Chapter Three: Differences Aside

No time to think, only react, and Rumpelstiltskin's instincts were set for over 28 years, and to have Bae within feet of his grasp, was the final catalyst. Now that his leg was no longer bothering him, for the magic had finally set in, he could run freely. However, his leg's recovery was the last miracle he noticed in his life. Bae was thirty feet away.

"Bae!" He yelled, but the boy didn't respond, he just kept running. Bae stopped briefly to find a pathway to follow, and as he heard his father tailing close behind, he sharply curved to the left, thinking that he was headed for a stream of water.

He began doubting his memory, for there was no water in sight as he kept running. Now, he couldn't hear his father. As much as he resented his father, his intent here was not to run away. It was to get him alone.

Baelfire set the ball down, giving it a hard smash across the forest. Rumpelstiltskin eyed the ball slowing to a stop, so he picked it up. That kid can run! Rumpel walked through the bushes, wondering where Bae went, never giving up and almost ready to run again.

But that was no longer necessary, for Baelfire had settled near an ancient opening path between two trees, and just beyond, was the stream the boy had been looking for.

"Father! How could you!" Bae shouted as soon as he saw his father appear in front of him, the kickball in hand.

"How could I what...Bae, come here," Rumpel said.

"No!" Bae spat. "How could you just let me go?"

"Bae, please just give me a few moments," his father begged. "Bae, I've been searching everywhere for you. You have to understand."

Bae sat silent, the same look in his eyes: cold and candid, as his father's eyes were when he made a deal.

"You let me go! You let me leave alone, all because of that power you just had to have..." Baelfire spat.

Rumpel's eyes reflected a sense of truth, for there was nothing to hide between these two. There was nothing to deny and as it had always been, Bae was right. He was the bigger man. Rumpelstiltskin, as he stared into his son's eyes, becoming angry himself.

"I did this all for you! I did it to protect you. The power was to protect you, and that was what mattered to me..."

"Yeah, you proved that when you refused to come with me," Bae sarcastically stated, turning his head away. "The power, it consumes you, even to this day. Magic isn't even supposed to be here!"

"I brought the magic to create this world so I could find you! I used magic to create a world with no magic. A curse, Bae! All so I could find you."

"Magic is here, I can sense it everywhere. I thought you'd be here still, and there's still magic! Why is it here?" Bae demanded.

"I brought it back when the savior broke the curse, because it had to come back."

"So YOU found a way to bring it back, as soon as this curse was broken...I should have known. I should have known, you still haven't changed at-," Bae said, unable to catch his footing.

Rumpel had been walking closer as his son was backing up. He tripped over a root, and the closest thing to grab was a branch...a branch drenched in broken smaller branches, and as his hand slid down the tree until he caught himself, a large scrape formed across his entire palm.

"Ah!" he said quietly as he usually did, hiding the wound. Then back to his father, "You haven't changed at all." He stepped over the branch.

"Bae, you aren't listening," Rumpel countered. Baelfire felt the sting in his palm, feeling his own liquid blood filling within his already drenched fist. Tightening to stop the pain, but Bae looked to the ground.

"Bae, the only way I could find you was a curse. The curse was broken, so I needed magic to create another! Bae?"

Baelfire, thinking he'd outgrown this, thought that scrape must be more than that. He opened his fist and spun around, walking towards the stream of water, letting a grunt escape his lips.

"Boy, what happened?" Rumpelstiltskin saw the blood that hit the dirt path beneath where Bae had been standing. "Are you hurt?" His father began walking closer to him, but Bae turned around, pulling his left hand from the stream.

"I'm fine," Bae insisted, but Rumpel saw the blood. "I can handle it!"

"Bae, let me help, trust me I-"

"Like I trusted you not to break our deal?" Bae spat. Rumpel shook that counterattack off, but it felt harsh, gnawing away at him that his own son still resented him this much. He knew circumstances would be bad, but Bae wouldn't even allow him to touch his hand!

"Fair enough, we'll play it your way," Rumpel said, sitting next to him by the water. "I will not use magic."

"No magic? You promise me no magic?" Bae said, softening only slightly. After all, he was the Dark One's son.

"I promise Son, no magic," Rumpel said.

Bae smirked, impressed his father even remembered his resentment towards magic. There was a silent moment as they stared into each other's eyes, both of them surprised they were even able to do that. Listening to calming sound of the stream's flow, Bae thought to give him another chance, as his father seemed to always need.

Baelfire tore a strip of cloth from a rag around his own clothing, handing it to his father. Then, he held out his left hand. What he thought was a scrape was actually a gash. The blood ran deep, and Rumpelstiltskin finally saw the urgency of the wound.

"Get that back in the water boy," he said, though there was purple aurora just begging to unleash itself onto Baelfire, ready to start healing him in moments.

No, Rumpelstiltskin told himself, my son prefers it this way. As Bae let the wound soak, not even flinching, Rumpelstiltskin watched the blood run down the clear water, turning the color red, and every moment, he fought himself for his son's preference.

Rumpelstiltskin lifted his son's hand gently from the water, holding his hand so it had room to sprawl out in his own. This was his left hand...The images, the sounds, the darkness. The Dark One saw the past of a coward before him, no matter how much power he possessed.

He could see Bae coming back into the house, not looking at him for a few seconds as he told the maid to fetch them their supper. Bae's words echoed in his mind... 'you hurt people all the time' 'so will this...' and then he recalled Bae taking out that old kit of medicine! Sometimes, he wondered why he hadn't just tossed the old thing. At that time, he abided to Bae's wishes, and then Bae begged him to get rid of the power somehow...and when Baelfire shook his hand, Rumpelstiltskin made a deal he thought for sure he understood.

And then there were Bae's screams. He begged his father to come with him to a place where they could live together. However, there was no magic, and that was when Rumpelstiltskin backed away, no matter how hard his son pulled him down.

'You coward! You broke our deal!' he'd yelled to him, and that was rough, coming from his own son. And all Rumpelstiltskin said was that he couldn't go through the vortex. There was no other reason, he didn't give his son a reason even for breaking the deal, and then he just let him go.

He chose the power over his own son...

Baelfire looked at his hand to make sure his father wouldn't cheat him out on this either, for he could never be sure. Being given up on does that to a kid. He smirked though, remembering the look on his father's face when he came in the house after that scene in town with the man and his donkey. The whole thing was his fault in the first place, and he was the one who made the mistake of chasing after the kickball. Yet the man was turned into a snail and stepped on!

He remembered his passive attitude towards his father, and that was the day he decided to talk to him about the power. After all, Bae always preferred to work to earn what he kept. As he handed his father the old medicine kit, proposing he be healed the mortal way.

'I need more power to protect you,' his father had said, and they had a clash then too about the power. Baelfire remembered his happiness when his father told him that all that mattered to him was his son's happiness. Bae thought for sure the magic bean would work.

Baelfire didn't have abandonment issues, nor did he have daddy issues. What ailed Bae was trust. When his father let him go...Baelfire remembered to trust no one, for he couldn't even trust his own father after he let him go, only apologizing for letting him go into a vortex to this world. Away from his father forever, and all he had to say was 'I'm sorry, Bae.'

Rumpelstiltskin finished his work, but he couldn't bring himself to release Bae's hand. Like Belle, Rumpelstiltskin felt as though he was dreaming, but touch proved him otherwise. Feeling in a dream is impossible...so this must be real!

Baelfire's skin held a certain coarseness about it Rumpel couldn't recall. What had this boy been doing for all these 28 ageless years?

"You know, Papa, if you were honest with yourself, you'd admit that you also want the power," Bae said finally, breaking the silence as a knife would tear skin.

"Maybe...but Bae," Rumpel said. "Ever since you left, I regretted what I did to you. I had no right, Bae. You are my son, and I should have known. I just have one question..."

Bae listened.

"I thought only those affected by the curse didn't age, and that's here, in Storybrooke. You've been here far longer than when I unleashed the curse, so how is it that you haven't aged a hair?"

"I've wondered about that...but I am your son, therefore I am not untouched by magic. Cost me more harm than good." Bae pulled his hand away and stood up.

"Well I'm sorry if I'm a curse on your life Bae, but you can't choose family," Rumpelstiltskin's tone was vitriolic as he spoke those words. The boy seemed hopeless to talk to at this point!

"No, I cannot," Bae said, being rather calm now about this. Getting angry wouldn't do any good now, Baelfire realized. It would only make things worse between them, and Baelfire didn't come here for that. He didn't search for countless hours while enjoying the modern lifestyle, feeling lost and alone, just to come to his father and fight, no matter how much he wanted to.

"So Papa, I have another deal for you," Bae said, and at that, Rumpelstiltskin's head pricked up. Bae sat quiet for a little bit, finding the courage inside of him to speak what was on his mind.

"I want to spend some time with you," Baelfire told him sincerely. "I don't care what we do, but I didn't come here to argue. So, in exchange for a roof over my head, I propose that you may put me to work."

"Bae..." Rumpelstiltskin said, looking at his son and smirked. "You don't have to make a deal with me for a roof over your head. You can stay..."

"Then at least put me to work. Perhaps I could work in the shop, give me something!" Bae demanded with a shrug. "I can't stand to sit around all day doing nothing."

"As you wish," Rumpelstiltskin replied.

Bae remembered that phrase all too well, and when he stood up, he needed a tree for support. He didn't know why, but he just couldn't hold it all in any longer. His father asked what was wrong, but Bae couldn't answer him. A little too harshly, Bae's body hit the tree's trunk, and he stared up to the sky, waiting for the tears to come.

"Bae, what's-"

Bae didn't need to tell him, instead he just brought his head back down and pulled his father into him. Rumpelstiltskin, of course not expecting this nor his son's strength, would have crashed into the tree had Bae not been there.

He could feel Bae's hands grasped tightly around his suit, showing no sign of letting go. For a few moments, Rumpelstiltskin merely allowed this to continue, hearing Bae's subdued lament, almost identical to his own.

His son really did not desire to fight with him, though he was still angry. For today, he was simply satisfied to have the option of hugging his father again.

"Papa," his muffled voice spoke, but by now, Mr. Gold was already pulling Bae closer.

"Let's go home, Son," he said, barely able to hold back his own tears. "Come with me."