swore, doing a Uu-turn to race back home. "Tell Emma that Ryan, Granny, and Graham have escaped and we need to look for them before they hurt someone. And call Gold!"

She hung up, racing home,home; afraid of who she had left alone with Bae and his friends. She left the car running as she ran into the house, racing into the living room. Bae and his friends were sleeping softly, wrapped under fluffy blankets. She sighed and crept back out into the hall. Gold kept several weapons in his home, one of which was in a drawer in his study. She made her way to the study, heart pounding, and turned the handle.

Inside she was stunned to find a dark haired woman rifling through Gold's desk, desperately looking for something. Belle recognized this woman from a photograph she had seen once. This was Baelfire's motherMother, Gold's dead wife.

"Emmeline?" Belle asked, wondering if this was who she was actually seeing, or just another illusion.

Emmeline looked up, her face frozen with fear for a moment before she realized it was Belle standing in front of her. "Nobody calls me that," she said after several long minutes.

"You're dead," was all Belle could manage to say. Emmeline smiled at Belle.

"Obviously."

The two brunette women stared at each other, Belle with confusion and Emmeline with amusement. Belle didn't know what to say and Emmeline seemed content to wait.

"What are you doing here?"

"Gold has something of mine that I need. This is the room he liked to hide things in."

"Does he know you're alive?!"

She sighed. "He will now, unfortunately. Unless I kill you. Murder isn't my forte, but I'm starting to consider it." She pulled out the gun Belle had been looking for and pointed it at her. "They say you can't die, but I wonder how well you'd heal with your brains all over the back wall."

"How do you know about that?" Belle asked, backing out of the room and into someone solid. She froze as a familiar gleaming hook grazed the side of her face.

"I told her," Hook whispered, his lips pressed against Belle's hair. Belle was trapped between her old nemesis and Gold's dead wife. Emmeline pulled the hammer back on the gun, smiling sweetly.

"I'm sparing you a horrible life, married to that man. I'm doing you a favor."

Belle squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the inevitable when the front door banged open and a loud male voice began talking to Balfour and his friends. Hook pushed Belle into the study, shutting the door softly behind them.

"That's your son," Belle said, watching Emmeline carefully. She couldn't place the voice, which sounded familiar, but was grateful he was getting the boys out of the house. "That's Bae."

"I have no son," Emmeline spat as the front door shut closed, leaving them alone in the house again. Belle's heart sank when she realized she was alone with two people who wanted her dead.

"Now," Hook asked, dragging his hook lightly against her throat. "Where were we?"

"Emmeline, you don't have to do this," Belle said quickly as Hook began laughing in Belle's ear. It sounded almost seductive and it made the hair on her neck stand on end.

"No one calls her that, love."

"They call me Mila," she smiled widely as Hook let go of Belle. Belle watched as Mila, formerly Emmeline, changed her appearance to look like Ana momentarily. She had the same ability as Serena had. Belle was struck for a moment by the incredibly powerful parents Bae had. "And that's not all I can do."

Belle opened her mouth to respond but the door to the study burst open and Jefferson and Bernard burst in. Mila fired her weapon but missed Belle and hit Bernard instead. Belle screamed in horror and Jefferson began firing in succession at Hook and Mila. Hook sliced Belle's cheek as he and Mila jumped through the study window, making their escape. Jefferson followed after them but Belle knew they would escape. It would be too easy for them to die here, even after everything they had done. She moved for Bernard, her horror increasing when she saw Bae standing in the doorway frozen, his face sheet white.

"Mom?" He asked, staring at the opened window.

"Bae, no-" Belle reached for him but Bae knocked her out of his way, frantic to get to the window.

"MOM!" He screamed. Belle scrambled after him, cutting herself on glass on her way out. Jefferson had stopped chasing them halfway across the grounds, his gun still aimed. Belle grabbed Bae around the middle, bringing them both crashing to the ground.

"MOM!" Bae screamed again. They both watched as Mila faltered for a moment, looking back at her son crying on the ground for her. Belle was sure she would come back for him but she turned back and kept running into the woods on the edge of the grounds. Bae stopped struggling and succumbed to his sobs, his face buried in the grass.

"I tried to get him out," Jefferson said, coming over to them and kneeling beside them. "The other boys are being driven home but Bae went up to his room."

"It's not your fault," Belle told him as she held the crying boy. Bae seemed beyond inconsolable and Belle was not going to leave him. Belle could hear Jefferson talking to Gold behind her before he walked around to the front of the house.

"Bae," Belle asked softly, "Bae, do you want to go inside?"

He looked up at Belle, his brown eyes rimmed with red and he looked so lost, too young to be experiencing any of this. He nodded before he said, "She shot Bernard."

Belle had forgotten about Bernard. She leapt up and ran back into the study through the same window to get to him. He was lying in a pool of his own blood. She pulled him into her lap and raised her hand to heal him but he caught her wrist with surprising grip.

"No," he said. "It's too late."

"It's not," she said, unaware she was crying. Bae had climbed in after Belle and was watching the scene unfold with horror.

"It's my choice," Bernard said weakly. "Mister Bae...it's...been a pleasure to...know you."

Baelle came and sat next to Bae as Bernard breathed out his last breath. Belle put her hand on him and felt the life left out of him. Bae buried his face into Belles shoulder and they held on to each other, Bernard's head still lying on Belle's lap.

Gold found them both, half an hour later, holding on to each other and crying, his former man dead in his fianceefiancée's lap. The scene made him angrier than he could remember being in his life. Jefferson was still with him and Gold was grateful for that. Jefferson helped Gold get Belle and Bae out of his study and into his bedroom.

"Find them, bring them both to me," Belle heard Gold tell Jefferson outside the bedroom door. When he came in Bae sprung out of the bed and hit his fatherFather hard in the face.

"Bae!" Belle exclaimed but Bae ignored her.

"DID YOU KNOW?!" Bae screamed at his fatherFather. "DID YOU KNOW SHE WAS ALIVE?!"

"No. No, I didn't know," Gold said helplessly, pulling his son into a brusingbruising embrace. "I thought she died."

"She left us," Bae wailed into his fatherFather's chest. "In that orphanage, she just left! I don't understand."

"I don't either."

Belle felt like she was intruding on an extremely personal moment and got up to give them privacy. As she crossed the room, Bae pulled away from his fatherFather and grabbed her.

"Don't go. Don't leave me," he said, wrapping his arms around her.

"Never," Belle promised, kissing the top of his head.

Belle, Bae, and Gold stayed in bed for the rest of the day and into the night, Belle and Gold on the outside of the bed sandwiching Bae on the inside. Belle had questions, questions that no one but Gold could answer for her, but it was inappropriate for her to ask in front of Bae.

There was one thing at the forefront of her mind and once Bae was asleep she decided to bring it up.

"Rush?" She whispered into the darkness.

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"Erm...after today...I was thinking...maybe we should get married now...and have me adopt Bae. Before everyone learns about his motherMother and it becomes impossible."

"You want to...adopt Bae?" He asked, looking over at her in the dark.

"He deserves a motherMother who loves him."

"In the morning we can go to the court house. I'll let Jefferson know to get the paperwork ready."

She didn't say anything else because there was nothing left to say. In the morning she would be Belle Gold and Balfour's new motherMother and nothing short of death would separate her from these men.

The next morning was chaotic for everyone. It wasn't the right circumstances for a wedding, the only wedding she would ever have. She had always imagined she would feel deliriously happy instead of anxious and nervous. She, Gold, and Bae were signing the documents in Judge Ryder's office, allowing Belle to adopt Bae. Legally, Mila or Emmeline or whoever she thought she was, was dead. Bae was old enough to tell a court if he wanted to be adopted, and when sher and Gold had broached the topic with him earlier that morning she had been afraid Bae would say no. She worried he would want to reconnect with his real motherMother, now that he knew she was alive.

"She knew I was sitting in the orphanage. She could have rescued me, but she didn't. You did. You're my motherMother," he had stated simply and Belle left it at that. Gold had not argued with his son at all.

Judge Ryder witnessed the entire thing before adding his signature to the document. He explained that Belle was now legally responsible for Bae, even if sher and Gold decided to part ways. Belle understood the legality of raising a child and doubted she and Gold would ever part ways for any reason. They belonged together. She had fought hard for these two men, and she always would.

Outside the courtroom, Belle and Bae embraced for the first time as motherMother and son. "I always wanted a son," Belle told him as Bae smiled at her.

"Go marry my dadDad," he said urging them both towards the courtroom a Justice of the Peace would marry them in.

Belle slipped her hand into Gold's and tugged on the hem of her white skater dress. She had an actual wedding dress paid for and being hemmed as she walked into the courtroom. It wasn't the wedding she had dreamed of as a little girl, but she was suddenly overwhelmed with emotion. She was getting so much more than she ever imagined, a son, true love, a family. The kind of family she had wanted her entire life, ever since her motherMother had passed away. She would not let Bae grow up feeling unloved,unloved; she would not let his birth motherMother make him feel like he wasn't wanted. She wanted him,him; she wanted this, all of it.

When their names were called she brought Bae up with them. The words were simple and they both repeated the vows, smiling. They exchanged the rings they had picked out weeks before. Gold had somehow gotten his hands on them early and Belle was grateful for that. The signed the document making them man and wife and then he kissed her to scatter applause by other strangers waiting to get married. Belle had never seen Gold so happy publically as they walked out of the courthouse and onto the street.

"We're married," she said breathlessly, hugging him impulsively. Bae was grinning ear to ear, a mirror image of his fatherFather in the moment.

Gold opened his mouth to say something when an explosion rocked through the courthouse, throwing the three of them off their feet. Bae, who had been holding onto Belle's hand, squeezed his eyes shut and transported the two of them out of there.

"What happened!" Bae asked with bewilderment, looking around the family living room.

"We left your fatherFather there!" Belle said hysterically. "We have to go back and get him!"

"I will!" Bae said fearfully and with a pop he was gone.

"Bae wait-!" She didn't mean for him to go alone. She ran into the hall, slamming into Mila. Mila looked flustered and was holding a package in her hand.

"Oh hell no," Belle said, punching the other woman in the face. "What are you doing in my home?!"

"I helped build this home," Mila spat, standing up, "If I need something I'll come and get it."

"Over my dead body," Belle retorted, lunging for Mila again. Mila dodged and pinned Belle against a wall.

"That could be arranged," She snarled. "But I don't have time for that. You want to know how my marriage to Rush worked, despite the fact that I hated him almost the entire time? I had my own abilities, to change my appearance sure, but more importantly, the ability to remove memories. Do you know how useful that is against a man who is constantly reading your mind? Well, you know, you live with him now."

Mila seemed almost regretful as she reflected. "I was miserable. I wanted adventure! Instead I was a wife and a motherMother to a man my family wanted me to marry, trapped forever. My only solace being able to take away his memories or slip away and change my appearance, some freedom for a while. He couldn't find me, and if he did I could remove the memory.

And then...then I met Killian, and discovered what true love was. It was my chance to have the life I always dreamed of. So I faked my own death and I was free. Free of the wretched man, of that life..." She looked at Belle thoughtfully. "You could be too. I don't want to be the bad guy. I just want to be happy. You could be happy, too. You could be free, too."

"Please don't," Belle pleaded, trapped between the wall and Mila. Mila smiled at her and put her hand on Belle's head. Belle struggled for a moment and then she couldn't remember why she was. She looked at the woman touching her face.

"You're free now," she said, stepping away. Belle slid down the wall, confused as the woman looked down at her one last time and then ran off. She sat there, unsure where she was or what she was doing, and then there were voices calling for her.

A young boy with a mop of brown hair and an older man she recognized, Rush Gold, CEO of Gold Corp, rushed into the room.

"Belle! I found him, I found him!"

Gold knelt in front of her and out a hand on her face. "I would be willing to bet it was Hook."

"Hook?" She repeated, trying to make sense of what was happening. She couldn't get Gold to agree to speak with her about his embezzling employees and here he was talking to her about someone called Hook and touching her face. Something was missing.

He withdrew his hand and narrowed his eyes a moment. Unbeknownst to her, Gold was searching her mind, trying to discern where her confusion was coming from. What he found surprised him. She had no memory of the last year of her life. He saw his ex- wife walking away from her and knew she had something to do with this.

"What is going on?" She asked. Gold and Bae exchanged a look. This was bad.