Chapter 22
Granny's Diner, 1 pm
Because he knows they're trying to make him feel comfortable by discussing the Enchanted Forest, the one thing they have in common besides Henry, Bae lets David and Mary Margaret talk, and he pretends to nod and smile. He doesn't tell them that he's spend the past two centuries running from anything that reminds him of that place: he's gone so far as to walk out on a Halloween party that was inhabited by too many Cinderellas, and one night when some buddies were over watching horror movies and someone popped in a DVD of Rumpelstiltskin, he yanked the disc out and smashed it under his sneaker.
He doesn't tell them that no matter how friendly they get, he will never call the Nolans "Snow" and "Charming," nor does he care to play "Guess Who's Who" with the other diners, nor will he play "Who Owned What" in his father's shop.
And worst of all, when they start talking about going back to the old world, he can't share their enthusiasm. In fact, he falls silent, filling his mouth with Granny's meatloaf so that he doesn't have to do anything more than chew. They seem so excited and so sure that it's the right thing to do, his mood grows increasingly sour. Sure, the old world may have been fine for them: they were rulers and lived in a castle with servants and plenty of food. But some of the folks in this room didn't have it so well. Many of them, in fact, slept in cruck houses or huts. . .or the doorways of churches. Some of them were blind or lame or frail; some of them were prisoners or lepers or social pariahs; a few of them were cursed. And one of them was an angry, frightened child who lost his father to magic.
As his father would say, there's no way in six hells that Baelfire will ever go back to that hellhole. Besides, he's about to marry a woman of this world.
Except. . . what if Emma goes too, and takes Henry? Will Bae become the third father in his family to abandon a son?
He glances to his right, at Emma, who's absorbed in her French fries. She's got That Look: the too-wide eyes, the too-bright smile, and under the table, her thigh pressed against his is jiggling. She's pissed, mighty pissed; she doesn't want to go to the Enchanted Forest either. Bae relaxes: once Emma's made up her mind. . . .
Perhaps he can be the hero, though. He will talk to his father: perhaps there's a way that the Nolans can travel back and forth, at least for Thanksgiving dinners. Kids need their grandparents too—
And then Bae freezes in mid-chew. What if Rumple wants to go back?
His phone rings with her ring tone. The cavalry! He excuses himself and takes the call: "Where are you, Tamara?"
"Turn around."
She's standing right behind their booth, flashing her beautiful smile. He apologizes to Emma: he has to make her move so that he can get out of the booth. He throws his arms about Tamara's waist and kisses her (chastely, because they are being watched by a restaurant full of strangers) and then introduces her, using the Storybrooke names. He doesn't really have to classify his relationship with the newcomer: the three Charmings can tell by his body language what she means to him.
David, ever the knight, stands and shakes hands with Tamara; Mary Margaret greets her sweetly and invites her to join them for dessert. Tamara explains that she's just now arrived and wishes to wash up first after her long drive: she asks for a rain check, and Mary Margaret says, "Of course. Any time."
Bae's kind of slow when it comes to social situations; considering his upbringing, that's to be expected. But he does catch on quickly when taught, and Tamara's been teaching him the signals. He understands that what she's really saying is I'd like to be alone with my man, so he makes it happen for her. He excuses himself and Tamara, promising a later occasion; he thanks the Nolans and Emma for the lunch; and he grabs for the check, but David beats him to it. Bae reddens (David may be a wealthy prince Back There, but here he's an hourly employee at an animal shelter, and Bae's pretty sure his own income is about double David's), thanks David and says the next time will be his treat.
Bae gets Tamara settled in Room 8 at the B & B. "You'll love your next-door neighbor," Granny says. "She's a sweet girl named Belle, who's been through an unfortunate accident. She went out a little while ago, but I'm sure you'll run into her soon. After all, it's a small town."
With a deep sigh, Bae sets the luggage Tamara has brought—clothes for him as well as her—onto chairs, then before she can remove her coat, he gives her a fiance's greeting that's capped off by a long, deep kiss. "So glad you're here," he chuckles when he finally releases her.
"Has it been difficult, with your father?"
He scratches at his chin. Better sooner than later, he's going to have to sit her down—on his lap, perhaps—and tell her the whole truth about his father, about himself, about all these people she just met. . . .Yeah, soon, before she sees or hears something upsetting. He has no idea how he'll do this, though. His father has a way with words; should Bae get him in on this conversation? Would that overwhelm her? But if Bae tells her in private and she doesn't believe him—she's such a realist; she doesn't even read fiction—he's going to have to ask Dad to, well, conjure something to prove the point.
Bae has yet to see Rumple perform magic in this land. Oh gods, what if he turns into the Dark One when he does it?
"No, it's been better than I expected," Bae says. Crap, it would be so much easier just to pounce on Tamara and show her how much he's missed her, but he'd better do the responsible thing, one thing at a time. He'll start with the easiest one, and if her love for him and her confidence in herself are strong enough and she doesn't dump him, they'll move on to the really rough stuff. "Uhm, babe, I need to tell you something about Emma. . . ."
Granny's Diner 1:10 pm
"I think that went well, don't you?" Snow comments brightly, and her husband agrees. "He's a nice young man," David remarks.
Emma won't disillusion them by pointing out that Neal is about 230 years old: it's not that she's protecting them (considering where they come from, the Charmings are well aware of strange phenomena like that) but rather that she just had a tasty lunch and doesn't want to lose it by reminding herself she slept with a man more than 10 times her age—and Rumplestiltskin's son, nonetheless. (If Neal is 230, how old must his father be? And does—did—Belle know when they first hooked up?)
Snow finds an opening for a delicate subject she and David wish to breech. "Installing home security systems in New York. I'm sure that's a good living." She gives David a nudge with her elbow.
David takes the cue. "Uh, yeah, with all the crime going on there. Robberies, drug deals, murder. Security would be a good line of work."
"This world is just filled with violence. Every night we hear about it on the news. Violence and pollution and corruption and—" she nudges David again.
"And war and starvation and disease."
Emma raises an eyebrow. "You two are up to something."
Snow places a hand on Emma's. "This is not our home, Emma. It never can be. We weren't meant to be here."
"We were ripped from our home and thrown down here by an evil queen's curse," David adds.
Now Snow places her other hand on David's, forming a family link. "This is not the world we want for ourselves and for you and Henry."
"Oooh no, I see what you're up to and the answer is no, no and no to infinity. I'm not going back there. You think this world's got problems. Well, let me remind you, Mom and Dad, what you left behind: ogres, black magic, tyrannical kings who guillotine their adopted sons, plagues, war, starvation, unsanitized water, unpasturized milk, no schools, no hospitals, no paved roads, no cars, no TV or phones, no—"
"We can change all that," David says, and his face shines with the prospect. "We'll make a world that's the best of both. It's our land; it's there for us to shape into a world that's prosperous and safe and peaceful."
Snow squeezes their hands with excitement. "We'll eliminate evil once and for all."
"What, you're going to mandate kindness and generosity?" Emma sniffs. "Dream on."
"Perhaps I overstated, but you can see how much this means, not just to your father and me, but to all the people who've been trapped here by Regina's curse. No, of course there will always be wrongdoing, but pure evil, of the kind Regina and Cora practice—we can drive it out."
"The good people here want to go back, and they need leaders to help them build again," David says. "Destiny chose us, once upon a time; I think it's calling us again. And think: when we've finished the rebuilding, just imagine the world we'll leave to Henry. Your son, Emma, is the grandson of a queen. He needs to be given the chance to fulfill his destiny."
"How do you know that's what he'll want? What if he wants to be a baseball player or a teacher or a sheriff or an animal shelter worker?" Emma pulls her hand away. "He has to have the right to decide for himself. Here, he'll get that. He'll go out into the world, travel, go to college, meet people, experiment, find himself."
"He can do that in the Enchanted Forest. We'll build schools, Emma, every bit as good the ones here. You can be sure of that. I wouldn't have anything less for my people."
"And there, he'll be a prince, and someday, a king."
"And now there's Neal to consider. I can guarantee you, he's not gonna want to go back and Henry's not going to want to be separated from him."
"We thought about that," Snow says. "Neal's also not going to want to be separated from his father." She glances at David, whose expression darkens, but she continues anyway. "We can get Rumplestiltskin to sign a contract agreeing to give up Dark magic and in return, we'll give him a seat on the governing council."
Emma snorts. "Why should he go for that, when he's got all the money and power he could want right here, plus his magic?"
"Because it will mean keeping his family intact," Snow says.
"And," David adds, "because there won't be anyone left here. Even an anti-social like Rumplestiltskin needs people now and then."
Emma throws her hands in the air. "I suppose next you'll be taking Regina back, and the trouble will start all over again."
"Regina's not coming back," Snow says firmly. "Unless it's as a prisoner."
"A lifer, in Rumplestiltskin's cell," David amends.
"Geez." Emma stands. "Look, my lunch hour's over. I got to get back to the real world. I'll. . . talk to you about this later. See you at home tonight."
Snow smiles at her husband. "Actually, no, you won't. Now that things have quieted down a bit, your father and I would like a little 'us' time."
"It's been over a month since the curse lifted. A short second honeymoon."
"But you can't go across the town line," Emma objects.
"We know, but we thought we'd spend a couple of nights in the inn."
Emma nods. Truthfully, it will be a bit of a break for all of them. She'll have some uninterrupted mom time with Henry and they can make tacos to their tummies' content. "Have fun, then. See you in a few days."
Mayor's mansion, 1:10 pm
Regina sits in her study, her phone lying on the mahogany desk (bought in the first year of the curse, an overpriced antique from Gold's shop, of course), her chin resting on her arms. She flicks at the screen idly, scrolling through her phone book. Henry's gone; Cora's in the hospital; even Regina's cleaning woman has the day off. She doesn't even have Rumplestiltskin to go play with.
She's a queen, but right now, a queen of nobody.
Snow White is a sneak thief who's stolen Regina's happy ending and Rumplestiltskin's a charlatan who created a worthless curse. Whatever possessed Regina to bring them along to this new land? She should have left them behind. She could have brought David and Belle and left Snow and Rumple behind to pine and wither away, forever separated from their True Loves. Hell, she could have paired David with Belle and sent photos of the happy couple back to the Enchanted Forest to be printed into posters and plastered all over the land so that Snow and Rumple couldn't turn a corner without. . . .
Yeah. Could've, would've, should've, but didn't.
Granny's B & B, Lobby, 1:10pm
"Hey, girl!" Ruby calls out a cheery greeting as Belle rushes past. "I'm sorry to be so late; it's been a madhouse around here. We just had our third registration—Belle? Where you goin', Belle? We were gonna have lunch—"
But the screen door bangs and Belle's on the street without so much as a wave goodbye. Ruby thrusts her hands onto her hips. Belle would never be so rude, nor would "Jane Doe" brush aside the only Storybrooker who was brave enough and patient enough to befriend a woman who's both Gold's sweetheart and an amnesia patient. Ruby huffs, but her annoyance will subside as soon as she's had lunch. . . and time to remember how Belle had stood beside her when she needed it during Wolfstime. No, Ruby won't let a little quarrel (even though she has no idea what Belle's mad about) stand in the way of what, just a few days ago, was developing into a solid friendship.
She will, however, keep an eye on this odd behavior of Belle's. . . whenever she has a chance to pull away from all these new customers.
Granny's B & B, Room 4, 1:30 pm
"And you're sure she doesn't want anything from you?" Tamara's arms are crossed, but at least she's making eye contact with him, so Neal knows he's on relatively safe ground.
"Positive. Twelve years and she never once tried to contact me. I'm not sure she's okay with me even being here in town, but she tolerates it because Henry wants to get to know me." Bae is sitting at the head of the bed; Tamara, when he first introduced the subject of this conversation, moved to the foot of the bed. But at least they're sharing a piece of furniture; she hasn't pushed him away.
"What about child support?"
"I haven't discussed that with her yet. I've been kind of preoccupied, because of my dad." Bae shrugs. "I'm going to want to pay something."
"You should. It's the right thing to do."
He grins at her. "That's one of the things I love about you." Tamara's a strong woman, an ethical woman—kind of like what he used to fantasize his mother to have been, though when he got older he had his doubts. If Milah had been half the woman Tam is, Rumplestiltskin would surely have talked about her, tried to hold onto his memory of her, but instead, he had refused Bae's requests for stories about her.
It helps, perhaps, that she's holding a photo of Henry, a school picture that Henry gave Bae yesterday. How could anyone resist such a cute kid? "She should have told you she was pregnant. Even if she was in jail, she should have given you a say in the decision to adopt him out."
"There were extenuating circumstances." He told her, early in their relationship, about his criminal background. "You know. I wasn't in a position to raise a kid myself."
"Well, it is what it is," she sighs. Unwed pregnancy is, sadly, a fact of modern life, and although Tam is worried about the tangled custody mess, she's relieved that Emma doesn't seem to want anything from Neal. Whatever relationship develops between Henry and Neal will be unforced, as far as Emma and her parents are concerned. "I'd like to meet him."
"I was hoping you'd say that. Emma's on duty tomorrow, so Henry can spend the day with us." He inches closer to her. "And tonight, we'll have a nice quiet dinner, just the two of us, and after that I'd like to take you with me to the hospital."
She smiles. "I'll be happy to meet your father, Neal. I'm curious to see what you'll look like in twenty years."
Bae moves back to his original position. It's too soon to get cuddly: his explanations have just begun, as her comment reminds him. How will she react when she learns that Neal is more than two centuries old? He sighs. "Uhm, babe, there's more I have to tell you. Lots more, I'm afraid. Buckle your seat belt; it's going to be a bumpy ride."
Storybrooke General Room 304, 2 pm
"Nine," the adult Bae hisses into Gold's face. Bae has him by the Armani collar and is shaking him. "And that's just the ones I know about. I'm sure you've killed ten times that. Twenty times that!"
"No," Gold tries to protest, but his voice is too weak.
"Who's next, Papa?" Sarcasm drips from the last word.
"No! Nobody! I'm not that any more. I don't hurt people—"
"Oh don't you?" And Bae's voice takes on a high, nasal pitch. "You beat Moe French to a bloody pulp. You beat Hook to a bloody pulp. Who's next? Every single person in this town is here because of your doing, your curse. Who's next? Who will you kill next, dearie? Archie? Whale? David? Belle? Me?"
"No. I love you—" Gold pleads, peering into his son's face. His son's green, scaly face and gold-bullion eyes and rotten teeth.
"Henry." Bae releases him, tossing him back, and he loses his balance and falls as Bae walks away. "It will be Henry next."