I'm going ahead and posting this in hopes that this humble offering will cause the gods of English to smile upon me and help me get the internship at the university publishing house I'm interviewing for this afternoon. It's really highly rated so it could definitely help me later. *crosses fingers, throws salt, closes eyes around black cat and various other superstition-y things.* Wish me luck.

On another note, I was really surprised at the feedback for last chapter. I was half fearing a barrage of "No! Why are you torturing my babies, you evil, evil lady!" But you guys were much kinder.

This was supposed to be the second part of the last chapter, but both scenes grew a life of their own. And honestly, I can so see these two in a bromance…once all that crap with Emma settled down.

Enjoy dearies!

Neal walked down the street as if on autopilot, his heart somehow filled with both a cold numbness and an overwhelming fire after his and his father's altercation.

Was it wrong of him to with that maybe—just maybe—there had been a chance that he could get his papa back as well? That maybe after all the years of bad luck, the stars would align to give him this one shot at happiness? It was beginning to look that way.

Even if he somehow managed to get Emma to hear him out, to forgive him, and they got back together, they were going to have to stay here in his own personal hell. Neal wasn't going to ask Emma to give up on the family she had always wanted just so he could run from his demons.

But still. It had hurt him more then he cared to say to see just how far his father had fallen—how little hope there was.

A car pulled up beside him, the slow sound of gravel crunching brought Neal out of his thoughts. He turned and saw David in the cruiser.

Of course. As if his day hadn't already been bad enough.

"Get in."

Neal snorted. He may have done some dumb shit in his life, but he wasn't that stupid.

"The front," David said, guessing his thoughts.

Part of Neal wanted to tell him to go shove it, that he didn't have the patients or energy for another pissing contest with him, but another, smarter part of him recognized the fact that the other man had a car and that Neal didn't exactly know where the hospital was.

"The oddest thing happened today," David said casually as if commenting on the weather, "When the dwarves went down into the mines, there axes were waiting for them."

"Hun." Neal said, not really in the mood to play this game. In a town this small, David had probably already heard at least some version of what happened. Not that he knew enough to understand. The fight had never been about the axes…at least not to him.

"Gold's not someone you want as an enemy."

Neal looked over, slightly surprised. Wasn't David supposed to be some brave prince? And yet here he was warning Neal to back off…or at least that's what it seemed like at first. But as Neal thought it over, he realized that it wasn't a warning; it was a statement.

"Emma needs to come home." Neal said, staring at the Sherriff. "I knew what I was getting into."

David looked over at Neal, studying him like he was something under a microscope and Neal had to fight the urge to remind him to watch the road. The last thing he needed was another fight.

"For a stranger you sure do know a lot about this place."

Neal's eyes widened slightly as David watched him out of the corner of his eye. This headache wasn't helping him keep his cool; he was slipping, telling a bit too much. Or maybe David was just sharper then Neal had originally given him credit for…after all, Emma had to have gotten her bullshit detector from somewhere.

"'Don't mess with Gold' is one of the first things you hear in this place. Doesn't make what I did any less necessary."

Maybe the remark was enough explanation for David. Maybe it wasn't. Either way, David didn't press the issue and for that Neal was thankful.

No one spoke again until Neal realized that they had passed the sheriff's office.

"So you're not taking me back to jail?" Neal asked, genuinely surprised. After yesterday he was sure he could add David to the ever-growing list of people he needed to avoid.

"I'm taking you to the hospital. That looks like it might need some stitches." It didn't escape Neal's notice that Charming hadn't, in fact, answered him. But he'll deal with that later.

Neal pulled his sleeve from where he had it pressed against his forehead and looked at the amount of blood that had seeped into the fabric.

"Probably," he deadpanned and the corners of David's lips twitched.

"Besides, I've decided that I'm leaving that up to Emma. She's going to be your judge and jury."

"And executioner?" Neal said, finishing the other man's sentence.

David smiled that shark-like smile and Neal knew he had called it. "If that's what she wants."

"Fair enough."

He could feel David's eyes bearing down on him, measuring him, but he didn't flinch. He was still too emotionally numb to deal with Emma's overprotective father right now.

"You know, I can't get a read on you."

Neal snorted. Of course he couldn't. All David knew was whatever Emma had told him, and Neal doubted that it fit well with him stealing the axes, especially if it meant making an enemy out of Gold. If only David knew…

"You don't know me," Neal muttered.

"Fair enough," David said, mirroring Neal's earlier words.

There was a beat of silence before David switched subjects.

"I started asking around about that bean you gave Henry."

Neal closed his eyes and waited for his next words. That could only lead to trouble. He knew the rumors hadn't gotten back to Gold but if David kept asking, then it was only a matter of time.

"Almost instantly mother superior told me not to ask anyone else—that those questions would only lead to more trouble then we need right now." David posed it as a statement but Neal could hear the question behind it. He was asking for a story Neal wasn't going to tell. Not here. Not now. Not to him.

Neal stayed silent and let the pause answer for him.

"You're from there, aren't you? The Enchanted Forest?" David sounded like he already suspected the answer but the thought still surprised him.

Neal just looked at him, through the wad of fabric pressed against his face. What part of 'Emma gets the story first' did this man not understand?

"Does Emma know?"

"Would she have believed me, even if it was something I wanted to talk about?" He left the question open ended and hoped he would get the hint and drop the subject.

David turned his head back to the road but apparently hadn't tasted enough of the preverbal blood to completely let the subject go.

"It's kind of funny," he kept his tone conversational but Neal could hear the accusation behind his words "that of all the people for her to wind up with, she had find one of the only other people from our real in the outside world."

Neal's blood froze at the implications. Everyone knew that true love wasn't the kind of thing that could be just fabricated or even channeled…but then again, magic wasn't supposed to be here either and yet it was. The Dark One did that. Could he have somehow…

Neal couldn't bring himself to finish the thought. Even the implication made every good thing in his life feel sullied and fake. And yet it was all so real…Emma…Henry…

The car stopped in front of the hospital, bringing Neal out of his thoughts. He turned to look at David and what he said was originally just to get Nolan off his back—to keep him from thinking there was some great conspiracy going on rather than the genuine thing—but as he spoke he knew the words were some of the truest he had ever spoken.

"Actually, I'd like to think it was the one unscripted thing about this whole fucking mess."

The door slammed behind him and Neal started toward the entrance to the ER.

"Neal," David said, causing Neal to turn back to look at him.

"Stay away from Henry." It wasn't a request; it was a command. Too bad for Nolan, Neal had something of a problem with authority…especially authority that was trying to keep him from his kid.

Neal walked back to the curser and stuck his head through the window, not caring that he was getting blood all over the enterer.

"No, I won't," he said, looking David in the eye, challenging him to do something. "But I won't tell him either—not till Emma gets back."

David eyed him but said nothing before roiling away, leaving Neal standing there wondering just how much he should be worried about the prince on top of all his other problems.